Chapter Four:

Oh,

Well imagine,

As I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor,

And I can't help but to hear,

No I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words.

"What a beautiful wedding,

What a beautiful wedding" says a bridesmaid to a waiter,

And guess what, what a shame,

What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore.

I Write Sins Not Tragedies – PANIC! At The Disco

It was that damned dream again and it had found Michiru. Standing in the middle of some street in Tokyo, she looked around her. The sky had turned a blood red; the stars looked like they were on fire. There were people running towards her screaming except she couldn't hear any noise, the only sound came from the ground tearing up behind them. The people slowly turned into stone and were smashed as a tidal wave of darkness caught up with them. Frozen in absolute terror, Michiru couldn't do a thing. She wanted so desperately to save these people but couldn't.

Waking up in sweat, Michiru placed a hand on her forehead. These nightmares were driving her insane. They terrified her, terrified her more than losing her parents. She was helpless, it felt like fate was trying to prove a point to her, prove that she would never truly have the 'freedom' she so desired.

School was only three hours away. Finding a need to do something constructive so that she wouldn't have to fall back asleep and confront her nightmare again Michiru reached for her sketch book. Grabbing a pencil she began to draw.

She needed to draw her nightmare, if she could get it down on paper then maybe it would become more understandable and maybe she would be able to confront and overcome what had terrified her so much.

The buildings slowly began to take shape along with the people running and screaming. The total chaos and destruction of the city, the panic and fear, everything was drawn out in near perfect precision.

Michiru looked over at her clock and stopped. It was time to get ready to go to school, it was time to get ready and work.

The school hall ways were always busy, people talking to each other, bugging each other about sports. Michiru stood at her locker, fishing through her books and prepared herself for her next class.

"Hey!" A voice called.

Michiru jumped and quickly turned around. Elza was facing her; a large grin was plastered on her face.

"Did I scare you, Michi?" Elza asked.

"You always do when you announce yourself like that!" Michiru smiled.

"But that wasn't even my normal leaping on you when you least expect it! You're very jumpy today Michi. You didn't drink too much coffee did you?" Elza pried.

"It's nothing, I'm perfectly fine. I'm just a little bit nervous for next period, that's all."

"Sure you are Miss I-Get-Awesome-Marks-in-Everything-I-do. I know you're hiding something from me!" Elza grinned, poking Michiru in the stomach.

"And what are you going to do about it if I am?"

"I know where you're ticklish! It'll be the supreme torture for Kaioh Michiru! Death by tickles! You'll talk then!" Elza advanced and began to poke Michiru's sides. Michiru fell against her open locker.

"No! Elza! Please stop!" Michiru pleaded through a fit of giggles.

"Never! Not until you tell me what's going on!" Elza demanded.

Michiru grabbed for Elza's hands, twisting around from the fit of giggling and tickles. Finding a finger she twisted it backwards, causing Elza to gasp in pain.

"Okay, that was not fair!" Elza cried, a little startled. She nursed her hurt finger as she stood up.

Michiru quickly gained her composure and helped herself up. Smoothing out her uniform and fixing her hair she smiled at Elza.

"That's what happens when you mess with Kaioh Michiru!" She giggled.

"Stupid Kaioh Michiru, all that violin playing has given her the strength of an ox. It would take ten men to pry away that instrument away from her grasp." Joked Elza, a dramatic tone in her voice.

"Stupid Elza Gray, all that running has given her a competition complex like never before. Especially in the competition of 'Let's figure out what Michiru is hiding'." Mocked Michiru.

"Speaking of running and competitions, there's a new girl at school who is quite good. She's really, really fast, and almost as good as me." Elza said in a serious tone.

"I'm glad someone doesn't have an over inflated ego."

"No, I'm serious. She tried out for the track team yesterday. I really hope coach doesn't put her on. I'm having enough trouble beating everyone else as it is."

"Then train more." Suggested Michiru.

"Michi, you just can't 'train more', especially when you have piles upon piles of homework to do every night." Elza explained.

"Then go run around the field during lunch. I'm sure no one would care. Most of the boys play foot ball out there and you're well known for being one of the top members of the track team at school. It wouldn't be strange to see you practicing in your free time."

"Michi, as appealing as your suggestion is you're forgetting how short our lunch hours are. I wouldn't be able to change, run, and eat in that given amount of time even if I wanted to."

"Well, there's only one option left." Declared Michiru.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Get super powers."

"Tamagawa sensei, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor."

"What would that be, Michiru?"

Michiru stared down at her sketchbook, then towards the desk of her art teacher. The art teacher was a young lady, looking like she was only in her late twenties. It felt weird for her to ask for favors, especially if they were as big as this.

"Could I have a canvas? I want to paint a giant picture of something I saw in my dreams that I find is very important. I need to understand it, my dream I mean. The only way I can do that is if I can paint it and see it all before me so that it will be less troubling." Michiru explained, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

"Michiru, you're very talented and your art is going to take you places but the school cannot afford to give you a canvas." Tamagawa replied honestly.

"What if I used it for my school project? You could grade it and everything!" Michiru tried again.

"Michiru, we don't have that kind of funding."

"I don't either, that's why I'm asking for this! I swear I wouldn't be doing this if I could afford the canvas myself."

"Do you have a sketch you could show me? If I approve the sketch and say that it's for a school project I think I can convince the principal. But I have one condition." Tamagawa concluded.

"Thank you so much! What's the condition?" Michiru asked.

"You have to finish it before the major project deadline. If you don't, well then I can't let you have anymore favors ever. I'm only doing this because you're a senior here and I know you very well and I know that you would only do this if you absolutely had to. Now, may I see the sketch please?"

Michiru quickly flipped through the pages in the book and landed on the drawing she had completed that morning. End of the World was scribbled at the bottom, along with her signature. The teacher took the sketchbook from Michiru and examined the picture.

"It's morbid, Michiru, it's not like you to draw something like this."

"I saw it in my dream. I know it's out of character for me to sketch something like that and even request to paint it but I feel like I have to."

"Is it really that important?" Tamagawa asked.

Michiru nodded, a pleading look painted on her face.

"Alright then, you will have your canvas. But remember our condition. I respect you as an artist very much; I don't want to have to lose that respect!"

Michiru took the sketch book from her teacher and nodded again.

"Thank you so much! You won't regret this!" She replied, hugging the book to her chest. In a swift motion she ran out the art room door.

A/N – A long chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this. Hooray for dialogue! I'm starting to feel like it's beginning to flow just the way I want it too, which is extremely nice. I await reviews!

TBC…