Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/2114301.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      となりの関くん_|_Tonari_no_Seki-kun_|_My_Neighbor_Seki
  Relationship:
      Yokoi/Seki, Yokoi_Rumi/Seki_Toshinari
  Character:
      Yokoi_Rumi, Seki_Toshinari, Hashino_Tomoka, Nakama_Yu, Uzawa_Akiyasu,
      Seki_Jun, Goto_Sakurako
  Additional Tags:
      Psychological_Torture, Sadism, Dreams_and_Nightmares, Demons, Extremely
      Dubious_Consent, Alternate_Universe_-_Dark, It_kind_of_gets_lighter_at
      the_end, I'm_not_sorry, Dreamsharing, Mental_Breakdown, Psychologists_&
      Psychiatrists, Blood_and_Gore, Hurt_No_Comfort, Seki_is_a_jerk, I_Don't
      Even_Know, I_Wrote_This_Instead_of_Sleeping, Wordcount:_30.000-50.000,
      now_featuring_teen_pregnancy, sorry_-_Freeform, supportive_parents,
      Metaphor, Foreshadowing
  Stats:
      Published: 2014-08-13 Updated: 2014-10-02 Chapters: 7/9 Words: 39823
****** The Demon To Her Left ******
by blacktea
Summary
     It turns out Seki Toshinari is a demon. Rumi learns the hard way the
     perils of being distracted by one.
     "Inner demons? Got none of them." -Jamie Bell
     Updated every Wed. (Chapter 7 posted. Hopefully 8 will be done by
     Friday- blacktea 10/2)
Notes
     This fic is dark. Please head all warning tags. If any of those are
     triggering for you please do not continue. If you think it might be,
     but aren't sure you can message me and ask.
     That being said this is the darkest thing I've ever written. I did
     have fun writing it though. I hope you enjoy reading it.
     Hashino Tomoka is the girl who appears in the Manga with the classes.
     Nakama Yuu is the other girl Rumi hangs out with.
     Yokoi Daiki is the name I gave Rumi's older brother.
***** Part I:To Be Distracted *****
Chapter Summary
     "You can always find a distraction if you're looking for one." -Tom
     Kite
Chapter Notes
     Hashino Tomoka - Rumi's best friend and classmate
     Nakama Yu- friend and classmate
Yokoi Rumi glared up at her ceiling blearily.
It seemed she had once again jerked suddenly into wakefulness inexplicably out
of breath and vaguely nervous. It used to be that the birdsong outside her
window would gently filter into her consciousness and pull her slowly out of
the realm of dreams like a boat being set adrift. However, after starting high
school six months ago, every morning started with her panting from some dream
she couldn't remember and slight unease rolling in her gut.
It was probably just nerves. High school was a big change. Even months later it
was a lot to take in. A new building and teachers and classmates. Higher
expectations, less room for failure. It made sense to feel troubled.
Except that didn't really make her feel any better as she numbly got ready for
school and carefully packed her homework into her bag. It did nothing to
dissipate the cloud of dread that had started hanging over her in the mornings.
Breakfast was quiet as usual. Her father read the newspaper and only
acknowledged her with the curtest 'Good morning.' Her mother just waved at her
as she finished making her and her father's bentos already having eaten her
breakfast. Her brother wasn't there to tease her since he thankfully had to go
to work before her father even woke up.
Sometimes she would spend the night at her friend Tomoka's house and in the
morning her family would always be loud and crazy. At her house, even the most
hectic of mornings were subdued.
The same could be said for the evenings.
It wasn't that she never talked to her parents. It was just they never seemed
to understand her. Her mom was afraid she was too flighty. Her father wanted
her to focus more. They didn't understand why she was constantly reading
fantasy books and manga. Why she would just sit and daydream for hours.
Her brother had been involved in sports and the student council. They wanted
her to be like that. Impressive and productive.
And she just wasn't.
"Rumi-chan, did you sleep alright?"
Rumi started at her mother's sudden question. She had finished making their
lunches and joined her father and her at the table while she'd been zoning out.
Again.
She shrugged. Not really sure how to answer. She didn't feel tired exactly and
she was probably too old for nightmares to be bothering her. If she was even
having any. "I guess."
But her mother just bit her lip, worried.
"I only ask because these last few mornings I heard you in your room and you
sounded distressed. Is it something about your new school?"
Rumi nearly choked on the hard boiled egg she'd bit into when her throat went
dry. After swallowing with difficulty she murmured a quiet, "Not really."
The only thing that was really bothering her about school was Seki Toshinari
and he wasn't scary: just really, really distracting. She had half a mind to
report him to their homeroom teacher.
He certainly wasn't giving her nightmares.
The thought was ridiculous.
Her mother sighed clearly not satisfied with her answers. "Well let me know if
there's anything I can do. You should probably get going if you want to make it
to school in a timely fashion."
Rumi nodded absently as she left the table with her bag. "Hai. I'm going."
The walk to school was quiet and she didn't see anyone she knew until she got
to her shoe locker.
"Rumi-chan! Good morning!"
And there was Hashino Tomoka already changed into her indoor shoes. "Good
morning, Tomoka-chan."
Tomoka was her best friend. They'd known each other since kindergarten. Rumi
could always count on her friend to be cheery and enthusiastic instead of
continually reserved like her parents. Although her parents liked to point out
how she should be more like her friend who was in the literature club and was
part of the school's orchestra.
And in no time at all it was time for school to begin again.
It wasn't long before Seki was starting on his daily divergence.
It looked like he was making dominos...with erasers.
Geez, he was ridiculous, but she couldn't help but watch him and get
distracted.
And get caught being distracted by her social studies teacher.
(Who was mean and would probably write her parents a note.)
And the jerk never got caught himself. It was like he was unnaturally lucky or
had magic powers.
It was completely unfair.
At lunch Tomoka was gratifyingly sympathetic, but her seating assignment didn't
allow her to see any of Seki's antics. Their new friend Nakama Yuu was much
better positioned, but she said she never noticed Seki doing anything strange.
"But he totally was!"
Nakama shrugged. "I would just ignore him. It's best not to get involved with
Seki-san."
Nakama was always saying strange things like that. Rumi knew that Nakama and
Seki had gone to the same elementary and middle school, but she was always so
distant when talking about him. It was like she thought there was something
wrong with him.
(Something worse than him having no attention span whatsoever.)
Although to be fair, Seki seemed to hold himself apart. Sure he ate lunch with
a certain group of boys and did silly things with them during passing periods,
but he never actually spoke to anyone. She hadn't even seen him answer a
question in class. He hadn't joined in any sports or clubs.
He acted like everyone else was beneath his notice.
"But he's like impossible to ignore."
Really an imagination like his is probably an actual crime.
Tomoka giggled at this before teasing her about her new crush. Even though she
knew that wasn't how Rumi felt. Nakama just looked away uncomfortably. Normally
she was the most cheerful of their group, but anytime Seki came up she became
moody.
Had Seki done something to her?
"Why do you dislike Seki-kun, Nakama-san?"
Nakama visibly flinched. "I never said I disliked him. I never said that. I
just- You should just keep your distance! It's for your own good." The brunette
jumped to her feet clearly desperate to bolt. "I've gotta go- And bye." She all
but ran out of the classroom not even bothering to really excuse herself.
"That was kind of strange." At least, that was what Rumi was pretty sure Tomoka
was saying around the rice ball she was munching on.
"Yeah." She darted a quick glance at Seki who was done eating and seemed to be
balancing his chop sticks on his nose causing the boys he was sitting with to
laugh.
He was completely innocuous.
(Why did Nakama seem afraid of him?)
The rest of the day dragged on.
The only point of interest was when she managed to stop one of Seki's little
games when he was terrifying a whole army. What kind of person plays Shogi like
that?!
(Who did he think he was?)
When she got home the shadows in the hallway slunk away from her quietly, "I'm
home."
Her mom was out and her father was still at work. Her brother was probably with
his friends.
No one was around to judge her if she just decided to take a little nap on her
bed.
No sooner had she closed her eyes did she find herself in a field with tall
grass. Distantly she could hear an ominous thudding. The world grew dark as a
large cloud formation idled above her head. The thudding grew louder and she
could hear the murmuring of many voices like distant thunder. Suddenly to
either side of her lines of men clearly dressed for battle appeared.
Even from afar she could tell their faces were grim.
They were going to fight and blood would stain the grass she was standing on.
And then she saw him: Seki. He was to the back of the one approaching from her
right and dressed like the men around him. Beside him was a man whose armor
shone brighter than that of the surrounding men. He carried himself in a way
that let her know he was in charge. The men around all seemed to be looking at
him and taking heart from the air of confidence he had around him.
All of them except for Seki. He had that malevolent look from earlier.
She gasped in horror when he grabbed the kings head and twisted it off. Even at
the distance she was, she could hear his neck going pop, pop, pop. The bones
that cracked in uneven bursts. The wet sound of the flesh and muscle tearing as
he kept rotating it like he was opening a bottle of soda. The blood fountaining
onto his face, and into his wicked grin, before gently bubbling down the king's
chest that would never again rise and fall with life.
She couldn't look away.
(Why couldn't she look away?)
After a few more economic rotations Seki had the head in his hands and was
studying it intently as he turned it in his hands the kings eyes flashing like
a strobe over and over, wide and terrified: just like his men who were all
frozen in horror as Seki continued his casual examination.
Eventually he nodded before he ripped out the eyes and popped them into his
mouth like some sort of twisted after school snack. He then grabbed the
mandible and with a sharp yank broke it off and tossed it carelessly to the
side. Digging his skin into where the ragged edge of flesh had formed he
started peeling off the skin and muscle before punching a hole into the base
and scooping out the brains with a cupped hand.
And then he sat the newly made skull on his head already covered in blood by
his brutal decapitation of the king.
It wasn't right!
(He had no right!)
Before she knew it, her feet were taking her to ranks of men still standing
absolutely shocked at Seki's depravity. They hardly seemed to register her as
she pushed her way through them. She couldn't let him get away with this! She
couldn't!
(Why hadn't she been able to look away?)
When she finally broke through the ranks and into his line of sight, his face
became annoyed just like when she'd foiled his game earlier, but then his
irritation melted off as he smirked. He started walking over to her his steps
slow and measured.
The grass before him had already been trodden by the men at the front, but each
step he made towards her was a soft crack that seemed to stab her heart as it
tried to beat out of her chest. She wanted to turn around and run. (What could
she do to a monster like him?) But her feet were lead and she could hardly
breathe. He was almost close enough to touch and her blood was heating as it
flooded with adrenaline.
She needed to run, but her feet wouldn't move, he had one of her hands and he
was using it to pull her against him. Desperately she tried to get away by
pushing at his chest, but it was like pushing on a wall. He was quick to detain
her free hand and than then held the two together behind her back with his
right hand.
"Seki-kun, please don't-" but just like in class he paid her no mind and
ordered her silence as he pressed his index finger to her lips. Which ensured
her continued silence because it was still covered in blood and brains and she
was not risking getting that in her mouth. The smell, so close to her nose, was
already making her stomach turn.
It was then the men came out of their stupors and closed ranks around them
clearly with the intent of killing Seki. She didn't think they would much care
if they ended up killing her to get to him.
But Seki just grinned his countenance of pure joy utterly disturbing. Her eyes
widened when she remembered what happened next. Desperately she wanted to warn
the men closing in on them, but she couldn't open her mouth. Not with the
blood.
(And she couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe.)
Suddenly the earth claimed two of the advancing shoulders and in the ensuing
still she listened as their screams went on and on as they fell farther and
farther away, deeper into the darkness of the earth. She was too frightened to
even shake, but Seki's laughter caused her to move in an accurate facsimile of
terror.
Tears bit into her eyes.
This was horrible! It needed to stopped.
(She didn't want to be there.)
Seki cocked his head. Like he'd heard her thoughts. Slowly he brought he mouth
to her ear, his breath hot on her neck, she could feel the gore on him soaking
into her hair.
She could feel his lips moving against her ear, everything seemed to slow, but
she couldn't quite catch the words. She closed her eyes so she might better
hear him, but no matter how hard she focused they remained just out of reach.
Suddenly she was desperate to hear even one of the words tickling at the edge
of her awareness, the more she concentrated the more indistinct they became.
She started taking slow even breathes so her blood wouldn't rush so loud, but
all that did was fill her lungs with Seki's scent of blood and sweat and burnt
wood. The words remained elusive and she wanted to scream. Why couldn't she
hear him? She pressed closer to him, the kings blood soaking into her uniform,
and the voices grew louder, but all they did was vibrate under her skin, a low
rumble that was causing her spine to itch.
What was he saying? Why did she care?
(Why was he so distracting?)
"Seki-kun," she whimpered her lips tangy and bitter from the blood.
(Why couldn't he speak more clearly?)
His answering chuckle rolled through her like a dark wave, warm and lazy as it
settled low in her gut. The warmth became a strange ache that throbbed in time
with the words she couldn't hear.
That she needed to hear.
The need was filling her, making her heart burn while her ears tried and tried
to even hear just one little-
"Rumi-chan! Dinner is ready!"
She looked around her room shakily. It was shadowed because the sun had started
to set, but it was still clear she was alone. Haltingly she sat up and glanced
at the mirror on her vanity. Even in the dark she could tell her uniform wasn't
covered in blood and that her lips and hair weren't either.
Everything was fine.
(Wasn't it?)
"Rumi-chan! Dinner!"
Somehow she forced herself down the stairs to where the rest of her family was
already sitting at the dinner table. From the annoyed looks she was getting it
seemed likely her mother had been calling her for quite some time.
She mumbled 'Itadakimasu' with her brother and father before they started
eating. Her mom was frowning at her. "Why are you still in your uniform?"
She looked away from her mom and ended up staring at her rice bowl intently.
"After school I was tired; I fell asleep."
Her mom stared at her for a long moment before sighing. "It's not good to sleep
so long in the afternoons. You'll never get to sleep tonight."
Rumi was completely okay with that. She didn't want to ever sleep again. "I
know. I mean I didn't mean to."
Her father turned his attention towards her. "Instead of sleeping you should be
involved in after school activities. Like Daiki-kun."
At this her older brother sent her a superior smirk.
"I don't really like sports and none of the clubs are interesting." She didn't
mind being athletic. She would jog on the weekends, but she didn't really like
volley ball or soccer or baseball.
Kendo appealed to her in some ways, but something wasn't quite right with that
either. What was the point in wooden swords against pretend enemies.
Imagination would do the trick just as well with less fuss. How sweet could
those victories be?
The blood of real enemies tastes much sweeter.
She barely heard her family's varying degrees of shock, disapproval and worry
(her mother) as she ran up the stairs to her room and collapsed her back
pressed against her door.
Those words. That voice.
Was that what he'd whispered into her ear?
(Why was she so desperate to know?)
***
The next morning, breakfast was awkward.
The night before Rumi hadn't responded to her mom as she tried to talk to her
through her locked bedroom door. Not when she asked if she was angry? Or hungry
since she hadn't actually eaten? If it was something at school?
Rumi didn't know what to say and so she didn't. She'd eventually fallen asleep
curled up into a tight ball on her bed hoping she wouldn't dream.
But she did dream and her dream was completely fine.
Seki was there again, but he was back to ignoring her. They had been on some
giant white plain as erasers the size of skyscrapers loomed above them. She
watched in awe as they fell like dominos, but in the dream there really were
fireworks at the end.
This dream was actually fun and somehow Seki being in it didn't even ruin it.
In fact, when she'd seen him standing there she hadn't felt any alarm.
Not even imagining him soaked in blood could bring back the fear of the
previous dream.
It was disconcerting because it made her to realize that while she'd been
terrified of his actions and her own reactions, she had not actually been
scared of him.
Actually for much of the dream she just frustrated herself with wondering what
Seki's voice actually sounded like and if it had been the voice she'd heard the
previous night.
(Something was seriously wrong with her.)
As she sat down, her father set down his paper and just looked at her. Her mom
handed her a bowl of rice porridge and sat down at the table to join him in the
looking. She avoided looking at either of them and managed to finish her
breakfast in three minutes.
She didn't bother saying bye on her way to school.
She could already feel how awkward dinner would be.
"Yokoi-san!"
Rumi turned to her right to find Nakama had joined her just as they started
climbing the hill the school sat on. She hadn't known the girl lived near her.
"Uh, good morning, Nakama-san."
For some reason all she could think about was how much the taller girl would
not have liked the dream she'd had the previous afternoon.
No that she'd enjoyed it.
Just.
(She hadn't enjoyed it.)
"I'm sorry."
Rumi blinked in confusion at the girl beside her. "Why would you be sorry,
Nakama-san?"
The girl looked down at her feet seemingly ashamed. "For yesterday. Leaving so
abruptly."
Rumi waved away the girl's apology. "It's fine. These things happen." She would
know.
Nakama smiled at her relief glinting in her eyes. "Thank you. I'm still
adjusting to this new school. I was taken aback. In middle school, heck in
elementary school, everyone knew to keep their distance from Seki-san."
Without permission her tongue threw a small, soft 'why?' through her slightly
parted lips.
Nakama visibly swallowed. "Uh, well, it not like he's done anything. He's still
allowed in school after all."
Rumi raised a sardonic eyebrow. "So he hasn't worn anyone's skull as a hat?"
The words were in poor taste and dark humor was not her usual method, but that
didn't quite explain Nakama's choked scream and terror filled eyes. They
reminded her of the king's as Seki turned his head round and round.
"Yo- Yokoi-san, you-"
Suddenly it was like she was possessed because the other girl's fear did not
make her immediately apologetic and her inclination to console her listed
lazily in the back of her throat. Her tongue became sharp between her teeth and
she continued even though she knew there was no reason to: "He has the patience
for it after all. To peel the skin off and scoop out the brains."
Somehow, in hindsight, the king's execution was almost fascinating rather than
sickening.
Nakama grabbed her arms and pulled them face to face her expression suddenly
very determined (though she still reeked of fear), "Yokoi-san, you need to stop
sitting near Seki-san. Tell Sensei he is distracting you and get the hell away
from him."
Rumi bit her lip. "But that'll get Seki-kun in trouble." Suddenly the strange
and foreign coldness was gone. She felt like she normally did and a little
guilty for saying such odd things. Anyway what was so bad about sitting next to
Seki? As much as she didn't like being distracted.
(She kind of really liked being distracted.)
Nakama actually shook her in frustration. "That doesn't matter! Just-"
"He pouts," Rumi felt compelled to say, "He pouts horribly if he can't goof off
during class- if he knows it's your fault, he glares at you for hours and the
feeling of his eyes sink down low into your stomach where it grows and grows.
And then I end up feeling guilty when he's the one-"
But Nakama's hands just started squeezing her arms tighter and tighter. They
were going to leave bruises. "Yokoi-san, you really must get away from him."
Nakama's voice cracked like she was on the verge of tears.
Abruptly done with whatever this was Rumi violently shrugged off Nakama (since
that was the only way to get Nakama's hands off) before finally allowing a
gentle smile to curve her lips. "Look; I'm glad that you don't want Seki-kun
distracting me, but if I move, he'll just be bothering someone else. It'll be
like I set them up. And then they won't be able to concentrate. That doesn't
sound fair, does it?"
(That didn't sound fair at all.)
Besides one of these days she would eventually get reassigned away from him.
(Right?)
"Yokoi-san most everyone ignores him just fine. To be frank, the problem is
that you don't," but despite the other girl's gravity she had clearly come down
from the blind panic of before. "It really isn't a good idea to be so aware of
him."
Rumi frowned as they once again started walking to school. Was she too aware of
Seki? Aside from her grades, why would that be bad?
(Most of the time the entertainment he provided wasn't even gruesome.)
It was kind of a surreal to come to the conclusion that she actually liked
watching Seki.
(Even when he was being evil.)
They were almost to the gates when Nakama sighed. "I just want you to be
careful, Yokoi-san."
Rumi hummed in a vaguely agreeing manner. What was there to be careful of?
Nakama had yet to offer any concrete reasons to avoid Seki. He was pretty
harmless. He had a mean glare and dark grin, but so did lots of people. Half
the time what he did was actually like a chore and other times he would use
cute bears and bunnies.
"-dreams that is a bad sign, a very bad sign."
Rumi froze and looked at Nakama in confusion as they arrived at their shoe
lockers. Apparently she had still been talking. "Huh?"
Nakama ran her hands through her hair frustrated. "If he starts appearing in
your dreams, you really need to move to a different spot. Please, promise me,
if that starts happening you'll move."
"Hai," she chirped easily enough.
After all, how could she start having dreams if she'd been having them?
(What was so dangerous about being distracted?)
She ignored how guilty she felt at Nakama's relieved smile.
It was probably no big deal.
***** Part I:To Be Good *****
Chapter Summary
     "You've a good heart. Sometimes that's enough to see you safe
     wherever you go. But mostly, it's not."
     -Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Chapter Notes
     So there is a citrus scene with disturbing elements. I would say
     extreme reluctance on Rumi's part. Also Seki is just mean, really.
Part II: To Be Good
For a while everything was normal.
(It was mostly normal.)
Her parents stopped treating her like she was about to cry (or become
unbalanced).
Seki still did strange off task things, but he wasn't enacting bloody battles.
(And she wasn't dreaming of them.) He played with sand and polished his desk
(and everything else in his vicinity) and made cute animals fight (but it was
cartoon violence: no gore).
One day he'd even been the world's most infuriating post office.
Nakama seemed to have calmed. She admitted that she may have been wrong. That
it might not be that serious after all. (Whatever that meant.)
And Rumi figured it wasn't necessarily bad she was having dreams about Seki.
She did see him almost everyday. (It was normal to have dreams about people one
sees everyday.) Most of the time they were just better versions of the things
he did in class. She didn't have them that often and it was natural to be
curious what his voice sounded like.
(Curiosity never hurt anyone.)
None of the dreams were like the one where he'd torn the king's head off. It
probably hadn't even been as bad as she remembered. None of them scared her. In
fact, she was starting to look forward to them. She found satisfaction in how
often she correctly guessed what Seki was imagining.
(Except they were her dreams so she didn't really know. It would be crazy to
think they were in any way reflective of reality.)
Seki might be crazy, but she wasn't.
Even the dream she had of him being a giant wasn't so bad. He'd put her in his
pocket as he stomped around destroying things. (She'd hardly been able to hear
the people as he crushed them under his giant sneakers. It hadn't sounded like
stepping on a goo (blood) filled chip. There hadn't been any tiny, piercing
screams.)
Well, maybe, that one wasn't so great, but the rest had been fine.
"Ne, Rumi-chan?"
Rumi brought her attention back to lunch. She must not have been zoned out too
long because Nakama didn't even look the slight bit worried. "Yes?"
Tomoka snorted at her attempt at nonchalance. "I was just wondering why you got
to school so early. Arai-chan is normally the first one, but she said you were
in the room when she arrived. She thinks you were leaving a love letter in
Seki's desk." Tomoka smirked at the last bit clearly amused by the
misunderstanding.
"Why would she think that?" Nakama demanded decidedly less amused. It was to be
expected with Seki coming up.
"Uh, well, she said it looked like Rumi-chan was putting something in his
desk," Tomoka stuttered clearly a little unnerved by Nakama's sudden sharpness.
She had confided to Rumi that Nakama's demeanor worried her. She didn't see
what the problem with Seki was either.
Nakama turned and pinned Rumi with a very intense stare. "But you weren't,
right? You weren't putting anything in his desk."
Rumi looked away trying not to feel so nervous from Nakama's continual wariness
of the boy she sat next to. "Well, not, exactly. I was putting something back."
And despite Nakama's face turning to stone she finished with, "I just wanted to
see what he had in there. He had so much stuff! I don't know how he does it,
but it made no sense how has he had it organized and then I couldn't get it all
to fit right and I had to put a box in my desk, but it moved! And I would have
thrown it away, Seki-kun doesn't need more toys, but one time he brought a cat
and it might have been a cat so I just put it on his desk after he left to buy
his lunch."
"A cat?" Tomoka asked incredulously.
Nakama started shaking and Rumi just could not make herself stop babbling. "But
I don't think he'll know it was me when he gets back because he was sleeping
all morning. He's completely out of it today. He didn't even do something
simple like make his desk look exactly like the front of our history textbook."
