A Magic Knight Rayearth story by Rob Barba
Magic Knight Rayearth is copyright several people who don’t really bother too much if I’m doing this or not. Fortunately, those people live in Japan, where they care much about their fans, so they don’t try to sue the hell out of them like their greedy American counterparts. Personally, I don’t make enough to be able to pay for one of their lawyers’ power lunches, so let’s just say I respect them and give them their due here, ne?
The moon over Seattle tonight was one that was an absolute rarity in astronomical terms. A true blue moon, as it was called, it was no simple second appearance of a full moon in one month, but due to atmospheric conditions was actually colored blue, much like the more common (yet still rare on its own) red hue of the sackcloth moon. Said to happen approximately once every forty years or so, the moon was said by many to be magic, to have powers in it that defied convention and ensured that wonderful, mysterious events occurred. That’s what the legend said, anyway. The truth was that it was still a beautiful yet rare phenomenon. Yet sometimes, magic did happen, and when it did, the results were, to say the least, magical, especially so on this quiet night in May.
One such place where the light of the moon touched up on was a darkened plain in a nearby suburb. The plain had been there for the longest time, more correctly called a park, a special kind of park; a memorial park to be precise. This sort of park was generally devoid of life during the day and especially so during the evening. But tonight would be much different than the normal night. After all, tonight was the night of the true blue moon, and as the saying went, many things happened on that night.
In a tiny section of the park, the ground shook. At first, it wasn’t a big deal, but a second later it shook again, much stronger. A few more minutes went by before the ground exploded and a shaft of white energy ripped towards the sky, clods of dirt and grass carried in its wake. After a few seconds the lightshow subsided, leaving only the park again…and the hole.
A slender hand reached out of that gaping maw, bursting into the brightness
of the evening light, far more luminescent than that of the earthen pit below.
Looking a bit pale, the hand scrambled for purchase for a few seconds
before digging into the dirt and clamping down as hard as possible.
A second hand came out to assist the first, and a minute later, a figure
crawled out of the ground, white as a ghost.
Gathering some rags of some kind around it, the figure looked around in
confusion and worry, whispering, “Cold…so very cold…where am I?
Why am I here?” Nothing further to add, the being began to walk slowly and
unsteadily as though learning to walk, dirt sloughing off the body in crumbles
as if the scene were of a snake shedding its older skin, to appear in the newer
one. Unclear of its position, it
headed in what might have been south, seeing the cityscape of downtown Seattle
in the distance.
The light visited other parts of the city as well, such as a thrift store in section of town not very far away from the cemetery. The Grandmother’s Attic thrift store, like many of its kind, was a collection of rundown knickknacks and secondhand furniture that was run by a non-profit agency. Lower-income families found many of the refurbished items to be low priced and just within their budget for them to afford; while collectors paid top dollar for some of the more collectable castoffs; the prices they paid would go to a good cause, so in the end everyone profited.
However, there were some things that couldn’t be fixed, or things that nobody wanted: ugly couches from the seventies, old toys or, ones deemed no longer safe to use; discarded or broken record players and 8-track tapes, and the like. For those, they were placed in the back room of the store over by the delivery and cargo entrance, waiting their turn to be recycled or properly disposed of. For a heavily overworked, mostly volunteer staff, there wasn’t really much time to devote to contacting the recycling or disposal companies for a specialty run, so the piles mostly grew until the city (via a public health inspector) suggested that it was time to do so.
At the moment, the pile was relatively small, as the last run had been just a couple of weeks before. In fact, the pile was small enough that no one on staff had bothered to try to separate the items yet. Amongst the items was a rocking chair broken beyond repair, two old lamps that wouldn’t work despite the best attempts of electricians to fix them, and one beat-up old doll that somehow gotten thrown into that pile instead of the ones for toys. The pile sat, unbothered and no harm to anyone, alone in the dark, serenaded by a couple of crickets and framed in a beautiful beam of moonlight that seemed to bless the pile as if to say, for just this one night, it was special.
There was an unusual glow around the pile for a second, followed by coughing. The coughing turned into groaning, as though someone was seriously sick, and a few seconds later, retching followed as a woozy voice declared, “I think I’m going to be sick.” With that, the doll pulled itself free of the pile, growing in size until after a few seconds, it had taken on the form and fashion of a young human girl.
The newly alive doll squinted, trying to adjust to the light, but found that it was of no help. “I can’t see well without my glasses,” the dollgirl said to herself, as though the mere sound of her voice was proof of her own existence. Looking down at herself, she noticed that she was nude, and as Eve after the apple, she felt shame for her nudity. “Wha-what’s happening? Where am I?” There were as many answers available as there were clothes on her back, and neither one was of no good to her.
Leaving the pile behind as a bird left the nest, she walked into the main part of the store. Since there were no valuables to speak of, and all the money made during the day was taken to the bank promptly upon the store closing, there was no need for an extensive security system, which meant she was free to walk about unmolested. After about an hour or so, she managed to find herself some serviceable, if currently out of fashion, clothing and a pair of old eyeglasses that were close enough to her prescription that allowed her to move around in a much easier manner.
During this time, the girl managed to find out a bit more information about her new life. “Seattle? America?” she asked herself rhetorically, unable to comprehend that she was in the place that she just named. It seemed so out of the pale, so far left field of what she expected, that she almost refused to believe what the documents near the cash register were telling her. After a few more minutes of investigation, she found this to be so, if only because no other information proved otherwise.
Fearing that something had seriously went wrong in the universe, she decided to leave and face her fortunes in the outside world. She felt bad about the apparent theft of the clothes (although unbeknownst to her, had the owners of the store seen her nudity, they would have given her much more than just those threads) though she promised that if she had the chance, she would make it up to them somehow. With that vow taken to heart, she ventured into the dark Seattle night, seeking her purpose.
Night also found the Shidou home in the affluent Seattle Hills district, and in particular the elder Shidou children, sitting on the back porch, enjoying each other’s company in the midnight hour. At the moment, it was just Hikaru and Lance awake, as Hikari was asleep, her head in her older sister’s lap, too tired to stay awake but not wanting to leave her loved ones, especially on this, one of the last nights they would have together.
“Lance, I wish you wouldn’t go away,” Hikaru said, her voice holding genuine emotion and love for her older brother.
Lance merely sighed and took a drink from a can of soda he had in his hand. “‘Karu, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later. My finals are done, and the graduation ceremony’s happening in a couple of days. I’ll be home for a few more months, then in August I head off to college down at UCLA.” He looked at his sister, and there was as much warmth in them as she held for him. “‘Sides, it’s not like I’m disappearing off the face of the Earth, you know. I’ll still be home for the holidays and such.”
“I know,” she replied, her voice still sounding disappointed. “But I need your strength, big brother.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t need to lean on anyone for support anymore; even Dr. Choi said so. You’ve been given a clean bill of health, and you don’t have to worry about anything. Your situation made you stronger in so many ways, ones that no one can understand, as though that accident and your breakdown opened up talents and abilities in you that you never knew you had before. I mean, you missed nearly two months of school, and not only have you managed to catch up, you’re now ahead in your credits that you could advance directly to your senior year of high school and skip your junior year if you wanted to.”
“Never happen. I won’t leave ‘Kari behind,” she said, reaching down to her twin and gently brushing the hair out of her eyes.
“See?” Lance answered. “You’ll do better than fine. Trust me.” He placed a hand on her hair, mussing it like he did when they were just kids, in a time that seemed so long ago and far away.
But Hikaru wasn’t quite done yet. Taking his hand in hers, she said, “What about Allison? Have you two thought of that?”
