Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix) (3 page)

Ryuu brushed his
shiny hair back from his eyes, and I was distracted from all thoughts of Dawn. 
I was trying really hard not to notice that the doll-like little boy had
gotten…
cute.
  I had to remind myself that I was still three years older
than him- that I wasn’t fourteen anymore.

 He raised his
dark brows at me.  “What?”

I turned away
and started stuffing clothes in the bags as fast as I could, grasping for a
reason to explain why my face was now flaming red.  “Nothing.  I’m just
surprised that Dawn would care.  I mean- I was kind of mean to her the last
time I saw her.”

Ryuu stood and
hefted the box of books.  “The last time you remember seeing her was years ago,
remember?  Whatever you did that was so mean, she’s probably forgotten it by
now.  And besides, she really likes you.  She always has.”

I tied up the
tops of the bags.  I really doubted that was something she’d just forget.  It
was more likely that she was thankful I’d gone on a mental holiday at Birch
Hill and just wanted to make sure I stayed comfortably out of her way.  I
glanced around the room.  “I think that’s everything.  Let’s go home.”

It was kind of a
shock when Ryuu got in the driver’s seat.  Dad shut my door and slid into the
passenger’s seat.  I looked between them, dumbfounded.  “You can drive?”

Ryuu nodded. 
“Just got my learner’s permit last week.”

Dad was looking
out the window, and I noticed that his brown pony-tail had gotten longer, and
that there were streaks of silver in it now.  “Driving me around gives him some
practice, but he doesn’t really need it.  Ryuu’s a great driver,” he said,
still looking out the window.

I frowned. 
Something was off.  Ryuu shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking
space, his posture stiff, and his movements more cautious than necessary.  “And
does he drive you around a lot Dad?”

Ryuu’s eyes met
mine as he looked over his shoulder out the back window, then they darted away. 
Dad’s voice was laced with embarrassment.  “It’s more convenient…since I can’t
drive anymore.”

I opened my
mouth to ask why, but Ryuu interrupted.  “Kit, what’s the first thing you want
to do when you get home?  You’re free now.  We’ll make sure your first day back
is a good one.”

I narrowed my
eyes at him.  He was changing the subject.  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. 
“I haven’t given it much thought.”

When we got
home, we hauled all of my stuff inside.  When I walked in the front door, I
barely recognized the place.  Our little house had always been cluttered, but
in sort of an organized way- controlled chaos, my dad called it.  Now it was
just plain messy.  Thankfully, my room was exactly like I remembered it, if a
bit dusty and unused.  Ryuu dropped the last of my bags onto the floor by my
closet and I flopped onto my bed in relief. 

“I think if I
close my eyes, maybe I’ll wake up and realize this is all just a bad dream.”

He came and sank
down to sit cross-legged on the floor beside my head.  “I’m sorry Kit.  I can’t
tell you how sorry.  This is all my fault.”

I sat up and
looked at him.  “How in the world is any of this your fault?”

He hunched his
shoulders.  He still had that lanky look to him, like he wasn’t eating enough. 
I used to nag him all the time to keep eating, especially when he first moved
here, still all skinny and shocky after his parents’ deaths. 

“I should have
been more careful.  I told you that bad things follow me around.  Bad things
happen around me-and look what happened to you.”  He ran a hand through his
hair and the little bell on his bracelet tinkled faintly.

I nudged him
with my knee.  “You’re talking about curses again, aren’t you?  Do you really
believe that’s what happened to me?”  The psychologist said it was stress. 
That dealing with the abandonment issues caused by my own Mom had finally
pushed me over the edge, even though she had left years before.

His black eyes met
mine.  “It was that book.  I knew it was a cursed object the minute I saw it. 
It was just crawling with bad energy.”  He turned to me, putting a hand on my
knee.  “I didn’t know what to tell you- how to make you believe me,” he
whispered.  “Everyone else I’ve ever told said I was crazy.  You were my only
friend, and I didn’t want to scare you away.  But I should have made you
listen.  It’s true, I swear.  I can see things other people can’t.”  His voice
cracked.  “I tried Kit.  I tried every day since you went under to get you
back.  But I just wasn’t strong enough- not at first.”

“What do you
mean?”  My mind was whirling as I tried to keep up with him.

