IMPORTANT NOTICE: I changed Ai's last name, Akimoto, to Akiyama, which means autumn mountain. No reason, I just felt like it, and it sounds prettier, in both Japanese and Chinese.
Author's Note: It's been sooooo long since I last updated. You might find a trip to my friend's place (out of town) for a week and my anime-watching marathon to have something to do with it. I watched Harukanaru Toki No Naka De, Escaflowne, and Fruits Basket one by one (hurray for BT download!), so I'm kinda worn out. But no matter, here's the new chapter. PLEASE REVIEW! I can't believe no one reviewed the last chapter. I'm so sad…to think I advised another author to not beg for reviews, I'm now doing the exact same thing! I'm such a hypocrite. But I'll never threaten for reviews, though, such as saying "No review, no update". But still, a couple of reviews would be nice. And once again,
PLEASE REVIEW!
Knock, knock, knock, three taps on the apartment door woke up a groggy Yutaka. Just as he was wondering who would come knocking at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning, Haru's lazy voice came out of his room, "Yutaka, go get the door!"
Yutaka cursed under his breath, he was supposed to be the oldest, what was the brat doing ordering him around? Older siblings just don't get any respects in this house. First Ai, now Haru… the knocks came again, this time, considerably louder.
"Coming!" yelled Yutaka as he hastily pulled up his pants and slid into his shirt. "Who is it?"
"We are representatives from Akiyama Ai's math class," came the reply.
Oh no, thought Yutakathis is just not his lucky day. He opened the door, two girls were standing in the doorway.
"My sister's in the, um, hospital right now, so, you just have to come back another day," lied Yutaka. The girl who had light-brown wavy hair seemed convinced, but the other girl, who had straight shoulder-length black hair, didn't buy it.
"The hospital? I thought it's only a stomach flu," her dark eyes glinted sharply behind her glasses.
"Well um, you know how this goes," Yutaka forced out a smile, "she gets the stomach flu, she gets worse, she throws up, stinks up the bathroom…" Ai's gonna kill me when she hears about this!
The brown-haired girl was trying her hardest not to appear grossed out in her perfect make-up and frilly pink dress, but the black-haired one continue to remain serious. "Oh really? Then could you please give me her hospital's name and room number?"
Curse it! How is it that kids are all so troublesome these days? "Um, well, you see…" Yutaka started to feel cold sweat, "Hey, do you hear something? I think I hear something!" "Actually, I don't really…" "Maybe Ai got back from the hospital last night! You know what, I'll check on her room so wait here…" He shut the door in her face.
"Haru, GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW!" Yutaka ran to his younger brother's room and yanked the blanket from him.
"What is it now, Elder Brother?"
"I need something from you," said Yutaka as he began fumbling through Haru's closet. After awhile, he exclaimed with glee, "Ha I found it!" Haru followed his gaze, and saw with horror that his older brother was looking at a huge, life-sized Barbie doll, which Haru had hid deep inside his closet for years. "No you wouldn't! You promised not to show this to anybody!"
"What?" said Yutaka nonchalantly, "It's your birthday present."
"But that's from Aunt Miori who didn't know I'm a boy!"
"Ah, but that's not important," said Yutaka as he reached out to pull the giant doll from the top plank of Haru's closet.
"Don't!" shouted Haru. Too late, a small mountain of stuff fell on Yutaka's head just as the doll came loose.
"Bro, are you alright?" asked Haru when Yutaka's head slowly reemerged from the pile of forgotten items ranging from old stinky socks to toy "Bob the Builder" trucks missing a wheel. Yutaka didn't say a word. Instead, he held the doll victoriously with a crazed grin on his face. He went to Ai's room and dropped the doll on the light purple coverlet of the neatly made bed.
"This doll has the same dark brown hair as Ai," explained Yutaka, "and is very life-like, as I might say. So if those girls want my sister, they'll have her, only it's not really her. I'm such a …genius!"
