None of them knew about it. It was going to be somewhat of a secret,
really, a surprise. Although, if
Tetsuya ever found out about the sessions Kataki had been secretively going to
after class each day, he would probably yank him from the sessions and say that
this was his fate that he must endure.
If there was a way to regain near complete motion of his right arm and
leg, then he wanted to take it, even at the expense of another hissy fit from
his father. He thought it would be well
worth it.
And so after several weeks of
physical therapy, still no one in his family nor anyone at school had any idea
that he had been seeing a specialist.
Even when he stopped walking with the support of his crutch did anyone
say a word to him about it. Maybe they
simply didn’t notice the subtle change, or maybe no one cared. Either way, he didn’t care, but he thought
at least his sister would say something.
Every day he’d limp his way home and wonder if his parents or his sister
would say anything, but they never did.
It went on like this for weeks until he simply gave up. He didn’t care if they’d ever notice the
progress of the physical therapy funded completely on the insurance from the
fall years ago. If no one knew about it
or even cared, then his complete recovery meant all the more to him and him
alone.
It had been a while since all six of
them had seen each other together, within their own little group. Kataki at the head, Streeten and Gaiger as
his arms, Nanami as his eyes, Bran as his strength, and Frenier as his
heart. They had all been friends since
childhood, possibly even before kindergarten.
Throughout the years, they have all had their different views on the
world, however, they all felt the same way about it: The world was a place of needless suffering, and in order to
survive, you must constantly look out for number one. Kataki, for example, strained under the eye of his father,
Tetsuya, who never seemed to be pleased with Kataki’s performance in sports
even though he was the captain of several sporting teams. He had such potential in the line of sports,
that after the accident at Sakuba, he felt as if he had no life left at
all. And that made Tetsuya’s stares and
ridicule even harder to bear. Perhaps
that is why Kataki formed this group of friends, a group that would do whatever
necessary to help another member. They
were a family apart from their own.
It was an exceptionally warm fall
evening, the sun had set beneath the great rise and fall of the nearby mountain
hills that set upon the land like a resting bear with a blanket of mist about
its feet. This world truly was a
beautiful place, in some cases. Nature
lived beyond the dirt and grime of the city, somewhere out there just out of
the reach of humankind. Nature always
seemed to be left behind in second or maybe even last place, far behind
convenience and so many other human needs and wants. Perhaps that is why a thick cover of smog covered the city for
hundreds of years past, up until recently.
Now, the sky was like a dirty chalkboard washed clean with a brand new
sponge socked full of warm water. The
stars had just begun to show against the black velvet sky as a passing plane
blinked its way across the horizon.
Various kinds of trees had been losing their leaves for a few days,
which now littered the ground in every place imaginable. If only the cycle of human life could be as
easy. To live, to bloom, to fall, and
start all over again in the spring.
Stepping underneath a large oak
tree, Kataki shuffled loudly through a pile of brown and orange leaves and
stood angrily against the rough bark of the tree. The other five slowly followed their leader and waited to hear
what he had to say. Kataki’s first
words were directed to Streeten and Gaiger.
“I assume that you have not carried
out my wish as of late, have you?” he said, his eyelids hanging low over his
dark eyes.
Gaiger swallowed hard while hitting
his brother in the ribs with his elbow.
“Uhh,” Streeten stumbled upon his words. “Actually no, but...”
“Fine. I’m not going to ask you why you have failed me, but I suppose
this was too great of a task for you to accomplish on your own.” Kataki
replied, closing his eyes tiredly. “I
will have to think of another way to get rid of him...”
Beside Bran, Frenier stood with a
very concerned look growing on his face.
He was torn between his loyalty to Kataki and his friendship with the
one Kataki hated the most, Hisoka. He
didn’t want to serve as another thorn in Kataki’s side, but he had to know
exactly what he intended to do.
Standing forward, he pushed a wild strand of his hair out of his face
that the wind seemed adamant in blowing in his eyes. “You really weren’t going to let Streeten and Gaiger kill him,
were you? I mean, that’s not what we’re
here for. We’re not killers.”
This was exactly what Kataki didn’t
want to hear. He opened his eyes to
glare Frenier down, and spoke harshly, “That kid has no right to live when he
stole mine from me.”
