Shattered
Chapter Five: Promise
A yawn was caught in Kazuya's throat as he sat back in his uncomfortable chair. It was first period, meaning almost an hour of Literature class to endure before he shuffled onward to History. He almost wished that this class would linger on forever: studying about dead people was not how he would want to spend his time. It was bad enough that he had to wait for his deadweight class to catch up on the part of the lesson that he had already finished earlier.
He placed a hand upon his chest and felt that his clothes had completely dried from the water battle that ensued between him and the girl this morning. Involuntarily, a grin tugged at the corner of his lips as his mind recalled the event. He looked out to the window where the yellow rays of the sun poured into the usually gloomy classroom. Funny, the sunlight seemed brighter this morning, or perhaps he had never noticed it before. In any case, a strange feeling had overcome Kazuya this morning as unexpectedly as a powerful wave pouncing upon the incalculable grains of sand on a shore. It was such an alien sensation, but he felt that he had experienced one before. To put it ironically, like a familiar stranger.
She has barely stayed for a day and already he was confounded by her. Any parent would have been happy to have her as a child. As much as he hated to admit, she was undeniably cute for a six year old. She was uncommonly polite, sincere, and strangely enough for a child her age, well behaved. But his attention was not drawn to her because of that. It was the fact that for some bizarre reason, she was actually mature. How a six-year- old could be so solemn and considerate was beyond him. She didn't even know him and already she openly says that she was concerned about him. That was baffling as it was, that she could actually fret over the condition of a stranger she had never seen before. But the most puzzling aspect of the whole matter was...that he actually BELIEVED her. Kazuya was a pessimist at heart and a realist in addition to that. He never put his faith in anyone, let alone the demon that had saved him the day that he nearly slipped into the inescapable boundaries of death. He has never trusted any other single human being, old and new faces alike. He did not allow himself too; he felt that people were never reliable and would always go back on their promises. Even his own mother had done that to him. She vowed to always be with him at his side, to bandage his wounds after he would fall onto the ground, to hold his hand when he was afraid, to kiss him good-night before he fell asleep in his bed...and she had unexpectedly abandoned him, whether or not she wanted to. Her illness was her untimely end and the undeniable truth that human beings were untrustworthy. To have the one person that you entrusted with your deepest love and happiness and only to lose her in the end and to feel the greatest pain eating away the remains of your soul was the supreme act of betrayal. And it served as proof to Kazuya that no one should have to carry anyone else's burden of emotional baggage on their shoulders.
But when he saw Jun asleep at his door, when he heard her laugh while she splashed wave after wave of water at him in an attempt to defend herself, he felt that she was different. After he had threatened her when he found her in his mother's room, after he shouted at her and bruised her, and even after he criticized her in scorn for protecting Nairusu, she didn't run away like anyone else would have. She remained where she stood, impervious to his coldhearted manner towards her. Why didn't she leave him? Even if she was afraid, why did she stay with him despite what he said and did?
"...read the next two pages in silence please..."
Kazuya snapped back from his thoughts and realized that he was back in the classroom. The heads of his classmates were bent over their assigned pages as their hands automatically scribbled down quick notes on pieces of lined paper. He scolded himself for zoning out during a new assignment and instantly set out to find the appointed pages. There was no need to get worked up over a silly girl that he did not know.
-Still...-
He took one last look at the world beyond the classroom's windows, where the bustling atmosphere of Tokyo was drenched in sunlight. -What's she's doing now?-
* * * *
Jun wondered off into the courtyard, now changed in her cotton T- shirt and denim jumper suit. The rich vegetation and welcoming flowers and shrubbery had called to her from the gloomy surroundings of the Mishima mansion. After another silent meal, Kazuya had shoved off to school and Heihachi went on his way to the Mishima Zaibatsu office building. The only ones in the house were Nairusu and the other servants. Jun was used to being lonely, but when she saw Kazuya went into the limousine and drove off into the city, she felt a bit saddened.
She had not laughed in such a long time with another person before. Back at Yakushima, she was confined in her solitude. The other children have always left her out of their games and were always talking about her, whether she was able to hear them or not, they never cared. She was never accepted because she was different and that was reason enough for her peers to alienate her. Although she felt lonely, Jun decided that if people chose not to like her then that was their own choice, so she did not make an effort to try and play with the other children.
However, Kazuya Mishima made her feel different.
She would not lie to herself; she was frightened at first when he had found her in that room yesterday. For a twelve-year-old, his stature was more muscular than other boys his age. And his height was nearly twice than hers: it was like comparing a sapling to a full-grown oak tree. And those dark chestnut brown eyes of his, calculating and stern, had startled her when they had locked onto Jun from his somber face. But at the same time, they drew her to him.
There was so much more beyond what Kazuya wanted her to see, Jun felt. She's only met him for a day but she can sense that behind that solemn and insensitive disposition of his, there was some sort of distress. He did not have to show it to prove that it was there, she already knew. He was in grief, those seemingly vacuous eyes of his told her. She could not put her finger on it now, but it was there. And that was enough for her heart to cry out for him.
She knelt down towards the irises, their scent almost intoxicating to her. Their indigo and violet faces were streaked with slivers of bright yellow as they stood from their thick green stalks. Jun carefully felt the soft touch of their petals, velvet rubbing against her fingertips.
