Lover's Pained
Separation
Taiitsukun
and three of the four Suzaku Seven sat in a diamond shape around their
Priestess. Concentrating their power,
the four opened a channel between their world and the other world.
Nuriko,
Hotohori, and Tamahome, were three celestial warriors who had grown fond of
Miaka, their Priestess, and so were here now to return her to her world, so she
could regain her health.
With enough
energy, a red light surrounded Miaka and she disappeared.
The room
was silent and it was a while before Tamahome opened his eyes. His heart sank when he saw the spot where
Miaka had just been…empty. "That's it,
then." He said sadly, standing up.
Nuriko
stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It was for the best. Staying here might have killed her."
Tamahome
nodded, but the words did nothing to dull his yearning.
Hotohori
joined them. "She will return. She is
still the Priestess of Suzaku. She will
save us."
Tamahome
clenched his fists. She wasn't just
the Priestess of Suzaku. She was
someone special. Life without her…just
wouldn't be life at all.
"Now
then, we must tend to you two." Taiitsukun
said, bringing the warrior's attention back to reality. "My servants will take you to your temporary
quarters and heal your wounds."
Hotohori
and Nuriko nodded, allowing the little midget girls to take them away. Tamahome, though, turned to Taiitsukun. "Will she come back?"
Taiitsukun
looked at the young man before her. His
energy, though, half diminished, seemed to dimmer by each passing moment since
the Priestess of Suzaku left this world.
She hung her head. "I don't
know."
Tamahome sighed. "I see…"
"But do not
worry." She added. "If you two are
truly meant to be together, then she will return."
Tamahome
nodded and retreated back to his quarters.
Three
little midget girls put some medicine on his open wound, over his heart, and
redressed the bandage.
"Open wound
matched pain in heart!" One exclaimed.
"He misses
the Priestess!" Another said.
"We will
help him!" Yet a third added.
Tamahome
gasped. Was he that
obvious? He stared at them in
disbelief. "What do you mean?"
The three
giggled and made a small circle, exchanged whispers, and turned to face
Tamahome once again.
"We made
this for you!"
"Make you
feel happy!"
"It is the
Priestess!"
Tamahome
took what they offered him and smiled at the resemblance. It was a hand size doll with red-brown hair
in a small brown uniform. "Miaka…" Hs
said fondly. He looked up with a
smile. "Thank you. I won't forget this and I will always
cherish it."
"We have
one more thing we want to give!"
Tamahome
frowned. "What?"
One of them
held her hands close to her heart and the other two put their hands in the
air. Red sparkles encircled them and a
red light shone in the middle, forming an object.
Tamahome
squinted, until the light grew down and dimmed once more.
"Here you
go!" They gave him the second object,
which was a thin gold chain, with a single red feather intertwined on it.
"That's one
of Suzaku's feathers!"
"Feel the
Priestess' aura!"
Tamahome
held the necklace close to his heart, closed his eyes, and he smiled. They were right. He could feel her presence radiate from the ornament. A pleasant warm feeling spread throughout
his body, as his soul mingled with hers.
He thought
of her, until he fell into a pleasant slumber, at which time, the three girls
tucked him in and let him be.
Once the
three returned to the palace, Hotohori resumed his duties as emperor, and had
allowed Nuriko and Tamahome to stay in the palace, more Tamahome than Nuriko,
since Nuriko lived their anyway as a part of His Highness' Harem. Both men agreed to keep Nuriko's true
identity a secret for the time being.
Tamahome
would eat and sleep, but other than that, he wouldn't really pay attention to
anything around him. He would think of
Miaka and feel her aura through the necklace he had received, imagine her smile
and goddess looks through the doll, and wish and pray that he could be with
her. It just didn't seem fair that he
couldn't be with her, to see her well and safe day in and day out.
It was true
he hadn't accepted her love proclamation when he had first heard it, because it
had shocked him. No one had ever said
such a thing and he didn't know what to say in return. He wanted to say, "I love you too, Miaka, and
I'll do anything to see you happy". But
he didn't. He had denied her and she
had fainted.
He had
worried for her those days that she was either barely conscious or not
conscious at all. And he worried for
her now. Alone in his room, Tamahome
looked at the doll and closed his eyes.
Miaka…
Tamahome…
His
eyes shot open, hearing the voice of the one her cared about. There, sitting in
front of him, was Miaka. She was
wearing an adorable outfit, with her hair in a ponytail. (Try and see where I got this from ^_~) She was bent over a desk, writing down some
words. She looked worried.
