(A/N) Huzzah! I am returned! Oh, wait you guys didn't know I was gone, did ya? Oops. Well, you see, I tried really hard to get this chapie done before I left. I mean really hard. I was up till 1:30 AM working on it before my dad finally said that I had to get some sleep since we were leaving at 7. So I said okay, went to bed and set my alarm for 4:30 AM. That way I'd get three whole hours of sleep, get up, finish and post this story. (See how much I love you guys? I love you more than I love sleeping in, that's saying something.) At the appointed time, I got up, got dressed, and went straight to the keyboard. I remember looking closely at one of the keys, then being shaken awake by my mother who'd just got home from work. Yeah, it was fun explaining that one. ("I wasn't sleeping, Mom, I was just testing the keyboard for drool resistance! Really!")
Then I had lots of fun on vacation—a road trip along the Eastern Seaboard. (If you wanna know more, just go to my site.) But then, once we got back, I had to delete three pages of "7"s. I also had to scrape dried saliva off some of the keys. Yes, it was very disgusting. I get grossed out ever once in a while I type now, but the show must go on!
You'll start to notice Toki picking up other's thoughts. No, she doesn't know she's doing it, nor does she think much of it. That'll all change soon. (Evil laughter.)
As always:
Sentences in italics are thoughts. Sentences in underlined italics are telepathic messages.
Chapter 3: Black Out
Class: Algebra/Calculus
My Location: Hunched over three pages of growing notes.
Physical Aliments: Hand is ready to seek less demanding human, ears feeling raw and tortured.
Appearance: Soaked, shivering and sulking, but not noticed
What I Shouldn't be Thinking About: How Mr. Akashi's buckteeth make him look like what he is, a rat, and wondering if he has to file them…
Well, in literal terms, Mr. Akashi is human. But he just barely qualifies. He's evil! Evil, I tell you! Mrs. Ito gave me a pass for being late for class along with an apology note saying it was her fault I was tardy and he still gave me a tardy-slip! Then he gave me a misconduct slip for dripping all over his floor! EVIL! So now I have three tardy-slips and three misconduct-slips! Three slips of any kind and I have a detention and all my privileges are cancelled! So for all you math-wiz out there, guess how many detentions I have?
He's evil!
How a school could get so many horrible teachers? Mr. Iwamoto and Mr. Akashi are just plain evil. The Home Economics teacher is a lazy pig. Then there's Mrs. Yuma, so timid that she's been known to faint in the middle of a lesson. Sure, Mrs. Ito is nice, but she's seriously weird and a word-killer. I swear Mr. Takanaka is the only normal one! Which—ironically—makes him abnormal.
So as I sit here, dripping on my notes, thinking my thoughts, Mr. Akashi whines on about numbers and their relation to each other and the school board and how it's not fair and why doesn't anyone ever listen to his brilliant ideas? And, in my own silent revenge, I reply.
Well, for one, you're evil. Two, your voice sounds like nails on the chalkboard. And three, you never have any ideas, much less good ones.
My stare drifts to the window. The storm has really kicked up. It's well before sunset, but outside it's darker then I've ever seen. Low, fat clouds and hammering rain blot out the city; visibility is down to at least 30 feet. Bursts of lightning strike in jagged white forks against the black haze of the storm. But dim roars of thunder and muted screams of the gusting wind are all that reach us through the thick walls of the school. I almost feel protected….
But that's when it starts.
My ears begin ringing. It starts out as a gentle whirr, and then increases to a hum. At first I think it's the bell, but when I look up, everyone else is just sitting around, scrawling out every shrill word that passes Mr. Akashi's lips.
I shake my head, willing the noise to stop. Instead, it redoubles into a ring that stings the back of my eyes. I try massaging the base of my ears, but it doesn't help. In a way, I knew it wouldn't.
No, not again! Stop! Please stop!
I'm already crying inside my head. Physical tears try to push their way forward. It feels like someone is shoving a thousand tiny needles into my eardrum.
Suddenly, I realize that the class has gone quiet. My fingers stop in mid-rub. Mr. Akashi is standing right in front of my desk!
"Well," he sneers, glasses glinting with reflected lightning. "Are you going to join us here on planet Earth, Egghead, or should I send a personal shuttle to retrieve you?"
