A Faint Clap of Thunder

A Partly Cloudy Morning

"Naru ka mi no, sukoshi toyomite,

sashi kumori,

ame mo furanu ka,

kimi o todome mu?"

- Yukino Yukari, Garden of Words (Kotonoha no Niwa)

~

Keiko is standing at the top of a cliff over the sea. The sky is full of menacing grey clouds. It's as if the sun has suddenly vanished, leaving the sky dark and colourless.

A single drop of rain falls onto her head.

One more drop-

-and another.

Soon, there is a light drizzle coming down from the sky, creating tiny dark spots on Keiko's thin clothes.

The drizzle slowly builds until great sheets of rain are cascading down onto the girl, plastering her coffee-coloured hair to her head and soaking her to the bone.

Keiko has always liked the rain. She likes watching it and listening to it during a stormy night. But right now, she doesn't like the rain very much.

She really wishes that she could move her legs and get out of this damn storm but she seems to be frozen in place, forced to stand here as icy water pours down from the heavens.

"Pathetic."

Keiko whips her head to her right towards the voice.

A wooden mannequin stands next to her, faceless, unmoving, looking completely dry despite the rain.

"Pathetic," it repeats, yet it has no mouth to speak with.

The mannequin takes a step towards Keiko. Keiko takes a step back, finally able to move. "You're worthless," it says tonelessly.

It continues to take steps forward, and Keiko continues to take steps back. With every step, the mannequin continues to belittle her.

"Useless."

"Hopeless."

"You'll never be enough."

Soon, Keiko can feel the edge of the cliff coming closer and closer.

"How could you ever think I'd love you?"

This voice is familiar. Too familiar. Yet it can't be, it can't be him-

"Kaito?" Keiko whispers as the mannequin raises its stiff arms and shoves her off the cliff.

Now Keiko is falling, and Kaito isn't there to catch her and pull her back up and surely, she's going to smash every single bone on sharp rocks and-

Keiko's chocolate eyes snap open as she wakes up with a sharp breath. She's clutching her pillow tightly like it's a lifeline. Every detail of the dream is painfully clear in her memory.

She takes a few breaths to calm herself down and releases her death grip on her pillow.

Just a dream. Nothing more.

Keiko rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. She lets out a slow exhale and pushes all thoughts of the dream out of her mind.

Of course it was only a dream, Kaito would never-

"Stop," Keiko groans to herself and forces herself to get up. She pushes back the curtain and peers out of the window. Partly cloudy.

Good.

~

"Keiko! Kaito-kun's here,"

"I'm coming!"

Keiko grabs her bag and dashes down the stairs to find her mother talking with Kaito. "Hmm, you look skinner, Kaito-kun. Are you eating properly?" her mother frowns.

"Of course, Hiraoka-san,"

"You should come over for dinner sometime soon. I'm sure Keiko would love to-"

"I would not," Keiko interrupts, slipping on her shoes at the genkan. "I see enough of him every day already."

Her mother just laughs. "Have you got everything this time?"

"Yes, Mum, I'm not six," Keiko huffs slightly. Her mother raises her eyebrows. "Really now? What about last week when-"

"Okay, I'm going now, bye, have a nice day." Keiko interjects loudly before her mother can say anymore. She can hear her mother's chuckling as she shuts the door.

She turns to Kaito, who's wearing one of his patented shit-eating grins. "So, what was that about last week?"

Keiko glares straight into her best friend's mirth-filled, stupid blue eyes and suppresses a scowl.

"Shut up."

_____________________

A/N:

Congratulations for making it this far through my crappy writing :D

This story is inspired by the Garden of Words, but you don't need to watch it to understand (I would definitely recommend checking it out though ^^)

If you're interested, the poem at the beginning means "A faint clap of thunder, clouded skies, perhaps rain will come. If so, will you stay here with me?"

Again, if you're interested, these are the main characters' names (in Japanese, surnames come first!):

Hiraoka Keiko - 平岡 敬子

平岡 (Hiraoka) - peaceful hill

敬 (Kei) - respect

子 (ko) - child

Miyazaki Kaito - 宮崎 海翔

宮崎 (Miyazaki) - shrine cape

海 (Kai) - sea/river

翔 (to) soar/fly

Thanks for reading!