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The Girl With The Book - Part 1: Mysterious Stranger
Keitaro Urashima, twenty years old, two-time ronin, no special skills, no prospects, no girlfriend, and no life to speak of in general. The only thing he had to his name was an old inn, converted to an all-girls dormitory by his grandmother, that he was charged with managing. Oh, and a Print Club collection full of pictures of himself from all over Japan. Of the hundreds of pictures in that booklet, only one was with another person.
Keitaro pulled that very booklet from his backpack as he sauntered from the train station on his way back to Hinata Sou, the other piece of property he owned. The sun had already finished its descent into the western horizon, and the perennial fog that enveloped Hinata Onsen during the night had already begun to roll in. He flipped through the booklet's many pages with practiced ministrations, stopping right on the targeted page. He smiled morosely at the sole picture on that page, a picture so special he had dedicated the lot of that page to displaying that single photograph.
The young man pushed his eyeglasses higher onto his nose as his eyes found the woman smiling next to him in the photograph. "Narusegawa is not going to be too happy with me when she finds out I failed another mock exam," Keitaro said to himself peevishly. Despite the sense of dread hanging over him, he smiled as he looked at Naru Narusegawa's image. Her smile was infectious. The mere sight of it always made Keitaro's lips curl upwards, no matter how imminent the darkness was to enveloping him completely.
Apologize and try again. He repeated the mantra in his mind over and again as he wound his way through the other pedestrians and the many constructs in and around the town. But when would Naru have enough of his constant penchant for utter failure? Indeed, he had improved dramatically the moment she took him under her wing, as it were. But Tokyo University was still well beyond his academic reach. The "D" rating he received on his mock exam provided more than enough proof of that reality.
He had been within a hair's breadth of resolving to give up on his dream to meet the woman with whom he had made a solemn promise to meet at Tokyo University as students over fifteen years prior countless times. What was it that kept him on this pitfall-ridden path certain to lead only to utter destruction? Long gone was the memory of that girl's name and face. That promise was certainly nothing more than a hollow shell of what it once was: an oath between he and whom he was certain was his soul mate.
For certain, it was she, the one in that picture with him, that kept him hanging, if even by a frayed thread, onto his hopes and dreams. Merely infatuated with Naru at first, due to his misplaced belief that she was somehow the promised girl from so long ago, he had since grown genuinely fond of her, and now felt he had fallen for her completely. He made a new promise with Naru to make it into Tokyo University, and since that day, his focus shifted onto fulfilling the promise he made with her, rather than meeting the girl of his elder promise.
As confusing as this all may sound, dear reader, in the mind of Keitaro Urashima, it made perfect sense. Naru's hot-and-cold relationship with him deterred him not, and he was determined to tell her once and for all how he felt. He thought that the positive results of this last mock exam would be the first step in his drawn-out confession, but he had suffered yet another setback. Nothing had happened countless times in the past. This was unquestionably reparable.
Keitaro closed his notebook and returned it to its place in his backpack. He exhaled a heaving breath, completely frustrated at his inability to retain anything learned from his study sessions with Naru. He pushed aside the logical reason being that he was paying more attention to Naru's face than his textbooks a majority of the time. He knew it was true, but had no recourse. It was utterly futile for him to study alone, and Naru was a natural choice for a tutor, as she was studying the same material, was close by, and free of charge.
Although she put up quite a front, Keitaro was positive Naru liked having him around during their studies, though he could not quite pinpoint why. He figured having a complete dimwit like him around helped her confidence, and she seemed quite proud whenever he remembered the formulae she taught him, or the English vocabulary words they drilled over and again. But a tiny, more malfeasant part of him thought that she was, like him, interested in a more meaningful relationship and was fearful to say it.
His mind running in perfect circles, Keitaro turned one last corner to the towering staircase leading to Hinata Sou when a shuffle of sound and movement from the shadows to his left caught his attention. Imaging some mugger with a drawn switchblade demanding his wallet, Keitaro leapt to his right, putting his hands out in front of him, trying to look menacing, but probably looking more like a drunkard. "Is someone there?" he squeaked to the darkness, turning his head in every direction, certain he was going to be attacked at any moment.
A muffled sob rang in Keitaro's ears from the direction he heard the shuffling, and he was instantly set at ease, heaving a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, he approached the shadows cautiously, wary of a snare. "Who's there?" he asked gently, stepping forward. As the veil of darkness lifted, Keitaro noticed a head of long, curly, strawberry blond locks flowing towards the concrete ground.
