A/N- Well here goes chapter two...Let's see if this one evokes any response
in you all... This section is horribly disappointing so far; definitely
need more readers here. The lyrics are from "Candy Tree" by All About Eve.
I recommend listening to any songs I use for opening/inside quotes; they
may help to understand the psychosis and they're also the sound track to
this story. Was considering posing a challenge to my readers, if any of
you can guess who is narrating this story I'll do a fic for you or
something (entirely your choice of topic and plot). Want to see if my
clues are too subtle.
~...~ Thoughts "..." Speech ***** Scene Change '.' Narrators Thoughts
Bugs In The Mirror- No Colors Anymore
~Chandra
~Well it's an underhand Kind of wonderland - She can't find the door; Because he's keeping her as a prisoner Lost forevermore... ~
We stood outside the art studio, his hand reaching for the door knob as words filtered out in clips and phrases, turning the afternoons sweat to ice on his skin.
"Is this the hand you draw with..." The man's voice echoed through the wood, too old to be a students and too sure of itself to be welcome. "You are a very talented girl..."
The click on the door was silent, his knuckles white around its metal handle as those emerald eyes pulling me to the surface. The girl sits, still as the statue she draws, her fingers clenching the pencil she holds. Blue eyes stare straight ahead from a shivering body; in that moment she looks like a wild thing caught in waiting for the predators jaws to close. Above her a teacher leans, his right hand sliding slowly down the neck of her shirt while his left trails over her shirt and breasts.
He coughs, the sound a rasping growl in the studio's close space, startling the teacher, who jumps back from her, and turning those terrified blue eyes towards him. For a moment the light of hope sparkles pleading in their depths, but it dims in the face of uncertainty. He moves slowly, each step a careful violence that slips around them caught up in the silent rustle of cotton pants and shifting pale hair. I catch his reflection in the window, green eyes burning with controlled fury.
"What are you doing here Kashino, the school's been closed for two hours now." The teacher turns his embarrassment into anger, hoping to frighten Rei away.
"Perhaps I was thinking of joining the art club." His fingers trail over paintings and furniture as her circles them, fingers finding the smooth plastic casing of a razor. "You never know, I might have a hidden talent." Emerald eyes turn towards the teacher, and I watch the color drain from his frantic face. I can almost feel the razor between my fingers as Rei moves towards the man, the steel blade catching a stray ray of sunlight.
"Wha...what do you think you're doing Kashino." The teacher yells, the situation slipping quickly into the chaos of war.
"Me? Nothing, just sharpening a pencil...It's not like I was thinking of cutting you or anything..." His eyes betray the lie for what it is. Each movement of the razor deliberate as it shaves away pieces of wood, his eyes never leaving the man's face. "Don't you have rounds to make...other students to...check on?"
Kira's eyes stare unseeingly at the scene before her, her lips moving to form words that could find no sound to express. Finally as the door shut, and the teacher left her eyes focused on Rei, his fingers trailing over a marble statue used as a still life model.
"Mars..." green eyes glance up at her, making her thoughts freeze before returning to the statue. His eyes were so soft in that moment, so unlike the Rei she had seen moments earlier. "The statue is of Mars, the god of War..." She continues not even sure if he is listening, but needing to fill the silence around them.
"For some one so violent, he has such a beautiful face." Stunned Kira watches Rei lean into the statue, his lips brushing over the statues cold marble lips. Through the red rays of the sunset stain his blonde hair and surrounding them in a halo bloody light.
"Hey Rei, what are you doing in here?" Tatsuya leans his head through the door, waving at Rei. "Quit playing around, let's go!"
"I'll be there in a minute!" Rei yells after his friend before turning to Kira. From a distance I watch, feeling further from him than ever, as he smile at her before setting the pad on the table in front of her.
"You dropped this..." he whisper, and I watch heartbroken as he parts with us. "And don't worry about anything...I'll protect you, Kira." *****
We are in the bathroom no, and no longer can I stay silent. The words bubble out from between my lips with the smoke I have grown accustomed to. "She is not like us." My eyes stare into the mirror, focused on our reflection in that moment. "She's innocent, soft, fragile...just like Sei was." It feels strange to use Sei's name again, it has been years since I remember speaking it. A name that became lost with the memories when HE died.
