Wee! I'm gonna put all my author's notes at the bottom from now on because I think you guys are more likely to read it after you finish the chapter, where as when it's up here, you may skip it and just start reading the story. I know I do that sometimes when they are supremely long notes.
Standard disclaimers apply. (If you don't know what that means, consider yourself virtually slapped. (That means I slapped you...))
"Kass-chan?" Tohru said, climbing the stairs back up towards her and Kass's bedroom. "Kass-chan? We have to go, or we'll be late. Kass-chan?"
Tohru opened the door to find Kass curled up still in her PJ's staring at a picture. The corner of her eyes glittered as tears started to form again.
"Oh.... Well.... I'll tell everyone you aren't feeling well," Tohru offered. Kass looked up and smiled.
"Thank you, Tohru." Tohru smiled and hurried down stairs. Kass heard Kyo's voice but couldn't make out what was being said. She heard the door slide open, then shut and heard soft footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Kass?" Shigure asked, rapping on the door.
"What?"
"Just seeing if you were awake." Kass glared at the door. She was suspicious. She got dressed quickly and left her room, still holding the picture. She found Shigure in the kitchen, reading the paper. He smiled and she backed away.
"I'm gonna go for a walk out back," she said, inching away from Shigure, who was still smiling.
"All right," he said, going back to his newspaper. He creeped her out this morning for some reason.
She stepped out the back door into the fresh morning air and began walking....
"Kass-chan?" Tohru shouted, heading for the stairs as soon as she got home.
"She went out for a walk out back and hasn't come in yet," Shigure said, coming into the front room.
"When did she leave?"
"Oh, right after you three left."
"She's been gone that long and you aren't worried?" Yuki said, coming into the room.
"Some guardian you are," Kyo grumbled, stomping towards his room.
"Oh, hello, Haru! Hi, Momiji!" Shigure greeted the pair as they entered.
"Hey."
"Hello! Where is Kass?" Momiji asked. They had been worried when she hadn't shown up at school.
"Shigure let her go out for a walk this morning and she hasn't come back," Kyo snarled, coming back to the group.
"Shouldn't we go look for her?" Tohru asked, timidly.
"Yes! Let's go!" Momiji cried, pulling the others out the door.
"Uh, she went for a walk in the woods out back," Kyo pointed out. They were all turned towards the back of the house and ushered towards the back door.
They split into teams, Tohru with Kyo and Yuki, of course, and Momiji and Haru. They went off in different directions, both eventually circling back.
It was Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo that found her, lying on her back with her hands tucked under her head, staring up at the sky.
"Kass-chan!" Tohru cried out, rushing towards her. "We've been looking for you!"
Kass didn't answer. She just kept staring up at the clouds, gently making their way across the light blue sky. She exhaled deeply, just as Haru and Momiji were approaching on the other side. They had heard Tohru's voice and come to see if they had found her.
"Kass!" Momiji shouted, rushing over like Tohru had. He beamed. "Hello, Kass-chan!"
She still said nothing.
"Hey, say something, will ya?!" Kyo said. Kass exhaled deeply again and smiled, closing her eyes.
"Isn't it wonderful...," she said softly, trailing off.
"What?!"
"Isn't it great to be here?" She was sitting up now, staring out at the horizon.
"No. We just spent all that time walking around these stupid woods looking for-"
"I meant, isn't it great to be alive?" Everyone stared at her. She slowly stood up and brushed the grass and leaves off of her back. "Isn't it wonderful to be here, experiencing this moment...? Isn't it perfect to just... be?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kyo had voiced everyone's thoughts at that moment. Kass was so calm and relaxed, almost as if she were half-asleep. But she was more aware of everything around her than she had ever been before.
"I'm talking about the miracle of living. The beauty of life that we all take for granted. The wonder of the simple things that we completely ignore until it's too late." She turned to face them all. She stared deeply into each of their eyes, one by one. "I'm talking about the wonder of existence."
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "I've had an epiphany. That's all. An epiphany that we all waste our lives, distracted by petty matters that don't really matter while our existence drifts away. Then one day, we cease to be, and it's all over."
She opened her eyes and smiled at the five teenagers before her. "Come on! Let's go back to the house!" They all stared at her, pondering what she had just told them, while she walked up and grabbed the hands of the two closest people, them being Yuki and Momiji. She dragged them back towards Shigure's house, humming all the way, the others closely following.((1))(Author's note at the end of chapter)
"Good bye, Momiji!" Kass smiled, waving as he skipped down the sidewalk. She came back inside, still beaming.