Moving to his knees to get a better look, Keitaro saw the head of hair belonged to a girl that could not have seen more than seven or eight summers. She was adorned in a red and white smock that was smudged with at least a week's worth of filth, and in her pale-skinned arms she was clutching tightly a large, hard-backed book. "Hello?" Keitaro called out to the girl, reaching out to her.
The girl's head popped up, and when her ruby red eyes landed on Keitaro, she gasped with fright and curled herself even more tightly around her book. Keitaro flinched backward, surprised with the girl's response to his presence. A fog of questions filled his mind. Who was this girl? He was familiar with most of the townspeople, but he had yet to meet this particular girl. A girl with such a unique appearance would have stood out in his memory to be sure. What was she doing here? Where are her parents? He knew one thing for certain, however. This girl did not belong in such a place at this time of night.
"Excuse me?" Keitaro asked the girl tenderly. Keitaro waited for a response that never came. The girl's sobbing increased, and she was violently shaking. "Can you understand me?" The girl's shaking continued, but she managed to nod her head at Keitaro.
Thankful the young one could at least comprehend his words, Keitaro inched closer to her. "Don't come any closer!" the girl shrieked, and Keitaro fell backward onto his rump.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Keitaro begged off, putting his palms out in front of him. "I'm one of the good guys," he explained, trying to calm the girl down. "I won't hurt you."
Keitaro could see the girl beginning to calm down, and he could see her looking at him out of the corner of her eyes, as if judging his credibility. "What is your name?" Keitaro asked.
"Go away!" the girl yelled, but Keitaro could tell by the tone of her voice she was losing the will to resist.
"My name is Keitaro Urashima. It's nice to meet you," Keitaro introduced himself formally, standing and bowing low at the waist. The girl was wholly facing him now, and her death-grip on her hardback had loosened noticeably. "Are your parents around here somewhere?" The girl hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head meekly. "Don't you have any family to take care of you?" Another negative response. "Where are you staying right now?"
"I-I don't have a place to stay," the girl admitted, and her sobbing began anew. Keitaro stood in awed silence, fighting the conflicting emotions building inside him. This precious little girl was somehow left completely alone, and the mere thought of such a thing caused an unnatural rage to flow through his veins. Who in their right mind, or even in their wrong mind, could be capable of such a thing? On the other hand, this girl was in an extremely fragile state, and the pity Keitaro took on her kept him from lashing out and causing her any further harm.
Taking a few calming breaths, Keitaro came to a resolution. He could not leave this girl of her own accord. And seeing how she had no one else to turn to, there was only one logical choice. "Would you like to stay with me for a while?"
The girl's head whipped around so quickly, Keitaro might have thought she had given herself a case of whiplash. "What?" she exclaimed.
"I happen to own the place just up the hill there," Keitaro explained, pointing towards the Hinata Sou complex. "You can stay there with my other tenants and me if you would like."
The girl seemed to relax for a moment before she tensed up once more, sensing a trap. "Why should I trust someone like you? What kind of person would just let some stranger into their house?"
Keitaro chuckled and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Someone like me, I suppose. The place I own is an all-girls dormitory, and you can stay with one of them if it would make you feel safer." Keitaro could see by the look on the girl's face that she was calculating the risk versus reward of Keitaro's invitation.
"Okay, fine," the girl finally relented, wiping the tears from her face with her forearm. She stood up and dusted off her frock, although it made little to no difference whatsoever. As she stepped out of the shadows and into the light, Keitaro could see that the girl truly had not seen a bath or clean clothes in a good long while. Her face was caked with dirt, and her knees and elbows were blackened with dried mud.
As they began to walk towards the staircase, Keitaro quipped, "You still haven't told me your name."
The girl looked up at Keitaro and smiled. "It's Seikako."
"Seikako, huh? That's a pretty name. It's nice to meet you, Seikako."
"Same here."
"Say, do you want me to hold onto that book for you, Seikako?"
Seikako clenched tighter to her book. "No thanks, I've got it okay."
"Okay, then," Keitaro said, stopping in front of the stairs leading to Hinata Sou. "The building is right up these stairs. Shall we?"
Seikako nodded, and followed Keitaro up the stairs.
