Chapter 12: On the Surface
"You seem distracted today."
Haru away from the window and down to her bag. "I'm fine. Just... a little bit nervous."
That was an understatement. Ever since she had found that photograph she had started to question what she had taken for granted for all those years. Asking her mother had done little help, and she hadn't yet plucked up the courage to tell Baron that she might not be an only child.
"How many times have you flown?" Baron asked, incorrectly taking this to be the source of her nerves.
"Once," Haru returned. "And that time wasn't in a plane." She smiled unsurely. "Don't you remember it?"
She heard his smile in the response. "Vividly."
Haru had taken her place on the plane – she had been one of the first in so she had some time to wait before they took off. Airports, she had discovered, required a lot of sitting around doing nothing. They had made it through security with little incident – although Haru had tried not to smile when they asked her whether she had anything to declare... she had checked the list; there was no mention of having to declare living cat figurines so she hadn't found it necessary to mention Baron – and now here they were. Waiting for the plane to take them far away from their home.
"Thanks for coming along," she whispered to Baron. "I know you were going to Kinkan anyway, but thanks for taking this route."
"It's fine."
"Are you okay in there though? Can you breathe?" After a dubious moment, she added, "Do Creations even need to breathe?"
"In our flesh state, it's greatly preferable," came the response.
"So when you're wood?"
"Wood doesn't have lungs."
"Oh." She peered into her bag. "Would you be more comfortable if your wooden state then?" She started to realise how little she knew about Baron's status as a Creation. "Are you aware of anything when you're wood or is it like sleeping? Do you dream?"
She suddenly became aware of a form to her side. With unsteady dread she looked up to her left to see a large, middle-aged, balding man sitting beside her. His expression showed he had heard her talking.
Unnerved, she plastered a wide grin on her face that was bordering on ridiculous, but her mind could do little else. "I... I ... I was..."
Any helpful reasons fled her mind.
"Um... talking to myself..." she finished lamely.
The man stared at her a few seconds longer, then took out a newspaper and snapped it open before his face.
'Oh boy...' Haru thought glumly, 'and I'm going to be sitting next to him for the entire journey...'
ooOoo
'Who even listens to this music?' Haru mentally demanded as she flicked through the music channels on the screen before her. Several hours had gone by since the start of the trip, and now she was finding herself woefully bored. She made an indistinguishable noise in her throat and irritably returned to the entertainment menu. 'I just hope there's something more interesting in the film section...'
The man beside her hadn't tried to make any conversation – but that was fine with Haru. He didn't look like the type of person to hold a conversation with a stranger anyway; especially not a young woman who he'd walked in talking to her bag.
She skimmed through the film section, which consisted mainly of movies that were out in the cinema currently. Needing something to take her mind off her own problems, she clicked on a promising looking film. Some type of fairytale classic twist. Once or twice she peered down into her bag that she kept to her side, almost as if to check that Baron was still there; her hand twisted tightly around the bag's strap.
Halfway through the film, she found her eyes shutting of their own accord. Giving up all fight to remain awake, she allowed herself to fall into slumber.
After what only felt like a few seconds later, she awoke. The sky outside was dark – whether it was because they were travelling over time zones or because she had actually slept for quite a while, she wasn't sure. The movie had finished, so it had been over an hour at the least.
Haru's hand moved automatically down to her side, to where her bag was. To her horror, she found only empty space. She jumped up.
"My bag! Where is it? Who's taken it?"
She turned to her neighbour, who was still hidden behind his newspaper.
He didn't react to her screeches.
Haru became frustrated, scared. "Listen to me; who's taken it? It's important!"
The newspaper remained a barrier between the two of them. One page was idly flicked across. So he was awake.
"Listen to me!" Haru demanded. "Someone's taken my bag... someone's taken Baron!"
Another page was casually turned.
"Take your head out of that stupid paper!" Haru snapped. She tore the newspaper away. "You've got to listen to–" She made a choking sound in her throat on seeing her neighbour.
His face... his face was no longer human. His previously bald head was covered in an iridescent layer of black feathers; the same feathers that flowed over his face and along his arms. His previously human hands that held the newspaper had morphed into long, midnight-coloured wings.
