ArmoredSoul: Thanks for the review! Yep, Faran-Zhuku is messed up, and so are most of the Shomas at that. Dysfunctional families are one of my imagination's specialties.
It's Kagura's turn this chapter! And just as much property gets destroyed by her as in the manga!
Speaking of mangas, Natsuki Takaya owns FB, not me. I also don't own anything else you recognize.
Chapter 19
He had to admit he was proud of Hotohori, and even a little jealous that she had hurt Asheno. Their guardian's screaming had thrown the household into a ruckus, and Rhena had run into the room to discover a furious Hotohori standing before an Asheno frantically trying to work his arm out of a blazing sleeve. Asheno had only suffered second-degree burns at the worst on his arm, but still, the thought of Hotohori fighting back comforted Hatsuharu greatly.
Lhurone and Khosure worried him more though. Of course, it was entirely possible that Khosure might just fry Asheno one day. But he might be too scared. The look in Khosure's eyes when Hatsuharu had seen him late yesterday afternoon…it didn't bode well. And Lhurone was now incapable of violence. Hopefully he could at least still dodge blows. What if Asheno went after him while Lhurone was still bedridden? No, Asheno himself was bedridden from the burn…
"Open already, would you!" Hatsuharu narrowed his eyes, fiddling with his locker's ornery combination. At this rate, he'd be late for morning homeroom. Hatsuharu, in his preoccupation, failed to notice the tall student standing nearby, carrying a bulging rucksack over one shoulder. He was only a few inches shorter than Hatsuharu, and shifted nervously from one foot to another. His short dark brown hair was neatly cut, with matching brown eyes. Despite the obvious strength evident in his strong muscles, the sight of the annoyed Hatsuharu made the teenager timid.
"Excuse me?" The boy said, or rather whispered, as he took a few tiny steps towards Hatsuharu.
"Open, damn you!" Hatsuharu hadn't heard. The student clutched his books tighter.
"Excuse me." More loudly this time.
"What? Oh, hello," Hatsuharu straightened up, surveying the familiar teenager. He was in the same gym class as Hatsuharu, wasn't he? Yes, he was the quiet one who never spoke, but was a very strong athlete.
"I don't believe we've introduced ourselves," Hatsuharu said encouragingly. He'd always liked the kid, something about the aura he gave off. "I'm Shoma Hatsuharu."
"Ashu Khezuke." The boy nodded, a shy smile momentarily breezing across his face. Then he looked down, fidgeting. "Umm…I don't know if you know about this…" he began, then inhaled and looked at Hatsuharu again. "But my parents received a letter from the Shoma estate…" He stopped, face reddening.
Another one! No wonder he'd felt an affinity towards Khezuke.
"They keep coming one after another, don't they?" Hatsuharu thought to himself.
"You're one of us, right?" whispered Hatsuharu.
"Something called the Dzuni," affirmed Khezuke.
"All right. Well, you can come over any day when you're ready. .Just call us and we can send someone to pick up your things in the next few days. I'll tell you about the family and introduce you to the other Dzuni."
"Uh…can I move in today, after school?" Khezuke's face turned a deeper red.
"Today?" Hatsuharu, taken aback, saw the blush deepen. Something was wrong.
"You see…" faltered Khezuke, "…they kicked me out, after the letter arrived."
"No! Get him away from me!"
"On the day of the test, the only things you are allowed to bring are a calculater…"
How hard it was to concentrate on the teacher's instructions when he could listen to an infinitely more interesting voice or watch more Shoma drama unfold. Haku gave in to the voices this time. No need to listen to stuff he'd heard countless times before. Usuallly, when he saw visions or voices at school, the voices tended to dominate. It wasn't the first time. The only difference was that the voices lasted longer now, just as the visions had become more complete since Haku discovered Faran-Zhuku. Before, all he heard were snatches of someone agonizing over the woman he loved, a messy breakup, and schoolgirls laughing at a silent girl, for example. Now a woman, apparently having a nervous breakdown, was screaming at her husband.
"No! Keep that monster away from me!"
"But Saleina," beseeched a man's voice, "Nharu's our son! It's not his fault he turns into a rabbit!" Saleina, a Gogothan name. The origin of Nharu's accent suddenly became clear.
"He's not my son, Zarehu!" Smashing glass accompanied the hysterical screaming.
"Pay attention to your proctors' instructions, very carefully…" droned the teacher.
"Zarehu, It seems to me the only hope for Saleina is to erase her memory." Hathori's voice overtook the teacher's voice. "If she doesn't forget about Nharu, she will only get worse. But you need to consider this very carefully…after all, this means Nharu will lose his mother…"
"Yes, I'll do anything!" the man, Zarehu, responded emphatically. "Anything for Saleina."
Hathori's consulting room materialized before Haku. The doctor (his hair was still short, so that meant this event was pre-Hana) sat across from a thin, bedraggled woman. Her blue eyes, unnaturally large in their sockets, gazed unblinkingly and stonily at Hathori. Her hands worried the hem of her sweater.
