A/N: Sorry I haven't updated as often as I usually do. This is a rather slow story for me. I'm still trying to put bits and pieces together. But anyway. Hope you guys like it!


Chapter2

"Risa... honey... can you take the hat from your head, please?" Mom sounded as if the hat were a gun.

I sighed, glaring at her as if she would be the death of me, but took off the hat. "Why can't I wear it when I'm not even in public?"

"Well... because," Mom replied, fidling with her food via fork. "I said so."

"Because she looks like a man..." Dad muttered.

I heard Mom kick him, and Dad grunted. He shot me a look, as if I didn't even belong to the family anymore; like I was just a dog to be taken care of.

I stepped off of the train, onto Tokyo Station, and inhaled deeply. I wobbled a bit, but managed to stay standing. I supposed being on a train for a long, long time would kind of make you a bit unstable (in the knees). As I looked around the station, I felt a weird pain in my stomach.

I shook off the fact that I was alone, and tried to think of what to do next. The first thing that came to mind was getting even farther away; getting so far that they would have thought my dead. Like if I had just flown away. But where would be far enough?

I checked my wallet, which I had stuck in my back pocket, and felt the guilt slowly seeping through. I shivered, but kept the philosiphy I had been keeping for months.

Be numb. Just let everything be numb.

I wondered where Satoshi had been heading to, but then was disgusted at the thought of his face. I walked out of the station, trying to think of a haven for myself. I boarded a local city bus and took a seat. I had no idea where the bus was heading, I noticed, but all I knew was that it was going away. And that is exactly what I was looking for.

Yet, how far could I possibly go? America seemed lightyears away, and I still wasn't completely used to the 'bad' Risa. I did, however, NOT want to be caught by the Emperor's army, so America did sound like a nice place. Still... it was an awful lot of money, and hours away... I sighed, not wanting to think about it.

I looked out the window as other passengers boarded the bus, but was startled when someone sat next to me. I casually glanced at who it would be, but froze.

"What the hell-?"

"Don't use such language," Satoshi told me. "It's improper."

My jaw dropped. "Are you following me?"

He glared at me, telling me that I was stupid. "The bus is almost full. I'm heading to the airport, if you don't mind."

I tried to speak, but found it difficult.Satoshi just turned the other way and ignored me. I wanted to punch his face, but thought that the glass from his glasses would be quite painful.

Just be numb, Risa.

I muttered foul insults, to which I'm sure Satoshi did not approve of, and glared at the window as the bus was put into motion. Oh yes, I was definitely going to America.


"Risa, look! It's so pretty outside!" Riku ran around the backyard, laughing her head off.

"Yes... it's... nice," I said with a shrug. It truly was beautiful, though. the sun shining and the grass finally growing green. It had been a long winter.

"See, Risa! Snow always melts away sooner or later!" Daisuke told me with a grin.

I looked away quickly, busying myself by twidling my thumbs. "Yep."

"And you thought spring would never come," Riku teased, sticking out her tongue at me. With that, the two lovers gasped and became awed at other signs that spring was about. I stayed put, in a chair on the deck, listening to my music.

For me, it was still winter.

"Hey, is she awake?"

I blinked several hundred times, trying to make my eyes regain focus. There were more hushed tones, then footsteps walking away. I wondered, as I yawned and stretched my neck, why it was so dark. I looked over in Satoshi's direction. He was reading a book silently.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Satoshi looked up from his book, over his glasses, at smething far off in the distance. He scowled and closed his book. He checked his watch. I patiently waited for him to answer me, but he merely swore and stood up.

"What is it?" I asked. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere very far."

I deflated and groaned. "Damnit..."

Satsohi began walking away, and I followed him. I hadn't really meant to, but he seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. We stepped off of the bus, into a bus station. I took in the surrounding. There were buses, coach buses, trucks, rental cars, all surrounded by a fence and barbed wire. I blinked at the tiny station perhaps a few yards away.

"Uhh..." I didn't really know what to say, or what to do, because at that moment in time, I noticed that it was still dark. As in the streetlamps were on. As in my butt was numb like it was when I had been sitting in a car for two hours. But, judging by the way my neck cracked, and my other bones cracked as well, it had been much more than two hours. I slowly turned towards Satoshi. He looked as if he was awaiting his death.

"Where-?"

"This is the end of the road, kids," the bus driver said from behind us. I glanced at him. "You'll have to be finding a room someplace or something."

"Hiwatari-san..." I focused in on his eyes. "Can you please tell me what happened?"

He swallowed, but tried not to let me see it. "We missed our stop apparently."


A/N: Review please! I always love those :)