So...not much to say...I'm really tired...
The dialogue in this chapter is meant to be in Japanese, as are Noodle's sentences at the end.
Chapter 1- Box
January 1998.
As a loud whistle sounded, everyone came out of their bunks and lined up in a dead perfect single file line. My brother slipped his hand into mine. We were two of twenty-three children being specially trained as supersoldiers. Along with being taught skills needed for battle, we were also taught a special skill- my brother and I both taught musical instruments. Today we were nervous. It wasn't like General Takeuchi to call us out so early in the morning. We were all dead silent as he made a 'very important announcement'. "I called you out early because the government has ordered I destroy all of you." The children began whispering fearfully to each other. "SILENCE!" General Takeuchi yelled. We all quieted down. "You have less than twenty four hours to say your final good-byes. At this time tomorrow, you will all be de-activated and destroyed. Back to bunk!"
"Yes sir!" we all responded in perfect unison. Then we trekked back to the bunks and had conversations with the others about how we didn't want to say goodbye to each other. The bunks were split into four, two bunks with boys and two with girls. I shared mine with five other girls- Aoi, Chika, Tori, Ishi, and Amaya, otherwise known as 5, 9, 18, 4, and 7. We are all seven years old.
That night, I didn't sleep at all. I was so nervous because I was going to be destroyed. I'm sure everyone was. Suddenly I heard someone whisper my name. "Etsu! Etsu! Come here!" I got off my bunk and tip-toed to the window. "I'm getting you out of this, grab my hand!" It was Mr. Kyuzo. My brother was down below. I climbed on a bunch of boxes, and Mr. Kyuzo grabbed my hand and pulled me out. "Follow me," he said, "And keep quiet."
We ran as fast as we could behind Kyuzo. I was having difficulty running. We had uniform pajamas as well. The boys wore a top and pants which looked large on them. The girls wore a simple dress sort of thing that went to our knees. Both were made from white cotton. Suddenly I fell. Masaru came back and helped me up. We caught up to Mr. Kyuzo, and then hopped in his car, gasping for air. "We made it," he said as he fumbled to put his keys into the ignition.
When we arrived at his flat, Masaru and I sat down on the sofa and breathed. That's all we did, we breathed. Then we looked at each other, and we laughed some, because we had made it. Mr. Kyuzo came in after. "Okay, you need to listen."
"Yes Mr. Kyuzo?"
"You are NOT to leave this building, understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"I did happen to pick up a few pieces of clothing for you to wear for now. Just a few. You both have a couple shirts and a couple pairs of trousers, and one set of more comfortable pyjamas, as well as some underpants and one pair of shoes. That's all you'll need for now."
"These are pretty uncomfortable," Masaru said. "Where are they?"
Kyuzo pointed to the door next to the sofa. We both got up and searched through the drawers in the dresser. Masaru picked up a pair of blue silk shorts. "Etsu, I think these are yours," Masaru said, then he tossed them to me. I put them on underneath my nightgown, and then looked back to Masaru, only to be hit in the face by a matching blue tank top. I took my nightgown off then put the shirt on. Needless to say, it was much more comfortable than what I was wearing before. The room we were in was like a spare bedroom. There were two double beds which had been nicely prepared and looked awfully comfortable. Kyuzo knocked on the door. "Are you dressed?" he asked.
"Yes!" I said.
"Almost," Masaru said immediately after. Then he pulled a t-shirt over his head. "Okay, now I am."
Kyuzo walked in. "Okay, well, it's really late and I think you two need to rest up. If the government knows you are here, I will get you both to safety."
"Where?" I asked.
"Somewhere far."
"Like?"
"I was thinking maybe America or England, maybe Canada."
"But what about our skills?"
"I'll have to wipe your memory. It's the only way."
I sighed. "Well, better than de-activating AND destroying us. At least one day, we'll be normal kids."
"Maybe. I'll have to find a family for you to live with. And then you'll have to learn English all over again. And English is a hard language to learn, as is every language out there. Even your own."
"I'm sure it is."
"You went through a tough course back there. I'm extremely proud of the both of you."
"Thank you, Kyuzo-sensei. You are a great help, and a wonderful teacher."
"Good night you two."
Masaru and I lay awake talking about our family. "Maybe we'll see mom and dad again!" Masaru said excitedly. "Maybe we will. Kyuzo knows where they are, maybe we have a little brother or sister now!"
"Maybe!"
The next morning at breakfast, I decided to ask about our parents. "Kyuzo?"
