No Need for Japan:Part 5, The Dreamer Wakes

by Raven Makibi

(As usual, Pioneer doesn't own my characters and I don't own theirs. That
doesn't stop me from using them, but if I don't give them credit I could end
up with a lawsuit I can't afford to pay on the $5.55 an hour my job pays.)

As Kiyone tumbled in her covers, her overfilled stomach cramping up, she
dreamed. And the dream scared her more than anything ever had before........

......She awoke on a sunny morning a quick look at the clock showed the
numbers "8:08" glowing red. It seemed to be a nice enough day but something
wasn't right. Something was missing, the air seemed dead and the house was
silent. "Maybe they don't get up this early.", she thought as she slipped
out
of bed. But her mind told her that must be wrong, because Kitty wasn't in
bed. "Well, I guess I'll find out whats up sooner or later.", ran through
her
mind.

She got dressed in peace, without hearing any of the usual music or banging
around. Taking her time, she lovingly brushed her hair, something she hadn't
done since she got there. It seemed to take hours to get ready to face the
day, but when she looked at the clock again it still said "8:08". That was a
bit odd, but she guessed that maybe the power had gone out and the clock had
stopped at that time.

She walked out into the hall, she got the shock of her life.

Death, death everywhere. Everyone she saw, dead. Shot, stabbed, mutilated,
all dead. She looked around in everyroom, and they were all dead by some
atrocity. Sasami had been choked with a salt shaker, and left to fry face
first in the pan of food on the stove, she'd been working on an instant
before.

6 Gauge's room door was wide open, she peeked in, and saw he'd been beaten
with his own bass. That lovely clear blue, four string he'd been so proud
of.
And it was used to kill him. The strings were missing but she found them
when
she found Kitty, something bad had happened to her. She wasn't sure what,
and
didn't care to know. But those strings had been used to restrain her.

It was the same throughout the house. Even Patrik, 8:08's best friend, had
been killed. His face painted like a clown, and brushes shoved into his
eyes.
She knew it was 8:08, because thats what all the clocks said. "He must have
set it up like this. That way this eternal minute would be remembered
forever.", she thought. She heard a shotgun blast and goat tumbled down
stairs. Atleast his head did.

She ran up and into Wolf's room. And there stood 8:08 with a shotgun. "You,
you always made fun of me...Always made me look like an ass and having
everyone laugh at me...Well, who's laughing now?", he growled at Wolf.
"No!!!!", Kiyone yelled running into the room. The last thing she
remembered,
was the shotgun going off and the burning pain in ther gut as she sank to
the
ground....

......She awoke with a screaming start. She was drenched in her own sweat,
the t-shirt she'd worn to bed was stuck to her body, perfectly fitting her
curves. She looked at the clock "8:06" it read, she still had time. She
dashed out the door to her room, down the hall and up the stairs. As she
skidded through the front room she coud see Raven's band, minus Raven,
sitting around on the stage woking on their equipment.

She payed them no mind, but still slipped and fell over when she tried to
turn to fast.As she ran up the stairs, she heard catcalls, inviting her to
show her underwear again, which she guessed she had when she slipped. But
there was no time for embarasment. She wanted to make sure that Wolf wasn't
killed. No one else had been, but she guessed Wolf and Goat would be if
anyone was.

She looked at the hall clock, "8:07", she still had time. As she finished
her
way up the third staircse to Wolf's room, she saw nothing there. She was
about to turn around and disregard the dream,  but then she heard the
screams
from inside the room, as well as a series of air-powered shots then two
heavy
thuds.

8:08, opened Wolf's door and strode into the hall. He carried a gun in his
hands and had a big smirk on his face. "You murderer!!!", she screamed as
she
flew at him in rage. As he saw her, he raised the gun and fired. She felt
pain in her right shoulder, and gripped it with her left hand. She drew the
hand back and looked at it, to see just how much blood might be comming out.
She looked and her face grew puzzed.

The spot on her hand was blue, not red, but blue. She knew that her blood
was
red, but why was this blue. She sniffed it, it smelled of paint. Is that
what
he'd shot her with? Paint? But how?

As she pondered this, 8:08 stepped up to her and placed his hand on her
shoulder. She jumped in suprise, but didn't back away. "Are you ok?", he
said. His voice soft, kind, and full of concern that he might have hurt her.
"Yea, but what was that you shot me with?", she asked pointing out the blue
stain on her shirt as she stood up. "Paintball, used a whole bunch on those
two. Guess they blacked out from the pain. Not suprised, used about 100
shots
on each of 'em. Don't you just love full auto fire?" She laughed, "The
amazing 8:08 gets his revenge. And no one was killed.", he gave her a look
as
if to say "huh?". She gave a sigh and said "Nevermind, it would take too
long
to explain.", she smiled at him as she brushed a erant peice of hair out of
her face.