"Saleina," Hathori carefully began, watching her carefully. "Are you absolutely sure you want to forget?"
No response, except for a quick blink. A tear rolled slowly down her cheek. "I want to forget that creature ever came out of my body."
The nine-year-old Nharu had seen the whole thing, peeking around the doorway, right through the flash of light obliterating his mother's memories of him. His round chin quivered slightly.
Shomathu dzirosura emiros Will the flowers return
Thiri shune ze mahos ghobirime? To spite endless winter,
Thikazi lhahemithu shuru Or be swallowed by ice?
The flame trees of Thika
"Ay," breathed Haku as he left class.
"What's wrong?" asked Hotohori.
"These visions." Haku shook his head. They made their way to the cafeteria, already noisy from milling throngs of students waiting for friends and the clattering of dishes and utensils. Khosure was still to weak to attend school, and Lhurone's educational status was highly uncertain. Likely he would need intensive private tutoring over the summer if there was any hope of attending high school for him
"I wish that song would go to hell," Haku muttered.
"What's that?" Tori said, settling down at one of the tables. "Oh, Hatsuharu! Over here!"
They didn't notice the unknown boy following Hatsuharu until they came to the table.
"Hi Haku, Tori," Hatsuharu dumped his schoolbag on the floor. "I want you to meet Ashu Khezuke. He's in our grade, and he's joining the Shoma as of today."
"Hello." Khezuke bent his torso quickly.
"Khezuke, this is Shoma Haku and Zhuruth Hotohori."
"Pleased to meet you, Khezuke. Sit down," invited Hotohori. The big teenager awkwardly maneuvered into one of the plastic chairs.
The shyness, the looks…Haku was sure he'd seen someone like Khezuke in one of the visions before. Ah, yes! The pig! Or to be more accurate, the boar. One of the few times he'd not had an incredibly depressing vision.
The vision had started with Shehure, Huki and Lhadoman sitting around the table for dinner, with Lhoru setting out the food. The cat and rat were bickering as usual, stopping only to snap at Shehure for saying something perverted to Lhoru. Everyone turned silent as the mildest tap came from the front door.
"Who could that be? Perhaps you boys finally started inviting some cute high school girls—" A punch from Lhadoman silenced Shehure. "That was mean, Lhado!" whined the older man.
"I'll see who it is!" called Lhoru, trotting to the door.
"Who is it?" she inquired brightly, only to be greeted by silence. "Is anyone there?" As Lhoru began to turn back, a shuffling occurred.
A quiet girl's voice spoke. "I-is it true that Shoma Lhadoman's here?"
"Yes!" Lhoru said. "He's eating dinner right now. If I may ask—"
"Lhado!" A blue blur rushed by Lhoru. She followed the blur, and in the dining room, saw a brown-haired girl in a blue dress glaring at Lhadoman, who had to be restrained from running away by Shehure. Huki kept eating as if nothing was happening.
Lhoru saw an orange cat backpack on the girl's shoulders.
"Long time no see, Khagura," greeted Shehure, a steadfast grip on the panicking Lhadoman.
Khagura gazed at Lhadoman, tears in her eyes. "Lhado," she whimpered, "we're engaged to be married, then you leave for four months without so much as a call for me? Don't you know I…LOVE YOU!"
"Eep!' yelped Lhoru as the expression in Khagura's eyes morphed from sad to raging, and Khagura leapt across the table and locked Lhadoman's neck and head in her arms in one smooth motion.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED!" she bellowed as she threw Lhadoman against the wall, breaking a framed picture of Thika Mountain. Khagura's trained arms punched Lhadoman mercilessly, until Lhoru was sure he'd be killed.
"Khagura—" spoke Lhoru.
"It'll be all right, Lhoru," Shehure said, sipping his cocoa. "Lhado always survives."
"Unfortunately," added Huki.
"Shoma Khagura's just a few years older than these boys," Shehure explained further, "she's a freshman in college. As you can see, she's quite devoted to our dear cat. She's a member of the Dzuni, too."
"I WAS WORRIED!" One fist froze in midair. Lhado's nose bled profusely and a nice shiner was already forming. Khagura's face relaxed, and she gasped in horror, pulling Lhado's face into her bosom.
"Oh! Who would do something this horrible to you, my beloved?" Khagura crooned, as she let Lhado drop to the floor groaning while she frantically searched the kitchen for first aid.
"Khagura just gets overexcited around her fiancée," Shehure said, sighing at the broken picture. "It's part of her Dzuni, the quick temper. I should charge her for this picture. Yes…"
More crashing from the kitchen. Lhoru sat at the dinner table, trying to take in everything she'd just seen.
"Uhhhng," moaned Lhado, dragging himself up onto a chair, cradling his head with one hand.
