Snippet #2715802

Quickly pulling herself from her reverie, Velonix turned on her heel and approached a nearby traffic light. The signal across the street was a blue person, and when she heard her human name called, she glanced over her shoulder in the direction that the voice came from, continuing her walking as she did so. It was one of the storeowners whose business resided next door to Mr. Zwemmer’s, and the woman had taken to her rather quickly, as did many of the other surrounding owners. The community that her siblings and she had chosen to reside it wasn’t necessarily close-knit, but the people were unbelievably kind and welcoming, and had immediately opened up to her.

It probably helped that she had bribed them with deliciously baked goods, brownies being one of their favorites.

Lifting her hand in a wave, she beamed a smile in the woman’s direction, feeling herself step off of the sidewalk and onto the crosswalk that would lead her to the other side of the street - and directly in the way of an oncoming bus. The store owner’s eyes widened, and she let out a loud shout in warning, but Velonix only had the time to turn her head and see the vehicle barreling down towards her. She froze, and in those seconds, she felt a cold fear wash over her entire body; seconds turned into milliseconds, her eyes widening in absolute terror, her hands flying up in an attempt to do something to stall the bus from hitting her, even if it meant revealing her abilities to the few humans who were watching the events unfold.

An unbelievably warm touch wrapped around her wrist, gripping it tightly, and at the last moment she was yanked out of the line of sight of the impending vehicle. She stumbled to the side after the pull, nearly tripping and falling, but whatever it was that was holding her forearm also helped to keep her upright and prevented her from hitting the cement face-first.

Just as quickly as the warmth had touched her skin, it was gone, and Velonix was left trembling and attempting to get her bearings. It took her a few seconds, but once she had verified that she was, indeed, still alive, she snapped her head around in every direction, before finally keying in on a figure that was growing increasingly further away from her.

Her hand raised and she stared at her wrist for a moment, flicking her gaze between her skin and the slowly diminishing body, before she made a split-second decision - something that if anyone who knew her saw her do, they would think she was crazy, seeing as she never made decisions without thoroughly thinking them through first.

In an instant she was pushing through the people, ignoring the yelling from the store owner behind her, and despite her small stature, she somehow managed to catch up with the figure. Throwing out her hand, she snagged his own with it, a small jolt going through her body as the memory of a older man looming over a small and terrified child assaulted her brain. She quickly pushed the memory aside to study later, instead pulling on the hand that she now gripped, stopping the person in their tracks.

This earned her a glare of the shoulder of the boy, who spun around and yanked his hand from hers, almost as though her touch stung him. Realizing that she had grabbed him and allowed skin-to-skin contact so impulsively, she pulled her own hand back, clutching it to her chest. A few moments of silence ticked between them, and in those moments, she swore that time stood still - and not by the doing of the Senior Star, that was for sure.

No, this - this was something entirely different. As she stared into those intense orbs that looked at her with a mixture of annoyance and nervousness, she felt an unfamiliar electric shock slam through her body. Her breath hitched, and she clenched her fingers, curling them into the front of her shirt.

Was this a heart attack?

It couldn’t be. She wasn’t able to suffer from physical ailments such as a heart condition or failure.

So the question remained:

What was this feeling?

The boy wasn’t fairing much better than her. It took all his willpower to remain cool, and collected, and not let his nervousness take over. Most girls avoided him, or else he avoided them. He wasn’t quite sure how to act around a girl, so he took a deep breath, and exhaled with an annoyed sigh. He had to do the only thing he knew to do, drive her away.

"Listen lady, I didn't steal your damn purse or whatever the hell you’re bugging me about. So buzz off and bother someone else. I don’t have time for an annoying fly like you.”

Velonix turned a bright red color in the cheeks, sputtering something unintelligible that even she couldn’t understand. The boy, in response, raised a brow before rolling his eyes and propping a skateboard that she hadn’t noticed until he moved it on his shoulder.

“Great, we got a real smart one here - can’t even form coherent words.”

The sentence stung a bit, but she quickly pushed it aside, not allowing his harsh nature to overcome her immense gratitude towards him. She bowed forward at the hips, her hair falling around her face - she had read that it was Japanese custom to bend when showing thanks to someone - and clasped her hands before her legs, her book tucked safely between her arm and her side.

“I-I wanted to say ... I want to thank you for saving my life. If it weren’t for you ... I ...” she trailed off, unable to imagine what could have become of her had he not intervened. Straightening, she rubbed her arm absentmindedly, focusing her gaze on her shoes so as to avoid those intensely electrifying eyes. She inhaled slowly, before letting it out in a small puff, attempting to gather her wits and her courage.

“Look, I don't know where the nearest mental asylum is so piss off.”

