No other night felt exactly like this one, with its severe intensity through the fog of dreams and the calm breeze blowing gently about the earth underneath a blanket of stars in the heavens above. Those stars seemed so far away and distant, almost the same way he felt now. Where were these strange occurrences going to take him? His own life and destiny felt like miles away, out of his reach, just like the beautiful stars above his head. He knew not where his destiny would take him, but like the stars, he continued to live his life through the thick darkness surrounding him.
As Hisoka walked along the pathways back to his house after parting with Sakura, he began to wonder why so many out of the ordinary experiences started to happen to him and those around him. As much as he didn’t want to think about it and the more he tried to push it from his mind, the harder it forcefully pushed its way back into his thoughts. He couldn’t get the last image out of his head, the one of himself slitting Sakura’s throat. Would he really do such a thing in the future? Was he even capable of doing such a thing? It was unthinkable! Through all the years of his life, through countless minor agitations with other students in school, and family problems at home, he had never, not once, thought of harming another person with such a vehement mindset. Even in the most heated arguments with Kataki, Hisoka never wished injury upon him. Yet, he knew Kataki believed otherwise. He could feel it just by the way Kataki looked at him, with his nearly black eyes. Those eyes cut him down so many times before the accident, and he could only imagine how many more times they would pierce their way into his soul. When would the torment end? From every direction it came, with no escape, no hope of salvation. Still, he had to go on. For Sakura’s sake…
Stopping along the side of the road for a moment to calm the raging sea of thoughts pounding in his brain, Hisoka looked up into the sky once more and noticed how very clear the sky was. It reminded him of that time, not so long ago, when that bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere. His arm throbbed painfully at the thought. He raised his hand and touched the slightly pink marking on his left arm where the bolt burnt his flesh. The wound healed exceptionally well and fast, too. His mother made no comment about it, and as far as he knew, she didn’t even realize that he was injured to begin with. Hiding things from those important to him was not his favorite pastime. It made him feel like he was lying even though not a single lie came out of his mouth. He just kept the truth to himself, for the well-being of others.
He grinned at the thought. “I’ve gotta stop thinking like this. Makes me sound like some over-zealous super human or something.” The moon shone coldly bright above the trees across the street like an unfeeling guardian of the world. Where was god in times like these? Where was he to offer any support or the slightest ounce of comfort for him? There was no god, or at least Hisoka never once felt his presence in his life. So many people speak of religion as being their number one reason for living and others who denounce any sort of religion just for the sake of enjoying an argument, but believing in such a thing seemed unnecessary and illogical for these intense times in his life. Hisoka thought of friends at school that would tell him that it is the difficult times when religion truly becomes important, when it becomes one’s only crutch to carry on in life. It could help ease his pain also, but… What’s the use? Nothing would change by just a simple prayer, anyway.
Taking his eyes off of the moon at last, Hisoka continued his way down the sidewalk, passing by the Hokage house that once evoked that wicked nightmare earlier in the day. As he looked upon the sorry landscape again, he didn’t feel the same overwhelming feeling of despair and pain burning within him, but now he just felt numb, clueless to the world around him. Maybe the only way to keep from being hurt again was to withdrawal completely from anything and everyone. Only then would these things stop hurting him. But then again the image of Sakura murdered by his own hands reappeared and made him believe otherwise. Even if he would have to suffer greater pain, he would not become such a demon and murder Sakura in the process. She will not die because of him!
As he continued down the road, passing a small alley next to the Hokage residence, two pairs of red and blue eyes glittered darkly in the shadows of the alley. Once Hisoka passed beyond the alley and turned to the left, down the next road, two skinny, young boys walked out of the alleyway. They were identical brothers, born and raised together, and looked to be about seven-teen years old or so. Both had blue and purple hair, split in the middle of their heads; one side was blue and the other was purple, yet they were like mirror images of each other. One of the boys had purple hair on his right side, and the other had blue hair on the same side. Their shimmering eyes were the same deal. One’s right eye was red while the other’s was blue. Although their appearance was exactly the opposite of the other, they acted as one person, a full functional team. Where one went, the other was sure to follow. They weren’t all that muscular, yet they weren’t weaklings either. Their bodies and faces resembled that of a sly fox and a cunning rat all in one form, medium height, slender body with fast legs to run and escape with. Their physical make up also made them excellent spies.
“What a romantic! Staring at the moon like that. Haha, it makes me wanna puke,” said the one with purple hair on his right side.
“Tsh, no kidding.” said the other boy, grinning at his brother. But that’ll make it all the more fun to kill him. Waddya say, Streeten? Think we’re up to the task?”
“Are we ever! Haha! But waddya say we spy on ‘im a little more, eh? It’s no fun to finish a job all in one shot, ya know, Gaiger. I wanna have a little fun before we make him say his final good-byes.”
