Hello once again, all.
Just wanted to say a few words as to why I wrote this story. As some of you may know, my first completed novel "Ayame's Story" was once written in third person, so it had a whole bunch of different points of view in it. Well as I finally went back to look at it and edit it, I decided to change it to only one person. I changed it so that it was only through Ayame's view. But while I was reading some of the reviews from the original version of "Ayame's Story" I discovered that some of you had wanted to read more about Alex, Steve, and Dakota, so when I was done rewriting "Ayame's Story" so that I was happy with it, I went and wrote three different stories, "Alex's Story", "Dakota's Story", and "Steve's Story". Now they all may be essentially the same story, but their all through someone else's point of view, there for you're not getting "Ayame's Story" through someone else's eyes, but you're also getting their input on what happened. Now while I was writing these three stories, I had an idea, and that idea was to create a book just for these stories and other stories that came into my head that were short stories and all involving my world that I have now introduced you all too. That book essentially became "Missing Pieces" and while I put stories together to create this book, I'll let you all see it. Now, I wont be putting this book into publication for at least 7 years, do to some of the stories being a part of a book that I have already published, and in that contract with that book, I can't publish those stories through anyone else for 7 years, the only difference between the stories I have published-the published book is called "Remorse A Collection of short stories" by the way and it is available to order through Amazon, Publishamerica on line book store, and other sites for those who are interested-and the ones that I am posting in this book is simple, I'm actually going through and fixing some things up in those stories, and I'll tell you all about that process when I post those stories. In the mean time I hope you enjoy "Dakota's Story". Don't forget to review when you get to the end.
A warning to all potential thieves, this work is copyright 2011 Kassandra Duric*****Dakota's Story is completely the work of Kassandra Duric, to reproduce under any other name is theft!****
Dakota's Story
I sat on my couch, which was up against the wall facing the window, with Alex beside me.
"Why will the authorities do nothing to find her?" I hissed.
"Maybe they know there is no hope for her? Have you not thought about that?" Alex asked.
"There has to be hope for her. She cannot be dead. They have not found her body. If they had, they would have told me." I slammed my fist into the wall behind the couch.
"Face it, Dakota, you are looking for nothing. Give up! You will not find her!"
I got up, walked to the window, and put my hands on the windowsill. "I will not give up! I cannot give up!" I lowered my head, clenching my hands into tight fists. "I cannot give up," I whispered.
"She has got to be alive." I looked up again. I could have sworn I was looking at Ayame standing in a tree across the field, looking into my house. "Ayame?"
Alex came up behind me and turned my head with a gentle touch of her fingers against my chin. "She is no longer alive. Please, just move on," she pleaded before she placed her lips against mine, kissing me. She pulled away before saying, "Give up. There is no reason to keep looking."
I pushed her to the ground yelling in shock, "How dare you!" I turned around to see if I could still see Ayame, but she was gone. "Damn it!" I hissed, punching the wall beside the window. Alex had just interrupted what might have been my only chance to see Ayame again, even if it had just been my imagination.
"You will give up on her, Dakota!" Alex hissed as she stood up again. The next thing I knew, there was a sharp prick in my neck. The room started to spin. My vision went in and out. I didn't know what was happening to me. All I could hear were Alex's words, in my head "You will give up on her, Dakota!"
The need to look for Ayame disappeared from my mind. The need to hold Ayame in my arms was erased. I wanted nothing to do with her any more.
I woke up in my cave, sitting up, and running my hands over my face. Why'd I dream of that night? It's been over a hundred years. I thought I had forgotten it. I wish I had since it was the night that Alex ruined my life by turning me into a Yamashima. Alex's command may have made me want nothing to do with Ayame, but it didn't stop me from thinking about her.
She spent the first few months teaching me the ways of being a Yamashima, before she started to get me to do all her dirty work and killing those who she didn't like. The first rule she taught me was that no creator was to be called master; it was below any young one to be treated like a slave. Next she told me that I was able to go in the sun, but just because I was able to, didn't mean that all of our kind were able to. She also taught me that the females of our kind could become pregnant, but most of the pregnancies failed. There was a lot she didn't teach me though.
Some things I had to learn on my own. One of them being that all of our senses became heightened after the change is completed. My sense of smell, my eyesight, my sense of touch, and the tastes of things were all three times as high, as what they were when I was a Tamaharan. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't create fangs; they were the same teeth as they were when I was a Tamaharan, only sharper. I also never had the need to breathe, though it was all instinct; and if I didn't breathe, I found that I had an uncomfortable tightness in my chest.
