CHILDREN OF SARJALIM

by Angela

 

Sunday, Day Seven:

 

Mikuro was uneasy as he and Haruhiko climbed the long flight of stairs to Ogura Jinpachi's room.  The boy's mother had let them in with a smile, directing them toward the "party" in her son's room.  He didn't know why Haru had decided to come.  After everything these people had done to him, Mikuro would sooner Haru never saw them again.  Especially that kid--Shion.

 

His friend was nervous.  Mikuro could see it in the way Haru ran his hand through his hair before knocking, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes just before his fist fell lightly on the closed door.

 

"Just a second, Ma!"  A teenaged voice called out.  The door opened suddenly.  "I told you, we don't need--"

 

The loud-mouthed boy stopped short, his face distorted into a comical expression of shock.  "Shu--Shukkaido?" he asked, disbelieving.  "Wow!  Shukkaido's here!"

 

They were ushered into the room.  Mikuro felt protective of his vulnerable friend, lingering close behind him as everyone issued startled greetings.

 

"This," Haru's soft voice said hesitantly, "is my friend, Mikuro."  He blushed at everyone's shocked expressions.  "Don't worry--he knows all about the moon base--it's okay."

 

Mikuro looked blandly from one face to another.  It seemed to be an ordinary sort of group.  One boy was even better looking than Haru, but otherwise, no one seemed particularly special.  There were only two girls in the group; Mikuro nodded to them as Haru introduced them--Mokuren and Shusuran.  The boys were Hiiragi, Gyokuran, Enju, and Shion.  Mikuro’s eyes lingered on the youngest boy, Shion.  He was leaning on the dark-haired girl, a serious look on his face.  His eyes flicked up to Mikuro's, and the older boy saw both recognition and shame in them.

 

Looking back at the others, Mikuro sat down with Haru.  He didn't trust the apology in Shion's eyes, but it was Haruhiko's opinion that mattered, not his.

 

"We were just talking about the plausibility of travel to the moon," the responsible-looking fellow named Hiiragi said, his eyes smiling at both of them.  "Nadeshiko said she needed all seven of us, so we were wondering if there was a way for the non-ESPers to be carried by those with power."

 

"I think it's possible," Shion added.  "I've never carried anyone during a teleport, but I know that I have plenty of energy left over."  He smiled at the others.  "A few practice trips to other cities should confirm that."

 

The group began to chatter, discussing the time restraints, the probability of failure.  It was clear to Mikuro that they'd discovered next to nothing about their powers.  Teleporting to Kyoto was one thing, but the moon?  He doubted it was possible.

 

"How many of you are ESPers?" he asked suddenly, his quiet voice cutting through their conversations.  "I know Shion and Haru--but who else?"

 

Gyokuran beamed.  "I am," he announced proudly.  "So are Enju and Mokuren."

 

The dark-haired girl--Mokuren--spoke up.  "But Nishikori--Enju is a telepath, and I've never tried teleportation."  She bit her lip, seeming very afraid of the situation.  Shaking her head at Gyokuran, she declared softly, "I don't think you should count on us."

 

“And you can barely control your power,” Enju chimed in, looking at Gyokuran with concern.  “How do you know you’ll be able to teleport yourself, much less someone else?”

 

Mikuro studied each of their eager faces, wondering how people could stumble so blindly when their lives were at risk.  "Just two then--for a group of seven.  Impossible."  He put his hand on Haru's shoulder, squeezing gently.  "Besides, this one can't teleport anywhere--doctor's orders.  That leaves just you."  He shook his head, eyeing Shion suspiciously.  "There's no way you'd make it."

 

Jinpachi's face got very red.  "How would you know?" he burst out.  "You don't know the first thing about this!"

 

Mikuro crossed his arms, saying nothing.  He wished he'd never offered to come with Haru.  It looked like the whole group was going to be a pain.

 

"He's an ESPer too," Haruhiko defended suddenly.  "He's as powerful as any of us, I think!"  He looked up at Mikuro and smiled.  "He knows a lot about teleportation."  He stood up, walking to the window.  "Anyway, I think he's right.  I can't go, and there's no way Shion can take everyone else, even if you do manage to help, Gyokuran."  He looked up at the moon--just a sliver now--in the deep blue sky.  "I don't think any of us should go.  I don't trust them.  I'm suspicious about why they want to see us."

 

Mikuro was pleased with his friend's decision.  He couldn't see how aliens coming to Earth could be a good thing.  He noticed Mokuren nodding slowly, her eyes never leaving Haru's face.  Apparently he wasn't the only one with sense.

 

"Then I'll go alone."  Shion jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth across the room.  "Nadeshiko said that the computers had been hacked into and altered.  Shion did that."  He glanced around the room, but his gaze settled on Mokuren.  "I think I can fix it, and I can see what they want."

 

"Rin!  No!"  Mokuren cried, almost dropping her bottle of juice.  Mikuro looked away, embarrassed the desperation he heard in her voice.  "You can't go all by yourself!

