Yuta is an immortal who longs to end his life. He has been living for two hundred years when he meets Minami, a girl who he does not realize is similar to him.

Chapter One:

Through His Arcane Eyes

Two hundred years. Two hundred years of living, and Yuta was tired of it. If Yuta had any chance, he would die at any moment and never wake up again. Die to peel away the core of his supposed youth, to take away his painful memories.

It burned him up inside to remember his family whither away into old age. Everybody he knew and loved had gone away. Now he had no one.

1942

Yuta rubbed his thickly padded hands together and sat down on the snow covered ground. It was a freezing morning in Kyoto, so cold that the wind froze in midair, making his cheeks sting and turn red.

Yuta hugged himself and leaned against the stone wall, closing his tired eyes.

Yuta was awakened by a shadow blocking the warmth of the sun. He opened his eyes and looked up.

Before him were two policemen, dressed in standard uniform wearing smirks on their faces. They obviously wanted to pick some trouble from their dull duties.

"I’ve been keeping an eye on you." Said one of them. "Don’t make any trouble around here."

"I never intended to." Yuta said.

The other snorted. "Yeah, right. This one looks like trouble."

"Let me tell you something, boy," the first one said. "You never talk back to a man in uniform."

"Or else you might regret it."

Yuta looked at them. They did not seem like men at all, just boys trying to pick a fight. Two boys trying to prove that they were superior to everyone else just because of the clothes they had on their back. "I’ll keep that in mind."

"Told you. Trouble." The second policeman said.

"Seems like you didn’t learn the first time. Let me give you another lesson." The first policeman said, pulling out his baton.

Looks like I’m going to have to run for it again, Yuta thought, getting up quickly and sprinting toward the white hills, legs pumping.

The guard clutched his rifle, looking around the empty grounds. Empty, just like every other day. And dull, too.

There was a crunch of snow behind him and a second guard emerged from out of nowhere. "Hey, it’s afternoon shift now. We have to go and eat."

"Gotcha," The guard replied, following the second guard back to base. At the corner of his eye, he caught a figure running across the snow covered hills. "Halt!"

"You there! Stop right now!" The second guard screamed, preparing his rifle. A couple of metres behind the running figure were two policemen.

The figure did not stop running.

"Shoot!"

The first guard aimed and fired.

Yuta felt something lodge into his back, causing him to fall to the ground. The sound of the blast echoed through his ears, then there were two more.

At first, he didn’t feel anything, and then it felt like his back had exploded, rupturing into a burning pain. Yuta clenched his teeth and lay his head on the cold wet snow. His world faded into a brilliant white.

The guards breathed heavily, trying hard to reach the fallen figure, but the snow made their situation more difficult. When they had reached to where the figure had fallen, the two policemen were already there.

"Where’d he go?" one of the guards asked. The body was not there. Red blood stained the white snow, making a path along the ground. There were the impressions of footsteps along with the trail of red.

"That’s impossible," one of the policemen said, staring at the empty space.

When Yuta awakened from his dream, he was lying on his back on the floor of a cold room. Was it cold? His upper torso had been stripped of clothes. Yuta reached back and felt his back. Just as I thought. Totally clean.

There was no way he was going to die again. It had been twice now, and each time he thought he was finished, he just woke up again. Like the repetitiveness of night and day. Dream and consciousness.

Yuta sat up, rubbing his arms. He was in a dark room with only a small window out of reach letting in cold sunlight. There was a door in the wall opposite to the window. Where am I? It’s like a prison cell. Suddenly all the events of the morning caught up with him. Did those policemen catch me?

There was a metallic clunk as the door opened and a small girl stepped inside. She looked only a few years younger than him with black hair and pale skin. She wore a worn brown pair of pants and a thick woolen coat. In her hands she clutched Yuta’s clothes.

"You’re awake." she said. "Here are your clothes."

She turned around to give him some privacy. "I found you near the base. You could have been killed."

Yuta pulled his shirt over his head. "If I could have been killed, I would have stayed put."

"What do you mean by that?" The girl questioned.

"It’s nothing." Yuta said, pulling on his coat. "It’s none of your business anyway."

"Now it is my business." The girl said, turning around. "You obviously sound like you don’t think much of yourself."

"You don’t know me. If you did, you wouldn’t have said that." Yuta replied.

"Maybe, maybe not." The girl said, staring at him with her big eyes. "I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, so how could you say that if I knew you then I wouldn’t have said that?"

"Do you enjoy arguing with people?" Yuta said. "Do you enjoy contradicting people?"