"My brother is dead...Why don't you just go away?" He hisses smoke at out reflection, the grey mist pushing off the mirror in a curling cloud. His words are so predictable, my lips form then even as he speaks each syllable...it is like we are already one persona nd just don't realize it.
"Because we are the same." I reach out to him, but instead of the soft skin I remember there is only cold glass. "Why do you deny me even now?" My hand falls away, the chill of the mirror clinging to my fingertips. His green eyes glare at me from the glass, eyes that I have dreamed about ever since we were separated.
"No." The word breaks my heart to dust that is blown away by the fury of his anger. His fist shatters the glass, sending fragments of us to the floor along with the glowing embers of his cigarette. "We are nothing alike." His voice is quieter now, the first violence calmed to a steady story that shifts with an uneasy peace beneath his tones, leaving spoiled honey tones to fall in thick drops like the blood from his fingers. "Leave me alone." *****
Rei's hands tighten over the hand brakes, trying desperately to slow his escape from me. Nothing. Again he tries, his foot pushing down on the emergency brake as the back of a semi-truck speeds closer to him. Desperately he twists the bike between himself and the truck, the emergency brake kicking in a second too late as the rough surface of the road rises up to meet him. Concrete tears through him jeans, scraping away a layer of skin as he rolls away from the bike. Tires scream leaving the smell of burning rubber in their wake as the front tire blows out in an explosion of rubber and air. Sparks jump from the wet pavement as the bike slides away from him, the metal protests as it is wedged under the back of the truck. Helplessly I watch all this, my fingers reach for something to hold onto but find only air and concrete around me. 'No...Rei!" The scream forms wordlessly in my mind, drown out by the cry of metal and grinding brakes as the truck comes to an abrupt stop. Red light washes over Rei as he struggles to pick himself up off the road, testing each limb for movement. The red is all I see, As I feel my fingers curl painfully in leather gloves.
"Hey...Hey you...Are you ok kid?" The man's frantic voice calls out to Rei as hejumps out of the cab. But Rei doesn't hear him now, as we walk away into the wet streets. I can feel the shock setting into his body as we walk bad to the rundown apartment he insists on call home. *****
I hear locks click open; first the deadbolt, then the lock in the door handle, then finally the chain rattles away and the wooden door opens. A man stands there fumbling with his glasses, it is the teacher from earlier, Mr Yoshiro. For an instant he recognizes me, then the color drains away leaving his skin a sickly white. "How-What are you doing here?"
"You tried to kill Rei..." my voice surprises me; its tones almost unsteady with my anger. I sometimes wonder if my voice sounds as mad as my smile appears, tonight I have my answer.
"I...You...-" He stammers, his mind following mine down the tortured trail that breeds understanding.
"I can't let you hurt Rei, Mr. Yoshiro." My gloved hands curl around his throat, leaving trails of wet grim from Reis clothing and the road. I have never strangled any one before.and for a moment I wonder at the feel of his flesh under my fingertips, at how his mouth twists as his lungs fight to draw in air. The blood vessils in his eyes strain making the white bloodshot with the stress. I have to laugh, he looks like a fish drowning in air with his mouth flapping open and his eyes wide as though he could breath through them. His fingers claw at my clothing, curling weakly around my gloved wrists as he fights to live.
"Why?" His mouth forms the word as his hands slide weakly away from my wrists. It takes a full five minutes for someone to loose conciseness, and another five minutes to make sure their dead. I don't have another six minutes to wait for him to finish; Rei will be waking up soon. My thumbs push into the space just above his collarbone, crushing his wind pipe and allowing nature to finish what I started. Still smiling I let his body fall to the floor, his hand now clutch desperately at his neck.
"It's your fault I woke up..." My voice is a low growl of pleasure, making me feel at home in the humid night. *****
"Did you hear? A girl's hushed voice whispers urgently as she tugs persistently at Rei's shirtsleeve in an attempt to get his attention.
