- Heaven's a Lie -

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

She had absolutely no idea where she was. Walking for three days straight through a forest that had no paths of any kind, no noticeable landmarks, and no inhabitants other than a few birds had gotten Nori thoroughly lost. She knew she was in the eastern lands, that much she'd been able to determine at the village she'd passed by earlier in the week, but otherwise she was clueless. The girl considered turning back and heading the way she'd came, but realized that she didn't know from which direction she'd come from and would probably only end up even more disoriented than she was already 'Damn my lack of sense of direction!' One would think that after traipsing up and down and around mountain ranges for most of her life she would've been able to at least determine east from west. Yet it seemed, that as soon as she was away from the familiar ranges of her homeland, any such skills were lost and she became completely useless in navigation.

Home...truth be told, she missed it. The snowcapped peaks, the cool air, the bleating of the goats that her father herded every morning and evening all year round; she hadn't wanted to give them up. Feeling nostalgic and tired, Nori sat down and leaned back against on the many trees in the area. So much green vegetation surrounded her these days, it was kind of overwhelming. Up in the mountains, nothing green grew, except for the evergreens, and those never grew in such abundance as these lowland plants did. The ground was softer as well, as it was covered in a perpetual layer of snow that never quite melted all the way no matter what the season was. Speaking of seasons, it was too damn hot! The girl squinted up at the canopy of leaves above her head, silently accusing the sun for making her life miserable at that moment. It was only spring yet it felt like summer to her; fall was the same, and winter was much too mild for her liking. In short, she found the weather in this region to be far too warm.

On her trip, Nori had been tempted several times to just forget everything and return to the north. But that would never happen, because as soon as her feet tried to lead her towards her old residence in the alps, her mind began to whirl back to the disaster 2 years ago and she'd be unable to go on. Besides, what would she have to return to? An empty mountainside, devoid of all life except for maybe a few of the horses or goats that managed to survive the avalanche? Certainly no human life, no village, no family, would be waiting there.

Sighing, the girl got back to her feet and set off again. Better to keep moving and hope you'll get somewhere rather than sit around moping and getting nowhere at all.

[Aiko]

Spring flowers were the most wonderful things in the world! They were so bright and cheerful, no matter that the really big and beautiful ones usually didn’t come until later in the summer. But the warm weather ushered the little buds to unfold their petals and bloom a little earlier than usual. Little white flowers speckled the moss that stretched up a tree’s roots. So Aiko plucked a few of those. Small yellow blooms were littered in a patch of sunlight. Aiko took some of them, too. Pale pink petals beckoned her from the boughs of a thorny bush, and being very careful, the young teen pulled some of those flowers from the branches. The miniature bouquet that she clenched in one fist was growing, and soon she wouldn’t be able to hold it in just one hand. So she added a few sprigs of greenery, too. [pink] “Perfect!”[/pink] she breathed, beaming. Putting them close to her nose, she breathed deep the smells of fresh young plant life, a lovely smell that tickled her nose and coated the scents of everything else. She shut her eyes, enjoying a peaceful moment, and when her light brown eyes popped back open, a tiny yellow butterfly fluttered past her nose.

Early butterflies were the most wonderful things in the world! They were like little surprises, because normally, they didn’t come until summer. But that warm weather was coming into play again. What a lovely spring this was! Keeping her bouquet clenched in her fist, Aiko walked after the butterfly, and pixie-like giggling followed after. As it disappeared behind some trees, the girl quickened her pace, until she was bounding along after the light-colored insect, her laughter intensifying. What fun it was to follow after butterflies! They were very pretty to watch. Aiko pretended she was a butterfly, too, as she skipped along. She grew very quiet, and she hopped neatly along, balancing atop a small rock before leaping off, arms outstretched like wings. Then she started humming, a simple spring-and-summertime tune her mother used to sing. Eventually, as she followed the butterfly, the girl sang the words, too.

