At first, he figured it would be like one of those ghost towns. You know, the ones in movies, where there was just a Pony Express-type post office with a wrinkled old man and his daughter, or something. Since the vast canyon walls obscured the view, there was nothing to hint at anything else.
But the village tucked behind those walls left him absolutely floored. For a moment, he almost understood why travel was worth it. Maybe, well, at least for him, it was the destination his mother loved so much. Traveling around the world, daydreaming about the place you're going to - when you're not let down, the destination makes everything worth it.
The village was built on three levels of rock, stairs leading up to the next level somewhere along the wall of each one. An array of buildings sprinkled to rocky platforms, some splashed by color and others weathered beyond repair. A handful of villagers interacted on the second level, but they needed to start with the closest.
Dust gathered at his heels, rolling along like the beads of sweat forming on his back. Perhaps he should've worried about the train chugging away, ending all notions of returning to the city. Yes, perhaps.
"Well, this is... Dusty," Yui remarked dryly, kicking at a rock and popping her bubblegum, her slender hands stuffed in the pockets of her blue hoodie. She was no doubt scouring the town with her eyes like a hawk for prey, just wondering about what could await them.
"Will we be able to even farm? It's no wonder everyone left," Kohaku scoffed. Coming was a mistake - an enormous mistake. But danger and uncertainty awaited in places anywhere but isolated. Besides, he hadn't the faintest inkling when the train came back. If the train ever comes back. Perhaps he and Yui would be forever trapped in the arid, dusty rock walls until death. Though, as long as no hulking danger tracked them down, the choice was not nearly as bad as it could've been.
A post office, judging by the sign with an envelope jauntily painted on it, sat to their immediate left. The color appeared weathered and faded, and the metal mount was rusted beyond repair. Although, everything else about it seemed to be clumsily kept in order. Wilted flowers poked out of pots beneath the windows.
Yui strolled over to inspect the dead plants, then scanned the door up and down.
Did the girl always insist on soaking every little detail in? Time never spared itself for anyone, of that he could be sure. "Maybe we should go in," Kohaku suggested.
Yui grunted. "Do they have a mayor?" she inquired, flippantly disregarding his statement.
Of course, he was used to that sort of behavior. He settled for answering the best he possibly could, "I don't think so. If they did, he or she would've greeted us by now." Hopefully, a villager served as a town leader of sorts. If no one else was, he could probably step in after tucking a good bit of experience beneath his belt. Though never deciding on a career, he proved adept at something like leadership; well, he excelled at every part of being a leader save for winning people over. That had always been Yui's job, with her sweet appearance and broad mind.
"Or they're really lazy," she considered, tossing her bangs off her face and finally touching the doorknob. She jerked her arm and immediately recoiled her hand. "Ah!"
"Hot?" Kohaku smirked. He inwardly reprimanded himself at feeling she deserved it for stalling.
Yui laughed, "Just a bit." She reached for it again, only to have the door flung open and send her flying back with a yelp of shock mingled with pain.
"Yui!" Kohaku barked, immediately hovering over her.
"Oh! Oh no, oh no, oh no!" a lanky man blubbered, ruffling his scruffy blonde hair and pushing his glasses up his skinny nose.
Kohaku made sure to focus an intense glare at the man. "You need to pay more attention," he reprimanded. But enough about him - his sister still laid on the ground.
A revolting purple blotch had quickly formed on her pale, freckled forehead.
He patted her shoulder. "Yui! Yui, can you hear me?" he called. But Goddess, for her to sustain an injury so quickly, he failed as her brother. He'd have to try harder... But these things couldn't be predicted. Still, as the older sibling, he was duty bound to keep an eye out for her.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see her there!" the man wailed, "I'll do anything to help! Anything at all!" He abruptly sank to his knees beside the siblings, wincing as he crashed down too hard.
She didn't appear to have other injuries, so Yui merely bumped her head. Hard. He scooped up her form (tiny compared to his) and turned to the man. "Get up," he spat. What a pathetic human being, groveling like that.
He immediately straightened up.
