This is actually still going as I'm currently writing the last part XD So far 3/4 is done. Its basically AU which allows much more room for sap and stuff so...Rikuou/Kazahaya and so on. Thechapters actuallyget longer as it goes on... so don't let the shortness of the first part put you off in any way.Oh, and its named after an episode of the X anime XD; Don't really have much else to say... um... enjoy!
Snowing...
Ah... Its so cold...
All those people...
So many people...
Walking by...
I'm shivering... I must be...
Cold...
So cold...
And this was it...
No... I can't...
It was all over...
I won't... No way... I won't... I can't...
The young boy, laying in the snow... Trembling...
This was it...
No... I can't...
He was going to...
Die...
He sucked in his breath, faintly remembering her voice... The sorrow...
I won't die...!
Summoning all his strength, he forced his eyes open blindly, weakly pushing his hands into the icy cold white snow... trying to get up...
I WON'T DIE...
...Before collapsing... Frozen... Everything was darkening now...
Black…
-
"Nnn..." Green eyes opened hazily, quivering... weakly focusing on a ceiling... the creamish plaster peeling away...
Where am I...?
"Ah! Hey, He's woken up..." came a young girl's voice...
Who...?
More voices... Footsteps...
"Hey, are you alright...?"
"H...huh..." The young boy flinched slightly as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking about himself in a state of half-conscious confusion. People...? A group of five... two girls and three boys... They couldn't have been any older than he was... 18 at the most... They were crowding him, watching in interest...
One of the boys smiled, dark blue eyes narrowing "I think he's still asleep... He's got a sort of deadness to him..."
"Hey, leave him alone!" Another of the boys, dark haired, piped up, "He's probably got pneumonia or something..! Being in the snow for so long..."
"Yeah! He nearly died out there!"
"Ne..." a girl of about 15 sat on the bed beside the young boy, smiling kindly with gentle brown eyes "How do you feel...?"
"... Okay..."
"It was lucky we found you..." She beamed, "My name's Minamura Hanako... What's yours?"
"Kazahaya... Kudou Kazahaya..."
"Kudou-kun, ne..." Another girl, long black hair tied back loosely, grinned as she collapsed on the end of the bed"I'm Kanna. Just Kanna..."
Kazahaya's eyes went out of focus... everything blurring... everyone talking... Introducing themselves...
Who were these people...? Where was he...?
Alive...
That was all that was important... Right...? They had saved him... He was grateful...
But this just didn't feel right...
He glanced weakly at his surroundings...
The dimly lit room... It wasn't very big... The window to his left, across the room had been boarded up...
The walls were the same creamish colour as the ceiling... the plaster peeling... all around him...
He was in a bed... The grey covers torn... ragged... The futon hard... lumpy...
Why was he here...?
Why did he feel like he should be somewhere...
...Somewhere else…
"Kudou..." An older boy... maybe 18 in age... he spoke slowly in a low voice.
Kazahaya's throat hurt... It was dry... So dry... "Yeah...?" He managed.
"What's your gift?"
"What?"
The older boy's glare intensified, "I asked, 'What's your gift'...?"
Gift...
His annoying gift...
"I..." He closed his eyes, rubbing his throat as he strained to speak, "I... get visions..."
Kanna gasped "Ah, you have pre-cognition!"
"N-no... I mean..." the lighter haired boy tilted his head, "I... Touch an object or something... And I get a vision... of the past..."
"Post-cognition..." The older boy crossed his arms, "That's unusual... Well... compared to the rest of us..."
"What...?"
"We all have gifts too..." Hanako smiled as she got to her feet, walking over to a small primus stove , a kettle boiling over it.
Gift...
Kazahaya's eyes closed again as he remembered... Her voice...
"Ne... Kazahaya... Around you... are only people like you..."
"People... like me..." He murmured quietly.
Only...
People like me...
-
These people... The five that had saved him... They were all either abandoned or run-aways... 'gifted'... There was the oldest, Kazuo... Then Kanna and her younger brother, Jun... then Ran... and the youngest, Hanako...
They had found him half frozen in the snow, out in the town square as they fled...
Fled... after stealing food from a grocery.
They stayed here... In this abandoned, almost derelict building...
Hiding from the authorities...
Kazahaya had come to Tokyo in the hope of finding work: a job so he could make some money, a living for himself so he could get his own place.
... To live alone...
But now, all that was irrelevant. He had these people... This 'family' had taken him in... This was home now...
And as for a job...
-
"Wh-What?" Kazahaya's amber green eyes widened in shock.
Kazuo sighed, handing him a cup of tea, "Only sometimes..."
"But... what do you mean?" The lighter haired boy asked quickly "what kind of work? Does it pay well?"
"No..." Jun huffed, "That's why we have to steal sometimes..."
"I can't steal...!" Kazahaya said desperately.
Kanna fell back on her cushion, "Kudou-kun! You're going to have to get used to it...! If you want to eat..."
