To:
The Amendable Snow Freak: I WILL NOT calm down, I WILL have a cow and I WILL NOT pull a Shigure on you. That is actually where I kinda got bored of writing so I was like "Ha ha, I'll be a terrible person. Why not?"
GoldenxDreamer: Pretty excited right now, huh?
The look. That was all it took. He had to tell Akito; not necessarily about the look, but about her. It was his duty to the head of house, whether he wanted it to be or not. He knew he would be angry, but he'd rather have Akito's rage directed at him than at them if he found out on his own. He would be sure to inform Shigure of it as well, but only after it was over and done.
Arisu…
"Sorry I-"
"No," I stopped. "I mean, it's fine. N-never mind. You ready to go?" Kyo asked, looking kind of strange.
"Yeah, fine by me," I said, and we began walking back to the road. "Do you want to just head home? It'll be quite a while before we need to pick up Yuki."
"Fine by me," he said, and we turned right when we reached the sidewalk. I'd been meaning to ask him something for a while.
"Hey, what do you think is wrong with me?"
"What are you talkin' about?"
"I mean, when I hug you guys, you don't poof, and that's not normal. So I've been trying to figure out what must be wrong with me for that to be."
"The-There's nothing wrong with you," he said, sounding uncomfortable. "Why would ya think something stupid like that?" And there's the Kyo I know.
"Thanks, but still. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's a different thing, and I can't help but think why, ya know?" I said, and he just sighed. "Oh my gosh! I know what we should all do this weekend!" I said, suddenly totally off topic for no specific reason. "We should all go swimming! I know this great place that almost no one goes to, cause it's kinda sketchy looking-"
"Are you serious!? You want us to go to a sketchy swimming pool? What the hell!?"
"Let me finish! It looks kinda sketchy on the outside, but the inside is so nice, and it's really cheap too,"
"No thanks."
"Aww, come on!"
"No way. I hate swimming."
"I probably should of figured that. But it'll be fun! They even have a big climbing wall you can jump off of, and a rope swing, and a slide, and it's really cool!"
"No."
"Fine. Jeeze," I said, but not giving up. We continued to walk home, talking on and off again (mostly me trying to convince him to go swimming). I don't know where he went when we got home, but I went to watch TV, and texted people.
Hey, swimming. This Saturday. Everyone. I texted to Rin, Maiko, Hikari, and Hikaru.
Cool :) Rin texted back.
YAY! EXCITED FACE! =D 3TinyDancer3 Maiko said.
Fun! I got from both of the twins. I heard the door opened and assumed it must be Shigure.
"Hey," I said, still watching TV.
"Hi," I heard Yuki say.
"Yuki? What are you doing here?" Shouldn't he still be in school?
"They let out early because there was a staff meeting," he explained, and I nodded. "So how did you two spend your day?"
"We got ice cream, and kinda just walked around being a general nuisance to the public, you know the usual. Then decided to head home. We were going to come by and pick you up later, but I guess that isn't necessary now."
"You got ice cream? In this weather?" he asked, a slightly incredulous look on his face.
"Why not? It was an indoor place, so it's not like it was cold," I explained, like it was a perfectly rational thing to do. I heard a knock at the door.
"I got it!" I hopped up and went to open the door, and then I was on the ground.
"Hey! You're Arisu, aren't you?" said a small blond boy who was now sitting on my legs while I was propped up on my elbows. "I guess what Haru told me was true! You must be pretty special! I'm Momiji by the way."
"That would be correct," I said with a smile, and stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
"What the hell is goin' on down here?" I heard Kyo say as he came down the stairs. "I heard a thud."
"Nothin' much," I said, looking at him upside down, since I was still on the ground and he was behind me.
"Hey! What the hell are you doin' here you little runt!? And why are you on top of her!?" he yelled, grabbing Momiji.
"Wah! Kyo's picking on me!" Momiji cried.
"Oh, Kyo, be nice," I said, finally getting up.
"But he-" I snapped my fingers in his face.
"He-" I did it again.
"Would you-" I snapped with both hands in his face.
"No," I said, looking him straight in the eyes, and walked away as he reluctantly released Momiji, still kind of stunned.
"That was pretty impressive, Ms. Takahashi," Yuki said quietly as I walked by him.
"You'll be surprised how much people are like animals if you get right down to it," I said, and he smiled at the truth of my words. "Once you figure that out, it's not that hard."
"I believe you're right," he said, and began to head up to his room.
"Oh, and hey Yuki!" He stopped and turned around.
"Yes?"
"I was thinking about getting a couple friends and going swimming this weekend. Wanna come?"