The girl smiled. "Why, yes. That’s just how I am."

Yuta sighed. "Whatever. Thanks for helping me."

"Where are you going?"

"Places."

"How ‘bout some company? I’ve got nothing to do." The girl said, following him out of the door and through the corridor.

"Whatever pleases you." Yuta said.

"I’m Minami."

The two went through the front door and into the white daylight. Yuta squinted his eyes against the sudden change.

"So you’re not going to tell me your name?" Minami asked as they trudged through the snow.

"My name’s Yuta." He replied.

"You don’t talk much, do you?"

I don’t wanna talk anymore. That’s far enough.

Minami looked at him. She could see the tiredness in his eyes, the feeling of being sick of it all. The wrinkles that refused to show. He had lived enough. He’s afraid of getting hurt. That if he gets close too someone, he’ll just lose them again. Should I stop talking?

Minami shook her head. "I can see it in your eyes. Something happened, didn’t it? That’s why you don’t want to get close to anyone."

"That’s nearly half of it."

Minami bit her lip. Why is he so recluse?

They walked on in silence until orange darkness tainted the horizon. The orange turned into purple.

"Wow. It’s pretty." Minami commented. She stopped to gaze at the sunset. "Don’t you think, Yuta?"

Yuta stopped. "Not to me. I’ve seen it many times before."

"Well, this is only my second time I’ve seen it." Minami said. "Most of my life I hadn’t even seen the daylight. That’s why I’m so pale."

Yuta was silent. "What have you done most of your life?"

"You just asked a question you already know the answer to." Minami said, then bit her lip. "My mother and I had to hide away underground. Ever since I was 13, I had only seen artificial light."

Minami waited for his face to express any emotion, but there was none. He just shrugged and continued walking. "Where are you going exactly?"

"Don’t know. Where ever I want to go."

"That’s very strange. You must have a lot of time on your hands." Minami said, running to catch up with him.

"So must you to be following me. Don’t you have any place to go home to?" Yuta asked.

"Not exactly. My mother passed away a long time ago." Minami said, starting to feel a little unwanted. "You know, I’m beginning to feel a little tired. I’m going to go and find a place to sleep. Do you want to come?"

"No thanks." Yuta said.

"See you round." Minami said as she watched Yuta walk away into the darkness.

Present Day

"Hi, Sami! Thanks for picking me up," There was the rumble of an engine and the slam of a car door.

"No problem."

Yuta sat on the hill high above the street, watching the red car speed away. He leant back against the tree and gazed at the blue sky that he had gazed upon everyday. He could feel the warmth of the sunlight on his skin, making him close his eyes drowsily and fall into between the fine line of sleep and wakefulness. The chirps of birds and buzz of cicadas drifted away.

The brown, curious eyes gazed on him, questioning him. "So you’re not going to tell me your name?"

Her question echoed through his ears, like the incessant ring of bells.

"My name’s Yuta," He replied.

"You don’t talk much, do you?" Her image faded away, blurring into nothingness.

Chapter Two:

Minami

"Hey, you!"

Yuta shielded his eyes from the sunlight. He looked up at the small figure towering over him.

"What are you doing here?" It was those brown eyes that were staring at him again, the same ones as before.

"Minami?"

"That’s me!" Minami replied, sitting down beside him. She looked much more vivacious, her lively eyes and lean body. But there was something else; her skin was still pale.

"I thought it was you, I thought I was having déjà vu. And then I saw exactly the same shirt, and your same head against the exact same coat. Say, why are you here?"

"I said to you before that If I could have gotten killed, I would have. And I did. I just woke up again." Yuta said.

Minami paused, sobering suddenly. "I see. You’re like me."

Yuta turned to stare at her.

"When I said that I had been hiding away with my mother, that was true. But that was more than two centuries ago."

"We’re similar." Yuta said.

"I’ve been looking for someone that was like me to be with. I was getting scared…scared to be alone. When I met you, I thought there was something, I could see it in your eyes. And then you went away." Minami said, looking down at the grass. "I’ve died two times already and I was so afraid."

"My lucky number."

The sound of the cicadas grew with the silence.

Minami looked down at the waves crashing onto the rocks below her. It was growing dark and the wind was chilly, causing an outbreak of goose pimples over her skin. Minami shivered and rubbed her bare arms.

There was a sudden snap of a twig behind her. Minami turned around but no one was behind her. A tingle went up Minami’s spine as she looked back down at the cliff’s foot.

