Sweet Burden (39 page)

She turned around behind her trying to see him, but she felt that she needed to get away from him. In her head, she wanted to go to him, but her legs took her in the other direction. Hitomi picked up her pace again when suddenly a bright light appeared in front of her. She shielded her eyes from the blinding brightness.

“Hitomi!” Obi shouted again. “Come back!”

She turned around to see him come up behind her. His face was illuminated from the light. He looked terrified of something. His brows were furrowed and his green eyes appeared to glow. His mouth was tight in a straight line.

“Hitomi, you don’t have to do this,” he said pleadingly.

“Yes, I do,” she nodded.

“No. No you don’t. I’m begging you, don’t do this.”

Hitomi walked over to him and placed her hand on his face. He pushed his cheek into the mold of her hand as his eyes closed. His skin felt cold against the heat of hers.

“This is what I have to do Obi,” Hitomi said with much pain in her chest. “I love you. I love you more than you will ever know. But this is something I have to do.”

“We’ll figure out another way,” Obi mumbled.

“There isn’t another way. We both know that.”

Obi’s eyes opened and she could see tears swelling. They started to trickle down his cheeks as she put her other hand on his face.

“I will always love you,” Hitomi smiled. His arms wrapped around her pulling her tight against him. His mouth crushed hers in a wild urgent kiss until she pushed away. “I have to go.” She reached down and took a hold of his hand. She squeezed his hand and then let go leaving Obi grasping at the air. “Goodbye.” She turned away from him and walked towards the light.

“Hitomi, wait!” Obi called after her, but she was no longer listening. She was only concentrating on the light. It brushed over her skin like a gust of hot air. She looked down at her hands as she continued walking. Her hands became illuminated as they did before, only the illumination didn’t stop at her hands. It traveled up her arms…

Hitomi sat straight up in bed. Beads of sweat trickled down the side of her face as she pulled her hands out from underneath the covers. They were glowing and felt extremely hot. She pulled in a deep breath and held it.

“Hitomi?” Obi mumbled beside her in the darkness. She stuffed her hands back under the covers as he rolled over. His fingertips brushed against her back. “Are you alright?”

“Yah. Just a bad dream.”

Obi sat up and put his arm around her waist. “It was just a dream.” He lightly kissed her shoulder. “Come here.” He pulled her back down into the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She settled herself against his body and nuzzled her head under his chin. “Let’s go back to sleep.” He let out a yawn as she moved her arm across him. “No wonder you’re sweating. Your skin is practically on fire.” She cringed a little that he had noticed. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Mm hm. It was just a dream, right?” She nodded her head.

“Yup. You’re safe here with me,” Obi whispered.

The fact that she was running away from Obi disturbed her. There was nothing that would make her leave him. Even though it was a dream, it still concerned her.

“Obi?”

“Hmm?”

“I was running away from you. You were calling to me, but I just kept running. And when you caught up to me, I just walked away from you into this bright light. I said goodbye and left you standing there in the dark.”

He let out a long sigh and squeezed her tighter. “We’re right here, together.” Obi pressed his cheek against the top of her head.

Hitomi closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn’t escape the fact that a lot of her dreams had an odd way of feeling incredibly real. She ran her fingers together sensing that her hands had returned to normal. She didn’t have the nerve to tell Obi that her hands had been illuminated again. She wasn’t sure how he’d react. It was almost light out when she finally feel asleep again.

As she rolled over in the bed, her hand plopped onto the empty pillow next to her. Hitomi’s fingers traced across the fabric to a piece of paper. She grabbed the paper and rolled back over opening her eyes.

Hitomi,

There was a small problem with trying to make the bullets. I had to go back to Rediisu’s for a little while. I shouldn’t be gone too long. I took your cell phone with me to charge it. I’m sorry I left without waking you, but you didn’t seem to sleep very well last night and I wanted you to rest. I’ll be back as soon as possible. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.

Obi

Hitomi ran her fingers across the black ink and folded up the paper. She curled herself up in the covers barely remembering last night’s dream until she glanced at her hands again. They didn’t look any different, but she felt different. She seemed lighter and warmer. The air was cold, but it didn’t seem to affect her. She felt energized.

Pulling the covers back, she got up and tucked the note into the front pocket of her bag. Hitomi changed out of her pajamas and put on some shorts and a t-shirt. She felt like she needed to get out of the cabin and do something or anything. She grabbed a sweatshirt as she walked out into the main room. Guri was clanging dishes around in the kitchen, but stopped as soon as he heard her.