Lance was quiet. “We broke up two days ago. Before you say anything, let me finish, please. I love her very much, sis, and she loves me. At this stage in life, I would love to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. But college changes a person radically, and what’s good for us now might be poison four to six years ahead. I’m going to UCLA; she’s looking at staying nearby, most likely over at Washington State. I don’t know what the effects of hundreds of miles away and months apart will do to us, but we’ve agreed to let each other go for the moment.”
Hikaru’s eyes welled. “But it’s not fair! You two are so perfect for each other, and….”
“I know it’s not fair, believe me. But it’s life. The trick about life is that you either have to beat it at its rules, or find a way around them. If you can’t, then you have no choice but to continue on. What Allison and I are doing is just that. If we still love each other years from now and can put a life together, I’d love that. But I just don’t know.” He looked at Hikaru and pointed out, “Believe me, if I could have it as easy as Rick and ‘Kari, I would. But Rick’s got his own problems – his grades weren’t good enough to get into a university, so he’s stuck at the community college.”
Hikaru nodded. It was a good thing for Hikari in the short sense, as it allowed her to remain with her boyfriend, but for how long? Both Shidou sisters were already looking at colleges, and it would be hard enough for them to stay together, much less the loves they had in their lives. That was the dance of life, Hikaru knew, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. And in fact, she had to admit to herself that she didn’t.
“I mean, c’mon, have you and Eric thought that far ahead? Granted, it’s two years away, but the fact is, it’s only two years away.”
“He wants to marry me,” she said in a dreamy voice, “and I want to marry him. Maybe it’s just that feeling that people get when they’re so in love that they can’t think of the future just yet, or maybe just the overly dreamy imaginations of a girl in love, but something tells me that it’s so right being his wife.” She looked at her brother, and looked troubled for a second, as though she wanted to ask him something.
Lance picked up the inference in a second. “How many times?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“How many times have you slept with him? Granted, I’m not mad, though I am a bit disappointed,” Lance said, voicing his concern. “I haven’t yet; I thought you’d wait as well.”
“We haven’t, and that’s the truth,” Hikaru replied, blushing slightly at the new topic, “although I’d be lying if I said we didn’t come close once or twice.” When he raised his eyebrow at that, she confessed. “The first time, I, uh, spent the night at his place. His parents weren’t home since his dad was on a road trip, and well….”
“I’m not going to say anything to Mom and Dad about it, but I’d rather you not do that again,” he said.
“I won’t, I promise. The second time was when his parents invited me to go with them to Chicago. We were in the private Jacuzzi at the hotel, and we…explored a bit, but…I got cold feet.”
Lance nodded. “I guess that’s natural; I’d be lying if I said Allison and I didn’t come close ourselves once or twice, and both times only because we didn’t have protection. Look, you’re nearly an adult, and it’s not really my place to tell you what you can or can’t do, but I will add that I don’t think I’m ready to be an uncle yet. Hell, look at Europa – she’s a perfect example!” Both of them laughed, enough so that it woke up Hikari.
Sleepy eyed and yawning, the younger twin lifted her head off Hikaru’s lap and half-mouthed, “Y’ guys‘re too noisy, but I love you both.” With as much energy as she could, she hugged her older sister, with Lance embracing both of them soon after. Just as they did that, as though God chose to choreograph the moment, a shooting star pierced the sky, racing down from the heavens on a course to the Pacific, miles away.
“Quick, someone make a wish,” Hikaru said. In response, Hikari closed her eyes for a few seconds, murmuring enough that both thought she’d fallen asleep again. But then she opened her eyes and smiled. “I hope I get my wish.”
“What’d you wish for?” both elder siblings asked in unison.
“I wished that we could all be together. I don’t ever want us to be apart,” Hikari whispered.
Hikaru hugged her sister closer. “I’ll always be here for you, ‘Kari, an’ so will Lance.”
“I know, I know, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little extra insurance now and then, doesn’t it?” the ponytailed redhead said, smiling with love in her eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to turn in, and maybe we’d all best do the same, especially you, Lance, since you an’ Dad have to go pick up our grandparents at the airport in the morning. G’night.”
That night Hikaru dreamed, imagining herself in a far and inhospitable place. The sky was darker than she’d ever seen it, lit only by the occasional lightning racing through the clouds. While the sky appeared ready to drop a flash flood’s worth of water onto the ground, the cracked, parched, and arid land appeared not to have seen rain in the better part of a century. Against the stony gray sky, a jagged bolt against the otherwise unblemished horizon, was the remains of a castle that seemed titanic in proportions even as far away from it as she was.
“That’s the home of the Pillar,” a voice declared, “or at least it was, until you changed everything. Until the day you grasped an ability that was never meant for mankind, Shidou Hikaru. Though you never intended any of this, this is all your doing.”
Hikaru didn’t have to ask who it was, or even, for that matter, bother with acknowledging the other’s presence. “Go away, Nova. You’re not wanted. You’re not even real. I don’t believe in you.” Hikaru raised her arms, to symbolize the blasted landscape around her. “None of this is real, it’s nothing but something I’ll wake up from in a few hours or so.”
“Is that so?” Nova said, arms crossed and one hand delicately balancing her chin. “Well, if this is a dream, then how about you and I—“
“Not on your life, real or otherwise!” Hikaru snarled, hiding her embarrassment from the words she knew her dark alter ego was going to say.
Nova shrugged. “Can’t blame a girl for trying. But since you’re so concerned that this is all a dream, that none of this is real, what if I were to tell you that right at this very moment, dreams are walking the Earth, that figments of your imagination are more real than you can possibly imagine?”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Hikaru asked, stepping forward as her hands balled into fists. Imagination or not, she was not going to put up with this.
“You’ll see,” Nova said, blowing her a kiss before disappearing. The elf’s final words before she vanished completely, her voice barely carrying on the wind, was, “By the by, say hello to Umi for me, wouldja?”
Before Hikaru could come up with a scathing reply, she found herself sitting up, wide-awake, in her bedroom. Rubbing her eyes and wondering for a second if she was in one of those weird “dream in a dream” situations like she’d seen so many times on TV, she turned and noted the peacefully sleeping form of Hikari in her bed. Taking a look at her alarm clock, she found that the time was only 7:30, and that it had been, for the most part, been a quiet night.
The silence lasted a few seconds longer, when Priss all but bolted into the room. “Girls, I need you to get up and we need to get going now.”
At their mother’s words, Hikari began to rise from the euphemistic grave, muttering, “Mom, it’s a Saturday. What, did Grandpa and Oba-san arrive at the airport early?” Hikaru, already sitting up in bed by coincidence, looked at her mother’s face and knew something was wrong.
“We have to go over to the Ryuzaki place, girls,” Mrs. Shidou answered in a voice that implied very much that she didn’t want to be admitting this news. “There…was an incident last night.”
“An incident?” Hikari’s bed exploded into a blossom of fabric as the younger twin moved out of her bed immediately. “Is something wrong? What happened?” Hikaru, in the meanwhile, felt an ice-cold spear rake down her spine. The Ryuzakis had already lost Umi; what had occurred now? Was little Mutsumi hurt? Did something happen to either of the adults?
Priss Shidou merely looked at her older daughters, not really sure of how to explain what had transpired. Finally, she realized there was no real easy way to say it, so she turned to her twins and spoke, her words disquiet and unnatural: “I just got a call from Keiko. It seems…I guess there’s no real easy way to say this. There was an incident at the cemetery where Umi was buried and….”
“What?” both girls asked in unison.
“Umi’s plot is empty. Someone robbed her grave.”
“By the by, say hello to Umi for me, wouldja?” Nova’s words rang in
Hikaru’s head thirty minutes later as she was seated in the Ryuzaki’s living
room, watching over both Emily and Mutsumi.