"That sounds fun. I'd love to," he said with a smile, and continued upstairs. One down, one to go. Kyo would be a much harder nut to crack, so I decided to give it sometime.
"I'm going on a walk!" I said, grabbing my white knit hat from my room.
"Oh! Can I come?" Momiji asked excitedly, practically hopping like the rabbit he was.
"Fine by me. I'm actually going out to my old tree house," I said, and he just looked even more excited.
"You have a tree house!? That sounds so cool!"
"You have a tree house?" Kyo asked from the couch.
"Yeah. It's actually the place where I saw you for the… second time," I said after thinking for a moment (I'm not the faster thinker, ok!).
"What the hell!? You spying on me or something?"
"Yes, Kyo. I was totally spying on you, because I have no life at all so I spent all my free time spying on you," I said. "No, you were on the roof, and your hair isn't exactly the best camouflage, so it was hard not to see you. Wanna come?" I said, pulling some boots on.
"Fine. Only to keep an eye on him," he said, with a glare at Momiji who stepped behind me so his glare wouldn't burn a hole in him. We all walked outside and I stopped and looked at the house.
"What are you staring at?" Kyo asked.
"I'm figuring out which direction to go. I think I remember the angle the house was at when I saw you… this way," I said, walking off into the trees.
"Wow! This is so cool! We're just like adventurers!" Momiji said, running around, but still staying with us.
"Does he ever run out of energy?" I quietly asked Kyo.
"Doubt it," he said so optimistically.
"Hey, I think we're almost there," I said, kind of recognizing where we were. Then I saw the big piece of old metal roofing we'd used from an old shed in Maiko's yard to make a bridge. You almost wouldn't notice it since so much moss and dirt now covered it. "Come on!" I ran across the bridge and towards the tree house, and it didn't take long to reach it.
"Well, here it is," I said, as the guys caught up with me.
"Wow! That's really cool! Can I go up?" Momiji asked, looked practically ecstatic.
"Go ahead," I said, and he climbed up the ladder of planks nailed to the tree.
"Looks kinda small," Kyo said sounding very un-ecstatic.
"Well we were little. Now we just sit on the roof, mostly. Momiji would probably fit though," I said, not really minding his comment. "Well, come on! Let's go!" I said, following Momiji up the ladder. I heard Kyo follow behind me, but not after hesitating a second. When we got up him and I both hand to scrunch down quite a bit, and Momiji did too, but he had it better than we did.
"Here, follow me," I said, leaning against the railing, grabbing the roof, and stepping up onto the railing, so I was basically out of the tree house.
"What are you doin'!? You're gonna kill yourself!" Kyo said, looking like he wanted to stop me, but wasn't sure how to do it without knocking me down.
"I'm fine. I've done this more times than I can count," I said, easily hopping up onto the roof. I took off my hat, so I wouldn't lose it, and hung my head over the edge. "Coming?"
"Yeah!" Momiji said excitedly, and I helped him carefully pull himself up and over onto the roof.
"Wow! You can see everything! It's so pretty!" he said, seeming to (finally) relax and enjoy the view.
"Kyo, you coming? I guarantee it will be better than being bent into a pretzel down there," I said, hoping to tempt him up.
"Fine," he said, still not looking too happy. He climbed out just like I had, and sat down with Momiji and me.
"See you can see your house right there," I said, pointing out his house.
"Hey Arisu! Can we come back here and watch the sunset later?" Momiji asked.
"Fine with me. Maybe Yuki and Shigure will want to come." Kyo scowled, but Momiji smiled even bigger.
"It would be so cool if we came up here and repainted it and stuff! It'd be so pretty!" Momiji exclaimed, as we began getting down. "Maybe we could even do some construction like stuff and make the roof higher."
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea," I said, seriously considering it. I'd actually thought about doing that for quite a while, but as for the roof part, Hikaru alone was never enough muscle to do it. Now it might actually be a possibility…
When we got home, I decided I might as well make dinner early if we were going to get back out there by sunset. When I looked in the cupboards and fridge, they actually looked semi-full for a change. Shigure must have gone shopping or something. I can't really imagine him doing actual work though.
I pulled out some dried soba and mirin to make zaru soba. It was a pretty simple dish, so it didn't take long to make.
"Guys! Dinner's ready!" I called out, and they all lumbered in, even Momiji, who was still almost vibrating with excitement. "I made zaru soba. I hope you don't mind the early dinner; we were thinking about going out to my old tree house to watch the sunset. You two are welcome to come if you want," I mentioned, looking between Yuki and Shigure.
"Oh, if only I could. I have so much work to do," Shigure said dramatically (as always).