 

"You can't stop me," Shion answered, the coldness in his voice sending shivers down Mikuro's spine.  It had been a year since he'd heard that tone, but he remembered it perfectly.  Shion meant business.  "I'm leaving tomorrow night, from the Tokyo tower, and since no one else can help me, I'm going alone."

 

*****

 

Alice carried her jacket home, rather than wearing it.  She would've enjoyed the warmth of the early-summer evening, but she was too distressed to notice.  Her mind was clouded by images of Rin making it to the moon, but finding it to be a trap.  Or worse, him lost all alone between Earth and the moon.  The possibilities made her feel sick to her stomach.

 

Rin was uncharacteristically quiet that night, too.  He walked silently, is eyes focused straight ahead and his face expressionless.  Alice suddenly wanted to know what he was thinking.  How did a little boy deal with this kind of sporadic, rushed growing up?  She had a thousand questions to ask him, but didn't know where to begin.  He was closed up.

 

"I could just tell your mother," Alice said suddenly, feeling desperate to stop him from leaving.  "I could tell her that you plan to skip your school's camping trip to run away by yourself for a week."

 

Rin looked up at her, his eyes narrow.  "You wouldn't, though," he said confidently.  "You know as well as I do that we can't just ignore them."

 

Alice couldn't answer.  He was right, but not completely.  Whenever Alice thought of them up there in the cold and the dark, possibly running out of air, she knew they should help them, but when she looked around on a night like this, smelling the honeysuckle and freshly cut grass, she wondered if saving the Earth meant letting them die.  Mokuren had never known Ayame or Nadeshiko, but she'd known Hinagiku.  Beyond the name, Alice couldn't remember anything about him, but whenever she thought of him, a sense of dread settled over her.  She was afraid of him, but she couldn’t remember why.

 

Rin seemed so small and defenseless, in spite of his growth spurt and confident manner.  To Alice he was still the little boy he'd always been--still small enough to need protection.  Rationally, she knew he was a powerful psychic.  She knew he could out-think and out-fight a lot of people, but she remembered how he'd looked after that last time, bandaged from head to toe and so vulnerable. 

 

"I won't let you go alone," she said quietly, not looking at him.  If she had to hold on to him and refuse to let go, she wouldn't let him go alone.

 

"You'll be in Hokkaido," he reminded her.  "Your class leaves tomorrow morning."  He left the sidewalk and wandered into the park, leaving Alice to follow.  "Besides," he called, sitting on a swing.  "I can teleport whether you hold onto me or not."

 

She sat on the swing next to him, dragging her feet in the dusty sand.  "Then I'll learn to teleport too," she announced recklessly.  She knew it wasn't likely, but she'd spend the next twenty-four hours practicing, if she had to.  "Mokuren was a lot more powerful than Shion.  If he could do it, then she must've been able to."

 

"No!"  Rin's voice was low and his hands clenched the chains of the swings.  "If the others can't come, then you can't either.  I won't let you put yourself in danger like that!"

 

Alice looked up at him, startled.  His mouth was twisted into a determined snarl and his eyes were fierce.  "Rin?"

 

He turned toward her, his eyes wild.  "Don't you think I know how scared you are of Hinagiku?  Don't you think that I know he's dangerous?"  He kicked the dust at his feet.  "If Jinpachi and the others came, then I could count on them to watch out for you.  By myself, I'm afraid that I won't be able to."  His hands started to shake, making the chains rattle.  "Damn it Alice, don't you see that I'm trying to protect you?"

 

Her chest hurt.  "And can't you see," she asked softly, "that I just want to protect you, too?"

 

He looked away; his shoulders drooped.  "I know," he whispered, using his feet to trace patterns in the sand beneath his swing.  "But Alice," he looked at her, surprising her with the maturity and intensity in his expression, "you're everything to me.  If you died--if somehow you got killed up there, then I wouldn't want to come home.  I'd want to die there too."  He took a deep breath, steadying his voice, which had begun to waver.  "As long as you're here, I have a reason to come home."

 

Suddenly it was painful to breathe.  Alice stared at him, trying to understand each detail of the moment--the pounding of her heart, the flutter in her stomach, the unmasked love in his eyes.  He was part of her.  When--how had this happened?  How had this boy's love, this boy's life, become more important to her than her entire planet?  "Don't go Rin," she urged him quietly, her voice cracking.  "I don't care what happens to the moon base, to the Earth; please don't go."

 

Rin stood and walked the few steps separating them.  He smiled softly.  Pushing Alice's bangs from her forehead, he leaned down and pressed a kiss onto the spot above her eyebrows where Mokuren had her Kitche.  "I'm going because you do care, Alice.  Mokuren asked me to protect this planet, and your very existence here makes me want to do it.  I'm going to the moon, Alice.  Please don't try to stop me."

 

She watched as he turned and ran home through the darkness alone.  She was stuck, frozen to the spot by her own helplessness.  She lifted her hand to her face, touching the place of his kiss with her fingers.  He wouldn't go alone.