Due to her earlier incident, it was decided that it would be in
Hikaru’s best interest if she didn’t get the full news, though she already
had enough of an idea of what was going on.
Hikari promised she’d give the details to her sister, but Hikaru knew
better. Not that her family would
deceive her, but she knew that they’d do their best to shield her from more
pain regarding Umi. Umi…what
did they do to you? Who would have
the nerve to do something like that to you?
As though by an angel’s guidance, Mutsumi, still too young to understand what was going on, went over to Hikaru and sat on her lap, kissing her on the cheek. “Onnesama, please don’t be sad,” the young girl said. Emily cued in on this, thinking something was wrong with her sister and joined in, putting her small arms around Hikaru.
Hikaru smiled; leave it to the younger ones to bring her emotions back up. “Oh, you two….” She cooed, hugging both girls to herself. With Umi gone now, there would be no one for Mutsumi except for the Shidous, and Hikaru and Hikari long since promised they would be there for Mutsumi whenever she needed it. “You two are just the most adorable things in the world, you know that?”
“Th’n can you take us to the movies?” Emily cooed, giving Hikaru her best Bambi-eyed look.
Hikaru gave the girls a sunny grin. That sounds like a great idea. I need to get out of here anyway, or else my family, loving as they are, will practically coddle me to death. “Well, if you two really behave, I think we can squeeze some ice cream into the deal as well, okay?” The exuberant amount of hugs and kisses the young woman received immediately was a testament to the surety that her idea would succeed.
At that time, the doorbell rang and before anyone moved for it, Hikaru called out, “I’ll get it.” Hearing no argument, she moved to the door, right next to the Seattle PD officer whose partner was in talking to the Ryuzakis and opened it. “Yes, can I help you?”
“Sure, know any breathtakingly beautiful women around here?” a young man asked. He would have continued on, save that Hikaru silenced all further conversation with a kiss for her loving boyfriend. As they broke their kiss, Eric replied, “You know, I knew there was a reason that your father called me and asked me to come out here.”
“Oh?” she asked, raising a brow. She was going to have to have a talk with her father on that. Clef just adored Eric, but Hikaru wasn’t too eager to have too many restraints put on her life at this time…at least not more than she was dropping on herself. “Well, it saves me the time from stealing Mom’s car, then, and since you’ve come here, you get to help me do my dirty work.” She quickly explained her plan and why; to this he greatly agreed. “Good. Lemme tell the parentals, and I’m sure they’ll agree to it.”
Eric nodded as his girlfriend braved the danger zone that was the living room. Looking at the two younger girls, he grinned and said, “Hey, you’d better get ready to go, so we can make sure that we get the good seats at the movies, okay?”
“You mean the dark ones that no one looks at so you and ‘Karu can kiss?” Emily said with the innocence of a child. Mutsumi merely looked at him and wondered what that meant. Eric, completely stumped, had no idea of how to answer the question put before him.
“C’mon, Allison, you’re not going to do anyone any good being completely drunk,” Rick said to the moving lump in the back of his ride. “Trust me, I know what that feels like, and having a hangover at nighttime ain’t a great thing.”
“I d’n c’re,” a blurry and female voice slurred from the back of the van. “I don’ care an’mur.” Rick turned a corner slightly sharper than he intended and something bumped in the back of his vintage-early-90’s minivan. “Oooowwwtttcchie….”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Look, it’s not the end of the world. Lance still loves you and just because you two decided to stop seeing each other for the moment doesn’t mean it’s over between you two, right?” He heard silence, and shouted out a repeated, “Right?”
“Then why did he leave me if he loves me?” the drunken Allison managed to somehow say without slurring. “‘T’s ‘ca’se I’m not bea…be…sexy en’ugh.”
“And being drunk off your ass isn’t helping much, either,” he drawled.
“Honestly, what the hell were you thinking, drinking that much at
Elaine’s party? You know
you can’t handle that much joy juice. Hell,
I’m not sure even I can…and that’s saying a lot!”
Not to mention that not only are we
both underage, but the fact that our significant others can be straight-arrowed
enough to give preachers a run for their money.
The very drunk Allison Danvers tried to sit up in the van again, but fell backwards, slamming her head on one of the seats in the back. Between her tears and her inebriation, she breathed, “Lanssss…why don’ yu lov’ me an’m’re?” The answer suddenly came to her, though not the correct one, as she turned over and announced, “I thi’k I’m gunna b’ sick…” and began to retch in the backseat.
Rick heard that and felt uneasy himself. “Aww, c’mon, Allison, I just had the car cleaned the other day and—“ Too late, she began to answer nature’s call in the far back of the van, which she’d at least had enough sobriety to make it to before performing her technicolor yawn. Rick turned around, very worried about his friend; he remembered reading about Jimi Hendrix and all those other rock stars who choked while drunk, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to her. ‘Sides, she was going to have to live to pay for the interior cleaning of his ride, after all. “Hey, Allison, you okay?”
A single hand waved up very unsteadily from behind the last row of seats as a muddied voice blurted, “Oooookaa.”
“That’s good,” he said, feeling better, and returning his attention to the road, “‘cause I wouldn’t have to-- LOOK OUT!” Rick spun the wheel as much as he could, hitting the breaks and nearly tipping over as he swerved at the last possible second to avoid hitting a pedestrian. As he passed her by, he got the merest glimpse of her face for just a second, and thought, Kinda cute, but really, she needs to work on the clothing issue. Looks like she’s been watching one too many episodes of “That 70’s Show”.
Rolling down the window long enough to shout back “Sorry!”, he drove on, hoping he could get Allison back to her place and find some excuse to explain her drunkenness to her parents. If he was lucky, she might only be grounded for a month, and they wouldn’t smell the slight beer breath he had. If someone, like a cop or whatever, pulled them over, they’d be in stuff so deep, industrial cranes wouldn’t get them out of it.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” the living doll screamed at the receding van, wondering what he was doing on the wrong side of the road. It took her a few more seconds to realize that she was in America, and she’d been in the wrong; they drove on the other side of the road here.
Here? But other side of the road as opposed to where? the doll asked herself, the faintest glimmers of a life she’d known before and only seemed to recall now through a stained glass of memory. Fragments of a torn recollection sifted through her newly-sown mind, incomplete and hazy images of a smiling redhead, a blue-haired girl in trouble, a man screaming for help, a woman licking blood off her hands with glee that bordered on the inhumane…
The doll shut out those memories once more. They were painful, buzzing in the back of her head and vague, as though they refused to come out. There was something about all of it, though, that reminded her of why she was here. Not sure if she was imagining things, the doll continued to walk on down the street (though on the right side this time) in her search for the light and her reason for being.
“I hope the girls are okay,” Lance confided to his father at the airport, commenting on the news of what had happened to the Ryuzaki family. “‘Specially ‘Karu. That’s going to hit her hard.”
Clef agreed, nodding. “Son, you’ll find that in this world, there are a lot of things that’ll make you cringe. We’ve been fortunate enough not to see many of those things, but your grandfather has, and I’m sure graverobbing isn’t one of them. There are some crimes that can’t be forgiven.” Clef put out his cigarette, looking at the eldest of his brood. “But yes, I agree with you. Hikaru’s had a horrid year by many counts and this is not going to make it easier by any stretch of the imagination. But your sister’s strong; she’ll last this incident and come through it with flying colors.”
“I think so too, Dad,” Lance agreed, “but it still doesn’t prevent me
from worrying.” He would have
added more, but the reason for them being at the airport arrived, coming through
the gates. “Hey, here they
come!”