There were two more things that Alex never taught me. The first thing was that after five years my strength became less than what it was when I was first changed; and after those five years, if I wanted stay strong or possibly become stronger than what I was, I had to work hard to get there. The final thing was that I was stronger than the other non-Tamaharan race in the world, the Natarus, unless they were in their animal form. Yes, Alex had taught me about the Natarus and how there was a feud going on between their race and ours, but she had never once told me that when they were in the animal form, they were the stronger race. I found that one out the hard way when I accidentally ran into one on Yamashiman territory. I had watched him jump the wall that separated the Yamashimas from the other worlds. While he was in his Tamaharan form, I was able to beat him within half an inch of his life, but the second he changed, he had me pinned to the ground, stunning me long enough so he could run away.
I decided it was time to stop thinking about that time. I got up and grabbed my trench coat from where I had folded it up to use it as a pillow. I shook it out, throwing it on, and making sure the removable sleeves were done up tightly.
I walked out of the cave and looked around. The sun was bright, and the greenery was beautiful. I enjoyed every day out here in the open air. I had lived in the newer cities, but I couldn't stand all the pollution that came with the new machines. It made the air smelly, stuffy, and hard to breathe, so a couple years ago I decided to move out here to the forest. Not many people, no cars, no pavement, just the great outdoors and plenty of fresh air.
I chose to wander west today, to see what I could find. I rarely traveled far from the cave, so I didn't expect to find anything different, maybe a grizzly bear or a mountain lion. When I went east, I usually only found deer and moose, and though those were good, a little change here and there was nice as well. Yes most of my kind drank Tamaharan blood, either straight from the Tamaharan's body, or from a blood bag they could purchase at the border, but I didn't find that all that entertaining. Being on the Yamashiman territory, you didn't find that many Tamaharans willing to run from you, or even act like they were being hunted, with the animals, at least they gave you a chase worth the while for a bit, until they tired out. The blood flowed faster, was warmer, and had the sweet metallic taste of game when they ran with fear.
As I walked, I came across a nearby beach and all thoughts of hunting were soon gone. I stood there looking out at the clear blue water and the clean white sand. I slowly walked out onto the beach, taking my trench coat off and letting it fall to the ground. I felt like I was in heaven. My shirt was the next thing to come off. I fell to my knees in the sand, then laid back and closed my eyes. The sand was warm against my bare back, it felt so nice. I lay there, listening to the wind blow the waves up on to the shoreline. It was so peaceful.
I laid there until the breeze cooled and the sand went cold. Then, and only then, I got up to get dressed again. Still with no desire to go hunting, I headed back to the cave.
I was surprised to see a man sitting against the back wall. He seemed to be asleep. His left leg was stretched out in front of him while his right leg was propped up, his right arm resting on his knee. I kicked him lightly in the shin, causing him to stir. He had his black hair spiked up, and wore a black muscle shirt with black jeans and a black studded belt.
He stared at me with a dumbfounded look for a couple seconds before he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'll ask the questions around here," I said, pulling a small dagger out from the sleeve of my trench coat. "And when I'm satisfied and choose not to kill you, then you may have your chance to speak."
He nodded his head, keeping his eyes on the silver blade. The blade was silver all the way down to the ricasso where it turned to a white gold. The guard was a yellow gold. The grip was wrapped in soft black leather and the pommel was a red ruby.
"Now, who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Steven, loyal servant of my deceased Lord, Lord Michael Alexander," he recited.
The guy stunk like Yamashima. He had the sour bitter smell to him, but there was something different about it. His smell was a little sweeter than a normal Yamashima. I had never run into someone with that kind of a scent before.
"Where did you come from?"
"Lord Michael Alexander's house on the edge of the forest; not too far from here."
"Why did you come?"
"I needed a place for shelter from the sun while I hunted down the Yamashima who killed my Lord."
"Very well," I said, sheathing my dagger. I didn't care if this man was trying to kill me or not, I had had many Yamashimas come after me in the passing years. I would either kill him when he struck, or he would kill me. It was as simple as that. For now, he was just a bystander who seemed to need a place to stay. What is with the Lord thing? That was the only thing that seemed odd about him.
"Who are you?"
"My name's Dakota. I belong to no one," I said, answering in the same formal way that he had, making sure he wouldn't ask about my creator. I sat down against the wall, facing Steve. I hadn't belonged to my creator for a long time. I ran away shortly after she changed me, and never looked back on that day again, until today. I would die before I found myself belonging to anyone ever again. I liked my freedom.
"Is that why you're out here?"
He nodded. "I have nowhere else to go."
"Rest, the day is still young and if you can't go out into the sun," I said, pointing to the burn blisters that coated his exposed skin, "I'll find us something to eat later."
He rested his head against the wall again, closed his eyes, and fell asleep once more.
I got back up and headed out. Now I had no choice but to hunt. I had to feed myself and gather enough food for the new kid, Steve. This time I couldn't let anything distract me.
