Chapter 10
"C'mon, Alicia we're gonna be late for school," Naraku says.
"Mmmmm," I groan. "Do we really have to go?"
"Yes. Now hurry up, get dressed."
"Oh alright," I sigh.
We're in the car on our way to school. Naraku is cheerfully talking about what he'd accomplished in chemistry the previous day. I look ahead out the windshield in time to see the red light turn green. I smile; I know how Naraku hates red lights. As we're crossing through the intersection I look at Naraku again but my eyes immediately transfix on the car headed toward us at a seemingly impossible speed. I have no time to scream or say anything. We're rammed by the attacking car, and we go flying into a street light.
Sirens-shouts-pain. My eyes flutter open. All memory rushes back to me at once. I feel the pain in my side and a have a terrible headache. I look over to make sure Naraku is alright. What I see just about kills me. Naraku is leaning up against the window, blood streaming down his face. His head looks like it's been cracked wide open. I feel the hot tears of fear and pain running down my cheeks. "Naraku? Naraku wake up? Naraku why." I wake up again. I'm lying in a hospital bed. Nurses and doctors surround me. The whisper to each other. I sit up and shout, "Naraku!" Miroku and Sesshomaru stand at the door smiling sadly. I jump out of the bed and all at the nurses and doctors, "Where's Naraku?" They hesitate before one nurse looks at me, "I'm sorry dear…he didn't make it." "No!" I run down the hallway, looking in all the rooms trying to find Naraku. Miroku, Sesshomaru and the nurses chase after me. I turn a corner and at the end of the hall I see Naraku's bruised and battered form smiling at me. I knew it. I knew the nurses were wrong. Suddenly Naraku's image turns slightly blurry and he begins to move away. Reaching my hand out, I run after him screaming and crying for him to not leave me. It's no good. The hallway appears to get longer and longer as Naraku get further and further away.
My eyes snap open. I jump out of bed and land on the floor; my back slamming into my desk. An old, empty glass falls on my head, shattering and sprinkling over the floor like sharp, hard rain. A cold sweat is covering my skin. My door flies open; Naraku rushes to my side.
"Alicia? Alicia what's wrong?"
My eyes shoot back and forth between my bed and Naraku. A dream? A dream. I relax a little and start crying. I lean up against the desk and hug my knees. Naraku's gentle voice is talking to me but don't understand a word. He must realize this for his voice stops. I look at him through blurry, watery eyes. He smiles. He's squatted near me but away from the glass so as to not cut his bare feet. I crawl over to him, cutting my hands and scraping my knees in the process. Naraku curses under his breath but does not lecture me. Crawling into his lap, I sob into his neck. He holds me gently, rubbing my back in an effort to comfort me. We stay that way for a long time before he pulls away from me and begins to slowly pick pieces of glass out of my hair. I cast my eyes downward until he lifts up my chin and brushes his lips against mine ever so lightly.
"You're okay. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. Understand?"
The dream had nothing to do with what happened to me but I nod anyway. Resting my head on his shoulder, I notice for the first time that it's still dark out. Glancing at my alarm clock I see that it's only 6:34am. Naraku helps me to my feet and leads me to his bedroom where he gets me to lay down next to him and covers me with the blanket. He wraps his arm around me tightly and kisses my cheek and forehead until I fall asleep.
I roll over and open my eyes. Where Naraku once laid was now empty. I sit up slightly startled. Not wanting to panic too early I practically run down the stairs. Living room; empty. Kitchen; empty. The bathroom door is open and the light is off. Where did he go? I run back upstairs and check to see if he's in the computer room. Nothing. Deciding to check the upstairs bathroom, I run back down the hallway but stop on a dime when something catches my eye. Backing up a few steps I look through my bedroom door. Naraku! He's sitting on his knees cleaning up broken glass. He looks over his shoulder and stands up when he sees me. Naturally, I run into his arms. The only words I can manage are, "I was so scared."
"Shhh. You're okay now. Nothing bad happened, baby." He pushes me away just enough so he can see my face. "Sweetie, go down the hall and jump in the shower. I wanna make sure all the glass is out of your hair, okay?"
I nod. Naraku smiles and goes back to cleaning up glass. As I twist the taps to produce water I notice bandages on my hands. Naraku must have waited until I was asleep and then cleaned up the cuts. I look down at my knees. They've been tended to as well. I wait for the water to heat up to the right temperature before getting undressed and jumping in. I run my fingers through my hair to make sure there is no more glass. Two tiny shards are all that I find and dispose of.
Rubbing myself dry I glance in the mirror at the dark circles around my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I try to push the nightmare of the previous hours of darkness out of my mind. 'Alright, Alicia," I think to myself. 'Get dressed and move on. It was only a dream. Nothing was real.' I laugh out loud at the thought of how silly I'd been acting.
