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Chapter Two
Key to Salvation
Downtown Okayama. Asuke, who wore the same clothes as he did the day he was ambushed and a large white bandage around his head, grabbed his house keys and put them in the door when it suddenly unlocked. He pressed his ear against the door listening to a young woman laughing and talking with Ro.
"Oh, great" Asuke said irritated. He opened the door, revealing the young nurse he had met the day before, wearing the same exact uniform, and Ro, who stood across the living room drinking a cup of imported coffee. "Afternoon, Asuke. You remember Nurse Naomi?"
They simultaneously bowed and greeted each other. She glanced at her wristwatch and said, "I better be going. My shift starts in 20 minutes." Naomi walked over to Ro and kissed him on the cheek then whispered something in his ear, while she grabbed her handbag. She headed out the door, saying her farewells to Ro and Asuke as she walked down the stairs.
Asuke turned left into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of cold water from the refrigerator. Ro came from behind and asked, "What do you think?"
Asuke sneered under his breath and vicariously said, "I’m not going to bother with you." He drank some of the water and walked to his work desk, placing the glass next to a framed family portrait of his father, mother, and self. Asuke sat down and began reading an old financial report on the Imo Power Company, his late mogul father’s business. Asuke gave a sorrowful sigh and started underlining specific names and amounts.
Ro walked to Asuke. "I’ve got a date, so I won’t be home until morning," Ro said putting on his stylish sports coat.
"What a shocker." Asuke mumbled under his breath.
Ro watched Asuke work. He put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Your father…-" He strained his voice, "-killed himself, kid. It’s been three years. The sooner you accept that the sooner you’ll get on with your life." He patted his back then left the room. Asuke kept working for the next few hours as if Ro hadn’t said a word. He got up to grab another glass of water when it started getting dark, turning on the desk lamp. He went to the refrigerator, grabbed the pitcher of water, and poured the cool liquid into his cup.
Asuke turned around and headed back to the room when someone knocked on the door. He grabbed the knob expecting Ro asking for his house keys. When he opened it, he was shocked to see Neko, who simply smiled at him, as she shivered in the coldness of the street. "Neko?" He asked, "What are you doing here?"
"A nurse told me you left earlier today then gave me your address." She said making her way into his house as a staggered Asuke watched her come in. "I ran all the way here. Almost got ambushed by that dumb Anti Twilight Force." She grabbed the glass of water from his hand and began drinking it, then spat it outside. "Yuck… Too cold." She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass from the faucet.
Asuke, still dumbfounded, stood by and idly watched her as she broke everyone of his values and ideals. He slowly snapped out of his trance and softly said "Umm… Neko?"
She drank her warm water then asked, "What’s the matter?" He just stood by the door; unable to neither contemplate nor express the violation of personal space or etiquette she had just broken. She watched him as he started to mouth some gibberish then it became clear to her. "Oh yeah!" She made her way to the doorway. "I forgot you humans are so up tight." Neko gave winked at Asuke as she stepped outside. She turned to him and bowed, asking, "May I come in?" He held his arm out as an expression to come in. As she made her way back in, she softly kissed his cheek as he closed the door. Asuke blushed and began falling into another daze.
Neko guzzled her water and put the glass back on the counter. Her eyes gazed at the empty glass. "I wish I could taste things." she whispered to herself, resting her face
Asuke came to her side and said, "Water doesn’t have a taste."
"I know. I just wish I could taste anything."
"How do you know what taste is if you’ve never…?"
"Faint memories. Not many people know this, but there isn’t a Twilight who can clearly remember anything before the first time we appeared in your world." She started to play with the glass, racing her finger around the rim. "We can only recall short scenes from our ‘past lives.’"
"But that was almost two centuries ago. How do you know all this?"
"Because I was there when we came into this world."
Asuke was astonished by the fact that the young woman before him was over a century old. "You don’t age?"
"Twilights can’t breed, age, or need to feed. If humans weren’t so hostile, you would know more about us." She gave a sad, disappointed groan. "My world is almost a wasteland. Even though your kind longs for the destruction of mine, I still enjoy the brief time I spend here. The colors, the people… everything! I want to live here so badly." A transparent tear ran down her cheek as silence retook the room.
