Disclaimer: This is an original story owned by me. Okay, it's not THAT original, but you get the point, right?
Ikimashou!
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"The Rabbit's Game" - by MadPanda
Chapter 1 - "Ask The Squirrel"
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"Kobe City. Next stop, Kobe City." The soft female voice echoed through the near empty train car. "Please be kind to the other passengers when exiting the train, and remember to take your belongings with you. Thank you for riding Japan Rail." The announcement roused the one passenger in the car, a red-haired woman in a rumpled coat. She gathered her large shoulder bag, got to her feet and stood by the doorway, watching as the station approached.
"Twelve years already," she sighed. "After all this time, you'd think I'd be used to this." The train pulled into the station, and the woman stepped off the train. There were few passengers with her, as it was late in the evening. She made her way out of the station, and went straight to the memorial.
There were still quite a few people surrounding the area. Festive Christmas lights were strung on poles and other debris from the site, which was arranged in such an order so that, when seen from above, read "1.17" - the date of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 that killed over 6,400 people. Flowers, cards, plush animals, letters and other mementos were scattered all over the memorial, and the woman added her own piece to the pile. It was a simple white card, with the words "Dear Yume-chan. Please forgive me. Love, Alexa." written in Japanese. She then walked over to a nearby bench, sat, and cried.
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There had been far too many days and nights like this for Alexa. Far too many memorials to visit, far too many cards to leave. She didn't relish the idea of doing this; she just felt it had to be done. She couldn't prevent any of it, no matter how she tried. She couldn't save the millions of people who lost their lives over the nearly 2,400 years of her existence. Yet she felt responsible just the same, and this was her way of atoning for her sins. And it was her way of remembering those she loved and lost along the way.
"Stupid curse," she mumbled to herself, watching the last of the visitors leave the monument. "All of this, and so much more, could've been avoided. All this over something so stupid!" She tried to wrap her mind around the sense of it all, but seeing that she'd fail miserably, Alexa buried her head in her hands and let the tears come.
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"Um . . . excuse me." A gentle voice reached Alexa's ears, and the woman turned to see who the owner was. "Oh, I'm sorry. I did not wish to bother you. Everyone has left. I do not think it is wise to be here alone, especially in your state."
"Alone?" Alexa finally took a good look at the woman. Jet-black hair curled around her youthful face, her eyes full of concern. She was well-dressed against the winter's cold, in a white fur coat with matching gloves and earmuffs. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I usually come to these things when there are few people here. I don't like crowds."
"A very odd habit, miss." The other woman smiled, trying her best to lighten Alexa's dour expression. "Still, it is late, and you should not be here alone. Is there a place you are staying?"
Alexa did smile at that thought. She rarely stayed anywhere, always moving from one disaster to another. "Not really. I was going to go to Peace Park in Nagasaki after I left here."
"You look very tired. Come with me. I'll take you to a hotel, and you can get some rest before your journey." The woman felt compelled to help Alexa. Maybe it was because she saw so much sadness and weariness in Alexa's emerald eyes. Or maybe she was touched by Alexa's compassion . . .. or her odd choice of tourist sites. 'Why would someone want to put themselves through this much grief?' she thought to herself. She offered a hand to Alexa. "Please come with me, miss. I would not want anything to happen to you."
Alexa took the woman's hand and stood up from the bench. "I'm sorry to bother you like this. My name is Alexa. Alexa Melanos." She gave the woman a very grateful bow.
"Misaki Ohta. Please, call me Misaki!" The woman bowed and smiled broadly. "And don't worry . . . I'll take care of the bill."
"Well, if you insist . . ." Alexa watched the cheerful young woman walk to her car. Something about her made Alexa curious, beyond the woman's unusual generosity. As she approached the car Misaki took out a cell phone and checked the hotel for a vacancy. "You don't usually pick up strange women and take them to hotels, do you?" Alexa joked.
Misaki's blush was hard to hide. "Well, no . . .it's just that, well, you look like you can use the rest. And while you might be strange, you're not scary or anything.. No offense meant."
"None taken," Alexa replied. "And you're right, it's been two days since I've slept. Thank you very much." She bowed to the woman.
"You're welcome!" Misaki opened the passenger side door for Alexa. "Shall we be going?" She watched Alexa take her shoulder bag and toss it into the rear seats of the small car, then the two entered the car and began to drive to the hotel.
'Ohta-san, do you live around here?"
"Please, call me Misaki!" the car's driver interrupted. "And yes, I live just outside of town. I was visiting a friend of mine when I crossed your path."
"A boyfriend?" Alexa pried, raising a blush from Misaki.
"No! It's not like that!" Misaki shook her hands in defense, then realized she needed them on the wheel to drive. "He was a friend of my sister's. I saw him off on his trip home."
"Oh, I see. Sorry to get you all flustered like that, Misaki-san." The passing lights were starting to become hypnotic to Alexa's eyes.
"Listen, Alexa-san. Instead of a hotel, why don't you stay with me? I've got room and it would be nice to have company, if even for the night."
