[-Chapter Two-]

The next day, in the glorious sunshine, I returned to where Makoto and I had stood the night before. This time, we were not alone in front of the village mud pit.

"Arisu!" I shrieked. I ran at her full speed and wrapped my arms around her. She returned the hug gently; quietly she whispered my name. Arisu was so tiny, very slim and soft looking. She wasn't all that strong, and hadn't been since I'd known her. The edges of her straight, silky-black hair brushed against my fingertips—they were clasped around her mid-back. I pulled away and her soft, pretty, green eyes studied me curiously. I wondered what they saw… and shuddered.

I was kind of short for my age, especially compared to Makoto, but then he was a guy so that didn't really matter. I wanted hair like Arisu's, soft and shiny and pin-straight, or maybe even in a pretty color. But I had hair that only stayed soft for a few hours after the rare shower or more common bath. And worst of all, it was this strange in-between: neither a pretty brown nor a striking black. Something too light to be elegant but too dark to be earthy—I hated it.

My skin was inappropriately tan for a young lady, or so I'd been told, but I had no aspirations to become a lady so that didn't bother me too much. I didn't have a lady's figure, either: my body was all muscle, toned and defined from nearly sixteen years of hard work. Maybe that was why Makoto liked Arisu more than me; she had more money and didn't have to work so she wasn't as muscular or tan, and she just looked more like a lady. It would make sense, since Makoto's was the richest family in our decrepit little town. Or maybe Risu was just prettier than me.

The only thing that I'd gotten more compliments on than Risu were my eyes. Where everyone else in town had green eyes, or brown eyes, and occasionally the odd pair of blue eyes, I was an individual. My eyes were an amber color, the orange in a morning sunrise or the pure gold of a burning fire. I'd been told that they could be as soft as molten metal or as hard as daggers of translucent bronze. That they flashed pale gold in the moonlight, that they sparkled in the sun… I hadn't studied my eyes often enough to discover the threads of truth to these rumors. But my eyes were my one vanity, and I treasured them.

"Hey Kari." He greeted me easily enough, but my heart still thumped erratically. There was no hint in his tone that we'd met last night, although I was sure that Arisu knew. Koto told Risu everything; a stab of jealousy went through my heart at the sight of their hands tightly intertwined.

"Hey Koto." I hugged him, praying that he couldn't hear my heart pounding. "So, how is my favorite couple?"

"Fine." I wasn't surprised that Koto answered for the both of them. Arisu was the very quiet type, the one who would sit and observe while saying nothing, but memorize every line of the conversation. I usually talked to myself around her, with a couple of inputs from Risu. "You look considerably… better this morning."

"I took a walk yesterday," I told Arisu, "and ran into Koto. The idiot threw me over his shoulder. I should have puked on his back. Would've served him right."

"Kari, you know you can't talk to him without me there," Risu laughed. Her voice was surprisingly loud for such a small and quiet person, and when she laughed her entire face lit up. If anything, it made her more beautiful than before. "He just walks all over you."

"The jerk," I confirmed with a smile. "Besides, Koto, you know I hate the moon. I'm better off in the sunlight."

"You always were a freak," Koto snickered. I tried to punch his ears and he grabbed my wrist. I twisted away and landed a blow with my other fist before he pinned them both onto his chest. "Naughty Kari."

"You know me, Koto. I live to break the rules… teaches that stupid Empress a lesson."

"Maybe one day there'll be a—" Risu cut him off with a shake of her head, her eyes widening ever so slightly. Koto stared back into her eyes with a message that I couldn't read. They had both changed, somehow, in the few seconds that we'd been talking. Makoto looked aggravated… no, more than aggravated. His jaw was tightly clenched and his muscles were working visibly to swallow and his hands were balled into fists. He was furious, as if this was some sort of ongoing feud that I had never noticed.

And the change in Arisu was remarkable. My best friend, who I thought I knew better than anyone in the world, had altered before my eyes. She suddenly looked threatening, all that "softness" transformed into lean and powerful muscle. Her soft and feminine eyes were burning fiercely at Koto; in that moment I believed that she could easily take him to the ground and hurt him.

But then the moment was over and my hallucinations ended. Arisu was back to her softer self, though slightly sulky in appearance, and Koto was grinning easily once more. "Would you like to come over for lunch, Kari?"

A/N: So, we meet Arisu. Hikari's best friend... and that's pretty much all we know about her. I'm back from Spain now (obviously) and school seems to have become more stressful in my absence XD