Brown haired blue eyed boy

THIS NEEDS A LOT OF WORK. I KNOW!!!

"I hate the way I am! Why doesn't everyone just leave me alone?" I screamed and tore at the wet grass, my fingernails ripping into the soft soil below. The rain came down hard, dripping down the nape of my neck, between my breasts, and stinging my face. The coolness of the water felt good on my burning forehead and my swollen copper eyes. Head pounding, I laid back and stared up into the dark sky, the crystal drops falling onto the surface of the earth.
"This world is not fair," I murmured and screamed again, a middle-toned pitch that sounded like a wolf's howl, low and bellowing in the throat and echoing forever into the empty night. My body was tense and I finally relaxed, my muscles as sore as the rest of my body. I was laying in the backyard when "Azumi, come inside! It's starting to rain!" came from the kitchen window.
"Good lord, no kidding mum," I mumbled and pulled myself to my feet. Brushing the wet grass off of my bare legs, I climbed up the porch stairs and slammed my shoes on the deck, the new ones my mum had just bought me. She was going to be mad that I had let them get that way, muddy and worn in less than a week. That’s what I do, I had told her the night before: I go out, and I run around, I live. But no, no one seems to think that. They all want me to be the same, boring and plain, never really living.
I stumbled over my feet through the back door, my striped socks soaking and my dark shadowy soggy hair carelessly flung across my face.
“You were awfully loud out there,” my mother exclaimed as I walked through the kitchen. She stood there, about five foot and an inch, give or take measurements.
“Violent mood swing,” I murmured. Slicing apples, she handed me a plate of the delicate green fruit and plopped on a big spoonful of sweet caramel.
“Thanks mum, you’re the best,” I smiled and gave her a fat kiss on the cheek. She ran a skinny hand through her blond curly hair, her hazel eyes flashed with light.
“No problem honey,” she grinned, turning back toward the counter and throwing the apple rinds into the garbage. She was the best. I did a few spins across the wooden kitchen floor with the plate in my hand and then walked down the hallway. Shutting the bathroom door and then heading up the brown-carpeted stairs, I made a right turn and walked into my bedroom. I shut the purple door behind me. Yes, I have a purple door, very unusual I suppose, but I guess that is just what I’m like: unusual. My room is very different. It has a green wall, purple wall, orange wall, and red wall. They explain the way I feel, my violent mood swings. Mum thinks I should see a shrink because I see things differently. Is something wrong with that? I will never see a psychiatrist. <P>My room is immense; it has a bloated window on the right wall from my door, a giant bed with a fuzzy purple comforter, and an oversize wooden chest that I keep all of my “crap” in. I have many diverse lights, many colors. Drawings cover the blank walls, drawings of cartoon characters, anime, and my favorite: wolves. My mum thinks it’s an unhealthy obsession but that’s what she thinks…so, ha.</P>
Setting the plate on the desk next to my bed, I shut my blue window shades and flung open my closet door. I threw off my wet clothes, flung them in the laundry basket, dug through the tangle of hangers and clothes and found a decent pair of pajamas. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror right before I tossed the cotton material over my head.
<P>My name is Azumi Shorei. I am five foot four and skinny, incredibly and unbelievably flexible, and have dark shadowy brown hair. I have copper eyes, which I got from my dad. My skin is milky pale, since I don’t like being out in the sun, and my nails are long and sharp. I like to think of them as claws, more than nails. I keep them long and pointy, like a wolf because they are the only resemblance I have between it and me.</P>
I jumped on my bed, grabbed my stuffed animal dog, which I named Stress, and laid my head on my pillow. Sigh. I’ve got school tomorrow. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
<P>I opened my eyes at the crack of midnight. I opened my door a crack to check to see if mum was asleep, and I heard her snoring like a cow on the couch in the room across from mine. The day was coming soon, I knew. Not much to do during that, I thought, and closed the door. I swiftly punched in the lock and clicked on the small light near my bed, the lampshade covered in an aura of colorful beads. Picking up the small bag near the lamp, I tucked it into my pajama pocket and clicked off the light. Dark was present once again. I stalked toward the window and slowly opened it, breathing deeply, so not to disturb the peace and quiet and not to wake my mum. I scratched out a hole in the screen with my nails and jumped through, up onto the roof. The night was clean, clear, wet, and promising. It had been a nice rain. The moon lit the sky with a powdery softness and the stars shone in and out of place.</P>
That’s when I jumped.