"Hear what?" Rei sigh impatiently, wincing as he turns in his seat to face her. His bruised muscles protest as he shifts, the scrapes on his legs rubbing against his pants as if to remind him of their existence.
"Mr Yoshiro was murdered last night! They say he was strangled...I can't believe something like that would happen here. I scared to even walk home now."
Her words drift past him, fragments making their way into his thoughts before being dismissed. His attention is focused past her on Kira's downcast face and shy eyes. At the news of Mr. Yoshiro's death Kira looks up, gasping as her eyes meet Rei's.
"Rei...Rei...Aren't you listening to me? Mr. Yoshiro was murdered." The girl leans back persistently, blocking Rei's sight and raising the whining level of her voice to an even more annoying level.
"So? What do you expect me to do about it." Rei turns away from her irritated.
"Would you walk me home today? I'm scared to go by myself." She continues unfazed by his irritation.
"I'm sorry Shari, I can't."
As if on cue her lips form an overdone pout, "Please Rei..."
"I'm busy..." He pauses, then smiles, looking back at Kira. "Didn't I tell you, I joined the Art Club.
Kira's pencil falls to the floor, causing Shari to turn and stare at her. Blushing Kira fumbles at grabbing it, her blue eyes tight with embarrassment.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nn.Nothing." Kira stammers, not meeting the eyes of her accuser but instead staring down at the notebook in front of her.
From behind Shari Rei laughs, watching the color continue to rise on Kira's sheels.
"If I didn't know better I'd thing you liked Rei. But that's impossible...You don't even like boys, do you?" Shari continues, her tones filled with cruel mocking.
"Shari, stop being such a bitch." Rei's voice cuts through her torment of Kira before he stands up. Deliberately he walks over to where Kira sits and picks up her books. "Let's go, I'm bored."
*****
~Drea~ Thank you! ~Rhiannon~ This does start out a little confusing, but it'll get better, I think. ~Lea~ will work on the dialog, maybe. And if I continued this as a nonMARS fic there would be one less fic in the area, and MARS can use all the fic it can get on here...in my opinion of course. ~Skittles~ Good. Some one who like my description ( Thank You! ~CatsOnMars~ Glad you liked that line, and it's not over yet, this story is just taking me forever to get down the way I want it. ~Berserker~ Thanks, hope you do like it. And here's a brand new chappie for you!
~...~ Thoughts "..." Speech ***** Scene Change '.' Narrators Thoughts
Bugs In The Mirror- No Colors Anymore
~Chandra
~Well it's an underhand Kind of wonderland - She can't find the door; Because he's keeping her as a prisoner Lost forevermore... ~
We stood outside the art studio, his hand reaching for the door knob as words filtered out in clips and phrases, turning the afternoons sweat to ice on his skin.
"Is this the hand you draw with..." The man's voice echoed through the wood, too old to be a students and too sure of itself to be welcome. "You are a very talented girl..."
The click on the door was silent, his knuckles white around its metal handle as those emerald eyes pulling me to the surface. The girl sits, still as the statue she draws, her fingers clenching the pencil she holds. Blue eyes stare straight ahead from a shivering body; in that moment she looks like a wild thing caught in waiting for the predators jaws to close. Above her a teacher leans, his right hand sliding slowly down the neck of her shirt while his left trails over her shirt and breasts.
He coughs, the sound a rasping growl in the studio's close space, startling the teacher, who jumps back from her, and turning those terrified blue eyes towards him. For a moment the light of hope sparkles pleading in their depths, but it dims in the face of uncertainty. He moves slowly, each step a careful violence that slips around them caught up in the silent rustle of cotton pants and shifting pale hair. I catch his reflection in the window, green eyes burning with controlled fury.
"What are you doing here Kashino, the school's been closed for two hours now." The teacher turns his embarrassment into anger, hoping to frighten Rei away.
"Perhaps I was thinking of joining the art club." His fingers trail over paintings and furniture as her circles them, fingers finding the smooth plastic casing of a razor. "You never know, I might have a hidden talent." Emerald eyes turn towards the teacher, and I watch the color drain from his frantic face. I can almost feel the razor between my fingers as Rei moves towards the man, the steel blade catching a stray ray of sunlight.
