"Hey, hey, look what I can do!"
Young Nana picked her gaze up from the dirt of the Yamishito's yard, her eyes glowing with surprise and amazement when Young Takabi held a tiny white flame in his palms. "That's so cool!"
He dispersed the flame, rubbing his finger under his nose smugly. "Of course it is! I'm gonna train myself and get wicked strong! Even stronger than my dad!"
"Oh, is that so?" Nana raised her eyebrows as if to taunt him. "I don't think you'd get any stronger than ______." Young Takabi looked at her, craning his head. "What did you say?"
"I said," She began before the image began to shift. They were at the park. Their families away from the pair but still within ear shot to hear one of their fathers talking about how close they were. Nana swung her feet off the bench they sat on, looking at the birds that flew overhead.
Takabi kept playing with his fire, blinking and trying to think of different ways to manipulate the power. Inexperienced as he was, and growing more and more frustrated, he threw his hands in the air and groaned loudly, scaring off the birds.
"Aw. You made them fly away."
"Who cares? They're just birds anyway."
"Yeah, but they're so peaceful sounding around this time of year. At least my mom said that anyway. I wanted to see what she meant."
"You're so weird, Nana."
"Like you can talk. Maybe that's why I like you so much."
At first, Takabi shrugged, but once her words replayed and rang in his head, he felt his face heat up and stood, looking at her. "W-what?! What did you say?!"
"I'm not repeating it," She sang. Slowly, she held out her pinky finger to him. "But can you promise something?"
"What is it," He asked, a bit antsy.
"Promise we'll be together one day?"
"To… Together… Hey, what's with you all of a sudden?"
"You don't want to be?" Her face grew disappointed and a bit sad.
"No! I mean, yeah! I think…" He ran his hands through his hair before sitting next to her again, a bit closer than before. "I mean… I think I like you too… But this stays between us! Okay?"
Nodding, they intertwined pinkies saying, "I promise to keep this special promise."
----------------------------------
Takabi's eyes shot open. The right side of his body felt heavy and numb. He looked down, the beige blanket pulled over his arm. Slowly pulling it back, his eyes fell on Nana's sleeping face. Her hair was down, and lips parted slightly as she breathed calmly.
"She fell asleep," He muttered.
Rubbing his shoulder, he slowly pulled his arm out from under her and stood, stretching wide and rolling his head around to remove the stiffness in his neck. Reaching down, he picked up his discarded shirt and slid it back on.
That dream.
That wasn't just a normal dream. That was his past. Moments locked away in his subconscious, in his heart. He placed a hand over his chest, then looked at his pinky and felt a smile creep up on his lips. He didn't hear Nana wake up and tip-toe behind him until she yelled in his ear. "GOOD MORNING!"
He jumped, hitting his head against the plane ceiling before dropping on his backside. Nana laughed at him, offering a hand to help him stand. "I take it you slept well."
"I did until you decided to scream in my ear!" Despite his irritated tone, he took her hand and stood on his feet. His eyes glanced down at her hand, and the dream replayed again in his mind. Biting his lip, he looked away and said, "You grew up… A lot.."
"Huh? Well of course I did. Time… Does… That.. Wait, you remember now?!" She asked excitedly. Her excitement faded when he shook his head. "Not completely. Just… bits and pieces.. And that promise we made as kids."
"Promise? What pro…. OH!" She snatched her hand away and turned around. "That… Look don't worry about that.. It was just me being a dumb kid."
His eyes moved back to her. Her words didn't hold any malice. No hate or anything. Just cold. Like she wanted him to reach out more, but knew she couldn't. He didn't know what to do or how to react. "R-right…" He muttered, and she flinched mildly.
"Well, we should be arriving any time now."
"Speaking of which, where exactly are we going?"
"The Rain forest."
He blinked, rubbing his ear and replying with, "What's out there?"
"Some friends of mine. They can help find your sister. My crew has the best technology on the planet actually." She said, fixing the wrinkles on her dress.
Takabi watched her closely. There was a burning sensation in his stomach. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Nana thought it was to settle some nerves. In truth, it was to drink in her scent; Tulips.
"So your friends can help us look. We meet her and then what? I don't exactly think the chances of her remembering me are exactly high. If I forgot, what makes you think she hasn't?" He said, grabbing his bag.
The plane slowly began to decline. Takabi looked out the window, his eyes falling on the luscious green trees below them.
He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "There's no runway down here. Where are we landing?"
"We're not. Obviously we can't, there's too many trees and animals for there to be a sustainable airport anyway." She walked over to the plane's door and opened it, a heavy gust of air rushing into the hallway, almost sucking Takabi out. "Get ready to jump!"
"You're nuts! No way am I killing myself like that!"
"You'll be fine!" She took his hand. "You said you've been training right?! Think of this as that! Besides, the guys won't let you in unless you prove yourself so…" She pulled, tossing him out but grabbing his bag. He looked back at her, Nana giving him a thumbs up and smile, even as he plummeted quickly into the trees below.
His back hit branches, the wood snapping under his weight. Gritting his teeth, he flipped and threw his hand out to a dangling vine, swinging from the vegetation before using his feet to stop his movement on a tree, and slowly slid down to the soil. He looked up, listening for the plane's fading engine, then glanced around. Light rain, fireflies and frogs croaking.
Takabi could feel the eyes of animals watching him curtly, a growing isolation forming in his stomach as he took his first steps. He had no clue where to go, what direction he should be following or anything.
However, Nana did say he should treat this as training, and that's what he did. He took off his shirt, wrapping it around his waist and kept moving forward. He would have to train his senses and body to the best of his ability if he wanted to find his destination before he died of starvation or something else.
"Bring it on then." He declared, cracking his knuckles.