Sweet Burden (25 page)

Obi closed his eyes and turned away from her. She could see the tension in his body. The muscles in his arms were rigid and defined. He grabbed onto the back of one of the chairs and grasped it tightly. “I’m…” he started in a whisper. “I’m a shinigami. Also known as a death god.”

“A death…god,” Hitomi mumbled. Her words came out shaky and stung her tongue. The hairs on the back of her neck shivered. “What does that mean?”

Obi moved around the chair and slumped down in it. He leaned over resting his head in his hands. “I take the souls of the marked to the Afterworld.”

Hitomi’s mind raced. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant. “I don’t understand Obi. Who are you and where did you come from?”

“There are other realms that humans are unaware of. There’s the Afterworld, Spiritual Realm, Heavens and High Court. I come from the Afterworld. It is another realm beyond the world of the living. My primary function is to take souls that have been chosen to the Afterworld. I became a death god when another death god chose me to take its place. Whoever it was transferred their power to me as I died. Or so I was told.” He finally lifted his head up and looked at her. “Please don’t be scared of me. I will never hurt you.”

“But you…kill people for their souls,” Hitomi stated tasting the bitterness in her mouth. Her legs wobbled and she reached out for the wall for balance. “Why?”

“Why- what?”

“Why are souls taken?”

Obi shrugged. “Lots of reasons. But it has to do with the balance between the Afterworld, the Heavens, and the Living World. There’s a lot the Living World is unaware of.”

“I can’t believe this. There are other realms? Other beings? What you are telling me is insane,” Hitomi whispered as she leaned back against the wall and sunk to the floor. She turned away from him and stared at the hideous green shag carpet. Her mind was overloaded. She could barely grasp what he was telling her. There were worlds beyond her comprehension. Obi was a being from one of those worlds.

“I know it’s a lot to take in. But it’s all true.”

She shook her head. “How can it be possible?”

“It is possible. And very real. It’s just as real as you saving me with your bare hands.”

Hitomi began picking at the carpet. “This is crazy. Am I in some sort of dream? Or maybe a really bad hidden camera show?”

“Deep down, you know it’s all true,” Obi replied quietly.

Her head shot up, but she focused on a spot on the wall. “I don’t feel like I know anything. I mean, other worlds exist and mythological beings are real. What else are there besides death gods?”

“There’s quite a few throughout the realms.”

Her mind wandered back to Domitori. If Domitori was out to get her, who else was? Her eyes settled back on the carpet. “Is anyone else out to get me? I must have done something to make someone angry.”

Obi let out a deep breath and replied, “I don’t really get details as to why someone is on a list.  But you have to believe I won’t hurt you. Hitomi, all I want to do is protect you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Her mind was trying to process everything she had just discovered. She knew she should be disgusted with Obi, but she couldn’t. Hitomi had heard the anguish in his voice as he described who he was. She felt the anger towards himself emanating from him.  It crept into her skin and she shivered.

Hitomi lifted her head and turned her gaze to him, locking eyes with him. Who he had described was no longer who he was. He had changed. And he had changed because of her. She hated seeing him upset with himself.

She let out a sigh and got up from the ground. With their eyes still fixed on each other, she took a few steps towards him moving to the bed.

“You must think I’m a monster.”

His words stopped her short of the edge of the bed and she stared at the beautiful boy in front of her. Her heart raced as she mentally traced every feature of his face. She shook her head slightly. “You could never be a monster.” She wanted to tell him that she could never love a monster and a monster would never be loved.

The hard lines on his face softened. His lips quivered. “But the things I’ve done…”

“Stop,” Hitomi shook her head again. “That’s not who you are Obi. I can see that in your eyes.”

“Maybe you’re wrong.”

“I’m not,” she replied as she sat down on the bed. “A monster would have killed me. You saved me.” She uncurled her fingers and hesitantly reached over to him. Hitomi slowly removed his hand from under his chin and smoothed out his fist, then clasped her hand around his. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

“I thought you were going to hate me,” Obi mumbled. “Since the first time I saw you all I’ve wanted to do is protect you.”

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door causing Hitomi to jump and they both turned to the door as the grey haired winged boy walked into the room. Obi pulled his hand from hers and stood up. Hitomi instantly missed the feeling of his skin and she felt her bottom lip turn into a pout.

“Sorry. I didn’t interrupt something, did I?” he smiled widely.

“No,” Obi huffed. “Where were you all night?”

“In my room.” He turned his gaze down to Hitomi and she felt a shiver come over her body. “I see you’re feeling better.”