<P>I leapt off of the roof with the swiftness of a cat. I landed and crouched down toward the soaking grass. I sniffed the air, crisp and sharp, fresh to my keen senses. I smelt another human, but where?</p>
I took a sharp left down the hill into my backyard and into the woods that lay behind the house. Twigs snapped as I ran under the tree cover, the moonlight peering through the rain-soaked leaves. I stopped and sniffed the air some more, listening to every sound and seeing everything most people wouldn’t see. I heard the soft trickle of water from the creek nearby; that’s where I was headed. I walked through the underbrush and there it was. The open clearing and the crystal clear stream that was now filled with the precious rainwater.
<P>This was my creek, Azumi’s creek, mine and mine alone. It’s where I went to collect my thoughts, look for treasure, or just run around. I jumped from a short stubby tree stump down onto the soft grainy bank of the creek. The pebbles glistened under the water’s flow of magic, and the moon lit them with fairy dust. I sat down, taking my shoes off and dipping my toes into the streams cool water. I laid back and stretched and yawned, my back arched.</P>
<P>“Now if only I had someone to share it with,”</P> I whispered. Then I howled to the sky, to the moon, and to the emptiness I felt. I sat up and dug my fingers through the rocks underneath the water’s rippling surface.
<P>“Apparently, God only wants me have paradise all to myself,”</P> I said and laughed, and then I stopped. It was too quiet. There was nothing out there…or was there?
<p>Then I saw him move.</p>
Out of the corner of my eye he stood there, unsure of himself and me being there. I made him know I was there because a growl rose up my throat and out of my mouth. He stared and I stared back, showing that I was not going to lose a fight. I was not afraid. He stood there about six feet tall, somewhat built, with brown hair and blue piercing eyes. He wore a white button t-shirt, black baggy shorts, and a single gold chain around his neck. It seemed out of place.
<P>He turned to face me. I was caught in his eyes, like a deer caught in headlights and that’s when he started slowly coming towards me. I rose, silently, my heart jumping hard in my chest and my breathing was hard. My head was ringing. My pajama pants were wet, my black tank top clung tightly to my body, and my hair was dripping with creek water. He looked me up and down and then he smiled.</P>
<P>“Who are you, you pervert?”</P> I asked, and stopped. The sound of my own voice had scared me. He cocked his head to the left, the moonlight flickering in his eyes. He was incredibly mysterious, I had to give him that, and those aqua eyes were hypnotizing.
<P>I kicked water at him and turned around so my back was facing him.</P>
<P>“Leave me alone,”</P> I mumbled. And before I had time to inhale, he was there in front of me. His breath was warm on my face and smelt of fresh peppermint. I glanced up and into those eyes I was swallowed.

<p>* BLOOD RED *</P>
I woke up, my mind blank. I was lying on the bank of the creek, my clothes dry and dirty, and it was morning. The boy from last night was gone. Who was he? I’d never seen him around the neighborhood or at school…
<p>“School!”</P> I screamed and jumped up and brushed myself off, the sand falling onto the ground. My legs were sore, and I could barely stand. What had he done to me? I wondered as I picked up my bag. Plunk. A blood-red stone fell onto the earth. It was strung on a shining silver chain; it was a necklace. I snarled.
<p>“That moron, you don’t just go off giving people you don’t know gifts,”</P> I mumbled, turning the stone around in my hand. Either way, it was beautiful and mysterious looking so I clasped it around my pale neck.
<p>“Moron,”</P> I moaned again and took off toward home.
<P>*~*~*~*~*</P>
<P>“Gomen nasai, Ms. Yozora. I slept in a little,”</P> I stated, running into my Japanese class. I threw my books down on the floor by my seat at the back of the room and sat down.