“What? Are you talking about the Sakuba accident?” Frenier asked, his
eyes straining for an answer. “That was
just an accident!”
“But you weren’t there, were
you?” The anger in Kataki’s voice was
beginning to boil up through his neck and up into his temples, turning his
whole face red. “You didn’t see what I
saw. You didn’t hear what I heard. And you certainly did not go through what I
went through! No one can understand
what I have been through in these past five years, so don’t even bother trying
to take me apart to analyze the broken pieces because you will never
understand.”
Feeling as though he stepped out of
line, Frenier stepped back into the shadows and kept quiet. An uncomfortable silence fell among the
friends until Bran stepped forward to cure the silence. He still had several white bandages all over
his face from the burns caused by Hisoka’s fiery hands back during the fountain
incident. Scratching at one, Bran
grinned and said, “Either way, nothing will break us apart.”
Slightly behind Bran, Nanami stood
twirling her yellow hair in her hand and grinned, “How sentimental.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Gaiger
spoke up enthusiastically then immediately poked his brother to agree.
“Uuh, right, right.”
Maybe he could trust Bran’s words
and that all six of them would forever remain the best of friends. Up until now, Kataki never fully understood
or even saw the close bonds that they all shared. How could he have missed such an obvious thing? Maybe he was far to obsessed with the
downfall of Hisoka that he couldn’t see anything positive in his frail
life. There was nothing in his pitiful
existence that gave him any sort of comfort and he hardly knew what a “good
feeling” was, except for one thing: revenge.
It had grown on him, first seeming darkly vindictive and then boldly
beautiful over the years. It gave him a
sense of reconciliation, a way to expel whatever black feelings he had been
carrying along with him. Some would say
that Kataki’s stand point on whether or not revenge was such a good idea was
something only a demon would say- and he enjoyed it. He enjoyed wrecking havoc in other people’s lives, people that he
hated, and yet, he hated what other people thought of him because of such a
stand point, people like his sister.
She was hardly one to hold a grudge against someone let alone seek
revenge. She constantly looked down on
him for feeling the way he did, but how could he change such a piece of his own
existence? How could he change the way
he felt? It was impossible, therefore,
he would never change. Change was not
an option.
“I think I’d have to agree with
Nanami,” Kataki said at last. “But in
any case, I don’t want you two,” he said nodding toward the twins, “following
after Hisoka anymore. And you,” he shot
his cold eyes toward Frenier, “I don’t want you becoming such good buddies with
him, either. He is our number one
enemy, the one who ruined my life, and he will be punished.”
Frenier rolled his eyes. How many more times were they to listen to
this child-like talk of revenge? It had
become old rather fast, and Frenier was tired of having to listen to it over
and over again. “Why do you have to
blame Hisoka for everything that has ever gone wrong in your life? Just because you keep babbling on and on
about it makes me wonder what really happened up on Sakuba, whether it was
Hisoka that let you fall, or if you let yourself fall just so you could place
the blame on someone other than yourself for once.”
That was it. Frenier had been walking on thin ice with
his last comment- and Kataki had had enough.
Slowly limping toward the kid with green hair, Kataki, staring down at
his feet, took what looked like a shiny, silver pen from his pocket and slashed
it across Frenier’s left cheek, leaving a trail of red oozing down the side of
his face. Frenier stepped back, placing
a hand to his face as a small stream of blood dripped between his
fingertips. He knew he had stepped out
of line, and this was his punishment; but still, he felt that he had to say
something about Kataki’s recent behavior and obsession over Hisoka. It wasn’t healthy-and it wasn’t that Frenier
was siding with Hisoka, either. He was
still adamantly concerned for Kataki’s mental stability. That is why he spoke up and that is why he
silently endured Kataki’s angry rebuttal.
Wiping the side of the silver
instrument off with a white tissue and placing it out of sight, Kataki chucked
the tissue with a smudge of red on it at Frenier and scowled. “Now you know the line by which you mustn’t
cross.”
