One small piece of the puzzle
The look of suprise on Amy's face quickly reverted back to her sadistic smile.
"Took you long enough", she laughed.
"Yeah of course, you bitch. You locked all the damn doors and windows. Took me hella long time to get through all that."
I was so confused.
"Kiiro? What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.
He gave me an irritated look.
"Does that even matter right now? You need to get out of here-"
Amy's leg swung down on his foot.
"Son of a-!", he screamed, then twisted her arms tighter.
"Ow!" she yelped.
"Do that again and I'll snap both yer wrists" he growled.
"What are you doing? Your hurting her!" I stood up.
"You better not lay a hand over here or you'll get some too", he glared in my direction.
What was wrong with him? His personality seemed to have taken a total 360.
"Won't your higher ups be angry Kiiro-kun? Weren't you told not to interfere directly?" she smiled up at him mockingly.
"Cut the crap. The only one interfering here is you."
"Infact, my higher ups are just DYING to see you", he smirked.
"Like hell they will."
The smile died from her face- and with one quick movement she flipped him overhead.
He layed on his back, shock on his face, but it soon turned to amused and he let out a whistle.
"Nice. You put up more of a fight than I thought. And here I was thinking this was gonna be boring."
Amy ran and quickly hopped onto the edge of the window.
"If I was so easy to catch, then there'd be no point in what im doing... right?"
"Amy are you nuts? Get off the window it's danger-..."
She turned her eyes towards me for a quick moment, then turned away and released her grip on the window.
"No!" I dashed towards the window, but I felt myself stopped- a hand wrapped around my ankle.
The last strand of hair flew out of sight as I stood there in complete shock and despair.
"Kiiro- what the fuck are you doing you bastard! I could've saved her!" I could feel myself yelling at the top of my lungs.
He sighed and sat up.
"That girl won't die".
"What do you mean she won't die? She just jumped out of a second story window!"
He didn't respond, just got to his feet and walked over to the window.
I followed him and looked down, expecting to see a gruesome scene.
But there was no body, no blood.
No Amy.
Where the hell did she go?
I scanned as far as my vision could allow.
"See? Nothing to worry about", he sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets.
I grabbed my head.
Am I going crazy?
He looked towards me and scratched his head.
"Look. I know this doesn't make sense right now, but just... try not to think about it too much."
"I have to go report to my higher ups. You should head home, and I suggest from now on you keep away from her."
I didn't argue with the last part.
"Higher ups? What are you in- some mafia?"
He stopped infront of the door and turned towards me with a look of suprise on his face.
"Hardly!" he laughed.
"But sometimes it feels like that", he said with a strange smile, and we parted ways.
At that time, I shook the incident off as nothing more than another strange day of my life.
But I didn't know that my life was destined to be that way from since the moment I was born.
We were back at school, and life seemed to resume it's normality.
As usual, everyones eyes looked at me with contempt and hatred.
and what did I do about that you say? - Ha.
Of course I told them to FUCK OFF.
I didn't get a chance to see Midori or her accomplices.
She probably got wind of the crime report and decided to lay low so no one could associate it with her.
What had become of Amy though?
Ever since the trip, she hadn't attended class.
Was she afraid that Midori would lash out at her for filing a report? Or for helping me?
I couldn't blame her for running; but I didn't get a chance to thank her- as much as I was against doing it before.
But even if I had the chance- im not sure I would do it.
This unexplainable feeling since that..."dream"...I had...for some reason it really made me want to stay away from her.
Kiiro had also been making less and less appearances lately.
Not that we had become particularly good friends over those three days or anything, but he didn't show any hostile feelings towards me...and I didn't exactly hate him either.
And...Aioro...what was my relationship with him right now? Things were becoming so complicated.
We were sitting across from eachother, like we usually did during lunch.
But he was quiet, almost to the point as if he wasn't even there...it couldn't be...
I sat up and swung my arm- right at his head.
It connected with a loud SMACK.
"OWWW!", he dropped his lunch and his hands flew to his head.
"Ah. It didn't go through", I blinked.
"What are you talking about?" he held his body in a defensive position.
"Oh, nothing...", I remembered I hadn't told him about it.
His expression changed from pain to one that was deep in thought.
I sighed and took a bite of meatball.
