Torikawa Sekai

"We're having dinner in half an hour," Kuromura announced as she slid open my door. "I think that should be enough time for you to get ready."

"I can have dinner here?" My eyes widened in surprise as I turned to face her.

"My mother," she replied with poison obvious in her tone, "insisted."

"Okay, let's go!" I stood up quickly and reached for the door.

"Don't you have to... do something about your appearance, like, your hair? You do notice that my mother is a very prim and proper person. At least let her have one less thing to comment about."

I ran my fingers through my long brown strands absentmindedly. "My hair is fine. Let's go!" I bounded out the room, leaving Kuromura, shaking her head in exasperation, to follow closely behind.

From what I could see, the Kuromura's were a small family. Other than a couple of those maids and other random helpers in the house, there were no other of Kuromura's family or relatives in sight. That had made this large luxurious house seem like a large waste of space.

Kuromura's mother, Kuromura and I, ate dinner in silence with only her mother asking me questions about my family and school records from time to time. There was not much I could talk about when it came to academic results, much less could be said about my family since I was an orphan.

Kuromura seemed used to the silence hanging between the elder woman and herself, but kept shifting about in her place each time her mother inquired about my life yet again.

"Sometimes. And once in a while my father sends me money," I replied to her previous question about whether I worked for my own allowance.

"Your father? But I thought you said-"

"AHEM!" Kuromura slammed her chopsticks down and stood up. "I'm done," and she walked out the door.

"Please forgive her behaviour," Kuromura-san said apologetically. Her tone changed just then- hushed, with an interrogating voice. "You know her well, don't you? Being her classmate and all... Is she like this in school?"

"I can't say I know her well," although sometimes we were forced to do things together. "If you can only understand her from others' views, then I'll have to say that I feel sorry for you," I started to stand up from my seat. "Sorry that you're not doing your part as a mother."

I took my jacket, gave a curt bow and before walking out, said softly, "Thank you for the dinner."

Why in the world did I just blurt that out? Did my conscious thoughts all but decide to abandon me at just that moment and come back only after I had done the deed? I had no doubt that Kuromura-san would throw me out of her house sooner or later. Remembering our topic from just seconds ago, what was Kuromura really like? I began to wonder as I strolled along the wooden corridor.

She was unabashedly straightforward. Kuromura's voice suddenly resounded in my head, "You wanna die?" Or was that just an attempt to keep people away?

Unafraid. Beating up Takagi- and Kentaro-sempai on the first day of school and standing up to Rika and the unyielding platoon of teachers in school.

Intelligent. Yet unwilling to take the trouble of studying. That I could understand. Who, in their right mind liked to study?

Artistic... Always irritable... Still, patient at times.

And strangely, nice. Helping me off the floor in the kendo dojo and...

"... We'll go Hokkaido someday."

"Uhm."

But her aloofness and that hollow look in her eyes that I saw when I first stepped into this house was eerily akin to-

Loneliness.

Just then, I spotted her. She was standing in the corridor and gazing up at the night sky with that same emptiness in her eyes.

"Why did you walk out just now?"

She ignored me and continued staring up.

"I've been wanting to ask you, what's with the change in your hair and eye colour? They weren't black the first time I met you."

Silence.

"You know I'll keep bothering you until I get an answer."

Kuromura exhaled sharply, "We're having a family gathering tomorrow and one of the Kuromura descendants have to be present. It's always the guy, which hardly concerns me, but my brother's away this time so I had to take his place.

"All Kuromura descendants have dark hair and black eyes. Anyone having other colours was considered to bring bad luck to the family so my mother made me wear a wig and coloured contacts to prevent people from badmouthing my family."

"But I thought your hair was dark brown? Why would you need a wig if your hair was already dark in the first place?"

"I dyed it brown. It's red actually."

I shook my head, leaning against the wooden pillar, "I think your family is being too superstitious."

"That superstition warrants my mother's hostility towards me."

Yeah, and made her the way she is now, not letting anyone get close to her, subconsciously trying to keep herself safe from others. So that she had to alienate her own self.

"I might have said some... unpleasant things to your mother before I came out here. If I stay any longer, it could just worsen her mood and further strain your relationship with her. Maybe I should leave in the morning when the trains start."

Kuromura turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Besides, you have that family thing..."

"You'd just have to stay in your room and not come out."

Huh?

"You have your reasons for saying whatever you said." That, I would have to agree. "Just stay."

Huh?

"Stay just to spite her, since you have no other things to do anyway," she repeated nonchalantly when I failed to give a reply, but her eyes told me otherwise.

"Fine. Since there's free food anyway," I added an explanation that I felt was necessary for agreeing to stay.

The expectant look in her eyes softened just a bit and she turned to face the sky again.

"I didn't know you were an orphan," Kuromura stated all of a sudden.

"You didn't ask," I grinned at her from behind.

Kuromura kept silent.

In the spur of a moment, I grabbed Kuromura's long kimono sleeves to get her attention, "I want a tour of your house!" I gave her a sparkly-puppy-eyes look to emphasise my idea. "C'mon!"

"Now?"

I nodded enthusiastically. Kuromura sighed and shook her head, "If only I had transferred to another school instead."

"You'd regret it," I grinned.

"I think not."

"Torikawa Sekai, I demand that you wake up this instant!"

"Uh, five more minutes..." I mumbled groggily.

SMACK!