[pink]“Butterfly, butterfly,
Pretty dancing butterfly,
Lead me where the flowers grow thick
And I can dance and sing a song
For butterflies, butterflies,
Pretty dancing butterflies!”[/pink]

The song was silly, but it made Aiko happy, anyway. So she sang it again, louder this time. Forgetting about the real butterfly, she danced around in a circle in a small space between the trees, where the soft, spongy, moss-carpeted ground was bright in the sunlight. As she danced and sang, she tossed the flowers up above her head, and closed her eyes as they drifted down around her. She could feel their soft petals tickling her cheek as they drifted past, and the barely perceptible weight of the few that landed in her hair. She sang as loud as she possibly could, not knowing how close an audience was, in the form of another woman. In fact, she was just out of sight, on the other side of the tree the woman had just leaned against.

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

The sound of singing suddenly broke through the silence in the forest. Startled, Nori paused and tilted her head to the side, trying to better locate where the sound was coming from. Her bind eyes whirled uselessly in its socket, as though still trying to see what it had been denied for thirteen years. The voice sounded like that of a child; perhaps someone from the village who had come into the woods for some time alone? Or maybe some demon or another disguising itself as a human to draw in prey.

Cautiously, the girl took an arrow from her quiver and notched it into place. She didn’t pull back the string just yet; what if it really was a normal child and she accidentally shot it dead? Peering around the trunk of the tree she’d rested against not long ago, Nori searched around the area behind it for the being that was so insisting on disturbing her peace. For a moment she saw nothing, then a girl with flowers raining down on her pranced into her line of vision. She was singing that ridiculous song – something about butterflies and flowers – at the top of her lungs and looked like she was having a fine time at it.

She couldn’t be certain, but the girl didn’t look much younger than Nori, maybe by 3 or 4 years if that. What was worse was that the girl acted a good deal like Nori’s little sister had; singing silly little songs and dancing around like there was not a care in the world. Too bad none of that had helped Hanako in the end. If this really was some youkai’s idea of a guise, they couldn’t have picked a better one to disable her. The arrow and bow slackened in her grip though she didn’t drop them entirely, as she moved forward a bit more. In a rare display of interest, Nori stepped around her hiding place and blandly questioned the other person, ”Who are you?” Not exactly the most polite of greetings, but ‘polite’ was not exactly a part of Nori’s nature.

[Aiko]

All of a sudden, somebody spoke! Aiko’s eyes flipped open and she spun around, her mouth still poised to form the next word of the song that had been cut off by the sound of another person’s voice. A little white flower, which had gotten snagged in a snarl in the girl’s hair, bounced onto her forehead before falling to the ground. The person who had spoken was a young man, or looked to be anyway, with short black hair that was pulled back. What were really striking were the eyes, though, and Aiko couldn’t help but stare, dumbfounded, for a moment. While one was normal, brown and looking at her intently, the other was filmy white and scarred. Aiko knew what blind eyes looked like. She had traveled with a blind fox demon for a short time. It was really the fact that it was only one eye was blind, and that that made them different colors, that struck the girl. She got over it quickly, and her surprised face relaxed into a happy one.

[pink]“Hello there!”[/pink] Aiko beamed in her sprightly way. She took a few steps closer to the visitor she had, with a walk that looked like it might break into either skipping or dancing at any moment. The young teen paused a respectful distance away, far enough away that if they both held out their arms, their fingertips would probably not brush. [pink] “I’m Aiko!”[/pink] she introduced herself, her feminine voice sing-songy still and quite full of energy. She bowed, and the boy’s clothes she wore for lack of any other garments rustled softly as she did. The shirt, too big for her, almost slipped over one narrow shoulder, and Aiko straightened quickly, giggling as she pulled the fabric back up.

Laughter still tickling her voice, she asked, [pink]“Who’re you?”[/pink]

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

She wasn't surprised that the girl's first reaction was to stare at her face in blatant surprise; she'd long since gotten used to the looks she got for her mismatched eyes. Still, it was a bit unnerving to be gawked at like she was some freak show. It wasn't like there weren't other blind people out there. But did they get those horrified, yet fascinated, glances from everyone they ran into? No, because to lose both eyes was acceptable as 'normal', but to be sightless in only one was an abomination of nature.

At least this one didn't stare for long. Nori watched as Aiko walked - no, skipped seemed more like the right term to describe her movements - closer and bow. She was wearing boy clothes, much like Nori was, but whereas the latter was constantly mistaken for a male because of her appearance, there was no way to even think Aiko was NOT a girl. Intrigued whether she wanted to be or not, the older girl stepped closer as well, dropping the arrow in her hand back into her quiver. She had a feeling she could trust that this was no demon in front of her.