The other four members of Kataki’s
small group of friends, seemingly shocked by his sudden movements, stood
quietly aside, some comfortable and uncomfortable with the awkward silence that
followed. Finally when Kataki turned
away from Frenier and walked up to the tree to once again lean on, he looked to
everyone with his dark, staring eyes, and said with a deep voice, “All of you
must be aware of this line. If we are
to be “friends,” then this one, simple rule must not be forgotten, bent, or
broken, is that clear?” The five of
them quietly, nervously nodded their heads in answer. “Fine. Now, to get back
down to business, you all must know that my sister has taken somewhat of a
liking to Hisoka, even though they have not seen much of each other.”
“Then how do you know this to be
true?” Nanami asked, still twiddling a strand of her hair.
“Because I have seen it. I have seen her eyes when she looks at him,
and I have heard it in her voice when she talks about him. I know.
I have known her since the moment she was born- and this too does not
escape me. The only problem let is what
we do about this. We could just let it
go for a while and see if anything truly becomes of my assumptions, or we could
stop it before anything has a chance to progress at all.”
With a slight grin twisting across
his face, Streeten asked, “And how do you suppose we go about doing that?”
“We could kill him,” Gaiger added.
Looking off to the desolate, vacant
streets surrounding them, Kataki sighed, suddenly feeling the sense of peace
that would come only after Hisoka’s death.
But that time was still far off into the future…and he still had much to
prepare for it. Regaining his focus, he
turned back to the group. “That will
not do. Not yet. There must have been a reason, a cosmic
answer, as to why you were not able to complete the task that I had given to
you before. I know it wasn’t because of
your inability, because you have proven yourselves far too many times to make
me think negatively on your ability, however, there still must be a reason for
it.”
“You mean, something like a divine
mandate or something?” Frenier asked, holding the tissue against the cut on his
face.
“Yes, perhaps. Why, after so many near fatal accidents and
obstacles, does he always seem to rebound without so much of a scar left over,
physical or mental? There must be a
reason…”
How interesting this topic was,
Kataki thought. Just the idea that
something other than human overshadowed his archrival, protecting him from
harm. What if this were true? Would anyone be able to bump him off then,
if the gods were protecting him? There
must be a way to override these powerful beings of protection, some way to
curse their powers of protection just long enough so that he could wrench the
kid’s heart from his chest. There must
be a way- and he knew exactly who could help him figure this all out.
His eyes suddenly opening wide,
Kataki looked up to his friends again, and said most peculiarly, “Never mind
all that. I… I think I just might be
tired, and I’m rambling. I think we
should end things here and continue on at a later date, alright?”
“Yeah,” Bran was the first to speak
up, “okay, Kataki. Whatever you say,
man.”
“See everybody in school next week,”
Gaiger said, running off into the darkness with is brother slowly following
behind.
Bran and Nanami were the next to
leave, both waving their goodbyes as they stepped off into the dark night. Then as Kataki turned away and began to limp
off down the road, Frenier noticed something about him, something that he
thought no one else seemed to have brought up.
“Kataki, you’re walking without your crutch now. This is great! When did this happen?”
Without turning to look at the boy,
Kataki said, “A few weeks ago.
Actually, you’re the first person to even say something about it. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was ever
going to notice.”
“Have you been seeing a doctor or
something? Progress like this just
doesn’t happen over night.”
“Yeah, but my parents don’t know
about it. You know how my father is- so
bent on destiny and crap. That’s why he
never let me go to a specialist, because he thought it was my fate to have a
messed up leg and arm for the rest of my life.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Yeah, it is… But that doesn’t matter any more. I’m getting help on my own, without my
parent’s or any one else’s help.” He
turned and shot his dark eyes toward Frenier.
“But you cannot mention this to anyone, alright? If you do, my father is sure to hear about
it and make me stop going… which I won’t do even if he tells me to stop. It’s just a precaution to possibly avoid any
unwanted fits of rage from my father.”
Frenier shook his head. “You’ve got nothing to worry about from me,
Kataki. I’m not going to say a
word. I’m just glad you’re finally getting
better, after all these years.”
Yes, after all these years, he was
finally seeing his future lighting up before his eyes, when before nothing but
a black blob existed in its place. If
only his parents never found out about his frequent visits to the physical
therapist, everything would be okay.