The words hit her in the chest. She hadn’t heard such a rude statement directed towards her since that day so many years ago, and to be honest, it did hurt her feelings. He didn’t have to be so incredibly cold towards her. All she wanted to do was thank him.

Why, out of all of the humans that she had come across, was this one capable of scrambling her brain without even uttering a word?

Turning her eyes back towards him, she looked at the boy through her lashes, her quiet and shy nature obvious in her actions.

“If it isn’t a bother, I’d like to do something for you to show my immense gratitude. Allow me to purchase for you a drink of some sort?” she offered, cringing at her odd way of speaking. She knew that her accent was thick, and she knew that the way that she spoke was extremely meticulous and out of the ordinary, but she hoped against hope that he wouldn’t comment on it. She wasn’t sure that she could take another remark like the two before.

Moments ticked by, and as the boy stared at her without responding, she slowly grew more and more nervous. Something was building up inside of her - familiar feelings that she couldn’t place nor understand in that moment, let alone begin to fathom how they could be considered ‘familiar’ to her - and as he continued to stare at her without saying anything, she jerked her head up and snapped, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer!” It was the first thing that came to mind - something that she had heard someone say in one of the humans moving pictures that they referred to as ‘movies’ - and came out completely unfiltered.

Velonix immediately slapped her hands over her mouth, her entire face turning an even darker red than before, her eyes going wide with alarm.

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say that - it ... It just popped out! I apologize,” she stammered out.

What was it about this boy that caused her to act so impulsively, without care and without thinking things through before moving or speaking? She had spent so many years perfecting her ability to think before acting, and this boy - this boy made all of those years disappear.

By the stars above, why did her frazzle her brain so well, and yet seem so ungodly familiar in the aura that he gave off?

The boy rolled his eyes, and let out a deep sigh. Why couldn’t people just leave him alone? Why wouldn’t she just take the hint, and leave him alone? “Listen psycho, I'm gonna be late for work! You don't owe me dick. I don't even remember doing that. However if I did do that I would tell you to keep your goddamn eyes open, and not walk around like a wide eyed idiot.” He harshly stated.

Velonix’s eyes widened considerably, and an odd emotion curled up in her chest. Her arms grew warm, and she felt an odd tick in her cheek. It was something that she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Anger.

What gave him the right to speak to her that way? To use such foul language and direct it towards her? No one had the right to speak to anyone in the way that he was talking to her.

She closed the small distance between them in two quick steps, lifting her hand and poking him hard in the center of the chest and focusing large, narrowed eyes on him, which were ablaze with irritation. He had spoken to her as though she were an unintelligible creature enough - she wasn’t just going to let him treat her that way. The boy was caught off guard, and the moment she touched him he lost his composure. His face turned bright red.

“Listen here, you - you - you arsch*,” she snapped, poking him hard again, “I don’t care what your personal issue is. You have no right - no right whatsoever - so speak to me so disrespectfully. All I wanted to do was thank you and show my gratitude towards you; the least that you can do is say you’re welcome! It’s called common decency and manners, and to stand there and insult me - Pah!” she huffed, jabbing him once more. The boy opened his mouth to try to speak, but he was cut off before a word could come out. “You have no idea who I am, so you have zero right to speak down to me as though I’m nothing more than an ant!”

Shoving her hand into her pocket, she pulled something out, grabbed his hand, and shoved a crumpled wad of money into his palm - around forty-five dollars worth - before stepping back and drawing in a deep breath. Tears prickled her eyes, and one escaped and trickled down her cheek.

“Now have fun at work, jerk,” she said quietly. Velonix spun away on her heel and shoved through the crowd away from him, rubbing at her watery eyes in irritation.

“Hey! You....you....Psycho! Get back here!” The boy futilely called out, but got no more reactions. He glared at the wad of money that she forced upon him, anger began to swell up inside him. He gritted his teeth, and started after her.

Why, by all of the stars above, was that measly human able to make her react and act so recklessly and angrily?

Rounding the corner, she ducked under an awning, facing the wall of the building, the small area slightly secluded. Velonix pressed her hand against the side of the building, forcing her breathing to slow from the heavy pant that it had once been. She to just barely even it out, before a sudden burst of anger assaulted her body. Her eyes flashed with a sheen of red-orange, and in a split instant the dumpster beside her erupted into blazing flames. She jumped and stumbled back, her eyes wide, and after several moments of simply staring with a startled gaze at the dumpster, she felt her lower lip tremble. A few stumbling steps later, and she was completely hidden from view of the sidewalk. She dropped down beside the dumpster, pulled her legs to her chest, and dropped her forehead to her knees. A small tremble began in her lower lip, and tears began to spill over and trickle down her cheeks. With a shaky hand, she managed to reach into her pocket and press two quick buttons, placed the phone at her ear, and as soon as a tired ‘Hello’ echoed through the device, she said with a quivering voice, “I-I did it again. I don’t know what to do … Please … Please help me, Aurora …”

Her sister’s voice instantly gentled on the other end, and after a very brief discussion - it literally lasted maybe ten seconds - the older girl clicked off, Velonix having told her where she was.

