Chapter 3: So much like Dreams
"Come on, boost me up a little bit higher. I can't reach!"
"That's cuz you're so heavy! Biki, you're a cow! Hahahaha... ouch!"
"Didn't your mother ever teach you that you're s'posed to be nice to girls?"
"You're not a girl, you're a big fat c..."
"Got it!" Nabiki swung herself up onto a slippery branch. She stared downwards, blowing on her tiny palms to get rid of the sting from the whispery scratches that had formed there. "Tate, I dunno if I can pull you up here."
Tatewaki Kuno looked up at the lithe, overall-clad girl in the branches above him. He shot a lopsided grin at her, and vaulted upwards. "Ta-da! Oops..." He caught himself as he half fell off the other side of the branch. "I'm a martial artist! See!" He struck a pose filled with as much pride and bravado as an seven-year old can muster.
Nabiki snorted. " 'Kane can beat you up and she's only six. I bet I could too. "
"No! You couldn't! You don't even take martial arts! Besides, Akane's just a stinky first grader. No second grader gets the best of Tatewaki Kuno, the Samurai..."
Nabiki stopped listening. Tate was a good friend, but ever since he had discovered his great-grandfather's chest of samurai relics, he had come to imagine himself as some sort of warrior. Stupid boy's stuff, in Nabiki's illustrious opinion. And besides, she thought, there aren't any more samurais or nothin'. It's all old stuff, all museum stuff. All the cool things are now! She grinned. Like those pretty, shiny, silver machines in the electronics stores downtown; she had gone window-shopping with her mother the other day, and discovered a whole, uncharted world of modern technology and sleekness. Beautiful.
She had tried to tell Tate about it, but he wasn't too interested.
A shadow fell over her musings. Nabiki glanced upward, and saw Tate balanced on a branch above her. "Ha! I'm higher than you!"
Competitive spirit aroused, Nabiki began to clamber higher. A race began: one sturdy, athletic form leaping through the leaves, and one trim, nimble figure scaling the trunk. The branches got thinner, each step up a shakier, more uncertain one.
And then Nabiki fell.
Tate, unlike his audacious companion, had never been particularly fond of heights. So he was stunned to see the branch under her bare feet snap, to see her startled, frightened face, to watch his invincible best friend topple through the foliage towards him. To the little boy, it almost seemed like slow motion, the way her hair swirled in a nimbus around her face, the brilliant sun behind her sharpening her silhouette, the dark green leaves framing her suspended body in the late summer air.
He was shook into reality when she screamed, a single, piercing cry that startled the swallows nesting nearby.
FLOOMP!
Nabiki cried out when the grass appeared suddenly in her face. But, after three seconds of shell-shocked silence, she took inventory and discovered that nothing was seriously injured. How come? She thought, surprised. Then she noticed Tate's arms around her waist. She flipped over.
"Did you catch me?" Bewilderment obvious in her voice.
"Uh...yeah, I think so." Tate's grin quavered. "I told you I'm a martial artist." He released her and got to his feet. "Are... are you ok?"
Nabiki was shaking. "I think." Now that she was standing, she realized that her wrist felt a little funny. "I think I want to go home anyways." Tate nodded, and they headed out of the park.
Halfway home, she felt Kuno tap her hesitantly on the arm.
"Um, here." He held out a freshly picked dandelion.
"Tate, that's a weed."
He looked at it. "I thought it was a flower. To make you feel better."
She shook her head authoritatively. "Nope. Mama says that they're weeds."
He said uncertainly, "Is that ok?"
Nabiki saw his crestfallen face and, not wanting to make her friend sad, she said, "Yeah. It's great." She took it from him. "Weeds can last through everything. Not like flowers, flowers are just pretty to look at. I'm a weed. I'm tough and I can take anything anyone throws at me. I'm wouldn't want to be a flower, useless things. I don't care about being ugly. It doesn't matter. I can do anything and that's all that I care about."
