Crumpled Leaves

I stepped outside and sat on the edge of the stairs. The summer air felt nice unlike the stuffy air inside my grandparents small temple. As I recall, it's been around 6 years since Jakotsu's parent's death. I hope he isn't down today because I can never smile when I know he's upset. We were both there when his parents died.

War had spread to our village and at the time, my little sister Samaa and I lived with Jakotsu and his parents. The day was dark and blood chilling screams could be heard as we huddled in a group in the back of their home until we heard hard, and heavy foot steps coming closer. His parents told Jakotsu, Samaa, and I to go under the crack in the corner and run as far as we can, and we did as we were told not knowing what would happen to them. We didn't come back until the smoke from the village was gone. Two days after we left.

His parents were nothing more than dead bodies when we got there and he ran to them and cried on his father's chest for a good while. My sister joined him as well for they had taken us in as their own for a while then. I did nothing but stare at the two. I felt no sadness, I felt only pity for Jakotsu and Samaa because they were wasting their time crying for people I had little emotional connection with. I finally told them we had to go and after burying Jakotsu's parents, we left to my grandparents temple.

The memory was blurry as I thought of it but a rustling sound from my right broke my thoughts and I stood up. Jakotsu came out from trees and as soon as I laid eyes on him my mouth dropped.

"What the hell are you wearing!" He had his hair up in a fancy bun and he was wearing a girl kimono that was light pink with cherry blossom petals all over it and he was wearing lipstick. Why was he wearing it? What did he do with his other kimono? He just blushed and looked down as he talked.

"well, I always like how the girls looked so I decided to finally try and look like them. Do you like it?" I did nothing but stare at him. Did he really just ask me if I like his get up? He sounded like a girl to me.

"Jakotsu...you look like a girl. Your a man. look like a man!" I threw my arm at his face, trying to punch some sense out of him but he grabbed it in a flash and threw me back.

"What was that for?!" He looked hurt and his lip started to tremble.

"Don't cry, I was just making sure that your, um...new looks, didn't get in the way of your fighting skills." I hate it when he cried, I hated it even more when I was the one to cause it. His face instantly brightened up and he smiled.

"I would never let anything get in the way of that big brother!" He laughed innocently. I guess he doesn't know what today is after all.

"never mind that, do you know where Samaa is?" Samaa left to play with the other younger kids in the village but she hasn't come back yet and the sun is about to set soon. Jakotsu just shrugged.

"I dunno, last I saw her she was by the stream with the others like she said she would" Jakotsu seemed relaxed about it so it must mean she's alright and that there is nothing to worry about. Jakotsu thinks I worry for Samaa too much but every time he mentions it I just ignore him.

"lets go get then." Jakotsu nodded his head and we both walked down the hill that the Temple was on and headed down to the stream that ran right through the village. As we walked to the stream we passed the other villagers as they traded the last roll of silk or roasted fish for the day. It was a lively village that usually everyone was friendly with one another, but I stayed away from them all. I felt that I had to reason to acquaintance them because I wouldn't gain anything out of it. I don't need other people to care for me, I just care for Samaa, Jakotsu, and myself but no one more.

As Jakotsu and I neared the stream I could hear aggressive voices and a helpless voice. I grabbed Jakotsu's shoulder and we ran down to the stream. There, by the edge of the river I saw a group of kids in a circle, and it looked like they where kicking some poor kid who was in the middle. I searched the group of kids hoping to find Samaa, even though I wouldn't really like knowing she was a part of this, it was better than her being the victim. I looked over the heads and I couldn't find her and started to panic a little bit. I looked at Jakotsu hoping to see a reassuring face that said she was alright, but all I saw was a face that looked as worried as I was. I ran to the group for a better look, and sure enough Samaa was in the middle with blood on her arms and cheeks, and tears in her eyes.

I pushed two boys out of the way and saw the one who was leading all of this. He was kicking her should with a smile on his face, yelling insults at her. I punched him in the face and he flew backwards. He got up with a face saying he was ready to attack, yet he didn't know that I was ready to kill.

"Hey! Whats your problem? Stay out of this!" He tried to punch me in the face but I grabbed his hand and twisted it. It took such little effort yet from the sound of the boy's screaming, it was extremely painful. A smile of satisfaction grew on my face and I tried to hold back my amusement of his scared and painful expression and the sound of bones cracking.

"Ah! Let go! please!" The boy started to cry while his other friends began to run away, but I never let go. This was too much fun. My smile grew more as I kept turning his hand farther and farther until I made it go all the way around and decided that he had enough torture. I let go of his hand and he immediately started to run off in the direction of his friends and family who were now watching with horror at a distance. I heard a women scream as she looked at the boys hand, then she pointed a finger at me.

"That boy is a monster! Look what he did to my sons hand! It's broken!" Everyone around then gasped as they looked at his hand and whispered about how I was probably a demon or something.