Living in the Background

Now I'm just going to dive right into my story. I don't feel like wasting time to try and keep it from you. You'd find out eventually anyway.

By now you've noticed that I'm exceptionally poor and that I don't even have a place to sleep. I would've stayed with some kind of family member if they weren't all gone. Well if any of them were in this world they really wouldn't have been much help anyway. You see, I may be a simple dumpling seller now, but I was once from another world. A place called earth. You're probably there right now right as you read this.

I wonder what's happened in the past years that I've been gone. Has there been another war? Do we finally have those hovering cars everyone used to talk about? I wish so much that I'd be able to go back, even if it was for just a day. Just so I could know what happened to everyone. Everyone that I miss so dearly.

People say that you shouldn't live in your past, or at least they used to when I was still there. Maybe they've changed and finally no longer have to say it because the world is in peace. I'd like to think that sometimes.

For me I have been living in my past and I would never change that. Why? Because it is my punishment. Each time I replay those memories of regret I remember who I truly am. A monster.

*3 years ago*

"Mom I'm going out! See you later!" I quickly stuffed my feet into my shows and grabbed the backpack hanging by the door.

"Alright! Be careful! Momma loves y-" I didn't catch the rest of what she said because I'd already slammed the front door closed. I was late for school and I'd come back home later to apologize.

As soon as I got out of the house, I raced down the drive way. Just as I hit the sidewalk I bumped shoulders with my rival.

"Late again Yuki! Don't you ever wake up on time!"

"ME! What about you Yori! You never seem to be able to get into class before the bell rings!"

Yori Tachuri. My best friend and rival. He has straight black hair that reaches below his ears. He's taller than me and has freckles just like me. The most amazing thing about him though, is his eyes. They look like someone took a handful of grass and some specks of dirt and put them into his head. Sometimes I feel like I'm lost inside a forest when I look at them. Right now he's dressed in the usual blue school uniform. A pair of dark blue dress pants, a dark blue blazer and tie, and a white dress shirt underneath. Overall it fits him.

"HAHA! Me! You're the one who's always rushing in behind me!"

"Yeah well let's see who gets there first green eyes!"

"You're on blondie!"

It was like this every morning. We'd both wake up late and then both start rushing to school like crazy monkeys hopped on bananas.

Our rivalry started sometime in the 1rd grade. There had been a drawing contest to see who could color in a fish the best and we'd tied for 2nd. Not a huge thing to get competitive over but what can I say. We both love winning….(She's not taking into account they'd tied for 2nd and not 1st…) Afterwards we both started fighting over who got the best grades, who made the biggest sand castles, or who had the most friends. Until now it still hasn't ended.

We were just running into the school gates when I tripped over a rock. 'Shit!'

"AHAHAHAHA! Yuki tripped over a stupid rock!"

'ERGH! I hate that Yori! I hope he trips too!'

"HAHAHAHA- "

Needless to say that Yori then tripped over one of the school hedges.

Ten Minutes later

"DETENTION! This is the NINTH! Time you two are late for my class! The NINTH! Not the 8th or the 10th but the 9th! I Wou-"

"Yeah 9 is generally in-between 8 and 10"

"-ld think that by now you'd both be abl-."

"Do you think he even knows what he's talking about?"

"-e to get it THROUGH THOSE THICK HEADS OF YO-"

"Probably not….Hey do you want to get some ice cream after school?"

"Sure why no-"

"ARE YOU TWO EVEN LISTENING! THAT'S IT OUT! OUT OF MY CLASS! OUT!"

*SLAM*

"Wow" Yuki and Yori muttered simultaneously while looking at each other shocked at what had just happened.

Looking at each other they were able to finally notice one anothers appearance.

Yuki's blond hair was tangled all together on the upper right side of her head making it look like she'd just woken up. She had a still slightly bloody scratch that marred her lower right chin and upper right cheek.

One of the sleeves of her white uniform t-shirt was pushed upwards and was twisted with her inner tank top. It currently looked like it was cutting off must of the circulation of her right arm. The other sleeve was slightly ripped and the rest of her shirt was covered in dirt. Some spots were darkened more than others by what looked like sand burn…you know instead of carpet burn or grass burn?...

Her skirt looked normal enough because she had stopped to take the time to fix it. However it was still slightly crooked with the right side having been pushed upwards from her fall. Her knees were also scrapped up and looked as if she'd been kneeling in gravel for at least an hour.

Then finally getting to the feet one of her shoes was untied and had pieces of gravel rock sticking inside of it. Her other foot was barely covered with what was once a white sock. Now one could only guess on how only the fall had caused it to turn such a dark and muddy color. You see one of Yuki's shoes had flown off and because of the race she'd decided to leave it for later.

However while Yuki looked like a sight for sore eyes Yori wasn't any better off. The only thing that was different between his and Yuki's appearance was that instead of dirt stains he had prickles sticking out of all his clothes and a huge amount of twigs in his hair.

Noticing each other's banged up appearances the both of them burst out into laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Man you look like you got hit by a truck Yuki!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah but you look like you got hit by a train!"

