The Bad Promise

"Come on Pyry! Let's play tag!" An excited kid's voice said. A gentle push from his back by his mother, made the adorable black haired boy with a round pale face and blue eyes, step forward.

"I've told you before, it's pronounced Pyry(Pie-Ree)." Even though the eight year old said that, his blank face didn't seem in the slightest bit annoyed. He then followed after the short black haired girl, who ran around frolicking in the grass. He pretended to try and catch her, making the girl giggle in delight as she ran faster than him.

The girl was Akari Konoe, and she was the neighbors kid. She had short black hair, green eyes, a cute chubby face, and looked more like a boy than a girl.

They were the same age, so of course they'd be playing together. Pyry eventually gave up chasing after the girl, bored. Looking around the park, he went to the swings and sat on one.

Akari followed him closely, like a little duckling, as she ran towards the boy older than her by a few days. She also sat on a swing and started kicking her legs to gain momentum.

'Why do my mom and her mom have to be such good friends?' Pyry wondered downtrodden. The irony of the situation was that his mom and Akari's mom only became friends because of their children. Sighing, Pyry also started to kick his legs to distract himself. Not before the young girl reminded him of her presence.

"Let's see who can get higher! Hehehe!" Akari shouted as she swung. Pyry paid no mind to her though.

'How will He get me in this life? Steal my girlfriend if I get one? Kill everyone I love if I even do love? Torture me slowly? Frame me for murder? Mind control my family to forget my existence?' The guy had done worse, but Pyry wasn't going to say them.

The man was practically a god. Why would a god torment him for eternity? Hell if he knew, but he had stopped caring awhile ago. It was more fun to guess which new and unique way he'd find to torture him than worry about it. With a frown plastering his lips, Pyry absentmindedly jumped off the swing and landed perfectly on the ground with his arms in a t-pose.

Akari, seeing that looked like fun, followed his example and jumped off as well. Pursing his lips Pyry caught the girl, or, tried too, as his body wasn't strong enough to stop her speed and hold her weight with sheer strength. So he could only use his body as a cushion.

"Happy?" Pyry asked with a raised brow while underneath the young girl.

"Hehehehe! No! No! Let's do it again!" She told him.

"I won't catch you next time." The girl swiftly shut up, she knew Pyry was serious. Pyry's mom, Elizabeth soon arrived after rushing over at seeing Pyry get injured.

"Oh my god! Pyry are you okay?!" She screamed as she examined his body. He was fine besides a few scratches and bruises. She let out a breath of relief upon seeing that.

"Akari, I forbid you from jumping off the swings!" She reprimanded the eight year old, making her tear up and sniffle.

"B-but…"

"No buts! And Pyry, I thought I taught you better than to do that!"

"You didn't though?" Pyry spoke with a tilted head and, his index finger on his chin. It was a very cute gesture for speaking back to his mother.

"What! I-I haa… let's just get you two home." Elizabeth had no words for Pyry. He was always like this, talking back, and making things hard for her and Johnathan. He was weird, smart, aloof, and rude, but he was still her kid.

No matter how… detached he seemed from them.

...

While on their way to his mother's car, Pyry stopped. He stood still and looked up into the sky. He could feel it.

'Something bad happened. Something bad always happens.' Pyry turned towards his mother, and looked at her, making the woman confused. He could feel it, something bad.

"Mom, call the ambulance. Dad… Dad is injured." He was probably already dead, maybe crippled at worst.

'Just be dead. Don't make it hard on us.' His mother was kind, she'd obviously provide for her crippled or vegetable husband. Frowning at her child's words, Elizabeth quickly dialed John's phone number.

"Hey Beth, something wrong?" A male's voice asked. A smile graced the woman's face as she looked at Pyry while speaking. The kid really did care for them.

"Nothing, just a wild kid's imagination. I'll see you soon sweetie, we're on our way back right now. Bye-bye, love you." Before John could say another word Elizabeth already hung up.

After hanging up and pocketing the phone, Elizabeth bent over with her hands on her knees. She towered over the short Pyry. "Your father's alright. You don't need to worry kiddo."

Pyry just shrugged, his thoughts already elsewhere.

'Was I wrong about an incident? That'd be the first…' He could always tell when something wrong would happen, it was like a sixth sense that only belonged to him.

But, for some reason, nothing bad had happened that day.

...

Pyry was outside on a hilltop, the sun was setting and he was playing with Akari as usual. Tired, Akari sat on the ground, and patted the grass next to her. Pyry indulged in her childishness, and sat besides her, both staring into the orange sunset. The grass swayed gently from the blowing wind, and Akari asked something Pyry's heard a million times before.

"Pyry, let's get married when we grow up Kay? Then we can be together forever!" She smiled innocently as she turned her head towards Pyry.

"You do that Akari. You do that…" Pyry lied on his back and stared up into the darkening magenta sky.

'Naïve. So naïve.' He knew all too well that nothing lasts forever. Pyry had lost too much to be like her, and he knew, that eventually, he'd lose her to.

That Man would never rest until He broke him. Why? Well, Pyry had already thought about it before, he had thought so much about the why of the problem, that he nearly went insane. Why him? What did he do to deserve this?

'I didn't do anything.' That was the answer, no reason. That was why, Pyry resolved to live until the Man grew bored of him. Then he would live a peaceful life, and die. A slightly embarrassed voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Pyry, close your eyes please!" The girl commanded. She knew he would obey, he was quite passive. Pyry could tell what she was about to do, it had happened to him too many times to count.

Pyry just sighed and closed his eyes. Soon, a small peck was felt upon his lips before disappearing. It was an awkward, wet, uncomfortable kiss. Yet that very kiss was filled with the innocence of a young child who didn't know anything more than the friend she liked, school, friends, and her family.

He knew soon to, that it would disappear as well. Nothing stayed innocent. Pyry looked at her. Akari's face, neck, and ears were completely red. It was cute.

"Pyry, it's a promise right?" She asked bashfully.

"Yeah… it's a promise." Pyry smiled sadly.

Akari was surprised, it was the first time she had ever seen the boy smile. He always had that dead look on his face, as if nothing could ever faze him. But she knew differently. He may not express it, but he never did anything that could harm her, he always protected her, and he always went along with everything she asked. She knew he cared very much about his family and her.

But that wasn't why she was surprised. Despite them always being together and playing, and despite him smiling right now…

'Why does Pyry look so sad and lonely?' His smile filled with sorrow would forever be burned in her memory, from this bad promise, that he knew would never come true.

It had never come true before. And he was right, because the very next day, an accident happened.