He smiled
and came up behind her. "Miaka…what's
wrong?" He faced her and leaned over on
the desk.
She faced
him with a surprised expression.
"Tamahome?" She reached out to
him…
"Tamakins!!" Nuriko threw open the door, breaking it in
the process and ruining Tamahome's concentration. "Hee hee…oops?"
The
illusion/connection disappeared and Tamahome fell forward, face first into the
ground.
Nuriko
sweat dropped. "What are you doing on
the floor?"
Tamahome
got up with a bandaged face. "I wasn't doing anything! You didn't have to barge in here so
suddenly!!"
"Well what were
you doing then?" Nuriko asked, not threatened by Tamahome's anger.
Tamahome
froze and turned around. "I was talking
to-," She was gone. "Miaka? Miaka!"
He frantically searched the room for the lithe girl he had seen just
moments before.
Nuriko
watched on with a worried expression. He
is really loosing it. "Tama, she
isn't here."
"Yes, she
was!" The boy retorted. "She was right here!"
Nuriko
sighed. "I came to tell you His
Highness called us for a meeting." He
paused. "If you aren't feeling well I
can tell His Highness…"
"I'm not
sick! She was here!" He ran past Nuriko and out the door.
"Tamahome!" He called out, but his fellow warrior was
already out the door and out of the palace walls. "Dammit! He's gonna get
himself killed!" He threw off his extra
clothes, until he had on a comfortable robe, looking more like a boy than
before. He tied his hair in a quick
braid and ran after Tamahome.
Tamahome ran
and ran, not really having any idea where he was going, but not wanting to
stop. He felt so incomplete with her
here it was driving him nuts! Just
being in the palace reminded him of her.
He
collapsed under a tree, soaked, because it had started to rain and he was just
noticing it. He shivered as the wind picked up.
Was what he
had seen before an illusion? He could
have sword it was the real thing. Was
that doll some sort of connection between him and Miaka between worlds? Had he seen the real Miaka and what she was
going through now?
He fingered
the necklace. Miaka…
"Tamahome!" Nuriko came running up the hill to the
tree.
Tamahome
looked up. "N…Nuriko?"
"Are you
crazy? You're going to catch a cold if
you run around in this storm!" He wrapped
a blanket around Tamahome and helped him to his feet.
He thought
for a moment. "Crazy? Hmm…I am crazy."
Nuriko
blinked. "Huh?"
Tamahome
turned to him. "I'm crazy. Crazy in love with Miaka!"
Nuriko
gasped. "Tamahome…"
"I just
realized it! I'm in love with
Miaka!" Tamahome exclaimed.
"Wee, why
don't we get out of the rain and get back to the palace, huh?" Nuriko
suggested.
Tamahome
smirked and threw the blanket at Nuriko.
"Race ya!"
Nuriko
growled and threw off the blanket, only to see Tamahome getting a head
start. "Hey no fair! Get back here!" He raced after him, back to the palace.
A few weeks
later, Nuriko went to check on Tamahome, but only found him lying in bed, once
again in a daze.
"Tama?" He questioned carefully.
"She's not
here…she hasn't come back. Almost three
months and she hasn't returned." He
said in a choked voice. His eyes were
red and his face was covered in dried tears.
Nuriko
walked in slowly and sat at the foot of the bed. "You know what she feels for you. She will return. You
can't give up-,"
But I
denied her. I told her I didn't love her.
What if she doesn't ever come back?"
Tamahome asked slowly, fearing what he just said would actually become a
reality. He would never again be bathed
in the warmth of her aura, the two mixing and swirling as though they were part
of a whole. One soul in two bodies…soul
mates.
Nuriko
patted him on the back. "You still have family, don't you?"
Tamahome
froze. "Yuiren! Chuei!
Shunkei! Gyokuran! Father!
I've totally neglected them!"
Nuriko
blinked. "Huh?"
Tamahome
jumped up and gathered his few belongings.
"I've got to go back!"
"Go where?"
"To the
country! I have to make money and make
sure they are all okay!" What about
Miaka?" Nuriko pointed out, but it was
too later. Tamahome was out the door
and gone.
Five days
later the Priestess of Suzaku returned and found her love gone. She and Nuriko would travel out and find the
lonely warrior and one soul, would be united once more.