Disclaimer: yadda yadda, disclaimer, yeah, reach ch 1

Chapter 6:

Hikaru returned home to find Mrs. Musashibo talking on the phone with someone. He didn't interrupt her, but she quickly finished her phone call and hung up. Hikaru barely made it to the steps when she called after him.

"Hikaru."

He stopped in his tracks and didn't turn around, a little frightened she would scold him for not returning earlier.

"You have an appointment tomorrow with a sleep therapist."

Dismayed, Hikaru turned around, but said nothing, but his confused look didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Musashibo.

"You haven't been sleeping well and since you're on your own for now, it'd be best to get help sooner than later."

Sleep. Sure it would be nice to get a restful sleep for once. Restful more than likely meaning dreamless. But if he were honest, ever since Mr. Musashibo's death, he felt like he was in a dream. Like a lazy transition from one dream to the next.

"I…" he paused, dreading what he was saying next. "I was invited to the festival downtown."

Mrs. Musashibo leaned against the kitchen counter and stared at him with a frown. She folded her arms over her chest, but looked relaxed. "I suppose you want to go then."

Hikaru was silent.

Mrs. Musashibo had trouble convincing herself that she was an effective disciplinarian. She had no children of her own so she often told herself she wasn't used to doing this sort of thing with Hikaru. The trouble was, for the year he had been there, there was absolutely no need to punish him. If there was, Mr. Musashibo certainly did most of the verbal punishment even for honest mistakes. But it wasn't about asserting her authority over Hikaru as a guardian. It was about trust. She trusted Hikaru to learn his lesson.

"I'll think about it," she said, not entirely willing to let him off the hook. "Regardless you are going to the sleep therapist tomorrow afternoon."

He knew there was no room for rebuttal and he quietly agreed before going back upstairs to take a shower before dinner.

Dinner was mostly silent. Hikaru wasn't one to make small talk and Mrs. Musashibo was very aware of that. She watched him casually as he picked at his peas, and occasionally take a bite out of the salmon. She often wondered what the blond haired boy was thinking during these common quiet spells. Perhaps he thought of his past, imagined what his past life was like, who his friends were, who his parents were. He never asked those questions. He never inquired if investigators found anything new. In truth, Hikaru never really thought about that. He did on occasion but especially at the moment, he thought of his rather odd day. He probably should've told Mrs. Musashibo what happened with Mrs. Hinoshiza and the stranger at the diner, but he just couldn't. He settled on thinking that it all was nothing and everything would be back to normal tomorrow.

To try to prove a point that he could actually manage to get a good night's sleep, Hikaru went straight to be after cleaning the dishes. His dreams, however, remained fitful and very much a problem...

A roar pounded his ears and he awoke, staring at a black sea and a whirling torrent of a red sky. Hikaru's hands gripped the earth, finding it to be nothing but mud. Right there, in front of him looming like a glimmer of hope was a big, giant, wooden ship, with one large mast that flapped clean against the upset sky. The boarding plank was right there, set directly in front of Hikaru as if the ship was directing him to board it.

Hikaru stood, dusting himself off, not immediately noticing a woman walk out from the stern of the ship. She was clearly no ordinary woman. She was gigantic, her head reaching the very top of the stern. Her face was rigid and unforgiving; the skin stretched over her impressive muscles a dark red in color. Her hand pressed against the hull of the stern, as if she were trying to keep the ship in place.

Hikaru opened his mouth to say something but suddenly a man popped his head up from the side of the ship. He held his hand up in the air, calling with a deep cheerful voice, "Hail, O Bright and Bold Lord."

The man had a ruddy face, a mess of thin hair and a thick beard, the color of which kept changing into the vibrant colors of a sunset.

"Well, come on," he beckoned, "We must hurry."

Hikaru gingerly stepped on the plank and ascended onto the ship, feeling like he knew this ship before. It was like coming back to a childhood home after years apart. There was an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as he boarded coupled with unfamiliarity. He took one look around at the deck of the ship, finding it empty, save for the man from before.

The man however, was shorter than Hikaru expected, barely reaching his waist, his hair a soft purple now.

"I was beginning to worry. I hadn't seen you in what seems like ages," the man grinned, showing a few gold teeth. His hair changed into a violent orange.

"D-do I know you?" Hikaru asked, trying not to stare too much at this squat little man. He felt even worse as the man's face fell in dissappointment.

"Hah…bumped your head a little too much after you'd gone, eh," the man replied, forcing himself to sound optimistic. "Can't remember old Litr, can you? Your huscarl at Breidablik."

He didn't know what any of that meant and he was certain he had never met this man in his life. He would know if he had known a dwarf with color-changing hair-which was now a gentle faded pink.

