Sand and Sun - Chapter 4

[temaridesertstorm]

The girl was there again, alone in the darkness, the water rippling at her ankles. The waves splashed up in their familiar pattern, and yet again, she ignored it. Her eyes closed and she waited, knowing the scream would come, but it didn’t. A voice echoed through the blackness, calling out in pain.
“Where…” it said, almost as if it was cut off, “Where…”
The voice grew louder with each time, as if the walls were closing in on the two occupants of the space. The girl tried to ignore the voice, but it grew louder, like the person was yelling their broken message into her ears. Finally succumbing to the pain in the voice and in her own ears, the girl spun around. There was the same figure, facing her with the same unmoving posture. Like before, she began to fall backwards, back into the dark tunnel behind her.
Kira woke up with a start, sitting up straight in her bed, like she had the first time the dream had come. Her dark blond hair was matted to her head with sweat, which was not that unusual out in the desert, but she was panting as if she had just run a marathon in that heat.
“You alright there?” Kankuro asked, sitting in a chair next to her bed.
She jumped back in shock, pulling the sheet on her bed close to her.
“Oh, Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” he said, trying to calm her down, “I was just worried a bit about you.”
“No need to worry about me,” she sighed, her heartbeat finally slowing down, “I’m fine. Has Temari-san left already?”
“Yeah, Temari left about an hour ago. You sleep a lot. It’s already noon.”
Kira was surprised. “Really? I slept that long? I didn’t think I was that tired…”
“No need to worry about that now!” Kankuro blurted out, waving his arms around in front of him, “What do you wanna do today?”
“What? I get to pick?”
Kankuro nodded.
She thought for moment. “Can you let me see Karasu again? Please? I promise I’ll be careful.”
He laughed. “Of course you can. I’ll be in control of him, though.”
She quickly clambered out of bed and went downstairs, looking around the kitchen. Kankuro came in after her.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Something smells really bad,” she mumbled, plugging her nose.
“Oh, that just the compost bin.”
“Compost bin?” she asked, sounding funny with her nose plugged, “What’s that do?”
“We live out in the desert,” he explained, “Because of that, we have no soil in which to grow herbs and other plants that are vital to us out here. By putting our decomposable items into a compost bin, we let them turn into compost, which we can use to grow things.”
“Sounds complicated,” she said, looking at him, slightly confused.
“It’s not really that complex,” he sighed, “It’s just as simple as putting the stuff in the bin and making sure it’s ready to collect on the certain day.”
“Oh, alright. Um, I changed my mind. I’m really tired, so I’m gonna go back to sleep. Sorry.”
Kankuro blinked. “That’s alright. If you’re tired, you can go sleep.”
“Thank you,” she said politely, walking back upstairs. She went back into her room and sat down on the bed.
“Is something wrong with me?” she asked herself, “Or is it this dream? Is it that person who seems to be looking for someone? If they are, then why are they bothering me? Does this have anything to do with me? Or maybe…” The words chocked in her throat, “Maybe they know who I am, and where I came from.”
She mussed things over for a minute, wondering what the reason for the dreams could be, but she came up with nothing. Giving up, she laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, waiting for her nightmarish dream to come and take her.