Cursed (On hold)

Reminiscence

Hiboku

'Isunaryi. Morishige Isunaryi. .... I only asked for your name baka. I'm pretty sure its common courtesy to ask for a person's name once you have given yours.' Both her name and her last words to me rang in my mind. I smiled at the last bit as she finally stopped apologizing and began to be herself. 'Wait why am I even thinking of the girl? I'm already cursed to be eternally solitary, I can't put anyone else through that just to satisfy my desires.' Sighing to myself I walked back to my cloud-viewing spot located at the peak of the mountain and began to stare at them hoping that they would dissolve all of my heartache. Before I knew it my mind had begun to entrap me into the past.

(The past)
"Hiboku! Come play with us!" shouted some of my fellow playmates as I just sat inside the shrine isolated from them. "I can't today! Sensei says that my body still isn't well enough!" I yelled back gloomily, cursing my weak body. "Eh? But you've been saying that all week!" They whined. Shrugging, I made no attempt to move and just sat there hoping that they would just leave me to sulk alone, however that failed as soon as they crowded near me. "Well if you can't move to play with us then we'll move to play with you!" they grinned wanting my company. Grateful for their stuborness I accepted their invitation and decided to play with them.

Only a few minutes had passed and my body was already acting up from just tossing a ball around. 'Please don't start this now. Please.' I begged not wanting to get my playmates into trouble. However, my body refused to obey me. "Ack." I grunted as I dropped to the floor clutching my sides. "Hiboku!!" Genta proclaimed as he dropped the ball and immediately rushed to aid me. "Guys go get Sensei! I'll deal with Hiboku!" The others in a panic hurriedly nodded their heads and run into the shrine. Meanwhile Genta stood at my side apologizing, "I'm so sorry Hiboku. We should've stopped when you said that you couldn't play."

"It's not your ack" I began to reply only to receive another wave of heart wrenching pain throughout my entire body.

Not knowing what to do Genta just sat by my side and began to rub my back hoping that it would comfort me. "I'm sorry."

As we waited for the others to arrive with Sensei the pain began to grow worse and I had to clench my jaw forcefully swallowing the screams of pain that wanted to escape. Genta widened his eyes in surprise but said nothing and continued to rub my back. Fortunately, the others arrived with Sensei.

"Sensei he's over here!" Genta yelled attracting Sensei's attention. Sensei immediately rushed to my side. "Aya, Hiboku why don't you ever listen to Sensei, huh? I told you that your body is still too weak." He berated as he attended to solving my pains. "It is not his fault Sensei. It is ours. We wanted to play with him even though he told us that he couldn't." Genta and the others quickly responded not wanting Sensei to further admonish me. "You all should've listened to him then. He is very sick and any form of physical exertion can make his illness act. I understand that you all meant well but this is the exact reason why you all should think before acting." Sensei sighed. "Hiboku I need you to open your mouth else I cannot give you this medicine." Opening my clenched jaw slowly, I managed to not helplessly scream out in pain.

"This will taste much more bitter than the other medicine." Sensei warned before shoving the herb, he used to soothe the aches my disease caused, down my throat. He then proceeded to pinch my nose and hold a hand over my mouth making sure that I wouldn't by any means spit it out. Having no other option than to swallow it, I gulped it down.

Unpinching my nose so that I could breathe, Sensei still held a hand over my mouth and gently picked me up with his other hand until I was in a sort of sitting position. "Let's get you inside before the convulsions start." he whispered so that none of my friends could hear. I nodded my head grateful that he was willing to go through such lengths for someone who had no relations with. "Okay everyone. Thank you for guiding me towards him. Please be very careful next time alright?" He raised his voice making sure to drive the words into their minds.