Chapter 2: Encounter

Great! Just great..!! Terrific in fact. Why am I bein freaky? Oh, I don’t know… maybe it’s the fact that I’m about to be late – again. And for the fifth time this month! I can’t afford to be suspended. Mom and dad would kill me. My life really is a bunch of crappy luck strung together. And for good measure, they made me this creepy monster that could possibly burn someone to death if I weren’t careful. Gosh!!

And isn’t it just grand that today happened to be the day that my good-natured goofball of a sister had a class field trip so she had to leave for school ahead of me? Yes. It is grand. Very. She told me this yesterday, but did I bother to pay attention? Noooo… I had to just space out and think about other stuff instead of just paying attention to her. And now who’s in trouble?? Me, myself and I. Curse me and my ignorant spacing out ways..! Curse it!! And I’m doin it again. Right now…!!

So here I am running as hard as I could to get to school on time. And I was actually planning to go early today. C’mon… I’m almost there. Please don’t ring the bell yet. Please…!

Anyway, I would’ve noticed that I had actually already entered school grounds had I not been so busy cursing myself the whole way or even bothered to look up while I was running. God knows how I actually managed to avoid hitting anyone. Or maybe they avoided me. Either way I would’ve also noticed had I bothered to look around while running that I was about to – Oooff!!! …….crash into someone. Ouch. Or a wall. Then I saw red droplets of liquid on my white uniform. Damn. I think I broke my nose. Not to mention my uniform is now ruined.

“Crap… Are you okay?” said the wall. At least he should be with that mass of concrete he calls his body.

“Yeah I’m fine. I only broke my nose. No real damage.” I replied.

“Oh, gosh..!!” he gasped and smiled a little. I could tell he was smiling. His voice sounded like he was smiling. “I’m really sorry… I really am. Here, let me help you up.” He said holding out his hands to me.

I took his hand and he pulled me up. “Oh, no. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve been looking.” I said to him after taking his hand and standing up still cursing myself inwardly, rummaging through my back pack for a tissue or something while covering my bleeding nose.

“My God, that’s a gusher. We need to get you to the nurse’s office. C’mon.” he said once again pulling me towards the nurse’s office.

“Hey, what’s with you and pulling strangers around huh?” I said my voice slightly nasal now due to the broken nose. He looked at me without slowing down his pace and just smiled slightly to me tightening his grip. Oookay… What’s this all about? Why’s he smiling all weird like that?

Urgghh… Aww, man… I’m starting to feel dizzy. “Dude… I think… you… uhh… need to… slow – ” and all I remember before blacking out was my body being swept up into the wall’s arms.

****************************************

“She lost a lot of blood so it’s gonna be awhile before she wakes up. There’s nothing you can do here so you should get to class.” said the nurse.

She was about to turn away when I started, “Umm, I’d like to stay here. If that’s okay. At least till she comes to. It’s my first day here and I really don’t know my way around. Just until she wakes. Please?”

She sighed, “Okay. Since you asked so nicely. But just until she wakes. I don’t wanna get into trouble for allowing a student to skip class. If anyone asks, you’ve got a major headache. Got it?” and gave me the serious look.

“Headache. Major. Got it.” I nodded.

Then she left to tend to a senior that had a really long cut across his right arm. Even for someone like me who’s seen a lot worse, that looked pretty bad. And I couldn’t help but wince a little when I saw that. He’s probably gonna be sent to the hospital to get that fixed.

For awhile I just sat there watching the nurse patch the guy’s arm and then made a few calls, probably to the hospital. Then she looked at me as if to tell me that she’ll be accompanying the guy to the hospital. I gave her a nod and out she went.

Now, it’s just me and her in this empty room. And sitting there, gazing at her beautiful sleeping face bathed in warm sunlight, I was overcome by a wave of calmness. Which is ironic since the very essence of her is the total and complete opposite of calm. But I guess fire has its own way of being soothing.

Never did I expect that when those big shots told me to watch her more closely, they meant admitting myself to her school to be her actual schoolmate. Sure, I could watch her closely but in no way at all do I blend in. For one I’m a few years older. Three years to be exact. And that would make me 19 years old. Surely these kids could tell that I’m not their age. And second, I don’t want to be going through school again. Can you say lame? LAME… I’m not even in college. My line of work doesn’t require me to be a genius. Although I am. Hehe.

But those old guys insisted that I could blend in. They said there would be no such problems for me to face. Are you kidding me? Do they even know how tough teenagers these days could be on their peers?

“Uuurgghh… Am I … dead…?” suddenly a voice echoed through the room softly.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. She looked so cute, waking up all confused like that.

“No. Last time I checked you were still alive. Unless, this is heaven and I’m dead too.” I told her with a smile.

“You sure bout that? Cuz it pretty sure feels like I’m dead.” She said moaning and covering her eyes from the sunlight. Realizing her discomfort I quickly got up to draw the curtains which I kinda regretted doing it after that because almost immediately the whole ambience of the room changed. “Thanks. The sunshine was killin me.” she said quietly, probably mostly to herself than to me.

After that she just kept quiet and stared out the window. And once again a wave of calmness washed over me, clearing away my thoughts leaving my mind completely empty and strangely vulnerable. Why does she affect me so? “Umm, hey, since you’re up and all I think I should go. I promised I’d leave once you got up so…” I wasn’t sure wether I should continue talking to her because she seemed so lost in her world somewhere outside the window that was invisible to everyone else. “Yeah. So… see you.” And I picked up my bag and walked toward the door to get out.