I was using a bone from a cub that I had killed earlier as a toothpick, when he woke again. The sun was down, the moon was up, and I had managed to catch and bring back a mountain lion and a fully grown grizzly bear for him to drink from. "Eat up."
"Are you sure?" he asked, walking hesitantly out of the cave towards the two dead beasts.
"I've already eaten my fill for the night. You look like you had a rough time yesterday, with all those wounds." After killing the mountain lion and grizzly bear to bring them back for Steve to feed on, I discovered that each of them had cubs that wouldn't have lasted on their own. Normally I don't kill animals with cubs, but this time I had had no idea, so I did them a favor and fed off of them until they were dead.
"These are nothing. I've had worse," he mumbled.
"If you say so," I said with a shrug.
"I know so," he whispered.
"Talk after you eat." I didn't know what he had meant and I didn't really care to know. He looked like he needed the blood more than he needed to talk.
He chose to drink the mountain lion first. I assumed he drank all the blood, when he moved on to the bear. Just as he was finishing off the bear, the moon was starting to set, while the sun started to rise; it wasn't low enough for the sun to breach the horizon though. I realized that most of his burns were now healed.
"Well, now that's something new. Tell me, how'd you heal so fast?" I asked, leaning against one of the cave walls.
"A gift, from my Lord," he whispered. "The more I feed, the faster I heal." He looked at me again. "So, you're young. How did you come to be one of us? A Yamashima, I mean."
"That's a story for another time," I said. "How 'bout you? We have all night, share."
"It isn't something I have looked back on in a long time," he said, closing his eyes. "When I was born, a Tamahara, I couldn't be myself."
"What do you mean you couldn't be yourself?"
"I mean, I had to be with women," he grumbled. "I had many wives, but none I ever loved or even desired."
I stood up straight and looked at him funny. What did he mean by, many wives but none that he had loved, is he gay? I'll admit, it was a little disturbing, but who was I to judge him? To each his own, I guess.
"I was accused of being the son of the devil himself -one of the devil spawns- and was thrown in jail. The more I denied it, the more I was tortured. The first night I was tied upside down so all my blood flowed to my head. The next night they poured ice water down my throat through a rag. It felt as though they were stabbing daggers into my throat while laying something heavy on my chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. The next night I was tied to a table and stretched until my shoulders were dislocated." As I watched him relive this horrifying time in his life, I noticed his eyes started to get glassy. They looked like he was far from this world as if he were telling the story while he watched it all happening again. Goose bumps began appearing, and he would occasionally shudder.
"The next night they put a hose down my throat with a funnel at the end and they poured boiling oil down into my stomach, burning my throat, but I still denied being the devil spawn they accused me of being. After the fifth night of me denying it, the fifth night of me…" He swallowed and mumbled something I couldn't hear.
"What was that last bit?"
"Showing my pain," he hissed. "I overheard the guards talking outside of my cell one night. They said that the priests and the Catholic Church had decided they would just burn me at the stake with the next set of burnings. The night before I was put to the stake, I kneeled in the moonlight, my arms tied behind my head in one of their wooden contraptions, praying. One of the guards came up to my cell and told me he could get me out of the burning. I asked him how. He asked me if I wanted it, so of course I agreed. He said he would meet me at the stake and help me there.
"The next night came and they led me out in chains, along with ten other prisoners. You see, in my village they only did burnings once a month, so there were usually a few people to burn. I used to help out with a few of the burnings myself until they caught me in the act, adulterated activity with a male, in the back of my shop. But they led us out in a parade, the rest of the villagers shouted things like, "Demon", "Devil", "Abomination", and other slanders along with throwing rotten food." He closed his eyes, clenching his hands into fists again.
"Wait, they threw food at you?" I asked, only to be answered with a nod.
"They tied us all to one big stake in the center of town. I was between a woman who was accused of witchcraft -holding her baby who had no father- and a man who had questioned the bible. The man I was caught with claimed I had raped him and forced him down on his knees so he was not there with me. The church told him to go confess to God and he would be forgiven. I looked around for the guard who said he would save me, but I couldn't find him. I started to pray that he would come, even though I knew deep down inside he wasn't going to.
"Sticks were piled up to our hips and even though my hands were tied down, I reached over and took a hold of the hand of the man who had questioned the bible and held on tight as they started throwing torches into the piles of sticks. Once those started to burn, a few of the palace guards came down with barrels of gunpowder and started to make circles around the pole we were being burned on. They also grabbed handfuls of the black powder and threw it at us. I heard things like "Don't use that, they'll burn too fast," and "May you rest in peace, I hope the Lord Almighty takes pity on your soul." The baby in the woman's arms was the first to start screaming, followed by her mother and the other woman on the stake. I don't know what this woman was there for and I really didn't have the time to care. I could feel my skin melting and blistering. I held off screaming as long as I could. I held my breath as long as I could so I wouldn't breathe in the smoke. In the end, I couldn't hold back the screams.
