Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Not Such a Skazki, After All ❯ It Begins ( Prologue )
[ A - All Readers ]
By: Whisper in the Soup 
This chap has much weirdness and little plot. Prologue-y thing. More coming tomorrow.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.25.2001 | Updated On: 10.25.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 580 | Status: Completed
This chap has much weirdness and little plot. Prologue-y thing. More coming tomorrow.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.25.2001 | Updated On: 10.25.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 580 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. That's also what you'd get if you sued me, so don't!
Chapter: 1/20
Couplings:
(chapter) None
(story) Jyoushiro, Kenari, Daikeru
Chapter Rating: PG
Disclaimer II : This story will contain non-graphical violence and/or rape scenes. Also, there may be some language in it, so be warned.
A/N: This story makes Mimi the only English-speaker; the rest speak only Japanese, with maybe a meager few words of English, okie? Okie!
"blah" = speech
-blah- = scene change
*blah* = time change
_blah_ = emphasized words
~blah~ = thoughts
"BLAH" = really loud speech
Not Such a Skazki, After All
Whisper in the Soup
20-10-2001
*POV: Mimi Tachikawa*
"And then, it was so funny! After Makia told that joke, Russell was laughing so hard! He laughed so hard, milk came out of his nose! Mimi, you shoulda been there! It was soooo funny!" My friend, Candace, laughed. I laughed falsely, glancing at my watch.
"Candace, sorry to interrupt and all, but it's almost ten, I have to go...," I mumbled, tired of her incessant rambling. She bid me goodnight, and I guess I did the same back. I didn't really know. I was kind of tired.
After changing into my nightdress and telling my parents goodnight, I climbed into bed and fell almost instantly asleep.
I had this really weird dream that night. I dreamt I was flying over the ocean and falling out of the sky into a palace. How odd...I was suddenly jolted awake by a lot of water splashing on me, and I sat up, sputtering. A man had poked his head out of a door with a bucket of water and thrown it on me. I wondered what a man was doing in my room. Or why my room suddenly had grungy brick walls. Or why he was jabbering at me in some foreign language.
~I'm not in my room, am I?~ I thought stupidly. ~Duh, Mimi, why would your room have a Dumpster in it? How unsanitary...~ I frowned at the Dumpster. The man stopped jabbering and pointed. Then started jabbering again. I guessed he wanted me to leave, so I did.
I emerged from the alley I had been in (for that's what it was, I observed. How intelligent of me.) into bright sunlight and a crowded street. ~What the...?~ I wondered, gazing around. I was in a city, but it most certainly wasn't New York. So where was I? And how did I get here? ~Well, I can answer the first question,~ I thought, spotting a newspaper stand. I figured I could ask the person working there where I was. Or maybe I could just look at the newspaper.
As I strode across the street, I noticed that the architecture wasn't anything I had ever seen in the United States. Or in Japan. The sun was doing a very good job of waking me out of my half-asleep stupor, I noted. I approached the stand.
~Okay, so checking out the newspapers isn't gonna work,~ I thought. All the newspapers were in some weird alphabet. Something in the middle-east, maybe. ~So, if the newspapers aren't in English, what if the people don't know it?~ I asked silently. Another voice seemed to answer. ~Just ask the person. If English doesn't work, try Japanese or the very little Spanish you know. It can't hurt to try, you know.~ Great, now I was having conversations with myself.
"Excuse me," I said to the woman. "Can you tell me where I am?" The woman stared at me, then started jabbering in the same language as the man in the alley. Russian? I'm in _Russia_? That's just great, how do I get home? I have no money, no friends here, nobody to talk to, no way to get home. I didn't even know what city I was in!
The woman stopped talking and summoned a man working at the booth. He walked over and eyed me.
"What are you needing?" he asked, in broken English. I could have cried for joy. An English speaker!
"I...I know this might sound crazy, but what city am I in?" I didn't think he understood all of what I said, but he answered me, anyway.
"Moscow, you are in," he said. "You not knowing that?" I shook my head no, thanked him, and turned to leave the booth. However, before I could leave, he called out to me. "Girl!" he said. I turned. "You visiting? From America?" I nodded. "I have family there. You must lost from tour group, no?" I nodded again. "Here," he said, tossing some money at me. "You take bus to tourist center. Middle of city. It is big square called Toprobnr. Ask bus briver for Toprobnr, he get you there."
