• Chapter 2

    “Ahh. Fresh air.” I sighed, taking in a deep breath. “Wow, sad how much you tend to miss the forest after a few days, especially the silence and peace. Now I know why I wasn’t fond of heading to school, so many people. I sighed as I sat down at the trunk of a tree, taking a small sketchpad out of my pocket.
    I leaned back, trying to think about something other than Yasuo and the fact that he didn’t want to talk to me. “Why!” I cried out loud. “Why didn’t you miss me like I missed you?”
    I lifted my eyes up towards the leaves of the big oak tree. The leaves seemed to shudder and nod in the wind. “Great, I’m talking to myself about a person I hardly know. Why? Was it because he saved my life? Was it because I haven’t seen him for 4 years?”
    I looked back down at my blank canvas after a while, sighing. I decided to try to sketch Naomi in all her beauty. I drew butterflies swirling around her, dusting her with a silver mist.
    I sighed as I looked back down at the drawing. What was it that intrigued me about her? Her beauty? Because she noticed me? Her skills? How much she knew about… No! Bad! I scolded my brain. I was NOT to think about you-know-who.
    “Wow. That looks extremely like me, you sure you aren’t talented in art?” I gasped as I turned around to see Naomi Cho standing above me, sketchbook in hand.
    “Oh. Yeah – I just kinda freehanded it. I’m not too proud of it.” I shrugged like it was nothing.
    “Its sooo cool! It’s like… Wow!” She gasped, staring at it.
    “You can have it if you want.” I shrugged, “Or I can redo it, so it’s better. You pick.”
    “No no! This is great! Don’t do another one.” She gasped, tearing it out of my sketchbook. “Oh and hey, Yasuo was looking for you. He was probably ashamed that he didn’t introduce himself properly, I was pretty mad at his behavior.”
    “Alright thanks. Why would you be mad at his behavior? Are you two like…” She hesitated, not wanting to speak it. “together?”
    Naomi threw back her head and laughed. Like ‘I can’t believe you just said that! You’re hilarious!’ laughter. “Of course he’s not!” She said, still giggling. “He’s more of a little brother to me then anything else. I first saw him a long time ago, he said he was looking for some lady that he saved. He was in pretty bad condition, so I helped him out. We pretty much lived together at the academy after that. I still can’t believe that he saved anyone, he was so scrawny. I asked him about her after that, but he doesn’t like to talk about her. I’ve pretty much stopped asking him, he gets so worked up when I do.”
    “Wow.” I said. He came after me? Why?
    “Yeah. When I took him in, I wouldn’t let him leave. We was like, ‘No! I have to find her! She’s going to need me! I love her! Let me Go!’ It was like he was delirious.” Naomi shook her head.
    “Maybe he did love… her?” I suggested, almost putting “me” in the sentence.
    She laughed, “Yeah, right. He was like 13. Little kids like that have no idea what love is. It’s like, oh I looove him. Oh we broke up, now I looooove him. We broke up. Ug. Little kids are sad like that, claiming they love someone. Hah!” She added bitterly.
    I had a feeling she knew about that firsthand. “So he was looking for me?” I asked, all to eager to get off the topic.
    “Yup. I’ll take you to him.”

    “Hey Nozomi.” Yasuo said when he saw me. “Sorry I had to… rush off… yesterday.
    I shrugged, “It’s OK. I know how busy it must be at an academy.” I looked at my shoes, not sure what to say.
    “Oh, now look at the time. I gotta head off to a meeting. See you little children later.” Naomi winked as she ran off.
    I had an urge to choke that girl.
    “So…. I heard you were learning metal.” I said, grasping at straws.
    “Oh yeah... It’s nothing really.” He shrugged. He looked up at me, “Do you even know what that is?”
    “Sorta… not really.” I confessed, feeling stupid.
    “It’s OK, not many people do.” He smiled.
    Our conversation had fizzled out. But it was his turn to come up with a starter.
    He did something unexpected then, he put his hands on a table and started, oh he started alright. “OK. I have to confess, I think I know you.”
    “From where?” I asked, playing dumb.
    “Don’t play dumb with me.” He growled.
    Wow, how could he tell?
    “Four years ago, I met you. You did the same thing now that you did then. You refused to let anyone know who you are. You tried to shut us all up. You KNEW you’d find me here, so you positioned yourself in the city. You knew you would be accepted!”
    “What? You think I planned this?” I spat, fuming. “Just because I tried to help the city out doesn’t mean I planned meeting you! I was fine until you came into my life and screwed it all up! I would be fine without you!” I screamed. It wasn’t all true, probably none of it was, but I would never tell him that… Never!
    “You know that’s a lie as well as I do! You would be dead without me! You would cease to EXIST. And maybe we would all be better off without you!”
    “Well maybe you should have let me die! Ever think I WANTED to die? No! Because you were too caught up in your ‘Look I’ma Hero’ status!” With that I ran out of the room. Witch was probably the smartest think I had done all evening, because there were tears coming down in torrents.


    Chapter 3

    I buried my face in my pillows. Why did this hurt me so much? He was just a boy. He was just a boy… The words pounded in my brain, making my head throb.
    I knew the truth though, he wasn’t just a boy. I liked him, and it wasn’t just because he saved my life! How could he suddenly hate me? Didn’t he say that he was looking for me? That he loved me? Didn’t he say that we met 4 years ago? Didn’t he remember me?
    Why was this so hard for me?! Oh I love him.. oh we broke up… I lovee him… Was this all I was? An “Oh I love her, oh she left me and when she found me I backstabbed her!?” I punched my pillow.
    It wasn’t fair! Get a grip girl! I could almost hear Naomi’s voice pound in my head. I listened harder, why could I hear her voice almost perfectly in my mind?
    “Nozomi! OPEN UP! I’ll break down your darn door!” Naomi’s voice came though the door.
    Let her break down the door. I don’t care. I thought bitterly.

    Break down the door she did, she came crashing through it – splitting it in half. “Listen girl! What the heck is going on?!” She yelled.
    I wanted to act normal, to scream “YOU KILLED MY DOOR!!” But it was impossible, I broke down, burying my head in my pillow. ….Poor pillow….
    “Listen Girl, you need to tell me what’s going on. I’ll kill the person who made you feel like this.” She promised, sitting on the bed with me.
    “Hah. What a load of bologna.” I growled, scared to tell her who.
    “Tell me!”
    “Yasuo.” I whispered, sitting up and wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
    “Whoa! WHAT?!” She gasped, shooting off the bed. “I though he looked kind of weird but…” She muttered to herself.
    I choked out a sob, “He doesn’t even care!”
    Naomi threw her arms around me. “He cares for everyone! He just doesn’t know you, that’s all.”
    “You don’t get it do you?!” I screamed. Naomi looked startled and she looked at me, question clouding her eyes. “I was the girl 4 years ago! He saved me! I thought I loved him too, but OBVIOUSLY he hates my every being!” I yelled.
    I’m not sure Naomi held me there. I just cried into her shoulder, who knows why I even was crying? Maybe it was actually love? But how would I ever know? He ruined any chances we had together. And now… I felt alone. My only friend was Naomi, a girl I had just met.


    Kaibutsu Nozomi
    Monster Hope

    Yasuo Hiroshi
    Peaceful one Generous

    Raidon
    Thunder god

    Naomi Cho
    Beauty Butterfly