Sunshine

About a month had passed since the science project. I hadn't talked to Kukai since, except for that spat we got into last week – a fight about extracurricular art activities. He didn't see the point; I almost gave him a black eye.

Besides the point. I was getting scared. Of the voices. Shut up, I'm not schizo, okay? At least, I don't think so. Just, every once in a while, I'm walking down that hallway when all of a sudden, I hear an invisible voice. Something such as:

Hey, Kokura? When's that lacrosse practice again?

Or:

Yano, stop looking! He'll notice!

And, worst of all:

Kukai, wrong way! It's soccer practice, not basketball!

I can't be going crazy. And yet, I hear voices. One of which talks to Kukai. A lot.

Every time this happens, I jump, usually drop a book or two, and stare at everyone passing me, trying to find the voice I know isn't visible. And I look anyways. I'm getting a 'psycho girl' reputation. Suuschi talks to me less than she did before. Which means, outside of math, I talk to her about once a week, and sometimes less than that.

Another thing? I have three full notebooks at home, just of those Sun-and-Moon drawings. It's even worse now. I feel like I have to draw all the time, and when I'm not, it's like my life doesn't have purpose.

My only escape is listening to the school band. I joined at the beginning of Year Seven and I play the flute. Or rather, sit there and pretend I know what I'm doing. It's just that the flute sounds so beautiful, and the band sounds fantastic, and I want to be part of something that good. But even though I'm in band, I don't feel like part of it. I just sit there and get lost in the sound.

It's the only distraction that stops me from ripping a pencil out of my bag and drawing on the sheet music. That, and singing. It's not like I'm a good singer, I just like singing to myself when I'm in my room, or watching TV.

It was one of these times, just hen I started my math homework and was singing to myself, that I realized-

"Huh. The only time I talk to Kukai willingly is when I'm fighting with him. That's a strange thought." I said to myself, leaning back on my chair.

"A weirder thought? Walking into a room to find your sister talking to herself." My chair thumped down as I turned to find my older sister staring at me, hand on the doorknob, mouth slightly open.

"Uh, Sakurei, I was just, uh..." I trailed off, feeling slightly desperate. Awkward Situation manual, anyone?

Her eyes still widened, Sakurei began, "I was just coming up to tell you that Oka-san just called. She's not coming home till about eight." Sakurei visibly relaxed, her face returning to normal as she leaned on the doorframe.

"Oh, okay. What's for dinner then?" I was very curious for her answer. Sakurei and I weren't usually trusted in the kitchen for fear of an explosion or food poisoning.

My sister smiled slightly. "We'll be going to the ramen shop at the edge of the neighbourhood." I rolled my eyes, a slight smile on my face. Sakurei absolutely loved ramen. I thought it was okay, but I'd prefer the ultimate European food any day – pizza. Oh well. Ramen was fine.

Sakurei took a step back, ready to leave the room. "Ten minutes, then we'll go, okay?" I nodded as she shut the door behind her, leading me to myself.

About twenty minutes later, me and Sakurei were getting settled at a small table next to the window. My legs were tired from walking to the shop and I sighed contentedly as I stretched out my legs.

We waited for a couple of minutes before a waiter showed up to take our orders. Kaito. Sakurei's boyfriend. Ramen wasn't the only reason she liked to come here.

They smiled and talked for a couple of minutes, trying to make it look like Kaito was taking our orders. He didn't need to since we were regulars and he already knew what we wanted.

Kaito finally left to give our order to the cook, leaving Sakurei in a kind of dream state. I swear, the only thing she loves more than ramen is Kaito.

While waiting, I often did an inventory-of-sorts of the shop. It had beautiful designs on the wall that often made me wistful, wishing I could draw flowers that looked that realistic. After a couple of minutes however, I forced myself to stop thinking about the art. Me and my sister probably looked like idiots, both staring off into dream land, head resting on our hands.

Eventually, Kaito came back with our food, explaining he couldn't stay since he had lots of people to serve. He had regret written all over his face. It was also all over my sister's. This is fine with me, I thought to myself as I began to eat. Maybe I can eat without puking on the love-fest.

Now, considering that I usually keep to myself and Sakurei was who knows where in her mind, it was pretty quiet at our table. Until I choked on some noodles and started coughing like crazy.

Why had I turned into a red-faced maniac?

Kukai, you should try out for the team! Yamada is.

That's why. The stupid voice had followed me from school and to the ramen shop. Apparently, the only safe place for me was my house.

Sakurei pulled herself from her daydreams when she heard me hacking up my lungs. Her eyes widened in alarm as I recovered, asking frantically if I was okay.

"I'm fine. Some broth just went down the wrong way." I lied. I wasn't about to tell her that a tiny voice that talks to my enemy follows me around...yeah, definitely not happening.

"Okay. Maybe you should have some water." Sakurei replied with a worried expression on her face as she pushed my glass towards me.

"Sure." I picked up the glass, drinking as I looked around the shop. Sometimes when I heard the voice, Kukai was near. I hoped I was thinking wrong when I thou-

"Ah! Sinkha! What are you doing?" Sakurei shrieked in shock. Her face was wet, water from my glass dripping off her nose. I winced as my face became red. Everyone in the shop was staring at us, including Kukai – the whole reason for this incident. He was sitting at the counter with Yamada, one of his soccer buddies.

"I'm so sorry Sakurei. Maybe we should just go." I said quietly. Sakurei stopped wiping her face with a napkin. I could see a small seed of anger in her eyes, lighting up the purplish highlights in her blue pools.

Sighing, she replied, "Good idea. I want a shower." She paid and we left. Most people had gone back to their –everyone except for Kukai and Yamada. They were both staring at me with no pretence of hiding it.

