Hurt
The colors swam before her eyes as weaving hands mechanically spun the individual strips together, the view seeming to appear far-off distanced and fuzzy. The absentminded girl sighed heavily, and could not help her thoughts from flickering over to the handsome foreign boy that had stayed at her house the night before. She wondered what business he had with the prince, and why he was taking so long with the visit, and then played with the idea that maybe he would come back and see her one last time prior to returning to his own country. Crisp, sharp knocks jolted Milyna to awareness, and she instantly dropped her basket to hold up her skirts as she hurriedly dashed toward the front door.
"Who is it, Milyna?" Her mother called from the kitchen, with water noising about the vicinity, since she was currently washing the dinner dishes in the present late evening hour.
"I don't know, Mama," she answered, and rested her hand on the knob, twisted it and pulled the door open to reveal two shadowed figures standing before her. "…? Um, hello…?"
"Milyna." A low masculine voice spoke, sending familiar tingles down the Indian girl's spine. "It's good to see you again."
"Oh, it's you, Kenji!" She exclaimed excitedly, surging forward to wrap her arms around his upper body, startling the ninja into jerking back and he unwillingly dropped his friend's hand.
"This must be the girl that helped you," the other person remarked with an amused giggle at Milyna's spontaneous reaction to her companion's return. "Aw, you charm so many people, Kenji." She teased lightly; eyes shining mischievously at the uncomfortable look on Kenji's expression as he gently untangled the girl from him and put some distance between them.
"Oh? Who…who's this?" The female host seemed to suddenly realize there was someone standing next to the visiting boy.
"She's a good friend of mine," the mole zoanthrope answered casually, placing his palm on Uriko's shoulder as he glanced at her with affection shrouded in his light brown irises. "Milyna, this is Uriko."
"Hi, nice to meet you," the feline smiled courteously and shook the other girl's hand, trying to ignore the fatigue nagging at her nerves, slowly draining her energy. She blinked several times to clear away the sleepiness threatening to shut her eyes, and had to put her free hand on her friend's arm to steady herself and make sure she would remain standing.
"Y-Yeah, it's nice to meet you too…" Milyna's grip faltered and she released her grasp when she noticed Uriko holding onto the boy's arm. "Um… So, would you two like to come in? It's getting kinda late… do you have a place to stay overnight?"
"Uh, not really…" Kenji admitted, sounding a bit ashamed as he continued, "We were wondering if… if it would be all right with you and your mother if we stayed here in your house for tonight. I'm sorry, we don't mean to impose, but I promise, it won't be a long stay; we'll be gone tomorrow morning, Milyna."
"O-Oh, why, of course you can!" She stammered, feeling happy that he thought of her when he had been presented with that dilemma and she beamed an elated smile in his direction. "Come on in! I'll ask Mama, but I'm sure she'll give you permission. But, um, are you two okay with sleeping in our living room? We only have one couch, so if one of you wants to stay in my room, that's all right with me."
"No, it's all right," the ninja assured her with a half-grin, "I don't mind the living room, and I'm sure Uriko doesn't either. She can have the couch, and I'll take the floor." He looked at his friend, who tilted her head to the side cutely, with a wide smile gracing her lips as she briefly hugged his arm to her form.
"Kenji, you don't have to be that generous," she persuaded him, inwardly joyous that he would be so considerate toward her condition, even though he had his own injuries to be nursed with sleep.
"It's not a problem, don't worry." He shook his head, refusing the proposal. "And Milyna, thank you so much for your hospitality. I honestly don't know what I can do to repay you and your mother."
Oh, you can… The Indian girl managed a partial smile at him, and moved aside to let the pair step into her house, and she shut the door behind them. "Follow me, I'll show you where the living room is. Wait there while I go ask Mama if you can stay over tonight, okay?"
