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Chapter Seven
Tap…tap…tap
What the hell, I thought to myself. I sat up. It was 4:30. I didn't have to be awake yet. I fell back down, allowing my heavy eyes to give in.
Tap…tap…tap
With my eyes tightening, I tried to ignore it. Perhaps it's a bird, or a tree branch waving in the wind. I resumed falling victim to the increasingly comfortable pile of blankets.
"Anikkkii! Hey! Anikkkii!"
So it wasn't a bird, which gives me more of a right to shoot it. I climbed out of my cocoon to the shadowy window, grabbing a hard cover book off of a nightstand. Opening the window, my eyes only cracked, I used all of the force in my arm to throw it. Hearing a satisfying 'doink' I started back to my blanket bed, letting gravity close the window.
"Aniki! Hey lemme in!"
Bolting up, I grabbed a bat on my trip to the window. I didn't even bother opening my eyes. I pulled on the window once again letting whoever was out there keep it open for me.
In a low whisper the other person said "Thanks! Anyway Ren sent me…" I jabbed the bat into the open window like a sword, irritated. The window snapped shut and I stumbled back to bed.
"YEEEOOOOOOOOUUUUUCCCCCHHHHH!!!!!! AHHHH! ANIKI OPEN THE FUCKIN WINDOW!!! MY HANDS ! AHHH!" A loud scream shot out into the early morning.
"damn it" I sighed. My eyes had slowly cracked open fully, and I could see my window shaking wildly. I re-opened it, a body tumbling in immediately after.
"WHAT THE FUCK BANKOTSU!? MY FUCKING HANDS ARE BROKEN THANKS TO YOU!!" This was the roaring rage of no one other than Jakotsu.
He had a book bag over his shoulder, and a black outfit. He was rocking himself, his hands on his knees.
"Sorry Jakotsu." I muttered. The first thing that came to mind, once that mind was up and running, went to Hiten. I turned to my former bed. Yes he was still asleep.
Jakotsu rose quickly to his feet, brushing himself off. He had on his trademark pout.
"So there's that little punk cutie." That pout turned into a smile. He scurried over to him, pulling the sheets down to Hitens shoulders.
"Wow, he's so… angelic." His voice calmed down to a soft whisper. My jaw dropped. Jakotsu had used a big word!!! This could only mean absolute disaster. Rape? Sexual Harassment ? I quickly stepped in-between the two.
"So Jaki-Chan, why did ya drop by so early?" He gazed passed me. So this is what power Hiten had, a physical appearance that made even loud people like Jakotsu bite their tongues. It was truly astounding.
"Well…Ren sent me here to watch him while you went to school." So Renkotsu was playing leader eh? I'll have to get him for that. A good ass wooping and he'll know his place.
"You can go home Jakotsu. I'm staying here."
His eyes narrowed. "Aniki, you need to go to school today." He said as cold as ice.
This just wasn't normal. Jakotsu seemed to have dropped his child like nature at a single glance of the amnesiac. I actually was scared at that moment, not weird scared, but petrified scared.
"Ah, So want breakfast?"
Wrapping bandages around his fingers, Jakotsu rested his feet on the dinner table, crossed at the ankles. His coldness still was there, keeping me on guard. I looked over the cooking toast.
"What do you plan to do today?" I chuckled.
"I'm going to teach him what you haven't." He snapped back.
I felt slightly offended there. The toaster brought up smells of cooking bread.
"What things have I not taught him?" The toast popped up, crispy brown. I placed them on a waiting plate.
"Oh…you know." Not good! Not good at all! I hurried over to him with plate in hand.
"Jakotsu…how hard did I knock you in the head?" I asked.
"Pretty damn hard, but not enough to effect my personality." A smile was missing from his red lips. He sounded so professional.
I started to rock my self a bit, casting longing glances to the stairway. This wasn't my Jakotsu, I didn't like this Jakotsu. I turned to go retrieve some butter.
"You miss it don't you?" I paused.
"Jakotsu…" I said in my usual 'Oo-aniki' tone.
"Oh come on! This music has only weakened us. Don't you miss the thrill of the hunt?" I bit my lip. Only once has this subject been discussed by the Band of Seven, the night we were released from that place. It was something we all felt, but for our freedoms sake, had to keep inside. I guess its called blood thirst.
Back when we were known as the Shichinintai we were top assassins, even if our age was considered inexperienced. We were all closer back then, and happier I admit. Yet, after seeing a man be executed while I served my year in prison, I learned to never go back to that life. None of that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for a man named Naraku.
"Yes. I do, but if we're caught again…"
Jakotsu stood, his fist balled tightly. He couldn't seem to take holding in what he felt any longer.
"Who cares? What ever happened to late nights in the city, the cash, and the fun?" I shook my head.