Nodding, Kataki agreed intently with Frenier for the first time in the
entire evening, and said, “Yes, it has been far too long…”
**********
Kaori, alone in a swirl of black
nothingness, stumbled on hands and knees along what felt like an open
field. Every now and then a sharp
picker from a weed or piece of random debris sparked pain up her hand as she
crawled onward. She had been lost in
this world for what seemed to be hours, and still she could not find a source
of light anywhere to see by. For all
she knew, she was wandering on and on toward nothing at all. There were no sounds of people or animals
out in the woods with her; the only thing she could hear were her own pants and
sighs of despair and the crumpling of weeds underneath her hands and feet. Then when she thought she could go no
further, the area around her suddenly grew a bit lighter, not much, but just
enough for her to stand once again to her feet and get the first glimpse of
where she was.
She was right from her assumption
before. She was in the middle of a
strange wooded area, an open prairie, really.
Off in the distance just a bit, she could see rows and rows of gigantic
trees that stood like tall, shadowy figures.
Turning away from the forest, she glanced in the other direction,
looking up to the sky. It was full of
dark, bulky clouds as if a storm was about to rip through the area. A tiny flicker of light poked through the
clouds and gleamed brightly on the water below, a lake. Thankful for finding something to cure her
dry mouth and throat, she ran to the edge of the lake, almost doing a complete
swan dive into the water as she pounced at the water. After she drank a good portion of the lake, she sat her back on
the soft beach and sighed. She didn’t
know where she was or why, but she was at least thankful to be in somewhat
peaceful surroundings.
Closing her eyes to the black wind
blowing around her, she suddenly felt her consciousness floating off into
sleep, but then she jerked up as if she heard something. Heard something? No, that wasn’t right. It
was more like she felt something. Her
mind was never at rest for very long and when she had this feeling, she knew
not to ignore it. Something was not
right here, this darkened landscape that suddenly seemed familiar to her,
somehow. She stood up and looked out
over the lake. The light from the moon
up above faded away from so much cloud cover spanning the length of the
sky. There wasn’t a soul around and yet
she felt as if someone was there, whispering in the back of her mind. Sometimes when she got this sort of feeling
it would frighten her, but this particular time, she was extremely calm and she
wanted to do everything she could to contact this spirit.
Sitting back down on the beach and
assuming a meditation type stance, she closed her eyes, and slowed her
breathing until she could focus on this feeling. It only took a few moments until she finally heard something, but
when she heard it she nearly broke the connection out of shock. The voice said, “Youko, Kaori, or whoever
you are now, it’s all up to you.”
What was this voice? It obviously connected these two people and
possibly even referred to them as a single being- even so, how did this spirit
know her? And who was this Youko
person? She felt as though the name was
familiar, too, and yet she didn’t know from where… If the spirit was using this name as an alternative to her own,
then why use it at all? “Whoever you
are now.” This line was the key- but
still she didn’t want to think too heavily upon it before she found out more
about the spirit.
With her eyes still closed, Kaori
asked the question in her mind, “Who are you?
Who is out there…?”
“It’s been along time, Youko. I’m sorry we have to meet like this. Youko- no, Kaori… I am the remnant of a man’s spirit that died in this place. The area that you see before you is not
real; you are not truly sitting on a dark beach with a beautifully black lake
in front of you. In fact, you are
merely dreaming, and that is how I am able to come into your dreams to speak
with you.”
“What…? I don’t understand. Where
am I? And, how do I know you?”
“You, Kaori, don’t really know me,
not in this time anyway, but your other self, Youko, did. I don’t expect you to understand anything
now, but just understand that I forgive you…and I have forgiven you centuries
ago, at even the moment of my death.
You probably don’t remember anything of this, but at some point, I’m
sure you will remember. When the time comes
for you to remember, I want you to know how I feel and that the gates of heaven
will one day grant your entry… But you
have to do one thing for me.”
“If you know me so well, then you
must know how clueless I am… But,
apparently, that doesn’t matter right now…
So, go ahead and tell me what all you have to say, before I wake up to
reality and forget it all anyway.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t forget anything that we have
discussed here. In any case, you must
remember this one thing, if not anything at all. The ring that you found in your sister’s room when she too passed
away must be given back to the one who gave it in the first place. It’s somewhat of a riddle, I know, but I
cannot tell you exactly what must be done.
