Sweet Burden (43 page)

“Nothing really. But the man appeared and told me to hang the phone up.”

“Did he say anything else?” Guri questioned.

“That he wasn’t going to hurt me.”

Obi tightened his arms around her. “You’re safe now. Nothing is going to hurt you.” He kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you relax on the couch for awhile?” he suggested. Hitomi gave a nod not able to get the vision of the man out of her mind. Obi got her situated on the couch. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to be out on the porch.”

“Okay.” Hitomi sunk down into the couch and stared at the fire. Why was the man trying to warn her? Why was he appearing in her dreams? And now appearing before her?

****

Guri followed Obi outside to the porch. “Think it was a dream?” he asked.

“No,” Obi shook his head. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing. “If Hitomi said he was there, then he was.”

“But there is a barrier around this area. How could someone have got through?”

“Well, no barrier is fool proof. Nothing from the Afterworld is supposed to be able to penetrate it, but here we are.”

“True,” Guri nodded. “You don’t think it was Laebosu, do you?”

“No. This would be beneath him. But I know it definitely was not a dream. Something led me away from here. There were sounds in the woods that I started to follow. They led me away from Hitomi. That was stupid of me.”

“At least she’s alright. But what about the phone? It was still on when I grabbed it,” Guri replied.

“I don’t know.” Obi brought his hands up and rubbed his face. “Only a few more days and she’ll be 18, then we can know exactly what the hell is going on. I’ll just have to keep watch over her more closely. And after tomorrow Rediisu and Liam will be here as well.” He looked out into the woods wondering if what had been in her room was watching them now.

“Think it’s okay for you two to be alone tomorrow?”

“Yah. I just want Hitomi to have a normal day without all the worries.”

“So, the pre-birthday celebration is going on as planned?” Guri raised an eyebrow.

“Yah,” Obi nodded. “I’m going to go check on her.” He walked into the cabin and found Hitomi asleep on the couch. He sat down on the coffee table across from her and reached over running his hand down the side of her face. “I won’t let any harm come to you,” he whispered.

Dreams of the glowing man flooded her mind the entire night. The man had not looked sinister, he had warned her. He had even smiled at her. Why was he grinning at her like he was hiding some big secret? Hitomi didn’t feel threatened by the man, but the pure shock of his appearance caused her to scream. And how did he appear and disappear so quickly? There were questions swimming around her head that she wasn’t sure she was ever going to get answered.

The man’s voice replayed in her head and jolted her awake. Almost afraid to open her eyes, she felt the edges of the quilt against her cheek and realized she was in bed. Her thoughts easily turned to Obi as she rolled back over searching for him. Instead of being greeted by Obi there was a bouquet of crimson roses in his place. A lazy smile crossed her mouth as she yawned. She reached over and felt the velvety petals between her fingertips. Taking in a deep breath of their scent, she grabbed the small white envelope tucked inside as she sat up. She pulled the card out and her smile widened at Obi’s scrawled handwriting.

Happy Early Birthday.

Hope these brighten your day,

as you brighten mine. Obi

Last night’s events were easily shifted to the back of her mind as she crawled out of bed wanting to see Obi. Tucking the note into her bag, she then grabbed the flowers and hurried out of the room. 

“Obi?” Hitomi glanced around the quiet room.

There was some rustling behind the couch and Guri poked his head up. “Good morning. Or I guess I should say afternoon.” He stood up and ran his hand through his hair.

“What time is it?”

“Almost one. You’ve been asleep for about 15 hours.”

“Fifteen hours?” Hitomi’s jaw hung open.

“Yah. We were starting to get worried, but it was probably because you used a lot of your energy…” Guri trailed off and appeared uncomfortable. “Anyway, you’re up now.”

Hitomi crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean ‘used a lot of energy’?”

“Um, yah.” Guri looked away from her and focused on something on the far wall. “Kind of like the healing.”

It took her a few moments to process just exactly what he was talking about and why he was looking so nervous. The burning incident with Obi returned to her thoughts. “Oh.” She bit at her bottom lip feeling just as nervous as Guri was appearing. “Is he okay?”

He bent down and picked up a bag then dropped it on the couch. “Obi’s resilient. I think he’ll survive.”

Hitomi’s chest clenched. “I really hurt him?”

“I was just joking Hitomi. He’s fine. No marks or anything.”

She let out a sigh of relief and peered at the bag. “What are you doing?”

