Dreams And Proclamations 1/?
Title: Dreams And Proclamations
Author:
joatex
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
Warning: I'm not sure yet.....(-_-U)
Disclaimer: No.... the boys aren't mine, sad.... but true (T^T)
Summary: It's been years after a nuclear war broke out, and a group of survivors created a small city. One, in which, Kazuya lives in. But when he runs across an Outcast in the Wastelands, there is a change brewing in the winds.
A/N: Enjoy (n_n)
A million thanks to harajukyuu for the awesome banner (n_n)
Kame POV: Pink
Jin POV: Red
Chapter 1: The Fence and Its Rules
Kame
The bed springs in my old mattress groaned when I sat up after my night's rest. As I looked out of the window, I sighed. It was just another day in the city; gray skies, smoke rising out in the distance, and dead trees everywhere. "Kazuya? Are you awake yet?" asked Reiko from, most likely, the kitchen.
"Yes. I'll be there in a minute," I replied back to her. I walked across my old, dust-ridden room, and over to a wood chest that rested on the floor. Dust had already accumulated on the top. I pulled up on the rusted metal handle, and stared down at my clothes. On the top, was one of my favorite shirts and jeans, and they shown from the wear and tear from their use.
Not feeling up to digging around in the chest for something else to wear, I took the shirt and jeans out and tossed them on my bed. The ends the jeans and shirt were tattered, and they desperately needed to be fixed by the local tailor before they fell apart. There wasn't anything fancy about these close; it was just a plain blue shirt and normal jeans. I slipped out of my nightclothes, and into the clothes.
I then reached under my bed and pulled out my shoes, then put them on. This was everyday attire for me, and almost everyone else in the city. I walked over to the other side of my room, and looked in the large shard of glass that was my mirror.
The jagged edges would easily cut me if I touched them, so I stayed a safe distance away from them. I fixed my hair to where it looked decent, then left my room. The walk from my room to the kitchen wasn't a long one at all. It was pretty much right next to it.
Sure enough, Reiko was sitting at our small, round wood table. A warm cup of coffee sat next to her. I pulled out one of the wobbly chairs, and sat down across from her. She smiled and said, "I see you finally decided to get up." I rolled my eyes and said back to her, "I've been up for a while, Reiko. I was just getting dressed."
She chuckled. "I know, Kazuya. Do you have any plans for today?" I blinked, and shook my head. "No. Why? Do you need something done?" Reiko was getting up in her years, and it was difficult for her to get around town and run everyday errands. So, I did them for her.
It saved her a lot of trouble, and gave me a reason to get out of our house. It wasn't like I didn't like her house, since it was the place that I pretty much grew up in since Reiko took me in. It was just that it was so old and small. Then again, all the homes in the city were like this; old roofs practically caving in on themselves, breaks in the windows, and holes in the floors.
They certainly weren't designed for vermin to live in, much less humans. But what more could we ask for? Even the homes that belonged to the city's wealthiest weren't much better than the ones that belonged to us. Reiko's shaky hands pulled out a stained piece of paper.
She handed it to me and said, "It's just a few things that I need picked up and done." I took the paper and scanned the list. There wasn't anything that was out of my way; mainly just grocery runs and a few stops along the way. "This shouldn't be any trouble to do."
She smiled at me and said, "Thank you, dear." She pointed over to a small jar that was resting on our old counter top's and said, "Take a few dollars out of there to pay for the items on the list." I stood up from my chair, and lifted the lid off the jar. A crumpled mess of dollars and change rested at the bottom.
This was probably several months worth of savings. It was like this for all of the families in the city. Some were worse than others. I took half of the money, because I knew that prices had gone up on certain items that were already expensive.
I walked to the door and asked her, "Are you sure this is all you want?" She nodded her head and waved her hand. "I'm sure. Now, you get going before everything gets bought out." I laughed and ran from the house and down our short gravel walkway.
The grass was dead in our yard, and everyone else's around us. The trees were black and almost dust. The only thing holding them up was probably the last remaining fibers that had yet to rot away. I stepped onto the dirt road and began walking towards the center of the city to pick up Reiko's list.