As we walked past them, I ignored Kukai, saying hello to Yamada. His eyebrows rose slightly at my rudeness, but he returned the greeting.

Just before the door shut behind me, I heard it. The voice again.

I just don't get her Kukai. Why do you think she's so special?

That had been the first time the voice had talked about an actual person. And I was scared that person was me.

The rest of my weekend past uneventfully – for the most part. Sakurei kind of kept her distance, especially when I was drinking or eating anything. My mother told me to get some sunshine, even though it was fall and there wasn't much of it. But out I went anyways.

I went to the playground that I had played at when I was still in playschool. Back then, I'd been more outgoing and relaxed, very different from now. This was the very place that all that had changed. Since my start at Seiyo Academy, I'd only been to this park a handful of times.

I sat on one of the swings, letting out a shaky breath. I won't cry. I told myself, shaking my head. This place didn't hold the best memories for me. For Mai, it was probably one of the best days of her life. Sadistic, brainless idiot. While Kukai was just annoying, Mai was the pinnacle of all things evil. A perfect little blonde haired-blue eyed, loved by all the teachers; basically hated by all the students except for her friends. Even back when we were five, she was ruthless.

Hey Sinkha, do you get on people's nerves, or is it just natural that people stay away from you?

"Shut up Mai. You can't control me. I'm not a helpless little girl anymore."

You sure about that? You look just as pathetic.

"Just go away. Just leave!" I shook my head, standing up from the swing. I couldn't do this anymore. Just being in this place brought back the worst memories.

"Hey psycho, chilling with your voices?"

"Mai, screw off." Having Mai's 5-year old voice in my head was horrible. Her new, present day voice was even worse.

"Ouch. That hurt. I thought you loved my company?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm as it clicked. This wasn't Mai in my head. She was here. I slowly lifted my head, turning around. Her cruel grin was stretched across her face, widening as she saw mine.

"Aww, you need a tissue? A shoulder to cry on?" I swiped my hand across my face, feeling the betraying wetness coursing down my cheeks.

"Go away."

"Nu-uh-uh." She shook her head. "You can't tell me where to go. This is public property, remember?"

Before I could give a waterlogged reply, a new voice interrupted this pathetic fight I was obviously losing.

"Mai, just give it a rest." Mai and I turned towards the voice – to my right – and my eyes widened in shock. It was Kukai. He was here at the park, trying to help me out. I was really surprised he hadn't teamed up with Mai – it wouldn't have been the first time.

"Kukai, fancy seeing you here." Mai said, unfazed by Kukai's comment. "I was just...talking to Sinkha." I could feel my cheeks heat up under my fingers as I tried to wipe off more tears. Kukai glanced at me, a weird defensive look in his eyes.

Turning back to Mai, he replied, "Yeah, well I think you're done talking to her. Her mom wants her back at home." He gave me a quick glance and I saw the message on his face. Get out now before it gets worse. I was in slight shock from Kukai helping, but I gave a nod and walked out of the park.

I knew I was feeling slightly better as I walked past Mai, from what I said.

"Don't worry Mai. Just keep on trying those dyes. You'll find a colour that doesn't make you look plastic soon." I gave her one of her own sadistic smiles and ran out of the park and down the street, hearing Mai's gasp/grunt of astonishment.

I also think I heard a boy's laugh, but that could've just been in my mind.

On Monday, I got an extra cold glare and super sadistic smile from a certain blondie and a tentative smile from a certain....ugh. Kukai smiled at me. I couldn't live like this.

Kukai felt like we were friends now apparently, because he tried to talk to me three times before we got to science. Each time I shot him down, I could see that I was a little closer to getting things back to normal. Of course, just as usual, science had to go and complicate things.

"Alright class, we'll be doing the ten questions from the worksheet...you'll need your textbook, Yokuro. That book that has all the things you need to learn in it." Sensei Shimotsuma definitely knew how to use sarcasm, I could give her that. And piles of homework.

I sighed and put away the piece of paper I was drawing on. It was funny, but for about a week, I hadn't had the urge to draw until just now. And when I had started, it wasn't the usual Sun-and-Moon intertwined. It was just a Sun. About five minutes later, I was on question two, rubbing my forehead and cursing the Sensei in my mind. I heard somebody walking towards me and as I looked up, surprise! It was Kukai.

I sighed, getting ready to snap. This definitely wasn't the best day so far.

"Hey, uh, Sinkha, I was wondering if I could borrow your sharpener." This got Kukai and me many confused looks, including Sensei's. It was not often that Kukai went up so blatantly to start a fight. What they didn't know, was what happened yesterday. I opened my mouth, ready to yell, when all of a sudden, I felt really light and bubbly inside.

"Sure Kukai, here." I reached into my bag, taking out my sharpener and handing it to him. Everybody's eyebrows were raised, including Kukai's. He'd been steeling himself for another rejection and instead he got Miss I'm-So-Nice-You'll-Drown-In-Niceness.

I suddenly shuddered, the light, happy sensation going from my body and leaving me slightly breathless, feeling cold inside. I looked up at Kukai as he wordlessly handed me back my sharpener. I bent down, putting it in my bag and seeing what I hadn't before. An egg.

An orange egg with a solid blue circle and a yellow sun in it. There was also a white wavy line wrapping around it. All these things I took in in about a second, my artistic eyes picking them up instantly. I quickly shut my bag, but it was too late. Kukai had seen. His face was covered in complete shock, more so than before. He walked slowly back to his seat, looking like a zombie did so. He jerkily sat down as I heard it. A new voice.

See, it's not so bad being nice once in a while, is it?

Well, I'm a horrible updater. Most likely the worst on this whole site. With three younger brothers, I just don't get a lot of time on the computer. Anyways, this is my favourite chapter so far. Actually, probably out of all the ones I have planned out. What do you think?