Chapter 3: Manifestation Three:The Passion of Love

I began stretching exercises with Tama-sensei once she was on the ground, but she seemed to be fighting it. Every time I came too close to her she became even more flustered. I had her seated on the ground with her legs split so she could stretch the hamstrings by having me push gently on her back. She was so stiff and tight that I had to lean against her to get any motion. This seemed to do nothing more than cause her to tense even more. Finally I moved around in front of her and sat with the soles of our shoes pressed together, and I grabbed her hands and pulled her towards me and down. This worked for a little while, until we changed. I had her elbow locked and back to back with me, as we each leaned forward and backwards to warm up the back muscles. At this point she became flustered again and I could see beads of perspiration forming on her face. I slipped out of her arms accidentally when I had bent forward, and she slid off the side of my back and began to fall to the ground. I was fast enough that I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. This caused her to be wrapped carefully in my arms and held tightly to my chest. Her eyes were closed tightly for a moment and then she relaxed. She almost went limp in my arms.

"I've got you, sensei." I said, and rose to an upright state before setting her down on her feet.

She wobbled a bit and then jumped back from me with a start. She had a caught look on her face. The look one had when they were caught doing something they were not supposed to do. "OK, everyone. 20 times around the field!" she shouted with a nervous edge to her voice.

As a group we moved out jogging. The field was surrounded by an asphalt running track of 10 lanes. We all ran down the inside lane in file until a shout from Tama-sensei stopped us short. "30 laps! Get out of the inside lane. I want you all running in the outside lane all the way around!"

As one the class turned to me and glowered. I looked behind me to see who they might have been looking at, but I was all alone. I couldn't quite guess why they might have been mad at me. I moved to the outside lane and jogged closer to the last woman to hear what she was saying to her friend.

"He really pissed her off, didn't he?' Said the women in front of me.

"Did you see how flustered she got when he was leaning against her?" asked the woman in front of her.

I made enough noise as I ran that both woman saw me and moved out of listening range. I thought about what they had said and couldn't figure out what I had done to make sensei so mad. I had not had any contact with her at all until the beginning of class just a few moments ago. In that time there had been nothing done that could have caused her to be angry, except maybe my bad attempt at helping her stretch. I would have to apologize for that right now, and help her to stretch properly, I thought. I abruptly changed directions and headed at a jog to where Tama-sensei stood. She didn't realize I was not running with the rest of the class, as she was facing the front of the line of joggers and I had been at the back of that line. It wasn't until I was standing next to her that she understood that something was amiss. The class was watching her intently as they jogged. I stepped up next to her and spoke.

"Tama-sensei, I am sorry I did such a terrible job of helping you stretch before working out. I know you cannot safely work out without a decent warm up, so I will help you and do better this time."

Tama-sensei jumped away from me with a look of shock and surprise, as she wasn't expecting me to be there. She lost her balance in the process and landed on her backside on the ground. I took this opportunity to move into the first of many close-contact stretching exercises. She seemed to be a bit tight at first, but soon she began to loosen up and move the way I moved her. It was at this point that I noticed that the other women that were supposed to be jogging around the track had stopped and were now standing off to the track near us, watching us. I noticed several of them were giggling behind their hands and whispering to each other. I paused for a moment to figure out what might be of interest to them, when I heard a groan of frustration from Tama-sensei, "Mmmm, don't stop..." she said breathlessly. I took a closer look at her and realized that something was wrong. She had a glazed look in her eyes and a light sheen of perspiration that should have not been there, as we had only spent a short time doing close-contact exercises. I looked around to the others and noticed the open expressions of humor. This was not right. I stepped back from sensei and stated. "I will no longer come in contact with you, Tama-sensei, as this seems to cause you distress. I'll leave it up to another student to assist you. I am sorry to cause you such trouble." I bowed, turned and jogged off to the track to complete the rest of the laps. I was alone in this, as they had all gathered around sensei and looked like they were talking amongst themselves and with her. I ignored them for the rest of the jog. I finished the final lap and headed off to the change room. I almost made it back to the room without anyone noticing me, but as it turned out there was a small group of women standing at the door of the storage/change room I had used. I thought at first it was just a coincidence, but as I grew closer to them I knew that they had been waiting for me and nothing else. I stopped a meter or two away from them, warily.