A few people on bikes road past me from both ways, but most people were walking like I was. "Kame!" I turned around and saw one of my friends running towards me. I smiled and said, "Hey, Junno." He ran up to me, wearing a cheerful smile as always.
I didn't understand how he could always stay so chipper in the world, when I struggled to just face it every morning. "What are you up to, Kame?” he asked. I held up the list and said, "I'm running errands for Reiko. You?”
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Dunno. I got out of my house for the heck of it." He was in his usual attire; old and worn out jeans that were covered with dirt, and one of his brown shirts. Junno lived around the same area as I did, so his parents made the same income as all of us did.
Which meant that nice and new clothes were out of the question. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Junno. But I need to get this stuff before Reiko starts to wonder what's taking me so long." He pouted for a second, then turned back into his perky mode.
"Alrighty! Hey, meet me up at the Courtyard when you finish up. Everyone is meeting up around there tonight to hang out. It's going to be awesome. See you there?” I thought for a moment. The Courtyard was the social meeting area for the people in my area of the city, and it wasn't uncommon for there to be parties and gathering there on a nightly basis.
"Maybe. I'll have to see if Reiko will let me go." Junno rolled his eyes. "I'm sure she'll let you go. Well, I better let you do your errands. Bye!" he twitched off down the direction that I came from. I shook my head and went back to what I was doing.
When I arrived at the markets, I was greeted with multiple 'hellos' from both shoppers and sellers. Since Reiko was pretty well known in the city, that automatically meant I was as well. But it didn't mean that I got any special discounts. Nobody did.
Money was almost as scarce as food and supplies. There was just enough to get everybody by. I bought what was on Reiko's list, and quickly made the stops that she requested. The dull sky was growing even duller as it became night.
Already, there were people around my age heading towards the Courtyard for tonight's gathering. Most nights I would stay at home and spend time with Reiko, but I knew that there would be many people there that I hadn't spoken to or seen in a while.
It would do me some good to catch up with them. Finally when I got back home, I started to put the food items up in our cooler; a box that Reiko had rigged up so it would keep items cold. There had been things like this in every home at one point, but not anymore.
Things from those old days were hard to come by. Occasionally, you would run across the empty shell of one that had been converted into a home for a wild animal or a fort that was built by children. Reiko was stretched out on our ratty, dust-filled couch that was about to collapse on itself.
She had made a small fire in our fireplace. "Did you get everything on the list, Kazuya?" I sat on the armrest next to her and said, "Yes. Um, I was wondering if I could go down to the Courtyard tonight.” She yawned and said, "Of course. I don't mind. You do so much around here already."
I smiled and hugged her gently, afraid that I'd hurt her fragile aging body. I didn't bother to change my clothes, seeing as it would be dark and most of the people there would be dressed almost like I was. It was already pitch dark outside as I walked past the rundown houses and their poor yards.
When I approached the Courtyard, I saw a number of faces that I knew, all of them gathered around a large fire that was built in the fire pit that was designed for this exact thing. Junno's eyes immediately found me. "Kame! Over here!" He was standing and waving frantically.
Around him, I saw my other friends; Tatsuya, Koki and Maru. They were trying to find me through the crowd of people that surrounded them. Junno made Maru move down so I could sit next to him. I mouthed an apology to Maru, who just shrugged it off as something that didn't bother him.
There was a lot of chatter around the fire, which I didn't participate in. Occasionally, Junno would drag me into a conversation, only to have me tum it around and place it on somebody else. I didn't go to this gathering to talk, but just to enjoy some company and get out.
But I really was having a good time being surrounded by people that I knew and could relate to. The hours felt like they crept by, and I started to get hungry. I reached into my jacket pocket, and pulled out a small piece of bread that I wrapped up. I nibbled on tiny bits to make it last.
I zoned out of a conversation again, and looked at the area across from the Courtyard. There, was a tall wooden fence that wrapped up in barbed wire. On the other side, were the Wastelands. It was a vast area of land that had been destroyed, along with the rest of the world when war broke out so many years ago.
The only reason our little city existed was because of a large group of survivors gathered up what they could and began to rebuild what they once had. They then put up a fence to keep raiders from invading the city and taking what they had started to create.