"I'm sorry, unless you can find something better than music…"
"Kickboxing" He interrupted. I felt something in me. My lips curled into a natural smile. I laughed.
"Kickboxing?!" I almost fell onto the floor. "We'd kill people by accident!"
He started to relax a bit. "Yeah" His shoulders shook. "We would wouldn't we?" He laughed too. Smiling once more Jakotsu's mood brightened. He then ran over to me and grabbed my hands. "So can I watch 'im? The punk that is. I'm just going to teach him about the life cycle." He pouted.
"Alright Alright!" I gave in.
"Please can I come?" Hiten begged. "Please?!" He sounded desperate. For the past two hours he had tried to convince me to bring him to school. I couldn't possibly do it, especially since Jakotsu had wanted to spend the day with him.
"Look if anything bad happens you can call me." I grabbed a scrap sheet of paper, scribbled down my phone number, and handed it to him.
"See these numbers? You push these buttons that look like these numbers in order and you can talk to me no matter where I am!" I handed him the house phone. He smiled.
"So I can hear you voice when you leave." He said this somewhat to him self. He gazed up to me. "I'm glad you gave it to me"
Jakotsu giggled. "I wish I had a camera."
Hiten wavered for a moment. He scooted forward. "Have a nice day!" He leaned forward and gave me a soft hug.
"No…NOW I wish I had a camera!" Jakotsu clapped.
I picked up my book bag and headed for the door.
"Ms. Kugoragi? Please send Bankotsu Ryuumasa to the office." Rang on the speaker of my homeroom class. I left the dull room quickly, scurrying from the back of the school to the front. The halls were decked with student made posters and school spirit ads. The front office was empty with the exception of the office staff. I walked in and everyone looked up. The office setting was darker than the glossy white walls of the school, with the wooden walls.
"You have a new schedule." The announcements lady said. She handed me a manila envelope. My brows rose.
"No doubt I was bunked down to dumb ass classes." I muttered and opened it on my way out of the door. I pulled out a neatly folded paper and opened that.
" Ryuumasa, Bankotsu
1rst period – Psychology 1 : Vanhel, Hector
2nd period – First Aid 1: Harima, Kyuchi
3rd period - Marching Band – Caskilshi, Uichi
4rth Period – Physical Education- Harima, Kyuchi"
Renkotsu, I thought, is so fucking going to get it!
I walked to my first period just as the bell rang. I was fortunate my old teachers haven't given me textbooks yet. Psychology was quite a way from the front office, in a small class room over looking the court yard.
"Mr. Vanhel, what kind of name is that?" I asked myself finding a seat. The room was empty, even after the bell rang again. This must have been some kind of joke. The door slammed shut.
"Good evening Mr. Ryumasa." Said a voice with a strong German accent. "Well at least one person signed up for my course. My name is Mr. Vanhel. So what is it that you wish to learn this semester? About the meaning of dreams?" He laughed. I shook my head. Well maybe he knew a thing or two about
"Amnesia"
His eyes opened more, they were ice blue. "Ah amnesia. So you're not another dream junkie. Good."
He wore a black suit , and his hair was grey, his eyes were covered by small eyeglasses. The wooden desk was just like him, strange and mysterious.
"Amnesia is memory loss, to put is simply." He said taking a seat at the desk, taking out a leather cover book.
"Well, you see sir, my cousin…" Lie "… is in a mental hospital and…" another lie "…at first he couldn't even remember he was human, but he's learning things quickly. Yet, he still does not recall anything personal." Mr. Vanhel nodded.
He turned to the chalk board. "Well Mr.Ryumasa." He sketched out a picture of a human brain. "It seems to me that your dear cousin's memories are being blocked by whatever caused damage to his brain. Here…" He circled the middle of it. "Everything else is working fine. That's where the problem is. The cerebrum must be recreating itself. In the beginning you said he didn't even remember he was human. He was like a new born baby, and each day you exposed him to human habits his survival instincts kicked in. He started to feel emotions right?" I nodded.
"He was frightened when Sui, I mean my friend, had gotten….upset."
" His mind is slowly evolving. Now tell me…did you like your old cousin's personality?" The teacher moved from the board over to me.
"I guess." I said, tapping my pencil on the desk.
"Well, on both your cousins and your own sake, pray that he does not get it back."
I bolted up in my chair. Squinting my eyes in a confused manor, I asked why.
"He is becoming a new person. If he gets his memory back, both old and new personalities will want control. Do you know what that is, Mr.Ryumasa?" I thought for a second. "It is called Schizophrenia." Mr. Vanhel interrupted.
Two souls, one body
Third period rolled around after a miserable hour with Couch Harima and CPR textbooks. So I made my way down stairs to the band room which rested on the outer edge of the building, beside the chorus room. I walked in with three minutes to spare. The room was gigantic, with a building elevation on the floor, which was covered in a blue carpet. Small steps led to different layers.