Stepping off the jetway and onto the arrival area of the airport, fresh off Aloha Airlines Flight 3218, was Hikaru T. “Harry” Shidou, Sr., widely decorated hero of WWII and Korea. By his side was his supportive and iron-willed wife, Hizashi Shidou. The elder Hikaru had already had a long series of adventures behind him, amongst them the fact that he’d enlisted at the all-too-young age of fourteen the day after Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Since that day, the Japanese-American farm kid from the sugarcane fields of Hawaii had lived a life few had dreamed of, losing a fiancée in occupied Japan to disease, eventually marrying her kid sister. During those years, he worked his way up from a slick-sleeve private in a war few men survived to a highly decorated Army Lieutenant General, a man so well-known for his prowess on the battlefield that even General McArthur himself had once said, “I’d rather have a man like Harry Shidou watching my back than a whole division!” It was said that when Harry retired from the Army in 1981 after forty years of service, President Reagan himself had said that an Army without Harry Shidou was an Army that had “lost its samurai soul”.
Regardless of his fame, life had not been easy for Harry and Hizashi.
Harry always seemed to go from one world crisis to another, while the
Japanese woman had to adjust to live thousands of miles away from home in lands
she’d been brought up to think were the realms of barbarians.
Nonetheless, they’d both persevered, and though everything had come
late to him and her (his third child, Clef, had not been born until Harry was at
the ripe old age of 41 and Hizashi a still-beautiful 26 it would still be
another 23 years before the unintentional but no less loved birth of his final
child, Europa), their lives had become a testament to how love let them survive
the chaos that had been the mid-twentieth century.
Since then, he and Hizashi had presided over a wonderful family full of
delight and successes: eldest child Emi was a professor the University of
Hawaii; the next child, Taro (who went by his middle name, Duke), had followed
in his father’s footsteps and was a lieutenant colonel stationed in Germany;
Clef had taken the route of author; and the baby, Europa, was an engineer in
Europe. Though life had been hard
to Harry and Hizashi Shidou, the rewards of it had been much greater than
they’d ever hoped for.
“Hey, Pop, Oka-san,” Clef said as he went to embrace his parents.
“Hey, son,” Harry said, smiling with a twinkle in his eye. As Clef turned to his mother, Harry addressed his grandson. “Heya, champ, ready to make the big time?”
Lance grinned. “Hey, if ‘Ropa can do it, I’m sure I can.”
“I believe so as well, my grandson,” Hizashi said as she moved over to give Lance a hug. “Oh, you have no idea how proud your grandfather and I are of you. You’ve done so well, and to earn a scholarship at UCLA…that is so wonderful.” Hizashi smiled demurely, ever Japanese even at the ripe old age of 68 and after living the lion’s share of her life out of her home country. “To think that soon you’ll be in college just makes me beam with pride.”
“Thanks, Oba-san,” Lance replied, bending down and giving Hizashi and hug and kiss on the cheek. “Need help with the bags, Grandpa?”
Harry scoffed. “Lance, I’m a born an’ bred Army man. I don’t need mollycoddling of any kind.” However, he nodded and said, “I’d appreciate it, though, as that way your father and I can talk.” Lance nodded and went to the baggage claim to retrieve their bags, Harry looked at Clef and asked bluntly, “How’s Junior doing?”
Clef smiled inwardly; because Hikaru had been named after her grandfather, Harry had since taken to calling her “Junior”, something that Hizashi thought was unseemingly for a young woman...even though, technically, she was Hikaru Jr. “Pop, ‘Karu’s fine. Tom’s staff gave her a clean bill of health and she’s more than recovered.”
Hizashi looked sorrowful. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t be more of a help for Hikaru-chan when she needed us. Emi-chan is also sorry that she and her family couldn’t make it as well.”
“I know, believe me. Both sides of the family have been beating themselves up regarding ‘Karu’s accident. Duke called me personally from Weisbaden to apologize that Army duties kept them there; Emi must’ve called a dozen times to make sure everything was okay. On the other side, Priss’ parents had a guilt trip like there was no tomorrow, but political life in Washington kept them busy, so they could only come out when Congress wasn’t in session. Tom felt a personal obligation to help, and he had to literally move his family out here to do so. As for Europa, well, she was the only one really able to come out here; her plan, foolish as it was, was the key to bringing our ‘Karu back to us.” But as he led his parents to the car, waiting only a few seconds for Lance to catch up, he added, “But I do have to admit, you and Pop’s idea of giving her the family sword was brilliant.”
“She deserved it,” Hizashi answered. “That sword has been in the Hino family since time began, and passed down from warrior to warrior. With my own father having no sons to leave the legacy to, the only choices he had apart from it being confiscated by the Occupation government was to donate it to a museum or to keep it in the family by using it as a dowry. When your father saved your grandfather from being accosted by other occupation troops, combined with the fact that he was of Japanese blood, made him the perfect choice to carry the sword.” Hizashi sighed. “And to think that my sister wanted to sell it, but she died before she could convince either my father or Harry. It was a hard choice since we were bankrupt by the war, but I think in the end it was the right one.”
Clef nodded. “Well, Oka-san,
I’m glad that you married Pop instead of Aunt Hinata, or else I wouldn’t
have been born. Though, I have to
admit, it would have been nice to meet her.
You and Pop have always spoken well of her.”
“Your father truly cared about my sister, and he always thought me like a little sister as well. When Hinata…died…your father was heartbroken, but he agreed to your grandfather’s request that he and I should marry. Personally, neither of us were comfortable with that decision at the time, but those were still in the days of arranged marriages.” Hizashi tilted her head just so, and for a moment it seemed as though she was far away, back to being an eighteen-year-old girl being told she’d have to marry her older sister’s fiancé in her place, a person she considered like a brother. “It took us a long time to get used to the change in our relationship, but as you can tell, we’ve adjusted, and in the end I’ve never found cause to ever regret my father’s wisdom…or Harry’s love.” Back to the present, she turned back to her son. “Speaking of which, have the girls found anyone suitable? I want what’s best for my little girls, you know.”
Clef laughed. “Every parent’s nightmare – I remember how much you gave me grief when I was with my first girlfriend.” Talking on about everything and catching up on news, the Shidous headed towards Clef’s car.
The pale girl took a chance to sit down on a bench, looking around at everything. This place was so bizarre, so unreal…yet it felt somehow that she’d been here, and yet, she hadn’t. What was that word she learned in her French classes? Jamais vu, the feeling that you hadn’t been there, even though you had. Or was it the opposite; that she’d never been here before yet she knew this place like the back of her hand? It was all so confusing, and the questions and confusion weren’t clearing, instead sinking even deeper into her mind like the fog that settled over Boston the one time she and her parents went—
Wait a minute. I’ve never been to Boston, she thought, or have I?
It was all so confusing, and there was no one around to answer her questions, no one that could even give her a slightest hint of reality. Who was she? Where was she from? Was she like that one character in the Beatles song, “Nowhere Man”, a walking enigma on the Earth? About all that she knew at the moment that she was cold, female, and probably in serious need of a bath, if that smell blaring in her nostrils was herself. All she wanted more than anything right now was a hot bath, a change of clothing, and a real big hug, especially if it was someone like her mother, or her best friends—
That was the part that hurt the most. That she couldn’t remember her own name was painful enough, but that those who loved her were nothing more than vague shadows barely hanging on to the farthest edges of the blackout in her mind hurt the most. Did she have a boyfriend? Were her parents still alive? What kind of person was she?
“Who am I?” she asked herself, knowing there would be no answer. And that, she knew, was the biggest problem of all. With that, she broke down, crying, unable to take the pain in her heart and the coldness of her own soul. She was not only a nobody, but at this rate, she was pretty much a literal Nobody. Alone on a park bench, despite the frivolity around her of children flying kites and boys playing sports, the pale girl felt more cordoned off from society than she’d ever been.