The survivors then started to built up a government, and that was when things began to change. People were going into poverty instead of prospering like they were intended to. And then they started to cast out people that did things that the Officials didn't approve of.
They became known as names such as Undesirables and Black Sheep. But the most common name was Outcasts. They were sent out into the Wastelands with no food or anything, and were expected to make it out there. Going out there, was pretty much a death sentence.
I had stopped before and peered out of the gaps in the fence, just to see what it looked like out there. I didn't get to see much before an Official pulled me away and told me to never look out there again. Since I was young, I didn't even get near that fence after that.
All I had seen was the gray ashes from the war that had leveled everything that had once been. And when I meant war, I meant nuclear of course. None of us had to worry about that anymore, since creating such weapons like that meant death.
There were almost no trees out there, except scattered clusters that were placed randomly along the landscape. Something through the fence caught my attention. It looked like an eye. I stood up and said to the others, “I'll be right back.” I made my way through all of the people, and snuck past an Official that was on duty.
I peered through the loose boards in the fence, being careful not to get cut by the barbed wire. The twenty foot boards wobbled when I pressed a light hand on them; they needed to be repaired before they fell over and all hell broke loose.
I crept over to where I saw the eye, and then looked through the board. On the other side, a little girl fell back on the ground. I had startled her. She was about to get up and run off. I whispered softly, "Don't be scared.” She stopped, and looked at me.
Her body was extremely thin from not eating. The clothes she wore looked homemade, but at least they matched and weren't like cheap rags. This was one of the Outcasts, but I never remembered her in the city. She had to be a child of one of the people who had been cast out.
Her eyes were locked onto the bread that I still held in my hand. I asked, “Do you want this?” She nodded her head slowly, not taking her eyes from the food. I handed the bread to her through the barbed wire. She took it with no hesitation, and began to eat away at it.
The bread was gone in no time, which there wasn't much from the start. Good thing I didn't eat all of it. The little girl looked up at me. I held out my hands to show they were empty. "I don't have anything else. I'm sorry.” A voice way off in the distance yelled. “Mika! Where are you?”
It sounded male, and carried just far enough to the fence, and not any further. The little girl turned towards where the voice came from, then she looked at me. I smiled and told her, "You better get going.” She nodded and ran off through the Wastelands.
A hand latched on tightly to my shoulder and turned me around. An Official. His eyes were narrowed sharply at me. I asked shakily, "Is there a problem?” He looked at the fence behind me. "What were you doing at the fence.” I gulped and said, "I was just taking a nightly walk.”
He let go of me, and the fence shook behind me. His voice was cold and harsh when he said, “I suggest you find someplace else to walk at night, or else you'll end up out there if you keep it up. Now, get back to your home.” I nodded my head and darted off to the Courtyard.
Tatsuya saw that I must have looked scared to death. “Kame? What happened to you?” I snatched up the jacket that I left on the ground, and put my arms through the sleeves. "I have to leave early. It was great catching up with all of you.” I ran out of there before they could protest my leaving.
I walked back into my house, only to find Reiko asleep on the couch. I knew that she would complain about her back in the morning. I grabbed a blanket that she had knitted, and draped it over her. Then, I took the short distance back to my room and kicked my shoes off of my feet.
The smooth wood was cold, so I hurried to my bed. I laid down, and stared up at the ancient looking ceiling. All that I could think about was the little Outcast girl that I gave the bread to, and how close to getting in trouble I had been.
The life that was on the other side of that rickety fence, wasn't meant to be seen by us. I couldn't help but wonder, what else is out there? I turned my oil lamp off that Reiko had lit, and forced myself to sleep.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A/N: New story! Yay!! I've actually had this for a while but I needed to finish or get close to finishing Wolf's Howling before I posted. Hope you liked it (n_n).
I might just be putting myself through hell right now, since I still have to write Alphabet of Love, Dark Birth-Shining Death, Baby Series and well this now and finish up Wolf's Howling (though it's already finished just updating). And I'm still editing Beauty & the Beast and Fighting for Love and The Shadow of Death (cause I'm not dropping it, I refuse). And I have some ideas for a couple of one-shot....lol I have some work cut out for me. I'm gonna give myself a headache. (n_n)
Chapter 2
Author:
joatex
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
Warning: I'm not sure yet.....(-_-U)
Disclaimer: No.... the boys aren't mine, sad.... but true (T^T)
Summary: It's been years after a nuclear war broke out, and a group of survivors created a small city. One, in which, Kazuya lives in. But when he runs across an Outcast in the Wastelands, there is a change brewing in the winds.
