All About Us ~ Abeshiya

Chapter 1

The bright sun of dawn shone over the trees and mountains, lighting grassy terrains and roofs of buildings in the underworld. The sky was painted violet, blending to a lighter purple near the horizon, dotted with pink clouds. The stars were barely visible, only a few were able to be seen by eye. The light hasn't settled on the small house in the woods. It still remained in the dark blue shadows of the morning forest, its' white walls reflecting the color, making them a very light azure.
There was smoke drifting out of the red brick chimney, evaporating into the cold air. There was a little bit of frost laid out on the roof, making the maroon color fade into ice blue. It was the beginning of winter. The snow hasn't fallen yet, but the weather and sky promised it to come any moment now.
Inside the house, it was dark. The only brightness it received was from the windows, letting in blue pools of light, falling onto the dark brown wooden floors. The dust particles that were near the light shone brightly, almost white. The beige walls of the house cast shadows in their corners, making the house darker. There were only two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room connected to the dining room and kitchen.
A woman sat at the wooden table in the dining room. She held coffee in her hand, while the other hand was busy holding a magazine. Her hair was long, the color of a starless night, and she wore a pink sleeping gown and light pastel pink robe over it. Her yellow eyes turned to see the clock, 5:30 a.m. She got up, and headed forward, passing the living room and walking through a short hallway that led to the bedrooms and bathroom. As she walked, the wood creaked under her feet, the only sound that broke the silence. She was met by three doors, two on separate walls, almost parallel to each other, and one which was right in front of her. She put her hand on the knob and twisted it, opening the one that was on her right. The door opened with a creak, and led her to a rather larger room. There was a shelf, mirror, closet built into a wall, two windows, and a twin bed, with someone laying in it. She stepped over to the bed, and lightly shook the person laying in it.
"Itsuki-Chan." She softly spoke. "Itsu. Wake up."
The person slightly opened his amber eyes, which almost glistened in the darkness. He was silent for a moment before groaning a little.
"Wha..?" His raspy voice was almost a whisper.
"We haven't got much time. Come on." She swept the red covers off of the boy's body, revealing his chest exposed to the cold air, and he fought to take them back. A moment later, a dark gray shirt, red sweater and jeans were thrown onto his face. "Put them on." The woman softly said and left the room.
The boy groaned again and lifted himself up to sit on his bed, and quickly threw the shirt over his bare chest and then the sweater. He was still half asleep, and just sat there on the bed for about a minute, doing absolutely nothing, before attempting to stand up so he can put his pants on. He slowly walked over to his closet and looked for some socks to put on. When he finally finished dressing up, he grabbed his pillow from his bed made his way to the bathroom which was the door right in front of his. He turned on the light, and was blinded by it for a few moments, but as he was able to quickly adapt to it, he was able to see his messy blonde hair. He barely combed it, enough to make it look decent, and washed his face with cold water, which completely woke him up. He brushed his teeth, and then headed to the living room, still holding the pillow. His mother sat on the chair at the dining table and when she saw him, she got up, and walked to the sofa where a black suitcase was placed, and gave it to him.
"Are you sure you have everything?" She asked.
"Yeah." He responded.
"Alright...Itsu, I'm going to miss you." She pulled him into a tight embrace.
"I'll miss you to mom." He responded, hugging her back.
"Be brave for me, okay? I know this may be a lot of pressure, but I need you to find out what Sakae is up to. He's a bad person who killed our kind..we can't let him attempt to do something terrible again, this time..with a whole organization." She looked at her son, her eyes clouded with worry.
"I promise I'll find out what he's up to and won't let him kill everyone in the underworld." Itsuki assured her.
"Thank you for doing this for me...If he didn't know who I was nor how I looked like, I would've gone to the mundane world myself instead of sending you off to investigate.." She sadly murmured. "Everyone else would've done it too, but he's seen all our faces except yours..."
"It's okay mother, I'm 16 now, I can handle it." Itsuki tried smiling.
"I know, I know.. I'm going to be so worried about you..make sure you use the Monokean only when you're in an area where no one can see. If someone sees you, word can spread like wildfire, and if Sakae hears it...he'll know who you are and you'll be in danger." She murmured.
"I know..and I know I can't access the underworld as well, just for the sake of safety."
"Yes. Your safety and everyone else's as well." The woman sadly smiled before letting go of her son. "You need to go now. The longer we wait for you to leave, the more people will be awake in the mundane world and have a chance of seeing you exit the Monokean. I'll miss you dearly, but you must go." She said.
Itsuki nodded and summoned the Monokean, slid the little door open, put his stuff inside first before he went in. He looked at his mom once again from the little tea room, and said 'goodbye,' before closing it..and like that, he was gone.
Itsuki turned to the blank scroll and said, "You know where to go."
The bell rang a moment later, indicating that they arrived in the mundane world.
Then, words appeared on the scroll "You know what you're supposed to do, right Itsuki?"
"Yes. I heard Sakae works at some company..it's called 'Yellow Fire," or something like that.."
"Okay..just be careful. Good luck! (◡‿◡)"
"I will, and thanks." The blonde slid the door open and walked out.
He found himself in a dark alley filled with cardboard boxes. It smelled and was terribly filthy. He wrinkled his nose out of disgust. While walking out, he nearly tripped over a box. The door he came out of disappeared out of view. 'Why the hell did she think this was a good secret location to transport to?' He thought to himself.