She walked back downstairs, completely calm and cool in her demeanor. She
went back to her room, and got dressed, too awake to go to sleep. Besides,
she could smell Sasami cooking breakfast, and it was a welcomed scent. It
made her feel warm all over to know that her dream hadn't come true, and
that
these we're actualy good people. She stepped out of her room about an hour
later, and yes, the clock had changed, it read "9:12".

She was glad to somewhat get back to the life she had lived in Japan. Not
when she was in the appartment, but on those occasions she'd stayed with the
Misaki's. When the togetherness was so strong you could smell it. When she
felt like she did now. She wandered into the kitchen, and found Sasami and
Kris working together on breakfast. Sasami was doing the majority of the
work, but it was great to see the two groups finaly mixxing.

She asked Sasami when breakfast would be ready, and to her delight Sasami
had
some food already made. Kiyone guessed she'd have to have some ready made
with the twenty plus kids living here. The dish was a bit different from
normal, but it was good for what it was. American food, Sasami's first
attempt. Oatmeal, and eggs a heartier breakfast than yesteday, and it tasted
as good as it had smelled. She got a cup of coffee from Kris and headed into
the TV room.

After making it through the suprisingly empty front hall, she pushed the
curtain aside. She saw Ayeka and Melissa laughing and talking like old
friends in the back of the room, sitting at their own private table. On the
couch, Ryoko and Kim watched TV and made jokes about the clothes the people
were wearing in the 1980's film that was on. Kiyone sat in the chair that
she'd occupied the previous night, and was soon drawn into the conversation
and laughing truly enjoying herself.

After she'd finished with her breakfast she took her dishes back to the
kitchen, the front hall still empty. As she entered the kitchen she could
see
Patrik, Tenchi, and 8:08 sitting around the table drinking coffee and
talking
about 8:08's triumph over Mike's reign of terror in his life. As she entered
he looked up and pointed her out, the guys looked at her and tried to get
her
to talk about the dream she mentioned, but she just couldn't, it would bring
her out of the emotional high she was riding.

It was about this time that Kitty entered the kitchen, still rubbing the
sleep out of her eyes and stretching. The guys invited her to sit down, and
Kiyone decided to go see what else was going on. She met 6 Guage in the
hall,
he was jokingly punching Royal in the arm. As he saw Kiyone, he ran at her
and threw his arm around her neck in an over enthusiastic hug. She hugged
him
too, glad that he was alive and not slaughtered. As they let go, he tried to
drag her back to the kitchen, but she wouldn't go. She wanted to see the
rest
of her new friends first.

As she walked thru the front hall again, she noticed the band was back at it
again. They looked at her and began to chant "panties" over and over again.
She chuckled as she toyed with the notion of dropping her shorts to her
knees
and giving them what they wanted. But there was no time for such sillyness.
"Maybe later.." she giggled as she walked to the stairs.

It took her till almost eleven, but she managed to see everyone. She was
glad
she'd eaten first, because by that time Sasami had stopped cooking and went
on enjoying a few free hours before dinner cooking comenced. But she was
concerned, with all that had gone on that morning, she hadn't seen Washu.
Mihoshi or Raven.

Mihoshi, she knew, was a heavy sleeper. And Washu might not have woken her,
then again Washu was missing as well so they might both still be in bed.
Raven was probobly following their lead, lazy kid.

She went to Washu and Mihoshi's room, and knocked on the door. Washu opened
the door and looked at Kiyone. She was well rested, and had more than likely
been awake since ten. Cass was in the room with her and they we're sitting
around listening to one of Cass's "Marilyn Manson" CD's. Kiyone had heard
this stuff before and enjoyed it, but she prefered something a little more
"upbeat" in mood herself. "No Doubt", and "Green Day" fell in this category
and were amongst her favorites.

Well it turned out that neither of the girls had seen Mihoshi all morning,
or
Raven for that matter. Kiyone decided to go up to Raven's room and have him
help her search for the missing blonde. She knocked on his door, no answear.
She tested it to see it if was locked, and it was. Fortunatly she'd mastered
lockpicking back in her training days. She opened the door, and walked up
another set of stairs to Raven's room.

The walls by the stairs were covered with picture of bands, like "KoRn",
"ORGY", "coal chamber", and the "Insane Clown Posse". The looks of the last
group scared her a bit, but it was Raven's room so who was she to judge his
taste in decorations?

Further up, she saw more pictures, as well as posters of his favorite groups
and movies. And the cealing, it was amazing. Completely covered in a
beautiful, yet dark, painting. It spanned the whole room, and was absolutely
breathtaking in scale and tecnique.

Their was another TV up here, as well as a large colection of movies and
CDs.
The latter stood in a rack next to an impressive sound system. A computer
sat
to the left of this, the whole desk clutterd with all sorts of "add-ons",
including a VCR and small TV.

At last she reached Raven's bed. It was positioned in the far corner of the
room. It looked older than the rest of the furnature, but again it was
Raven's room. The covers were thick and gray, not with age, just the print.
She could see his pale foot sticking out by the foot of the bed.

