Full Moon
Trite and Tribulation
The next morning, I woke up earlier than I think I ever have, dragging myself out of bed. I went through the motions of brushing my long, auburn hair into an unraveling bun, putting a bit of makeup on the lids of my forest green eyes, and slipping on the ugly, much-too-short school-girl skirt I knew I had to wear that day.
It was the sight of the skirt billowing from my frame that truly woke me up, made me blink. I felt an immediate sense of discomfort as I stared into the mirror at it, adjusting the sailor-like shirt. I'd been prepared to wear a short skirt before coming to Japan, knowing that was what they did, but somehow...actually having it on made me feel sick. Annoyed. Grouchy, even.
I didn't want to be wearing it. But I knew, seeing that uniform finally on me, that I was going to have to learn to adapt while I was in Japan.
I wasn't home. I couldn't get things my way. This was as much of a test as it was an adventure, and I was just going to have to deal with it.
After maybe ten minutes in the bathroom (I never was one for vanity), I exited, grabbing my book-bag for school - which didn't look anything like the bag I carried back home, really more like a briefcase. I took one last glance at the mirror before I headed to the dining room (was it called a dining room here?), where there sat breakfast waiting.
I stifled a yawn as I sat down at the table, hoping the rings under my tired eyes looked better now that I'd applied makeup. I hadn't slept very well, and I was feeling the jet-lag.
I'd had another dream - though this one had been devoid of Rin, and had been more of a nightmare than anything.
I'd been falling again, like Alice, strange creatures coming from the darkness and surrounding me. I'd been screaming, my mouth open wide, but somehow the sound of my screams had been blotted out, sucked out of me. All I'd heard was the moving of the creatures around me as I'd fallen; all I'd seen had been their eyes, their flashing teeth. And just when I'd thought that I would hit the bottom of the hole I was falling through, I'd seen a bright flash of light, and then -
"Are you feeling okay?" it was Souta's voice that woke me from my reverie. I snapped my eyes open as I jumped, looking at him across the table from me. Somehow, I must have fallen into a day dream, my lack of sleep already plaguing me. I could see the remnants of the dream I'd had the night before when I blinked. "You look kind of awful."
I laughed at Souta's honesty, trying to bring a smile to my face. "No, I'm fine," I lied through my teeth, though the lie sounded truthful, and I saw his worry evaporate as he began to believe it. "I'm just a little worried about my classes today. Going to a new school is a bit frightening," I looked down at the table when I said that, this part of my confession true.
I was scared of going to a new school. I'd gone to the same school and been with the same friends my whole life (since, in my town, there was only one school building). It would have been different if I'd just moved to a new town, was starting a new life, but I wasn't. I was in a whole other country. And for only a semester. By the time I got used to things, I'd already have to leave.
I shivered as my falling dream flashed through my mind again, glancing away from the table and food to look at one of the sliding doors, behind which lay Kagome.
It didn't look as if Souta's sister was feeling any better today, even though I'd been hoping all night that she would miraculously recover from whatever illness plagued her, and be able to come to school with me.
It's an adventure. I reminded myself as I looked back at Souta, faked another smile, and started eating my breakfast. It's just school. Even though you don't know anyone, and it's in a different country, it can't be the scariest thing out there.
Though, I doubted there would be anything more terrifying than school that I would face while I was in Japan.
School ended up being much different than I expected. I was only in the building two minutes, trying to pull down my short skirt again, somehow make it stretch miraculously, before I was bombarded by students.
"You're the foreigner, aren't you?" a group of girls were the first to notice me. They all looked to be about my age, and all had big smiles on their faces.
I nodded, though I thought it was kind of obvious. Of course I was a foreigner - I certainly didn't look Japanese. And once I opened my mouth, they'd hear my American accent.