"Purple..."
A kimono of similar color ran through her mind suddenly, and her head shot upwards towards a certain window. It was empty, but Jun knew she was being watched from behind the glass panes.
"...it's your favorite color, isn't it?"
With her fingers she traced the stalk of a tall iris and swiftly snapped it off of the plant. She did the same to four more flowers and walked into the house, holding them by their stems in her arms. She walked up the massive staircase and headed to the east wing. When she had reached the very end she stopped at the door. She hesitated, but knocked softly.
"Hello? Are you there?"
As soon as she had asked, the door creaked and slowly swung open. Jun stepped into the dim room, the collecting blankets of dust giving her the urge to sneeze. There on the bed just as she had been yesterday was the pale woman, clad in her lilac colored kimono. The little girl approached her with the flowers cradling in her small arms like precious treasures.
"I picked these for you." She held them out to her and the woman graciously took her gift by the stems. She held them close against her chest, the bright indigo hue illuminating her ashen face. Her fingers ran through Jun's silken hair lovingly, a beautiful smile painted on her lips.
"...there is someone else like you that I know," Jun suddenly blurted out. The woman said nothing, the soft strands of the girl's hair trailing off of her frail fingers like streams of sable liquid. "He lives in Yakushima like me...but he doesn't go anywhere. He just stays in one place, no matter what. His family misses him so much and he doesn't even want to see them."
The woman's arms wrapped themselves around Jun, surrounding the child in her warmth. The girl softly grasped one of the woman's arms, feeling the pallid skin. "I go to him whenever he wants me too, and I let him hold my hand. Whenever his hand touches mine though, it feels so cold, kind of like ice. But you're different...you're not cold at all."
As usual, the woman said nothing but there was no need for her to do so. Her eyes were attentive and focused on Jun, indicating that she was listening. "He teases me and tells me jokes, but he isn't happy. I want to help him, but he won't even listen to me. He never lets me do anything for him and just pushes me away..."
A scene in which she was pushed forcedly aside into the solidity of an impassive wall flashed through her mind. His dark eyes and bloodied face stood out from the obscurity of the shadows, revealing to her an expression of mixed emotions that resembled anger and pain.
"...like Kazuya-sama. I thought that I wouldn't be able to do anything to help him either, but this morning when I heard him laugh...it was like there was a part of him that wanted to be happy. But...what can I do to help him?"
She felt the woman's comforting arms leave her and Jun looked up to her with inquisitive eyes to see that the apparition was still smiling. With her index finger she pointed downwards to the ground. Jun's eyes followed and saw that a floorboard had been loose among the others. She got off of the bed and stood on her haunches. With her two hands she pulled off the floorboard, disturbing the thick quilt of dust. She pushed the stray piece of wood to the side to reveal a hollow cavity in the floor. She saw something sparkling faintly from the darkness and her hand slowly reached for it. Her palm brought the object upwards toward the few stray beams of sunlight that managed to enter the dusky room.
A golden rectangular-shaped locket was what she discovered, the long chain that it was attached to swinging from Jun's hand. In curiosity, she gently opened it and found a small picture inside. A lovely woman donning a simple purple silk kimono was smiling from the portrait, where she stood under the blossom-laden branches of a full bloomed cherry tree. A parasol was positioned in her right hand and the left one was cradled tenderly around the shoulders of a small boy. His jet black hair was messily arranged about his head and his deep brown eyes were alive with vivacity and happiness, even if he was confined in a simple photograph. Jun examined the boy closer and her eyes widened when she knew who it was.
"Kazuya-sama," she spoke out loud. Her eyes trailed from the grinning boy's face and onto the woman that he stood beside. "So, you're..."
She looked back behind her to find that the bed was now empty. The irises were lying still on the spot where the woman had sat. Jun set the floorboard back in place on the floor and rose, wiping off the dust from her knees. She gazed at the trinket that she held in her hand, her innocent eyes locked onto the portrait.
"Kazuya-sama, you look so happy there," she whispered as if the boy had been right in front of her. She went out of the room, closing the door behind her and proceeded to her chamber. She approached her bed and stowed away the trinket under the safety of her soft pillow.
A sentiment of guilt gathered inside of her, but she knew that if she told Kazuya that she had been in a place that he had forbidden to enter again, he would certainly be angry. Besides, how would he react if she told him out of the blue that she had seen his dead mother right in this house?
She understood now why he was so shocked when she said that she saw a woman in a purple kimono in that particular room. She comprehended the sorrow that swirled in the dark depths of his eyes and the disbelief that crossed his face as if someone had dealt a blow to him. And how could she blame him? How could anyone believe her if she were to say that she witnessed the spirit of a deceased woman wandering about the world of the living? Jun was not ready to tell Kazuya everything, not when she was able to get along with him for the first time. She did not want to see anymore distress in his eyes; there was already so much grief in his eyes that screamed from the pitiless countenance that he hid behind.
Deciding that staying in the house would cause more disarray in her thoughts, Jun took off for the courtyard once more. The warmth of the sunbeams enveloped her affectionately, her raven hair and almond brown eyes glistening in its light. Jun walked along the path once more and gazed at the vast cloudless sky above her. She was too caught up with her thoughts and the beautiful scenery above her that she did not notice anything else, until she accidentally tripped over something solid on the path. Before she knew it she had stumbled onto the ground over the object and her fragile body met the cobblestone.
