Ah...the last chapter, and all the obligatory wrap-up stuff. Shizuka and Anzu have escaped.

Chapter Ten: Freedom

Outside of an airport in Tokyo

Anzu looked up after arriving at airport, the knowledge of what Shizuka had done to secure their safety looming in her mind. Shizuka had done so much to get herself and Anzu out of the situation they were in.

“Where are we going?” Anzu asked.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be somewhere where our ‘family’ can’t find us ever again”

“All right,” Anzu said as they went up to get their tickets. The girls showed their passports, took their tickets, passed through security, and made their way to the gate. Shizuka bought a bunch of stuff from a few vending machines and she and Anzu ate a quiet meal from it. Strangely enough, Anzu handled sugar very well for a girl who’d never had it before.

After the two of them ate, they sat and waited for the announcement to board their plane.

“Come on,” Shizuka told Anzu after the announcement sounded. “Let’s go get our seats.”

“Okay,” Anzu said, following Shizuka.

The two girls boarded the plane and sat down after putting their bags in the storage compartments.

“So, what drives two young girls to be on an international flight?” an old woman asked.

“We’re going to surprise our parents. It’s their anniversary, and we wanted to bring them a present but didn’t trust the mail,” Shizuka lied.

“How sweet of the two of you,” the woman said. “And so pretty, too.”

“Thank you,” Shizuka said.

“Thank you very much,” Anzu said, bowing. When the old woman left, Anzu whispered to her sister, “You lied…”

“Out of necessity. She wouldn’t have understood why we needed to run.”

“Oh…”

The two girls sat down and settled in to what would be a long flight.

Several hours later, the plane landed in a city further south and much more humid than they were used to. The girls left the plane and, after passing security, walked out into the large outdoors.

“It’s so big…” Anzu said in shock, looking around. “Where are we gonna go from here?”

“I don’t know. It looks like a long way to the city. Fortunately, I booked a car to take us to the center of town,” Shizuka said, guiding her sister over to the car that was waiting for them.

“Are you Miss Kamiyama?” the driver asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Get in,” the driver said, opening the car door. Shizuka ushered in her little sister, then got in behind her. The driver then began taking them into the city, and fortunately, their driver wasn’t one of the talkative types. As paid for, he just dropped them at the center of town and left the young girls there without another word.

The town center was really something, too. The streets were made of stone, and there were coffee shops and a psychic right near the square. Several artists were selling their works, too, and many people were wandering around.

“Where are we…” Anzu asked. Shizuka had her head buried in a map while Anzu asked this – she’d taken English for her foreign language, and was really quite skilled in reading the language as well.

“Hmm……accordin’ to this thing, we’re in New Orleans. Jackson Square in the French Quarter, to be exact.”

“You mean you didn’t know?!” Anzu asked incredulously. “But you bought our tickets!”

“I clicked at random, Anzu.”

“Oh……well, at least this place is fun……”

“Come on, Anzu,” Shizuka said, grabbing the younger girl’s hand.

“Where are we going?”

“We have to find a place to live. No matter what, we are not going back to Japan.”

“Right!” Anzu said, following her sister happily.

In Anzu’s opinion, it didn’t matter where she and Shizuka went or where they had to live.

They were safe. For the very first time, they were safe. And they were free.

And that was all that mattered.

Okay, that's it for Runaway. However, this isn't the end of the story. This is just the end of the original part of the story. Everything hereafter is gonna be part of a fanfiction, and I'll post the link in my profile so you can read it. The Kamiyama sisters have a bit of a ways to go before they're truly safe.

At any rate, the second half of this story's gonna be titled 'Finding Destiny', and it'll be in the Dark-Hunter section of Fanfiction. Thanks for reading my first original story.