"Well what is it? You look like somethings bothering you. Although, I didn't think people like you had problems..."
For a moment he didn't say anything, he just looked at me.
Then he sighed.
"Huwaghhhhh..."
My eyebrows scrunched together.
"Was that supposed to be words?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you..."
"About?" I stuffed a vegetable in my mouth.
"Well you right,- something has been bothering me...I was told not to think about it too hard...but..."
He looked up with a very serious look on his face.
"What you mentioned about Amy in the hospital before you left, can you tell me about it?"
Kura was hesitant to tell me her story, but now I felt like I had another piece to the puzzle-
or rather... I just had two pieces I didn't know what to do with.
School ended and I started making my way towards home.
There was nothing unusual going on, just the normal people passing by on my way to the bus stop.
I stopped at an intersection, waiting for the light to turn red.
Music streamed from my phone as I plugged my headphones in.
Suddenly, I could hear someone next to me humming the tune.
Did they like this song too? I turned my head.
Amy smiled at me as her lips moved rythmically to the song.
"I'm about to lose my mind ~ ./`..."
Oh shit. I could feel my heart rate increase, my breathing becoming strange.
I turned forward and the light turned from green to red.
My legs tingled for a moment, disobeying my orders to move forward.
Her voice rung out again.
"You've been gone for so long~"
Before I knew it my legs dashed forward, leaving the crowd- and her- behind.
It felt like I running as fast as I could. Just when I had reached the middle of the street I could faintly hear her sing again.
"...Im running out of time."
The feeling of my feet gliding across the ground suddenly slowed.
It felt like I was in a nightmare.
You see something terrifying, but no matter how hard you try to escape,
...it seems like your legs are made of lead and whatevers chasing you will inevitably catch up.
The streetlight quickly changed from red to green.
But how? It was only red for a few seconds!
The engines of the cars waiting at the light revved, and my turtle-like running came to a stop.
My heart was beating so hard, it felt like it could explode out my chest.
The headlights became brighter and brighter as the cars sped towards me with incredible speed.
Through the sound of the music, and my heart beating in my ears- I could make out only a few of the words she sung as her voice began to fade.
Just as a car was about to hit me I could hear:
"...I need a doctor... call...a doctor...I need a doctor...doctor...I'm running out of time.../`~"
I put my arms up, waiting for the feeling of my bones crushing under the weight of metal.
Instead, I felt a hand grab my arm and toss me up.
I felt myself scream as I flew upwards at what must have been 10ft into the air.
I looked down to see someone with blonde hair standing in my place, the car only a second away from crushing him.
None of the people on the sides of the street tried to warn him, or wave towards the drivers.
They all seemed frozen.
I screamed again- but this time it wasn't for me, it was for him.
"WATCH OUTT!"
He crouched down and sprung up, and the car went by harmlessy under him as he flipped above me in the air like an acrobat. What was he? It wasn't possible to jump that high!
I could feel gravity begin to kick in and my bodys decent toward the ground begin.
I frantically clawed at the air, but a hand grabbed my wrist and I stopped falling.
I looked down at the small street below.
I was grateful, but now I was...levitating?
I could hear a loud whooshing sound, and I watched as a white feather from above decended to the ground below me. I really didn't want to look up, but my eyes led me there anyways.
The blonde person who I had thought was some amazing stranger, actually turned out to be all too familiar.
"Ki...Kiiro!" I squeaked.
Large, white, bird-like wings extended from his shoulders and the beat rythmically against the air around him.
He didn't look down at me, and I was glad he didn't- part of me was freaked out at what I was seeing,
but I also didn't want him to look down and accidentally drop me.
He decended partially, flying slightly above the stoplight.
Across his face there was an angry scowl, as he looked across the street.
"So now your tryin'a kill him?"
Amy's face looked up towards us.
"I wasn't gonna kill him...merely- INJURE him, to where he couldn't run", she smiled.
I felt goosebumps run down my body.
"Are you kidding me? Who would've survived that?"
She shrugged and an unconcerned look spread across her face.
"Your kind heals fast- don't they?"
"...My kind...?" He looked confused.
"Couldn't be...-" he looked down at me.
"Oh-ho. That's quite worth investigating lil' missy...thanks for the tip", he smiled.
"Uh...I don't mean to interrupt...but do you mind letting me down?"
