Sweet Burden (42 page)

“What are you doing out here? You know you don’t have to wait outside for me when I leave.” Obi looked over her angelic face and felt his pulse quicken.

“Well ‘hi’ to you too.”

“Sorry. Hi.”

“And I know I don’t need to wait for you. It just seems so lonely inside when you’re not here.”

He stared at her for a few seconds taking in every feature of her face and neck. She had a blanket wrapped around her from the waist down and he couldn’t keep his thoughts from wondering what was underneath. He quickly dropped his head back and let out a sigh trying to control the rapid thumping in his chest.

“You look worn out,” Hitomi commented.

“I am. There’s so much to do and neither one of us has been sleeping well.”

“I know,” she whispered.

He lifted his head back up and looked at her again. “Plus, it’s draining being away from you even if for a short time.” His eyes raked over her again. He had been so controlled with her but tonight he was feeling overwhelmed with emotions. Without even thinking about it, he grabbed her and pulled her across his lap. Obi secured his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder. Her scent seemed even stronger and he buried his nose against her neck. “I love the way you smell,” he mumbled as he licked his lips and planted light kisses on her skin.

He brought his hand up and grabbed her other shoulder. A slight hum came from her parted lips as she tilted her head towards him. Obi only had a second to look at her flushed cheeks before his mouth was on hers. His fingers traced along her collarbone and he could feel the temperature of her skin rising. She brought her arms up around his neck and pressed harder against him. Obi wanted the kiss to last forever.

He wasn’t sure exactly how she did it, but suddenly she had herself positioned in front of him with her knees on either side of his thighs. Her fingers knotted in his hair as he pulled the blanket out from between them. His hands were gripping at the bare skin of her waist when he realized that her skin was getting even hotter. It was almost starting to hurt to touch her. Her lips scorched against his mouth and he felt the burning from her fingers against his scalp.

“Hitomi, stop,” Obi whispered. But she didn’t. She pressed harder against him and he could feel the heat through his clothes. He couldn’t understand how he was able to feel the pain. “Hitomi, we need to stop.” Obi grabbed her waist and picked her up. He plopped her back down onto the swing and stood up. He looked down at her trying to catch his breath.

Her face was bright red. “I’m sorry.” She put her hand over her mouth embarrassed. He realized that she hadn’t felt the temperature change in herself. “I don’t know what came over me. I know you don’t want me like that because you’ve never really initiated anything.”

Obi shook his head. “No. Of course I want you in that way. I mean, I didn’t really want to stop.” He moved over feeling mostly back to himself and sat down next to her. “Don’t ever think that I don’t want you.”

“Then why…”

“Well, for one thing I don’t want to hurt you. You’re more fragile than you know. And if I hurt you, I would never forgive myself.” He reached over and took one of her hands between his. Her skin was almost cooled. “And I don’t know how, but your skin became unbearably hot. It was starting to burn me.” He said the last few words almost in a whisper.

“What? Burn you?” She turned and faced him as her eyes widened. Hitomi quickly pulled her hand from his.

“Your hands have cooled down now.” He reached back over and took her hand again. “Even though I have a higher pain tolerance, it was starting to hurt. You didn’t feel it at all?”

She shook her head and turned away from him. “I’m so sorry.”

“I doubt you did much damage,” he replied trying to make light of the situation. He could see the confusion on her face. “It’s alright. We both got a little carried away.” Obi reached over to put his arms around her again, but she slipped out of his grip and got up.

“I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel like myself,” Hitomi said as she shook her head. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. I feel sick.” She turned and ran into the cabin.

Obi dropped his head back and let out a deep sigh. He regretted even saying anything to her. He regretted stopping. She needed to know how much he loved her and he would endure anything for her. He got up and went inside. Guri looked up at him from his chair when he entered.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Where is she?”

“She grabbed her cell phone and ran into the bedroom.”

Obi went over to the bedroom door and knocked lightly.

“Just leave me alone for awhile,” her voice called from the other side of the door.

“Hitomi…”

“Please Obi. Leave me alone.”

His hands clenched into fists and he rested his head against the door. Obi wanted to open the door and confess everything to her, but for now he would give her the time she needed.

“What are you both so upset about?” Guri asked.

Obi pulled away from the door and moved over to the couch. He plopped down and rubbed the back of his head feeling for burns, but there weren’t any. He glanced up at Guri. “We were out on the porch, sort of kissing…”

“How can you be sort of kissing?” Guri smiled.

