Hidden Beneath the Flowers
hihi! Sorry if this one doesn't come out as soon as the others but you have my teachers to blame for that! ARGH! I cannot wait until my 30 days of school are over! Then it's summer vacation! YAY! I'll be able to write and post chapters quicker in the summer, so you'll just have to wait until then! hehe! Well, I had better get started. Ciao!
Disclaimer: I don't own it, never will, never had, and won't ever. Period. Need I say more? O, and I don't own any of the songs that are in this fic, as well.
Key:
If you don't know that these " " mean speaking, then you're a bit dense, sad to say as well.
Notes: I am going to just begin calling Alycia Ai', just to clear up any confusion. K, with that said, here's.....
ChApTeR 4!
Ai sighed as she plopped herself down onto the couch in her grand living room. With high ceilings and plush, expensive carpet, grand' was almost an understatement. She stretched herself lengthwise and rubbed her temples periodically. Eventually through this, she fell into a dreamless sleep. Okay, so it wasn't really dreamless.....
She was running. Running fast to get away from something. But what? As she sensed
that nothing was behind her she stopped and looked around. She was in a void.
Everything was utterly and completely black. She backed up a couple steps, but it
didn't really matter. Everything stayed exactly the was it was. Black. She felt someone
appear behind her. She whirled around. All of the color drained from her face as she looked into the eyes of her enemy.
"Koi..." she growled. The piercing red eyes gave it away, no matter how much she had aged. Because of the hatred that dwelled in her heart, she looked twice as old our young, jubilant Ai.
Koi just laughed, if that's what you could call it. A hideous noise erupted from the depths of her throat, enough to make Satan himself grimace. Yet Ai remained firm.
"It's your fault, you know" Koi hissed wickedly, a distorted smile donned upon her face. Ai lost her hard stare. Although she wasn't budging, her eyes had a look of sorrow and remorse. Taking this as a cue, Koi slithered menacingly towards Ai, spinning around her and jokingly playing with bits of her hair. "The reason your brothers are gone, I mean...."
Ai sucked in all the air she could manage into her lungs at the image portrayed before her. There were her brothers, all still eight, glaring at her harshly.
"It's your fault, Ai" they said together over and over again, unblinking and unfased. Ai backed up and tried to turn away, but, unfortunately, Koi was right behind her. Koi grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back around.
"Look what you did to them." Koi was holding Ai's hands behind her back and whispering threateningly in her ears. "Now is your time to pay..."
Unbiddened hot tears slid down her face in great numbers. Ai couldn't even wipe them away with her hands pinned behind her. They gathered around her nose and underneath her chin. Her breathing became eratic and abnormal. The faces of Mizu, Kaze, Jishin, and Kaji flashed before her, surrounding her. She was barely even aware when she felt Koi's hands slide off her. She was barely aware that Koi's presence had left entirely. She was barely that she was slipping slowly in hysteria. All she could understand, all that was racing through her mind was one simple word. Guilty.
"....no...." she mouthed. She feel to her knees and leaned forward on her elbows. Her words began to form in her vocal cords. Whispers turned into steady words. Steady words began to transform into loud shouts. Loud shouts soon modified into a mixture of screaming and sobbing. "....no... no....no.....No.....No... NO!!!!"
Ai's eyes popped open. She was tangled into the dark burgandy sheets of her bedroom. Kira must have placed her there somehow. Ai took in her surroundings. The pale moonlight streaked in through the little balcony in her room and danced across the dark mahogany dressers. A faint breeze rustled the burgandy, light cotton curtains that draped around the open windows and balcony door. Ai closed her eyes slowly and took a deep breath.
What a horrible nightmare!' she thought. But, even though she tried to deny it, she knew that that nightmare had not been conjured by her own subconcious. Koi had to have had something to do with it. Ai untangled her limbs from the soft sheets and sprawled herself out. She gazed up at the canopy hanging high above her head and tried to find interesting patterns like she would on other nights she developed insomnia. Dried tears began to irritate her skin, but she didn't care. She wouldn't get up right now for the gods themselves.
She closed her eyes one final time and fell into a truly dreamless sleep, thinking about what Mizu, Kaze, Jishin, and Kaji might be doing.