To Kohaku's brief and immediate surprise, he noticed the man's height rose just a bit over his own. He'd be lying if he said it didn't irk him. "Show me to the clinic, or doctor's office, or whatever the equivalent is, now!" Kohaku ordered, already stalking off toward the next level up of the canyon.
"Wait, sir, it's over here! P-Please come this way!" he corrected, motioning toward an opening in the rock wall a ways to the right.
Kohaku wordlessly obliged, nearly breaking into a predatory sprint when they broke out on the other side of the wall.
Why did such a thing happen so soon? Was it a curse? Well, of course a curse hung over their heads. His entire life for the last few years yielded nothing but terrible luck for the both of them.
The pathetic blonde man stumbled a bit and fumbled with the doorknob of the Clinic.
"Faster!" Kohaku urged, panting like a racehorse after a mouth-foaming bout of sprints. The heat would definitely take some getting used to.
"S-S-Sir," the man stuttered, "it's locked!" His head swiveled between Kohaku and the door, a mixture of grief and fear on his face.
"In the middle of the day?" Kohaku screeched, panic welling up at the sight of the revolting welt on his sister's forehead.
The man whined urgently, "It shouldn't be-"
The lock clicked and the door abruptly swung inward, revealing a man in a labcoat, his mouth agape and his eyebrows raised.
Kohaku immediately made to leap inside.
A force stopped him and pushed him out. "Take off your shoes!" the man, assumably the doctor, ordered.
He halted. "What?" He cocked his head at the assailant.
Though he hadn't payed much attention to the person in front of him a moment ago, Kohaku wished he did. His dark, disheveled hair jabbed up and outward in a rebellious fashion, his equally dark eyes peering out from the middle of his chiseled, clean-shaven face. That face... He looks like... He couldn't be...
He huffed impatiently, "Take. Off. Your. Shoes. Need I repeat myself again?" He set his jaw and drilled his eyes into Kohaku's skull.
The strange request nearly flew by his head once again, but he snapped back to reality in time to catch it. "My sister slammed her head into a door. We don't have time for this!" Kohaku hissed, standing his spine as tall as he possibly could and leaning in, utilizing his height to his advantage.
The doctor didn't seem the least bit intimidated. "No one is coming in this clinic with dust caked onto their shoes," he volleyed, firmly planted to his spot in the doorway.
Seriously? Who did this guy think he was? The fact that he so easily issued an order for a trivial matter... And so seriously. The absurdity of it all nearly made Kohaku dizzy. But, the doctor clearly wouldn't move if he flicked aside his command, so Kohaku kicked off his shoes. "You know what - fine. Fine. Okay, I took off my shoes," he spat, glaring at the smaller male.
As if the previous doctor was replaced with a duplicate, a pleasant smile pulled at his lips as he inserted his hands in the lab coat's pockets. "Come in," he welcomed, backing away into the stark white of the Clinic's tiles, "Make sure to wipe your feet on the doormat."
Kohaku hissed a curse under his breath and backed up, ripping his feet across the rough rug before the door. His soles burned angrily in protest, but he ignored the sensation. Yui's limp body weighed down a bit more, as if gravity intensified.
The doctor strolled behind the counter and ducked down, a shuffling noise sounding in his direction, as if he was looking for a file. "I'm Doctor Matthew Smith, by the way," he informed, his head popping back up with that same easy smile, "but call me Matt."
Kohaku barely heard, his gaze flicking around the room. On the right wall, two doors led into what looked like an office, and the second door was shut. On the left wall, a spiral staircase rose up to a second floor. Mulitiple fans were mounted on all four walls and constantly whirring at the inhabitants. The interior seemed surprisingly modern for the exterior.
Matt coughed, "Please bring her back here." His eyes focused on the visitors, he jabbed his thumb behind him to another door.
Kohaku nodded, wordlessly striding across the room and narrowly avoiding a collision with the front desk. The back wall of the new room was concealed by multiple shelves of books and bottles of assorted medicine. A curtain acted as a wall to his immediate left, running half the length of the room.
Matt brought them over to an examination table. "Lay her down here - gently," he instructed serenely, ducking under a cabinet and retrieving a small, blue packet.