"You know you're not a particularly nice person." said one of the group. I recognized her from the track a few moments earlier. She had been the one just in front of me while running, "I think ignoring Sensei's feelings is just too cruel. You are a heartless and cold person."

I examined the group carefully before I spoke. "If you're so upset about how bad sensei's feelings were hurt then I suspect you are hoping for more than is truly there. I don't think you have the right to project your emotional hopes on others. If you need to feel such emotions, then feel them yourself rather than through someone else."

I brushed by them and entered the storage room, closing the door behind me. I made sure that the locking latch was secure and changed quickly. I didn't hear any noise from outside and thought that they had left. I slid the door open a bit and looked out. All routes of escape were blocked by the same women that I had spoken with just outside. They were staring at me with cold looks. I stepped out completely and closed the door behind me. They watched every move I made. I made a move to push through the group, but it was thoroughly blocked without anyone even moving. I moved to another spot, but it was just as useless. I stepped back and looked at them again. Their faces had become colder and they looked at me like they had lasers for eyes.

"We think you need to learn a lesson." said one with a hollow voice.

"You're not too aware of things." said another with force.

I moved slowly backwards to the door I had just exited through, hoping that I could safely re-enter it before things got out of hand. I didn't want to sustain any damage from anyone, and this group seemed to be quite hostile. I was almost within range of the door when they started to move. A blur of motion out of the corner of my eye and I was bowled over. A screaming voice and rough handling and I was whisked away from them. I was surprised to watch the group retreating from me, even though they appeared to be running also. I was being carried at a dead run by someone, but I couldn't tell who it was. I watched our pursuers disappear as we entered one building after another and ran down one hall after another. Finally up several flights of stairs and through a door, I was dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Looking up I saw someone's silhouette in front of the sun. They stood there gasping and breathing deeply, bent over almost double. That person stood over me with feet planted on either side of my hips. I shaded my eyes but still couldn't see who it was. They stood fully upright, blocking the sun completely and spoke "I thought they might be causing you problems. You looked cornered there." Tama-sensei said, adjusting her shirt which looked a little ruffled by how he had been carried. "That was a good run, too!"

"Tama-sensei, what are you doing carrying me around like that? I am quite capable of running as well as you, and you could have been injured from carrying my weight." I stated, "Please be more careful of yourself. I would not want you to be injured on my account."

Tama-sensei began to glow with a warm smile, then dropped to her knees straddling my chest and grasped my head in her hands. She pulled my head to her chest and hugged me tightly. "Oh, Kie-kun, you're so thoughtful. I saved you from possible danger, and all you could think of was that I could have injured myself. I feel so much warmed by your caring heart!" She said breathlessly while squeezing my face between her breasts, which were actually large enough that they touched my ears as she crushed me. "Anyone who says you cannot feel emotions must have been lying!"

"Murrhpennmmmmurph." I said to her in reply. I was finding it harder and harder to breathe as she held me tighter. "Mmmmrphmmrph."

"I know you have depth and feeling. You can feel and love and cry and be hurt just like the rest of us. I will care for you and make sure you're safe from all that." She said with a sigh.

