• I wake up to find an empty bed. He must be working on the machine. I find some pop tarts in the ‘kitchen’ & take one to give to Nikko. I take a huge chunk & quickly swallow it (not whole) & stop by the training room, empty. The creaking of the door makes me jump. I walk outside into the heat of July. Wonder what I’m going to do when the vacation is over; go back to school? What about my friends. Wont they worry that I vanished off the face of the earth? I can’t leaver Nikko & I rather not go back to school; I mean would you?! Thought so. I love Nikko too much to leave him. Ok that sounded dumb but I mean it. I walk into Nikko’s workshop to see him hard at work. “You want breakfast?” I ask while I finish the rest of my strawberry pop tart. No answer. “Nikko?” I laugh looking at his sleeping face. I thought he was working. I grab the tools out of his hands & look at him. How can he sleep like that? If he leans anymore the machine will fall over. I look back at the image of the ‘flying’ hunk of junk. I’d say it was ½ way done, but I don’t think it can fly. Half of me wants to take Nikko home to sleep, but I don’t want to wake him. I smile & decide to take him home before he breaks his…our machine, then he would really be pissed off. I shove his pop tart down my throat; hey I’m still hungry & he’s not gonna eat it anyway. I grunt trying to lift him, slowly making our way home. Man why can’t he levitate a bit or something. I look down at his feet still dragging in the dirt, man if you didn’t know any better you’d think I was disposing a dead body or something. I readjust his arm so its around my neck & continue walking. Man he’s a heavy sleeper, at least he doesn’t snore. Finally I lay him in bed & tuck him in. I lay next to him in exhaustion. Wonder if he left once I was asleep. I’m not a heavy sleeper, but not a light one either. I walk back outside & pick up the book & the tools. I tip toe back in the room & try to read our old language. I flip through the pages till I stop at one page that catches my eye. The page looked more thought out than the others. I looked for a translation, but it was missing. I look at the illustration in the center of the page. A huge fluffy cloud with some symbols, but I couldn’t read it. Maybe some water will help me think. I sip some warm water, yuck.

    “Whoa!” Nikko yells surprising me, not a long nap. I glance up at him. “How’d I…TSUKI!!” I turn to the book, I spilt some water all over the page. “s**t!” I wipe it off with the blanket. “Why are you wiping it off with that? Jeez girl.” he gets up while I try to dry it. More symbols disappear around the image.

    ‘Nikko look!” he walks over as the image grows consuming the whole page. Two symbols grow onto the page. “What does it say?” I ask as he stares.

    “I don’t know.” We stare as the page crumples around the side. “Cloud Castle!” we say in unison. The image transforms the symbols into words. I step away from the book & the image comes off the page, floating above the book. “Why does all the weird stuff happen to us?” I ask while Nikko looks at the book.

    “It’s a map of cloud Castle. It should say where it is now!” I smile, one of my mistakes actually helped us. That doesn’t happen a lot. The image of the cloud slowly opens up to revile the castle & tons of homes. I stare at the floating…map I think. A huge wooded area is on the West, the castle takes up most of the North, tons of homes to the South & farmland to the East. In the center of the map was a fountain that looks like a bird.

    “Wow, the fountain looks beautiful.” I reach towards the floating map only to pass right through it.

    “Yeah. It was there when Cloud castle was founded.” begins Nikko. “It’s said in legends…why are you looking at me like that?” I’m shocked.

    “How do you know this stuff?” he smiles.

    “School, & my parents told me the legend. I think…” he flips through the pages as the map disappears.

    “Nikko!” he glances up. “It’s gone.”

    “No prob.” he flips back to the page. “Kumo Shiro.” cloud castle. The map reappears while he closes the book & reopens to his spot. So that’s all you need to make it appear, just words. Guess the water woke it up or something. “Aha, here’s the Fountain legend I was talking about.” says Nikko pointing to a page full of words. On top of the page sits a red Phoenix bird & in the center, the fountain. “Would you like to hear the story?” I nod resting my head on Nikko’s shoulder. “Comfy?” I smile. “Ok. It’s called Water of the Phoenix…

    ‘The first King & Queen of Kumo Shiro, traveled to a valley to see if they could find more of their kind;’

    “They are like us, they have powers.” says Nikko.

    ‘They nearly searched the whole world unsuccessful. They descended into the valley& began their search. They searched behind every tree, shrub & cave they could find; but couldn’t find a soul. Just before they left, they heard a high pitch call coming from a ledge overlooking the whole valley. They walked to the ledge looking at the huge drop & backed away. They listened for the noise again but heard nothing. The King stood up & was ready to leave, but the Queen with her wisdom told the King to stay a bit longer. Soon they heard the noise again. They slowly walked on the ledge. They were afraid when they saw a beautiful red bird with it’s wing trapped under a huge boulder. The queen knelt near the bird & calmly said “ We are friends majestic creature. We mean you no harm, we only wish to help you. You don’t need to hide yourself again.” the bird nodded its head while they lifted the rock.

    ‘The bird stretched its wings & flew into the sky. The earth shook & the ledge split in two. The King & Queen fell into the valley. They thought they were done for. They held onto one another, only looking into one another’s eyes, instead of the hard earth. The King looked up momentarily to see the bird swooping down, catching them & setting them down on the ground. When the bird sat, it was taller than the King. “Thank you for saving me & my wife’s life, we are in your debt.” they bowed in respect as the bird spoke in an angelic voice.