I resist the urge to reach up and cover my humongous bump. I'd forgotten about that. The class snickers. My heart freezes and I try to shut down all emotion. Now would not be a good time to burst into tears.
The ringing in my ears has reached a higher level. Pain rakes my head as the insistent bother reaches fever pitch.
"The…answer is…Egghead…or…Shin…?"
What? Did he say something? I can't hear past the ringing. The classroom sways. I'm so dizzy.
Slowly, there comes another sound through ringing. A low buzz, a humming like a generator as it creates electricity. I listen closely to it. I think it's coming closer.
"Do you have the answer or not, Shin Toki!" Mr. Akashi screeches.
I don't hear him. My head jerks upward. The buzzing is hurtling closer every second. The thought I'm thinking so strongly is echoed by a masculine voice from the classroom next to ours.
"Abunai!!"
I have about two seconds to recognize it as Kuwabara Kazuma before there's a loud "ZAP!" and all the lights burst. Showers of sparks and glass rain down on us. I shield my head with my arms as I listen to the terrified screams of my class and the sound of glass shattering. When I raise my eyes, I see nothing but black. Not even the emergency lights come on.
A shocked silence follows. Someone whimpers. I think it was Mr. Akashi.
A flash of lightning throws the room into sharp contrast, making everyone jump. A quick sweep of the room reveals my classmates sitting stiffly in their chairs, glass all over everything, and something bulky in the corner nearest to me. Sure enough, the next strike reveals Mr. Akashi huddled up and shaking, pressed as close to the wall as he can get.
Saito Hoshi, ever eager to gain favor with the teachers, picks her way through the glass to reach Mr. Akashi. She hovers in front of him, trembling slightly and looking what she must consider adorable but purposeful.
Teacher's pet.
"Sensei! Are you all right?" Saito gasps.
"Noo-ooo!" he wails in his rat-like voice. "Protect meeeeeee!" He snatches Saito's arm between clammy fingers, pleading with her. He talks faster and faster, his voice breaking and screeching in its urgency.
"I knew she'd find me one day! She wants to fry me! There's nothing I can do! You have to help me! She's coming for me! She's coming!"
Saito's looking rather pale. She flails at him, making little squeaks with each feeble blow. Jiro, the boy from first period, snickers and yells, "Who's after you, Mr. Akashi?"
"Her! Frankenstein's Bride! She throws mutant slug monsters made of rain that stick to your glasses! Lightning shoots out her hair while she crackles like a demon and flies into the air, wielding her wok of doom! She wants to fry me like rice with her lightning fork! You have to save meeee!
Yup, he's dropped off the deep end.
"Sensei, you're nuts!" squeals Saito. "Let go of me! I'm the cheerleader captain! You can't do this to me! I'll call the cops! Let go, freak! Everybody! Don't just stand there like bakas! Get this lunatic off me!"
By this point in time, I'm not sure who's having the greater hysterics: Mr. Akashi, raving about mutant slug monsters—Saito, wailing for someone to peel the "freaking lunatic" off her arm—or the class, for whom this was all a slapstick comedy show.
But I'm listening to the next class over. While Mr. Akashi is babbling about monsters and Frankenstein's Bride, the teacher in that class seems to be having troubles of her own.
"O-okay folk-ks d-d-don't pan-nic!" Poor Mrs. Yuma, she always stutters when she gets nervous. "I-I'm sh-sh-sure i-it's j-just s-s-some sm-m-mall techn-nical d-diff-fic-cult-ty. T-there i-i-is n-no n-need t-t-to—"
She never gets to finish that stammering direction, for a class full of screeching students cuts her off. However, noisy children are something she most certainly does know how to take care of. Too bad she's already so flustered.
"PEOPLE! PEOPLE PLEASE STOP SREAMING!"
The class screams louder.
"EVERY THING IS O.K.! THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC!" Cries the teacher.
Our class has gone quiet. Everyone is frozen in place. Even Saito and Mr. Akashi are still-as-stone, Mr. Akashi's fingers still clamped about her wrists. We're all listening, waiting to see what they'll do.
A chair scrapes across the floor and one voice rises above the rest.
"Forget this! We're outta here!"
What's that one game? Simon Says? Well, look at it this way; the whole school is playing Simon Says. The teachers are just obstacles—but the kids are Simon.
Suddenly, there a-comes a grating jingle, followed by crunching sounds. Almost like the whole school was getting out of their seats and running down the halls full of broken glass.