The sharp angles
of his face were intent.  “I researched, I tried everything I could find, but I
couldn’t break the curse.  My spiritual powers just weren’t strong enough.  I
was…I’m
still
just a kid.  But my powers are growing.  I’ve got some
help now, and I finally got strong enough to break the curse.”

“Ryuu…”  I
firmly interrupted his rambling.  “There’s no such thing as curses.”  I heaved
a sigh.  “Look, I played along when you were little, but don’t you think you’re
taking this a bit too far?  You sound crazy.”  I stared into his eyes,
pleading.  I didn’t need this.  Couldn’t handle it.  I needed normal.  “You
didn’t cause this.”

He looked like
he wanted to argue.  But then his expression softened and he sat back, looking
more like the little boy I had known.  “Sorry.  This isn’t the right time to
talk about this.  You need some time.”

After he left, I
sat on my bed, staring at my bedroom door for a long time.  It was too much to
hope that he had gone off to play video games or something a normal boy his age
would do.  Ryuu had always been a little odd, sometimes eerily so.  Had he
finally lost it?

M
y first day back
at school after three years in the nut house was everything I expected and
more- embarrassing, awkward, and longer than any day should be.  I’d missed out
on the last three years of my life, so while I should have been in my junior
year, I was placed into tenth grade.  It was a compromise, meant to place me in
a class with people closer to my own age, while still respecting the fact that there
was no way I would be able to keep up if I was placed into eleventh grade.  Most
of my classes were filled with tenth and eleventh graders.  Thankfully, I
hadn’t missed much of the school year, so I was able to start at the
beginning. 

I didn’t see
what difference that one measly year had made- they might as well have stuck me
in eleventh grade after all.  I still felt like a moron, and I stuck out like a
sore thumb among the younger kids.  To make matters worse, there were the
rumors.  Everyone knew I’d spent the last few years in a mental hospital.  I
could hear the whispers and feel the curious eyes on me.  I almost missed my
quiet bed back at Birch Hill.  Almost.

The bell rang
for lunch and I stuffed my biology book into my bag and left the room as fast as
I could.  I’d packed my lunch, thinking that the lunch line would be one less
thing I’d have to deal with.  My friends from before were now, of course, one
grade and three years ahead of me.  I saw them here and there in the hallways. 
Andrea- who had been my closest friend besides Ryuu- actually waved.  I thought
she might come talk to me but she turned away, obviously too embarrassed to associate
with me.

My cell phone
vibrated and I paused to dig through the highlighters and loose junk in the
bottom of my book bag to find it.  Other people passed by, giving me odd
looks.  I had a text from Ryuu. 
Where are you?  Come eat outside. 

The tension in
my chest eased just a little bit.  At least Ryuu was familiar.  He acted as if absolutely
nothing had changed. 

Pine Rapids was
a very small town, and when the recession began, they’d done some down-sizing
at the school.  Our school was already integrated, with grades seven through
twelve sharing the same building, but on slightly different schedules.  With
the financial changes, or so Dad had told me, it only made sense to integrate
further.  Because of this, the junior high kids had started eating lunch with
the high schoolers.  From what Dad said, some of the parents of the younger
kids hadn’t liked this.  But I had absolutely no objection.

I found Ryuu sitting
at one of the picnic tables in the courtyard.  He was near the edge of the
yard, in the shade of a big maple tree.  No one was sitting with him, and I
noticed that there was a careful space around his table.  A group of girls at
the next table over glanced at him and giggled now and then.  He was oblivious;
his dark head bent over an old book with a faded cover while his lunch sat at
his elbow, completely ignored. 

I plopped down
across from him and rested my chin on my folded arms, exhaling loudly.  “That bad?”
he said, not looking up from his book. 

I wanted to put
my face in the crook of my elbow and hide.  Instead, I sat up straight, smiled,
and pulled out my lunch.  I picked at my peanut butter sandwich while I watched
Ryuu.  “What are you reading?”

When he didn’t
answer, I pulled his book bag closer and peered at the spine of another old
book.  The plain black title had almost worn away.  “What’s Shinto
?”

He slipped a
tattered bookmark between the pages of the book he was reading and finally
looked at me.  “It’s a kind of religious belief,” he said slowly.  “Really old. 
Ancient.”

I pulled the
other book out of his book bag and flipped it open.  Speaking of ancient, the
book looked like it was about to fall apart.  “Where in the world did you get
this thing?”

