01: untitled
I woke up late that morning. I must've overslept because of the dream I'd had, I thought as I got washed. I braided my hair, then pulled back into a bun, which was held in place by two fake daggers. I pulled a clean T-shirt and a pair of pants from my bag and put them on. I slipped into my soft- shoes and went to the dining room.
"Morning, sleepy-head," said Rei from the table. "Do you always sleep this late, Kieren?"
"Not really," I replied with a yawn. I sat down across from Rae. "I had a really weird and spooky dream last night. It kept me up for a while. I think it was caused by the scary movie marathon from last night and probably the dip we had."
"Would you describe it for me? I might be able to figure out what it means," she said. I quickly described-and edited- my dream. After some deliberation, she said, "Í can't figure it out. It makes no sense to me."
"It's okay. I wasn't all that interested in what it meant."
"C'mon, I want to show you the rest of the temple," Rae said. For the next couple of hours, she showed me the temple. It was really interesting. She showed me around the grounds (which were really pretty) and showed me her meditation room with the Great Fire.
Later that morning, I was hanging out in Rae's room, vegging. This place is so peaceful, I thought, I could learn to like it. It is more relaxed and peaceful than my temple. Something new always happens there. I grinned as I remembered the guys and the trouble that they always seemed to get into when they played around at my temple.
Rei walked in and said, "There are a couple of guys here to see you, Ren."
"Are they cute?" I asked with a grin. Rei smiled and answered with a nod and a silent whistle. I laughed. "Did they introduce themselves or are they secret admirers here to serenade me?"
"They introduced themselves as your tenants and returning champions."
"They're back!" I exclaimed in delight, as she finished speaking. I raced out of the room, with Rei hot on my heels wearing a confused expression on her face. I ran straight to my friends, who were standing in the courtyard of the temple. They smiled as they saw me run towards them. The guys started to laugh as I hugged them.
"Miss us did you?" laughed Ryo, as I hugged him.
"To tell the truth, it was quiet and lonely at my place," I replied, as Rowen put his arm around my shoulder. They laughed. "I got used to having the five of you there every day and having to replace a window almost as often." They grinned sheepishly. When all of us would play soccer behind my house, one of them would always kick to hard and the ball would hit one of the windows, breaking it.
"So how was the tournament, fellas?" I asked. A couple of weeks ago, they'd seemed restless, so I told them of a martial arts tournament I'd heard of from a friend of mine. I suggested that they go and represent my dojo at the tournament. They jumped at the idea. They had left about two weeks ago. I had forgotten that they would be returning today when I'd accepted Rei's invitation to spend the night.
"It was a blast!" Kento exclaimed. Rowen and the others groaned. Kento just grinned. I shook my head, laughing. Kento was always happiest when he was fighting or eating.
"We came in first in all divisions," said Sage, as they beamed with pride. "We left the trophies at your place."
"Great! Let's go to a nice restaurant for lunch," I said, then added, "My treat."
"We'll pay," Cye said. "I mean, it's one way to repay you for giving us the idea to go."
"Kieren, would you mind introducing me to your friends?" asked Rei from behind the commotion. She looked at the guys curiously, as if she'd seen them before.
"Pardon my manners, Rei," I said. "From left to right are: Ryo, Rowen, Kento, Sage, and Cye," then added, "Answer me this, guys, how did you find me here? I didn't leave a note or anything."
"We ran into Darien, who told us about Rei's invitation," Ryo said, "and was nice enough to give us directions to this place. If you want to go out for lunch with us to celebrate, you'd better hurry. That way you can get changed and we'll still get a table."
Rei said, "I'll help you get your stuff."
I followed her back to her room, where we proceeded to gather my clothes together.
"You guys seem really close to one another," Rei said. "How long have you known them?"
"Years, Rae," I replied with a smile, "although it feels like we've known each other a lot longer than that. I've known Rowen the longest."
"Really?" she asked. "How did the two of you meet?"
"He was my next door neighbor in Toyama. My grandfather ran a dojo there, and Rowen joined. After my father died when I was seven, we moved here, and the two of us wrote to each other. Shortly before I started high school, we moved back to our house in Toyama. I met the others there. After I graduated, I moved back here. Occasionally, we'd visit each other."
"Wow," Rei said.
"Several months ago, I got a call from Rowen. He told me that the place where they'd been staying in Toyama had been destroyed by the hurricane and that they had no where to stay. I foolishly invited them to stay at my place since I had plenty of room. I should have remembered a couple of things."
"Like what?" Rei asked
"For starters, the guys are into sports and just about every time they play in the back, they break a window. I've had to replace all of the downstairs windows at least twice so far. It's getting to be expensive," I said with a sigh. Rei laughed. "Then, there's the fact that Rowen can't cook and he is more likely to set my kitchen on fire than anyone else. One time, I had to chase him out of the kitchen with a frying pan before he got the point that only Cye and I are allowed in there to cook."
