Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).
What happened so far: Sass is travelling to Domino City in search of her family, leaving her adoptive family back in Australia...
Facing The Past
The hallway out was hot and crowded, similar to the feeling of being stuck in a sauna with 2000 people. Sass was thankful to escape the stampede into the wider arrivals area. Suddenly, Sass wished she was back in the air-restricted hallway. As people walked through the gate, there was always someone to greet them. Sass watched as three unaccompained minors ran for the safety of their mother's arms; a middle-aged man (one of the ones that had flirted with the flight attendant, Sass noted smugly) greeted his tiny, curly-haired wife and his three excitable children, all under the age of 12; a black elderly man with a cane be greeted by a young black man and his pretty long-haired fiancee and a young woman, no more than 21, run screaming into the arms of her three best friends, gasping at their new hairstyles and exclaiming over the many changes that had happened since they'd seen each other.
With all except the last one (which made Sass slight nauseous), Sass felt a pang in her chest watching the heartfelt reunions. Hoisting her backpack properly on her shoulder, she grabbed her duffle bag off the nearby conveter belt and hurried towards Customs. As her bags went through the large X-ray machine and Sass headed through the metal detector, a dull, portly balding man screened her with his hand-held metal detector. Suddenly, he jabbed the detector between her legs and thrusted upwards. Sass turned to him sharply.
"Listen, mate, just coz I'm a teenager don't mean I know how to hide dangerous weapons in impossible places" Sass snarled, shocking the Customs worker, "Jab me there again, I'll take that black stick of yours and jab you where the sun don't shine"
The man raised his eyebrows but didn't retaliate. He finished her screening and waved her on, turning his probing device on an unsuspecting Asian businesswoman talking on her Bluetooth headset. Sass grabbed her bags and headed towards one of the front desks. Getting her passport stamped seemed like a labourious job. The line could rival the Great Wall of China in length. To distract her from the crawling-paced line, Sass looked around for something to read or think about. She saw screaming toddlers with paitent mothers trying to calm them with bribes of lollies and chocolates. Lonely businessmen, probably ones who travelled so much they were famous in the Frequent Flyers section, sat in the terminal seats, reading the Financial section of the paper, lost in a world of stockmarkets and shares. Also-
"Big brother!"
Sass was distracted from her train of thought and turned to see the source of the shout. A young girl, no more than eight or nine, with pretty blonde pigtails dressed in pink overalls and a white shirt dropped her Barbie luggage and ran for the out-stretched arms of a boy around the same age as Sass. He had blonde dreadlock hair and, Sass judged from his Billabong boardshorts and shirt and the surfing magazine he just dropped, he was a surfer dude. He picked up his little sister, spun her around into a hug and held her steady of his waist.
"Hey, princess" the boy smiled, "How have you been, Karen?"
"Oh, Sam, camp was so much fun. We went canoeing and horse-back riding" Karen wrapped her arms around her brother's neck, "But I missed you so much, bro"
"I missed you too, sis" Sam smiled and just hugged his little sister for a while. Sass had to look away at that moment. She felt tears coming on but she held them back. She never cried in front of people. Never...
Sass stood on her tip-toes, trying to see over the large huddle of people flowing out of Arrivals. There were so many people coming out, old people, young people, married people, single people but not one of them was the person she wanted to see.
"Papa, where is he?" Sass asked, looking up at her father. He was looking at the arrivals gate, his eyes searching the crowd more swiftly than Sass could. She was only eleven, she couldn't even see over the heads of the crowd. Sass silently cursed herself for her shorter-than-average stature.
"He'll be here, Saskura. Just be paitent" her father reassured her, patting her shoulder. Sass grimaced and looked back at the gate, now twice as determined to find him. Suddenly, a flash of purple-white hair was visible coming through the gate. Sass watched, the joy building up inside her, as he revealled himself fully, dressed in a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue jacket and black business pants. He was pulling a wheely bag behind him and holding a backpack on his right shoulder. Sass darted passed her father before he even saw what she did, heading straight for her brother.