"Ouch..." She supported herself off of the ground and was about to check for any bruises, until she heard a low, but audible, growling. Gradually, her head turned around to meet the giant, muscular bear looming over her. Its paws were in the air, bearing its sharp claws as if ready to strike, and he was snarling dangerously through his rows of jagged teeth.
"...hello there," Jun politely greeted, throwing the massive creature off guard. It was not everyday that humans behaved in such a collected manner when they came face-to-face with a vicious creature that could tear them limb from limb with relative ease. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I didn't mean to wake you up."
The bear's curiosity overwhelmed its instincts to protect its territory, and it began suddenly to sniff the girl with its large, wet nose. He sniffed the tiny girl's hair, its snout breathing heavily against her little ear. After a few more minutes of inspecting the girl, the creature came to the conclusion that this human was harmless. Its paws left the air and went back onto the ground below it so now it was standing on all fours. Jun giggled lightly as she stroked the bear's thick brown fur. The mammal panted contently; he was happy to receive attention from someone else than his master for once.
Jun spotted something colorful lying motionless against the trimmed hedges. She walked over to it to find a round, bright yellow ball. The bear moved toward the toy, sniffing it and looking at it longingly as it did.
"This is yours?" Jun picked it up and carried the large, but rather light, ball in her hands. She threw it up in the air and to her amusement, the bear got up on its hind legs again, its nose tilted upwards. Gravity tugged at the ball and it fell straight down, only to bounce back from the mammal's nose and into the air again.
Jun laughed and clapped her hands, happy that she had made a new friend.
* * * *
Kazuya was so close to nearly wrenching off his vest and uncomfortable leather shoes. School, as usual, was hell. Complete and utter hell. Although it was one of the most prodigious private schools in all of Tokyo, Kazuya still managed to stay on top of all his classes without breaking a sweat. He would always fly by the exams without difficulty, easily interpret any instructor's lessons for the day, and be ahead of his peers in nothing flat. Even though he had detested mathematics, Kazuya had somehow lived with the torture of learning how to deal with numbers in ways that he will never care or bother to use in his future.
But there had also been another reason that he wanted to leave school as quickly as possible. Like any other day, Kazuya would have been delighted to have abandoned his classes, but his house was not exactly a child's wonderland. However, he felt somewhat...eager to go back to his house. As if there was something waiting for him there that he was anxious to see...or rather someone...
The limousine finally drove smoothly through the huge iron-cast gates of the manor and pulled up in front of the mansion. Kazuya did not wait for the chauffeur to open the door: sometimes it was beyond him why people actually get paid for doing daily routines that anyone else with half a brain can do themselves.
Soft laughter echoed from the courtyard and to his ears like a calm melody. Instantly, he knew who it belonged to. Knapsack in hand, he followed the cobblestone path which winded around his house like a constricting snake. After moments of passing by more shrubbery and neatly kept hedges, he found the young girl balancing a bright yellow ball on her head. Her hands were outstretched from her sides, swinging to and fro as she attempted to keep her balance. He was about to call out to her, until he saw what was behind her.
Looming over the unmindful child was his father's "pet", for lack of a better word. Its height was astoundingly impressive as it stood on its hind legs. Its paws were raised in the air, the pointed claws glinting dangerously in the sunlight. He was paralyzed for a moment, as if someone had injected him with venom and had stunned him. But he was not alarmed for his own safety. He was alarmed for Jun's.
Snapping out of his stupor, he rushed to Jun as fast as humanely possible and grabbed her by the wrist, the ball dropping to the ground as a result of losing its human pedestal. He drew her to him close, his hands clasped around her arms protectively. His dark eyes were wide open as he stared cautiously at the animal, who now was standing on its four paws and growling threateningly through its serrated teeth.
"Kazuya-sama-" Jun tried to speak to him but the older boy cut her off.
"Don't move!" He whispered in a harsh tone, keeping his eyes on the bear cautiously as if it were to go in for the kill at any moment. "If you don't stand absolutely still, he'll maul you."
"But Kazuya-sama!" Jun protested, her voice now lowered to a whisper but was adamant none the less. "Let me go. He isn't going to hurt me."
"Correction, I let you go and he WILL hurt you. If you haven't noticed, those claws will rip you to shreds in an instant." Kazuya nearly yelled at her, frustrated and confused by Jun's lack of fear.
"He thinks that you're going to do something to me. That's why he looks angry."
"No, he looks angry because I'm taking away his meal from him." Kazuya remarked, his hold on her tightening a bit.
The bear snarled and gnashed through its deadly teeth, snarling dangerously at Kazuya. Not wanting either one to be harmed, Jun looked up to Kazuya's face pleadingly, her almond brown eyes boring into his mahogany ones. "Please, Kazuya-sama. I'll be okay."
Something in her eyes assured him that she would be safe; those deep ebony orbs stared desperately, but serenely, at him. After much hesitation, Kazuya consented and his hands freed her from his grip and Jun was able to move once more. The air had grown silent, and he noticed that the grizzly bear had ceased its growling once it had seen that Kazuya did not appear to be a threat to Jun. The girl retrieved the ball again and resumed playing.
