#2 of 25 - 24 More Days till Christmas!
AN: Hiroki belongs to Halcyon Clouds also known as Sal.
Tree Killing Weed
by Miname
"So you're leaving.."
I sighed at the comment that was more of a reminder of crime than a muse, in exasperation with a slight tinge of remorse.
"Yes! How many times do I have to tell you?" I cried out miserably, "Are you just trying to remind me – that – that….whatever." I slumped forward and my stride decreased in depression.
A girl with a cute smile that didn't match my mood by an inch popped up in front of me. I could tell another reminder was going to come from a single look at the human book.
With a cheeky grin, my friend piped up like a bird, "Yes! I'm trying to remind you that you will be leaving Prontera on my birthday, not to mention on Christmas, in which you are going to Payon where they don't celebrate Christmas and have no snow, and that we had promised when we were little that we would be friends fore-"
"Shut up!" I yelled angrily as my depression level increased. I hit this so-called friend, Hanalei, on the head. I heard a strange yet expected hollow sound resound back which painted a cruel grin on my face.
"Are you so hollow that you can't understand that your evil efforts to make me stay are going to cause me to fall under depression and starve to death!"
Lei popped away like a groundhog on a cloudy day before popping back beside me. I groaned – trying to follow Lei was like trying to trace lightening before it disappeared, which was obviously, impossible.
Lei rolled her eyes in mock thought, a teasing smile forming on her lips, "Maybe….And………"
Another groan escaped my mouth. Her next action was so obvious and incredibly annoying that I could almost hate her to the moon and back as people put it, if she wasn't such an annoyingly fun person, not to mention my longest lasting friend.
"Don't say anything," I threatened under my breath. Immediately, I regretted my words.
Unperturbed, or, more accurately, encouraged, Lei's grin spread across her face forming a long line rather than lips.
"Are you going to confess?"
I felt a slight blush spread on my face which I tried to squeeze away using mind power.
"No, and I don't know what you're talking about," I said out loud. I felt like smacking myself afterwards – I sounded like a dope and one hundred percent unconvincing.
Lei sprinted in ahead of me and then walked backwards to join me. This time, her face was dead serious. I felt like I was being choked by it.
"Seriously, are you really going to leave without telling him? I mean, I know he's probably gay and likes some other girl who probably likes him back so that they have a happy couple, but if you don't go and get rejected it will haunt you for the rest of your life!"
I felt peer pressure get tossed on my shoulder and suddenly, walking seemed so much more complicated then I thought. I had a kind of obsession over this high priest who everybody said was handsome but probably gay and this other girl liked him and I could tell he liked her back though it wasn't too obvious.
"Hopeless. In plus, I'm not the possessive type of person. I don't steal things from other people if I really see the bright future," I muttered miserably.
Skipping in front of me, with the 'I really mean it look' plastered all over her face, Lei stared at me, slightly worried.
"You know, you're the type of person that writes suicide notes on a daily basis only to be stopped when you remember you have to do something first," remarked Lei sympathetically, "But you should really try. You might get a mistle toe!"
I laughed out dryly. Suicide notes on a daily basis…though I didn't do that, it really fitted my personality so much I wondered incredulously why I hadn't strapped myself to a rock, killed everyone I know and jumped off a cliff leaving only a love note before cringing – it sounded kind of stupid.
"What a nice thought. Did you know that mistle toe is a tree killing parasitic vine weed?" I answered, a grin on my face, "Not to mention one of the least wanted plant if it's is not dead and dried into an ornament?"
I wasn't sure if Lei was listening since she was looking to her right, her hazel eyes concentrating on something not to far away before relaxing and twinkling in excitement. Lei turned around, fully energized, her long brown hair whipping around her.
"No time for thought!" she cried out, "Somebody's coming!" – and then she sprinted off.
Immediately, in panic, I turned to my right and saw a very familiar figure approaching closely. Looking the other way, I managed to push down a slight blush and gain control.
"Hello, Keuresia."
I turned to see a high priest with black and strangely cute black eyes though nobody else thought so.
