Raining Dreams
Chapter One
Dreamwhisper
I was busy looking for Yuka-baasama. I still had to deliver her medicine, but I had no idea where she was. Yuka-baasama was getting harder and harder to find as she grew older. If I didn't find her soon, the medicine would expire and she would probably die. Having Yuka-baasama die was something that I wanted to avoid. She had been my tutor for my entire life.
I went into a building that looked like the one she described. All the buildings around here were identical. The walls were rather plain and the building didn't give off the vibe that a hospital or clinic does. I walked in and called out, "Yuka-baasama, are you here? Hello?"
I wish she'd have given me an address.
Two men came out of a room on the side. One was extremely pale with dark eyes and hair, and the other was slightly tanner and had dark brown hair and a friendly complexion. "Excuse me," I asked. "Do you know if somebody named Yuka is here? She looks like she's about sixty, I think."
"What kind of a greeting is that?" the friendly looking one said. "After God knows how many years..." he ran up to me and gave me a hug. I reluctantly hugged him back a bit.
"I beg your pardon?" I said.
The pale one's expression remained completely monotonous. "Isn't it a bit rude to fake stumbling upon this place?"
I stepped back from the one with the friendly complexion. "I'm sorry but I've never seen either of you before in my life. Who are you?"
Both of their expressions turned to shock. I waited for them to make an explanation, but the door they entered through opened again and a few other people came out. Including a baby in a suit, who I actually recognized from ten years ago. He spoke first. "You have some nerve showing your face here after what happened back then."
"Back...when?" I asked. For the life of me, I've never had amnesia before. Honest. "I'm sorry, Reborn, I don't understand."
"How old are you, Ame?" the pale one inquired blankly.
"I'm fourteen. Why do you ask?"
They all seemed to be processing the fact. The pale one spoke again. "My name is Hibari. You were looking for somebody named Yuka, right? I can show you where she is, if that's where you need to go."
"Oh," I nodded. "Thank you."
"I'll be back here soon, everyone," Hibari said. He gently grabbed my hand and led me deeper into the building, and up a few flights of stairs. As we started walking along a flat hallway, he did not let go of my hand, although he did slow down a bit.
"How do you know my name, Hibari-san?" I asked. "Are you just that well informed?"
"I know you, idiot."
"I'm sorry? I've never even seen you before," I sighed. I looked him over. Now that I thought about it, he was very attractive. I would probably have a crush on somebody who looked like that if he was my age. I frowned. "Excuse me, but how old are you?"
"Twenty five," he said. "I've met you before. Ten years ago, when you were fifteen." He looked at the wall. I could sort of tell he was working to keep a straight face. "I know you really well, Ame-chan. It's hard to explain. I know that you came from the past."
"Wait...please don't tell me about my future," I sighed. "I'd rather not know."
"You wouldn't," he said, stopping. He still hadn't let go of my hand. "That sounds like something you would say, Ame-chan. You have really small hands, you know that?"
I realized how awkward it was to be holding hands with a guy that was ten years older than me. I blushed and tried to pull my hand away, but his grip was too anchored. Brute strength had never been my specialty anyway.
"This is where Yuka-sama is," he said, nodding to the room we had stopped in front of. I sighed. Hibari seemed like such an interesting person. He seemed much colder in front of his colleagues, though. I wonder what kind of reputation he has to uphold. Oh, my god, let go of my hand!!!!
"Oh, um, thank you very much, Hibari-san."
"I have something to give you before you go, Ame," he said, using his other hand to pull something out of his breast pocket. It was a small white gold chain that had been forged with twisted links. The pendant hanging from the middle was a star made out of something resembling diamond, but different. It caught all kinds of light and glittered like a rainbow, and played tricks with the colors of the surrounding street.
"...Wow..." I gasped, staring at it. I focused on the pendant. "What...what is that?"
"That is the stuff that dreams are made of, Ame-chan. It's called a Dreamwhisper. It belongs to you."
"Wow, Hibari-san...It's beautiful," I awed. "But...I can't take something like that. It must have cost so much..."
"The Dreamwhisper didn't cost a bit," he smiled. It looked like he was remembering something. "Look, Ame-chan, I need you to promise me something."
"Promise you something?"
"Today is June fifth," he said, his face growing to the seriousness I'd seen before. "In ten years for you, tomorrow, could you meet me somewhere?"
