Captured By You

2: Two Different Lives

'The gentle sound of rain falling into soft puddles on the ground... It's soothing. It always was to me.

Water gracefully falling everywhere...

The birds taking shelter high in the trees while the flowers beg for more... more refreshment from the heat of the sun.'

(A tiny black ant crawls outward from the center of a hibiscus.)

Kohana's amber eyes glimmered softly as she stared out into the rain, deeply in thought.

The steam from the freshly brewed cup of tea rose in the air from its place on the table in front of her. Dressed in silk pajamas, she sat there in a peaceful trance with a faint smile on her lips.

The atmosphere in the comfortable condominium was still and quiet. Everything was perfectly in its place, elegantly decorated and well kept.

The more Kohana stared out into the rain, the more lost in her thoughts she became.

A little girl dressed in splendor, laughed as her parents swung her in between them, holding her up by the hands.

'Okaasan~! Otousan~! Higher, higher!' She laughed with her parents as they swung her higher and higher.

'Any higher and you'll be flying!' The father added. The little girl's mother smiled brightly and let go as he swooped the little girl into his arms and swung her around, spinning in circles. The mother placed a hand on her lips and giggled at the joy of the two before looking up at the sky as a single raindrop fell on her cheek.

'Oh.. It looks like it might rain.'

Just as she spoke, water began to fall from the clouds in torrents and she called out to her husband and child frantically.

'Hurry! Let's get to shelter~!'

The father took them and hurried them to a tall oak tree. As the little girl was moving her feet beneath her to keep up with her parents, she tripped and fell into a puddle near the mud. Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder shook the heavens as the rain fell harder.

'Otousan~!!' the girl yelled as she looked up with a muddied face and soiled dress. The father immediately turned and looked around at the sound of his daughter's voice.

'Kohana?!?!' he frantically peered through his glasses as the mother dropped to her knees and began to sob. 'Kohana, where are you?!?!'

With confusion etched on her features the little girl reached up and waved her little hand. 'Otousan?!? I'm right here! Otousan~ I'm right here!!' she cried.

'Kohana!!!! Can you hear me?!?!' he yelled in exasperation while still holding on to his wife.

'H-Hai! Otousan, can't you see me?!?! I'm.. I'm right here...' the little girl began to sob as her eyes scanned her weeping mother. 'Why can't they see me???...'

Completely disheartened, her father fell to the ground beside her mother and took a deep breath before crying out once more for his precious daughter.

'KOHANA~!!!!!'

Immediately snapping herself from the daydream, Kohana yelled loudly and smacked the tea cup from off the table and into the wall with a crash. She grabbed a potted orchid and threw it into the ground in sheer frustration. Then she began to step on the broken pieces as if to destroy it further, but only causing damage to herself.

Blood began seeping from the cuts beneath her foot, staining the floor.

"Shimatta.." (Darn it/I've made a mistake.)