“Hey you damn bit-” Takeo shouted as he began to round the corner, stopping mid-sentence. Velonix’s head jerked up at the shout, instantly recognizing the voice of the rude boy that had saved her.

He hesitated with the raging dumpster fire, but he quickly overcame the initial shock, and roughly yanked Velonix away from the fire. “Hey dumbass! Don't just stand....” He began to shout once more before stopping as he got a good look at her crying face. The boy began to fidget, and avoided direct eye contact as his own face began to grow red. When she saw his gaze focus on her wet cheeks and red eyes, she tore her hand away from his grip, using the heels of her palms to rub feverishly yet futilely at the dampness that was her face.

“Look....just.....I don't think it's the safest idea to..s-stand by a flaming pile of garbage,” he stammered, his nervous composure causing confusion to cross the girl’s face. He then swiftly flicked her nose. “He-here....the Old Hag gave it to me before I left, but I don't want it. Already around that shit enough anyway....so quit ya crying.” The boy grumbled as he rummaged around in his cargo shorts, and pulled out a small wrapping filled with assorted baked goods. As the boy handed over the food, she reached out hesitantly, her fingers closing around the small pack. He accidentally brushed the charred and rough palm of his hand across Velonix's soft white skin. The girl jumped, a flash of a raging fire and the same man from the last vision screaming and flailing about. The sight moved down to view the hands of whoever she was seeing the memory through - in this case, the boy that currently stood before her - and they opened to reveal a palm scalded with a large, red welt. As she saw this, all the boy before her would see was a blank look in her eyes, as though she were blind. The boy quickly pulled his hand, fidgeting, and looking almost physically uncomfortable from the skin-to-skin contact. He looked up at her eyes to catch them returning to normal. He blinked several times, wondering if he was just seeing things.

He peered down the alleyway, staring at the fire, clearly wondering what started it. He then looked the girl up and down, he didn’t see anything on her that looked like it would start a fire, so he merely shrugged it off. It was probably set by someone else, not that he really cared. It wasn’t any of his business. “W-well, I got stuff to do, and can't be standing around with you! So...so just leave me alone, and go home or whatever! And here's your money, use it to buy a bus ticket or something.....B-besides, I'm not your damn charity case!” He shouted as he threw the wad of money back at her. She somehow managed to juggle it for a moment before catching it, and once she had, she looked up to see him already backing down the alleyway. The roaring fire was diminishing, running out of fuel in the dumpster, but she could still feel the comforting heat across her cheeks, drying the tears that still lingered there.

“And you're welcome by the way! I'm not gonna make a habit out of saving your life, so next time make sure you don't need it. Ain't nobody gonna take care of you if you can't take care of yourself.” The boy bitterly added, dropping his skateboard to the ground. Before he jumped on his skateboard, she jerked herself into focus and took a few quick strides down the alleyway.

“Wait!” she called out breathlessly, coming to a sudden stop when he didn’t look back at her, but instead stood in place. After a brief second, she gathered her courage and placed a large smile on her face, forcing down the jumble of emotions that she felt mere minutes before, and focusing on the small amount of joy that she could see feel residing within her.

“I’m Velonix. I … I hope that I run into you again … Um …” she trailed off, unsure of his name.

“It's Takeo. People call me Tak.” Tak answered hesitantly with a sigh as he peaked over his shoulder at Velonix. Why did he tell her his name? And why would she hope to run into someone that moments earlier called her names again? There was something odd about her, well other than the obvious. He just couldn't place his finger on it. “Yeah... well don't go getting any ideas. You're better off not hanging out with jerks like me.” He added, turning completely away from her so she couldn't see his bright red face. A small amount of guilt rose into Velonix’s chest, and after a moment of quiet, she managed to say, “I apologize for that,” in a rather soft voice, but one that carried with the wind towards his ears.

Nobody had ever said that they looked forward to seeing him, nor have they apologized for calling him names, so why did some complete stranger just do so? Those questions would have to wait for a time he wasn't late for work. “You were right thands. She slowly looked down, untied the top of the small pouch-like container, and blinked at the e first time.” He added before he hopped on his skateboard and rode off.

As she watched his retreating figure, Velonix clutched the package and money in her hdelicious goodies encased within it. She flicked her gaze back upwards, but at that point Takeo was gone from sight.

Would she ever see him again?

Maybe. But the likelihood of that happening was very slim.