This fanfiction is still about Luke. But, he's got a new girl! She's Hikari from Animal Parade. All the places on the island are different from Waffle Island for those of you who have not played the game yet. The Island is called Castanet, and the rest of the town is named after some sort of music or musical instrument. Anyway, thanks for reading! Enjoy!!!
Luke didn't understand how Hikari could finally be changing right underneath his nose. He didn't understand how she could have felt the way she did. Everyone else his age understood it, why didn't he?
He was two years older than she was and he still didn't understand. His father said it was a phase of his, and soon he'd see someone just like Hikari did. But seeing Hikari with the mayor's son felt like someone had taken a knife and stabbed him in the heart.
Hikari was like his sister. She had moved to Castanet Island a little over three years ago and they had grown close, closer than he had with Bo. Hikari spending time with Gill was just another thing to add to his list of confusions.
She swore it wasn't like that. Dale had told him that sometimes it was natural for a woman turning twenty to feel that way. But Luke, being the ripe age of twenty-two, didn't understand.
Luke had been called "retarded" for not understanding Hikari's situation. And maybe they were right. Dale had tried to reassure Luke that they were wrong and that he just hadn't matured enough.
But even Dale doubted this. He had told Luke for years the same thing. It was as if he was a tape recorder on repeat. Luke had believed it though. His childish nature had a lasting effect on him, which wasn't necessarily always a bad thing. But Dale had a hard time believing it to be a good thing…
Hikari was mature, but more foolish. Dale couldn't count how many times Hikari had run into the shop, afraid or crying over something. She was over emotional.
And the two of them drove Dale crazy.
Bo was stuck in the middle. It was like he didn't have his own thoughts. He was ripped into every situation Hikari and Luke got themselves stuck into. Then, when it was all done, he was the one who had to explain to Dale what happened.
It was usually the same script too: "Well Master, Luke didn't think," or, "Hikari didn't know she was getting into that."
Now it was different. Hikari had come into Dale's Carpentry early in the morning with a face that lacked emotion. Not a sad or confused face, or even happy. It was just expressionless.
She had placed a form on the front desk slowly. It was in a manila envelope and it contained a rather hefty amount of money. She wanted a house upgrade and that was it.
When Luke walked out, there wasn't even a 'hello'. She walked out like a zombie and rounded the corner back towards her little farm house.
Luke looked out the window and watched her leave. Only one thing had come to his mind, "Gill." He opened his mouth to speak but then realized his dad wanted to hear nothing of it. So he sighed, blowing his blue bangs into the air and then watching them fall over his topaz eyes.
"I know what you're thinking Luke. It had nothing to do with Gill," Dale told him shortly.
Luke didn't answer. "Ah," he said finally and then let the thought drop. He stood up slowly and walked over to the work bench.
"Let it go son," Dale said. "She'll be fine. It's just a phase."
Luke nodded nonchalantly and placed safety glasses over his eyes, letting the black band snap just underneath his flame patterned bandana. He grabbed the saw resting on one end of the door he was supposed to be cutting and started to neatly cut long the edge of a dotted line Dale had drawn for him.
Hikari was sitting on her bed, a blank glaze over her eyes. She felt strange for some reason today. Her chest was hurting but it wasn't something a doctor could fix. She felt sick and alone, but it wasn't a virus.
Luke had been shying away from her a little bit more each day. It was so bad that they stopped talking altogether. He was her closest friend and now it was like they didn't even know each other. It was like they were acquaintances, acquaintances that happened to know everything about each other.
"Luke," Dale said, eyeing Luke from the desk in front of the shop. "Why don't you go down to Hikari's and invite her to do something with you tonight?"
Luke didn't answer and continued to pretend to saw the door, even though he had already gone over it countless times. Dale shook his head and sighed. His son was the strangest person he knew.
Normal people had emotions that varied, Luke was the extremes. He was never happy without being tremendously happy and when he got angry, he was the angriest person Dale knew. His son wasn't bipolar, but he was close.
"Luke!" Dale said, getting exasperated.
He normally put up with his son's actions but recently it seemed as though his patience was getting thinner and thinner. Like someone had lit the fuse on a bomb and the fire was burning it slowly, slowly until it exploded. And then where would Dale be?
Luke never cried. He hid behind emotions and that made him stronger. It was also probably the reason for his extreme emotions. But, if Dale ever were to yell at Luke to the point where he couldn't stand it anymore, he could probably reduce the poor boy to tears.
"Sorry pops," Luke muttered and set the saw down. Apologizing was his strong point. He had certainly had enough experience saying it.
Luke took the glasses off his face gingerly. He hated having his bandana come off and ripping the glasses off would almost guaranty that. He, slowly but surely, made his way towards the door- secretly wishing that his dad would change his mind.