"But just as I thought all hope was lost, a man dressed in fine clothing appeared in front of me, with an already burnt body under his arm. He untied me and tied the dead body to where I had been, and took a hold of me before we disappeared out of the audience's view. I don't know how he did it. I don't even know if he had injured himself in the process, all I know is that he got me out of there and managed to be seen by no one but myself. I don't know where he took me or how long we traveled, but he waited until we were days away from the village before he stopped traveling, carrying me the whole time. He stopped and sat me down on the ground, leaning me against a tree. He told me that if he didn't bite me, I would die, so I agreed to it, even though I didn't understand that what it meant at the time. After he bit me I passed out, the pain from my burns and him biting into my cooked flesh was too much. When I finally came to I was lying in a bed of fine red silk, the only thing that showed I had been in the fire was my back. He apologized but the healing gift he gave me after he changed me into a Yamashima couldn't fix everything, and my back would be permanently scarred."
I blinked. "Well damn, and here I thought I had it bad." I looked up to the sky. "Well we better get back in before you burn again." I didn't know what to think about everything I had just heard. I know when I was a Tamahara we thought strongly against witchcraft and gay relationships, but I couldn't remember any of them ever being burned at the stake like that.
He looked up to see what I was talking about, and saw that the sky was a dark orange and red as the sun came over the horizon. He pushed off the tree he was leaning against and walked back into the cave.
He went all the way back so that he would be able to sit against the far wall again and avoid the sun that came through the cave entrance. He sat down, rested his head against the wall and sighed with exhaustion. His eyelids fell, and he was soon asleep again.
Once he was asleep, I sat on the ground next to him, and rested my own head back to close my eyes. Once again, I dreamed of the night I was changed, and didn't sleep long enough to let it end. I had wanted to go find Ayame again after that, but found I couldn't go back on Alex's words. Every time I tried, a sharp pain would come into my head, and drag me down to the ground until the thought left. I hated Alex for it.
I woke up before my guest, and while I was waiting for him to wake, I had been thinking about Alex, Ayame, maybe ending my life -a constant thought that continuously invades my mind unless I find away to distract myself- and a lot of other things, none of which made any sense. Like why the sky was blue. Why I woke up every morning. Why I had to live on blood, a lot of bloody nonsense. I was sitting against the wall, picking my nails with my blade, while I thought. Suddenly Steve startled me with a scream of frustration. I hadn't realized he was awake yet, and nearly tore my nail off at the sound. Not that I cared, yes it would hurt, but it would just grow back in a day. I looked over at him, thinking that maybe I had let a crazy man stay in my cave with me.
"If only there was a way to destroy the sun. Then I'd be able to look around faster."
"Well I know a way that you can go out in the sun without getting burned from it," I said with a shrug.
"How? Tell me, Dakota, I need to know!" He lunged up to his feet and held his fists out in front of him, close to his body.
"Calm down, Steve. I'll explain everything to you," I said, standing and holding my hands out in front of me. I would have told him if we didn't hear someone walking in. I shoved Steve behind a rock on the left side of the cave, while I jumped behind a large rock on the opposite side of the cave.
The intruder ran all the way to the back of the cave. At first all I could see was their silhouette, but when she got in front of my rock I saw who it was. My eyes widened with shock. She looked just like Ayame. I couldn't believe it. She wore black leather pants, a white tank top, and a black leather jacket; clearly she had taken a liking to modern day clothing compared to what she used to wear. Her black hair was a mess, but so were her clothes. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Ayame yelled through the cave as she slowed to a walking pace, looking around frantically.
Steve looked over at me. I scowled at him and put a finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet, and then I ran a finger along my throat, signaling that I would kill him if he didn't.
She gave a sigh. "I guess I'm hearing things, maybe I'm going insane," she said after neither of us answered her.
She turned her back to the rock and started to head towards the exit of the cave when I jumped out and wrapped my left arm around her body, immobilizing her arms. Then I forced her head back against my shoulder with my right arm while I held my dagger against her throat. "Who the hell are you?" I asked roughly. I didn't really want to just assume it was Ayame. Sure it looked like her, but for all I knew she could have had kids over the years because it really didn't make any sense why she was still alive after all these years.
She started to tremble, but stayed silent, probably too scared to speak.
I put pressure on the dagger, digging the blade into her skin, causing the first drops of blood to fall. I could smell it. "I asked you a question. Now answer!"
"You know who I am, Dakota!"
It's actually her, and she still remembers me? "Yeah, I do. It's just more fun to watch you suffer, like I had to suffer," I growled. How dare she show up after all these years! I had pushed her to the back of my mind, even convinced myself that she was dead. Maybe I should just kill her now. It was because of her that Alex changed me any way, wasn't it? If she hadn't disappeared in the first place, Alex wouldn't have been at my place, and she wouldn't have bitten me.