"Wha...what do you think you're doing Kashino." The teacher yells, the situation slipping quickly into the chaos of war.
"Me? Nothing, just sharpening a pencil...It's not like I was thinking of cutting you or anything..." His eyes betray the lie for what it is. Each movement of the razor deliberate as it shaves away pieces of wood, his eyes never leaving the man's face. "Don't you have rounds to make...other students to...check on?"
Kira's eyes stare unseeingly at the scene before her, her lips moving to form words that could find no sound to express. Finally as the door shut, and the teacher left her eyes focused on Rei, his fingers trailing over a marble statue used as a still life model.
"Mars..." green eyes glance up at her, making her thoughts freeze before returning to the statue. His eyes were so soft in that moment, so unlike the Rei she had seen moments earlier. "The statue is of Mars, the god of War..." She continues not even sure if he is listening, but needing to fill the silence around them.
"For some one so violent, he has such a beautiful face." Stunned Kira watches Rei lean into the statue, his lips brushing over the statues cold marble lips. Through the red rays of the sunset stain his blonde hair and surrounding them in a halo bloody light.
"Hey Rei, what are you doing in here?" Tatsuya leans his head through the door, waving at Rei. "Quit playing around, let's go!"
"I'll be there in a minute!" Rei yells after his friend before turning to Kira. From a distance I watch, feeling further from him than ever, as he smile at her before setting the pad on the table in front of her.
"You dropped this..." he whisper, and I watch heartbroken as he parts with us. "And don't worry about anything...I'll protect you, Kira." *****
We are in the bathroom no, and no longer can I stay silent. The words bubble out from between my lips with the smoke I have grown accustomed to. "She is not like us." My eyes stare into the mirror, focused on our reflection in that moment. "She's innocent, soft, fragile...just like Sei was." It feels strange to use Sei's name again, it has been years since I remember speaking it. A name that became lost with the memories when HE died.
"My brother is dead...Why don't you just go away?" He hisses smoke at out reflection, the grey mist pushing off the mirror in a curling cloud. His words are so predictable, my lips form then even as he speaks each syllable...it is like we are already one persona nd just don't realize it.
"Because we are the same." I reach out to him, but instead of the soft skin I remember there is only cold glass. "Why do you deny me even now?" My hand falls away, the chill of the mirror clinging to my fingertips. His green eyes glare at me from the glass, eyes that I have dreamed about ever since we were separated.
"No." The word breaks my heart to dust that is blown away by the fury of his anger. His fist shatters the glass, sending fragments of us to the floor along with the glowing embers of his cigarette. "We are nothing alike." His voice is quieter now, the first violence calmed to a steady story that shifts with an uneasy peace beneath his tones, leaving spoiled honey tones to fall in thick drops like the blood from his fingers. "Leave me alone." *****
Rei's hands tighten over the hand brakes, trying desperately to slow his escape from me. Nothing. Again he tries, his foot pushing down on the emergency brake as the back of a semi-truck speeds closer to him. Desperately he twists the bike between himself and the truck, the emergency brake kicking in a second too late as the rough surface of the road rises up to meet him. Concrete tears through him jeans, scraping away a layer of skin as he rolls away from the bike. Tires scream leaving the smell of burning rubber in their wake as the front tire blows out in an explosion of rubber and air. Sparks jump from the wet pavement as the bike slides away from him, the metal protests as it is wedged under the back of the truck. Helplessly I watch all this, my fingers reach for something to hold onto but find only air and concrete around me. 'No...Rei!" The scream forms wordlessly in my mind, drown out by the cry of metal and grinding brakes as the truck comes to an abrupt stop. Red light washes over Rei as he struggles to pick himself up off the road, testing each limb for movement. The red is all I see, As I feel my fingers curl painfully in leather gloves.