"I'm Nori," she answered, forgetting to add her last name. Curse her father for giving her a masculine name. Apparently he'd wanted a son, but had gotten two daughters instead, so he decided to name the older one as a boy. And what do you know, it turned out to fit her well. The teen was already 17 and had yet to develop the chest and hips that would mark her as a female. Even her voice seemed to be slightly deeper than the average woman's. Or maybe that was because she hardly ever talked out loud and her vocal chords were going hoarse from disuse. Whatever the reason, the point remained that without the 'Miku' part of her title, Nori was as good as deemed a guy.

She just hoped Aiko didn't make the same mistake in judging her gender as everyone else had before. Next to being stared at for her blindness, there was nothing Nori hated more than being called a boy. That aside, she realized that this was a golden opportunity to figure out just where the hell she was and how to get out of the forest. "By the way, do you know where this is?"

[Aiko]

[pink]“Nori-san!”[/pink] Aiko piped up cheerfully. What a nice name! The young man was putting his arrow back in its quiver. Why did he have it out in the first place, anyway? There wasn’t anything dangerous here. Not so far as the younger girl could tell, anyway. She looked at the weapons curiously for a second as Nori asked his second question, and then she turned her wide, untroubled eyes back on the person’s face. Already, she was used to the fact that Nori’s eyes were two different colors. If anything, it looked kind of pretty, but that was mean to think, wasn’t it? Pretending that the thought had never occurred to her, Aiko smiled brightly, though a look of confusion came into her eyes.

The girl glanced left. She saw green trees towering around them. The girl glanced right. She saw green trees towering above them. Aiko whirled in a full circle, looking around at everything. Everywhere, those big, lovely, baffling trees were crowding her vision, and almost everything was green and springy. It was awfully nice. The girl looked back up at Nori. [pink]“Um, nope!”[/pink] she said, sounding quite cheerful about it. [pink]“I don’t have any idea where this is!” [/pink] Then, realizing that her lack of knowledge might be hindering the man, she ducked her head and tried to make her smile look more contrite. [pink]“Sorry.”[/pink]

Well, Aiko couldn’t help poor Nori figure out where they were. That was a bummer. Maybe Aiko could make it up to the man some other way. She could at least try to think of something that would make him feel better if he felt sad about it. Her face scrunched up in thoughtfulness for a moment, and she pressed her lips together. [pink]Hmmm… What will make Nori-san happy? Oh, I know![/pink] Aiko’s face split apart in a wide smile. [pink]“Nori-san!”[/pink] she said again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other in rapid motions of excitement. [pink]“Nori-san, do you want to play with me?”[/pink] It was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Everybody liked to play, and today was a perfect day for playing!

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

'Nori-san' she'd said. Well, that wasn't a very objective address so Nori didn't say anything more on the matter. It was too bad though that the younger girl didn't know where they were either. 'Great, looks like I'm doomed to be stuck wandering these woods until I chance on a way out for die...whichever comes first.' She grumbled to herself mentally, casting baleful glares at the rows of trees which she held responsible for all her current misfortunes.

Aiko, on the other hand, didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that she knew nothing about their location. In fact, the other girl was surprisingly cheerful and chipper about everything. Did she not have a single care or worry in the world? Nori watched, amazed, as Aiko continued to carry on in her happy little way, pausing now to apparently think something over. 'What a weird kid...' Yet she wasn't annoying, like all the other overly bubbly people Nori'd met in the past. Maybe it was the similarities Aiko held to Hanako; who knew.

She blinked and quickly snapped back to reality to hear what her new acquaintance was saying, then immediately wished she'd remained oblivious. Play? Nori arched an eyebrow incredulously. Did she look like the kind of person who would go romping around on request? Play? What a ridiculous notion. Why she hardly knew HOW to play; there'd been no time for such frivolous activities back home. There was work to be done, food to be traded for, clothes to mend or make, the animals to care for; when was their any moment of the day that remained free enough to allow play to come in? Even the youngest of the children in the village did not 'play'.

But, she may as well go along with Aiko's suggestion, seeing as she had nothing better to do. Refraining from heaving a rather resigned sigh, she consented to the idea. "Very well, what would you like to play?" And let us pray to the gods that it is something easy to understand or I could sitting here all day trying to figure it out!