"You're as stupid as ever, Dakota." she growled. "You were not paying attention."
Suddenly there was the sound of a gunshot, not knowing who was shooting or who they were aiming at, I jumped and pushed Ayame away from me. I didn't have much time to think about what had just happened as the cave started to collapse very quickly around us.
"Run!" I yelled, over my shoulder to Steve as I ran towards the exit.
I didn't plan on sticking around. Ayame could lay there and die and I figured Steve could look after himself, so I headed to the exit with a single glance over my shoulder. Ayame was trapped under a pile of rocks on the floor. She was clutching a gun in her hand so it must have been her that had caused the destruction of my home. I briefly wondered where she had gotten the gun from; I certainly didn't see her carrying one when I grabbed her. At least she hadn't managed to shoot me; though, why she thought it was a good idea to shoot in a cave was beyond me.
When I didn't see Steve come out, I turned to see him kneeling by Ayame. "Come on Steve! Leave the bitch before you get crushed!" I yelled from where I stood, safely outside of the cave.
"No! I'm not leaving without her!"
He's gonna get himself killed, and for what? What are the odds of him even knowing Ayame? I thought, clenching my hands into fists.
I finally got some distance between me and the cave and turned around to see Steve stumbling out of the cave just barely missing the sliding rocks. He had a couple of red marks on his neck that hadn't been there before. Did she just bite him? I didn't have time to ask as the cave stopped collapsing and Steve headed straight towards the rock wall blocking the entrance.
"Let's start digging," he said as he started to pull rocks away from the blocked entrance.
"Why? It's not like she deserves it," I responded as I walked over to a nearby tree and sat under it. "Let her suffocate to death, or let her get crushed."
He just ignored me and continued to dig his way through the pile of rubble that stood between him and Ayame.
He was refusing to give up. He had taken his shirt off about an hour of digging. Most of the cuts and bruises he had, had come from rocks sliding down on top of him when he cleared them away. Even though I watched him do all this work, I continued to yell at him, telling him it was all pointless and that he should leave the bitch to die. But he didn't seem to be listening so, I turned around, running my hands through my hair, and went to walk over to the shade of a nearby willow tree.
I had heard him hit the ground and start to run so I turned around, just in time to get a fist in the face.
I fell to the ground from the force of the punch. "What the fuck man?" I demanded, looking up at Steve.
"I'm sick and tired of you!" Steve said as he pulled his shirt off over his head. He paused and looked around us. He reached up to the tree we were standing under and pulled a few of the long rope-like branches down. Instead of punching Steve in the face and beating the shit out of him like I really wanted to, I got distracted by trying to figure out what he was doing with the branches. I stood up and watched him move closer to me. He pushed me against the tree and used the branches to tie me there. I was too stunned, shocked, bewildered, all at once by his actions to even try to fight back. He was such a small guy; I hadn't expected anything like this from him.
"Maybe this will shut you up." He shoved his shirt in my mouth, and then started searching me for weapons. When he started to search for weapons, I had expected a thorough pat down, I just didn't expect him to go as far as sticking his hands down my pants. He certainly did take his time, and knowing about him didn't make me all that comfortable about it. I started to struggle against my bindings, attempting to get away from him, but they were tied tightly. I was gonna have to cut them if I wanted out of here. He found most of my blades, including the one that I was prepared to kill him with earlier. I had to sit there and endure the search, and as long as he didn't go anywhere near my dick, I could with stand it. Finally he went back to work, removing rocks from the pile of rubble. I decided that if he wanted to waste his time, trying to get Ayame out, why should I care or try to stop him. So for now, I just remained where I was. Eventually, Steve just collapsed, and didn't get up for a while. Is he dead? I thought.
It was only ten minutes after he had fallen that the cave started to collapse in again. Two rocks hit him, causing me to chuckle from under the shirt, before he noticed what was going on.
"Fuck!" he yelled at the top of his lungs before he jumped out of the way of the falling rocks.
He fell to his knees as he watched the cave close him off from Ayame again. He slammed his fists against the ground out of anger. "Mother…"
He jumped back up, ran to the top of the rock wall, and started digging through the small rocks again. When he came to a rock that he was able to pick up, he threw it as far away as he could manage. When he came to a rock that was too big for him to throw, he would push until it fell out of the way and then he would return to digging. He kept working even though he seemed tired, and his body seemed to be fighting with him to make him stop again. He'd already collapsed once; I couldn't imagine pushing through that pain to save another's life. Ayame must be something special to him.