“Um hm,” she nodded.

“Your room?” Obi raised an eyebrow.

The boy glanced at Obi. “Yes.” His eyes returned to Hitomi. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself last night. I’m Guri.”

“So you lied about not having enough money for another room,” Obi interrupted.

Guri sighed and continued to smile at Hitomi. “No. I didn’t have money for
you
to get another room.” He pulled a bag out from behind his back. “Hitomi, I thought you might be hungry.”

“Oh, thank you. And it’s nice to meet you.” She took the bag from him as her eyes traveled between Obi’s irritation and Guri’s mocking. She settled back on Obi who rolled his eyes and plopped back down in the chair.

“I’ll take the onion rings if you don’t want them,” Guri continued to smirk.

“Okay,” Hitomi nodded and she couldn’t help but grin back at him.

“So…” Guri turned back to Obi.

“I told her,” Obi commented feeling Guri’s stare.

“Oh, good.”

Hitomi sat there with a million questions running through her mind. She wanted to know everything about them. But she didn’t know where to start. She stared at Guri. “You’re a death god too?”

“Yup,” Guri moved his head up and down and glanced down at her. “Did he answer all your questions for you? I’m sure you have so many.”

“Well, we didn’t get into everything. But can I ask you something?” There was one question for Guri that stuck in her mind. She waited until he motioned for her to go ahead. “How did you know I could heal Obi?”

“All shinigami have some sort of extra sense. Or as humans like to refer to it, a superpower. I’m able to get into other people’s minds. I can’t exactly read minds, but I can sense feelings and enhance feelings. I was able to sense the ability to heal inside you,” Guri answered.

Hitomi’s eyes widened. He knew all the confusion in her head and the way her thoughts darted from one to the other. Was he able to see her feelings about Obi? Her heart picked up its pace again as Guri’s smile twitched. She could feel her cheeks get hot with embarrassment as she also felt Obi’s eyes on her.

“What can you do?” she quickly shifted to him.

He turned away from her and started fidgeting with the edges of a paper on the table. “I can track anything with blood,” Obi muttered.

“Oh.” She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, but she sensed Obi’s discomfort. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the topic of conversation or due to Guri’s presence. “Guri, do you know why I have the ability to heal?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Are you going to eat that food?”

“Guri,” Obi warned.

She withheld a laugh. “No, it’s alright. You can have it. I’m not very hungry.” Hitomi handed the bag back to him.

Obi huffed and got up. “What’s the plan?”

Guri moved around Obi to the other side of the table as he happily dug out the food. He arranged it neatly and popped an onion ring into his mouth. Seeing the two chairs at the small table reminded her of her house and immediately her thoughts went to her mother. She had probably arrived home and found Hitomi not there. She most likely saw the bloody sheets on her bed and now the police were out looking for her. Regina had to be freaking out. She wondered if she called Kerry. Kerry would have definitely heard about the scene caused at the dance. Bradley would have recounted the entire story to her. Kerry would then tell Regina.

Regina had almost certainly told the cops that Hitomi had been kidnapped. She didn’t want Obi to get into trouble.

“I need to go home,” she blurted out.

“Out of the question,” Obi replied. “I promised to keep you safe. And I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to be going up against.”

“Especially after what the council did to you just for not completing your list,” Guri added with his mouth full.

She watched Obi shoot a glare at Guri that she didn’t understand. She was more preoccupied with thoughts of her mother. “My mom is going to be worried and she probably has the cops looking for me.”

“I’d rather your mom be worried than you dead,” Obi snapped. Hitomi let out a gasp and he quickly brought his gaze to her. “I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh.”

“You have to excuse Obsidian. He’s not much of a people-death god,” Guri giggled.

“I need to at least call her.”

Obi gave a nod. “Fine. But you can’t tell her where you’re at or any kind of details. Just let her know you’re okay.”

Hitomi was feeling frustrated with Obi’s attitude. “I
don’t
know where I’m at.”

Guri let out a little snicker behind her and Obi gave him another glare.

“It’s just nice to see someone not afraid of you,” Guri commented. “Especially a human.”

“Guri, that’s enough. Hitomi, we’ll find a pay phone and you can call your mom.”

Hitomi gave a nod as she watched Obi rub his forehead and look up at the ceiling. He looked so tense and she wasn’t sure there was anything she could say to make him feel better. But she wasn’t even sure what the exact situation was. She opened her mouth to tell him that everything was going to be alright, but Obi spoke before she could say it.