"NO! DO NOT EXIT THIS ROOM! THERE IS NO NEED TO—"
"Oi!" Yells Jiro from the door, "Everybody's leaving! Don't know about you guys, but I'm gone!"
Well duh, of course no one else wants to be left behind.
They all scramble towards the door. Some kids hop over the desks. Most just knock them over. Books, bags, chairs, me—anything that gets in their way gets knocked down.
I'm caught in the mad dash to the door and trampled five or six times. My face is ground into the tile. My pulse is throbbing in that ever-growing goose egg by the time I manage to find my feet. Now I'm running, too. Not to get out, just to save myself from being run over again.
"No! Come back you have to save me!" howls Mr. Akashi, but we leave him far behind
As we sprint along the hallway, crunching broken glass beneath our feet, others join. They come pouring out the doors and tumbling down the stairs. Everyone is screaming, trying to make as much noise as they can. Some kids bang on lockers as they run. The school is filled with the wild sound of a thousand screaming voices.
Somehow, through all this madness, I'm swept away from the school, out the front gate and, once again, into the rain.
You know what, Sarayashiki Junior High? I hate you! Ha ha! I am never coming back!
Whoa, where'd that thought come from?
"Satu!" I hear someone call.
I jump, effectively causing myself to trip, bash my head on someone's back and fall into the mud.
Again.
Fumbling in the mud, I'm really beginning to think that the world has something against my head.
I swear, I think to myself, if I hit my head anymore times today I'll look like a unicorn!
"Oi, Satu! You gotta watch your feet, girl!" A strong hand lifts me up by the back of my shirt and carries me away from the crowd.
It's Ito Ami, Mrs. Ito's granddaughter (she lives with Mrs. Ito, too.) Star of just about every track and field event our school has to offer but she could care less about games, for her it's all about proving her strength. The key rule with her: You do not challenge Ito Ami unless you want to be black and blue for a week.
But most importantly, Ami is my friend.
My only friend, really.
"Ha! So you're still trying to eat dirt, huh? I gotta tell ya, cookies are brown, too, and a hundred million times better!" She reaches around to her pack with one hand and pulls out a folded napkin. Nudging it open with her thumb, it reveals a stack of six double-fudge chocolate-chunk cookies. My mouth starts to water.
"You want some?" She tantalizes, "Obaa-chan made them just this morning! They might still be warm!"
Have you ever had one of those times where you wanted something so much that your mouth started watering, then you see it and your mouth waters so hard that you have to swallow but it fills right back up again? This is definitely one of those times. I think I might be drooling. But one thing has to happen first.
Tearing my eyes away from the cookies, I look meaningfully up at Ami.
"Mmm!" She says, waving the little cookies from heaven under my nose. "Don't they smell good?" She tortures me, but doesn't get it.
Ignoring the delicious aroma that wafts into my nose, I try to give her another meaningful look.
"What?"
I hold up my first finger, her eyes zoom to it. I point at her forehead (I would have poked it if it wasn't still a good foot away from me) then to the ground (over which my feet still dangled by about three feet.)
"Oh! Heh heh, gomen-nasi, Satu." She gently deposits me on the sidewalk. On the way down I snatch the cookies from her hand, she doesn't notice. Ami may be an athletic star, but she's a bit of a scatterbrain.
"There ya go! Safe on dr—uh—wet land once again!" She smiles grandly.
I smile slyly.
"Good Kami, Satu! What happened to your head!"
My free hand flies to cover my goose egg, which has could qualify for a hill by now.
I keep forgetting about that.
I smile and roll my eyes like, it's nothing really, doesn't hurt at all. It was, it did.
This time Ami takes the hint and switches her attention to the hand I'm hiding behind my back.
"Just being clumsy again, eh? Oi, short-stuff, whatcha got there?"
I smile wider. She'll figure it out if I give her a few seconds. (Especially since she's still holding the napkin.)
Suddenly, it dawns on her. Smiling Satu, hands behind her back, the empty napkin, cookie crumbs trailing to the ground… that must mean…
Too late!
I scamper around her, running full tilt down the street. Ami stands there, stunned. Then she gives chase, hollering, "Satu! I'll get you for that!"