He turned his blood-red eyes to her.
"Yes?" His voice was distorted... she hadn't heard him speak before but surely no... no human sounded like that. There was an undercurrent growl that twisted his speech into a gravelly, gross imitation of a human voice. "You want something?"
Haru screamed and stumbled back, her back hitting the window. Abruptly other heads peered round to see what the commotion was. More raven heads glared at her; their red eyes accusing and their beaks releasing a cacophony of raven laughter.
Whimpering, Haru turned away; her eyes trying to find refuge in the plain blackness of the night sky. But even as she watched, a seething black mass rushed alongside the side of the plane. The black cloud twisted and mutated until the vague outline of a bird's body could be made out; the thinner – but no less black – part of the shadow curved back to give the wings. The shadows at the front were still twisting and spinning, but were growing more organised as the seconds passed; slowly being refined down into a beak and head shape.
Bright, green eyes appeared; staring straight at her. Familiar, green eyes. Green eyes surrounded in a sea of black feathers.
"Baron..."
Then the green dissolved into a red; the same shadowed blood-red as every other raven on the plane. The face was fully defined and those hateful eyes burned into her.
The beak curved into a wicked smile.
A voice that pierced Haru's ears and mind forced its way to her.
"Release me..."
The bright lights of the plane snapped before her; Haru was suddenly awake and back in reality. A half scream escaped her lips and she shot up, her eyes wide and diluted.
"She's awake!"
"Miss, are you okay?"
Haru blinked. Her seat was surrounded by passengers and staff, all wearing the same worried expression. Feeling a little bit claustrophobic, she formed barely discernible words
"Give her some space; she can hardly breathe..."
"What..." Haru stuttered. Her hand moved to her side; the bag was still there. Partially reassured, she looked around, still slightly dizzy. "I mean... what...?"
"You were having a nightmare, Miss," one of the attendants said politely. That same look of worry remained.
"You were screaming something terrible," a passenger in the seat in front of her added. "We tried to wake you up, but..."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm..." She gulped back whatever response she had been going to say and tried to return her complexion to a less pallid colour. "Well, I'm awake now." Everyone continued to stare. "I'm fine," she lied. "Just... a little shaken. Was I saying anything?"
"Well... most of the time you were just screaming," the same attendant as before said. "But you were screaming about something important having been taken..."
"There was something about no one listening to you too," the lady in front of her put in helpfully. "And then you whimpered something, but we didn't catch it."
"And then you woke up."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I suppose I shouldn't have been watching that movie before going to sleep," Haru said, trying to make her comment light, even a little humorous. "That'll teach me." She waved off any other worried remarks. "Honestly, I'm okay now. Thank you though."
Eventually she was given the peace she desired and found time to think over what had happened.
'I've had nightmares like that before... but I've never screamed in my sleep. When I had that nightmare on the train, I didn't scream. Hiromi would have commented on it. Something's making my dreams worse...'
Her hand had slipped into her bag with tiredness; to her muted surprise, she felt a gloved hand rest comfortingly against the back of her palm. She jumped, having forgotten Baron's presence momentarily, and withdrew her hand out of the bag.
"Return to wood," she hissed into the bag and zipped it up with one swift smooth movement. She placed the bag on the floor and tucked her feet onto the chair. She couldn't bring herself to meet those green eyes just yet.
Some deep, irrational part of her still feared she would see red.
"I'm sorry, Baron," she whispered, although her voice was so quiet that he couldn't possibly hear it. She closed her eyes, squeezing out small tears of fright. She thought back to what the other passengers and attendants had said. And she didn't need to be a genius to guess what word it was she had whimpered.
She just wasn't sure whether Baron had caught it.
ooOoo
"...and this is the room you will be in for the next fortnight." The young teacher, who was acting as Haru's guide, opened the door and showed Haru inside. The brunette entered a dimly lit room, with a bed with a ladder up to it – since it was like a bunk bed in design except it lacked the additional bed beneath – and a set of stairs to the floor, since the door was a few feet lower than the actual floor. The roof slanted down to frame a window; the roof being patterned with beams and arcs reminding Haru that the room was on the top floor.