Litr tugged on the fabric of Hikaru's sweatpants, a disgusted look on his face, "Mortal clothes are so cheap and flimsy. Regardless…" He gave a sharp whistle and peered over the edge of the deck, calling to the giantess, "Hyrrokkin! Set us away."

Meanwhile, Hikaru didn't pay much attention. He was staring at the wood of the ship. At first he thought the wood was rotting, but upon closer inspection he realized that several runes were carved neatly along the planks. He sat down near the bow, watching the runes run up and curl on the dragon's head bow. Hyrrokkin grasped the ship firmly and with a mighty grunt pushed the ship into the black seas.

Whatever his ship was, it took to the seas very well, cutting into the blackness with ease. Hikaru stood, gripping the bow and looking out ahead. He couldn't see anything discernible. Just the red and black volcanic skies.

"Litr, where are we going?" Hikaru turned but didn't find Litr. Instead standing directly in front of him was a figure all in white, standing, silent and menacingly expressionless. The silence the figure held exuded to the very air, and the washing of the seas, creaking of the ship, the roar of the skies fell to silence.

It was just him and this male figure, with white hair, blitzed gold eyes, and blinding light that came from his body. Who or whatever he was, he was the same height as Hikaru, but slender, the face though so stony, all too familiar to him.

Hikaru swallowed, not daring to ask who he was. He didn't want to know. He couldn't bear to know. What he did know was that this godlike figure was overwhelmingly dangerous. That just pained him even more.

The two stared at each other, Hikaru poised to flee if the white figure dared to move. And yet, Hikaru was stuck as the figure abruptly stepped forth, grasping Hikaru's shoulder in an oddly bone-crushing grip with only the barest of touches. Clearly he was immensely stronger than he seemed.

Hikaru cried out shortly, but silenced himself, hoping that the light but painful grip didn't close harder. With great ease the young male figure turned him around and forced him to face the rising black water. With a force that he was sure could split another man open the white figure forced Hikaru's head into the water, an angry desperate voice blaring in Hikaru's ears

"We are supposed to be dead…"

Next he knew, he was drowning in the black pitted water staring up at the redness of the surface as long ships passed above, the oars timed directly in unison, marching.

"And we will stay dead."

With a gasp, Hikaru writhed out of his dream state, feeling wetness around his eyes. Instantly, he took a few moments to calm himself, lying back on his bed, gaining air. He wiped the tears away from his eyes, only realizing that he had been crying in his sleep, as he rolled over, blinking in the darkness. He sat at the edge of his bed, wiping more tears from his eyes, feeling a distinct pain of loss. That white figure…words couldn't describe how he felt. Fear? Yes. Anxious? Yes. But most importantly he held dread in his chest as he felt he knew who that figure was supposed to be. That face.

Hikaru touched his own face, unshaven as usual, but he connected it to the memory of his dream. He glanced out his window into the night sky. Calmly he stepped forth to look out seeing only blackness. Almost. There, very very faintly, he spotted two crafts coming in from the sea. Stranger still, their lights weren't on. Ghost riding. That was suspicious. He opened his window to gain a better view. He could make out four tugboats coming in. They had to be pulling something huge, but why are all four running with no lights?

The coast guard. Hikaru frowned. He wanted to be wrong. He wanted to believe that the idea of them hiding something was just his own delusion. Hikaru quickly threw on some jeans, his plaid over shirt, not bothering to button it up and slipped on his hat. As gingerly as he could he crept out of the house, which proved more difficult than imagined. His size and clumsy gate didn't make things easier. He managed to get to the docks undetected and take Mr. Musashibo's boat. He kept the motor low, and the lights off, not wanting to be detected by Mrs. Musashibo, the neighbors, or the coast guard.

In the very active conscious of his mind, he knew he was doing something wrong, but it was overwhelmed with the sense that it was for the sake of the truth, of safety. He sheepishly glanced over his shoulder at Mrs. Musashibo's home, mentally issuing a thousand and one apologies to her.

In the silence of the darkness, all he could do is follow the sky, seeing the stars above. Instead of being afraid of the dark, here, Hikaru found a comfort. The stars were watching him and if he believed in such nonsense of divine beings, the gods were too.

Two birds cut across his vision, breaking his meditation, as his gaze followed to the coast guard port. For the middle of the night, the port looked strangely active. Large blinding lights shown across of the main receiving area where tugboats would take in damaged ships. Aside from the large area lights, Hikaru saw small motorized carts criss-cross along the massive receiving area, scrambling.