I was feeling lightheaded at this point, and things became fuzzy around the edges. The light of day faded from view and I felt like I was slipping down a long tunnel into darkness. Suddenly I was outside my body and looking down at Tama-sensei holding me between her breasts. I was thinking she might have killed me by suffocation, but at this point I saw my manifestation developing behind her just as she squealed and let go of me. My body flopped backwards to the floor and color began to return to my face. Tama-sensei was leaning over my body shouting at me to wake up, and how sorry she was for not being more careful. I was just watching my manifestation develop behind her. It finished taking shape quickly and then stepped forward and knelt down next to Tama-sensei, placing its hand on her shoulder and looking down at my body. Tama-sensei froze for a moment and turned to face my manifestation. She screamed, and then her head whipped back and forth between my supine body and the manifestation. There was a smile on my face as she looked at me and then my body lying on the ground. My manifestation gently grabbed her head and stopped her from looking back and forth. I forced her to look directly at me instead of my body on the floor. I then kissed her with a kiss that looked like it could have had stories written about it. A kiss that would have burned the dark color into a stainless steel plate just from its heat. I saw her eyes grow wide as saucers then roll up into her head. She fainted dead away. I helped her to the floor gently and then moved over to my body laying there. My manifestation looked down and shook his head with a sad smile. SMACK. I struck my face with an open handed blow. I sat bolt upright. And my face still stung from a blow. I couldn't see who would have administered it to me. I looked down beside myself and saw Tama-sensei lying there with just the slightest smile on her lips. I rubbed at the burning pain of my cheek. Someone had hit me, and not just the feeling of it had woke me up. I had heard the sound of it still echoing after I had sat up. There was not any way that anyone could have hit me and gotten away. I looked around and then back down at Tama-sensei. She was not looking like she was too aware of anything. Although she did have a wisp of a smile on her face, even in her unconscious state. I pushed aside the thoughts and gathered up Tama-sensei in my arms to carry her. Although she stood approximately 13 or so centimeters taller than I was, I stood 168 cm tall, she seemed light. I guessed her to be around 55 to 60kg in weight. A lot of muscle, as the display a little earlier showed me. She also had a noticeable bust line that normally was hidden under clothing. I figured that she did her best to try to hide something like that for some unknown reason. I walked with care down the stairs from the roof access and down the hallway to where I could remember seeing the nurse's room. As I walked down the hall the bell for the next period went off, and the hallways were suddenly full of women as they emptied from the classrooms. They stopped suddenly after seeing me walking with the unconscious sensei. She looked like she was sleeping like a baby. The crowds in the hallway parted for me, and I moved quickly out of the hallway to the nurse's room.

"I have someone who needs examination, please, nurse." I said loudly. I couldn't see anyone in the office, "Hello! I have need of assistance here, please."

A younger woman stepped out from an office I had not seen and rushed over to me, "What happened? Where did she get hurt?" she said excitedly as she assisted me in placing sensei on a vacant bed.

"I believe she fainted, but you might want to check for head injuries and such." I replied calmly, "I found her next to me on the roof. There does not seem to be any blood or noticeable injuries."

The nurse's examination was brisk and professional as she took blood pressure, pulse and temperature, along with checking her eyes with a small pen light. "It looks like she has just fainted." She felt around Tama-sensei's head gently, "There doesn't seem to be any bumps or contusions on her head, so I suspect you're right and she just fainted from something. I wonder what would have done it this time?"

I gave the nurse a quizzical look. "This time? She has a habit of fainting?"

"She is a bit ... delicate of sensibilities, if you will. If frightened or surprised to a large degree, she has been known to faint dead away." Replied the nurse in a conversational tone. "I have actually seen her faint from the excitement of winning a race. That's probably why she never made it as far as the Olympics. Her coach at the time thought she would have probably died of a heart attack before even getting to compete. We used to think that she had a weak constitution, but after many tests we found she just was not good with extreme emotions, you know, like shocks or rapid surprises. Just a bit too sensitive is all. She decided to become a gym teacher instead of going to the Olympics. Look at me, rambling on about things. You can leave her here until she wakes up, Kie-kun. I'll make sure she's safe." the nurse finished with a light chuckle.

I shook my head no and pulled up a chair next to the bed and waited for Tama-sensei to wake. I had to keep an eye on her, and I also had questions for her. I only had to wait a few minutes, but finally she started to come around. I heard a light sigh and a bit of a groan come from her, then her eyes opened, and she looked around. "Why am I back here?" she whispered.