I bowed to him, thanked him, and left. ~Great, you conveniently forgot to ask what the bus stop looks like,~ I muttered to myself. The money was still in my hand, so I looked at it. I had no idea what kind of money the Russians used, so looking at it was little help. However, I figured it wasn't much. Just bus fare.
Since I didn't know how to use the buses in Moscow, I simply walked the way most other people were walking. Suddenly, in the crowd, I spotted a familiar face. It was Hikari!
"Hikari!" I cried, running to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't know....where is here?" she asked, blinking at all the people. She looked like she had just been yanked out of bed, too.
"Apparently, Moscow. But don't ask why." I said. "Because I don't know. I woke up in this alley with this man gabbling at me in Russian." Several people were giving us dirty looks for blocking the sidewalk, so I yanked her onward with the crowd. "Come on. I'm hoping we can get to Toprobnr by following the crowd."
"Toprobnr?" Hikari asked blankly.
"The central square thing. If it's really in the middle of the city, these people should lead us there." And sure enough, not ten minutes later, we emerged into a large square. Hikari and I gasped simultaneously. The buildings all around looked like giant palaces, with turrets and everything. A magnificent fountain was situated in the middle of the square, and many small shops lined the streets. It was beautiful!
"It's like a skazki!" she squealed. I stared at her. "It's Russian for faery tale," Hikari explained. "World Literature is doing wonders for my knowledge of useless things. But don't get hopeful, that's all the Russian I know." I laughed. We sat down on a bench thing by a fountain in the middle of the square and watched the people go by.
"Hey," I said suddenly. "I'm hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?"
"But...we don't have any money," protested Hikari.
"Sure we do," I said, waving the bill. "I'll buy you something, if we can afford it. I don't know anything about Russian money." It didn't take long to find a shop that sold food but like the newspapers, the menus were in Russian. I sighed and put my head in my hand. "I knew I should have gone to an International Studies magnet high school," I complained. Hikari giggled, then excused herself to go find a bathroom - the shop didn't have one. I sat and munched on a Russian version of potato chips while I waited for Hikari to get back.
Minutes passed, then the minutes became an hour and she wasn't back yet. Where was she? I exited the shop to look for her. It was now after midday, and there was no sign of Hikari. After much searching, I still didn't find her. Finally, I got fed up with it and shouted, "HIKARI!!!"
It earned the stares of everyone in the square, but it didn't help me any in finding Hikari. I didn't think it would. I went back to the shop in the hopes she was waiting for me, but to no avail - Hikari wasn't there, either. I decided to sit on the fountain benches and read an English tourists' guide I found somewhere. Maybe being in the center of the center square would make me visible enough so she'd come to me.
Night fell around me and there was still no sign of Hikari. By then, I was truly worried...where could Hikari have gone?
-*that morning, in west Moscow*-
*POV: Koushiro Izumi*
Bright sunlight was shining through my eyelids. ~What happened to my computer?~ I thought. ~It was supposed to get me up before the sun rose! I hope it didn't lock up.~ I reached for my bedside table where my laptop was supposed to be. It wasn't there. Neither was the table. I frowned and sat up, opening my eyes. Whatever I had expected to see - like my room -, I sure didn't see it. Instead of my neat bedroom with its little table and its laptop, I was greeted with the sight of a long dirty room filled with cots. Rows and rows of dirty cots with equally dirty children on them.
~Okay, I'm officially freaked out now,~ I thought, gazing around the filthy room. ~I go to bed in my room in my house and wake up in a childrens' shelter. Minus a laptop.~ I stood up and sighed. I had to leave the shelter before anyone else woke up, because the adults might make me stay if they caught me. After doing a quick search of the building, I found that all of the doors were locked. To my left, I spotted a door and opened it. It led to the attic, so I climbed up the stairs. Perhaps there was a window up there that was unlocked.
At the top of the stairs was a book. ~Well, I could find out where I am at least,~ I figured, picking up a book off the top of the stack. ~I know I'm not in Japan - those kids sure didn't look Japanese to me,~ I realised. My suspicions were confirmed as I looked at the book.
It was entirely in Russian. ~Russian? I'm in Russia? Probably, but not nessecarily. Well anyway, whether I'm in Russia or Romania, I have to get out of here!~ I thought, looking around. I spotted a window and walked over to it. I could probably get out this way. After all, who locks their _attic_ windows?
