Disclaimer: I've told you over twenty times.
Literally. This is mine. Not yours. NO TOUCHIE MY MONKEY! (I think
that's going to be my disclaimer from now on...)
-
A/N: *sighs happily* I finally got around to writing
Chapter Two. I just went and put in all the Author's Notes on the
remaining chappies of YM. Now that I have the entire book completely
finished, I can concentrate more on the sequel. Which is this. Yeah. So,
not much to say, except perhaps...uh, nevermind. Enjoy the story.
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CHAPTER TWO
ENTER GRANDFATHER
We were...here?
We had finally arrived?
D...
Did that mean I would be able to meet my grandfather
at last?
My eyes sparkled, and I grabbed Naru's arm.
"Are you serious?"
He smirked.
"Take a look for yourself, kid!"
But I didn't need to.
I felt good about this place, somehow. It made me
feel...comfortable. The house, (well what I could see through the gate),
was serenely beautiful, surrounded by sakura trees that were almost in
bloom.
It was the kind of place you see in dreams. You
know, the good dreams where you were standing with the person you love.
I hoped I could someday bring Rapier here.
Apparently, all of my thoughts were revolving inside
my head for a long time, because when I finally emerged from my little
daydream, Naru was waving a hand in my face, and Li had his hand on my
shoulder, squeezing it gently.
"KID! GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Here, baka," I responded, pushing his hand out of
my face.
"Not NOW - a few seconds ago. You WERE off in la-la
land, Tomorrow."
"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes and flapping my
hand. I suddenly became serious. "Can we go inside?"
Naru, noticing the change in the mood, nodded,
grabbed my hand, and pulled me along after him.
Li followed.
-
We stood inside the courtyard for a few moments,
silent. Naru was looking a little embarrassed, for who-knows why, Li was
perfectly calm (as he always seemed to be lately - what a turn-around
that guy made), and I was just about ready to turn tail and run like
hell, but was too scared to move.
"Well...here goes!" Naru spoke up, hastening forward
and quickly rapping once on the wood above the front screen door.
"O...ohayo?" Naru called out, voice shaking. What
was he so nervous about?
There were a few moments where there was no noise at
all, but then a loud BANG! alit the air.
"Hells!" Naru swore, sliding the screen open and
rushing inside. "Hello?"
"God damn this baka screen!"
I jumped.
"Why didn't Mr. Hirojoki replace it correctly when I
asked?!"
The voice was that of an old man's, much like
Xiou's, I realized. Perhaps that was what had startled me in the first
place: the resemblance. But, in other ways, the voice also differed from
my dear old cousin-uncle-father...well...somehow-related-older-
male. While Xiou's voice was calm from his show of years, this man
sounded as though he'd only grown more restless...or something like that.
I don't know! I'm not good with reading people by
their voices! Just read on and you'll understand what I'm getting at!
"I told him three times to use elm NOT oak!"
Li's eyebrow shot up and I giggled despite my
nervousness.
"Uh, sir?" I heard Naru ask from inside.
"Whuh-?"
CRASH!
BAM!
"OW!"
And then silence.
Li immediately pushed me inside ahead of him,
ignoring my protests. My fear had returned.
"We have to see what happened," he insisted, face
serious as always.
The room just beyond the first screen was inhabited
by a hard wood table and nothing else, but when Li pushed aside a second
screen that opened from the west hall, we saw furniture EVERYWHERE.
Dressers, tables, chairs, lamps - okay, so they
aren't technically FURNITURE, but this is MY story and I can do whatever
I want.
Without complaint from the people reading it. HA!
And, among the furniture and lamps and - well you
get it, lay two male bodies that seemed to be in a grave amount of pain,
each one complaining in their own way.
"KUSO THAT HURT!" was Naru's choice of words.
"SHIMATTA!" was the old man's.
Neither very...nice.
(A/N: 'Kuso' means shit, and 'shimatta' means damn.
Sorry for the interruption.)
"Umm...excuse me?" I asked, eyebrow raised,
following Li's example. "Are you both okay?"
Naru's head appeared just above the leg of a chair
that had fallen. His eye was twitching and a vein was pulsating angrily
in his temple.
"Okay? OKAY? Does it look like I'm okay to you,
Tomorrow?!"
I snorted.
"Uh, YEAH."
Naru's eyes widened and they drifted slowly down to
inspect himself for any and all injuries he'd thought he'd sustained.
"Wow! I AM okay! Alright!"
He punched a fist in the air.
Li rolled his eyes and maneuvered his way around the
messy room with slight difficulty until he was standing behind Naru. I
saw him bend down.
"Are you injured, sir?"
When he came back up, there was a hand attached to
his. Eventually an arm was attached to that hand and a shoulder attached
to that arm. Finally, the man's entire body was visible.
"No, no, I'm perfectly fine," sighed the old man. He
was a small man with a short gray beard and a bald head. "Thanks for the
help, though." He glanced around and sniffed. "And who might you all be?"
Naru jumped forward - and fell.
Li rolled his eyes again.
"Hello, sir," he said. "My name is Li Roraru."
The old man's eyes widened in alarm.
"The bandit?!"
"EX-bandit. I quit doing that more than three months
ago." He turned to the twitching heap that was Naru. "That ball of
useless flesh is Narukuto Saiga."
Naru was immediately on his feet.
"I am NOT useless!"
"You're the swords master Narukuto Saiga?" He looked
skeptical.
"Yes, that's right!"
I noticed that the hat was still on Naru's head. You
could hardly see his face. Perhaps that explained why the old man wasn't
going crazy at his eyes.
"And who are you?" the man, who must have been my
grandfather, asked, turning to me.
"I...I, uh-"
"That's Tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" was the retort. "I have things to
do tomorrow, I can't wait around until then for you to give me her name!"
I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"My NAME is Tomorrow," I said, trying to keep my
chin up and my eyes level. "And I am your granddaughter."
-
And that's the end of our show!
Hope you liked the chapter, it was fun to write. I'm
going to stop typing now, though, because I really want to catch a nap. I
had a friend spend the night and she snored...no sleep...must have
SLEEP..
And not just that either - the day after tomorrow I
have my first day of final exams. I HATE ALGEBRA! IT CAN BURN IN HELL
FOR ALL I CARE!
Anyway, I just found out that the packers are coming
tomorrow. (I'm moving to Ohio) and I won't be able to update for two
weeks max. I'm really sorry about this, but this will be the last update
until I get my computer back. Until then, I love you all, and please
don't stop reading because of my absence.
Ja ne.