Kohaku obeyed without hesitation, resting his sister's body on the table, the protective paper on top crinkling under her small weight. Honestly, the bump should not have knocked her unconscious; the fact that it did deeply concerned him.
Matt, whistling a nondescript tune, gripped the package between his thumbs and snapped it. He proceeded to lay it on Yui's forehead. "Disposable ice pack," he explained, "we keep them around for things like this."
"I know," Kohaku replied. He understood many of the remedies and gadgets and whatnot that they housed in clinics, after all. His studies, though altogether aimless, still sat in his brain, dulled by lack of use but still intact. "It helps the swelling go down, right?" Even though her head wasn't exactly swelling. "Or something of the sort."
"Yup," Matt agreed. He made no efforts to elaborate, but instead fiddled with his tie and stuffed his hands in his pockets, gaze set on Yui's face like she was merely asleep.
"Now what?" Kohaku pressed. Although he already knew what came next; but sitting and waiting always provoked him into anxiety.
Matt shrugged. "We wait until she wakes up," he responded, a placid smile still pulling at the corners of his lips.
Kohaku uttered a grunt. Was Yui in pain? When would she come around? If she came around. He shuddered, despite the arid temperature.
Matt simply looked up to the ceiling, it seemed, and absently tapped his foot.
"I-I'm Zachary, by the way," the pathetic man introduced.
He'd almost forgotten about him. Kohaku opened his mouth to speak.
"Zachary Hawkins! Oh, were you about to say something? I'm so sorry! Please continue," Zachary spluttered, his ears tinting red.
The commotion evoked a chuckle in Kohaku. Zachary seemed entertaining for a man who accidentally knocked Yui unconscious. The thought sobered him. "Right," he muttered, "I'm Kohaku Takuro. This is my sister, Yui." He gestured to her.
Zachary smiled apologetically, wincing at the mention of the girl. "I... Uh, I'm very sorry. Is there any way to repay you?" he apologized, wringing his hands.
Of course, it wouldn't be out of place to tease such a person. He smirked. "Be my slave for a week, then we'll see," he prodded.
"Okay, I'll-" His eyes widened. "Wait, what?" he hooted, adjusting his glassses as if he'd forgotten which sense he was shocked at.
He couldn't suppress a chuckle, running his hand through his black hair. "Ah, I jest, I jest," he assured the man. Though, a desire to continue poking at this man's conscience vaguely lingered.
A cough came from the examination table.
Kohaku leapt over in a flash. "Yui? Yui, can you hear me?" he called, his face hovering above hers.
Her eyelids fluttered delicately. "Haku," she groaned.
"Yes? Yes, I'm here."
Her eyes, shining dully, locked onto his for a fleeting second, darting away like a dragonfly. "What happened?" she murmured, making no effort to move.
"He," Kohaku gestured to Zachary, "knocked you out when he opened the door." He already felt the sneering frown pulling at his face; but Kohaku simply could not prevent the action.
Zachary buried his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry!" he whined, pulling his hands away and daring to look Yui in the face.
"It's 'kay," she shrugged, "it can't be helped." A drowsy, almost half-hearted smile graced her face.
Zachary's own countenance instantly brightened. "You mean it?" he prodded hopefully.
She laughed, "Of course. Oh, and sorry about my brother. He gets all 'protective big brother' about me; he doesn't try to be a jerk, it just happens."
Zachary suddenly became interested in his shoes, and he twittered nervously.
"It's true, I am a jerk," Kohaku admitted moodily, "but if I wasn't, who knows if you'd still be here." He focused his gaze on his sister, irked she would speak of such things so freely, like their life had been nothing but a smooth ride. If only she took things seriously.
She laughed again, a weary, weathered laugh this time. "Maybe," she admitted hoarsely, "but I still want to live without being smothered. That's not living at all, and you know it." Her soft, moonlit blue eyes pierced the flesh of his heart, his mind.
A thousand varied answers raced through his head, dancing on the tip of his tongue, none provoking enough, none biting enough to alter the situation. So he let loose a drawn-out, hissing sigh through his pointed nose.
