Katearah: Okay. This, hands down, has to be one of the best reviews I have ever gotten. You're the first person who's remarked on the name too! I'm glad you like the story and thank you SO much for the truly awesome review!
Disclaimer: …In the immortal words of Inuyasha… "Feh."
"You're the one that came first Ta-kun…"
"A real batter imagines an arc shooting from his heart. There ! That star will make a good target!
It's kinda flickery though…see?"
"My name is Naota! Don't call me Ta-kun anymore!"
"You want to come with me?
You mean it? Why are you being so nice?
C'mon Ta-kun. You're still just a kid."
"Where did you go? You left without saying anything!"
"You can't do that Ta-kun…only I can eat him!"
"I love you…"
"You want to come with me? …You know what? Never mind. After all, you're still just a kid."
He frowned, blue eyes sliding open slowly until there were two half moons peering out from beneath a mess of black hair.
"I'm…alive?"
He winced at how weak his voice was and how it had trembled, almost breaking from those two simple works. He tried to sit up, to look around and see where he was, but a white-hot pain seared through his arm. That, and there were a pair of arms draped over his chest that were effectively preventing him from moving. His gaze traveled from the arms to the face buried in them. But he didn't need to see their face to recognize those pink locks.
"Haruko…"
In response she merely twitched a bit and muttered something like,
"Naotomsk…"
He blinked and slowly squirmed out from beneath Haruko's arms and finally got a good look at his own arm. A large purple bruise covered his upper arm, at least three bandages covering it and even those weren't enough to completely hide it from view. He shuddered and began to worm his way out from beneath the four or five blankets that covered him.
"Ato! You're up!"
He flinched at how loudly the person had exclaimed, what felt like his brain throbbing against his skull at the noise. He glanced up at the owner or the voice, locking gazes with the same person who had ultimately released the scorpion thing.
"…What are YOU doing here Nina?"
In reality he was glad to see she was okay and had come to see him, yet he couldn't find it in his heart to forgive her just yet for the words she had, knowingly or unknowingly spoken to him. Nina looked away, a frown etched onto her normally blank features. Come to think of it…lately she had been pretty emotional. Annoyingly worried, hateful, deathly scared and…he had to do a double take to make sure; she was actually looking a mixture of relieved and nervous.
A silence washed over the room, broken only by Haruko's odd mutterings about broccoli taking over the world. Fed up with the silence, Ato slipped completely from the blankets and pushed himself carefully to the floor, almost crumpling like wet paper from his own weight.
"You shouldn't get up Ato. You were out cold for two days."
He ignored Nina's comment and let go of the bed, this time holding firm.
"It's none of your business Nina."
Okay…that wasn't completely ignoring the comment but still, he couldn't just totally ignore her. It was impossible. He began to walk towards the door, one bare foot placed carefully before the other as he kept his eyes glued firmly to the floor.
"Just go away Nina."
He knew he was being harsh but there was no reason for her to keep lingering there like a bad cold, especially not after what she'd said. He just wanted to hurt her at the moment, the same way she had hurt him.
"Why are you still here Nina!"
He turned fully to face her…and stopped dead in his tracks. Nina…was crying. Nina NEVER cried. Ever.
"I was worried about you, you jerk! Everyone thought you were going to die!"
She paused for a moment and her words turned softer, so that he had to strain to hear them.
"Your heart stopped Ato…you died for a moment on the way to the hospital. They got your heartbeat back but…after that no one expected you to live very long…"
A shudder rolled down his spine and he sat down heavily, trying to wrap his mind around the concept that he had DIED. Actually been ripped from this earth for a few moments. Sadly, Nina walked out the door, pausing before she disappeared down the stairs.
"Get well soon Ato…"
He stared at the spot where Nina had just been, few thoughts breaking through the fog that had wrapped around his brain. Finally, a deep sigh escaped his throat as he leaned back, blinking as his fingers brushed lightly against the strings of a guitar, an odd and somewhat familiar jolt of energy sparking through his entire body even as the notes flittered through the air.
Turning around he saw Haruko's bright red, double guitar, the sound hanging in the room and echoing through his skull even after they faded. Reaching out and, after a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Haruko was still asleep, he lightly strummed the chords of the guitar, feeling that same jolt of energy that left his fingers tingling. Slowly, carefully, he picked up the guitar, faltering a bit at its weight, and settled it on his lap, plucking the strings softly as a half smile tugged at his lips. He felt…a connection with this guitar. Like it belonged with him…just like the blue guitar he used belonged in the corner of the room in that old abandoned house…
"Having fun Tao-kun?"
Ato literally jumped, one hand still wrapped loosely around the handle of Haruko's guitar, and spun around, coming face to face with the weirder of the two pink haired women he lived with. Well actually that could be debated…
"Haruko!"
He stared at her a moment in shock, then back at the guitar in his hands.
"Um…"
"You don't have to explain Tao-kun. It was, if you wanna be technical, Naota's guitar. After all, he was the one that pulled it out of Canti."
She sat down next to him, lifting the guitar with one hand, a feat that Ato couldn't accomplish even if he was at full health, and placed it on her own lap, stroking the chords lovingly. Ato paused, a question lingering on the tip of his tongue, something he'd been wanting to ask for a while now.
"…Haruko?"
She raised her head ever so slightly, her mop of neon pink hair hanging in her eyes.