In fact, she was so absorbed in her depression at the moment, she didn’t hear the person walk up to the bench and sit down next to her. “Hey, what’s wrong, cutie? Boyfriend troubles?” The pale girl looked up and stared at a girl probably around her age or so. She had light-hued red hair, its length curling around her face, framing it as though she were an angel. But no angel that the pale girl could ever recall wore wraparound shades that obscured the eyes, a white tubetop that looked like it was practically painted on, a very revealing – very revealing – leather mini, and a pair of pristine and expensive white tennis shoes. “Lemme guess: you caught the motherfucker sleeping with another girl and he kicked you out of the apartment, right?”
The pale girl shrugged, wiping the tears from her eyes. “No, it’s not that at all.” She began to speak, but held her tongue, not sure of how to explain how she got here or the fact that she didn’t know who she was. After all, for a second at the very beginning, she felt as though she was crawling out of the ground as if she’d been buried – as if she was…dead? The pale girl shook her head at that. She wasn’t dead, she couldn’t be?
Still sitting there and waiting for an answer, the stranger seemed to make a
pack of cigarettes appear from nowhere, then snapped and somehow lit it?
The pale girl blinked in surprise as though she were imagining things,
but a split second later she saw the remnants of a wooden match hit the ground. Not looking at the girl, the stranger took a long drag, then
puffed out the smoke and replied, “My Dad taught me a few magic tricks when I
was a kid. I’d offer you one, but
you don’t look the type that smokes. Frankly,
if I can be blunt – which I will be, anyway – you look like a Daddy’s girl
that just got in trouble for the first time and has no idea how to get the hell
out of it.”
Rubbing her eyes, the pale girl replied, “Sorta.”
The stranger removed her shades, and the pale girl got a good look at the other girl’s eyes. They were red as rubies, not the normal reddish-brown that her best friends had – Why can’t I remember their names? – but also far colder and calculating, as though she were seeing through her, inspecting a steak in the meat market. Her face, fully revealed, somehow seemed so familiar, as though if a dream, a faint memory that had just risen a bit more through the murky depths of her brain. “So, let me guess again: your boy knocked you up, and now you have no idea what to do, you’ve been sleeping on the streets because Daddy’s Little Girl’s too afraid to go back and tell Papa that his little baby’s been doing the Horizontal Bop?”
“No! It’s not like that!” the pale girl replied, her voice breaking. Realizing that she could turn away the one person who was offering her help, she lowered her voice and answered truthfully, “I…have no home. I don’t remember who I am.”
“Oh, is that all? You make it sound as though it’s a major problem. That’s hardly worth the bother.” With another magic flick of the wrist, the girl produced what appeared to be several twenties in her hand, and within a second, placed it in the pale girl’s. “Here, take this and get yourself some clean clothes. And a bath.” Still looking at her, she pointed southeast, adding, “Then head in that direction. I have a funny feeling that what you’re looking for will be over there. Also, take this.” A small white card with a phone number appeared in her pale hand. “If you don’t find a place to belong, you can always stay with me. Believe me,” the woman said with a purr, “I can be very easy to get along with.”
The girl counted the small wad of cash. Three hundred…? “I can’t take this…I have no way of paying you back!”
“Don’t worry. Think of it as a loan…or just maybe,” she said, looking the pale girl over with a gaze that was predatory, “advance payment for…services…to be rendered later. Just take care of yourself and I’ll come looking for you later. Until then, taa!” Slipping on her wraparounds again, she left the bench and walked off, saucily moving her body with just enough flair to get the attention of every male in the park. Within a minute, she’d rounded the nearest corner and was gone.
The pale girl looked at the money, then at the place where the other had been. It was both fortuitous and creepy, and that girl had looked at her as though she were simply something to be devoured, to be consumed and subsumed within. Was this the warped world in which she would have to live her life? Indeed, was any of this life?
“Head in that direction. I have a funny feeling that what you’re looking for will be over there.” Moving that way would take her farther away from the center of the city, towards the suburbs. Was that truly where she needed to go? Did she have a family there? Parents, brothers, sisters? Her best friends? Would there even be the chance person that knew who she was, and what her purpose was for? The stranger thought so, and though it was laughable at best, it was still better than being Nobody. Finally deciding on her course, she left the bench, moving straight as the crow flew towards what very well might be her path to restoration.
“This is really unfair, Mom!” Hikari told her mother as she chopped up some lettuce for a lunchtime salad. Right now the ponytailed redhead was internally raging between wanting to cry and wanting to scream, feelings she knew that Hikaru felt. “Why Umi? I mean, this isn’t anything that should happen to anyone, but why Umi?”
They were still at the Ryuzaki residence, and Keiko was in her bedroom, having passed out from the strain. A slightly more composed Daisuke had decided to take the rest of the interview to the den, which the police agreed. Although she’d have to recuse herself from the case due to her friendship with the Ryuzakis, Priss would keep on top of this for everyone’s sake. “I don’t know, dear,” she replied, her voice very solemn. “Some people are just ill and don’t think of others. I don’t think this was intended against Umi or her family, but I promise that the police will get down to the bottom of it.”
“I hope so,” the ponytailed redhead replied, her throat catching on a sob. “Umi was the best friend a girl could have, and her death tore us all up, ‘specially ‘Karu. She’s deserved her rest and to think that someone won’t even give her that in the afterlife is just wrong.” ‘Kari set aside the lettuce and started working on the tomatoes, trying to concentrate at the task at hand.
“Don’t remind me,” Priss pointed out. “I feel helpless as it is. I’m sure even your father and brother do as well.”
“Yeah, they’re not going to take that very well, either.
An’ this is some seriously bad timing, considering that Lance’s
graduation is next Friday. An’
while Grandpa and Oba-san didn’t know Umi well, I think they’ll be a bet
upset by this.”
Priss grew a wry smile on her face, the kind she had when she was formulating a plan. “You know, ‘Kari, you just gave me an idea.”
Hikari looked at her mother? “I did?”
Priss nodded. “We need to get Daisuke and Keiko out of here for a while, and I’m sure they could use some company. So, maybe we should have your grandmother talk to them. I’m sure she’d enjoy the chance to dispense some motherly advice, and the Ryuzakis might be a little more comfortable with a little old Japanese lady than contemporaries.”
Kari nodded. “That just might work, Mom. You know, I’m glad you got the idea from me. After all, I am your most brilliant child, you know.” When her mother groaned good-naturedly, the redhead continued with, “Ah, the price of genius that I must pay.”
“Okay, Einstein, then you continue with making lunch while I go call your father. This isn’t going to be easy.”
It was a trial for the doll to walk. She felt slightly gangly and unbalanced, and much of it had to do with the fact that she couldn’t see very well as to where she was going. She was walking down the street, not really sure of where she was going, but knew that somehow she was going to come across some sort of help, the key that would be critical to—
Someone grabbed her arm. “Excuse me, miss? Do you wear glasses?” The person speaking to the doll was just far enough away to be blurry to her eyes, but she could barely discern reddish hair, reddish eyes, and a female face. She was wearing some sort of business clothing, and was carrying something rectangular and flat, like a clipboard.
“Um, yes, yes I do, why?” the doll inquired, wondering exactly what the hell was going on.
The stranger smiled. “Perfect? How would you like a free pair of eyeglasses?” A second later, she added, “No catch, you don’t even have to give your name or any information. Really! You see, I’m an optometrist, and my office is trying to go for the Guinness record for most pairs of glasses made in a day. I need about 460 to break the record, and right now you’d be number 285.”
“I’d really like to, but….” The doll paused, thinking about it. The woman did say that there were no catches, but there were other slight problems, like she didn’t have her prescription on her, or a means to pay for it, either.
