The pain left by my mistakes

Pierces my heart

Mune o tsukisasu ikutsumo no itami wa

Ayamachi dake nokoshite iku

"Who the hell are you?"

I blinked, shutting my mouth and giving a slight glare at the guy, not liking the rude tone he had used.

"I could ask you the same question, you know. And how did you come out of that pool?!" I raised my voice louder than I probably should have, but I was so astonished and nervous that it came out a little more shrill than normal.

All I got for my questions was a glare and a threatening step forward, and I instinctively took a step back, watching him warily. His aura was full of power, wild and untamed, making near every hair stand on end on my body.

"I asked you who you were woman, and I expect an answer. Now who the hell are you!"

I felt myself pale slightly at his anger, slowly retreating from this man. "M-manabe Yukino...and what about you!" I forced myself to be brave, leveling my blue eyes with his golden ones.

"Tch. And why should I tell you, human?" He recrossed his arms, eyeing me like I was him, only with more confidence. A lot more.

I felt a spark of anger at his attitude, and took a step back forward, slowly loosing my fear. "Well for one, you just appeared out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me, and for another I'd like to know who I'm dealing with."

A slight flicker of surprised crossed his face, but then he scowled again. "Susano'o, God of Sea and Storms. Does that satisfy you, woman?"

My heart did a flip flop, and my stomach lurched in a nauseating fashion. "God of...Susano'o?" I gasped, staring at him with wide eyes...for about two seconds. Then I frowned and took another step towards him.

"Okay, good one. You had me for a few seconds."

He blinked, and then raised an eyebrow at me in slight disbelief. "You think I'm lying?"

"Oh yeah," I huffed, crossing my arms and glowering right back at him as I walked towards him. "For one, you claim to be a god. For another, you were floating. Floating. Where's the wire that you were attached to?" I demanded, feeling my anger heighten at the thought of being fooled.

The young man stared at me, more surprised than anything at my refusal that he was a god. But when I got within a few feet of him, his attitude came back full force and he snorted.

"A god doesn't need a wire to float, you stupid human," he said, and then when I was nearly in front of him, he glowed slightly and hovered about a foot in the air, scowling down at me.

I blinked up at him, surprised for a second before I rolled my eyes and circled around him, looking for whatever trick he was using to fool me. But as I looked and found nothing, a part of me began to actually believe that he was who he said he was...

I came back around front of him and put my hands on my hips, waiting for him to come down. Susano'o (or whoever the hell he was) did, and I noted that he was in fact only about an inch taller than me, which made me feel a little more confident in myself. I leaned forward and peered at where his hair met his head, determined to see if it was a wig.

"What kind of glue do you use? That actually looks convincing," I said with some sarcasm, lowering my line of vision from his hair to his eyes, searching for the lining of the contacts I was sure he was using. I found none, but for some reason I couldn't help but keep looking in his eyes, thinking that maybe I would find something...

He jerked back after a few seconds, however, lifting a lip in a sneer. "What would it take to prove to you I am a god?"

"How about you demonstrate your power, O mighty god of the sea," I huffed, recrossing my arms. Like he could do something like that, no matter how convin-

"Ha!" With a laugh, he turned towards the pool, which once again had ripples upon the surface, and to my utter shock, pulled the water from it with merely a gesture and flung it right towards me. I yelped and quickly dodged the majority of the water, but a side swipe caught my chest and drenched the front of my green uniform shirt. I gasped more from the shock of being hit than the temperature of the water. I lifted my gaze back to Susano'o, seeing the cocky smirk he now wore.

"Well, was that enough to convince you, woman? Or should I go ahead and drench you head to foot?"

I couldn't help but scowl at him, and started to wring my shirt out without taking it off, uncomfortable in the now wet cloth. "Fine fine, you're a god. But if you're a god, what are you doing here?"

I watched as he furrowed his brow, tilting his head to the side. "I heard someone talking through the pool, and came to see who it was. How did you even find it?"

I felt my irritation decrease as he seemed to calm down as well, letting go of my shirt and sighing. "Honestly I just came across it after I noticed the rocks around the place where I usually go to watch the sunset were displaced. They kind of led in this direction, but it was so haphazard that I'm surprised I was able to follow it."

Susano'o crossed his arms and looked thoughtful, and I took this chance to eye him again, a few questions floating around. He noticed me staring and glared.

"Why are you watching my face like that?" he asked. I tilted my head a bit, then smirked.

"What, you don't like people looking at you, Mr. God?"

"No I don't. So shut up and stop it." His tone got rather rude again, making me frown.

"Ah come on. This is the first time I've met a god before, I've got to get a few details of you down." I poked my tongue out at him, making him stare.

"...You're a strange one."

"What tipped you off?" I grinned at him, wondering how much I could actually poke him without going too far. "Anyway, what is the Rampaging God of the Sea going to do now?"

He shot me a fierce look, to which I merely kept grinning, showing that I meant no harm. He didn't seem to care though and turned around. "I'm going back, that's what." He took a step towards the pool.

"Hey, wait!" I briefly panicked, bolting forward and grabbing his arm. I had a second to marvel at how strong his muscles felt underneath my fingertips before he whirled around, teeth bared. I flinched slightly but held my ground, looking up at him. "Wait a minute, Susano'o. Don't you want to talk?"

It was in that moment that I realized just how lonely I really was, if I was asking a god to stay and talk with me, if just for a few minutes. Humans I had no trust in, so why was I going to a god, who was equally capable of lying to me? Was I just that desperate?