One of the rocks he was trying to push out of his way was large and sharp. His hand slipped and it wound up cutting his arm from his shoulder to his elbow. "Mother fucker!" he yelled, wincing from the pain, but he didn't let that stop him any more than he let the exhaustion. He kept working to move the rock even though the wound was bleeding down his arm and dripping onto the rocks below him. He kept pushing himself. The smell of blood reached me, but it didn't smell like normal Yamashima blood, like it should have. It smelt sweet, not bitter. I couldn't help but close my eyes and sniff, savouring the smell, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. What the-? Where'd it go?
He managed to push the big rock out of the way. He still had a lot of digging to do to get to Ayame, and he still had the rubble to move off of her once he got through. He seemed to waver and almost pass out, but he regained his balance and moved to the next big rock.
I had never seen a person go to this extent to save someone in my entire life, Tamahara or Yamashima. My whole life I had been beaten, yelled at, kicked out of houses, locked out of my own home, banished from my family and even almost killed. I moved my hands slightly, and grabbed the only hidden dagger Steve hadn't taken from me -I had it taped to the inside of my belt- and used it to start cutting the ropes that were holding me against the tree.
I got the bindings cut and moved forward. I pulled the shirt out of my mouth, spat, and I then threw it to the ground and headed over to where Steve was pushing on the rock. "You look like you could use a hand," I said as I put my hands on the rock and started to push with him.
"A hand...would be nice," Steve replied just as the rock slid from his grip to roll down the pile.
It only took us a short time to get enough rock and debris away from the entrance so we could see Ayame.
"Ayame, are you okay?" he called in after her.
She didn't answer.
"Ayame," he called again.
I put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Yelling's not going to help right now. It'll just cause another cave in, and then what? You could hurt her even more."
"It'll be faster and easier if you work over there," I said pointing to one side of the rock wall, "and I work there." I pointed to the other side of the wall where I'd be working. "Then we'll work our way to the middle where we'll meet up and work out to our respective sides. We'll keep doing that 'til we get her out of there."
He nodded and went over to his side of the wall. I couldn't believe I was doing this. Why was I trying so hard to help her? Nothing in my simple life made sense any more.
By the time the sun came up, we had the entrance almost completely cleared. He couldn't wait a moment longer, so he climbed over what was left of the rocks and ran to Ayame.
"Yeah. Sure I'll finish all this work on my own, Steve. I'll finish all this work on my own while you go talk to someone who can't fucking hear you!" I said in an increasingly annoyed voice. Again I asked myself, why was I doing this? It's not like I wanted to be with her again or anything.
Steve just ignored me, which furthered my irritation. When he got to Ayame's side, he bent down beside her, and looked her over to see what her injuries were. Based on the large pile of rocks on her legs, I figured they'd be rather extensive.
"Wow. She doesn't look too good," I said as I walked up behind him to get a better view.
"Well, neither would you if you had about a thousand pounds of rock piled on your legs," he said sarcastically.
"True enough," I said with a nod. "She still alive?"
"Yeah. She's alive. She's just thrown herself into her own little world. The pain was too much for her to handle," he said quietly as he started to unbury her legs. "See," he nodded to her face, "she's still crying." He winced, as he threw the rock out of the cave.
I bent down beside Ayame and ran my hand gently across the side of her face, wiping away a few tears that had just fallen from her eyes. As I looked at her, I remembered all the good times we had had. I found myself half smiling. It was a very awkward moment. Even though I had feelings of wanting to kill her, torture her, make her suffer, or whatever, I still found myself missing her, in love with her, wanting to be with her.
"Why won't you just let go and let all the pain and suffering of this world go?" I asked her quietly, so Steve wouldn't hear. "Just let go so you don't have to suffer any more." I was feeling more and more sorrow for her every minute that I looked down at her.
"So, how do you know her?" Steve asked as I got up to lift a rock.
"Back when we were mortals, I courted her," I answered.
"What happened?"
"What do you mean what happened?"
"I mean, what happened to the two of you? She never talked about you, and whenever I asked her about the men from when she was a mortal, she'd change the subject."
I sighed and continued to work. "Long story."
"Well get telling. We're going to be here for a while."
"Why do you want to know anyway?" I asked a little annoyed.
"'Cause I do. Anyway I wanna know why she tries to stay away from men and why she's so upset about anything to do with them," Steve said with a grin on his face as he continued to work.
"Yeah, well I want an even better excuse before I tell you. That excuse just screams I wanna dig up info on her. And anyway, that part of her life is none of your concern, especially if she didn't want to tell you," I shot back a little pissed off. None of her past life should matter to him if he wanted to be with her now. Not to mention I thought he said he was gay last night. Why would a gay guy want to be with Ayame? Something just didn't seem right.
"Well at least tell me why she's pissed off at you and why you're so pissed off at her that you'd try to kill her."
