Yoru no me,part VIII

 Noroi stood back and sighed in relief. His work there was done,he guessed. He felt slightly at ease but he knew after he had left Sakura,the hardest part would begin for him.
 He picked up his luggage from the living room and started to head outside. Sakura realised it and ran towards him.
-''What's wrong..?'' she asked.'' Where are you going?''
-''Well,i dont seem to belong here,i didnt come with you to take shelter anyway.I made sure that everything will work out and now that it did,i have to go on. I need to start taking care of myself on my own,i would never want to be a burden and i need to get to the bottom of this.My past that is..So i will look for a place to live in,and a school that is low profile for us to get into. When the time is right i will come to get you.Dont worry...You know i can protect myself better than anyone.''
  He looked back at her aunt and nodded a goodbye.She smiled and formed a ''thank you'' with her lips. He turned back to Sakura once more. She had a worrysome and kind of sad look in her eyes. She jumped at him and held him tight. He tensed up at first but then relaxed in her arms.
-''I'll be waiting.'' she told him and slowly let go of him.
 He kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the house.

 He went back to the bus station they had gotten off some hours ago and rode towards downtown again. He had an astray feeling of confusion but he tried to ignore it. And he managed to. With the money he carried he would be able to pull off for a long time and buy his way in and out of almost anything,for that he was reassured. He passed by a neighbourhood that seemed aproppriate for a start. Ghettolike and a bit loud,looked like a place where noone would ask much. It was perfect,he thought. And nobody would suspect a 14 year old of much either. After looking around and asking random older people he was told about a building with empty apartments for rent.
 He walked up to the number he was told and faced a grey,unkept building covered in graffitti and dirt. On the lower stories he could see windows broken and garbage filled corners. He didnt mind it as long as he had the peace he needed. He knocked on the landladys door and waited. After a while an old spinster with a sour expression opened slightly enough to be able to put her head out.

-''Huh?! A brat..What it is?'' she asked suspiciously.
Noroi put his kindest tone and frown on and responded.
-''Excuse me madame for the disturbance..I was told that you are renting empty apartments and i am interested in occupying one if possible.'' At least he had to get along with that woman if he was going to live here,he thought while smiling at her.
-''And you,a child,wanting to live on your own? And who'll be paying me the rent,i dont see any parent behind you and you dont seem to be a working boy in the least!Now get lost!'' she said ironically,almost ready to close the door.
Noroi didnt lose his patience. He pulled a package of bills and handed it to the lady,his hand blocking the door,smiling the whole time.
-''I hope that this will cover my first months,wont it madame?''
 That shut her up.She looked greedy from the beginning,the kind of woman who would die along with her inheritance burried in her arms and nobody to mourn her.
-''But of course Sir,please excuse me for my doubts before.It is 306 for you,on the third floor.If possible wait here until i bring you the contract to sign.''she said satisfied politely as if she'd turned to somebody else.
 Noroi was pleased. The circumstances couldn't have been any more helpful on his behalf.

 Money can do anything after all,he said to himself. He was led up the stairs after signing a scrappy contract,to a small apartment but big enough for one or two people to live in. He was given the key and the lady wished him a pleasant stay.As if.. The walls were dull,painted a fainted lilac barely noticable,at least it was better than grey. There was a medium sized living room along with the kitchen which was placed behind a wooden barrier in the background. There was a bathroom with broken tiles,a regular sized shower blackened in the corners and a crooked mirror above its sink. The bedroom had a wooden floor surprisingly not destroyed and smelled like death. Even more like murder he thought.
 The furniture wasn't as damaged either so he would just have to clean up the place a bit and it would be inhabitable. He sat on the couch,happy that one of his problems was solved for now. He would go downstairs later and ask the landlady for some information on local schools he and Sakura could go to. Even if he had higher goals and more important matters to him,he couldnt be wandering around as a school dropout and he would not allow Sakura to either. He got up,took off his clothes and walked into his familiar smelling bedroom,and then he slowly closed his eyes for the first time there,to have again the only dream he had ever had. But this time,it was different..