"My love!" Khagura rushed at him, armed with several wet towels. She began mopping his face. "I'm so sorry!"
"Ow, have a care, will you? You practically broke my nose!" Lhadoman knocked aside the fatal towel-wielding hand. "And who said I'm going to marry YOU?"
"You said you'd marry me, when we were younger!"
"Only because you threatened to kill me if I didn't marry you!"
"You jerk! You abuse me when I came here to see you after you were gone so long!"
"Oh, Khagura," Shehure interrupted, anxious to prevent more damage to his house, "this is Mileshi Lhoru. She's the girl who's been staying with us. She's also a big fan of the cat."
"A rival?" That had successfully diverted Khagura's attention. "No!" She went over to Lhoru. "What do you like about Lhado? I love EVERYTHING about him! Even if he cheats on me, I'll forgive him! Even if he turns into his true form, I'll still—"
"Talk any more, and you're dead!" threatened Lhado, covering Khagura's mouth.
"What do you mean, I'm dead?" Khagura wheeled around and yelled. "Just for that, I'm not staying here any longer!" She ran to the door, cat backpack bobbing in time.
"Delivery for Shoma Shehure!" called a man's voice from the front steps.
"Oh, no, a man!" thought Lhoru as the other members of the Dzuni stared towards the door in alarm. Huki sprinted to the door just as the loud "pop!" happened. Everyone else followed. The delivery man had been shoved off the front porch by one of Huki's brilliant martial arts blocks, and was already on his way off the estate. Khagura was nowhere to be seen.
"Oink."
The sad-looking little pig stood on the sidewalk. It was brown, with darker spots along its backside.
"Oh, you're the pig!" Lhoru squealed, lifting a surprised Khagura and hugging her. "You're so cute!"
And so naturally Lhoru had managed to win over Khagura, despite being competition for Lhadoman's heart. Everybody always loved Lhoru. It made Haku want to smack her sometimes, she was so perfectly kind and sweet. At the same time, deep down, he knew he would've preferred living with her to Asheno any day.
Khezuke
I didn't speak much, after Hatsuharu introduced me to the others. It's never been easy for me to talk to new people until I've gotten to know them. Heck, even my own parents I didn't talk to much. But they're not really my parents—no real parents would kick their own child out into the street!
Trying to suppress my anger, Haku led me to the waiting family car. Just from the mini-television, car telephone, and plush seats, I could tell my new surroundings would be much fancier than what I was accustomed to. My old house had been comfortable, but nothing compared to this car. Of course, anything would seem luxurious after living in the streets for a day after those evil trolls…
"Khezuke?" Hatsuharu was looking at me, and I realized that my expression mirrored my thoughts too clearly. I'd gotten into trouble being unable to control my hot temper in the past.
"I must make a good impression," I said to myself. "I'm fine, Hatsuharu."
He merely nodded. Probably knew I was lying. "Anyway, Khezuke, we'll get a nice room fixed up for you," Hatsuharu said. "Rhena, she's the head housekeeper and a good friend of the Dzuni, will help you with anything you need. One word of warning, though." The car pulled into an enormous driveway, blocked by a large wall and double gates. The gates opened, and the car continued down a lane flanked by flame trees on either side. The sight of the black, empty trees leading the way to such a mammoth estate made my spine tingle—like being led to a haunted house. "Our guardian, Asheno, is mentally unstable." Where a crazy guardian lived. Perfect. "We don't mean to scare you on your first day here, but Asheno, well…"
"He's tried to attack us before," the girl spoke up, what was her name? "The something dragon." "Be ready to defend yourself."
"What is Asheno like?" I visualized a big strong man, a weightlifter like my former father had been. Argh, again with them…forget them, Khezuke. They matter no more.
The main doorway to the house of Shoma loomed in front of me. Gripping my rucksack tighter, I followed Haku through the door.
"Shit," I heard Haku mutter as he stopped in his tracks, my body colliding with his.
"What?" Instinctively alert, I looked ahead.
"Another one has arrived, hmm? Welcome." A diminutive, waiflike man dressed in a light gray hekasho stood in the entry hall. He was a full foot shorter then I, and he directed an unhealthy smile at me.
"And what might your name be?"
"This is him," Haku whispered over his shoulder. Turning to Asheno, he said, bowing, "He is Ashu Khezuke, and he has come to join us."
"I didn't ask you, Haku. I asked him. I assume he has the brains enough to recall his own name."
That little thing was Asheno? The one everybody feared?
The look of disbelief on my face vanished as knife-like pains began crisscrossing my face, arms, legs, back and torso. The sack fell as I clutched my arms to my chest, in a futile attempt to contain the explosion. I doubled over onto the floor, sweating and gasping.
"Khezuke!" It sounded so far away, carrying over a distance of a thousand miles through the storm of relentless knifings. Someone screamed, a long, horrible, protracted scream, like a pig being stuck.