Full Moon Wo Sagashite Fan Fiction ❯ Sachi wo Sagashite ❯ Change of Fate ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
“Well, that's just great,” you muttered to yourself, wiping off the sludge and mud that flew onto your shirt and pants from the car that had just sped by. “Asshole!” You sighed, knowing that whoever it was probably hadn't heard you. “Just great....” Continuing on your way to where ever it was your feet took you, you stopped as you recognized a poster you had seen many times in the past week. “Full Moon, huh?” [1] Your eyes looked over the poster briefly, before you turned from it and kept on walking. “Lucky. She probably doesn't even realise how good she's got it. Especially since she's so popular, she's even a hit in places as far away as here, in small towns that no one has ever heard of.” You turned the corner and came upon the center of town, the busiest street in the city. Feeling slightly nervous at the prospect of having to push through the hoards of people, you swallowed that fear and went through.Your eyes fell onto a small unoccupied playground, a little ways from the street where there wasn't as much hustle from the crowd, and you made a beeline for it, and took a seat on the low-lying swing that was there. Lowering your gaze to the ground as you allowed your hair to shade over your eyes, you let out a sigh of relief. It seemed odd to you that you hated being among so many people instead of being alone, which you usually were, yet one of the things you wanted most in life was to be noticed and acknowledged as an existing person. That's one of the reasons you wanted to become a singer. You'd finally be noticed, and thus would have something to prove that you existed, that you were there. But, mostly, it was just because you loved to sing. There wasn't anything to it other than that. Growing up, you had never had much access to music, but through that, you had still developed a love for it and singing, which made it seem all the more apparent that that was where you should be headed with your life. But...you had never gotten a chance. Never once had you had a chance to show others your ability, never had you had a chance to become something in the music industry. Though, you supposed, there was a good reason.You had never taken the initiative to do it.Living in a town far from any large recording companies, or where any auditions for such things took place, you never got the chance to. You could have traveled to a place like this, but you had always stopped yourself. If you got nervous in the crowds of a small town like this, how would you ever be able to survive in the large, disorienting and frenzied crowds of a large city? “It's a hopeless dream,” you said softly to yourself, your eyes still focused on the ground as you swung lightly on the swing. “I guess I myself am hopeless, too. I have no home, friends, or living family. I'll probably die homeless and friendless, too. A nobody.... I'm hopeless. I've got nothing to live for, and I've got no one that would object to my death, either.”
Sliding out of the swing and onto the dusty ground beneath it, you bent your legs and rested your folded arms onto them, not daring to look up in fear of seeing the faces of those most likely laughing at you, or making rude comments about you. “No one would care about my death. Not even I would....”No more then ten minutes later, you found yourself making your way through the crowd again, your previous words echoing in your mind. “'Not even I would'. That's true.... I have nothing in life, not even my own happiness, and I don't really have any regrets. I could always....” Your eyes traveled out to the street full of cars speeding by well above the speed limit. “It would probably be quick, with how fast they're going. Besides, I'm probably going to die anyway. Going so long with an untreated tumor in my lung can't exactly be good.” Shaking your head in an indecisive way, you turned back your attention to continue walking along the stretch of cement. Stopping in front of a fast food restaurant, your hands fumbled in your pocket for any loose change that you had maybe picked up, and luckily, you had managed to save up $3.00 in change you had found. “Not much, but at least enough to keep my hunger at bay.” Clenching the money in your fist, you opened the door to the restaurant, your eyes briefly catching glimpse of a male and female with animal ears atop their head looking in your direction.When you entered the store, you avoided making eye contact with anyone, even the cashier, and ordered a drink and a sandwich. Deciding you didn't want to have to eat outside with the food, where you'd most likely drop it, you took a seat near the back of the restaurant where there weren't as many people eating. Quietly eating, you caught site of the same two people from before standing about 5 yards from you, looking in your direction, but you didn't turn to face them or greet them in any way.