Hey to all readers! Raikku of th- oh you know the drill. In this installment, I plan to tell how Raikku, Amidamaru, and Mosuke all became friends. People have been wanting to know…I'm not gonna say any names.

But you still have………………………………

If it Takes Forever

By: Raikku of the Darkness

Chapter 5: Orphan Among Orphans

All of Me………………………………

The sun shone beautifully that summer's day. The wind was filled with sounds of playing children. Near the group, was a young boy. The boy seemed the age of eleven, and had a very light lavender hair, pulled back into a ponytail. He wore black yukata that was alittle too big for him; In his hand, was a samurai sword and he seemed to be looking for something.

"Hey, Amidamaru! Are you coming or what?" a fifteen year old boy, with untidy black hair, yelled to him from a hill. The boy, Amidamaru, ran up to the boy.

"I had to get Harusame, Mosuke." he yelled to the older boy. Mosuke rolled his eyes. Just as the two turned to leave, the two heard their names. They looked at each other.

"Uh Oh."

"Mosuke-sempai! Amida-kun! Wait for me!" a girl with long, black hair and piercing green eyes. She was ten years of age and was holding ningyo.

"Where are you guys going?" She asked the two boys when she reached them.

"Uh…" Amidamaru began, beginning to sweat. The girl, Raikku, although small then both he and Mosuke, struck fear into their hearts. To them, and many other children, Raikku was very annoying.

"We're going to the caves, Raikku." Mosuke said thinking fast. "We know you don't like them, so we won't force you to go." The elder boy had a pitiful look on face, trying to look sad. The younger boy had a look of amusement and was fighting back a laugh. Raikku, however, looked mortified.

"We know you're afraid, Rai. You don't have to come." said Amidamaru.

"I-I-I'm n-not a-af-afraid." The girl said. The two boys looked at each other, laughter in their eyes.

Raikku put fought to put on a brave face. "You don't believe me?" she asked, angrily and grabbed Mosuke's hand. "Come on! I'll show you!"

You used to captivate Me………………………………

"Raikku, are you sure you want to go in there?" asked Amidamaru, ask the girl finished dragging the two to the caves. The holes in the cliffs were near the ocean. Many of the older kids liked to tell the little ones that monsters and demons lived in the caves. Their favorite to tell Raikku? That a giant spider, that ate cute little girls whole lived there.

Raikku was shaking furiously, but fought out: "I do. Really. I'm a big girl. I'm tough!"

Mosuke was about to burst with laughter. "You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah." the girl said, inching closer to the cave's entrance. She peeked her head inside. The boys were laughing quietly.

"Go ahead, Raikku! We'll be right here!" Mosuke yelled to her. The girl took a deep breath and walked slowly, but surely, in the cavern.

"Ha-ha! She actually went in!" Amidamaru laughed.

"Yeah, she's such a dope!"

"Come on, let's go."

A few moments later, Raikku went bursting out the cave, smiling.

"You guys! I got all the way to the end! See I-" She look around for her "friends". Her eyes looked to ground. "-knew I could do it."

By your resonating Light………………………………

"Hey, Mosuke?" Amidamaru asked as the two walk on the forest trail.

"Yeah?"

"I'm feeling bad about what we did to Raikku." The blacksmith in training stopped and turned to his counterpart.

"Really?"

"Yeah," the young samurai began. "I mean, Raikku isn't that bad. She's just alittle hyper.

Mosuke looked at his feet. He had also been regretful of what they did, but, they were boys! They wouldn't want a little girl, who carries around a ningyo, hanging out with them.

"I guess, but what's done is done." he said, starting to walk again. "And there's nothing we can do about it."

"Well, Well, Well. What do we have here?" a voice said from behind a tree. From behind it, a group of seventeen year-old boys appeared. Mosuke and Amidamaru grimaced.

"Hatake." spat Amidamaru. Hatake grinned.

"Why Amida-kun," he said, mocking the girls that lived in the abandoned Buddhist Temple with them. "don't be so mean, we just came to have alittle fun."

"Then go play with a wooden horse." Mosuke said.

"I wasn't talking to you, boy."

"Boy? I'm more of a man than you are!" Some of boys in the group gasped, and Hatake's grin faded.

"You're more of a man than me?" he asked.

"He sure is!" Amidamaru answered. "And I am too!"

Hatake laughed and some of the others joined in.

"We'll see, little Amida-kun. We'll see."

But know I'm Bound by………………………………

Sniff. Sniff. The after effects of hours of crying finally settled down as Raikku made her way from the caves. Her eyes were red from rubbing and her heart was saddened. She thought Amidamaru and Mosuke were different from the other children. Always picked on. No friends. An orphan among orphans. The crickets chirps seem to stop as Raikku walked closer to her destination. Then, she heard it. The sound of fighting. Then she decided that she would investigate.

The life you left Behind………………………………

The small girl crawled closer to fighting. She peeked her head from under the brush and gasped. Hatake, the biggestestestest, uuuuuugliest, most kumpashiest (A/N: Made up by Raikku herself, means more stupid than stupid. Overactive imagination.) guy alive, was beating up Mosuke-sempai and Amida-kun. And, without thinking, jetted out in front of the two, badly beaten boys, arms outstretched.

"Stop!" she yelled. "Stop hitting them!" Hatake looked at her and laughed.

"Well hello, Little one. Where have you been?" Raikku frowned. "Nun'ya! Just stop hitting them!"

Mosuke inched to his young friend. "Why is she doing this?" he whispered.

Amidamaru looked at his with two black eyes. "I don't know."

"Girl, I'm not gonna ask you again. MOVE!" Hatake was really angry now. Raikku, although frightened, refused to move. Hatake pulled his fist back and one of his crew grabbed it.

"No, Hatake!" he said.

"Why not?"

"She…She's just a little girl. You wouldn't hit a little girl?" Hatake yanked his arm from the boy's grasp.

"The hell I won't."

Your face, it Haunts………………………………

Amidamaru rose to his feet, wobbling. Hatake had ended his attack and had finally left the three children alone. He helped Mosuke to his feet.

"Are you alright, Mosuke." he asked the elder boy. Mosuke nodded his head. "Yes, but where is Raikku?"

The two looked to the ground and saw a mound of dirt. It began to move a bit, so the two rushed to its side. After brushing the dirt off, the dirt mound was revealed to be a very beaten Raikku.

"Why did you do that?" Amidamaru questioned, grabbing the young girl's shoulders and shaking. A light blush was on Raikku's cheeks (A/N: A little schoolgirl crush, hmm? You girls know what I'm talking about!). She turned her head.

"Because, you guys are my friends." she said, her voice with a lisp. Mosuke and Amidamaru looked at each other. She thought of them as her friends even after they played that mean trick on her?

"You guys…are the only kids that are nice to me. The girls don't play with me and the boys are mean. But," she looked at them, tears in her eyes. "if you don't want me around, I won't make you." And with that, Raikku turned on her heel and left the two boys to think about what they had done.

My once pleasant Dreams………………………………

The wind blew calmly the next day, as Raikku sat on the stairs of the old temple, alone. She sighed and held her ningyo tighter. Then she heard her name. She looked up to see Amidamaru running toward her.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Well," he began. "Mosuke and I are going into town today and we were wondering if you wanted to go."

Raikku was surprised. "You really want me to come?" She said, a smile coming across her bruised face.

"Of course, You're our friend."

Fin………………………………

And so, Raikku, Amidamaru, and Mosuke all became friends, unaware of their untimely fates. What do you all think, hmm? Review, please!

Ningyo: doll