109Kaori tossed a tennis ball a bit far and her dog ran towards, catching it in midair with its mouth and returned it to her while wagging its tail enthusiastically. Kaori smiled. "Good boy, Ichiro." She patted her dog on the head, massaging it gently but stopped because she heard footsteps getting nearer towards her direction. They're coming this way I think…, she thought to herself as she listened closely. Her hands shook a bit.
When the footsteps stopped, she held her breath.
Yukimura stood in front of her, gazing at her. He couldn't believe that she would be real and curiosity began building up inside him. Before he could even speak, the girl spoke first.
"Is someone there?"
He blinked. This happened in the dream before. "Excuse me but what is your name miss?" he asked inaudibly.
Kaori distinctively flinched just by hearing his voice. Oh my gosh…it's a male. What am I going to do? Do I know him? "Who are you?" she reluctantly asked.
He noticed that she wasn't facing him directly so he asked back, "Why aren't you looking at me?"
She bit her lip. "I don't know what you mean." She stood up, still looking away.
"Oi missy he's asking you nicely, you know." Niou cutted in.
She back away a bit, trying to feel around her by using her senses as hard as she could. "I do not like to speak to strangers so please leave me alone." She said bravely.
"Well, you're speaking to us." Niou smirked.
Kaori's mind was looking for a good way to get out of this mess. Then, an idea sprang into her mind. I hope this works.
Renji, who was standing not far away from them, noticed something about her and was about to tell this to the other two when the young girl raised her hand and pointed behind them, shouting and sounding surprised, "Isn't that Nana Kitade?!"
Niou, who is always a ladies' man and a total flirt, looked back, pulling Yukimura as well and exclaimed, "Really? Where is she?"
Kaori took this chance and held Ichiro by the leash and whispered, "Lead the way, Ichiro." The dog wagged its tailed and complied, jogging towards a crowd of people and guided the blind girl safely away from the three men.
Shortly after the so-called commotion, Niou pouted. "Nana-chan's not here." He looked back to face the young girl but noticed that she no longer was there. "Where is she?!" he gawked.
Renji sighed deeply. "She left right after you looked back."
"And you know this? Why didn't you stop her?" the trickster questioned him.
"It's inappropriate. And besides," Renji said simply.
"What?" Niou wondered. Yukimura didn't speak and just listened.
"Didn't you notice that she's sightless?" the data gatherer said finally.
"She's…sightless?" Yukimura repeated, looking slightly surprised.
Niou whistled. "How do you know that she's blind?"
"Two reasons. Firstly, she's not directly looking at Seiichi when talking to him. Secondly, she had a dog as a companion and it's obvious that the dog is trained to assist and guide sight-impaired people." He explained coolly.
"Oh." Niou nodded. He turned his attention towards the Rikkai Buchou and asked, "So she's blind…does that answer your curiosity about your dream? You mentioned that she wasn't looking directly at you."
"I suppose but I didn't manage to get her name. Pity." He chuckled.
"Oi buchou! Even Niou and Renji's here!" a familiar voice spoke few feet away.
The three regulars turned around and saw the Marui and Jackal. "Why are you here?" the trickster questioned them.
"I'm going to meet a friend here and introduce her to Jackal here." Marui said bluntly as he popped his gum.
Niou smiled slyly. "Really? Who's the girl?"
The self-proclaimed genius frowned. "Yeah and I'm not gonna let someone like you get to know her." He said haughtily.
"Aren't you protective of that girl? So, do you know where she is? We might be able to help you…" He suggested.
"Niou…" Jackal warned.
"Fine. I won't go near her within five feet. Happy?" he huffed, his arms crossed.
Mrui contemplated for a while and nodded finally. "She's this tall and had long yellow orange hair tied up in a braid. She got sapphire-coloured eyes and she's with a golden retriever." He described.
Niou, Renji and Yukimura stared at him in disbelief.
Marui eyed on them. "What's with that look?"