A/N: Enjoy (n_n)
A million thanks to harajukyuu for the awesome banner (n_n)
Kame POV: Pink
Jin POV: Red
Chapter 1: The Fence and Its Rules
Kame
The bed springs in my old mattress groaned when I sat up after my night's rest. As I looked out of the window, I sighed. It was just another day in the city; gray skies, smoke rising out in the distance, and dead trees everywhere. "Kazuya? Are you awake yet?" asked Reiko from, most likely, the kitchen.
"Yes. I'll be there in a minute," I replied back to her. I walked across my old, dust-ridden room, and over to a wood chest that rested on the floor. Dust had already accumulated on the top. I pulled up on the rusted metal handle, and stared down at my clothes. On the top, was one of my favorite shirts and jeans, and they shown from the wear and tear from their use.
Not feeling up to digging around in the chest for something else to wear, I took the shirt and jeans out and tossed them on my bed. The ends the jeans and shirt were tattered, and they desperately needed to be fixed by the local tailor before they fell apart. There wasn't anything fancy about these close; it was just a plain blue shirt and normal jeans. I slipped out of my nightclothes, and into the clothes.
I then reached under my bed and pulled out my shoes, then put them on. This was everyday attire for me, and almost everyone else in the city. I walked over to the other side of my room, and looked in the large shard of glass that was my mirror.
The jagged edges would easily cut me if I touched them, so I stayed a safe distance away from them. I fixed my hair to where it looked decent, then left my room. The walk from my room to the kitchen wasn't a long one at all. It was pretty much right next to it.
Sure enough, Reiko was sitting at our small, round wood table. A warm cup of coffee sat next to her. I pulled out one of the wobbly chairs, and sat down across from her. She smiled and said, "I see you finally decided to get up." I rolled my eyes and said back to her, "I've been up for a while, Reiko. I was just getting dressed."
She chuckled. "I know, Kazuya. Do you have any plans for today?" I blinked, and shook my head. "No. Why? Do you need something done?" Reiko was getting up in her years, and it was difficult for her to get around town and run everyday errands. So, I did them for her.
It saved her a lot of trouble, and gave me a reason to get out of our house. It wasn't like I didn't like her house, since it was the place that I pretty much grew up in since Reiko took me in. It was just that it was so old and small. Then again, all the homes in the city were like this; old roofs practically caving in on themselves, breaks in the windows, and holes in the floors.
They certainly weren't designed for vermin to live in, much less humans. But what more could we ask for? Even the homes that belonged to the city's wealthiest weren't much better than the ones that belonged to us. Reiko's shaky hands pulled out a stained piece of paper.
She handed it to me and said, "It's just a few things that I need picked up and done." I took the paper and scanned the list. There wasn't anything that was out of my way; mainly just grocery runs and a few stops along the way. "This shouldn't be any trouble to do."
She smiled at me and said, "Thank you, dear." She pointed over to a small jar that was resting on our old counter top's and said, "Take a few dollars out of there to pay for the items on the list." I stood up from my chair, and lifted the lid off the jar. A crumpled mess of dollars and change rested at the bottom.
This was probably several months worth of savings. It was like this for all of the families in the city. Some were worse than others. I took half of the money, because I knew that prices had gone up on certain items that were already expensive.
I walked to the door and asked her, "Are you sure this is all you want?" She nodded her head and waved her hand. "I'm sure. Now, you get going before everything gets bought out." I laughed and ran from the house and down our short gravel walkway.
The grass was dead in our yard, and everyone else's around us. The trees were black and almost dust. The only thing holding them up was probably the last remaining fibers that had yet to rot away. I stepped onto the dirt road and began walking towards the center of the city to pick up Reiko's list.
