Because she doesn't talk to a lot of people these days, O-Ren has no idea that she can't lie ( Read more... )

There were two discarded wellington boots abandoned on the docks. There was one t-shirt lying crumpled in a ball. There was one bag its contents spilled out across the wooden boards. The bag had contained the following; a knife, homework, notebook, pencil, plasters, wooden horse, beads and shells. There was one tall teenage girl running flat out ( Read more... )

The events of two weeks ago were mostly behind Billy. At least, he liked to believe he'd put them behind him, as it was all he could think of to do when trying to process everything that happened in those few days. Talking everything through with Alexis was all he could really handle at the time, especially with so many conflicting feelings (and ( Read more... )

Spring had started to fall upon Eastern Wu again, rain showers washing away the dark soot of war, weighing down clouds of smoke until they rinsed away from the banks. In its wake, grass grew tall again, stretching toward the sky above, pleasant underneath Zhuge's feet as he walked toward Zhou Yu's land, no longer a stranger. When the soft whistle ( Read more... )

Dean remembers his first deer hunt, how small he'd felt with that big gun in his hands, how afraid he'd been, all alone in the woods with a weapon he hardly knew how to fire, let alone aim ( Read more... )

"Sakura, sakura," came a low, sad voice.

O-Ren stood under the sakura tree, gently examining the branches for signs that it was ready to bloom. Before, she'd always been skeptical--this place was tropical, and how would it know to bloom at the right time? This year, though....

Earlier this year, O-Ren had decided she would hold hanami on the ( Read more... )

The island had done it again. Whether it was pure chance or benevolence none of them would ever know, but somehow, someway, the place had seen fit to give them all booze again ( Read more... )

O-Ren hated swimming suits. There was no real reason for it, as far as she knew. She just found them to be awful and hateful, and so on days like this, when she would swim as far out as she could and then back, she simply wore training clothes ( Read more... )

She'd worked herself to the bone.

She needed to get herself into shape. She needed it. It didn't seem to matter that there wasn't any performance. There wasn't any opening. There was only Nina, and now there was Lily with her eyes smiles and dark eyes, and Thomas with all his concern that she didn't understand ( Read more... )

With the sun setting in the horizon, O-Ren sprinted up over one of the hills that overlooked the long grasses. While she wasn't exactly in love with the fuchsia running shoes, she'd been able to find a simple black tank top and pair of shorts. Her hair pulled back into a sweaty ponytail, she hardly looked the quiet, collected girl she'd been for ( Read more... )