She suddenly got the idea to throw the covers off him to wake him up, that
was a hell of a way to start the day and she figured he needed a start like
that. She grabbed the blanket up by his head, and threw back the covers. She
gulped heavely at what she saw in that bed and backed away.

There in the bed, lay her twin brother, shirtless and pale. Looking
completely helpless and inocent. And next to him, with her tanned arms
hugging him from behind, with a dreaming smile lay Mihoshi. She had him
cradeled in her arms in front of her like a sheild ,or teddy bear, and
pressed as close as her could manage. Kiyone guessed the only reason they
didn't wake is because they were keeping eachother warm.Ordinarily, the cold
would have snapped either awake momentarily, but body heat prevented their
rise from slumber.

Kiyone silently backed out of the room. She shut the door, and then bolted
down the stairs sobbing as tears ran down her cheeks. As she ran down the
stairs to the 2nd level she knocked Patrik into a wall, her tried to get her
to stop, but she was too broken up by what she had seen. She ran to the
basement door and threw it open, then bolted into 8:08's workshop. Death to
tresspassers or not, she didn't care. She just needed to escape and block
it,
them, all out.

She found a place in the dark behind some boxes, she sat down on a low box
and began to cry bitter tears.
It couldn't be true, it wasn't true, IT WASN'T!!!!

 No, there was no way that Raven and the bubblehead were together. She
hadn't
seen them in that bed. It was all a bad dream. It wasn't real. Her brother,
and her partner, her BEST FRIEND.....

She didn't like to admit it, but it was true. Mihoshi, dumb as she was, was
Kiyone's best, and sometimes only friend in the universe. After Raven had
"died", Mihoshi had been there for Kiyone. A shoulder to cry on, and a
friend
to listen. Kiyone knew Mihoshi didn't know her brother that well at the time
of the crash, but she'd realy helped Kiyone through all the suffering. And
even offered encouragment that he might still be alive on Earth. Even
thought
Kiyone knew Mihoshi didn't honestly think he had survived, it was nice to
hear. And Kiyone had gone right on hoping, wishing, and praying it up till
the day they were re-united. And now......

And her brother, he'd been her best friend before Mihoshi met either of
them.
They had a link of sorts, and used to be able to partialy read eachothers
minds. They found that they could send private messages across classes that
not a soul but them heard. And she'd known, that when Raven and Mihoshi had
met a week before his dissapearance, that there was something between them.
Or, their would be someday. She'd sensed it, and it had come true. But she
still didn't want to believe it. The two people she most cared for, and they
were involved in an intamite relationship....

She continued to cry, until she felt a re-assuring hand on her shoulder. She
looked up, and saw 8:08's concerned eyes staring into hers. "You want to
talk
about it?", he asked. She gave no reply but instead hugged him close, and
went right on sobbing. He put an arm around her and kept it there. In that
moment, she saw him for who he realy was. He wasn't a recluse. Nor was he a
psycopath, bent on revenge. Or even another friend. He really cared. He
could, or atleast wanted to understand her.

She lossened up on the guy after five minutes or so. He sat down on the
floor, and listened to her frustrations. He nodded, and actualy seemed to
get
a little sad himself.  As she continued to sob, he held her hand gently. It
gave her something concrete to cling to, so as she didn't get overtaken by
emotions and lose touch with reality.

It seemed like she'd been down there hours, she'd stoped crying, accept for
a
random hitch in her chest when she talked on certain things. But he was
there
for her, and she was feeling better. She heard some footsteps and then her
brothers voice "Eight? Kiyo? you down here?", 8:08 looked into her eyes to
see if she was ready to confront him. She nodded and 8:08 called back "We're
over here.", soon Raven and Mihoshi stepped into their area. They both
looked
solemn, and were unusualy quiet.

It took a while, and alot of explaining but things were brought to light.
Twords the end Mihoshi asked, "So are you still mad at us? We know you've
been hurt by our relationship, but please understand we're truly in love.",
Kiyone replied with a smile. "Now that you mention it, I'm not that mad
anymore. I just wished you guys would've told me.","Sorry, but we just hoped
to keep it to oursleves. Guess we we're pretty dumb." Raven said sheepishly.
"I'll admit that was sneaky, but you're forgiven. Besides, you make a cute
couple.", Kiyone said as she gave Raven a hug. "But I'm gonna hurt you, if
she comes to me crying that you've hurt her. Remember, she may be your
girlfriend, but she's still my best friend.", she said as she released Raven
and put her arm around Mihoshi.

The group soon started for the stairs, and dinner. All that crying had realy
taken a toll on Kiyone. As they walked for the stairs she stopped and
grabbed
8:08 and pulled him aside. "I want to thank you for all you've done. You're
a
really great guy..", she said as she planted a kiss on his forehead and
walked away. The remander of the night, they were inseprable....

(Well, thats all for now. Pretty interesting how 8:08 went from being
dangerous, to a possible boyfriend huh? Well, we'll continue in the next
story, "No Need for Japan":Part 6, The Semester Begins.)