"All right." Kenji nodded in agreement, and helped his friend along as they walked through a short hallway to emerge into a new room that held a single two-cushioned couch. A long red carpet, with different colored patterns were etched into the fuzzy material, laid across the floor, and a tall lamp sat in the corner, gleaming light to liven up the area. Huh, I must have been resting in Milyna or her mother's room this morning; this was where she and I were weaving baskets. He realized, somehow feeling a bit discomforted at the thought of imposing by his bunking in a female resident's bedroom.
"She's nice, Kenji." Uriko remarked with a bright smile as she glanced at her surroundings, perking her cute button nose when she took in all the sights. "Aww, this place is really cute! Everything seems so un-modern, and… foreign. I mean, you'd see a lot more electronics in our houses back… home…" she choked up a bit at the word, then quickly discarded her wounded emotion to hide her yearning.
"Don't feel sad, Uriko." The cobalt-haired teenager murmured softly, lifting his hand up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We'll be home tomorrow, I promise you."
"We're going to miss a day of school," she suddenly acknowledged, and giggled softly. "Not that I'm complaining about that, hehe. But we'll have to call in or something, or else we'll have to explain to Mother, Yugo, and Alice about why we were absent."
"Yeah, let's hope we sound convincing enough to pass for our guardians," he smirked slightly, and slung an arm around her shoulders, then slowly stroked his fingers through her tangled auburn hair.
"Hrmp! I'll have you know that they believed I was Mother when I called before in the past," she grinned and turned her head to the side, facing her friend, and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
"Oh, a truant girl, are you?" Kenji teased lightly, blowing a puff of air into her ear, laughing when he saw his friend giggle at his action. "I never knew there was this side of you."
"Hush!" She punched his arm very gently, then placed a fingertip on his bare chest, and poked him, while murmuring for only him to hear, "Be careful; I got claws and I know how to use them…"
"Oh! Ahem, excuse me…" A voice spoke up from behind the two; they turned around to face the new bystander in the room, and found Milyna standing a few feet away. She gaped at the duo, and since there was now enough light for her to closely inspect their current appearances, she gasped at the sight of the ninja, as he was naked from waist and above. Uriko seemed to be wearing the shirt that was a matched set of his navy blue outfit, and it was buttoned up, only revealing a bit of white skirt encircling her legs, ending at her knees. The Indian girl raised her hand to cover her mouth in surprise, and wanted to inquire of how they got to their battered conditions, but caught a hard, unnerving glint in Kenji's eyes, and changed her mind.
"I'm sorry for interrupting," she apologized with a faint smile, "But I just got back from talking to Mama, and she said it was okay for you two to stay here overnight. Has either of you eaten yet? Are you hungry?"
The Kenpo student felt her stomach growl quietly, and she blushed in embarrassment, ducking her head as she replied tentatively, "Mm, maybe just a little, heh…"
"Yes, I am too." her companion admitted, flushing a bit himself. "I'm sorry, we're imposing so much on you and your mother-"
"Oh, no, don't worry, you're not!" Their host quickly assured them, dismissing the issue with a wave of her hand. "It's been a while since we've had company in our house, so we're both glad to have you here. It sure beats being alone, right?" She pivoted and started to walk off in the opposite direction, gesturing for her guests to follow her. "Come, Mama will serve you both something to eat, and then you can go to sleep if you want."
The pair glanced at each other briefly, then nodded in agreement, and trailed after the girl into her kitchen, grateful for the kind hospitality shown by a complete stranger.
Urgh… I wish she were awake. I need to know what happened, now. Uriko shouldn't be keeping these matters a secret from me anymore.
With the cool night breeze sweeping through his hair, Kenji lifted his chin up to glance at the sky, and the cluttered group of tiny stars winked back at him in response. He shifted his position and raised his knees so that he could wrap his arms around them, leaning comfortably against the stone wall of his host's house behind him. Judging by the current darkness, he guessed it was around midnight, and was unsure of how long it had been since he had finally decided to stop tossing and turning in attempt to fall asleep, get up and walk around. The stealthy teenager had snuck out of the vicinity, contemplated waking his friend up for company, but decided against it, and spent some time sitting by himself outside.