I burst down the sidewalk, cookies in hand. When I turn the corner to the main street, I enter a sea of umbrellas and ponchos. It's still raining hard, but not as much as it was ten minutes ago. I slip between random persons easily. (There are certain advantages to being small.) Ami just shoves right through them.
"Gomen!" she calls over her shoulder.
Note to self: Do not get in Ami's way.
I laugh in my head as I veer around several corners. I'm out of breath, but I know Ami's right on my tail. I take refuge in a crowd crossing the street, hiding in the center. We're all the way across just as I spy Ami round the corner, shouting my name.
"Satu!" Ami bellows, "Half those cookies are mine!"
The two-dozen people near her exchange glances, mumble, and nervously move away.
Ami has no sense of self-consciousness….
"If you've eaten all those cookies before I get there," she yells across the busy intersection, "why I'll hang you upside down by your underwear and do the Heimlich on you until you barf them all up and make you eat them again! They don't taste so good the second time!"
…Whatsoever.
More people eyeball her and remove themselves to a five-foot radius. They block her out of their sight with their umbrellas. Ami pays them no mind. She pretends to have a telescope, holding her hands up to her eye and scanning the crowd. I have to listen close to hear what she's saying.
"I spy…with my…little eye…" she mutters. "A kawaii chibi shurinpu!"
EEK! She sees me!
She charges forward. Whatever people were still in Ami's path after that was immediately bowled over. A short "Gomen!" is all they get for their expenses.
I dart out from the protection of the crowd, caught in the thrill of mock-terror. Vaulting around another corner, I'm totally lost, but Ami is still in hot pursuit. She knows these streets better than she knows the track, and that's saying something. So she'll be able to get me out of this.
Running at an easy lope behind me, she switches between calling "Satu!" and "Kawaii Chibi Shurinpu!" earning more odd stares than I care to count.
People have too many nicknames for me. You know that? I think to myself.
You started it, I answer back
I slip in a puddle as I round another corner and slam head first into a street sign.
You really shouldn't talk to yourself while running, Unicorn.
I gingerly touch the throbbing lump on my forehead. I think it protrudes about half an inch.
"—ibi Shurinpu!"
Whoops! Here she comes!
Giving my head one last shake, I fly down the street. I hope the cookies aren't too soggy. At least I haven't squeezed them to crumbs.
I'm running blind. For a while I even shut my eyes, not that it really makes a difference. I have no clue where I am. I make random turns and cross the street where I can. Hey, what the heck? Amy can bail me out.
Before long, I'm wheezing and my legs are starting to tremble. This is way too much running for one person in one day. The ground feels different. That just must be my legs giving out. Our chase can't last for much longer, but I know Ami will save me before I collapse.
"Satu! I got you!"
Ami catches up easily from behind. On "got" she grabs me around the middle and swoops me up into her arms. I'm so small that sometimes Ami forgets treats me like a little kid. Well, actually, she does it a lot.
I really don't mind.
Laughing silently, I surrender the cookies. Ami snatches them like they were a trophy and eats her first one whole. Smiling wide as chocolate crumbs tumble out of her lips.
Suddenly, a new sound reaches our ears: Silence. We our eyes slowly move away from each other. We gawk at the amazing change of scenery.
I have no idea how we got here, or where exactly "here" is, but we're in a park, a beautiful park. There are trees and benches…and I think I can smell the ocean. All the paths are just sod. To our left is a small bridge that goes over a stream. It's so quiet compared to the city.
"Wow…." Ami whispers, as if we were in a library.
We gape at the park. Birds are chirping tentatively, asking each other if the rain is over, the stream is murmuring quietly, and the storm has calmed to a dawdling drizzle.
I slip down from Ami's arms. "Dazed in awed" would be some good words to describe the look on her face. She looks like a little kid again. I can remember her looking like that. Once, a long time ago…
No! Nope, nix, nuh-uh! I am not thinking about things that happened long ago!
I search for something to distract myself. Aha! The stream!
I can't help but wonder if they have…
I run over to the bridge, peering over the rim.
Koi!
I love koi! They're so pretty, all orange and white and red. They try to eat the raindrops that splash on the surface of the water. It looks like they're trying to talk to me, but all their words get stuck in the water. I know I'm being childish, but I'm having so much fun!
Ami comes wandering in my direction. She's still looking around, soaking it all in. When she looks at me, it's like she doesn't recognize me for a second. The confusion flickers across her face, making her frown slightly. Then her brain clicks into gear and she smiles while trotting up to me.
