New Life (Kazumi and Graham Blue Heart)

It wasn't often she visited the vineyard, but the weather was supposed to get lousy so Kazumi figured she'd get out while she still could. Kazumi stood there, admiring the round plump grapes and the long elegant vines that grew on. New life was an amazing thing, no matter what was being born. Board, Kazumi sat down on the marble bench and pulled a notebook out of her bag. She started the roughly and lazily sketch out a particular vine that was growing directly across from her. There wasn't much to do in a vineyard besides admire the plants and perhaps get inspiration for whatever it was you were looking to inspire. Kazumi started to hum a theme song she had heard to a Japanese animation TV show while she was flipping through the channels one day. She didn't understand the words, but the song was pretty catchy.

Graham grumbled as he left the main building of the vineyard. He had hoped to get some grape seeds from the owners, to contribute to the small orchard he was planning on raising on an area of his field. But they refused; instead, they offered him a drink. So he walked out with a wine bottle in his hand. Once outside, he leaned against the building and uncorked the bottle, taking a quick swig. It was good...he would give them that much.

He spotted Kazumi wandering around the rows and rows of premature grapes. Nothing would be ready to harvest until fall. Any sprouts growing were simply babies.

He wondered if he should call out for her, but decided against it. Instead, he began to walk away from the vineyard, heading back towards his farm and drinking as he went.

Kazu heard footsteps. As far away as they were, she heard them. "Who's there?" she asked setting her notebook beside her and standing up. She hadn't been aware there was someone else there other than her. It could have been Chase or Mia or maybe someone else she knew.
"Graham!" Kazumi exclaimed spotting him.

Graham didn't react to Kazumi's voice that much; he kind of turned a little and waved with the hand that wasn't clutching the bottle. He had a massive migraine, and wanted nothing more than to go back to his farmhouse and climb in his bed, and forget everything. Sleep let him forget everything. It was the dreams that haunted him. It was the dreams that made him afraid to fall asleep in the first place.

He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since he was a teenager. He was used to it. But maybe it was starting to catch up with him. Lately, the headaches were getting worse and worse. It made it hard for him to do his job.

"Hi, Kazu," he said. He wondered what she would do from there. Would she follow him, like she usually did? Or would she go back to her business? He thought he knew the answer, but girls were just one big guessing game.

Kazumi ran up to him. "Wow, it's good to see you, but you look beat. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?" Kazu smiled. "Oh ya! I have something for you. You probably want to collect this sort of stuff on your own and your own time, but I saw these while at the beach the other day and decided to pick some up for you! It's in my bag. Wait right here, OK? I'll be right back." Kazumi quickly turned away and ran back towards where her bag was. After picking through it, she pulled out a small plastic bag and ran back over to Graham. "It's sea glass." she breathed.

Ah, of course. It was, after all, Kazumi he was facing; he shouldn't have been and wasn't surprised when she ran after him.

He chose to ignore her first question about sleep, kind of shrugging his shoulders and grunting in a dismissive, vague way. Telling her all his problems wouldn't help anything. She would probably nag him to get more sleep. Because she didn't understand. He didn't know if he wanted her to understand.

He watched as she went to retrieve her belongings, and instantly knew what she was going to show him. "Wow," he said. "You found a lot. It's not like this stuff litters the beach. It's usually pretty rare. Maybe a couple pieces from the same bottle end up on the same shore at the same time, but even then, you have to comb pretty hard. You must've been looking for quite a while."

Kazumi laughed. "No I had to find it fast, otherwise, I would've had to die my hair pink! It's amazing what people will do when---yup, that's right!" Kazu didn't bother finishing her sentence. It didn't seem like a good idea to bring up the bet she had made. "Anyway, you look really sleepy, so you should get to bed. I'll escort you home, if you like. I know it's not necessary, but I like talking to you."

"Dye...your hair....pink?" He shook his head. "Do I want to know?"