As though reading her thoughts, the woman cooed, “Don’t have your RX on file? No problem! I can get your vision test done in a couple of seconds, no time flat, and just because I’m trying to get this record, no cost for that either! How’s that sound?”
The doll bowed slightly. “Thank you very much!” she said, feeling relieved about the solution to at least one of her problems; with that positive note, she followed the woman into the store. By a stroke of luck, part of the doll’s dilemma had been removed, and with a little more luck, she’d be able to move on to whatever the next step would be, on the road to wherever she needed to end up.
Walking slightly ahead of the blonde, the woman thought to herself, Man, I hope these idiots get their act together and meet up soon! I’m wearing out my magic skills trying to organize all of this. Wiping a scowl off her face before she turned to face the blonde in the really tacky 70’s getup – where the hell’d she dig those rags up, a thrift store or something? – she commented, “Right this way please, miss!” in as chirpy and sugary a voice as she could.
Hikaru, you’re really going to pay for this, I swear you are….
At the mall, the two younger children contented themselves with cones of Baskin-Robbins, bouncing up and down with joy and thrilled that they were going to see not only one, but two movies! To this, they were practically moving around their seats like the children were heavily rocket-powered. And from Hikaru’s view, considering how much sugar and caffeine was in two scoops of Chocoholic’s Delight, her nuclear-fueled assessment wasn’t probably too wrong.
Then again, she noted, taking a dainty bite from a banana split that she’d gotten for herself, maybe we all need to be OD’ed on sugar for a while. The kids won’t have to deal with the news about Umi. And maybe neither will I.
As always, Eric picked up on his girlfriend’s bad vibes and started. “You know, no amount of banana splits is going to take away the pain, ‘Karu. I wish it could – I wish I could – but that’s something that you’ve got to get over.”
“Sometimes I don’t think you understand,” she hissed in a whisper, trying not to be too annoyed at his patronizing, while at the same time trying not to disturb the girls, who were fortunately seated at another table close by. “Umi was my best friend! I’d known her for years and years – she was practically part of the family!”
“No, you’re right, I don’t understand. You had a best friend growing up. I’ve never been that lucky. Being a baseball brat, we’ve moved from town to town, more times than I can remember. Though I was born in San Diego, I’ve lived in several other places; name a major league ball town and I’ve probably lived there. I’ve never really been close to anyone at all, until I’ve moved here.
“‘Karu, I know you, ‘Kari, and Umi were practically inseparable. I can’t begin to imagine how much it hurts.” He reached over the table and took his hands in hers, looking at her firmly. “All I know is that something happened today regarding Umi, and that you’re in pain, the sort of pain that you tend to want to brood over and ignore everyone.”
“I don’t brood,” she replied testily.
“You do brood, cutie, and as much as I’m always here for you, I can’t stand it when you push me away like that. You’re not alone, Hikaru, you shouldn’t have to be, even though I can tell that you want to be, more than anything?”
“You’re my boyfriend, not my psychoanalyst,” she said, really getting annoyed about the whole thing. “I’m done with that, remember?”
To her surprise, he released her hands and shot straight up from his chair. There was no look of anger in his eyes, but she could tell he wasn’t very happy. “Well, if you want to be alone so much, the girls and I will leave you to your brooding.” Moving away from the table and tossing his near-full shake in a trash bin, he went to the younger girls and said, “Hey, ‘Karu’s got some things to do, so since the movies don’t start for another thirty minutes, wanna go to the arcade?” Within seconds the trio had departed in the direction of the arcade, leaving a bewildered and sullen Hikaru to sit there, eating a banana split in self-directed anger.
Way to fuckin’ go, Shidou, she chastised herself. Piss off your boyfriend and make the girls worry, whydontcha? You brought them out here so they wouldn’t have to worry about the news regarding Umi. Brilliant plan; now they’re probably worried about you, instead. She lifted another spoonful of strawberry shortcake ice cream to her lips, but suddenly found that she’d lost her appetite for her favorite flavor.
She shook her head, not believing what she’d done. Umi, I miss you. I really, really do – but would you get offended if I moved on without you? She remembered the words on that snowy December, about her carrying on because she had to, but it didn’t…somehow, it didn’t feel right. Umi and I had a bond, something that I think was different from what ‘Kari and I have. It was something indescribable, like I had in the Dreamtime with her. Her own personal shorthand for the delusions that had been in her mind, the Dreamtime was more nightmare in nature to the redhead, but fortunately now something that she’d accepted only as imagination and not a Kafkan version of life. But if I don’t let go, then I’m going to fall again sooner or later, and I don’t know if I’ll have the strength to get up a second time.
Fortunately, an interruption prevented further inward debate on the subject. “Hikaru?” Hikaru looked up and looked at Mr. Culpepper, the two owner of the antique store where she was getting her blade restored. She actually preferred to work with him instead of his assistant, Mr. Yamata, as that man always seemed to think that Hikaru’s sword was actually his. There was also the fact that she found him to be a nice enough older gentleman who’d happened to serve under her grandfather when he’d been in the military.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Culpepper. Fancy meeting you here.” He saw the look in his eyes and knew instantly that her own woes would have to take a backseat at the moment. “Are you okay, sir?” she asked, offering him a seat.
“Well, I always come here for lunch; the bentos over at Tokyo Palace Ramen are just too good to pass up,” lifting a bag of what was clearly his lunch. “But I spotted you over here and wanted to let you know that your sword’s ready for pick up.”
Hikaru arched a brow at that. “I thought your assistant said it wouldn’t be ready until mid-July.” A warning flare lit at the back of her mind; had something gone wrong with her blade?
“It pains me to say this, Hikaru, it really does. I had Jack – Mr. Yamata – fired and arrested. He was taking many of the antique swords we restore and replacing them with counterfeits he ordered from Spain, quite good ones too, from an objective standpoint. He’d almost gotten away with yours, but I caught him on the phone with his dealer. I informed the local police, and they took it from there. I’m glad that we stopped it in time, but in the meanwhile,” he sighed, clearly distraught by these turn of events, “I feel as though it was my personal mistake, you understand.”
Hikaru nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that, sir. I hope it’s not affecting your business.”
“No, and for that I’m glad – most people realize that Jack was doing it behind my back, and between the two of us, he’s the swords expert; I only know other kinds of antiques. But the fact is that I’m now stuck with four replicas of your sword.”
“Four?”
Culpepper nodded. “Apparently, he was planning to sell yours on the black market, give you one of the copies, and sell the others as authentic swords to dupe people. Since then, I’ve had my binder redo the replicas in different colors and type of binding in order to tell them from your actual one, but I’ve no idea what to do with them now.”
“Why not sell them as replicas?”
“No, I can’t do that. Your family didn’t authorize it, and even still, they were created for ill purposes. But,” he said, with a new thought on his face, “perhaps I can give them to you as a way of making amends?”
“Well, I don’t know what I would do with four swords, but I can use the other three for practice,” Hikaru admitted. “But won’t that cost you?”
“Not as much as losing one of my most important customers due to the greediness of one of my employees. Besides, they’re based on your family heirloom; they should be yours. Just let me finish up my lunch, and we can go downstairs and finish up with this business. Oh, also needless to say, I’m not going to charge you for the restoration to the swords.”
“Well, I appreciate it, sir, though I have to figure out what I’m going to do with extra swords; maybe I’ll teach my sister. But thank you very much, nonetheless.” It was fortuitous and rather odd that she ended up with all the extra blades, but to be honest, it was probably better that she did, rather than her sword ending up in some private collector somewhere far away, having gotten her sword illegally. Grandpa and Oba-san would be pissed if that happened; the Hino sword, Tenkagatana, has been in the family for ages.