"Biki, you're not ugly!"
"Yeah, am so!" Nabiki pulled on one of her short, stubby pigtails. "Everyone says how Kasumi and Akane are gonna be ravishing beauties some day, but when they see me, they go 'oh, dear.' "
"I think that you're a ravishing beauty!"
"You don't know what ravishing means."
"So?"
"So?"
"So you are pretty. Like a dandelion. So you're like a pretty weed." Tate blinked, then grimaced. "Kodachi would laugh at that."
They both giggled.
Soon Nabiki and Tate reached the Tendo dojo. Nabiki slammed into the house, calling out, "I'm back!" at the top of her lungs. No one answered. The house was eerily silent, and an odor of frost settled on the two children.
"Hello?"
Nervously, they searched all over the house, but could not find a single person.
"Where is everyone? Normally there're a billion people at your house."
"I dunno."
Tate followed Nabiki out to the dojo. When they reached the stone steps, they could hear a sound like muffled crying inside. Nabiki shoved the door open. Akane was huddled in the far corner, still in her miniature gi. She raised a tear streaked face when she heard the door open.
" 'Kane! What's wrong? Where's everyone?" Nabiki darted over to her younger sister, Tate close at her heels. "Akane! Talk to me! Where's Daddy and Mummy and Kasumi?"
"I don't know!" wailed Akane. "Nobody would tell me anything! They just left me!"
"But where did they go? What happened?"
"I was practicing with Daddy and then the phone rang and Kasumi brought it to Daddy, and they both ran out and told me to stay here! Kasumi was crying so I started to cry, but Daddy didn't hug me or nothin'."
"Where's mummy?"
"I don't know!"
Nabiki, pale and cold, turned to Tate and said, "Watch her please, Tate."
"Where are you going?" Tate grabbed her hand.
"Leggo! I hafta find out what happened! S'my responsibility cuz I'm the biggest right now, and I hafta look after 'Kane!" She wrenched her hand away, and kissed Akane on the forehead. "Don't cry! Tate will be here! I'll be right back!" And she dashed out of the dojo.
*************
September 4.
2:54 pm. Nabiki's mother is run over by Tate's mother, whose sanity has been disintegrating these past few years. At the same time, Biki and Tate are struggling to climb the tree in the park.
3:01 pm. Kasumi's mother arrives at the hospital. Kasumi arrives two minutes later. She holds her mother's hand and murmurs comforting words, until the doctors pull her away and out of the room.
3:07 pm. Akane's mother winks in and out of consciousness, while little Akane cries beats the punching bag in the dojo.
3:09 pm. Soun Tendo's wife of ten years passes away before his very eyes. She can only smile gently while he tries to hold back his tears. She leaves him no last words to remember her by.
3:16 pm. Nabiki, though channels and connections which she has already begun to establish at the tender age of seven, finds out everything.
3:17 pm. Tate's mother drives herself into a telephone pole. She dies instantly, eight minutes after Biki's mother.
September 4.
Soun, bitter and suffering over his wife's premature death, loses control over his emotions. He now frequently releases the hot tears which he restrained by her deathbed.
Kasumi, age 8, takes on the duty of her mother. "Take care of them", her mother's last whisper to her, echoes daily in her ears.
Nabiki can only remember window-shopping with her mother. She turns to that which is cold and shiny and metallic. She takes her responsibility seriously.
Akane, a mere six years old, blames the name Kuno for her loss. She trains with a fierce passion, waiting for the day when she can avenge her mother's death. She keeps her fists burning to fan the fire inside.
Tatewaki is torn between loyalty to his mother and the family and girl he loves. He asks for no sympathy, no forgiveness, and in his anguish turns to better times. He loses his heart and soul into that of the samurai, of heroes who could change their fate.
3:20 pm. Biki and Tate vanish. It is now only Nabiki and Kuno. They are no longer children. They can no longer be children.
***********
Nabiki woke with a start.
To be continued...
