Ch. 3

Time is now

Although, it's not dark yet or even near twilight Naroki was very protective as they were walking. It was almost like she was his little sister. Anyway, as they talked it felt like the conversation was endless and that time stopped so they could learn more about each other.

"So, why did you decide to move here? Was it because your parents just wanted to or was it because it was business thing?" She asked.

Naroki replied in a depressed tone, "Actually, I don't have any parents and I just left my stepparents behind in Tokyo. But don't have that worried look on your face I have no idea where my real parents are, and since my friend's dad left this huge corporation for him to run he wanted to move and he offered me the chance to get away from my stepparents. I took that chance because my stepparents were driving me crazy. Just because I didn't appreciate anything they did for me they yelled at me."

"I'm still very sorry I asked that. I didn't know," Takara apologized.

"It's OK; really I'm fine with people asking. But the main reason I'm here is because I was thinking I could find my parents. Enough about me what you? I saw your mother looking out of the window and she looked really young. How old is she? 20 or 23?" Naroki guessed.

Takara chuckled, "No, she's 31 and I know she may look like she's 20, but she was pregnant with me when she was seventeen. She got married when she was like sixteen well that's what my dad said. Luckily, she still got an excellent education and now she works with my dad as a nurse."

"Your dad is doctor?"

"Yep, and that helps that way I don't have to actually go to the doctors. I could have my appointment right in my house," Takara stated.

"I'm guessing they work at daytime," he guessed.

"You guessed right." Then they finally arrived at her house after a very long conversation. She hated that the walk had to end, but there was always tomorrow. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. You will walk me home tomorrow right?"

Naroki responded, "Well, of course but since tomorrow is your birthday I think we should go to any where you want. And if you ask how I knew when your birthday was I heard your friends talking about it."

"Are you asking me out? Cause my dad has a very strict restriction on dating," Takara cautioned.

"Your dad won't know so just tell him that you're meeting with your other friend. I didn't quite get her name. What was it?"

"Her name is Kieko and she's one of my best friends," Takara continued, "Also you didn't answer my question."

"Yes, I did ask you out and here's my question. Is that a yes or no?" he wondered.

Takara hesitated to answer, "That's a definite, yes."

"Great, I'll see you after school then," he told her.

"See you then. Oh, and one more little thing, stay out of my dreams please?" she pleaded.

Naroki shook his head as if that would never happen, but she knew inside he won't even try to stay out. When she got her key out she put it into the keyhole and entered the house, but then someone jumped on her back. That someone nearly made her topple to the floor and when Keiko got off of her back Takara was very annoyed now.

Sure, she loved Keiko but sometimes she could be as pesky as a bee when it's in front of your face. Keiko stilled smiled like this morning, and something probably made her very elated and excited because her grin grew a couple centimeters.

"Keiko, you were smiling this morning and now you're doing it again. What is the problem here?" she yelled.

"I think you know why I'm smiling now," she continued, "Aren't you going to guess?"

"No thanks," then she called, "Mom!"

"Yes, sweetie what is it?" she asked as she was wiping a plate.

"You had to let Keiko in?"

"Hey, what's wrong with having me here?" Keiko debated.

Takara argued, "Oh, maybe it's because you're getting into my business."

"Well, excuse me for being nosy. I was just wondering about you and Naroki," she stifled and then realized what she did, "I mean, whoops."

"So Naroki was the guy who walked you home. You know he really does look like your type," Aya cited.

Takara groaned, "Mom, please I don't want to date anybody yet. Oh by the way could I go to the library I have to write my report about reproductive systems?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Aya permitted.

Then Takara pushed Keiko out of the door, but that push felt more like revenge since Keiko fell on the concrete sidewalk. But that still didn't compete with the rose bush garden incident. Although, Keiko got up and was still smiling like a jubilant clown.

"You're still smiling. What's going to take you not to smile at nothing?" Takara whined.

Keiko replied, "First off, I'm not grinning at nothing and second you're going to have to tell me what happened in your little walk with him."

"Fine, I'll tell you what happened between us," she continued, "Just please don't make any gushy sounds."

"Deal, I'll just do it later," she admitted.

So Takara started to explain what happened as they were walking, but for some reason Takara has an eccentric feeling that a stranger was following her and only her. Even during the walk with Naroki she heard noises behind her. Abruptly, her head started to throb so she collapsed to the firm ground. Keiko immediately sat by her side and picked her up by the shoulders, and then she cried for help until she heard an erratic sound creeping behind her.