Apparently, these people did. Apologizing silently, I picked up a box and threw it through the window. Glancing out, I gulped. The roof was almost vertical with its slope! Taking a deep breath, I stepped over the windowsill and slid down the roof. Near the end, I tried to stop myself by grabbing onto the roof tiles. All that got me was an angry red line down both my palms that hurt terribly. Cursing myself for my stupidity, I scrambled to catch the gutter as I slid past. And then, I ran out of roof and fell...
-eastern Moscow-
*POV: Jyou Kido*
Something crawling on my nose awoke me. I sat up, swiping at my face. The roach that had been on my face scuttled off and fell in the grass. I shuddered, roaches were disgusting. Looking around, I noticed I was _not_ at my desk where I had fallen asleep the night before. In fact, I didn't know where I was.
The area I was in was completely overgrown with weeds and grass. Broken glass and garbage littered the ground near me, and I could see part of a building nearby. The rest looked charred, as though it had been burned down by a fire. ~Huh...so Jyou, you fall asleep studying and wake up in a roach-infested lot. Well, let's figure out where you are,~ I thought. A little sarcastic voice in my head said I was in a lot. ~Besides a lot, stupid!~ I retorted to the voice. ~Great, now I'm talking to myself. I think that roach gave me some kind of disease.~
Picking myself up and dusting myself off, I glanced around. The road running by my lot seemed to connect with a larger road a few houses down. It seemed the best place to start, so I started walking toward it; perhaps it'd run to a shopping center or something public where I could find out where I was.
After a lot of walking, I arrived at a little convenience store thing. The person who was supposed to work at the counter was nowhere to be seen, so I prowled the store looking for something that might clue me in as to where I was. Finding nothing, I exited the store and headed towards what looked like the heart of downtown Wherever.
I walked some more. It was getting old very quickly. ~Now if I could figure out where I was, I'd be all set to...um...leave! Yeah, that's what I'll do when I find out where I am. Then I'll get a ride out of here and get back to Odaiba. Because this definitely isn't any place I've ever been.~ I realised I was rambling, so I shut myself up. Eventually, I got tired of walking and stopped a passerby.
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Tokyo?" I was smart enough not to say Odaiba; handing out my home city was _not_ something I particularly wanted to do. The man stared at me. Then, he said something in some odd language. The words sounded so hard I wondered how he spoke them. I shook my head and walked away. Then, something caught my eye.
It was a sprawled form laying on some hay nearby. I ran over to it. It was Koushiro. I walked over to him and peered at him.
"Koushiro?" I asked, prodding him carefully. He moaned and rolled over. "What are you doing here? Where is here? What happened to you?" He seemed okay, except for his very very raw hands and a slightly sprained ankle. Koushiro sat up.
"....Jyou?" he asked groggily. "What are you doing here?" Koushiro looked around. "It's bright out here," he commented. I let him get adjusted to the daylight and to recover a bit, then asked him again where we were. "Russia, I think...I picked up a book and it was in Russian...or Greek...or something not Japanese...not English, either. I've seen English before and it wasn't English." I stared at him for a bit.
"Russia?" I finally said. How intelligent. "So how'd we get here?" Koushiro shrugged and related what had happened to him that morning.
"...so I slid down the roof. Just look at my hands! It's a miracle I didn't die, falling all that way!" I peered up and saw the roof, thirty feet above. We sat in the hay near the shelter and talked for some time. Eventually, I noticed it was getting dark.
"How about we...erm...leave?" I suggested. "We can't exactly spend the night out here. I'll see if I can find that lot I woke up in this morning. It's a bit of a walk, are you up to it?" Koushiro nodded, tried to stand up, and promptly collapsed again. His ankle was now very swollen. I ripped part of my shirt sleeve off to use as a bandage and wrapped it around his ankle. "Better?" I asked. Koushiro nodded again, and we set off the way I came.
I only got lost a few times on the way back, and found the street with little trouble. As we approached the old house, it was almost completely dark. "I haven't even been in here yet, but I bet it's safe...if you don't mind bugs," I said, shuddering.
"It's better than sleeping on the street," Koushiro said, collapsing on a half burned bed. It in turn collapsed, dumping him on the floor. He started laughing. "This is really not my day, is it? I wake up in an orphanage in Russia, bust out a window to escape, slide down the roof and in the process scraping half the skin off my hands, only to land in the hay thirty feet below and now I'm spending the night in a burned down house. I think this has to be the most bizarre day of my whole life!"