[Aiko]

There was a skeptical look on Nori’s face at the younger girl’s suggestion. It was the look grown-up’s like to give to kids when they suggest something ridiculous, like the sun circling around the world, even at nighttime. Aiko could identify the look quite well; she’d been given it often enough, and she still felt and acted like that silly and sometimes preposterous kid and not an adult at all. The girl’s big smile faltered a little. Had she said something silly without realizing it again? She went over her words in her head again, but she couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong. Maybe she’d said Nori’s name too much.

When the young man agreed to play, though, Aiko’s wide grin returned full force. [pink]“Wonderful!”[/pink] the girl enthused. Laughing giddily, she spun around in a circle, this time out of fun and not to look around. As she did so, she put a little more distance between herself and Nori. They were going to play together! As Aiko came to a dizzying slow, she began to think about the question the young man had asked. She came to a stumbling halt as she pondered the possibilities, nearly falling down on her little rear. She seemed not to notice, though. [pink]“Hmmm…”[/pink]

After a few moments deliberation, Aiko answered, [pink]“I don’t know. There are lots of things to do that are fun! We can play tag, or hide-and-seek, or we could climb trees, or we could chase butterflies! Oh yeah, I saw a butterfly before! You wouldn’t expect them to be out so early, but I guess they like the sunshine and the warm weather. It’s a lovely spring! Oh yeah, games.” [/pink] The girl had gotten distracted, her thoughts flitting around like they were butterflies themselves. She was so excited that she’d found somebody to play with today that she was already getting carried away. Hopefully she would find a game that would make the both of them happy.

Clamping her rosy lips firmly shut, the girl began to think in her head instead of out loud. It was a lovely day, the perfect day to go rollicking around the forest. So any calm or restful sorts of games, like drawing in the mud or throwing rocks in a pond, seemed like a waste of perfectly wonderful weather. The two of them should play an active sort of game together. Besides, Aiko was too energetic to sit still at the moment. She walked around in a restless circle, peering around between tree trunks, before skipping back to Nori. [pink]“So do you want to play hide-and-seek or tag?”[/pink]

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

Ah, so her incredulous expression had not gone unnoticed. Well it wasn't really like she'd been trying to hide it...but still, an wanted guilty twinge echoed somewhere in the back of her mind. It was strange; ever since she'd met up with Aiko, she'd been acting abnormally. Speaking to the girl voluntarily, allowing herself to be dragged into the curious notion of playing, and now developing a conscience? This was all unheard of with Nori before this little excursion. 'This can't be a good sign. Note to self, at next available time, leave quickly. Getting attached to this girl could be dangerous, much more so than with anyone else...' Pulling a disappearance act was how she dealt with these sort of situations, and the thought that soon she would be rid of this hazard put her at ease.

She let the other girl ramble a bit, going on and on with a rather long list of things they could try. Climbing trees was something Nori did on a daily basis anyways, tag and hide-and-seek sounded to be fairly self-explanatory; as for chasing butterflies...no, she just couldn't see herself running after those little fluttering bugs, with or without Aiko's company. Thankfully, the younger one veered away from that last choice and finally narrowed her suggestions down to two of the simpler games. Nori thought about it for a while, though she really didn't want to. But hey, she'd agreed to this so whatever.

"Hide-and-seek I suppose sounds the more...useful of the two," she decided. By useful, she meant that while they were darting through the trees, trying to find one another, she could take the opportunity to try and find a way out of these parts. And once she did, she would leave. There was no point in remaining any longer near this teen. She would only get in the way with Nori's traveling, and truth be told, she didn't seem like she could be of much use should youkai or oni suddenly appeared. That decided, Nori waited for Aiko's response.

[Aiko]

Tag would have been much harder for Aiko, who acknowledged the fact that she’d never be able to keep up with the stronger, faster-looking Nori. The younger girl would have spent all the time being it, chasing the older person around! So when she said, [pink]“Great!”[/pink] she really meant it. Though she wasn’t really sure what Nori meant when she called the game “useful”… Oh! Maybe she was thinking about how Aiko would be slow, too. This game was more appropriate, because they could both play pretty equally. Undoubtedly, that’s what the young man had meant when he’d said it. The girl smiled pleasantly for a moment, and told Nori, [pink]“Thanks!”[/pink] She sure was grateful for such a considerate playmate!