"What is it Tao-kun?"
He stopped again and, taking a deep breath, asked the one question he knew would provide a lot of answers to the questions bouncing around in his head.
"Who…exactly…was Naota?"
Haruko's fingers froze halfway through strumming the chords of the guitar again, contemplating the question with a thoughtful look.
"Naota…was probably one of my best friends. He had the same head as you Tao-kun, but robots started popping out of HIS head when he was two or three years younger than you."
She paused for a moment, choosing her next words carefully, green eyes clouding over with memories of a time long, long ago.
"Mamimi was Ta-kun…no, Naota's girlfriend in a way. Just like I was his housekeeper in a way. It was all kinda confusing. After Naota freed…er…someone from this factory, I left. I'm not sure what happened to Naota after that."
She shrugged, turning away and plucking another string on her guitar. Ato was trying very hard not to freak out. Not just because of how serious Haruko was, but also because, according to her story and mom's…she was either WAY older than she looked or she was a housekeeper when she was like, two.
"Why…did Naota have robots coming out of his head too?"
Without waiting for an answer he frowned, the explanation coming to mind almost immediately in a creepy sort of way.
"You hit him with that guitar didn't you?"
He pointed accusingly at the guitar Haruko held in her lap, blinking amazedly when she shook her head firmly.
"Nope! Completely wrong! I hit Naota with THAT guitar!"
And only Haruko could say that in such a smug way, while grinning and jabbing her thumb at something over her shoulder. Ato leaned to the side and blinked at what she was pointing at.
"But that's MY guitar…"
Haruko positively beamed at him, exuding waves of happiness. It was…kinda freaky.
"Well it was mine before I gave it to Naota!"
He gaped at her, questions still flinging around in his brain…and they beginning to hurt his head.
"But then…how did I get it!"
And yet again, Haruko had the answer. Grinning, she closed her eyes and set her hands on her knees, making it look like she was meditating.
"Ommm…I see…that you…Tao-kun…received this guitar…as a present from Mamimi! She probably thought that since you're practically a clone of Naota you'd like it. Heh heh heh…"
She suddenly stopped her creepy laughter, thinking for a moment.
"Well not really a clone…more like…what was it Mamimi said? Recanation? Re-irknation? Reinstated Nation?"
Ato sighed, wondering briefly whether Haruko had ever set inside a school.
"Reincarnation?"
She snapped her fingers and stood, slamming all the chords of her guitar at the same time.
"Yeah! That's it Tao-kun! She said you're the reincarnate of Naota! You've gotta admit; it does explain a lot."
He twitched, staring at her dryly.
"Like why you hit me with that guitar and why you're staying at my house?"
She began coughing suddenly, holding her throat and gasping for air as she began staggering towards the door.
"I'm choooookiiiing… I need waaaaatteeeer…Bye!"
With that she dashed down the stairs faster than Ato could blink. Trying to make sense of what just happened he ran to the door, yelling down the stairs,
"I know you're faking it Haruko! How can you choke? You weren't eating anything! Get back here Haruko!"
Getting no reply he fell back onto his bed and buried himself beneath the covers, the sluggishness and pain he had felt when he first woke up completely forgotten by the boy.
"Stupid alien girl…"
"Welcome back Ato!"
"How are you?"
"Good to see you Ato!"
"How ya doin' Ato?"
"You did all your homework while you were sick, right?"
"Wow! You're alive?"
He blinked at those last two, turning to see Nina and a snotty looking boy he didn't really know.
"Of course I'm alive, do I look dead?"
He retorted, vaguely wondering if he would get into too much trouble if he whacked the kid with a guitar like Haruko did.
"Well actually…"
Nina elbowed the boy sharply in the gut, glaring at him and effectively cutting off anything else the boy was about to say. Turning back to Ato, he immediately recognized her 'lecturing' pose. It was hard not to when she used it almost every day.
One hand planted firmly on her hip, the other waving at him and emphasizing every other word she said.
"Remember Ato, the talent show is coming up and it's required for all students to not only participate in it, but also to lend a hand with the behind-the-scenes work for the production. You know, to make sure it runs smoothly! If you don't do the required time then everyone's going to know it! Everyone else is definitely participating and, come to think of it, you haven't promised yet that you were going to do ANYTHING for the show! At this rate you're going to get the worst jobs Ato! I mean really…"
He tuned her out after that. How the heck that girl kept talking this long without taking a breath, he would never know. Realizing she wasn't going to stop talking anytime soon, he began walking to the classroom, nodding every once in awhile and picking up a few random words, mainly.
"Don't you DARE keep us waiting Ato!"
He nodded quickly, gave her a fast smile, and ducked into the classroom, praying to any gods that would listen that there were no tests or quizzes on the homework he had been supposed to do…but didn't.
"And today class…we not only have a pop quiz!"
The entire class groaned at the same time, which went, amazingly, unnoticed by the teacher.
"But we also have a special speaker who's here to tell us about the dangers of dust and germs. Please say hello to miss Haruhara Haruko!"
She was standing there, dresses in one of those biohazard suits, grinning like this was the best moment of her entire life. Knowing for sure his life was now, officially over, he buried his face into his arms, clinging to the small, desperate hope that maybe they wouldn't find out Haruko was, in any way, connected to him at all.
"Hey…isn't that Ato's housekeeper?"
Yep. His life was definitely over.