------------------------
Sakura walked to school leisurely in thought. She was paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to anything in front of her, she was only trying to figure out how she could possibly be able to help Ai. Of course, as her luck would have it, she never noticed that she was coming to the stairs. Right when she was about to go plunging forward, a pair of strong hands held her back.
"Sakura!" She looked up into the faintly worried eyes of none other than Li Syaoran. He had realized she wasn't going to stop as she went towards the stairs and grabbed her as soon as he could. "Be more careful, would you!" It was more of a request than an order. Sakura just nodded her head as they walked together to school.
"Okay, class! Settle down." Miss Kaho instructed as she set her brown briefcase down upon the desk. "As you all know, since it is a monday, today we have music first thing."
Ai was sitting in her seat, listening tentatively to every word spoken and every sound made in the classroom. She was very afraid of missing something. She would hate to fall behind.
"Alycia." Ai looked up at Miss Kaho. "Do you have any musical background?" she asked sweetly. Sakura and Tomoyo both exchanged curious looks. It was very unlike Miss Kaho to ask a question like that unless she had a good reason.
Alycia looked confused at the question. "What do you mean?" she asked politely.
"Do you sing?" Miss Kaho was being very patient.
"Yes. I can sing, I guess. I'm not very good at it-" she began, rubbing the back of neck and looking down at her desk. She was interrupted, though.
"Sing." Ai didn't know what to do. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, coming off as a gaping fish.
"But I don't have anything to sing!" she said hurriedly as she finally came up with an excuse.
"Sing the first thing that comes to your mind. Please come and stand up here in the front." Miss Kaho moved over and leaned back on her desk, apparently waiting for Ai to come up.
Ai sat still for a minute before sighing and getting up uncomfortably. She slowly made her way to the front. When she got there, she turned to face the class. She looked over uncertainly at Miss Kaho, who's gaze hadn't left Ai. "Whenever you're ready."
Ai nodded and began to think of a song worth singing. She remembered back to her childhood and smiled as a perfect song began to form in her head. It was a song that was played through the air by her brother, Jishin. The water nymps taught them the song when they were 4 or so, and ever since then, it has remained Ai's favorite song. Sakura, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and the rest of the class looked at her, wondering what to expect.
Then it seemed that music began to flow into the classroom on the wind. Alycia listened to it, along with a puzzled class, and began to sing.
"I will meet you
In some pla-ce
Where the light lends itself to
Soft repose.
I will let you
Un-dress me,
But I warn you
I've thorns like any rose.
And you could hurt me
With your ba-re hands.
You could hurt me using the sharp end
Of what you say.
But I am lost to you now.
There's no amount of reason
To sa-ve me.
So brea--k me,
Ta--ke me.
Just let me
Fi-ll your arms again.
Brea--k me.
Ta--ke me.
Just let me
Feel your love again--.
Ai's velvety voice echoed off the walls. Ai must be very modest,' Sakura thought. She sings like an angel.' Most of the class thought the same thing. Her words seemed to bore through them. They listened, spellbounded, as Ai continued to sing.
"Feels like
Be-ing
Underwa--ter
Now that I've
Let go-,
Lost control.
Water kisses
Fill my mouth.
Wa-ter, oh,
Fills my sou--l.
So brea--k me,
Ta--ke me.
Just let me
Fi-ll your arms again.
Brea--k me, I'll let you
Make me-.
Just let me
Feel your love again--.
Kiss me once.
Well, maybe twice.
Oh--, it never felt so ni--ce.
Brea--k me.
Ta--ke me.
Just let me
Feel your love again.
Break me, I'll let you
Make me--.
Just let me
Fill your arms again.
Just let me
Feel your lo---ve
a-gain----.
Ai ended on a high note and smiled. She held her breath slightly, hoping that her classmates didn't think her singing too horrible. But she was pleasantly surprised by the sound that most artist crave. She looked over to see her beautiful teacher clapping for her. And soon after, the rest of the class began to clap as well. Ai smiled her graditude towards them and sat down at her seat.
"Well," Miss Kaho began, "that was beautifully done, Alycia. You'll be joining the choir, correct?" Ai had never even known there was a choir! And if she had, she still wouldn't have tried out for it because she would never make it anyway. What was Miss Kaho? Mad? Or just on that fine line that borders insanity and genius? My bet's on the first' she thought to herself.
