Oh, and I put a few OCs in here, so don't be sad if you didn't get picked, okay?
Edit: Well, had to go somewhere, so sorry about this being 2 days late. Um...have a great 2007!!
Chapter
10:
A
Conversation on "The Gate"?
Mitsuke prodded down the hallways as the other people headed towards dinner. Mitsuke didn't feel any hungry, considering she was going to see Mrs. Curtis about something…She gulped, and began to turn a corner and walk into another hallway. Everything seemed so vast…and dizzying for some reason. 'Was it supposed to be hazy?' Mitsuke thought as she stopped in front of a door and looked at it. It was a dark colored type of wood that was glossed to shiny perfection. Now Mitsuke tried to regain her composure and grabbed the brass handle and turned it, opening the door to the inside room, and the waiting lady.
"Oh, hello," Izumi started, "I take it you're Ms. Ikaoru?"
"Um, y-yes…," Mitsuke answered, taking a seat in front of Izumi. "Is something wrong? Am I in trouble?"
"No, not at all…" Mitsuke blew a mental sigh of relief. "but I must ask you something important."
"Something…important?" Izumi nodded, looking at her even though she was facing a different direction.
"Ms. Ikaoru…"
"Mitsuke, ma'am."
"Mitsuke…do you know why you can do alchemy without the circles?" Mitsuke pondered the question before looking back up at Izumi. 'How'd she know Ican do alchemy without circles?'
"Now that you mention it, no. Why?" Izumi's eyes darkened.
"Do you know about the 'Gate to the Other Side'?" Mitsuke got a bad, ominous feeling about the direction this conversation was going.
"…Yes," she answered after a moment of hesitation. Izumi then placed a pale hand on her shoulder and looked straight into her green eyes.
"Tell me, Mitsuke, have you seen it?" she inquired, as if hoping she hadn't. The Asian girl gulped, and her hands and feet were starting to tremble as she thought of a way to answer Izumi's question. "Well, Mitsuke, have you?"
"…Yes." Mitsuke's emerald eyes were starting to blur as tears started to form in them; pretty soon Izumi became a mass of swirly black, white, and pale skin color. Mitsuke bit her lip, trying to hold the tears that tried to flow from them.
"Mitsuke, what did you do?"
"I-I-I d-did human…tr-transmutation…," the girl stammered, her cheeks feeling hot and full of guilt. "On my brother." Mitsuke felt so ashamed now, of what she had done…the secret she wanted to keep locked up so long finally broke out…
Izumi stared at her, feeling poignant at the least, but didn't show it on her face. She asked why, towards the girl who was feeling guilty of doing forbidden transmutation. Mitsuke bit her lip, trying to find her way through this, but she knew Izumi wasn't the type of person to give up.
"Your secret will be safe with me…I'm just a woman who monitors students like you."
"My brother died when he was only twelve years old. I felt too much grief so I looked through textbooks and textbooks of human transmutation to find the process when I finally realized it. Doing all the steps, I did it…and I created a h-homunculus…"
"You saw it…What did it take from you?" 'Take from me?' Mitsuke said in her mind. 'It was supposed to take something from me?'
"Take…something from…me? I don't think…it did…" Izumi stared at her with shocked eyes. 'It took nothing from this girl?' The lady mused.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah…Was it supposed to take something from me?" Izumi didn't answer her question, but instead told her she could leave now. As soon as the door closed, Mitsuke sighed. That was like 30 minutes of torture and interrogation; she held a hand up to her head to seal the images of that faithful day away in her mind.
Regaining her composure, Mitsuke began to stride down the hallway, passing some students on their way to their dorms. She spotted Chiyori walking in the same direction she had only about thrity minutes ago, and saw that Chiyori too was nervous. Entering the dorm hallway, she clutched the handle and opened the door, revealing the interior. It was like it was always, except some girls were either on their bed resting or doing homework. Mitsuke got ready for the night and sat in her bed, pondering why Izumi even asked her those questions.
"Hey, Mitsuke, so how was the conver--?" Harayou was cut off by mitsuke's hand over her mouth.
"Shh! Not so loud! I don't want everybody here knowing about that!"
"Why?' the blonde-haired girl asked through muffled noises.
"There are some things I don't want out in the mainstream. Let's put it at that." Mitsuke let go of Harayou, and Harayou brushed herself off.
"Okay, fine, but get this: Midoriko wants to join the bet!" the girl whispered. A small growl emerged from the room. Everybody stared at Midoriko, who looked back at them with her emotionless grey eyes.
"What? I didn't do anything!" Everybody returned to their business after that.
"Geez…Harayou, no more betting on friendship, okay?" Then something flying through the air came right at Harayou and Mitsuke's heads.
"Heads up!" Kri yelled, trying to get them to dodge, which they did. It was a flying pillow they had dodged, and the pillow hit Kat right on her sleeping head, shocking her out of her sleep.
"Okay, who threw this?!" Kat asked, clutching the pillow tremendously. Everybody pointed at Kri, who began to run, with Kat hot on her tail.
"Hey, who's causing all that noise in there?!" came Pinako's voice through the door. Everybody gasped.
"Quick, grab them!" Emilie yelled, rushing after Kat.
"Somebody grab water!" Mitsuke told them, and Harayou followed the order, grabbing some water and dumping it on Kat's head, which slowed her down. Sarah jumped out of the way to avoid having her guitar smashed in and Sakura jumped back to avoid having her diary torn apart. The room was a cataclysmic mess, pillows and blankets everywhere and a sopping wet girl, too. When Pinako finally opened the door…it was as if nothing had happened.
All the pillows and blankets were on their respective beds and each bed held a girl. Even Kat was dry and "asleep".
"Oh, I guess it was nothing…Darn my old age…," Pinako said, closing the door behind her. In the room, somebody giggled and snickered, making up for a few laughs before it was lights out.
Well, I finished…Happy Holidays everybody!