“Great, someone finally takes notice of me, and it has to be two weirdos that wear animal ears on their head....” They were speaking really loudly, and you wondered why no one else had taken notice to them being there, both because of their outfit and how loudly they were speaking. “Are you sure that's how she's supposed to die? That's so unfair!” The female of the two, who wore an outfit with a lot of lace, and adorned rabbit ears and a top hat, said, her hands clasped and her face pressed up against the male. “How is it unfair? She takes her own life, it's not as if another takes it from her themselves,” the other said, crossing his arms and arguing with the other. “Takuto! Don't be so mean!” Spoke the newly dubbed 'Pinky' (to you), who crossed her arms as 'Takuto' had done and turned from him with a 'hmph'. Before you could prevent it, you giggled at how they interacted, trying to not think about whatever it was they were talking about, which didn't sound like something too pleasant, if they were talking about a girl that was going to commit suicide. They didn't seem to have heard you, which was a relief, and when you finished eating you walked out of the restaurant and back onto the street you had previously been walking on.Turning the corner onto another busy street, your attention seemed to be focused even more on the rush of traffic next to you, and you could feel the cogs in your mind turning and thinking. The traffic next to you died down as a sign that the traffic had stopped due to a red light, and you stopped a long with them. Vaguely aware of the same two figures behind you, you closed your eyes and stepped out onto the road just as the cars rushed again, indicating the street light had turned green. Something in your mind clicked. Realising that the two strange people that seemed to now be following you had been talking about you back in the restaurant, on impulse you turned on your heel and took a step off of the street, just in time to avoid being hit by the oncoming car.Ignoring the screech of a car and the crash of one car into another, you looked straight at the two figures who were, to your surprise, now floating a foot in the air, and your eyes narrowed curiously at them, as if trying to figure them out. How did they know you were considering suicide, and why did they seem so sure that you were going to go through with it? The thought that these two strangers had been following you, and arguing over your fate angered you.With a bravery you had never showed before, you walked up to them. “Hey, you two!” They blinked, seemingly not realising you were speaking to them. “Hello, I'm speaking to you! The neko and usagi, right there!” Blinking once more, their eyes focused on you, and 'Pinky' freaked out at you addressing them.“Ah! She's speaking to us! Humans aren't supposed to be able to see us, yet she's speaking to us!” A small pink book appeared in her hand with a poof, as she turned the pages, as if consulting it about the situation. The other, 'Takuto', leaned forward, his face inches from yours. You blushed at this, silently cursing your sudden impulse to speak with them.“You can really see us?” “If I couldn't, why would I be talking to you?” Your voice was quieter than it had previously been, and you fought the urge to just turn and run away.“This isn't right!” The other jumped into the conversation again, waving her arms frantically. “Humans aren't supposed to be seeing us, or talking to us! Don't talk to her, Takuto!”“Um...”“If she's seen us already, what will it hurt to talk to her, Meroku?”“Uh, excuse me?” They both turned to you, and you felt nervous under their simultaneous gaze. “But who are you?”'Meroku's' distressed expression was replaced by a happy, grinning one. “I am Meroku!” With a sense that they had done this before, Takuto introduced himself as well.“And I'm Takuto.”“We are the two Shinigomi known as....” Meroku continued on.“Negi Ramen!” both said together, striking poses that looked to be very uncomfortable. You sweatdropped, and took another step back from them. Deciding not to comment on their name, you directed the conversation a different way.“Shinigami? For...me? Was I supposed to die just now, when I stepped out into traffic?”Takuto nodded. “You were supposed to, yes.” Meroku once again lost her composure, becoming frantic once more.“This can't be good! We have to report this to the boss! Her fate has been changed, that isn't supposed to happen!” Slightly irritated by the fact that it seemed she wanted you to have died, you defended yourself, all nervousness forgotten.“Hey! If you're so worried about me not dying, why don't you kill me yourself!” You crossed your arms, and turned away from her. “Besides, I'm probably going to die soon anyway because of my sickness, anyway.”“Sickness?” she turned to Takuto. “I didn't know you had a sickness! What is it?!” Once again, she was consulting her little book as if it had all the answers.“I...have a tumor on my lung. I've had it for about a year now, and I haven't seen a doctor and I haven't gotten any treatment for it. It's all the same to me anyway, it's not as if I have anything in life that I'm looking forward to, so you can just take me now if you want!” You turned to them hopefully, because the idea of them killing you than you killing yourself seemed all the more appealing. “You're...not crying? You're not upset that you were supposed to die?” Takuto asked you, scratching the top of his head.“Obviously not, if I was just going to do it myself!” You clasped your hands together, looking up into his blue-gray eyes. “You're a strange one,” he crossed his arms. You didn't argue. “What's going to happen now?” Meroku gave you a questioning look. “Huh?”