Matt shuffled his feet, clearly made slightly uncomfortable by the sudden depth of the conversation.
"I-I have to get back to the post office - see you around!" Zachary announced, turning to leave. He halted, nearly tripping over his awkward feet. "Oh, in case you haven't figured out, I'm the mailman!" His eyes widened, and he lifted his hands defensively. "Not that I'm implying you're incapable of such! I mean, I-"
"See you around, Zachary," Yui cut in amicably, waving feebly.
He halted his spluttering, grinning warmly, "See you later." He nodded at her, a gesture of acknowledgment, and happily walked away.
Thus proving Kohaku's sentiment that Yui always functioned more adeptly than him at friendship and other such shenanigans. But perhaps he didn't want to be good at those shenanigans - maybe he, unlike what seemed to be the entirety of the rest of the human population, never wished to deal in the messy exchange of give and take that made up relationships.
"Oh, hey there, Olivia!" Zachary greeted a young woman as he exited.
Olivia, short and curvy, sauntered in through the door. "Doctor," she called, abruptly stopping to chew her pretty little lip and furrow her brow. He took the moment to soak in her dark lashes and eyes like chocolate candies on Harmony Day, her deep satin red hair that glinted a rosy pink when the light hit it just right. The bun at the nape of her neck bobbed when she finally finished her thought, "I forgot what I needed to tell you. It must not be important." She giggled girlishly and shrugged.
Suddenly, her eyes met his and they found themselves sizing each other up.
Matt cleared his throat. "Olivia, this is Kohaku and Yui," he introduced curtly. His eyes never left Olivia's face. "Kohaku and Yui, this is my- the clinic's nurse, Olivia Johnston," he finished, absently drumming his fingers on the examination table.
The nurse tugged at the hem of her white, old-fashioned uniform, keeping her eyes locked with Kohaku's. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kohaku...?"
"Takuro. Kohaku Takuro," he concluded, flicking his gaze to Matt's clenched jaw and Olivia's glazed eyes. Oh. "The pleasure is mine, Miss Olivia," he added politely. The pair would make for a fun lot to toy with. Although, he almost felt like a criminal teasing Olivia, seeing as he rose at least a head above her. However, she was clearly no child.
"Kohaku," Yui interjected, and he knew the word was fully intended as a scolding, a warning.
Matt clapped his hands together. "Well, Olivia, can you remember what it was that you wanted to tell me?"
"Hm?" She snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, yes, now I remember, Doctor!" She reached a dainty hand into her dress pocket and pulled out a crumpled paper. Sashaying her way over, she tossed another glance at Kohaku and handed the paper to Matt. "The receipt for the injections you ordered for Ormond," she informed sweetly, curling a loose lock of hair around her finger.
"Ah, right. Did you organize the second filing cabinet?" Matt replied cooly, returning to his relaxed attitude.
The nurse briefly tensed. "Oh, I, uh... No. I don't remember you asking," she frowned, her body swiveling back and forth nervously as she grabbed at the hem of her dress once more.
"Well, I did ask, and I thought you'd get it done." He articulated the words so matter-of-factly one would think he praised her instead of berating her actions.
But Olivia seemed to know him too well. She tilted her chin up, her lip quivering, "I didn't think it'd be so important. You never use those files, anyway." She crossed her thin arms.
Matt chuckled wryly, "That doesn't mean they shouldn't be organized. We have them for reference." He leaned in toward her.
In turn, she took a step closer to the doctor. "But, according to you," Olivia huffed, her lips pouting, "I never file things the 'right' way. In fact, you can do it yourself, because I know that's how it'll turn out." Her face turned into that of a hopeless agony, though she still managed to appear attractive, in that way pretty women do.
The pair stood dangerously within the personal space parameters of each other. The doctor merely turned his head, staring at her with mostly his left eye. "If I should just 'do things myself'," he repeated, making air quotations, "then why are you here to begin with? You're supposed to be assisting me."