There, Hikaru could clearly see that the receiving area held a massive, damaged portion of an aircraft carrier. He couldn't spot the name of the ship, but he was willing to bet that this was the missing U.S carrier that mysteriously "disappeared." Hikaru frowned, seeing the damage. In spite of the ship looking to be broken in half, it still took up the entirety of the port and towered over the Coast Guard tower. Hikaru spotted a helicopter swirl over the mess, it's spotlight hitting different areas, trying light through the dark gaps.

Hikaru coasted closer and closer, hoping the comparatively small boat wouldn't get spotted. He finally stopped the motor completely and took the time to completely take in the damage and what the coast guard- and undoubtedly the U.S military—were doing with the ship. So far, they were doing nothing. He could hear the metallic groan of the ship as the wind blew through the holes and creaking metal. In spite of the activity surrounding the mess, nothing was actually in contact with the ship. What were they dawdling around for?

Hikaru's eyes were blinded by a searing light and a blaring voice over a megaphone "You there, freeze! Hold your arms up!"

A police patrol boat cornered Hikaru and immediately he raised his hands, eyes squinting against the spot light that shone on him. Hikaru knew he was caught and his expression showed it as he immediately surrendered.

"Put your hands behind your head." The officer ordered over the megaphone. Hikaru obeyed. The officers handcuffed him and took him inside the coast guard station. For Hikaru it was like déjà vu all over again. Being detained and placed in a bare room, waiting to be interrogated by someone from the coast guard. This time Captain Ryoshiki sat across from him staring at him, giving him a look of disapproval. In this case however, Ryoshiki was rather stuck too. Hikaru saw something he shouldn't have, and now the coast guard had a witness who was a minor to deal with. Even with the U.S. Military breathing over his back, he couldn't detain a minor and use conventional means to "shut him up."

But this boy couldn't be smart enough to put two and two together or dare to go out broadcasting that the U.S and the Coast Guard of Japan found the missing U.S.S Nathaniel Greene.

"Here we are again," Captain Ryoshiki said after about fifteen minutes of staring at each other. Hikaru didn't say a thing, his distrustful eyes on the Captain. Ryoshiki leaned forward.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you—"

"Why did you lie?" Hikaru interrupted him. Ryoshiki's face soured.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you lie about all this?"

Ryoshiki shook his head, "This is a matter of national security. Trust me, Hikaru, we will give everyone the answers they are looking for eventually."

"What is going on?" Hikaru asked, his jaw set, barely listening to Captain Ryoshiki. "If it something dangerous it is your moral responsi—"

"Who the hell are you tell me what my moral responsibilities are?!" The vein in the Captain's thick neck was starting to bulge. "I'm not going to take any lip from some punk who leeches off of a good woman and a good family."

He wiped his brow, trying to calm his temper, "Stay out of this kid. Don't go meddling in things you know nothing about. You are already in enough trouble as it is and I don't want to bother Yumiko yet again so you are going to sit in that chair until morning."

At that moment an American officer knocked hurriedly on the class of the window, motioning for the Captain to come on out. It seemed urgent. Captain Ryoshiki took one glance at Hikaru and murmured as he slid out of his chair, "Don't get comfortable."

Hikaru watched the Captain and the officer leave down the hall of the station at speedy pace.

Captain Ryoshiki followed the American officer to the coast guard station tower, his nerves tight after his altercation with Yumiko Musashibo's charge and the very concerned looks on the faces of the personel.

"What's happening?"

"We believe we found something inside the ship. It's hard to explain. The Lieutenant Adelwell asked for readings to detect any radiation or harmful fumes and we detected something else."

The officer opened the door to the central command tower. It was filled with a mixture of American military, Japanese government officials, and coast guard officers at computer stations and scrambling about, chatting on information gathered. The large glass window pane at the center of it all had a clear view of the pit if the receiving station that held the remnants of the carrier that was now held in place by heavy industrial strength chains to keep it from collapsing.

"No signs of radiation or chemicals from any known missile or bomb," Lieutenant Adelwell informed, "but we did find this..."

He handed a chart to the captain, that contained a graph that Ryoshiki could no understand.

"What is it?" he asked, glancing up at the American officer.

"We took a piece from the clipped end and had one of our science officers analyze it..." the lieutenant paused and swallowed. He also seemed confused. "It came back positive for some kind of DNA."

"DNA? What kind?" the lower American officer asked, eyebrows shooting up. It was then when Captain Ryoshiki realized that everyone in the American military was jumpy. Not that he couldn't understand why. A hundred or so dead soldiers is nothing to brush off without at least a closing report to your own country.

Lieutenant Adelwall shook his blond head but was interrupted by a clear, cut-to-the-chase voice over his transmitter, "Lieutenant do you read? We have detected movement within the carrier. Over."