"This is lovely," Haru said automatically. "I'll... be... settled in... in no time..." she huffed as she dragged her suitcase up the stairs; her hand luggage slung over one shoulder.
"Here, let me help." The teacher took the other end of her suitcase and levered it onto the floor level. "Will you be able to find your way down to the dining hall for breakfast tomorrow?"
Haru grinned. "I'll be sure to set out early in case I get lost. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Haru hesitated with the suitcase in one hand. "By the way, do you remember another teacher called Naoko Yoshioka? She may have had a different name at the time."
The teacher frowned. "Not off the top of my head. When was she here?"
"About sixteen years or so. Perhaps less. I think she used to be a student here before then too."
"I haven't been here that long. You might do better asking one of the older staff members here."
"Oh. Well, thank you anyway."
You're welcome; I'm just sorry I couldn't help. Well, enjoy your stay."
"Will do," Haru called as the door swung shut behind the woman. Smiling a little after the warm welcome she had received, she walked across the room, past her bed, and dumped her bag on the table. She left it there and opened the windows, finally allowing some air into the dusty room.
"How many stairs were there?" Baron clambered out of the bag, looking a little dishevelled after his long stint of being stuck in Haru's luggage.
Haru turned around. "We're on the second floor. Anyway, you weren't the one having to lug a suitcase up both flights of stairs."
"No, but I was the one sitting in there for the entire trip," Baron replied, motioning a tad disdainfully to the bag.
"You were the one who offered to come," Haru reminded him. She walked over to the table and peered at the layer of dust. "This room looks forgotten," she noted, quickly moving the conversation onto something safer. "I mean, my room looks messy at times, but this looks hardly lived in." She blew away the top layer of dust, inadvertently sending it into Baron's face. "Oh... oops? I'm sorry."
Baron attempted to lightly brush off the offending dust, but made little comment to it. "Haru, what happened back there on the plane?"
Haru gave a wide-eyed innocent expression. "What do you mean?" She didn't want to talk about this if she could avoid it.
"You know what I mean. The nightmare."
Haru tried to laugh; it came out as a sort of strangled cough. "Oh, that? That was nothing. Like I said, I probably shouldn't have been watching that film when I fell asleep."
"You were screaming," Baron said flatly, his emerald eyes betraying his worry.
"It was a vivid nightmare," Haru returned equally flatly.
"What about?"
"Huh?"
"What was the dream about?"
"Nothing important."
Baron tilted his head impatiently. "What was it about?" he repeated.
Haru moved away, picking up her suitcase and dragging it unceremoniously beside the ladder for her bed. "Why does it matter?" she asked back irritably. "It was just a dream."
"...it was just – just a nightmare. Just a dream..."
"Haru, does, "Listen to me; who's taken it? It's important" sound familiar to you?" Baron demanded.
"Why should it?"
"That was what you were yelling. What was it that you had lost?"
"I can't remember," Haru lied. "And if I can't remember, it can't have been that important, can it?"
"It sounded like it was at the time."
"Logic is lost in dreams."
"Often dreams have some gleam of truth all the same."
"Yeah, well not this one," Haru huffed.
"Haru, something distressed you and–"
"Really? You don't say? Baron, just take my word for it that I'm fine. Or, even better, forget all about what happened. I don't want to talk about it!" she snapped. Her hand luggage was unceremoniously thrown down on the suitcase, quickly followed by her coat.
Baron had to resist gritting his teeth together at the brunette's stubborness. "Haru, why won't you tell me what happened back there?"
Haru paused, the tension curling up into an uncomfortable ball in her stomach. "Maybe because it's personal," she said tightly, her voice now losing a little of its bite for coldness instead. "I don't have to tell you everything that goes on in my life; I survived pretty well before you turned up, and I can carry on doing so. You came here to check the place; I came here to discover what I can about my past. We've got our separate purposes and maybe you should remember that." She reclaimed her coat from the top of her suitcase. "I'm going out to explore this place. See you later."
Baron watched the door slam shut behind Haru; a sorrowful expression making itself painfully present on his feline features.
"If it's got nothing to do with me, then why did you say my name?" he whispered.
ooOoo
A/N: Anyone recognise the room Haru is staying in?