"That's simple?!" Tomoka asked with even more disbelief.
"Did you wear gloves?"
Nakama's question actually caused her to draw a blank. "Um, no? It wasn't
really planned. It's not like CSI." Rumi paused. "Although, Seki-kun probably
does have-"
"Yokoi-chan, you really shouldn't have done that."
Rumi refused to look at the other girl. The sinking feeling in her stomach was
perfectly normal. It didn't mean anything.
(Who cares if she looked in Seki's desk?)
Tomoka on her part finally stopped going off about how watching Seki was making
her crazy if that was her definition of easy. She adjusted her glasses and
squinted at the both of them suspiciously. "What's with the atmosphere of
doom?" Before either of them could open their mouth she added an indignant,
"And you still haven't told me why you were here early."
Relieved Rumi let the conversation be redirected and tried to ignore Nakama's
silence.
It's not like she'd taken anything. He had no way of knowing it was her.
He had no reason to suspect her.
He had no reason to be mad at her.
(She had no reason to fear his anger.)
He spent the rest of the day sleeping allowing her to actually learn something.
It had been a good day.
She even had a productive afternoon. She finished her homework for the next
three days and both her parents seemed to be content to talk about things that
made them happy and not her lack of direction (which did not).
It was not a good night.
When she 'woke up' in her dream she knew it was one instantly and she knew it
would be one of those. She'd long since gotten used to the feel of these dreams
and recognized the taste they left on the back of her throat.
Since Seki had been sleeping all day, she wasn't sure what to expect.
She hadn't expected the vast white room that had been where the eraser dominos
had happened..
The air seemed to vibrate with a dull thrum that dug into her bones and made
them throb. Hesitantly, she scanned the horizon for a sign or some movement or
speck of color. There was none.
For one hair raising moment she feared she was in one of Seki's boxes and she
had been the one moving in the box.
(Which didn't even make sense!)
"Seki-kun?" Her voiced sounded loud and small in the giant room. Normally he
was in the dream when she got there. She'd never had to wait this long for him
to appear.
She needed someone to come so she wouldn't feel so alone.
(Seki was better than no one at all.)
"Seki-kun?"
It was so strange to be calling for him. Even in these dreams she rarely talked
to him. He hardly listened and talking to him always left the ache for his
voice sharper and deeper. She could already feel it welling from deep in the
heart of her. Like a spring of warm molasses.
Her eyes were drawn to a black line that was moving across the ground. Soon it
was joined by other moving lines. It was like there was an invisible line
marker dispensing black chalk. In less than a minute the word 'start' appeared.
It was just like the other day when Seki got her in trouble during PE.
A single black line wide enough to walk on came from the middle of the word and
disappeared past where she could see. Reluctantly she stepped on it and start
traveling its length. It actually was some sort of chalky substance and
crunched under her feet.
It felt like she been walking for hours when she noticed the room around her
actually seemed to shrink and suddenly she could make out walls on either side
of her. Before long the nearly touched her shoulders. The air got denser and
she couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine.
She was definitely being led somewhere.
(Maybe she should turn around.)
But when she looked behind her all she saw was darkness complete and utter. It
seemed to breathe and she had no doubt it would eat her if she tried to turn
back. With a soft sigh she continued to follow the black line until the path
came to a tee. To the left was a picture of a bear and to the right a bunny.
"Bunny?" she murmured confused until a line sprouted off the bunny's tail and
disappeared to the right.
The next decision she encountered was between winter to the left and summer to
the right.
She looked at her clothes. She was wearing her pajamas. Not the most ideal wear
for winter.
"Summer?"
One again a black line ran off to the right. It didn't take long for the
already dense air to become soup and the temperature to rise well past what she
would willingly walk in. It was so hot her clothes seemed to be searing her the
once comfortable elastic band of her pajama bottoms biting like a fiery vice
being tightened with every step she took.
She could hardly breath it was so hot.
Almost without thinking she started removing her bottoms. The relief that hit
was instantaneous and she quickly threw off the camisole she wore to bed
leaving her in just her panties, but those burned too and without the
distraction of the rest of her clothes it was all she could notice.
Feeling trapped she took those off too and almost moaned in relief when
everything suddenly became tolerable. The air was less thick and the
temperature felt like a pleasant 30 degrees.
With a great deal more trepidation she continued to follow the line.
Only to find herself back at the junction of winter and summer. She scowled; if
winter got as cold as summer did hot, there was no way she was taking that path
naked. Angry she stomped right again where she could see where her footprints
preceded her. She tried not to think too hard about how turning right in a
straight line got her back to where she started.
Minutes later she was back to the winter summer point, but she hadn't passed
her pajamas.
They must have disappeared somehow.
She whimpered. If she wanted to move ahead it seemed she had to go left.
Within moments she was freezing and she started running afraid that if she
stopped she freeze to death. By the time she got to the next junction her lungs
hurt from the cold as she watched her breath heave in and out.
The choice was dark and light. As much as she wanted to go for light, she was
starting to think only the options she didn't want would lead her anywhere. The
bear and bunny may have been arbitrary, but she didn't think anything else was.
Taking as big a breath as she could she stepped to the left and the light
vanished and she could see nothing. The black line just stopped and all she
could feel was smooth stone under her feet. The air was deliciously warm after
the bitter cold of winter and it felt alive with warm breezes running all
around her body. It was liked she was being breathed on.
Or whispered to.
"Left," she could hear and her feet turned without question.
"Now to the right."
The words were as brief as they could be and the were somehow less satisfying
than the ones she couldn't understand. She needed them to be longer she could
feel them and the ache could ease. These just made it worse in a way that made
her try to press it away by squeezing her thighs together. She squirmed as this
created a slick kind of friction.
She was so damp, she must have been sweating.
If only the voice would stop.
(If only it would continue.)
An eternity later the voice came and blew across the nape of her neck.
"Stop, stay." Then: "Autumn or spring?"
She swallowed nervously. She wasn't sure which to pick. Which one would make
this stop?
(Which would make it not stop?)
"Spring?" she whispered with her heart lodged in her throat.
Suddenly she could hear him chuckling. She wanted to run (but he'd told her to
stay.) She needed him to tell her where to go. She needed him to allow it.
And she felt a drop of rain as it landed just above her right ear. It seemed to
be made of calm and it and every drop that hit seemed to seep into her pores
and become a calming coolness. She smiled when the sprinkle became a downpour.
For one blissful moment she was at peace.
But then the smell hit her. Sharp and tangy. It was bitter and metallic and
perched on the back of her tongue.
It was blood.
The water wasn't sliding off her like it should because it was thicker.
(Because it was blood.)
She started screaming. She had no choice. She couldn't stop. She was going to
drown in blood. Whose was it?
(Was it hers?)
It wasn't hers. It wasn't.
She needed to move. (She wasn't allowed to.)
It was starting to puddle around her toes. Desperately she started pushing at
the walls and realized that at some point two more had come to join the ones
that had slowly been pressing in on her. They wouldn't move. No matter hard she
screamed they didn't move.
Somewhere beneath the coating of viscous fluid covering her face tears were
trying to escape her eyes and she could feel sobs clawing out of her throat as
the dark chuckling became full blown laughter that found her darkest places and
set the aflame.
"Oh, please. Oh, god. Please, Seki-kun. Please. Seki-kun, please. Make it stop!
Seki-kun, make it stop!" She started begging him in earnest as the blood rose
pass her claves, her thighs, her navel.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Please!"
Nakama was right. She shouldn't have looked through Seki's thing. She wasn't
supposed to. She needed his permission.
(She was sorry.)
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done it! I'm sorry! You win, Seki-kun. You win,
okay? I'm sorry. You win. I surrender!"
(She gave up.)
And like a switch had been thrown the blood started to drain away and the
darkness slowly abated to reveal she was in the same open room she'd started
in.
And this time so was Seki.
Later she would be mortified just how quickly she flung herself at him, sobbing
hysterically, clinging to him like he was about to disappear. But the relief
that burst through as she felt him solid and real beneath her hands and heard
the steady pumping of his heart would not be denied.
At that moment she would have sold her soul for him to hug her back.
Luckily, he didn't want her soul (maybe he already had it) because he gently
but firmly pried her fingers apart until she was no longer clutching his shirt
was simply left leaning her head against his chest. She could do nothing to
stop him as her captured her chin and forced her head up until she could be
captured in his green which were a curious mix of amused and solemn.
With much deliberation he let go of her chin and waved his index finger back
and forth.
She shuddered.
She opened her mouth to assure him she wouldn't do it again. That she was
sorry. That she would do anything if he would just let her go when he pressed
his finger to her lips.
His eyes demanded silence.
Slowly he brought both his hands to her hips and his thumbs absently started
rubbing circles on the soft flesh at the points where hip met stomach. The
scrape those calloused digits sparked against her skin and the sparks were
shooting straight to where that awful ache was still throbbing.
She was finding it harder to breathe and she started to pant.
Suddenly his right hand became a vice and the left trailed one long finger up
passed her navel to right ribs where he started tracing a design the burned in
sticky sort of way that made her try to jerk away and back to him. Eventually
the tip of his finger seemed to cool and he spread his palm over the area to
sooth the heated flesh.
His used his other finger to trail down and to the center. Until he found a
small bump that seemed to make everything better and worse all at once.
Up, down, up, up, around.
No quite enough.
Not quite enough for whatever it was she wanted.
Wanted, needed, would beg for.
He brought his lips the her ear and she could feel the smile on them. "Be
good."
She woke up and didn't realize she was screaming until someone started pounding
on her door. She was a mess and wet everywhere. Everything ached.
"Rumi-san."
Her stomach clenched it was her father. "H-hai."
"Are you alright? Were you having a nightmare?"
Rumi gave herself a hug.
(She was still having a nightmare.)
"Rumi-chan, do you need to stay home from school?"
She almost sobbed. Her mom was out there too. They were both worried and she
couldn't tell them anything. What could she possibly tell them?
(She'd been paying too much attention to the boy she sat next to.)
Nakama was right.
"I- I'm alright. I'm just going to get ready." She hadn't even slept in. It was
ten minutes before she normally got up. She heard their feet reluctantly travel
down the stairs and sighed in relief.
There was no way she could pretend to be alright if they actually saw her.
Twenty minutes later after a quick shower and a bracing mental pep talk she
quietly made her way to the breakfast table where her parents were sitting.
Neither of them had food in front of them so they must have already eaten. Her
father's paper was nowhere to be seen.
"Rumi-chan, please, we think you need to tell us what's wrong. It's almost been
a year since you started high school and this thing that's been troubling you
needs to be addressed. You've been eating less, sleeping more. We're thinking
about trying to find you some help. It seemed to be getting better, but now..."
Rumi looked at the small stack of pancakes sitting on her plate. Her parents
thought that she was crazy.
What you are is mine.
She went very still.
The voice (Seki) wouldn't hurt her parents. They hadn't done anything to him.
(But she hadn't done anything to him either.)
"Rumi-san?"
She felt her eyes prick with tears. It was rare her father sounded so gentle
and open. "I'm fine." She was dismayed to find the words weren't any more true
the second time around. "I should probably be going and-"
"Rumi-chan." Her mother's tone was soft, but brokered no argument.
Rumi felt her shoulders slump in dread. "Mom it's not really-"
"Rumi-chan, you're going to see a professional. You're father and I are already
looking for one. You will be getting help. Understood?"
Rumi nodded glumly. "Can I go now?"
"What about your breakfast?" her father demanded sounding almost pained.
"I'm not hungry."
Reluctantly her parents let her go.
She wasn't sure if it was a blessing or not, but she ran into neither Tomoka or
Nakama on the way to school and managed to engage no one in conversation by the
time homeroom started. They did still manage to send her concerned (Tomoka) and
anxious (Nakama) looks after class had started, but she found them much easier
to ignore than Seki who was...making a cactus.
It seemed impossible that she could sit next to him and critique his technique
with a crotchet needle. She was becoming suspicious that he was actually
appearing in her dreams (or dragging her into his). And most times he was at
best indifferent and sometimes much, much worse.
Why was it that the fear from the dream had already evaporated? How? He wasn't
nice. Why couldn't she fear him properly?
(Why did she find him so distracting?)
It was like she was working against herself with Seki's encouragement.
How was she supposed to fight that?
(Did she want to?)
The cactus was perfect and she really, really wanted it. Seki didn't seem to
care about that and made to unravel his creation when she started to pout at
him!
Pouting. Like that would work.
Except it did.
Even as snuggled against her new stuffed toy she slid a suspicious look his
way. Seki didn't do nice things. Not that she'd ever seen.
(Maybe he was learning to.)
At lunch Tomoka tried to pretend she was impressed by the cactus, but Rumi
could tell she was only humoring her. Nakama looked at it with open distrust
which baffled her much more than Tomoka's unwarranted disappreciation.
It was just a cactus. How dangerous could it be?
Her mom was baking cookies when she arrived home, but aside from asking her how
her day went, didn't press her for more conversation.
Rumi sighed.
She probably wanted the professional to deal with her encroaching insanity.
When she was changing out of her uniform a dark patch on her mirror snagged her
attention.
Midway down the right side of her ribcages was small dark line of text. It was
black like a tattoo. Slowly she sounded it out as she read it backwards.
"Be...good."
The was what Seki had said. In her dream.
And now it was on her skin outside her dream.
Her mind flashed back to that burning finger at her side, but that was
impossible! Dreams were dreams! They weren't real.
(They couldn't hurt you.)
Hastily she dragged on the first casual shirt she could find.
It didn't mean anything. She was probably just hallucinating. Everything was
fine.
(Why didn't she feel fine?)
She swallowed.
The words seared across her mind an admonishment and a warning.
Be good. Be good or else.
(Or I'll make you.)
She clutched the soft, perfect cactus to her chest and it somehow seemed to
release some of the tension gathering there. Everything was fine. She was fine.
He wouldn't have given it to her if he was still mad.
(She could be good.)
"Oh, Cactus-kun. This might be bad."
It certainly wasn't good.
That night she dreamed of nothing.
***** Part I:To Have Rage *****
Chapter Summary
     "But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean." -Maya Angelou
Chapter Notes
     Taiku Tsuna = Rumi's psychiatrist (her name sounds like the word
     boring (most formal version))
     Robotto Kazoku = The worlds cutest robot family who look suspiciously
     like autobots. Called The Father, The Mother and The Son
     respectively. They're so cool the have there own them song!
     Uzawa Akiyasu=He is a very oblivious male in Yokoi's class. She's
     known him since elementary. He's the annoying guy who always messes
     Seki up.
     So graphic description of torture in this chapter. If you don't eant
     this then I guess skip the bit in art class, but It's actually kind
     of important so...
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Two weeks later Rumi found herself sitting in a beige waiting room with her
mother. The walls, carpet, chairs were all beige.
(It was so boring.)
Just like the doctor she was going to see whose full name actually sounded like
the word boring.
"Now, Rumi-chan, I know you would rather not be here."
Rumi folded her arms even though she knew it looked childish. She didn't want
to talk to a psychiatrist about her problems. She didn't want to talk about
them at all. Talking about them meant they existed.
Besides everything was fine.
(Mostly.)
"But, Rumi-chan, she's helped so many other girls who were going through hard
times."
Rumi rolled her eyes. How many other girls were fixated on Seki Toshinari and
had uncomfortable dreams about him?
And she wasn't going through hard times. She was just dealing with something.
Why couldn't her parents just let her deal?
"And I want you to be honest with her. I know it can be hard to tell parents
things sometimes, but Taiku-sensei can't help you if you don't tell her exactly
what's going on."
Rumi shrugged. No matter what she said they all already thought she was crazy.
But the look of dismay on her mom's face prompted her to reluctantly agree.
There was a possibility that this woman could help her and if she didn't give
it her full effort it would be like quitting. Or not trying at all.
(She always tried her best.)
Then they waited ten more minutes in silence before she was led down the hall
by the secretary.
The doctor's office had a modern black and white color scheme. The bright walls
contrasting with the dark furniture. Feeling nervous she quietly closed the
door behind her as she entered.
Dr Taiku Tsuna was a stern looking woman with her dark hair pulled back in a
painful looking bun. Her small mouth might have been cute if it hadn't been
pressed into a small line. The woman's dark framed glasses did little to soften
the impact of her sharp, dark brown eyes.
Her mind drifted to the day Seki had picked out glasses. He sure had looked
nice in that one pair.
Not that it mattered. Seki didn't need glasses.
He was such a jerk to make her feel invested.
"Rumi-san."
The woman's voice was soft, but cool to the ears and it was laced with
irritation. Rumi had probably zoned out again forcing the woman to repeat
herself. "Hai?"
Aside from a slight narrowing of her eyes Taiku didn't let any more of her
irritation show. Although she kind had the air of someone who was perpetually
grumpy. Weren't these people supposed to be nice?
"I was just asking if you would like to sit. Of course you're welcome to stand
if it makes you feel more comfortable."
Leaving would make her feel more comfortable. Was that an option too?
Sighing she sat down on the strangely shaped black couch mumbling an insincere
'thanks.' She hadn't realized real psychiatrists actually used those kind of
couches. She had thought it was just a movie thing.
"Rumi-san. Why do you think you're here?"
Rumi forced herself not to fidget. "My parents think there is something wrong
with me."
Taiku made a low 'understanding' type noise. Rumi decided she hated it. "Do you
think there is something wrong with you?"
Remembering the promise she'd made to her mother she said, "Maybe there is."
"And why do you say that?"
"I've been having some weird dreams."
"And this has been going on for a while?"
Rumi turned away from Taiku's sharp gaze and focused on a obsidian pyramid
sitting on one of the shelves lining the walls. "A few months."
"Well, Rumi-san, dreams, even odd ones, don't have to mean anything. They have
no power in and of themselves. They can only do what we let them. Although
sometimes they can lend insight to what is actually the issue. What made these
dreams 'weird?'"
"Well, mostly they're just about the things Seki-kun does during class."
Taiku steepled her fingers. "Seki-kun? He's a classmate of yours?"
Rumi nodded. "Yeah. He sits to my left or across from me in all my classes.
Even the ones where we move to a different room." It was kind of amazing that
she was so consistently seated next to him. Everyone else moved. Except the
Maeda boy Seki used for cover.
"And what does Seki-san do during class?"
"Anything that isn't paying attention. One time he polished his desk, another
time he played boutaoshi and he's even brought in cats."
"He's done these things and the teacher allows it?"
She might have imagined it, but it seemed like Taiku might have lifted her
eyebrows in disbelief. Rumi couldn't suppress the chuckle that bubbled up at
the thought. "Well, they never seem to notice. To be fair Seki-kun is
impossibly fast when hiding his projects."
"So your dreams are just watching Seki-san do these things again?"
"Well, generally everything is cooler in the dreams. More special effects."
Taiku adjusted her glasses. "Rumi-san, what about these dreams do you find
strange."
"It's mostly when Seki-kun starts killing people or tries to drown me in
blood."
Taiku is good and hardly makes any visible reaction. Her eyes do widen for a
second. "Do the dreams frequently involve violence?"
"Not really. There's only been like two bad ones, three if you count the one
where Seki-kun was a giant."
"And are these dreams also based on what he does in class?"
Rumi shrugged. "Sort of, but they're really only scary when I've done
something."
"What is it that you do?"
"Well, sometimes I don't like how mean Seki-kun gets in his battle scenarios
and I stop him. And one time I looked in his desk because I was curious."
"So you're saying you only get the more disturbing dreams when you interfere
with Seki-san's actions. Why do you think that is? Do you feel guilty?"
"Not that guilty. I think it's because Seki-kun gets mad at me. He always
glares for the rest of the day."
"And this anger he directs at you causes you to feel disturbed enough to dream
about him being violent."
Rumi bit her lip and shook her head. She didn't think that was right at all.
"Rumi-san, it seems you disagree with my conclusion. What do you think is
happening?"
"I think- I think that Seki-kun can influence my dreams and sometimes he
decides to punish me."
The following silence is loud, filled with the scratching of Taiku's pen as it
flew across the notebook Rumi had seen on the desk.
Eventually Taiku said, "Rumi-san why do you think Seki-san is punishing you?
Doesn't it make more sense for you to be using your own dreams to punish
yourself."
(No.)
(No!)
"Why would I trap myself in a narrow space filling with blood? Why would I make
myself scream and plead to get out? Why would I want to beg him for forgiveness
for just looking inside his desk?!
She couldn't remain sitting and jumped to her feet so she could pace.
"Why would I want to watch him twist a man's head and peel the flesh from his
face just so he can wear it like a hat?"
"I can't answer those questions." The words were careful and exact, precisely
said. "Not yet, but I think that's enough discussion on dreams for the moment.
I do have one question though. Rumi-san, are you scared of Seki-san? Has he
threatened you?"
Be good.
Those ominous words rang through her and so she pretended she didn't see the
genuine concern on Taiku's face. "Seki-kun doesn't talk to anyone." Her words
were strictly true and she tried not to look guilty as she sat down. She'd
never seen him talk to anyone. (Outside of her dreams.)
Taiku leaned forward. "Threats don't have to be verbal, Rumi-san. That glaring
you mentioned earlier could be construed as a threat."
Rumi almost started laughing. Seki didn't make threats; he made promises. And
he kept them. "Oh, well, that's not so bad really."
"Do you think sitting near him in class is causing you distress?" Taiku pressed
.
Rumi frowned. "No. I find him very entertaining during class. It's actually
impressive what he manages to do. I can't believe no one else notices," she
muttered.
Taiku sat back up. "Rumi-san, how much time do you spend watching Seki-san when
you're in class?"
"Some? Not that much really." But she could feel her face burning.
Taiku didn't call her out on her lie. "I see. Before we finish for today I'd
like you describe what you did today."
"Well, I woke up. Ate breakfast. Walked to school. Talked to Tomoka-chan before
class. And then we did some disaster preparation drills. Seki-kun wasn't taking
it very seriously, but he had this cute robot family and they were. Even though
Seki-kun was being silly they were very attentive. And then Seki-kun knocked
them over when we were outside so I picked them up and had them sit with me. I
kind of started playing with them in class when we returned, but they were just
too cute to ignore. I was sad to give them back. Seki-kun doesn't deserve
them."
Taiku was staring at her intently. "And then you came here?"
Rumi nodded.
"And what was your math lesson about today?"
Rumi drew a complete blank. What had her math teacher been talking about while
she was making the robot family read together?
"Rumi-san. It seems to me that you might have a crush on Seki-san, but I want
you to try to pay less attention to him during class and see if you have less
disturbing dreams. I'm also going to prescribe you a medicine that will make it
easier for you to focus and reduce the chance of you having bad dreams."
Medicine?
"But-"
"It's just one pill a day. Take it with a meal and try to take it at the same
time everyday. Tanaka-san will schedule your next appointment. I will see you
in two or three weeks."
Then Taiku led her to the waiting room and wrote out a prescription so her mom
could pick up whatever drug she thought would help.
Rumi just stood there in a daze.
Taiku thought she had a crush on Seki.
(If only it were that simple.)
The following day at lunch she took her first pill since it was the only meal
she was eating consistently. It didn't seem to do anything. She fell asleep
during music, but so did everyone else. Except for Seki ironically enough.
Nothing seemed different until she went to bed.
Her dreams were horrible.
All night she simply ran through an endless darkness that was full of sharp
edges and bitterly cold, chased by a sound that made her teeth hurt.
She woke up exhausted.
The walk to school seemed endless and her head started to pound as she climbed
the hill.
The homeroom teacher started to bore her almost immediately, but she was
supposed to try and ignore Seki. Ten minutes later boredom had her surrendering
and turning to her left.
It seemed Seki was playing Fukuwara, but she couldn't really figure out what he
was doing and eventually she gave up and tried to once more to focus on the
lesson.
And so eighteen days passed like this. Bad nights full of dreams that hurt.
Boring days where not even Seki could entertain her. And a headache that
remained constant throughout.
"Rumi-chan, are you okay?"
Rumi didn't turn her attention away from her still untouched bento to Tomoka.
"I'm fine. My head just hurts. I haven't been sleeping well." And nothing
seemed to matter anymore. Nothing could hold her interest long enough.
"So it's not- Seki-san?!"