Then, when I opened the door I heard her say softly, “Stay. Please?” and I turned around to see wether it was really her who said that or I was just hallucinating because I had a major headache. Wait. I don’t have a headache. That was a cover. Hehe. Forgot.

She was still staring out the window. But surely enough it was her who spoke and not my delirious state of mind playing tricks on me because she said it again, this time looking straight at me. “Stay.” and something about the way she said it just made me feel like I had no other choice but to stay. Like, if I didn’t stay she would be lost in that world of hers never to return. So I stayed. And I sat back at her bedside watching her quietly as she continued to watch her world outside the window quietly.

*****************************************

I wonder why that pigeon is staring at me. It’s been staring at me for as long as I have been staring at it. Maybe it could tell that I was different. Maybe it could tell that deep down somehow, someway, inside I’m still as hollow as I was before the Kais took me in. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened them to find that the pigeon flew away. I couldn’t help but smile. It reminded me of Mamo-chan. Flying away cuz I wasn’t paying attention to her.

Then I felt something pressing on my hands. I turned to see what it was only to find that there was a head falling asleep on my hands. How long has he been there? Must have been quite a long time. I wonder how long he just sat there doing, saying, nothing. I laughed a little this time. He sat there long enough to fall asleep.

Why did I ask him to stay? I don’t know. Staring at his head that’s on my hands I let out a sigh. Wondering why he even chose to stay. Why did he? He doesn’t even know me. I don’t even know him. Why did I ask him to stay? Again my gaze fell back to his sleeping head. Staring and examining his cloudy brown hair, short and messy. I never even had a chance to ask the guy his name. All I remember about him was his smile. And the fact that he was a wall. And broke my nose. I laughed again. That was twice in a day. Within a short period of time. The only other person who was ever capable of doing that, ever, was Mamo-chan.

Funny how a stranger was able to make me feel comfortable enough to show my semi-true self to them. Much less makes me enjoy their company. However lacking, the interaction was between us. And that… was dangerous. I can’t do that. I don’t wanna feel like ass once he finds out that I’m a freak and decides to severe all ties with me. But with this guy, somehow, I want to. I wanna be close to him. I get the feeling that he won’t do that. Leave me. Abandon me. But I barely even know him. Doing that would be stupid.

But being friends with him won’t hurt would it? Seeing as I’m completely friendless throughout the 14 years of my life. The last two was spent with my best friend and sister, Kai Mamoru. And he seems like a good guy. Weird, freaky and hard as a wall but, he looks good-intentioned at least from the outside. I know, I know. Looks can be deceiving. But you won’t know until you give it a try, right? Clichés. Funny, how they work in contradictory ways.

Then I felt him stir and lift up his head. Good cuz my hands were falling asleep. “Awake are we?” I said to him.

“Mrnnhuwwahmm…” came his reply. I laughed again. This time out loud but instantly regretted because then I felt like my head was about to burst. I was quickly reduced to smiling. That makes three.

“Sorry? I didn’t quite get that. Could you repeat it?” I said still slightly smiling.

“Hi.” was all he said and smiled sleepily.

And at that moment the nurse entered the room. She walked towards us and told us to leave. “It’s way past school hours. It’s five fifteen now. If you please, I would like to lock up and go home. I believe you should do the same.”

She did a little check up on me while he stood aside still yawning and sleepy-eyed and when she was done she told me, “You’re fine now. All you need to do is get a lot of rest back home. In a few weeks your nose would be okay and you won’t feel dizzy anymore. Just take these…” she handed me a small bottle of pills, “after every meal. No skipping meals either.” She said and then looked at the ‘wall’ and said to him, “Why don’t you help walk her home. Just so she’d get back safely. Alright? Quickly, please.”

“Okay.” he said as he took my hand to pull me out from the bed. I got up and started to bend down to grab my bag but he stopped me.

“Let me get that for you. We don’t want that nose of yours to start bleeding again, do we?” he said, his face just millimeters away from mine.

“Uhhh…” I started to answer him but was interrupted by the clearing of a certain nurse’s throat.

“We’re leaving.” he said after putting on both bags on his shoulders. Then he held my arm leading me out of the room. “Talk about mood breaker.” he said as soon as we were out of school grounds.

He stopped then asked me, “Which way?”

I was still too entranced by him to completely comprehend what he was asking me.

“H-Huh?” I said stupidly.

“Which way? You know, to your house?” he asked again with a laugh.

****************************************

How cute is she? I mean, she’s so cute! Adorable, in fact. The whole way all she did was point the direction of her house. Not a word. Just a slight blush on her cheeks the whole way. Probably because of the way I was holding her hands tightly practically dragging her along like a rag doll.

Finally, we reached in front of her apartment. It’s not that I don’t know where she lives or anything. But what would it look like if I were to just go to her house? She’d think I was a stalker or something.

“Well, good night.” I said to her.

“Good night.” she countered with a small smile on her face.

“Have a good rest.” and with that she nodded and went inside not knowing that I’ll probably hang outside of her house for quite sometime more.

****************************************

~OWARI~

Author’s note: whew!! That was quite a long one. Hehe… hope it wasn’t too draggy… Anyways… as usual, please comment or rate… I’d appreciate the feedback guys!!

ja!!

-katsu-

Comments

[Admus]

i havent read any of ur writings anyway could u do something more interesting,i mean the plot its predictable.