Suddenly, he heard a metal door open somewhere next to him, and saw a man carrying more boxes. He saw the boy and screamed, "What are you doing here kid? Get out!"
Itsuki widened his eyes in shock from the sight of a human..a real human. A hostile one as well.
"I said get out!" The man repeated, spitting as he spoke.
"I apologize." Itsuki speed walked towards the exit of the alley but broke off into a sprint after he nearly got hit by a box thrown at him. He ran until he found himself on the grey sidewalk of the city, greeted by cars zooming by, people walking in all directions, loud noises and honking, it was something he's never seen before. The buildings were humongous, stretching up far into the sky, making the boy stare in awe. There were unfamiliar things on the walls of some buildings, these big squares that had pictures of people and advertisements..but they were moving.
"What the..." He whispered, taking a few steps back. How was he supposed to know his way around such a huge area! There were so many buildings everywhere, that stretched as far as he could see. Is this what the mundane world looks like? A whole mob of people and weird huge wagons they ride to get to different houses and places? He wouldn't call this mundane, it wasn't plain..but it seemed unsettling to him. Too much humans..and noise. The colors weren't as beautiful as the ones in the underworld, but at least he didn't have to stay here forever. "Just find out what Sakae is up to, stop him, and go back. Simple. Easy." He tried comforting himself. He remembered the address that he saved of the undercover job Sakae worked. It was a regular coffee area, called Mocha Bean. The logo should be a blue mermaid with three tails.

~~~

It's been almost 15 minutes, and he wasn't able to find it..he thought it shouldn't be that hard to find the cafe since it was literally in big words on a tall building..but then again, he didn't know that the whole world was filled with identical tall buildings. He felt so lost and out of place. He sighed out of exhaustion, and walked over to a little park on the other side of the street. There were trees, grass, and a dirt path that made a trail for people to walk on. There were many humans walking their odd looking yokai. They were all small, on four legs, and barked. All the yokai wore leashes, and were controlled by humans where to go. Itsuki felt bad. Humans are terrible. He doesn't want to deal with them but if it means to save the underworld, then he'll go through the pain. As he walked on the path, passing people who sat on benches and others that walked past him, he heard one of the yokai barking. He didn't notice it until he heard the sound getting louder and louder..the demon was getting extremely close to him. He turned his head to see a really white fluffy yokai running towards him. He froze, not knowing what to do. He didn't understand a word it was saying. It was vicious and its' snapping jaw was nearly about to bite him. Out of nowhere, someone ran to the demon and picked it up, holding it in their arms. The furball squirmed in their arms, but the human hushed it.
"Fuzzy! No what are you doing?" Their voice was really loud, they nearly screamed at the top of their lungs..though they didn't have anger or strictness in their tone.
Itsuki's gaze drifted from the yokai to the human holding it. He saw a boy. The same age as him..same height as well. Aqua blue hair matching with his eyes. He wore a white hoodie and blue jeans.
"I-I'm so sorry! He yelled again in panic.
Itsuki was amused at how such a tall human like him can act like a 5 year old.
"It's okay." He replied.
"R-really? Fuzzy seriously doesn't do this. He's pretty crazy for such a little dog." The stranger laughed nervously.
Dog? That's what the yokai is called?
"I've never seen this type of yokai before." Itsuki murmured.
"Yo..kai? What's that?" The boy asked.
The blonde looked at him with a confused look. 'How does he not know what a yokai is? He's literally holding one in his arms-wait...Aoi told me humans can't see yokai unless they're in their human forms... so no wonder he doesn't know!'
"I-I said your..ky." He remembered 'dog' was an animal in the mundane world. He heard the name on the street when he was heading to the park. This must be the 'dog.'
"Yorkie?" The boy questioned.
"Yes-Yeah. I've never seen a white Yorkie." Itsuki saved himself from saying that yokai exist.
"Oh Fuzzy? Haha he's actually a Pomeranian." The stranger continued.
"Oh. I'm not good with..dogs."
Fuzzy tried leaping out of the other boy's arms, and barked furiously.
"He's a vicious one.." Itsuki thought out loud and widened his eyes as he realized he actually said the words. "I mean-"
"Fuzzy wouldn't hurt a fly, trust me." The blue haired boy smiled. "He's barking because he really likes you!"
"Likes...me?"
"You really meant it when you said you aren't good with dogs." He laughed.
Itsuki didn't know how happy and nice a human stranger could be. It sparked his interest in him. Then, a thought popped into his head.
"Do you happen to know where...Mocha Bean is?" He randomly asked.
"Oh! Yeah it's right around the corner over there!" With his free hand, the boy pointed at a corner to the opposite side of the street. "It's the building right behind the one where it says 'Haircuts."
"Ah, thank you!" Itsuki smiled.
"Totally, it's no problem." The stranger's eyes shone.
"Well, I have to go now.." He awkwardly said, attempting on not trying to be too rude.
"Okay, have a nice day!" The blue haired boy enthusiastically replied.
"Thanks-you too." With that being said, Itsuki turned around and headed towards the café.
__________________
Thx for reading. If you like Abeshiya, u can also check out Damaged Goods, also written by me.