Night Air (Who Would you fall for...) part 1

~Sorry for the long wait! I really am. But, uhm, this one's dedicated to learning a bit about Mika... the other characters will get their turn =]~
"Rain, Rain, RAIN!" You woke up abruptly to Mika shaking your shoulders. He held a concerned gaze as he pulled you out of your dream. "Rain, are you okay? Who’s Davey?"

You sat up, realized that you were slightly sweating, and looked up at Mika’s concerned face. "I… uh, what happened?" You exhaled, putting a hand up to your temple. Your dream began to slowly flood back. Visions of Davey, Tamarind, and the thick heavy fog weighing down the atmosphere.

Mika sat down next you on the bed and scooted over closer. Wrapping his arms around you lightly, he comforted you. "It was just a dream. Nothing more." He smiled sweetly before continuing in on a happier tone. "Well, I bet you’re starving! Am I right?" His bright green eyes lit up as his smile widen.

Relaxing, totally pushing aside the dream and excepting it as just a nightmare from the dramatic and frightening change in your life, you smiled back. "Yes!" you exclaimed, hearing your stomach roar in agreement. It seemed like you hadn’t eaten in days.

Mika leaped off the bed and took your hand. "Well, come on! I made breakfast this morning!" You stood up and couldn’t help but smile even wider. "Come on!" Mika pursued, pulling you gleefully out of your room and into the hallways, talking happily away. "What are we waiting for? I made pancakes, with extra, extra chocolate chips! This is going to be great! Someone to actually eat with me! Jeremiah and Vitally are always gone somewhere, who knows where. And Tyson’s too much of a bum to wake up!" He spoke vigorously, until finally reaching the kitchen. Taking a good look around you found what appeared to be a ‘normal’ kitchen. Not at glamorous as you were anticipating. Well, what was I expecting? A restaurant? It’s a kitchen to supply 4 people?

You both walked in, and you saw that two plates were already prepared. On each one was a towering pile of pancakes, each one bulging with brown chocolate. The plates must of each had eight pancakes on them, and were dripping profusely with syrup. The counter top was practically completely covered with floor. A few eggshell leftovers and milk drops were scattered also. "Well, you sure know how to make a mess!" You playfully mentioned, scooping up a bit of floor with your finger and wiping it off on Mika’s nose. You giggled softly to yourself as you watched him sneeze.

"Hey!" He sneezed again, "You do know that I’m going to have to get revenge now right?"

You blew more flour in his direction, "Oh really?" You watched and laughed as Mika went into another sneezing fit.

Mika recovered and gave you a playful, yet devilish grin. "You’re gonna regret that!" You watched as Mika swiftly turned around and grabbed an entire bag of flour. "Now," He opened the bag slowly, "You’re gonna regret that!" Before you could jump away, Mika tilted the bag and pour it’s contents all over your head. A cloud of floor formed above your head and sank down into your hair and laid on the blue nightgown. You were totally covered in the white, and no matter how hard you tried to force it back… you sneezed. Then, sneezed. And again. "Yes!" Mika cheered, "I win." He smiled sweetly before giving you a hug, also covering himself in flour. Mika looked at you with sparkling eyes, "Hey, do you want to eat out in the garden?"

You looked at him, a little skeptically, "Covered in flour?"

His smile grew larger, "Yep! Come on." He nudged your elbow and you both grabbed your towering plates. Mika grabbed your hand and led you outside. The sun was shining and it was oddly warm for the time of year. Several happy birds chirped away, swooping down around you and Mika. Small white rabbits scampered across the ground, seemingly unafraid of the two of you. Mika led you carefully around the house until eventually stopping at the garden you remembered Jeremiah pointing out. He slowly stepped inside and brought you over to a two-seat bench that was skillfully crafted. Intricate designs weaved in and out of the beautiful wood. It was so captivating that you didn’t even bother marveling at the surrounding flowers. "Like it?" Mika broke you from starring. "My grandfather made it. Believe it or not, it tells a story about my family."

"What does it say?" You asked amazed, running your hand along the bench.

Mika let out a short laugh, "I don’t know." He looked down, solemnly; "H-He never got a chance to tell me. T-Tamarind came the day after he made it."

You waited for a second, wondering if it was your place to ask the question you pondered. Eventually, you just broke down and asked. "What happened?"

Mika sighed and looked down. The sun seemed to shine less brightly. "Well," he began, "It was years ago…

"Word that Tamarind was coming to recruit was everywhere. It definitely wasn’t a surprised when he did come. We also knew what measures he’d go to if a group of people were to deny his offer. I lived in a normal sized village of Nekos, it wasn’t large and it wasn’t small. It was perfect. Everyone knew each other, and everyone cared for one another. It was nothing like this dog-eat-dog world we live in today. I had everything going for me there… a pair of wealthy loving parents, those wise caring grandparents that spoil you, I got along and befriended practically everyone in town… and, I had the perfect, most beautiful girl in the village, named Clarissa…" A pang of something, perhaps jealousy, rushed through you as he spoke about her. Mika shook his head and said, "I’m getting beside myself. Am I boring you?"