Although the ninja stopped liking the concept of being alone, he appreciated the feeling now, and yet he could not deny the fact that he missed the presence of his zoanthrope compatriot. He direly wanted to find out what information she held in regards to the later incidents that occurred in the palace earlier, after he had gotten knocked unconscious by the rotten, sorry excuse of a prince. Something impacting and serious must have happened, and that made him want to know all the more, but he also liked to respect her decision and wait until she was comfortable enough to tell him. He elicited a sigh of impatience, and tried to soothe the curious daggers poking at his consciousness that urged him to have his answers revealed at that very instant.
"Oh, my… K-Kenji? Is that you out there?"
Is that Uriko? The sixteen-year-old jolted in surprise at the new voice, and silently hoped that the person was who he wanted it to be, while quickly turning to identify the speaker. She stepped out past the front door, kept it half-open behind her, and proceeded forward until she was standing next to him, and he felt a twinge of disappointment. "Oh, hi, Milyna. Couldn't sleep?"
She shook her head. "No. I was napping earlier today, so I don't feel very tired now." She peered at him curiously, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "And how about you?"
Kenji shrugged nonchalantly, keeping his emotions well hidden inside as he glanced at her briefly, and plastered a wry half-grin on his expression. "Heh, I think I may have slept too much the last time I was at your house. I can't sleep a wink now."
"I'm sorry…" she pouted slightly, and ducked her head to emphasis her abashment, tucking her hands behind her back in a show of shyness.
"No, don't you apologize," he insisted, with a sigh of regret. "I should be the one saying sorry for intruding in your home. I mean, I thank you for your generosity and kindness, but I find it amazing that you can trust a stranger so easily, and treat him as if he were a family acquaintance." He smiled fondly. "Your friendliness will get you far in life, and reward you with many new companions."
"Th-thank you," Milyna blushed at his complimenting words, and sneaked a peek at him, chuckling when she noticed he was looking down at the shirt she had given to him to wear for sleep, and had begun to pick at the material. "Y-You know, that was my Papa's shirt."
The ninja glanced up, surprised at her sudden blurt-out, and by the strangeness of her information, but he quickly recovered and nodded sympathetically. "He… Your father, is he on a business trip of some sort? I notice only you and your mother living here…"
She shook her head, and felt her eyes mist up at the mention. "My-my Papa… he left us a few years ago. He ran off to marry another woman in the next closest village east from here. I was only ten when my Mama suddenly had to take care of me by herself, and she always told me that Papa was on vacation, because she hoped that he would come back someday." A sniffle from her drifted into the air. "But he never did…"
"I…I'm sorry for your loss." Kenji took a step toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "It, it must have been hard for you and your mother to adjust to the new situation so abruptly."
She nodded mechanically, and raised her arm to wipe away the tears that had began to slide down her cheeks. "Yes, it was… Mama didn't want to remarry; for fear that this would happen to her again, so it's been just the two of us since Papa left. She barely allows me out of the house, and she won't let me leave this village because she's afraid that I'll meet someone that wants to court me who will do what Papa did to her. Mama wants to find a boy for me, but goodness knows how long that will take, since she works everyday, and doesn't seem to think that I should get married anytime soon."
"Hmm." The mole zoanthrope angled his head slightly. "Well, maybe she's thinking of what's best for you, since you're young right now. I know that my brother wouldn't want me to get married anytime soon either, heh, heh."
"But many of the other girls in our village were married off when they were younger than me!" Milyna exclaimed indignantly, jutting out her chin in defiance. "And besides, I get laughed at and mocked because I'm already sixteen, and I've never even been courted by a boy before."
He nodded empathetically. "I know how that feels. Back at home, I've never really dated anyone before. Or at least, not the kind that meets other people's standards."
"You…you've never courted a girl?" Her widened eyes stared at him in shock. "But, but you're so kind and understanding! And, and not to mention quite handsome too!" Blush crept up on her cheeks at her admission. "Does your brother forbid you from taking girls out?"
