Chapter Two
The first thing that happened when they regained their senses was a very painful crash landing. Fortunately, the area was padded with thick green grass. Sitting up, Sendoh noticed that the pale skinned boy had already stood up and was in fact, standing at the edge of the greenery, talking to yet another stranger. There didn't seem to be any sign of the other muscular guy who had been at the riverside. This new arrival was acting very agitated and was screaming at the top of his lungs.
"What do you mean you've lost him!" "I can't help it if he's that dumb to disappear," he casually replied. "RUKAWA! I'm going to kill you!"
"Not before I do so first," interjected another voice. Sakuragi rose up. His words had a very dangerous edge to them. Stomping towards the one now identified as Rukawa, he grabbed hold of his shirt. "What did you just do to us? Where the hell are we?" Rukawa did not seem in the least bit threatened.
"Let go of my shirt, do'aho. You're spoiling it." "You dare call the tensai a do'aho! Now I'm REALLY going to kill you."
"Calm down, Sakuragi. I'm sure he'll explain it to us if you just let go of him," Sendoh said, venturing to stop the fuming redhead from causing any grievous hurt. Even the stranger who had been shouting minutes ago had unconsciously moved one step backwards at the very scary sight of the extremely furious boy. Rukawa snorted. "You wouldn't be able to kill me even if you tried, because technically, I'm not even alive."
"Huh?" Sakuragi said stupidly. Then the words sank deep into his head. "WHAT! Argh! I'm talking to a ghost!" He screamed. Releasing his hold on Rukawa, he hurriedly backed away from him. "And you" he cried, pointing a shaky finger at the other offensive boy. "You must be one too! Argh! Quick, run!" Turning around, Sakuragi tripped over his own feet and landed face first in the lush greenery. He lay there motionless, having passed out.
An awkward silence prevailed.
"Erm, can someone please tell me what's going on?" Sendoh asked weakly. He was utterly confused over the whole thing. Rukawa sighed and gestured towards his companion. "You explain." The stranger started.
"Er, hi. I'm Koshino Hiroaki. Are you Sendoh?" "Huh? Uh, that's right. Sendoh Akira. How did you know who I was?" "Well, I...erm..." Koshino trailed off, fumbling for an answer. "Because I told him that Sendoh was the cutest one," Rukawa answered in a monotone, a hint of a smirk creeping onto his face. Koshino turned a slight shade of pink. Sendoh blinked at this revelation. "He thinks I'm cute," he mused silently.
"That reminds me. RUKAWA! You moron! YOU LOST KURI!" Both boys flinched at the high pitched screech produced by the much smaller sized Koshino. Sakuragi regained consciousness, the scream still ringing in his ears. "Ouch." he groaned. "Who in the world is Kuri, anyway?" Rukawa sighed.
"He's that blasted fur ball." "Kuri is NOT a 'blasted fur ball'! He is a rabbit! And the only one who knows how to get to our locations, in case you forgot. Oh wait, I'm sure you did. Otherwise you would have held on to him and he would be right here, instead of, oh, let's say, somewhere in the middle of Japan!" Koshino said sarcastically. Sakuragi scratched his head.
"Why are you so bothered about a dumb animal? Shouldn't you be more bothered about where those other guys went?" Sakuragi asked rather bluntly. "Other.guys?" Koshino repeated slowly. Then realisation hit him.
"GYAH! FUJIMA!"
Fujima crash landed, just as the others had. The only difference was that there was nothing to cushion his fall. Instead, he found himself nursing a very painful butt as he tried to pick himself up from the hard cement floor. "Ouch." He winced. This proved rather difficult for him as he felt a sharp stinging sensation in his hands every time he tried to prop himself up. Raising his palms to his face, Fujima was shocked to find them bleeding. Now, how did that happen? He wondered to himself.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over him. Peering upwards, he was startled to find another face looking down at him. This face was framed by brown hair which fell over his chiselled features. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, Fujima snapped back to reality.