During the climb up to the entrance, Keitaro felt something nagging at him, as if he were forgetting something. The thought continued to bother him, and upon entering the building with Seikako in tow, it dawned upon him. However, by then, it was far too late to be remedied.
"It's about time you got back, Keitaro," the woman lounging about on the sofa in the foyer greeted him, raising a glass no doubt containing her favorite brand of rice wine. Wearing a purple sweater and black slacks, the fox-faced Mitsune Konno was the prankster of the Hinata household. And she was the last person Keitaro wanted to notice him returning with a girl, no matter what her age.
Naturally, when the thought entered his mind, Mitsune seemed to pick up on it immediately. "Who is that behind you, Keitaro?"
"Good evening, Kitsune-san," Keitaro said, calling Mitsune by her perfectly ascribed nickname. "What is behind me?" Keitaro asked, playing the fool as best he could, hoping to throw Kitsune off of Seikako's scent.
"You know," Kitsune said, stumbling to her feet and nearly spilling her drink in the process, "I'm drunk, but I'm not so drunk as to not notice the little girl hiding behind you."
Keitaro laughed nervously and stepped aside, revealing the blond haired girl standing behind him. Seikako blanched, turning her head away from Kitsune's brooding stare. "Kitsune-san, please don't…"
"Hey, Naru, Motoko, Shinobu, Su, Sarah, Keitaro brought a girl home with him!" Kitsune belted.
In a span of a few seconds, the motley crew of female residents was organized to the right and left of Kitsune, as if trained for a Pavlovian response to the words "Keitaro" and "girl" being used in the same sentence.
The heir of Shinmeiryu stepped forward first. "What is the meaning of this, Urashima?" Motoko demanded, keeping a steady hand on the hilt of her blade draped in its scabbard at her waist.
"It's seriously not what you think," Keitaro begged off, keeping one eye on Motoko's hand fingering the hilt of her katana, and the other on Seikako, who was clutching at the hem of his shirt.
"That's what you always say, though, isn't it?" Kitsune asked, her devilish grin sending a sharp shiver down Keitaro's spine. It was true, however. He always defended himself with that particular phrase.
"Relax, Motoko, its just a little girl," Naru said, placing a hand on the kendo artist's shoulder. As Keitaro felt his spirits lifted, Naru burst his proverbial bubble. "As much as a pervert as he is, not even Keitaro would stoop that low."
"I think you give him far too much credit, Naru-san," said the youngest of the troupe, Sarah.
Su, although not the most studious, was certainly the most curious of the bunch. "Hey, Keitaro. What'cha got there behind you? Is it something to eat?"
Shinobu grabbed the blond foreigner by the nape of her blouse, pulling her away from her prey. "You can't eat a person, Kaolla-san!"
"Can we focus here for a minute?" Keitaro bellowed, silencing everyone at once. Once it was quiet, Keitaro continued, "Thank you. Now, this is Seikako," Keitaro gently removed the girl's hands from his shirt and nudged her out in front of him so the girls could see her. She kept her eyes glued to her feet, seemingly afraid to meet any of the older girls' gazes.
"Why is she all dirty and scuffed up like that?" Kitsune asked, coming to grips with the gravity of the situation.
"Your guess would be as good as mine. She was like this when I found her," Keitaro explained.
"Wait," Naru said, throwing up her hand to stop Keitaro before he continued. "Youfound her? How did you just happen to find a little girl?"
"She was in a dark alley, by herself, sobbing her eyes out. I couldn't just leave her there," Keitaro said.
"Well, at least he has some trace of humanity in him," Motoko noted aloud almost too loudly.
Keitaro clenched his jaw in frustration, but did not utter a single objection. Instead, he rushed to a resolution. "Take her and get her cleaned up. I need to call Aunt Haruka and have her help me make some phone calls."
"What makes you think you can suddenly boss us around?" Kitsune complained.
Naru took the girl by the hand. "Would you rather we leave her alone with him in the bath?"
It took a Herculean effort on Keitaro's part to keep from rolling his eyes. Instead, he moved off towards the phone, picking up the handset and dialing numbers, trying desperately to ignore what had been said about him in his presence.
Naru squatted down in front of the little girl, whose eyes were wandering everywhere except for Naru's face. "Hello, Seikako, my name is Naru! Want to take a nice, hot bath and get all cleaned up?" Seikako, as aloof as ever, nodded her head wordlessly, her eyes still darting around aimlessly.