"I brought you here because you fainted. I didn't know that, and thought you might have hurt yourself." I answered, "The nurse explained that this has happened to you more than once. I decided to wait for you to return to wakefulness."

Tama-sensei sputtered, turned red and stammered out a few incoherent words. She sat up quickly and bowed to me from a position of kneeling on the bed, thanking me for my thoughtfulness. I stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "I believe I owe you a thank you for making sure I was unharmed by the group of woman earlier. I do not understand why they reacted the way they did, when all I did was explain their mistake. I am sure they will come to the same conclusion as I told them."

Tama-sensei looked at me, "I don't know what you said to them, but I'm pretty sure they had planned to get you back for it. I wasn't too sure what they planned on doing to you, but I thought it would be better if I saved you for myse ... err, saved you from them." She smiled with a slightly red face.

I nodded at her. "I am glad you are fine. I have Art class now, so I will be going now if you are OK here?"

She nodded, seemed to smile sadly at me, and waved as I left. I saw the nurse speaking with her when, a little ways down the hallway, I turned to glance back at her. She looked like she had tears in her eyes but I couldn't tell from the distance I was at. I looked at the small map printed on the back of it that showed me the layout of the school, and pinpointed the art room and made my way briskly to the class as I was running a bit late, what with taking Tama-sensei to the nurses. I arrived at the door to the class and found it slightly open. I pushed it open wider hoping to enter quietly, but upon stepping in I froze. Every face was turned my way. It was like they had been waiting for me. The majority of the faces in the class I recognized, almost every one of them from the mob outside the change room I had used at P.E. The cold stares, though ... they came from everyone in the room. Including the sensei. I started to back away into the hallway, but the sensei cleared her throat and indicated for me to come to her. I moved warily to her avoiding the people with the coldest looks. I arrived at the side of the sensei and started to introduce myself. I was interrupted before I could say the first words.

"So this is the one that needs the lesson. Correct ladies?" She said, looking up at me. She stood only slightly taller than 143cm, and with her slight build looked light as a feather. "I think you're going to have to show Kie-kun the lesson he needs." she said glancing briefly at the class. "Kie-kun, I am Nami-sensei, your art teacher. I do believe you are late for class. I also believe there was unfinished business from last class that should be taken care of now." She stepped back from me with a sweeping gesture, "Ladies. Do what needs to be done."

As a group and in one motion, every one of the class stood and moved towards me. I moved slowly backwards until I came in contact with the wall behind me and had no further to go. I was trapped. I had no idea what they were going to do, and I didn't understand what the problem was to begin with. They moved in closer and closer to me. They paused when I was completely trapped by a wall of bodies with no more than a few centimeters between us. So close I had no way to move about. The woman who stood directly in front of my face smiled. I was in trouble. I closed my eyes.

I felt a flurry of impacts from all over the place. I hit the floor and I was being lightly hit with soft, squishy and warm things, and grappled and pinned. I was disoriented at the pulling and tugging from one direction to another. I was dragged a distance and carried further and dumped unceremoniously on a hard surface. I started to open my eyes when once again I was hit some more, but it didn't seem to me that they were trying to hurt me by hitting me. I was disoriented. I was pinned. I slowly opened my eyes when I felt all the motion stop. I was laying on my back on one of the big art tables, looking up into a bunch of faces crowded around me.

Before anyone could do anything a woman's voice rang out. "I thought something like this would happen!"

Their faces whipped around to look in the direction of the new speaker. There were gasps and more than a few squeaks of surprise. I tried to see who it was that was talking, but when I first glanced in their direction, I thought I saw Noro Utako, but that person was quickly eclipsed by someone else. Someone I felt I should know but I just couldn't place the face or voice.

"Now I'm not going to go through it again, least of all with him here. We agreed not to do this, and I am going to leave it at that." the woman said quietly to the group. Almost like she was hoping I wasn't going to hear it. A bit louder she said, "OK, let him up, help him down, and then back to your seats like good students."