"Yes," I finally said as I glanced at each of them, feeling myself relax a little bit as I took in their smiles. So far, my day wasn't going too bad, though it had only just started. "My name is Luna, and I'm going to be in…" I paused for a moment as I blinked, taking a slip of paper out of my bag. I stared at it for a moment, trying to read the kanji quickly (which was hard since, though I'd been studying them, they weren't nearly as easy to recognize as the romanic letters, which I'd been seeing from birth). After a moment, I gave up, and handed the slip to one of the girls in front of me.
The girls all crowded around me to look at my paper, reading it as one. I saw their faces break into smiles.
"I knew it!" one girl exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow for an explanation as she handed the slip back to me. "There's a rumor that's been going around, about a foreign exchange student - that's how we recognized you," she didn't say anything about my looks, how much I stood out, even if my uniform was the same. "We were hoping you might be in our class, and you are!" she reached forward to grasp my hands excitedly. "Tell me, Luna-san, where are you staying?"
I stared at the girl a moment before I replied, trying to think of the best way to handle this.
Though I'd studied the culture, I hadn't expected my fellow students to be so nice. I had thought that, maybe, they might not like having a foreigner in their class - especially an American. I supposed I was lucky because they didn't seem to mind me, and they were nice enough.
"I'm staying with the Higurashi's," I explained to the girl, whose face brightened even more at the name, if that were physically possible. "You must know their daughter - Kagome-san? She's also in our class, though she's ill right now…" I sighed on that note as the girl finally let go of me, connecting once again with the semi-circle that made up her friends.
I really felt bad for Kagome. From what her mother had told me, she'd been excited that I was coming, excited to meet me, and yet she was sick, confined to her room and her bed. It must have been awful to be sick all of the time…it was a wonder she could keep up with her classes.
But, since I was starting at her school, when she got well, maybe I could help her study. It would be a good way to get to know her, anyway.
"You're staying with Kagome-chan?" I assumed from the enthusiastic squeal from the girls that they knew Kagome. "How is she feeling? What does she have this time?" the girls looked sad when they mentioned her sickness, but then they glanced at one another in unison, grinned, and leaned in towards me.
"So, have you met her boyfriend yet?" the girl with the shortest hair asked as I frowned at her, not liking being concerned like a caged dog. "He's a two-timer, you know. You should be careful."
This surprised me, and I blinked.
Kagome's boyfriend was a two-timer? Her family didn't seem like the type of people who would allow that, but…then again, I hadn't actually met Kagome yet. Maybe she didn't mind.
Or, maybe she refused to believe it. I couldn't be sure which.
Not that it was my business, anyway.
"I actually haven't seen Kagome-san yet, so no, I haven't met her boyfriend, either," I shrugged as the girls deflated, obviously having hoped that I would share with them some juicy gossip - it didn't seem to matter what country you were in; everyone loved to hear gossip. "I just arrived at the shrine yesterday, in fact. I'm still getting used to everything," the girls leaned away from me now that I wasn't quite as interesting.
I bowed to the mob, knowing it was polite. "I'm very please to meet all of you, though. Thank you for welcoming me," they bowed in turn, and I wanted to laugh.
Ten minutes maybe, and I already had friends. My confidence was feeling boosted. Why had I thought that school would be terrifying? If I could face this, then surely I could face anything.
The girls continued to chat with me as we headed down the hall, towards our first class.
School progressed that day the way that all school days do: I had a lot of work to complete, I talked with my new friends (who I actually came to like), and I got lost more than one time trying to make it to class. None of those things bothered me in the least bit. What bothered me was the looks I got from everyone I passed - the stares they gave me, as if they'd never seen a foreigner before.
"Don't worry about it. They'll stop staring in a few days," one of Kagome's friends told me as we exited mathematics - I couldn't remember her name. I had too much on my mind, and the name really didn't seem to suit her, anyway. "For now, let's head to our next class," she smiled at me cheerily.
There was only one class left at that point - English, which I didn't know why I was in anyway, since I'd grown up speaking the language. All of the students filed into the little room after me and my group, taking their seats. I tucked my still annoyingly too short skirt under my legs as I sat down.
The professor came in a few minutes later. He was actually kind of tall, and had blue eyes. His accent wasn't that bad, and he spoke English pretty well, but I found myself bored after a few minutes.