"OW!" Where did that tissue box come from?

"And a very good morning to you too." Kuromura was kneeling beside my futon. Oh yeah... I yawned while the sudden realisation hit me. I was staying at her house during this holiday.

"My relatives are arriving soon so-" she stopped at the sight of my puzzled expression. "Seriously, have you slept your brains away? My family event? It's today?"

Oh... I suppressed another yawn as the memory came back to me. Have to wait for my internal CPU to warm up before throwing any thoughts at me to process.

"As I was saying, the people are coming and they're staying for a couple of days. Here's a map of my house," Kuromura placed the neatly folded piece of paper on my futon, along with a tray of food, outwardly ignoring my non-existent state of consciousness. "Stay away from the places I've marked out if you don't want to get the both of us into trouble."

"Uh... Okay..."

"I'll bring your other meals- and don't make too much noise when you move around," she added before walking out my door and sliding it shut after her.

After washing up and having finished the breakfast Kuromura brought me, I walked out of my room with the map in my hand. There was no use trying to tour Kyoto since I would get lost again so I might as well wait for Kuromura to have a break and then pester her to take me out.

I flipped open the map, only to be greeted by a sea of crosses. Oh, well, I guess it did not really matter where I went as long as I kept out of sight of anyone in the house. Crouching behind the wooden banister, I waited for the last of the footsteps and echoes of conversation at the end of the staircase to fade off before walking down.

As I reached the bottom of the staircase, the winter breeze blew past me. I hugged my jacket closer and strolled towards the zen garden where I first saw Kuromura yesterday.

The wind blew again, causing me to shiver, while I sat down on the corridor facing the garden. Japan's winter was never rough in Kyoto but it was still winter.

Some of the tiny white and grey pebbles rolled over one another, shifted by the wind. An image began to form in my mind... A faint outline of Kuromura standing on the small rocks, staring at the sky... What was she thinking of then, with that look in her eyes?

Speaking of Kuromura, she must be already entertaining her relatives by now, although I would say it might not be much fun, as I do not recall Kuromura liking anyone in her family.

Suddenly, my train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

Not good, not good... I glanced around frantically and ran to hide behind a room separated from the bedroom building.

The footsteps got louder and fragments of conversation could be heard.

"...Such a pity that your brother's away."

"Uhm." Hah, typical Kuromura style of answering, I grinned as my ears automatically picked out her voice from the conversation.

"Luckily the curse doesn't seem like it's in this generation."

Curse?

"It would have ruined a nice girl like you. Not to mention all the trouble your parents would have to go through."

Kuromura's reply could not be heard, whether she did say it or not, because it was then that they entered the room I was hiding behind of and their voices died off.

I took a few steps back. Now that I got to really look at it, this room is quite big. What exactly was it for? I unfolded the map and retraced my tracks on the paper.

"Let's see, I was near the back gate so this has to be the... Kendo dojo?"

"I apologise for insisting this, Aki," a voice drifted out from a nearby vent. I peered through and saw a group of middle-aged women standing at one end of the room. Kuromura was at the other end, wearing a white and black kendo outfit, picking out a suitable wooden sword.

"You see," the voice from before continued. As I stepped nearer the vent, I saw that the voice belonged to a woman at least half a head shorter than Kuromura with beady eyes and permed graying shoulder-length hair. "My son wanted to challenge your brother at kendo but since he isn't here, he wants to see if you're up to your brother's mark."

Some of the other women in the group snickered while Kuromura finally decided on one of the wooden swords.

"It is quite fine by me. But you'll have to forgive me for not providing protection suits. I had never trained in them and since this is a challenge in my territory, my rules shall abide."

"Never trained in them before?" The group of women continued to snicker before commenting quietly among themselves, "Then your son would be at an advantage. Since he used to wear protection suits when he trained, the absence of the extra weight would allow him to move much faster."

Really... I had to see this for myself.

"I rarely see you in the Kuromura residence that I almost forgot that I had another cousin," a guy in his late teens and about Kuromura's height with short black hair came to stand beside her to choose a sword for himself.

"I have always been studying in boarding schools." There was a hint of irritation.

"Whatever it is, please give me your guidance," he smirked before heading towards the centre of the room. Kuromura followed behind with a murderous glint in her eyes.

They crossed the tips of their swords to signal the start.

"Don't be too difficult on me, Aki-san," he said as his smirk deepened.

"I would have to ask the same of you, dear cousin." Tints of purple began to show in her irises. Wait a minute...

Purple?

A lone bamboo sword that was standing against the wall began to slide.

CLANK!

At the sound of the fallen weapon, the two began to move. Wow, they were fast!

Kuromura was forced into defensive as her cousin began attacking. Not implying that she was not as good, in fact, she was doing quite well to keep up with his rhythm. Her head, sides and front were covered very nicely. Yet she was not doing much body movements compared to her cousin, who was moving too much around her, trying to find an unguarded spot.

The purple in Kuromura's eyes was getting more and more obvious. She must have realised it somehow, because she started trying to blink it away and the colouration faded away almost instantaneously.

All of a sudden, the other teen's moves got less sharp as he slowed down a notch and began stealing glances dangerously near my hiding spot. Was my presence becoming obvious?

For fear of being found out, I jerked away from the vent and held my breath.

A split second later, gasps could be heard beyond the vent. Overcame by curiosity, I moved in to take a peek.

...To be continued

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