Note: In this chapter the money used is going to be in American dollars even though Eight Petals is set in Japan. I just don't know the value of yen.

Eight Petals Chapter 2

Shirohasu was surprised. His mother's lecture hadn't been half what he had thought it would be. She barely raised her voice and all she did was talk to him about responsibility and safety. He shrugged vaguely to himself as he and Anshi entered the courtyard of their school, Chuugaku Middle School. Even when dressed in the same uniform as the other students Anshi and Shirohasu looked different. Unlike their pale-skinned classmates, both Anshi and Shirohasu were velvety brown. Shirohasu's large brown eyes watched from under wavy black hair and Anshi's face mirrored his. Both of them were very long-legged and slender, small-built forms hiding the strength that they both held.

Shirohasu glanced behind him at Anshi. "I'm going to be heading in early so that I can get some studying done." Anshi cast him a wave before he headed inside the building. There was still about half an hour before school started. Anshi usually used this time to talk to her various friends but Shirohasu had to study. He was 15 and the high-school entrance exams were getting closer and closer every day. He never went to the nightly cram schools but wanted to at least have a slight chance of getting in somewhere good. It would make his mother happy. That was all that mattered.

Finding ways of cheering his mother had been one of Shirohasu's pastimes since he was 8. That was when his father had left. When it became obvious that his mother wasn't in any shape to take care of the then 6-year-old Anshi Shirohasu had taken on the job. He had tried his best to help his mother pull through those bad times and his effort had paid off. Now, though his mother wasn't always what he'd call happy, she at least wasn't in the depression that his father had cast her into. He blinked as the bell rang above his head that would start summoning the children into the school. His zoning out had lost him his study time. Oh well. Too late to do anything about it now.

The hours passed with a regular monotony. When it was finally their lunch hour Shirohasu headed outside, relishing the thought of stretching his legs in the warm sunlight. Shirohasu saw Anshi and began to move towards her but was thrown off his feet when someone went dashing into him from the opposite direction. He landed on his back; the grass prickling at his neck while a pair of big blue eyes looked into his own.

"S-sorry!" the girl squeaked as she stood up and moved away from him. "It won't happen again!" She was gone before Shirohasu had gotten to his feet. He brushed grass from himself as he scanned the crowd for her, wondering where she had gone so quickly.

"Her name is Haikana," said a familiar voice from behind him. Shirohasu turned around to see Anshi, seemingly searching the crowd herself. "She is in the class above mine and has been really skittery lately. I think it is because her aunt is sick or something."

"Oh," said Shirohasu as he distractedly brushed at the last few clinging blades of grass. "She was in a hurry, wasn't she?"

Anshi shrugged. "Maybe she has to meet a teacher or someone. I know that there is a boy she likes so she could be following him." She gave the crowd one last glance before sighing and dabbing at her forehead. "It's so hot out here. Could you lend me some change so I could buy a soda?"

Shirohasu had been just thinking of that himself. "Yeah, sure. I should have plenty of-" he stopped abruptly as he stuck his hand in his pocket. The pocket that had so previously rattled with the money that it carried was completely empty.

Anshi blinked at the confused look on Shirohasu's face. "Brother, what is wrong? Are you ok?"

Shirohasu remembered the girl running into him and now remembered a slim hand sneaking into his pocket as well. "I'm fine, but." His mind traced back to the frightened look on the girl's face. Frightened of being caught. "But I think that I was just robbed." He turned and started jogging towards where he thought Haikana had gone. "I'll deal with it. You'll have to borrow money from someone else."

Anshi watched after him with concern in her large, dark eyes. "Be careful, big brother."

As Shirohasu ran, various scenarios ran through his mind. What should he do if he found her? Should he question her or just accuse? Should he be nice and ask for his money back or just grab? He decided that he'd at least give her a chance. Maybe he had lost the money somewhere else; maybe it really had been an accident. Or maybe she was just a thief. Shirohasu shook his head. He didn't actually know her but he didn't think that she was just stealing for fun, not with that look of terror on her face.