Scrambling away, he ignored the pain as his hands left blood stains all over the grey stone. "You" he shouted. "You were at the riverside! You were with that other weird guy! You..." he stopped moving when he bumped into something.
"You forgot the rabbit too," the man said nonchalantly. A black and white furred rabbit hopped away from the terrified boy. Spinning around, he screamed. Of course, usually rabbits wouldn't induce people to scream, but when the rabbit had blood stained fur, you would be freaked out too. Blood? But that can only mean. Fujima glanced back at his hands. They had distinct teeth marks in them.
He did the only thing he could think of. And that was to scream even louder while trying to stamp on the poor mammal.
"Hey, stop that," the unidentified man scolded, although it didn't sound like he really meant it. He scooped the rabbit into his arms. "Much as I would like to kill him too, we need him." Fujima stopped screaming, if only because of sheer lack of breath.
"Why...in the world...would we...need...a...carnivorous rabbit..." he spluttered, coughing as he sought to place extra emphasis on the words 'carnivorous rabbit". Fujima swayed unsteadily while trying to stop his coughing fit. The other was alarmed and rushed forward to hold him. "Hey, calm down. He's not going to do anything to you. He was probably frightened and bit you by accident."
Fujima's coughing eventually subsided. "Who are you?" he enquired, looking up at the handsome tanned face that hovered above his. The stranger smiled. "I'm Maki Shinichi. I hope you're alright now." "Y-yes.I'll be fine," Fujima stammered in reply.
It was just at that moment that they both realised that Maki had been holding Fujima for several minutes longer than necessary. He immediately released him.
"Sorry" Maki mumbled in apology. His face was crossed with embarrassment for a split-second before it returned to the earlier look of composure. Fujima just smiled back. He didn't know why, but he wasn't afraid anymore. Instead, he was more interested about his current situation. "Where are we? How did we get here?" he questioned.
"Well" Maki began. "This place doesn't really have a name. We just call it the dream realm for convenience sake." He smirked. "As for the second question, it's quite obvious, isn't it? We transported you over. Although, it seems like we got separated from the rest during the transition."
"We? The rest?" Fujima repeated. He was confused. Maki sighed. He was beginning to understand why Rukawa did that all the time. "First we. Rukawa, the rabbit, me. Second we. Me, you. The rest. Rukawa, the redhead, the spiky haired guy." "Oh." Fujima felt his cheeks burn at asking such a dumb question. Then he remembered one more very important issue. "Hey wait, one more thing. What am I doing here?"
"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to ask that. It's a long story." Maki said. He sat on the floor. Fujima followed suit. "As you know already, I'm Maki. The other boy who was with me is Rukawa Kaede. And this" he picked up the rabbit. "Is Kuri. Koshino named him. Koshino wasn't with us. He stayed back here. We are residents of this place, the so-called dream realm."
"So, what exactly is the dream realm?" Fujima asked. "It is a world, or to be more exact, a dimension. You...erm...You have to be kind of not existing on the earth to be here. At least, not in the state of your mind. Like Koshino. Or you could be like me, here all my life. Or," Maki took a deep breath. "You have to be dead. Like Rukawa."
"Not existing in the state of mind? DEAD!" Fujima was beginning to feel creeped out again. What in the world had he gotten himself into? "Could you explain what you mean by 'not existing in the state of your mind'?" he asked cautiously. Just when Maki was about to answer him, another voice interrupted him.
"He means like in a coma."
Fujima jumped at the voice. He turned to look at the newcomer. And received the biggest shock of his life.
"You...you..." Fujima was at a loss of words. "What's wrong? Can't you even recognise me? It hasn't been that long now," the source of the voice smiled. "Or has it, eh, Kenji-kun?"
That was it for Fujima Kenji. He collapsed into Maki's arms in a dead faint.
-to be continued-