Title: Where I Must Be
Author: Casshirek
Summary: Chapter Three. Chisa's life story, up till the bitter end. As always, copyright belong to appropriate parties and not me. Enjoy.
* * *
"Are you okay, mother?" Her quiet voice was modulated. However, serene tones managed to convey her concern, something reflected within chestnut brown eyes. Chisa raised a hand to her mother.
"I'm fine." Pliant fingers interwinned with hers. "Now, did you eat your medicine?"
"Yes, mother."
She coughed again and pressed the hankerchief against her lips. Eyes, watery with pain, were tender still as they studied Chisa. The hand linked with her own tightened its grip. I will be fine - silent reassurance delivered through maternal touch. Chisa's expression tightened into a granite wall. "Now, you must remember to put on your raincoat if it starts to rain. Don't forget to not take oily food in the cafeteria or drink carbonated soda. And -- "
Chisa nodded automatically, having heard the warnings a thousand times before. She could have recited them in her sleep. However, she did not allow that to be known, maintaining the blank expression as she looked up into worried brown eyes. Her mother loved her even if she didn't understand her. There were times when she wished she could simply reach out to her, cry her eyes out and explain the sorrow that festered inside her heart. But ..
"Be good to your friends, okay? Don't play rough."
The bus skidded to a halt outside her house. Chisa drew her jacket around her shoulders and smiled fleetingly. Tiptoeing, she pressed an uncharacteristic kiss onto her mother's head. She would have reached out had her own mother not been so depressed. The world had enough troubles. It did not need her to add towards it. And Chisa knew how to alleviate things. Surprise shone deep within her mother's eyes but she said nothing, merely gesturing towards the bus.
Chisa allowed her smile to widen as she meandered out.
She could make everything better.
* * *
"Lain?" Chisa whispered anxiously, sneaking a look at the taciturn girl.
Morose adolescent did not respond, her eyes trained on the landscape as it flowed past them. Her cheek was bruised; a flower of bluish-black that drew further attention the constant melancholy which hung around the girl.
Alice eclipsed her line of sight, her expression fierce. A finger was pressed against her lips as she barreled into the seat beside Chisa, a seat that was abandoned as usual. Brown eyes, brillant with worry, swiveled to regard Lain. Alice let her breath out in a quiet rush, shoulders bent in defeat.
"Her sister hit her."
"Why?"
"They were fighting. Lain wanted to know where she was going."
Chisa remained quiet.
"I think it was her Navi that made that bruise."
Appropriate, Chisa thought. But she remained otherwise silent.
"Don't talk to her about it." Alice inclined her head towards the other girl and moved away, disappearing into the throng of whispering schoolgirls upon the vehicle.
Chisa allowed her eyes to linger for a moment longer on Lain, conscious of the way the bruise spread tendrils of lighter shadow along pale flesh. Why was the world so unfair to everyone? Chisa did not know the answer to that. However, she knew the answer to something far more important.
* * *
"Loser!"
"Four-eyed fatty!"
"Come and get your bag, Tubby."
"Yeah, come and get your bag. Wait, you can't! You're too fat and slow to catch your bag."
Laughter rang through the overcast skies. Once more, the strong, the lucky ones, were tormenting the weak. A boy that she did not recognize, whose only fault was his excessive weight, was trying in vain to reclaim his possession. Older boys, no more familar than their victim, continued to toss the satchel between them.
Chisa looked away.
* * *
"You can't sit with us." Elegance belonged to the young woman. It showed in her gestures, in the impeccable application of make-up and the beautiful clothes. Her lips thinned into a disdainful smirk. "You can't even buy your own lunch."
The girls clustered around the table laughed, dismissing the plain student who had hoped to join the clique. Around them, the cafeteria was silent. In each and every table, a drama was playing out. Someone was falling in love, someone else was breaking their hearts over milk and cookies. Some were fighting, others were talking -- school was the adult world shrunk into bite-sized portions.
The plain girl was crying now as she ran out of the cafeteria.
No one cared.
Chisa looked away.
* * *
"Why did Aaron get more marks than me? Everyone else thought my artwork was better."
"Teacher gave Diana ten free marks. Why? I don't know. She just did!"
"Give me your money, punk. Unless you want me to *beat* you."
".. she's just pretending to be sick. Samantha can go to the nurse herself."
And Chisa looked away once more.
* * *
Chisa was no longer alone.
Chisa belonged to a group, to a clique of people. They were not those people recognized, the intellectuals or the popular, those with beauty that rivaled all others. They were a quieter pride, a silent community that lived without active knowledge of each other.
They were called victims.
The victims of society had no champion, no way to escape their private torments. It was the same everywhere though the cases differed. These people were often weaker, made so by the circumstances of flesh, and sometimes talents. They needed a saviour, someone to bring them out and away from a world that had no appreciation for the souls within.
Chisa was going to be that.
