Mountain of The Suns • Book 2

Chapter 27

I was stood in the bathroom having just took a shower. I felt nice and clean and worlds better changing my bandages again. I stood in the mirror brushing through my hair. It looked a mess. I hadn't realized how much my hair had grown out. There was about 6 inches of dark brown hair on my ends and my white hair stuck out just past my collar bone now.

I hated how it looked and how foolish it was of me to color my hair almost a year ago now. I half wondered if there was truly any reason for me to cover it up in the first place. It was a cheap attempt at hiding from my past. I looked to my clothes and Yami's knife that hung on the out the side of my pockets. I reached over and picked it up in my hand hesitantly.

I was taken over by the impulsive sensation to just cut my ends right off. I unsheathed the knife and took it right to my hair cutting the dark brown sections right off. It took a couple swipes to remove it all but it eventually was in a pile around me. I turned my head and fixed the choppy ends but frankly it didn't matter.

I heard the door behind me open up and I saw Jun walk in unassumingly behind me. His eyes widened once he saw me with a knife in my hand so close to my face. He jumped out and grabbed my whole hand as he pulled the knife away from me in nearly a panicked flash.

"Makio what are- oh." He said and I saw him realize the hair that was on the floor. "Woah."

He looked at me and his grip lessened. He set the knife down on the sink and he reached around me and brought my hair from behind me around to the front. His lips curled into a smile as he looked down at me.

"You're beautiful." He said after a moment.

"Stop it." I said bashfully.

"No really." He said smiling. "Here you missed a spot."

He flipped me around and I saw him pick up the knife and go at a few parts of my hair. I watched him in the mirror as he was smiling from ear to ear at my hair. I wrapped my arms around my waist feeling cold with my wet hair and thin clothes. I hadn't finished getting fully dressed yet so I was still only in my pants and a nearly see through shirt.

He set down the knife after a moment back onto the sink. I could see he was pleased with himself and we made eye contact in the mirror. He brought my hair around front again for me to see and it actually looked better than the jagged cuts I had made.

"I've never seen you with just your real hair." He said in a giddy tone. "God, you're beautiful."

"Jun stop." I said turning around and swatting his chest playfully.

"Not likely." He said kissing the top of my head. "I hate to bring you bad news."

"But?" I asked because that only made my heart sunk deeper into my chest.

"It's time we go talk to everyone." He said with a sigh.

"That's not bad news, but I guess it's not good news either." I said with a sigh.

"I heard Minoru and Chunami talking earlier." He said with a sigh.

"About?" I asked.

"Something about retreating." He said looking down at the ground.

"Retreating? But we have so much information and I-"

"They don't know if they trust you." He said cutting me off.

"What?" I asked a little confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You ran away and they're worried about you." He said as if he was speaking cautiously because he likely shouldn't have been.

"I came back! I came back to help you all-"

"No Makio, calm down it's not that." He said grabbing my shoulders but I pushed him right off.