Nakama actually yelped the name, but that was quickly explained as said boy
dragged a chair to where they'd pushed their desks together. She turned to find
him sitting right beside her.
Like always.
He sat his bento down beside hers and started eating like it wasn't strange
that he'd sat with them. Even though his action had most of the class watching
from the corner of their eyes.
Eventually the sounds of everyone minding their own business start filling the
room. Mechanically she started eating her bento. She couldn't take her
medication on an empty stomach.
She could feel him watching her.
"Why did you join us Seki-kun?" Tomoka asked five minutes later. Rumi was
surprised she held it in for so long.
She could actually feel him shrug as it caused his hand to brush her arm for a
second.
It was like a lightning strike and for a second the world didn't seem so dull,
but like lightning it quickly passed.
"Well, if you don't know, you don't have to stay," Nakama was quick to point
out.
For a long moment he held perfectly still before he turned in his seat so he
could reach into her bag which was hanging off the back of her chair. After a
little rummaging he took out her pill bottle.
"You can't just mess with Yokoi-chan's stuff!"
Seki narrowed his eyes and Nakama who had been half on her feet visibly wilted
and sunk back in her chair. He was clearly daring her to try and stop him. The
darkness in his gaze caused Rumi to shiver.
What did he want with her medicine?
In a slow deliberate motion he reached into his pocket and pulled out an
eraser. It was kind of hilarious how Nakama flinched.
"An eraser?" Tomoka asked clearly puzzled. She looked to Rumi for an
explanation, but she just shrugged. Generally she had more lead up when trying
to figure Seki out.
Except it wasn't just an eraser. It opened up to reveal a small cylinder that
also seemed to be made of eraser. He tapped one end to the ink pad sitting by
his bento. (When had that gotten there?)
And then he pressed it too the lid of the pill bottle.
Of course nothing happened. (What could have possibly happened?) But she still
felt let down after the build up.
But then he pulled the eraser back to reveal that it was actually a stamp. Like
one of those signature stamps people have at their house.
But she still didn't get it. Why did he want to stamp his name on her pill
bottle?
"Seki-kun why did you do that?" Tomoka was on a roll asking the questions she
was thinking in her head.
He actually smiled at the question. His cheerful and pleasant smile. For a
moment Rumi enjoyed it since it was so rare. Still smiling he dug into his bag
and fished out a hard candy and set it on top of the pill bottle. It was clear
from the way he sat back that he thought that answered the question.
Nakama huffed obviously still off put by his presence. "Okay so you've done,"
she waved her hand in a vague gesture at the pill bottle, "Whatever that was.
You can go."
Seki didn't even acknowledge the other girl had spoken and suddenly grabbed
Rumi's left hand before turning it so he could stare intently at it. And then
he stamped his name right on the underside of her wrist.
The lines tingled and suddenly her head stopped throbbing.
For a moment everything seemed to be still and all she could feel were Seki's
fingers wrapped around her hand. They seemed to thrum with a mysterious energy.
And then in one quick motion he gathered his things and went to go finish his
lunch with his normal crowd.
"Oh, he must have come over so he could stamp things. He got your bento and
water bottle too." At Tomoka's words she snapped her attention away from Seki
to examine the items in front of her. He'd also managed to stamp Nakama's and
Tomoka's bentos.
"Maybe. He does like to use the things he makes."
Nakama didn't say anything. She just glared at her left wrist where Seki had
stamped was still felt alive and electric.
Rumi didn't really understand. Seki had been weird, but not much more so than
usual and she actually felt okay for the first time in weeks.
(Which was weird, but not exactly bad.)
Lunch ended in silence.
Science lab started with new seating assignments. She still ended up sitting
across from Seki.
Seki in rare form started building the Taj Mahal with toothpicks and no glue.
No glue, nor rubber bands, no strings.
Sometimes she had a hard time believing Seki was human.
(But he was right?)
She didn't even bother trying pay attention to the lesson. Science happened all
the time; she was probably never going see this done again. Ever. Not even by
Seki as he didn't like to repeat himself.
Seki was just putting on the finishing touches when Uzawa knocked the whole
structure over as he shoved a handout in Seki's face without looking.
The toothpicks went flying everywhere. Tink, tink, tink. Their table and the
floor underneath seemed alive for the shear amount of movement.
And she watched feeling oddly fascinated as Seki stabbed Uzawa in the eye. With
a toothpick.
And then he twisted the eye out the socket before popping it into his mouth.
She could hear it pop like a grape even with Uzawa crying and begging him to
stop as he struggled to free himself from the vice like grip Seki had on the
back of his neck.
Seki released him for just a moment so he could grab Uzawa's right hand and
then he slammed it palm down on the table forcing the fingers to go wide. He
then started punching toothpicks through the small flaps of skin between his
fingers. It was hard going with the toothpicks being fairly dull and somewhat
flimsy, but Seki preserved even as the blood welling up made each progressive
attempt harder. He was thorough in that way and he made sure to finish both
hands.
Every few seconds Uzawa would try to jerk away, but Seki didn't so much as
budge. Uzawa could hardly whimper with the amount of tears and mucus he had
clogging his throat although she could clearly make out the words being
wrenched from his lips: oh, god, stop, stop, please, stop, please.
Then Seki jammed a toothpick under the nail of Uzawa's index finger. Uzawa
screamed and was so desperate to get away that he dislocated his own shoulder
and the sound it made resounded through the classroom with a wet pop.
"I- I'm sorry Seki. I didn't mean- And y-you too, Yokoi-chan. I'm really
sorry."
Rumi blinked.
Uzawa was standing nervously at the end of their table. He looked contrite for
the first time in all the years she'd known him (and that was since grade one).
He also looked terrified.
Why did he still have his right eye?
Why wasn't he bleeding?
(Why did she want to ram a toothpick into his spleen?)
Everyone else in the room was looking at their table in shock. The teacher was
scowling at Uzawa. "Uzawa-kun! Are you responsible for this mess?"
Uzawa nodded, his face pale. It seemed like he was about to faint. Why was he
taking the blame? Seki was at least partially responsible. It wasn't really
Uzawa's fault Seki had been goofing off.
She rubbed her head.
She had been so angry, but Uzawa had once been a playmate when they were
younger. He never meant anything by his carelessness.
Why had she wanted to taste the misery of his screams?
After Uzawa took responsibility the teacher gave him a detention and told him
he'd have to clean everything up after class. He spent the rest of the period
shifting nervously in his seat and casting Seki nervous looks. And her.
Why would he be scared of her?
She didn't want him to be scared of her.
(Not anymore.)
"Ne, Uzawa-kun," she whispered as the class was filling out carefully skirting
the chaos surrounding their table. She tried not to let they way he jerked make
her heart pinch. "It was just an accident. Everyone knows you didn't mean it. I
can help you pick up if you like."
Uzawa scrutinized her with a disconcerting level of fear. Finally his shoulders
seemed to lose a little of their tension. "Nah, it's alright, Yokoi-chan. No
big deal."
She smiled at him glad she could put him a little more at ease.
His lips quirked up in an anemic version of his usual carefree grin. "I
appreciate the offer though." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "You
just seemed so angry earlier. You and," his eyes darted at the mostly deserted
classroom around them, "Seki. He looked like he wanted to kill me."
She was suddenly uncomfortably sure that Uzawa was absolutely correct. "Seki-
kun just gets in moods sometimes." Murderous blood-thirsty moods.
Uzawa opened his mouth, but then closed it. Apparently coming to the atypical
conclusion that he should keep his mouth shut.
"What is it?"
He squared his shoulders. "I saw Seki sit with you and Hashino-chan at lunch
today. He wasn't bothering you, was he?"
Rumi chuckled. "You know, Uzawa-kun. I think Seki-kun is always bothering me.
At least I'm not bored."
But Uzawa refused to let the mood lighten. "You should be careful around him
Yokoi-chan. There are rumors that he- You should keep your distance."
How was she supposed to do that when she sat right next to him?
First Nakama and now Uzawa of all people warning her off Seki. He wasn't that
bad.
(Or maybe it was that she was somehow becoming worse.)
She felt her smile slip a little. With effort she kept her tone cheerful and
bright as she bid Uzawa farewell. Assuring him she would be careful.
Whatever that would exactly entail. She was unable to pretend Seki didn't exist
and was unwilling to try. So she wasn't left with too many options.
And maybe she knew the path she was on ended in dark places. Maybe that wasn't
such a bad thing. She just wanted to see what was keeping just out of her
sight.
Curiosity never hurt anyone.
(Not too badly.)
"Rumi-chan, what happened today in science. Why were you glaring at Uzawa like
that?"
Rumi sighed feeling her stomach turn at the memory of her desire to hurt Uzawa.
"I'm not really sure. I just felt so angry after he messed up what Seki-kun was
building, I guess."
Was it wrong that she suddenly wished she wasn't walking home with her best
friend?
Tomoka, though, just looked more upset than when she'd asked. "But Seki-kun
shouldn't have been building it in the first place. You know that! Why did you
let Uzawa-kun get in trouble when it was Seki-kun's fault?"
Rumi wanted to deny her claim, but she was horrified to realize she had let
Uzawa take the fall. It hadn't even occurred to her that she should defend him.
She'd been too busy thinking about killing him slowly and painfully. "I just-
Seki-kun was so- He was just so angry and-" She had just wanted Uzawa to
suffer.
Forget being scared of Seki. She was starting to scare herself.
She tried not to, but she ended up bursting into tears. Tomoka didn't even
hesitate to wrap her in a warm embrace. (At least Tomoka wasn't wary of her.
That made one of them.) "Rumi-chan, it's okay. It's alright. I'm sure Uzawa-kun
has already forgotten about it. You know how he is. I bet he doesn't blame you
or anything. So there's no need to cry. I shouldn't have said it like that. I
know you didn't mean to hurt him."
Rumi launched herself out of her friends arms feeling wretched.
"Wrong Tomoka-chan! I wanted to hurt him! I wanted to make him bleed!" She was
monster. Monsters don't deserve forgiveness or consolation. She deserved to be
in detention.
She deserved everything thing Seki did to her.
And Tomoka, she just hovered just out of reach. Torn between fear and loyalty.
"Rumi-chan what's happened to you?"
"I don't know." She whimpered feel more exposed in front of Tomoka than her
parents with their stifling concern and Taiku with her pointed questions.
Tomoka was her very best friend. She always accepted Rumi just the way she was.
"My parents are making me see a shrink." She winced as she rubbed her eyes dry
with a little too much force. "It's why I'm taking those pills."
Tomoka managed a weak smile. "I'd wondered. Are they helping at all?"
After a moment's consideration Rumi shook her head hating to kill the spark of
hope she heard in Tomoka's voice. "Not really. They just make everything a
different kind of worse."
Although even with what happened in science she felt less horrible than she had
for weeks. Did it have anything to do with what Seki had done at lunch.
Absently she rubbed her left wrist. The ink had probably been rubbed off, but
she but she had a feeling there would still be lines there if she looked.
Who did he think he was stamping her wrist like that?
(Like he owned her.)
He better watch it or she'd return the favor.
Could she do that?
(Why did she want to?)
Before that intriguing line of thought could go any further Tomoka asked what
Taiku was like.
Rumi shrugged. "She's alright. She was a little stiff, but she actually seemed
concerned. Her name is actually Taiku Tsuna!" Rumi informed her friend making
sure to run Taiku's name together like it was one word.
Tomoka laughed and it hardly sounded forced. "Doctor Boring! That's hilarious!
I bet she is bored to death of that name."
Rumi rolled her eyes. "Probably. I didn't ask."
At some point they had started walking again and they stooped as they came to
the point where they parted ways.
"Rumi-chan, you're going to be okay, right? I mean, you're going to get
better?"
Rumi opened her mouth to assure her that she would get better, but she ended up
turning and continuing on to her house without saying anything.
She was probably going to get better.
But the question was: Better at what?
***
Four days later it was time to go to her next appointment with Taiku.
While she had resigned herself to being truthful with the woman, she was
determined to not to mention that she was pretty sure Seki had somehow changed
her prescription to sugar pills. She'd gotten suspicious of the new sweetness
on her tongue and had tentatively started crunching on one to find that it was
not bitter and tasty. That it was candy. Just like Seki had said. In his quiet
and confusing way.
The dreams with Seki in them had retuned and she was suddenly able to
understand what he was doing in class again, but she could deal with that.
Those other dreams had been unbearable. Not to mention her days had been so
tedious And painful with the way her head had pounded.
At least this way she felt rested in the morning.
Like the previous time Taiku was straight to the point.
"Has there been a change in your dreams?"
Rumi nodded. "I didn't have as many as usual." Which was true technically.
"Your mother had some concerns about how tired you seemed recently."
"I think I was just getting used to the medication. I feel great now.
Completely fine."
Taiku actually smiled. "Great! Have you been able to focus more in class?"
"Not really?"
Taiku sighed exasperated. "Still watching Seki-san?"
Rumi crossed her arms feeling defensive. "He built a model of the Taj Mahal
using freestanding toothpicks. No glue!"
"Oh, my. That actually does sound pretty impressive."
"It was." Despite herself she couldn't keep a touch of sadness from creeping
into her tone.
"I sense there's more to the story."
Rumi kept her eyes fixed on her toes. "Uzawa-kun knocked it over and I had a
vision of Seki-kun torturing him."
"And this upset you?"
Rumi just shook her head. "No, at least not then. Afterwards I felt bad about
it, but right then I just wanted to help Seki-kun. I had been happy he was
torturing Uzawa-kun. Thrilled. I've known Uzawa-kun since we were little. He's
a nice guy, just really unaware I guess. I can't believe I wanted to hurt him."
Taiku moved to lean back against the from of her desk. "Rumi-san, we can't help
what we think. That important thing is you didn't actually-"
"You're wrong."
"Guilt can sometimes-"
"No you're wrong about me thinking it. I wasn't thinking it. I was enjoying it,
but it was Seki-kun's thought."
"Rumi-san empathy can be a powerful motivator, but-"
"It wasn't empathy. It was Seki-kun being angry and me liking it!" she added to
her dawning horror. She did like it.
Maybe she'd always liked it.
(What was wrong with her?)
There was a short pause.
"Last time you said you didn't like it when he was angry with you."
"I don't like it when he punishes me or hurts cute things or is a jerk," Rumi
clarified. She didn't actually mind irritating him.
"Rumi-san you really must let go of the notion that you and Seki-san have some
sort of mental connection. That only happens in fiction. It's not possible."
Rumi could only stare in fascination at where a specter of Seki was sitting to
the right of Taiku. He just appeared. "Tell that to him," she demanded
gesturing to where he was sitting. Taiku obliging looked, but clearly saw
nothing.
"So now he's here with us? I suppose it's fitting as he is all you ever talk
about."
Seki actually had the gall to smirk. No one was asking him to invade her
thoughts and sit in on private conversations. "Yes, he is and I would
appreciate it if you would try not to embarrass me in front of him."
Taiku visibly reigned in her frustration. "And what is Seki-san doing?"
"He's just sitting there." He wasn't a monkey performing for the amusement of
others. He was only concerned with own amusement.
"Is he saying anything?"
Rumi gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Like I told you, Seki-kun doesn't talk."
"Even to you? I thought you were sharing his dreams?"
She shifted in her seat. "Even then, he isn't very talkative." Seki actually
seemed proud of the fact that he never said anything. He was ridiculous.
"And what does he say?"
"He told me to be good and then he marked me with the words." Impossibly Seki
looked even prouder of this.
Taiku was walking across the room and bent down so she was at eye level with
Rumi. "Rumi-san how did he mark you? Where?"
"With his finger." She pointed just below her right breast. "Here," she said
with a catch in her breath as she remembered just what his other hand had been
up too. Carefully she lifted her shirt to barely expose the aforementioned
area. Seki was leaning off the desk as if he was trying to peer past Taiku. The
pervert.
"Rumi-san this looks like a brand. Why didn't you tell your parents? Why didn't
you seek help?"
"It happened it a dream. I didn't even notice it right away."
It really wasn't that bad.
(It was hers alone.)
"Rumi-san it could not have been a dream. This is very serious business. Since
you are still a minor I have to report this. There needs to be an
investigation."
Rumi actually snorted and she saw Seki roll his eyes. "How are the police
supposed to investigate my dreams?"
Taiku ignored her flippant remark completely. "Has he marked you anywhere
else?"
Rumi turned her left hand to reveal the red stamp Seki had put there earlier
that week still bright and unfading. "He used a stamp made from an eraser to do
this on Monday."
Taiku frowned. "It looks like a tattoo. It wouldn't be possible for a stamp to
last that long."
"Seki-kun is pretty good at doing impossible things. And most everything he
makes is amazing. Granted a good deal of it is pointless, but still amazing."
Seki preened at her reluctant compliments.
This was so embarrassing.
"Rumi-san from what I've heard and seen continued contact with Seki-san is not
the best thing for you. Until an investigation is conducted to see if the
problem lay solely with you I'm going to write an order to keep you away from
school."
"So once you don't find anything I can go back?" She hated missing school. It
was hard learning from just the textbook. (Seki wouldn't be able to entertain
her.)
She shot a wry glance at the boy who looking back at her.
Well, maybe he would still be able to distract her.
Taiku's eyes became guarded. "Possibly. On a closely monitored trial basis."
A quick glance past Taiku's head revealed that Seki was contemplating Taiku's
form in a most calculating way. She swallowed heavily. She wasn't really that
happy with Taiku, but she wasn't sure she deserved whatever Seki was thinking
about doing to her.
"Taiku-sensei?"
Taiku misinterpreted her worry. "Don't worry Rumi-san. We'll fight this
together."
Seki snorted and rolled his eyes clearly disgusted with Taiku's concern. "I'm
not worried about me. I just want you to be careful. Seki-kun looks pretty
mad."
Taiku started to turn around before she caught herself and shook her head
sharply. "You think he's going to be coming after me?" Taiku was practically
laughing. She clearly was not the least bit worried about Seki. Of course, she
was still convinced Rumi was imagining everything and marking herself in her
sleep or some-such.
She shook her head sadly thinking back to how callous she'd been to Nakama and
the gleeful malice she'd felt toward Uzawa. (How recently the sight of blood
made her stomach twist in any entirely different way.) "Not just him. It's not
just him you should be worried about. I'm afraid that if I feel cornered by you
that I might do something. And I'm afraid I might not regret it."
She was afraid she would relish it.
"Everything will be fine Rumi-san. If you're that worried about it, how could
you even manage it. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."
Rumi just nodded.
For Taiku's sake, she hoped that was true.
(She had a bad feeling it wasn't.)
And that bad feeling was reflected in Seki's eyes as he faded out of her
vision.
(She probably shouldn't feel so excited about a bad feeling.)
It certainly didn't mean anything good for Taiku Tsuna.
(She hated boring.)
Chapter End Notes
     I actually feel bad for Uzawa. I really enjoyed investigating his
     character more, but yeah.
***** Part I:To Have Vengeance *****
Chapter Summary
     "No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and
     place." -Meir Kahane
Chapter Notes
     So shit gets real! Er graphic descriptions of torture and someone has
     a mental break down.
     Maeda Takahiro= the tall boy who sits in front of Sekl in class
     Seki Jun =Seki's younger sister
     Inoue Daisuke= Another psychiatrist in Takiu's office
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Being barred from attending school was kind of horrible.
She got to sleep in, but there wasn't much to do except sit around in her house
and have her mom hover around her constantly looking like she was going to cry.
Like she was terminally ill or marked for death by some sort of gang.
The concern grew unbearable after about five minutes.
Her dad was almost worse. He became paranoid. When he got home, he'd make her
account for her every waking second. Which was completely pointless seeing as
she was basically under house arrest.
Honestly her break from reality was causing her less and less distress. There
was no longer any real need for anyone else to worry over it.
This was all Seki's fault.
Why couldn't he do whatever the hell he was doing to her in a less confusing
way?
And the investigation was just painful.
Her classmates (Who she still had to socialize with!) had all been questioned.
And so a large group of them showed up one day five days into her forced exile.
Most were people from elementary and middle school like Tomoka and Uzawa, but
there were few of her newer friends too. Like Nakama. Even Maeda Takahiro,
Seki's shield from scrutiny, came.
They might have been welcome company, but they also treated her like she was
dying. Eventually the crowd thinned to just Tomoka, Nakama, Uzawa, and Maeda.
They settled in the living room with her, Tomoka and Nakama on the couch. Uzawa
sat on the floor. Maeda leaned against the wall.
"Rumi-chan they've been asking such strange questions."
Rumi tried not grimace. She could only imagine what questions the police were
asking.
"They wanted to know who you'd been hanging out with and if you were ever alone
with anyone."
"And they kept asking about how attentive you were," Uzawa said with slight
frown clearly annoyed. "Everyone knows Yokoi-chan is spacey. They don't have to
make it such a big deal."
"Everyone who sat near you was questioned for longer. They talked to Maeda-kun
for an hour." Tomoka gestured to the boy who was still stiff as a stone against
the wall. "And they talked to Seki-kun for like three straight days! People
started saying he'd done something to you," Tomoka trailed off anxiously. "He
hasn't has he?"
"Don't be silly, Tomoka-chan. If he had, they wouldn't have let him back in
school."
Her words achieved her goal of quieting Tomoka's worries. Unfortunately a
survey of the other people gathered proved not everyone was convinced.
Which, she supposed considering the circumstances, was fair.
Seki actually had done something to her.
Now if she could only figure out what.
"I hadn't thought of that! It was silly of me to think something like that
anyway. If Seki-kun was," Tomoka's even tone stumbled, "Doing anything you
would have told me."
"That's right!" Rumi chirped even as her stomach lurched with guilt.
(That's wrong.)
Apparently when plagued by terrifying dreams her method of attack is to pretend
nothing is wrong.
It's not like they have safety seminars about this kind of thing.
"Tomoka-chan!" Everyone turned to find Tomoka's mother at the door. The woman
she'd grown up calling aunt looked disturbed just cracking her front door and
her voice sounded like a mother calling her child away from a wild dog. "It's
almost time for your rehearsal."
Tomoka jumped to her feet. "That's right!" She gave her a quick hug and told
her to 'get well' as she scampered out of the house.
Tomoka's mother didn't even greet her.
Uzawa scrambled to his feet and stretched. "I should probably get going as
well. I'm sure you'll be back in school in no time. Stay strong," he mumbled.
It was clear he wanted to leave quite badly, but wasn't sure how to politely
excuse himself.
"Thanks, Uzawa-kun. I'll try. I'm glad you came to see me." He smiled and
nodded as he went to where his shoes were. Her words were strictly true. She
appreciated that her friends had come to see her.
But she wasn't actually crazy.
So they didn't need to be so awkward.
She glanced at her two remaining guests. She knew Nakama fairly well, but she'd
never even talked to Maeda. She kind of wanted her mom to return from grocery
shopping already. The woman's smothering air of gloom would be sure to drive
them off.
Of course it wasn't that easy.
"What did he do to you, Yokoi-chan?"
Rumi had had it with Nakama's unrelenting pessimism towards Seki. She didn't
even care that it was for the most part justified. The other girl shouldn't
have enough facts to support her mistrust of Seki.
He was mostly exactly what he seemed.
One big walking, not talking distraction.
"What makes you so sure he's done anything, Nakama-chan?"
She looked away. "I'm not allowed to tell you. But I just- I just keep hoping
that somehow Yokoi-chan will be alright when this is over. I shouldn't have
asked you about him. How could you possibly know? If you knew you wouldn't- You
couldn't have-"
Nakama just stopped talking. Visibly distraught with tears streaming down her
cheeks she just shook her head and headed for the door. Maeda followed her.
Rumi just watched as her and Maeda silently filed out of her house.
The wasn't ominous sounding at all.
She wished Nakama would just tell her. Or stop with the cryptic warnings.
After two weeks, the investigation still continued. She'd even had to see a
doctor who examined her to the point of mortification. They'd made her talk to
two psychologists and counselor. All three of which she took a great pleasure
in terrorizing. She just started on about the ways she could make them suffer
in vivid detail. It wasn't like they could really do anything about it. They
were being paid to listen to her and were expected to keep her secrets.
It wasn't that she was actually even thinking about hurting them.
She was bored and they were easy to mess with.