But he didn't, and Luke was off to Hikari's house in no time. He wasn't nervous, but he wasn't really in the mood to talk to her. She seemed so distance from him and they never talked anymore.
He took a deep gulp of air and knocked on her door. Hopefully, she wasn't in a sour mood. Hikari cracked the door open slightly and Luke could tell a smile spread across her solemn face.
"Luke?!" she said and flung herself on him.
He stood there, bewildered and confused, and hugged her. "Hey do you want to do something right now?" he asked.
"Sure," Hikari answered and quickly ran back into her house. She grabbed a purse to match her blue sundress and ran out the door, slamming it behind her.
"I'm so glad you decided to come!" Luke said, smiling earnestly.
Hikari glanced at him curiously for a moment and then shook her head, her brown locks flopping over her face and then back into their normal position on her forehead. "What, why?"
"I dunno… I'm always bored when I have no one to hang out with. Work only keeps me busy until six," Luke answered casually.
Hikari frowned slightly. Of course, Luke was too thick to notice.
Where was he taking her? She then felt a sense of adventure sweep through her body. It was as if Luke's energetic persona was radiating off of him and sinking into her.
Luke led Hikari to the pier right in front of the local Fishery. Sunsets on Castanet Island were beautiful! The pink meshed with the orange color, swallowing up the blue sky. The grayish tint of the night was setting in on top of it and the remains of the sun glistening on the water below. Hikari loved Castanet Island and wouldn't trade this view for anything.
"Luke…" Hikari said, her words getting caught in her throat.
"I know," he said, running one hand through his hair. His eyes reflected the sunset and it was strangly beautiful.
Hikari smiled and sat down on the dock, letting her feet dangle from the edge of it, a feeling of serenity sweeping over her. Luke followed and sat beside her, placing one hand behind her back and resting it on the wooden dock.
It was early summer, so the sun set later and the water was warmer. That was another thing Hikari loved about Castanet Island. She got to experience all the seasons in their extremes. In the city, she got spring and winter and that was it.
She leaned forward a little to dip her feet in the water. She looked down into the peaceful bluish gray water and saw herself and Luke's reflection in it. She smiled and made sure to remember this moment. And strangely, she felt as though these moments with him were limited.
In a way, Hikari was right. The sun was setting quickly and the water was turning black as the night set in. She took her feet out of the water and hastily stood up.
"Hikari?" Luke said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back down again. "What's wrong?"
"Um, nothing… I just remembered I have some, uh, business to take care of," she answered and attempted to run.
The sun was now below the mountains and darkness was engulfing the last of the grayish sunset tint. "Wait! Hikari!" Luke said, once again grabbing her arm and pulling her.
Although, he didn't know his own strength. As he grabbed her, he pulled her a bit too hard and flung her off the edge of the dock. Hikari screamed and gasped, thrashing around in the dark water like a fish just caught on a hook. Luke looked down into the water with an expression mixed with nervousness and embarrassment.
"I-I'm so sorry! I'll get you out!" he said and as he did, he started to practically rip his white tank top from his body.
Now, Hikari could swim and in fact, she loved to. But ever since she had fallen off a boat when she was a little girl, dark water had scared her. Sure, it was day when she went, but it was storming and the water was gray and murky.
Hikari was gasping for air. Her legs felt heavy and she was scared to death. She didn't want Luke to think of her as a wimp but she was too terrified to care. Suddenly, as she shut her eyes, hoping it was all a bad dream, she felt someone grab her waste. Before she could scream, water rushed into her lungs, clogging her throat with the salty sea water. Her eyes fluttered open again and she caught a glimpse of something shiny floating to the bottom of the ocean. And then, all went black.
***
"Hikari?" was the next word she heard. Her stomach tied itself in a knot and her head throbbed painfully. What had happened? She opened her eyes, and although her vision was blurred, she could make out the figures around her. Luke, Jin, Dale, and Bo were staring at her. She turned to one side, expecting to feel the cool metal rim of the hospital bed against her aching head. But she didn't and instead ran into a wood frame.
"Oh what the-!" she yelled angrily and sat up.
Jin was eyeing her, expecting her to finish her sentence. Dale had his index and middle fingers placed on his temple, rubbing it with an exasperated expression. Bo looked semi-concerned and Luke's eyes were filled with worry.
"Hikari!" Luke yelled and flung his arms around her neck.
"Goddess Luke!" she yelled back, pushing him off of her.
Once he stood up with an apologetic expression on his face, Hikari could tell where she was. She was in Dale's house- and to be more specific, Luke's room. Half wanting to laugh at how messy his room was, she broke out into a hacking cough and slumped back down under the covers of his warm bed sheets.
Jin was still eyeing her. "You have someone to thank for saving your life," he said, peering down at her through his spectacles.
