http://clampfix.fanworks.net/kenichi/rayfic01.txt </head><body><pre>"Take this sword. It may be the only friend you'll have..." Duncan MacLeod Highlander: The T.V. Series Prologue: Mists It came for me as it always had. Every evening it crept into my mind since I was eleven. And it has never ceased. Ever. Smoke...or was it fog? I could never tell. Its dark, roiling arms would always and forever stretch out, finding me no matter where or how I hid. No matter how I denied it. It takes me. It envelops me. Fear and terror, choking me in their icy grip. "Boy...!" The voice again. That voice, softly sweet, yet deeply laced with unfathomable bitterness. Always that voice. Always the same question... "Boy...Do you see the light in this darkness...? Or the darkness in the light...?" And no matter what happened, no matter how much I tried to change my mind... I would always and forever choose the darkness. =================================== The screech of my alarm clock jolted me out of my dark fantasy, welcome and at the same instant despised, for it told me I had awoken late for school once again. I slammed my fist on the button, cursing whatever fates for my condition. I would DEFINITELY be late for school if I didn't hurry. The covers were thrown away as I seized my uniform from the dresser and into the bath. The cold shower within helped me to refocus my thoughts. Halfway through my morning routine, I noticed that mother had not yet stirred from her slumber. Lips, my own, creased a grin as I decided to let her rest. After all, I saw no need to rouse her so early in the day. Skipping breakfast, I schucked my schoolbag over my shoulder and shut the door behind me. =================================== This day, as many other days before it, was quite uneventful. The lack of adventure, the dreary ordinariness of it all, would drive anyone mad if he spent enough time constantly thinking of it. School itself was a bore, the endless drill after drill of packaged, force-fed facts that did not accept question nor an intuitive mind. So, at day's end, it was with great enthusiasm that I packed my bag and strode out the doors that afternoon. Tokyo Tower. No matter how many times I had seen it, every day on the way to school, It always managed to take my breath away. The sheer monolithic aspect of it was not lost on me; I always wondered whether the first American astronauts felt this same way the first time they saw Earth from the distance of the lunar starscape. And yet, grand this illusion was, there was a greater reason why, for four years on end, I kept returning to this place. I looked to the watch on my wrist. Still early. Mother would yet be at work. Satisfied, I decided to risk going inside. Father always said I was incorrigibly stubborn. That I would hard-headedly keep on going at something no matter how pointless it seemed. Dad. My Father, my teacher. It had been five years since he passed away, victim of the one relentless enemy, cancer. He had always thought of stubbornness as a good trait. It certainly helped me in my Wushu practice. I remembered. "Never give up. Kenny..." I was certainly not giving up now. I hopped into the Tower elevator, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. No such luck. The car then slowed as it reached the observation deck. I stepped out, let my eyes wander across the room. Nowhere. Numbened, I walked toward the window, caressing the old binoculars as I did. I let myself float in the warm caress of nostalgia. Right here, I thought. Four years ago to this date. Four years, I mused to myself. I fell in love here four years ago... =================================== I close my eyes and I'm eleven again. On my first field trip to the Tokyo Tower. Smoothly gliding among the constantly mobile mass of teenagers and romantics. Not a whit or care about what happened or where. When someone caught my eye. A highschool girl with braided hair had run out of coins to put into the binoculars. It was the funniest thing I had heard or saw in my eleven years of life. Then I took a closer look, and found her... well, rather... pretty. Most boys are known to go through a girl-hating stage at some time in their lives. It's a fact of life. I myself was certainly no different until that day. I knew it was stupid, suddenly growing to like a girl that I saw for but the first time in my life, but I didn't care. I felt funny for the rest of the day. Somehow it felt right. I never knew her name. Every day afterward, after classes, I would head over to the Tower, hoping she would be there. Sometimes she was. Other times, she just didn't show. Yet on none of those times did I sum up the courage to say even a hello. It was just as intruiging, then, that my dreams began on that same day I met her. =================================== I waited another hour. After that, I became convinced she wasn't planning to show this day. It had been five months since I saw her last; I wondered if she might have graduated already by now. If mother only knew, she would have thought I had gone completely out of my mind for waiting. Defeated, I entered the lift. The lift doors with a whisper. There was no one inside, which served only to heighten my loneliness. I stepped into the elevator... ...And heard someone whisper in my ear... "What you covet you will soon despise." In surprised shock, I whipped my around, searching for whoever it was that spoke. Yet no one was near. There were far too few people visiting today; most were out of earshot. Chiding myself, I turned back toward the elevator car, and noticed a small black jewel lying there. Odd, I didn't see it there a second ago. Hmmph. Might as well pick it up. Who knows who might be looking for it? I absently stuffed the black orb into my pants pocket, and put no further thought into it for the remainder of the day. Had I known then what I know now, I would have thrown it out the Tower window, wishing that I'd never have seen it. But then again, I would also never have encountered that strange land of magic and mystery, of the deep blue sea and the floating islands... The world known as Cephiro.</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>