"I felt abandoned and alone after she was reported missing and her family members were found slaughtered," I replied quietly. It really was none of his business. "Now shut up." My parents had thrown me out of the house when I had turned thirteen, and denied me ever being a part of their family. I never truly found out why because my family, and any ties to them just suddenly disappeared one day. Ayame knew that and yet she left me, too.
I rolled my eyes. I knew the only way to get out of this mess that was to tell him about my past. "I was going to ask her to marry me the night she went missing. I was going crazy, trying to find her, and the authorities weren't doing a damn thing to help. My friend, Alex, was over at my house to help me get over the news. She felt that it was useless to continue to search for Ayame and was there to comfort me in my time of grief. I didn't give up, though; I couldn't. That was the night that I saw Ayame outside my window, it was two days after she had gone missing. But Alex forced herself on me, and I guess Ayame saw it.
"By the time I got Alex off of me and ran to the window, Ayame was gone. I was about to jump out of the window and try to find her when I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I looked to see what it was, and only caught a glimpse of Alex's face. And now Ayame has the nerve to just appear after over a hundred years of being gone!"
He frowned. "Sounds like you really loved her."
"I did. I really did love her, and seeing her like this only makes me realize how much I still love her."
He threw a rock out of the cave, turned to me and just stared.
I continued to work for a few minutes, then stopped and looked at Steve with a smirk. "But in the end, you're the one who won." Even though you just told me you were gay. After I threw one final rock out of the cave, I looked him directly in the eyes. "But...if you ever hurt her, I will kill you without hesitation."
We stood there, staring each other down for a few minutes before we heard some crumbling.
"Can somebody please get me out of here?" Ayame begged. "I'm tired, in a lot of pain, hungry, and could use a bath," she sounded tired but tried to keep her voice light as if she were joking.
I looked between Steve and Ayame to see if he was going to go to her. It was when I was looking at Ayame, however, that I realised that she had wings. How I had not noticed them before I wasn't sure. They were five feet in length and looked like black leather. I quickly ran to her side and ran my hand over them. They were surprisingly soft to the touch. "You have wings?"
Ayame gave a small chuckle. "Yeah. I have wings. I brought them out to see if I could get myself out," she said. "I hope I can make your job easier," she flexed her wings again, making another attempt to free herself. This time she moved a little bit and then winced. "But obviously I am not having much success."
I sighed and moved my hand to her shoulder. "You shouldn't have done that. You need to save your strength and you're just hurting yourself."
"Why would you care? It's not like you ever cared about me!" Ayame responded quietly.
"I do care about you. I really do," I said, just as quietly. "I've always cared about you, even if I was confused for a while."
"Like hell you did! If you really cared about me, you would have searched for me the second you heard that I had gone missing!" Ayame shouted, only stopping to catch her breath. "And you would not have been with that witch two days after I disappeared!"
"I did look for you, Ayame. I did. As for Alex, she forced herself on me. I wanted to get back out there and look for you, but she insisted on me taking a break and resting for the night," I said, upset, as I slowly moved the hair that was now in her face behind her ear.
Suddenly I heard the swooshing sound of something flying through the air and felt something brushed the tips of my hair. Then I heard the sound of metal hitting the rocks above my head. Steve had just thrown a knife at me. "Get away from her," Steve hissed.
I slowly got up while making eye contact with Steve. "What the fuck man! What's gotten into you?"
He pulled out another knife from below his belt and got ready to throw it at me. "I said get away from her."
"Steve! He's just trying to help!" Ayame yelled, sounding a little scared as well.
"You shut up, bitch!" he growled.
Ayame went silent and her eyes started to brim with tears. "What has gotten into you all of a sudden?" she asked, frightened.
"You wanna know? You wanna know so bad? I'll tell you. After you, little Ayame, came to that house, everyone started ignoring me and you became the favorite. You replaced me, Ayame. At first I thought it was all fine and dandy, and things would go back to normal after a while. But after years of everyone ignoring me and then me becoming your servant, I realized that I wasn't fine and dandy with it, and that things weren't going back to the way they were.
"So I started to gain your trust. After I had your full trust, I started to plan a way to get you in shit. Hence why I joined your little party to kill the boss, but something went wrong the other day in the master's quarters and you forced me to kill him instead of you! I was never your friend! I can't believe you actually fell for that act I was pulling on you. I've always..." He got cut off at that point as a bullet hit him in the chest.
I was surprised, and by his face, so was Steve. I hadn't realized that Ayame had even picked up her gun, much less that she was about to shoot him. I'd been so caught up in what he had been saying, and trying to make sense of it, that she took me by complete surprise. I mean why would Steve want to get her out of the cave, just to try and kill her? Parts of it made some sense to me, but not all of it. I looked over at Ayame to try to figure out what she was thinking.
"I don't want to hear any more." The gun started to shake in Ayame's hand.