I point excitedly at the water, tapping my feet up and down on the bridge. I like the hollow sound it makes.
"Whadija find, Satu?" she peers over the top rail. "Koi! Wow! I think I have some bread in my bag. You wanna feed them when the rain stops?"
I bob my head up and down happily. She gives me this billion-dollar smile. She could win over even the most grudging of people with that grin. I think she got it from her grandmother.
"Oi! Wanna sit over there and eat our cookies? I'm starved from that run!"
I've been starved since breakfast.
We both plop ourselves down on the wooden bench next to the river, under a tree. We're drenched, dripping and getting wetter. Not that we care. We munch down on the—slightly squishy, but—delicious cookies. My mouth is a river of saliva.
Ami is one year older than me. She may look like a stick but she eats like a pig. (She'll end up just like Mrs. Ito one day.) Besides that billion-dollar smile, Ami has bouncy blonde curls, clipped just below her ears. Her blue eyes sparkle at every person she likes—so in other words, everybody. She laughs easy and smiles twice as often. If Keiko weren't around, Ami would probably be everyone's favorite. She has ten guys I can name right off the bat who would be her boyfriend—if she ever slowed down enough.
I lean back and kick my feet back and forth. It's fun, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have your feet touch the ground when you sit.
"Oi! Look, Satu! The sun is coming out!"
I glance up, mid-chew of my second cookie. Through the leaves of our tree I can see the clouds braking up. A shaft of light slants in between a crack and strikes me in the eye.
Ack!
I lean forward, out of the direct path of the light. Ami saw and laughed so hard she fell off the bench. I continue chomping on my double-chocolate-chunk cookie cantankerously.
I snatch up my last cookie. Ami has already finished her three. I nibble furiously while she rolls around on the ground, laughing.
This is all jut hilarious for you, isn't it? Huh! Well you are getting dirty
"I know, I know," Ami giggles, winding down. "It's just that you're so hilarious! Even the littlest things with you make me crack up! You're just so much fun to be around! I mean…I know it was freaky and all, but I just can't figure out why everyone left you after—oh!" The last half of my last cookie drops to the ground.
I flinch.
Her eyes widen.
You see…
…Besides my family…
…The Ito family…
…Are the only ones…
…Who know.
We're both still, frozen by the past. I huddle deep inside myself, carefully locking up my memories. Tears try to break free.
"Gomen-nasai," Ami whispers, "Satu."
I raise my head, slowly, to look at her. The rain has tamed the wild curls in her hair, now the sun strikes them and they glitter in the light. Her eyes are shimmering with tears. She is sorry, but am I forgiving?
"Daiouka… Satu?"
I sigh and nod my head slowly.
Daijoubu, Ami.
She smiles gratefully, picking herself up from the ground and embracing me in a bone-crushing bear hug.
"That's my Kawaii Chibi Shurinpu."
Ami did have bread in her bag, a whole loaf, in fact. She and I fed it all to the koi. I thought her Obaa-chan, Mrs. Ito, would be angry, but then she started talking about how they were always afraid she was starving herself. She said the koi were emaciated compared to her. (I don't doubt it. Mrs. Ito thinks anyone even a little thinner than her is skin and bones.)
Ami's really talkative; all I do is listen. It's hard to stop Ami from doing most things. The least of which is talking. So I just kick back, relax, and throw bread-balls to the hungry koi.
I loose track of time while Ami talks. About her class going crazy, (she was in Home Economics) her teacher being infuriated, and how she bets the school will be closed tomorrow. She talks about what Mrs. Ito's been up to, with all her latest cooking creations. She even talks about guys. The gorgeous guys, the geeky guys and the jock guys—all of whichpursue, stalk, and try to show off forher until their hair falls out of place, they have to grab their inhalers, or they pass out. Which led her back to how she was one of the first ones out of the school today.
"You should have seen it!" Ami laughs, "Ms Yoshida went absolutely out of her mind! She kept yelling about budgets and who was going to clean it up." (Ms Yoshida is notorious for never cleaning anything.) "Then she really went bonkers when everyone started leaving! Oh, it was grand!"
I was well out of bread by this time, and I'd started making braided crowns from the grass. I place the first one on Ami's head. She doesn't notice.
Scatterbrain.
"Hm?"