“You know what I mean.” Obi’s eyes narrowed. “Things got a little heated. I mean literally heated. Her skin started to burn me.”

“Burn you huh?” he replied not sounding surprised as he returned to his book.

Obi tilted his head a little studying Guri’s response. “You knew something like this could happen.”

“You being burned could possibly be because of the death god part still inside you reacting to…” he stopped short. “Never mind, I’ve already said too much.”

“Of course you have.” Obi rolled his eyes.

Guri shrugged. “She’ll learn to control her powers. But that’s pretty amazing she actually burned you. Things must have been getting…”

“I’m going to interrupt you there before you say something that is going to cause me to punch you,” Obi interrupted. “Anything else that
might
happen you want to inform me of?”

“I’ll let you know.” Guri smirked still not looking at him. Obi huffed and got up. He went back out onto the porch and sat down on the steps. He stared out into the woods thinking about how Hitomi’s powers were becoming stronger. She was tossing and turning at night with violent dreams that he wasn’t sure what to make of. Her hands became illuminated in her sleep and now it seemed she was unable to control her energy. But at the same time, he didn’t care about the burning. There were no marks left behind. He didn’t care if she burned him every time they touched.

Obi patted his pocket again checking for the box when he heard rustling along the edge of the woods. It had become dark out and he was unable to see very far into the forest. But the noises sounded close. He sniffed the air not picking up on any unusual scent as the tree branches swished in front of him. Pulling out a dagger from under his pant leg, he stood up and took a few steps forward.

The noises sounded again and he cautiously walked to the edge of the woods. He couldn’t make out any individual shapes. He was about to walk back to the cabin when the rustling was heard again but further in front of him. Obi clutched the dagger and entered the forest. He walked a few paces and heard the noises further away again. He surveyed the area continuing to inhale the scents around him. Walking forward, the sounds pulled him deeper and deeper into the woods until he turned around and could no longer see the lights of the cabin.

****

Hitomi lay curled in the bed staring at her cell phone. She wanted to call her mom, but she knew she wouldn’t get any answers. Her gaze moved from the phone to the hand holding it. She couldn’t believe she had burned Obi. She was terrified of what had happened. The candle she had burning cast an orange glow over her hand. Dropping the phone onto the bed, her fingers turned into a fist. Her stomach churned as she thought of hurting Obi. He had become everything to her and now she wasn’t even able to touch him.

She didn’t know what she was. She didn’t know why she was able to heal or what future her dreams told her. Hitomi was scared of what she was becoming.

Suddenly her body jolted as her cell phone began ringing. Almost happy to be sidetracked from her thoughts, she grabbed the phone. It was from an unknown caller, but she welcomed any voice on the other end. She hit the button to answer and pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hitomi, darling, I’m so happy you finally answered,” a man said.

“Who is this?”

“Well, I will give you a hint. We met before. Although it was only briefly, I do think that it will forever be etched in your memory.”

Hitomi’s body trembled as she recognized the sinister tone of his voice. “Domitori?”

“And we have a winner,” he laughed.

“What do you want?” her voice practically cracked.

“That should be very apparent. Humans always ask the most obvious questions. I want you, of course.”

“Why?” she whispered as her hand shook.

“Before it was just orders. Now it’s just fun. I want to see the look on Obi’s face as I spill your blood…”

“Hang up the phone,” another voice said. But this voice was not on the phone, it was in her room.

She slowly lifted her eyes to a man standing at the foot of the bed. He was glowing in the most magnificent gold and she recognized him as the man she saw in the woods before. The phone fell from her grasp as she sat up. She caught her breath as the man smiled at her. Hitomi let out a shrill scream as loud as she could.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” the man said.

“Obi!” she shrieked as she curled herself into a ball and closed her eyes.

“Hitomi!” Obi yelled back as she heard the bedroom door being thrown open. He picked her up from the bed and carried her out into the main room. She opened her eyes to his concerned face. He sat down with her on the couch and started inspecting her. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No.” Hitomi shook her head and clung to him. “That man was in my room…”

“What’s going on?” Guri asked coming out of the bathroom drying his hair. “Did someone scream?”

“Someone was in Hitomi’s room,” Obi answered quickly returning to examining Hitomi.

Guri walked over to the room and looked in. “No one’s there now.”

“Domitori called,” Hitomi managed to get out.

“What?” Obi replied shocked as he looked to Guri. Guri hurried into the bedroom and came back out with the cell phone to his ear. Hitomi glanced up as Guri shook his head and turned the phone off. “What did Domitori say?”