Later that day, I ask Naraku to drive me to the mall. Searching around in the electronics shop I finally find an X-box. Perfect. Now to find some games that Miroku will like. In the end, with help from Naraku, I decide on a fighting simulation game, a racing game, and an adventure game. As I was paying for the merchandise-Naraku insisted he pay for half-I found that the man serving us looked oddly familiar. Stealing a quick, settle glance at his name tag I read Suikotsu. I've never heard that name before; but how come his face seems so familiar. I must have seen him on the street or something. Naraku seems a little edgy but I don't understand why.
"Is that everything?" Suikotsu asks. That voice…it takes me back to the first night I met Naraku. To the alley, the man in the shadows, the fight, the blood, the yells. This man before me…he was the man who tried to rape me. That's why Naraku is so edgy. Could he also be the man that raped Sesshomaru's cousin, Rin? Naraku's grip on my hand tightens as the man speaks again. "Miss, is that everything?" He sounds annoyed. I nod. He bags our stuff and delivers my change. Naraku glares at him as he hurries me out of the shop.
When we get back in his car he looks at me. "Do you recognize him?"
"Yes…Naraku?"
"What?"
"Is he the same guy that raped Rin?"
Naraku hesitates before answering. "Yes. He is." Not wanting to talk anymore on the subject, Naraku turns on the radio and we head for Miroku's house.
Naraku pulls into an empty driveway and parks. Smiling as he gets out he winks at me. I grab the game system and games from the back seat and we head up to the front door. Naraku rings the bell. The door opens instantly but there's no one insight. I look at Naraku, confused; he laughs.
"'Lo," says a tiny voice. Looking down, I see a small boy in front of me. The cutest little boy I've ever seen in fact. Miroku appears behind him. "Hey, Shippo who's there? Oh. Hi."
"We came to bring you your sympathy gift," I smiled. Miroku's grin grew.
"Come on in." Naraku and I followed Miroku and the little green-eyed carrot top into the living room. Naraku made himself comfy on the couch and I automatically sat beside him after handing Miroku the bag of goodies. He opened it up and stared in wide-eyed. I can't believe it. I never thought I would possess one of my own!" Finally, he looked up at me and smiled, "This is my little brother by the way," he said motioning toward the kid.
"My name's Shippo," he said happily. He held up four little fingers, "I've been five for a whole month now!" I couldn't help but giggle at the innocence of the child.
"Mom and dad have gone out for the day, so I'm babysitting," Miroku said. "…Can I open this now?" he asked pleadingly. Naraku and I laughed.
"Go ahead, it's yours." Miroku immediately tore open the box and grinned crazily as if he were the five-year-old. Miroku stared at it, mesmerized, before he began hooking it up to the television.
"Can I play with it too?" Shippo asked.
"Why of course," Miroku grinned.
"Really?"
"On one condition."
"Ohhh, I knew there was a catch. What do I have to do?"
"Make me a sandwich and get out the munchies," Miroku laughed.
"Always somethin' to do with food," Shippo grumbled as he left the room.
Naraku looked at me, "Seems older than he really is doesn't he?" I nodded.
We stayed at Miroku's for awhile playing video games and telling jokes. It was about four o'clock when Naraku said we should be heading home. We drove home in total silence; me breaking out into a cold sweat every time we came to a stop light. I know it's foolish but I can't help it. When we got home I went upstairs to try and get some homework done. It was only science but I never found that particular topic to be overly interesting. Naraku walks in as I'm finishing up a question. He pulls over the stool in the corner and sits down next to me. I smile at him and go back to my work. He watches me for awhile before tucking a piece of loose hair behind my ear. "Alicia?" he says.
"Mmmhmm?"
"I want to talk to you…about last night." He sounds worried and serious but I play dumb anyway.
"Whadda ya mean?"
"Last night. I know you know what I'm talking about so give up the act now. What scared you so bad? What happened?"
"I had a bad dream that's all," I say simply and return to my work. Naraku reaches over, takes my book and closes it while leaving a finger in to make sure he didn't lose my page.
"There's more. It couldn't have been just a bad dream. You were scared half to death. There's something you're not telling me and I need to know right now."
"It was just a dream, Naraku. Someone I cared about died, but it was just a dream. I don't wanna talk about it." I try my best to sound firm and irritated but he sees right through me. He knows how hard I'm trying to hold back tears.
He returns my text book to where it had been before he came in then stands up, nodding. "Okay," he says and kisses the top of my head. "If you don't wanna talk to me that's fine."
"Naraku…you know damn right well that's not what I meant. I just want to talk about it right now, alright?...I can't."
His eyes soften and he smiles apologetically, "Alright, I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
That night I couldn't sleep much at all. The most I could do was doze off for awhile, and every time I woke up I went to check Naraku's room and make sure he was still there and still breathing. And every time I found him still there, sleeping peacefully. And every time I would slowly saunter back to my room and lay down to repeat the cycle.
A/N: hey every one. yours truly here just reminding u to review and tell me what u think. So go ahead and put ure arrow over that small square purple button and click. I accept all reviews and ideas from everyone.