So, after some debate, I took a notebook out of my bag and set it on my desk, opening it to a blank page. I glanced around once to make sure I was hidden (which I was, since my friends were sitting in front of me, and we were towards the back of the class) before I took out a pen and began doodling.
I'd never been a great artist, but I wasn't bad. My brother, who loved to draw and paint, had shown me how to shade and make certain shapes, and I'd began to draw decently. And after I'd learned to draw at least somewhat well, I'd started doodling in notebooks when I was bored or agitated. It reminded me of my brother and calmed me…
Which was good, because calm was just what I needed. Because somehow, even though I'd been at school all day, the strange dream I'd had while on the plane was plaguing me. At first I had thought only about the dream I'd had the night before - the dream of falling - but then it had vanished from my mind, replaced by the other dream.
Now when I closed my eyes I could see the dream's sea of flowers surrounding me, see Rin's smiling face. And when I wasn't paying attention to what my new school friend's were saying, I could almost hear the voice from the dream, feel the wind rushing past me as I fell down the dark hole yet again, something else cackling at me.
The night before, I'd been afraid to fall asleep, afraid that I would dream the dream again - and I'd had good reason, since when I had managed to sleep, I'd had another dream of falling. But now that I was awake, I wanted to get the dreams out of my mind so I could think again.
I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I was tired of it. So, maybe, if I drew out what I'd seen in the dreams, the visions would leave me alone finally.
I spent the next twenty minutes drawing things, barely even registering what the professor was saying. My pen worked quickly across the paper, scratching it, even tearing through it in some places. I drew everything that I could remember, everything that scared me - the huge pit I'd fallen into, the strange, unearthly creatures in it - and then I moved onto the field of flowers and little Rin.
Her portrait actually turned out pretty good. I was able to capture somewhat her big smile, and was amazed at the detail I managed. My brother's lessons must have paid off after all, because the picture almost looked real.
After I finished Rin's portrait, I sat back in my seat, came back to reality. The professor's clear voice reached my ears again, and I could see my friends leaning towards him in their seats, paying attention raptly. I was about to smile at their eagerness - they wanted to learn English badly it seemed; who would have thought? - before it dawned on me:
I hadn't drawn the flowers from the dream - the two flowers I'd been holding, the too-bright red and golden flowers.
I put my pen to the paper again, an ache echoing from my chest. Though I knew I could draw the flowers, I wished I had some colored pencils with me, to pencil them in. Though I knew that even if I'd had colored pencils, the flowers would have never been bright enough.
There was nothing that could match that intensity.
I was nearly done drawing the golden flower when suddenly my eyes started to feel heavy. I shook my head to try and clear it as the sounds around me became fuzzy, but it wouldn't clear. And when I looked down, the page beneath me became blurry - though the flowers on it weren't.
The flowers were still as clear as a sunny day.
I started to panic then, the weight that had settled on my eyelids spreading through my body. I looked up, and the room looked blurry. I got to my feet, and I swayed. I caught sight of my professor's eyes widening - thought that was blurry, too - and heard him say something incomprehensible before suddenly I couldn't hear or see anything.
My body felt cold as I fainted, hitting the floor with no feeling.
I could hear voices, though I couldn't open my eyes. There seemed to be something around me, trying to choke me, feeling soft like a cloud. I wanted to scream as I hovered in the darkness, but like my eyes, my mouth refused to move as well.
And then suddenly the choking thing lifted, and my eyes snapped open. I couldn't breathe for a moment as I saw the grey sky loom above me, shock running through my veins. I didn't feel like I was floating anymore, and when I sat up, I saw the field again.
Only this time, the field didn't contain flowers. Burnt, dead grass echoed around me, refusing to move in the breeze. Where there had once been flowers, there was now lifelessness, and suddenly the field looked bigger than before, as if it might swallow me…
"Luna-san," I nearly jumped when I heard the voice, recognizing it as Rin's. It came from behind me, and it sounded worried. "I didn't think I'd see you again," I turned around to find her face to face with me, since I was sitting on the ground, my whole body feeling heavy.