Once you find the tear, you must give it back. Otherwise, you will confuse fate and time might go a bit haywire.”
“Alright, fine. I can do that.”
“I’m sorry I can’t say more than
this… but fate too has it’s bonds on me…
If by some chance we are able to meet again in the future… be sure to…
jog my memory…”
The voice had been trailing off
slightly in its last exchange, almost as if it was gradually losing its own
power to communicate. Once the spirit
was gone, Kaori opened her eyes and found that she was no longer standing on a
beach. She now found herself imprisoned
in a dark, damp cell far beneath the earth’s surface. The sudden change of scenery was so different and yet the same,
she didn’t know exactly how to feel.
Both were sinisterly dark and drab, but the beach was so much more
comfortable, somehow peaceful compared to this place. The memory of the voice floating through her head within the
dream she had just awoken from... What
was it something or someone she should have known? What was this thing he was forgiving her for? It seemed so important that she couldn’t
imagine what it could have been.
Just as she was again getting lost
within her own thoughts, a guard with a large key ring jingling at his waist
walked by. She quickly stood up and ran
to the bars, stretching her hands out of the cell. “Wait, don’t leave! You
have to help me!”
The guard, looking a bit tired or
unconcerned, slowly stepped back to Kaori’s black cell and growled at her. “What do you want lady? I’m going on break.”
“Yes, I’m very sorry to interrupt
you during your only time to relax and all, but you must tell me why I am
here! Did Gulabel put me in here? He said he was only restricting me from the
building...”
The guard simply looked on her with
oblivious, uncaring eyes. “Lady, I
don’t know who this Gulabel dude of sorts is nor do I particularly care. So, once you wave down another guard who
might feel more apt to help you out with the information that you’re looking
for, I suggest you just sit your little tush down and relax because I have the
feeling that you’re going to be down here for a very long, long time. See ya.”
With that, the man continued on his way down the bleak hall.
The words "a very long, long
time" seemed to echo endlessly down the ill-lit dungeon hall way just as
heartlessly as they did through her mind.
What had she done to deserve this?
It wasn't a crime to cause accidents.
You didn't see everyday people in who were involved car accidents being
hauled off to prison, at least not the innocent ones. She knew what she had done to the PCM lab was a horrible thing,
but it was an accident! At least she
wasn’t going to let Hisoka die under the rubble of the Dredge like Gulabel was
so willing to do. Why? Perhaps he was so intent on secretively
getting something from him that he did not want to admit his own failure… but
failure in what?
The walls of the cell were beginning
to squeeze the air out of her lungs. If
she was kept in this tiny, damp place for much longer, she feared she would go
insane. Just as she was about to wrap
on the bars again, a tickle that ran the entire length of her body, from head
all the way down her neck, back, and down to her heels. The sensation chilled her bones and caused
the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. She slowly turned around and cautiously touched a hand to her
neck as if she expected to feel a spider or some other dungeon dwelling
creature to scramble across her hand.
If there was no insect or bug crawling on her, then what was the
feeling? Attempting to see through the
shallow light of the cell, she studied her surroundings more with her hands
than with sight. From what she could
tell, there was only a rotted out cot that stood somewhat on a slant against
the fall wall, parallel to the main hall that led throughout the dungeon. Guided by her hands outstretched, she felt
the cot. It was made of wood, soggy
wood that seemed to have been down here in the dungeons for a very long time;
such a long time that splinters and partial pieces of it shattered off at the
slight touch. Resting lightly on the
decaying cot was a thin sheet of a rather light color, possibly white. She leaned closer with the sheet in hand and
sniffed it. Although it had was most
likely in this dungeon for as long as the cot has, the sheet did not smell
badly, not nearly as horrid as she thought it to. In fact, it was almost a sweet smell, something that one looks
forward to as he enters his home after a long day away. The fabric felt so soft against her wet and
dirty hands from the environment of the dungeon. She suddenly felt at ease, as if she could very easily fall asleep,
wrapped up in this small little blanket, and rest for years to come.
Then just as she gave into sleep, she heard a voice, the same voice
from the dream, “Soon it will be time, time to rest, time to awaken; just in
time for the end.”