"Miss Natski wants you to be the wind sage?" Miss Kanade said. It sounded more like a response than a question. "Why won't you accept?"
"I don't know, maybe is because I can't forget about what happened last time."
"Don't think about it too much" Miss Kanade tried to change the subject. "I'm so glad that you're finally coming over."
"Just don't expect much from me." Which meant, he wouldn't be doing any chores.
"I know"
---
#
"*sob* *sob* Mummy, Daddy. Please, wake up" the little girl finally able to speak.
Just a moment ago, a six years old girl was sitting at the back while both of her parents sat on the front seats of the car.
"Daddy, how long do I still have to wait?" The little brown hair girl asked.
"I've already told you honey, it's not far from here" Her father replied still keeping his eyes on the road.
"I know but I want to know when we'll be there" the little girl requested, unable to keep her excitement contained. "It is my birthday today so shouldn't I at least know where we're going?"
"Of we tell you then it wouldn't be much of a surprise now, would it?" Her mother spoke up. "Just be patient Kurumi, I'm sure you're going to love it"
"Okay!" Kurumi nodded repeatedly.
"Look, we are almost there" Her father announced and proceed to hit the break.
He slowed down an was about to stop when a trailer from nowhere crashed into the car.
.
.
.
Kurumi opened her eyes few minutes later and discovered that the car was up side down, there white shirt was covered with blood and her brown skirt was hard to recognize. There was a deep cut on her forehead that went down to her left eye, she tried to undo the seat belt but it wouldn't budge then she tried to call out to her parents.
"*sob* *sob* Mummy, Daddy. Please, wake up"
Her father head had crash out of the car and was crushed by the trailer while her mother slammed her head against the dashboard and was unconscious. Kurumi turned to the scattered window but the people around were too scared to come to help, she looked at the other side and discovered why.
The trailer was carrying a full tank of petrol and it has beginning of drip on the headlights of their car. Even at her young age, she needed no one to tell her what was about to happen.
"Mommy!!!, Wake up!!!!. Daddy, we need to get out!!!!" She yelled and struggled with the seatbelt but it still wasn't coming off. The wound on her forehead continued to bleed as she felt like passing out, she turned to the onlookers again, some of them seem to be calling for help while others shook their heads in pity, few walk away.
At that moment, she knew that this was the end. She stopped struggling with the seatbelt and tried to relax, her vision was getting blurry and darker, she finally closed her eyes.
"Hey, are you awake?"
Kurumi opened her eyes, she couldn't see the person but his calm voice was enough to convince her that it was going to be fine.
The person extended his hand towards her, Kurumi held his hand, although it was rough and burnt, it was also surprisingly warm and soft.
Before she knew it, the strange person had pulled out of the car and carried her in his arms. Kurumi tried to look at his face but her vision was too blurry to see anything. The trailer suddenly exploded and sadly, her parents were still inside.
"Don't look" Kurumi was able to get a glimpse before the strange man closed her eyes. "I'll take you somewhere safe"
...
Kurumi opened her eyes slowly and sat up on her futon.
_Just a dream._ She thought.
She lay down on the futon but she couldn't sleep. Ayaka was snoring loudly.
_It was impossible to share a room with her_ She thought. _I wonder how Kakashi was able to cope with this_
(NOTE: Kakashi also snores in his sleep, at least sometimes.)
Kurumi left the room and headed to the kitchen. She opened the fridge but couldn't find her bottle of milk, she suddenly realized that she was not in her house.
"I completely forgot, the is Miss Natski's house." She took a good look at the contents of the fridge before taking a juice box and looking around. "Only orange flavor and no cookies, I guess I will have to manage this."
She decided to stay in the living room for a while before going back to her room. Surprisingly, the television was still on, and Kakashi was sleeping on the couch. He could have been watching TV before falling asleep.
She sat on a chair beside the window and took some sips from the juice box.
_I wonder who he was, I never saw him after that day_
She tried to sip more but stopped halfway.
_I wonder, why was he nice to me? He was the one who brought me to the academy._ She kept the remaining on the table, she still didn't like orange. _That feeling that I felt from him, what was that? I felt somehow connected to him, but why?_
Kurumi lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"Kakashi, are you still awake?" She didn't realize when she called out to him.
"Hmm..." Kakashi surprisedly answered.
"About what you said earlier, at the exchange program. The demon you were asking me about might have been the same person who saved me, at least, that was what i was told. I never saw him since then but I was glad he was there, so, no matter what anyone says, I won't let anyone do anything to him"