<P>“Well, you haven’t missed much,” Ms. Yozora started, “just pass up your homework. Now class, we have a new student today.”</P>
My eyes shot up. I had been so paranoid about being late and getting to class that I didn’t even notice he was standing there. That boy: the brown-haired blue-eyed boy. I let out a little scream and the teacher coughed.
<P>“Don’t be so rude, Miss Shorei. Everyone,” she announced to the class, “this is Kevin Mitsuragi. He just moved here from California.”</P>
I grunted.
<P>“Miss Shorei! May I ask you what you find so disturbing about our new student?”</p>
<P>“Besides everything?”</P> I stated in question form. I looked up from my hands. As expected, the whole class had turned to face me. My face flushed. I was well known all around the school for my attitude.
<P>“Okay then, Azumi. Since you seem to love our new student so much, he will be seated next to you.”</P>
<p>“But…”</P>
<P>“No buts.” She turned to face Kevin. “I think you’ll be able to straighten her out. It’s nice having you here,” she added.</P>
<P>“Arigatoo,”</P> he replied and smiled in my direction. I cringed. I wanted to rip off his head. I didn’t know why, though, there was just something about him…
<P>“Hello Azumi,”</P> he slurred and sat down in the chair on the left side of me. I glared at him and growled. He smiled.
<P>“Idiot. Don’t mess with me,”</P> I spat. He stopped smiling and class resumed without a word from either of us.
<P>I walked home, like usual, by myself. I carried my CD player in my left hand and my viola in my right. It was I, Azumi, the music geek: the music geek with the attitude. No one liked me at school, they all knew I had problems, or at least they thought that. I don’t have problems; I’m just different.</P>
My house sits at the end of the street on a hill surrounded by old and winding trees. The forest and creek make up the largest backyard and the mailbox is covered in wild flowers. A white rose grows right outside my bedroom. It blooms only on my birthday. Creepy, I guess, but yeah. That’s just me.
<P>“Azumi.”</P>
I spun around, and there he was again.
<P>“What are you, a stalker? Do you have nothing better to do than follow pretty little girls home and spy on them through their own security of their homes?”</P> I asked, shifting the weight of my backpack onto the other shoulder.
<P>“Uh, no,” he replied, “but thanks for the idea.” Then he paused. “Run,” he mumbled.</P>
<P>“What?”</P>
<P>“Run!”</P>
I started ahead. “Where?” I asked.
<P>“Your creek, run!”</P>
<P>“Freak,”</P> I murmured and took off as fast as I could. I reached my house, threw my viola and backpack into the garage and made a mad dash to the backyard.
I stumbled under the branches of the smaller trees, across the grass, and onto the bank of Azumi’s creek.
<P>“Where are you?”</P> I screamed and kicked the ground. It was a bad idea to wear a baggy black pair of jeans on a hot May afternoon. My teal t-shirt clung to my skin, and I smelt sticky. Groaning, I took off my shoes and socks and walked through the water, the crisp clear liquid running over my feet.
<P>“Screw you,”</P> I grunted and jumped into the deepest part of the creek. I went under the cold surface and came back up with a sharp gasp of air.
<P>“Well, that wasn’t very nice,”</P> came a deep voice. I spun around. There stood Kevin.
<P>“What was I running from?”</P> I asked. The anxiety had risen in my throat.
<P>“Nothing,”</P> he said and smirked. I was going to smack that stupid grin off of his face.
<P>“What the hell did you do that for!”</P> I screamed and walked over to him. I punched him hard in the arm.
<P>“I hate you so leave me alone,”</P> I whispered.
<P>“If you hate me so much, why do you still wear that necklace?”</P> he asked, pointing to my chest. I looked down. I had forgotten about the red stone. I went to take off the necklace but glanced up and stared into his eyes. He looked sad because he thought I didn’t want it. I stopped.