Class continued as it usually would. They had a math test that Ai and Syaoran passed easily. But it made Sakura's head spin. There she was, sitting there in a musty old classroom surrounded by people who could probably handle algebra and she couldn't even understand long division! Not to mention that it was right before lunch! She was sure that there must be a loop hole or something that could help her pass!
Sakura sighed as the numbers on her page began to swirl together into one big mass of blank ink and computer paper. She smiled grimly as she envisioned the downfall of mathematics and numbers alltogether. She turned her attention back to the quiz that lay untouched before her and sighed again.
She wasn't even to the third problem when that little, annoying bell rang that meant the beginning of lunch. It might as well have been a church bell ringing in a funeral home. Sakura trudged up to turn in her test, preparing herself mentally for the slaughtering she would recieve when she got home.
Sakura hurriedly collected her lunch from her locker and ran outside to meet with
Tomoyo, Rika, Naoko, Chiharu, and her new-found friend, Ai. She found her cousin waiting with Ai at the door for her. The two were caught up an what must have been an interesting conversation, as they were both giggling and smiling. Sakura slowed down and walked towards them.
"Hey Tomoyo! Hey Ai! Are you two ready to go?" Sakura was now joining the group, creating the trio that the school would soon come to know as normal.
"Hai! Let's go, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo, Sakura, and Ai began to walk towards their usual lunch spot, which was presently occupied by Naoko, Chiharu, and Rika.
"Hi guys!" Sakura greeted. The three girls sat down and joined the others girls in their conversation.
"So Naoko, what are you going to do for your birthday?" Chiharu asked between bites of her sandwich. Ai sat down across from Naoko and could clearly see the look of disappointment the plastered itself on her face.
"I'm not allowed to have a party this year because my parents are still upset over last year's." Naoko answered sadly. Sakura thought her parents had good reason, at least. She remembered specificallly what happened at her party last year and shuddered to recall the memory again. Ai, of course, was taking this all into detail. She had such a strange look of thought on her face that she soon attracted the attention of the other five girls.
"Ai.." Sakura looked at her carefully. She seemed to be contemplating on some idea. "A-iiiiii.........." Sakura put down her sandwich and waved a hand in front of her face. But that accomplished nothing. "AIII!" Sakura called once more. She snapped her fingers right in front of Ai's nose.
Ai's eyes popped open and she fell back a bit. "Ai? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, Ai. You looked upset for a minute," Chiharu added.
"Maybe you should see the nurse," Rika suggested and recieved a concerned nod from Tomoyo.
"Oh, no! I'm okay! Really!" Ai waved her hands in front of her face and smiled.
"Are you sure?" Naoko asked.
"Hai! Of course I am!" Ai smiled again. She seemed to have made up her mind on whatever she was considering a minute ago. "Naoko...," she began cautiously. "When is your birthday?"
"Thursday. Why?" was the reply she got.
"Oh, I was just wondering. If you don't mind, you'd be welcome to have your party at my apartment," Ai offered. She knew her proposal had been accepted when not only Naoko's eyes light up, but Chiharu and Sakura's eyes light up as well.
"Would you really?" Naoko asked incredulously.
"Of course! It's not a problem! I'd be happy to!" Ai really didn't mind if the party was held at her place. The only reason she didn't say anything immediately was because she had to make sure the girls would be safe at her house. "All you have to do is come up with the list of people to invite, okay?"
"Oke! Honto ni arigato gozaimas!!" Naoko leapt over to Ai and proceeded to put a death grip around her neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YYYOOOOOUUUUU!!!!"
"Naoko! She won't be able to hold your party if you strangle her to death!" Madison scolded with a smirk. This could be a lot of fun, she thought. If only she could persaude Naoko to invite three certain boys....
Ai could finally breath again when Naoko release her from her hug'. She laughed at Naoko's eagarness and then went back to eating her lunch. Afterall, they only had about 7 minutes of lunch period left. And she hadn't even finished her sandwich! She continued to inhale her chips, unaware of the pair of eyes studying her from a far.....
*~* hey guys! sry this chapter is soooo entirely short! but i had to shorten it in order to put it up quick enough!! I swear I will make it up to you guys!! Like always, R&R! any comments or such and you can e-mail me, k? Byes!!*~*