"That sounds quite nice. I'd love to join you," Yuki said, a smile on his face as he started eating, while I could see Kyo scowling out of the corner of my eye.
"Wow Arisu! This is really good! You're a really good cook," Momiji said as he ate.
"Thanks. I try," I replied, glad they all seemed to be enjoying it.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
"So this is it? It's really cute," Yuki said, grinning up at the tree house.
"Thanks. It's pretty small though so we need to pull a Kyo and sit on the roof," I said, and I could hear the, "Hey!" from above me.
"Oh, calm down. Did I say anything bad? No. Don't get defensive," I said, climbing up the ladder with Yuki right behind me, and got up to the roof.
"This is a really nice view you have here," Yuki commented as he carefully climbed up.
"Yeah, that's partially why I used to come up here all the time," I said, not really thinking.
"What's the other reason?" Momiji asked. Sadly, Kyo didn't say anything rude to distract him. There wasn't really much he could do just because he asked a question. I had to come up with something.
"Well, my mom wasn't exactly the nicest person. She always had a bit of a temper. When she got mad, I'd come up here so she could have alone time." Well, it wasn't all a lie. "My mom and my dad haven't been together for a long time, so I couldn't go stay with him or anything." Also not a lie.
"That's really sad," Momiji said sympathetically.
"Eh. It could've been worse," I thought I saw Kyo flinch out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked at him, he looked fine. "I mean, I'm glad I have what I have, and I guess that's all that really matters now. I don't like dwelling on the past, especially when you don't have to, because then you can't be happy about of all the things you have now." That is the sappiest speech I have ever given.
"I think you're right. The past is past, so we need to focus on now and our future, right?" Momiji said, a small smile on his cute face.
"Exactly," I said, smiling back at him.
"Hey look! The sun's about to set," he said, back to his full, happy smile.
I began watching, and thought of this poem I heard. I hadn't realized I was mumbling until Kyo said something.
"Hey, if you're gonna talk at least do it loud enough for people to hear," he said, looking at me weird.
"What were you saying?" Yuki asked a little more nicely.
"Oh, I was just thinking out loud," I told him, not really wanting to say anything.
"What were you thinking about?" Momiji asked. Of course someone had to ask.
"It was just this poem we had to memorize for English. We learned it last year, but I really liked it so I made sure I didn't forget it."
"Would you recite it for me? Please?" Momiji basically begged.
"Well, uh," I stammered, feeling awkward.
"What the hell's wrong with you!? Do you like making people do stuff they don't want to do!?" Kyo quickly yelled at Momiji, which wasn't surprising.
"Just beyond the sunset
someone waits for me
just beyond the sunset
lies my destiny
where the purple mountains
lie in deep tranquility
there I'll find the treasure
of love eternally," I began reciting, and they all just watched as I watched the sunset.
"Just beyond the sunset
waits someone so fair
just beyond the sunset
all alone they wait there
their hair is golden
the color of the sand
their eyes sparkle in the night
like diamonds in your hand
just beyond the sunset
lies a home for me
where the world is peaceful
like a paradise should be
just beyond the sunset
someday is where you'll find me," I finished, and finally turned to look at them.
"That really was lovely," Yuki said, smiling at me.
"Yeah, if you're into that boring poem stuff," Kyo said, looking at the ground.
"Of course someone like you couldn't appreciate it," Yuki said, no longer smiling.
"What are you saying you damn rat!?" I just rolled my eyes and grinned at Momiji, who grinned back at me.
The sun may have been going down, but it felt like things were looking up.
Hatori…
"Yuki didn't show up for his monthly check up. Again." Hatori said, not waiting for a, "hello."
"Well hello to you too, Ha'ri. He isn't in at the moment-" Shigure said from the other end of the phone
"Where would he be this late?"
"Well, he just went out with a few friends," Shigure said in an unconvincing tone.
"I'll be over in the morning," Hatori said, right before hanging up the phone. He already knew well enough what was going on. On Akito's orders he was to see what this, "Arisu," was like, and if necessary, make the problem go away. He knew they'd try to hide her, and they had good reason to.
Sorry for taking a while to update. Did you like the poem? It's by David Harris, written in 1966. It's right here if you want to check it out poem/just-beyond-the-sunset/ AW SNAP *snaps* Hatori knows! Shit may be going down. I don't know if it will yet, because I haven't written it, we'll both just have to wait and see. Can you guess who was talking in the beginning? I believe it's pretty obvious. If you don't know, I am disappointed in you as a FB fan :( . I think that's it… so… yeah… ~Stormy:3