Severed Camaraderie
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"Can anybody tell me the formula to find the area of a right triangle---"
The class hummed with curiosity as the door opened slowly witha groan and in stepped their classmate. Gasps echoed around the classroom as he slowly sauntered to his seat. Taji deliberately refused to look at him, knowing her heart would break; instead, she focused on her math work instead.
The teacher, however, stared at Sora for a couple of seconds, before mumbling a greeting, shaking his head, and continuing the lesson. Noone was paying attention. Everybody was just staring at the figure as he unpacked his things. Staring forward, ignoring the whispers and passing of notes and eyes filling with tears, he tapped his fingers on the desk, making a rumble that grated on Taji's nerves; but she maintained her own.
Shaking his head as one girl went as to so far to catch his attention, he deliberate but his back to her, trying to tell her to leave him alone. His head was killing him, and he could hardly see out of one of his eyes. His stomach felt as if it was own fire, and even worse, he had cuts, bruises and scratches all over his body. Many children, the 'foreign' ones with the odd color hair and piercing eyes, wrinkled their noses and sort of coughed when he walked by, he noticed. But he didn't care.
What was going through his mind was anything less than human thoughts. Imagining himself just falling off the roof, he was on the brink of actually throwing himself out the window, when he heard his name.
This time, it was a soft whisper. It was gentle, as if trying to soothe him, yet it was angry at the same time. Over and over it called, until he cut his eye at the young girl. "I . . . can we talk? After class?"
Shrugging despite the emotion rising in his chest, he nodded his head and continued to stare out the window.
After a brief hour of lecturing about studying your notes, the class was dismissed, and Taji was waiting for him outside. He stopped beside her, watched as she fidgetted with the hem of her shirt and bit her lip in a nervous kind of manner. When she moved her head, he thought he saw a shadow for 'ears'. He blinked and they were gone. Shaking his head, he watched as she cleared her throat and began talking nervously.
"Sora . . . about what happened?"
He smiled sadly. "Yea . . . how are you and Kazuki doing? Is everything alright?"
"Yea . . . no . . . we're not a couple. That's what I was trying to get you to understand."
Sora shrugged. "Not yet anyway."
"Excuse me?"
Sora smiled and leaned his back on the wall, watching the feet of hundreds of kids shuffle through the hallway to their next class. "I mean, you two are commited. It's completely wrong for me to interfere."
"Me and Kazuki . . . it was a long time ago. I didn't even remember!"
"But you do now."
"Sora . . . I don't want to be with Kazuki because . . . let's just say that things will get complicated."
"What do you mean?"
She rubbed the toe of her shoe on the floor. "My family line gets more in-depth than you think. If I be with him, that means that I'll have to move away."
"What's stopping you?"
"You."
Sora looked awestruck for a moment, then he shrugged and looked at her. Her eyes were dark with tears, glazed over with sadness as his annoyance outwitted her guilt. He was amazed at just how manipulative, yet innocent she could be at the same time. "If I'm stopping you," He said, pushing himself off the wall and jamming his hands in his pockets. "Then don't talk to me anymore."
She watched his back become smaller and smaller as he walked down the hallway. She ignored the stares of humans, hanyou and youkai that walked by, and even went as to so far to growl at a young man when he made a show of standing there and staring at her dead in the face.
She had never been treated this way in her whole life, and despite the ache in her chest, she was angry. She was angry that he wouldn't listen, angry that he was too stubborn to understand that she didn't want Kazuki, that what she really desired just pushed her away from him.
I told you to let him go. Her youkai shot at her. But you didn't want to listen.
But . . . he's my friend. We can stay friends . . . right? Should I go after him?
No! No. If you stay friends, that's only going to hurt you and him more. The best thing you can do, is let him go.
Why do I have to let him go? Why do I?
First of all, he is different. This would never sit well with your father. Second of all, your brother's would pick with him everyday, cause him more pain than his father ever could. Third, you're welcoming a fragile human that has never been in contact with a youkai before. He doesn't know what you are. He deserves to know. And for that, you two can never be together.
Why? I don't understand, Mother and Daddy, they were different. And look at them.
That's different, and you know it. You're practically engaged to the future tai-youkai of the United States. He'll be able to protect you, and face it : he has everything that you dreamed of as a little girl. Why won't you listen to me?
Taji bit her tongue and began walking down the hall to find Taura. Turning the corner, she saw her friend at her locker and quickened her pace to her. Their next class was together, and Taji didn't want to be alone, not now, not ever. I won't listen . . . because your lying.
Why would I lie to myself. It's common sense. Nyoko could tell you that. Face it. You two don't belong together.
Maybe . . . she bit her lip as she stopped at Taura's locker. Maybe you're right. Maybe.
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Nyoko stared at her cousin through narrowed eyes as she sadly scribbled notes on her paper. She was to go over Taji's house, and stay for three days, or until her father returned with Taji's brother from punishing a certain youkai who threatened to tell police of their existence if they didn't pay him a million yen. She watched as Taji sighed and shook her head as she slammed the pencil on the table.
"Why do you put yourself through this?"
Taji rubbed her temple with her forefingers." Through what?"
"Through the priviledge of choosing a mate? It would be so faithful if your father chose who you bear children with."
Taji looked surprised for a moment. When had her cousin been so open with her? "My father would never do that, and I can't believe yours did."
Nyoko shook her head. "It's my father nature. It's ridding me of the heartbreak your experiencing now, and ensures the legacy of youkai."