“Packing some things.”

“Are we leaving?”

Guri smirked. “No. I’m going to Rediisu’s for the night.”

“Why?” Her nervousness returned in full force. Guri glanced around and shrugged. Hitomi kept her body from a full body shiver as she thought about how she and Obi would be completely alone. “You can’t leave Guri.”

“Why? There are some things to be done.”

“Because…just because…” the few words tumbled out from between her lips.

“You’ll be alright. Obi won’t let anything happen to you.” Guri eyed her curiously.

“That’s not it.”

He raised an eyebrow. The way he was watching her made her feel like he was seeing directly into her mind. “Then what’s the problem?” He tried to hide a smile, but it hinted at the corners of his mouth.

“We’ll be alone,” she blurted out.

His grin emerged. “That’s kind of the point.” His eyes still grazed over her with inquiry.

Hitomi’s body trembled as she replayed last night in her head. She had been kissing him so intensely. She hadn’t felt like herself. She was never one for putting herself out there and being confident. She had always thought of herself as awkward. But last night she was strong and self-assured. If Obi hadn’t stopped her, she wasn’t convinced she wouldn’t have pressed things to go further.

“What if I…you know, hurt him again?” she stuttered with a bit of embarrassment.

Guri’s face almost appeared to be entertained. “You don’t want to, do you?”

“Of course not,” Hitomi shot back horrified.

“Then you won’t. You’re aware of your energy now. You should be able to control it. Or at least somewhat subdue it.”

She played with the edge of her sleeve with her free hand. She couldn’t think of anything else that she wanted besides a day alone with Obi, but things could not go the way they had last night. Hitomi would rather never touch him than hurt him ever again. “How do I control it?” she asked quietly.

“Think happy thoughts,” he answered simply.

Her head shot up and her eyes narrowed at him again. “That’s what got me in trouble the first time.”

Guri could no longer contain his amusement and burst out laughing. Hitomi huffed and rolled her eyes in irritation. She stomped past him towards the kitchen.

“I’m sorry Hitomi,” he said as he followed her. “It’s just this is a crazy situation. Something I really never thought I’d be witness to. I apologize. I know it’s not funny to you.”

She peered sideways at him as she opened a few of the cupboards looking for something to put the flowers in. “What’s so funny about it? Hasn’t a human ever loved a death god before?” The words were out of her mouth before she was able to realize what she said. Guri didn’t seem affected by the words at all and she figured he could most likely sense the love for Obi inside her.

“Oh, it’s happened before. But you aren’t exactly the typical human. Anyways, you wanted to know how to prevent yourself from letting your energy take over. You could try thinking of cold things.”

“Cold things,” she repeated with a nod. “I can do that.”

“But don’t turn yourself into a block of ice,” Guri warned.

Hitomi’s eyes widened as her hand stiffened on the cabinet handle. “Is that a possibility?”

“Just another joke Hitomi. Unless you can control water, you can’t transform yourself into a block of ice.”

Her mouth straightened into a line trying to hide a smile. Reaching over she smacked his arm. “Not funny.”

Guri stifled another laugh and reached up into a cabinet above the refrigerator. He pulled down a tall pitcher and held it out to her. “Here. The flowers would look nice in this.”

“Thanks.” She took the pitcher and placed everything on the counter. “Just wait until you find some girl you like. I can’t wait to make fun of you.”

He shook his head. “You’ll be waiting awhile. Girls don’t dig grey hair.”

“Never know,” she shrugged as she filled the pitcher up with some water. Guri helped her cut the stems of the flowers and arrange them neatly in the pitcher. She placed the flowers on the center of the table as Guri finished up packing. “Where is Obi anyway?”

“Um, working on something. But I forgot, I was supposed to tell you to wear something suitable to hike in.”

Fighting the urge to walk over and kick him, she trudged off to the bedroom. After rifling through her limited options of clothing, she decided on jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater. She got dressed and sat down on the bed to pull her sneakers on when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door creaked open and Obi peeked in. She could feel her entire body relax just from seeing his face. He pushed the door open and walked in with his hands behind his back. “I’m glad you’re finally awake. I was starting to get worried.” Hitomi wasn’t able to find the right words to say. Before she was able to even open her mouth, he was across the small space and kneeling down at her feet. “I got you a little something for today.” Her eyes widened at his posture. From behind his back he brought out a pair of hiking boots.