FLCL Fan Fiction ❯ Emotions and Monsters ❯ The Return ( Chapter 2 )

Unfortunately, I still don't own FLCL. Yet.

Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night. Not that I usually do get much sleep, but at least this time it wasn't because I was thinking about Haruko. No, this time I was thinking about Eri, and that had me really confused. Confusion is normal for me, ever since Haruko arrived. But I've never been confused about my friends, about Eri before.

I only slept for about two hours that night, and dreamt about Eri the entire time. That, almost as much as hearing her whisper my name, had me confused. I woke up at about seven thirty, half an hour before breakfast, and made a break for the shower. Eri was just coming out when I got there, her once again long hair still wet.

Standing back against the wall in front of the bathroom door, I studied the floor when she walked past, smelling of an herbal shampoo. Even looking down like I was, I still saw the small smile on her lips when she walked past me. As soon as she was out of the way, I made a break for it.

A cold shower didn't clear my head like I thought it would. After my ten minute shower, I was just as confused as I was when I woke up, only now I was more confused about myself. Why, I wondered, did I feel like I did last night? Tenderness, happiness, just at watching her sleep? What does this mean?

The hallway was empty when I left the bathroom and walked back to my bedroom. It only took me a minute to get dressed; I didn't need to worry about what to wear because it was Saturday and I was just planning on going down by the river to play my guitar and think.

Eri was waiting for me in the hallway when I came out of my room with my guitar in hand. Even though I'm slightly over six feet tall, the top of her head still came up to my chin. "Naota," she began somewhat shyly, then had to clear her throat. "Thank you."

"For what?"

She reached out and gently touched my arm. "I was waiting up for you to see if you had found anything out, but I guess I was just too tired to stay awake. Thank you for moving me to the bed."

I scratched my head. "No problem. I came back a lot later than I had been planning, so I guess it's my fault that you fell asleep in the chair."

Abruptly, Eri changed from shy to her normal self. "Well," she said with a twinkle in her eye as she began walking towards the stairs, "next time maybe you could put me in some clothes that would be more comfortable to sleep in."

I'm glad her back was turned, because I started choking on air and my face turned a brilliant red. That just made me more confused. What was she trying to say?

It took a lot of effort, but I managed to put my confusion and conflicting emotions out of my mind. I sat through a somewhat uncomfortable breakfast (I think I was the only uncomfortable one; grandpa was oblivious and Eri had a mischievous look), then cleared my dishes and tried to hurry out. Since it was Saturday and business would be slow, Grandpa had given Eri and I the day off and was going to run the bakery with his one other employee, some guy he hired for while Kanchi and I were fighting robots.

I was pulling my cap on and reaching for my guitar when Eri came up behind me. "Going somewhere?" she asked.

"Down to the river," I answered. "I want to look at the water and play my guitar."

She stepped in front of me and clasped her hands together. "Would you mind some company?"

I shifted uncomfortably, then shrugged out of the guitar strap. "Sure," I answered. "But only if you can wear the guitar down there for me."

She carefully took my guitar out of my hands, handling it as if it were a priceless object. "Thank you," she said quietly.

My vest, lying in the chair that my hat had been in, was the last thing I grabbed before going outside. I climbed on my Moped and started it up, then nearly jumped out of my skin when Eri put her arms around my waist. It took a moment to calm back down and then, after making sure she was ready, we took off.

As I had discovered while riding on Haruko's Vespa, it really was a short distance to the river. We parked near the bridge, then walked down to sit on the beach next to the bridge.

We didn't say a whole lot. For the most part, I just plucked at the guitar and we sat watching the waves in the river and watching Kanchi poke around the rocks on the far bank. Just as we were getting ready to leave, I heard a commotion.

On the far side of the bridge, on the side of the river we were on, someone was tripping and falling down the bank towards the beach. Eri stood up next to me, and watched the young woman flailing. "What do you think is wrong?" she asked.

I put my hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. "I don't know," I answered. "Wait here and I'll see." Without pause, I started walking, leaving my guitar in Eri's hands.

The woman was on her knees, leaning over and clutching her head. "Are you all right?" I asked, going to one knee next to her and putting my hand on her back. "Do you need help?"

Her answer was a scream. She threw her head back and screamed again. I fell back in surprise, trying to avoid the horn sticking out from her forehead. Another scream, and something began to tear it's way out of her.

I scrambled away on my hands and knees, trying to get back to Eri and my guitar. The thing that tore out of the screaming woman's head shaped itself into a hand, the size of the one Kanchi had fought when he had come out of me. The robot turned on a finger, spinning towards me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Kanchi leap into the air, flying towards me and the robot monster.

When Kanchi touched down near me, the monster's color changed from a pasty gray to yellow, and it sprang forward. It crashed into Kanchi, knocking him at least a hundred yards away and out into the middle of the river.

The monster changed back to it's original color, and turned back towards me. "Naota!" Eri hollered my name. "Catch!"

Her words barely registered on me before I snatched my musical instrument out of the air. I could hear the monster crashing towards me as I leapt to my feet and spun to meet it.

I spread my feet, then jumped forward with a yell. As hard as I could, I brought the guitar down like a sword. A musical note erupted into the afternoon air as the stock of the instrument impacted on the palm of the hand. Instinctively, I brought the guitar back up in front of me to guard against the explosion I knew was coming, and I wasn't disappointed.

The force of the explosion threw me onto my back at Eri's feet. The first thing I saw when my vision cleared was the surprised expression on Eri's face, and the blank monitor that served as Kanchi's. The girl reached down to help me up.

I nodded my thanks to her, then ran over to the woman the monster had come out of. "Are you okay now?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. Her headache would be gone, but she would still be pretty freaked out. I kneeled next to her, placing my guitar on the ground and my hand on her back in a comforting way.

The woman was in her late thirties or early forties, and she looked at me blankly. "What happened?" I asked her.

She continued to just stare at me blankly. "Did someone hit you?"

Finally, I got a response. The woman nodded. "It was a . . . a young woman," she answered. "I was going for a walk yesterday, and she came out of nowhere and hit me over the head with a big red guitar."

Eri was leaning over my shoulder. "She?"

I looked up at her and back at Kanchi. Something was starting to tickle at the back of my mind. It took a moment, but I all of a sudden realized what it was, just as the grating of a bike's motor met my ears. "Kanchi, get these two out of here," I ordered, picking my guitar back up and standing.

"But-" Eri opened her mouth to say something, but didn't get the chance. Kanchi scooped the two females up, one in each arm, and took to the sky. He didn't go far; just to the other side of the river where he stayed with the two girls.

I stood where I was with my feet spread and my arms hanging straight down at my sides. My head was slumped forward, but I still held my guitar.

The engine noise was cut off when it was shut off, behind me and up on the bridge. I could hear someone walking towards the edge of the bridge, and I really wasn't surprised when I heard the person speak.

"I see you're still alive, Takkun."

I raised my head up straight, but didn't turn around. "I told you, Haruko, my name isn't Takkun."