To Count The Stars

Almost immediately after Malik and I had taken our seats, a man's voice echoed throughout the cabin of the plane.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your flight to Domino City, Japan will be departing shortly. I ask that everyone remain seated while the plane is preparing for take off. Once we are airborne, you will be allowed to move about the cabin. The approximated flight time to Domino City is ten hours," the voice, which I assumed to belong to the pilot, announced.

"Ten hours! You're joking! I thought planes were supposed to be a fast way to travel!" I exclaimed, causing a few of the passengers around me to glance my way.

"You've obviously never flown before," Malik laughed, "Just be glad you didn't have to fly all the way from Egypt. That's another seven hours."

"Egypt? What are you talking about?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I flew to England from Egypt," he replied as he turned toward me, "You didn't actually think I was from England, did you?" he asked while a huge grin spread across his face.

"No, I knew you weren't from England. You're skin is much too dark. Even if you lived outdoors, there's still no way someone living in England could be that tan. It's too cloudy," I clarified.

I was telling the truth too. It seemed that it was always cloudy in England.

"Ah, so that's why you're so pale," he replied, grinning even more.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," I mumbled, crossing my arms.

"I did not. I was only stating a fact. Seriously, have you seen the difference in our skin?" he mused, holding his arm beside mine.

"At least I won't be the one with skin cancer," I scoffed under my breath as I moved my arm away from his.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing," I quickly replied before changing the subject, "Anyway, since you flew from Egypt, I'm guessing that's where you're from, right?" I inquired.

"You guessed it," He replied, smirking yet again. "Why?"

"I was just wondering. I mean, I'm really interested in Egypt, the ancient part at least. I was actually thinking about studying archeology, so Egypt sort of sparks my interest."

"Seriously? I can not see you as an archaeologist. The sun would cook you alive in Egypt," he laughed. "So, what do you find so interesting about it?"

I thought for a moment before answering.

"How about I just explain everything to you?" I smiled, "I mean, explain my life. It'd be a lot easier than playing twenty questions, which is basically what we're doing, and it's not like I have anything better to do for the next ten hours anyway," I sighed as I moved around in my seat a bit, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Sounds fun," he replied, "but I guess it will be my turn once you're finished?"

"Of course. It wouldn't be any fun at all if I told you all about myself, and you told me nothing in return. Besides, I want to know what Egypt is like."

“Fair enough,” he smiled as he leaned back in his seat, waiting for me to begin.

As I was about to begin explaining my life story to Malik, I started to feel rather lightheaded and a bit sick to my stomach. I wasn't quite sure if I was going to throw up or not, but I didn't want to take the chance to find out. Therefore, I stopped talking and tried to just focus on breathing and not vomiting.

"Shiori, are you okay?" Malik asked after a moment.

"Yea, I just feel really dizzy," I replied slowly as I leaned back in my seat.

"It's probably just from the liftoff.”

"How so?" I inquired, not quite understanding how a simple plane ride could make me feel so sick.

"It's just like being seasick, only in a plane. Make sense?"

"I guess," I groaned as I began rubbing my temples.

"So I guess this means I'm not going to get to hear all about your wonderful life in England?" he asked after a moment.

"Oh no, I'm still going to tell you all about that," I replied, "Just give me a second to relax."

A stewardess came by a moment later, checking to see if any of the passengers needed anything. I asked her to bring me some water, and Malik, not to my surprise, asked for a package of peanuts.

She was rather quick in returning with my water, and I was thankful for that. I literally chugged the entire glass before Malik even had time to open his peanuts.

"I feel much better now," I sighed in relief as I pulled the glass away from my mouth.

Water always seemed to be able to make me feel better, no matter how badly I was feeling.

"So, I take it you're ready to tell me this amazing story now," Malik stated, placing a sarcastic emphasis on the the word amazing.

"Tch, it has to be more interesting than your life in Egypt," I scoffed, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"We'll see," he smirked as he leaned back in his seat once again.

"Well, I actually wasn't born in England," I began. "I was born in Tokyo, but I'm not Japanese, obviously. My name is Japanese though because my mother loved Japanese culture, and she found that giving me a Japanese name would be fitting since I would be growing up in Japan. Anyway, my mother and father were English, and they had lived in England most of their lives. However, they had moved to Tokyo soon after my mother became pregnant because my father's company was moving."

"So, what kind of company does your father work for?" Malik asked, trying to seem interested.

"Oh, he doesn't work for the company. He owns it," I scowled as I replied, "See, the bastard wanted to move to Tokyo because it would help the company and what not. Really, all the move did was help him make more money though. Anyway, after he moved to Tokyo, he just continued on with his life like he always had until my mother finally went into labor. My mother, well, I don't really know much about her. All I really know is that she was forced to marry my father and she died during child birth."

"She was forced to marry him?" Malik asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yea, I don't really know the entire story, just the parts Charles told me. All I know is that she was forced to marry him, but I'm not sure why. I never really wanted to know," I sighed before continuing with my story, "So, after my mother died, my father figured he would just put me up for adoption. He was mad because he had wanted a son, and he didn't get one. My father was the kind of guy who always got what he wanted, so he wasn't too happy about having a daughter. Especially since his wife wouldn't be around to take care of her for him. After all, he didn't have time to take care of a child if he was going to be running his precious company," I scoffed, "Anyway, he had planned to take me to an orphanage the next day, but he never got the chance. His butler at the time, Charles, had become good friends with my mother over the years, and he knew that she wouldn't want her daughter to be sent off to complete strangers. So, he did the only thing he really could do and kidnapped me."