"Hey...Hey you...Are you ok kid?" The man's frantic voice calls out to Rei as hejumps out of the cab. But Rei doesn't hear him now, as we walk away into the wet streets. I can feel the shock setting into his body as we walk bad to the rundown apartment he insists on call home. *****
I hear locks click open; first the deadbolt, then the lock in the door handle, then finally the chain rattles away and the wooden door opens. A man stands there fumbling with his glasses, it is the teacher from earlier, Mr Yoshiro. For an instant he recognizes me, then the color drains away leaving his skin a sickly white. "How-What are you doing here?"
"You tried to kill Rei..." my voice surprises me; its tones almost unsteady with my anger. I sometimes wonder if my voice sounds as mad as my smile appears, tonight I have my answer.
"I...You...-" He stammers, his mind following mine down the tortured trail that breeds understanding.
"I can't let you hurt Rei, Mr. Yoshiro." My gloved hands curl around his throat, leaving trails of wet grim from Reis clothing and the road. I have never strangled any one before.and for a moment I wonder at the feel of his flesh under my fingertips, at how his mouth twists as his lungs fight to draw in air. The blood vessils in his eyes strain making the white bloodshot with the stress. I have to laugh, he looks like a fish drowning in air with his mouth flapping open and his eyes wide as though he could breath through them. His fingers claw at my clothing, curling weakly around my gloved wrists as he fights to live.
"Why?" His mouth forms the word as his hands slide weakly away from my wrists. It takes a full five minutes for someone to loose conciseness, and another five minutes to make sure their dead. I don't have another six minutes to wait for him to finish; Rei will be waking up soon. My thumbs push into the space just above his collarbone, crushing his wind pipe and allowing nature to finish what I started. Still smiling I let his body fall to the floor, his hand now clutch desperately at his neck.
"It's your fault I woke up..." My voice is a low growl of pleasure, making me feel at home in the humid night. *****
"Did you hear? A girl's hushed voice whispers urgently as she tugs persistently at Rei's shirtsleeve in an attempt to get his attention.
"Hear what?" Rei sigh impatiently, wincing as he turns in his seat to face her. His bruised muscles protest as he shifts, the scrapes on his legs rubbing against his pants as if to remind him of their existence.
"Mr Yoshiro was murdered last night! They say he was strangled...I can't believe something like that would happen here. I scared to even walk home now."
Her words drift past him, fragments making their way into his thoughts before being dismissed. His attention is focused past her on Kira's downcast face and shy eyes. At the news of Mr. Yoshiro's death Kira looks up, gasping as her eyes meet Rei's.
"Rei...Rei...Aren't you listening to me? Mr. Yoshiro was murdered." The girl leans back persistently, blocking Rei's sight and raising the whining level of her voice to an even more annoying level.
"So? What do you expect me to do about it." Rei turns away from her irritated.
"Would you walk me home today? I'm scared to go by myself." She continues unfazed by his irritation.
"I'm sorry Shari, I can't."
As if on cue her lips form an overdone pout, "Please Rei..."
"I'm busy..." He pauses, then smiles, looking back at Kira. "Didn't I tell you, I joined the Art Club.
Kira's pencil falls to the floor, causing Shari to turn and stare at her. Blushing Kira fumbles at grabbing it, her blue eyes tight with embarrassment.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nn.Nothing." Kira stammers, not meeting the eyes of her accuser but instead staring down at the notebook in front of her.
From behind Shari Rei laughs, watching the color continue to rise on Kira's sheels.
"If I didn't know better I'd thing you liked Rei. But that's impossible...You don't even like boys, do you?" Shari continues, her tones filled with cruel mocking.
"Shari, stop being such a bitch." Rei's voice cuts through her torment of Kira before he stands up. Deliberately he walks over to where Kira sits and picks up her books. "Let's go, I'm bored."
*****
~Drea~ Thank you! ~Rhiannon~ This does start out a little confusing, but it'll get better, I think. ~Lea~ will work on the dialog, maybe. And if I continued this as a nonMARS fic there would be one less fic in the area, and MARS can use all the fic it can get on here...in my opinion of course. ~Skittles~ Good. Some one who like my description ( Thank You! ~CatsOnMars~ Glad you liked that line, and it's not over yet, this story is just taking me forever to get down the way I want it. ~Berserker~ Thanks, hope you do like it. And here's a brand new chappie for you!