A few people on bikes road past me from both ways, but most people were walking like I was. "Kame!" I turned around and saw one of my friends running towards me. I smiled and said, "Hey, Junno." He ran up to me, wearing a cheerful smile as always.
I didn't understand how he could always stay so chipper in the world, when I struggled to just face it every morning. "What are you up to, Kame?” he asked. I held up the list and said, "I'm running errands for Reiko. You?”
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Dunno. I got out of my house for the heck of it." He was in his usual attire; old and worn out jeans that were covered with dirt, and one of his brown shirts. Junno lived around the same area as I did, so his parents made the same income as all of us did.
Which meant that nice and new clothes were out of the question. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Junno. But I need to get this stuff before Reiko starts to wonder what's taking me so long." He pouted for a second, then turned back into his perky mode.
"Alrighty! Hey, meet me up at the Courtyard when you finish up. Everyone is meeting up around there tonight to hang out. It's going to be awesome. See you there?” I thought for a moment. The Courtyard was the social meeting area for the people in my area of the city, and it wasn't uncommon for there to be parties and gathering there on a nightly basis.
"Maybe. I'll have to see if Reiko will let me go." Junno rolled his eyes. "I'm sure she'll let you go. Well, I better let you do your errands. Bye!" he twitched off down the direction that I came from. I shook my head and went back to what I was doing.
When I arrived at the markets, I was greeted with multiple 'hellos' from both shoppers and sellers. Since Reiko was pretty well known in the city, that automatically meant I was as well. But it didn't mean that I got any special discounts. Nobody did.
Money was almost as scarce as food and supplies. There was just enough to get everybody by. I bought what was on Reiko's list, and quickly made the stops that she requested. The dull sky was growing even duller as it became night.
Already, there were people around my age heading towards the Courtyard for tonight's gathering. Most nights I would stay at home and spend time with Reiko, but I knew that there would be many people there that I hadn't spoken to or seen in a while.
It would do me some good to catch up with them. Finally when I got back home, I started to put the food items up in our cooler; a box that Reiko had rigged up so it would keep items cold. There had been things like this in every home at one point, but not anymore.
Things from those old days were hard to come by. Occasionally, you would run across the empty shell of one that had been converted into a home for a wild animal or a fort that was built by children. Reiko was stretched out on our ratty, dust-filled couch that was about to collapse on itself.
She had made a small fire in our fireplace. "Did you get everything on the list, Kazuya?" I sat on the armrest next to her and said, "Yes. Um, I was wondering if I could go down to the Courtyard tonight.” She yawned and said, "Of course. I don't mind. You do so much around here already."
I smiled and hugged her gently, afraid that I'd hurt her fragile aging body. I didn't bother to change my clothes, seeing as it would be dark and most of the people there would be dressed almost like I was. It was already pitch dark outside as I walked past the rundown houses and their poor yards.
When I approached the Courtyard, I saw a number of faces that I knew, all of them gathered around a large fire that was built in the fire pit that was designed for this exact thing. Junno's eyes immediately found me. "Kame! Over here!" He was standing and waving frantically.
Around him, I saw my other friends; Tatsuya, Koki and Maru. They were trying to find me through the crowd of people that surrounded them. Junno made Maru move down so I could sit next to him. I mouthed an apology to Maru, who just shrugged it off as something that didn't bother him.
There was a lot of chatter around the fire, which I didn't participate in. Occasionally, Junno would drag me into a conversation, only to have me tum it around and place it on somebody else. I didn't go to this gathering to talk, but just to enjoy some company and get out.
But I really was having a good time being surrounded by people that I knew and could relate to. The hours felt like they crept by, and I started to get hungry. I reached into my jacket pocket, and pulled out a small piece of bread that I wrapped up. I nibbled on tiny bits to make it last.
I zoned out of a conversation again, and looked at the area across from the Courtyard. There, was a tall wooden fence that wrapped up in barbed wire. On the other side, were the Wastelands. It was a vast area of land that had been destroyed, along with the rest of the world when war broke out so many years ago.
The only reason our little city existed was because of a large group of survivors gathered up what they could and began to rebuild what they once had. They then put up a fence to keep raiders from invading the city and taking what they had started to create.