Asuke put an arm around her shoulders and held her closely. "I promise I’ll find a way to bring you into this world. No matter what it takes, I’ll give you the freedom you rightly deserve." He whispered. Neko kept sobbing, hugging him tighter as the sun set beyond the horizon. She disappeared before his eyes.
Asuke relaxed his tense body and poured some water in the empty glass to left of him. He drank a bit of water then sat back at his desk glaring at the city from a distance outside his bedroom window, watching as the automatic streetlights turned on all at once and people made their way home. Asuke gave a simple exhale then turned off his desk lamp, leaving his world in darkness and obscurity.
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Asuke made his way down the busy street. His navy blue high school uniform and blazer shimmered in the early morning sun as he climbed the steps of Okayama Secondary. The judging eyes of the students and faculty watched as he entered his first class, all paying attention to his bandaged head wound. His fellow classmates whispered amongst themselves. Asuke ignored his peers. He took out a notebook and began reading the notes on the Imo Power Company he had written the day before. He began circling names, transactions, and amounts he found suspicious when a young woman wearing the school uniform sat in the vacant desk next to him.
"Good morning, Asuke." Said the young women, flicking her long brown hair back in an odd attempt to get his attention. Asuke slightly waved his hand as he circled more data. "I heard you were mugged on Saturday. Are you okay?" she said in her almost perfected phony/sincere voice.
Asuke grunted then replied, "I’m fine, Maya." He kept at his work.
Getting out of her seat, knowing he wouldn’t notice her no matter how hard she tried, Maya said under her breath, "Idiota. No puedes ver que…" in her native tongue as she somberly walked away.
Asuke gave a pleased smile behind his notebook, paying no attention to the additional verbal cruelty Maya spat out as she walked further and further away.
Hours later the school day came to an end. Asuke walked down the steps of the main entrance, Maya following close behind. As he turned the corner, Asuke made a hard right and hid behind a wall when she poked her head out to make sure he wasn't looking behind his back, surprised by Asuke's disappearing act. Maya turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, mumbling vulgar things about Asuke to herself.
Asuke gave a satisfied sigh and went on his way home. As he walked down the lightly crowded street, he began thinking of the promise he made to Neko the night before. "How am I going to do it?" He thought, playing with a dog tag he always kept in his right pocket that belonged to his mother.
Turning the corner, an unlit neon sign caught his attention. It read "TWILIGHTS" in large, Gothic font. Asuke stood outside the window for a few seconds, listening to the cluttering of wind chimes the hung over his head, then stepped to the doorway. Hesitating, thinking the owner would throw him out if he asked the wild questions he had in mind, Asuke turned around when a voice from inside the shop called to him.
"Asuke." It said in a low, muffled pitch. He turned back and saw am old woman waving to him from behind a counter through the glass door.
He opened the door and stepped inside, unsure if what he had just heard was real. "How do you know my name?" He politely yet cautiously asked.
The old woman just smiled. Ignoring his question she replied in a raspy voice, "I know what you seek, young man. The forbidden love you hold for a being not of this world."
Asuke stood baffled at the front entrance, not sure whether to fall further through her web or run away. He slowly wandered closer to the old woman, who still sat behind the counter with a shallow smile on her face. "Who are you?" Asuke asked, not even sure if he wanted to know the answer.
She gave a rigid series of coughs. Then the old woman yet again paid no attention to Asuke's question and responded, "Neko is here. I know what she desires and you can easily give it to her."
Asuke ran to the old woman, slamming his fists into the counter, knocking a vase across the room over. He gazed at the floor, a tear falling from his eye, and firmly whispered, "Tell me! Tell me what to do and I'll do it!"
She slowly put her wrinkled hand on his fists, turning his attention from the floor to the old woman's mesmerizing glare. She leaned foreword, putting her mouth close to his ear, and effortlessly whispered back, "Give me your soul."
 Helm of Demonica · Wed Jan 21, 2009 @ 01:17am · 0 Comments |