C&C please!
"Come on, boost me up a little bit higher. I can't reach!"
"That's cuz you're so heavy! Biki, you're a cow! Hahahaha... ouch!"
"Didn't your mother ever teach you that you're s'posed to be nice to girls?"
"You're not a girl, you're a big fat c..."
"Got it!" Nabiki swung herself up onto a slippery branch. She stared downwards, blowing on her tiny palms to get rid of the sting from the whispery scratches that had formed there. "Tate, I dunno if I can pull you up here."
Tatewaki Kuno looked up at the lithe, overall-clad girl in the branches above him. He shot a lopsided grin at her, and vaulted upwards. "Ta-da! Oops..." He caught himself as he half fell off the other side of the branch. "I'm a martial artist! See!" He struck a pose filled with as much pride and bravado as an seven-year old can muster.
Nabiki snorted. " 'Kane can beat you up and she's only six. I bet I could too. "
"No! You couldn't! You don't even take martial arts! Besides, Akane's just a stinky first grader. No second grader gets the best of Tatewaki Kuno, the Samurai..."
Nabiki stopped listening. Tate was a good friend, but ever since he had discovered his great-grandfather's chest of samurai relics, he had come to imagine himself as some sort of warrior. Stupid boy's stuff, in Nabiki's illustrious opinion. And besides, she thought, there aren't any more samurais or nothin'. It's all old stuff, all museum stuff. All the cool things are now! She grinned. Like those pretty, shiny, silver machines in the electronics stores downtown; she had gone window-shopping with her mother the other day, and discovered a whole, uncharted world of modern technology and sleekness. Beautiful.
She had tried to tell Tate about it, but he wasn't too interested.
A shadow fell over her musings. Nabiki glanced upward, and saw Tate balanced on a branch above her. "Ha! I'm higher than you!"
Competitive spirit aroused, Nabiki began to clamber higher. A race began: one sturdy, athletic form leaping through the leaves, and one trim, nimble figure scaling the trunk. The branches got thinner, each step up a shakier, more uncertain one.
And then Nabiki fell.
Tate, unlike his audacious companion, had never been particularly fond of heights. So he was stunned to see the branch under her bare feet snap, to see her startled, frightened face, to watch his invincible best friend topple through the foliage towards him. To the little boy, it almost seemed like slow motion, the way her hair swirled in a nimbus around her face, the brilliant sun behind her sharpening her silhouette, the dark green leaves framing her suspended body in the late summer air.
He was shook into reality when she screamed, a single, piercing cry that startled the swallows nesting nearby.
FLOOMP!
Nabiki cried out when the grass appeared suddenly in her face. But, after three seconds of shell-shocked silence, she took inventory and discovered that nothing was seriously injured. How come? She thought, surprised. Then she noticed Tate's arms around her waist. She flipped over.
"Did you catch me?" Bewilderment obvious in her voice.
"Uh...yeah, I think so." Tate's grin quavered. "I told you I'm a martial artist." He released her and got to his feet. "Are... are you ok?"
Nabiki was shaking. "I think." Now that she was standing, she realized that her wrist felt a little funny. "I think I want to go home anyways." Tate nodded, and they headed out of the park.
Halfway home, she felt Kuno tap her hesitantly on the arm.
"Um, here." He held out a freshly picked dandelion.
"Tate, that's a weed."
He looked at it. "I thought it was a flower. To make you feel better."
She shook her head authoritatively. "Nope. Mama says that they're weeds."
He said uncertainly, "Is that ok?"
Nabiki saw his crestfallen face and, not wanting to make her friend sad, she said, "Yeah. It's great." She took it from him. "Weeds can last through everything. Not like flowers, flowers are just pretty to look at. I'm a weed. I'm tough and I can take anything anyone throws at me. I'm wouldn't want to be a flower, useless things. I don't care about being ugly. It doesn't matter. I can do anything and that's all that I care about."
"Biki, you're not ugly!"
