The Rain, a General fanfic - FictionPress.com

a/n: just a short story i wrote for my world literatures class. we had to set it in another country, off a certain list. -shrugs- japan seemed cool. my teacher also seems to enjoy stories with death in them... i got an A-... is my grade deserved? xD

The gentle flapping of a bird’s wings could barely be heard over the noise of the city. A young man stepped off a curb, his long coat falling nearly to the puddles at his feet. From around the corner, a dark blue car zoomed by, almost skidding on the rain-slicked streets, and just about hitting the young man. Hiroyuki jumped back in alarm, landing up to his ankles in dirty city rain. His dark brown coat flew open, and he ducked his head against the wind to prevent his hood from flying off, and his raven hair from being ruffled by the breeze. Not that anyone would notice, he thought.

The bustling city was enough to overwhelm any newcomer, and even its lifelong residents could find themselves feeling lost. Especially Hiroyuki, who was still a teenager. Seventeen years had passed since his birth, and he had called Tokyo his home for thirteen of them. Previously, his family had resided in a small town in America, with his grandmother and grandfather. Shortly after his birth, his grandfather passed away, and his mother was left to support her own mother, her newborn son, and her husband. Her relationship with her husband was strained at best, perhaps because her closeness to her mother was not understood by him. When the boy turned four, they moved back to Japan. Though his new life is far from America, weekly letters pass between him and his grandmother. Two years passed in their new home before his mother brought him to work one day. He was so happy. He admired his mother, for everything she did for their family. For raising him the way she had. And that one day, she never returned home. Following the death of Hiroyuki’s mother, the father took to the bottle for solace, while his son took all the pain without anything to help alleviate it.

Almond eyes blinked against the heavy rain, locks of wet obsidian hair beginning to obscure his view. From between dripping strands of hair and past glistening tears yet to fall, something flashed in his peripheral vision. A tall, spindly building loomed above him, spire gleaming through the dark clouds. Drawn to this building by its sickening familiarity, Hiroyuki took a sharp turn to the left and crossed the street; footsteps sent rain-rippled puddles splashing upward. He approached the towering structure, and pulled open its shining glass doors. The elevators were located in the back on the right, and his legs pulled him there. Drops of water showed his route, like an ephemeral bread crumb trail, soon to dry, his path lost forever. A pale finger stretched to meet the elevator button, and the up button was lit.

Several years prior, the world had erupted in chaos and fighting. America was the current enemy, and the boy’s own father was in full support of the Japanese army. Something inside Hiroyuki told him he should obey his father, but he could not stand to believe anything like his alcoholic parent. His father soon forced him to cease contact with his grandmother, shortly after Hiroyuki learned of her diagnosis. His grandmother had cancer, and would not live for much longer. His world seemed to be crashing around him; the last people he loved were being ripped away from him, more so with each breath he took. The solution to this problem, Hiroyuki struggled to find. Every passing day, he struggled to answer his most haunting question. Why do I feel so alone, and how to make it stop?

Ding. The elevator arrived. Silver doors opened, and a few businessmen came out, ready for their lunch break, umbrellas in hand. No one paid attention to the hooded teenager in the long coat and tattered shoes. Hiroyuki stepped inside and pressed the button, headed for the top floor. The elevator made its ascent, finally opening its shining doors at the top of the city. Through wooden doors lay an open conference room, with windows to the world. He stepped through a small, hidden door that his mother had showed him one day long ago. Gray skies stretched forever, and it felt to him as if he was where the rain began. Tokyo lay before him, wet, bleak, and busy. He stood amongst the clouds, and watched the city move. How amazing it was to see the city beneath him. Standing at the hard cement railing along the edge of the roof, he peered over at the streets beneath him, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. The sight of the vehicles and people far below made him dizzy, and he stood back before he fell.

A six year old Hiroyuki giggled and ran across the roof, mother not far behind him. She caught up to him and swept him up in her arms, the two of them laughing, enjoying their time at the top of the world. Little did they know at the time, reality lay back on earth, and their world would soon end. Happiness and innocence embraced them there on that roof, but upon their descent, his mother’s life was stolen. A shot rang through the air, and the mother collapsed. Hiroyuki stood there, his mother’s hand in his, as his mother’s blood pooled around them. A crowd gathered around them, and a masked man in black dashed away, turning a corner to be gone forever. Hiroyuki was lost for a second, mind empty, body numb. And all his senses rushed back at once. He opened his hand, and his eyes overflowed, letting tears spill out. Salty drops tumbled down his cheeks, and he ran.

High above the scene of his memory, Hiroyuki stood still. The building began to shake, and the air began to vibrate. Paralyzed by pain, he stares up at the endless sky to see military jets tearing through the atmosphere, the sound waves beating furiously against his eardrums. They headed west, toward what he surmised was America. He couldn’t take this war much longer. He couldn’t take the emptiness, the feeling of the opponent so very near. The height of the planes above him made him remember just how close to earth he was, how close to reality. His only way to escape seemed to be to fly. Stepping slowly, and exhaling heavily, he hoisted himself onto the edge of the railing. And as the jets soared past, gravity prevailed, and the rain claimed him as its own.

a/n: hiroyuki means widespread happiness, by the way.

reviews are nice.