Somehow, somehow life seemed to be growing brighter when I was with Meihou. Her presence itself was a miracle to me, her entire self an enigma to my senses. She wasn't like any of the other stuck up girls in the village; sometimes, she made me think that she was actually a boy in a girl's body.
"Emtato bakayaro!"
She bonked me lightly on the head and I blinked, looking up at her from the rock that I was leaning on. Meihou was perched on the top of the rock, swinging her legs as she made a face at me, sticking out her tongue. "What're you thinking about?"
I mock-contemplated her question, touching my chin with my index finger. "Well, I don't know," I spoke playfully before making a grab for her. "Maybe this!"
Squealing, she struggled as I pulled her down from the top of the rock. "Don't you DARE touch me!" she threatened as I tugged at her sleeves. "You're being perverted! Ematato bakayaro is being PERVERTED!"
"Say whatever you like!" I grinend as she collapsed into a fit of giggles when I tickled her. "You'll regret saying that to me when I'm finished with this!"
A tickle fight with Meihou was not as easy to win as it looked like, as Meihou was actually much stronger than she looked. Either that or she was more skilled, I thought as I managed to poke her in the ribs just as she laughed. Finally, the both of us collapsed on the grassy ground, out of breath with sweaty faces.
"I won!" she told me with a wide grin as she flashed the victory sign in my face. "You're a boy, Emtato, and I beat you! I beat a boy!"
"Riiight." I poked her in the ribs again, still slightly out of breath. "Meihou, can I ask you something?"
She flipped herself to lie on her stomach as she raised one brown eyebrow at me. "What about?"
Gazing straight at her innocent face, I averted my eyes to look at the ground for a moment before looking back at her. "When I first met you, you told me that your kaasan told you not to read books, but I've never seen her before. Who are your parents anyway? I've never seen them before," I let it out all in a rush.
I heard a sharp inhale, and looked up to see Meihou's face losing most of her happy expression as she clenched at her skirt. She was biting her lip, her eyes looking straight down at the ground as she trembled slightly. Strange. Did I hit a nerve or something?
"Kaasan..." she began, then swallowed before continuing. "Kaasan is what people would call strange. Sometimes, she's normal, but sometimes, she's just not...well, who she is. During these times, she curses Genbu's name, saying that it brings her misfortune and that she'd rather be dead. Sometimes...sometimes...she tries to kill me."
Her last word was staccato, a sharp word as she bravely fought the urge to cry. Rolling up her left sleeve, the display an ugly blue-black bruise on the otherwise unmarked pale skin was somewhat sickening, and I wondered how a mother could do such a thing to her child. "But...your father should have been able to stop her, ne?" I tried.
She shook her head, smiling grimly as she pulled down the dark blue sleeve once more. "My father was the cause of all this, actually. When he died, kaasan became like that and...she's never gotten better since."
It came to me as a shock that the girl whom I had known for a week already actually concealed such a traumatic past from me. I swallowed.
Meihou's shoulders were shaking, and I looked at her hesitatingly, reaching out a hand. "Meihou..."
Her shoulders shook more now, and I was afraid that she would get a heart attack or something when-
"WAHAHAHAHA!"
"Ah?" I blinked rapidly as I came face-to-face with a hopelessly laughing Meihou. Tears ran down her eyes and onto her cheeks as she laughed, and I narrowed my eyes. "What's this all about?
"Gods...you're so vulnerable, Emtato bakayaro!" she practically squealed, her words punctuated with fits of laughter as I glared slightly at her. "I can't believe actually FELL for that!"
"...I don't understand."
Her laughter had subsided now, but she was still clutching her stomach, seized by fits of high, girlish giggles. "I lied, baka! Isn't it obvious?"
A frown creased my forehead as I folded my arms, still refusing to believe that Meihou would trick me like that. "So just how did you get that bruise then?" I asked her, my tone curt.
She had finished laughing now and she wiped her eyes, shaking her head. Her hair was in a mess, soft curs sticking out from her ponytail as she bent over slightly, flashing a young grin at me. "I fell down the other day when we were climbing that hill, remember? Come on, don't look so down; it was a joke! Joudan da!"
The light finally dawned in my eyes, and I saw Meihou mischeviously sticking out her tongue at me as she made a face. I made a wild grab at her, and she squealed and jumped up and out of reach. "You come back here!" I laughed, getting up and marching towards her in mock fury.
"Not happening!"
She set off in direction of the town, her long legs taking her as fast as they could down the grassy slopes of the hill without tripping over the hems of her robes. "Can't catch me, Emtato bakayaro!"
"MATTE YO!"
"Soooo Emtato, I hear that you've got a little pretty kanojo," Jien teased me at dinner that night. Strange that he hadn't mentioned Meihou until tonight, although I'm pretty sure the news hould have circulated around the village through the rumourmongers a week ago. "It's not every day that our neighbourhood bad boy gets a girlfriend, ne?"
I buried my nose in the dumpling that I ate. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Oh?" Jien looked genuinely surprised as he frowned slightly, twisting his mouth to his right like he usually did when he was confused. "That's weird. According to the entire village, you leave the village every day with a girl and come back at dusk. Just what were you two doing ACTUALLY?"
To my horror, I felt myself flushing, much to Jien's amusement. "So it IS true!" he chuckled gleefully. "Our little Emtato's all grown up!"
"Shut up," I muttered just as Uncle Jien came in, shivering from the cold winds outside. He was shivering, cursing slightly under his breath as he shed his coat.
"The winds are getting worse," he spoke, although it wasn't clear whether he was tallking to himself or to the both of us. "If you're not careful, you might actually end up being a block of ice out there. It's FREEZING!"
"It isn't that bad during the day, tousan," Jien reasoned as the old man sat in front of the merrily burning fire to warm himself while his wife wrappeed a thick blanket around him. "If Emtato here can go and frolick with a girl outside the village during the day, it can't be that cold, right?"
"Hey!"
He grinned at me just as I frowned at him. Some nerve this guy had!
Still...was Meihou just a normal friend? I knew that in our culture, a friendship between a boy and a girl who were able to be wed was strongly forbidden by our elders. To go out without a chaperone by ourselves was well...unthinkable. Still, was I even considered alive to them, someone worthy of their attention? I didn't want to think about it.
So that left the question. What was I to Meihou? Just her playfriend? Or much more than that?
A strange feeling, part pain, part apprehension, developed as I contemplated it, and suddenly, dinner didn't seemed to taste good any longer.
Author's notes:
Yes, the culture thingy is real. I live in the East and I AM Chinese, so I know all about the taboos and stuff. I have a basis for knowledge like this! ^^
Developments...developments. Hikitsu is becoming more and more like a schoolboy in love (I loooove that comment!)! No, not everyone in FY has sad pasts if they're not seishi, in case you were wondering. Don't any of you just LOVE Meihou? Wheeeeee!
Touki Yume, I know my characters are cliched (read: they're all hated by the public), but somehow them being depressed adds to the charm. Or maybe I'm just a very depressed person. I don't know. Make your own conclusions. :P
As for sea hydra, don't worry, Meihou won't be reserved. In fact, she'll be the least reserved person in this entire fic...except maybe for later. I don't know. Expect more developments, in short!
Oh...and before I forget, this story is actually set further in the Stars story in a chapter which I haven't uploaded yet. I'm not delaying uploading, trust me. I would upload all my chapters too, but I don't know where the anti virus software is... TT_TT
Did any of you see Mars in August? I know I did!
So anyway, don't forget to review! Exams are STILL stupid! x_x
Okay then, until next time, ja ne~!