"Ahuh," Haru sweat-dropped as he looked at his brother's tears of happiness.
Yutaka turned serious again. "Now, Haru, I need you to change this doll into one of Ai's pajamas and get her into bed. Make sure her back is facing the door."
"Why do I have to do it? I don't want to s…s…strip a girl!" Haru stuttered.
Yutaka put an innocent smile on his face. "Oh, so you don't wanna do it? Then I guess we can put a wig on you and you can be Ai."
"You mean I have to be my own ugly, clumsy, violent, fifteen-years-old-without-a-boyfriend sister? No way!" "Then I suggest you get on with what I told you!" said Yutaka authoritatively as he walked out of the room.
Haru looked down at the doll in a disgusted sort of way and started to take off the movie-star dress. He sighed, he felt like a hentai.
When Yutaka opened the door, the girls weren't very happy. But the truth was, he wasn't either. He was sort of hoping that after a few minutes of waiting, they would go away. "So?" asked the black-haired girl impatiently. "As it turned out, Ai did come back so, come on in!" said Yutaka in fake warmness. "It's about time," the girl replied coolly and stepped into the room. Yutaka followed her, praying that Haru was ready. As it turned out, he was. When they entered Ai's bedroom, Haru had everything arranged just as planned.
"Ai" was lying on the bed, with the blanket covering most of her body, leaving only the head out. She was lying with her back towards the visitors so no one would see her real face, which was a model made from hard plastic and paint. Haru was nowhere to be seen, but Yutaka knew he was hiding behind the other side of the bed, ready to put on an act.
"So…here's my sis! She doesn't look good, does she? So I guess you'll just have to come back later when she's feeling better…"
The perky class representative ignored him and began to talk to the doll covered by blankets whom she thought was Ai. "Akiyama-san, you probably have never seen me before because I'm new. And you were absent the day I was introduced. I'm our math teacher, Mr. Honda's niece. I'm very sorry to interrupt your rest but we are sent here by Mr. Honda to review with you our new Math lessons before you take your make-up test. Your first test, I'm very sorry to inform you, had been failed. However, our teacher recognized that it's not your fault so we're here to help you. Um, any questions?"
After an embarrassing fifteen-second silence, Haru finally got the cue. "Um, no, continue please," he said in a squeaky imitation of Ai's voice, which, unknown to him, was terrible.
"Um, Ai, did they make you swallow helium?" the wavy-haired representative asked in a low, scandalous voice. The bossy one cleared her throat. "Don't be silly Mayako! Um, Akiyama-san, perhaps you would like something for your throat?"
"(squeaky voice) No, thank you, I just had, er, my tonsils removed," lied Haru. Yutaka slapped his forehead, swearing to make his little brother take an IQ test when this was over. How stupid could he be? Why would someone who had stomach flu need to get her tonsils removed?
The bossy class rep raised her eyebrows, but only said, "Shall we start then?"
The next twenty minutes went in a blur, with many words like "exponent", "squared", "perimeter", "", and "Pythagorean Theorem", along with Haru's occasional "Um"s and "Ah"s. Yutaka's shirt was now soaked with cold sweat.
After awhile, the class rep finally lost her politeness and popped the question up, "Akiyama-san, could you at least turn around and face us?"
"Ahhhh, you, you don't know how…how lucky, I mean UGLY I am, you…you would faint if you saw my face!" Haru panicked.
"Akiyama-san!" the class rep was appalled, "although I know you very well but I'm sure your classmates saw your face many times and frankly, I don't think anyone has ever fainted…" "Or I could give you a makeover!" the wavy-haired, girly girl class representative named Mayako squeaked excitedly, stars popping out of her eyes.
"Um, what she meant was…was that she is now suffering from the um, the Classrepatitis, which is a horrible rash growing on the face," explained Yutaka, trying to do damage control. Mayako's expression changed from excited to understanding, she let out a long "Ohhhh!" But the other class rep, whom Yutaka now dubbed as "the stubborn mule", just gave Mayako a long glare before turning her attention back to Ai.