He thumbed through the bag, nodding in approval. "Yeah. A lot of these are brown," he said, picking up a dark piece of glass in example. "The dark colors of bottles are preferred when making beer and things like that. It doesn't let as much light in." He continued to pick through. "Ow!" he said suddenly, pulling his hand away. He let go of the bag, and it tumbled to the ground, spilling sea glass everywhere. He looked at his thumb, which had a formidable slice across the pad. "I guess a piece hadn't been smoothed out enough," he said. A bead of blood trickled down his finger; he wiped it away on the leg of his jeans. "Sorry about spilling your stuff," he said, bending down to pick it up with the hand that wasn't bloody.

"I'm fine, by the way," he said as he cleaned up. "I don't need sleep, and I certainly don't need an escort. But thanks for the offer, I guess."

"Oh no, don't worry about it!" Kazumi said shaking her head. "You got cut, hold on a minute." Kauzmi went to her bag, only this time, she brought it with her. "You should really be more careful." She sighed. Kazumi got out a cotton ball and a small bottle of peroxide. Opening the bottle, she dumped a little of the peroxide on the cotton ball. Then, she bent down and took his thumb. "Wiping it on your jeans won't do anything." she sighed. She starting to clean the wound. "It has to be properly treated or else it can get infected." She pulled out a band aid and ripping the wrapper off with her teeth while her other hand applied pressure to the cut. "Besides, it's my fault for not being careful about which glass I picked up."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm fine," he repeated, pulling slightly away from her. "Sheesh, do you carry everything in your bag, just in case you might need it someday? That must get incredibly annoying." He rolled his eyes as she doused his thumbs, ignoring the sting. "I said I'm fine. Besides, it's just a cut. My thumb isn't going to fall off. And please, it's not your fault. It's glass. Glass, by nature, cuts."

Kazu placed the bandied on his thumb and then stood up, saying nothing. "Sorry." Was all Kazumi could muster to say. Her face turned deep scarlet and she avoided looking at Graham's face. "S-sorry to bother you with that. I really don't like people getting hurt on my behalf.

Graham pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I didn't mean to snap," he said. "I just don't need to be taken care of. I've done a pretty good job of that for myself since I was seventeen or eighteen." He let her finish putting the bandaid on, but she avoided his glance. "Sorry," he muttered. "And it's not your fault. It's glass. Like I said. It doesn't care about the people it hurts."

He stood up.

Kazu gave a soft smile. "Yes, thank you." she said quietly. "It's alright, I've raised myself for quite a bit of years, too. I lived with a relative till I was 12, becuase by then I could take care of myself, so I understand what you mean. From now on, I'll try not to interfere too much." Kazu picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "But you know, sometimes we need to accept helps from others, becuase they can help us grow as people."

Graham scoffed. "If there's one thing I have too many of, it's relatives," he said, a smile twitching on his lips before fading away. "Too many brothers and sisters, at least. Never enough space for all of us." He frowned, and added, "Then again, I pretty much took care of them, too. I'm used to the responsibility."

He took his thumb back and felt the bandage. "I don't know about that. Some people are wholly forgettable. Others are simply bad influences. You have to pick and choose who you want to affect your life before you actually let them."

Kazu laughed. "Lucky, I'm an only child, so I never got any brothers and sisters." She considered what Graham said. "Hm, that's true. So choose, carefully, OK?" Kazu said. "If you ever need anything, you know you can always talk to me. We may not have known each other long, but I already consider you a friend, so don't be shy, OK?"

"Want one of mine? I have four," he said in regards to his siblings. "One brother and three sisters." He shook his head and picked up his wine bottle again. But he stumbled a bit, and in doing so, dropped the wine bottle. It shattered on the ground, breaking into three big pieces and about five smaller ones. "Oops," he said, bending down and carefully scooping them all up. He picked out a piece of Kazumi's sea glass and compared it to the sharp ones. "It's a really incredible transformation," he murmured.

"I'll see you later," he said, and then turned around and walked home. Maybe in a few days, he would get a boat and drop the broken glass in the ocean, triggering a transformation of his own.