Her head automatically turned yet there was nothing there besides air and bushes. That was until she saw this white powder that took the shape of a man, but when it closer she screamed as loud as a lion roaring. The screaming stopped and the powder decomposed. Then someone appeared from the far front of the sidewalk. It was Naroki again and Keiko was very astonished to see him.

But as Takara was still unconscious she saw these very disturbing and cruel images that are moving inside her head. These images were about many people who are getting raped or forced to have that. Then she saw the woman again, still as pretty as ever. Again, she disappeared and left Takara with the petrifying images she also felt cold air brushing against her face. To her the images now felt indelible inside her mind. Then she heard voices from outside of her mind, and she recognized one of the voices, which was Keiko, and the other was Naroki.

"Keiko, what happened?" he asked in worry.

"I don't know I saw this thing behind me, but before that happened Takara fainted." Keiko looked at her friend and it looked like that she was having a nightmare. She asked as her voice was about to crack, "C-could you p-please help her?"

Naroki put his comforting hand on Keiko and replied, "I'll do what I can to help her, but what exactly happened to her did she just collapse all of a sudden or did something else happen?"

"I really don't know. She just fell on the floor all of a sudden I guess," she explained.

"Here, let me take a look," he offered.

"What are you going to do to her?" she asked.

He laughed, "Don't worry I'm not going to rape her or anything like that. Gosh, have a little bit of trust."

So he took Takara into his warm arms, and he put his hand in front of Takara's nose to see if she was breathing at a normal rate. And he could feel that her breathing is very gradual, so then he put her light body down on the sidewalk and he started to push at her chest. As he pushed he noticed that she was breathing at normal pace, but then she started to cough out a little bit of blood. That made Naroki really worried until Takara finally woke up.

"Unh, what happened to me?" she asked as she put her hand on her painful head.

Keiko sighed in relief, "You fainted in the middle of our walk. Then Naroki came to the rescue."

"Really? Well then thank you, Naroki. But where were we headed?" she questioned.

"We were headed to library. Remember? You told your mom you wanted to go and we were going to talk there," Keiko exclaimed.

Takara remembered, "Right, I kind of forgot. Anyway thanks again, Naroki."

He answered, "It's no problem. I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled as he left again. Meanwhile, Keiko was still smiling after her best friend just fainted. Takara shook her head and eluded her happy face, but she couldn't ignore her because she was jumping like a frog in a swamp. So she tried as hard as she could to ignore her until her nerves exploded into a scream.

"Keiko, what are you so happy about?" she yelled.

"You should know. I saw Naroki gazing into your eyes and then there was a sparkle in his eye when he took you into his hands."

Takara criticized, "No offense but you are a sad, queer, and an utterly hopeless romantic. Plus, I didn't even see any twinkle in his eyes; if I did I'd be blind."

"I'm not a hopeless romantic. I just want to know what happens between you and Naroki. Not to mention I'm kind of excited about what Shinri is going to give you," she confessed.

"I don't want to beg or anything so can you please tell me what he's getting me? I mean I'm being tortured enough here," she whined.

"Trust me you'll see what it is tomorrow," she gestured.

So as they walked towards the library someone has been watching them again and obviously it's Rin. Rin has been following Takara around almost all day that way he could see her movements and tell when the NB guys should attack. Although, the voices that were inside his head before keep coming back to him it's sticking to him like glue. Then his cell phone rang.

"Hey, what's up?"

"What's up? Don't ask me what's up! Where are you? You should be here by now," he complained.

"Well, how did you get there so quickly? The last time I saw you, you were with Takara and her little friend," Rin stated.

Naroki questioned, "Why do you have to spy on her when that's my job?"

"It's just in case there's anything extra you didn't mention. Cause well no offense, but you're a little bit slow sometimes like now," he criticized.

"Says the guy who finished the half-mile race in ten minutes, and I'm just pacing myself don't have a panic attack."

"I'm going there in a minute so hold on to your seat. I'll be there in a minute," he continued, "Oh, and have fun tomorrow."

Meanwhile, in the library Takara is working on that paper she was assigned to do, but it may take longer since Keiko has been annoying her for the past hour so she could get there scoop on her and Naroki. Sometimes she didn't even hear Keiko's questions because she's too preoccupied.