"Bakura!!" Sass shrieked with delight.
Bakura's brown eyes lit up with delight as he saw his little sister running towards him. He dropped his bags and crouched down with out-stretched arms, beckoning to Sass. Sass leapt into her brother's arms, who twirled her around and hugged her close to him. Sass smiled and hugged him back. Bakura then gently put her back down and smiled at her.
"Hey, Sass. How's it going?" Bakura smiled. Sass noticed the hint of a British accent developing in his voice. She liked it. It suited him.
"Great, bro! We went to Tokyo and Cairo and Paris and Rome and Venice this month!" Sass smiled happily at him, holding up her disposable camera, "When we get my photos developed, I'll show you them! How was Eton?"
"Oh, like school. Same old" Bakura held out his arms again and Sass drove straight into them, holding Bakura so tight, she didn't think she'd be able to let him go.
"I missed you so much" Sass sighed to him
"I missed you too, Sass" She felt Bakura smile into her shoulder and the hug around her got a little tighter. Everything was perfect. It was almost Christmas, Sass' first summer one now that they'd moved to Sydney, and her father and brother were here to share it. Nothing could make it better...
"Miss? Your passport?"
Sass was pulled out of her memories by a frizzy haired impaitent woman at the front desk. Sass flashed her passport to the woman, who gave it a glance and then stamped it.
"Thank you. Next!" the woman called out to the nervous-looking man behind Sass. Sass headed off towards the front doors and exited to breezes of fresh air. In front of her was a large grassy green square in the middle of four busy roads, with a large angel fountain and gardens and benches. In the corner, shaded by apple trees, was a small park area that little kids were playing in while their parents watched them and gossiped amongst themselves. Sass quickly crossed the road, earning the shout of a taxi driver and Sass, in return, giving him the finger, but she stood right in the middle of the square area. She stretched out her arms and laughed gaily, spinning slowly around on the spot. She didn't care that she was drawing the attention and stares of passers-by, she concerned herself with taking in the sensations around her. The smells of daisies in the little gardens by the benches, the taste of fresh air in her lungs and mouth, the feeling of cool fountain water gently dripping on her fingertips, the sight of natural beauty all around her. But what she adored the most was the sounds. The sounds of people talking to each other and laughing about some in-joke. The sounds of lovers whispering 'I love you' in each other's ears before kissing each other passionately. The sounds of little kids squealing in delight as their father picked them up, playing 'helicopter' and going round and round until they were dizzy. It was all so wonderful. It filled Sass with the sensation of life and how wonderful it was.
Suddenly, a new sound caught Sass' ears. The rumbling of a train entering the station. Sass looked up at the building across the road, from the corner of the airport. A train station. It had the large steps that you'd usually see in front of a courthouse and pillars carved with the most intricate detail... Then a thought hit Sass. She was going to be walking around the city today, scoping out the area. She didn't want to drag her luggage around with her the whole time. And typically, in a train station, there were usually lockers of some sort... Sass immediately crossed the road (flipping off yet another enraged taxi driver) and entered the station.
20 minutes later, Sass emerged from the station, now liberated from the responsibility of a backpack and a duffle bag. She took a deep breath of the cool air and held it a little in her lungs before exhaling. It felt good to be on the ground again, breathing in tree-generated air and not stale carpet cleaner. Sass stretched her arms, stiff from being seated for so long, and crossed the road again (this time, without strife from angry taxi drivers) and headed straight to the centre, where the fountain stood tall and proud. Sass observed the detail of the fountain more closely. In the centre, on a pedestal, was the angel with long hair and an olive crown around her head. She was clothed in a long white sleeveless dress with outstretched wings. Her hands were in a giving position, outstretched and placed together. Out of the palms of her hands was where the water came from, similar to a waterfall. Sass looked down at the floor of the fountain and saw thousands of coins shimmering in the refraction of the sun in the water, sparkling and dancing in the water's surface.
"You going to make a wish to Saint Grace?"