He walked around a tree and stopped, pause to better hear a noise that was coming from somewhere above in the branches. Crying. He backed up a few paces and peered through the dense branches, seeing the charcoal black of their school uniform mixed with the browns and greens of the tree. It was Haikana. For a moment he stood there watching her, all of his previous thoughts blowing away with the wind. How could he accuse her when she was like this? He hadn't expected her to be crying. Shirohasu carefully began to climb the tree.

Haikana didn't notice Shirohasu until he was almost level with her branch. She looked up with a small gasp and scooted a bit further out on her branch. Shirohasu stopped, not wanting her to get too far out. "Its ok," he said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you." He slowly went up another branch so that he was more or less level with her. She glanced over at him mistrustingly.

"What do you want?" she said, her voice squeaking though she appeared to be making a great effort to calm herself.

"Why are you crying?" asked Shirohasu, his large eyes filling with compassion and pity.

"It's none of your business!" she squeaked, turning her head away from him so he wouldn't see the tears.

"It might not be my business but I still want to know. Maybe I can help or- "

"You can't," she said in a harsh croak. She hugged her knees up to her chest, barely keeping balance and with nothing to support her.

"Come down and we'll talk," said Shirohasu with a note of urgency in his voice. If she fell from this height then she'd definitely brake something, maybe worse. When there was no response he climbed over to her branch and reached out to her. "Take my hand. I'll help you climb."

Haikana shook her head but in doing so caused herself to wobble off balance, her eyes widening as she began to lean too far. Shirohasu's hand snaked out to steady her, both of their hearts racing at the near fall. "I'm coming," she said in a quiet voice as she allowed herself to be led down.

Shirohasu breathed a sigh of relief as his last foot touched the ground but it turned to a sigh of irritation as he heard the school bell ring. "Right, we have to get back inside." He looked over to where Haikana stood by the tree, looking very small and frightened. He glanced back towards the school. He probably wouldn't miss anything too important if he missed his afternoon classes and he was more needed back here. He turned back to Haikana. "Or we could just stay outside." Haikana's face brightened visibly, her features softening a little. "Let's go for a walk," said Shirohasu as he began to lead the way across the grounds.

He felt Haikana's eyes upon him as they went, heard her breathing change from the ragged gasps from before to paced and regular. It was she who broke the silence first, running a bit so that she could get in front of him. "Why aren't you mad?" she asked, her blue eyes lit by a flicker of emotion.

Shirohasu glanced over at her, eyebrows moving up in an expression of mild surprise. "Mad? About what?"

Haikana gave a small hiss of irritation. "You know! About." her voice grew quieter. "About your money. I took it and you know that."

"Ah," said Shirohasu as he started walking again. "I didn't want to upset you again by bringing it up."

"And what makes you think I'd be upset for?" she asked as she walked alongside him, her eyes large and questioning.

He glanced over at her, watching the way her dark hair fanned out in the breeze. "Because I know that you didn't really want to do it and it's why you were crying in that tree."

"That wasn't why!" she snapped at him before she even realized what she was saying. "It was because." she trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

"Because?" gently prompted Shirohasu.

"Because of my grandmother," said Haikana, tears once again gathering in her eyes. "She- She is sick but we don't have enough money to get her good treatment. That's why I steal! That's why I took your money! To help her!" Her tone for the last few sentences were defiant, almost asking Shirohasu to grow angry with her. Instead he smiled softly.

"If you had told me I would have given you the money. How much more do you need?"

"About five hundred dollar," said Haikana in a defeated tone. "It might seem like a small amount but my family doesn't make much money. I have a lot of siblings and our grandparents live with us, so there isn't a lot to go around."

"Yeah, well with only one parent my family isn't doing great either. I wish that I could help you but I don't have that much money and I doubt that mom would give me it."

"Right," said Haikana in a voice dangerously close to tears again. "Its ok, you tried and didn't yell at me even though I stole your money."

As Haikana turned away from Shirohasu he was filled with a sudden inspiration. He took her shoulders and turned her back around so that she was facing him again. "No, I haven't tried yet. I'll get that money for you no matter what, ok?"

Haikana's eyes widened, hope making them seem all the brighter. "Really?"

"Of course."