Maybe she noticed after all.
"Ah! What time is it?" She whips out her watch. "Ack, it's almosttwo o'clock! Obaa-chan will be so worried! We gotta go, Satu! C'mon!"
Before I know what's happening, she snatches up her bag and me and takes off running. I clamber around to her back while we zoom through the park. Can you tell this happens to me way to often? Oh well, at least it saves me from more running.
She sprints full out. I told you she was a track star. I cling to her back like a monkey. With Ami it's either take it or leave it, so if I want to hitchhike I have to work for it! She's not holding onto me in anyway. My legs are wrapped around her waist, clasped together at the ankles. I squeeze her with my legs to keep myself in from bouncing around too much. I have my elbows hooked over her shoulders, locking me in place. I hold her bag just below her chin so her arms are free to swing. Like I said, I have to work for my ride.
We started doing this when she was little. (I was always little.) Ami just could not stand how slow I was. So one day she just picked me up and started to run. I guess that's how it started.
After about ten minutes, Ami's brought us out of the park and into some suburbs. It's a real classy place, huge houses, each with a fence. Even the trees have fences around them.
Ami slows her run to an easy trot. That's good; I'm ready to fall.
"Oi! Shurinpu! How you doin' up there?"
I set my chin on her right shoulder. That means I'm fine.
"You wanna stop by Obaa-chan's for a bite?"
I tap her left shoulder with my chin. That means no thanks.
"Okay, want down?"
I stack my head on top of hers. That means yes.
Ami takes her bag as I slip down her back, land hard, trip, fall off the sidewalk and bang the back of my head on one of those metal fences around a tree. Winding up on my keester in, you guessed it, another mud puddle.
"Ha ha! There you go again! This time I see you're trying to consume dirt through your hind end!"
She pulls me to my feet, again. We amble down the sidewalk. Ami's breathing hard, but trying not to show it. She laughs to cover up the need for oxygen.
Suddenly, I stop.
"Nani?" questions Ami.
I take a step closer to her, half hiding behind her skirt.
Can't she see him?
Facing us is a boy. He's short and has black hair with a white starburst in front. He's wearing all black too, except for his white headband. He's putting out a distinct "Goth" vibe.
He's only standing about 50 feet way, but he's not standing on the sidewalk. He's standing on a tree branch that's 20 feet in the air! Just standing there! Like he did it everyday! The boy and I stare at each other for a while. Well, it was more like I was staring while he glared. I'm getting chills.
Now I notice his eyes. It feels like a bottomless pit has just opened up right beside me and my stomach got so scared that it climbed out of me hopped right in. Bye-bye tummy.
His eyes are garnet red. They hold contempt for me, contempt for Ami and small toleration for the whole world around us. Disdain justpours out of them.
There is only one person in this world that they are looking for, I think, somehow without thinking at all. We are not he. Thus, we…
… are worthless and not worth my time. But, if proved a nuisance, they are easily disposed of.
"Satu? Daiouka?" Ami touches my shoulder and I jump so hard that I knock us both over.
Scrambling to my feet, I don't see the boy anywhere. I don't trust that, though. Never taking my eyes off the tree, I grab Ami's hand and start tugging her across the street as fast as my feet will go.
I imagine I hear two words drift across my mind Smart Girl, I can't be sure. In my mind, I see the boy smirking. I twirl to face the tree, but all I see is a black shadow on the fleeting edge of my vision.
Bird, I think to myself. It's a raven. Something on the border of my brain, however, tells me otherwise.
"What was that all about?" Ami demands. She doesn't like being pushed around.
Bentsu ni, I think instantaneously, I don't know why. For some reason I don't want her to know anything about what she couldn't see. Ami looks at me strangely.
Maybe I am going crazy.
"Satu, you're shaking!"
I hold up my hands. They're quivering.
"You didn't catch a cold? You sure you're all right?"
I nod hastily. Ami backs off.
"Okay, I'm going home. Do you have any idea where you are?"
I start to nod, look around, and shake my head.
Ami sighs sadly. "You have no sense of direction, do you?"
No, you just have an incredibly perceptive one.
"Shurinpu, Shurinpu… you take a left at this street. Go left again, then right. Stay on this street for two turns, and then turn left. This may seem a like the round-about way, but it'll keep you away from the bad side of town. Follow that road all the way down until you reach the school. You know how to get home from there, right?"