~Fin
Author: Casshirek
Summary: Chapter Three. Chisa's life story, up till the bitter end. As always, copyright belong to appropriate parties and not me. Enjoy.
* * *
"Are you okay, mother?" Her quiet voice was modulated. However, serene tones managed to convey her concern, something reflected within chestnut brown eyes. Chisa raised a hand to her mother.
"I'm fine." Pliant fingers interwinned with hers. "Now, did you eat your medicine?"
"Yes, mother."
She coughed again and pressed the hankerchief against her lips. Eyes, watery with pain, were tender still as they studied Chisa. The hand linked with her own tightened its grip. I will be fine - silent reassurance delivered through maternal touch. Chisa's expression tightened into a granite wall. "Now, you must remember to put on your raincoat if it starts to rain. Don't forget to not take oily food in the cafeteria or drink carbonated soda. And -- "
Chisa nodded automatically, having heard the warnings a thousand times before. She could have recited them in her sleep. However, she did not allow that to be known, maintaining the blank expression as she looked up into worried brown eyes. Her mother loved her even if she didn't understand her. There were times when she wished she could simply reach out to her, cry her eyes out and explain the sorrow that festered inside her heart. But ..
"Be good to your friends, okay? Don't play rough."
The bus skidded to a halt outside her house. Chisa drew her jacket around her shoulders and smiled fleetingly. Tiptoeing, she pressed an uncharacteristic kiss onto her mother's head. She would have reached out had her own mother not been so depressed. The world had enough troubles. It did not need her to add towards it. And Chisa knew how to alleviate things. Surprise shone deep within her mother's eyes but she said nothing, merely gesturing towards the bus.
Chisa allowed her smile to widen as she meandered out.
She could make everything better.
* * *
"Lain?" Chisa whispered anxiously, sneaking a look at the taciturn girl.
Morose adolescent did not respond, her eyes trained on the landscape as it flowed past them. Her cheek was bruised; a flower of bluish-black that drew further attention the constant melancholy which hung around the girl.
Alice eclipsed her line of sight, her expression fierce. A finger was pressed against her lips as she barreled into the seat beside Chisa, a seat that was abandoned as usual. Brown eyes, brillant with worry, swiveled to regard Lain. Alice let her breath out in a quiet rush, shoulders bent in defeat.
"Her sister hit her."
"Why?"
"They were fighting. Lain wanted to know where she was going."
Chisa remained quiet.
"I think it was her Navi that made that bruise."
Appropriate, Chisa thought. But she remained otherwise silent.
"Don't talk to her about it." Alice inclined her head towards the other girl and moved away, disappearing into the throng of whispering schoolgirls upon the vehicle.
Chisa allowed her eyes to linger for a moment longer on Lain, conscious of the way the bruise spread tendrils of lighter shadow along pale flesh. Why was the world so unfair to everyone? Chisa did not know the answer to that. However, she knew the answer to something far more important.
* * *
"Loser!"
"Four-eyed fatty!"
"Come and get your bag, Tubby."
"Yeah, come and get your bag. Wait, you can't! You're too fat and slow to catch your bag."
Laughter rang through the overcast skies. Once more, the strong, the lucky ones, were tormenting the weak. A boy that she did not recognize, whose only fault was his excessive weight, was trying in vain to reclaim his possession. Older boys, no more familar than their victim, continued to toss the satchel between them.
Chisa looked away.
* * *
"You can't sit with us." Elegance belonged to the young woman. It showed in her gestures, in the impeccable application of make-up and the beautiful clothes. Her lips thinned into a disdainful smirk. "You can't even buy your own lunch."
The girls clustered around the table laughed, dismissing the plain student who had hoped to join the clique. Around them, the cafeteria was silent. In each and every table, a drama was playing out. Someone was falling in love, someone else was breaking their hearts over milk and cookies. Some were fighting, others were talking -- school was the adult world shrunk into bite-sized portions.
The plain girl was crying now as she ran out of the cafeteria.
No one cared.
Chisa looked away.
* * *
"Why did Aaron get more marks than me? Everyone else thought my artwork was better."
"Teacher gave Diana ten free marks. Why? I don't know. She just did!"
"Give me your money, punk. Unless you want me to *beat* you."
".. she's just pretending to be sick. Samantha can go to the nurse herself."
And Chisa looked away once more.
* * *
Chisa was no longer alone.
Chisa belonged to a group, to a clique of people. They were not those people recognized, the intellectuals or the popular, those with beauty that rivaled all others. They were a quieter pride, a silent community that lived without active knowledge of each other.
They were called victims.
The victims of society had no champion, no way to escape their private torments. It was the same everywhere though the cases differed. These people were often weaker, made so by the circumstances of flesh, and sometimes talents. They needed a saviour, someone to bring them out and away from a world that had no appreciation for the souls within.
Chisa was going to be that.
~Fin