Every time she asks her something Takara always puts a book in front her. That way she could focus on her paper and Keiko isn't a nuisance for a while. Finally, she was done with her long, informational paper about the reproductive system that involved both the boy's and the girl's body. Keiko noticed that Takara was stapling the thin yet well-written paper, so she knew Takara was done. Then to save her the trouble from walking to the table Keiko ran to her.

"Whoa, Keiko don't run it's the library and I was coming over anyway," Takara implied.

"I know but I just want to hear about your walk was with Naroki," she said in an excited yet preppy tone.

Takara sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. All Keiko did was laugh and asked more questions. Like, 'Did he try to make the move?' or 'Please tell me all the details?' So to make sure she stops the constant questioning and curiosity she answered all of her questions.

"What happened was that we were just talking about each other and all we did was get to know one another. That's pretty much it," Takara explained.

"That's all that happened. No sparks or anything? Man, I thought it was going to be something more," Keiko insinuated.

Takara said, "Please don't get into that. But actually since he knew tomorrow is my birthday he's taking me to the café."

"So, that's pretty much a date isn't it?" she asked.

"I guess you can say that. But it's mostly just you know hanging out with a friend. Speaking of which tomorrow I have to meet Shinri at his house. And I'm guessing that you probably know why he told me to go to his house," she suspected.

"You guessed right and I'm not telling you anything," Keiko smiled.

She rolled her eyes and said in content, "Fine, I like surprises anyway."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

"Hey, where are you going? Aren't you going to check out some books?" Takara questioned.

She answered, "No, I have a lot of books with me already. I'm finishing up on this one adventure book and then I'll be moving on to this vampire romance book."

"And yet you're getting a C in English."

"At least I read."

"Good point, see you tomorrow," she said.

As she walked Takara started to search for any new mangas that just came in or any other books that she never read yet. The library is pretty much like a haven for her since she goes there every week to relax. She doesn't really communicate with the librarians or anyone else in there for that matter. All she cared about was the books. When she arrived at the 'Teen Spot' she started to gaze at the new arrival shelf, and there was nothing that interests her. As she trotted out that area she saw an immense, old book that looked like it came from the 1700's.

She looked around to see if anyone was watching her then she took the stool that was beside one of the tables. After she took the tall stool she then stood on it to get that sacred looking book. Once she reached the top of the stool Takara stretched her arms out to grab hold of it.

All of a sudden, Takara heard footsteps coming toward the area. Now she knew she had to hurry up otherwise she'll never know what that book is about. Then finally she got the book out of the shelf, and then she just stepped down from the stool and put it back by the table. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, so she just sat at one of the tables and pretended to work. But that was then the footsteps started to fade away from the area.

After the whole cover-up scene she blew off the dust that was on the book. The title read 'The Legend of the Maidens.' She thought that this was another book about made-up legends that never ceased to exist. There was a queer wind current that was picking up fro some reason. No windows were opened, nor any doors. Then the wind got so enduring that the book suddenly opened up to a page.

"What the hell? What was that? 'The Angel's Cloak' Wonder what that's about." Then the wind picked up and it turned the book again. "Oh gosh. I have to stop my imagination from going wild. 'Treasure Guardian of the Earth' Long ago there was a dragon that was escaping war in China, so he came to Japan. Then a celestial maiden came down and took care of the dragon. When it was time for the dragon to depart he asked the maiden to take of a treasure that he brought with him. When the maiden fell very ill she abandoned the treasure and turned into a necklace. The treasure was no where to be found."

Then she turned the page to see if there was a story that related to the one her dad told her. When she turned a couple pages she saw the necklace that the celestial maiden turned into. Her eyes went blank as she noticed that the necklace looks exactly like the necklace she was wearing right now. She traced that picture very carefully with her finger and then she took the pendant of her necklace and tried to compare it.

"No. This can't be the necklace. This maiden turned into this piece of jewelry many years ago."

Although, she felt something in her gut that this is the necklace that the celestial maiden turned into. She just doesn't want to know what the side effect are, but then she felt like something was behind her. And when she turned around she felt like she saw someone going toward the other side of the 'Teen Spot'. So then she took her bag that was on the chair and ran to other side until she saw no one there.

Then she looked at the clock and it was already 7:00. That was when she rushed out the door to get home. As she ran people started to yell at her and say 'No running'. She didn't even care though all she wondered was about that necklace she wears right now as well as getting home on time.

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