                   (to be continued..)

Yoru no me,part VII

  The route was long and the wagon was pretty empty..As Sakura was sleeping next to him he was figuring their next move. They passed by small suburbs while heading towards the big city's downtown. He found everything indifferent.. Some hours later the central station started to show in the distance. He slowly moved away from Sakuras side and woke her up.
 ''Get ready we are almost there.And be prepared..This is going to be a long day.''
 She looked around while yawning and picked up her luggage.They disembarged and found themselves surrounded by alot of people that looked to be in a hurry.Sakura held on tightly to Noroi.
 ''And now what..?'' she asked him worried. He made a sign to her to wait and walked towards the information stand.She saw him talking to the clerk for some time and noticed that he was writting something down.
 ''And now we got ourselves a location!'' he said while pulling her by the hand through the crowd.
  They boarded a bus heading to an area Sakura knew she had heard off. It sounded really familiar generally to her but she was pretty sure she had not ever been there. The bus drove through traffic packed streets before they turned to an abandonded looking area filled with trash,dirt and empty looking buildings.
 ''This is the last stop.'',the driver announced. They stepped off the bus and started looking for the address on the file.After an hour of wandering on the streets they finally found it.
 They stood in front of a decent looking house with a yard,surrounded by a metal fence. The front door was opened so they slowly walked in.
 ''Who's there?!'' they heard a female voice shouting from deep inside the house.It was a two story well kept building.It certainly didnt house poor people. A woman around her mid thirties jumped right in front of them holding a hammer. Sakura stepped back surprised.
 ''I'm sorry madam we didnt mean to startle you,we dont mean any harm..'' Noroi told her with a frank tone. ''If you are Suzu Kareta,could we go somewhere we can talk?'' he asked.
 The woman led them into the living room.She had black hair and blue eyes like Sakura but was dressed pretty randomly despite the good look of her house.The living room was dusty and filled with family pictures and Noroi was sure the lady lived alone for a long time.
''So tell me what are you here to talk about? Because im a not giving any money to no charity any more.'' she said slightly annoyed.
 Sakura stood up and picked a photograph that had drawn her attention from the moment they walked in.
''The woman in the white dress..May i please ask?What is she to you?''she said.
The woman suddenly sgot up from the couch and started yelling.
''What does it have to do with you??Bringing her up like that..She destroyed us that whore...She ruined what was left of my family!!! Get out of my house right away!'' She was clearly upset almost crying but then she kept still.
Noroi had his eyes on her and started speaking.'' I dont want to do something i dont have to,so would you be kind enough to listen to what she has to day and answer?''he said with a soft smile,absolutely calm.
 She sat back on the couch without denyal.
''That's my sister.She left home after my father passed away.It drove my mother crazy.She came by all the time begging for money and we could see what she had become.
My mother was desperate to get her back but she would not listen to anything.She dived deeper and deeper in shit.Everytime she came she looked worse.Then we found out she had started selling her body when we would'nt give her any more money. My mother killed herself not long after that..I started hating my sister for it.I wish she would die too.
And some years after she did..How ironic..And then the social services came by and insisted to talk to me about something but i drove them away.I did not want any relation to her and i didnt want to hear anything about her either.
The damage she had done was never going to be mended anyway..So what about her?After all this time what do you want to know?''she was starting to ease up after telling her story to them and stared right into Sakura's eyes.
 ''She was my mother..And i found out shortly ago that you might be my only living relative..'' Sakura said.
''She has done much harm to me too,if you hate her that makes two of us.I am sorry if i am not wanted here but i just wanted to find out at least who you were.
And thank you for sharing my mother's and your past with me..I am sure i would have never found out about it if it wasnt for you..''
The woman observed Sakura from head to toe,she could see the resemblance clearly now.
  She once again stood up and walked to Sakura's side..She streched her arms,no emotion on her face.
Noroi got up right away,alarmed, ready to stop her if necessary.
        But then,the woman wrapped her hands around her and began to cry..

                              ( to be continued..)