Song – ‘Golden’ by Fall Out Boy, off of Infinity on High.

My lover bought me that CD for Valentine’s Day.

My birthday is in exactly two weeks.

Tomorrow is the Talent Show.

I’m playing guitar. Jay is singing.

Wish us luck.

This is weird because I never write about Akito.

Golden

How cruel is the golden rule

When the lives we live are only golden-plated?

‘Treat others as you want to be treated…’

How many times had she heard that stupid ‘rule’ in her lifetime? Too many. From Shigure, from Hatori… hell, even that Honda girl had tried to tell her how to live her life! Who had made up that stupid Golden Rule anyway? She was god, and whatever she said was to be followed! Not some silly rule some old fogey had thought up so he could be considered wise. Wise! As if!

Akito was both amused and annoyed when she had heard that same ‘golden rule’ shouted through her mother’s lips. Enraged she had become, stormed out of the estate, even. But of course, it wasn’t Akito’s manner to leave quietly.

“NOBODY CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW ANY RULES! I’M GOD! YOU ARE ALL JUST MERE INTERFERENCES! I MAKE THE RULES AROUND HERE, AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME!”

A smile played at her lips as she continued down the city street. She had forgotten what the fight was about… and she was feeling weak from the yelling, of course, and as she looked up at the lamp posts, the golden light radiating from the tops seemed to dampen her triumphant spirits by reminding her just what hour of night it was. She continued on to the park.

And I knew the lights of the city were too heavy for me

But I carried karats for everyone to see

Akito found herself sitting in the wet grass next to the park’s lake. She sighed again as she pulled her knees into her chest and began ripping blades of grass out of the ground one by one.

“This world is nothing without people like me,” she said to no one in particular, searching the dark for a rock and throwing it into the water promptly. “Why don’t they understand that they are nothing without me? Why do they think they don’t need me? Why don’t they love me?”

Akito shivered at the questions she was asking herself.

Why don’t they love me?

“The animals… they… don’t love me…” she whispered, wiping a tear that had made it’s way down her face. “They… hate me…”

Akito leaned over the water, gazing at her horrible expression in the water’s reflection. “Well, if they’re gonna hate me, I’ll hate them right back! Some golden rule…” she mumbled as two tears rippled into the water. “They don’t know how lucky they are…”

She dipped her hand into the freezing water and distorted her reflection.

And I saw god cry in the reflection of my enemies

And all the lovers with no time for me

And all of the mothers raise their babies

To stay away from me

What had she ever done to them?

Well, Hatori’s eye had angered a few…

but that was Kana’s fault!

And Akito’s abuse toward that whore of a horse… that had made the ox and the sheep afraid…

But she had had the right! How dare those animals fall in love with anyone but her!

Love is nothing!

Love is worthless!

She had Shigure… no. Shigure had betrayed her… sleeping with that witch she was forced to call ‘mother’.

Kureno had always stayed by her side…

…but only because she had begged.

And that cat. Akito was certain that car was in love with that stupid Honda girl.

And she doubted the ox and the horse had stopped sneaking around…

The cat deserved no one!

They all deserved no one!

Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams

Where the sewage of youth drown the spark of my teens

Akito decided she couldn’t take another ten years of this torture.

She couldn’t take another ten minutes.

“Nobody sees… how great I really am,” Akito told her reflection. “I was only mean to them… because they were mean to me! That’s what the golden rule is all about, isn’t it? I treated them just the same as they did me… with cruelty!”

She stood up and dipped her bare foot into the water.

“I leave this world,” she announced, watching a crow flee from the trees in the distance, “With hatred! I hate the world! I hate this lake, I hate this park, I hate it ALL!”

She took a step each time she told the silence what she hated.

“I hate the dog… step… the dragon… step… the ox and the horse… step step… the sheep and the tiger… the rat… the monkey… the snake… the pig… the rabbit… the rooster…”

She stopped and found the water up to her shoulders. “The cat,” she spat, just her head above water then. “I HATE YOU ALL! I HATE YOU ALL!”

“The GOD!” she cried. “I HATE THE GOD MOST OF ALL!”

With that she lost her footing and slipped in deeper.

Akito didn’t know how to swim.

And I knew the lights of the city were too heavy for me

Though I carried karats for everyone to see

Let them rot in hell, Akito thought as she sank further, giving no struggle to return to the surface. She didn’t panic once. Let them suffer!

In a way, the Golden Rule was reversed.

The Juunishi had wished for Akito’s eternal suffering… as Akito had hoped on them.

Akito’s lung crabbed air and she felt the oxygen in them be replaced with water before she opened her eyes, seeing the golden light at the end of the tunnel calling out to her.

She reached for it with tears in her eyes before the water took over and the golden radiance was replaced by darkness.

And I saw god cry in the reflection of my enemies

And all the lovers with no time for me

And all of the mothers raise their babies

To stay away from me

And pray they don’t grow up to be…