The survivors then started to built up a government, and that was when things began to change. People were going into poverty instead of prospering like they were intended to. And then they started to cast out people that did things that the Officials didn't approve of.
They became known as names such as Undesirables and Black Sheep. But the most common name was Outcasts. They were sent out into the Wastelands with no food or anything, and were expected to make it out there. Going out there, was pretty much a death sentence.
I had stopped before and peered out of the gaps in the fence, just to see what it looked like out there. I didn't get to see much before an Official pulled me away and told me to never look out there again. Since I was young, I didn't even get near that fence after that.
All I had seen was the gray ashes from the war that had leveled everything that had once been. And when I meant war, I meant nuclear of course. None of us had to worry about that anymore, since creating such weapons like that meant death.
There were almost no trees out there, except scattered clusters that were placed randomly along the landscape. Something through the fence caught my attention. It looked like an eye. I stood up and said to the others, “I'll be right back.” I made my way through all of the people, and snuck past an Official that was on duty.
I peered through the loose boards in the fence, being careful not to get cut by the barbed wire. The twenty foot boards wobbled when I pressed a light hand on them; they needed to be repaired before they fell over and all hell broke loose.
I crept over to where I saw the eye, and then looked through the board. On the other side, a little girl fell back on the ground. I had startled her. She was about to get up and run off. I whispered softly, "Don't be scared.” She stopped, and looked at me.
Her body was extremely thin from not eating. The clothes she wore looked homemade, but at least they matched and weren't like cheap rags. This was one of the Outcasts, but I never remembered her in the city. She had to be a child of one of the people who had been cast out.
Her eyes were locked onto the bread that I still held in my hand. I asked, “Do you want this?” She nodded her head slowly, not taking her eyes from the food. I handed the bread to her through the barbed wire. She took it with no hesitation, and began to eat away at it.
The bread was gone in no time, which there wasn't much from the start. Good thing I didn't eat all of it. The little girl looked up at me. I held out my hands to show they were empty. "I don't have anything else. I'm sorry.” A voice way off in the distance yelled. “Mika! Where are you?”
It sounded male, and carried just far enough to the fence, and not any further. The little girl turned towards where the voice came from, then she looked at me. I smiled and told her, "You better get going.” She nodded and ran off through the Wastelands.
A hand latched on tightly to my shoulder and turned me around. An Official. His eyes were narrowed sharply at me. I asked shakily, "Is there a problem?” He looked at the fence behind me. "What were you doing at the fence.” I gulped and said, "I was just taking a nightly walk.”
He let go of me, and the fence shook behind me. His voice was cold and harsh when he said, “I suggest you find someplace else to walk at night, or else you'll end up out there if you keep it up. Now, get back to your home.” I nodded my head and darted off to the Courtyard.
Tatsuya saw that I must have looked scared to death. “Kame? What happened to you?” I snatched up the jacket that I left on the ground, and put my arms through the sleeves. "I have to leave early. It was great catching up with all of you.” I ran out of there before they could protest my leaving.
I walked back into my house, only to find Reiko asleep on the couch. I knew that she would complain about her back in the morning. I grabbed a blanket that she had knitted, and draped it over her. Then, I took the short distance back to my room and kicked my shoes off of my feet.
The smooth wood was cold, so I hurried to my bed. I laid down, and stared up at the ancient looking ceiling. All that I could think about was the little Outcast girl that I gave the bread to, and how close to getting in trouble I had been.
The life that was on the other side of that rickety fence, wasn't meant to be seen by us. I couldn't help but wonder, what else is out there? I turned my oil lamp off that Reiko had lit, and forced myself to sleep.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A/N: New story! Yay!! I've actually had this for a while but I needed to finish or get close to finishing Wolf's Howling before I posted. Hope you liked it (n_n).
I might just be putting myself through hell right now, since I still have to write Alphabet of Love, Dark Birth-Shining Death, Baby Series and well this now and finish up Wolf's Howling (though it's already finished just updating). And I'm still editing Beauty & the Beast and Fighting for Love and The Shadow of Death (cause I'm not dropping it, I refuse). And I have some ideas for a couple of one-shot....lol I have some work cut out for me. I'm gonna give myself a headache. (n_n)
Chapter 2