Incarnations- The Tale of Yumi
Lady Moon-Chan
AN: Pretty much the only thing I've written that I have any measure of pride in. R&R? Please?
Disclaimer: Would I really be writing fanfiction if I owned Code Lyoko? I think not...(rolls eyes)
Chapter 1: A Princess's Heartbreak
Princess Yume stared down at her magnificent birthday ball glumly. She was lost in thought. Edo had recently been to a village on the coast on inspection, and had brought back to Nagasaki with him a report of two tall strangers in foreign, silly clothing getting off a large, overdone boat. The male foreigner had kept asking after her and the quickest route to the palace. So, Yume was worried. Her parents were away on a peace mission in China, and Yume occupied the throne in their absence. And these foreigners...while they could merely be looking for allies to the east, their purpose could just as easily be muchmore sinister...
"Yume-chan, daijoubu desu ka?" asked a tall, tan boy with sky blue eyes and spiky blonde hair. He was dressed festively, in an orange kimono with navy blue geometric patterns, trim and obi. The obi was secured with a gold obi domi.
"Iie, Naruto-kun." Yume replied with a sigh.
"Want me to go fetch Tem for you?" Naruto asked.
Yume brightened considerably. 'Tem' was the Lord Mage of Darkness, one of -ifnot the- the most powerful mages in Japan, and he was her closest cousin. But besides all that, Tem was her confidante. She could tell him anything and he would die beforerepeating it. "Could you, Naruto-kun?"
"Too late, hime-chan. He already went back to his chambers with Aru-san." said a female voice. It's owner was tanned, with white-gold braids and ice blue eyes. Her face and unseen arms were speckled with turquoise scales. Her kimono was pale purple, witha pale blue river and white cranes on it. The obi was dark blue.
"Ohayo, Ellie-chan!" the other two chorused.
"Ohayo, Uzumaki-san, Yume-chan." Ice blue eyes peered into Yume's obsidian after the close of the statement. "Something's troubling you." Elyon informed the princess.
"Hai." Yumi sighed.
Elyon turned to walk out into the inner courtyard of the palace, gesturing forYume to follow, which she did. Out in the courtyard, the two girls sat on a bench and Elyon turned to Yume. "So, what's on your mind Yume-chan?"
Yume spilled her worries about the foreigners. Elyon clapped her on the shoulders. "Don't worry, Yume-chan. Our warriors arestrong. If those foreigners do try to wage war, we'll just eradicate them like always."
Yume smiled. "Arigatou, Elyon. You are a true friend."
A Few Days Later
Two people rode up to the Nagasaki Palace and dismounted from their horses. "Here we are," said the male, smirking. "here we are."
"Yes." the young woman at his side agreed. She turned to look at her male companion, instead of at the palace as she'd been doing. "After you've married the princess, you'll let me have the little peasant boy she's so fond of, right, William?" she asked tentatively.
William smiled. "Of course, Lissy. Whatever my little sister's heart desires, she shall get."
"Oh, Willie!" 'Lissy' cheered, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. She fell down not a second later, stone dead.
"My apologies, sister dear," William said with a mocking bow. "But I couldn't risk you doing the same to me after you got what you wanted. No hard feelings." He retrieved his dagger from her back and walked calmly and collectedly to the palace doors. He knocked, and the doors slid open to reveal the princess and her imperial court. A boy with a blonde braid wearing a black kimono and hakama with a red haori over it stiffened at the sight of him. William recognized the boy distantly. He had been at that coastal village where Elisabeth, the guards, and he himself had landed. He had stared at their entourage then, his expression calculating and cold. The boy was now whispering something in the princess's ear. She replied heatedly. They seemed to be having an argument of some sort. Finally, when the boy resorted to getting on his knees and begging, she agreed with him and allowed herself tobe led from the throneroom by a maid in a dark blue kimono and white haori.
William smirked. 'Good.' he thought. 'Wouldn't want my bride-to-be to have tosee me kill.' He saw a pair of archer women aiming their bows at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he said with a pleasant smile. He snapped his fingers, and his twomost loyal guards, Nicholai and Herve(hair-VAY) entered the throneroom, dragging apair of badly injured silver haired demons with them.
