Silver Lining.

Propane Nightmares

  When I krept back into Kyo's room, he was just sitting there, looking out the window. I wanted to say something - anything - to make things seem normal and and like I wasn't terrified of him. But I couldn't.

"So, what did Master have to say?"

His lips were curved into an innocent smile, his eyes glowing golden from the sunset leaking through the window.

"Uhm, nothing, really..."

But that was a complete and utter lie, because what he had told me was most definitely something, and that something was the reason why I couldn't take my eyes off of the bracelet that hung loosely around Kyo's boney wrist. But I think Kyo noticed exactly what I was staring at, because he was quick to redirect my attention.

"Hey, have you ever played Mario Kart?" he asked. I just stared at him for a good moment before actually comprehending the question.

"I don't really know what that is..." I said, because I didn't. He smiled.

"Let's play it, then. It's fun!"

By the way that he looked at me and grinned and lead me over to the N64, I could tell that he was getting more and more comfortable around me. Too bad I was only getting less and less comfortable around him.

"Okay, I'll be Wario. Who do you wanna be?" He said as we sat in front of the small TV set in his room. He selected a big guy with a yellow hat and overalls.

"Hm...the mushroom?" I asked. I didn't know anything about Mario, or gaming in general, so I was only just guessing that this guy was a mushroom.

"Oh, Toad? Okay. Let's get started, then."

I looked over at Kyo, trying to convince myself that I had nothing to be afraid of. I could see the race countdown flickering in his eyes, and his smile growing wider with anticipation. He was just a normal kid. He liked me. I should like him, too. But I saw his bracelet again, how it jiggled as he moved his controller to the left, and I shuddered.

"Go! Go! What are you doing?"

He didn't look at me when he spoke, since he was fully engaged in his own racing, but I knew he was probably reffering to me, since Toad hadn't moved an inch since the race started.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," I muttered. I felt around at the controls until I finally figured out how to manuver my character.

After that, though, we raced eachother for about another hour, and I honestly forgot about what Kazuma had told me (well, almost). Kyo and I had fun, racing around the Koopa Troopa Beach over and over. We even tried to have a backwards race, but that didn't really work out. But eventually we had to stop so that we could eat dinner.

"And he didn't even know how to make an elephant noise," Kyo told Kazuma at the dinner table with a laugh. He was sitting across from me, slurping vegetable soup from a spoon.

"Oh, is that so?" Kazuma asked and looked at me with a soft chuckle.

"Mhm. But I think I know how to now," I said, wiping my mouth with my napkin.

"That's great. Ah, Kyo, did you ever give Hatsuharu that pair of socks that he left over here?"

"Mm. I tried, but he went all black on me. He said socks were stupid, and they were even more stupid because I had them. Then we kind of fought."

Hatsuharu? He was the cow. I knew that, because Akito had talked about him sometimes. How he spent too much time with the horse. But he was a pretty normal kid. He went to school, had friends. I mean, sure he turned into a cow, and most people would find that odd, but he wasn't Akito's favorite, and he wasn't...

a monster.

I found myself looking at Kyo again. He wasn't a monster. He couldn't be a monster. But the bracelet he wore, the one that hung just above his scroching hot soup everytime he went to get another spoonful, told me that he was.

"Whaddaya want?" he ended up asking me, since I had been eyeing him like a hawk.

"Nothing, I just.."

Kazuma frowned. He knew what I was thinking, and that I was scared of his 'son', who he just so happened to love very much.

And when I saw that look in his eyes, it cut me to the core, and I knew that there was definitely a reason why he loved Kyo like a son. After all, Kyo was just a defensless little kid, who couldn't control what he turned into - what he was born into. Just like I had no choice but to be the rat. It wasn't his fault, but everyone made it out to be. He was shunned and looked down upon, even by me, for something that he had no control over. And now I felt sick - not because he was a monster, but because I was.