Alexa's head was filling with sleep, and the prospect of signing into a hotel didn't sound restful at all. She murmured a low "okay" and drifted off to sleep.
"Good. I'll wake you when we arrive." Misaki turned on the car's radio and tuned it to a soft music station. She hummed along as she drove down the highway.
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Alexa had seen this dream many times. So much so that she sat on her accustomed bench and waited for her guest to arrive. He never appeared in the same form twice, but she always knew it was him by his sarcastic manner. Sometimes Alexa enjoyed his company; other times she feared it. Even so, it was a ritual. Every night without fail. Even if she had other dreams, or if she dozed off during the day, the appointment was always kept. After not having slept in two days, she knew this would be one heck of a visit.
She sat on a bench in a flower-filled park and waited. The sound of a carousel could be heard in the distance, along with some chirping birds. Just as Alexa was close to figuring out what song the carousel played, she spotted a very annoyed-looking rabbit hopping towards her. "If you say one word about me being late, I'll change into something carnivorous, I swear!"
"Sorry, I've been busy." Alexa bent down to pick up the rabbit, but it jumped on the bench on its own and scowled at her. "Hey, I was only trying to help!"
"I can do it myself, thank you very much!", the rabbit sneered. "Anyway. I see you're in Kobe again. Did you say hello to Yu--"
"Shut up!" Alexa shouted. "You don't get to say her name, understand?"
"Well, I did warn you, and you could've done something about . . . oh right, I forgot about the curse!" The rabbit licked its paws and proceeded to clean its ears. "Messy business, that."
"I'll never give in to you!! Stop tormenting me and end this curse already!" Alexa restrained herself from snapping the uppity bunny's neck, preferring instead to get to the point. "So, what is it this time?"
The rabbit stopped its grooming and sat up on its haunches. "For once, I have good news for you! Since you won't profess your undying love for me . . ."
Alexa gagged at the very thought. "Do the words 'snowball's chance in Hades' mean anything to you?"
"Your loss," the rabbit said, turning its nose up at the redhead. "There is another way of removing the curse, but I've made a game of it. I do so love games!"
"Really? And it doesn't involve sleeping with you at all?" Alexa's annoyance was quickly forgotten. "So, how do I play?"
"It's very simple, really. In fact, you've already started! All you have to do is find a certain person and fall in love with that person. Simple as that."
"But I've fallen in love many times. Why now?"
"You see," the rabbit said with a professorial tone. "You won't fall in love with me, and you will never do so. But you may fall in love with one of my descendants. You haven't yet, but you can. Oddly enough, one just happens to live in Kobe. Find that person, fall in love, and you'll fall in love with me by association. I'll be happy with that, and you can live a normal life again." The rabbit put a paw to its chin. "You can even grow old and die if you want, though I don't know why anyone would want to choose that!"
"Live my life and say that, stupid varmint!" Alexa spat, tiring of watching the world pass her by and her lovers along with it. "I'm sure there's a catch to it, right?"
"But of course!" the rabbit exclaimed happily! "Otherwise, what fun would it be for me?" It hopped closer to Alexa. "I came to you in this form for a reason. You have seven months to find your lover. If you don't do so in that time, I'll kill the object of your desire, and you'll be stuck wandering the earth as you have been, having me haunt you with visions of disasters that no one will understand if you told them."
"Thanks for making it so easy," Alexa smirked. "So, what, when the time comes you'll come hopping along and kill this person with your bare...paws?"
"Don't mock me, girl!", the rabbit warned. "You'll know when the threat approaches, as you always do. Just win the game before then, and you won't have a problem."
"Whatever. So, who's the lucky guy?"
"Ask the squirrel." The rabbit pointed to a neighboring bench, where said squirrel was unsuccessfully trying to gather a bunch of nuts together. Alexa got up and went over to help the squirrel. "Watch out, he bites!"
"Yeah, but at least he's not--deranged." Alexa turned to snap at the rabbit, but her last word reached only the empty bench she left behind. She turned to the task at hand. "So, Mr. Squirrel, who's my Prince Charming, huh?"
The squirrel stopped its scurrying to give Alexa the once-over, then ran over to its pile of nuts. It selected one above the others and brought it to Alexa.
"A walnut? What does this mean?" Alexa watched as the squirrel bowed to her and went back to its chore. "Um . . . thank you. I think."
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"We're here!" Misaki stopped the car and turned off the radio. Alexa groggily lifted her head to see a medium-sized house built next to a small lake. "Don't forget your bag," Misaki called as she entered the house. Alexa reached over and pulled the bag out, throwing it over her shoulder and closing the car door. She put her hands in her pocket and felt something round and hard in one.
"A walnut!" She was shocked to see it in her hand. "Now that's never happened before." She looked at Misaki who waited for her at the threshold, and then back at the walnut. "Doesn't make any sense." She stuffed the nut back in her pocket and headed towards the house. As she got to the door, she read the two nameplates that hung there; "Ohta Misaki, Ohta Kurumi".
Her eyes widened and she grinned, remembering the Japanese word for 'walnut' - 'kurumi'.
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End of Chapter 1