Action begins…
Alice in a Web
It was night. I was alone in Runo's bedroom again. Mr. and Mrs. Misaki were having an interview with a girl about working in the café. Runo was doing her Saturday night shift as usual. I liked being alone, just not at night. I always imagine that I see really scary things at night. You might call me a wimp but-
It was a hot day and it was extremely stuffy in Runo's room. I opened the window beside the sofa, Runo had made up into a bed. A harsh breeze whipped my hair into my face and I immediately tried to close the window again.
'Argh, it's jammed!' I said and pushed with all my strength, it eventually slammed shut, a little spider crawled in. I swatted at it with my hairbrush. I hated spiders even more than the dark.
***
Alice swatted at the spider. 'Now my hair's all messed,' she said, turning to the mirror and began brushing it ferociously, ripping out strands of red hair. It hurt a lot but she ignored it. She was just frustrated from the heat, she dropped the brush on the ground. Alice wanted to scream, she was usually not like this. Why am I so tense? It's like I know something is going to happen!
Her body had been all uptight for the whole day, she had been in a bad mood. Runo was worried about her and sent her up to bed early but now she only felt more frustrated. Now her whole body was tingling. Danger. Danger is nearby. She didn't know why she felt like this.
Alice bent down and grabbed the brush, when her face returned to the mirror, she let out a scream. There was a spider on her back- but she hadn't even felt it crawling up her shoulder. It was bigger than the small spider from before, in fact it was bigger than a tarantula. She screamed and started to try to bat it off. The spider reared up at her and sank its fangs into the palm of her hand.
***
The pain was terrible but it was all over in one second. As soon as the pain disappeared my vision became blurry. I could just see that my hand had turned a sickly green colour, it felt kind of numb. I gripped it tightly and suddenly out of the shadows, thousands of spiders came crawling… of all shapes and sizes. The smallest was about the size of the tip o a pencil, the biggest, the size of my head.
I wanted to scream but no sound came out. I just opened and closed my mouth like some sort of frog. Help! Somebody!
The door banged open and two girls came rushing in, my vision was blurred so I couldn't see who they were. I could make out Runo's bright blue hair.
***
I rushed into the room with Runo. Without a thought, the shruiken flew from my hand and hit one of the moving objects. They were gone within a flash but one had not been fast enough. The shruiken had sliced it straight in half but we could both make out that it was some sort of giant spider. Runo took one look at the spider and flinched, but I walked calmly towards it and picked it up. As soon as my fingers made contact, the whole thing shriveled into dust. I watched it float away from my hands, dreaming…
A young girl with silver hair. She looked exactly like me except with silver hair…
A silver bow stained with blood…
Cherry blossoms floating on a surface of still blue water…
Sky…
Sky!
'Sky, Wake up!' Runo shouted from somewhere far away.
I shot up. Alice was lying on the bed. She was OK now, Mr. and Mrs. Misaki were bending over her, muttering something.
'W-Wha- ,' I said, there was something warm against my leg. I put my hand inside the pocket of my dress , I felt something make a metallic ting. Probably another one of those acupuncture needles I used for paralyzing people.
I pulled out a short ninja dagger, marked with a black cloth at the ready incase of attack. 'I never knew you carried weapons around,' Runo said, her face looked funny when she was shocked. Her mouth was wide open and her jade green eyes bulged. I laughed softly- 'Well, then good, because a ninja is supposed to keep his or her weapons hidden.'
'Wait, you're a ninja?' Runo said, 'Shoulda known.' She kept staring at me suspiciously and when I made a move toward Alice she stepped in front of me, blocking my way. 'Don't you even think of touching her,' she said angrily.
'Fine then,' I said, shrugging, 'but you're not the only person who cares about Alice-chan you know.'
She continued to glare at me, I smiled right back. 'You know Runo, you could make a great shinobi, never trusting easily. That's what sensei said was most important.'
Runo struggled to find words and I took the time to observe Alice's hand.
'Will she be alright?' Night asked. He was my darkus dragonoid.
The Misakis bent over me, watching anxiously. 'She'll be fine, but this will be painful. I'm sorry, Alice, but we have to extract that poison immediately and we don't have any painkillers-'
I raised the dagger. 'Wait- stop, what are you do-' Runo began but I had already stabbed the dagger straight through the poisoned wound. The Misakis all flinched. Runo and Mrs. Misaki screamed. Fortunately Alice was unconscious and would not have felt the pain. But when she wakes up it was going to hurt like hell.
'What was that for?' Runo shouted angrily, attempting to knock the dagger out of my hand.
'Stop! ' I said, 'I'm sorry but Alice will die if you continue to interrupt like this!'
I carefully tied some moon herbs around her hand to lesson the pain a little and wrapped it tightly in bandages. 'There, all done.'
Runo immediately grabbed Alice's hand and observed it carefully. She didn't trust me, she thought I had done something wrong to her. I wiped my dagger on the bed sheet, staining it red.
***
'Report.'
'My lord, the girl doesn't prove to show any powers.'
'But you said-'
'I did, she does process the power entrusted by Kannon.'
'But she survived.'
'It was just a little attack. She was saved by the brat ninja.'
'Sky Marakura?'
'Yes.'
'Hmmm- looks like we need to keep a close eye on her too.'