"It's your turn now," she declared to the bear and thrust the ball upward. The creature jumped onto its hind legs and caught the ball as it descended, balancing the toy on his nose.
Kazuya stared in disbelief. Was what he was seeing true? Has his father's enormous, vicious pet actually been reduced to doing tricks as if he were a circus animal? He did not know whether or not to laugh or keep Jun at his side.
"I was able to hold it on my head for thirty seconds, so you have to beat that if you want to win!" Jun chirped. Kazuya just gaped at her. How can such a timid little six-year-old girl not be frightened by an animal that could without a doubt tear her into pieces with only a swipe of its fatal claws?
Jun turned around to face him, a happy smile on her lips. "How was school, Kazuya-sama?"
"What did you do?" He asked her without thinking.
Traces of confusion were apparent on her round, cherubic face. "What do you mean?"
"How...how did you get Kuma to do that?" His voice was shaky from shock, but he wanted answers.
"Oh, is that his name? Are you his owner?" She questioned innocently.
"No, he belongs to my father. Now answer me." He demanded, recovering from his alarm.
"I really didn't do anything, Kazuya-sama. I was walking in the garden and I tripped over Kuma and woke him up. He growled at me first, but then I stood still so he could sniff me. After that, he knew that I wouldn't do anything to hurt him."
"You don't understand, do you? Do you have any idea what you just did? Normal people don't trip over a grizzly bear and usually stick around to get along with it!"
Jun's eyes fell from his and to the cobblestones, her head bending lower. "...I'm...not really what you would call 'normal', Kazuya-sama."
Kazuya's thick eyebrows knitted together in frustration. "Really? Then what would you call yourself?"
The girl was silent for a moment, trying to find an answer that would be suitable for his question. "I...don't really know. I guess, different."
Kazuya's aggravation over the seemingly reckless and thoughtless action that Jun had carried out subsided a bit upon hearing the somberness of her soft voice. "Or I guess I'm 'weird'. That's what I was called back at Yakushima."
Her face was obscured by her thick raven hair, her bangs hanging over the two soulful almond brown depths of her eyes. He noticed that she was trembling a bit as if a chill had surrounded her, but there was not even a single breeze that rustled through the trees around them.
-Damn it, is she going to cry?- He asked himself. -Little kids, how typical.-
And yet, he felt sympathy for her. She was going through the same pain of alienation as he once did when his mother died. He didn't give a damn whether or not he was isolated from his idiotic peers, but there was still that pang of loneliness that ate away at him. He was pretty much anti- social to begin with, but at least he used to have his mother to confide in. He wondered if Jun had anyone to do the same?
"You shouldn't be upset about it," he spoke, not wanting to see her tears. "People think the same of me, but I turned out fine."
She looked attentively up at him, her large expressive eyes glistening.
"You can't depend on people anyway. They always end up breaking their promises or turning their backs on you. So you have to deal with it."
"...has anyone done that to you, Kazuya-sama?"
He was taken aback by her sudden question and the naivety of her voice. He was at a lost of words, caught off guard by Jun's inquiry. Why would she ask that, and how would he answer? There was no way that he was willing to trust a child that couldn't possibly understand the torment and solitude that he had struggled with, especially a girl that he had just met. He didn't want to tell her that he stares at the ceiling every night because he wasn't able to find peace in sleeping anymore, or the abuse he has suffered by his father everyday he is thrown into that godforsaken dojo, or the satisfaction of the pain he inflicts upon his own wrists with the cold steel blade of the knife he kept in his nightstand beside his bed. But still...there was something about this girl, something about her innocent manner and the way she looked at him with those glowing almond brown eyes, that made him feel that he could actually trust her.
"...once." He finally answered.
She realized the startled look on his face after she had asked him, and felt guilty about it. She decided not to delve too much into his personal matters. Although she could not help but be concerned about him. Jun took Kazuya's hand with both her hands and held it, staring into his deep brown eyes and his stern, but young, face. He was once again surprised, but the small, yet radiant smile on her lips had calmed him. He did not push her frail hands away from his, allowing the smoothness of her little palms to caress his hand.
"I won't do that to you, Kazuya-sama," she spoke gently. "I'm not going to leave you like that."
He stared at her in skepticism and shock. Did she even know what she was saying? He wanted to yell at her for her ignorant words, to make her realize that she or anyone else cannot prevent him from feeling the pain of abandonment?
"I promise."
Those words...he had heard them before from his mother. He looked down at the girl who was holding his hand and staring at him with those tranquil ebony eyes. Just gazing at her peaceful eyes, that kindly smile, and hearing the sincerity and gentleness of her voice...it made him want to believe her. He WANTED to trust her.
"Do...do you know what you're saying?"
She nodded, the ends of the pink ribbon she wore in her dark hair bobbing. "I won't hurt you like that. I promise, Kazuya-sama."
He looked at her, slightly dumbfounded but at the same time, at ease.
It was then that Kuma had dropped the ball and it landed at Jun's feet. The girl immediately picked it up, giggling. "Darn it, I guess you beat me Kuma. Oh well...best two out of three?"
She looked back at Kazuya, smiling brightly. "Do you want to play with us, Kazuya-sama?"
He did not speak or move, but after a moment he broke into a small genuine smile. "Sure. But only for a while."
Once again, the courtyard of the Mishima Manor was alive with the laughter of children.
