M.A.R.

Chapter 3

Their skin and hair was warm from the sun, their feet buried in the white, silky sand, their shoes somewhere along the border of the beach and the forest behind them.

"Hmm..." Ritsuka muttered, never taking his eyes off of the girl who seemed to glow in the setting sun. "Yeah..." he answered, clueless to whatever she stated.

Ami cast a stealthy sideways glance at him, "I was talking about the sea, you know." She turned to him, her smile questioning him.

"Wha-" Ritsuka blushed and quickly looked away. "S-so was I!" he fibbed nervously, "What do you th-think I was talking about?" he gave her a fake laugh and faced down, pretending to be interested in the sand instead.

Ami gave him a slight chuckle before everything was awkwardly silent again. "Hey... Do you still have that picture?" she suddenly asked him.

Ritsuka looked at her at first, but he knew exactly what she was asking about. He smiled as he pulled out the picture he had of her from his pocket. She was playing in the park, waving at Ritsuka to come play with her, her smile perfect and genuine.

Ritsuka handed the picture to Ami. She took it and laughed, "I was such a chubby five year old!"

"No you weren't! You were... cute..." Ritsuka confessed in a low whisper.

Ami looked at him, surprised, before she smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a worn out photograph. "This was a cute kid." Ami teased with a mischievous smiled, handing the picture to him.

It was him when he was six eating a huge hamburger that was stuffed with French fries. All of its ketchup was running down the side of his mouth because it wouldn't fit in. Ritsuka gasped, he didn't remember taking this picture.

Ami broke up into laughter at his reaction, stole the picture back, and handed him back his. Then she stood up and stretched.

Ritsuka was just about to question her when he suddenly realized where the sun was. "Ami! Its sunset!" he freaked out, jumping to his feet.

"Yep, sure is." She responded coolly, gazing at the setting sun.

"I have to get you home! Now!" Ritsuka continued to freak out, especially after she didn't seem to.

"Um, yeah. Don't worry about it, Ritsuka. We'll be-"

"NO!" Ritsuka picked her up bridal style and ran towards their shoes. "IF WE DON'T LEAVE NOW THEN YOU WON'T BE HOME UNTIL AFTER SUNSET AND REBECCA WILL THINK WE DID SOMETHING WE DIDN'T!!" he cried as he picked up their shoes and sprinted towards the mansion.______________________

"I can't believe you ran all the way here..." Ami muttered at the gasping Ritsuka as they stood at the doorstep of the mansion.

"And you two are still late." Rebecca stated menacingly from the front door. She had a cooking apron on and delicious scents poured from inside the mansion. "What," she shot a cold look at Ritsuka, "have you two been doing?"

"No-no-no-nothing!" Ritsuka waved his palms into the air as if he had just been caught by the cops.

"Nothing. At. All." Ami grinned, some sort of tartness in her voice.

"It better have been nothing." Someone stated as they walked into the light from the shadows.

Ritsuka, as if by instinct, put an arm between Ami and the suspicious figure as it de-shadowed itself. "Dad...?" Ritsuka gasped in disbelief as his father stood in front of him, his eyes burning. He looked just like a grown up version of Ritsuka: the wavy, blonde hair, the purple eyes, everything.

"Yes, Ritsuka," he gave his son a fake smile. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from this girl," he fired a look at Ami who was still behind Ritsuka's arm, "And what do I find you doing?" Ritsuka's body tensed up in anger as Ami turned away from his father's icy glare.

"Now get away from her or, so help me, I will kick you out of my house for good!" he threatened through tight, clenched teeth.

Ritsuka didn't move and never averted his gaze from his fathers.

"Now you listen here, Mister! Don't-"

"No, Rebecca..." Ami cut her off. "It's okay." She turned around and gave Rebecca a smile that hid all of her true emotions. "Ritsuka..." she turned back his way, but took a step away from him, "you should go home. You shouldn't have to be kicked out of your house just because of me."

"Ami!" he turned around, but her face was hidden in shadows.

"Go. You need your real father more than you know." She stated behind the dark mask. "And... Maybe we shouldn't hang out anymore..."

Ritsuka's heart seemed to stop as his guts exploded within him.

"That's a great idea; Ami, was it?" his father warmed up to the thought as he grabbed his son's limp arm. "Thanks, but he doesn't need your permission to leave." He growled as he pulled his flaccid son back home in the darkness. Ritsuka walked on like a zombie. He couldn't believe that Ami didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

"Ami..." Rebecca started as soon as they were swallowed in darkness. "Ami are-"

"This happened last time, too..." she turned around, tears running down her false smiling face. "Back when we were kids his dad did the exact same thing on the first day we met..." Rebecca's face spelt sorrow as Ami kept on smiling. "I guess things will never change. It doesn't matter if he's my best friend just like you told me, mother and father... I'll never belong anywhere!" Ami cried out as she dashed down the hill into the shadowy forest.

"Ami, come back!" Rebecca cried out into the night, "Please! Come back!" But Ami never stopped until the feel of foliage blended into soft, welcoming sand and the crashing waves urged her closer.

She walked on the beach for hours; tears fell from her cheeks onto the sand or into the sea or absorbed by her clothes. She promised herself that she wouldn't stop walking until she found the place where she had her best ideas as a child. It was a place where she spent a lot of her time when she had no one to call friend.

Finally, in the lonely moonlight, she found it. It was a grassy cliff that pulled out towards the ocean, its waves like fingers reaching towards the top of the cliff. Ami's heart lifted ever so lightly at the site of it. When she was at the top she sat down and listened to the crashing waves below her. All of the isolated memories of this place brought tears to her eyes. She was surprised at how much she could cry in a single night. She thought about how she couldn't fit in anywhere she went. Not the cities, not the towns, not even this little village that could be found on a map. Everyone thought of her as a monster, and she doesn't even know why. She thought about how easy it would be to just...give up.

Ami crawled to the edge of the cliff and took a look down. It was an easy 100ft above the sea- that much she could tell. She took a seat at the edge of the cliff and wondered if there were pointy rocks at the bottom like in the cartoons. She hadn't cared to look before about eleven years ago. She gazed up at the moon, taking in its mysterious beauty. Sighing, she stood up and took a good look at the world around her. Giving it one last giant smile, she took a deep, shaky breath and jumped..._______________________________________________________________