My Childhood with You
Chapter 10
Kamui was standing on the roof of their home, Subaru beside him, only he was sitting down. It was a cold, night, the twins had long black cloaks, clearly too big for them. Both had their cold fingers clutching the velvet material closer as the freezing wind whipped around. Kamui had his eyes narrowed, and a frown on his face, "Can't she hurry up?"
Subaru looked up from his sitting position to study his brother. "Hotaru's got homework has-". The look on Kamui's face quickly stopped him.
Kamui sighed and turned away, wishing he had explained about the problem instead of just telling his twin brother that they were leaving. Fortunately for him, Hotaru appeared next to him at that moment, "Hey, little brother." At the sound of her voice, he shivered. Had her voice been so cold before? Has it ever seemed to be hiding something? But he shoved those thoughts away, for later.
Balancing on the roof, Hotaru walked to Subaru and knelt helping him up, it had rained earlier that day and the tiles were a little slippery. Subaru studied his sister's face. She had a warm smile, yet it was not full. Not complete. Her whole face seemed to be displaying joy of some form but it disturbed him. Hotaru did not smile like that.
When Hotaru smiled it was brief. It would be a fraction smaller than that smile. And her real smile would have a tinge of annoyance in it that said why'd you make me grin? But this wasn't the same smile the twins had grown used to.
And like a butterfly that realised it was about to be caught, the smile disappeared, like a butterfly that took off into the sky. "Okay, Kamui, Subaru, I'm going to send you to the next world. It's safe and you'll have to talk to a certain lady as soon as possible. People call her the space time witch." Hotaru paused for a moment, as though listening for an eavesdropper before continuing, "She's going to ask for something in return for the ability of travelling worlds on your own. It will be something very precious."
Kamui and Subaru stared up at her. The violet and green gazes held the same expression. Curious and worried. Kamui dared a question, "What will she want from us?"
Hotaru paused, wondering how to explain, "Okay. Do you remember when Mum was talking to our uncle about the theory of different dimensions? You know, that day when there was a blizzard outside and we had just finished dinner and-"
"-our uncle came in the door and Mum almost went beserk getting him to shut it. We remember." Subaru quickly finished off for his sister.
Hotaru nodded, "Okay, she was talking about it to uncle and we were listening through the door. You guys were too young to remember the important part, but the bit you forgot about the person you are about to meet. And to quote uncle ,'whatever that woman will take from you will probably be your greatest treasure, or at least something you can barely live without' and if you managed to not fall asleep and creep out again to listen you would have heard him say, 'in our case, because we want to get home, she's probably going to take the memory in us that instinctively knows where home is'. "Hotaru finished, a great intensity in her voice, "Do you get it know?"
Kamui and Subaru nodded, silent. Now they got most of the picture. They had a guy chasing them, they're going to be able how to travel worlds, their aim is to get back home, only the witch is going to make that job difficult for the, Kamui managed to get the words out, "We might never make it back."
Hotaru then grabbed her two beloved brothers and held them tight in a hug, "I don't believe that," she was trying her best to hide the fact that she was crying, "You two will definitely make it back. Sure you're young. No one's done it before. But you'll definitely make it back."
Now it was Subaru's turn to speak through the tears that were blurring his vision, "But you don't know if we will. We might get caught, or lost, or-"
Hotaru shook her head slightly, "I don't think so. I'm sure you'll be back. Definitely." Her golden eyes were closed and for some weird reason she didn't understand, she had a small smile on her face. "I'm sure you'll come back. I'm sure you won't get caught. And I'm sure that your home will still be here when you come back."
With those words, she let go of the twins and drew back. A magic circle of her won creation sprung out from beneath her, a slim, large crescent moon was in on one side, five stars spread out along the other. In the gap left, a flower in the shape of a snowdrop was present. Various runes were dotted around the outside and the whole thing gave out a brilliant light, which managed to brighten the whole sky, shining like the sun. Her twin brothers had fallen unconscious as they were drawn to their destination by the harmless magical tendrils that gently pulled them away, up into what looked like a portal that had formed in the sky, the exact size and shape and directly above her magic circle.
Hotaru watched, long black hair whipping around her, her golden eyes never left her twin brothers as they left her world, their world. She whispered, tears suddenly gone, "I'll wait for you two. Forever. When you get back, everything's going to be the same again."