"Mine too," I said, settling next to him. "Mine too."
Chapter: 1/20
Couplings:
(chapter) None
(story) Jyoushiro, Kenari, Daikeru
Chapter Rating: PG
Disclaimer II : This story will contain non-graphical violence and/or rape scenes. Also, there may be some language in it, so be warned.
A/N: This story makes Mimi the only English-speaker; the rest speak only Japanese, with maybe a meager few words of English, okie? Okie!
"blah" = speech
-blah- = scene change
*blah* = time change
_blah_ = emphasized words
~blah~ = thoughts
"BLAH" = really loud speech
Not Such a Skazki, After All
Whisper in the Soup
20-10-2001
*POV: Mimi Tachikawa*
"And then, it was so funny! After Makia told that joke, Russell was laughing so hard! He laughed so hard, milk came out of his nose! Mimi, you shoulda been there! It was soooo funny!" My friend, Candace, laughed. I laughed falsely, glancing at my watch.
"Candace, sorry to interrupt and all, but it's almost ten, I have to go...," I mumbled, tired of her incessant rambling. She bid me goodnight, and I guess I did the same back. I didn't really know. I was kind of tired.
After changing into my nightdress and telling my parents goodnight, I climbed into bed and fell almost instantly asleep.
I had this really weird dream that night. I dreamt I was flying over the ocean and falling out of the sky into a palace. How odd...I was suddenly jolted awake by a lot of water splashing on me, and I sat up, sputtering. A man had poked his head out of a door with a bucket of water and thrown it on me. I wondered what a man was doing in my room. Or why my room suddenly had grungy brick walls. Or why he was jabbering at me in some foreign language.
~I'm not in my room, am I?~ I thought stupidly. ~Duh, Mimi, why would your room have a Dumpster in it? How unsanitary...~ I frowned at the Dumpster. The man stopped jabbering and pointed. Then started jabbering again. I guessed he wanted me to leave, so I did.
I emerged from the alley I had been in (for that's what it was, I observed. How intelligent of me.) into bright sunlight and a crowded street. ~What the...?~ I wondered, gazing around. I was in a city, but it most certainly wasn't New York. So where was I? And how did I get here? ~Well, I can answer the first question,~ I thought, spotting a newspaper stand. I figured I could ask the person working there where I was. Or maybe I could just look at the newspaper.
As I strode across the street, I noticed that the architecture wasn't anything I had ever seen in the United States. Or in Japan. The sun was doing a very good job of waking me out of my half-asleep stupor, I noted. I approached the stand.
~Okay, so checking out the newspapers isn't gonna work,~ I thought. All the newspapers were in some weird alphabet. Something in the middle-east, maybe. ~So, if the newspapers aren't in English, what if the people don't know it?~ I asked silently. Another voice seemed to answer. ~Just ask the person. If English doesn't work, try Japanese or the very little Spanish you know. It can't hurt to try, you know.~ Great, now I was having conversations with myself.
"Excuse me," I said to the woman. "Can you tell me where I am?" The woman stared at me, then started jabbering in the same language as the man in the alley. Russian? I'm in _Russia_? That's just great, how do I get home? I have no money, no friends here, nobody to talk to, no way to get home. I didn't even know what city I was in!
The woman stopped talking and summoned a man working at the booth. He walked over and eyed me.
"What are you needing?" he asked, in broken English. I could have cried for joy. An English speaker!
"I...I know this might sound crazy, but what city am I in?" I didn't think he understood all of what I said, but he answered me, anyway.
"Moscow, you are in," he said. "You not knowing that?" I shook my head no, thanked him, and turned to leave the booth. However, before I could leave, he called out to me. "Girl!" he said. I turned. "You visiting? From America?" I nodded. "I have family there. You must lost from tour group, no?" I nodded again. "Here," he said, tossing some money at me. "You take bus to tourist center. Middle of city. It is big square called Toprobnr. Ask bus briver for Toprobnr, he get you there."
I bowed to him, thanked him, and left. ~Great, you conveniently forgot to ask what the bus stop looks like,~ I muttered to myself. The money was still in my hand, so I looked at it. I had no idea what kind of money the Russians used, so looking at it was little help. However, I figured it wasn't much. Just bus fare.