For a moment, the younger teen had shown a quieter, respectful version of herself, in which she showed her gratitude. But then the moment passed, and the boisterous, hyperactive Aiko reemerged. [pink]“Okay then, I guess I’ll count first,”[/pink] she decided. In her own mind, she was being nice to let Nori hide first. The hiding part of the game was the most fun, anyway, and Nori deserved to have the most fun. The younger girl was backing away, her light step still springy on the mossy forest floor. Even if the older boy was going to have more fun by hiding, Aiko looked positively bubbly at the prospect of seeking. [pink]“I’ll count to twenty,”[/pink] she said,[pink] “because I don’t know how to count any higher.”[/pink] She laughed, a little ashamed of that but not wanting it to ruin playtime. [pink]“I’ll count real slow, though, to make up for it,”[/pink] she promised.

Spinning around, her arms extended out like wings again, Aiko skipped over to a tree just beyond the tiny clearing in which the two people had been standing, and crouched down between the high, arcing roots. Twisting her neck, she peeked up at Nori, her small, feminine face sticking out amongst the roots, and gave a quick grin. Then she turned back, ducking down and facing the tree trunk. Still smiling, she placed her hands over her eyes as she closed them. And she counted. [pink]“One… two… three… four… five… three… No, wait, I already said three!”[/pink] So with much laughter and stumbling, Aiko slowly, and maybe a little painstakingly, made it all the way to twenty. [pink]“Nineteen… twenty! Ready or not, Nori-san, here I come to find you!”[/pink] she called. With that, she took her hands off her face and popped up, turning to face the clearing where she had left the young man.

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

She was puzzled for a moment when Aiko thanked her. What had she done to deserve gratitude on the other's part? Especially since right at the time, she was trying to figure out a way of escaping. Deciding that it was best to just go with the flow of things, Nori merely inclined her head slightly and said nothing. It was a brief show of seriousness by the younger girl, a side that Nori had been sure didn't exist. 'Then again, you're not exactly the best judge when it comes to people....after all, look at yourself; you don't even know your own mind.'

Thankfully, Aiko was back to her rambling and bubbly self soon, thus unknowingly saving her companion from what could've turned into an awkward slot. Nori listened, expressionless, to the other's words, wondering if the teen knew what was going to happen as soon as she turned away. Poor girl probably just thought that this was going to be any average game of hide-and-seek, that her new found acquaintance was there to stay and play with her for their entire duration of knowing one another. And she seemed so happy about it that Nori found it rather a crime to have to ruin that age. 'You could just remain this one time y'know. Maybe having someone else around would turn you into a better person....' Shaking her head in frustration and scowling at no one in particular, she turned and started off into the trees. Whatever kept both of them safe...

From a distance, she heard Aiko's continued counting, and hastened to put some more distance between herself and the previous. Now if she could just hurry up and find an exit somewhere in this god-forbidden forest! Unfortunately, time ran out for her and the numbers rose to 20 all too soon. Oh well, once couldn't hurt anyone. Quickly scanning the landscape, Nori grabbed onto the branches of one of the towering oaks in the area and began to scale it with the ease of a monkey. In a matter of seconds, she was more than half-way up the trunk and ceased her climb. She'd wait there for Aiko to find her.

[Aiko]

Nori had disappeared. But then that was the whole point of hide-and-seek, wasn’t it? Aiko plodded slowly out to the gap in the trees where she’d left her playmate. All the while, her mind was buzzing with the single most important question at that very moment: Where to start looking? Well, if Nori had come past the tree where the girl had been counting, she probably would have heard him, even over the loud sound of her own voice, clumsily counting. So, after she paused for a moment in the clearing, gazing around with her bright, exuberant eyes, she was dashing off in the opposite direction of where she’d been counting, plowing past the trees as her gaze raked the forest for good hiding places.

