The Wind Chime Chronicles
Chapter 2
Ryu was in the forest, practicing his "frozen tundra" technique. It was hot, despite the ice and he had taken off his shirt. A half-hour into his practice, he heard footsteps coming down the ice path he made earlier. When he saw who it was, he wanted to hide in a bush but his body wouldn't move. Ato came through the clearing with her book bag and "fight pack", which she used to store her battle weapons. When she saw him, she smiled and waved. "Hey Ryu!" Ryu didn't know what to do. Here was Ato, his shirt was gone, and he had just been training. He managed to speak. "Hey Ato! What's up? Sorry," he looked down at his bare chest. "I was just training." Ato looked delighted. Oh, Ato thought. He is so hot. Keep that shirt off you dirty boy…tehehehe. "Hey Ryu, do you mind if I train with you?" Ryu shook his head and Ato smiled to herself.
Ato reached into her battle pack and pulled out a handful of Cherry blossoms, her weapon of choice. She threw them into the air and did her hand gesture. The blossoms swirled together and formed a copy of Ato (only it was slightly purple). Ato's copy sent a wave of thorns at Ryu, but he stopped them in midair with a sweep of his hand. Then, he stomped on the ground and ice came up from the ground and closed up on copy Ato. Next moment, it smashed and the cherry blossoms curled up and turned brown. Ato rushed at Ryu for a physical assault, but slid on some ice. She slid toward Ryu and fell into him. He caught her in his arms and held tight so that she wouldn't fall. She looked up at him and he looked at her and they looked at each other until Ato spoke. "I guess if this were a real fight I would be dead."
Ryu noticed how beautiful her green eyes were. He helped her stand properly and still had her in his arms. Ato didn't realize how safe Ryu made her feel until now. He had always been one of the reasonable ones like her. Ryu leaned in and she leaned up. Their lips touched and Ato knew it felt right. Ryu was surprised that he did it, but even more surprised that she let him. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, because that's how long they both wanted it to last. They stood there, their souls bonding through their lips…
"Move it Bera!" Kiyo yelled over his shoulder. Bera and he were on their new daily run around the city. And their second time out, Bera was dragging her feet. "I don't want to do this!" she screamed at him. "You know that I could easily out run you if I felt like it!" Kiyo stopped and so did Bera. "This isn't about racing!" he said. "This isn't a competition to see who's faster! Its just a run to stay in shape and for you to loose those extra pounds so that you can get that bellybutton ring you want so badly." Without another word, they set off. After a few blocks of peace, Bera opened up her trap. "What about your unsightly pounds and inches? If we're doing this for me, then how come we can't do it for you, too?" Kiyo shook his head. "My body is only 7 percent body fat and that's from genetics. I should work out more to even that out shouldn't I? But unlike you, I don't eat everything in sight."
They finished their run by doubling back to Bera's house. When they got there, Bera went into the house with not so much of a good bye or see you later. When Kiyo started to walk away, she came out and called him back. He walked back so that he was right in front of her and she leaned in, an inch away from his mouth. What is she doing? Kiyo wondered. Is this what I think it is? Then, Bera smacked him in the back of the head so hard, she had to back up just so that his face slammed into the ground. "Never boss me around," she yelled in a demonic tone. "See you at school tomorrow. Bye Kiyo!" she said in a childish voice. Okay, Kiyo thought, maybe not.
Bevy was in her room, playing her chime over and over again. Despite the feeling it gave her, it couldn't take her mind off of the words her mother had said to her the week before…
Flashback………………Bevy was in her room and her mother called her downstairs to the living room. She was standing in the middle of the room with two pieces of paper in her hands and her older sister looking oddly superior. "Look at this," she said brandishing the papers. "Your sister did better than you, AGAIN! You got all A's and a C. Your sister got all A's…PERIOD! Tell me, what are you good for?" Bevy just stood there, on the verge of tears. She pushed them back and said, "Its just grades. I do chores and I help around the house…" Her mother cut her off before she could even finish. "You call making gusts of wind sweep the dirt helping? I call it lazy and making a big mess bigger! I don't know why I had two children! I guess all the good genes went to Osaka! Get out of my face."
Bevy started to cry at the thought of this. She sobbed and sobbed and nothing seemed to make the pain go away. She grabbed her hair and screamed into the pillow. Then she heard her mother downstairs. "Not only is she useless, she's loud too. I bet she's pregnant." Bevy had never hated her mother more…