I was lifted bodily from the table and set down on my feet by dozens of helping hands. A few brushes from some of them to take care of arrant dust and dirt, then they regained their seats quietly, leaving me standing where they left me. I was starting to wonder at this point what this woman had meant about 'agreeing not to do this', and when this had been decided on. I turned to her and opened my mouth to ask her. I didn't get a chance to say anything.

"Ah, Tsubasa Kie. As director of this school I would like to apologize for the behavior of the more enthusiastic members of the student body. I can assure you that they only meant well for you and no harm was intended." She said with a bow, "I'm sure you can find it in you to forgive them their slightly more energetic ways?"

I paused for a moment, looking at her with my mouth still wide open, I slowly closed it. I looked down at the floor trying to think of where I had seen her before, but I still couldn't pierce the haze that blocked my memories from before my first class here. I was starting to get a headache. A sharp pain ran circles behind my eyes and a dull pain ran across the top of my head front to back. I blinked at her for a moment, "I suspect there is more to this situation that I can currently grasp. My head hurts. I will leave it at that." and I promptly passed out.

I came to in the nurse's office for a few minutes, but the pain in my head remained and it had, in fact, gotten worse. I watched the nurse move about the room for a few moments before everything faded out again. I came around again sometime later to the sound of voices in the nurse's office. I thought at first I recognized them, but I was still groggy and my head still pained me too much to concentrate. I heard one voice mention something about poisons or toxins, while another made mention of some attack. There was an abrupt denial of activities like that, but a third voice made some mention of past incidences. I couldn't focus well enough to pick out individual words or whose voice was whose. I could only figure out by inference that someone was getting grilled by someone, and that they were on the defensive about something happening today. I faded out again with a sharp stab behind my eyes. The room I was in refocused into what looked like a hospital room at first, then everything blurred and then focused crisply into my bedroom at home. I sat up and was relieved to feel the pain I had been feeling behind my eyes wasn't as noticeable at the moment. This made things a bit better. I was able to focus a bit harder than before. I tested myself by looking at the objects on my dresser and telling myself what they were. Toothbrush, Comb, Brush, washcloth, Bandage, bottle of something ... bandage??? I tried to sit up higher in bed to see anything else on the dresser, but just then I felt a jab behind the eyes that felt like someone had decided that I needed a lobotomy and did it without anesthetic. My head whipped back and I let out a grunt of pain as the sharpness blossomed. My muscles gave way and I collapsed backwards onto the pillow again. I forced my eyes shut tightly, thinking that maybe it was the light causing the pain, but the pain didn't diminish. Happily everything faded again into blackness. I remember this one very much. I felt like I was sitting in a room of black satin on a cushion of black satin. There were no sounds and there was no hot or cold. It was total deprivation of all my senses. I listened to nothing hoping to hear something. I looked at nothing hoping to see something. All that came at me was that I was alone and there was nothing for me to feel, say or do. I wondered where I was and stood. I didn't really stand. I had the feeling I stood, but no motion could be detected and not even a breeze could be felt. I moved myself in a random direction but couldn't tell if I moved, as nothing changed. I decided that I would continue moving until I came across someone or something. I thought, nothing can be like that, this place cannot be totally devoid of anyone or anything. I chose another random direction and just moved. I continued to move, thinking of what had happened in the art class and what would have happened if the school director had not interfered. I would have been quite a mess, I suspected. A total of 17 women ranging in an estimate age group of 16 to 18. I could see someone being badly hurt in the ruckus. Maybe I was already hurt? How did I get here? Where is here anyway? I continued to move in the chosen direction. It felt like hours had passed and still nothing was visible. I neither saw, heard, smelt, tasted or touched anything. This place was a void of soft black velvet. Not the absolute blackness of night, but more like that of a room with a distant light source that couldn't be pinpointed. I could not make out distinct objects or anything, as there were none. But if there had been I would not have been able to make out what they were, just the ambient light. I moved along at a leisurely pace, or what I thought was a leisurely pace as I still had no idea if I truly was in motion or not, and continued to look around in hope of seeing anything.