Now, if Aiko was perhaps a bit more of a logical thinker, she would have started to systematically look around for Nori, perhaps walking around in a gradually growing circle, widening the net of search until she found the hider. Alas, the girl didn’t think that way, and even if it had occurred to her, she would have discarded the systematic approach to searching as “not-fun.” Aiko scrambled randomly to a clump of brush, fell to her hands and knees, and peered underneath. Nope, the hider wasn’t there. The seeker hopped up again and charged off in a different direction, where the ground sloped down towards a shallow stream. Nope, not there either. The girl even craned her neck to peer up at the trees stretching their merry limbs out above her. Still there was no sign of Nori. But Aiko wasn’t discouraged. This was all part of the fun!

The girl searched and searched, peering earnestly into every possible hiding place she stumbled across. But all she was doing was stumbling, running around randomly through the woods while she looked for Nori. It was so very hard, because there were many excellent hiding places in the woods, from hollowed-out trees to depressions in the earth. About fifteen minutes into the search, Aiko was wearying of her continued failure. She needed to try something new, that was all, and reawaken interest in the game.

Not knowing that Nori could undoubtedly see her, not knowing that if she turned to the right and looked up in the trees she could spot the place in which Nori had chosen to hide, the girl selected a tree that had a lovely forked trunk, very good for climbing, and shimmied up the trunk to the fork. From there, she continued climbing up a little more, until she had a good view of the forest floor. Lifting her brownish bangs from her eyes, Aiko gazed down at the forest floor, looking into all the hiding places she could see, but still there was no Nori. Perhaps if she got just a little higher…

But Aiko climbed too high. The branch to which she clutched gave a sudden creaking groan, a pained sound. It lurched a little, threatening to fall. With a small cry, Aiko flattened herself to the tree limb, but it lurched and moaned again. [pink]“Nori-san!”[/pink] she cried, starting to panic. [pink]“Nori-san, somebody, help me!”[/pink] She was up too high! It would hurt very much if she fell. And the branch was creaking, snapping behind her as it began to bend under her weight. Aiko squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in the grayish tree bark. She didn’t want to look at the ground, swaying beneath her. It would make her too dizzy. Maybe if she couldn’t see it happening, she wouldn’t fall. But she could hear the branch as it groaned towards its breaking point, feel it sink beneath her small body, feel gravity pull on her greedily. She was going to fall! And it was going to hurt very much when she hit the ground.

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

Was that her plan? To randomly crash through the bushes and hope to find Nori hiding in one of them? Said person was watching with growing incredulity, not to mention further bemusement, as her younger companion ran from one tree to the other, looking at them all but not with any particular order. 'Jeez this girl...' She shook her head at the other's antics, yet a small smile tugged unbidden at her mouth. Without knowing it, Aiko was entertaining the hider very much so.

Once, Aiko wandered right under Nori's perch, didn't see her, and went on past to another tree nearby. 'If this continues on, there's no way she'll ever find me, even though I'm not even trying to hide all that well.' And if she wasn't found, Nori would have no excuse to leave later on. Sure she could take off right now, what with Aiko already having such a hard time locating her in the limited diameter that was their gaming spot, but watching her try so hard - and earnestly for that matter - to discover Nori's hiding spot, the altter decided to be fair and at least let her have this one little 'victory'.

But there were limits too. After a while, Nori began to wonder if they would ever get past this stage and move on. Aiko was taking far longer than she'd thought the younger girl would, and truth be told, her legs were starting to fall asleep from holding her crouched position for so long. She was just considering whether or not to call it quits and just reveal herself when there was a tell-tale cracking noise not far away and a child's voice screaming her name. All playing forgotten, Nori quickly rolled out of the oak and landed on the ground to see what Aiko had gotten herself into. Only to see that the teen had managed, somehow, to get herself trapped up a tall, forked tree, whose branches were groaning in protest from the sudden weight.

"Aiko! Let go of the branch!" she yelled up at the small figure swaying in the breeze. She made her way up about halfway, then, sliding out onto a thicker, sturdier limb, held out her arms and waited for Aiko to fall.

[Aiko]

Nori’s voice cut through the groan of bending, breaking wood. Aiko’s eyes flew open to see the dangerously tapering branch but a centimeter below her nose. The greenish forest floor bobbed in her vision on either side of the branch, and the younger teen moaned in fear. The ground looked fearfully hard all of a sudden. But Aiko forced her eyes to swivel in their sockets, for she didn’t dare move her head, until her gaze landed on a pair of pale arms, like soft-looking branches themselves, stretching out from the tree. She saw the hands, and the fingers like little twigs. They were outstretched for her.