"So, you were kidnapped by your butler?" Malik laughed as he crinkled up his now empty bag of peanuts.

"Yes, I was kidnapped by my butler. It's not as weird as it sounds though," I sighed, "Now, do you want to hear the rest or not?"

"Definitely. This is actually getting entertaining."

"Well, after Charles had me away from my father, he took me to England. He didn't want to stay in Japan since, well, he had lived in England all his life and had never wanted to move in the first place. Plus, he didn't want to be near my father in case he tried to find me."

"But, why would your father try to find you, if he didn't want you in the first place," Malik asked, "No offense or anything."

"That's exactly what I thought," I replied, "but, the thing is, he didn't want a new born baby, that didn't mean he wouldn't want me once I was older."

"Ah, then if he found you, he'd be able to force you to come back to him and, as long as you were under eighteen, he could make you work for him and do whatever else he wanted," Malik input, finally realizing what I meant.

"Exactly. Which is why I'm leaving England. I have to leave so he won't catch me now that he's found me."

"Wait! you mean he really did find you!" Malik exclaimed, shooting up in his seat.

"Yep. Why else do you think I'd be moving to Japan with nothing but four thousand pounds and the clothes I'm wearing now, for fun?" I asked, laughing slightly.

"So, you don't have any luggage?"

"Nope. All that I brought is what I have with me now. I had to leave quickly though. My father was on his way, and Charles wouldn't let me stay." My voice cracked as I said Charles' name.

I couldn't even imagine what my father was going to do to him when he found out that I was gone.

"So, what's going to happen to Charles then? I mean, doesn't your dad know you were with him?" Malik asked, as if he had read my thoughts.

"I don't.. know... I don't want to know either," my voice began to break as I felt tears beginning to fill my eyes again.

"Shiori, are you okay?"

"No." I whispered before letting my tears fall.

“Shiori..”

"Malik, I didn't want to leave him!" I exclaimed suddenly, cutting Malik off mid-sentence, as I began sobbing, "He wouldn't let me stay though! Now, I don't know what's going to happen to him. I hate my father. I hate him so much. What if he kills him? I'm sure he wouldn't think twice about it! He's nothing but a heartless bastard!" I cried as I buried my face in my hands.

By now, most of the other passengers were staring at me completely shocked by my outburst. I could feel their eyes on me, watching me as I cried, but I didn't care.

After a moment, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and another hand on my back. I pulled my face out of my hands to see that Malik was pulling me against him. Normally, I would have pulled away, but I was so broken that I simply fell into his chest and continued to cry.

I continued crying for quite some time, but Malik didn't seem to mind. He didn't say anything or try to make me calm down at all. He just held onto me and let me cry. I was glad he didn't speak though. I always hated it when people tried to comfort me by talking to me and trying to stop my tears. If I was going to cry, I just wanted to be left to cry everything out. I didn't need some telling me to stop and that everything would be fine. Besides, I knew without a doubt that everything was not going to be fine, not for Charles anyway.

After a while, I began to calm down. My eyes were finally beginning to hurt too much for me to cry anymore, so my tears were finally starting to subside.

"Malik," I mumbled once I was calm enough to speak again.

"Yea, Shiori," he replied as he looked down to me.

"Thank you," I whispered as I attempted a smile.

"No problem," He smiled back, "My sister always told me it was best to just let girls cry instead of trying to stop them, so I thought I'd take her advice," he admitted with a laugh.

"Oh, you have a sister?" I asked, hoping that I could somehow get my mind off Charles again.

"Yep. I'll tell you about her while I'm explaining the rest of my life, if you still want me to anyway,"

"Of course I want you to. But first.. could you let go of me?" I asked as I shifted my eyes toward Malik's arm which was still holding onto me.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized as he let go of me.

"I bet you are," I smirked as I moved away from him and back into my own seat.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing.. You're just lucky you didn't try anything," I laughed.

"Me? Oh, as I recall, you're the one that couldn't keep your eyes off me back at the airport," he retorted with a grin.

"What on earth are you talking about?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well what he meant. I could feel my face heating up by the second.

"Aw, you're embarrassed," he teased as he poked my red cheek, "Don't worry about it. I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of girls that find me attractive."

"Ha, you think I was staring because I thought you were hot? Please, I've seen twelve-year-olds that are better looking than you," I lied as I pushed his hand away from my face and turned my head away from him.

"Really? So you're a cradle robber, eh?" he asked, smirking, as he leaned toward me, "Good thing I don't have a little brother."

"Shut up, Malik," I mumbled as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Okay, fine. But if I shut up, I can't tell you about Egypt."

"I hate you," I muttered under my breath, still not turning to look at him.

"Whatever. You love me," He mused.

"Oh yes, Malik. I'm absolutely in love with you. Please, take me now," I sighed sarcastically before turning back around to face him, "Now that you know my true feelings," I rolled my eyes with the statement, "Will you please tell me about Egypt?"

"It'd be my pleasure."