Realizing that she was probably going to need some help carrying it, she reached for her cellphone, to call Eric. She had to make up to her boyfriend, and she was probably going to need an extra pair of hands to carry the blades. But most of all, because she loved him and she needed to tell him so.
“There. Feeling any better?” Rick asked Allison as he gave her another bottle of water. He’d read somewhere that one of the best ways to beat a hangover was to stuff the other person with as much water as possible. Granted, he’d always thought the “hair of the dog” method was much better, but hey, it probably didn’t work for everyone.
“No, but I’ll manage,” she said in response, gratefully taking the bottle and downing a couple of aspirin. “By the way, where am I?” She looked around the room, noting that nothing looked even remotely familiar – or at least she didn’t recall her room being this much of a disaster zone, or the Bob Marley, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam posters on the wall. Also, why the hell did the room smell, well, like a guy?
“Um, you’re at my place,” Rick said sheepishly. “I took you to your place, but, um, your mother….”
“Don’t. Let me guess: I’ve been kicked out of the house until I sober up, and when I do get home, I’m going to be grounded until the next millennium.” Both of Allison’s parents were completely dry and would be furious as hell that their daughter had gone out and gotten wasted, despite their endless sermons on alcohol.
“Got it in one,” Rick replied. “I have a change of clothing for you in my sister’s room; you can stay in Kate’s room tonight, since my parents are out of town and she’s over in college on the East Coast, but I think you’ll want to go back to your place on Sunday night and face the music. Fortunately, they think that you’ll probably be staying at the Shidous, so I’ll have to call ‘Kari, ‘Karu, or Lance to cover for you, so….”
“Whatever,” she replied, sitting up with a headache. “I deserve this hangover, I really do, don’t I?”
“For acting like an ass, yeah,” Rick replied honestly, “not to mention trying to drink me under the table, which would never happen anyway. What the hell were you thinking, Allison? Granted, me an’ Lance have been best buds since kindergarten, but he’s not worth dying of alcohol poisoning over!”
Allison looked at Rick with the gaze of the damned…or the very hung over. “I’ve lost the man I love, Rick. It hurts, like my heart got ripped out of its cavity, and all I feel like doing right now is sinking into oblivion.”
“Christ, Allison, you want oblivion, go listen to the Cure. Spare me the melodrama and listen to me: Lance is hurt just as much by this as you are. Trust me. It’s not something he wanted to do, but he did it for you.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better? He’s my one true love!” she said, half-shouting her words and instantly regretting it as it echoed in Rick’s room, assaulting her ears in turn.
“Okay, let me tell you a story. There was once a guy that my sister just loved and adored, went by the name of Edward MacDougal. Ed and my sister were deeply in love with each other, had been through all of high school. Well, when they graduated, Kate went off to college, while Ed joined the Air Force and got stationed overseas; Korea, if I remember correctly. Well, though she burned a candle for him like no one else I’ve ever seen – my sister is such the incurable romantic – it didn’t work the same in reverse. About a year after they went their ways, Ed sent my sister a letter saying he was calling it off because he was going to marry a Korean girl. Lance was here with me when she got the note, and my sister was in tears for weeks, let me tell you.
“The fact is that in a few months, Lance is going to UCLA, while you’re gonna be here at Washington State. Lance loves you like there’s no tomorrow, but he also remembers that incident, I’m sure. You know as well as I do that people change – how many relationships have you seen break up? The way people care for each other changes over time, and while there’s a chance that you and Lance will have the same feelings for each other years down the road when it’s time to get married, there’s also a larger chance that you won’t. You two will be too far away and I don’t think I need to go further.
“But let me assure you, this wasn’t an easy choice for me. “Kari’s told me a couple of times that he’s just not been himself over the whole thing. The guy loves you and wants the best for you, believe me – I know Lance, and he wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t the right thing for both of you. But sometimes doing what’s right isn’t even remotely what’s easy, and you know the Shidous; the whole family’s so hard-wired on doing what’s right that the word “wrong” probably isn’t in a dictionary in that house.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She flopped down on Rick’s bed and said, “Hey, thanks for watching out for me.”
Rick flashed her a smile, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. “’S cool. To be honest, Lance probably would have done it himself, but he skipped Elaine’s party on purpose.”
“He did? Why?”
“Probably because he knew you were going to get drunk off your ass and were going to do something you might regret. Of course,” he added with a grin, “That’s why I went to the party, too. I mean, you don’t actually think I’d want to be around Elaine Bradshaw and her fashion victim clique, do ya?”
Allison chuckled. “You have a point.” Pausing for a second or two more, she sighed and asked, “Hey, I’m hungry. You have anything to eat?”
Rick not-so-elegantly shrugged. “Naah, I’ve just been going down to the usual places: Pizza Slut, Taco Hell and Mickey D’s. But if you’ve got the dime, I’ve got the ride. ‘Sides,” he added with a wicked grin, “I know an auto detailing place nearby where I can get vomit stains out of the van.” When she looked at him with an embarrassed shock, he nodded sagely, “Yup, it’s that bad.”
Allison took the hint. “Okay, let me take a shower and change clothes and then we can go get some food, get your car cleaned up and find some suitable gift that’ll get me out of trouble with my folks. Besides, maybe I can find something that’ll change Lance’s ideas about us.” She looked at her friend, and there was a bleary determination in her eyes. “I want to prove to him that love can weather anything, can even practically come back from the dead if it needs to.”
Rick nodded with a boyish expression. “Thatagirl, Allison. Follow me, and we’ll get you to the shower.”
In the darkness of the theatre, Hikaru gave her boyfriend yet another apologetic kiss. The girls were entranced by the images on the movie screen, which made it easier for the two teens to not have to entirely explain their actions. As she broke the kiss, she laid her head on his shoulder, sighing in contentment.
“Do you have any idea what this movie’s about?” Eric teased. “I don’t think I’ve been watching more than ten minutes of it.”
Hikaru cooed softly, “I know I’ve been busy being entertained in other fashions,” giving his hand a soft squeeze. “And to think that I could have missed out on this, too.”
“‘Karu, you don’t have to apologize. I know how you feel. Maybe I can’t understand it completely, but I can understand how Umi’s death still hurts you, and today’s news hasn’t made it easier. But I don’t think that she’d want you to be hurting forever; she’d want you to move on, and to a great degree you have.” He moved his head slightly, kissing her softly on her nose. “And in the end, everything you went through will only make you stronger, will help you to become the woman that you want to be and the woman that I’m going to marry someday…if you can manage to wait about six or so more years.”
“I’d wait for you beyond the end of time, and you know it, lover.” She looked at him, deep into his eyes, mouthing, “I love you”, then smiled to herself, relaxing again. She’d made up with him, and though she knew she was in no danger of losing him (Eric was more mature than others of his age), the disagreement, however minute, had put a strain on their relationship (at least in her eyes). Though that hadn’t even remotely entered his mind, Hikaru was more sensitive to her emotions.
He looked at her as she gazed back at him lovingly, and once again their lips found one another again, brushing as lightly against each other in a sign of love and grace, unseen by all except for each other as they drank in the essence of each others’ love….
God, those two make me sick! Lovey-dovey and shit. Seated on the other side of the theatre, also bathed in the same darkness than Hikaru and Eric used for their advantage, the young woman on the other side stared at them with calculating, wicked ruby eyes. So far she’d paid as little attention to the movie as they, but where their attention was focused on one another she was running a litany of different things through her head. In truth, she needed this movie to get a chance to relax. The logistics and magic usage in order to align everything perfectly for that one chance moment was exhausting her reserves like there was no tomorrow. But if it all worked out, she would have that one chance, that single opportunity to strike against her enemy. And if it didn’t work…. She didn’t want to consider the odds if that occurred.