"That girl you're describing is her?!" the trickster exclaimed.
"Yeah, she is and do you know where she is?" Marui said irritably.
Ranji interrupted. "Apparently, we did. She was sitting on this bench shortly before you came."
"Really? Where did she go?" Marui asked brightly.
"We don't know. She kind of…ran away." Seiichi told him.
"What do you mean by that?!"
Renji sighed and just explained to him what happened. After that, he left Marui gaped at them, looking really shocked. "You scared her, that's what happened!" he bellowed.
"Hey it's not like we did on purpose! Buchou wanted to talk to her!" Niou hissed.
"I'm sorry, Bunta." Seiichi apologized. "It's just that…"
Marui popped his gum yet again. "Yeah…your dream, huh? I understand. Curiosity got the better of you…"
"That is true." He smiled. "So, will you tell what her name is? I wasn't able to get it."
"Ogawa Kaori. She's my childhood friend, if you want to know." Marui said indifferently.
"And you know that she's blind?" the trickster asked.
"She's not really blind from the very beginning. It started at the age of 7 and by the time the both of us entered junior high, her parents pulled her out from school and since then she started home studying until now." He told them.
"Did she get on an accident?" Jackal wondered.
The red head shook his head. "It's a rare disease in the eye. It affects to people at a young age and as the person grows, the person's eyesight weakens until they're completely blind by the time they're 30 but I guess Kaori-chan's case is a bit different because she's gone sightless before going 30."
"It must be hard for her."
"Not really. She said that she's doing really fine. So, tell how did she manage to get away from you?" Marui asked them.
"She pointed something behind us and shouted, 'Is that Nana Kitade?!' and ran off as soon as Niou looked away." Seiichi chuckled.
The trickster flushed.
Marui guffawed. "I can't believe that she got you fooled! You're a total idiot! You're worse than Akaya!"
"Why you-!"
"You two cut it out or you'll be running 300 laps tomorrow, I can assure you of that." Seiichi shot them a you'll-be-suffering-if-you-two-don't-stop-that glare.
The two regulars stopped abruptly and nodded vigorously. "So what are you going to do now, Marui?" Renji said inquiringly.
"Oh you mean about Kaori-chan? I guess she went home already." Marui said thoughtfully.
"Aren't you worried? She's sightless you remember?" Jackal frowned at him.
"She may be blind but you'll be surprised about her. She's with Ichiro and that dog's a good guardian and Masahiro-san must've seen her before going out of the park." Marui said coolly.
"Who's Masahiro?" Renji asked yet again.
"Kaori-chan's personal driver and guardian when going outside." Marui said exasperatedly. "Will you guys stop asking questions about her? I had a feeling that you want to know her more…"
"Actually, we did." Niou smirked. "She sounds interesting, ne Mura buchou?"
Seiichi didn't say anything back and walked away. "Let's just go home, minna. We'll be practicing hard tomorrow and I won't be showing any mercy to any of you, understand?" He said gently with seriousness mixed.
"Of course." Niou smirked.
"Ah." Renji said curtly while Jackal nodded once.
"We heard you." Marui popped his gum.
The other regulars didn't stand any longer and followed their captain. Seiichi, on the other hand, continued to smile and he thought to himself, I'm sure I'm going to meet her again.
I researched at bit about eye disease or disorders and after reading a couple of times, I've decided to use Leber Congenital Amaurosis because I think it's good enough and that it has a good treatment…but you know…it takes a while for it to effect, right?
I've searched the net for more Japanese names and I got really confused about Kaori's meaning because first off the meaning is Beautiful Fragrant girl for girls but then there's this other site that says that Kaori's meaning is Add a man's strength and it's for males…It's confusing. If one of you readers is Japanese, please enlighten me.
Explanation about how she knows Nana Kitade will be on the next chapter, lol. And Nana Kitade's a real person and she's one of the popular female singers in Japan and I am one of her fans, lol. Please Review!