"Well, no, as a matter of fact, he encourages me to date. It's just that, I don't feel I have enough time to do so, since I want to concentrate on my school studies, and such." Kenji confessed with a slight shrug. "There's more to life than going out on dates, although I'm sure if you asked some of my fellow school peers, they would say otherwise." He chuckled at the memory of some of his classmates moaning in distress when faced with the possibility of spending a weekend alone at home.
"That's very noble and righteous of you," she commended him, displaying a bright smile at his conscientiousness. "Oh, I bet Mama wouldn't frown upon a boy that wanted to court me if he were like you…"
"I can't say, since I don't know your mother," he replied weakly, coughing a bit in distraction. Then all of a sudden, the Indian girl lurched toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly with her head laid against his chest. He jerked in surprise, but her vice-like grip prevented him from stepping away, and he exclaimed, "Wh-what are you-?!"
"Oh, Kenji, must you go home in the morning?" She cut him off, snuggling closer to his form with a content sigh. "Isn't there the slightest chance that you could stay here? You could live with Mama and I, and we'll take care of you. By the way that she was talking about you, she thinks pretty highly of you, considering the other boys in the past that she's badmouthed before."
"Milyna, I-I can't do that." He refused, shaking his head as he struggled to leave her embrace, while inwardly feeling astonished that he would be asked to consider such an inane proposition. "I have to go back to Japan, I can't just leave my family there, I still need to graduate from school, my life is at home."
"But you would fit in so well here," she insisted, keeping her hold on the boy. "I don't know about what Mama would say, but I think you'd be the perfect one for me to marry when she lets me."
"We don't even know each other…!"
"Well, we can get to know each other! That's why I asked you to stay; over time, it'll be like we've been friends all our lives." Milyna tilted her head up and smiled dazzlingly at him. "Come on, Kenji. This'll work out for the both of us; your brother wants you to date, I want a boy to court me and I like you, can't you see how great it'll be?"
Does everyone here have marriage on the brain or something…?! For a moment, he considered her idea, even though his initiative thought was that she had to be pretty desperate to pick up the first boy that took refuge in her home. If he lived in India with this girl and her mother, then the promise of a marriage would come along with it, and he would not have to worry about growing up without a life partner by his side. And Milyna was a stranger to him, but she had taken a great risk herself by trusting him, taking in a completely foreign to her house, and nursing him back to health. But her scent told him that she was an ordinary human being; if she knew that he was a zoanthrope, surely she would become frightened and would not want to accept him then.
He turned back to glance at her, and found the girl raising herself up on her tiptoes, and leaning her face toward his. "No-!" Kenji told her forcefully, and gripped her arms tightly, pushing them down away from his body, making her stumble back in the momentum. She fell to the ground with a pained cry, and he instantly regretted his action, but then he reminded himself that she was the one that came onto him first. Milyna threw him a rueful glare from her seated position, and slowly arose to her feet, looking at him silently for a few minutes before whirling around, and darting into the security of her house.
The ninja gazed after her retreating figure, guilt pricking his conscience for letting her off so harshly, and yet somewhere inside him, he knew that she deserved such a rejection. He sighed remorsefully, and hung his head as he begun to stroll toward the residence in suit, shutting the door behind him, walking down the short hallway to the living room, where his sleeping quarters was. A sudden gasp broke into the air, coming from some distance to his left, and his attention immediately jerked in the corresponding direction. For a second, he feared that it was Milyna doing something she would regret later, but he discovered that the noise was emitting from the couch, where his friend lay.
"Uhh… no…!" A strangled cry blurted aloud that was coupled with rustles of movement and distressed moaning, and his heart clenched in concern.
"Uriko…" the dark-haired teenager breathed, and rushed over to her location, crashing to his knees when he descended to her level, and grabbed a hold of her shoulders with both hands, shaking her hard. "Uriko, wake up!"