Disclaimer: So very not mine.

A/N: Okay so the brief was this: Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like, turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle, then write a ficlet related to or inspired by each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!

A/N Part Deux: Nobody is to laugh at the things I have on my music player. Also, these are NOT SONGFICS! The songs are just for inspiration.

As Deep as the Sky

© Scribbler, August 2008.

1. Outta My Head – Ashlee Simpson

Amane liked the pretty necklace Daddy brought back from his trip. She liked it so much, in fact, that he made it into a gift for her. She wore it proudly, telling everyone that her Daddy had dug her jewellery up in Egypt, which made it way better than anything from the expensive jewellers' in town.

Ryou said it was an ugly thing, though he stopped when her bottom lip trembled and she started to cry.

"I'm sorry! It's all right, poppet. It's not ugly. I think it's very, uh, beautiful."

Amane wore her necklace all the time, like she used to wear her Spider-Man socks until they were so encrusted with dirt they practically marched into the washing machine on their own. She even wore it to bed, and tucked under her jumper at school. Somehow it never stuck out so the teachers could see it and make her take it off, and she sat at her desk feeling like she had a glorious secret.

Gradually she started to feel much more tired in the morning, as though she'd been running around playing games at night instead of sleeping. She yawned at breakfast and fell asleep in Maths, and spent playtime curled up in a corner of the library, snoozing until the librarian made her leave because her snores were too loud. She lost weight, suffered from excruciating headaches, and her smile started to fade as she discovered marks and welts on her skin in the mornings that nobody could explain.

"People are going to start thinking we're abusing her," her mother hissed to her father, who just looked bemused, like all scholars who are more concerned with books and research than people.

"I'm scared, Ryou," Amane confessed one night. "What's happening to me?"

"Nothing's happening to you."

"Jamey Lynch got marks on her arms and legs and was tired all the time right before they found her leukaemia. She died. I don't want to die!"

"You're not going to die."

"I'm scared." Fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ryou stayed in her room after that, his comforting presence allowing her to get her first proper sleep in months. Amane snuggled down, happy to know her big brother was there to protect her if she needed him.

At least until a strange noise woke her up and she discovered herself kneeling over him, a kitchen knife clutched in he fist. She squeaked, which caused Ryou to stir. Stuffing the knife under her mattress, she bounced back into bed and yelped when her necklace knocked against her skin. It was red hot. When she touched it her mind filled with shadows that made her feel like she was drowning, and she could hear someone laughing like a villain cackling in a Disney movie.

The next day she took off her necklace and put it in a sealed plastic bag with the heavy rocks from her beach stone collection, which Ryou had been helping her collect since she was a toddler. She was going to visit Grandma with Mommy today. Grandma lived in a little cottage in the Yorkshire countryside, and they had to pass over a bridge to get there. Amane planned to toss the bag out of the window and into the river.

"You're evil," she said to it, having brought it into the bathroom while she brushed her teeth because she didn't want it out of her sight in case it did something awful. "You should've stayed buried in the desert."

They pulled the bag out of the car wreckage. It was one of the only things not charred beyond recognition. When it came home in the pitiful box of personal effects, Ryou opened it to see his little sister's beloved beach stones and the necklace she'd always refused to take off. He put the stones on his bookshelf and put the necklace around her own neck, playing idly with the spikes when his father told him he'd accepted a lecturing post at the university in his hometown in Japan, so they could get away from all the bad memories in England.