He took it back
and gently slipped the books into his bag.  I think maybe he didn’t want me
touching any mysterious books anytime soon, just on principal.  “A friend of
mine loaned them to me.”  He grinned.  “I think he stole them from the temple.”

I started to
roll my eyes, but I remembered that there were curious eyes on me all the time
now.  The girls at the table across from us glared at me, and I blinked at them
in surprise.  What the heck?

Ryuu noticed my
discomfort, and glanced around us with a dark, brooding look.  “It’ll pass,” he
said quietly.  “Teenagers have memories like goldfish.  There’ll be something
else for them to gossip about a month from now.”

I laughed. 
“You’re a teenager too, you know.”

He echoed my
laugh, but it didn’t reach his eyes.  “Sure.”

When I was done
with my sandwich, I pulled out my biology book and reviewed what we had just
gone over in class.  Ryuu tilted the book toward him so he could see what I was
reading.  “So what do you think of tenth grade?”

I snorted.  “I
think I’m going to end up failing.”  Everything was so much harder, and I felt
lost.  “I have to re-read everything we cover in class because the stuff that’s
review for the other kids is completely new to me.  Mr. Anderson said he’s
going to get me a tutor for Biology and Algebra.”

Ryuu pushed the
book away and lay down on his seat to soak up the warm sun, while I tried to
make sense of my reading assignment.  It wasn’t long before the bell rang.  I
closed my book with a thump and gathered up my backpack.  Then I went around to
Ryuu’s side with dragging steps. 

“Aren’t you
going to class?”  I asked, when he showed no sign of movement.

He sat up and
stretched.  “I have to go to the office for a few minutes first.  I’ll see you
after school.”

I waved and left
him sitting in the shade.  It must be nice to never have to worry about
school.  If he missed the first part of class, it wouldn’t effect Ryuu in the
least bit.  He’d always been a straight A student.

When I got to my
locker, I was surprised to find Andrea waiting for me.  She gave me a nervous
smile.  “Hey Kit.  How are things going?”

I grimaced. 
“About like you’d expect.”

She nodded
sadly, glancing around like she was looking for someone.  “I’m sorry about what
happened to you.  It was so weird, you know- one day you’re fine, the next
you’re crazy.  And now you’re fine again…”  Her blue eyes widened as she
realized what she’d just said.  “Oh, sorry!”

I shrugged and
stuffed my biology book into my locker.  “It’s okay.  That’s pretty much what
happened.”  Andrea was Andrea.  She’d always been more prone to silly, feminine
things like gossip, boys, and make-up than I had ever been.  It seemed like she
hadn’t changed all that much in the last few years.

Her attention
went over my head and I turned with my algebra book in my hand.  A good-looking
blond guy was making his way over.  He didn’t look too happy. 

“Hey Andrea.” 
He glanced at me has though he expected me to start clucking like a chicken.  I
was tempted to do it, just to see what he’d do.

Andrea turned to
me again and a pretty pink color came into her round cheeks.  “Kit, Mr.
Anderson asked Wyatt to tutor you in Biology and Algebra.”  She shrugged.  “I’d
volunteer to help, but I’m horrible at both.”

I nodded at the
jock who was standing awkwardly in front of my locker trying not to look like
he was associating with the freak.  “Thanks.  But you don’t have to help me if
you don’t want to.”

He put his hands
in his pockets and shrugged.  “I need to do service hours for Honor’s Club. 
It’s not a big deal.”

I sighed.  At
least there was something in it for him.  Honor’s Club looked good on a college
application.  “Thanks.  I could really use the help.”  
Cluck.

The final bell
rang and I made my way to class, wondering if Andrea had only talked to me
because Mr. Anderson asked her to. 

*****

By the end of
the day, I was over it.  I wished the earth would just open up and swallow me. 
I felt the curious eyes on Ryuu and me as we walked home together, and their
weight was suffocating.  Ryuu was quiet and withdrawn, clearly thinking about
something else.  I’d noticed that he was different at school than when we were
alone.  He did dark and broody very well, which probably explained why although
I caught lots of people staring at him throughout the day, not one of them ever
really talked to him.  But then, maybe I was wrong.  Maybe he was actually
really popular and people were only avoiding him because of me.

 “I can walk
home alone,” I said as we were leaving. 