Left, right two, left, right, stay on that road. Got it.
I bob my head happily.
"Alright!" Ami says, turns and starts to jog away. "Call me if you need anything. Ja ne!" She stops abruptly, smacking herself on the head. "Baka… baka… baka…" she mutters to herself as she digs through her bag. "Aha! Satu, catch!"
She throws her tin bento at me. It catches me right below the ribs, knocking the wind out of me.
"Kako!" she yells, flashing that billion-dollar smile at me one last time before loping away.
I gaze at it curiously, wondering what could be inside. I get a tingling feeling at the back of my neck. Most likely something that will pop out at me the instant I open it. That's what happened last time she gave me something.
I walk on. The tingling increases, I ignore it.
Go away, I think irritably.
I turn left, walking into the middle of the street. Something stabs me in the back of neck.
I twist around, but no one's there. Could it have been Ami? No, she's already turned the corner There's no way she could have done it. I hold the nape of my neck. I expect to feel blood, but nothing's there.
Bento forgotten, I look about skeptically before turning around again.
And again, I am stabbed.
I whip around, eyes darting back and forth, probing for the culprit. No one is to be seen. I don't even hear anything. I touch the back of my neck and my hand comes away clean.
Suspiciously, I turn back toward my way home.
I get stabbed. I twirl around. No noise, no blood, no one in sight.
I'm getting really PO'd at this point. But this time I try turning around slowly. Just as slowly, a force starts pressing on my the base of my skull. As I turn, it increases until it feels like someone's sticking a knife in my neck. I try taking a step in this direction. A rattling wave of something goes through me, forcing my knees to buckle. I fall and scuttle backwards. The pressure relents and the tingling resumes.
I try the same thing in both other directions. Each time I'm unable to go more than a step.
Oh great, I think, now I have to go that way or get hit by a car.
Tentatively, I take small steps in the direction from where I came. Thankfully, the tingling grows stronger, but I'm not attacked again. The prickling tingle actually sooths the afflicted area.
I gain confidence and start to run.
I could learn to hate running.
The sun slants in through the forest canopy. It must be at least three. My legs are aching. I'm hungry. But the tingling continues, so my legs must as well.
I've already walked through the classy neighborhood, been chased by a cat, a Doberman Pincher and a German Shepard. Sheesh! Hadn't these people heard of shutting their gates?
After that, I walked through an old lady's yard. How do I know it was an old lady? Because she ran out of her house and started whacking me with a broom until I tumbled down a slope. As if I needed any more help falling.
I'm half shocked when I come upon a small steam. I think it's the same one from the park. It's kind of nice to see something that moves but doesn't chase me.
Well, hello there, I greet it.
A little wave splashes up against the bank at my feet. As ludicrous as it sounds, it's almost like the stream was saying hello to me, too.
I really don't need to be any wetter, silly. I chide it in my head. I was actually drying out quite nicely.
It burbles as it continues gushing forth, swollen from the heavy rain. I smile at it, deciding it's as good as company as I've had in this forest, and walk beside it. Each trudging step I take causes mud to spurt up around my shoes. When I pick them up, they make horrible sucking sounds.
I almost duck under a low-hanging tree branch. That's right, almost.
Even lying on the ground, sprawled out from yet another object impacting with my head, the tingling increases to a warning buzz. I half-groan, heaving myself into a sitting position.
I'm going. I'm going! I think to the tingle, no need to get violet about it. Sheesh!
I push myself upward using my hands, effectively stabbing one on a thistle. I hop about, waving my hand around like an idiot and blowing at it. Not that it helps any.
AHHHH! Itai! Ahhh! It stings! Oh, it stings!
Breathing through clenched teeth, I calm down. Then, gingerly, begin to pluck the tiny thorns out of my right hand. Luckily, it's not bleeding. This must be the tingle's way of vengence.
The buzz threatens to increase further. So I keep struggling through mud, vegetation, low branches and thorns, repeatedly poking instead of plucking at the little spikes. Finally, I give up. Several are still embedded in my skin. I think they'll work their way out.
I hadn't even realized where I was going. I realize that the bank has dropped down several feet and though the stream still flows swiftly, it's gotten much quieter. But this quiet isn't like what was in the park. This quiet is eerie. As if everything is holding it's breath, waiting.