Chapter Five: Promise
A yawn was caught in Kazuya's throat as he sat back in his uncomfortable chair. It was first period, meaning almost an hour of Literature class to endure before he shuffled onward to History. He almost wished that this class would linger on forever: studying about dead people was not how he would want to spend his time. It was bad enough that he had to wait for his deadweight class to catch up on the part of the lesson that he had already finished earlier.
He placed a hand upon his chest and felt that his clothes had completely dried from the water battle that ensued between him and the girl this morning. Involuntarily, a grin tugged at the corner of his lips as his mind recalled the event. He looked out to the window where the yellow rays of the sun poured into the usually gloomy classroom. Funny, the sunlight seemed brighter this morning, or perhaps he had never noticed it before. In any case, a strange feeling had overcome Kazuya this morning as unexpectedly as a powerful wave pouncing upon the incalculable grains of sand on a shore. It was such an alien sensation, but he felt that he had experienced one before. To put it ironically, like a familiar stranger.
She has barely stayed for a day and already he was confounded by her. Any parent would have been happy to have her as a child. As much as he hated to admit, she was undeniably cute for a six year old. She was uncommonly polite, sincere, and strangely enough for a child her age, well behaved. But his attention was not drawn to her because of that. It was the fact that for some bizarre reason, she was actually mature. How a six-year- old could be so solemn and considerate was beyond him. She didn't even know him and already she openly says that she was concerned about him. That was baffling as it was, that she could actually fret over the condition of a stranger she had never seen before. But the most puzzling aspect of the whole matter was...that he actually BELIEVED her. Kazuya was a pessimist at heart and a realist in addition to that. He never put his faith in anyone, let alone the demon that had saved him the day that he nearly slipped into the inescapable boundaries of death. He has never trusted any other single human being, old and new faces alike. He did not allow himself too; he felt that people were never reliable and would always go back on their promises. Even his own mother had done that to him. She vowed to always be with him at his side, to bandage his wounds after he would fall onto the ground, to hold his hand when he was afraid, to kiss him good-night before he fell asleep in his bed...and she had unexpectedly abandoned him, whether or not she wanted to. Her illness was her untimely end and the undeniable truth that human beings were untrustworthy. To have the one person that you entrusted with your deepest love and happiness and only to lose her in the end and to feel the greatest pain eating away the remains of your soul was the supreme act of betrayal. And it served as proof to Kazuya that no one should have to carry anyone else's burden of emotional baggage on their shoulders.
But when he saw Jun asleep at his door, when he heard her laugh while she splashed wave after wave of water at him in an attempt to defend herself, he felt that she was different. After he had threatened her when he found her in his mother's room, after he shouted at her and bruised her, and even after he criticized her in scorn for protecting Nairusu, she didn't run away like anyone else would have. She remained where she stood, impervious to his coldhearted manner towards her. Why didn't she leave him? Even if she was afraid, why did she stay with him despite what he said and did?
"...read the next two pages in silence please..."
Kazuya snapped back from his thoughts and realized that he was back in the classroom. The heads of his classmates were bent over their assigned pages as their hands automatically scribbled down quick notes on pieces of lined paper. He scolded himself for zoning out during a new assignment and instantly set out to find the appointed pages. There was no need to get worked up over a silly girl that he did not know.
-Still...-
He took one last look at the world beyond the classroom's windows, where the bustling atmosphere of Tokyo was drenched in sunlight. -What's she's doing now?-
* * * *
Jun wondered off into the courtyard, now changed in her cotton T- shirt and denim jumper suit. The rich vegetation and welcoming flowers and shrubbery had called to her from the gloomy surroundings of the Mishima mansion. After another silent meal, Kazuya had shoved off to school and Heihachi went on his way to the Mishima Zaibatsu office building. The only ones in the house were Nairusu and the other servants. Jun was used to being lonely, but when she saw Kazuya went into the limousine and drove off into the city, she felt a bit saddened.
She had not laughed in such a long time with another person before. Back at Yakushima, she was confined in her solitude. The other children have always left her out of their games and were always talking about her, whether she was able to hear them or not, they never cared. She was never accepted because she was different and that was reason enough for her peers to alienate her. Although she felt lonely, Jun decided that if people chose not to like her then that was their own choice, so she did not make an effort to try and play with the other children.
However, Kazuya Mishima made her feel different.
She would not lie to herself; she was frightened at first when he had found her in that room yesterday. For a twelve-year-old, his stature was more muscular than other boys his age. And his height was nearly twice than hers: it was like comparing a sapling to a full-grown oak tree. And those dark chestnut brown eyes of his, calculating and stern, had startled her when they had locked onto Jun from his somber face. But at the same time, they drew her to him.
There was so much more beyond what Kazuya wanted her to see, Jun felt. She's only met him for a day but she can sense that behind that solemn and insensitive disposition of his, there was some sort of distress. He did not have to show it to prove that it was there, she already knew. He was in grief, those seemingly vacuous eyes of his told her. She could not put her finger on it now, but it was there. And that was enough for her heart to cry out for him.
She knelt down towards the irises, their scent almost intoxicating to her. Their indigo and violet faces were streaked with slivers of bright yellow as they stood from their thick green stalks. Jun carefully felt the soft touch of their petals, velvet rubbing against her fingertips.