"Of course not, go one." You coaxed.

Mika nodded, "Well, when we heard of Tamarind coming, we automatically all knew that we’d rather die than serve him. So, we went into action right away. We couldn’t fight back, but we sure as hell could hide away. See, the town leaders came up with a plan, there were plenty of places in nature- underground, hidden caves, in the forest, that we could create new homes that Tamarind would never find. The trees, plants and animals would all help us too, considering they were our friends in a sense."

You stopped him, "Trees and plants? They were your friends?"

Mika smiled and got fairly excited, jumping out of his solemn tone. "Yes! It really is so wonderful to be a neko. Anything that’s alive, I can speak to. Or at least, listen to." You smiled, thinking of how amazing it that must be. "Well, anyway," Mika continued, "As they were building, someone needed to keep watch to warn everybody if Tamarind came early. I was elected to do that. So, I’d sit out, on a rock, a few miles away, and sit there… for hours and hours, looking out into a plain of nothingness. I did that for three days straight, but eventually, I broke. Sitting around and twiddling my fingers isn’t something I can really do." He smiled a little bit, and looked at you. "But, I wish I could’ve. I wandered off, thinking that it would be fine to just walk around for a few hours. Well, I got back and… I saw smoke coming from my village. I ran as fast as I could down to them, but it was too late. All the buildings were burned down, and my friends were lying all around. Nobody could ever imagine how hard I cried…" He looked down at his feet, "I had no clue what to do, where to start. This was all my fault. If I had only stayed on watch, I could’ve warned them. There would’ve been enough room and time for them to escape. But… I didn’t. I walked around for ages, trying to find a someone, anyone to talk to. The only thing I found was a necklace that I gave Clarissa, lying next to yet another burning building. She was nowhere to be found. It was then, when I was trying to figure out what to do, I heard someone calling me. It was my grandfather of all people. I sprinted over to him; it was obvious that he was on his last breaths. I can still remember his exact words. ‘Mika, don’t forget. Don’t give in. We’re all save now, except for you. Carry on. Stay strong. And, don’t lose yourself in your sorrow. He died then, right there, in my arms." Mika quietly pushed back tears. "This bench is the only thing I have left of my family. I found it a few miles away in my grandfather’s workshop. After everything, I figured that best thing to do was to leave. To try to start a new life, and most importantly- find Tamarind. I wasn’t ever really into revenge, but I met Jeremiah, and when I found that his goal was my dream… I couldn’t just pass it up." Mika let out a small breath, signaling that he was finished.

You had so much to say, but none of it would come out. Instead, you simply threw your arms around Mika and hugged him. This was terrible… and you thought that you had it bad. "Mika," You slowly asked, "H-how do you stay so…"

"Happy?" He asked cheerfully, like nothing had happened, "Being sad won’t help anything. Being happy is so much more… enjoyable. I like living life to it’s fullest, because you never know when your last day might be. I’ve learned that much through this experience. Besides, nobody likes a downer," He coughed, " Vitally," he coughed again and smiled. "And I want you to like me!" You paused for a second before continuing, sounding a bit more serious than before. "You really remind me of her. It’s kind of scary."

You were slightly confused, "Remind you of who?"

Mika cracked a small smile, "Of Clarissa. Yeah, except…"

"Except what?" You wondered, not helping but to smile back.

Mika roughed up your hair a bit and watched the flour go up in a white cloud. "I don’t think she’d ever have a flour fight with me and get this dirty!" You laughed, but before you could respond, your stomach growled. It had been a while since you ate last… "What are we waiting for?" Mika exclaimed, "Our pancakes are getting cold! Let’s eat!"

You both ate and finished your breakfast, and sat around the garden for a while. It was nice, very peaceful. The flowers were beautiful, absolutely stunning. Mika and you eventually grew tired for just lazing around, and wandered back inside. You spent the rest of the day with Mike, watching movies, playing random board games… and even tag. It was as if you were a little girl again. Being around Mika made you feel so secure about yourself- there was no need to pretend. And you were always laughing and smiling, that much was for sure. You blasted music, danced, and did a million other things. By the time nightfall came around, you were dead tired and excited to just go to sleep, and wake up for the next day.

"Good night!" Mika cheered, closing your bedroom door. Earlier in the day, a small box was at the doorstep. It was filled with some of your clothes from home.

Home, you thought, wandering how Davey was doing. It struck you that, recently, you hadn’t even thought about home or Davey once. Guilt and loneliness over took your body as you curled up on ‘your’ bed and quietly cried. What am I doing here? Why am I not trying to get home to Davey? He’s probably worried sick…I sure hope Davey’s okay…

"Don’t worry, Darling, Davey’s just fine… for now." A deep, haunting voice boomed in your head. You knew who it was. Tamarind.