"Yeah but you look like after the truck you got hit by a train and then a boat!"

"OH YEAH! Well you look like you got hit by a-"

Later On

"Ok you two…So how exactly did you guys end up like this?"

Yori and I are sitting down on one of the picnic tables – there are literally hundreds of them spread around the town for people to sit on. I personally think it's a government conspiracy to try and get people to go outside more but I digress. I'm sitting down on the lower bench and Yori's on top of the table. We're under one of the oak trees so the sun isn't in our eyes and there's a light breeze every once in a while.

"HEY! Are you guys going to answer?"

Oh…and we're currently being yelled at by our best friend Miza Takana for being late again. School just ended and apparently someone told her about us getting kicked out of class. So, like she always does, Miza took it upon herself to yell at us as soon as we got out. Every time she yells at us, she keeps getting angrier and she looks really mad this time. Her hands are on her hips and she's standing a couple of feet in front of us but every time she yells she keeps inching closer. And her usually pale face matches her hair color… Miza has red hair, which is dyed of course but she makes it work so that it doesn't look like it. Her dark brown eyes are glaring at us and I swear if I hadn't known her since we were children I'd say one of her parents was a demon because hers eyes are SCARY!...Speaking of faces she's the only one of us three that doesn't have any freckles…. Miza is also taller than me some though she's still a little shorter than Yori. I'm jealous! Everyone's taller than me! Waaaaaaa-

"Hey, hey Mi-chaaaan~ I was late because Yuki kept slowing me down with her turtle like pace~ And then when she tripped, I turned around to help her, like the true gentlemen that I am, but the little monster tripped me."

I slowly turned my head over to Yori just in time to see him wink in my direction. I literally felt a tick go off on the side of my head.

"What do you mean it's MY pace that slowed you down? If I wasn't there to drag your butt, you would've be-"

"SHUT UP! The both of you!" Startled by Miza's outburst I jumped back down to my seat on the bench.

"I can't believe you two! You're always late!...AND to make it worse you didn't invite me to be late with you two! Moooh…."

Did I say she was angry at us for being late? Well, it's more like she's angry at us for not having her there to tag along…*sweat drop*

"You guys never tell me when you're going to be late!"

'…like we do it on purpose…..'

"It's not like we can control it." Yori obviously thought the same thing.

However I don't think Miza was listening to him because she suddenly got an evil glint in her eyes.

"Hmmmmmm~ Are you suuuure it isn't because you two aren't dating?"

My eyes went wide in shock and I swear my mouth literally dropped to the floor. Yori looked shocked as well…until he began laughing that is…he began rolling on the ground too….

"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough, cough* HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHA- I- HAHHAHA – can't – HAHAHHAHA believe that – HAHAHHAHA – you even suggested – HAHAHAHHAA – Me and the monkey – HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I think I feel that tick returning….

Ten minutes later

"HAHAHHAHAHAHA! Wow! Miza I haven't laughed that much…ever!"

Now I really wanted to rip off that stupid smirk off of his face….I'd bet he'd look better without it.

From the corner of my eye I saw that Miza had begun backing away from the stupid, crazy, idiotic, slow, dumb Yori. When she got a couple feet away she grabbed my arm and began running like crazy down the street.

"HAHAHHAAHA, You'll never catch us alive Yori!"

Looking back I saw Yori completely stock still…Now I didn't feel as bad about the idiot laughing at me. He began chasing after us, a second later while yelling about waiting for him to catch up. However we just kept running and eventually the only sound we could hear were our feet hitting the pavement and our panting. We started to slow down after a while and looked back to see if Yori had caught up. He hadn't so we stopped, waiting for him to catch up. Our hands rested on our knees while we tried to catch our breath back. Looking around to see where we were I noticed that we were in Miza's neighborhood.

"Hey…Yuki-chan…is there anything going on…between you and Yori?"

I looked over at Miza, her face was completely serious. I had thought that Miza had liked Yori for a while now. I hadn't said anything about it though because for some reason…I'd felt like it would break the friendship we all held with one another…like if Miza really did like Yori and we later found out he liked Miza, we wouldn't be the same anymore. It was selfish but I didn't want that to end…I didn't want anything to change so I said one thing that I will regret for the rest of my life. The one thing that I knew would keep Miza from going after Yori and that would keep things the way that they were. I put a small smile on my face and stuttered out a "How did you know?"

As soon as I said it, I could literally feel Miza deflate. Her eyes looked miserable and I regretted saying it right then and there. I wanted to take it back so badly, but I didn't because I was too selfish. I wanted things the way that they had always been.

"Oh…" Her shoulders slumped for a second and I decided to tell her the truth. Tell her it was just a joke because the look in her now dead eyes haunted me. But right when I opened my big mouth to tell her she interrupted me with a shake of her head.

"You don't have to go into details, I'm sure you'll tell me more when you're ready. And of course I would know Yuki, I'm your best friend. Best friends always know."

The guilt stabbed at my heart because I did know that this was hurting my friend…and I had done it on purpose. I had to fix it.

