Barriers (A World Trigger fanfiction)

Echo

It was a chilly day, and the wind rushed through everything in a casual, never ending race. Kikuchihara cast his ears as far as they would go, but as all the sounds of the city overcame him, he didn't hear the one person he wanted to hear the most.

Kikuchihara didn't want to think to hard about what exactly he was doing, he didn't want to think at all. That would ruin the whole thing. There was the resounding noise of countless footsteps, by couples and lenders alike, the creaking of opening a news box, for somebody to grab the daily paper. There were the flashing of street lights changing color, and the city was alive with chatter and the opening of rusty shop doors.

Everybody would always ask him what it was like to have this kind of a side effect... but Kikuchihara, thought he never did, was always wondering what it would be like to NOT have it. Would he not be able to hear the echoes coming from the bustle? Would he not hear the police sirens from 2 miles South? Would he be deaf to the falling pots and pans from 3 blocks behind him? Who knows? He couldn't imagine NOT being able to hear it, so maybe the others might be able too as well.

He walked down a few more blocks slowly, his sweater doing very little to block out the cold rush of wind that bluntly hit him head on. The city was loud, and bustling Kikuchihara noted as the noise radiated through his head. It was a big city, and there was little hope in finding who he was looking for, had he not been told a lead, but as he emptied his mind of thoughts, and let the sound fill him instead, he wasn't thinking too hard about it.

Being able to hear such things was a gift as much as it was a curse. His ears had grown accustomed to hearing everything so loudly, so that wasn't any issue. However, if you hear more, you hear it all. You hear people fighting in the alleyways, and you hear managers screaming and swearing at new employees. He could hear friends arguing, and sometimes, if he passed through neighborhood a few other not so great things from inside the homes. Family arguments, wife beaters, and then, of course, at night... other things, that were less awful, and more unsettling. And distasteful. But here in the city, right now, it was just an overload... which, he'll admit, for him, wasn't much better. He did know better than to turn up his hearing all the way, but he was getting a little desperate.

He still didn't hear Kazama.

Finally, that realization broke his reality. He WAS looking for him. Not in a weird stalker-ish way... just...

He really wanted to see him.

"What am I doing?"

'It's not like I'm jealous... I just wanted to make sure he's okay.... That's all...

...

That's all...

It was a lie, and he knew that well. He did want to see him, but he really wished that Kazama was anywhere else... preferably somewhere where Kikuchihara could see him... just to have him there... just to complain to him for a little while about the things that he didn't really care about. 'No amount of wishful deniability is going to change the facts...' Kikuchihara scowled, before kicking a pebble that had rest on the sidewalk as hard as he could, as he listened to it skip across the pavement.

It really was hopeless. Kikuchihara was about to spit, or swear, but some kids were running past him, and Kikuchihara decided he had the decency not to do so. He resumed walking. He let himself to listen to the wind, and hear a little rain in the distance... well, not really the distance, but a few blocks behind him... and he really only heard the crowds commenting on it, and grumbling. He walked to the next crosswalk, ending the dreary, common-day city block there, and contained his hearing. The city noises faded out. He tried to pull a 180° and block out the world as he finally gave up.

"I'm hopeless..."

Suddenly, without honing in all on the happy laughter, and teasing jokes between comrades. the world seemed rather sad and dark. Cold, too. He supposed though... that was his own fault.