"Yeah, am so!" Nabiki pulled on one of her short, stubby pigtails. "Everyone says how Kasumi and Akane are gonna be ravishing beauties some day, but when they see me, they go 'oh, dear.' "
"I think that you're a ravishing beauty!"
"You don't know what ravishing means."
"So?"
"So?"
"So you are pretty. Like a dandelion. So you're like a pretty weed." Tate blinked, then grimaced. "Kodachi would laugh at that."
They both giggled.
Soon Nabiki and Tate reached the Tendo dojo. Nabiki slammed into the house, calling out, "I'm back!" at the top of her lungs. No one answered. The house was eerily silent, and an odor of frost settled on the two children.
"Hello?"
Nervously, they searched all over the house, but could not find a single person.
"Where is everyone? Normally there're a billion people at your house."
"I dunno."
Tate followed Nabiki out to the dojo. When they reached the stone steps, they could hear a sound like muffled crying inside. Nabiki shoved the door open. Akane was huddled in the far corner, still in her miniature gi. She raised a tear streaked face when she heard the door open.
" 'Kane! What's wrong? Where's everyone?" Nabiki darted over to her younger sister, Tate close at her heels. "Akane! Talk to me! Where's Daddy and Mummy and Kasumi?"
"I don't know!" wailed Akane. "Nobody would tell me anything! They just left me!"
"But where did they go? What happened?"
"I was practicing with Daddy and then the phone rang and Kasumi brought it to Daddy, and they both ran out and told me to stay here! Kasumi was crying so I started to cry, but Daddy didn't hug me or nothin'."
"Where's mummy?"
"I don't know!"
Nabiki, pale and cold, turned to Tate and said, "Watch her please, Tate."
"Where are you going?" Tate grabbed her hand.
"Leggo! I hafta find out what happened! S'my responsibility cuz I'm the biggest right now, and I hafta look after 'Kane!" She wrenched her hand away, and kissed Akane on the forehead. "Don't cry! Tate will be here! I'll be right back!" And she dashed out of the dojo.
*************
September 4.
2:54 pm. Nabiki's mother is run over by Tate's mother, whose sanity has been disintegrating these past few years. At the same time, Biki and Tate are struggling to climb the tree in the park.
3:01 pm. Kasumi's mother arrives at the hospital. Kasumi arrives two minutes later. She holds her mother's hand and murmurs comforting words, until the doctors pull her away and out of the room.
3:07 pm. Akane's mother winks in and out of consciousness, while little Akane cries beats the punching bag in the dojo.
3:09 pm. Soun Tendo's wife of ten years passes away before his very eyes. She can only smile gently while he tries to hold back his tears. She leaves him no last words to remember her by.
3:16 pm. Nabiki, though channels and connections which she has already begun to establish at the tender age of seven, finds out everything.
3:17 pm. Tate's mother drives herself into a telephone pole. She dies instantly, eight minutes after Biki's mother.
September 4.
Soun, bitter and suffering over his wife's premature death, loses control over his emotions. He now frequently releases the hot tears which he restrained by her deathbed.
Kasumi, age 8, takes on the duty of her mother. "Take care of them", her mother's last whisper to her, echoes daily in her ears.
Nabiki can only remember window-shopping with her mother. She turns to that which is cold and shiny and metallic. She takes her responsibility seriously.
Akane, a mere six years old, blames the name Kuno for her loss. She trains with a fierce passion, waiting for the day when she can avenge her mother's death. She keeps her fists burning to fan the fire inside.
Tatewaki is torn between loyalty to his mother and the family and girl he loves. He asks for no sympathy, no forgiveness, and in his anguish turns to better times. He loses his heart and soul into that of the samurai, of heroes who could change their fate.
3:20 pm. Biki and Tate vanish. It is now only Nabiki and Kuno. They are no longer children. They can no longer be children.
***********
Nabiki woke with a start.
To be continued...
C&C please!