We had finished getting my stuff and had walked back outside. The guys were waiting by the Ford Expedition that I owned (it was the only thing big enough for all of us). We said good-bye and got in the truck. We left the temple and headed for my place. I yawned, and silently prayed for a peaceful rest that night.
"Tired, Ren?" Sage asked, quickly glancing back from the driver's seat. "How late did you stay up?"
"Not that late, Sage," I replied, stifling another yawn. "Rei's friends came over and we watched a couple scary movies."
"I didn't know you were afraid of stuff like that," Kento observed from the front seat.
"Try anything funny, buster," I said, raising my fist in mock anger, "and I will personally take great pleasure in getting revenge."
"Ouch," commented Rowen. Since Rowen had known me the longest, he knew better than to play jokes on me. Ryo and the others didn't know that, so they learned the hard way not to play pranks on me. Yet, after several lessons in why not to play jokes on me, they still did it.
"I'm not afraid of scary movies," I said, yawning again. "I had a really spooky dream last night that kept me up." I described my dream in full detail to them.
"I had a similar dream," Ryo said from behind me, resting his arms on the seat back to talk with us. "In fact, we all had a dream like that. We figured that's what we get for eating airline burritos. We don't know what it means."
"Neither do I," I replied, gazing out the window of the truck, "and I don't like it."
* * *
Rei had just finished cleaning up from breakfast, when she heard the others start moving around. Makoto walked into the room with the others and asked where Kieren was. Rei replied that several friends of hers had come to pick her up.
"What did they look like?" asked Mina curiously. "Were they cute?"
"They were," replied Rei. Mina smiled speculatively, and Rei added, "Don't get any ideas, Mina. They seemed very attached to her."
"Who were they?" asked Ami.
"They were a couple of guys she knew that were staying with her until their place is fixed," Rei said. Yawning, Usagi asked if anyone had had a strange dream during the night. When she had finished describing her dream, the others agreed that they had similar dreams. Rei mentioned that Kieren had told her about a very similar dream, but had said that it was probably caused by the movies and Usagi's dip. They laughed as Usagi pouted over the comment. They wondered if it had been a vision or a product of the movie marathon.
I woke up late that morning. I must've overslept because of the dream I'd had, I thought as I got washed. I braided my hair, then pulled back into a bun, which was held in place by two fake daggers. I pulled a clean T-shirt and a pair of pants from my bag and put them on. I slipped into my soft- shoes and went to the dining room.
"Morning, sleepy-head," said Rei from the table. "Do you always sleep this late, Kieren?"
"Not really," I replied with a yawn. I sat down across from Rae. "I had a really weird and spooky dream last night. It kept me up for a while. I think it was caused by the scary movie marathon from last night and probably the dip we had."
"Would you describe it for me? I might be able to figure out what it means," she said. I quickly described-and edited- my dream. After some deliberation, she said, "Í can't figure it out. It makes no sense to me."
"It's okay. I wasn't all that interested in what it meant."
"C'mon, I want to show you the rest of the temple," Rae said. For the next couple of hours, she showed me the temple. It was really interesting. She showed me around the grounds (which were really pretty) and showed me her meditation room with the Great Fire.
Later that morning, I was hanging out in Rae's room, vegging. This place is so peaceful, I thought, I could learn to like it. It is more relaxed and peaceful than my temple. Something new always happens there. I grinned as I remembered the guys and the trouble that they always seemed to get into when they played around at my temple.
Rei walked in and said, "There are a couple of guys here to see you, Ren."
"Are they cute?" I asked with a grin. Rei smiled and answered with a nod and a silent whistle. I laughed. "Did they introduce themselves or are they secret admirers here to serenade me?"
"They introduced themselves as your tenants and returning champions."
"They're back!" I exclaimed in delight, as she finished speaking. I raced out of the room, with Rei hot on my heels wearing a confused expression on her face. I ran straight to my friends, who were standing in the courtyard of the temple. They smiled as they saw me run towards them. The guys started to laugh as I hugged them.
"Miss us did you?" laughed Ryo, as I hugged him.
"To tell the truth, it was quiet and lonely at my place," I replied, as Rowen put his arm around my shoulder. They laughed. "I got used to having the five of you there every day and having to replace a window almost as often." They grinned sheepishly. When all of us would play soccer behind my house, one of them would always kick to hard and the ball would hit one of the windows, breaking it.
