Excerpt: Aisuru, To Love

Aisuru, To Love
*bing bong*

Within moments of the sound of the bell, the normally quiet building came to life with a bustle of activity. Students clustered together, some making plans and discussing the day as they filed out of the classrooms. With the weather looking ominous, many of the five hundred odd students quickly left for their next destination, with a few staying to study in the library or for club activities.

In class 3-A, Sakura Takeshi quietly cleaned the class room, unbothered by the other student who was supposed to help having pleaded off for the day. Anytime she was on duty, her partner would find an excuse to leave her to do all the work. She didn't care one way or the other, really. It saved her the effort of having to deal with anyone trying to be friendly and make chit chat.

After completing the daily log and turning it into the teacher, she headed downstairs to the lockers and changed her shoes. Exiting the school, she was greeted by a cold rain. She pulled her coat tight around her and opened her umbrella, black to match her general mood, and headed for home. Sakura lived about one mile from the school, and generally did not mind the walk. In better weather, she even enjoyed it, as the path she generally took was dotted with trees and passed a beautiful flower garden. In the spring, the cherry blossoms always made her smile, just a little.

With the rain, the walk was far from pleasant. Any normal student would be rushing for home, rather than walking at the seemingly leisurely pace Sakura maintained. She wanted to run, but knew it would be worse to run than to endure the cold a little longer. The scarf snuggly wrapped around her neck kept most of the chill at bay, while the well-made umbrella and long coat kept her relatively dry. She hugged her bag close to her side, the familiar bulge in the front pocket comforting her that she would be fine. Soon she was walking beside the familiar white fence that encased her own garden area and watching the small, two-story house getting larger as she got closer.

*thud*

Sakura stopped at the strange sound and looked around. At first, she could see nothing unusual, and wondered if she had imagined the sound. As she started to continue on, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, a dark mound lying in the garden. What is that? With a gasp, she dropped her umbrella and ran through the gate.

"Hello, hello? Are you okay?" When she shook the hunched up man's shoulder, he groaned softly in response. Pulling her hand back, Sakura saw they were darkened with blood. Moving closer, she noticed the fabric of his shirt was shredded at the shoulder, with four red, evenly spaced, ragged marks ripping across his flesh. She quickly turned him to lie on his back, searching his body for more wounds. Across his chest, she found another set of marks, longer, but not quiet as deep, and on one arm she found a single, clean edged wonder. She shuddered at the wound...it looked like it was made by a knife. The other though...they looked like large claw marks.

Telling the man to wait there, she stood to go call for an ambulance. Before she could take a step, a hand grabbed her ankle. Looking down, she found him staring at her, his long black hair plastered to his body. He shook his head and mouthed something, before slipping back into unconsciousness. She looked at the house, then back down at the man in uncertainty. She was certain he had tried to say "No police". Was he a thief or some other wanted criminal? If so, she should just turn him in before he hurt her. As the rain splashed his face, she decided that she couldn't just leave him lying there. If he turns out to be someone bad, I can just turn him in later. For now...

"I understand," she whispered as she gently released his grip on her ankle. "But you can't stay out here like this. Wait here, I'll be right back." Sakura ran into the house, picking up her fallen umbrella along the way. Setting her bag against the wall, she turned on the heater in the living room and opened the shoji screen leading out to the side porch and garden. Outside, the man was as she left him. "Yoshi." She lifted up his torso, threading her arms under his to wrap them around his chest, and then tugged backwards. Her shoes slipped in the wet mud, and her arms burned with the effort. Gritting her teeth, she tried again, moving him a few inches. Slowly, painfully, she managed to drag him through the garden and into the house. As his feet cleared the last few inches, Sakura fell backwards, landing with him lying on her legs.

Every breath she took was agony, her heart pounded fiercely in her chest, protesting the heavy activity. It was tempting to just lie there and see if it was time, but this strange man needed her and she had a promise to keep. Easing her legs out from under him, she crawled over to her school bag. Two deep breaths from the inhaler helped calm her breathing. She slipped a small, white pill under her tongue and forced herself to sit and rest while it went to work. A few minutes later, the pain subsided and she was able to get up to close the patio door.

Ignoring the blistering headache that started almost immediately after taking the drug, she toweled the man dry knowing she'd only be upright a few more minutes. Not wanting him to catch cold, she stripped off his wet belongings. She could not help but admire the finely muscled body as she worked. In the garden it was too dark to really make out his features, but now that she could see him fully, the only word she could think of to describe him was beautiful. His face was noble, just the right balance of angular planes and softness. The dark hair reached half way down his back as she laid the drying strands straight. He was tall, at least a foot taller than her own 165 centimeters. Once he was dry, she patched the wounds as best she could with her first aid kit.

Covering the man with a blanket, she quickly stripped off her wet uniform, throwing it on the pile with his clothes. As she sat beside him drying her hair, she wondered where this strange man had come from. He didn't look Japanese at all. Besides being so tall, his ears seemed pointy. His fingernails were definitely longer than normal, and pointed, like claws. She thought back to the wounds he'd sustained again...had he been in a fight with someone like him? Could there really be someone else like him though?

When she tried to stand to take the wet clothes to the laundry, her body refused to comply. Her arms felt like they were made of lead, and her eyes grew heavier with every passing moment. The effort she'd made bringing him into the house, coupled with the effects of the medicine were taking its toll. Knowing she would not be moving again for awhile, Sakura debated a moment before crawling under the blanket beside the unconscious man. After assuring herself that he was breathing evenly, she fell into a deep sleep.