Stage 9: Whispering Wings

Part Two: Old Friends and New

Tsume's eyes went wide, as he couldn't believe who he was looking at.

At the foot of the back door stood a girl, a girl of eighteen..maybe. But on the side, she still looked very pretty to be eighteen years old. She looks a bit on the childish side with the huge clear brown eyes, and the short red hair, one lock of her hair tied into a ribbon on the left side of her head. For a very young girl, she seems quite classy with a mini skirt, striped tee, black chocker, black vest, and high boots on.

She stood there quite still, looking pretty angry with the keys dangling around her finger. She wore rainbow-patterned nail polish on her fingernails.

"No, NO!! This can't be...this is not possible!!" Tsume said, almost losing it, "S-S-Sayo?!"

Sayo gasped as she noticed Tsume stuck in the cage, "Tsume?! It's never anyday that I find you trapped inside a cage. It's been a while...Tsu-kun."

Mika's eyes widened, "Wait, you know this chick?" He started to whisper to Tsume, "She's hot!!"

"Psst!!" Sayo looked past Tsume and waved towards Mika, "I'm over here! I can hear everything you're saying!!"

She looked past her shoulder and used a finger to push a lock of red hair away from her face. She smiled big when she looked at Tsume with those gazing chocolate brown eyes, "So Tsu-kun, how did you get yourself into this cage this time? Let me see, did you break down another train? Oh oh! Or...did you break into a jewelry store and stole valuable jewels?? Or did you--,"

"WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP FOR THE NEXT FEW SECONDS PLEASE?!?!?" Tsume replied, completely cutting her off.

She took a step back, looking all appalled. "Geez, what's with you? You were never anything like this years ago. You sound just like him."

Tsume scoffed, "No, I was never anything like him. I was never like anybody. I never even liked stupid, snobby people like you."

Sayo looked away quickly, "I'm sorry then Tsu-kun. I was actually transporting you to a safer place, to my house that is, where you don't get your fur shaved off. But if you insist so much, I would be happy to take you to that hell of a place right now."

Tsume stood there and gulped. He and Mika watched Sayo walk outside and to the front of the truck. As she put the keys into the ignition, she heard Tsume say something from behind. She walked back to the back door and said, "What do you want now?"

"Uhhh..." Tsume started, "On second thought, I'd rather shut up and let you take me to your place instead of hell."

She looked at Tsume blankly for a moment, but then she smiled, "Well, I never thought you'd ask." She jumped out the back door again and turned around again, she looked at both of them, "Well, you two look like you need some food fast, so, we won't be able to reach my house until two hours. You could handle two hours, right?"

"Well hurry!! I'm starving over here!!" Mika cried tearfully. All Tsume could do was roll his eyes.

"Just shut the hell up for two hours and you should be fine." Tsume eyed Mika sharply, as Mika closed his lips tight. Sayo giggled as she turned her keys into the ignition again, and then they took off on the dirt road.

- - - - - - -

The sun glistened so brightly the following morning, as Toboe continued to watch the leaves fall gently towards the ground.

Winter's is making it's corner pretty fast this year... Toboe thought to himself, I'm going to miss this nice weather. I hate the cold.

But then, Toboe remembered the cross-shaped scar on Anari's stomach from last night, and he couldn't get it off his mind.

But, how could a girl with smooth skin such as Anari's...get a crazy scar like that? Toboe thought about that for a moment and then he started to blush like crazy, It's just not normal!!

"Toboe?" He heard Anari calling from downstairs. "Hurray up! Your breakfast's getting cold!!"

Toboe blinked for a split second and then looked at his clock, "Crap! It's twelve-thirty!!"

He grabbed his old clothes and then looked for his belt. He rushed quickly and turned around to see hungry crows taking a good look at his belt, eyeing them enviously. Toboe glared at the birds and then he said, "Hey!! That's my belt!! Give it back!!"

The crows didn't open up their beaks, they continued to pull and flap their wings simultaneously. Toboe couldn't take the pressure, he hollered, "Damn! Just give me back my belt!! I don't care if you guys are hungry or not! And my belt is not really that appetizing!!"

Just then, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs as Toboe spun around quickly, he realised that Anari was on her way right now as he heard her voice in a short distance, "Toboe?" she said, "Are you okay in there?"

Toboe started panicking, as he looked at the crows, "Oh dear God, give me back my belt! I can't go elsewhere with my pants falling down here and there!!"

He gripped onto his belt tightly, as the crows wouldn't budge, just then he heard something snap as he saw Anari in the room. She saw what was going on, and ran over to shoo off those nasty crows. The crows were shocked as they flew off into the distance quickly.

Toboe looked at his belt with disdain, "Awww....my belt broke..."

Anari walked towards Toboe and she giggled, "But that's ridiculous! Why would a flock of crows would want to eat your belt?"

He looked at Anari like she was crazy, but then he looked down at the floor and sighed, "This is what I mean. This is what I mean by crows picking on me. They always find someway to make fun of me..."