Peeking around the corner the way Hisoka went, Gaiger grinned darkly, clenching and unclenching his fists in anticipation and excitement. “But… we can’t wait for long. Once Kataki calls in a death warrant, there’s that week long contract that we haveta deal with.”
“Yeah, but a week’s nothin’,” Streeten replied, steeping next to his brother at the corner of the road. “We can have our fun and complete the task in that time, easy.”
Gaiger frowned, disappointed. “Yeah I guess,” he said. “It’s just been a long time since our last mission… I’d like for this one to last at least a little bit longer.”
“You know we cannot disobey orders! Besides, isn’t it fun to know that he’s only going to live for a few more days on this planet?”
“Heeh heh, you’re right. Feel the power, baby!” Gaiger said, raised his arm enthusiastically. “We be in control now!”
A short period of silence fell among the twins as they continued to watch as Hisoka approached his home and went in. The two brothers turned around and sat in a huddling position.
“Ok, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Gaiger said, taking the lead. “Tomorrow after school, we’ll meet up with him at the alley here.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We’ll hide in the shadows and just when he’s about to pass the alley, you’ll grab him and drag him into the shadows with us, ok?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then we can tenderize the meat before we devour him in the coming few days. Sound good?”
“Heh, sure,” Streeten said, not really caring what he agrees to as long as it involves a beating. “But we’ll have to be disguised. He can’t be suspicious of us before we have the chance to do away with him.”
Gaiger turned away and started to walk down the sidewalk, towards Sakura and Kataki’s house. “That’s no problem. There’s no way he’ll be able to identify us. After all, we’re masters of disguise, right?”
“Heh, yeah, I guess so.” Yawning from the sudden boredom, Streeten
followed after his brother. “Let’s get
home. We’re gonna need all the sleep we
can get for tomorrow’s activity.”
“Mm, right…”
Without another word, the two brothers disappeared down the road.
**********
The next morning came much to soon for Kaori. She felt like she had just slipped into slumber when her beloved rooster alarm clock sounded with its annoying calls. She often found herself laughing at the clock just because it sounded so stupid, but today was one of those mornings when she wasn’t so easily amused. She wanted to sleep. That was all. She didn’t think it was such a horrible thing to do, but the rooster clock wouldn’t allow it. So she stood out of bed quickly and rushed over to where the clock lay. Picking the small box in her hands, she pressed the third button on the top to shut the alarm off. Finally the piercing calls of the chicken stopped.
With that done, she collapsed back into bed, wondering why in the world she kept such a stupid clock for as long as she did. It was a gift, that was why. It was a gift from her very best friend, Kilie, years and years ago, and she could never do away with anything from her. Ever since they first met when they were about 3 years old, they were like sisters to one another. They also went to the same school for several years until Kilie and her family moved away, so very far away, it seemed like. Kaori hadn’t seen much of her after that, but they continued to write letters back and forth. Then in the college years, both of them grew lazy and the letters stopped. She missed her old friend, and the alarm clock Kilie had given was priceless even if it she felt like chucking it across the room at times.
Those were the good old days, the carefree days of childhood. Feeling herself slipping back into her unfeeling slumber, Kaori sat up in bed, reluctantly. Her bedroom was a mess. A pile of dirty clothes covered a large, wooden chair by her bed and the dishes from last night’s dinner still lay on the floor, and the pot in which she cooked in still had at least one more helping of rice within it. She was just too tired to deal with any of that kind of stuff last night. She was too tired. Who would blame her after such a taxing day like she had yesterday?
“Uhh, I have to get up,” she said to encourage herself. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she stood and suddenly stared at the pile of dirty clothes next to her and picked out a pair of white socks and jeans from the pile. She threw the two clothing items on her bed and moved on to her dresser. As she opened the first drawer, a waft of the most hideous stenches diffused threw the air. It was a smell ten times worse than the reek of vomit and rotten eggs…combined!
“Ohh god! What is that smell?” she cried as she tried to quickly pick out a “clean” shirt from the dresser. Finally with it in hand, she closed the dresser and simply stared at it, trying to forget about the nasty smell coming out of it. She knew none of her clean clothes stank, and when she first moved into her small apartment she cleaned everything to the smallest speck of dust. It just didn’t make any sense why it would be smelling this bad! She was a scum every now and then, ok, pretty much all the time, but she wasn’t THAT bad. Holding the white shirt in her hands, she brought it up to her face and smelled it. She thought she was going to pass out from the horrid smell. Nearly falling to her knees, she threw the shirt to the floor.
“Why me? Why? Why? All of those shirts were clean! I washed them!” She was so frustrated, she almost began to cry. Not every day did she fell compelled to wash her clothes, but this last time she did, and for what? To put them neatly in the dresser to smell like somebody had a little too much to drink and hurled on everything? Why??? Oh, if she kept thinking about it, she would go completely insane! Trying to regain her composure, she walked back to the chair next to her bed and found a shirt on the bottom of the pile that wasn’t terribly wrinkled and put it and the other clothes laying on her bed on.