Aiko wanted to obey the voice, even though to let go of the branch was terrifying. When she stayed really still, the creaking sound slowed. Nori was older, though. Older people always knew what to do. So the girl began to ease her arms from the chokehold she had on the branch. The wood groaned in protest at the shifting weight, and the branch dipped again. Aiko flinched, and her arms tightened around the slim bough once more. [pink]“I can’t!”[/pink] the girl whimpered. Her vision grew blurry, and her cheeks felt hot. Her mind spun and her muscles began to twitch and tremble. And every time she shook, the branch dipped a little farther down, and the wood that connected it to the trunk splintered a little. [pink]“I’m scared! The branch isn’t going to stay!”[/pink]

Suddenly, through the terror that shook her, a thought of clarity pierced Aiko’s numbing mind. Her wide eyes landed on those outstretched arms again. If Nori wasn’t careful… [pink]“It’s gonna fall!”[/pink] the girl cried. [pink]“Watch out or your arms’ll get hit!” [/pink] Aiko didn’t want her playmate to get hurt. It was one thing to hurt yourself, and something completely else to hurt somebody else with your stupidity. The girl dreaded the latter. After all, if Nori got hurt trying to help her, Aiko would probably still end up injuring herself, but she’d also have the guilt she’d have to contend with. Guilt was an awful, awful thing.

But then, half of the wood that was connecting the branch to the rest of the tree had broken, and there was a new sound: a sharp, pierce-your-ears CRRACK! The branch lurched, and Aiko’s head was jerked back. Her arms flung back, off the branch. Then there was the ground, rushing up at her. Or she was just rushing down at it.

[sakima]

- Nori Miku -

The branch's protests were getting louder and more acute by the second, signaling it was going to drop its burden at any moment now. Below, watching the progress of the wood as it slowly wore away from the main trunk, Nori began to get impatient and increasingly worried. 'Come on come one Aiko! Let go of the thing already! It won't hold you much longer!' Once, the younger girl looked down and, seeing Nori waiting, made to release her stranglehold on the tree. But then she chickened out when the branch she held onto swayed downwards. This was getting them nowhere! “Of course it’s not going to stay! That’s why I’m telling you to let go in the first place!” Nori called back, eyes flickering from Aiko’s face to the increasingly small amount of bark that connected the limb to its body.

No good, the girl was too afraid to let go. Still keeping her arms outstretched just in case something happened, Nori went through her options mentally. She could continue to stand where she was, perching rather precariously herself on the tree’s fork, and hope that her companion would work up the nerve to drop; she could climb further up and try to reach Aiko before she fell, but that would mean putting herself practically in the previous’ position and might end up with both of them freefalling to earth; she could just leave, like she would’ve on any other occasion, had it been anyone else whose life was at stake here. Unfortunately, being with the younger girl had softened Nori a bit more than she would’ve liked and so the last choice was out of the question. Which meant that number one was to be executed in the end.

While she’d been doing this process of decision making, Aiko had seemed to realize another hazard that made itself present not to her herself, but to Nori. The latter one blinked and glanced up at the frantic voice that was trying to usher her away from her current position. She had to refrain from rolling her eyes – or at least her left eye – heavenward. ‘She’s barely hanging on for dear life, about to potentially take a very nasty hit to the head, and she’s worried that my arms might get beaten up a bit? Oh good grief, what am I gonna do with you….’ A sharp ‘crack’ sounded, announcing the end of the branch’s endurance, and though the thing didn’t come off – surprising in itself – the little bundle that was clinging to it did.

Not waiting for Aiko to reach her, Nori leaped upwards instead to catch the teen early, thus minimizing any strain that could’ve been dealt to them both. Hugging the small body to her own, she allowed herself to drop straight towards the ground, her one good eye trained upwards to watch for any loose debris that might cascade down on their heads. There was a small jolt at the landing, but otherwise, both personnel should’ve been fine. “From now on, never climb trees that high up again, you hear?” Nori scolded, letting Aiko go. “I won’t be around next time it happens to save you; in fact, no one might be there to help, so keep close to the ground.” She sounded like she often did when she admonished her sister in the past for doing something foolishly brash.