I felt dizzy. The street signs were still unreadable, and I was still dangling at a staggering height.
"You want to be let down with that thing?" He pointed towards Amy.
"Uh well... not entirely..."
"...And thats all I needed to hear."
His wings raised again and came down, this time with enough force to propell us upward towards the sky.
I screamed as I saw the city below become smaller and smaller, until it appeared to be a cluster of buildings.
"Quit yer' cryin' will ya?"
I looked up, my eyes teary from the intense wind.
"Easy for you to say!"
He laughed, and his body began to give off an eerie golden glow.
We entered the clouds, and soon all I could see was clumps of white.
"HEYYY!...Where the hell is everyone?" I glanced around.
A squeaking noise came from behind me.
I turned around to see Aioro shivering like a little girl.
"H-How is this...even possible?!" he touched the clouds under him.
"Why aren't we falling through...?"
I couldn't help but laugh to myself.
Of course most people would be shocked, but anyone with brains could guess where they were.
"Come on, you just gonna hug the clouds all day?"
Get up. We got more important things to wonder about."
He shakily got to his feet and took small, uneasy steps towards me.
I sighed and shook my head. Him? One of us? I was beginning to feel like I had made a dumbass mistake.
"Look at what you've gone and done this time..."
Aioro looked around nervously.
"God?"
"Stupid. God doesn't just casually walk around up here", I waved.
A purple light pierced through a bundle of clouds to the left, then a hand pushed through them- parting them aside.
"Stupid yellow. What do you think is gonna happen when they find out you've brought a human- a LIVE one, up here?"
"Shut up. Your nosey ass always convienently comes around when someones getting themself into trouble."
"No. I just happen to catch you when your doing something stupid and irresponsible. Which is ALL of the time."
"Whatever. I didn't come to argue with you."
I pointed towards Aioro.
"This is the kid thats directly involved with our investigation."
Investigation?
What exactly was going on here?
Why was I being investigated?
The man brought his hand to his chin and looked at me as if deep in thought, then he turned his attention back towards Kiiro.
"He knows too much."
Kiiro put his hand on his head and laughed.
"Does he look like someone who can easily grasp a situation?"
The man seemed to relax (which actually pissed me off a bit) and he walked until he was directly infront of me.
Only then did I notice the staggering difference in our height.
I was about 5"7, but this guy looked like he was 6"4. He had long dark purple hair tied into a ponytail behind him and his face had an unusual amount of seriousness to it.
Slightly Intimidated, I took a step back.
"Uh..."
"Your name?" he stared, unfazed.
"Aioro...Aioro Hidoru."
He didn't say anything for a moment, then turned around.
"So why did you bring him here?" he looked towards Kiiro.
"Well let's just say a little bird told me... that this kid here might actually be one of us."
The seriousness seemed to leave him, and suprise took it's place.
Then it was replaced with something close to anger.
"Well. We'll dig to the bottom of this joke immediately, then I will kill the person who dare suggested such a thing- and throw this fake off the side of the clouds."
I could feel a drop of sweat run down my face. I didn't like the sound of the last part.
He turned and briskly walked away.
I turned to Kiiro for some support, but he was too busy stretching his arms and wings as if he didn't have a care in the world.
He stopped mid-stretch when he realized I was staring at him.
"Oh seein' these must still be a shock huh?" he pointed at his back.
"Don't worry, I'll put 'em way."
He stretched his arms downward and looked up, almost as if he was praying towards the sky.
A bright light wrapped around his wings, then they burst and feathers scattered in the air.
I was impressed. But that wasn't what I was concerned about.
"That guy...he's pretty unfriendly isn't he..?"
"Hm? Oh yeah... he was like that when I first met him too. But don't worry, he warms up to you."
He waved for me to follow him and we headed down a narrow path of clouds.
Soon we stumbled across a large Ivory door, with gold symbols embued on its surface,
a picture of a sun, and what looked like cupids flying all around. In the center there was a large cross.
The "serious" man from earlier stood infront of it, waiting for us.
Then he turned around and placed his hand on the cross.
It shone, and the sound of a lock turning could be heard.
Then the doors, creaking under their weight, slowly opened.
A large, circular cloud, made up what appeared to be the floor of a room, and tall pillars jutted upwards towards the sky. There were no walls, just a few thin clouds that circled clockwise around the room.