"I trusted you," she said quietly through clenched teeth. She shot again, this time in his stomach. "I actually thought we were friends." She shot once more.
Steve started to shrivel up, his skin began to peel off, and his bones disintegrated, until there was nothing left but a pile of ash. It was kind of gross, and I didn't even realise that bullets could kill a Yamashima. It made me rethink the gun she was carrying around.
I rubbed her back around her wings, but after getting my hand shrugged away, I got up and went back to work uncovering her legs so I could comfort her properly.
It only took me a few hours to finish uncovering her. During that time, Ayame had cried herself to sleep. I took a good look at her finally uncovered legs. They had been broken in two or three different places, there were bruises all the way down her legs, and her right leg had a gash in it that went from her knee almost all the way to her ankle. That gash was bleeding pretty badly but there was nothing I could do for her at the moment. Her legs also seemed to be burnt pretty badly.
I took my shirt off and tore it into strips, tying them around the bleeding leg before I carefully picked her up. "It's gonna be okay, Ayame. You'll see." I ran out of the cave, as quickly as I could, hoping to get out of there before it could potentially collapse on us again.
I continued to run until I found a pond with crystal clear water in it. It wasn't the same as the huge body of water that I had found earlier; this was more like an oasis than a beach. I found myself thinking it was odd that the water was so clear, but I stopped there anyway because it was a nice place to wash Ayame's wounds. I laid Ayame on the ground carefully before I went off to find some sticks for a fire and some to splint her legs.
When I got back to the pond, I couldn't find Ayame. I dropped the wood I had gathered and looked around the area, trying to find some trace of her. I was shocked when I found her swimming in the pond. I ran over to the side of it, thinking that it should be nearly impossible for her to keep herself afloat. As I got closer I realised she was only wearing her thong and bra. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked, turning my eyes away from her since she was hardly decent.
She hadn't seen me coming and splashed around in surprise, I didn't actually look at her again until I felt the tug of something under my foot. I had come to a stop on top of her shirt without realising it. She looked up at me from her position in the water up against the shore, and gave a small, relived sigh. "What does it look like?" she asked. "I'm taking a bath."
"What about your legs?"
"My bones are mostly healed, my legs are just sore now. And the bath will clean out the cuts, making it easier for them to heal," she replied.
I blinked, unable to think of any coherent response. There was no way she had already started to heal; her wounds were much too severe. I don't know why it surprised me so much. I mean Steve had the same ability, and weren't they from the same creator? After all, the young one does inherit some of the creator's abilities when they are created.
"I got some healing abilities from my master when he changed me. Nowhere near as strong as his, just strong enough to heal major things like broken bones or life threatening injuries. It will not do much for a bleeding wound like the gash on my leg, other than stopping the bleeding when a normal Tamahara or Yamashima would likely bleed to death," she supplied.
I sighed in defeat and raised my arms in the air. I went and sat a little bit away from the water, keeping my back to her out of respect for her privacy. I ran my hands over my face, again thinking about why I was here. Why am I helping her? Why have I just destroyed my peaceful life? I shook my head when I couldn't come up with any answers to the questions I was asking myself.
"Hey Dakota, pass me something to dry off with, please?" she asked after some more splashing.
I threw my trench coat over my shoulder in what I thought was her general direction. Ayame could use it to dry off.
"Why do you not start a fire, Dakota?" Ayame sounded closer to me now.
"Why do I have to start the fire?" I asked as I lay back on the grass and looked up at the blue, orange, pink and purple sunset.
"Because I do not know how to start a fire without a match."
I sighed and got up to start the fire pretty quickly with just a couple of sticks, and then lied back down on the grass to watch the sun set.
I closed my eyes as the last of the sun disappeared, falling asleep pretty quickly. I started to dream of Alex changing me again, but then I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I tried to open my eyes, but found I couldn't. My nightmare started to fade until I stood in darkness. I started to panic, breathing faster and faster.
"Where am I?" I asked, but the only thing I heard was my own echo. Tears started to fill my eyes. I looked around everywhere, but still found nothing, no one. I stood there all alone.
"No!" I screamed. I didn't want to be alone. I hated being alone. At least when I was in my cave alone, I still had the animals, the trees, the wind, the warm sun, and my newly discovered beach. I didn't feel so lonely with all those things, but here in the darkness with nothing, it was the loneliest thing I had ever felt. I closed my eyes, and my body began to shake.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a light in the distance and started to walk towards it. As I got closer to it, I started to see that there was more there than the blinding light. I saw a log cabin, a small little vegetable garden in the distance, and a flower garden up against the cabin. My walk turned into a run. I ran until all the black disappeared behind me. When the picture became clear, I could suddenly feel the wind blow through my hair and the sun against my face. I looked upon my cabin from when I was a Tamahara, and beside it sat my barn with my horse, my cow, my chickens. I'm…home…