<P>While turning around, he grabbed my wrist with a firm but not painful grip and turned me so I was facing him again. We stood about two inches from each other. I inhaled his breath, warm and minty down my throat. I looked up as he tilted my chin up. He’s going to kiss me, I thought.</P>
* REALITY SLAP *
<P>I shoved him hard with my hands on his chest and spit on his shoe. God only knows what he was going to do to me after that. He could take me down, and I knew it.</P>
<P>“What makes you think you’re anything to me?” I yelled. “You just show up, uninvited to my creek and expect me to just fall into your arms and love you? Not me, nope. You might have had it that way in California, but I’m just a little smarter than those idiots.”</P>
<P>“You’re just afraid,” he chimed in. He had backed away.</P>
<P>“Afraid? Afraid of what?”</P>
<P>“Hurt, pain…to be broken again.”</P>
<P>“You know nothing about me.”</P>
<P>“You’d be surprised,”</P> he murmured, almost too softly for me to hear.
<P>“If you want people to hear you, you speak up.”</P>
<P>“You’d be surprised,”</P> he repeated louder and stared at his feet. Then he walked through the woods, and he was gone.
<P>“Yes, I would be, you…”</P> I trailed off and jumped back into the water. My anger had risen above my head, and the coolness of the water helped to relax my body again. He was very…different. Different in such a way that he might actually be able to understand me, unlike everyone else who didn’t even try. At least he’d given an effort.
<P>*~*~*~*~*</P>
I sat at home on the polka-dot couch watching the usual “chick-flick” movie starring some way-past dead actress who just walked around and pouted. Welcome to the real world, I thought. The rest of the vanilla ice cream that had been in the freezer was now sitting in my lap, waiting to be eaten. Dingdong. The doorbell rang, and my heart stopped. He was here again?
<P>“Don’t you ever stop?”</P> I yelled. Setting the bucket of ice cream on the coffee table, I walked down the hall. Turning the doorknob, I looked through the curtain on the front door’s window. No one was there.
<P>“Awkward,”</P> I mumbled and opened the door. There, on the mat, sat a neatly folded note. I picked it up and opened it. What was written in red ink was:
<P>~Azumi~
<P>You are different</P>
Too different from me
<P>A gold star misplaced in the sky</P>
<P>Let me teach you how to fly</P>
<P>You have your wings</P>
<P>Learn to use them</P>

I smiled. I couldn’t believe that moron was wasting his sweet time on me. Why me? I stood there. And then the tears came, big and stinging; they rolled down my pale cheeks. This was what was missing. He was the emptiness I had felt the night before at the creek. Apparently he had come to fill that emptiness. But…would I let him?
<P>* Coffee *</P>
~Kevin~
<P>Leave me alone</P>
You don’t know who I am…
<P>Or do you?</P>
Are you the misplaced gold star?
<P>Fallen from the sky landing in my creek</P>
For me to find you
<P>Teach me to fly</P>

I folded the red origami paper into a decorative crane and place it gently on Kevin’s desk. Checking the clock that hung above the classroom door, it read 7:00am. Class didn’t start for another fifteen minutes. I decided to skip class for the day. Seeing Kevin’s expression might not be the visual I wanted to keep in my mind for the rest of the daylight hours.
<P>Rushing through the crowded halls of the high school, I caught glances from people I didn’t know.</P> <P>“They’re the one who are freaks,”</P> I said to myself, as I dodged the random stares. I didn’t know what everyone’s problem was. <P> I sprinted out the front door and made a mad dash towards “Co-Co Beans”. “Co-Co Beans” was the towns’ only coffee shop located on the corner about thirty yards away from the school. My day-to-day escape. I went there to recite some of the poetry I had written. Yes, it is like one of those places where you sip coffee and listen to poetry, which is accompanied by bongos and the snapping of fingers. They, these coffee shops, aren’t just found in the movies.</P>
<P>I pushed open the wooden door, the bells chiming against the thick mahogany.</P>
<P>“Hey Azumi!”</P> came from the behind the counter. I looked up and waved. Behind the mosaic counter stood my only friend, Miyami Akita, who I had known since third grade. Now being a sophomore, I didn’t see her as much, since she dropped out of school when she was eleven and began working at “Co-Co Beans”. She definitely had a mind of her own, dropping out at eleven? Yep.
