Chapter Nine: Malicious Midori

After Pohli had confessed her past… I felt like I wanted to do something to make her feel better. Arisa had always seemed like she would be a decent friend… well, at least from what I heard from Saki. What Pohli had told Yuki and I made my blood start to boil. Note to self: get Arisa later…

 Yuki and I exited the room Pohli was in. It seemed Yuki was still a little upset about me toying with him and his secret the night before.

"Momiji and I will be going to the main house for a short time." Yuki said flatly and turned to leave the house.

"Yuki, wait." I spoke up, softly. "I want to apologize for what I did yesterday. I don't know why I did that…" Yuki only nodded and continued on his way out the house.

Instead of going straight back where everyone else was, I went to the bathroom. Leaning against the sink I watched Tsuka play with some fuzz on the floor. Smiling, I washed my face in the sink to wake myself up some more. Pohli's tale of her past brought back some unpleasant memories of my own. Shaking my head to forget the past, I picked up Tsuka and carried him into the kitchen where everyone was eating dried ramen noodles. Pohli was sitting at the table, arms locked with a man about her age with dark hair (whom I assumed was Akito). I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. As an alternative, I sat across from Pohli in between Arisa and Saki. Being as hungry as I was, the dried ramen noodles looked very appetizing so I started crunching on some while listening to the conversation take a bad turn.

Arisa was sipping on some orange juice and set her glass down. "So lynch girl." She addressed Pohli. "Is that your new boyfriend or something?"

Pohli flushed furiously while Akito, who was holding onto her arm seemed like what Arisa was suggesting was a good idea. "Shut up! Mind your own business, Arisa!"

Most everybody else had stopped their conversations and was looking back and forth between Arisa and Pohli.

"What's the matter cousin? It will be my business after all if you're thinking about hanging him too or something?" Arisa was clearly just harassing Pohli to make her explode in front of everyone.

Pohli clenched her fist. I growled under my breath. Arisa was lifting her glass of orange juice to sip from it again when it exploded in her face. Orange juice spilt all over her face and front. A painful shock went through my body made me wince. Saki had caught me using my power against others again…

"Damn it!" Arisa jumped up and left the room to clean herself up. Pohli stared after her in disbelief. Saki put her hand on my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"Please come with me outside." Without giving me a chance to respond Saki grabbed my arm and led me outside into the cold morning air. The angry look in Saki's eyes (mind you, that doesn't happen often) told me I was in big trouble. "Why did you use your powers on my friend, Arisa?"

"Could you not sense it through the electric waves? Arisa was purposely trying to taunt Pohli." I gritted my teeth.

Saki paused. "I believe Arisa means well… but you are still not allowed to use your powers against others." Saki's eyes darkened and made me shiver. "Next time you do that, you'll have some more of your personality sealed away." Leaving, my eldest sister gave me a sympathetic look while shutting the door behind her. I sank to the cold wooden floor in shock. Tears welled up in my eyes and I curled up into a ball, shaking. Even when Tsuka came out it couldn't cheer me up. Saki's threat rang into my ears. All I was trying to do was help Pohli… why was it every time I tried to help I just made things worse? I would probably be better off if I didn't stay here or talk to any of the others again…

I went back inside, tears still staining my face and grabbed my cloak and shoes. Tsuka jumped up into my arms and we started running from the girls' house. After weaving through several houses I stopped because my sense of direction was all messed up. Remembering the way Hatori had led us there a few nights ago; I started walking to where the main gate had been.

"Midori-san?" Yuki called from behind me.

I turned sharply and saw Momiji and Yuki standing nearby giving me confused looks. Instead of responding I turned back and fled. The main gate was only a little ways further. If I managed to get through the gate I was home free. Someone grabbed my arm hard and made me jerk to a stop. Yuki's firm grip wouldn't budge no matter how much I struggled.

"Midori-san! Why are you running away?!" Yuki asked while trying to keep me from escaping.

"It's my problem! I won't involve others." I replied and stopped my futile struggle. It didn't help that I was three years younger than him.

"Do you think running away will solve your problem?" Yuki questioned in a low tone. I shook my head and then stared at my feet.

"That's right!" Momiji broke in, cheerfully. "Running never solves anything."

I guess they were right but I still didn't respond. Yuki led me in silence back to the girls' house. I left my cloak and shoes at the door, Tsuka still in my arms and entered the kitchen where everyone else was. I sat down again but didn't look up at anyone… at the moment I didn't really care about everyone else…

TO BE CONTINUED

Umi-chan: For those of you wondering, Midori is a telekinetic so she can move things and control them with her mind. But I'll explain more about her past and Tsuka later on.