Love's Not Void

Chapter 5:

Rai looked over at her reflexively, his one eye studying her face. Eventually, he turned away and stepped forth.

She followed timidly, and watched as Rai tried to open the door.

It wouldn't budge.

With her foot, she moved the welcome matt. There stood the rusted spare key.

Kitty used it to open the front porch, and was the first to enter.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lane? I'm home!"

A gust of wind blew in her face as she entered the living room. The room was in perfect condition, if it wasn't for the scattered papers and prescription bottles.

She gently lifted a bottle, and read the label. It was for depression. A few pills were still left, but they were probably outdated.

"My Foster sister must have missed me in my absence."

She tossed the bottle across the room out of anger, breaking a picture.

She then turned to the kitchen, where the fridge was left wide open. The inside was completely raided, and doodles were still on the fridge itself.

Kitty poked and pried for a weak spot in the tile, soon finding it. She lifted the brick to reveal her secret stash of Military Meals. There were only two, but it was good enough for her. These things last forever...quite literately. The only thing that would be bad to eat is meat or anything milk related.

Setting these packages on the counter, she went upstairs. Rai followed her, looking at pictures of her Foster Family on the staircase wall.

When reaching the top of the incline, she opened her bedroom door.

Everything of hers was in glass display cases. Her anime collection was in the far left corner, the book-shelf covered from head-to-toe. Her bed-sheets and pillows were in the case beside it, and her clothes were hung up in a see-through portable closet.

The furniture remained where she last left it, though all of it was rotted or covered in dust.

"Is this where you slept?"

"Yeah, I spent most of my life in this room."

She went over to her lap-top, which was covered in cob-webs, and opened it. She tried to turn it on, but failed. The lights wouldn't even turn on.

Bummer.

"Is this another musical device?"

The girl shook her head no.

"It's not only a musical device, but I kept stories and personal things on here. I even had pictures of my real parents."

The last part was blurted out, but she didn't care at this point.

Letting out a sigh, she turned to face Rai with her usual smile.

"You can sleep in the guest bedroom, assuming a mattress is still in there!"

He didn't buy the sudden mood swing, but gave a nod.

She showed him to said bedroom, and was relieved to see the untouched mattress in one piece.

"You should stay in here with me tonight. It's dangerous to be in separate rooms."

Kitty solemnly glared at the floor.

She wasn't mad or anything. A thought crossed her mind.

If this is really her house, then she was in the future. We're not talking years in the future either. We're talking centuries; nearly 2 thousand years.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She met Rai's eye, and stared at his blank expression for a bit.

"No. I'm fine."

He began to unarm himself, though he never left the weapons too far away from his body. As a matter of fact, his shorter sword remained beside him.

As he began to wind down, Kimberly tried to set up a Guided Leaf. It wasn't too hard. All she had to do was lay the leaf in a bowl of water.

Glancing over at her friend, she noticed that he was grooming himself.

Oh...my...God. That was adorable! Imagine a big tough kitty-witty-cat grooming his fur. It was a precious sight.

"You're not going to groom yourself?" He gave her a side-glance.

"Huma- I mean, Two Canes, don't do that. We comb our hair with..." she pulled a small comb from her pants pocket, "this."

He looked at it for a while, until turning his attention back to his ears.

"Do you want me to brush your hair?"

Rai stopped again, but this time didn't bother looking at her.

"Does it help any?"

"With all that hair you have, yeah. It will help- a lot."

He gave a nod, but didn't walk over to her. Oh, no! She had to walk over to him.

Arrogance...

She started at the ends of his hair, slowly working her way up. Occasionally, she'd catch Rai looking at what she was doing, but he never seemed too concerned.

When done with the right side of his head, she sat on the opposite side of him. Then, she began to work on the neglected side of his hair.

Other than a few tangles and knots, his hair wasn't too bad. He had some split-ends, but that was only practical.

"Done."

She stood up and walked to the other side of the room, where she made a small camp. She was using the covers from her room, and her favorite pillow. Both didn't smell the best, but it was either this or sleep like a Neanderthal.

On her side, she let out a content sigh. Across the way, she could hear the faint sound of purring.

Rai seemed to be quite happy with the result of his hair. He was smoothing it down and running his fingers through it, a faint grin on his face.

You're welcome...