A few musicians were seated on strange chairs. On the white brick walls was painted "Hornet Band!" In bold black, white and yellow letters. A few people sat in the back in front of a large window, playing cards.
"Excuse me, are you lost?" A falsely sweet voice said behind me. I realized I was still standing in the door way.
"Umm no" I turned, there stood a girl in rather tacky clothing holding a small black stick with knobs and buttons all over it. I made my way to the center of the room, only to be mowed over by a hoard of clarinet players.
"Damn freshman" One mumbled.
"I'm a junior" I shot back. She turned, and rolled her eyes.
"Oh…Sorry."
And as if a savior I caught sight of my bald second hand man. I had a bone to pick with him that's for sure. He was talking with a fat guy.
"Renkotsu! What is the meaning of this?! Why did you change my schedule?" I growled. He stopped talking and looked to me. Excusing himself to the other person he said to me "Because I need you to be in those classes."
"Band?! You need me in band?" He sighed, a group of flutes and the girl with the small black stick where rehearsing behind us.
"I need you in band because…" A loud screech interrupted him. "As I was saying, I need you…" Yet another stopped him from talking. "I…" The flutes continued a loud squeaky scale. "BAND TEN HUT!" The scale stopped mid-note. In fact the entire room was silent.
"I need you because I need someone to fill in Hitens spot on the field. I want us to win this year…and to actually beat those damn Bolts at competition! Everyone here is too stupid to fix their damn intervals, so I need a fill in."
I raised my brow. "And you're using me…why? I cant play an instrument, I cant march, and I sure as hell cant understand your military commands!" He smiled.
"I can teach you everything I know. Not to mention the Seniors should push you into shape. As for playing an instrument you can just fake it!" He looked around the room cautiously. " Not to mention I'll pay you for each game you play at. Kinda like a musical mercenary."
Pay…one thing I lacked at the moment. I nodded and with that I was now an official Musical Mercenary. I liked the sound of that.
"Go sit with the sax's"
"Sax?" He rolled his eyes.
"Saxophones." I nodded and walked over to the third step. Three boys sat there with their instruments at their faces, their eyes not swaying to me, but looking forward.
"Alright at ease" They relaxed. Looking over to me they smiled.
"Yey! Another Sax! Here sit here!!" One with an orange shirt remarked. I took the open seat beside him. The chair was incredibly uncomfortable; it straightened out my back when I sat down. The other two musicians offered me smiles like suns. Creepy.
Later on that same class period I was introduced to the Baritone. Basically it was this heavy ass thing that I couldn't even keep up, much less march with it. How did I know I was to march with it? We went outside not 20 minutes after class started to a field behind the school. I had people from other sections growling the words 'roll step' at me. What the was that? Anyway. When we made it out there a fellow sax, also known as Shippou. He was a simple freshman, alto-Sax.
"Ok when you march, you roll your feet like this!" He looked like he was squeezing out an invisible toothpaste bottle.
"Aren't you supposed to march all knees up in the air and crap?" He shook his head.
"No that's high stepping. We only have to do that for the last measure of the second song." Dude, what a dork, I thought to myself. This is why I didn't join band in 6th grade.
Shippou continued to show me different marching techniques and horn angles and blah blah blah. Once we joined in during a set I learned of the evil seniors. Well not all of them were evil, just the big sections. I backed into a clarinet and she almost knocked my head into two pieces.
"We're not going to lose again because of you" She told me. "You need to be on step." I admit my first day was a bit rough, as I had bumped into 10 flutes and one trumpet.
We were then paused into this big line at the front of the field, when my pocket started vibrating, someone was calling me and I wasn't allowed to move. Seeing as I had already left a bad impression I didn't want to worsen it by answering the call. I could tell most of them didn't like me anyway. Except the sax's, who smiled and offered help frequently.
"Well you have 12 minutes, you're dismissed." Renkotsu shouted.
I asked Shippou why he had let us go so early, and explained to me the process of walking back to the band room. Up the damn hill we came down.
"I had no clue this hill was so steep!" I breathed. My pocket vibrated once more. This time I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Ban-kun! Come home please!! I need you here!" I pulled the phone from my ear. The cry of Hiten burst my eardrums. Scenarios were flashing in my mind, fire, tsunami or even worse, Jakotsu.
"Alright Alright! I'll be there soon." I reassured. I decided then that I would not eat lunch. I hurried to the band room, at the speed the baritone would allow me to go. There on my uncomfortable chair sat a black journal. It was the one Renkotsu had taken from Hitens house. It had a green sticky note holding a page in place for me. I put the dreaded instrument back into its case, not even bothering to clean it, and gathered my things, leaving the band room with the little journal in my hand.
