"Sekai, darling, help me carry these out of the kitchen OK?" I cringed as I heard her call me 'Sekai' again. Why couldn't she just have given me some sort of Americanized name? I sighed, following behind her, like the pouty and angsty teenager I am. It wasn't so long until we finally made it into the kitchen, and she moved out of the way to show me a couple of cardboard boxes. I moved a few inches closer to them, and saw what was inside, and furrowed a brow.

"Really mom? These stupid cups again?" The cardboard boxes were lined with about 30 different glass cups in which she always explained to be "collectors items". My mother bit her lower lip, and placed her hands upon her waist like she always does when she's angry. "Sekai Higurashi, watch you're tone with me young man! And I'll have you know these aren't just any cups..." She sniffled, bending down to the height of the cardboard cubes, "These are ONE OF A KIND COLLECTORS ITEMS." I shrugged and looked away as she growled at me, but if I was in a better mood I could of finished that repetitive sentence. "Now, you're a young strapping man – get your ass over here and help me move these boxes - ok sweetie?" If I could describe mom in 1 word it would be "Bi-polar", but she's actually more complex than that. I, of course, had to help her because she was my mother, after all. And then, as soon as I finished setting down the last box I quickly scurried back into my room before she even realized I was gone.

xxx

"Finally, I'm all alone..." I thought after shutting the door in my room – that was until I accidentally bumped into a body that was shorter than mine in height. We both collided, and I admit – I might have shrieked.
"Jesus Kyle, watch where you're going?" Said the girl on the floor which happened to be my cousin, and which happened to be sharing a room with me. My face filled with gloom as reality hit me, and I realized I couldn't have my private relaxing time alone.

This person is Aki – but her full name is Akira. It's supposed to be a boys name (but not that I really care and know all that much about Japanese names...), which is interesting because she's quite the tomboy, and about my same age, just a year younger than I am. Her hair is cut right above her ears in a bob-like fashion, and she has deep blue eyes – she inherited them from her father. As you can see, my whole security is in a downward spiral – first off I'm sharing a room with my femalecousin. I don't have anything against her, but it's hard for the both of us to get dressed or do anything, really. To be blunt, it's very awkward, and sometimes she can be nosy. Well, anyhow, you'll see her personality sooner or later...

"Sorry dude, I was kind of in a daze..." I trailed off, looking at the wall. A new poster caught my attention – I wasn't sure what it was, but I really didn't feel like bringing it up or anything. It was probably Aki's poster, and it was on her side of the bedroom, so she was in the code green here. "Oh, the poster?" Aki's face lit up. It was almost like she was following my eyes and pinpointing where I was looking at, like a malevolent marksman or something. Creepy.

"It's from True Grit – it's a good movie you know, and I found that poster at one of those outlet stores dad took me to, and I was so happy I found it..." She then immediately stopped as she could sense that I was beginning to get lost in her babble. "I'm sorry, am I going on too much?" Aki asked, putting on one of those sad puppy faces. Oh god, not the face. Please, not the face.I frowned and thought.

"W-what? No! Sorry I'm just tired." I stretched my arms, heading toward my bed to lay down. Aki's head turned slightly, almost of that to a confused animal. She then sat on the edge of my bed, facing towards me. "What do you mean, 'Tired'? It's a Saturday! You can't possibly be tired on a Saturday!" She crossed her arms, waiting for my response. For some strange reason, Akira was never tomboyish around me – in fact, she was somewhat...feminine around me. I always wondered why...

I rolled my eyes, and raised the position of my upper body just a bit. "Yeah, a Saturday when my mom is trying to organize all her stupid collectors cups. Where the hell does she get all those cups anyway..." I shook my head, then went back down on my bed.

There was a silence, then I heard a slight giggle from Akira. I felt her get off of my bed then moved to her side of bedroom. "Yeah, your mom is strange." She stated, a tad bluntly. "Not any stranger than your parents!" I laughed, maybe slightly offended that she called my mom strange. Well, yeah she is strange – but you really don't want to hear that from somebody else, you know? It's almost like when a bully doesn't want other kids picking on their victim. Ok, that was a weird metaphor, but anyway, her parents were kind of odd too.

"Duh, we're the Higurashi family." She shrugged, smirking. I nodded, and she had a point. Our whole family was wack – and we all knew it. Well, maybe just me and Aki had that vibe.

Everything was a little silent for awhile. Aki was on her side of the room, and I was trying to get myself comfortable, just laying on my bed. It was way to bright outside to even close my eyes, so I just lay there with my eyes open, looking around my room. My eyes then landed on an old picture of my, my dad, and my mom when I was about 4 years old. I never noticed it, but my hair was white back then, even. I always thought of it as some sort of normal thing...

"Hey Aki?" I asked, trying to grab a piece of my own hair. (which was kind of hard because it was cut short.) Akira turned from where she was standing at and looked at me with a puzzled expression. "...Y-yeah Kyle, whats up?" I sat up from my bed, and swung my legs around so that they were on the floor. "Have you ever seen anyone as young as me with white...silver...grey – whatever the heck this color is, hair?" I said, ruffling my hair up. She was about to say something, when I stopped her. "BESIDES my dad." My cousin then smirked, and tried to think. I then saw her expression change. "Well...I guess not." She shrugged, almost like if it didn't matter. "Are you sure – are you really REALLY sure?" I bombarded her again with the same question, and she began to look a little agitated now.

"NO, Kyle! Err! What do you want me to say? NO, I have never seen someone with natural white hair!" She growled, and I made a gesture to make her lower her voice. "Well, what I'm trying to say is that it's just not...normal! And look, my teeth don't even look like human teeth!" I opened my mouth, bearing my odd canine-like teeth. However, she still didn't seem impressed, or just not hinting on to the message, and she just turned around, trying not to face me. "Aki...!" I scowled, getting up from the bed and invading her side of the room. She glared at me, giving me the "If you touch me I swear to god I'll rip you into pieces" look, and I slowly tried to back off a little. "Aki...you're the only one I actually get along with in this house. I don't want to be the only one thinking about this." I tried to butter her up, hoping she could somehow understand my confusion.

"Well Kyle...actually, you're not the only one." Her voice came to a whisper, and she looked around paranoid-like, and gestured for me to get down behind her bed. "You know my dad's hand? You never see it without that cloth, right?" I tried to think back to picture my Uncles' hand. It wasn't easy at first, but then I knew exactly what she was talking about, and then nodded. "Well, I've never seen my fathers hand without it. I remember one time, when I was really little, I was curious about what was behind that cloth – and my father would always avoid the subject if I ever brought it up – so one day I went into my parents bedroom while they were sleeping, and I carefully and slowly tried to take it off...then my father quickly awoke, forcefully grabbed me by the arm, and told me never to take the cloth off ever again, or ever bring the subject up. That was the most serious I ever saw my father, and so I never tried to bring it up."

I tried to absorb the story, and came to a conclusion that it just didn't sound normal, either. "So Kyle, you're right about everything being not right...-" Without really knowing it, I grabbed the sleeve of her black boyish shirt, and looked into her eyes. "We have to figure this out Aki! Maybe the Higurashi family isn't just a 'weird' family, what if there's something our parents aren't telling us about!" I shook the sleeves of her shirt, again, not realizing I was doing it, and I waited for her answer.

Sorry the chapter took so long to upload. x.x I'm going on a 2 week trip starting Monday, so I won't be able to update - but I'll be writing in an old fashioned notebook. XD I'll update chapter two before I leave on Monday!