<P>Miyami is fifteen, about six feet tall, and has dark hair. She is Korean and is the coolest foreign person I know. We have a lot of similarities, like drawing and writing poetry, hating school and obsessing about anything other than guys.</P>
<P>“What are you doing here, aren’t you still in school?”</P> she asked flipping a cup in her hand. She wore a bright orange tank top and a frilly skirt with beads anywhere you could put them. Today, she had orange highlights in her hair. Her hair is her daily mood swing, going from purple to yellow to green and god only knows how many other colors you could dye your hair.
<P>“Well, see, there is this guy…”</P> I started, sitting my butt on one of the stools in front of the counter. She groaned.
<P>“Wait,” she butted in while making my latte (she knows what I like), “we do not talk about guys, remember? Have you forgotten what happened last time you got together with a boy? He played ping-pong with your heart and you hated it. Remember the blonde he was making out with when you walked into your room? Your room! I mean, he could have found a better spot to cheat on you other than your own room.” </P> She handed the latte to me and I poured on the sugar. Today, I was going to need that sugar overdose to keep me awake. I hadn’t slept much. Just call me a night owl.
<P>“Yeah, yeah, I remember. God, that asshole, I can’t believe him. What was he thinking…other than nothing? Well, screw him, that was four years ago,” I stated and then thought about what I had said. “Am I really that bad? I haven’t had a boyfriend in four years, while there are some girls out there who have a different boyfriend every day of the week. It’s like that underwear that has the days on them, where they say Monday, Tuesday, and so on. Creepy,”</P> I mumbled.
<P>“You’re not bad, Azumi. Maybe, you’re just too different, and I’m not saying that as a bad thing, but maybe you just shouldn’t have a boyfriend.”</P>
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
<P>“Since when am I not?”</P> she asked and then looked up. Another customer had walked in. <P>“ S’cuse me Azumi, I’ve got customers. Just give me a while and I’ll meet up with you in about ten minutes. I have my break then.”</P>
I nodded. <P>“Ok, I’m going to go sweat blood and tears and recite a poem.”</P>
“More power to you girl,” she smiled. <P>I picked up my bag and walked toward the stage. Not much consisted of the stage; it was just a small black platform surrounded by colorful lights and a microphone and stool placed at the center. Variously colored beanbags surrounded it. Not many people had showed up the time I had walked through the door so I wasn’t too nervous about reciting to the ghosts that were there. At least it was someone.</P>
I sat down on the stool, dropped my bag on my knee and dug through the array of textbooks and notebooks I had brought from school. I stopped on a black book, its sides scratched and torn, but still in tact. This was my poetry notebook, the notebook I carried with me everywhere at every time and every place. It seemed I could always come up with the weirdest things during some of the most awkward times. Flipping to the back, I stopped on a poem that was written in green ink. I cleared my throat, looked up at my imaginary audience and began to recite:
<P>My head keeps me from going insane</P>
<P>But I want to be free</P>
<P>And you, I want as my exit </P>
<P>So let me go, let me leave </P>
<P>Because you don’t scare me</P>
<P>And I know I’m not afraid</P>
<P>Of what you’ll do to me because </P>
<P>I have felt the hurt of love</P>
<P>And the pain it can bring</P>
<P>So don’t let me feel again the pain of love</P>
<P>Because it hurts more than the cuts on a child’s knee</P>
<P>Which bleeds red blood</P>
<P>Let those red stones drop to earth</P>
<P>And I will be your jewel, just give me a sign</P>
<P>That you are my exit</P>
<P>And I will be your freedom</P>
<P>Don’t let me feel the emptiness when you’re not here</P>
<P>Because that emptiness will make me go insane</P>
<P>And I won’t be free</P>
<P>I’ll be dead</P>

<P>I looked up and towards the counter. Miyami gave me thumbs up and then waved me over. I jumped off the stool and left my books there, since no one was there anyways. There was no worry about someone stealing my stuff.</P>
<P>Miyami threw off her apron and let it fall to the ground. She literally owned the place.</P>
<P>“So…about this guy…”she started.</P>
<P>“Wait, I thought we weren’t going to talk about this,” </P>I squeezed in. Now I was confused.