(She may have enjoyed making them go unhealthy shades of pale.)
It wasn't a crime. Well, maybe it was.
She'd been questioned by a detective too, but she hadn't said anything to him.
She'd just stared at the wall and tried to imagine what Seki was doing instead
of paying attention in class.
Or he might have actually been sending it to her live like a streaming video on
the internet. It was getting harder to separate his imagination from hers.
Her faint air of amusement had not gone unnoticed by the detective. He became
determined she was hiding something. Which, since she was, wasn't really that
big of a revelation.
Taiku had even prescribed some more pills, but she did not make the mistake of
taking them. She started flushing them down the toilet.
The only relief from the endless monotony punctuated by investigative
brilliance were her dreams and the occasional phantom visits from Seki, but
even with them she was starting to go a little stir crazy.
She needed to get out of her house and away from the all consuming concern.
It took three days, but her parents finally agreed she could go to the park for
an hour or so.
She was quick to run out the door before they could change their mind.
The park was practically deserted since it was early spring and winter still
hung in the air and bit into the lungs. But that was okay she didn't really
need people.
The playground had a handful of children running around a small group of women
sitting on the benches nearby. Two of the girls were on the swings. While the
rest were pretending the jungle gym was a castle. Three of the boys were
playing with sticks pretending they were swords which she thought was probably
a little dangerous considering the coordination found in small boys, but it
didn't seem as if any of their supervision were overly concerned.
She watched as a dark haired girl who'd been hovering more at the castle's
gates than inside made her way over to them. She picked up stick was clearly
looking to join them.
The boys froze, looking at her puzzled, before one of them pushed her to the
ground.
Instead of crying, or more accurately in addition to crying, the girl rammed
her stick up through the bottom of the boys chin.
Or at least that's what Rumi saw for a moment before the vision faded away to
reveal the girl on the ground with tears gathering in her eyes. Her stick
fallen away from her, harmless and not jammed into her attacker's mouth through
a newly formed opening.
It was like that day in science class with Uzawa except not nearly as vicious.
She walked up to the girl to make sure she was alright. One of the women
noticed her approach and intercepted her, eyes dark with suspicion.
"Hello," the woman said crisply in a way that asked: 'Who are you?'
Rumi frowned. "That boy just pushed over my little sister." Claiming the girl
didn't feel awkward at all. She just felt mad that this woman, who was probably
the boys mother by her coloring, hadn't even noticed his callous action.
The woman had the grace to look contrite. "Oh, Hiro-kun did? I'm sorry. I
didn't see. I hadn't even noticed your sister hanging around."
Rumi let her expression soften. "We were just arriving. She finished her
homework and so Okaa-san said she could go to the park." She'd never lied so
easily before, but she wasn't feeling guilt about it at all. "But I think we
should go back home. She scraped her hand when she fell."
The girl was in fact clutching her right hand looking up at her pleadingly.
The woman bowed and spoke a soft apology before turning to her son and giving
him a firm talking to. Rumi gently pulled the girl up off her feet and pulled
her down the path that went through the park.
The girl followed her trustingly with a wide curious look in her eyes.
Eventually they came across a bench and sat down.
"So what your name, Imouto-chan?" she asked a silly smile tugging at her lips.
The girl looked away mumbling, but Rumi still heard her.
"Jun-chan? That's a good name. My name's Rumi."
Jun actually turned so much that she was sitting sideways on the bench with her
feet thumping onto the wood between them. "You can hear me?"
Rumi just chuckled confused and yet amused as well. "I sure can. Is that so
strange?"
Jun didn't have to answer that question her wide, green eyes did it for her.
Blankly she nodded.
Rumi just reached over and tugged one of her braids. "I wouldn't be a very good
older sister if I couldn't hear you."
Her silly words caused a small grin to slip onto the small girls face before it
bloomed into wide, happy smile.
"Did Jun-chan come here alone?"
The girl shook her head and pointed into the woods surrounding them.
"Oh, your chaperone is in the woods?"
She nodded. "Nii-chan is."
"Should we go find him?" Of course an older brother. They could be so careless.
Rumi would have to return home soon, but it didn't feel right to leave this
little girl all alone.
Jun shook her head. "He's coming this way."
Rumi looked up just in time to Seki break through the tree line. Jun was Seki's
younger sister.
She's not sure what she would've said to him and she never found out because
suddenly her older brother's voice cut through her thoughts. "Rumi-chan." He
was standing to her right and glaring at Seki.
"Daiki-kun," she stuttered. The relationship between her and her brother had
gotten very weird the last few weeks. He was oddly protective and mostly
unwilling to even look at her.
"Okaa-san wants you back home."
"But it hasn't been that long," she protested weakly. She wondered why her
brother was glaring at Seki with so much hostility. She didn't think he knew
what Seki looked like.
"It's been long enough. You need to let us keep you safe."
She sighed and got to her feet. She bent over to tug at Jun's braid once more.
"It was nice meeting you Jun-chan. I hope you and your brother have a good
evening." She carefully avoided looking at Seki as she turned to follow her
brother.
But he was still glaring at Seki.
"Stay away from my sister. I don't want to see you around her again." With
those angry words he spun around and grabbed her wrist as he marched them out
of the park.
"Daiki-kun, that was rude," she felt compelled to point out.
"He's that creep the police can't find anything on."
So he did know what Seki looked like. "Maybe there's nothing to find," she said
petulantly. Being with her older brother always seemed to make her want to
sulk. Before he had always been better than her and too busy to pay her any
attention. Now he was still better than her, but he had decided he was suddenly
concerned with her well being..
Her brother growled at her in frustration. "Why are you protecting him? Did he
mess you up that badly?" She winced at the very real anguish she could hear
bleeding through his vexation.
He really cared about her.
That knowledge was enough to make her heart fill with warmth. "I'm okay, Onii-
chan." She hadn't called onii-chan for ages, but she didn't want for him to
worry so fiercely.
"Rumi-chan how can you say that? Have you not noticed how differently you've
been acting? You're constantly staring off at nothing and smirking for no
reason. Sometimes your eyes are cold and mean. And then you just go back to
being how you're supposed to be like it didn't happen. Like it was no big
deal."
He ran his free hand through his white hair that he'd inherited from their
mother, just like her. The other continued holding her wrist in a firm but
gentle grip as they turned onto the street they lived on. "I just wish you
would take everything more seriously. You didn't even talk to the detective.
Can't you see we're just trying to help you?" They had stopped on the sidewalk
in front of their house where he finally let go of her wrist.
"Daiki-kun, I'm going to be alright." Maybe she would never be the same, but
she was growing more certain that she would, in fact, be alright. Possibly a
little altered, but okay. "You shouldn't worry about me so much."
He sighed. "I hope so Rumi-chan, but just stay away from that guy. He's
trouble. I can feel it."
Rumi bit her smirk back at the notion that he couldn't feel it like she could.
"He's just distracting, Daiki-kun. He's not as bad as you're making him out to
be."
He was worse.
"Rumi-chan he's not like some radio jingle or one of those internet pop-up
ads." Mentally she snorted. That was exactly what he was like. "He's
dangerous."
"Not to me," she insisted stubbornly. Even though she knew that Seki was
dangerous. Especially to her.
But she could be dangerous back. The marks he'd given her burned with the
certainty that she could. That she could strike back at him and that she would
enjoy it.
"And there you go looking all evil again," her brother said glumly. "Could you
try and not look that way when we get inside. It's not good for Okaa-san's
nerves."
Or his, she thought darkly as she started thinking about bunnies and teddy
bears and other sweet things. "Better?" she chirped at her brother with an
overly sweet smile.
He shook his head. "I guess."
Although it must have been because her return home actually seemed to lessen
her mother's look of apprehension. For some reason her brother didn't mention
seeing Seki at the park so dinner was a fairly light affair.
At least, it wasn't any more strained than it had been when she first started
high school.
The five days that followed were uneventful (aside from her brother storming
out one night), but overall a little less tension filled.
It lulled her into an optimistic mood since the investigation was finally over.
She'd forgotten about her approaching appointment with Taiku, but remained
hopeful that she would soon be allowed to return to school. That everyone would
start treating her like a normal person once more.
All those positive thoughts fled as she once again sat on Taiku's cliché couch.
The woman looked entirely too determined for Rumi's tastes.
"Rumi-san how have you been? Have the new medications been helping?"
Rumi crossed her arms. "I wouldn't know. I've been flushing them down the
toilet."
Taiku's face became tight with frustration. "Rumi-san I can't help you if you
don't cooperate."
"That's fine. I don't really want your help." Rumi had had enough of Taiku's
assistance for a lifetime. She knew she was being entirely too short and
extremely rude, but she just didn't care.
"Rumi-san you know the investigation is over right?"
Rumi nodded curtly. That detective had been to their house to inform them like
it hadn't been a giant waste of time.
"Do you know what the findings were?"
Rumi shook her head frustrated. The detective had been unwilling to disclose
them with her present. Whatever he'd said seemed to both relieve her mom and
caused her to look at Rumi with a strange sort of sorrow.
"It was found that Seki-san has only ever interacted with you on one occasion
and that your classmates have noticed you pay him undue amount of attention.
This leads me to believe that you put the words on your body to make your
delusions more concrete. It's a shame that this situation has almost gotten him
in a great deal of trouble."
Rumi wanted to scream. Even when she told this woman the truth, she just
decided to go with what she considered the more plausible answer. "I didn't
expect you to find anything. You can't investigate my dreams."
Taiku looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry to hear you're still clinging to that
belief. I'm afraid your visions of Seki-san committing acts of extreme violence
are actually a manifestation of your own desire to do so. Having him do it
relieves you of responsibly and diminishes the guilt it causes you."
"But they're just in my head, right? Why wouldn't I just imagine myself
plucking out Uzawa-kun's eye with a toothpick. Wouldn't that be more
satisfying? It's not like anyone would know."
Taiku furrowed her brows clearly troubled by Rumi's line of thought. "Perhaps.
You might consider it a bridge or a stepping stone of sorts."
"So you think I'm going to start disemboweling people in my head?" It was a
strange thought. She'd only been joking with the other head doctors. She hadn't
meant anything by it.
Not really.
Taiku winced. "I'm hoping you won't, but it isn't an unlikely outcome. That you
seem to feel remorse after these events is somewhat heartening though. I think
there is still hope yet."
"Great. So when do I go back to school?"
Taiku sat on the couch next to her. "Rumi-san I'm afraid I can't in good
conscience send you back to school. You're fixation on Seki-san is unhealthy
and unfortunately you may at some point become a health risk to your peers.
When discussing the matter with your parents we came to the difficult
conclusion that it would be best to send you to a facility where there will be
enough qualified personnel to ensure your safety."
"You want to lock me up." It wasn't a question. Dread sat like a brick in her
stomach. They wanted to send her away. That's why her mom was so sad and her
father couldn't look at her. Why her brother had stormed out of the house and
slammed the door so hard the house shook.
They had decided she couldn't be fixed and thus needed to be hidden away.
"Rumi-san you shouldn't think about it like-"
"I think for your safety you should reconsider." Already the dread was turning
into a burning rage that seemed to have sunk into her blood where it sang of
pain and suffering.
(But not her own.)
"Rumi-san I don't believe you will hurt me."
That made one of them.
"How can you be so sure?" Rumi asked as her eyes followed the shadows that
seemed to be spreading out from the dark corners of the room. The room seemed
to fill with twilight and the air grew heavy with anticipation.
"Rumi-san what are you seeing? Is it Seki-san again?"
Rumi watched as the white walls turned into dark stone making the room grow
dimmer.
"It's not Seki-kun."
(Not anymore.)
The furniture excepting the desk and couch faded from view and the door and
window melted away. A warm breeze tickled at her hair sending a jolt of
anticipation through her.
"What is it, Rumi-san?"
Rumi giggled. "Taiku-sensei really shouldn't be trying so hard to see."
Because that's how it started.
Eventually all that looking paid off.
Imagination couldn't hurt someone.
It couldn't hurt them unless they were in your head. (Or you were in theirs.)
It had to be seen just right.
In the dim twilight the lenses in Taiku's glasses seemed to glow like a dying
ember.
"I need to see Rumi-san. I need to see what's troubling you."
The glowing lenses sparked for a moment Rumi felt her mouth go dry, her breath
frozen as her heart burned and her blood sang faster.
"Oh, I'm not going to be the one troubled."
But even then she hesitated. She waited.
(She gave her one more chance.)
"Rumi-san you need to focus on my voice. We're going to help you. Just let us
help you." Taiku voice was pained, but determined. Sincerity and deep concern
colored her soft words and-
And it was the wrong thing to say.
There may not have been a right thing.
Rumi punched the older woman in the stomach before idly standing and wandering
over to the desk in search of a weapon. A decorative letter opener would be
fun, but she'd settle for a stapler.
"Rumi-san," Taiku said her voice strained, "What is this place?"
Finding nothing on the desk Rumi started rummaging through the top drawer.
"It's your office," she said plainly. "But with no hope of escape." Ooh,
scissors. That could work. She slipped her fingers through the handles and
snipped at the air a few times before changing her grip so it was like a
dagger.
Yeah, that would work.
She turned her attention back to Taiku to find the woman still sitting on the
couch looking around as if trying to will away what she saw.
That totally wouldn't work.
(Rumi would know.)
Rumi started spinning the scissors on her pointer finger like a helicopter
propeller.
She wasn't sure how to start.
"Rumi-san I'm going to have ask that you put down that pair of scissors."
For someone with such a boring name, Taiku could be quite amusing. "You have
to, huh? It's your duty? Is that to keep me safe too?" She'd never really
taunted anyone before.
It was fun.
Taiku didn't let it get to her though; she just nodded. "Rumi-san it's never
too late to make things right."
"Oh?" She was kind of impressed by her perseverance. And her nerve. Rumi was
pretty sure it was okay to scream in these situations. She looked at the couch
and imagined that it was nothing.
Taiku fell to the floor with a smack.
(Interesting.)
It was enough for Taiku's eyes to widen in fear. "How are you-"
"That's the thing about dreams. You can do whatever you want."
Whatever that may be.
Taiku's eyes hardened in resolve once more. "Then return my office to how it
should be. Let's stop this before you do something you'll regret."
Rumi leaned over as she held the scissors loosely in her right hand. She cupped
her free hand to her mouth like she was imparting a secret or trying discourage
Seki from his antics. "Between the two of us, I think you're going to regret
this next bit more. I'm probably going to have fun." Rumi dropped her hand and
affected an air of sadness. "It's too bad you're not going to."
The frozen look of pure shock on Taiku's face as Rumi drove the scissors into
her upper thigh was delicious. The choked screams of agony as she opened the
utensil while it was still lodged deep in her flesh was joy dancing on her
tongue.
She smirked as blood spouted from the wound soaking the bottom half of her
shirt. In one deft motion she closed the scissors again and yanked them out
with a sharp jerk causing Taiku to scream through her teeth as she pressed her
hands to the wound to staunch the bleeding.
Rumi brought the blade to her lips and tested the flavor. It bitter and sharp
and warm. She grinned at Taiku who was following her movements with fear and
disgust. "Aren't you going to tell me how everything will be fine? How you're
going to keep me safe?"
Taiku delivered. "Rumi-san you need to stop this now. I don't want to see you
get into anymore trouble. I don't want to see you ruin the rest of your life."
Rumi let her mouth flatten into a grim line and tilted her head. "But what if I
don't want to stop?" she asked flatly.
"Rum-"
"What if I want to get into trouble?" Her whole life Rumi had avoided trouble.
She tried to be good. She obeyed her parents at home and the teachers at
school. Was kind to her classmates and respectful to everyone she met.
But she was having quite a lot of fun with the blood encrusted scissors she had
started tossing from hand to hand. So.
She leaned closer to Taiku. "What if," she said carefully, place each word on
her lips with utmost care, "I want to ruin the rest of your life?"
Whatever Taiku had to say in response to that came out as a strangled yelp. It
was like her calm demeanor had fled. She scrambled backwards on her hands and
knees until her head smacked into the wall with a thunk.
Rumi started approaching her with small deliberate steps that sounded off
quietly into the shadows that surrounded them. She playfully wagged a finger in
scolding manner. "No need to be too frightened. Your life might not be all that
long."
Taiku whimpered.
Seki didn't know what he was missing with his silent persona.
Talking could be exceptionally rewarding.
Rumi grabbed Taiku's bun, which was still somehow perfectly done, and pulled
her to her feet before turning her around and slamming her against the wall.
Taiku tried to wiggle away, but Rumi held her with ease. It was like she was
suddenly super strong. She tore out the pins holding the hair in place before
gathering up a few of the now freed locks of dark brown hair.
And then with a few snips she detached the clump she was holding leaving only a
few inches attached. As she went to grab another clump Taiku asked with her
voice small and scared, "Wh- What are you doing?"
"Cutting your hair."
Snip, snip. Snip, snip.
It was like doing the hair on her dolls when she was younger.
Except Rumi didn't love Taiku like she had her dolls.
Snip, snip.
"Why?"
Rumi shrugged even though the woman couldn't see her. "I just felt like it. Why
do you ask?" Rumi let her freehand rest on Taiku's left shoulder and tightened
her grip as she whispered, "Did you want me to cut something else?"
In a swift moment she brought the blades to either side of Taiku's left ear
where it connected to her head, forcing her to stillness with the iron grip on
her shoulder and forearm press to her head. Cutting the ear off was not as
simple as she was thinking it would have been. The scissors weren't especially
sharp and it took many attempts to completely sever it.
She found the endeavor so frustrating she hardly noticed Taiku screaming.
Damn ear.
She released her hold on the women and she slid down the wall to curl up into a
ball.
Suddenly a loud sound echoed through the room and the shadows seemed fade
slightly.
It was time to wrap things up.
Rumi sat on Taiku just as she unfurled in an attempt to stand and pinned down
the woman's arms with her legs. She pressed open the scissors so there was a
tiny 'V' formed by the tips. She set them on Taiku left cheek before slowly
dragging them up until they rested at the base of the eye. Taiku started
thrashing, but her movements were not enough to dislodge Rumi. Taiku's drawn
out moans of despair moved her hand a little, but not enough to stop her as she
plunged the 'V' past the lip of the eye, closed the scissors together and
levered the eyeball out dragging out the connecting optic tract that trailed
like the root of a weed.
She turned the squishy sphere around in her fingers before licking it. It
didn't taste particularly good so she tossed it away. Seki had probably only
done that for the drama of it, but she wasn't going to bother if it didn't
taste good.
(Besides she hated squishy foods.)
Shifting her weight forward she started bringing the scissors to the other eye.
However, the redistribution her weight allowed Taiku to buck her off and the
older woman quickly pinned her as the scissors went flying and skidded across
the floor out of her reach.
Taiku pressed a forearm to her windpipe. "You're a monster!"
Rumi looked passed the enraged woman to the walls that were lightening and at
the couch that had reappeared. The shadows seemed to hiss as they disappeared
to the corners and out the window that was once more allowing sunlight to fill
the room.
"I'm not a monster! You said you were going to help me!" she said injecting
fear and desperation into her voice.
"You lying little bitch! You liked stabbing me and cutting off my ear! Cutting
my eye out!"
Rumi let the hard pressure on her throat bring tears to her eyes. "Please,
Taiku-sensei, please. I'm sorry! Whatever I did, I didn't mean it!" It wasn't
hard for her voice to come out shaky with Taiku cutting off her air supply. Her
heart pounded and the corners of her vision grew blurry as her lungs burned for
air.
"You're a menace! No one is safe from a creature such as you. I won't let any
others suffer at your hands!"
Desperately Rumi tried to pry the arm off her neck. She could probably dislodge
the other woman entirely.
...
But then her plan wouldn't work.
"Help me!" she screamed as loud as she could: which wasn't very.
That was when her father broke down the door.
"Otou-san," she whimpered as Taiku pressed even harder and then she gasped in
relief as her stern, but never violent father threw Taiku off her and into the
woman's desk. He bent over and scooped her into his arms. It wasn't a moment
later that her mother was there too petting her hair and wiping her cheeks off
with her thumbs.
"She- Taiku-sensei- She just attacked. I just said I didn't want to go away,
but then she got so mad." Rumi buried her head against her fathers chest. "I'm
not crazy. She kept saying I was, but I wasn't. I didn't even have those marks
until after that day when I went to see her. She must have drugged me or
something and did it herself."
"Oh, my poor Rumi-chan," her mom whispered as she pulled her against her chest
rocking her like she'd done when she was small and scared.
(And now she was neither.)
She watched as one of the other doctors seemed to be looking over Taiku as she
staggered to her feet. Her bun slightly messy, her eyes darting about
franticly.
"I was just tired. I was just a little stressed. High school is harder than
middle school and I don't know as many people. Seki-kun never did anything to
me. I just- I just have a little crush on him that's all. It's been so hard
with everyone treating me like something's wrong." She clutched at her mother.
"I just want everything to be normal again. Please, can I just go back to
school?"
"She's lying!" Taiku roared. She tried to lunge at Rumi, but the other doctor
held her back. "She's a monster! You can't trust anything she says!"
"Tsuna-san, you need to-" Her college was frowning at the woman he was
restraining as he tried to talk her down.
"No! She attacked me! She cut off my ear! She tore my eye out!"
Rumi felt her mother tighten her arms around her protectively. Her father
glared up at the distraught woman. "Which ear? Which eye? You don't seem to be
missing any."
Frantically Taiku freed her arm and felt up her face fluttering her fingers
over her cheeks and around her ears with particular attention to her left side.
She gasped and pointed at Rumi her eyes, both the right and the left, wide with
fear, but sharp with venom. "You! You tricked me! You forced me into one of you
sick twisted dreams!"
Rumi leveled her with an even gaze. "You can't experience someone else's
dreams, Taiku-sensei. Isn't that right? That's what you told them about me.
That I thought Seki-kun and me had some sort of connection. That we shared
dreams."
Taiku shuddered and looked to her colleagues desperately. "This is a trick!
Daisuke-san, please, she's turning my words against me. She wants you to think
I'm at fault. That I'm dangerous. But she's-"
Daisuke* cut her off. "Tsuna-san I suggest that you stop. You really aren't
doing yourself any favors."
Taiku sagged as his words fell upon her. She turned beseeching eyes to Rumi.
"Please, Rumi-san. Don't let it happen this way. Don't do this to me. I know
you're still want to do the right thing. You can still do the right thing."
You can always make things right.
(The inverse is also true.)
Rumi worried her lip. "I don't know what you mean, Taiku-sensei. I don't think
I was doing anything wrong."
(She knew she was.)
Taiku sank to her to her knees and dissolved into tears.
While still keeping an eye on Taiku the other doctor looked to her parents
looking extremely apologetic. "Yokoi-san I am deeply sorry. If there had been
any signs that this was even a possibility-"
Her father held up his hand as he stood up and helped her mother who pulled up
Rumi clenching one of her hands tightly. "If it's all the same to you, Inoue-
sensei, I would like to take my wife and my daughter home. I trust that you
will see that this matter his appropriately dealt with," he all but spat the
last words at Taiku's weeping form.
Inoue nodded stiffly.
As they left the room Rumi stopped and turned to say one last thing to Taiku.
"I hope you're okay eventually, Taiku-sensei. I would hate to think your misery
is somehow my fault."
After all Taiku had been trying to help her.
Pretending to be sympathetic also helped her hide the contented grin tugging on
her lips. The urge to smile growing even stronger at the women's thin and
breathy wail.
Rumi had been right before.
(She definitely felt more satisfied.)
Chapter End Notes
     * Daisuke means great helper. Rumi was implying that in trying to
     help Taiku he was actually helping her.
     Let me know what you think. (Rumi is decidedly less sympathetic this
     chapter, no?)
***** Part ii:To Find *****
Chapter Summary
     "After searching far too much, one must find the time for finding." -
     Hermann Hess, Siddhartha
     (this quote has been altered quite a bit, but not to the point I
     don't want to give Hess credit. It's mostly shortened a bit, but the
     original quote was more question-y.)
Chapter Notes
     So this chapter could be described as fluffy. As far as content goes
     there is a citrus scene, but not scenes of violence. And Rumi finally
     finds out what's going on with Seki. Mostly.
     Seki Katsumi = Seki's mom
Rumi didn't start attending class again until the next school year started.
It gave her time to convince her friends and family that she was fine. That
most of her strange behavior could be attributed to Taiku's influence, anti-
psychotics and everyone deciding that she was crazy. The rest she blamed on
getting used to high school.
Tomoka was the first to believe her.
A day after the incident in Taiku's office the girl showed up at her house
crying. She said she was sorry for ever doubting her and went on for hours
about how horrible it must have been for Rumi to be on mind altering drugs and
having someone trying to manipulate her.
Rumi had just beamed at her with tears of relief in her eyes. She assured her
that she'd never once blamed Tomoka for her actions.
Which she hadn't.
Her mother and father were also quick to come around to the idea that a few
small changes in behavior had been blown up to tragic proportions.
She didn't let them feel guilty about it. She honestly was glad they loved her
so much. Sometimes she lost sight of that when she so consistently seemed to
only disappoint them.
Her brother had been skeptical at first, but eventually accepted that she was
fine. It was hard to deny she was cheerful again and seemed to have her normal
amount of energy.
He admitted that even her sporting the occasional evil grin was not completely
foreign for her. Just that he'd never let it bother him before.
Tomoka was pretty good about convincing her classmates and Uzawa was her most
relentless ally. He even came by with a box of his mothers famous strawberry
cookies looking embarrassed. He said that he should have known it would take
some serious drugs for her to be so mean.
She even convinced Nakama.
It had been the Tuesday before they went back to school when her mom called up
to her room saying she had a visitor.
Tomoka would have just come up, so Rumi snuck a quick glance down the stairs
the see the tall brunette.
She'd wasted no time in inviting her up to her room.
The both settled on her bed. Nakama kept her eyes trained on her Posing Panda
Alarm Clock. "I heard Yokoi-chan is feeling better."
Rumi nodded amiably. "I am. Never better. Although I surprised to say I
actually miss school."
Nakama chuckled just as Rumi intended for her to. "Wow, that must be horrible."
Her face grew somber. "I heard about your doctor. The one that tried to drive
you crazy. Did all that really happen?"
Rumi pressed her lips together and nodded. "Hai."
Nakama sighed. "And I wasn't helping. I'm sorry I was acting so weird about
Seki-san. I should have realized that he hadn't-" Nakama cut herself off. "That
you just had a crush on him. Just like Hashino-chan was always teasing you
about."
Rumi wanted to ask what Nakama had thought was going on. Clearly the other girl
knew something about Seki that made her think he was dangerous. But she decided
not to pursue it. It might make the other girl suspicious all over again.
Besides she'd probably find out eventually.
Rumi shot her rueful smile. "Well, I may be a little too focused on him, but he
truly does impossible things at that desk of his."
Nakama gave her a fond pat on the shoulder with a small grin growing on her
face. "You're a strange one Yokoi-chan."
"Maybe."
Nakama's grin became huge. "It's not a bad thing. Don't ever change."
Rumi just grinned back at the girl.
While it was entirely too late to heed her advice, she was glad that for the
first time in months she was sitting with the cheerful, carefree Nakama she'd
first become friends with.
What Nakama didn't know would probably allow the other girl to sleep much
better.
So by the time she returned to school along with the rest of her peers pretty
much everything had settled back to how it had been six months previous.
She was just plain old Yokoi Rumi again.
Except for the fact that she wasn't.
Her interactions with Seki became much more interactive. She hardly ever
pretended she wasn't watching his antics. Where before she had been hesitant,
she was bold.
She was surprised how much she missed seeing him in school.
After she'd gotten everyone to think Taiku was crazy, he'd stopped randomly
showing up at her house and the dreams had become in frequent. She'd surprised
herself with how eager she was to see him.
On her first day back her homeroom teacher had pulled her aside and asked if it
was okay for her to sit next to Seki.
Apparently the seating chart worked out best that way.
Apparently it kept the right people apart but close enough to friends to have
moral support.
Apparently it made passing out assignments more efficient.
Not that she had cared. She wasn't letting anyone else sit next to Seki. How
else was he going to keep her entertained?
A few weeks into the term and Rumi found herself amused by everyone's complete
and total willingness to forget. Her plan had worked perfectly. She only felt
the slightest bit of pity for poor, misunderstood Taiku. It was either her or
Rumi.
And Rumi had warned her.
More than once.
(She should still probably actually feel guilty.)
Whatever.
Seki seemed to have decided a new year meant he needed to up his game because
the sheer intricacy of the things he was doing was mind boggling.
He hadn't even done too many things that upset her.
Except for that horrifying Christmas tree.
(That just wasn't nice.)
And then there was the day their teacher decided to warn them about the perils
of tobacco and alcohol via boring documentary. Normally she would consider such
things of grave importance, but Seki was up to something again. Even though the
lights were out.
Besides she really doubted addiction to cigarettes was going to be a pressing
concern. She certainly had more pressing ones.
Before darkness fell, Seki had been lining up Shogi pieces like they were to
battle with chess pieces somehow, but once the battlefield was drowned in
shadows the black chess pieces basically just went around terrorizing the poor
Shogi pieces to death. Literally.
Seki in his excitement was even sending the fallen warriors to the ground.
He was such a jerk.
But when one of the pieces landed on her foot she got an idea.
She would resurrect them. Zombies surely beat mere soldiers in a night battle.
Carefully she slipped onto the floor and started gathering the pieces scattered
around. Then she waited for Seki to be imagining a particularly vicious kill.
For a moment she wondered how practical ripping someone's heart out really was
before she shook off the image and focused on her objective.
Quickly and silently she slipped two pieces onto the edge of the table.
Seki's darkly armored mercenaries were quick to finish them off, but five more
appeared behind them. And the three more. And another four.
Until they were left surrounded as the zombie hoard pressed in on them from all
sides.
Seki looked to her desk accusingly only to start a little when she wasn't
there. Every time he turned his head to find her she just moved to his blind
spot. He scratched his head confused.
She waited until he shrugged and started making a tower with both sides of the
war. A pile of bodies to appease the gods. And then she leaned over and blew
into his ear.
He froze. His hand raised slightly above the growing stack.
Compelled by some strange feeling the simmered at the back of her mind she used
the edge of the Shogi piece she was holding to traced the words 'Rumi was here'
down the back of his neck. Starting on the bare skin at the nape of his neck
and then continuing through the fabric of his shirt.
The wood felt warm beneath her fingers, but not enough to burn.
She wondered what it felt like to him.
She reached over his shoulder and carefully set the piece on the tower he was
building. The action had her pressed to his back for a long moment before she
straightened and returned to her seat.
Seki stared at her for a long moment before deciding to complete the tower.
She'd so won that round.
And when the lights came on the words she'd traced in hiragana were visible on
his skin. Thin black lines like she'd used a pen. Her name being the only part
visible above his collar.
She briefly worried about people noticing, but no one ever seemed to notice the
mark on her wrist unless they knew to look for it.
She figured it would be the same for Seki.
He didn't seem too concerned one way or another.
He didn't feel that way either.
It was strange to think, but it seemed that writing those words how somehow
brought them closer.
In any case, Seki never sought retribution in class or in her dreams so she
figured: no harm done.
A few weeks later their class went to the park to fly kites.
She had thought Seki would have been excited. A chance to use his gifts when he
was supposed to for a change. So of course he blew off the activity immediately
to start playing baseball with sticks for the bats and rocks for the balls.
He made absolutely no sense.
But then she caught sight of The Father and The Mother robots. They were seated
on a small board sitting in the grass. The Father was holding the line to a
kite while The Mother was leaned against them.
She didn't see The Son anywhere.
She felt her heart melt a little. They were on a date.
It was the cutest thing ever.
She decided to join them only to accidentally send them flying and The Father
just kept going as he was pulled across the grass. And the sea!
She managed to fish him out of the water before the cool and dark water could
claim him. She reeled in his kite and found-
(Seki had gone too far!)
-The Son clutching to the ribs of the kite for dear life.
How could Seki do this to the robots?
Didn't he love them?
(They were so cute!)
She stomped over to where The Mother had fallen only to find Seki picking her
up.
The jerk had the audacity to smile at her.
"Seki-kun you almost got The Son killed. And The Father."
She gripped the both of them protectively to her chest.
Seki widened his eyes and pointed at her.
"What? You thought I was watching them?"
Did that mean Seki trusted her with the robot family?
She growled. That wasn't the point!
"But I didn't know that The Son was on the kite! What if he had fallen?"
Seki expression became a look of realization. He made a dismissive wave with
the hand not holding The Mother before holding it palm up at about chest level.
And then suddenly The Father and The Son were standing side by side on his hand
with The Father resting a loving hand on his son's shoulder.
She blinked a few times. Seki had just teleported them.
No wonder he could do anything.
He didn't even pay attention to the laws of nature!
She frowned. "So you weren't worried because you knew you'd always be able to
retrieve them."
He nodded as he positioned The Mother to look like she was checking her son for
injuries after his adventure.
The Robot Family was just so awesome! (Although the whole Taiku incident had
left her appreciating her parents a great deal more. It was wonderful to know
that they always had her back.)
The Seki carefully slipped them into his bag before beaming at her.
She pointed to herself confused.
What was he so happy about?
He gestured to the park at large and then made a walking motion with his
fingers before miming that he was water skiing.
"You're thanking me for... entertaining you?"
He nodded.
She blushed and looked away. "It was no problem."
He just grinned knowingly. They both knew she loved The Robot Family and that
she enjoyed playing with them.
Fortunately no one seemed to see them talking and she didn't have to answer any
awkward questions when she was walking back to class with her friends.
The experience at the park had left her in a particularly good mood.
She was so bursting with good cheer she wrapped her mom in a big hug upon
arriving home. Telling her it was just because she loved her.
After all the running she'd worked up a sweat and she quickly took a shower.
Upon returning to her room in just a towel, she found Seki sitting on her
window sil.
For a second she could only gape at him. He just looked so darn casual about
it. Like it was a normal thing to do.
And then she locked the door behind her.
She didn't want to imagine what would happen if he was caught in her room.
"Seki-kun, why are you here?" It was just like in class when he had an
especially random idea.
He just rose his eyebrows.
She looked away a little mortified. It was obvious he came to see her, but he
didn't have to be so snarky about it.
He gestured for her to walk over to him.
And her feet just listened!
But, she was curious so the rest of her was in agreement.
He waved his hand at the towel she had wrapped around her body.
"You want me to take off my towel?"
She wanted to smack herself. Seki was a guy. Was it really so surprising that
he would want to see her naked,
But for some reason she ended up tugging at fold that kept the towel around her
body so the whole just slid down her back and legs. If Seki wanted her to.
That was enough reason.
Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised when he forced her to the bed with
her face against her comforter since he'd pushed her onto her stomach. Ken, the
cactus he'd given her, was looking at her dispassionately.
The traitor was probably cheering Seki on.
(But then again, so was she.)
He tied her wrists and ankles to her bed from with a few of the scarves she'd
crocheted the previous week.
"Seki-kun! Those are gifts!"
He didn't stop securing the last of her free limbs and then he put a finger to
his lips.
She growled with her faced pressed into the bed to muffle the sound. Seki was
so inconsiderate.
She jerked as much as her bonds allowed when something danced down her spine.
It was soft and sparks shot through her at the contact.
"Seki-kun?"
Before she'd recovered from that first unexpected touch she felt it again at
her side moving in a slow circle. It tickled.
She bit her lip to stop the giggle that was bubbling up without her consent.
Next it swept up and down on the nape of her next. Every pass was making it
harder to contain the laughter filling her lungs. Every touch sending sparks
singing onto her blood until the dark ache was back.
It was as Seki merciless teased the back of her knees that she realized it was
a feather.
The brushes became closer together and he changed his point of interest
constantly. Her feet, her butt, her inner thighs for one very long minute.
She was started to pant and it wasn't entirely because she was trying not to
laugh.
How dare he tease her?
(He better not stop.)
The tip of the feather started to emit a strange warmth as Seki started tracing
something at the seem where her left thigh met her rear.
He was writing something on her butt. She rolled her eyes. Sometimes Seki had
an appalling lack of imagination.
He then trailed the feather down to her foot before he slowly worked his way
up. Closer and closer to where she really wanted him to focus.
By the time he slid the feather to the wet juncture between her thighs she was
steaming with impatience, but Seki for once exercised common sense and didn't
keep her waiting long.
And she managed to keep her scream mostly in her head.
She sighed as she sunk limply unto her bed. She was going to need another
shower. As he untied her scarves he started wrapping them around his neck.
"What?" she managed, even though she was feeling sleepy enough to hardly be
curious.
Nut he paid her no mind, big surprise, and soon had all four wrapped around his
neck.
He looked strange.
That many scarves made it look like he had an abnormally wide neck and he
wasn't wearing a jacket.
And it was May.
People were going to wonder when they saw him walk home.
Although she wasn't quite sure what they'd be wondering.
But he just smirked using his hand to outline and invisible box.
She just blew at an exasperated puff of air. They hadn't been gifts for him and
he knew it. He was just being difficult. She flung her hand at him.
"Fine," she murmured. What did it matter? She could always make more scarves.
Then he waved bye to her before jumping out of her window.
Before she sunk into a content slumber a thought meandered across her mind.
Seki could teleport.
He didn't need to use the window.
***
It turned out the word Seki had written was 'mine.' It was black and looked
like it had been painted on by a calligraphy brush.
Not the most original thing that he could have written.
When the teacher gave them a free period the next day she intended to comment
on his less than impressive display of imagination, but he'd decided to go to
sleep.
The teacher had given them a free period, but sleeping seemed like a boring way
for Seki to use the time.
Then her eyes narrowed. Under the pillow he conveniently had with him, there
was a book crammed between the cushion and his desk. From what little she could
see of the cover it appeared to be about pirates.
Could it be Seki was trying to influence his dreams?
Could that possibly work?
Curious she focused her attention in the direction of the sleeping boy. In her
mind's eye she could see Seki on a large wooden ship, an eye patch covering his
eye as he directed one of his crew to raise a large foreboding pirate flag.
She blinked away the dream and shook her head in disbelief.
It appeared there really wasn't anything he couldn't do.
Reading in his sleep of all things.
That would be useful for studying, but Seki didn't do that.
Unless.
Quietly she tore a piece of paper from her binder and started filling the page
with the words 'pay attention in class.' Then she carefully slid it under his
pillow.
His face scrunched up clearly not as carefree in the new dream where he forced
to do what every other student had to do.
She giggled.
And then she used her sharpie to write 'pay attention' on the side of his wrist
the words connecting the inside to the top.
And when he woke up in the middle of the next class he actually did pay
attention.
He didn't even notice what she'd written on his wrist until the last period of
the day when he was reaching for a pen to take notes. (Ha! Seki taking notes.)
He stared at it, then at her and then at the front of the class before sighing.
She'd won that round too.
She was still smirking about it several days later.
It was a normal day except that her mom come to her homeroom. In fact everyone
had a parent present. It was like an exhibition of their academic prowess.
She guessed.
It was mostly just awkward. She hoped she didn't embarrass herself or her
mother.
Speaking of mothers. Seki had one.
She didn't know why she was surprised though. It was normal for him to have a
mom.
He bore a really strong resemblance to her.
And they both glared the same.
She watched as the woman glared at her son. At first Rumi thought she was
annoyed by his inattentiveness, but she continued to glare at him even after he
stopped fiddling with the tiny streamer in his hands. It was like she was
trying to melt the back of his head off.
Seki looked chastened and sullen at the same time.
She diverted her attention back to the front when the teacher called on her to
answer a question.
It was only as she sat down that she felt an ominous energy gathering around
her.
A quick glance revealed it wasn't Seki. He was looking at his mother with wide
eyes.
And she was looking at her. Rumi swallowed uneasily. Why was Seki's mom glaring
at her?
The rest of the period passed at an excruciating pace.
She went limp with relief when the parents left and class went back to business
as usual.
Seki passed her note two periods later.
Which was intriguing for he seemed to favor vague gestures and context to any
other mode of communication.
Okaa-san wants you to come home with me after school.
She looked at Seki hoping he was joking, but his unusually grim face was answer
enough.
She sighed.
At least she'd be able to see his little sister again.
***
Seki it turned out lived just past the park in the opposite direction of her
house. His house wasn't overly big, but his family had a garage and their own
driveway.
It was a cheerful yellow with white trim. It probably would have felt more
inviting if Rumi wasn't shaking with dread. She tried to tell herself she had
nothing to be nervous about. That she and Seki weren't even dating.
But that was kind of a silly thing to focus on because whatever they were it
was not casual.
Seki helpfully calmed her nerves by literally dragging her into his home.
And then he abandoned her to have tea with his mother who was already waiting
for their arrival in the living room. At least there were cookies piled
invitingly on a plate. They looked good.
She was going to try one as soon as her stomach stopped trying to climb out of
her throat.
Seki's mom poured her a cup of tea and the set it in front of her.
"It's Rumi-chan, right?"
Rumi blinked. Seki's mom was wearing an extremely serious expression, but her
voice didn't sound angry. At all. (Also Rumi was a little surprised that anyone
in Seki's family actually spoke. Jun had more mumbled and seemed to prefer
gesture like her brother.)
"H-hai."
The woman's expression softened. "You can call me Katsumi," she told Rumi
quickly as she was picking up her tea, "Or mom, I suppose."
Rumi just barely managed to not drop hot tea all over her lap before quickly
returning the cup to the table. She resolved to keep her hands empty until she
got a better handle on the situation. "Wh- What?"
Katsumi flicked an annoyed glance in the direction Seki had disappeared to.
(Fled.) "I bet he hasn't told you much of anything."
"Told me what?!"
Katsumi set down her cup and clasped her hands together. "Rumi-chan what would
you say if I told you my son was a demon?"
Seki a demon. Somehow that was not very surprising. At all.
Rumi shrugged. "I wouldn't think that was too strange." It would explain so
very many things.
"Well he is."
Rumi nodded. She'd thought that was where Katsumi was going. She hadn't exactly
been subtle. "Okay." Feeling desperate for something to do she snatched a
cookie from the plate sitting by the tea pot.
"Did he put any other marks on you?"
Rumi almost choked on the cookie she was trying to eat. Katsumi was staring at
her wrist.
She should have realized his mother would be able to see it.
She felt a blush run down her neck. Katsumi had seen what she'd written on
Seki's neck. That's how she'd known to summon her.
She nodded helplessly. She really hoped his mom didn't where they were or what
they said.
"And you've done two for him? On his neck and his wrist?"
She nodded again.
Katsumi just shook her head in what looked like disbelief. "I just can't
believe he didn't bring you by sooner. You're practically all the way
transitioned. It wasn't too awful for you I hope."
Rumi pursed her lips as she thought about it. "Only in the beginning. And I
might of gottensomeonecommited," she mumbled in a rush. She'd never really told
anyone. Seki had already known and she didn't want anyone else to know.
But Katsumi just laughed. "Well, I'm sure it was necessary."
Rumi thought about how she'd almost been sent away and shuddered. "It was."
"So Rumi-chan, what do you know about demons?"
"They're supposed to have horns?" she said uncertainly. Aside from the well
known fact that they were supposed to be evil. But that seemed rude. (And
discomforting.)
Katsumi smirked. "To be fair, Most non-demons don't know much about our kind.
Even other magical creatures in the Other Community. Most give us a wide berth
if they know to."
Rumi furrowed her brow in confusion. "You mean they can't tell?"
"Not in a direct manner. Where as most creatures project out, Demons gather in.
Like plants. It's makes us fade into the background and become almost invisible
in plain sight."
"I don't get it."
"Human emotions fly from them in every direction. Most creatures can detect
this to some degree or another. This allows for them to convey their ideas
easier, but in turn makes it harder for them to receive. The opposite is true
with demons. And this is a oddity among both magical and non-magical creatures.
This it's why natural born demons cannot talk directly to none demons. Not
without widening their mind with fear."
Rumi winced remembering some of the dreams Seki had used on her. "Why fear? Why
not joy? Or anger even?"
"Fear simultaneously forces the mind to both actively seek outside itself and
on just one or two things allowing communication to be possible."
Rumi supposed that made sense.
" And demons tend to like making things suffer," Katsumi added on casually.
Rumi worried her lip. "Does that make them evil?"
Katsumi snorted. "No more so than the cat who enjoys toying with the mouse he's
caught. Or the spider that takes its time wrapping some trapped fly."
"And what if they don't feel guilt?"
"Most animals don't. They seem to get on just fine. It's one thing I'm glad to
be rid of. I can still feel sympathy and concern so I figure I'm fine."
Rumi suddenly swiveled her attention to Katsumi's eyes which were level on her
clearly filled with the aforementioned sympathy. And possibly empathy as well.
"It's gone?"
"Rumi-chan when a demon bonds with you they turn you into a demon as well. We
call it transition. And from what I've seen you two are almost done. He has
marked you in three places?"
Rumi absented rubbed the mark on her wrist. "So those words they-"
"Draw your minds together. For demons forming a bond is much more a meeting of
the minds than it is of the body."
"Together," Rumi croaked. Did that mean Seki could read her mind?
"Relax. It's not like there'll be no secrets between you. Consider your minds
two clouds that have overlapped. You don't have to be in the same area as him.
It just makes it easier to talk to each other, to know one another a little
more closely. You still get to be your own person."
"So after I write the next set of words our bond is done?"
Katsumi shook her head. "No. The words are anchors. The more you have the
easier it is for you to draw on Seki's powers. He's like the sun and you're the
moon reflecting his light. Once he completes the bond, you'll both be suns and
stronger for it."
"So I used Seki's power to disturb Taiku-sensei so badly."
"I imagine so."
"What exactly are a demon's abilities?"
"As long as it is within their sight they can manipulate the fabric of reality.
Super strength and speed. Heightened senses. And if someone looks at you long
enough you can mess with their perception."
Rumi bit her lip remembering Nakama's cryptic warnings and what she had said to
Taiku. "Why do they need to look?"
"Demons are receivers so unless the look is long enough it just seems like all
the rest of the incoming energy and get disregarded. It's not that the other
person can't be seen, it's just impossible to look at them."
"Oh so when I kept getting distracted by what Seki-kun was doing, I was making
it so he could see me."
"Basically. Demons always mate with humans, but only a very select few are able
to see demons well enough to look at them. I'm sure you've noticed how your
classmates never notice anything he does and how your teachers never catch him.
Unless they are actually looking for him they just can't realize he's there.
They may actually even forget he's in the room periodically."
Rumi gulped her now very tepid tea.
It was then for better or worse that Jun came bounding down the stairs
obviously having just learned of Rumi's presence in her house.
She smiled as the small girl all but crawled in her lap and she babbled about
what she'd learned in school. Rumi fiddled with the braid like she'd done in
the park two months previous.
It turned out that claiming to be her older sister wasn't so much a lie as a
prediction.
And it didn't occur to her until she just about fallen asleep that she
forgotten to ask how Seki was going to complete their bond.
She hoped it wouldn't hurt.
(Too badly.)
***** Part II:To Deceive *****
Chapter Summary
     "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." -Arthur Conan
     Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery
Chapter Notes
     A/N: Hey all! I'm back. It's only 9pm Tues where I am, but I figure
     for any European readers it's already Wed! And for those in Asia,
     Thurs is drawing near!
     I hope you liked last chapter. It was very random. I probably could
     have written it without the sex scene. *shrugs* That being said, I
     don't foresee another chapter like it for the rest of the story. This
     story is much more focused on the horror/suspense aspects than any
     romantic relationship. Although romance may be a distant third in
     terms of genre.
     Er, enough babbling.
     Fukui Etsuko=new transfer student
     Gotou Sakurako= the shipper on deck herself. She thinks Rumi and Seki
     are an item. And that Rumi is amazing.
     miru = to see
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The three days after they returned from summer break a new transfer student
arrived to class.
This coincided with a new seating chart and the new girl Fukui Etsuko ended up
in the seat in front of Rumi. Her introduction was bland and completely
forgettable.
Besides Rumi had been more focused on the pile stuffed animals Seki had on his
desk. That fact that some weren't spilling off the sides of his desk was almost
entertainment enough (until she remembered that he could bend reality to his
whim).
Heck, according to his mom, Rumi could too.
And then he pulled out a hand powered claw. It was like a low tech version of
those things that sucked your money away at the movie theater.
It even had a coin slot.
(Seki better not charge her when he wins her one of those cute stuffed toys.)
"Seki-kun, is playing at his desk."
Seki looked up and she turned to find the new girl Fukui who was looking at
them with a slightly annoyed, but mostly confused look.
How dare she tell on Seki?
(It was daring of her to even look at Seki.)
Seki was hers to look at.
The teacher along with about two-thirds of the class widened their eyes in
shock. (The third that'd come from Seki's middle school were wincing.) The
older man cleared his throat loudly. "So he is. Seki-san this is not the time.
Please deposit your toys in the trash. Class time is for learning."
Scowling fiercely Seki trudged to the front of the class were the waste bin
was, his arms brimming with cuteness, and let everything tumble in the bin with
obvious reluctance. As he was sitting down the teacher continued on to say, "Oh
and I'll be assigning you detention. I hope you remember proper classroom
behavior in the future."
Somehow Seki's face darkened farther.
The teacher seemingly satisfied went back to teaching, but Seki took to glaring
at the girl who'd ratted on him. Rumi was glaring too. (She'd wanted a cute
stuffed animal.)
But as she took stock of Seki's ever worsening mood she realized that if she
didn't do something Seki would actually maim Fukui, for real, in front of all
their classmates. So she leaned over and tapped him on the arm.
The glare he sent Rumi was merely irritated, but a little sharper than normal.
She pointed to herself, then Fukui.
He tilted his head and pointed at her.
She nodded and beamed at him with her thumbs up.
He rubbed his chin and studied her eager expression and excited posture.
His frown morphed into a wicked grin.
He slowly nodded.
He was going to let her take care of Fukui.
And as she sat with Tomoka for lunch, her friend was quick to help her, even
though she didn't know she was helping her.
"Way to welcome the new girl, Rumi-chan," she said her teasing tone not
completely hiding that she was disappointed.
Rumi struggled to hide had little she cared about the new girl's welcome. (Or
continued well being.)
She sighed. "Yeah, I reacted badly. It's just I wanted one of those toys. But,"
she bit her lip, "She wasn't wrong to say something." Rumi stirred her rice
with her chopsticks. "I probably should have said something."
Tomoka patted her on the head. "It's alright Rumi-chan. I understand how you
are about cute things," the girl cackled sinisterly, "And Seki-kun. But you
should probably apologize."
Rumi almost grinned. That would be just the thing. She reflected that years of
being an exceptionally kind person was strangely great preparation for being
cruel.
Rumi nodded her head firmly. "You're right Tomoka-chan. Maybe I can do it at
the end of the day."
Tomoka waved her chop sticks around enthusiastically. "Yes! Good idea Rumi-
chan. Do it as fast as possible to avoid any misunderstandings."
Rumi turned to where Fukui was eating with Nakama and Maeda. They were all
whispering with their faces serious.
Yes. It would be best to make sure Fukui in no way misunderstood her.
It definitely was Friday.
She could feel the weekend coming.
As the rest of the class headed for their shoe lockers and freedom she timidly
reached forward and tugged on Fukui's sleeve.
The other girl with her short black hair turned with her face a neutral mask.
"Yokoi-san."
Rumi fixed her gaze on the other girls left ear. "Fukui-san, I was wondering if
we could talk," she darted a nervous glance the people still in the room, "In
private. After the others leave."
Fukui huffed, but nodded stiffly. "Fine."
Finally the room was empty and the hallway quiet.
"I'm not sorry I got Seki-san in trouble."
Rumi laughed forcing it to sound anxious rather than amused.
(Fukui was certainly going to be sorry.)
"That-that's fine. I just wanted to apologize. Sometimes I get really caught up
in what he's doing. I should probably do what you did more often or, like,
ever."
Not that she really cared about paying attention in class much.
Fukui looked relieved at her words and even smiled a bit. "Oh, well, I guess
we're good then."
"Great!" Rumi chirped. She watched as Fukui started packing her things. Rumi
didn't budge.
Fukui finished loading her bag and let it list into the back of her seat. She
fixed Rumi with a determined look. "You know Yokoi-san, you should probably be
careful about how much attention you pay Seki-kun."
"Why?" Rumi had already figured out Yuu and Maeda were part of the Other
Community. And since they sat with her, Fukui likely was too. That didn't stop
her from wondering what nonsense Fukui would come up with.
"Just trust me. He's dangerous."
She almost rolled her eyes. (That wasn't even remotely compelling.)
Rumi felt her breath catch in anticipation.
It was time.
"I suppose you're right," Rumi admitted amicably as she slowly made her way to
the classroom door and slid it shut. Sealing it from the rest of the school.
"Yokoi-san?"
Fukui was standing by her seat with the bag now slung around her shoulder. Her
eyes followed Rumi's progress as she made her way back to where the girl was
standing. Her posture wary. Instead of taking the most direct route, Rumi took
a long winding path skirting up and down the rows. "What is it, Fukui-san?"
Fukui wet her lips and darted an uneasy glance to where the door was supposed
to be.
Rumi had decided the room didn't need a door anymore.
After all, she couldn't have Fukui leaving before they came to an agreement.
Fukui's throat convulsed a few times like she was suddenly thirsty. "You think
Seki-san is dangerous?"
Rumi hummed. It was a low, but bright note. "I've known about that for months."
Fukui started backing up slowly with her back to the front of the room, her
eyes trained on Rumi as Rumi closed the gap between them. "Nakama-san and
Maeda-san think you're- that you're fine. That nothing happened."
The fear that was creeping into the other girl's voice was bliss.
Rumi laughed, the sound low and mocking. "Oh, I know. That's how I wanted it.
Taiku-sensei, she was going to send me away." Rumi's voice rumbled like a growl
before her tone became bright, "But that didn't work out at all. Not for her."
It had worked out for Rumi just fine.
Fukui stopped backing up since she backed herself into the chalkboard.
"Yokoi-san you can't-"
At last Rumi closed the distance between them and pressed her finger into the
other girl's lips. Hard. It was not a gentle gesture. "Oh, but Fukui-san I can.
There's not much that is beyond me now."
"But you're human," the other girl whispered desperately against Rumi finger,
her anxiety wetting the tip.
Rumi pulled her finger away and shrugged. "Oh, not for much longer I would
think. Isn't that right, Seki-kun?" He'd appeared on a window sill when she
shut the door. Fukui gasped clearly having overlooked him before. He just
smiled and waved to Fukui.
"How is he-?"
Rumi wagged a finger at the other girl with her other hand resting on her hip.
"Now Fukui-san, I think we both know that this is nothing when it comes to
demons."
"You can't do anything to me! Someone will hear. I will scream for help!"
Rumi spread her hands wide, inviting Fukui to try. "Will someone hear you? It's
Friday. Everyone's left. And those who haven't aren't going to be looking for
you. I don't think anyone's going to hear you scream. Except for me, I suppose.
And Seki-kun."
"But I haven't done anything wrong. He shouldn't have been doing that in
class!" she insisted pointing a shaking finger at Seki.
Rumi let the smile slide off her face and stopped affecting any pretense of
good will. "And you shouldn't have been looking at him. He's mine."
"Your- your insane. You can't- Not just because someone-"
"Fukui-san I'm really getting tired of you saying what I can't do. Maybe it's
time I showed you exactly what I'm capable of."
And so Rumi did.
It wasn't like with Taiku. Rumi didn't really bother toying with her. She just
broke her knees so she couldn't run before driving a crochet hook into the
girl's ears and twisting. And then she started ripping out her hair one tiny
clump at a time.
Seki on his part was clapping and he started waving a flag with her name on it,
like it was some sort of sporting event.
But eventually she decided that Fukui had had enough fun for the evening. She
did have to get home. Her uncle was coming to town to visit and her mother was
making gyoza.
(Her favorite.)
Slowly she let the classroom return to normal. As the dream slid away Fukui's
wounds healed and the blood streaming from her head disappeared from her face
and uniform.
Fukui looked up at Rumi her face worried, but as her pains disappeared a small
spark of defiance returned to her eyes. In a swift motion she twisted her
fingers into a pattern of some sort as she whispered words from a language Rumi
didn't recognize.
Suddenly she was being held in place by a silky strings that secured her limbs
and were anchored to the ceiling, floor and walls.
Fukui staggered to her feet. She smiled triumphantly. "I hope you enjoyed your
fun. I'm going to tell the Other authorities. You'll be made to pay for those
you've hurt and imprisoned."
"Will I?" Rumi asked her voice alight with curiosity as she snapped her hands
then her feet from her 'imprisonment.' She gripped the other girl's chin. "I
don't know Fukui-san. I don't really think I will. Also it seems to me that you
were threatening me."
Rumi then started gathering the dangling strands of silk to her by hooking it
with her crochet hook and twisting. Eventually she had a decent sized ball. She
made the rest burst into flame before fading from existence. Carefully she
started stitching the substance. She wanted her gift to be just right when she
gave it to Fukui.
Rumi sat on top of her desk as she worked humming quietly. She truly did love
to crochet. It was so calming and the possibilities were endless. Every time
Fukui even breathed in the wrong way she would pause and stare at the girl
intently until she would once against freeze under the heavy scrutiny.
Seki had moved to the top of his desk in an effort to better see what she was
doing. It looked like she'd kept his boredom at bay as he suffered through
detention at the other end of the school.
Thank goodness.
Seki got kinda cranky when he was bored.
Fifteen minutes later she declared herself finished. Fukui didn't seem too
thrilled, but Seki was practically vibrating with excitement.
Rumi gestured to the doll she'd just made. "Meet Miru-chan. I named her that
because she's going to be watching you." Rumi also thought it was cool that it
was her name backwards. "She'll never leave your side and if you tell anyone
about me or Seki-kun- Well, she'll do something unpleasant. It might be to you.
Or to the person you're talking to. You really won't know until it's too late."
Rumi set the small doll on Fukui shoulder despite her attempt to move away. The
doll immediately started moving and ended up climbing down Fukui's arm into her
bag from which it peered intently up at the girl.
Fukui shuddered.
Rumi continued on evenly. "No one outside of this room will be able to see her.
I would suggest you not try to change that. If you're good, I may remove her at
graduation. Do you understand?"
"Yokoi-san-"
"I said, do you understand?"
Fukui nodded clearly unhappy with the situation, but there were really no other
options for her.
Rumi watched her slowly walk out of the classroom with a great deal of
satisfaction.
Seki was her distraction.
And to make her point even more clear she wrote that this was so across his
heart with the hook she'd been using.
The next day Fukui got the teacher to move her seat. She claimed that it was
too close to the window and the sunlight was hurting her eyes.
Rumi didn't mind especially when Tomoka ended up getting moved in front of her.
And while Tomoka greeted Seki, Rumi could tell it was only for politeness'
sake. Another reason to love Tomoka. She knew when to keep her eyes to herself.
After that day Seki became very restless. He couldn't even seem to focus on his
diversions. As the weeks passed the amount of time he spent on building or
playing or digging dwindled. He'd taken to just staring at her.
At first she'd been flattered. She'd thought he'd noticed how her new
conditioner made her hair really shiny. But he wasn't just staring at her hair.
It was almost like he want to eat her. Consume her whole. The playful Seki-kun
that she'd gotten to know had been replaced by an intense solemn stranger.
And then some days he pointedly didn't look at her and would instead glare
moodily out the window. Like a pouting child.
One day after weeks of only those strange two Sekis for company Gotou Sakurako
approached her. They'd just gotten out of art and Seki had been staring at her
so intently that she'd almost reminded him that whatever he was think about
doing, she wouldn't do in the middle of class.
Not after he had been essentially ignoring her.
"Yokoi-san, are you and Seki-kun ... together?"
Rumi looked at her nervously. "Why do you ask that Gotou-san?" If word got out
that could lead to renewed interest from Yuu and Maeda. Someone might even
discover what she'd done to Fukui.
Or Taiku.
Gotou turned scarlet. "Well, I sit behind you to. In art. You always seem to be
staring at him. And recently," the girl fiddled with the tip of one of her
braids, "Uh, recently Seki-kun has been looking back at you pretty intensely."
Rumi sighed. "We are, but we're kind of trying to keep it secret."
Gotou held up her hands. "Oh, I thought that might be the case. I haven't
mentioned it to anyone because it seemed private. I only ask because you and
Seki-kun seem troubled. I wanted to let you know that I'll help you in anyway I
can!"
Rumi internally sighed with relief as she beamed at Gotou in thankfulness.
Gotou just wanted to help and she'd been mindful of their privacy. Rumi wasn't
sure why the other girl was so invested in her and Seki's relationship, but her
concern seemed to have no ulterior motives. "Thanks Gotou-san. I really
appreciate that. I'm still trying to work out what to do, but I'll let you
know. It's nice to have someone to talk to about this. Ever since last spring I
felt like I really couldn't tell anyone or," she trailed off.
Gotou nodded fiercely. "That was horrible! The things they said about Seki-kun.
I just knew they weren't true! I could already see how much you meant to each
other."
Rumi managed not to snort. She wasn't sure how Gotou had managed to get that
impression from their earlier interactions, but it seemed to be working in her
favor.
She should really get to know Gotou better. She seemed like she could be a good
friend.
Even if she jumped to wild conclusions. It was actually pretty funny.
A week later when Seki invited her on a weekend camping trip, just the two of
them, she called her new confidant. Gotou was more than willing to cover for
her with her parents. Gotou's parents were away on business so she would be
able to field any calls from Rumi's mother, if she called (or when), asking
about how their 'Super Study Session' was working out.
Rumi was grateful. It seemed nothing would get in the way of her weekend with
Seki. Hopefully some time alone would allow her to figure out why he'd been so
distant.
Also she was kind of hoping it meant Seki wanted to finally do that. Gotou
seemed to think that was his intention. And Gotou's tendency to arrive at
completely erroneous conclusions aside, conventional wisdom suggested that it
was the most likely reason.
She had to fight the urge to squeal in glee at random times for the rest of the
week.
The weekend couldn't come fast enough.
It was easy enough to hide that she was packed for camping trip and not a
weekend slumber party. All she had to shrink her stuffed hiking backpack to a
size that could fit in her pocket. Manipulating reality sure had its perks.
After school Friday they changed into clothes more suited for outdoor adventure
before taking the train to the entrance of the national park.
And then they traversed the many trails for hours and Seki didn't let up on his
grueling pace until the sun was already about to set. It would be a race to get
their camp set up before night fell.
She unstrapped her pack and carefully eased it off her shoulders before leaning
it carefully against a nearby log. And she sat on said log and nearly moaned at
the sheer bliss it was not to be moving and not to be carrying 20 lbs on her
back. Seki didn't seem affected at all, but that was likely due to the fact he
wasn't human. Unfortunately, she didn't have that luxury.
Not yet.
She watched Seki as he moved around what would be their camp. The first thing
he did was remove his pack but he just tossed it against a tree like it weighed
nothing (even though he had been carrying the heaviest gear). And then he took
off his shoes.
Rumi frowned at him in confusion. Shadows were already swallowing the daylight
that was still managing to filter to their location through the trees and the
mosquitoes would be out in minutes.
His bare feet would be a prime target.
"Seki-kun?"
But he just waved off the concern he heard in her voice as he pulled his shirt
over his head. Despite the oddity of his actions she let herself admire the
view. Her attraction to Seki was much more about what he could do (to her), but
that didn't stop her from appreciating his slim but muscular build.
She sighed dreamily.
And then he made a wide gesture in her direction.
Rumi rolled her eyes. "Seki-kun, I'm not taking off my shirt. The bugs are
going to come out and it's getting cold."
Seki's blank look became sharp and his eyes bore into her with a strange
malice.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Seki hadn't truly scared her since before she'd nearly been institutionalized.
They understood each other better. He'd had no reason to be cross with her.
Disrupting some of his campaigns had become a playful game of sorts. A friendly
challenge.
She didn't have anything to fear from Seki.
Not anymore.
(Right?)
Why was dread pooling in her stomach cold and twisting?
"Seki-kun why are looking at me like that? You should cover yourself back up."
Her voice was higher than normal and she was finding it harder to breath.
Seki wasn't going to hurt her.
(She was being ridiculous.)
Seki growled. It was deep and low and completely unlike a sound a human could
make.
He snapped his fingers.
And like that her clothes were gone. She shivered and she tried to call them
back as she hugged herself in a futile attempt to retain the body heat that was
being lost to cool evening air, but something was keeping her from the
abilities she had been growing more accustomed to.
And that something was Seki.
She narrowed her eyes at him, but her ire faltered and then sputtered out
completely at the icy coldness lurking in his eyes. It was like she was nothing
to him.
Less than that.
"Seki-kun, this-this isn't funny. P-please stop." She hated begging, but she
would do anything to make him stop holding himself at such a distance. If he
stopped seeming so faraway she would be able to relax and her rising anxiety
would leave her. "Seki-kun?"
"I want to play a game."
Ever since he'd started to mark her, Seki had been able to speak to her when he
chose to. He never said more than a couple words at a time and they always
sounded muffled and off. It was like she knew what he was saying, but only
because of their connection. She figured if his speech was recorded it would
actually sound like he was talking on the other side of a wall. Clear enough to
identify, but not much else.
She had been hoping he'd speak more eventually.
But not like this.
She'd rather he never speak at all.
"Wh-what kind of game, Seki-kun?"
Something shot through the air and wedged itself in the log she was sitting on
two less than an inch from her thigh. It was an axe.
Seki had just thrown an axe.
Very close to her.
"A simple one, Rumi-chan," he informed her coolly as he slowly stalked towards
her position. She scrambled to her feet and started backing away making sure to
keep him in sight and at a distance. Seki finally let his face move from a
cipher's to one vindictively gleeful. "I catch you. You die."
And Rumi turned around and fled into the now dark forest around her.
She wanted to stay and ask him if he was joking.
But Seki didn't joke that way. He might toy with her sympathies or offend her
sensibilities, but he didn't say he would do one thing and then do another.
If he said that.
He meant it.
She stifled the sob that threatened to escape her mouth and probably give
Seki's axe the target it needed to down her.
Why hadn't Katsumi warned her that Seki might try to murder her? Had she not
known?
This couldn't be normal behavior.
She desperately dragged more into her already burning lungs and tried to
pretend her trail worn feet weren't screaming from their unprotected
introduction to the sticks and stones that she couldn't prepare for in the
dark.
Her mind was reeling.
Was it true after all that Seki was just as twisted and heartless as she'd
feared in the dream so many months ago?
Had she really deluded herself to the point where she believed that not to be
true?
Tears welled up in her eyes and unhelpfully made her already limited sight
worse.
Like it mattered.
Night vision wasn't going to save her.
Seki had no limitations.
He could be as fast as he wanted or have a tree fall on her.
The laws of chance were entirely in his favor.
Even as she desperately weaved through the forest she knew she could not outrun
him. He would catch her. Or she would run into a tree and he would catch her.
Or she would trip and break an ankle and he would catch her.
It was a matter of time, not providence.
But since he was truly sadistic he seemed content to let her run herself down.
Ever minute that passed she ran slower and had less distance left in her legs,
wildly beating heart and burning lungs. And every time she thought about just
stopping. Just giving in. He would send his axe flying into a nearby tree. The
dull sounding impacts spurring her on despite her flagging spirits and her
knowledge of her eventual failure.
Every time she heard the blade sing through the air and bite into a tree she
was reminded that he wouldn't just kill her.
Seki wasn't one for mercy.
He wouldn't even be able to comprehend killing something, or someone, quickly.
He would want to savor every last drop of misery.
He wouldn't swallow her fear and confusion and heart sickness in a one big
gulp.
Rather he would sip on it.
He had days before anyone would worry about her whereabouts thanks to the
precautions she'd made with Gotou.
She winced at her idiocy.
Seki hadn't brought her up this mountain, deep into the forest to sleep with
her.
She'd been a fool to even think it.
Eventually she collapsed at the base of a tree so huge it must have been born
when legends were new and completely fact.
It wasn't that she wanted to stop, but her legs had simply decided not to work
anymore and every other part of her decided to agree.
Even though she could still hardly breathe her desperate inhalations soon gave
way to sobs that wracked her whole body. She didn't have enough breath to be so
distraught, but grief tried to wrench itself from her being anyway.
She never felt more alone.
Such bitter sorrow.
She'd never felt fear so true.
She screamed when Seki gripped her chin with a rough hand and dragged her to
her feet and into his merciless gaze.
It wasn't fair.
She was going to die and she couldn't help but feel drawn to him.
It wasn't fair.
(But Seki was never fair.)
She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for him to start hurting her.
She felt as his hand pulled her jaw down.
And then he kissed her.
But it wasn't a kiss with sharp edges. It was soft and warm and safe.
Everything the night hadn't been, but that she'd been desperately hoping for.
The warmth sunk seeped into her blood. Brightness burned through being and her
exhaustion was replaced with vigor.
Seki was never going to kill her, but he'd needed her to believe he would. He'd
needed her to be afraid. So that she could see him fully and completely and
thus let him see her in the same way.
And his mother hadn't warned her because then he'd just would've had to work
harder to convince her he was something to fear.
Slowly she leaned back bringing their lips apart, but only slightly so as not
remove herself from his arms which had surrounded her the moment he could
afford to offer her comfort.
She lifted one of her hands from his shoulder where she been resting it to
stroke his cheek.
His mother spoke of how demons didn't feel guilt and she'd made it sound like a
good thing. No one relished feeling guilt or regret or remorse. They were all
shades of the same capacity to punish oneself for things that could not be
undone. But with that pain comes a strange relief because the crime didn't go
unpunished and penance could be paid nigh into eternity.
But Seki couldn't.
He'd known she was going to be scared and hurting and desperate. He didn't like
it when she felt that way past the levels he found enjoyable, but he would
never be able to feel bad for doing what he needed to do. His conflict had not
come from regret for what he needed to do, but reluctance to do it. He hadn't
wanted to.
But he had.
Rumi smiled sadly at him. For the first seventeen years of her life she'd hated
feeling guilty and her overactive sense of remorse had her constantly trying to
balance very perceived slight or hurt inflicted. And she would still go on to
do loving and considerate things for the ones she most cherished, but she no
longer would be able to regret causing them pain. She wouldn't even be able to
regret enjoying their pain.
Of course it wasn't like Rumi could properly mourn this loss. Not anymore.
And Seki couldn't even grasp the concept.
Already his demeanor had shifted back to boy trying to dazzle her card tricks
or the one who decided to wear scarves in the wrong season.
"So," he drawled his voice was clear like it had never been. A pleasant tenor
with a few dark tones. His tone was bright and silly. "I was wondering. Since
we're out here. And the only clothes between us are my pants," trailed off, but
green eye sparkled with mischief, "Do you want to have sex?"
Rumi started laughing uncontrollably.
It turned out Seki in some ways was just like any other guy.
He just so happened to also be a demon.
But after she calmed down, she nodded with only a little shyness.
(After all she'd had certain expectations for the weekend.)
Gotou had been right after all.
***
And when they returned to school the following Monday everything was pretty
much the same as before. (Except for the knowing gleam she'd catch in Gotou's
eyes.)
Except she was no longer a satellite pulled into his gravity, but a sun that
burned beside him.
The change within her allowed her to see the world around her with new eyes.
She could see heat being transferred or sparks as molecules rubbed together.
She could see the world working around her and suddenly it wasn't so strange
that Seki could enjoy seeming tedious tasks.
No activity was entirely without interest if one could see how said action just
clicked with everything else.
Except listening to lecture.
She finally gave up any pretensions of diligence.
(Seki was right; it just wasn't worth it.)
Fortunately for her they had a field trip coming up so she had a whole lecture
free day to look forward to. She ignored the fact that her days were, for all
intents and purposes, lecture free due to her blatant inattention.
They ended up going hiking at a popular summer camp that rented the facilities
out in the day during it's long off season.
Of course, it just had to be the camp where Seki spent his summers in
elementary.
And of course he'd posted a sign warning trespassers away from some castle,
that knowing Seki, probably actually existed. And she'd absolutely thought the
sign was cute.
But.
Seki hadn't just been some boy who thought he was a demon.
He was a demon.
And he did not like being ridiculed.
So she gently, encouraged her friends to continue down the path.
Seki just glared at the sign until it exploded.
She rolled her eyes. Real mature.
But she'd forgotten just how thorough Seki was on even the silliest of
endeavors.
She really should have realized there would be more than one sign.
And while her friends laughed about the 'Boiling Pond,' she did not allow Uzawa
to try it. Not when Seki's glare alone was hot enough to boil the water and she
knew that water was, in fact, boiling hot.
Although they really needed to stop laughing so much. It was pretty impressive
for a eight year old.
She almost screamed in frustration when they arrived at the 'Dragon's Tomb.'
She shot Seki a sharp glare. "Seki-kun, how many of these things did you make?"
she hissed in exasperation.
Seki actually turned his head away embarrassed. He'd didn't even need to say
it.
She could tell that he couldn't remember.
That he'd forgotten about this whole thing entirely.
That didn't stop his anger from starting to build again like the 'dragon'
everyone was laughing about. Geez, if they didn't stop the earth would 'let'
the beast 'resurrect itself' and they would be eaten.
She grinned when she realized their faces in the moments before its teeth tore
them apart would be just about worth the headache of trying explain the
situation when she and Seki rejoined the rest of their class.
It was almost worth it.
Almost.
(Besides she would miss having Tomoka around.)
Sighing she left Seki stewing and approached the others hoping to convince them
to move or at the very least calm down. "Hey, guys, we should leave the, uh,
'dragon' be."
Yuu regained her breath and looked at Rumi curiously. "Rumi-chan why aren't you
laughing?"
Rumi's first instinct was to lie, but she realized Yuu's wariness of Seki could
be useful. She bit her lip an tried her best to act as if she wasn't one
hundred percent sure of what she was about to say to the other girl. "It's just
Seki-kun is...acting stranger than normal." She leaned forward with her hand
cupped to her face as she whispered, "I think he may be the 'demon.' The one
who wrote the sign. He seems upset. I don't feel right laughing about it with
him right there."
Rumi almost fell to the ground laughing at how pale Yuu's face went when she
heard who she'd been laughing at with such abandon. Rumi watched bemused as she
almost literally pushed the other teens down the path.
Even hanging back with Seki she could tell that some of them were still
laughing.
Her head was starting to hurt. (Tomoka should really tone it down. Rumi could
only protect her to a point.)
And then an idea occurred to her.
"Ne, Seki-kun. When you were younger, you couldn't use your powers as well?"
He nodded clearly unsure where she meant to go with the information. He felt
the desire from her to help and her optimism, but it was like Katsumi had told
her. They were still individuals and their thoughts for the most part remained
their own.
She smirked and bumped her shoulder into his. "Seki-kun you can just update
whatever your 'castle' turned out to be and impress them. Then they won't have
any reason to laugh. You do remember you can pretty much do anything your mind
can think of?"
He looked away once again embarrassed.
His anger had made him forget.
She snorted. And he was the one born a demon.
Quickly she ran up to the others so she could catch the show. He just winked
out of sight.
"Rumi-chan did you see those signs?"
Rumi nodded at Tomoka. "I'm actually looking forward to the 'castle,' you
know?"
Tomoka just dissolved into giggles.
Suddenly the path they were on grew foggy.
"Where did this fog come from?" Uzawa's voice was confused, but predictably
unconcerned. Everyone else suddenly looked at little nervous. Excepting Rumi.
She wasn't going to bother pretending she was uneasy.
Tomoka was quick to notice though. "Rumi-chan you're so brave. Doesn't this fog
make you nervous. It's not the right weather for fog."
Rumi just smiled. "Of course there's fog, Tomoka-chan. All castles have fog.
Everyone knows that."
Tomoka just shook her head. "Rumi-chan is something else."
Well, that was true.
As they walked the fog got thicker until it was impossible to see more than a
foot ahead.
An arm came of the fog and dragged her from the others. It might have been
scary if she hadn't known it belonged to Seki immediately. He dragged her a
ways until the fog just disappeared.
And then he had her turn around.
There was a modest, but impressive stone castle rising out of the fog.
The others must have got close enough to see the massive structure because she
could hear their voices shouting.
"Whoa, this is amazing!"
"How did thisget here?"
"Uzawa-kun don't touch that."
Seki seemed moderately appeased by their wonder, but she had a suspicion that
he had a little more up his sleeve.
And then she heard a large roar rise out of the mist. The ground actually
shaking a little in response.
"Oh my God! Did you guys hear that?"
"That couldn't have been-"
"Uzawa-kun don't go LOOK for it!"
Seconds later they could hear everyone running away from the castle which Seki
was already wiping from existence. By the time the others got to them the mist
was mostly burnt off.
"Rumi-chan where were you? You have to come see!"
"I got lost in the fog, but then I ran in to Seki-kun. See what?"
"The castle. It should be tall enough that it rises-" Tomoka turned to find the
mist and castle gone, "Out of the mist?"
She shot her friend a hesitant look. "You found the 'castle?'"
Tomoka shook her head frantically. "No! We found a castle. A real one."
Rumi looked at the space where the castle was supposed to be dubiously. "It's
not that I don't believe you Tomoka-chan, but I don't see it. Castles don't
just up and disappear."
Except, of course, when they do.
"Rumi-chan I saw it."
"And there was a dragon!" Uzawa informed her. "Didn't you hear it?"
She exchanged a puzzled glance with Seki. "Hear what?"
The other's in the group exchanged a few uncertain looks.
Yuu laughed nervously. "M-maybe we just imagined all that," she said attempting
to have everyone drop what she knew to be a supernatural occurrence.
Not that it was destined to work.
"At the same time? All of us?"
"No way, Yuu-chan!"
"How would we imagine an entire castle!?"
By the bus ride home everyone was teasing the other's in their group.
Seki fiddled with the 'sword' Uzawa had dug up so hastily at the Dragon's Tomb.
All in all it had been a good day.
And Rumi knew there would be many more of them with Seki by her side.
Not a chance that she would be bored.
Chapter End Notes
     So that's the end... of part 2 (which consisted of chapters 5 and 6).
     Originally I intended to end the story here, but part three demanded
     to be written. In some ways I find the third part of this story the
     most creepy. The next chapter will take place after a six month time
     skip starting a few weeks into their third year of high school.
     Any thoughts on the first two sections of this story? ^.^
***** Part III: To Be Fearful *****
Chapter Summary
     "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't
     be afraid." -Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the
     ABC's of Faith
Chapter Notes
     So here it is. A week late, but yeah. A chapter full of dreams and
     metaphor and teen pregnancy. I wasn't planning on going there, but it
     happened anyway.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Dreams had, for the most part, become something Rumi could shape. Sometimes
Toshinari would sculpt the dreamscape around her, but she did not have to allow
it. So while most nights she dreams with him, sometimes she would explore the
darkness of the night alone.
But occasionally her dreams would become im-malleable and stiff to her
influence. She would find herself a merely a passenger subject to whim of the
world around her.
And so she found herself in field of sunflowers with their faces all turned up
and their petals sipping at the sun. For awhile she was content to sit amongst
them, but then she grew bored and searched around her. Searching for something
else to amuse her.
That's when she caught sight of Toshinari cutting through the field clearly
intent on getting somewhere. Of course, even as she got up to follow him, she
knew it wasn't actually him. He didn't feel like the boy who changed some much
of what she'd come to know.
But she followed the specter of her love just the same; Toshinari, facsimile or
not, would surely take her somewhere interesting.
The sunflowers abruptly gave way to a forest deep and dark. Toshinari hardly
slowed upon entering and so neither did Rumi. The further into the forest they
went the less sunlight was able to reach them. The path before her rapidly
became one of growing darkness.
"Rumi-san, you must stop and turn around. Even now the shadows here are taking
root and nesting in your soul."
Rumi turned briefly to see a sparrow flying beside her. Something about the
bird's voice was familiar, but she could not place it and quickly returned her
attention to the boy she was following. Luckily, he was still just in sight.
Determined to catch up she started walking faster.
Beside her she could hear the sparrow as its wings started beating quicker as
it kept pace with her.
"But I want to see where Toshi-kun is going," she told the bird. "And I feel
fine, Suzume-san. I just want to see more than sunflowers and warmth and open
spaces. It's not like I can't come back."
And with those words she shooed the bird away. The pace she was making through
the woods was obviously an awkward one for a bird. Rumi didn't need the sparrow
to trouble herself.
Rumi would be fine.
"Rumi-chan are you alright?"
Rumi pried open her eyes to stare blearily up at Tomoka from where her head was
pillowed in her arms. She could see that her classmates were eating lunch.
Which meant she'd slept through history and math. "Tired."
Tomoka frowned and turned her chair around and sat facing Rumi. Rumi had been
so glad that their final year started with Tomoka sitting in front of her
again. "You've been tired all week. Are you having trouble sleeping?"
"No." It was the opposite really. She was having trouble not sleeping. "I've
been so sleepy all the time. The only thing I want to do is sleep. Or eat," she
admitted sheepishly as her stomach took the opportunity to roar. Suddenly she
had enough energy to get her bento out.
Then she practically inhaled it. "Wh-whoa Rumi-chan. You must have been
hungry." Tomoka had just managed to open her lunch. Rumi blushed feeling
embarrassed, but slightly more energetic for the food. Amazingly she still felt
hungry. Even though her mom had made her an extra large bento.
Just as she resigned herself to watching Tomoka eat her lunch, Toshinari
actually walked over and gave her his bento. Which was strange as they didn't
interact much at school. Not in such a public way.
Also he wasn't one for sympathy.
"For me?" She asked tentatively. Although really if he took it back now she'd
probably just kill him. But he just nodded and returned to the boys he ate
lunch with. They were all gaping at him. Not that he let that bother him.
Shrugging mentally she tucked into her second lunch with gusto. It took hardly
any time to finish that one off as well, but at least she actually felt
somewhat full.
"Rumi-chan was hungry."
Rumi blinked. She'd forgotten Tomoka was even there. She grinned at her friend
even as she felt a blush dust her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I was."
"Were what?" Yuu asked as she joined them. She'd gone to the cafeteria for hot
lunch.
"Hungry," Tomoka informed her quickly. "She just ate hers and Seki-kun's lunch
in like three seconds."
Yuu's eyes widened in confusion. "Why was she eating Seki-san's lunch?"
Tomoka shrugged. "He just gave it to her."
Yuu regarded Rumi with a suspicion that she hadn't for over a year. "Rumi-chan,
why did Seki-san give you his lunch?"
"I don't know, Yuu-chan. Maybe he could tell I was hungry?" She honestly didn't
know. The whole mental connection thing only helped so much.
Yuu's eyes just narrowed further. "But why would he care?"
That was a good question. He really wasn't very considerate most of the time.
It would have been more in character for him to laugh at her for not having
enough food. "Seki-kun can be nice," she said unable to keep the doubt from her
words.
She hardly ever used the word nice in relation to her mate. It wasn't that he
couldn't be kind, but by far and large he chose not to be. It wasn't just
because he was a demon. He was decidedly more cruel than the rest of his
family.
Yuu just shook her head in disbelief. "Sure he can, but why is he bothering?"
Rumi wasn't sure how to answer that question. But unfortunately (or
fortunately) she was already feeling tired again. She barely had enough time to
clear her desk before she was once again drifting off. Falling asleep was
bliss. Whatever Tomoka and Yuu were trying to say to her could wait.
She ended up sleeping through the rest of school.
Tomoka had been kind enough to wake her as their classmates were packing up
their bags.
She mumbled her thanks as she slowly gathered her things together.
"Rumi-chan, I don't think this is normal. I think you should see a doctor or
something."
"I guess," she agreed hesitantly. It wasn't that she thought it was good that
she was sleeping through class, but involving doctors always seemed to involve
a hassle of some sort. She better make sure it wasn't something caused by her
recent transformation before seeking medical advice.
"I'm serious Rumi-chan. We're third years now. We have to set a good example
for the rest of the school. And we have to study hard for the college entrance
exams."
Rumi could hardly believe she was already in her third year of high school.
When she was younger she had never imagined she would have spent the first week
just sleeping. "Tomoka-chan is right. Don't worry I'll get this checked out."
By whoever most able to inform her.
Tomoka's shoulders loosened. "Good. I'll walk you home today, though. To make
sure you don't end up taking a nap on the sidewalk."
But they were not halfway to her house when they were intercepted by Toshinari.
"Er, Seki-kun. I didn't know you lived this way." Tomoka didn't exactly sound
hostile, but there was a slight edge to her voice. She mostly just sounded
curious though. She had never really joined Yuu in her full-blown paranoia.
Toshinari shrugged.
"He's here to take me the rest of the way," Rumi told her friend as she patted
her should lightly. "That way you can just go straight home."
"But, why? Why is he," Tomoka adjusted her glasses as her voice trailed off.
"Toshi-kun is my boyfriend."
Tomoka started hopping around making victorious squeals. "I knew it! I
absolutely knew it!"
Rumi just stared her a little dumbfounded. "You did?"
Tomoka winked at her. "Of course! I was just waiting for you to tell me."
Rumi blushed suddenly feeling very awkward. "I thought you might not approve
because of all the weird stuff that happened our first year."
Tomoka waved off her concern. "Nah. I'm not Yuu-chan. And besides it's kind of
really obvious. Seki-kun is all you ever talk about."
Rumi winced at how transparent she had been, but still managed to smile at her
friend. "So you're not too mad about me keeping it a secret."
Tomoka just bumped her should lightly. "It wasn't a secret. And first year was
weird. I get it. It's funny though. I wouldn't have pegged you for having a
boyfriend in high school, with it being against school policy and all."
Rumi shot an amused glance at Toshinari who was looking thoroughly entertained
by Tomka's antics. "Well, it just kind of happened." It wasn't something that
she could have planned.
Tomoka seemed to double take at Toshinari like she'd forgotten he was there.
Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "You better be treating Rumi-chan alright. I
may not be the scariest person in the world, but I know scarier people. So if
you don't want to meet them, I would suggest you watch yourself."
His eyebrows shot up, but he nodded agreeably enough to placate Tomoka.
The girl turned backed to Rumi. "I'll leave you to him, but we're going to talk
about all this later. You have a whole year to fill me in on."
She and Toshinari watched bemused as Tomoka walked away with a distinct
swagger.
He then offered to carry her on his back which she quickly agreed to.
She was asleep before he had gone even three steps.
She was in that forest again. Chasing after Toshinari. She could hear her
mother calling for her, but she would not let her voice draw her back to where
the sunlight pooled and the shadows had nowhere to hide.
"Rumi-chan."
This time when Rumi opened her eyes she found Katsumi leaning over her. She was
laying in Toshinari's lap and they were all sitting on the couch in their
living room. "Hi Katsumi-san. Sorry I didn't greet you properly earlier." She
managed to get so she was propped up against Toshinari's chest. His heart
sounded slow and sure beneath her ear.
Jun was peeking at her from the other side of where Katsumi was sitting.
"Rumi-chan, have you been tired like this for long?"
She half shrugged. A full shrug was too much effort. "I guess since school
started."
"Rumi-chan you seem to be drawing in a great deal of extra energy to your
person. Demons really only do that for one of two reasons. Either you're
mortally wounded," Rumi felt her eyes pop open, "Or you're pregnant."
"But that's-," entirely possible. "I'm not-," ready. "Are you sure?"
Katsumi shrugged. "Well, I could be wrong, but that also explain why you were
extra hungry today at lunch."
"But I've been like freakishly tired. I think I'm sleeping like twenty hours a
day. I probably am dying. I don't think being pregnant makes you that tired."
"Everyone's different Rumi-chan. In addition to the hormonal and physiological
changes you're going through, demons also take a much longer time to gather."
"Longer time to what?"
"To gather. As in to gather soul of the unborn child to the cells that will
become its body. Upon leaving this world every creature becomes a spirit.
Eventually our spirits are drawn to another realm where they are distilled back
to their most basic essence. This essence or energy is eventually drawn back
into our realm to forming bodies. Most spirits are unsuitable for becoming
demons and so it takes longer for this gathering to occur. Thus you expending a
lot of energy."
Rumi looked down at her stomach fearfully. "But I don't look pregnant."
"It takes less than two months for a baby to have a heart beat which the point
where it starts gathering up a soul. For humans this takes hardly any time at
all. In demons this can take months. The physical part of the pregnancy doesn't
move forward until there is a soul though."
"So I guess I should check and see if I'm pregnant. I mean I could still be
dying, right?" Dying might be easier in all honesty.
Katsumi just raised one of her eyebrows real high. "Rumi-chan don't sound too
excited about the possibility of bringing my first grandchild into the world."
Rumi groaned and buried her face into Toshinari's shirt. She could feel him
laughing. "Aren't you supposed to be mad Katsumi-san. I'm pretty sure you're
supposed to be mad."
Her parents were definitely going to be mad.
"Demons rarely conceive. Kenta and I tried for years before we had Toshinari.
That's why I hadn't cautioned you to be more careful in your extracurricular
activities."
Jun leaned over her mother's lap. "Onee-chan is going to have a baby. So I'm
going to be an aunt."
Rumi managed to smile weakly at the little girl. "Probably. Is that okay with
you?"
"Yes. I promise to be the bestest aunt ever."
"That's great," Rumi said as cheerfully as she could. Already sleep was pulling
against her eyelids. Darkness was pressing against her vision. As sleep wrapped
softly around her she heard the voices of Toshinari's family grow more distant.
"Mama, should wake up."
Rumi opened her eyes and found herself lying in a bed with unfamiliar bedding.
Also the soft blue was nice. She should look into acquiring sheets this color.
She knew the little girl with her hair and Toshinari's eyes was part of some
dream she was having as she slept against Toshinari's side. The girl was small,
but not a baby. She was probably three or four years old. She was perched on
Rumi's stomach with one of her tiny hands poised above her face clearly ready
to poke her again. "Mama's awake Sweetheart. Where's your father?" The words
felt oddly neutral. They weren't embarrassing to say, but nor were they natural
feeling on her tongue.
The girl giggled. "He's makin' a castle! With da dishes!"
Suddenly, she felt irritation and reluctant curiosity flood her. He was
probably using the nice dishes too. He could be so careless!
She quickly managed to find a bathrobe to pull over her immodest silk slip.
Apparently, future her wore nicer pajamas to bed.
When she arrived in the kitchen she found Toshinari doing exactly what her
daughter had said. He had constructed a palace with what was probably their
nicest dishes. And a another little white haired girl seemed to be cheering him
on. Rumi didn't care that he could manipulate reality. It was the principle of
the matter. He was still setting a bad example and their daughters who could
not use their powers near as well as him.
"Toshi-kun."
Surprisingly, he actually seemed to start. This truly was a dream because he
never seemed all that affected by her disapproval. Although that wasn't
strictly true. Of late he seemed disinclined to doing things he knew would
upset her casually. He still did them, but it always seemed more deliberate.
"Rumi, me and Tsuba-chan were just-"
"Don't drag Tsuba-chan into this. My mother gave me that set of dishes." The
burn of irritation on her lips felt familiar and somehow she knew that the
girls name was shortened. And somehow she knew the plates were a gift.
The girl that had retrieved her giggled along with her (twin?) sister. "Uh-oh,
Papa in trouble."
Toshinari shot the girl a betrayed look. "Not you too, Suzu-chan. I really need
your support if we're to have any fun with your mother around."
Suzu smartly shook her head. So did her sister Tsuba.
She smirked. Finally it looked like she had some backup when dealing with
Toshinari and his antics. That she had to make the backup was another issue
entirely.
He sighed and snapped his fingers presumably returning the dishes to where they
belonged. "Geez, Rumi, they're as silly as you. Pretending that they don't want
to do anything fun. I finally got you to loosen up and then they come around
and you want to set a 'good' example. You're like the most confused person
ever."
Rumi rolled her eyes, but she did agree with him to a point. And she was very
confused. Despite her instinctive denial, it was very likely that she was
pregnant. Embarrassingly she hadn't been thinking about birth control.
Initially, there had just been too much going on, but then she'd just forgotten
about it.
It was depressingly irresponsible. She wanted it to be Toshinari's fault, but
it's not like she'd been unwilling. A more accurate description would be
enthusiastic.
She still smiled when the two little girls glomped onto his legs and demanded
that he play hide-and-seek with them. They were pretty cute. Too bad there was
more to having kids than them being cute.
The thought of being a mother twisted at her heart painfully. She wasn't ready
for that. She didn't think Toshinari was either. And her parents were going to
be so disappointed. She hated it when they looked at her and she could see how
they were wishing she had done better.
And after the grief she'd put them through first year, it didn't seem fair to
spring this on them. They'd really only barely stopped looking at her as if she
would come to them with some new horrible life development.
"Mama want pway wif us?" Suzu (or it may have been Tsuba) questioned her green
eyes alight as she tugged at Rumi's robe.
The girl's cheer was infectious and Rumi found herself running around the
apartment trying to find a hiding spot suitable for an adult. While Toshinari,
unsurprisingly, proved to be an equally adept seeker and hider the girls were
too giggly for either position. Rumi was handicapped by her unfamiliarity with
the surroundings.
She still had a lot of fun.
"Rumi-chan! Are you up? You have to leave for school in five minutes!"
Her mother voice jolted her out of her dream. Toshinari must have brought her
back to her house. She couldn't convince really any part of her body that she
needed to move fast so she was already late by the time she got down the
stairs. Her father just getting ready to leave.
He frowned at her. "Rumi-san, you're late for school."
"I was really tired," she said on huge yawn as she stumbled to the kitchen
table.
His frown deepened, but her mom all but pushed him out the door. "I'll take
care of this Katashi. You don't need to be late as well."
Rumi sighed at her parents only semi-whispered conversation, but she focused on
eating her breakfast. When she was eating it was much easier to not be asleep.
"Rumi-chan I scheduled a doctors appointment for you. I'm going to pick you up
after school."
Rumi shook her head as empathetically as she could. "Okaa-san I'm fine."
Yokoi Shiori just rolled her eyes at her daughter's stubbornness. "If you were
fine, you wouldn't be sleeping every hour of the day. I can't imagine you're
doing much better in class."
After eating nearly three servings, her mom drove her to school.
No one really noticed her late arrival because the teacher had let everyone
have a free period. As she sat down Tomoka practically materialized at her
side. "Rumi-chan! I was worried. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just slept in." When Tomoka's frown turned even more concerned she
added, "I'm going to see a doctor after school."
The girl smiled with relief easily visible on her face. "Good. I don't think
it's good to be so tired all the time." Then her eyes took on a mischievous
glint. "So how was it with Seki-kun yesterday?"
Toshinari was on the other side of the room juggling an absurd amount of
paperclips.
Rumi shrugged. "We just went to his house. His mother wanted to talk to me."
Tomoka's eyes widened. "Eh, his mother? You two are pretty serious then?"
But sleep had already reclaimed Rumi.
"Rumi-san, you need to see this darkness for what it is." The sparrow was at
her shoulder whispering into her ear a branch or colorful berries clutched in
its feet.
"Suzume-san, I'm a little busy at the moment," Toshinari was moving at a faster
pace and she was almost jogging to keep up with him. Yet again the sparrows
voice rang familiar to her ears, but she still could not place it.
"Please, eat these berries. They will banish the shadows from your eyes so you
can see the path home."
Impatiently Rumi snatched the berries from the bird's claws and popped a few
into her mouth, but their cloying sweetness swamped her senses and caused the
world to spin around her. She collapsed and the sparrow hopped to her face as
it rested against a fern. The trees of the forests listing drunkenly from side
to side. The sparrow's feathers seemed to burn with the light of a summer sun.
The light dug at Rumi's eyes. "It hurts."
"Not for long, Rumi-san. Let me help you. You've wandered so far off the path."
The sparrow had another berry in its beak, but Rumi backhanded the bird and its
poison away.
"No, I'm fine. I'm fine here." She staggered to her feet and suddenly Toshinari
was beside her. His hand firm around hers as he pulled her in the direction
they had been going.
Rumi paid no heed to the sparrows cries as they followed her deep into the
forest.
It was the chill of Yuu's glare that woke her during their lunch period.
Tomoka was absent, probably to get a hot lunch, and Toshinari was also gone
from the room.
"I saw you and Seki-san yesterday. You looked pretty cozy on his back."
Rumi swallowed nervously. "Well, he, uh-" Why had she never asked Toshinari
what Yuu was. She wished she knew as an aura of anger pooled around them. "Is
something the matter Yuu-chan?"
"Just that I now have reason to suspect that your psychiatrist's mental
breakdown was by no means coincidental. I'm not sure how you couldn't have been
involved, but Rumi-chan, you weren't, were you? Please tell me you weren't."
Rumi shrugged. "I could tell you that Yuu-chan if it's what you need to hear."
Yuu flinched from her bored tone. "Rumi-chan how could you just- You were so
nice."
Rumi giggled at the thought. "What do you mean Yuu-chan? I'm still nice." Just
maybe not all the time. Just maybe not for everyone. Just maybe not very much.
"It's not very nice to say things like that about friends."
And Yuu was her friend. Or at least she had been.
"Nice people don't do that and just act like it's okay. Letting Seki-san hurt
that woman; that's not right."
Rumi pressed her lips together. "I didn't let him do anything, Yuu-chan."
"So you- you tried to stop him?" Yuu asked sounding disgustingly hopeful.
"Because there may still be-"
Rumi raised her hand in stop gesture. "I didn't try to stop him either." Even
now, so many months later it was hard for Rumi to know exactly much she herself
was to blame for how events had played out. Sure Toshinari's overall tendency
towards sadism didn't help matters, but she hadn't even tried to get away from
him.
(Not even a little bit.)
She watched as Toshinari came back from where he'd been. Which had apparently
been the bread stand. He had her favorite melon flavored bread. (If it made him
more considerate, being pregnant wasn't so bad.)
Yuu stiffened as she felt his glare fall on her, but she held her ground.
"This is all your fault Seki-san. Everyone knew no good would come of your
family moving here."
Rumi winced as she remembered how Jun had had no one to play with. Was that how
it had been for the boy standing next to her? He clearly didn't need the
company of his peers now, but had it always been so?
Was that how it would be for her child and any others she may have in the
future?
"I told the Elders what I saw yesterday. The Other Council requested the aid of
a special unit stationed in Tokyo. They're going to find out what you did to
Rumi-chan. They're going to find out everything." Yuu's molten glared softened
as she turned to Rumi. "I really hope it's not too late for you Rumi-chan."
And then she turned and sat Maeda and few others Rumi had decided were from the
other community.
Rumi sighed and dragged out her bento. Already she felt bogged down, but her
stomach would not be denied. Even though the thought of some sort of
investigation made her feel a little sick.
Her activities had been easy enough to hide from the police, but this unit from
Tokyo. They wouldn't dismiss dreams off hand. (They might be able to figure out
what she'd done to Taiku.)
"Rumi-chan, are you alright?"
Rumi just shook her head. Tomoka had just returned with a bowl of curry rice.
"Is this about, Yuu-chan? Arai-chan said she was over here and that the
atmosphere looked tense." Rumi looked up in time to see Tomoka sneaking a
glance at the melon bread Toshinari had still in front of him. "Nice Seki-kun.
You definitely get brownie points for buying Rumi-chan her favorite bread."
Rumi just nodded a little sadly. She had enjoyed having Yuu as a friend, but
that just didn't look like it was going to be possible anymore. "She saw Toshi-
kun and I yesterday after you left."
Tomoka just shook her head as she took a quick bite of her lunch. "I never
really got what she had against Seki-kun. No offense," she said absently to
said boy as she took another bit of food. "She always acted like he was some
sort of demon. Who ever heard of a demon who just goofed around all day?" She
asked them waving her chop sticks for emphasis. "Again no offense," she was
quick to reassure him.
But Toshinari just shrugged. She could tell he was still worried about what Yuu
had said.
(Although, in another circumstance Tomoka's unknowing accuracy would have been
amusing.)
Tomoka started rambling about how there was nothing wrong with not wanting to
pay attention during class and that if she wasn't so afraid of disappointing
her mother and didn't want to be a doctor and on and on she went. Rumi finished
up her lunch and the melon bread Toshinari had bought her and half of his
lunch.
"Seriously, Rumi-chan, where are you putting all that food?"
Rumi exchanged a quick glance with her mate, but he just shrugged. He'd never
had a problem with Tomoka. Unlike Sakurako who he insisted had a girl crush on
her. (Which was ridiculous.) "Tomoka-chan, I might be," she leaned forward to
whisper in her ear, "Pregnant."
"WHAT!?" she screamed at a decibel level that had everyone in the classroom
looking at their direction intently. Toshinari was able to discourage continued
interest with a thick and cutting glare, but the table Yuu was at kept sneaking
glances their way.
Only looking slightly chastened Tomoka practically through herself over the
desk separating them. "But that means," her voice a fierce hiss, "That you had
sex."
Rumi blinked. "Er, yes?"
"Rumi-chan, you had sex."
Rumi shrugged and looked at Toshinari questioningly. Was it so weird for her to
have had sex? The way he was grinning at her would lead her to think the answer
was no. "Yeah, I guess, but that's not really-"
"That's against the rules. You always follow the rules."
"I try to, but sometimes I-"
"I didn't even think you knew about sex."
Rumi just leaned back in her chair. She was starting to think she was
unnecessary for this conversation. Toshinari looked on the verge of laughter.
"I'm not that surprised that Seki-kun would, but I totally wasn't expecting
that from you Rumi-chan."
"You don't say." Rumi didn't even trying to hide her sarcasm.
But Tomoka nodded anyway. "I guess that's why you've been so hungry and tired.
What did your parents say?" Tomoka for the first time sounded troubled.
Rumi just shrugged. "I'll let you know when I find out."
With the way her luck had been going, she wouldn't have long to wait.
Somehow she managed not to fall asleep for the rest of the day, but that only
lasted until her mom picked her up.
The trees blur in her vision as she races through the forest. Just at the edge
of vision she can see Toshinari as he leads them onward into the heart of the
forest. The sparrow is a bright blur that darts in and out of her vision.
"Go away, Suzume-san. I care not for the bright places."
But the sparrow refused to leave her. "Rumi-san, I will get help. We will lift
you to a safe place where the darkness does not reach."
Rumi stops and glares at the bird flying around her. "I don't wish to go with
you. How will I ever get back here."
"It is deeply wrong to want to be here where the sun cannot reach. Where it is
cool evening at all times of the day."
Rumi snatches the sparrow out of the air. She can't afford to let it call on
help. "Suzume-san, I cannot allow you to call your brothers and sisters of the
sky." And so she rips out its tongue.
The bird thrashes and makes weak sounding noises of distress at the back of its
throat.
"Now the eyes Mama. Do the eyes."
She turns to find the girl she seen in her other dream. Suzu. Somehow she knows
it is the one she called Suzu. "You think I should?" Was this a normal thing to
ask one's child?
(She did not think it was.)
But the girl just clapped her hands together. "Mm-hmm. It's what Papa does."
"He does." The bird's struggles were growing weaker if not less desperate.
"'Sides it's lookin' dat gets 'em in trouble," Tsuba the other girl said as she
appeared from behind a nearby tree. The two girls giggled together.
Rumi bent over and found short but sharp stick. Her mouth turned up cruelly.
"You hear that Suzume-san? You should have turned your eyes away."
Its eyes burst like berries underfoot.
"Rumi-chan, we're here."
Rumi just nodded as she followed her mother to the front of the hospital.
Her stomach was turning slowly in a most unpleasant manner. She wasn't sure if
it was because of the morning sickness, her ever present hunger or nerves.
The waiting room was practically empty. There was an elderly couple, a harried
looking obese man and a woman with two small children and a baby. Rumi supposed
it was fitting that the last looked as tired as she felt.
She really wasn't ready to be a mom.
"Yokoi-san?"
She and her mom looked up to see a nurse calling them over. Then she led them
to small room.
Looking to Rumi she asked, "Rumi-san has not been feeling very well?"
Rumi just shook her head no.
"Well, hopefully we can find out why. I'm going to check your heart and
breathing. I also will be needing a urine sample. Depending on the results from
that I may need to draw some blood. But before I do any of that I'm going to
ask you some questions. I need you to be completely honest even if the
questions seems strange or unimportant."
"Hai." Rumi didn't even bother to hide her reluctance. Her mom from the chair
next to her squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"How many hours a day are you sleeping?"
Rumi shrugged. "Most?" Her mother's grip tightened.
"Is it restful sleep?"
"Yes."
"Have you recently changed your diet?"
"Well, I'm eating more," she admitted. "Nothing too different though."
The nurse paused and frowned at the list she was reading from. She then flipped
to a new page even though she only got a few questions on the previous one.
"Have you been sexually active in the last three months?"
Rumi winced as her mom's grip went from tight to bone twistingly painful. "Um,
yes?" she answered even as tears started to prick at her eyes. Her mom sure had
strong hands.
"What forms of birth control have you been using?"
In a desperate act of self-preservation Rumi yanked her hand free. "N-none."
She swallowed heavily as she watched her mother's hands clench into fists so
hard the knuckles creaked. (Thank goodness she'd gotten her hand free.) She
dared not look up at her face.
"When was you're last period?"
"Uh, Fe-February. Or maybe January, I think." She winced. She really had been
stupid. It was mid-April. How had she not noticed.
The nurse set her clipboard aside. "Rumi-san, I think that's enough questions.
Please sit down up here. I'm going to listen to your heart and check your
breathing." Which she did in silence. And after making Rumi pee into a tiny
cup, she left the room.
Finally, Rumi gathered enough courage to look at her mother's face which was an
action she immediately regretted. Yokoi Shiori was rarely angry, but when she
let her temper loose she sent foe and friend alike running. Rumi had never seen
her mother so angry.
"Rumi-chan how could you do this?"
Rumi allowed her gaze to fall to her toes. "I didn't mean to. I mean I- I might
not be-I might not actually-"
"That it is even a possibility is shameful. Your father and I have raised you
better than this. Do you know what this means? You'll be kicked out of school.
People will look down on you and us."
Rumi wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly the room felt freezing. She felt
small and stupid. And lost. "It's not like I was ever as good as Daiki-kun
anyway."
Her mother didn't even deny it. "We still expected better than this. What can
you hope to accomplish now? You can hardly focus on class now. I don't think
being a mother will help."
Rumi squeezed her eyes closed and tried to ignore how damp they felt or how
tight her throat was. She hated disappointing her parents and she was scared of
being a parent well before she was ready. She was scared that her mom was angry
and would abandon her. "I don't know," she whispered.
Her mom sighed. "Rumi-chan if you're- Being a parent isn't a small thing. Once
you're a parent, you don't get to be a child anymore. You have to take
responsibility for your actions and accept the consequences of them. It's not
about you anymore."
Rumi nodded miserably. She couldn't even respond to her mom. She just cried as
sobs started wracking her body. She heard her mom get up and felt her pull Rumi
into a surprising gentle embrace. Her mom's scent of lavender surrounded her.
Ever since she was born her mom had been there for her.
Now she needed that more than anything.
"Shush Rumi-chan. I am mad. I am disappointed. But you are my daughter, and you
are not alone."
Rumi hugged her mom back fiercely her heart burning with an overwhelming
feeling of relief. "Thank you, Okaa-san. Arigato."
About four hours later and the nurse returning to draw some blood they were
moved to a different room where they were met by a Dr Kimura.
"Well, Rumi-san is definitely pregnant. She is eleven weeks in. I had the nurse
move you to this room so we could do an ultra-sound."
Her mom nodded stiffly. Rumi had to change into a hospital gown and then Kimura
rubbed some cold gel over her stomach. She turned on a nearby screen and put a
short rounded stick to her belly. A frantic beat filled the room.
"That's your baby's heartbeat." As she said this the screen filled with a bunch
of grey with a black center and with a little clump of grey. Kimura pointed to
the tiny clump. "And that's you're baby or babies I should say. You notice the
heart beat has two different rhythms. It appears you're having twins. See right
here." Kimura pointed to something, but Rumi couldn't really see it. She could
hardly hear. Twins? One unexpected child had been more than enough. "You can
just make out the other one."
A glance at her mom revealed her face had lost most of its hard edge and her
eyes had become glossy. "Are they okay?" her mom eventually asked as the
thundering of the two little hearts settled around them.
Kimura nodded. "Their hearts are beating strongly. They are a little smaller
than I would have thought, but every child grows a little differently."
After that Kimura printed out a picture for them to take home. She prescribed
vitamins and gave Rumi a nutrition plan.
It was nearly ten o clock by the time they got home.
Both her father and Daiki were waiting up for them at the kitchen table.
"So?" her father asked clearly prepared for bad news. Daiki just looked
apprehensive.
Her mom put a supportive arm around her shoulder. "Our daughter is pregnant."
Her brother paled dramatically, but her father just went still. "Is that so?"
She nodded. Actually scared of her father for the first time ever.
"Rumi-san has let some boy touch her. Let him dishonor her and our family."
She whimpered. her father's eyes were cold as he walked towards her. Daiki had
got to his feet and he looked on the verge trying to hold him back. "Otou-san
I-"
"Do we mean so little to you? Do the sacrifices we make for you mean nothing?"
Rumi just shook her head. She loved her family and she appreciated everything
they did for her.
She flinched as he raised his hand but he lifted it to her cheek. He sighed. "I
have never hit you and I don't plan to start now. Right now I am terribly angry
at you. And more than that I'm scared for you. But I will come to terms with
both those feelings because you are my daughter. I don't get to choose whether
I love you. And I don't get to choose whether I take care of you."
Tentatively she wrapped a hand around his wrist. She had always been reassured
by the fact that her father's hands were larger than hers. That he was steady
and sure. That he always knew what to do. "I don't want you to be angry." She
wanted to say she was sorry, but she wasn't. She couldn't be. While she may not
be enjoying the results of her actions she did not regret them. And she did not
want to lie to her father.
He lowered his hand away from her grasp only to clench it into a fist. "Who is
the father?"
"Toshi-kun." There was no point in lying really, but she realized from the
blank looks she was receiving that the familiar address was obscuring his
identity. "Seki Toshinari."
Her mother stiffened beside her. Her father clenched his teeth. Her brother
actually growled.
Her father leveled an even glare in her direction. "He was the boy from the
investigation."
She just nodded. There was no point in lying about that either.
"They thought he was hurting you. Rumi-san has he hurt you?"
Rumi forced herself to hold his gaze. She wanted to say no, but that would be a
lie and she didn't want to lie. Her father had always protected her and she
didn't feel comfortable lying about such a thing when he was asking her so
directly. Toshinari had hurt her. He was thoughtless and callous. He could be
cruel, but she knew he would never be as bad as he had been before they
completed their bond. That she would never again have anything to really fear
from him. She was surprised to realize she already forgiven him for the events
of her first year. After all she had discovered she could be just as cruel.
Just as mean.
Katsumi had told her that demons didn't just bond with the first human to
notice them. Not usually. There were other factors. She said it was rare for
demons to find their mate so young. Almost unheard of.
Eventually she said. "Toshinari loves me; the police were just confused about
the situation." That at least was true. Toshinari did love her. And she loved
him in return. She'd accepted all the parts of him even the one's that weren't
particularly acceptable.
"But how did this even happen?" Daiki demanded.
She shot him an incredulous stare. "Surely Daiki-kun knows where babies come
from?"
Before her brother could sputter out a reply her father started laughing.
Laughing hard. Laughing so hard he was leaning against the back of a chair
clutching at his sides. Yokoi Katashi rarely even chuckled.
"Katashi-" her mom said softly as she carefully made her way to her husband.
"Dear are you-"
"Our naive little Rumi-san just sassed Daiki-kun about where babies come from,"
he managed to say breathlessly.
For some reason this caused her mother to fall into a fit of giggles.
Rumi felt a nervous laugh creep up on her. She'd broken her parents. She
watched numbly as they collapsed together on the floor. "Ano," she looked to
her older brother helplessly.
But even he was chuckling a little.
"What?!" Oh goodness, she'd driven her family crazy and it hadn't even been
intentional.
He shrugged. "Well, I'm eight years older than you. I think we all just thought
I would be the one providing the first grandchild. And that you with your
personality wouldn't know much about sex for many, many years."
Rumi sighed as she watch her brother join her parents. She supposed it was
better to laugh than to cry. And she knew it was better to have them than to
not have them.
(She was truly grateful to have them.)
She just wished their acceptance didn't feel so fragile.
There were a great many things that she hoped to never have to tell them. That
she wasn't sure she would have the luxury of keeping hidden indefinitely.
They could accept a Rumi that made mistakes.
(But could they accept the things she'd done on purpose?)
***
In the heart of the forest are old trees that sing of stories long forgotten.
The dark has a soft quality to it and strange and fantastic things glow dimly.
It is not the easy beauty of the meadow, but one that cuts and stings and aches
in the secret places of the heart.
And it is quiet.
And it was in this stillness that she walked hand in hand with Toshinari. The
quiet between them comfortable and soft.
Then a flock of swallows descended upon the clearing they were in like fallings
stars cutting through the dark of the night. The birds they took no mind of
them. Except for one.
It hopped over to Rumi trailing good fortune like dust in its wake.
"Yokoi-san, how did you come to be here? It is not safe to wander so far from
where the sun's reach."
"Tsubame-san, know that I am fine and be on your way." She could feel the
sparrows blood tacky between her finger tips as she rubbed them together.
But the little swallow would not be deterred. "But there is blood on your
hands. Have they been torn by a thorn in this dark? Or a dangerous beast?"
Rumi frowned at the bird's persistence. "Tsubame-san, concern yourself not with
the blood on my hands."
But still the little swallow would not be deterred. It came closer. "Yokoi-
chan, this is not your blood. Whose blood paints the skin of your hands?"
Abruptly fed up Rumi ripped a long strand from a spider's web and twisted it
around the swallow's beak. "Speak no more Tsubame-san."
"Mama can I pway wif da birdee?" Tsuba was their with her sister. They both
looked up at her beseechingly. Toshinari was holding additional spider's silk
in his open palm.
She took the spider silk and tied it to the swallow.
And the two girls with her hair and Toshinari's eyes killed it.
They took its eyes first.
The following day her parents made her stay home from school and she didn't
bother arguing. She could sleep just as easily at home as she could at school
and would be much more comfortable.
They also called Katsumi and arranged for Toshinari and his family to eat
dinner with them that evening. The whole arrangement made her nervous, but she
would finally be able to meet Toshinari's elusive father.
Fortunately the only time she was conscious enough to worry was lunch and that
only lasted long enough for her to eat three large bowls of udon.
When the Seki family arrived she was only half awake so she drifted lazy
between just listening to familiar voices rumbling around her and following
Toshinari as he was confronted by the members of her family.
Her dad was the first to pull him aside and Toshinari actually seemed to fear
him. This fact made her most gleeful. But that didn't stop her from standing
beside him. Her father couldn't see of course, but her support seemed to make
him feel a little better.
Yokoi Katashi fixed him with a stern glare. "Did you know, I used to think I
loved both my children equally?"
Toshinari just shrugged confusion clearly painted across his face. Even if he
could have spoken, he clearly had no idea what to say. Her father's words felt
like needles embedded in her heart. Had she truly disappointed him that much?
Her father just chuckled, but it held no mirth. "If someone had asked me, I
would have guessed I loved Daiki-kun more." At his soft admission it felt like
the needles twisted. "I'm certainly prouder of him. He is more obedient;
although I used to think Rumi-san was not too far behind him. He is responsible
and well respected. But," her father stopped to run a hand through his hair.
She realized that it was thinner than it had been when she was younger. Her
father was aging and she was probably helping him do so even faster. "But I
found out not too long ago that it is my precious daughter that I treasure the
most. Can you imagine my horror when I found out that she was pregnant? That
she'd let you, some stupid boy, touch her? Tell me why I shouldn't kill you
because I've managed to come up with quite a few ideas in the last twenty four
hours. She said you're some kind of mute, but I still expect you to answer me."
Toshinari froze for a second before he reached up set the tips of his fingers
on her father's forehead while maintaining eye contact. And then he let her
father feel what he did. His love, his joy, a fierce protectiveness she hadn't
even known to look for. She could feel how hard it was for him to do this. It
took skill and Rumi knew she might never be able to do so. He told her father
the only way he could by showing him a glimpse of his heart unfiltered and as
clear as he could make it.
Her father stepped back. "What are you?"
Toshinari carefully wrote out the word demon in the air before him. He super
heated the molecules so her father could see.
"Then those dreams Rumi-san was having... That was you?" Far from looking
afraid at this development her father looked beyond furious.
My kind does not know remorse. But your daughter has nothing to fear of me now.
Her father frowned at the words as the sparked and then faded from his vision.
Then he sighed. "She's like you now, isn't she?"
Toshinari just nodded.
"And she- That woman Taiku wasn't trying to drive her insane, was she?"
Toshinari shook his head no.
"Why did she do that? Rumi-san was never cruel before."
After taking a deep breath, she forced her dream self to become visible to her
father. "Otou-san," she said softly as she walked up to him.
He didn't even blink at her sudden appearance. "Were you always this way? Was
it just hidden? A dark secret we hadn't thought to ask about?"
Rumi shrugged. "Maybe Otou-san. I can't say I regret it."
"If Taiku hadn't been trying to send you away, if we hadn't hired her-"
"I wouldn't have done anything to her. I'm not looking for people to hurt.
Didn't you know Otou-san, you have to look at a demon before they can see you
properly."
Katashi looked at her a long moment. "My daughter doesn't have to be so
creative in coming up with ways to terrify me. The fact that I have to let her
out of my sight is more than enough." She opened her mouth, but he held up his
hand to silence her. "Go back to your body. Surely you rest better that way. I
have a few more things to say to this boy and you've heard enough."
And so she returned to where her body was dozing. Jun was cuddled up to her
while she watched a cartoon on the TV. She could hear her mom and Katsumi
laughing in the kitchen.
Her brother was sitting beside her on the couch scowling in the direction her
father taken Toshinari.
He jumped to his feet and dragged Toshinari out the front door when they
returned.
She didn't even bother to follow them. Her mate wasn't even half as nervous as
he had been with her father. An hour later as dinner was about ready they
stumbled back into the house with matching black eyes and grins.
Boys were so stupid.
At dinner, her mom took to telling her boyfriend just how he was going to need
to take care of her. Most of them were practical. Many were passive aggressive
threats. And a few were a little racy, though indirectly said in
acknowledgement of Jun's seven year old ears.
So in the end her family was able to welcome Toshinari's. Her father even
seemed to be willing to accept the fact she was no longer human which gave her
hope for the rest of her family.
That night when she dreamed she dreamed with Toshinari.
He looked around at the tall trees and deep shadows around him. "This place
again?"
She opened her mouth to respond when the two pinpricks of light started weaving
their way through the trees towards them. As they came closer she saw them to
be the sparrow and swallow from her previous dreams.
"You tried to silence us, but they have ears for listening now!" the sparrow
sand as it circled her its eyes empty sockets. Its feathers no longer bright,
but like the dying embers of a fire.
"And they will see you're indiscretions," the swallow told her triumphantly
with the spider silk cut to allow its song free. The strands wrapped around its
wings, but it flew despite the difficulty they caused. The strands were like
shadow and its feather were also dim.
There words rang in her heart ominous and a chill that spread through her
veins. She plucked them from the air and crushed them, but even as the innards
oozed over her fingers their voices still rang out as their spirits burned
brighter and brighter. Like a beacon.
Toshinari plucked them from the air clearly intent on destroying them more
permanently, but she stayed his hand. Killing a spirit was different than
killing a body.
Gently she took the sparrow from him and brought it to her heart.
"Suzume-san I will hide your song here where they will not think to look." And
then she pressed the spark of light into her heart where burned, but was
silent. And then she did the same with the swallow.
Toshinari put his ear to her chest to see if their song could be heard.
"What does it sound like?" she asked.
He regarded her solemnly. "Thunder, Rumi. Your heart sounds like thunder and,"
hesitated before his face became confused, "Laughter. Under the roar of thunder
your heart is singing with joy."
And the blood disappeared off her hands.
Chapter End Notes
     Just an FYI. Any comments made about the nature of conception and
     when the soul begins are to facilitate plot points. I have my views,
     but they are not expressed in this chapter.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!