Sass looked to her left to see a man, around 50 or so, looking at her. He was dressed in a dirty brown overcoat with wildy gray hair. His top hat was patched and dogged, looking like it hadn't been washed in ages. His gloves had the fingers worn off and his pants reached down to halfway down his shins, where the ends were worn away. His shoes were full of holes, revealling dirty dark gray socks. The only thing that seemed remotely new was his shirt, a clean white one which Sass guessed he'd gotten from the Salvation Army or a Red Cross charity.
"Who?" Sass asked kindly
"Saint Grace, the Charity" the hobo man pointed at the statue of the angel, "You know the story of our fair Grace?"
"I'm afraid not" Sass was interested. Most people looked at the man like he was an average nutter but, from her street experience, these people had the most fascinating tales of all to tell.
"She was a simple peasant woman with a devotion to God. She was poor and hard-working with little pay, but she felt all had a purpose. Everyone adored her. She always gave to whoever was in need. Whether you were tired, hungry, poor or sick, gentle Grace, as everyone called her, was always there to lend a helping hand" the hobo man smiled as he told the tale, "However, she helped a young girl, who was yearning for the affection of the son of a lord. When the lord's son fell in love with the girl, Grace helped them elope as his father disapproved of such a union. The lord had Grace condemned to death for witchcraft and she was burnt at the stake. But the people, who mourned Grace so deeply, built her this monument in her honour, portraying her as an angel and the saintly soul she was. God bless her"
"Do people make wishes to her?" Sass inquired to the coins in the fountain floor.
"Haven't you read the inscription around the fountain yet?" the hobo man pointed. Sass looked at the edge of the fountain pool. Around it, where people sat while having lunch and having a chat, was an inscription written in Latin. Sass, thankfully, could read Latin fluently, thanks to her professor father.
"May illud in quaero of suum pectus pectoris votum reperio is in pectus pectoris of alius" Sass read aloud, "May those in search of their heart's desire-"
"Find it in the hearts of others" the hobo man finished off, "People take their coins, turn around and whisper the Latin phrase to the coin before tossing it in and making their wish. Saint Grace will always help you when you really need it"
Sass watched as the man sauntered off towards the shopping district, tipping his patched and torn hat to those that passed his way. Sass looked at the fountain for a second, considered the words of the hobo man.
'Won't hurt' Sass shrugged her shoulders and put her hand in her pocket, bringing out an Australian two-dollar coin. Maybe Saint Grace is watching and will grant her wish.
Sass turned around and faced the airport. She clutched the coin in her hands and let her heart's desire overwhelm her. What did she truly want? What does she truly wish for? Suddenly, Sass snapped her eyes open, and clutched the coin tighter.
"May illud in quaero of suum pectus pectoris votum reperio is in pectus pectoris of alius" Sass whispered to the coin. She had a brief pause before speaking, "Saint Grace, please, help me find where I belong"
Sass then threw the coin behind her. Just as the coin hit the surface of the water and Sass' emotions reached their peak, she felt a stab of pain in her left arm. Sass looked down at her Millennium Bracelet. The eye symbol was suddenly glowing. Sass watched as it continued to glow for a couple more seconds and then died out. Sass just continued to stare at it.
'Did it just... nah, just a trick of the sun' Sass shook her head and looked back at Saint Grace in the centre. Her marble eyes, although pure white, seemed to look down kindly on her. Sass nodded politely to the saint before heading towards the small street right near the train station, where the hobo had gone. Sass had thought at first that it was a busy road, but she discovered that is was the shopping district of Domino City. She saw clothes stores, video stores, game stores and, most importantly, fast food stores. Sass felt a grumbling rise from her stomach. She didn't have much money, most of it had gone to getting the plane ticket, but she was starving and she had enough for a motel room and a meal. She headed towards the first fast food place, a McDonalds, and stood in line, reading the menu. Sass nearly drooled at the sight of a large french fries and an extra-large thickshake meal for $5.00. Sass didn't have to wait long for her meal. She'd gotten there just before the midday rush, so the line wasn't too long.