"Purple..."
A kimono of similar color ran through her mind suddenly, and her head shot upwards towards a certain window. It was empty, but Jun knew she was being watched from behind the glass panes.
"...it's your favorite color, isn't it?"
With her fingers she traced the stalk of a tall iris and swiftly snapped it off of the plant. She did the same to four more flowers and walked into the house, holding them by their stems in her arms. She walked up the massive staircase and headed to the east wing. When she had reached the very end she stopped at the door. She hesitated, but knocked softly.
"Hello? Are you there?"
As soon as she had asked, the door creaked and slowly swung open. Jun stepped into the dim room, the collecting blankets of dust giving her the urge to sneeze. There on the bed just as she had been yesterday was the pale woman, clad in her lilac colored kimono. The little girl approached her with the flowers cradling in her small arms like precious treasures.
"I picked these for you." She held them out to her and the woman graciously took her gift by the stems. She held them close against her chest, the bright indigo hue illuminating her ashen face. Her fingers ran through Jun's silken hair lovingly, a beautiful smile painted on her lips.
"...there is someone else like you that I know," Jun suddenly blurted out. The woman said nothing, the soft strands of the girl's hair trailing off of her frail fingers like streams of sable liquid. "He lives in Yakushima like me...but he doesn't go anywhere. He just stays in one place, no matter what. His family misses him so much and he doesn't even want to see them."
The woman's arms wrapped themselves around Jun, surrounding the child in her warmth. The girl softly grasped one of the woman's arms, feeling the pallid skin. "I go to him whenever he wants me too, and I let him hold my hand. Whenever his hand touches mine though, it feels so cold, kind of like ice. But you're different...you're not cold at all."
As usual, the woman said nothing but there was no need for her to do so. Her eyes were attentive and focused on Jun, indicating that she was listening. "He teases me and tells me jokes, but he isn't happy. I want to help him, but he won't even listen to me. He never lets me do anything for him and just pushes me away..."
A scene in which she was pushed forcedly aside into the solidity of an impassive wall flashed through her mind. His dark eyes and bloodied face stood out from the obscurity of the shadows, revealing to her an expression of mixed emotions that resembled anger and pain.
"...like Kazuya-sama. I thought that I wouldn't be able to do anything to help him either, but this morning when I heard him laugh...it was like there was a part of him that wanted to be happy. But...what can I do to help him?"
She felt the woman's comforting arms leave her and Jun looked up to her with inquisitive eyes to see that the apparition was still smiling. With her index finger she pointed downwards to the ground. Jun's eyes followed and saw that a floorboard had been loose among the others. She got off of the bed and stood on her haunches. With her two hands she pulled off the floorboard, disturbing the thick quilt of dust. She pushed the stray piece of wood to the side to reveal a hollow cavity in the floor. She saw something sparkling faintly from the darkness and her hand slowly reached for it. Her palm brought the object upwards toward the few stray beams of sunlight that managed to enter the dusky room.
A golden rectangular-shaped locket was what she discovered, the long chain that it was attached to swinging from Jun's hand. In curiosity, she gently opened it and found a small picture inside. A lovely woman donning a simple purple silk kimono was smiling from the portrait, where she stood under the blossom-laden branches of a full bloomed cherry tree. A parasol was positioned in her right hand and the left one was cradled tenderly around the shoulders of a small boy. His jet black hair was messily arranged about his head and his deep brown eyes were alive with vivacity and happiness, even if he was confined in a simple photograph. Jun examined the boy closer and her eyes widened when she knew who it was.
"Kazuya-sama," she spoke out loud. Her eyes trailed from the grinning boy's face and onto the woman that he stood beside. "So, you're..."
She looked back behind her to find that the bed was now empty. The irises were lying still on the spot where the woman had sat. Jun set the floorboard back in place on the floor and rose, wiping off the dust from her knees. She gazed at the trinket that she held in her hand, her innocent eyes locked onto the portrait.
"Kazuya-sama, you look so happy there," she whispered as if the boy had been right in front of her. She went out of the room, closing the door behind her and proceeded to her chamber. She approached her bed and stowed away the trinket under the safety of her soft pillow.
A sentiment of guilt gathered inside of her, but she knew that if she told Kazuya that she had been in a place that he had forbidden to enter again, he would certainly be angry. Besides, how would he react if she told him out of the blue that she had seen his dead mother right in this house?
She understood now why he was so shocked when she said that she saw a woman in a purple kimono in that particular room. She comprehended the sorrow that swirled in the dark depths of his eyes and the disbelief that crossed his face as if someone had dealt a blow to him. And how could she blame him? How could anyone believe her if she were to say that she witnessed the spirit of a deceased woman wandering about the world of the living? Jun was not ready to tell Kazuya everything, not when she was able to get along with him for the first time. She did not want to see anymore distress in his eyes; there was already so much grief in his eyes that screamed from the pitiless countenance that he hid behind.
Deciding that staying in the house would cause more disarray in her thoughts, Jun took off for the courtyard once more. The warmth of the sunbeams enveloped her affectionately, her raven hair and almond brown eyes glistening in its light. Jun walked along the path once more and gazed at the vast cloudless sky above her. She was too caught up with her thoughts and the beautiful scenery above her that she did not notice anything else, until she accidentally tripped over something solid on the path. Before she knew it she had stumbled onto the ground over the object and her fragile body met the cobblestone.