And in the very center, surrounded by a white circular couch- a strange looking device shone with a rainbow-like light.
Three people were lingering around the center, all male-
One reading a small handheld book,
Another appeared to be sitting up diligently, but at closer glance was actually fast asleep on the couch,
And another who seemed slightly smaller and younger than the rest of them looked quite upset with something.
The first of them to take notice of us was the smaller, younger looking one.
"Ki-nii!" he leaped off the couch, shoving me and the serious man aside and latching onto Kiiro.
"Where have you been? I've been bored. Boreddd!" he whined.
The one who was fast asleep on the couch opened his eyes. They were puffy and hazy- and he looked like he didn't know where he was.
He stared with a lost look for a moment, then grumbled in a hoarse voice "Who's boring?"
"You! YOU ARE!" the red-head pointed accusingly at him.
"All you do is sleep all day!"
Then he swung his finger towards the other one, who had not looked up once from his book.
"And YOU! I have never met such a bookworm in my entire life!"
"All you do is read! You barely talk, and when you do- it only has to do with something nobody understands!"
"I wonder if you even have a personality!" he huffed, and went back to clinging onto Kiiro.
"The only intresting person here is Kiiro-nii...", he stopped.
It suddenly got quiet, and I turned to see him eyeing me suspiciously.
"Kiiro-nee, who's this guy hanging around you? He looks like a fish."
Like a...! This brat... I held back my tounge and just smiled.
"Kiiro- you sure have a nice little brother".
"Oh this?" he pointed down towards the short-stock.
"No. Were not related. But ever since I met him he's been calling me that, and followin' me around."
"It really makes me feel like I do have a little brother", he laughed.
The look on the boys face became more aggrivated.
"Our relationship is none of your business you stupid sardine!"
I could feel my blood pressure rising.
"Oi. Be nice to our guest. He's a pretty cool guy. And his names Aidoru, not fish- or sardine, 'kay?"
I facepalmed. "Your both wrong..."
"Whatever", the boy turned away.
I looked around at everyone.
Besides me and Kiiro, they were all cleanly dressed in some sort of uniform, although the design and color slightly differed from person to person.
"Who are these people?" I whispered to Kiiro.
"Ah well, it couldn't hurt to introduce you", he shrugged.
He pointed at the first guy on the couch, who had abruptly woken up but was now fighting between staying awake and falling back to sleep.
He had spiky brown hair and yellow eyes that made him look like a yankee- and as pointed out earlier- he obviously needed some desperate sleep. He gave off a slightly older aura than me and Kiiro.
"This is Rennosuke Hayaka. If he ain't sleepin'- he's getting himself into a fight. He's got a good heart though,
but you could never tell because he's the spitting image of a hopeless guy."
"Who's Hopeless?" He sat up and shouted, then his head started leaning down again.
"Nothing~ go back to sleep ren-kun...", Kiiro shook his head in pity.
Who gets mad then just falls back to sleep like that? I laughed.
He pointed towards the next one, who still hadn't breathed a word since we got here.
He wore glasses that hung low over his face and he had sharp green eyes that made him look like a professor,
but his white hair contradicted his appearance- telling a story of some past rebelliousness he might've had.
"Thats Shiro Furasaki. He seems anti-social- and he his. But he's the smartest person I know around.
He's the guy to go to when your in a fix."
He looked up at the mention of his name for a quick moment, as if he just realized everyones existence- then his eyes went straight back to his small, golden book.
"Don't leave me out Kii-nii!" The boy who had been clinging to Kiiro before waved frantically.
He was short, red-headed, hazel-eyed, and lolita looking- the type most girls would love to kidnap.
And given by his first impression he had a terrible, spoiled, brat-like additude.
"Ah...uhm...right" Kiiro hesitated.
"This is Len Sukijima..." he took a long pause.
Then he swung around with a "Dear God.." expression on his face.
"And this big tall guy here you met earlier is- ..."
"Silence yourself." The tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired, raven looking man glared down at him.
"He doesn't need to know my name unless we confirm him."
"God your scary..." I heard Kiiro mumble under his breath.
"What was that?"
"I said - your right, let's hurry!"
...you Liar.