"Yes, but it doesn't help the legacy of love."
"Am I talking to the hanyou or the human?"
Taji giggled as she shrugged and closed the book laying on the library table. Nyoko took this chance as a couple of kids pakced up their things and left. Shaking her head as she regarded her cousin for a moment, when Taji picked up her pencil once again, Nyoko made a show of snatching it out of her hand and holding it in between her forefingers. "Humans are do weak, and fragile. What do you do when one of them needs help but is too stubborn to ask for it?"
Taji reached for her pencil, and clucked her tongue when Nyoko whisked it away from her reach, twisting it in her fingers, idly taunting her without really realizing it. Taji watched the pencil through narrow eyes. "Then I take things into my own hands."
Nyoko fought back a grin that irritated the corners of her lips. "But we youkai are not to meddle in human affairs. You know that, correct?"
"Yes, but who are they to tell me how to live my life?"
"And who are you to interfere in someone elses?"
Taji felt her anger rise as she watched Nyoko toss the pencil back and forth between her hands. Trying to show her cousin she didn't care about the kami-ridden pencil, she put her head down on her forearms and quirked her ears as a group of girls began giggling. "I don't know where you are going with this. Are you telling me to leave him alone?"
Nyoko shrugged offhandedly, making a show of twisting the pencil in the air as she casually played with it. Meaning to annoy her cousin, show her that patience was a trait she apparently didn't have, she missed the growl that surfaced on her lips, but in return, put the pencil in between her ear that the concealment had placed.
Shaking her head, she stared her cousin in the eye as the librarian opened the shades that were next to them. Her eyes narrowed, as neko instinct, to the change of light, and in return, she looked around cautisouly as her cousin leaned in closer. "Who am I to tell you what to do?"
"But . . . your the daughter of the tai-youkai of the Inu-youkai heritage. You have more authority than I do."
Nyoko shook her head as she shrugged. "Authority does not matter my dear cousin. Hasn't your birth taught you that?"
"My birth? You're barely older than I am---"
"Be not a baka and finish that sentence." Nyoko said as she dusted off her peach skirt. "Sometimes, the answer to a simple statement can only be uncovered if the situation unfolds itself."
"What?"
"My, my. Father told me that your father shall always be a baka." Nyoko chuckled. "I see the gene has past?"
"Oh, and how about the nickname my dad gave to your father?"
Nyoko smiled. "What of it?"
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Sora sighed as he finished the last of his chores and slowly walked into his room. Locking the door behind him, he layed on the mattress with a thump as he turned his head and disregarded the singing of the birds that were outside his window. With a disgusted grunt, he took off his shoe and threw it at the window, scaring them off.
Well, good way to ventilate your anger. Say, why don't you break the window so he can break his foot off in your ass for me?
Shut up. Just . . . die and whither away, I don't care. Just shut up . . . please.
Well? Is that what you wish? You know you can die of depression right? Just let me know, and I can help you.
Are you serious?
Hell no. You die, and I die too. Think about how it would look to Tokyo. Think about how your mother would feel. Think about how she would feel.
Taji . . .
Sora breathed deeply, trying to find a whiff of her luring aroma that sent him off the edge all day and everyday. He wanted to feel the heat of her body one more time, just feel her softly utter his name, a whisper meant to silence his animosity, but only fared to make it far stronger, far brutal than anything he could have imagined.
Rolling to his side, he saw his shadow disppear as the clouds blocked the sunlight from his room, and he heard the fluttering of the birds wings as they flew away to find sunlight, to find warmth. Sora winced as he heard the door close, and instinctly pulled his knees to his chest as his stomach felt as if it was on fire once again. He bit back the nausea that fought to rise and whined softly as his whole body erupted in painful tremors and caused him to bit his tongue to keep from calling out.
Shaking his head, he opened his eyes, and could almost see her standing there, watching him, her eyes filled with concern, and bright with an innocence he had only seen on T.V. She was by far better than any model or actor he had ever seen, with a personality to match, she was almost a different species that were created for people just like him.
But she was whisked away at a young age. She is commited Kitohoshi . . . she can never be yours.
Sora accepted the awful truth, and he accepted the wash of hurt that flowed over him after the statement was made. He never understood how awful it felt to have something snatched away from him when he really cared for it. He never understood why she perplexed him the way she did, he never understood just how crazy she drove his mind, his body, and that moment in her room was almost more than he could bear, just thinking about it.
Biting his tongue, he fought back uprising feelings of an extreme loss that threatened to choke him and send him into a vortex that could swallow him and rid of him of existence forever. Reaching over and picking up the reciever, he dialed a number that he never understood why it had even come to mind.
"You have reached the office of Detective Nakabashi Hiromiya. Please hold as we direct you to him."
Sora drummed his fingers on the bed as the phone rang for what seemed like light years until a man with a gruff, stern voice answered breathless. "Detective Nakabashi. Office of Social Security of Toyko. How can I help you?"
Sora glanced around nervously before he talked. "H-Hey. This is Kitohoshi . . . Sora Kitohoshi. How are you?"
The detective sound surprised. Sora heard rustling in the background. "Kitohoshi? Well I'll be damned. How are you?"
"Good, good. I was wondering if I can ask you a couple of questions?"
The dective didn't answer for a while. "Sure. You want me to come there?"
Sora swallowed hard. "No . . . I'll be there in ten minutes."
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A/N
Due to the site being down Monday and Yesterday, I will post two chapters for each of the stories. Then, the schedule will return to it's previous 'shift'. Sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy!