Monday, August 15, 2005

   Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!

Sunday and it's AC/DC and Aerosmith night! Oh, yeah... you've been warned: this post will be kind of long.

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Yeah... I dug out the old AC/DC disk. It's old, but it's a favorite of mine. And my Aerosmith disk is the O, Yeah! one.... best of Aerosmith stuff. Best listened to at loud volumes. Good thing I'm here by myself, eh?

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Well, the tiger is done and will be in the fanart as soon as I get done with this. My brother-in-law has seen it and likes it a lot. So, it will eventually become a tattoo! Yay!

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The day was incredibly uneventful. I finished the tiger and played computer games. That's about it. So, as promised/threatened, here's the next part of my story. For those of you that don't read it, feel free to go look at the tiger or wander off to other, more wonderful things.

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Night had fallen, and Hikaru was watching the girl sleep. She had been crying because of the man. He had spent much of the evening watching them argue. Hikaru had a feeling that they were arguing about him. Finally, she had left the dining area in tears and went to her room. Hikaru stayed behind in the dining area for a while, watching the man as he talked to the Japanese woman named Midori. The man was frustrated and Midori was trying to calm him down.

Hikaru went to find the girl, and after trying to knock on doors, he realized that he could not touch any of them. He found he could go through them as if they weren’t there, and was about to start searching for the girl when he heard her sobbing behind one of the doors. He found her face down on her futon. She seemed unaware of his presence.

He sat down next to her and reached out to feel her hair. The color of her hair was like nothing he had seen before. It was the color of the sun. He began to stroke her hair the way his father had when he was small and had been frightened by something. Soon the girl had stopped sobbing and fell asleep.

Sometime later, there was a soft knock at the door, and it slid open to reveal Midori, who had come to check on the girl. “Sam-san?” she said quietly. She tiptoed over to the girl and saw that she was sleeping and left. Hikaru now knew her name…Sam.

As the night progressed, Hikaru stayed by Sam’s side as she slept. In the partial light, he finally remembered where he had seen her before. It was the night in the dojo’s garden. She had been the girl in the shadows. He had frightened her then, but there was no fear in her eyes when she had found him at the shore.
***
The day after the funeral dawned rather soggily. Takeda had taken Hikaru back to their house where he would be comfortable. Of course, the doctor had not been able to find any physical reason for Hikaru’s condition. Like so many of the townsfolk, he was concerned about the boy. And, like so many of the townsfolk, he had no idea of the real reason Hikaru had collapsed. Only Takeda knew, and he was desperately trying to find the boy.

He had spent much of the previous night searching the area around the temple hoping to catch sight of Hikaru. Once it became apparent that the boy was not there, he headed back to the house. He stayed by Hikaru’s side the rest of the night, hoping the boy would find his way home.

In the morning, Takeda was awoken by a knocking at the door. He had dozed at Hikaru’s side. He was disappointed to see there was no change in the boy, and was reluctant to leave his side, but the knocking continued. He went to the door and opened it to see the anxious face of Satsuo. “Come in, come in,” he said. A look past Satsuo revealed Ashida watching from across the street. “You were followed, Satsuo-kun.”

Satsuo turned and saw Ashida across the street. “I’m sorry, sensei,” he said. “There was no way to avoid it. I tried to evade him.”

Takeda slid the door shut and reassured Satsuo. “That’s all right. He would have found us sooner or later. Now what brings you here on this soggy morning?”

“Mother sent some food for you and Hikaru. She’s worried about him after his collapse yesterday.” Satsuo held out the wrapped bento box he was carrying. “How is Hikaru?”

“The same as yesterday. He still sleeps.” Takeda took the bento boxes and led Satsuo to Hikaru’s room. “You may stay with him for a while. I’m going to put the food away.”

“Thank you, sensei.” Satsuo sat next to his friend and quietly told him of what had happened the previous day. He spoke of how Hikaru’s grandfather was worried about him. Finally, he told about the foreigners staying at the inn.

After he had put away the food sent by Satsuo’s mother, Takeda looked in on the boys. He smiled at how Satsuo was chattering away at Hikaru. He then returned to the sitting room and wrote a message to Nakamura. Once finished, he went to Hikaru’s room to get Satsuo. He realized he had not eaten since the day before. “Satsuo-kun, let’s have some lunch. It would be a shame to let what your mother sent go to waste.”

“Of course, sensei,” Satsuo said. He turned to Hikaru and added, “Take care, Hikaru. I’ll be back when I can.” He left with Takeda.

Over their meal, Takeda talked with Satsuo about what had happened. “This is related to what you saw in the garden that one day,” he said. “I’m not entirely sure what caused him to collapse yesterday, but I do ask that you say nothing of this to anyone, especially Nakamura and his men.”

“Of course, I will tell no one of this.”

“I do have a favor to ask of you, Satsuo-kun.”

“Yes, sensei?”

“Take this letter to Nakamura-san for me. If you can get it to him without Ashida seeing, it would be good.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you, Satsuo-kun. Tell your mother ‘Thank you’ for the food as well. It was good.” Takeda returned the empty bento boxes. “Forgive my rudeness, but could you come back later? I did not sleep well last night.”

“Of course. Let Hikaru know I’ll be back soon,” Satsuo said as he gathered the letter and the boxes and went back to the inn. He noticed that the man was not watching the house when he left.