"Here's your meal. Thank you and have a nice day" a pimply seventeen year old boy smiled awkwardly at her as he gave Sass her meal. Politely, Sass smiled back and took a booth near the window. Sass rolled her eyes and feasted on her meal. While Sass drank her extra-large vanilla thickshake, she glanced at her arm and saw the Millennium Bracelet staring back at her. She remembered the jab of pain in her arm and the glowing of the eye, but she just shook her head. It was a piece of jewellery, nothing more.
The thought of jewellery made Sass reach for her neck. She felt the large oval locket at the base of her neck gently with her fingertips. Her history, her memories, were all tied to this locket and she couldn't even open it. Her fingers curled around the locket and she held in a fist. Maybe if Bakura had been honest with her, it wouldn't be like this...
Sass knew how this looked back she didn't care. Bakura's eyes were a mix of fury, shock and, perhaps, fear. Maybe he knew this day would come, but he hadn't planned it like this.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Bakura demanded. Sass noted how he fell to the fury first. Unusual for Bakura: he usually went for shock.
"Maybe you can firstly tell me why the hell you have MY locket?" Sass replied, trying to keep her voice steady.
"What makes you think it's yours?" Bakura snapped
"Well, it'll be pretty sad if it's yours" Sass shot back at him. When Sass got mad, she got sharp and witty.
Bakura looked down at his feet and saw Amane's letter. He picked it up and read it. Sass flinched as she saw Bakura turn a deep shade of Tyrian purple, the colour that Roman emperors wore in their royal robes. Sass could see the fury tripling in Bakura's eyes but she stood her ground.
"You read my letter to Amane..." Bakura said, dangerously quiet. Sass knew that this kind of quiet was far worse than yelling. He was going to implode before he exploded.
"Glad I did, otherwise you would have keep this from me for ages" Sass growled at him.
Bakura moved so fast, Sass almost didn't see it. He ran at her, hands out-stretched, face twisted in fury. Sass ducked out of the way, wrapped her arms around his thin waist and flipped him on his back, behind her. Sass turned and faced him. Bakura lay flat on the floor, completely stunned. Sass stared at him, paralysed with shock. Bakura had never come at her like that before. She had seen him snap at her and raise his voice at her, but never once had he even threatened to hit her. He had never raised a hand threateningly at her. Regaining herself, Sass grabbed the locket out of the box and threw the box next to Bakura.
"Where did you get the locket?" Sass demanded, "Tell me!"
Bakura stubbornly didn't reply at first, but then slowly responded, "It was around your neck when you were found. The clasp was broken. It had fallen on the step. i picked it up..."
"Did Papa know about this?"
Sass watched as Bakura slowly shook his head. Sass looked at the locket and study it more carefully. On the back, Sass saw a small keyhole on the right-hand side. Where was the key?
"Where's the key, Bakura?" Sass turned on her brother
"I don't know"
"Don't lie to me! Tell me!"
"I swear I don't know! You didn't have a key on you when we found you!" Bakura snapped back at her.
Sass stared at the locket in frustration. A connection to her past and she couldn't even OPEN it? Sass shoved the locket in her pocket and headed towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sass looked back to see Bakura getting back on his feet, "I'm not done with you. We need-"
"What are you going to do? Try and strangle me again?" Sass faced the dumbstruck Bakura, "I'm going for a walk. I need fresh air and need to get out of this house. I need to be around people that aren't going to lie and hide from me"
"But, Sass, I-"
Sass wasn't interested. She strode out of the room and ran down the staircase. When she reached the front door, she slammed it so hard it echoed around the house, but Sass didn't care. She just walked off down the street. If she had stayed, she would have seen Bakura hanging his head. As a single tear trickled down his face, he finished his sentence.
"I wanted you to stay..."
Thank you for reading. My chapters are getting longer, I know, and it felt right to end it here. Chapter 4 will be up soon. Review me!!!
Next Chapter: Transformation