The lighter haired boy looked down sadly. He hadn't wanted things to end up like this... He was supposed to get a real job... This guy, 'Amano'... He offered these gifted youths small jobs... In return he gave them basic pay... just enough to buy food, water... he still wasn't too sure on the details... But apparently he was like an adopted father to these guys... Yet...
This all seems so shady…
What was this 'work'...? Did it have something to do with their 'gifts'...? It was all so strange... It all seemed wrong... he felt wrong... All of this... being there... talking to these people... the idea of stealing... He didn't want to break the law like this, but what else was there...? He was helpless. This is all...
...All I can do...
He had to...
To live...
-
"Rikuou, you have half an hour..." Kakei beamed from by the till.
"Okay..."
Saiga emerged from the back of the shop, "Hm? What's wrong with you?"
Rikuou glared with dark green eyes before turning away, untying his apron. "Nothing."
"You have been acting very... how to say... melancholy as of late... more than usual..." the shop's owner tilted his head in concern, smiling sadly, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"It feels like...Something's missing..."
"Oh?" the man in shades smirked.
Kakei looked pensive.
Something...
Yes... something...
That boy...
His eyes narrowed as he watched Rikuou walk silently to the staff room...
"Something's missing, huh..." he said quietly, curling his fingers under his chin thoughtfully.
"That boy...?" Saiga asked, moving to put his arms around him.
"Yes... He... He should have been here by now... Its strange..." Kakei looked worried, "He should have been here a while ago... Something's wrong..."
Something...
-
Two weeks had passed since Kazahaya had become part of the 'family'...
And only two jobs had come up...This 'Amano' guy... He was somewhat mysterious... He had never seen him, but he had heard him on the phone...
Such a deep voice... dark...
The 'work' itself was just as mysterious. For the first job, Kazahaya had been told to just go and stand by a fountain in the shopping centre. A young girl with short blonde hair, dressed in a white suit was supposed to walk by at just gone mid-day. He was to follow her to the train station for one of the rush-hour trains, standing next to her... close enough to touch... and he was to use his 'gift' to find, from her memories, where she lived...
Of course, he had complied.
No questions.
The pay really was as bad as the others had made out. There were now six of them to feed, so the pay of one, for one job, was supposed to pay for bread and water for six... fuel... fruit... many basics seemed like a luxury... So stealing was common place to them...
They had tried to teach him. But it would seem he wasn't so capable of being discrete. On both attempts he had failed miserably, the others having to help him by distracting the shop's owner as he fled...
He had figured... maybe it came with practice...
But it doesn't feel right...
All of it...
I should be...
It just felt like he belonged...
Somewhere else...
-
It had started to snow again.
Kazahaya closed his eyes tiredly, walking into his room. There didn't seem to be anyone around today.
A job had come up, and this time it was Hanako and Kazuo who'd been asked to do it... He had only been asked to do one job so far... only 4 had come up since he had gotten there... Yet why did he get the feeling this 'Amano' guy didn't like him? It was the tone he used... on the phone, he always sounded so rough and superior... But when the others spoke of him, they sounded in awe of him, no matter how low the pay. He felt like the only one who felt like they were being taken advantage of... And what was so wonderful about that? Had they ever even met this guy? From his voice, he pictured him as being quite old, cruel looking with dark eyes... But once Hanako had said hearing his voice was like being a child again... so happy and secure...
He sighed warily, raking back his hair. What was he doing there?
-
"Kudou-kun! Dinner's ready..." came Kanna's ever up-beat voice.
A meal... finally... It had been days now since he had had a meal...
So hungry...
He collapsed beside Kazuo, a bowl of soup in one hand and a small slice of bread in the other.
"Ah, just when I thought soup couldn't get any thinner..." the older boy murmured irritably, taking another sip.
"Kazuo!" Kanna pouted in reprimand, "Hanako does a wonderful job!"
"Yeah, the soup's great..."
Kazahaya sipped from the spoon uncertainly as the others continued to talk around him, green eyes shifting from speaker to speaker. They all seemed so close... like a real family... But was he really part of it? He smiled shyly, eventually speaking up, "So, how was the job today...?"
Silence.
Everyone had suddenly gone quiet, a few uncomfortable looks being exchanged.
The lighter haired boy blinked nervously.
What...?
"We..." Hanako eventually spoke up, "We're not supposed to talk about them..."
"Huh? Why...?"
"Amano-san said we weren't to discuss them. Its as simple as that." Kazuo closed his eyes, continuing to sip grudgingly at the watery soup.
Weren't... supposed to...?
Why?
What was going on?
"Um... but why?" the lighter haired boy pressed on, cautious.
"We could get into trouble, Kudou..." One of the boys, Ran, said quietly.
"But..."
"Ah, so what should we all do tomorrow..." Hanako asked quickly, smiling sweetly.
"I was going to the library..."