"Akiyama-san," she said in a desperate voice, "I don't care how you look like, just turn around so you can look at some of these equations. It's absolutely important that you…Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
An ear-piercing scream was heard when Haru popped out from under the bed and blew a raspberry in her face. "Where did you come from?" she asked.
"Earth," replied Haru truthfully, "though I'd like to be from Mars. What about you?"
"Um, how cute!" Mayako squeaked again and tried to hug Haru.
"You know what?" said Haru nervously, " I think I should pour you guys some tea, yeah, that's good idea." He skipped gingerly out of room, trying to dodge the arms of a crazed Mayako, who followed him out.
Yutaka: "…"
The Mule: "…"
Yutaka: "…"
Finally, the "Stubborn Mule" couldn't bear the silence anymore. "You know, Akiyama-san, it won't be our responsibility if you fail your grade."
Silence.
"You have to cooperate with us. I can't teach you unless you can look me in the eye."
Silence.
"Akiyama-san? Akiyama-san! If you don't turn around, I'll just force you to!"
Yutaka watched with horror as the Mule's hand reached out to "Ai's" shoulder in an attempt to turn her over. Her hand came closer, and closer, until…
"Ohhhh! So cute! Akiyama-san is sooooo lucky to have such a cute little brother!" Mayako's high-pitched giggles were followed by Haru's breathless whisper, "Help…me…" "Ohhhh, so cute, doesn't your sister hug you?" Mayako proceeded to kiss Haru's cheek, Haru finally lost it. He struggled, and just when the Mule was about to reach the Barbie Doll's shoulder, the teacup slipped out of Haru's grip and soared through the air. It landed right on Mule's head.
She stood in silence, with her hair and blouse completely soaked and a teacup on her head. She wiped her glasses and turned around to leave, never casting a second glance back at "Ai". It seemed that she finally had had enough.
"Um, Senpai! Wait for me!" Mayako abruptly dropped Haru (much to the boy's relief) and ran to join the bossy, now soaked, girl. Yutaka blurted out, "Um, could I offer you a towel on your way out, Mule… I mean, Miss…?"
"Megumi," the girl turned around, and somehow managed to say her name in her usual calm and dignified manner, "My name is Honda Megumi."
Ai didn't know what happened, one moment she was standing by the riverbank with Amiboshi, worrying about whether Suboshi, the guy who Amiboshi had called "younger brother", would slice them to pieces with those Ryuseisui of his, and the next moment
She was being pulled down into the currents, water closing in on her from all directions. She choked and struggled, trying to stay afloat, but the weight of wet clothes was pulling her down. The water muffled the world outside, the ethereal silence and her own oxygen-starved brain made her shut out her senses. Then, it was all dark.
When Ai finally came to, it was by a dull pain in her head. She slowly opened her eyes, then closed them quickly. The light was blinding. Was she in heaven? If she was, why was she so cold, and wet?
She opened her eyes again, and found that it's already morning. She was in an unknown river valley, with green trees and steep mountain cliffs rising on each side. The river was much more shallow now, with rocky bottom instead of soft mud. Ai felt she could almost touch the bottom with her feet.
The current had flailed her against a rock, which she was now holding on to. She was surprised she was still alive, she should've drowned. But, where's Amiboshi? Frantically, she searched everywhere her eyes could reach. Suddenly, she spotted him. There, floating on a log, was the blond-haired boy. Ai swam towards the log. She fluttered-kicked her legs and found it actually very easy. The water had washed her sneakers off and her jeans were now ripped and battered, reduced to shorts. When she reached the log, she found Amiboshi's eyes to be closed.
