Solitary Mask
Chibi Tsuki
A/N: A late update this time but I hope I still have readers. I was starting to think whether there were actually wolves in Japan but when I found out that they basically lived in all climates and anywhere, I was rather relieved.
Chapter 4
Underneath the Mask
Trudging back home pass the park, Mikazuki sighed and seated herself on the swing, leaving her bag half buried in sand. The park was quiet, especially since the sky was darkening every minute but she started to swing herself instead as the orange-red sun rays slapped over her body, casting a tall shadow behind her. The swing squeaked due to the lack of oil and possibly because of the peeling paint. A boy no older than eight raced up to her and grinned cheerily before hopping on the empty swing beside her. His brown hair ruffled in the air while he laughed with pure delight. After a while he hopped off, waving a gesture of good-bye to Mikazuki and dashed off again yelling to his mother with that merry tone in his childish voice.
I guess I better leave too. Once she acknowledged the time, the light-haired teenager scooped up her bag and headed back towards the street until she heard a threatening shout and a cry of despair. Startled, she ran over to the scene and noticed the boy trembling over his mother's fallen body. In front of his stood a well-muscled man in dark clothes, a menacing grin on his face. Mikazuki felt a gush of disgust flow through her veins as she dropped her bag a few metres away from boy while hurrying. "Lay off!" she shouted, standing in front of the mother and son protectively with her arms spread wide in one hundred and eighty degrees. The man merely sniggered and brought his right hand to swat at her which had caused a greater impact than she had expected. She groaned and rubbed her sore cheek to realise that her mask had a tear through it, the opposite side to which her scar was. The tear fell from just under her left eye downwards just horizontal to her mouth, revealing her skin.
"Come with me kid," the man said in his dark sickening voice. He stretched his hand towards the boy as the child backed up, hiding behind his mother. Mikazuki noticed that the woman was somewhat injured and she stood on her feet once again, without bothering to brush her skirt and blouse. A swift movement and she had knocked the man down with a flying kick on his head, knocking him harshly against the ground and fortunately unconscious. After she had made sure he had blacked out, she attended the woman and helped her up, asking whether she knew who the man was but the woman merely shook her head and thanked the school girl gratefully.
Mikazuki uttered, "You better ring the police and get him questioned before he does any more harm ma'am." The woman smiled again and sat down on a park bench while they waited for the police to come. Uncertain, Mikazuki decided that it would be better if she stayed to make sure that the man didn't wake up before the police came, leaving when she heard the police siren. She wasn't going to be any witness, nor did she want to involve herself in something unnecessary.
~*~*~*~
When she arrived home, Mikazuki sighed and dumped her bag on the petite kitchen table, walking straight to her room to change. Her skirt and blouse, although slightly dirty would definitely be in good condition after a wash but her mask was another problem. The torn area had increased from when if first broke and there was no possibility of it being fixed easily. There wasn't any replacement either, especially since she had school tomorrow. She sighed again and slumped onto the couch in the small lounge room. What's for dinner? Unfortunately the fridge was basically empty because she didn't have any time to go to the supermarket, not that she had much to spend anyway. Perhaps the cupboard wasn't and so she peeked into it, finding a week's worth of rice lying uncooked against the wall and so she pulled it out, washing it before turning on the rice cooker. She glanced at the clock and gasped when she suddenly remembered that she had to be working at the cafeteria tonight in half an hour until ten. Which meant she had little time to eat since rice usually took twenty minutes to cook and she had to hurry to town. She searched the fridge again desperately for maybe some mince or leftovers from last night and heated the saucepan. While everything was still cooking, she rushed into her room, changed out of her top and into the cafeteria's special T-shirt with the trademark. What about my mask? I can't simply tell them that I'm not coming today… Pausing in silence for a minute, Mikazuki was alarmed when she smelt the beginning of a burnt smell. For once she began to show her true self, the disorganised yet relaxed side; what she had hidden from many.
"Sorry I'm late Emi!" Mikazuki said as she strode through the door, collapsing on the counter. A woman with dark brown-black hair peeked at her curiously, looking at her in all angles. "Huh? What's the matter?"
"Head up Mika," she ordered, using the nickname she had given her employee who had reluctantly accepted the use of that name. The breathless girl looked up and stared into Emi's light brown eyes which were dancing cheekily. "You're serving tonight now that I know you won't scare away my costumers with that stupid mask of yours. I seriously don't know why you wear that thing with this cute face of yours although your scar sticks out a bit, but I think you're gorgeous."
Mikazuki brushed her fingers against her face and realised that she had left the torn mask at home and slammed her fist against the counter. "Emi, I came here to work inside the kitchen, not outside. I don't even know what to do." Rushing the younger woman into the kitchen to avoid disturbing her customers, Emi couldn't wipe the grin off her face.
"You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll catch on easily." She pulled a small kit from her pocket and opened it, revealing a small brush and some foundation. Expertly she collected some foundation with the brush and followed the girl's cheek bone, trying to cover the long scar. Unfortunately it didn't work as she had expected it to and applied more foundation.
"It's not going to work Emi," she muttered and pushed away the hand. Mikazuki took a tissue from the tissue box and wiped off the powder. "It'll be there no matter how you try to cover it." Secretly she thanked her only friend for her effort and sighed. If only I could tell her what I've been hiding. From out of nowhere, Kurama's image came to her mind, startling her. Shuichi's my friend too I suppose.