"Inuyasha!" the younger looking archer girl cried, dropping her bow and arrowswith a clatter and running over to the younger of the demons.
"Ka...go...me..." the boy whispered weakly in response.
The newly identified Kagome cupped his cheek. Suddenly, a blade appeared in his throat. Kagome screamed and stumbled backwards in shock.
Inuyasha fell down, displaying the sword that had been shoved clean through hisneck "Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, beginning to cry.
A warrioress who looked virtually identical to Kagome except for longer hair, a jewel on her forehead, and a more mature face went to her side. "There, there, Kagome-chan, it will be-" there was the sound of two arrows being fired, and the two fell down dead, with arrows in their throats. The elder archer woman rushed over, performing funerary rites for the other two, who William was willing to be were her sisters.
"Ki...kyo," the older demon said weakly. Kikyo turned just in time to see his eyes widen and watch him vomit blood as a sword burst through his stomach.
"Sesshoumaru!" Kikyo cried, standing from where she had knelt by her fallensisters and rushing to the demon lord's side. She kneeled over his body, weeping. Then, she went rigid and fell flat on her face. Herve pulled a sword from her back and lickedthe blood off the blade, smirking.
"Teme!" yelled a woman with loose sandy blonde hair and amber eyes in a dark blue kimono, lunging at him. Nicholai shoved his sword through the woman's chest, and when she slumpedover in death, reclaimed it with a smirk.
"Risa!" cried a tall man with dark eyes and short black hair in a black kimono. He glared at William, Nicholai, and Herve, retracting an arm from his kimono sleeve. On his hand he wore a white glove with an intricate red design sewn into the fabric. He snapped his fingers, and fire flew toward the three foreigners, originating from the man's glove. All three foreigners managed to dodged his attack in the nick of time. Riku(that'shis name in the past) chased after them, snapping incessantly, at one point even singing their entire backsides. He had them backed into a wall and was about to finish them off,when he tripped over the debris strewn about the room by his explosive blasts of fire. His glove tore on the design, and as he reached into his sleeve for the second glove, William took advantage of his distraction and slit the man's throat.
At that moment, the braided boy who had recognized William, a boy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes who looked like the former, and a man with pale skin, olive eyes and five o'clock shadow stepped down to face William, Nicholai, and Herve. Herve took on the brown-eyed boy, Nicholai took on the golden-eyed one, and William faced the man. The golden-eyed boy clapped his hands together and ran his left hand down hisouter right forearm, producing a short sword. The brown-eyed boy slid into a martial arts stance and motioned for Herve to "bring it". Herve drew a sword and charged. The boy nimbly dodged his attack, and Herve's sword ended up lodged in the wall. The boy slammed Herve's head into the wall andknocked him out, and Nicholai ran over to retaliate. The golden-eyed boy jumped onto Herve's shoulders in an unsuccessful attempt to slow the other down.
"Watch out, Aru!" the boy called, and Aru was able to dodge Nicholai as well. William growled and slit the man's throat in retaliation. The two boys looked at the corpse, then glared at William. Aru knocked the sword out of William's hands and the two began to grapple. The golden-eyed boy prepared to knock William out from behind, but suddenlyfell to his knees, holding his side with a pained expression on his face.
"Nii-san!" Aru cried, abandoning William in favor of running to his brother's side. "Nii-san, what happened?"
Said brother brought his hand away from his side. The palm of his intact white glove was covered with bright red blood. The two brothers turned and saw Herve standing over their fallen comrade with about a half-dozen tiny knives in his hand. Aru's eyes widened in horror. "Nii-san...Edo...th-those are...Himura's poisoned tipped knives...was it a hit...?"
Edo shook his head. "It just grazed me. The tip actually has to embed in the skinfor the poison to take effect."
Aru breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, William, Nicholai, and Herve got over Edo and Aru's attacks and charged for the boys. The two led the trio on a wild goose chase, finally ending upbacked into the wall. The brothers traded a look and prepared for one final attack,deciding to go out with a bang if they had to die. Just as they prepared to spring their respective attacks, however, a rainbow-like barrier appeared between themselves and theother three men, and said men bounced off it with a loud "PING!"
"Tem!" Aru cried.