"Amiboshi, Amiboshi! Wake up!" Ai nudged at him, but he remained still. "Amiboshi?" Ai started to grow worried, his face was pale and because his body was buried in water from the neck down, she couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. Ai became frightened, what if he was already dead? But as soon as that thought surfaced in her brain, she denied it. Amiboshi couldn't be dead, if she survived, so could he. She splattered water on his face in a desperate attempt to revive him, but to no avail. "Amiboshi, please, please open your eyes…" she pleaded as she leaned against him, trying to find the slightest sign of life. And then, she felt an arm encircling her body.
"Amiboshi you're alive!" Ai shouted with sudden joy. Amiboshi's eyes now fluttered open, and they were as bright and beautiful as ever.
"I'm alive all along baka!" he teased playfully.
"Then why did you…." Realization dawned her. "You were pretending? Amiboshi how could you do this to me? I was worried sick!"
"Oh come on, don't be mad at me," Amiboshi smiled playfully, "when you are worried, you are…cute…"
Despite being soaked in freezing water, heat rushed to Ai's cheeks. She edged away from Amiboshi, "We'd better get back to shore." Amiboshi held out his arm to her, "I can help you if you want." Ai, feeling embarrassed for letting the panic get to her and falling for such an obvious trick, pushed his arm away and kicked off on her own. "No thanks, I'm a swimming champ! Hurry up Amiboshi, I'll race ya!" Amiboshi smiled, then swam after her.
The two dragged their tired, water-soaked body to shore. The autumn wind chilled them to the bones and their bare feet hurting from walking on sharp rocks. Ai walked to a rocky overhang and collapsed under it. Amiboshi sat down beside her.
"We'll need a fire, Ai-san. We can't stay cold for much longer," said Amiboshi. Ai nodded. She quickly got up and searched for dry wood. They broke off dry branches from bushes and trees, and gathered them into a pile. Ai picked out small twigs and dry leaves and set them aside.
"What are you doing Ai?" Amiboshi asked as she was crawling on the ground, searching intently for something. Instead of answering, she picked up two rocks, one coal-black, from the riverbank. Amiboshi watched, intrigued, as Ai expertly struck the rocks together. After several tries, a small spark lit the kindlings and produced a weak flame. She went on to add more twigs. Gradually, the twigs became bigger branches, and the flame grew into a blazing fire.
"You seemed to have done this a lot," Amiboshi remarked as he casually fed a branch into the fire.
"Well, I told you I used to live in the mountains, answered Ai. "If it's the old days, I could've gotten a fire going striking only once. Ah, it sure felt nice to return to the wild again."
"So Ai-san now lives in a big city?" asked Amiboshi.
"Yeah, with Kaa-san and Onee-san and Ototo-chan," said Ai, once again passing over the subject of her father. Smoke was now rising from the fire along with the occasional crackings, which sent sparks flying through the air. It stung her eyes, but Ai still huddled closer to it, grateful for the warmth.
After a couple of hours, their clothes finally dried off. Ai was grateful that during that time Amiboshi said nothing about taking their clothes off. Now that they were dry and comfortable again, more pressing matters came up, such as their location, and food. Ai looked at the fish that were swimming happily in the river, only if she could catch some. However, fishing takes too much time, and the fire's dying but no more dry wood could be found. Amiboshi glanced at the dying embers, wisely observed, "Our only hope is to find a way out of the valley."
"And how do we do that?" asked Ai.
"Wait…" said Amiboshi slowly. "I think I know these mountains."
"Are you sure?" Ai asked, gazing at him intensely. Amiboshi scanned the valley cliffs again, a sudden confidence came to him, "I'm sure. We're at the border of Sairo, and there would be a village up ahead that I lived in. We could go to my parents' house." Or my adoptive parents, more like…Amiboshi added silently.
"Is that so?" said Ai excitedly. "Then it must bring back lots of memories for Amiboshi-kun."
Yeah, lots of memories, thought Amiboshi darkly, yet not all are happy ones.