“I just can never win…” she said as she walked out of the room and over to the tiny kitchen. She picked up a small, white mug from the counter, filled it with water, and stuck it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Then she made her way over to the cabinet where she kept all of her morning cereals and granola bars, stumbling over a pair of sandals left in the center of the walkway. She opened the top bottom drawer and picked out a colorful box of who knows what childish, unhealthy cereal was inside. Yawning, she opened the little box and poured its contents into the plastic bowl she used every morning for breakfast. Then, she took a step back towards the microwave and opened the refrigerator, taking out the milk. She couldn’t remember when she last bought new milk, so she looked somewhere on the carton for the expiration date. On the top of the carton, it read, “May 2.”
“Aww, dammit!” The freakin’ milk was about a week old, and she had been using it that entire last week… Wonderful. She opened the refrigerator again and put the milk back inside. The only thing left in the house that she felt like eating was the last raspberry granola bar. Not knowing or caring how old those were, she picked up the shimmering pink packaged bar. Then the microwave beeped.
“Finally! I must have my coffee!” Getting enough energy to last all day from a mere granola was hard enough to do, but that one cup of extra strong, caffeine rich coffee, she could last all day and still keep a smile on her face. Taking the mug from the microwave and setting it on the counter top, she opened one of the several packages of vanilla flavored coffee mixes. The directions on the back of the packet instructed to pour the contents into an empty cup and then pour hot water on it, but every morning Kaori would do it in the exact opposite way. She poured the powdery coffee flavored stuff into the mug of hot water and stirred it with the spoon she intended to use with her cereal, giving an evil look to the bowl of dry cereal she left on the counter.
At last, with that completed, she took her mug and granola bar into the living room. There was never anything worth watching this early in the morning, but she never found any difficulty in doing so anyway. She had about 30 more minutes until she had to leave for work, and she was determined to use at least half of that time to relax and to wake up.
Those 15 minutes went by far to quickly. In what felt like a few seconds, Kaori’s morning rest was over. She finished her breakfast with plenty enough time, but now she only had another 15 minutes before she had to leave. The hair part of the morning was always the worst and the most time consuming. As she stood to walk into the bathroom to freshen up a little, the phone rang.
Surprised, she blinked and stared at the phone, thinking the nose was coming from the TV. A second later the phone rang again. “Ahh! Who’s calling me now?” she said, growing more and more agitated. Walking back to the side of the counter, she picked up the phone hanging on the wall. “Yes?” she said, not feeling like greeting anyone with a proper hello quite this early in the day.
“Hey, Kaori? Morning, this is Hisoka.”
Her eyes flashed wide open. Hisoka? What was he doing calling her? “Uhh, good morning, Hisoka. Is anything the matter?”
“Oh, no. I just wanted to thank you again, for what you did yesterday. It doesn’t seem like I’m able to take much care of myself, ya know?”
“Now, I wouldn’t say that. It’s not entirely your fault, Hisoka. But you should have told me the first time you started to have those odd memories. You should come over to PCM later today and we can talk about them more, okay?”
“The memories?” Hisoka said with a
somewhat shocked voice. “How did you
know about them…? I didn’t say
anything…”
“And that’s the problem! Your mother told me about them when I came
over to your place. Hisoka, I’m only
here to help you out, but you can’t
hide things like that from little me, okay?
Now listen, I’ve gotta leave for work in a few minutes, but I do want
you to come in later, sound good?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll come right over after school.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then. Take care, Hisoka!”
“Yeah, you too… And, thanks, Kaori.” With that, he hung up the other end of the line.
Stunned to say the least from the call, Kaori hung the phone back on the wall. Hisoka was such a polite young man, and the more she learned about him, the more she grew to like him. How horrible it must be for him to go about his normal day activities and have those horrible thoughts and memories going threw his head! She couldn’t understand how well he was able to function under such stress, but he must be completely falling apart inside. She knew how she would feel if she were in his shoes, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
Glancing at her watch on her right arm, she ran off to the bathroom, screaming “Five minutes! Five minutes! Five minutes!!” the entire way down the hall.
**********
Picking up his school bag and casually strolling to the front door, Hisoka turned around and said good-bye to his mother, who stood cleaning the dishes in the sink.
“Bye, dear. Have a good day,” she said with her back to him.
“Yeah, you too. I’m going to stop by Kaori’s office today, so I’ll probably be a little later than usual. I’ll see you later!” Opening the door, Hisoka stepped out of the house without another word to his mother. He wasn’t really late for school, in fact he was almost a complete hour early, but he just wanted to get out of the house, out of that seemingly black cage of darkness that he couldn’t quite figure his way out of. A home is supposed to be a sanctuary from all harm, but it was his house where his worst dreams began to come true. And it was in his home where he had another ominous vision of death— Sakura! Every time he thought about it, the hair on his neck would stand on end, an uneasy shiver moving through his body. There must be a way to find out what was going on with these visions before anything became of them, before something horrible happened.