My feet carry me to a large, circular clearing. This place hasn't seen a human hand for years. Meadow grass and bright hollyhocks rise to be even with my shoulder. (Not that that's saying much.) Sunflowers rest their huge heads against the trees that rim the clearing. I step between two of these mammoth flowers and into the grass. Then I see, ascending to my right on the outer of the circle edge, is the gigantic oak from my dream.
The stream has turned away from me, curving around the colossal tree. Hidden by the steep bank and tall grass, I can't even see its waters now. I start to creep towards it, but the tingle warns me off. I have no choice but to walk past the tree.
Tiptoeing warily across the clearing, I catch myself ducking my head below the grass.
You're an idiot, I tell myself. Whose here to see you?
I'm only an idiot every once in a while, I answered back. You never know! There could be something here!
Tch, paranoid baka.
Am not!
Are too!
Not!
Too!
Not!
So engaged in this highly intellectual mental conversation with myself, I failed to notice that I had passed the tree. I had also turned around it, unthinkingly, and was coming very close to the lip of the bank. I took one step over the edge…
Are no—stop!
But it was too late. I tip over the brim and nose-dive off the cliff of the bank. Somehow, a vine snags my leg, twisting me around in midair, resulting in a helpful belly flop instead of a likely fatal dive. But now I'm hanging upside-down in the water. I can't see anything or touch bottom with my hand. The same vine that saved me is now holding me hostage. Floundering about, I realize that I could really drown and there's no plump Mrs. Ito or smiling Ami to save me.
Thinking fast, I stop flailing to conserve oxygen as I try to work my foot free. To keep my panic down I start making a list.
Things I Hate:
Anything that hits me in the head
Falling
Mud
Thorns
Things that hurt me
Things tha…that chase me
Things that…that try to…to…drown...me...
Passing…out….
The edges of my vision start to fog up. I can't think clearly. A shadow passes over the sun at the same time I make-out a milky outline in the water in front of me. It waves and flows with the water.
Cloud, I think groggily, it's the reflection on the water. Then, with more clarity, I realize something. Why would the cloud's reflection be in the water?
Confused, I start to panic again. But the day's worn me out, and I don't have any energy left to struggle. I hang limply by the vine as the milky form comes closer, closer.
I gasp as a big hand wraps around my ankle, yanking me gruffly out of the water. It loosens the vine, and moves away, letting me splash into the steam again. My arms thrash about, seeking a handhold. My right hand finds one. Forgetting the thorns, I cling to whatever-it-is and pull myself up.
Long, silken, silver hair trailed into the water. White, furry, pointed ears set decidedly back. Sharp, amber gold eyes, that were trying to pierce my very soul. His throat flashed red as he panted, a long canine hanging over one lip.
It was his hand I had latched onto, a pale hand with long, sharp fingernails.
My first thought? What else would it be except…
I'm going to die.
Dun dun DAH! Cliffhanger! ; P
I'd actually thought about cutting this chapter a lot sooner, but then I decided that since I'd been gone for so long that you guys deserved a really long chapter. Then I got carried away. So I figured a cliffie would even it out. Heehee, I'm so evil. I noticed that My otaku webadress didn't show up in the last one, so I'll try it one more time. Go here: Just take out all the spaces when you copy it in the URL bar.
Looket! I even put the Glossary in alphabetical order! -
Glossary
Abunai – Watch out/ Danger!
Baka - Idiot, stupid person
Bento – A Lunchbox
Bentsu ni – a multi purpose negative phrase, usually translated as 'nothing' or 'not really'
Daiouka – Are you okay?
Daijoubu – Don't worry, I'm okay, I'll be all right, ect.
Gomen-nasi – I am very sorry
Gomen – Sorry
Itai – Ow!
Kami- God
Kako – Present
Kawaii Chibi Shurinpu – Cute little shrimp, Ami's nickname for Toki
Nani – What?
Obaa-chan – Grandmother
Oi – Hey!
Wok – A large frying skillet. Not really Japanese, but just had to make sure people knew what it was
Footnotes
I continue chomping on my double-chocolate-chunk cookie cantankerously – how many c's do I see? One, two three….
Floundering about, I realize that I could really drown and there's no plump Mrs. Ito or smiling Ami to save me – There was something I wanted to point out here, but now I forget what it was…
Thanks for reading! Tell me what I can improve on please! Until next time, MOO!