A taller man with bronze skin, narrow crimson eyes, and spiky tri-colored hair in a black brocade kimono emerged from the shadows, smirking and throwing a flirtatious wink in Aru's direction.
"What took you so long, damnit? They nearly had us!" Edo told their new companion.
"I was casting. I had a disturbing vision recently, and I wanted to put a few wards in place. Just as a precaution, you understand." Tem stated matter-of-factly, trapping Nicholai in a pentagram and sending said pentagram hurling toward William, who was fighting Aru. "Duck, Aru!"
Aru dodged the pentagram and William was caught. Tem imprisoned Herve in it as well and slammed all three of them into the wall. Before he passed out, William yelled. "Guards!"
An army poured in the doors to the throneroom, and Tem swore. "Hikari no Gofuken!" A wall of swords appeared around William's army. He turned to the brothers grimly. "We only have three on."
"We'll take care of them." Elyon said, and the court cheered their agreement.
"Good luck, and fight your hardest." Tem told them, leading the brothers out ofthe throneroom.
"Be careful, you three." A tall, pale woman with a black dreadlocks and blackeyes told them. Her white kimono and black hakama were already stained with blood that wasn't hers.
"Hai, sensei." the two brothers said. And they ran with Tem into the deepestdepths of the palace
.Yume's Room
Yuzu had left some time ago, and Yume was both bored and starved for news of what the stranger wanted. Then, Atemu, Edo, and Aru burst in. "Daijoubu?" she asked, noting the collective look of horror/disgust on all threefaces.
"Iie, Yume-chan." It was Edo who answered. "That foreigner is killing everyone."
Yume gasped. "But...why?" It felt like a puch in the gut, to know people she hadlived all her life with, people who had been living and breathing and talking and laughing just before the foreigner came, were gone and could never come back.
"We don't know." It was Tem who spoke now. "But he's already killed Inuyasha,Kagome, Midoriko, Kikyo, Sesshoumaru, Risa, Riku, and Miruko."
"Eight people?" Yume asked faintly. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were demons who had fallen in love with two of the priestesses, Kagome and Kikyo. Midoriko had taught Yume and her cousins archery, and the sacred texts. Risa was Yume's friend, the keeper of the palace birds, who had promised to help Yume train a bird of her own when her parents returned, and her betrothed, Riku, was an alchemist, known as the Lord Mage of Fire. Miruko was her political tutor, and he constantly gushed about his wife and daughter during lessons.
Aru nodded. "We're going to hide you in the srevants' quarters over the throneroom, and you aren't to enter the throneroom no matter what you hear; do you understand?"
"I'm not a defenseless little girl anymore! I could help if you'd let me!" Yume cried, objecting.
"And under any other circumstances we'd let you. Kami knows we need all the help we can get. But this guy is an unknown. We don't know why he came looking for you, or what his intentions are, and he's already given us eight reasons to suspect that his intentions are less than honorable. So we can't take any risks. Sorry, Yume-chan, but it's for your own good." Edo said. It was the longest speech she'd ever heard the pensive alchemist make about someting that didn't have to do with his art.
Yume sighed in defeat. "Fine."
"Come on, quickly, and stay quiet as you can." Tem said, leading the way to the room in question, moving so quickly and quietly in the shadows of the inner palace that he seemed a part of them.
"Stay safe, Yume-chan." Aru said, hugging her. "One of us -or someone from the court- will come get you when it's over."
Yume nodded, seating herself on a cushion.
"Bye, Yume-chan." Tem said, ruffling her hair affectionately. The three left.
"Let them be safe." Yume whispered. "Oh, Kami, let them be safe."
The three warriors headed down to the throneroom.
"I hope Elyon and the rest made out all right." Aru murmured, wide, doe eyes flitting down to look at his feet, to one side at Tem, to the other at Edo, and back again.
"I won't be able to bring them back if they haven't." Tem muttered darkly.
"What are you talking about? You've got the Shisha Somei, haven't you?" Edo demanded.
"The Shisha Somei only works for one person. We'd have to choose which ally we revived. Would you really be able to choose between Elyon and Himura-san? Or Riku and Midoriko?" Tem replied.