"Hm?" he said as he flipped a pancake.
"Where are our parents? How are they?"
"Etsu...Masaru..."
"What?"
"Your mother and father are dead."
"WHAT?" I spat.
"They had a baby girl about four years ago. The next year, they died in an earthquake in Kobe in 1995."
"So, we're orphans now?"
"Yes."
"Masaru! Did you hear that?" I said, with tears filling my eyes. "We don't have parents!"
"I heard," he said, also with tears in his eyes.
Two weeks passed and we had heard nothing about being sent off to some other safer place. I grew so bored I actually cried about it. It wasn't very fun having to sit around the flat all day, but at least there was a TV in there- we just had to keep it low because Kyuzo's neighbors were old and couldn't tolerate noise. He had a normal day job, but he never told us what it was. All we knew was that he worked from 9-4:30, and usually picked up some kind of treat for us on the way back. He's like a father to us and he's trying to protect us. Today he had a huge surprise when he came back from work.
"What is it?" Masaru said with a huge smile on his face.
"I think I found a home for you," he said. He had a magazine in hand and on the side was a large advertisement that read, "Global Phenomenon seek guitarist for World domination. Blah blah blah. GSOH required. No hippies."
"What does this mean?" I asked.
"You're going to be in a band!"
"YES!" Masaru and I high-fived.
"I need to de-activate you though. Remember, act innocent."
"Yes sir!"
Kyuzo had a large crate for us. He placed my guitar inside. Masaru and I shared it. We had to get in the crate in the lobby, as it didn't fit in the elevator. I got in first, but when I looked down, I saw two government officials dragging my brother's body away, and Kyuzo telling them I ran away. My brother was dead- his face was pale and he wasn't breathing. I climbed back down into the crate, and silently mourned my brother's loss, curled up in a ball with my eyes closed.
The next thing I knew I heard strange voices coming from outside. "Yeh got yerself a tigah, Muds?" one of them said. I was confused. I peeked out one of the holes in my box and saw three men- one that had green skin and mismatched eyes with greasy hair, one that was tall with pale skin, blue hair, and black eyes, and one who was chunky, black, and had cue-ball eyes. I didn't know if I was supposed to be scared, creeped out, grossed out, or excited. I grabbed my guitar and kicked open the lid with my leg up as high as it could, played a really loud guitar riff, then bowed. "Yew got us a kid! A little boy!" the blue-haired one said. Little boy? For some reason, I had no idea what he said! "Where am I?" I tried to say. It came out in Japanese, and for some reason, I forgot how to speak English! I'm going crazy! I thought.
I wanted to tell them my name, so I bowed politely and said, "Noodle." Noodle? NOODLE? You couldn't be more creative? my concience yelled.
"2D, yew knuckle'ead!" the green one yelled to the blue-haired one. "Tha'ssa girl, not a boy, genius!" Thank you green one, for clearing that up for him.
"Nani ga anata no namae desu ka?" I asked. In Japanese. Not English. They looked at me like I had a disgusting growth on me. "Anata wa no namae?" I asked.
"I fink she wants t'know our names," the blue-haired one said politely.
"Yeh fink?" the green one said rudely. "Well," he then said to me, "I'm Murdoc, th' lard's Russel, an' th' freak is 2D."
"Yorushiku ne."
"Wo'ss yer name?"
"Nani?" I didn't understand what he said.
"Your name?"
"Noodle!" I shouted.
"Noodle?" the green one said as he cocked an eyebrow.
"Noodle."
"Noodle...wot kinda name is tha'-"
"NOODLE!"
There was a brief silence as I walked over to him and smelled him. I gagged. He smelled like a horse that just rolled around in its own waste, and his breath smelled like vomit, beer, and cigarettes. "You smell bad!" I said in Japanese.
"Ey Muds," 2D started, "I fink she jus' insulted yew!"
"Shaddap Faceache."
"Madokku, anata wa heikin desu."
Suddenly, it was silent again. I rubbed my belly. "I'm hungry."
"Yew wanna snack?" 2D asked.
"Snack? What's 'snack'?" I asked in Japanese.
"Y'know, food!"
"Tabemono wa?"
"Um, like waffles? Pizza?"
"Pizza? Yo sa so ne."
"I take tha' as a yes." So pizza it is...whatever the heck that is.
I think I'm going to like it here.
A/N: KSJAKJKAJSD. That took forever to write! And I had to pull up PGD to do the end D: oh well.