~Ib: Chapter 1- Guertena Art Gallery~

"Tsukiko! Come on! Onee-chan! Wake up!"

I felt someone shaking me awake. I swatted my arm a bit, knowing Ib's voice, and not wanting to hurt my little sister. I groaned "Just a few more minutes..."

"But Tsukiko! We're going to the art gallery today! Remember?"

I sighed and opened my pale red eyes and smiled "Fine..." I grabbed her and hugged Ib, pulling my blanket over us, "After five more minutes." I snickered when she pouted at me.

Ib was wearing a almost pure white shirt, her red bow, and her red skirt. So it was pretty much her school uniform, but she did leave other parts out. She also wore her pretty garnet coloured shoes.

"Alright... But can I braid your hair while you sleep?" She grinned at me.

I laughed and nodded, tunring around and letting her brush out my semi-long pure white hair.

Yeah... I am the 'odd-ball' in our family. I have perfectly white hair and pale red eyes. Ib on the other hand has dark brown hair that almost looked red and deep red eyes. She got the traits from our mom and dad. For some reason I am different from the rest of my family... and I mean, the rest! All my cousins, uncles, aunts, my grandparents, have either brown hair or black hair, red eyes or deep brown eyes.

I hated the way I looked too! I was always picked on at school because of it! I've tried dyeing it too. But it didn't work. Let me tell you, being told you look like an old woman by your crush at age 5 is not the best thing... Course you knew that. I hate my hair colour and yet, I love it. It's different than everyone else. I sometimes regret trying to dye it and am happy with its colour. I stopped dyeing it after the tenth time during sixth grade. I just ignore people who stare at me and their whispers. I like being alone... gives me time to draw and read, maybe write, and... uh... even... sing when I can.

I fell asleep again as she went through my hair gently. I only let Ib touch my hair, of course.

"Ib, come on honey, give her some time." I heard our mom talking.

"Yes mommy." I knew Ib was just going to keep trying to wake me up.

I opened my eyes again and looked at my sister and mother.

Mother was wearing her formal dark garnet red dress, with the red jewel in the middle of the chest. She also wore her dark red boots. Mother had her hair curled a bit at the ends, some of it put up in the back.

I sat up and yawned "Thank you Ib." She nodded and hopped out of bed and looked through my clothes, pulling out a skirt and my favorite T-shirt. She set them on my bed and smiled "There!"

I snickered and pointed to the wheelchair at the foot of my bed "Can you get that for me too?" She nodded and moved it close to me. I shooed her and Mother out of the room and got out of my bed, standing only for a moment. I sat in my wheelchair and grabbed the T-shirt.

I got changed and turned around to look at myself. "Ib is doing much better with choosing my clothes." I got out of my room and down the stairs. ((... don't ask how..)) I got outside and to the car. I carefully stood up and got inside the car. Dad folded up the wheelchair and put it in the trunk of the car. I sat there waiting for the other to get in.

We were soon driving to the Gallery. I was going through Ib's medium length brown hair, brushing it out, and making sure it was nice a pretty. Ib then laid down on my lap and looked up at me "Tsukiko? We'll always be together, right?" She put out her pinkie to me. I smiled softly and nodded, linking my pinkie with hers "Yeah, I promise." Ib smiled and closed her eyes "Good." She wasn't asleep though.

Mom looked back at us "Ib? You remembered everything right? Got your hankerchief, the one you got for your birthday." Ib nodded "Yes mom."

I looked out the window as the buildings went past. I leaned my head against the window and watched ahead.

"Keep it safe in your pocket, okay? Don't loose it!" Mom looked forward again. Ib rolled her eyes "Alright, alright."

I snickered at her, knowing it really wasn't the best present and she didn't find it any usefull. I saw we were coming up to the Gallery and smiled big. (hey... I love art... sue me!) I looked at it and stared in awe at how it looked. ((Not giving any type of disciption!))

When we stopped, Ib got out first to help dad with my wheelchair. I carefully got out of the car and stood there for a minute, looking around the building and surrounding area. Dad brought the wheelchair to me and I sat down "Thank you. Hopefully there's ramps." I wheeled over to the entrance and waited for my parents to come over, Ib already next to me.

We went inside the gallary and I saw everything that was able to be seen from the front lobey. I looked up at mom and dad and pulled on their sleeves "Can me and Ib go look around for a bit? You can come find us! How hard would it be to find a girl with pure white hair?" I smiled. Mom nodded reluctantly "Uh, sure. Alright, just don't get yourselves into trouble." I giggled and nodded "We wont!" I looked at Ib and gestured for her to come with me "Come on Ib." I wheeled myself to the steps, thankfully finding a ramp going up with it.

Ib started to push me up, since she could probably guess my arms were tired at the moment. I saw a couple paintings ahead and stared "Wow, Ib, aren't they beautiful? This Guertena person made amazing pictures." I looked back at her once we were at the top of the stair. She nodded "Yeah! I have one of those things mom and dad were going to get from the person at the counter so that we can know more about them!" She grinned and started off down the hall to a painting on the ground. I watched her and wheeled to a painting in front of me and looked at it "Well, Mrs. Guertena, you had one amazing collection of art." I mumbled. I went down to the painting on the ground, looking at the other paintings on my way there.

I found Ib and looked at what she was staring at. It kinda creeped me out a bit "Uh... What in the world?"

It looked like the ocean, a couple of small fish swimming around in the background. But what creeped me out was the REALLY big fish that looked as if it was going to come out of the ocean-like backdrop.

I looked at the sign "Abyss of the Deep?" I read over what it said "Wow..." I looked at Ib, about to say something to her, but found she was already walking to another painting.

I sighed, laughing a bit, and followed her. "Ib, don't go to far." I told her, being not to far behind her. I looked around and saw a person with light purple hair, some darker streaks at the top. He or she was wearing a really dark jacket that looked somewhat ripped. I couldn't see their face, so I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but I could tell he or she was a teen. I stared at the person a moment, finding the hair colour odd, like mine, but just shook my head and went back to following Ib. I turned a corner, but didn't see her "Ib? Where are you?" I went down the hall of paintings and sculptures. I turned another corner and kept looking.

I eventually found her by a large painting. I looked at her and sighed "You know, you shouldn't go off on your own. Wait for me." She looked at me and nodded "Sorry." She then pulled me closer to her "Tsukiko? What is this word?" She pointed to the word under the painting "Oh, it's fabricated. The Fabricated World." I smiled.

The lights had flickered then and I looked around. Ib gently grabbed my arm and looked down the hall "Tsukiko... There's someone down there..." She whispered.