Rin's once-smiling face now looked as worried as her voice had sounded. Her small eyebrows knitted slightly as she stared at me, as if she wanted me to say something, to reassure her in some way.
But I couldn't reassure her, because I had no idea what was going on.
So, needing information to create a story - to hopefully make her feel better - I asked: "What happened to the field?"
Rin looked away from me at the dead landscape, and her mouth turned into a frown. "He burned it," she said, though she didn't tell me who "he" was exactly. "This morning."
I knew I should have asked who she was talking about, but I just couldn't. Anyone could have seen Rin's sadness over the dead field of flowers, and I knew asking more about the topic would just make her feel worse.
So, I turned the topic away from the field.
"What are you doing here, Rin-chan? Don't you have somewhere else you need to be?" I asked as I tried to stand, feeling shaky - but my legs collapsed underneath me, landing me on the burnt ground again.
I didn't know what was wrong with me, why I was feeling so heavy, so…weak. The last thing I remembered, I'd been in English class, doodling the flowers from my last dream, and then -
I felt suddenly sick as I realized - remembered, more accurately - that I'd fainted in the middle of class, which had obviously landed me in this dream. I could only imagine what was happening back in reality. The professor had looked worried before I'd passed out. They were probably taking me to the hospital now.
I felt a sense of guilt overcome me when I thought of the Higurashi family. I hadn't even been in their house one day, and I was already causing problems - and they already had sick Kagome to worry about…
Rin looked back at me then, and I pushed aside my inner pity party. Though I wanted to know what was going on outside of my dream, I couldn't ignore the fact that I was asleep right now. The dream was my present reality.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Rin answered me, and then a smile lit up her face, and I felt at least some of the weight on me vanish. "I guess I got my wish," she frowned again then, and I felt my heart sink. "I'll have to leave soon, though."
I felt regret when she said that, though I didn't know why. I was in a dream, after all. None of what was happening was real, and I knew it.
But, still, Rin seemed to be the only happy thing in the dreams I'd had in the past day and a half. When I saw her face, I didn't feel so bad, and my dreams seemed more like a dream than a nightmare - what they turned into when she vanished.
And at least Rin was in this dream. The dream I'd had the night before she hadn't been in, and even when I'd woken, I'd felt panicked.
So, though there was a ravaged landscape around me, and I was in a dream and it really wouldn't matter when I did wake, I decided to ask Rin about herself. If nothing else, I knew it would help pass the time until my body decided that it was ready to wake up.
I asked her the first question that popped into my mind.
"So, Rin-chan," I tried to keep my voice light, draw Rin's attention away from the depressing landscape that seemed to bother her so much. "The last time I saw you," I stopped for a moment, not sure she would remember our last encounter, since this was a dream, but I continued when Rin nodded. "you left when someone called you. Who was it?"
Rin's smile returned then, brighter than before, as if it had become the sun. "Oh," she said, as if she'd forgotten. "That was Sesshoumaru-sama."
The name hit me hard, and I felt an instant aversion to it - the same kind of aversion I'd felt with the voice from the previous dream itself, with the well at the Higurashi's shrine. It was like my insides were shrinking, recoiling from the name, not wanting to hear it.
But I repeated it, anyway. "Sesshoumaru…" I said slowly, the name like lead on my tongue, completely forgetting the honorific (which I knew was completely disrespectful of me, but it wasn't like I was being disrespectful on purpose). Though everything in me beat against the sound of it, I didn't let Rin notice. In fact, I laughed. "You all have such strange names," I said, trying to wish my aversion away. "Rin, Souta, Kagome…" I trailed off when Rin's eyes grew wide, questioning.
"You know Kagome-sama?" she asked in disbelief, and I physically felt my heart sink.
What a strange set of dreams. Not only had the dreams I'd had in the last day and a half been connected, featuring Rin twice, but now my mind was plucking things from the goings-on of my life and planting them in my dreams as well. Which was strange, since from the time I was seven, I'd only had one dream - every night.