"Why are you so happy, now?" Kyo asked, thinking about what Tohru had said this morning.
"I just realized that Gran'pa wouldn't have wanted me to waste my life mourning his death. So I'm just paying more attention to the little things. It isn't that hard. You should try it. It might help that grumpy attitude of yours," she said, smiling at him. He just scoffed and turned away.
Tsuki suddenly bounded down the hall, leaping at Kass and meowing. "What's the matter?" she said, picking her up.
Kass walked into the kitchen and found that her food dish (which she had filled with two cans of food right before she left this morning) was empty and the rest of the cans where gone. "Where's her food?" she called.
"It's not there?" Yuki asked.
"Nope, and if she had eaten the food she'd be fatter. I had a kitten when I was little that did that. His stomach was huge the rest of the day." Tsuki meowed again. "Did Kyo eat all your cat food?"
"Hey!" Kyo yelled.
"Calm down, I was kidding!" Tohru muffled a giggle while she helped Kass look for the food. To make a long story short, they searched the whole kitchen and found no sign of the missing cat food.
"I think you did eat it," Kass joked when they couldn't find a single can.
"You really piss me off!" Kyo grumbled. "That isn't funny!"
Kass sighed.
"I guess I'll have to go buy some more." She ran upstairs, grabbed her wallet and rushed back down to the kitchen. She waved, heading for the front door. "See you guys when I get back."
"Where are you going?" Shigure asked, coming into the kitchen.
"To go buy some more cat food for Tsuki. The rest of the cans mysteriously went missing," she said, eyeing him suspiciously.
"All by yourself?" he asked, leaving with his snack. It was starting to get dark outside, and even though she could take care of herself if something were to happen, it did make her a little nervous to be wandering around alone at night.
"Fine," she said. "You guys wanna come?"
"Nothing better to do," Haru muttered, stepping forward.
"Tohru? Yuki? Kyo? Any of you wanna come?" They shook their heads.
"Sohma-kun was going to help me with my homework," Tohru said.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Kyo muttered, going into the back of the house.
"Okay then. See you guys later."
"Here you are!" the clerk said, smiling as she handed Kass the bag.
"Thank you!" she smiled back. They left the store in silence. The sun had set while they were inside and most of the other stores were closing. The streetlights suddenly flickered on, illuminating the sidewalk. Kass looked up at the sky, smiling and admiring the stars. "'While I'm young and while I'm able all I wanna do is....' "((2))
She looked over at Haru. He was staring at the ground and deep in thought. 'Might as well tell him, now. It's as good a time as any.'
"Haru?" She inhaled deeply.
"Hm?" he asked, coming out of his thoughts. He noticed she was really nervous about something. "What?"
"Um.... Never mind," she said quickly, loosing her nerve. They walked the rest of the way back to Shigure's in silence.
Author's Notes:
((1)) That really happened to me. I woke up one day and realized that we waste our lives doing trivial nonsense. No one appreciates being, and when our time comes, there is always a regret. A 'I wish I had done this,' or 'I wish I had done that.' So ... that was my inspiration for this part of the story. To try to get people to enjoy life while you're alive, because you ain't getting another chance.... Pretty deep for a kid that's not even fourteen yet, huh? (I'm turning 14 in December! Oh yeah!)
((2)) That line is a quote from one of my favorite songs, J.A.R. by Green Day, which is one of my favorite bands. You should listen to it. It's beautiful. Describes exactly the philosophical point I tried to get across when they found Kass in the woods
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Next Chapter:
"Tsuki's missing!"
"About time."
"One more week."
Gah! ((dies)) I am dead. Having been shot by B-chan for mocking beatniks. ((laughing)) I apologize if I have offended anyone out there by mocking beatniks. Beatniks are people, too. Just like those three-legged hippies. Haha! Inside joke. A kid at school tried to say 'tree-huggin hippy' but it came out three-legged. Haha! ((starts laughing hysterically))
Oh, and about the philosophy thing. If you could do me a favor, and ask others what they think about life and try to make them open up to the idea that once it's gone, it's gone, I'd greatly appreciate it. I tried at my school, but everyone looked at me like I was crazy. No one seemed to want to realize that they should enjoy, not waste. So now I'm trying to tell people here. I hope I've given you something to think about.