He ignored Kiiro and walked up to the light that was coming from the middle of the room.
He put his hand in it and the light shaped into what appeared to be a screen.
Strange and complicated words that didn't appear to be japanese were scrawled across the screen.
The raven crossed his arms for a moment and studied them, then started rapidly touching buttons here and there, and the screen responded.
"It's no use", a book slammed shut, and Shiro looked up.
"Effie went and took the liberty of re-writing the evaluation program. She's the only one who knows how to work it now."
A look of frustration spread across the ravens face.
"So now she's the only one who can evaluate the new-borns, huh?
Panic could be heard in Kiiro's voice.
"Seriously? We can't let her meet him! If she finds out we brought someone who's not us here..."
"Yes. No doubt she'll kill him", Shiro stood up.
I shivered.
"We have no choice but to try and awaken whatever powers he has before she returns."
"I say we wait until she comes back", Len yawned.
"Are you crazy?" Kiiro looked at him.
"Well she's the only one who can sense 'grace' without having to use that stupid thing right?
And now that she's went and locked it, it's like we have no choice but to go to her."
Everyone became silent, and it was apparent that what he said was true.
"So NOISY...", Rennosuke- who had still been sleeping up to this point, got up and grabbed my shirt.
Then with a quick toss, I was thrown into the light.
I looked down in shock as I floated above everyone.
The light danced around my body, and at first, I felt nothing.
But then it felt like something was rushing through my legs, all the way up to my back.
I cried out.
Right below my shoulders- it felt like every bone was being re-arranged- pushed aside, and something was shoving its way through.
I could feel the moment it ripped through my skin, the wings I had saw on Kiiro earlier.
"Oh ho!" Kiiro yelled.
"So he really is one of us!"
The light gently let me down, and Kiiro ran up and gave me a quick headlock.
"Good for you!"
Good for me?
What the fuck?
I mean everyone wishes they could fly...but to grow wings?
"With this, your an official member of AOI!", he patted me on the back.
"AOI...? What's that?"
"Angels Organization of Intellegence", I turned to see the raven man approaching.
"Those wings are proof of a connection, even a small one- with us. As a formality, my name is Tomo Yurihiske."
"By now, you should realize that you- along with everyone of us here is an Angel."
"But you still have yet to show us your 'grace'- and seeing as you have just awakened, it's not likely fully developed."
"Grace...?"
"Don't worry about it for now. When all our members are present- we can begin your training."
"So there's more of you?" I looked around.
"Yes. There's only five of us present at the moment, but there is a total of eight all together."
He motioned for me to follow him, and we walked towards the edge of the room.
He pointed downwards, towards the sky and clouds below.
? What we he trying to suggest?
"Go ahead now. You should return down below where you originally came from. When the time comes- we will call for you again."
"Wait-...what! You expect me to jump down from here?" I could feel the blood draining from my face.
"Of course not, stupid. We expect you to FLY" Len yelled from across the room.
"I don't know how!" I paniced. "How do you expect me to fly? I didn't even know I HAD wings!"
"Can't Kiiro just take me back down?"
Kiiro shurgged and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry... I got some business to handle up here."
"Well you know what they say..." Len said.
Whoa, when did he get next to me?
"...Uhm...what do they say...?"
"The mother-bird pushes her babies out the nest...and they either learn to fly- or... SPLAT!" He smiled.
"...Splat? I don't think I want to make that sou-"
Before I could finish my sentence, his hands were already pushing against my shoulders.
And over I fell, below the angels, below the clouds, below the sky,- and out of the last moments of my old life.
Extra:
Hi to all who have been reading! I see they added a new feature to FF- called "cover". I've been bitching for a while on whether I should draw one or not (I have semi-decent drawing skills). But I thought it would help give an Idea of what the characters actually look like! Any thoughts/ opinons on this are welcome. PM me, or even leave a review if you have any requests on what the characters should be wearing in these covers- and i'll do my best to draw them.
Also! If anyone is intrested in hearing where the "bit" of Amy's singing came from during this chapter visit:
Youtube- This is how it sounds when I sleep Dubstep
(Sorry I'd give the direct link but FF's bein a bitch...)
(ANYWAYS- If this ever does become an anime in the future, that'll definitely be Amy's theme.)
More on this later- off to work on the next chapter! :)