Chapter Seven: Friend in Need is a Friend in Deed

I spent a good amount of the night on the bus. We arrived in Tokyo near daybreak. The bus driver dropped me off "about a block and a half away from a teen-crisis center."

"What's a teen crisis center?" I asked.

"It's like a homeless shelter, only a hell of a lot more cleaner and handles suicidal kids, runaways, kids that got kicked out of their homes, kids looking to get tested for STDs and pregnancies, and for teen parents-to-be and teen parents," said the driver. "Tell them Rick sent you, okay kid?"

'Thank you, Yoshi," I said.

Rick was right, the Teen-Crisis Center was a lot neater than a homeless shelter. Things were well kept, the teens weren't dressed as hobos, and it was a welcoming atmosphere. I felt safe here. I slowly walked over to receptionist, who smiled at me, and then her eyes got big when she saw my baby.

"Um, hello, I see a lot of couples and a lot of mothers come in, but not a lot of single fathers," she said.

"I know, look, can I please get some place to get some sleep?" I asked.

"Hmm, we have one room with a crib open, but be warned, there's another boy in there, okay?" said the woman.

"Oh dear," I said. That might not be good. What was my new "roommate" going to be like? Of course I really didn't have a choice. "All right, that'll have to do." The receptionist pointed me in the direction of the room and I cautiously walked down towards it. I opened the door to find the room empty, but sure enough there was a small crib next to one of the unoccupied beds. I carefully laid my daughter down and looked around. There wasn't that much there. Just the two beds and the crib. I heard whistling as the door opened.

"Oh, hi, you must be my new roomy," said the boy that entered. He was tall, nearly as tall as Sage if not taller. He had long, silky smooth dark green hair tied back in a loose pony, sky blue eyes, a red beret, and forelocks on either side of his face. He wore a purple T-shirt, a red vest, open, and baggy blue cargo shorts with white high tops that were streaked with paints of every color imaginable. He dropped a large duffel bag onto the bed furthest from the crib. "Where's your stuff?"

"Don't have any," I said. "Just got a wallet, a set of keys I won't be needing anymore, the clothes on my back and what's in the crib." Well, I also had my armor orbe, but he didn't need to know that.

"What's in that thing?"

"My daughter," I said, blushing.

The kid fell silent. "Oh. Couldn't keep your hormones in check?" he said almost meanly. I could feel a deep, surging anger filling up inside of me. Well, maybe I'd show him that I was a lot better at "keeping my hormones in check" than keeping my TEMPER in check. Oh, I'd fix HIS wagon all right.

I leapt to my feet. "Actually, you want to know the truth!? You want the truth!? My ex-girlfriend thought that it would be d*** funny if she tied me up and raped me after I told her NO and that I was planning on remaining a virgin until I was married, but that idea was s****ed! Funny, no? She thought it was flat out hysterical to threaten to kill me if I breathed a word about it to anyone! What's even better is that she got pregnant, skipped town, and I just found out about all this yesterday! And it's absolutely down right hilarious that she left the kid with me and I can't go back because of it, isn't that HYSTERICAL!?" I must've looked fit to be tied, and I probably was, but once I let that out, I fell back onto the bed I'd claimed. "I, I'm sorry, I guess I-"

"Just had a little too much internal pressure and I set you off?" said the kid, suddenly sympathetic. He sat next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I said. "It's been a difficult time for me."

"So, exactly what happened?" asked the kid.

I took in a deep breath. "Well, because of the circumstances one night, I was vulnerable to that kind of, event, and she took advantage of it. Before that night I was PLANNING on keeping my virginity until I got married, but I guess she had other ideas- Why am I telling this to you, I don't even know you!" I said.

The kid smiled. "Well, my name's Kojiro Tomae. And I know a few guys that got taken advantage of back at my old school, course, they never managed to get their- well, you get the idea," he said, holding out his hand.

"Cye Mouri," I said, shaking his hand.

"Look, I know a lot about the psychological side of this kind of thing, so you can talk to me if you need to, and you're probably gonna need help with- What's her name?" asked Kojiro.

"Um, I don't know, I haven't decided yet, I've been so busy trying to figure out what to do and to get out of Toyama," I said.

Kojiro nodded. "Well, figure out a name now," he said, as I went over and picked her up and sat down next to him. "She's beautiful."

"That's what everyone's been saying," I said. "Except for my ex, she called her such lovely names as 'brat and 'spore', how could she do that to her own child?"

"Well, since she has no problem restraining guys like you to have a little unwanted fun, I don't see why she wouldn't do something like that," said Kojiro.

I sighed. "Good point, but what am I going to name her?"

"Well, just concentrate. Close your eyes and say the first female name that comes of the tip of your tongue, and nine times out of ten that's the right name," said Kojiro.

What to name here? Susan? Erica? There were so many names, what was the right one?! I thought for about a minute before I found the right name. "Ariel," I said.

"Ariel? Never heard of it, what nationality is it?" asked Kojiro. "It's beautiful and all, but, where's it from?"

"I'm not sure, I think it's English or maybe American," I said. I looked down at her. "So, Ariel it is." I was about to put her back when I saw her eyes open for the first time. I pulled her back to me and nearly started to cry. I saw two sea green pools staring back at me. Those were my eyes. Dear God, she really WAS mine.

"She's got your eyes," said Kojiro, standing over me.

"I know," I said.

"You crying?"

"I think so."

"Well, put her down gently before you drop her," said Kojiro as he sat me back down. "Okay, you obviously aren't mentally, financially, or emotionally ready for this, are you?"

I shook my head.

Kojiro cleared his throat. "Well, let me tell you how I got here. My parents are jerks, they never liked me, and they only liked my older brother, thought I was a screw up or something. Come find put I was the result of an affair my mom had with her boss, so I was unwanted. I found out and started asking questions, so the man who I thought was my father kicked me out and told me if I ever showed me face home again he's blow my brains out. See? We both have some pretty severe problems. I say the two of us work together to get jobs, finish high school, and go to college, plus, help you raise the kid," said Kojiro.

"You're willing to help me out?" I asked. "But I hardly know you! You hardly know me!"

"So we'll get to know each other. Friends?" Kojiro held out his hand for me to shake it.

I nervously accepted his hand, then shook it firmly. "Friends."