"Like you ever read..."
"You just want to see the girl who works there, Kazuo-chan..."
"Shut up, Kanna"
But...
Kazahaya blinked as the conversation returned to normal. What was that all about? What trouble? Was that Amano guy dangerous or something?
Just a voice on a phone...
Huh... what could he do...?
He glanced at the still silent Ran. What was wrong? He still seemed... shaken somehow... But...
WHY?
Dammit, these people just weren't right... It was like they were living in a dream world or something... They weren't right... and... He didn't feel right being with them... What was going on...? Why did he feel like he should be somewhere else...? With someone else... It was all just...
So strange...
-
Rikuou sighed, collapsing on his bed...
Things just weren't feeling right as of late... It wasn't like anything had changed... It was exactly the same as a month ago...Yet...
It was weird. He hadn't been opposed to living alone so far... He was still searching for Tsukiko... But... Why did he feel like he was missing something... and it wasn't her...?
His dark eyes narrowed, glancing across the room at the other bed...
Empty...
Why had there been two beds...?
Surely if it was meant to be just him...
But then...
Was there supposed to be someone else...?
Kakei seemed to be hiding something... He always knew these things... Seeing them... But he hadn't said anything... It felt like there was supposed to be someone else...
Someone...
Yes... That was it... He needed someone...
Someone…
…to protect…
-
It was cloudy that day, the grey sky hanging high above the city...
Kazahaya sighed, stood outside the shop. He had been told to, as his previous attempts at this sort of thing had hardly been successful. Everyone else was inside, busy 'securing' provisions.
He had been waiting for sometime now, and his mind was starting to wonder again... He was happy at having a 'family'... these people had been so kind, taking him in... saving him that night... And it was nice to have other people of the same age around him. Back in the country it had only been him... and her... It felt strange now to be with so many others like him... But he couldn't help but feel, even if they treated him with patience... tolerant of his faults, his flaws... He didn't feel like one of them... Perhaps it was just that he hadn't quite settled in yet... The others had been together for so long now, so maybe it was only natural that he felt out of place... It was a possibility, but... He knew the real problem was simply...
He just didn't fit in...
His amber green eyes closed tiredly, giving another wary sigh before slowly walking away. They would probably be sometime... He would just go for a short walk...
-
Down the road at the grocery market, Rikuou was warily picking out the vegetables he was going to need for dinner that night.
The sky matched his mood. He still couldn't take his mind off what he had been thinking... It was true he was alone, but was he so certain he needed someone? Of course not... He was fine... Yet... there was still the burning desire... deep within him...
Someone...
He just couldn't understand... these feelings... they made no sense.
He sighed, walking away from the stall he had been looking at with his purchase in hand. This was stupid. Like he was just going to find someone laying in the street...
Across the road, Kazahaya continued on his short walk, hands pushed moodily into the pockets of his jeans. Why couldn't he just live alone...? He had to... That was the whole point of him even earning any money... and surely it would have been better than not fitting in somewhere... an unwanted guest... But... to fit in... Did he want to be accepted...? Maybe... he wasn't trying hard enough... that must have been it... He was just going to have to try harder... He needed them now...
Now...more than ever...
I...
Rikuou closed his eyes, melancholy.
I want...
The lighter haired boy tilted his head skywards...
...to belong...
Rikuou bowed his head towards the pavement...
...someone to protect...
"Huh..." Kazahaya blinked, tilting his head. He had seen someone... just a glance but... Him... That guy across the road... He was tall, dark haired...
Rikuou felt someone's gaze... Someone's eyes... turning to find the other boy... light haired... fair skinned...
Both halted, a gasp escaping their lips.
Two pairs of green eyes widened...
Suddenly the street was empty... empty... or so it seemed... save for the two of them... so silent...
And then time...
Frozen...
Kazahaya's amber green eyes quivered as he stared hard the other boy, holding the gaze as if in a trance...
Who... who was that guy...?
That guy...
He was sure he knew him...
...The distance between them suddenly seemed so short...like he was at arms reach...
So... close...
His heart was pounding... He could hear it...
Rikuou felt his lungs tighten...
Why was he feeling so paralysed...? Their eyes had locked, unable to look away...
But... he seemed so familiar... One to the other...
Why did it feel like they already knew each other so well...? Like they had seen each other somewhere before?
The questions... So many questions all at once... but... but...
Above all else... Burning...Burning...
Who are you...?
"Kudou!"
Kazahaya gasped, the noise of the busy street suddenly filling his head, time moving once again.
Kanna ran up to him, hooking his arm with her own.
"Ne, ne...! Where did you go Kudou" She asked brightly"We came back out but you had gone! You had us worried..."
"Ah... I'm sorry..." The lighter haired boy murmured, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as his eyes shifted, glancing briefly across the road to find the other boy had gone.
His eyes misted over, hazy...
Who... Who was he...?
That guy...
TO BE CONTINUED