AA/N: This story hasn't been updated in months (forgot how many) but I'm finally going to update it. Okay, I'm going to spill the beans on who the fourth person in the love rectangle is: Botan!
Chapter 8: Against Mizuki
Mizu can't believe what was happening at the moment in time. Here she was, worrying about a missing stranger, trying to forget what happened between her and Shuuichi, remembering that a depressing anniversary was coming up and now she has to worry about a crazy fangirl, who really attacked her with a bunch of other girls, accuse her of beating her up. Wasn't Fumi grateful that Mizuki didn't inform a teacher or anybody else the crime that she had committed? Mizu's fingers were starting to curve slightly, forming a slight circle with them and taking a step toward Fumi right now. She just wanted to release all her sorrows and anger on this particular witch. (Meaning she wanted to strangle her.)
Her arms shook with frustration, she took a step away from Fumi and slowly ascended upon the stairs. She didn't utter a word to anyone in the living room. With a mixture of sadness and anger, she finally reached the landing of the second floor. Mizuki went inside of her room. She didn't know if she wanted to cry or not because she was confused. What was all this happening to her?
Is this some sort of cruel punishment? What exactly did I do wrong? She just rolled over on her bed and burrowed her face in a pillow. Tears stained the light pink pillow as she closed her eyes. Mizu just wanted to escape to dreamland where she could be safe.
Dream
"Where am I?" Mizu asked, looking around the dark atmosphere.
There was only a few available lights underneath her feet, the top of skyscrapers were visible and people were the size of ants to her. To her right, the sun was going back to its slumber; allowing the moon to come out to illuminate the dark city. Mizu's heart pounded heavily against her chest and her breath was caught in her throat. She had never seen the city from up here before. Where am I? Why am I here! Mom! Dad! Onni-chan and grandpa! Where are all of you!
In the dark sky, she tried to run to her family might be.
"You and I are much alike..." a sad voice said.
Mizu stopped in her tracks, her hand over her heart. Her green eyes wide open as she slowly turned around to see who had just said that.
"You don't need to be afraid at all, Mizuki-chan," the sad voice said again.
With a turn of her head, she couldn't see anybody who said that sentence.
"Who are you? Why am I here!"Mizu asked the dark sky.
As she stood atop of a white cloud, she waited for the sad voice to say something again.
"You already asked that question," it said.
The voice was right behind her.
She turned around slowly...
"Wake up, imouto-chan! Hey! Wake up!" Hiiro said, shaking her whole body.
You will NEVER get him! A dangerous voice said in her head. With a surprised cry, Mizu pushed Hiiro to the floor, rushed to the window and looked down. She swung a leg over the side of the open window but Hiiro pulled her body back before she could jump.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Hiiro asked angrily. "Some girl accuses you of beating her up and suddenly, you want to go kill yourself? Are you out of your damn mind!"
"I-I don't know! I just know that I don't want to be alone anymore!" she cried, sobbing onto her brother's shirt.
He didn't say anything, just stroked her back with his hand and tried to soothe his little sister. The only solution in his mind was to let Mizu sleep some more. Hopefully, that would break her out of this depressing spell.
Was I just hearing things or did Hiiro actually yell at me? Who's 'him' that I will never get? Was it Shuuichi and was it really Fumi's voice that I heard? I miss okaa-san and otou-san. I wish they would come back and tell me everything's okay.
"You and I are much alike..." a sad voice said.
Such a sad voice...Whoever it was, why did you say we're so much alike? Is it because we're both sad?
The next morning
"You're in public school now, you're not supposed to be late for school," Hiiro said in his sister's ear.
"Erm...what time is it?" Mizu asked, sleepily.
When Hiiro told what the current time was, Mizu flipped out.
"WHAT! I'm that late!" she yelled, jumping out of the covers.
Once she finished her two-minute shower, she pulled on her school uniform. Unfortunately, she raced out of the house without changing into her school shoes. Now she was racing down the street with pink slippers on her feet. It wasn't until she ran to the school that she realized, "Today's a Sunday!"
"Grr! Onni-chan, you're going to pay for this," she grumbled as she walked back down the street, leading back to her home.
Passersby questioned Mizu's sanity as she angrily talked to herself and walked with her skirt stuck in her panty. Boys whooped and hollered as she walked past them; causing her to be confused. Basically, she looked like she was 'making love' with some guy in an alleyway and didn't bother to dress properly. Since she wasn't so used to the attention, she looked down at the ground with an embarrassed blush. She did feel a bit strange; it was rather cooler down in the derriere department.
"Mizu-chan!" a familiar voice called.
When Mizu looked up at the person, who just called her, she broke into a run. She didn't want to see him at this moment especially since what happened yesterday. Kurama started to chase after the girl with the intention of telling her about her skirt. Mizu thought that he wanted to talk about yesterday.
I don't want to talk to him! Don't let him catch me! Why are so many people concentrating on me today! She thought as several people pointed and laughed at her.
"Mizuki, stop running! I have something to tell you!" Kurama yelled.