"Excuse me!! Do you have a pass?" A women shot out of a class room in front of me, hands on her hips. I skidded around her hurrying to the entrance, only thinking of that cry for help that was bouncing all around my skull like Pong.
Made it. I ran out of the door way, weaving through cars and buses. It was then when I figured I wasn't in a real hurry, Lunch period was an hour long and I only lived up the street. Not to mention Jakotsu wouldn't really rape/murder/sexually offend Hiten right? Right?
I opened the notebook to the page of the green sticky note.
' Day 21,
Okiyama is on top, I have the most gorgeous girl in all of Japan and yet…we're moving!! My mom got this job 3 counties away and we have to be out of our fucking home by next week! Manten and I had already tried to convince her that there were plenty of jobs in Okiyama. She said we HAVE to go to damn Gykoto County and there's nothing that's gonna change that. I heard Souten crying last night' …
I heard sirens. A big red truck zoomed past me, turning down the street that led to my own. Now I was in a hurry. I ran faster than I ever had run before. My heart was racing and the distant thought of jail came to mind, causing my legs to move faster. I turned the corner following the truck. It came to a stop at a fork in the road.
Please don't turn right, please don't turn right. Like a beam of grief the right blinker flashed steadily.
Shit.
I dashed past it, my legs aching. My house was in view, I didn't see any smoke. The fire truck rushed past me stopping at the end of the road. It took another right. Relief set in instantly. My pounding heart shook my body. I was going to walk the rest of the way, that was until a scary image popped in my head.
Hiten: Hi Ban-kun!! (waves a little stub where his arm was, a gushing torrent of blood spills on to the carpet.)
Jakotsu: You bad boy! I told you to hold still! Now I'll have to punish you! (takes out hand cuffs)
"AHHHH!!!! DON'T WORRY HITEN! IMA COMING!"
Up the stairs into the house I rushed to the kitchen, after smelling the scent of cooking food.
"HITEN?!" I screamed. I felt a constricting force on my waist.
"Ban-kun! Welcome home!" It was him.
I looked at him, he had both arms and legs and all 20 of his digits. "What happened Hiten?! Whats wrong?!" He laughed.
"Oh I thought Jaki-chan was going to…do unmentionable things to me, but he just wanted to get a piece of lint off of my shirt." I almost exploded.
I ran all this way for a false alarm? I thought.
"Where is he?" Hiten pointed to the living room. I stormed into the room, almost feeling steam spurt out of my ears.
Jakotsu was sitting on the couch changing channels every two seconds. I poked him on the shoulder.
"Oh hey aniki! Man your face is red. What happened?" I grabbed him by the hair.
"Jakotsu, what did you do to Hiten?" I said coldly.
"Nothing, just teach him how to make stew. Speaking about him…I have a confession to make…" Jakotsu stood and guided me to the hall way, out of ear shot of the third person. He looked confused.
"I…I think I'm a little in…" He sighed. "In love, Aniki."
The word love and Jakotsu were like oil and water, they don't mix. And when he said that, I felt my insides churn and my brain freeze. Jakotsu, be in love?! Impossible!
"with…?"
"Hiten." Now my mind was racing, it was not only bad that he has used the word love but also he loved Hiten!!
"No you just want to rape him, that's all."
"Aniki, I cant stop thinking about the guy, and he's the first cutie that I actually don't want to rape."
"Jakotsu your on drugs…" I said. He looked hurt.
"You…you…just want him for yourself!!"
"What?!" I yelled "That's crazy!"
Jakotsu stomped off to the kitchen. I followed. I then noticed that the amnesiac was actually cooking. He was adding salts and seasonings to the pot that sat on the stove without anyone's help.
"So how did you teach him learn how to cook?" I asked coldly.
"Three hours of Food Network will teach anyone how to cook." He returned.
Hiten stirred a spoon in the pot one last time before carrying it to the table.
"Are you going to stay for lunch?" Hiten asked as he ran up to me.
"Yes, yes I am." I said proudly, Jakotsu stuck his tongue out at me.
We sat at the table serving ourselves Hitens creation. It was a brown, thick, European beef stew. Jakotsu, who was trying to show off for him, ate it first.
"Its amazing Hiten."
I thought he was lying. Yet, hunger set in. I carefully nibbled a piece of beef. In a matter of seconds I was devouring the entire bowl.
"Wow Hiten! You learned quickly!" I said between gulps. "This is worthy of a restaurant!"
"Really?" Hiten said. His mood brightened up immensely. "I'm glad"
He didn't seem over excited like he usually was, just a silent happiness that warmed ones heart. That is when I decided that I would not try to recover his memory. I wanted him to stay happy like that forever. If the old Hiten came back he would be miserable and never smile again, I promised my self to protect him from his memorys...forever.