    “It’s I who should be thanking you. If it was not for you caring humans, I would have perished along with my eggs who would have no one to watch over them. It is I who am in your debt.”

    “I am sorry to say we are not human.” said the Queen. “We have abilities that others do not have, we were searching for others when we found you.” the bird looked at the couple, hand in hand.

    “You two care so much, I shall give you a gift to thank you.” the bird tapped them on the head leaving a sparkle trail where the feathers touched. The King & Queen started to float in the air. They had another ability, which made 3 for each, not including their weapons. The bird spoke again. “My final gift is a special one. Fly with me & I shall show you.” The King & Queen did as they were told. The bird took them to Kumo Shiro. Together they created a new land & had a child of their own with it’s own abilities & could fly. With the birds help, they found others like them. Kumo Shiro flourished. One day the bird never came back. Everyone searched for there lost friend but never found her. They created the fountain in the center of the town for her. As soon as it was finished, water flowed through it & hasn’t stopped since.’


    “Wow. Nice story Nikko.” he blushed a bit.

    “Yeah, I liked it too.” he lightly kissed me. ’Oh, thanks for carrying me here, kinda… yeah, I wanted to finish it.”

    “That’s not a free b. You owe me something.” he looks at me.

    “Whatcha want?” I smile.

    “Hmmm, lets see, what could I want?” Nikko stares. “I think you know what I want.”

    “Umm… not really, that’s why I asked.” I sit close to him & kiss him running my fingers through his hair. “OH! Really?!” I laugh. “If you wanted me, all you had to do was ask. I am your slave so to speak.” We kiss gently & I feel him reach for the buttons on my jeans while I pull off his shirt.

    I stare at Nikko while he rolls next to me. Were both sweaty & I hate this feeling, but I don’t want to move. “I’m gonna take a shower.” I say as he smiles & follows me with our clothes. “Your comin?”

    “Uses less water.” I laugh. The cold water feels great for once. When were done showering I decide it’s time for linner; lunch & dinner kinda like brunch; breakfast & lunch. Once I finish my linner; man that’s fun to say, linner, linner, linner, linner; I sit next to Nikko who eats slower than a baby. “You gonna work on the machine again?” he swallows & smiles.

    “Nah, thought we could do what you want to do today.”

    “Really?!” he laughs, ok maybe I’ve been waiting for another shopping trip cause I’m getting tired of wearing the same old same old. “But wont you get bored? I mean a boy doing girl things…”

    “I’ll survive. Thought we could take the day off & let you be seen in public. I don’t think once this is all over we can come back the earth everyday.”

    “Why not, you said before we could…”

    “I know, I also said we could only stay for a few days. Once we overthrow Sa…ro, then we’ll be the rulers, I know I should have told you earlier.”

    “Yeah, would’ve been nice. That means I wont see my friends…”

    “I know it will be hard, but won’t they get suspicious if your not at school but see them all the time?” I grind my teeth. Why does he always have to be right?! Grr!

    “But my friends are on vacation, I can’t see them now.”

    “Do you know where they went?” asks Nikko.

    ‘Yeah, Tokyo. But I don’t know where they’ll be & Tokyo’s big & crowded.” Nikko smiles.

    “well it’s your day, we could walk over to Tokyo & shop while looking for them.” I laugh.

    “Walk?!” he chuckles.

    “Well walking for me that is & you could shop. Your friends like to shop too right?” True, Mia & Tani are probably the biggest girly girls in our school. Me… I’m more of a halfa; half girly but more tomboy though.

    “But isn’t shopping in Tokyo expensive?” I frown we can’t afford it.

    “Ehh, we’ll be able to afford it. We got loads of money from your…kidnaper.” nice save.

    “Ok then Nikko, lets go to Tokyo.” I climb on while he smiles.

    “Hold on tight.” I hold on & close my eyes. The wind blows my hair, should’ve worn a ponytail. I feel Nikko slow down, wonder if were close. “You all right Tsuki? I’ll run slower if you want, couldn’t hear you breath back there.” I smile.

    “Nah…I’m fine. I want us to get there A.S.A.P.”

    “All right hold on again.” I open my eyes but the warm breeze stings my eyes. I look into Nikko’s shirt while he laughs.

    “Might wanta keep your mouth shut, you might swallow a bug.” I mumble while he laughs more.
    “More protein.”
    “EW!!” He keeps laughing, I’m just waiting for a bug now.

    “Just joking Tsuki. I did swallow one once. Hit the back of my throat pretty hard. That’s why I hold my head up a bit more so they don’t hit me & I keep my eyes open.”

    “Yeah but they might still hit me.”

    “Nah, maybe my shirt, but there isn’t many bugs around here.” I look away from his shirt, eyes watering, & look at the sun. I’d say it’s around 5:15 ish. “Don’t worry, we’ll be there in a few minuets.” I look back into Nikko’s shirt & start to think where we should go to first. Where I want to go, or where Mia & Tani might be. I feel the wind die down & I look up. “Welcome to Tokyo.”