"Huh?" Hikari managed to ask.
How exactly did she survive? She racked her brain, thinking hard of the events prior to her wakening.
She had fallen and because of her "after dark hydrophobia", she was paralyzed under her own fear. Someone had grabbed her and pulled her out. And she remembered something drifting off into the darkness of the ocean depths. Something sharp and shiny, something attached to a string…
Her eyes quickly darted to Luke's chest. The shark-tooth necklace was gone! He smiled at her, knowing what she had discovered. Hikari felt angry and guilty. If she hadn't been so stupid and just swam to shore twenty feet from where she had fallen, Luke would still have that necklace- the dearest thing to him in the whole world.
"Luke," she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. She clutched his white sheets in her fists and let the tears roll off her chin and onto the bedspread.
"It's alright Hikari," he said. "Saving you was worth it."
Hikari tried to smile but her smile turned into a gasp. "You saved me…" she whispered. "Y-you saved my life…"
"Yeah," Luke answered, shrugging. "But it was Gill who gave you mouth to mouth." However, he grinned on the last few words and Hikari knew he was joking.
"Whatever!" she said and flung one of the pillows behind her at him. Dale sighed and Bo smirked a smirk that looked as though he knew something the others didn't.
Jin rolled his eyes. Obviously, he wasn't used to Hikari and Luke acting so childish around each other. And this arose the same observation that Hikari noticed when Mira, the jeweler's wife, had her first miscarriage. He didn't want anything to do with kids, which was probably why he kept Anissa so distance when she worked for him.
"Alright Miss Hikari," he said finally, letting a sigh sweep the words out of his mouth. "You need to stay here tonight, if that will suffice with Dale."
Dale nodded nonchalantly. He had watched Hikari overnight before and assumed Luke would take the couch when night fell like he always did.
"Thank you Doctor," Hikari answered and bowed her head in respect for him.
Although she didn't mean it as much as she should have. Being friends with Anissa meant an almost automatic prejudice against the Doctor.
Jin nodded and left the room, his white lab coat following him gracefully. Luke sat on the edge of his bed and grinned at Hikari. She grinned back and placed one hand on her head. She knew she was running a fever and almost wanted to push out everyone in the room so she could sleep.
"Hope you feel better Hikari," Bo said from the doorway as he walked out with Dale, who was driven to silence by this point.
"Thanks," she muttered softly.
She turned to face Luke, who was clutching at his chest. She knew he was looking to grab that necklace, a habit by now, and she felt even worse watching him grab hopelessly at where the point of the tooth usually was.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Luke smiled weakly and shrugged. "Eh," he said. "It's fine… Like I said, saving you was worth it."
I shook my head. "I'm so stupid…"
Luke crawled slowly up the edge of the bed and lay next to Hikari on his side. "No you're not. You were scared, I had to do something."
"But my fear is stupid," she protested, sinking down in the covers and turning on her side to face Luke again.
"You're stupid if you keep saying that," he answered and laughed. He shook his head and muttered, "Gill wouldn't have saved you…"
Hikari wanted to pretend that she didn't hear his words. She almost felt like they weren't for her to hear. They were Luke's thoughts accidentally being expressed. But still… Luke had a strong dislike for the mayor's son and Hikari couldn't figure out why. And neither could Luke…
"Why are you hating on Gill? He's pretty… nice once you get to know him," Hikari answered quietly.
Luke blushed and Hikari knew he hadn't known he said that aloud. "Maybe," Luke said, and Hikari inched away from him.
She felt rather uncomfortable, although Luke was her best friend and it was, after all, his bed. And maybe that's why she felt the way she did. It was his bed which she was lying in. She knew it would have been different if it was Kathy or Anissa's, which in her overall thought process, didn't make much sense anyway because Luke was her best friend. She shook her head, thinking hurt.
"Luke?" she said softly.
Luke smiled at her and brushed on loose strand of hair away from her face. "Alright, I'll leave. Get some sleep… I don't want to make the trip into town in a week without you."
Hikari smiled and thanked him, hugging him and running one finger down his chest. She knew it didn't make up for the lost necklace, but it made her feel better. He got up and left, switching off the lights. Hikari sunk down into her covers and shivered. A thought still lingered in her mind. Why was she so embarrassed to have Luke lie next to her?
Obviously, some sort of relationship is developing between them. Its happening a bit fast? No, there are going to be a lot of chapters and a lot of twists and turns. This story is more... mature than Pieces of Akari, but it's still rated T for Teen because the things in it aren't... well, M material. I hope to have this story last a long time- and I would love to have people review and tune in! But, thats your job everyone, and I'm not forcing you to! So, if you liked the story even a bit, please comment! And if you didn't like it, well, comment and I'll see what I can change!