Emi folded her arms and glared at her friend, "Fine, don't appreciate what I tried to do." She stalked out after giving Mikazuki a reassuring smile. This woman was the only one who didn't question her about her mask, the one who accepted her for her differences and her isolation; the one who opened her up. "Hey come out here Mika, we need help out here," Emi stated as she poked her head into the kitchen again. Mikazuki nodded and headed out barricading herself again slightly while pretending as she served customers to their seats.
All had been going well for a while, until she recognised three of her schoolmates, all in her year. What a coincidence. She gulped and shook herself mentally then took a deep breathe. To avoid them recognising her, there was only one way to it, act happy? Muiro Teki and his friends. Handing them a menu, she smiled and quickly walked off to another table with customers who were ready to order. Nervously she scribbled the order and left heading for the kitchen until she heard Muiro's voice booming behind her. "Hey Miss, can we order?" Mikazuki hesitantly obliged and strode as nonchalantly as she could to him. He listed several orders while staring at her with friendly eyes all of the time.
"Anything else?" she managed to muttered and quickly left when he shook his head.
"Is that waitress new here? I've never seen her before until today," Muiro's blonde-haired friend stated, leaning over the table. His friend's shrugged at the comment and sipped his tea. "She's not bad looking, although she could definitely do without that scar."
"What?" Muiro grinned cheekily. "Do you think she's cute?"
"Why don't you?" Muiro's other friend asked, casting an inquisitive glance at his friend. Nodding honestly, Muiro tried to look as innocent as possible.
"But I agree with Taka, she'll definitely look better without that scar, but nevertheless she's pretty. I say better than some of the girls in our school."
~*~*~*~
Kurama glanced around at the empty isolated desk, Mikazuki wasn't there. He hadn't seen her for an entire day, perhaps she was ill. Suddenly, he thought about visiting her since she didn't live more than two streets away. It was convenient for him to stop by, if only he knew the correct number of her home. "Minnamino, please write out the formula on the board," the teacher repeated for the second time, this time he was successful.
"Sorry," he apologised as the girls giggled at his cuteness when he blushed slightly red and walked to the front of the room. Beg your pardon, by what was the formula again?"
"Listen next time Minnamino, the formula is hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide equals water and what?"
"Thanks you sir." His hand automatically wrote the correct answer while his mind was on something else.
He headed down the street a while after splitting up with his friends glancing at the signs of the walls, looking for the plaque with 'Tsukishiro' inscribed on it. It wasn't that hard to find, especially since it was close the end of the street. Kurama glanced around, noting the rather messy garden, making him try and resist cleaning it up for her. Ringing, the doorbell announced Kurama's arrival.
Tsukishiro Mikazuki smoothed out the flexible material with her bare fingers. The material itself was still at a high temperature and so she had to force water energy towards her fingers to keep the heat low from burning her skin. So far it was working perfectly but she definitely didn't expect the doorbell to ring, not so soon anyway. Emi was going to visit later this afternoon since her older sister was going to take over today and had decided on cleaning up the house a bit. She held the mask in one hand and strode casually to the door, pass the awfully bare lounge. Little did she know or expect that Kurama was waiting outside.
Unlocking the door single-handedly with a smile, she glanced up at her visitor, her face turning into horror, gasping before she slammed the door shut, only to be held open by Kurama's strong hand. She ducked her head and turned around, placing the unfinished mask on her face whilst trying to regain her composure. "Hi," Kurama stuttered after taking a gulp and reassuring himself. He barely trusted his own voice but tried to keep his voice as casual as possible, "I just came to see how you were and lend you my notes for science." Slowly, Mikazuki turned around and looked glanced away from Kurama's face, not remembering that he couldn't see through her mask.
"Th…thanks," she uttered and reached forwards as her classmate passed her a neatly covered exercise book with Kurama's elegant handwriting labelling the book.
"I guess I'll be going then." The red-haired bishounen turned around and began to leave.
"I'm sorry that.. I nearly slammed to door on you." Her voice was timid and quiet, much like a shy little child.
Shrugging, Kurama smiled and said, "It's alright, I understand."
They stood in silence for a while, one not wanting to leave yet and the other not knowing what to say. "Um… Do you want to come in? For a while- I mean sit down for a while?" Underneath her mask, Mikazuki felt slightly more secure.
"Ok, I'll stay for a while."
Kurama followed her into the small house, through the narrow entrance hall to the lounge with only a small traditional Japanese table and the cushions. She gestured at the cushions which he approached slowly, noticing several unused cushions and one with signs of being recently used. As the host, Mikazuki boiled some tea and sat down opposite him, starring at her tea in a rather nervous fashion. "My house is rather bare isn't it?" she asked.
"Not really, only a little."
"…" Neither knew what to say, holding another silent period. "Don't tell anyone about…"
"I won't, you have my word on it."
"Thanks."
Sipping his tea, Kurama reflected on the incident only a few minutes ago. He was waiting for Mikazuki to open the door as she fumbled a bit. He wasn't expecting much, only a few words with her and then perhaps he would leave and he didn't expect to see her face as it was. Her tensed yet mysterious eyes had caught his attention, just like the scar following her right cheekbone. For once in a while, he was speechless, unable to make his brain function as swiftly as it often did. "Why do you hide your face?"
This question was expected, she knew it was coming and breathed in before taking her hand to her mask and let her finger stroke it. "It hides the real me. I don't want to be involved with those prejudice freaks. I can only trust two people now, Emi and you." She peeled the mask off and laid it on the table.
~*~*~*~
A/N: How was that chapter? Strange wasn't it? I thought so… I thought I might just speed things up a bit. Reviews are welcome! The more the merrier ^.^ I wanted to quickly upload this one so I didn't go through it at all.