I started to think I was going crazy. Then I sincerely hoped not. Then I wished the thought away.
I nodded as I answered Rin. "Yes," I said, my auburn bangs falling in my face. "I know Kagome-san. I'm staying with her family right now," I didn't see the harm in explaining things to Rin - since she was a figment of my imagination, and in reality, I was only explaining things to myself.
Rin opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could get the words out, we both heard a hideous sound.
I couldn't even begin to describe it. It was so loud that my ears wanted to bleed, but then it was so soft that it traveled on the breeze. It was like a roar but not, like a voice but completely different from one. It seemed to engulf me the moment I heard it, but at the same time, it was still far away.
Rin and I both shook when we heard the sound, and in a rush, she grabbed onto my arm.
I was about to try and comfort her, try and tell her that no matter what, I'd do my best to protect her from whatever was making the noise. Because even though Rin was a figment in my mind, I felt almost responsible for her, didn't want anything to mar that sweet smile she kept showing me.
But, I didn't get to pledge my protection (for what little it was worth), because Rin was the first to speak.
"He's looking for you," her brown eyes were panicked when she looked at me. "You have to wake up now, Luna-san."
For some reason, I couldn't breathe. "Wake up?" I repeated, confused by her words. "But how am I supposed to wake up? I fainted to fall into this dream!" I tried the first thing I could think of, and pinched my arm - and I was terrified when it actually hurt.
Because how could it hurt, when I was in a dream?
Rin stared at me, seemingly at a loss for words, a look of panic on her face. I felt guilty that I was causing her to worry as the horrid sound rang through the air again, closer this time. I didn't know what I could do to wake up, though I wanted more than anything to be awake again.
I was causing Rin trouble, I seemed to be averse to everything, and I hated this dream.
"Rin, you have to run," I stood shakily to my feet as I slid her hand off of my arm, turning towards the horrible sound. From what I could gather, I must have been in some waking dream, where my body could actually feel things - for all I knew, I could have moved in reality and pinched my arm, my body registering it because I wasn't fully asleep. "If whatever is making that sound is after me, then there's no reason for you to be hurt because of it," I turned my head to glance at Rin, who looked somber now.
"But he can't find you," she said, eyes shining - was she about to cry? "If he does, then -"
Her words were lost as everything rippled around me, my body feeling heavy once again.
My eyes shot open, just like they had at the start of my dream. I panted as the world around me came into focus, seeing a pair of shocked eyes floating above me.
"Hey, are you okay, Luna-san?" it was Souta's voice that greeted me, sounding worried, just as I was afraid it would. "Mom brought you home from the school. They said you were fine. Something about being worn from jet-lag," I saw him smile a bit as my vision cleared, then I looked past him.
Behind him was the Higurashi's house, a safe place. I wasn't in the world of the dream anymore, wasn't being plagued by the strange noise, or my worry over my ability to protect Rin.
At least it had only been a dream.
I was very grateful for that.
"Souta-kun, is she awake yet?" it was the sound of an unfamiliar voice that made me sit up, Souta pulling back as I nearly bumped into him, my senses not one hundred percent quite yet. I heard a set of footsteps, and then a girl entered the room, her smile turning bright when she saw me. "Oh, you are awake. We were all worried."
I blinked as I looked at the girl, trying to figure out who she was. She was about a half a foot shorter than me by the looks of it, and her mid-length hair was slightly wavy, her bangs billowing nicely. She wore a somewhat plain shirt and skirt (did all girls wear skirts here?), and yawned, as if she'd just woken up from a nap.
And then it hit me.
I knew who she was.
The girl walked over to me and bowed. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Luna-san," she said brightly, and when she straightened, offered me her hand for a Western handshake. "I'm Kagome."
Hello again, everyone! I hope you liked chapter 2!
I want to thank my reviewers for their feedback. I really love hearing from my readers, so please keep the comments coming. The next chapter should hopefully be out soon, so please keep a lookout for it!