Olivia, looking particularly miffed with her jaw agape, head tilted down, and eyes glaring murderously at Matt, scoffed at his implications. Kohaku could sense all her thoughts boiling. "That is a great question, Doctor Matt Smith," she spat. "Maybe I don't belong here!"
"Well, I never thought you did, sweetheart!" he fired back.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I always wondered why someone like you became a nurse. It never made sense to me."
"Someone like... Me? Just what are you implying? That I can't be a nurse because of my appearance?" she gasped.
"Well, it's not just about your appearance, it's-"
Olivia openly slapped her palm across his face, recoiling her hand with a gasp at the action she performed, but no regret manifested itself. "If you were my husband," she squeaked incredulously, "then I'd... I'd poison your tea!"
He stared at her with his mouth open, forming an "o" shape. "If you were my wife... I would drink it!" he declared smartly.
With lucid hurt in her eyes, she turned on her heel and marched off, abruptly turning into the door he observed was closed earlier and slamming it.
For a brief moment of silence, all that lingered was the ticking of the silver clock on the wall and Yui's idle yawn.
"Does this happen often?" Kohaku inquired.
Matt nodded calmly. "Yes." He replied like he was telling Kohaku what he ate for breakfast.
"Hm." Kohaku gulped, looking down at Yui.
"Ah, why don't you go out to meet everyone while I examine Yui? I just need to check out her head to make sure she doesn't have a concussion," Matt explained. "Of course, I'm sure you'll want to stay. That's okay." He shrugged, pulling a pen light out of his pocket.
Yui focused a gaze at him. "Go, Haku. Don't worry about me," she told him, sitting up slowly.
He sighed, again. "I always worry about you." He couldn't help the slight choking feeling in his throat that occurred whenever he thought back to how things used to be. I never did until then. But since then, I've never stopped.
Yui's eyes rolled. "I know," she replied dryly, "but seriously. Just this once. You can't always count on me to make friends, you know."
He did know. And, it wasn't like Matt proved himself a bad person. Well... The previous exchange with Olivia did him no justice.
"Please," she begged softly, her eyes like pools of clouds and mist and sorrow, a quiet sort of pleading that always turned out to be the most potent.
He resisted with all he had, but eventually caved. He couldn't say no when she begged like that. "Fine. Okay," he agreed. He looked pointedly at Matt, pointing two fingers at his own eyes and jabbing them at the doctor.
Matt nodded submissively, not saying a word.
And so, Kohaku waved to his sister and painstakingly made for the clinic door. He'd barely walked two feet out into the open when a loyd explosion sounded, followed by a rain of purple glitter. Kohaku instinctively swore.
Oops... My protag is a jerk... Again
I read and reread this and made a thousand billion changes to produce this thing that I'm proud of. I hope it wasn't too much character being thrown at you. I mean, it was a lot to introduce, even with... How many was it? 5 people? Dang.
Oh, and I'm sorry if you feel like your character is being painted in a bad light. In truth, I love all of the characters you've given me and I've had so much fun building onto their personalities and really giving them life. Kohaku just assumes the worst in everyone, you see. I'm setting myself up for a learning situation - Kohaku will slowly become more friendly, even though he thinks he's incapable of doing so.
Btw I think the segment with Matt and Olivia was too fun to write xD I was playing with their dynamic and I felt like that just came out. Wow. Matt ended up like Alex from Magical Melody... With a slight OCD problem. And he apparently never takes care of his hair so it's all asdfghjkl
If you thought that scene was... Eh, a bit much (?) then tell me! I always take in criticism like that and usually go in to rework things. Since you all are the readers, it gives me a perspective from someone who hasn't been delving into the same piece for a while.
and oLIVIA IS Like my new Iris *heart* no worries, she definitely has redeeming qualities and when I write for Yui (it'll happen... Sometime) those will shine like... a dIAMOND
Oh and the explosion isn't random it was caused by a known factor. *cackles*
And if you've read so fAR THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU AND I WOULD KISS YOU BUT THAT'D BE WEIRD SO I WON'T DO THAT
*・゜゚・*:.。..。.:*・'(*゚▽゚*)'・*:.。. .。.:*・゜゚・*