"So how was the tournament, fellas?" I asked. A couple of weeks ago, they'd seemed restless, so I told them of a martial arts tournament I'd heard of from a friend of mine. I suggested that they go and represent my dojo at the tournament. They jumped at the idea. They had left about two weeks ago. I had forgotten that they would be returning today when I'd accepted Rei's invitation to spend the night.
"It was a blast!" Kento exclaimed. Rowen and the others groaned. Kento just grinned. I shook my head, laughing. Kento was always happiest when he was fighting or eating.
"We came in first in all divisions," said Sage, as they beamed with pride. "We left the trophies at your place."
"Great! Let's go to a nice restaurant for lunch," I said, then added, "My treat."
"We'll pay," Cye said. "I mean, it's one way to repay you for giving us the idea to go."
"Kieren, would you mind introducing me to your friends?" asked Rei from behind the commotion. She looked at the guys curiously, as if she'd seen them before.
"Pardon my manners, Rei," I said. "From left to right are: Ryo, Rowen, Kento, Sage, and Cye," then added, "Answer me this, guys, how did you find me here? I didn't leave a note or anything."
"We ran into Darien, who told us about Rei's invitation," Ryo said, "and was nice enough to give us directions to this place. If you want to go out for lunch with us to celebrate, you'd better hurry. That way you can get changed and we'll still get a table."
Rei said, "I'll help you get your stuff."
I followed her back to her room, where we proceeded to gather my clothes together.
"You guys seem really close to one another," Rei said. "How long have you known them?"
"Years, Rae," I replied with a smile, "although it feels like we've known each other a lot longer than that. I've known Rowen the longest."
"Really?" she asked. "How did the two of you meet?"
"He was my next door neighbor in Toyama. My grandfather ran a dojo there, and Rowen joined. After my father died when I was seven, we moved here, and the two of us wrote to each other. Shortly before I started high school, we moved back to our house in Toyama. I met the others there. After I graduated, I moved back here. Occasionally, we'd visit each other."
"Wow," Rei said.
"Several months ago, I got a call from Rowen. He told me that the place where they'd been staying in Toyama had been destroyed by the hurricane and that they had no where to stay. I foolishly invited them to stay at my place since I had plenty of room. I should have remembered a couple of things."
"Like what?" Rei asked
"For starters, the guys are into sports and just about every time they play in the back, they break a window. I've had to replace all of the downstairs windows at least twice so far. It's getting to be expensive," I said with a sigh. Rei laughed. "Then, there's the fact that Rowen can't cook and he is more likely to set my kitchen on fire than anyone else. One time, I had to chase him out of the kitchen with a frying pan before he got the point that only Cye and I are allowed in there to cook."
We had finished getting my stuff and had walked back outside. The guys were waiting by the Ford Expedition that I owned (it was the only thing big enough for all of us). We said good-bye and got in the truck. We left the temple and headed for my place. I yawned, and silently prayed for a peaceful rest that night.
"Tired, Ren?" Sage asked, quickly glancing back from the driver's seat. "How late did you stay up?"
"Not that late, Sage," I replied, stifling another yawn. "Rei's friends came over and we watched a couple scary movies."
"I didn't know you were afraid of stuff like that," Kento observed from the front seat.
"Try anything funny, buster," I said, raising my fist in mock anger, "and I will personally take great pleasure in getting revenge."
"Ouch," commented Rowen. Since Rowen had known me the longest, he knew better than to play jokes on me. Ryo and the others didn't know that, so they learned the hard way not to play pranks on me. Yet, after several lessons in why not to play jokes on me, they still did it.
"I'm not afraid of scary movies," I said, yawning again. "I had a really spooky dream last night that kept me up." I described my dream in full detail to them.
"I had a similar dream," Ryo said from behind me, resting his arms on the seat back to talk with us. "In fact, we all had a dream like that. We figured that's what we get for eating airline burritos. We don't know what it means."
"Neither do I," I replied, gazing out the window of the truck, "and I don't like it."
* * *
Rei had just finished cleaning up from breakfast, when she heard the others start moving around. Makoto walked into the room with the others and asked where Kieren was. Rei replied that several friends of hers had come to pick her up.
"What did they look like?" asked Mina curiously. "Were they cute?"
"They were," replied Rei. Mina smiled speculatively, and Rei added, "Don't get any ideas, Mina. They seemed very attached to her."
"Who were they?" asked Ami.
"They were a couple of guys she knew that were staying with her until their place is fixed," Rei said. Yawning, Usagi asked if anyone had had a strange dream during the night. When she had finished describing her dream, the others agreed that they had similar dreams. Rei mentioned that Kieren had told her about a very similar dream, but had said that it was probably caused by the movies and Usagi's dip. They laughed as Usagi pouted over the comment. They wondered if it had been a vision or a product of the movie marathon.