Since I didn't know how to use the buses in Moscow, I simply walked the way most other people were walking. Suddenly, in the crowd, I spotted a familiar face. It was Hikari!
"Hikari!" I cried, running to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't know....where is here?" she asked, blinking at all the people. She looked like she had just been yanked out of bed, too.
"Apparently, Moscow. But don't ask why." I said. "Because I don't know. I woke up in this alley with this man gabbling at me in Russian." Several people were giving us dirty looks for blocking the sidewalk, so I yanked her onward with the crowd. "Come on. I'm hoping we can get to Toprobnr by following the crowd."
"Toprobnr?" Hikari asked blankly.
"The central square thing. If it's really in the middle of the city, these people should lead us there." And sure enough, not ten minutes later, we emerged into a large square. Hikari and I gasped simultaneously. The buildings all around looked like giant palaces, with turrets and everything. A magnificent fountain was situated in the middle of the square, and many small shops lined the streets. It was beautiful!
"It's like a skazki!" she squealed. I stared at her. "It's Russian for faery tale," Hikari explained. "World Literature is doing wonders for my knowledge of useless things. But don't get hopeful, that's all the Russian I know." I laughed. We sat down on a bench thing by a fountain in the middle of the square and watched the people go by.
"Hey," I said suddenly. "I'm hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?"
"But...we don't have any money," protested Hikari.
"Sure we do," I said, waving the bill. "I'll buy you something, if we can afford it. I don't know anything about Russian money." It didn't take long to find a shop that sold food but like the newspapers, the menus were in Russian. I sighed and put my head in my hand. "I knew I should have gone to an International Studies magnet high school," I complained. Hikari giggled, then excused herself to go find a bathroom - the shop didn't have one. I sat and munched on a Russian version of potato chips while I waited for Hikari to get back.
Minutes passed, then the minutes became an hour and she wasn't back yet. Where was she? I exited the shop to look for her. It was now after midday, and there was no sign of Hikari. After much searching, I still didn't find her. Finally, I got fed up with it and shouted, "HIKARI!!!"
It earned the stares of everyone in the square, but it didn't help me any in finding Hikari. I didn't think it would. I went back to the shop in the hopes she was waiting for me, but to no avail - Hikari wasn't there, either. I decided to sit on the fountain benches and read an English tourists' guide I found somewhere. Maybe being in the center of the center square would make me visible enough so she'd come to me.
Night fell around me and there was still no sign of Hikari. By then, I was truly worried...where could Hikari have gone?
-*that morning, in west Moscow*-
*POV: Koushiro Izumi*
Bright sunlight was shining through my eyelids. ~What happened to my computer?~ I thought. ~It was supposed to get me up before the sun rose! I hope it didn't lock up.~ I reached for my bedside table where my laptop was supposed to be. It wasn't there. Neither was the table. I frowned and sat up, opening my eyes. Whatever I had expected to see - like my room -, I sure didn't see it. Instead of my neat bedroom with its little table and its laptop, I was greeted with the sight of a long dirty room filled with cots. Rows and rows of dirty cots with equally dirty children on them.
~Okay, I'm officially freaked out now,~ I thought, gazing around the filthy room. ~I go to bed in my room in my house and wake up in a childrens' shelter. Minus a laptop.~ I stood up and sighed. I had to leave the shelter before anyone else woke up, because the adults might make me stay if they caught me. After doing a quick search of the building, I found that all of the doors were locked. To my left, I spotted a door and opened it. It led to the attic, so I climbed up the stairs. Perhaps there was a window up there that was unlocked.
At the top of the stairs was a book. ~Well, I could find out where I am at least,~ I figured, picking up a book off the top of the stack. ~I know I'm not in Japan - those kids sure didn't look Japanese to me,~ I realised. My suspicions were confirmed as I looked at the book.
It was entirely in Russian. ~Russian? I'm in Russia? Probably, but not nessecarily. Well anyway, whether I'm in Russia or Romania, I have to get out of here!~ I thought, looking around. I spotted a window and walked over to it. I could probably get out this way. After all, who locks their _attic_ windows?