The walk to school was very peaceful and quiet. Again he walked past the Hokage home with the battered window panels and support beams that held the house together. The Hokage weren’t poor and yet they did nothing to keep their home to fall apart. They either didn’t want to fix their home for fear of losing the slightest bit of family history in the process or they plain didn’t care. Either way, every time Hisoka passed this house he could feel something strange coming from it, and it made his whole being burn uncomfortably, as if he was suddenly being set on fire. The last time he passed by this house he experienced a similar feeling, which inevitably led to that wicked nightmare, but whatever he was feeling from this building, however minor it seemed, definitely wasn’t a coincidence or a one time deal. The longer he stared at the darkened wood of the house, the more heat he felt smoldering within him. Out of sheer curiosity, Hisoka held up his left hand, the one that had been burnt in that queer lightning strike, and could see steamy, white air flowing above and all around his arm.
Confused and slightly excited with curiosity, he said, “What is this?” He turned his arm around to look at it from every angle. The hot air surrounding it looked as if he had been confined in a sauna for an hour and then immediately stepped out into a wintry, frozen landscape. He had never seen such a thing just happen out of the middle of now where, and he thought it was pretty cool. After the nightmare, he felt somehow different, as if he lost a great deal of his fear. And now as he looked upon this strange occurrence, he simply grinned and looked to see if his other arm was smoking with intense heat as well. No, his other arm was not smoking with heat like his left, but it still felt just as hot. “This is too weird.” He touched his left hand with is right to see if it would burn to the touch, but nothing happened nor did it burn him. The steam continued to billow around his one arm and then hug the other in its proximity. Again he stopped to look at his hands with nothing but curiosity and the excitement from a mystery glowing in his eyes. In this current state, he wouldn’t be surprised if the Hokage house caught on fire from the extreme heat coming from him.
Shaking his head, he regained his thoughts. He was on his way to school before he got so completely sidetracked. He had to quit this childish play and continue on to school before he ended up being late for playing around with mere steam. He would have plenty of time to figure out what exactly was going on with him after school, when he could talk with Kaori. She would know what’s happening to him, and if not, she would be able to poke her nose around to find the answers soon enough. So now the only thing he had to worry about was to make sure the same steamy situation does not happen again in class. Too many people would get involved in his problems if that were ever to happen. And he must keep as many people out of his life, just in case something inside of him snapped…
Suddenly as he started to walk down the sidewalk again, he thought of the demon in his dreams. Who was he really? He looked and acted so much different than Hisoka ever would have acted, it was impossible for him to believe that such a devil was actually himself. Why would the beast even say that? Probably just to screw up his head even more, to make his mind weak for the conquering. Whatever that demon wanted with him, he now had the strength and the courage to combat it; as the swelling heat inside of him told him. The feeling and excitement of such power grew within him as he tried to calm his wandering spirit. Power leads to destruction. If he let his straying mind to wander down the path towards power, there would be far greater consequences in store for both him and those around him. The strength of his will, his strong and unyielding morality, capped the raging volcano that burned deep inside of him. Whatever power he had now he would not give in to its control. He will not turn into that demon from his dreams!
As he continued to walk towards school, a young girl with long, flowing yellow hair and green eyes that shimmered like priceless emeralds walked out in front of him from one of the other side streets. She glanced in his direction and then suddenly looked all excited to see him. “Hisoka? Is that you? I haven’t seen you in years!!” Running to his side, still not believing her eyes, she said, “When did you get back? Are you feeling better? What’s going on? How come you didn’t come and find me, tell me you came back?”
“Whoa, whoa…” Hisoka said, trying to slow the girl down. With a confused look on his face, he told her, “I’m sorry, but… I don’t… know you.”
As if stabbed with ice through her being, the girl stared at him, unbelieving. “Ohh… c’mon, Hisoka! You know me! We were childhood pals! Don’t you remember? We used to play all those tricks on Kataki together? Hahaha, wasn’t that fun?”
“No, really… I don’t remember you.”
The sadness in the girl’s eyes grew the more Hisoka denied ever knowing her. She didn’t know what to say, or what to do. Should she run and just forget about ever seeing him in the first place, or should she stay and try to make him remember? It was all too confusing, but his eyes told her that she really didn’t remember her. How sad!!
“Hmm, it must have been because of that accident… that’s why you don’t remember me…” Looking away for a moment to gather her thoughts and with a cheerful smile, she looked back at him and held out her hand. “My name is Nanami. Pleased to meet you again, Hisoka!”