"You're gonna think this is funny, or you would if you had emotions, but you and I are the same" a voice said in a conversational tone from somewhere and nowhere.

"Who are you?" I inquired to the generality, and continuing on my path.

"You." came the reply with a chuckle, "Just you."

"That makes no sense. I am me and only I can be me." I replied. "Who are you?"

"Like I said," the voice chuckled, "I am you. We are one and the same person."

"You make no sense. OK, where am I then?" I asked.

A louder chuckle, "You are in yourself."

"I find you less than helpful. I will cease speaking with you." I replied and continued moving in my chosen direction.

There was silence for a long time, and nothing seemed to be happening until the voice spoke again. "You know you're not going to get anywhere doing what you're doing. It's not possible."

"..."

"If you wish to be that way I will speak and you can ignore Me." it added with a sigh.

"I will explain a few things to you that seem to be beyond your current comprehension. First of all ... you are, at this very moment, unconscious. Second of all, I am in fact you. You are me and I am you and I am me and you are you." This little singsong verse by the disembodied voice made it laugh a short bark. "OK, enough silliness for now. What I mean to say is that I am an aspect of you. Together we make a complete me ... uh ... you ... us? Ah, hell. I guess I should say that we are both incomplete without each other."

I thought this over for a moment, but could not find anything believable about it. "I'm sorry, you make statements that I cannot understand. They do not follow a line of logic."

"Fer crying out loud... ! Ah, forget it. Look. You're not awake and the only way you're gonna be awake is to concentrate." the voice said with an edge of annoyance in it. "We can talk about all this another time, as you'll be back here many times until you understand. Now stop plodding along and start focusing inward."

I paused in my motion and thought about what the voice had said. I decided that I would try it, as what I was doing didn't seem to be having any effect. I figured that if it didn't work then I could go back to walking in the direction I had been walking anyway. I closed my eyes and began to focus inward. I picked a relative point that felt like the center of my consciousness and focused on it. I let it expand and made myself move towards it. The feeling of motion was subjective, but it still looked like I was moving down a long tunnel. Suddenly the speed at which I was moving sharply accelerated and the tunnel walls had flashes of images that blurred by at great speeds. Time went by and speed shot up to an incredible rate. In the area I was focused on I saw a small speck of light ... it grew and grew, becoming a dot, then a pea, larger and larger. The bigger it became the faster I moved. A circle of light. Suddenly I was flung out of the circle and found myself flying in an arc across the room I was in. I landed face first into a soft and warm surface that moved with me. As I came in contact with it I heard a small squeak. I landed finally with a huff. I smelled a light smell of perfume and soap. I lifted my face from between two soft pillows to look up into the surprised face of Juri-sensei.

"He just flew out of bed like someone threw him!" a quiet whisper came from behind me.

I heard the sound of people running and a door sliding open. There were a few gasps and then silence. "Kie-kun, are you going to stay that way for long?" Juri-sensei asked quietly, with a gentle smile.

I continued looking into her chocolate brown eyes for a moment longer, then carefully placing my hands on the floor on either side of her, I levered myself up to kneel between her legs which had been slightly wrapped around me because of the momentum of the impact. Still looking directly into her eyes, I stood up and reached down to take her hand. I helped her to her feet in one smooth motion. I adjusted Juri-sense's clothing and brushed a few stray bits of dust off her and stepped away from her, bowing.

"I am very sorry for this incident. I will be more careful next time." I said in apology

The room was awash with shouts and noise as everyone rushed to me. I was jostled and slapped, but mostly I was hugged warmly and strongly. Everything quieted down momentarily and Juri-sensei stepped up to me and, looking up at me, smiled warmly and wrapped her arms around me, placed her head on my shoulder, and gave me a hug I would never forget. "I'm glad you're back with us again. You had us so worried."