Apparently, these people did. Apologizing silently, I picked up a box and threw it through the window. Glancing out, I gulped. The roof was almost vertical with its slope! Taking a deep breath, I stepped over the windowsill and slid down the roof. Near the end, I tried to stop myself by grabbing onto the roof tiles. All that got me was an angry red line down both my palms that hurt terribly. Cursing myself for my stupidity, I scrambled to catch the gutter as I slid past. And then, I ran out of roof and fell...
-eastern Moscow-
*POV: Jyou Kido*
Something crawling on my nose awoke me. I sat up, swiping at my face. The roach that had been on my face scuttled off and fell in the grass. I shuddered, roaches were disgusting. Looking around, I noticed I was _not_ at my desk where I had fallen asleep the night before. In fact, I didn't know where I was.
The area I was in was completely overgrown with weeds and grass. Broken glass and garbage littered the ground near me, and I could see part of a building nearby. The rest looked charred, as though it had been burned down by a fire. ~Huh...so Jyou, you fall asleep studying and wake up in a roach-infested lot. Well, let's figure out where you are,~ I thought. A little sarcastic voice in my head said I was in a lot. ~Besides a lot, stupid!~ I retorted to the voice. ~Great, now I'm talking to myself. I think that roach gave me some kind of disease.~
Picking myself up and dusting myself off, I glanced around. The road running by my lot seemed to connect with a larger road a few houses down. It seemed the best place to start, so I started walking toward it; perhaps it'd run to a shopping center or something public where I could find out where I was.
After a lot of walking, I arrived at a little convenience store thing. The person who was supposed to work at the counter was nowhere to be seen, so I prowled the store looking for something that might clue me in as to where I was. Finding nothing, I exited the store and headed towards what looked like the heart of downtown Wherever.
I walked some more. It was getting old very quickly. ~Now if I could figure out where I was, I'd be all set to...um...leave! Yeah, that's what I'll do when I find out where I am. Then I'll get a ride out of here and get back to Odaiba. Because this definitely isn't any place I've ever been.~ I realised I was rambling, so I shut myself up. Eventually, I got tired of walking and stopped a passerby.
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Tokyo?" I was smart enough not to say Odaiba; handing out my home city was _not_ something I particularly wanted to do. The man stared at me. Then, he said something in some odd language. The words sounded so hard I wondered how he spoke them. I shook my head and walked away. Then, something caught my eye.
It was a sprawled form laying on some hay nearby. I ran over to it. It was Koushiro. I walked over to him and peered at him.
"Koushiro?" I asked, prodding him carefully. He moaned and rolled over. "What are you doing here? Where is here? What happened to you?" He seemed okay, except for his very very raw hands and a slightly sprained ankle. Koushiro sat up.
"....Jyou?" he asked groggily. "What are you doing here?" Koushiro looked around. "It's bright out here," he commented. I let him get adjusted to the daylight and to recover a bit, then asked him again where we were. "Russia, I think...I picked up a book and it was in Russian...or Greek...or something not Japanese...not English, either. I've seen English before and it wasn't English." I stared at him for a bit.
"Russia?" I finally said. How intelligent. "So how'd we get here?" Koushiro shrugged and related what had happened to him that morning.
"...so I slid down the roof. Just look at my hands! It's a miracle I didn't die, falling all that way!" I peered up and saw the roof, thirty feet above. We sat in the hay near the shelter and talked for some time. Eventually, I noticed it was getting dark.
"How about we...erm...leave?" I suggested. "We can't exactly spend the night out here. I'll see if I can find that lot I woke up in this morning. It's a bit of a walk, are you up to it?" Koushiro nodded, tried to stand up, and promptly collapsed again. His ankle was now very swollen. I ripped part of my shirt sleeve off to use as a bandage and wrapped it around his ankle. "Better?" I asked. Koushiro nodded again, and we set off the way I came.
I only got lost a few times on the way back, and found the street with little trouble. As we approached the old house, it was almost completely dark. "I haven't even been in here yet, but I bet it's safe...if you don't mind bugs," I said, shuddering.
"It's better than sleeping on the street," Koushiro said, collapsing on a half burned bed. It in turn collapsed, dumping him on the floor. He started laughing. "This is really not my day, is it? I wake up in an orphanage in Russia, bust out a window to escape, slide down the roof and in the process scraping half the skin off my hands, only to land in the hay thirty feet below and now I'm spending the night in a burned down house. I think this has to be the most bizarre day of my whole life!"
"Mine too," I said, settling next to him. "Mine too."