“Hey, sweet thang, ‘s seat taken?” The stranger turned to see a young man her age wanting to sit down in the empty seat next to her, even though there were dozens of other like seats in the theatre. Clearly, he thought himself the type that could woo a girl off her feet at any time.
“Why yes, the seat is taken,” the girl replied as cattily as she could. “It’s available to anyone else but you.”
Sitting down anyway, he said to her, “Aww, c’mon, sweetbox, you know that you’re just looking for a guy like me.” Boldly he put his arm around her and whispered, “Give me a night and I bet I can make you sing to the rafters.”
Without even bothering to look at him, the stranger raised her hands slightly, creating a small ball of golden light. “You have two seconds to get the hell out of here,” she answered, closing her hands and causing a miniature lightning storm, “or you get a magical pap smear.” She then turned to him and stared at him with burning, inhuman ruby eyes. “Oh, and since you’re being such a gentleman by leaving, you wouldn’t mind leaving me the snacks, would you? I skipped lunch today and could use the fill.”
“S-sure,” he said, shaken, setting everything in her lap and deciding that going to see a movie was probably not the best thing for his health at the moment.
As he left, she immediately partook in the “parting gift” the guy left for her. She hated grape soda, but it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Also, the nachos were cold, and the hot dog lukewarm, but at least the popcorn was decent. Deciding that she needed at least a little downtime before she continued with her machinations, the girl settled in to watch the rest of the movie, consciously ignoring the love birds on the other side of the movie theatre and at the same time feeling just a bit saddened by the fact that she herself was alone.
Soon, she reminded herself. If everything works out, soon enough I can rest easy.
The pale girl’s head was spinning. What the heck just happened? I remember the world spinning, and…. Her mind throbbed a couple more minutes before clarity had come. She’d stopped at a store, bought herself some clothing that was in better condition than what she’d been wearing, then made her way down to the nearest public swimming pool and baths. She ignored all the stares and such long enough, but had questions of her own, such as where the where the huge scars on her body came from. They were huge, and looking in the mirror, they looked as though she’d been torn apart and sewn together, just like Frankenstein’s monster. Some other girl in the distance made some comment about “formaldehyde”, and the pale girl made the connection instantly. That odd smell was formaldehyde, something she remembered from her biology class. And that smell had been coming from her.
Why do I smell like formaldehyde? Am I dead? No, I can’t be! The pale girl showered for a couple of hours, trying desperately to get the stench off her, scrubbing until her skin grew wrinkled from the water and red from the abrasion, her whole body wet and soaked, but nowhere near as much as the redness from the tears that tracked from her face, her mouth barely controlling the sobs that came from the knowledge that only dead things were pickled in that chemical, and that her body reeked of it….
Her mind swirled forward a few more, and as she moved through countless neighborhoods in the direction that the stranger had pointed, somehow it all looked familiar, and yet none of it did. Did it make sense? About as much as a dead girl coming back to life and wandering the streets of a city that she didn’t know, yet knew so well….
Her mental soliloquy was broken by a slightly beat up Astro making too tight of a turn on the corner, coming straight toward her. Instinct, though she wasn’t sure where from, propelled her into the air and away from the car, certainly higher than the average person could ever jump yet it felt so natural, so right. The feeling suddenly terminated as she met with a painful collision with a tree branch overhanging the street, and summarily crumpled to the ground in a heap. That had been a few seconds ago? Minutes? Hours?
“Kuso….” She whispered, then tuned in on a voice. The words from another person was something like “Hey, you okay?” and she could feel soft hand’s on her face, could make out the blurry view of a face just above her, slightly shadowed by the angle of the afternoon sun.
Then the person gasped, and the pale girl’s vision stretched into clarity. Instantly she could see a person about her age, with long black hair and violet eyes, staring at her in shock. Behind her was a guy, his face also registering impossible comprehension…
…but not as impossible as the fact that somehow, she knew him. She wasn’t sure where or how, but it was as though a first signpost to her destination had appeared, and he was it, standing before her as if to say, “you’re almost home.”
Reaching for him on automatic, she stretched her hand out for help, whispering words that she had no idea where they came from; “Help me…Ferio…please….” before slipping back into merciful and blissful darkness.
“Shit shit shit shit shit!” Allison screeched as Rick slammed on the brakes, bring the van to a halt. “You hit that girl!”
Rick’s eyes were wide with shock, not believing he’d just…. “Goddamn….” Scrambling out of the van as fast as he could, he moved over to the person, who’d been clipped by the car into the air and hit a low-hanging branch on the tree. She wasn’t moving, but that was no way to tell if she was winded, knocked out or even…. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Asshole! ‘Kari always told you that you drive too damn fast, but did you ever listen? Noooo….
Fortunately, Allison moved far faster and was already by the side of the girl. Having taken some first-aid courses, she was checking the girl’s pulse and then forcibly opening her eyes to check for concussions. A part of her brain was pissed that apparently either no one in this neighborhood was home, or they didn’t give a damn enough to come outside and see what the hell was going on. Hoping that she could get the girl’s attention, she said, “Hey, you okay? Can you hear me?”
“...kuso…” the girl moaned, a word that Allison wasn’t too familiar with. A name? A word? She looked oriental, maybe Japanese or Vietnamese? It was times like this that she wished Lance were around; though he didn’t speak Japanese, he did know a few words here and there; his absence suddenly reminded her about the estrangement from her boyfriend and she had to refocus on the girl again just to get the misery out of her mind. Refocusing also brought a new line of thought: the girl looked awfully familiar….
Behind her Rick gasped. “Shit, she looks just like….” Allison never heard him finish his sentence, as her mind immediately clicked and realized exactly who he was talking about. The unconscious girl did look a lot like…but if that was the case, what were the chances of that happening, unless the dead were now walking the earth, and….
The girl’s eyes opened, and in them Allison could see an eternal flat emptiness, as though she were something that just didn’t belong in this space and time. At first Allison thought she was reading far too many sci-fi books, until the girl lifted a shaky arm out towards Rick, speaking in an accented, shaky and barely conscious voice: “Help me…Ferio…please…” before passing back to a silent blackness, still as death yet still breathing.
Silence seemed to reign at that point, an unnatural quiet that appeared to conquer all. Allison was stunned. What the hell was going on? What was the possibility of it being who she thought it was? She’d never met the person in question, yet she’d always heard the loving reverences that the Shidou twins had for that person, even the protective pseudo-big brother tone in Lance’s voice the couple of times he’d mentioned the girl’s name. Could it be? It was impossible, but as the old saying went, there was no such thing as impossible, only improbable. This, then was certainly improbable. Yet how to prove otherwise? Behind her, Rick was equally quiet, still as death – he was never that quiet. He’d known the girl and had comforted Hikari many a time over her death. But people didn’t…they couldn’t…could they?
Rick’s next word, two simple syllables, confirmed the impossibility and started the madness rolling:
“Umi….”
Author’s Notes:
B Flat and C Minor
I’d initially intended to call this chapter “Bumped”, but while getting ready to write it, I’d been listening to this Jpop song by Hiroshi Fujiwara & Shinichi Osawa (featuring vocals by Crystal Kay) called “Lost Child”. The haunting tone of the song, combined with the very apt lyrics, made it all too easy to write this chapter (hammered it out within a matter of days). Thus, it seemed absolutely appropriate that I rename the chapter after the song. Oh, and for those who want it, it’s on the “Soul Scramble” compilation album, published by TributeLink/Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
And yes, before you ask, the “true” blue moon is a real event based on a variation of the same atmospheric conditions that make our skies blue; the interval is about every forty years. Other atmospheric hues are the lemon moon (a yellow-hued moon), which occurs once every five years; and the sackcloth (red) moon, which occurs once every eleven years.