"Ouch..." She supported herself off of the ground and was about to check for any bruises, until she heard a low, but audible, growling. Gradually, her head turned around to meet the giant, muscular bear looming over her. Its paws were in the air, bearing its sharp claws as if ready to strike, and he was snarling dangerously through his rows of jagged teeth.
"...hello there," Jun politely greeted, throwing the massive creature off guard. It was not everyday that humans behaved in such a collected manner when they came face-to-face with a vicious creature that could tear them limb from limb with relative ease. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I didn't mean to wake you up."
The bear's curiosity overwhelmed its instincts to protect its territory, and it began suddenly to sniff the girl with its large, wet nose. He sniffed the tiny girl's hair, its snout breathing heavily against her little ear. After a few more minutes of inspecting the girl, the creature came to the conclusion that this human was harmless. Its paws left the air and went back onto the ground below it so now it was standing on all fours. Jun giggled lightly as she stroked the bear's thick brown fur. The mammal panted contently; he was happy to receive attention from someone else than his master for once.
Jun spotted something colorful lying motionless against the trimmed hedges. She walked over to it to find a round, bright yellow ball. The bear moved toward the toy, sniffing it and looking at it longingly as it did.
"This is yours?" Jun picked it up and carried the large, but rather light, ball in her hands. She threw it up in the air and to her amusement, the bear got up on its hind legs again, its nose tilted upwards. Gravity tugged at the ball and it fell straight down, only to bounce back from the mammal's nose and into the air again.
Jun laughed and clapped her hands, happy that she had made a new friend.
* * * *
Kazuya was so close to nearly wrenching off his vest and uncomfortable leather shoes. School, as usual, was hell. Complete and utter hell. Although it was one of the most prodigious private schools in all of Tokyo, Kazuya still managed to stay on top of all his classes without breaking a sweat. He would always fly by the exams without difficulty, easily interpret any instructor's lessons for the day, and be ahead of his peers in nothing flat. Even though he had detested mathematics, Kazuya had somehow lived with the torture of learning how to deal with numbers in ways that he will never care or bother to use in his future.
But there had also been another reason that he wanted to leave school as quickly as possible. Like any other day, Kazuya would have been delighted to have abandoned his classes, but his house was not exactly a child's wonderland. However, he felt somewhat...eager to go back to his house. As if there was something waiting for him there that he was anxious to see...or rather someone...
The limousine finally drove smoothly through the huge iron-cast gates of the manor and pulled up in front of the mansion. Kazuya did not wait for the chauffeur to open the door: sometimes it was beyond him why people actually get paid for doing daily routines that anyone else with half a brain can do themselves.
Soft laughter echoed from the courtyard and to his ears like a calm melody. Instantly, he knew who it belonged to. Knapsack in hand, he followed the cobblestone path which winded around his house like a constricting snake. After moments of passing by more shrubbery and neatly kept hedges, he found the young girl balancing a bright yellow ball on her head. Her hands were outstretched from her sides, swinging to and fro as she attempted to keep her balance. He was about to call out to her, until he saw what was behind her.
Looming over the unmindful child was his father's "pet", for lack of a better word. Its height was astoundingly impressive as it stood on its hind legs. Its paws were raised in the air, the pointed claws glinting dangerously in the sunlight. He was paralyzed for a moment, as if someone had injected him with venom and had stunned him. But he was not alarmed for his own safety. He was alarmed for Jun's.
Snapping out of his stupor, he rushed to Jun as fast as humanely possible and grabbed her by the wrist, the ball dropping to the ground as a result of losing its human pedestal. He drew her to him close, his hands clasped around her arms protectively. His dark eyes were wide open as he stared cautiously at the animal, who now was standing on its four paws and growling threateningly through its serrated teeth.
"Kazuya-sama-" Jun tried to speak to him but the older boy cut her off.
"Don't move!" He whispered in a harsh tone, keeping his eyes on the bear cautiously as if it were to go in for the kill at any moment. "If you don't stand absolutely still, he'll maul you."
"But Kazuya-sama!" Jun protested, her voice now lowered to a whisper but was adamant none the less. "Let me go. He isn't going to hurt me."
"Correction, I let you go and he WILL hurt you. If you haven't noticed, those claws will rip you to shreds in an instant." Kazuya nearly yelled at her, frustrated and confused by Jun's lack of fear.
"He thinks that you're going to do something to me. That's why he looks angry."
"No, he looks angry because I'm taking away his meal from him." Kazuya remarked, his hold on her tightening a bit.
The bear snarled and gnashed through its deadly teeth, snarling dangerously at Kazuya. Not wanting either one to be harmed, Jun looked up to Kazuya's face pleadingly, her almond brown eyes boring into his mahogany ones. "Please, Kazuya-sama. I'll be okay."
Something in her eyes assured him that she would be safe; those deep ebony orbs stared desperately, but serenely, at him. After much hesitation, Kazuya consented and his hands freed her from his grip and Jun was able to move once more. The air had grown silent, and he noticed that the grizzly bear had ceased its growling once it had seen that Kazuya did not appear to be a threat to Jun. The girl retrieved the ball again and resumed playing.