"Um...I'll make sure I don't plan anything that day," I said. "Sure. Where?"
"That hill over there," he said, looking behind me. I turned around a bit. There was a small hill glittered with trees in the distance. I looked back into his eyes. "There's a waterfall on the other side of that hill. I need you to meet me at the bottom of the waterfall an hour before sunset. Can you promise me that?"
His hand squeezed mine a bit.
"Of course! If I know you that well by then, it'll be no trouble at all. June sixth an hour before sunset," I nodded, then I realized something. "...That's my birthday. I turn fifteen tomorrow."
"I know."
"Yes, but I'd forgotten."
"How could you forget your own birthday?"
"Trust me; I have plenty of other things to occupy my mind, Hibari-san."
"Just like you..." he whispered to himself. "Oh, and one more thing, Ame-chan, just so you know..." he leaned towards me, still not letting go of my hand, and breathed, "I always knew. I was certain about it, from the first time I saw."
"What?" I asked.
"You'll understand someday," he smiled. He gave my hand one last squeeze and then drew his hand away. He slowly fixed the clasp on the necklace on the back of my neck. He resumed a straight face and then left without a word.
"G...goodbye..." I called to his retreating back. I fingered the necklace dangling around my neck, and then tucked it underneath my coat. Suddenly, I tried to remember what he escorted me to this room to do in the first place.
Yuka-baasan's medicine. That was it. I patted the lower pocket in my coat and felt the pill bottle sitting, undisturbed. I walked into the building quickly and quietly past the other patients' rooms. This actually was a clinic. I found Yuka-baasan sitting impatiently inside of a powder blue room. "I'm terribly sorry for my tardiness, Yuka-baasama," I apologized, bowing. I fumbled to get the pill bottle out of my coat pocket fast enough. "I brought your medicine. Here you are."
"Thank you, my dear," she said, taking the bottle from me. Inside of the bottle were three pills, each as clear as crystal. "Could you fill me up a glass of water over there?"
"Of course," I nodded, walking over to the sink on the opposite side of the room. I grabbed a waxed paper cup and filled it two thirds of the way up, then handed it back to Yuka-baasama. She took the pills one by one. After the third one, a small flash of light resembling a camera flash shone from her eyes. I blinked. When I opened my eyes, she was thirty years younger, but with the same brain she had when she was sixty.
"Wow, Yuka-basama..."
"Aunt Yuka?" she grinned. "Okay, you can call me that. I'll prepare the time travel potion now."
Before taking the pills, she had been short, scrawny with white hair and wrinkles. And droopy eyes. Now, she looked like she was thirty, and her hair had turned a bright auburn and she became taller and her eyes were chocolate and awake. And perfect skin. I frowned with envy.
She took a few powders out of her purse and put them into a small marble bowl, where she mixed them with her thumb. She added a drop of some pink liquid that made the powders sizzle until they had dissolved into a milky rose colored liquid. The elixir I had taken to go into the future had been a milky blue. It had tasted like wind; there was no other way to describe the taste.
"Make sure you drink it right over the counter, dear," Yuka-basama said, handing me the bowl and a straw she had fished out of her purse. "Thank you kindly. I hope you have at least a bit of fun in these next ten years to come for you."
"Thank you, Yuka-basama," I nodded. I took the bowl and the straw and set the bowl down on the counter and drank the entire contents in one gulp. It tasted like the smell of roses. The familiar light tricks and colors danced around me as everything else slid out of my focus. Now that I thought about it, the material I was seeing was similar to the stuff in the Dreamwhisper star necklace Hibari had given me.
I landed back in Yuka-basama's guest bedroom, where I was staying that week. My head ached with dizziness; the usual aftereffects of her time travel elixir. I'm pretty sure that other people used other methods to travel through time, but Yuka-basama's was completely original. She is amazing.
My headache gradually worsened into a migraine, and all I could see was a black tunnel. I felt around to find my futon and briefly considered that I would start classes at Namimori tomorrow before I drifted away into the dream land, my home.
Okay, that's the first chapter done!
I'd really, really, really, really appreciate it if you'd leave a review. But, no flames please!
Also, I am completely aware that Mukuro did not appear in this chapter. He probably won't show up for quite a while, so please be patient. Also, I know Hibari was kind of completely out of character. It will all make sense in due time ^^.
Thank you for your time, everybody!
