Not so Ordinary World

[Liddo-kun]

Gaira frowns at you slightly as you directed the question to Shia when he's standing right in front of you.  He snorts and turns back to the dishes, rather miffed.

Shia in turn gives you an odd look that the bigger man wore just seconds ago.  "I don't know.  Why don't you ask him, he's right here, you know?"  She rolls her eyes, not understanding you in the least.

[Kwokinator]

"So, Gai," he wraps a friendly arm around said man's shoulder, mimicing the name he hears Shia call him by. "What's with the dishes?  What'd you do?"

[Liddo-kun]

"Oh, so you CAN see me," Gaira tells you sarcastically.  "I thought perhaps I'd mastered invisibility or something," he tells you with the deep, grumbly voice of his.

"Would it be a shock if I said I liked doing dishes?" he asks, looking to see what kind of reaction you feed him.

[Kwokinator]

"C'mon, I was just kidding around," he throws his hands up in a gesture of proclaiming innocence. "You're not gonna take that seriously, are you?"

"And if you did like doing dishes," he smirks. "You wouldn't be complaining about slave drivers earlier."

[Liddo-kun]

He cracks a smile before letting loose a belly shaking laugh.  "Good, good," he tells you, ruffling your hair.  "You're not as dumb as I feared you were."

"I won't give you any details on the slave driver, but you'll know who it is right away when you meet them.  Not another word from me or I'll ruin the surprise," he says, slapping you on the back.

"Alright, now out with you.  I'm elbow deep in dishes," Gaira tells you, shooing you and Shia out.

[Kwokinator]

Maki frowns slightly as his hair is being ruffled as if he was a small child.  

Oh well, I got myself into this mess...

"That doesn't sound good," he mutters as he is ushered out the kitchen. "It's like he KNOWS I'm gonna end up doing kitchen duty one day, and can't avoid it because I won't know who this slave driver is..."

[Liddo-kun]

"I think it's related to him thinking you're going to get tagged for goofing off rather than for not knowing who the slave driver is," Shia notes, walking down the covered hall on your right.

It's warm out tonight with a breeze that's barely noticeable, but just enough to shuffle the leaves on the trees in the open garden on your left.  It's about 8, maybe even 9 in the evening by your guess, and a glance at your watch to confirm shows 8:47 PM.

[Kwokinator]

"What?" Maki looks at Shia with a feigned hurt look in his eyes. "Do I look like someone who would goof off?"

"Nice weather outside..." he comments. "So where're we going?"

[Liddo-kun]

Shia doesn't even answer your question, giving you a 'look' that spoke volumes as to what she thinks of as an answer.  "*We* are not going anywhere.  *I*, however, am going back to my room," she tells you.

[Kwokinator]

"Fine, I get the idea," Maki replies as he stops his pace abruptly at what he perceives to be rejection, his voice sounding a lot emptier than before. "So I guess I'll see you later then?"

[Liddo-kun]

"Tomorrow morning, bright and early," she tells you over her shoulder then continues on her way to her room.

[Kwokinator]

Nodding silently, Maki turns to the left and ducks under the railing to head out into the open garden.  He lies on the ground on his back with a sigh, and looks up into the night sky.

What a day... I end up in a world I've never been before, it's similar but strangely different from the one I' used to, and I'm definitely not off to a good start.

Isegami... I wonder how he came to be the leader in this temple.  Just being responsible can't be the only thing, and from what Urui said it sounds like he's not the most powerful either.

His thoughts shifts to the seemingly outgoing girl ninja, Urui... cute, but weird.  She's friendly I guess, just not exactly nice and demure.  Interesting powers though, I might have to learn something from her.  I wonder what her deal is with Shia about the "promised body and soul" to her thing...

At the mention of his saviour, he unknowingly grabs a hold of the fallen leaves from the ground around him and crushes them in his hands.  Dammit.  Shia's so frustrating, he thinks as he pounds a fist on the ground. One minute she's all smiles and looking like she doesn't mind being with you, next thing you know she's all cold and pushing you away.  I wish I could get through to her, but I lack the POWER to do ANYTHING in this world... the kids I saw this afternoon were more powerful than I am.

A sudden wave of ambivalence hits him like a tsunami as he thinks about his lack of power and the failed experiment in exploring the power in himself with the ball, and he sighs and closes his eyes to try and go to sleep where he is, not really wanting to go back to his own room and deal with his new roommates.

[Liddo-kun]

You hear soft footsteps approach then someone takes a seat to your right.  Not close enough to be an annoyance or a bother, but just enough to be of a presence.

The man you'd just been mentally marveling for his feats sits wearing a content smile as he gazes at the stars that dot the skyscape above you both.  He turns his attention back to you wearing a reassuring smile.  "So, how are you doing?"

You hadn't really been giving it much thought - how you're doing that is.  You'd been pushing yourself a mile a minute as if you were trying to keep yourself busy so that you wouldn't have to think about...

...lying there in a pool of blood...

...about...

...not moving...

...stuff.  It's as if everything you'd been holding inside comes back to hit you in the gut all at once.

You watched your father die.  You're a kid barely into high school, trapped in a strange world with monsters out of nightmares.  You probably wouldn't be seeing the rest of your family again.  All your friends aren't with you.  You couldn't do anything to save your father....

Your vision blurs slightly at the welling of warm liquid - you didn't want to admit that they were tears - that threatens to spill out.

[Kwokinator]

"I'm fine," Maki lies, closing his eyes to let the tears fall silently to the ground, hoping it escapes unnoticed.

"Just thinking about, like, umm," he struggles to find an excuse to cover himself, not wanting to admit weakness. "The future, and stuff.  You?"

[Liddo-kun]

If he noticed or not, he doesn't let it show in his mannerism or his speech.  He seems to be giving your pride its privacy by not bringing a hint of attention to it.

"The future is always a good subject," Isegami tells you in that steady, calm voice of his.  "But I also think on the present as well.  We live in the here and now, after all."

A moment of silence falls, but it's not a wholly uncomfortable one.  It gives you enough time to gather yourself and sort your feelings, and you suspect it was by intention on Isegami's part.

"The future is important because it's where we're going, but it's good practice to glance down at our feet sometimes, if only to make sure we're on the right path."