Sweet Burden (29 page)

“Obi?”

“Let’s catch up with Guri before he gets lost,” he said grabbing her hand but still avoiding her face. He moved at a quick pace tugging her along with him. She could barely make out trees as they hurried through the forest. Following close behind him, she continued to trip over unseen things on the woodland floor. Obi always easily steadied her as if anticipating each stumble and then they would continue.

Obi’s pace slowed as they caught up with Guri who was standing in the middle of a small clearing. The sound of running water could be heard nearby.

“He’s got his damn barrier up. Can you tell where he is?” Guri huffed.

“Rediisu, I can smell you,” Obi said taking a few steps forward.

“Obsidian,” a voice answered as there was a flick of a lighter and suddenly a bright flame lit up the area. He walked out of the nearby brush holding a torch, his face illuminated in colors of orange and yellow.

“Rediisu,” Obi gave a nod.

“I’m glad you all made it. We were starting to worry.” His eyes darted between them resting on Hitomi. He stepped forward to her and she almost gasped remembering his incredible beauty. He took her free hand in his and leaned down kissing her knuckles. “I hope you remember me Hitomi. I’m Rediisu.”

“Of course,” she stuttered as she felt her cheeks get hot.

“Okay, that’s enough of that.” Obi gave him a little push and Rediisu dropped her hand as he smirked at her.

“Where’s everyone else?” Guri stepped forward.

“Follow me,” Rediisu motioned.

Obi followed first keeping Hitomi close to him and Guri walked behind them. They were silent as they trudged through the dense woods coming up to a creek and then walking along the bank. Obi grabbed her hand with his other and wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

“There are some slippery rocks up here so be careful,” Rediisu informed them.

Hitomi slipped and tripped her way across then she realized they were heading behind a waterfall. She saw a faint light ahead glistening off the falling water and attempted to hurry causing herself to slip. Obi lost grip on her and she fell forward onto her knees. He quickly helped her back up to her feet.

“Are you alright?”

“Yah,” she winced as she ran her fingers across feeling the tear in her jeans and wet blood coming from a new gash. “It’s just a cut. I’m fine.”

Obi let out a loud huff and easily scooped her back up in his arms. “I should have just carried you from the beginning,” he mumbled. “I shouldn’t have let you get hurt.”

“Hurry up you two,” Guri whined behind them.

She could feel a noticeable difference in Obi’s demeanor. He seemed to be trying to distance himself from her and he kept refusing to look at her.  Hitomi reached up and rested her arms around his neck watching him as his jaw clenched. His eyes stayed focused ahead.

After a few more minutes she realized they were actually heading behind the waterfall. They stepped into a large cavern lit with a glowing fire. Sitting next to the fire warming her hands was her mother and next to her was a young looking guy. Hitomi assumed it was probably another death god, but she was more focused on the fact that her mother appeared to be unharmed.

“Hitomi!” Regina jumped to her feet and rushed over to her. Obi let her down and Hitomi ran over. They caught each other in a tight embrace. “I was so worried about you.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay mom.” Hitomi squeezed her firmly.

“I’m perfectly fine. What about you? Are you alright?” Regina pulled away and inspected her. “I see you fell.”

“Yah, it was just on the way here. I’m okay though.” She gave her a smile and Regina hugged her tightly again. Hitomi turned her head to find Obi. He shifted his eyes away from her and followed Rediisu over to the other guy.

“At least you’re being looked after fairly well,” Regina commented.

Hitomi watched the four guys walk off towards the back of the cavern as they talked quietly amongst themselves. “Yah. Very well. Mom, who’s that other guy?”

“His name is Liam. He’s…well, he’s what the other boys are.”

“A death god?”

Regina sighed heavily and stepped back. She took Hitomi’s arms and grinned at her daughter. “Let’s go sit by the fire. I have some things I need to tell you.” She followed her mother over to the fire and Regina draped a blanket over her shoulders as she sat down. She made sure that Obi was in her sightline as her mother sat down next to her. Obi glanced over at her and she quickly smiled at him. His face was blank in expression and he turned away from her.

Hitomi’s first thought was to march over to him and demand to know what was wrong but her mother grabbed her hand.

“Hitomi?”

She pried her eyes away from him and turned to her mom. “What?”

“Oh sweetie, I have so much I want to tell you. If only this would have started after you were 18. There would have been nothing they could have done.”

Hitomi stared at her perplexed. “What are you talking about mom?”

She let out another loud sigh. “I can’t tell you until you are 18.”

