Darkness. All around him, he saw darkness. All was silent until she spoke. Her voice was soft at first, but gradually crescendoed until her words became clear. She was calling out to him by a name he had never heard. "Ayumu.... You are in danger, Ayumu...." The name sounded familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. What was his name again?.... It had started with a "J" if he could recall. "Ayumu.... You must remember. They will try to take you if they find you.... Find me.... I will guide you back to the Shinkai." Remember? What had he forgotten? Who is he supposed to find? Who is trying to find him? The darkness seemed to lessen, as he could start to make out the face of a girl. Her dark hair and clothing made all but her hands and face nearly invisible, and those seemed so bright, they were hard to make out. She held out her arms to him. "Find me." She repeated. "I can explain then, but time is short. The fate of our world is in your hands...." In that instant, she was gone. His eyes blinked open sleepily. "You're gonna be late again, onii-chan~" He looked over sleepily at his little sister. "Late?...." She giggled, her white hair gleaming in the light that filtered in from outside. "Yeah! Late! For school. It's Monday, you didn't forget, did you?~" He was suddenly very much awake. "Wha?!" He looked over at the digital clock on his dresser. It was 8:57. School started nearly an hour ago! "Mae! You should have woke me sooner if you were already up!" She crossed her arms, looking a bit pouty. "Well.... It's not MY job to wake you up, Jonah...." Jonah sighed. Blaming a four year old wasn't going to help him in the slightest. He got dressed quickly and skipped breakfast, grabbing his backpack, he called over his shoulder "Bye, Mae!" He thought he heard her reply before the door to their room slammed shut as he bolted out the door, almost running into the "Kyuubi's Cradle Orphanage" sign that jutted just far enough onto the sidewalk to get in the way from time to time. Were he not in such a hurry, Jonah might have even noticed the man following him from a distance. He might have remembered his dream, and the girl's warning.
((End of intro. Just the intro to Kyuubi's Cradle, a manga I'm working on. For those who didn't see my last journal post, I will be using DA journals to develop the story in a novel format in preparation for my manga. All characters and ideas used are mine, don't use without permission and credit/link to my page. This manga is still in early production, so anything seen in these entries is subject to change in the final product. ~Takkuri))