8One
Sing a Song of Summers Ago
The distinct calls of seagulls echoed overhead as the sea below sang in rhythm with the summer breeze. Light blue stretched for miles overhead; the sky enjoying the warm weather just as much as Earth's inhabitants were. A single boat sat in the blue-green waters as it rocked gently with every push and pull of the ocean. The beach was able to be seen a few miles off towards the east, but it was only a small spec compared to the wide expanse of water.
Six year old Ichigo Kurosaki slowly saunters towards the railing at the front of the boat with his hands clamped behind his back and a wide smile matching his wandering eyes. His chocolate brown eyes darted between all the new sights the ocean brought to him, and he mentally snapped pictures of anything new he laid eyes on so he could explain everything in detail to his father when he returned to Japan.
A gentle breeze blew once again and Ichigo raised his arms and let the cool air flow into his shirt and cool the sweat dripping down his back. His hair danced in the wind; and the young boy held in a giggle as the fine strands tickled his sensitive neck. With an almost giddy expression, Ichigo closed his eyes and, with is arms still in the air, started to turn in circles while the air twirled around him in delicate patterns as if his partner in a waltz. To Ichigo, this was as close to heaven as he needed to be.
With a quick lurch of the boat, Ichigo's eyes opened in alarm as he lost his balance and his body pitched forward. He quickly fell towards the nearby railing that separated him from the edge and the swirling waters below. Ichigo gasped as he saw the metal railing come towards his face at an alarming rate of speed, and he closed his eyes to ready himself for the impact.
After a few seconds had passed Ichigo noticed his body was no longer moving. Gently, Ichigo cracked his right eye open and was met with the sight of silver only centimeters away from his face.
"You're a klutz."
Ichigo smiled as the familiar voice spoke behind him. The small fist clutched Ichigo's white button-up shirt tightly and pulled backwards, making Ichigo's body come away from the dangerous obstacle that was once in front of him. With a smile, Ichigo turned around and tucked his hands into the deep pockets of his black dress pants. A light flush decorated his fair skin, and it darkened as his eyes landed on his best friend's figure next to him.
"Starrk-chan?" The orange-headed child smiled sincerely at his friend. "Thank you!"
His lazy companion scoffed and turned his head away from Ichigo's innocent figure. "Yeah."
Starrk was only a year older than Ichigo was, and they had met a few months ago through their parents while they were visiting on business. After seeing Starrk sleep through the danger alarms on the boat going off, Ichigo had decided that this guy was certainly someone he needed as a new friend. He had laughed at Starrk's sleeping habbits, and in turn, Starrk had found humor in Ichigo's bright orange hair like any normal person would. They pinky swore they'd be best friends that day, and they both upheld their promise. They were the perfect partner's; total opposites in almost every way. Ichigo picked the blue Popsicle and Starrk picked the red, Ichigo like vanilla and Starrk preferred strawberry. Their opposite personalities made them all the more better for each other. Ying and Yang, you could say.
Ichigo suddenly gasped, and with a quick turn the young boy took off for the front of the ship. Starrk pivoted on his heels and watched his friend run away from him, and with a content sigh the older boy slowly walked after the overly excited boy. A few men started yelling about the cleaning job on the deck, and out of the corner of his eye Starrk's father appeared looking tall and dangerous. He clearly stood a good two feet higher than most of the people on board the ship, but he looked even taller standing next to Ichigo's mother, who was at least four feet shorter than him. Starrk had inherited most of his traits, both physical and personality wise, from his father.
Starrk finally caught up with Ichigo as the younger boy wrapped his arms haphazardly around the railing at the very front of the ship and pointed out to the sea.
"Look!"
A few perky dolphins swam by, jumping out of the water and screeching loudly to one another. A few droplets splashed water onto the deck because they were so close to the ship.
"Ichigo! Be careful next to the edge like that!" Masaki Kurosaki warned her son as she came closer. Following closely behind was Starrk's own parent, looking dark and ominous.
Ichigo turned around and locked eyes with his mother. They were the spitting image of each other, orange hair that could be seen for miles away, and eyes that twinkled and smiled like every moment were the most amazing thing to happen to them.
"Yes, Mummy!" Ichigo turned back around, but Starrk still faced his father. Adrik Coyote, top CEO of three oil companies in northern Europe. Filthy rich, good looks, and a new trophy wife every two weeks. Adrik Coyote was the definition of greed, and was the worst type of person to befriend. Starrk, unlike Ichigo, had to deal with being the son of such an important man, and had to live without knowing who his real mother was.
Starrk's dad turned sharply away from him and walked back the way he had came, but Ichigo's mom offered the other boy a kind smile and a small wave.
"Good evening, Starrk-kun. Are you doing all right?" This woman practically glowed without the aid of any lighting substances. Her smile could have lit up all of Japan, Starrk concluded.
"Yes."
'Keep your dignity, boy. The Coyote family's better than any other family on Earth, and don't you forget that. Never submit to anyone, ever.'
It was a lame excuse for his rudeness, but it was the only one Starrk could come up with then. He felt horrible when he acted this way to Ichigo's sweetheart of a mom.