Tightening my insides into a puppet under my control, I kept in my panic and went into my cool and calm mode. I should have acted normally, but I couldn't come out of my awake coma state.
"Oh, hi Hiroki."
Waving innocently and oblivious to the pressure I put myself into, he passed me, shoulder to shoulder. When he brushed past me, I could feel his presence overpower me and I almost cried. My shoulders slumped but I didn't remove my stone face or say a thing since once you become the puppet, only the puppeteer could set you free – my control was long gone now.
Finally, I realized that I would be leaving in just an hour or so. I remembered what Lei said – haunt me for the rest of my life. She was right. The master manipulator let go of my puppet strings and I felt the real me gain control.
I turned around, almost desperately with my hair whipping to the side, but Hiro was gone. I felt crushed, not because Hiro didn't like me – I'd already accepted that. But right now, I was being presented with unbearable pressure. Somehow, I felt like a squished bug, the fact that I couldn't speak to him made me feel weak, that I couldn't live anymore since I'd be crushed anyways by the bigger, more powerful.
When a hot tear slid down my cheek, I wasn't sure if I was me anymore. The last I remembered, the real me took no nonsense, was the strongest person in the entire sniper population, and the one of the most respected people in the world being the great respected and willful heir of Juno who everyone knew by one look would bring the world to it's second true golden age.
Suddenly, I felt struck flat with realization – then If that was so, why didn't I just tell Hiro with a straight face my feelings and then dump him out like me?
Turning on my heels, wiping away tears, I ran after the place I had last place I remembered Hiro would probably be. To my relief, he was sitting against a tree relaxing and staring at the sky. My heart skipped a beat when I saw his hair fall softly against his cheek, but I restrained any unwanted reactions.
I tapped him on the shoulder. His head lifted up and I saw the piece of hair fall aside lazily.
"Keuresia?" he asked.
I smiled, keeping my calm. I put my hand on Hiro's shoulder.
"Hey. I'm leaving in one hour for Payon…..I just wanted you to know I love you."
I saw Hiro's mouth drop open in shock, all signs of sleepiness gone. I could easily tell what he was going to say from developed skill but I cut him off.
"But I know you like Yuresia so I won't bother you - I'm okay."
Not waiting for any response, I turned tail and walked away.
After the first few steps, I burst out crying for no reason at all. I felt a strange loss that wasn't mine. I sobbed and wiped tears – not real tears though, just a human impulse on losing something.
"You got jilted?"
I looked through a blur of tears and smiled as sincerely as I could to Lei who probably had been stretching her neck to death to see what had happened.
"Yeah – kinda."
Lei popped up in front of me, her over-sized swordswoman dress swinging side to side. Leaning forward to study me carefully, she commented, "You're crying."
"Hmm?"
I lifted a hand to wipe away remaining tears. I shrugged my shoulders, in wonder.
"Actually, I kind of jilted myself." I muttered sheepishly.
I saw Lei's mouth open in protest. I cut her off before she spoke.
"Anyways, Christmas was never a lucky time. Last year, the snow melted before I could make a snow fort and this year, I'm moving," I added, hopeful for Lei to stop pestering me.
My best friend shut her mouth in thought.
"At least you're not going to be with a gay person," she suddenly piped up, reenergized, eyes wide open in expectancy.
My hand came down to bonk Lei on the head. My life felt strangely better after hearing the empty bucket sound one more time.
"Hiro is not gay," I decided out loud, "I don't fall for gay people…." For a moment, my mind dwelled on the thought, feeling as if it missed something,
I felt a click in my mind and snapped my fingers, my eyes opened in shock.
"Or maybe since I don't love gay people so that's why me and Hiro aren't together!" I suddenly remarked, spirits raised at such a radical thought. "Hiro is gay!"
My steps quickened as strange thoughts swirled into my mind. I didn't quite notice what Lei was doing behind me since my mind was occupied and only her presence was there. Three minutes later, I almost didn't realize it was snowing.
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AN: Moussi is going up the stage:D