“Hmm?”  He
looked at me in surprise, coming back from wherever he had been.

I sighed.  “I
said I can walk home alone.  Isn’t everyone going to give you crap for hanging
out with the crazy girl?”

He shrugged. 
“Did people ever give you crap for hanging out with the crazy little Japanese
boy?”  He raised his dark eyebrows expectantly.

“Well, yeah. 
But I didn’t care what they thought,” I said quickly.

He handed me one
of his old books and took my enormous backpack.  “So you know how I feel.” 

He groaned and
staggered under the weight of my bag.  I shook my head and kept walking.  He
was exaggerating.  It wasn’t that heavy.  Quite.

He took the book
back and started reading while he walked.  I obligingly took his hand and
steered him around obstacles, wondering if whatever he was reading could really
be
that
interesting.

I was surprised
when Ryuu followed me right to my door.  “You’re not going home?”

He looked down
and scuffed his foot against the bottom porch step.  “Well, I’m sort of used to
the routine now.”  He glanced up at me, then away.

 “When you
were…gone… and Dawn was out all the time, I came here and ate with your dad
every night.”  He gave me a sad smile.  “He wasn’t eating, and since you always
nagged me to eat, I knew you’d be really cranky if you woke up and we’d both starved
to death or something.”

I rolled my
eyes.  Sure, I knew my dad was helpless when it came to stuff like that, but
Ryuu had been so young then.  When he reached the door, he paused with his hand
on the doorknob. 

“Uh, hey Kit? 
Take it easy on your dad, okay?  When you left, he had a really hard time. 
First your mom, then you.  I think he’ll be okay now, but it was kinda… rough.”

I stared at him,
wide eyed.  What did that mean-
kinda rough
?  “Sure,” I said cautiously.

Maybe he’d been trying
to warn me.  If so, it was a complete fail.  Nothing could have prepared me
enough to just calmly accept the sight that greeted me as I walked into that
messy living room.  Dad was sprawled across the couch snoring.  The end table
was covered with empty beer cans, a few of which had tumbled to the floor.  I
dropped my book bag with a thump and he snorted and rolled over. 

“Dad.  Dad!”  I
raised my voice and he jerked awake, pushing himself up into a slumped sitting
position.

He peered up at
me from reddened eyes, blinking like an owl.  “Oh, hey Pumpkin,” he grinned. 
“I forgot to make dinner…” he looked around the living room in a confused sort
of way.

Ryuu cleared his
throat.  “Don’t worry about it Mr. Callahan,” he said quickly.  “I’ll help Kit
make dinner.  Why don’t you… go take a shower?”

My face flamed at
the reminder that I wasn’t the only one seeing this.  “How could you?”  My
voice wavered.  “You’re disgusting, Dad.  You should be ashamed of yourself!”  He
was drinking again?  He’d been sober since mom left.     

He leaned
forward and braced his elbows on his knees, putting his face in his hands. 
“I’m sorry, Princess.  Sorry.”  His voice was muffled, but it sounded weepy. 
“How was your first day?  Were the other kids mean to you?”

I opened my
mouth to tell him that it was awful, and that I didn’t need to deal with this
crap on top of everything else- but Ryuu grabbed my arm and steered me into the
kitchen.  He shoved me into a chair and gave me a frosty black look. 

I stared at the circular
watermarks on the tabletop, thinking how mad Mom would have been that someone
hadn’t used a coaster.  It was stupid to think of her now, after so many
years.  But one of the reasons mom had left was the drinking.

I heard Dad
shuffle off to the bathroom, shortly followed by the sound of the shower
running.  Ryuu moved around the kitchen as if he lived there, pulling out pots
and pans and gathering food.  It looked ridiculous.  He was only a fourteen-year-old
boy.  Of course, I’d done all the cooking when I was his age.

“How long has he
been like this?”  My voice was flat.

Ryuu stood on
his tiptoes to reach into the cabinet above the stove- the one I could only barely
reach the last time I tried- and pulled out the cooking oil.  I was struck with
the memory of the day he and I had made cookies with my Dad and Ryuu had to
stand on a chair to get the vanilla out of that cabinet.  It felt like it was
only yesterday, and it made my head spin. 

“I told you,” he
said patiently, his voice a little sad.  “He didn’t deal well when you went
away.”