Susano'o paused, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. I shifted slightly under his gaze, looking to the side and silently praying that he might stay.

"...What were you talking about before I appeared?"

I looked back at him, blinking in surprise. He's staying?

"O-oh...I was just venting about my classmates. They don't want to be my friend, they just want to find things out about me to hurt me. They're constantly sending people at me to do so." I took a step back, giving us both a little space.

"And what did you do for them to do that?" he asked.

I gritted my teeth at the memories. "Nothing they didn't do to me. One of the girls pretended to be my friend, only to turn around and steal the guy she knew I had been interested in, and then decided that it wasn't enough." I kicked a stone near my feet, tone bitter.

Susano'o stayed silent, merely listening to me as I kept talking, rambling on and on about how my classmates were jerks and such, venting for about ten minutes straight before I noticed that he hadn't said anything to me, just was watching me with those golden eyes. I stopped the pacing I'd been doing and blushed slightly, looking away.

"Sorry. This is probably pretty boring to a god..."

To my surprise, I saw him shake his head out of the corner of his eye. I looked back and raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean to say me complaining about everything wrong with my life to you isn't making you want to run from how dull it is?"

"No. I actually don't have anything else to do tonight."

That stung a bit. He was listening just cause he was bored? Well, I thought to myself, better than nothing...

"Well, I'm done with ranting now," I said, then stopped. "Wait, what time is it?"

"After sunset, why?"

"Oh shit!" I shouted, turning on my heels. "I missed the sunset?!"

Bitter disappointment filled me. "And it looked like it'd be a pretty sunset too..." I muttered, depressed.

"You like to watch the sun go down?" I heard a slight thread of interest in his voice, and I turned my head back to him.

"Yeah. I really like to watch it over the ocean too. It makes the whole thing better." I couldn't help but smile. "And each one's different as well, so it's like an entirely new experience each time. It helps me relax after a long day."

Susano'o regarded me then, his golden eyes looking right into mine. I stared back confidently, once again finding myself drawn into those depths. What mysteries is he hiding... I wondered, slightly entranced.

He blinked, and the spell broke at once. The blue-haired god turned his back to me and shrugged. "I'm going back now, if you're done then."

I felt a slight twinge of disappointment. Even he'd only been listening necause he'd been bored, at least he'd listened to me. Then he surprised me when he turned his head and looked at me again.

"If you need to vent again, just come here and start talking. I may or may not turn up."

My mouth dropped open slightly, and I stared at him. Then I broke out in what had to be the silliest grin I'd ever cracked in my life and nodded. "I will! Thank you, Susano'o-san!"

Susano'o nodded and stepped back in the pool, where the water instantly stilled underneath him. He raised his arms slightly, and the water surged upwards and surrounded him for a few seconds before dropping back into the pool, and he was no where to be seen.

I ran over to the lip and peered into the pool, surprised to see the back of his head for a few seconds before the image vanished, and all I was looking into was a deep, bottomless pool once more.

I couldn't help but smile more as I rose to my feet, dusting my skirt off and turning around groping my way through the cave towards the exit, not really caring if I stumbled on anything in the floor or scraped up my hands while feeling around for my things. I felt great after venting that much, like a weight had been lifted. It was a feeling I hadn't had in a very long time, and it was refreshing.

Finding my bag and scrambling out of the cave, I did a quick sweep of the area to make sure that this place was still unknown to others before starting the walk back to civilization, tilting my head back as the night sea breeze caressed me.

Perhaps I'll come back tomorrow... With that thought, I stepped up the pace, eager to make it home and in a well needed bath.

"I'm home," I called out as I entered my apartment, knowing that I would be met with silence. I flicked the lights on and dropped my school bag by the door, kicking off my shoes and heading right for the bathroom. Stripping my clothes off, I put them in the wash to clean (since my shirt was still wet from the earlier water incident) while I bathed myself, letting the hot water relax my muscles.

After I got out I towel dried my hair as I walked to the kitchen, seeing a little red light on my telephone's answering machine. I grimaced, taking a guess of who it was as I went for the fridge and took out a gallon of milk and chugged a good bit of it, gasping for air when I was done. I pulled out some leftovers from a few nights ago and popped them into the microwave I had and went to the machine and pressed the button.

*Beep* You have, one, message. *Beep* Hi sweetie, it's mommy!

"Here we go..." I grumbled, shaking my head and listening anyway.

I hope you're doing fine by yourself. I put some more money in the bank, and I'm not going to be home this weekend either.

Predictable. My mother and father were divorced, and my mother often worked out of town, following a line of jobs that took her farther and farther away from home. I was used to it by now, but it still didn't stop the disappointment I felt when I heard those words once more.

You be a good girl and I promise to be home soon. Bye! *Beep* End of message. To repeat, press 1. To delete, press 2-

I hit the number 2, turning back to the microwave to get my food. I sat on my futon and turned the tv on, checking the weather for tomorrow. While the people on the little box talked, I thought back to what had happened.

A god. I'd met a god in the flesh. For some reason, it didn't damn on me like I thought it would have. I wasn't filled with awe, mostly I had just been surprised. I pursed my lips and munched on my food quietly. I wondered what he was doing now, since I wasn't talking his ear off about my problems as a human.

It never occurred to me that while I was venting, I had learned nothing about him. I frowned. He was a handsome man, that was for sure, and his prickly attitude and standoffish ways sort of drew me in, made me want to see what exactly he was hiding.

I couldn't help but grin then. "I can't wait to see you again, Susano'o-san..."