The Runaway

Rice Balls and Their Audience

"Give me one more second!"

Ever since last week, the only thing Uno Ishigawa could think about was that boy who had helped her in the market. She would stay up in bed, just replaying the whole situation in her head. He had originally been trying to avoid the thunderstorm just as she was, but offered to help her when he found out she was lost. Even though the redhead was scared, his warm smile and kind nature made her feel safe. Up until now, Uno had thought that all humans were rather nasty; however, that human was far from bad. At least she hoped so.

Uno originally wanted to make him dumplings but they had nothing at home to make them and they looked rather difficult to put together. Although disappointed that she couldn't recreate the dish he had shared with her, she thought that onigiri would be a wonderful substitute. She had watched her mother make them quite often as a child. Her long, orange hair would have been pulled back in an old piece of cloth and she would wear an apron that would protect her clothes from getting dirty. Uno was fond of that memory.

She took a couple handfuls of rice and rolled them into three equal sized balls. The young girl glanced to her left for a brief second while wrapping them in nori and was shocked to see that she had forgotten to put filling inside. Poor Uno had to unwrap them, poke a hole in the rice and stuff salted salmon inside them. The rice didn't form a perfect hole and some of it got stuck to her fingers. What's worse is that now her hands smelt like fish.

When she heard her father make his way to the kitchen, Uno hurriedly packed them into her bag and met her father half way.

"H-Hi Papa!" She stuttered, grabbing her father's hand and pulling him thru the sliding doors and out into the yard "Let's go now! HURRY!"

Her father stared at her dumbfounded. Now, his daughter was always eager to leave the house but never this eager! He could tell by the way she was acting that his daughter was definitely up to something. She didn't talk the whole way into town and her face seemed to have grown a bright shade of pink the closer they got. He sighed and decided that he might as well ask.

"Is there something wrong, my daughter?"

Uno just shook her head and began walking ahead of her family. Her brothers stared at each other in disbelief and turned to their father for answers. Mr. Ishigawa really had no clue about what's happening so he just shrugged at them.

After several hours of looking around, Uno heard a familiar voice barking out orders to a group of men who were dressed similarly to him. Well, she supposed that he wasn't exactly "barking" out orders. He was actually being rather respectful towards them; his friendly nature seemed to make the other men enjoy his accompany. Uno certainly liked his personality. She blushed as she slipped out of her father's view and walked towards him.

Each step felt wobbly as she struggled to grow enough courage to even speak to the boy. A couple men that were older than him noticed Uno approaching and exchanged smiles with each other. She felt nervous walking up to a bunch of humans like this but as long as the boy from last week was there, she told herself that she could do this.

"E-Excuse me?" she murmured quietly, not getting the boy's attention.

Both men she had seen before stood behind him as he jabbered away. They kept looking back at her and making some kind of gesture at him. Uno supposed that the two men must have been trying to direct his attention towards her, but he clearly wasn't getting the hint.

"Excuse me!" she loudly, making him jump. He finally spun around and stared at her in disbelief " uh..sorry."

Immediately, he smiled at Uno. His smile was the brightest, kindest, and the warmest smile she had ever seen. He smiled with all of his teeth and dimples poked out on each side of his face. It was almost unnerving how handsome she thought he was.