“Hey. What’cha doin’?” he asked as he eyed her.

“I was going to go check out the woods. I’m feeling cooped up in here.”

“What do you mean ‘check out the woods’?”

“I don’t know. Go for a jog or something. I just feel restless.” She shrugged and pulled the hoodie on. Guri smiled at her with an odd expression. “What’s with the look?”

“Didn’t realize you guys were at the ‘wearing each other’s clothes’ phase of the relationship.”

She glanced down realizing she had grabbed one of Obi’s hoodies. “Oops. It wasn’t intentional. I swear.”

Guri let out a laugh. “Well, give me a sec and I’ll come with you.”

“I’d kind of like to have some time to myself.”

“Yah, and I’d kind of like Obi not to kill me. So either I come with you or you’re staying here.”

Hitomi quickly weighed her options. She really needed to get out of the cabin and maybe it would be an opportunity to get more information out of Guri. “Fine. Hurry up.”

He laced up his shoes and they headed out the door. “So, you think that we could do walking instead of jogging?”

“That’s fine. I just needed out. I was starting to feel like a prisoner.”

They headed north walking in silence for a little while. Hitomi concentrated on her steps careful not to trip. She had to laugh at herself for even thinking she would be able to jog ten steps in the woods without falling on her face.

She couldn’t get the events of her dream out of her head. What would ever make her run from Obi? She had even told him that she loved him in the dream. That was something she still hadn’t found the nerve to do yet.

“Pathetic,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” Guri asked close behind her.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of something. Something I should have done awhile ago.”

“Hm,” he hummed. “Hopefully not jogging. Because I have never seen you jog.”

Hitomi laughed. “I just felt like I needed to get out and do something today. I have all this energy.” She glanced around and stopped at one of the trees. She leaned back against the trunk thinking about his statement. “You said you’ve never seen me jog. But I’ve only known you for about a week.”

Guri stopped and pursed his lips a little. “So?”

“Guri, how long exactly have you been watching me?” she asked crossing her arms. “Obviously you didn’t see me for the first time at Club Scarlet.”

“No.” He ran his hand through his hair nervously. “Awhile.”

“And how long is that?”

“Um, since you were born,” he offered.

“What? Were you my protector before Obi?”

“No, not really. I’ve been a death god since before you were born. But it wasn’t much before you were born. And I wasn’t a protector before. I was actually an angel.”

“An angel? Really? What’s the difference?”

Guri smiled and moved over to a tree stump. He sat down and motioned for her to sit down next to him. She moved over and joined him. “What humans think of as angels are actually the protectors. The protectors were given to certain people of importance. So what people viewed as their guardian angels were protectors. But what people didn’t know was that their protectors were usually their best friend, co-worker, or even boyfriend or girlfriend.”

“And then what are angels?”

“The angels were the army of the Heavens. We were the ones who were supposed to defend the Heavens if needed.” His brow furrowed and he stared down at the ground. “There just weren’t enough of us,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry Guri.” She put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.

“There was nothing I could do once the war began. I had already been assigned to go to the Afterworld to…well, to keep an eye on things there. I was barely able to warn the Heavens. They didn’t have any time to prepare.” He shook his head. “It was a massacre.”

Hitomi put her head down trying to understand the guilt that Guri felt. She could hear it oozing through his words. It was hard for her to believe that a war was brewing again. But this time Guri and Obi would be involved in it. She trembled thinking of either of them being hurt or worse.

“Are you feeling alright? You look a little green,” Guri commented.

“Yah, I’m fine.” She shook her head. “Are there more like you? I mean, a lot more? Because I don’t know how just the few of you are going to battle.”

“There’s probably some in hiding. But more are going to have to be made.” He rubbed his hands on his pants and stood up. “We should keep walking.” He started off in a quick pace as Hitomi jumped up to follow him. “I have no idea what time Obi is going to be back and I can’t imagine him being in a great mood if we’re not there when he gets back.”

She winced a little thinking of the attitude Obi would have if they weren’t there, but she was interested in more of what Guri knew. “Can you tell me about the Heavens? What was it like there?”

Guri looked up at the sky. “There wasn’t as much rain, that’s for sure. It was warm and bright. It was this beautiful world on a cloud. Isbian lived in this huge white marble castle. Everyone else lived in these pillars surrounding the castle. There were other beings besides protectors and angels. There were also scouts and guardians. Guardians watched over certain territories on Earth and scouts mainly lived among humans and reported back potential souls. The Heavens was always a busy place, but peaceful.” He kept his head down and continued to walk.