"It's your turn now," she declared to the bear and thrust the ball upward. The creature jumped onto its hind legs and caught the ball as it descended, balancing the toy on his nose.
Kazuya stared in disbelief. Was what he was seeing true? Has his father's enormous, vicious pet actually been reduced to doing tricks as if he were a circus animal? He did not know whether or not to laugh or keep Jun at his side.
"I was able to hold it on my head for thirty seconds, so you have to beat that if you want to win!" Jun chirped. Kazuya just gaped at her. How can such a timid little six-year-old girl not be frightened by an animal that could without a doubt tear her into pieces with only a swipe of its fatal claws?
Jun turned around to face him, a happy smile on her lips. "How was school, Kazuya-sama?"
"What did you do?" He asked her without thinking.
Traces of confusion were apparent on her round, cherubic face. "What do you mean?"
"How...how did you get Kuma to do that?" His voice was shaky from shock, but he wanted answers.
"Oh, is that his name? Are you his owner?" She questioned innocently.
"No, he belongs to my father. Now answer me." He demanded, recovering from his alarm.
"I really didn't do anything, Kazuya-sama. I was walking in the garden and I tripped over Kuma and woke him up. He growled at me first, but then I stood still so he could sniff me. After that, he knew that I wouldn't do anything to hurt him."
"You don't understand, do you? Do you have any idea what you just did? Normal people don't trip over a grizzly bear and usually stick around to get along with it!"
Jun's eyes fell from his and to the cobblestones, her head bending lower. "...I'm...not really what you would call 'normal', Kazuya-sama."
Kazuya's thick eyebrows knitted together in frustration. "Really? Then what would you call yourself?"
The girl was silent for a moment, trying to find an answer that would be suitable for his question. "I...don't really know. I guess, different."
Kazuya's aggravation over the seemingly reckless and thoughtless action that Jun had carried out subsided a bit upon hearing the somberness of her soft voice. "Or I guess I'm 'weird'. That's what I was called back at Yakushima."
Her face was obscured by her thick raven hair, her bangs hanging over the two soulful almond brown depths of her eyes. He noticed that she was trembling a bit as if a chill had surrounded her, but there was not even a single breeze that rustled through the trees around them.
-Damn it, is she going to cry?- He asked himself. -Little kids, how typical.-
And yet, he felt sympathy for her. She was going through the same pain of alienation as he once did when his mother died. He didn't give a damn whether or not he was isolated from his idiotic peers, but there was still that pang of loneliness that ate away at him. He was pretty much anti- social to begin with, but at least he used to have his mother to confide in. He wondered if Jun had anyone to do the same?
"You shouldn't be upset about it," he spoke, not wanting to see her tears. "People think the same of me, but I turned out fine."
She looked attentively up at him, her large expressive eyes glistening.
"You can't depend on people anyway. They always end up breaking their promises or turning their backs on you. So you have to deal with it."
"...has anyone done that to you, Kazuya-sama?"
He was taken aback by her sudden question and the naivety of her voice. He was at a lost of words, caught off guard by Jun's inquiry. Why would she ask that, and how would he answer? There was no way that he was willing to trust a child that couldn't possibly understand the torment and solitude that he had struggled with, especially a girl that he had just met. He didn't want to tell her that he stares at the ceiling every night because he wasn't able to find peace in sleeping anymore, or the abuse he has suffered by his father everyday he is thrown into that godforsaken dojo, or the satisfaction of the pain he inflicts upon his own wrists with the cold steel blade of the knife he kept in his nightstand beside his bed. But still...there was something about this girl, something about her innocent manner and the way she looked at him with those glowing almond brown eyes, that made him feel that he could actually trust her.
"...once." He finally answered.
She realized the startled look on his face after she had asked him, and felt guilty about it. She decided not to delve too much into his personal matters. Although she could not help but be concerned about him. Jun took Kazuya's hand with both her hands and held it, staring into his deep brown eyes and his stern, but young, face. He was once again surprised, but the small, yet radiant smile on her lips had calmed him. He did not push her frail hands away from his, allowing the smoothness of her little palms to caress his hand.
"I won't do that to you, Kazuya-sama," she spoke gently. "I'm not going to leave you like that."
He stared at her in skepticism and shock. Did she even know what she was saying? He wanted to yell at her for her ignorant words, to make her realize that she or anyone else cannot prevent him from feeling the pain of abandonment?
"I promise."
Those words...he had heard them before from his mother. He looked down at the girl who was holding his hand and staring at him with those tranquil ebony eyes. Just gazing at her peaceful eyes, that kindly smile, and hearing the sincerity and gentleness of her voice...it made him want to believe her. He WANTED to trust her.
"Do...do you know what you're saying?"
She nodded, the ends of the pink ribbon she wore in her dark hair bobbing. "I won't hurt you like that. I promise, Kazuya-sama."
He looked at her, slightly dumbfounded but at the same time, at ease.
It was then that Kuma had dropped the ball and it landed at Jun's feet. The girl immediately picked it up, giggling. "Darn it, I guess you beat me Kuma. Oh well...best two out of three?"
She looked back at Kazuya, smiling brightly. "Do you want to play with us, Kazuya-sama?"
He did not speak or move, but after a moment he broke into a small genuine smile. "Sure. But only for a while."
Once again, the courtyard of the Mishima Manor was alive with the laughter of children.