<P>“Well, while you were reciting your poem up there,” she pointed to the stage, “some guy walked in here and left this for you,”</P> she laughed and held up a red rose.
<P>“Holy crackers,”</P> I breathed and passed out cold on the stool.
<P>* FISH *</P>
Trickle. I woke up to the sound of water. I flicked my eyes open, and stared at the trees. I was at my creek. Sitting up, my back cracked painfully and I moaned at the soreness in my body.
<P>“What happened?”</P> I mumbled and looked around. Then I screamed, but a hand quickly covered my mouth. I bit down into the flesh and someone else was the one screaming. I jumped up. A dead fish was sitting at my feet. It’s not everyday you have a non-breathing animal placed at your feet by something that had killed it.
<P>“I thought you might have been hungry,”</P> came a voice. I spun around and there was Kevin, sitting on the bank of the river. He was holding his hand with the end of his shirt, little specks of blood soaking through it.
<P>“Oh gosh, I’m really sorry,”</P> my voice cracked, and I walked over to him. He seemed freaked out that I had bitten him. What was I supposed to do, let him suffocate me?
<P>“That’s all right,”</P> he mumbled, and stood up. <P> “I liked your poem,”</P> he continued. I felt my face flush. No one had ever liked my poems; they all thought they were too depressing. I had been staring at the ground, and then I was staring at his feet. He was right in front of me. Looking up, he smiled, and I almost passed out again. I started to fall backwards, but he grabbed me around the waist and caught me.
<P>“What would have happened if you hadn’t have been here,”</P> I whispered in his ear, and then I ran. I ran in the only direction I knew of and that was home.
<P>*~*~*~*~*</P>
Sitting at home, I wrapped my arms around my legs and cried into my pajamas. He was always going to be there. So why couldn’t I let him be there with me? Was it because I didn’t want to have to go through the pain like last time? The rose sat on my pillow; its perfectly shaped petals shone bright red even in the dark. It was midnight and I was still awake. I was never going to get to sleep sitting there like that. I was pathetic. Since when did I need a guy to make me happy? And that’s when it hit me. I had never really been happy.
<P>I jumped through the window and down the roof onto the ground. Running to the creek, I flipped off the sandals on my feet and sprinted as fast as I could. Running always made my thoughts go away; it didn’t give me the chance to think of anything else.
I dodged through the trees, and over the grass I flew onto the bank of Azumi’s creek. The full moon made everything glow with light and the stars made a perfectly clear beautiful sky. He was still there, sitting on the bank, his feet in the water. He didn’t hear me so I walked up behind him and covered his mouth. He let out a small cry.</P>
<P>“Don’t be afraid,”</P> I whispered and playfully bit his neck. He moaned and I let go of his mouth. He turned to face me, and I smirked. I had scared him, just like he had scared me the first time I had met him at the creek. His blue eyes flashed with heat lightning. It sent a chill down my spine.
<P>“Who ever said I was afraid,”</P> he said softly and jumped up, so now he towered over me. I was still kneeling on the ground. I leapt up and ran through the forest and through the creek. I knew this forest more than anyone in the world so I had an advantage. I found a tree with a hole large enough for me to hide in. I ducked under the cover of the leaves. He had been right behind me so I saw and heard him run past me. My breathing was hard and I tried to calm down. After a few minutes, I heard nothing but silence so I walked out from my hiding place. I turned to my right to see if he was there, but there was no sign of him. I swung to my left and there he was, two inches from my face. Staring into my eyes, his breath was heavy and sweet on my face. He pushed me softly against the tree.
<P>Then I started to cry.</P>
<P>“What’s wrong?” </P>he asked, his eyes filled with worry.
<P>“Nothings wrong. I’m just finally happy,” </P>I spoke against his breath and he smiled. I looked up to the moon and thanked God. I thanked him for helping me find someone, someone I could finally be with, someone who understood me.
<P>Kevin looked into my eyes and stroked my tears away. He tilted my chin, and this time I let him kiss me.</P>