“But I’ll be 18 in a few weeks. Why can’t you tell me now?”

“I can’t tell you because of the laws of your father’s world.”

“My father?” Hitomi’s brow furrowed. “You mean that you know exactly what is going on and you can’t even tell me? And what does my father have to do with this?” Her voice got louder and she noticed Obi and the others come over to them.

“Is everything alright?” Obi asked.

“No,” Hitomi shook her head and turned back to her mom. “What do you mean my ‘father’s world’?”

“Hitomi, dear, I am not allowed to say anymore. I tied myself to their world and rules when I gave birth to you. I am bound to follow them.”

She was becoming more and more frustrated. “So all you can tell me is that there is stuff you need to tell me, but you can’t tell me yet?” Hitomi looked down at her hands curled into fists on her lap. “You mean to tell me that whatever is going on, you knew all this time it could happen?”

“I knew it could happen, but we didn’t think it would.”

“Who is ‘we’? You and dad?”

“No.”

“You can’t even tell me that?” she raised her voice. “You can’t tell me
anything
at all?” Hitomi stood up. “This is ridiculous. I have to wait ten more days until you can tell me? Well, then…” she started to fold up the blanket and she tossed it down on the ground. “Get a hold of me then. You’ve been keeping this from me my entire life and I think I deserve to know what is going on!”

“Hitomi…” Obi walked up beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Obi, don’t tell me to be quiet! I have been almost killed, I found out I can apparently heal people, and now I find out my mom had known about this since I was born. I think I have the right to be a little angry no one can give me any answers.”

“You go by Obi now?” Hitomi’s mother interrupted. Obi and Hitomi both quickly turned their heads and looked at her.

Obi answered her tentatively. “Obsidian, but everyone calls me Obi.”

She tilted her head a little and eyed him as if inspecting him. “Do you know why you protect my daughter?”

Hitomi turned her gaze to him as she watched a flood of emotions come over his face. She knew the answer she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that he cared about her, maybe even loved her and that’s why he kept her safe.

But Obi simply replied. “No.”

She was instantly hurt by his answer and took a step away from him. His hand fell back to his side as Hitomi crossed her arms and stared at the ground.

“You protect her because you were given that role. Obsidian, you are considered a pelastaia also known as a protector.”

“But I’m a death god,” Obi said confused.

“Yes, you still are. You have the powers of both. The protector powers were dormant until you came into contact with my daughter.” Regina took a deep breath. “I am the one who chose you to watch over my daughter.”

Hitomi clenched her jaw to keep from her mouth falling open. She took another step back and watched Obi’s eyes widen at the recent twist in their situation.

“Why me? And how?” he stammered.

“I can’t tell you everything yet. But you were in the hospital I worked in at the time. It was shortly after Hitomi was born. There were, um…people that needed to be put into place for the future. You came into the hospital after having a terrible car accident. You were slowly dying, so I chose you to watch over Hitomi if the time ever came…”

“If what time came?” Hitomi spat.

“The time has come now. The time that you would need someone to watch over you and shield you,” Regina countered.

Hitomi threw her hands up in despair and huffed. “This is ridiculous. You can tell Obi why he is in protector mode, but you can’t tell me why I need protecting,” she scoffed. “I’m leaving.” She started to stomp off when Obi grabbed her arm. She turned around and yanked her arm away from him. “Don’t worry. You’re not obligated to
protect
me anymore. I relieve you of your duty.”

Obi stood there without a single emotion across his face and Guri quickly came up beside him.

“Hitomi, why don’t we go take a walk?” Guri said quickly. He grabbed her shoulders and ushered her away before she could say anything else. He helped her down along the rocks and back into the woods where she started walking quickly not knowing where to go.

She was upset that her mother had been keeping things from her, but she was more upset about thinking that Obi even had any feelings for her. He only stayed with her because that’s what he was meant to do. That thought hurt her.

Hitomi could hear Guri close on her heels when she realized that she had completely done a circle. She came up on the bank of the creek and plopped down on a fallen tree stump. Guri moved up behind her and sat down next to her. He waited quietly for her to speak first, but she wasn’t even sure what to say.

She was angry at her mom and saddened by Obi. Her mother had been able to keep things from her for her entire life. But Obi was even worse. He had let her fall in love with him and there was no way that he could ever return her feelings.

“I don’t know who I’m more angry at,” she eventually blurted out. “My mom who knows everything or Obi, who’s just doing his job.”

Guri sighed but remained silent.

“Everyone has lied to me,” she added.