Anari laughed, "No, that's probably not it at all." She continued on, "They are just crows! They are just fickle to everybody. Not just you, I mean, when I used to live on Falls Island, I used to remember losing my journal occasionally, and the crows end up toying with it. I didn't mind. Besides, all crows eat is fruits and seeds and anything of that value. Not belts."

Toboe looked into Anari's eyes again, "I guess...I just don't understand the crows emotions after all..." His eyes began to widen, "Wait, Anari, you said you used to live on Falls Island correct?"

She blinked for a moment, then responded briefly, "Yeah, I used to live of Falls Island...why do you ask?"

Toboe shrugged as he sloutched back down on his bed, "Well, " he started, "I was born on Falls Island too."

"Really?!" Anari answered surprisingly, "How come I didn't meet you there on the island? I know almost everyone on the island, how come I didn't meet you?"

Toboe closed his eyes for a moment, then re-opened them, "Well, I used to travel alot with my dad, but..." he stopped, and couldn't continue on. He made a fist, and gripped tightly to his bedsheets.

Anari knew this was coming. She placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay Toboe? Do you feel sick?"

He looked back at Anari again and with a smile this time, "It's nothing. It's probably best if I don't finish that story."

"Alright then..." Anari said smiling, she added, "It's probably none of my business anyway."

Toboe continued to look as his belt with a depressed look on his face, he said, "Well...looks like I can't go anywhere for a while once my belt is fixed."

His belt was torn, with a huge gaping hole scratched in the center of the leather piece that attached the metal belt together. The metal piece was dented too, and couldn't budge. Anari took his belt and gave it a good look. She widened her eyes and suddenly had a brainstorm, as a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Toboe?" She said, "Could you come with me for a second? I have something to show you in my room."

"Alright." Toboe said, gripping his pants with one hand, "I hope it's not long, because I don't want to go into town looking like this."

"No you won't." Anari smiled, "Trust me."

- - - - - - -

"So, tell me something, how did you end up here in the first place?" Sayo said briefly, as she carefully took a potroast out of the oven. Mika and Tsume eyed that meaty food, with their mouths hanging open and drooling.

Mika couldn't stand it, as Sayo placed the potroast on the table, Mika took dibs on it and took his knife and fork and dug deep into whatever he can grab. Besides the potroast, there was a bowl full of biscuits, butter, glasses of beer, sweet candy apples, chicken kabobs--you name it. It was like Thanksgiving all over again, but no turkey.

"Well..." Tsume began, slowly ripping a piece of a biscuit and shoving it into his mouth, "That's none of your damn business."

"WELL!" Sayo hollered in response. As Tsume was about to take another bite of his mouthwatering biscuit, Sayo swiped the biscuit out of his hand and then she pulled up the nearest chair beside her. She crossed her arms and looked at Mika, who was still eating to his heart's content, and then at Tsume who stood there, all dumbfounded.

"Okay Tsu-kun, let me make this very clear shall we?" Sayo said, toying with a half-eaten biscuit, "I was assigned to take you to that place where they call 'hell' just so the Leader will execute you for good, for all the crimes of theft charges and train crashes, all were caused by you. But actually no, I refused to take you there and took you to a safe place where you guys could hide and have some good food and a nice place to sleep. An inn where nobody knows it excists. And I thought that maybe it would be nice to see my old packmate, Tsume, after five years again, and not have him killed. I cooked you guys a decent meal, because you didn't eat anything for weeks and what did you say to me? That I don't deserve to get to know what's going on? Don't underestimate me Tsume, because I always get what I want."

"And you know something else?" Tsume said with a grin on his face, "You've got alot of nerve to talk to me with that little tone of yours. Fine, if you insist, I will tell you what's going on."

Sayo smiled and handed him back his biscuit, "Great then. Tell me what's been happening to you too."

"Alright then," Tsume said, playing with the other end of his fork, "It was very late at night when this whole charade began. Toboe disappeared from my apartment back in Freeze City, as there was some girl with him at the time. I thought at first this was her doing, but she said that 'Toboe ran out and didn't come back' so I told her I was going to get the details later, but in the meantime, we saw Toboe outside, being ambushed. I had to beat those assholes up again, as there was an angel coming out of the blue and I was knocked out cold and bleeding pretty hard. I heard Toboe crying so hard and he thought I was dead, but then that's all that I remember."

Mika stopped eating the potroast for a minute, and then he added, "After when he passed out, I took his friend and the girl with him to safety. They should be back at the apartment right about now."

Sayo said, taking a spoonful of potroast onto her plate, "What an interesting story." She smiled, "You two should turn it into a novel. By the way, I've got another question I wanted to ask, who was that girl you mentioned in this little dilemma of yours? It's like your not treating her with respect."

"I don't know!" Tsume said aloud, "I think her name was Ria or something..."

"Not Ria!" Mika said, with potroast stains all over the corners of his mouth, "It's Anari. Her name's Anari Kiya."

"Anari Kiya..." Sayo repeated her name over and over, "That's one unique name. Anari Kiya...there's a ring to it. She seems like an interesting character to me."