Ink Stained

55: nightmares are memories*

Pai started in surprise when a strand of black hair fell over her eyes. She had decided to dye it, for a bit, so as not to attract so much attention. If she had never started going to high school and done everything online, she wouldn't have even thought about any attention being directed at her because of it.

Now she knew better.

Shiori had been the one to help her apply the colour on, and everyone back home had been shocked to see her with black hair. It was also Shiori who dispelled the surprise on everyone's faces by quipping, "Now y'all know what Pai-chan looked like with black hair."

Obaasan smacked Shiori with her cane for saying it in a faked Kansai dialect.

She lifted a hand to push her dyed black hair out of her eyes, still unused to the colour. She'd been longing for her black hair to return for so long, but now that she was – at least temporarily – rid of the white hair, she didn't feel quite as relieved as she'd have thought. She stilled gawked in surprise whenever she looked in the mirror to see not a white-haired Pai staring back, but a black-haired one.

It was like she was a completely different person. It was so jarringly different, so deeply black, that it looked a little...fake. She would have thought that dyeing her hair would make her feel better about it, make her feel like she'd returned to the normal girl she once was, but it hadn't. It only made her feel more oddly detached from herself and who she was.

Even though she was finding that she wasn't entirely sure who she was. Not anymore.

Much as she hesitated to admit, her white hair was a part of herself. She honestly couldn't wait for the chance to scrub the black dye off just so she could see the white again.

She blinked as she looked down, and saw that Shiori's knuckles had gone pale from strain. Her nails dug in so hard to the flatly cushioned armrests that they left little indents behind as the plane finally righted itself in the air, and the pressure returned to a semblance of normalcy.

"Since when are you afraid of heights?" she asked. She noted that her voice sounded as curiously empty as her mind had been.

Haru laughed. "Even Pai-chan didn't know."

"Haru, you're loud." Ryosuke grumbled irritably from the seat beside Haru, pushing his headphones down around his neck. "Keep quiet."

"I thought you were listening to music and reading your book." Haru asked, turning to him in surprise.

"Even the music isn't as loud as you are." Ryosuke deadpanned.

"Better not say any more, Haru-kun," Shiori said superciliously. "He'll burn you."

"More like drown," Pai commented idly. She glanced over at the two Daitengu who Kouta had attached to the girls for the trip to Kyoto while the rest flew to the main village ahead. Their attention had already been diverted as Haru poked and prodded at Ryosuke about what music he was listening to. "That makes more sense."

"Your social language is ancient, Pai-chan." Shiori mumbled as she swallowed thickly. The plane was safely in flight, yet she still looked ready to bolt, given the chance. "I meant he'd burn him with sarcasm. Ryosuke-kun's a genius with it. And I can see that question mark on your face so I know you don't understand what I mean by 'burn with sarcasm'."

She smiled faintly, not surprised that Shiori had caught the confusion that crumpled her face. She glanced out the window again. "But I did not know you are afraid of heights."

"I am not afraid of heights." Shiori corrected haughtily, as if offended at the very insinuation that she could be afraid of anything. "I just hate the part before we are in the air. I really, really hate it."