At the inn, Satsuo found his mother and told her what Takeda had said. He went to the main hall to look for Nakamura. He saw him sitting with the two men. He would have to get the message to Hikaru’s grandfather with the men there after all. He cautiously approached Nakamura. “A message for you, sir,” he said as he held out Takeda’s letter.

“Thank you,” Nakamura said as he took the message. He opened and read it quickly. Ashida and Yonaha were curious, yet showed no sign of wanting to read. Nakamura beckoned Satsuo to come over. “I will have a reply for you to deliver. Please come by my room in about an hour and I will have it ready.”

“Of course, sir,” Satsuo said with a bow.

Nakamura got up to return to his room. He made some excuse to Ashida and Yonaha that he wanted some time alone. Ashida was getting impatient with all the delays, but said nothing. Yonaha was getting impatient with Ashida and was trying to figure out how to tell Nakamura about it.

Outside the rain continued to fall.
***
Samantha woke to the sound of rain the next morning. She was somewhat surprised to see Hikaru sitting in the room. “So that was you last night,” she said. “I know you can’t understand me, but thank you all the same.”

There was a knock at the door and Murphy’s voice, “Sam, are you awake? Can I come in?”

Sam looked at Hikaru and said, “Oh no, he’ll kill you if he finds you in here… what am I saying? He can’t see you!” She got up and opened the door. “Good morning,” she said to her uncle.

Murphy looked around. “Who were you talking to?” he asked.

“The boy. He’s here,” she said. “He’s over by the window.”

“Sam, there’s nobody there. You have got to get some rest. Come down and have some breakfast and we’ll talk there.”

Sam held up a hand and gestured for Hikaru to stay in the room and followed Murphy to the dining room for breakfast. Hikaru followed along. Sam noticed him and whispered, “No. Stay in there,” and repeated the gesture. Hikaru stopped briefly and then followed again. “I give up,” Sam said.

“What did you say?” Murphy asked.

“Nothing,” she muttered.

They arrived to find the dining room somewhat full. The rain was keeping many people inside. Sam and Murphy found Midori waiting at a table with breakfast. Things were a bit tense until Murphy broke the silence by saying, “Well, with this rain, we won’t be doing much sightseeing. Which is good, because you need to take it easy. I think you should stay in today.”

Sam wasn’t paying attention to her uncle. Rather, she was watching Hikaru move around the dining room. He followed the large boy that worked at the inn, until he left with some food. Sam could see the frustration on Hikaru’s face. She tried to get his attention to come back over by her.

Murphy was beginning to lose patience with his niece. “Samantha, that is enough. Stop this nonsense. I don’t care what you and Esther think you’re doing here. You’re going back to Boston.”

That got Samantha’s attention. “You can’t do that. You have no right to order me around like that. I’m not going back to Boston. Don’t you understand? I found him. He’s here in this room and he needs me.”

“Stop it. There’s no boy here but the one serving the food. You’re not well.” He put his hand on Sam’s arm.

She pulled her arm away from his touch and stood up. “Don’t touch me,” she said. Tears were forming in her eyes. She left the table and went over to where Hikaru was standing. Grabbing his hand, she said, “Come on. We’re getting out of here,” and walked out into the rain, ignoring protests from her uncle within.

Samantha wandered through the streets of Kamakura in the rain. Hikaru followed behind trying to get her attention. He finally grabbed her arm and pulled her into a sheltered area out of the rain.

Back at the inn, Murphy and Midori were trying to decide what to do about Samantha. “I have to go find her,” he said. “I can’t leave her alone like this. Not now.”

“I know, Murphy-san,” Midori said. “But she needs your support, too. She is so convinced that the boy is here, that I’m almost ready to believe her.”

“Midori-san, please. I don’t need this right now. I just want to find Samantha.” He got up and went to his room and grabbed his hat.

Midori followed and got an umbrella from her room. “All right, I will help you find Sam-chan.” Together they went out into the rain to search.

Samantha waited in the shelter for a while until the rain stopped. Hikaru took her by the hand and led her outside. They walked through town to the temple. He seemed to be looking for something. A priest came out to ask what Samantha needed, but of course she couldn’t understand him. Hikaru left her alone for a moment, but suddenly reappeared and grabbed her hand and left the temple in a hurry.

“Wait. What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
Hikaru didn’t reply and led her through town again. This time he stopped at a house. He took her by the wrist so she could knock at the door.

After knocking for a while, the door was opened by a rather sleepy looking man. He looked at Samantha and asked what she wanted. He seemed to be a little upset at the intrusion and was even more angry when she moved past him into the house and to Hikaru’s room.

Samantha was surprised to see the boy she had been helping lying asleep on the floor in the room. He was also standing by her side. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Are you twins?”

The man was clearly upset at her presence and was trying to get her out of the room. He was saying something, but she had no idea what it was.

The silver boy looked at the man and shook his head. He let go of Sam’s hand and went to his sleeping form and sat down directly on it – or in it. Samantha looked on in fascination as the silver form lay down into the sleeping one. The boy on the floor opened his eyes and looked up at Samantha and smiled. “Arigatô,” he whispered and reached for her hand.

Samantha took his hand and sat next to him on the floor. The man seemed to forget his anger and asked Hikaru about Samantha. He received no answer as the boy had fallen asleep.

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Well... there we have it. A rather long part of story... finally Sam & Hikaru are together... sort of.

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That's all for tonight. Now go comment on this and go look at the tiger!

Laters!

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