“Well, if I was supposed to die right now, and I didn't, what's going to happen? And...are there going to be consequences that I didn't die?” “There have already have been consequences,” Takuto stated, nodding in the direction of an ambulance and crashed cars. Turning, you gasped. “W-what happened? A car crash?” You turned back to them. “Who was hurt?” “Hmm...,” Meroku turned a page in her book. “A little boy,” a frown creased her face. “He was hit instead of you, and will die in an hour's time.” Letting your face drop, your hands dropped to your sides in a defeated sort of way.“It's my fault,” you said, the deep, overwhelming feeling of guilt spreading over you. “It's my fault that he's going to die. Isn't it?” “Oh....no...I wouldn't....,” the female Shimigami tried to think of something to go against what you said, but you stopped her.“No, don't try to think up of a lie. It is my fault.” With one last glance, you walked off away from the area, your head still hung low. You sensed Takuto and Meroku floating behind you, following you. “What is it?” Turning to face them sharply, several people looked at you oddly as you passed. Meroku flew behind Takuto, who mushroom sighed. “Until we figure out what we have to do with you, we'll have to follow you around.” You took a moment to study him over, and noted his clothing: He wore jeans, and a blue high-collar, long-sleeved shirt that ended short to show his lean stomach. Over top of that, he wore a long, hooded blue coat with short sleeves, and fingerless gloves. On his head he wore what looked like some sort of hat with cat ears, and his long bangs hung out from under it, and the rest of his hair was tied back in a pony tail of sorts. Though you'd never admit it...you honestly thought he was rather cute, and your face reddened at the though.“Eh? What's wrong?” He flew forward towards you, and your face turned even redder.“N-nothing! It's nothing!” You turned around once more, and continued walking.

“Ooh, I see what's going on!” A mischievous look fell over Meroku's face, and she floated closer to Takuto to whisper something in his ear. “W-what are you saying to him?!” She ignored you, and as she whispered into his ear, his bored expression changed to a confused one.“Blushing, eh? Over what?”“N-nothing! I told you, it's nothing!” You stopped once again to turn to them, trying but failing to hide your reddened face. “Don't play stupid! You were blushing over my Takuto!” Meroku smiled broadly, her one eye closed in a wink. “I was not! Stop saying those lies!” You turned sharply to Takuto. “I was not, don't believe her! Why would I blush over you?!”“What's that supposed to mean?” He transformed into a small cat stuffed animal, his little arms and legs flailing. “It means that I wasn't blushing over you! I have no reason to!” You were getting more embarrassed than you had ever been, a new blush rising to your cheeks with every comment. “AH! Just forget this! I should jump out into traffic again just to get away from you two!” With your fists clenched at your side, you marched off away from them.

“What do you mean you have to follow me around? For how long?”“Until we find out what we have to do,” Meroku explained. “I don't know what to do in a situation like this, it's never happened to me before!”“Just goes to show that rabbits aren't the smartest animal around,” you mumbled under your breath.“What was that?!”“N-nothing!” Scolding yourself for being so openly rude, you decided to change the conversation. “So what now?”“What do you mean, 'what now'?” Takuto said, rejoining the conversation. “Well...what do we do now?” You looked back and forth between the two.“Whatever you do, we'll just follow you for now,” Meroku said, shrugging her shoulders.“But...all I do is walk around all day, there's really nothing more to it,” you said, a sweat drop rolling down your forehead. “It's rather boring.”“You don't go to school?” Takuto questioned, looking down at you from where he floated in the air. You shook your head in response.“No, I haven't gone to school since I was 9 years old.” Meroku did an anime-fall.“What?! Why not?” You looked to the ground, smiling slightly and shrugging.“How can a person with no home or family go to school? Anyway, I'm bored out of my mind. And...since I guess I'm going to die soon anyway, I've decided on what I'm going to do until then.” “What's that?” Meroku's voice asked, curiosity and excitement apparent in her voice. You looked up to the two of them.“I'm going to finally go to a large city to become a singer!” “Eh, whatever you want,” Takuto said, shrugging. “Just as long as you have no regrets and come with us when you need to.”“Regrets or not, I'd come willingly with you,” you said. “I just need to pick up my things before I do anything as far as becoming a singer goes.” With that, you took off running towards a less busy street in the town, ducking in and out of the people walking, with Takuto and Meroku following. “Ah! Wait up, wait up!” Meroku called after you. “Slow down!” Smiling to yourself, you just sped up even more....[1] Just because Meroku and Takuto aren't the Shinigami who go to her, doesn't mean there isn't another or two who help her out in the same way. At least, in this story, there are 2 other random Shinigami that help her out as Meroku and Takuto actually do.