All three officers glanced at each other.

"Survivors?" Ryoshiki suggested the possibility.

Turning to the crew, Lieutenant Adelwell instructed, "Shut off the area lights so we can get a clearer view."

A coast guard officer punched a few buttons and suddenly the lights that lit the pit of the recieving area turned black and all that could be seen was the spotlight from the helicopter and the reflections from the motor carts. The officer glanced back at Captain Ryoshiki and Lieutenant Adelwell and nodded, "Completed."

The American lieutenant turned to his underling, "Get a crew to search for survivors."

A small group of men, mostly from the U.S. military ascended the scaffolding that was attatched to the hull of the moaning wreckage. A few of the crew carried various tools and medical equipment in case they found survivors. The military portion of the crew, however, carried revolvers and rifles. They'd be of no use only to make them feel better as the faced the blackness inside the ship. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the chill the shot down their spines. The head of the party shone his flash light through a hole in the hull trying to light through the damage. He could illuminate the rafters, the dented and charred metal but found nothing.

Wait...

He thought he saw something. He tried to position his light the clearly see what he thought he saw. Something wet and glistening. Before the crew could even think of the question, whatever was inside shot out.

With a blood curdling roar that that drowned the screams of the rescue crew, what remained of the ship burst out wide, debris flying towards the station, falling on vehicles and equipment and officers below. Cries and screams from the crew on the ground were muffled as they weren't sure what to be horrified about. In the blackness something large and unearthly wedged itself out of its haven, disoriented, roaring and crying, inadvertently getting caught on the chains that pulled and connected to the electrical wires. The wires flashed giving the officers in the tower a flickering view of a giant beast. A monster. A creature that no one had ever seen before. It's blaring blue eyes blinked against the flashing of the flickering electricity, its scales tough enough to withstand the charge. The men gawked and scrambled as the facility rumbled, disgusted and horrified at the sight. A few of the officers scampered away and out not daring to stay any longer. Lieutenant Adelwell and Captain Ryoshiki grabbed and held on to desks and control panels as the ground shook. With a large electrical explosion the entire facility turned black.

Down in the holding room, Hikaru heard the first roar clearly, succinctly, as it pounded in his head so much he nearly fell off his chair from the pain. Before he could recover, the electricity shut completely off and the electronic lock on the door shut off entirely and the door creaked open. Here, he could make his escape. No. He had to see what was going on. He had to see why several officers crashed into him as they were running away in the opposite direction where he was heading.

Hikaru found himself greeted by a tremendous sight. Bodies of fallen officers and fleeing personnel jumping over them as they frantically ran, debris, bent scaffolding, he thought he ran into some sort of apocalypse. More scaffolding bent, the chains and cables tightening as something in the pit pulled. Then everything seemed to snap. The buildings crumbled and metal split. Poor unfortunate personnel caught were pulled into the pit, screaming and crying meeting what sounded like an unpleasant fate.

Hikaru ran forth, trying to dodge the chaos and figuring out what sort of hell was happening. He stopped in his tracks as he heard a low cracking, demonic purr and then silence. The silence didn't last long as the pit erupted in flames. The flames on gas and oil and an explosion burst from the coast guard tower as it broke from it's sturdy ground. Hikaru turned around, fearing that the entire tower would fall, but his focus was interrupted as he heard the purr again. He froze in place, feeling a dreaded chill run down his back as the ground rumbled. Behind him a massive dark creature ascended slowly from the pit, it's triangle dragon-like horned head hunched below its shoulders, preparing to take another action.

Hikaru slowly turned around, heart stopped completely as it ascended from the pit, it's claws gripping the tar as it climbed out, snapping at the few officers who mistakenly fired weak rifles. Moments later they were devoured in one bite. The dragon's claws smashed motor carts and people as it crushed through what remained of the station, still looking disoriented but not any less devastatingly deadly.

Pacing back and away, trying to dodge the damage and getting out of the monster's way, but he stumbled over his feet and fell to the ground. Breathless, he crawled away, trying to hide underneath the charred wreckage of a truck. Glancing at his side he pulled a rifle from the hand of a dead U.S. officer and pointed it at the dragon's head, although he had no idea how to work a gun, he was prepared to shoot in futility if the monster took one move towards him. All Hikaru could hear was his own heavy breathing as the monster stopped. Two large, wet wings unfurled from its back. With a few flaps, it got rid of the fluid and gathered enough air to rise off the ground and fly away into the darkness, giving out one last roar.

Pulling himself up, Hikaru half ran after the creature trying to get a good view of it, not believing at all what he was seeing.

A/N: Aaaand we're off. That's right. A kaiju story. Let's see how much I can mess this up.