"That other one, then. The one that revives multiple people." Edo said.
"Still, Edo. They're very powerful spells. So powerful, in fact, that I can only use each of them once, and the Shisha Somei only for one person. To bring them back using a revival spell now might prove to be a waste. And what then? What purpose will it have served if we revived our friends and allies only to have some of them die again? Well, Edo? You're a man of science. You know the answer."
Aru looked close to tears at Tem's little speech, so the tanned man wrapped an arm around the youth, pulling him close. "Don't worry Aru. I have a plan in place just incase something should happen."
Edo hadn't heard and looked deep in thought. He opened his mouth to say something and was cut off by a shrill feminine scream.
Aru's head snapped up and he raced to the throneroom. Tem and Edo followed as fast as they could.
In the throneroom, Elyon and a group of elemental demonesses were the only ones left standing. Everyone else had fallen andwas either dead or dying.
"We're not going to last much longer!" Terra, the earth demoness, told them.
Suddenly, Willow, the redheaded leader of the elementals, fell to the ground, mortally wounded. Kagura and Umi, the wind and water elementals, flew to their fallen leader's side and were slaughtered as well. Terra clutched her heart, breath coming in gasps.
"Shinka is the only one still battling!" Aru said in alarm.
Terra managed to create a crator to swallow up some of the gaurds, and Shinka managed to burn some of them to death, but without Willow's magic, their powers steadily grew weaker. Tem, Edo, and Aru had joined the fray by now, and froze in shock when the remaining elementals and Elyon fell to the ground, dead. The three were then tackled, though not killed since Tem summoned another shield.
"Sei naru Barrier Mirror Force!" he yelled, and the gaurds richocheted off it in all directions. The three stood up and began to fight anew, but since it was just they three against a large number of the gaurds, the guards cheered. The three warriors were caught off gaurd and slaughtered. Then William summoned his guards to go out into the countryside and find Yume. Said princess waited until the last of the guards' footfalls had faded into silence and crept down to the throneroom as quietly as she could.
"Aaaaah," she moaned, sickened at the sight before her eyes.
"Yume-chan," came a whisper in the dead silence. She looked around wildly for the source of the voice and saw Ushiro Takamine leaned against a pillar, wounded, but alive.
"Ushiro, you're alive!" she cried happily, flinging herself into his arms.
"But not for long." Ushiro said in a pained whisper. "Atemu-san granted me a little more life, but not much. He wanted me to tell you this for him: Don't give up, Yume-chan, no matter what this baka teme does to you, you must persevere, or else our sacrifice will have been for naught."
Yume nodded tearfully.
"And," Ushiro said with a faint grin. "I have enough life to do this." He pulled Yume's face to his and kissed her. Yume returned it, then Ushiro drew back and stroked her cheek. "Goodbye, Yume-chan, my ai, my kororo." His eyes closed. His hand dropped from her cheek. Ushiro Takamine was dead.
Yume sobbed.
Then next day, Yume married Sir William the Bold under the threat that all of Japan's populace would perish if she did not. Yume's parents were barred from returning to Japan, and, a week or two after the wedding, Yume stabbed William in the back with a knife as he embraced her, then stabbed herself through the heart with the same knife. The emperor and empress(Yume's parents) returned to the throne, and there was peace for the present. But the present as pertains to 1375 AD doesn't concerm us now.What concerns us is the future as a whole.
AN: Whew. 6 pages, 7 counting this note. See what I do for you people? Anyway, the massive bloodshed was just this chapter. The rest are violence free, and what violence there is is more bonk-on-the-head type violent than the above type violent. Give my brain-baby a chance to live, huh?
Japanese glossary:
daijoubu desu ka? -Are you alright?, Iie- No, Hai- Yes, Sensei- Teacher, ohayo- Hello, kun- suffix for male friends, hime- princess, chan- suffix for younger or female friends, hikari no gofuken- Swords of Revealing Light, shisha somei- literally, Rebirth, Sei naru Barrier Mirror Force- Mirror Force( holy barrier mirror force), san- respectful suffix (like Mr. or Mrs.), baka teme- idiotic bastard, nii-san- older brother, ai- love, kororo- heart and soul
Ja ne(goodbye)! Review please!