"Mi-"

"I'm Happy for you Yuki! You and Yori!" She gave me a smile that was so fake, it hurt to look at. I didn't want to tell her anymore…If she found out I'd lied to her she'd be mad at me and I didn't want that. So I didn't say anything and eventually we started walking to Miza's house deciding that Yori had probably gone home. We walked the rest of the way to Miza's house in silence. A silence that pricked at my skin and reminded me of the lie I had told.

'Why, why did I say that?'

Because you're sssselfisssh, evil.

'Selfish...Evil…Selfish…Selfish...Selfi-"

"Bye Yuki-chan."

I quickly looked up. We'd arrived at Miza's house already and she started walking up the pathway. Her eyes were just as dead as they were when I told her my horrible lie.

"Wait! Miza!"

She looked back, head barely lifting up and shoulders slumped forward.

"…Never mind! See you tomorrow!" I couldn't do it…I was too selfish.

Miza nodded her head and turned back around. I stood outside her house for I don't know how long before a light went on in Miza's bedroom. I turned away from the house and started walking home, regret starting to form in my heart.

When I eventually got home I went straight to my bedroom, feeling too sick for dinner. I told my parents I wasn't feeling well and got the rest of the night to myself. I laid down on my bed in the darkness of my room and looked at the ceiling above. Just staring up at the white ceiling and at the small cracks in it. I laid there and thought about what had happened for the rest of the night. Eventually the guilt got to me and I decided to tell her the truth in the morning. I even went on my laptop chat to see if she was on, so I could tell her. However her username read offline. So I went to bed, finally being able to get some sleep with the thought that I would tell Miza the truth in the morning….Too bad I would never get the chance.

The Next Day

The next morning I woke up at 6 in the morning – a time far from normal for me, especially because it was the weekend. However, that morning I felt anxious to get the truth out to Miza. To hurry up and go over to her house to talk to her about what I had done. But even I know that going over to her house at 6 is too early. So I decided to go out for a jog.

While I ran I tried to keep my head as empty as I could. I didn't want to think about what I had done and what was going to happen. So I tried just listening to my feet slapping against the pavement and nothing else.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

Sl-'Miza…'

Slap.

Slap.

S-'Yori…They won't be able to forgive me…How could they. Why wou-…No'

I shook my head trying to rid myself of my thoughts. I shouldn't think like that if I wanted to build up the courage to talk to Miza. I Couldn't. Unless I wanted to run back home again like the coward I was. So I kept running listening only to the sound of my feet hitting the ground.

Eventually I started running towards Miza's house. I decided it was time to go over there to talk to her before I really did decide not to do it. When I got there all the lights in the house were off except the one to Miza's bedroom. Which while it was already…11:30am (according to my watch) it was normal for Miza's parents to stay out of town for weeks on end because of business. Which when that happened Miza tended to stay in her bedroom. She always said that 'an empty house, scares me…It's like an empty heart: cold and barren.'

I walked up to the house rather quickly; however when I got there I hesitated at ringing the doorbell.

'This is it…The end of our friendship…'

Just as I started lowering my hand, a flash of Miza's depressed face swept into my head. Her eyes dead, and her face sunken. It was all the motivation a I needed to finally ring the doorbell.

*RING*

I waited, shuffling from one foot to the other. My palms started sweating and I could hear my heart pounding. I could already feel her angered eyes on me. Telling me she could never trust me again. I shook my head to rid the thought and rang the bell again.

*RING, RING*

The blood coursing through my veins stated flowing faster and I could feel the adrenaline start pumping. I was nervous, anxious, and afraid. Yes very afraid for the anger I was sure to see, the hatred that would surely be directed at me. After what felt like hours of waiting – actually only 20 minutes according to my watch – I rested my forehead against the door. The cool surface cooled down my overheating skin. Seconds passed. Minutes passed. It felt like an eternity passed as I waited for Miza to open the door. I felt mad, like I was going insane from just waiting. I continuously thought about what I was going to have to tell Miza. That I lied. That I was a horrible person. A terrible worthless ugl-

'Monster.'

'Yes ugly monster. Disgusting ugly lower than dirt mons-'

"Dammit! Why won't Miza open the door!"

I slammed my hand against the front door in impatience. Hating how long this was dragging out. Just as my hand connected with the wood though the door gave inward; giving out an ominous creek along with it.

'Wait?...Why's the door unlocked?'

My confusion drove me forward and I pushed the door inward. Just enough so I could peak into the dark room. Everything was covered in darkness. Miza's shoes were carelessly thrown down near the door and the items in her school bag were strewn across the floor. My heart started pounding for an entirely different reason than before. My skin started prickling and my ears pounding. I pushed the door open and I took a step into her house. Suddenly very aware of the overbearing silence.

AN: Hey guys thanks for reading everything. I've combined all of the other chapters together into this one chapter but I did go over it and add some plot into, so try and reread it. Thanks again to everyone who's been reading but please try and review so I now how I'm doing and if I should add anything. Thanks and until next time

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