"NO! Go away!" she yelled, tears in her eyes now.
"OMPH!" She looked up at the person; she had just bumped into. She got up, bowed politely and blushed while apologized for bumping into him. "I'm sorry for that! It was my fault for not watching where I was going!"
Keiko, Botan and Yusuke looked down at the top of Mizu's head as she continued to apologize. Yusuke just stood in confusion at the girl's extreme politeness while Keiko bent down to gently tell the girl that it was all right. She shot a slight glare at Yusuke, who didn't bother to stop her from bowing so much.
"Konnichiwa, Shuuichi-kun," Botan addressed him.
"Konnichiwa, minna-san (everybody)," Kurama said from behind Mizu.
Mizuki didn't want to face any of these people so she just kneeled, looking at the ground with empty eyes. She felt someone grasp her arm gently and pulled her up from the floor. Still her eyes were locked on the solid pavement.
"Is that girl all right?" Yusuke asked Kurama.
"I think so," Kurama answered, putting an arm around her shoulder so he could support her. Suddenly, it seemed as though her legs turned into jelly. She could hardly stand on her own two feet anymore. All thoughts drained out of her mind as her vision started to blank. It was all dark now. Again, she was trapped in the cold dark city sky.
Someone was sitting on the crescent moon, hanging in the night sky. Mizu could see the person's silhouette.
Somehow, she knew that she was afraid of that person but at the same time, she pitied her. A breeze blew across the sky, Mizu shivered slightly.
"Why...am I here?"
"...because you belong here. You don't belong with him. Only I belong with him," she said.
"By 'him', do you mean Shuuichi-kun? Are you Hasakawa-san?" Mizu asked, her voice quivering.
"Your parents died when you were just a little girl and your heart was broken into a million pieces. You actually thought that they wanted to leave you forever. That's not true. On the night of their car accident, before they died. The one thing that they thought of was...'I'm sorry, Mizuki-chan...I couldn't fulfill our promise of coming back for your birthday'."
Tears automatically ran down her cheeks. She grasped her heart to stop the deep pounding of despair. She gritted her teeth and sniffled. I'm crying like a little girl. "Why are you trying to torture me? You and everybody else, trying to break me down for no reason! I thought that everything would be great since I started going to a public school. Then all these things started to happen. I don't understand why. Is it some sort of punishment because I want to get out of the house for a change?"
"Please wake up, Mizuki-chan," Botan's voice broke through her darkness.
Her eyes slowly opened to see Botan's friendly face. She sat up on Yusuke's couch, groaning and holding her aching head. She rubbed her eyes, looking at the new surroundings. Things were messier in the living room at which Keiko tried to clean. Whenever she came across a particular magazine that Yusuke liked to read, she rolled them all up and whacked him over the head with it. "PERVERT!" could be heard from the other room, followed by an "OUCH!"
"How are you, Mizuki-chan?" Botan asked, smiling.
"Ah...I'm fine but how did you know my name?" she asked.
"Oh, you see, Kur-that is-I meant, Shuuichi told me. You know him from school, ne?" she said.
"Hai," she looked at the blanket, then looked at Botan again. "Gomen, I didn't ask you for your name."
"That's all right. I'd imagine that you'd forget about being polite when you're his special one. My name's Botan by the way," she said, smiling sadly.
"Konnichiwa, Botan-chan. If you don't mind, can I ask you a question?" Mizu said.
"Go ahead," she answered.
"When you said that I was 'his special one', you meant Shuui-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Botan shook her head and giggled nervously. "Actually, forget that I made that comment. It's a very rude and probably inaccurate one."
"Botan-chan, you like-MMPH!" Botan stuffed a white bun into Mizuki's mouth to stifle her.
"SHH!" she put a finger to her lips, looking into the kitchen briefly at the angry Keiko, who was currently whacking Yusuke with more porn magazines. She had to make sure that nobody knew of her feelings. "I don't want anyone to know! Please don't tell anyone." Mizu nodded, Botan took her hand away from her mouth.
"Gomen nasai," she said.
"Sorry for what?" Kurama asked, surprising both the girls.
"Uh-nothing!" Botan immediately said.
"All right then," he said, then turned to Mizu,"Mizuki-chan, are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm all right, Shuuichi-san," Mizuki said. She turned away from their gazes, blushing deeply. "Um...I think I should be going! Thank you for taking care of me!" she said, getting off the couch.
"You're welcome, but aren't you still a little dizzy?" Botan said.
"Nope! Mizuki-chan is just A-OK!" Mizuki tried to say cheerfully.
"FINALLY! Where the hell have you been!" Yusuke voice could be heard from behind her.
When she turned around to look at him, she saw him..."Hiei! There you are!" Botan said.
A/N: This chapter is crap but at least, you all know who's the fourth person of the love rectangle. Mizuki sees Hiei again...What will happen? Who knows until people review. Anybody care to guess who's talking Mizuki in the darkness? Don't feel like doing review replies this chapter, but I will for the next chapter.