Masaki reached down and flattened Starrk's messy brown hair down, but it sprang back up anyways. She laughed at that.
"You watch after my son, okay? He's not as strong as you are yet, so he needs a little help. I'm sure he'd never admit that though." she giggled to herself.
'No matter what, you only take orders from me kid. That's how the Coyote family works, always has, always will.'
"I'll try." he managed to get out while getting rid of the ridiculous sayings from his father in his head. Masaki nodded a thank you, and followed the trail where Adrik had marched off to moments ago.
"Wow..." Ichigo whispered in wonder as the mammals swam off into the water. His eyes sparkled and the orange-headed kid looked like he had just seen the single most amazing thing on Earth. Starrk had to admit, though, that the dolphins were kind of cool. Although it wasn't a first time for him, being at sea that is. He had been born and raised in Italy; having only recently moved to Japan within the last year and a half. Plenty of times his father had taken him to the expanse water the stretched along the peninsula. Ichigo, on the other hand, have been withheld from that experience until now. Starrk figured it was because of mommy Kurosaki being so protective.
It was ironic, though, that she would be so protective of her one and only son, but would still bring him onto a boat full of predators. Ironic that she would let one of those predators become best friends with Ichigo, and even more ironic that she didn't seem to care, even if Starrk was alone with her son. The current issue was poking into Starrk's cheeks at the moment, but he hid it well. Ichigo had never noticed his elongated teeth, but that would probably change as he got older.
Starrk sighed, being a vampire isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.
"Starrk-chan, you okay?" Starrk almost jumped away from Ichigo as he finally zoned back into reality and noticed Ichigo only inches away from his face; looking into his eyes with concern and a frown marring his tan face.
"Hm." Starrk nodded. The mix of heat and the brightness of the sun was making him sleepy, and without alerting Ichigo, Starrk began glancing around for a nice spot to take a power nap.
"Starrk-chan is sleepy." Ichigo observed with a sad tone. Starrk kept his eyes on the ground-for good reason. As soon as the brown headed man got the nerve to glance up, he was met with the overly disappointed face of his best friend.
"You shouldn't be too surprised; I'm always looking for a nap."
"But still!" Ichigo threw his arms up dramatically to prove his point. Starrk laughed as Ichigo's bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
"I have a bad feeling, Starrk-chan."
Starrk looked up at this and searched Ichigo's face. Ichigo looked genuinely afraid, his eyes wide and his eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"You have bad feeling 'bout what, Ichi?"
"Ichi-chan!" Ichigo corrected with his hands sitting angrily on his hips. Starrk nodded in apology, and egged Ichigo to continue. As Ichigo sat on the cold, wet wood of the ship, Starrk leaned against the railing; looking off in the distance but still completely aware of what the younger boy next to him was doing.
"I just feel like," Ichigo paused and brought his hands to his lap and started to wring them around each other. "I just feel like something bad's gonna happen today, something really bad. Can't explain it." Ichigo frowned and bit his bottom lip softly. Not only did it feel like it was going to happen today, if felt like it was going to happen soon. Sickeningly soon.
This seemed to stump whatever conversation the two were having. Starrk was zoned out, thinking about what Ichigo had just confessed to him. Ichigo was too worried to say anything right now, and he was looking at a few of the crew members scrub the deck.
Suddenly, Ichigo stood up and started looking around for his mother. Ichigo's sharp movements caused Starrk to stir, and with it he heard something. Something strange, something off. Ichigo seemed to almost be in tears, and the young boy took off after some thought.
His feet caught on slick spots a few times, and Ichgo had to keep himself from falling. Something was happening, is happening! And he needed his mom. Ichigo slammed on the breaks.
He also needed his best friend.
Ichigo turned backwards and, with a sigh of relief, noticed Starrk making his way closer to the orangette. His curly hair was bouncing as he took long strides, and the frown marring his tan face wasn't unnoticed by Ichigo, even when he was so distressed. Ichigo didn't like seeing Starrk unhappy.
Neither of them spoke as the took off again, Ichigo still leading them down the narrow wooden strips. Ichigo figured either Starrk believed what Ichigo was talking about easily, or he had felt the disturbance too. He figured it was the latter, if not a mixture of both.
The two kids rounded a corner, and a scream echoed. Ichigo held his breath. The scream had been his.
Before anything drastic happens, I would like to announce that story has some similarity to another story recently published. Either way, I had not copied them, and they had not copied me. Sometimes, things happen like that. I felt the urge to post this anyways, but if it bothers anyone please let me know. I hope we have reach a nice agreement. No one copied anyone. Fate has its reasons for being. Crap comes up, and it's not stopping me, my friends.
If you have some sort of urge to read it, I have located the story. Oh, and one more detail first. The first draft of this story was written with Grimmjow instead of Starrk. That will show even more similarity. Hm.
The story is called Amnesia, by contestantnumber2
I have actually not read past the first page of this, and probably will not do so, so if anything bothers you, let me know. I'm all ears.
Ashley
-Edit. I added the scene with Starrk's dad and Ichi's mom. The story didn't seem right when I took that out.