The bushes rustled behind her. Was it the wind? No, it couldn’t be. Wind couldn’t shake it that hard. Minami turned around and peered through the quickly fading light.

There was a tiny growl as a small, scrawny kitten jumped out of the bush and on to Minami’s shoulder.

Minami laughed at her foolishness, her heart slowing down. It was just a cat!

"You scared me, there." Minami said to it as she cradled the brown and white kitten in her hand. "What are you doing here all by yourself? You could get hurt, you know."

She set the cat down on the grass and looked back out over the sea. Why am I here then? Suddenly the kitten hissed and started chasing something that Minami could not see. "What’s wrong?" Minami said, bending down. Suddenly her foot slipped and she was thrown over the edge of the cliff. Minami gasped, grasping on a clump of grass.

She tried to lift her self up, but had no strength. The waves crashed below her on to the sharp rocks. Yuta! Where are you?

Her hand was slipping and she tried desperately to hold on. Then the cliff’s edge slipped out of her reach and she was falling through the air to the rocks below.

Yuta rubbed his eyes. When did I fall asleep? He wondered as he got up, retrieving his coat from the ground. Where’s Minami?

Her words echoed through his ears. I’ve died two times already and I was so afraid…

"She’s not…!" Yuta murmured to himself as he quickly rushed through the park and onto the road.

The place was empty except a car going by and a bicyclist.

"Excuse me, I’m looking for someone." Yuta said, but the cyclist continued riding.

Yuta’s search for Minami took him to the cliff. He looked down, feeling dizzy from the height. There was no sign of the small girl.

Yuta squinted his eyes, searching the rocks below. It was hard to see in the diminishing light, but there she was – he could see a figure sprawled across the base of the cliff. She didn’t appear to be moving.

When Minami awoke, she was lying on a futon in a room. Through the thin paper walls, she could hear someone rustling about in the next room.

That’s three times, Minami thought as she sat up. Where am I? She looked around her surroundings. There were two windows in the wall made out of wooden slats opposite the door. A cupboard, and next to the cupboard was a large white fan.

"Hm…" Minami walked up to it, studying its picture. It was a picture of an old man dressed in a traditional kimono, perched at the edge of a pond and surrounded by trees, animals, and birds. "The Quest for Immortality: Old man Sakura searches for the Spring of Eternal Youth" was written in old Japanese writing. Minami could just make it out.

The door slid open and Yuta came inside holding a tray. "Here. It’s food."

Minami watched him set the tray down on to a table. "I do get hungry after I die," she joked. But somehow, it didn’t seem very funny. A lump started to grow in her throat, and soon Minami crumbled, tears running from her eyes and down her cheeks. She tried to cover her breakdown with a laugh, but it turned out as a sob. "The tears just won’t stop." It was a feeble excuse.

Yuta wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. "It’s okay."

Minami cried harder, staining his shoulder with tears. "I was so scared. I was just lying there in pieces. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even talk."

"You’re fine now." Yuta said.

"I’m sorry," Minami said, sniffing. She wiped at his wet shirt. "I wet your shirt."

"It’ll dry."

Minami wiped her eyes. "You carried me?"

"Yes. I couldn’t have just left you there." Yuta said, pulling away from her.

"Thank you," Minami said. "I’m in debt to you now."

"No you’re not. You did the same for me, remember?"

Nothing like a good cry, Minami thought as she sat at the edge of the courtyard at the back of the house. She examined her hands. There was nothing wrong, it was all clean. All the cuts and bruises that Yuta had said she had were gone.

It was awful, dying. She never wanted to go through it again if she had to wake up again. Footsteps sounded behind her, growing louder.

"What are you doing out here?" Yuta asked, joining her.

"Thinking." Minami replied. She leaned her head against the wooden post. There was a pause. "When were you born?"

Yuta looked out across the courtyard, the cherry trees, the fountain. "I can’t remember. 1842, I think it was."

"Did you ever think that you would live this long?" Minami said.

"No, I never thought about things like that. Not until my mother told me." Yuta replied.

"My mother never told me anything. I never knew what we were hiding from then one day soldiers came in and shot us. That was when I first died. Then I came back." Minami said. "It was so weird. I was there, and my mother was as well, but she wasn’t. Do you know what I mean? She was lying on the ground. She didn’t even move and all this blood was everywhere, except on me."

Yuta nodded.

"I was scared and alone. I had never been so alone in my life." Minami said. She looked into his eyes. "But now you’re here and I won’t be so alone."

Yuta returned her gaze. There was a long silence.

End Part One

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