As Naru escorted the girl through the foyer towards the hot springs in the rear of the property, Naru asked, "Shinobu-chan, would you mind doing something about her clothes?"
At last, Keitaro heard the other line pick up. "Haruka-san? Thank God you are home. I need you to come up right away."
One hour later, Seikako, freshly scrubbed and adorned with some of Sarah's old pajamas, was sitting on the foyer sofa, her eyes lazily drifting open and closed.
"She has got to be exhausted," Naru said, gently running her hand over the top of the girl's head.
"No doubt she has had one hell of a day," Kitsune noted, sitting in a chair with her bare feet on the coffee table.
A few moments later, Keitaro and Haruka, both looking flummoxed, joined the group. "There's no missing person's report on anyone named Seikako in the whole country," Keitaro said, resting his elbows on the back of the chair Kitsune was seated in.
"Seikako…that's a pretty unique name. I'm sure in a missing persons' case, if the child had such a name, it would be pretty memorable," Haruka said, patting Keitaro comfortingly on the back. "But none of the authorities know anything about a missing girl named Seikako."
"What can we do?" Motoko asked.
"The only thing we can, really," Keitaro said. "She's going to have to stay with us for a little while until we figure out who she is and where she came from."
"Are you sure that is wise?" Motoko pressed.
Haruka shrugged. "I think it's a more viable option than turning her in to Child Protective Services. With the system the way it is, she's liable to fall right through the cracks and end up in foster care for the majority of her adolescent life." Motoko nodded in approval of the argument.
"Where should she stay, then?" Kitsune asked. "Obviously not with Keitaro."
Keitaro stood upright. "Why not?"
"Because you can't be trusted with anyone of the female persuasion, let alone one so young," Motoko explained, her tone cold as ice.
Keitaro growled and looked towards his Aunt, who simply shrugged at him.
"She can stay in my room," Naru said, still stroking Seikako's hair. The young girl was fast asleep.
"Are you sure, Narusegawa?" Keitaro asked.
"Of course, unless you think I'm not up to the task?" The glare Naru shot at Keitaro was meant as a warning, and Keitaro got the message perfectly.
"Yes, yes, of course. I just didn't want to burden you."
"She doesn't seem like much of a burden right now, does she?" Kitsune asked, and all eyes stared in silence at the girl, watching as her chest rose and fell with her rhythmic breathing.
"No, not at all," Naru said with a smile.
Haruka took a deep breath and exhaled. "Well, it seems like you kids have everything well in hand, so I'm going to let myself out now. Goodnight."
"Thanks for your help tonight, Haruka-san," Keitaro said as his aunt stepped into her outdoor shoes.
"No problem. Let me know if and when you find out anything on her, alright?" Haruka asked as she pulled the exit door open.
Keitaro nodded to her and locked the door after she walked out and disappeared down the stairs leading to her teashop. When he turned around, everyone except Naru had taken her leave for the evening. Naru stood and hunched over Seikako, lifting the girl in her arms. "Do you need any help with her?" Keitaro whispered.
Naru shook her head. "She's pretty light. Oh, I almost forgot to ask, what is that there?" Naru motioned with her head towards the table. Keitaro glanced at the table, and saw the bright orange book Seikako had been carrying.
"That is the book I found her with. She seems pretty attached to it," Keitaro said.
"Wait until you see what's inside of it. It's completely bizarre, unlike any book I've ever seen before: full of strange symbols and markings. I can't make any sense out of it. It's probably nothing more than junk," Naru said, unconsciously bouncing up and down with the girl in her arms.
"I'll hang on to it, I suppose. It seems pretty important to her," Keitaro said, picking the book up from the table. Neither he nor Naru noticed the nearly imperceptible glow of orange light originating from the five-circle and two-triangle diagram on the book's cover once he laid his hand on it.
"Well, I'm going to get her tucked in, and then I'm going to sleep," Naru said, turning and padding quietly towards the stairs.
"Goodnight," Keitaro said to Naru, and he watched her gently climb the stairs, as if she were literally walking on eggshells. Once she vanished from his sight, he recalled that he had yet to tell Naru about his test results. He felt relieved that he would have at least one night to ponder over exactly how to break the news to her, thanking his lucky stars for his serendipitous meeting with the girl in the alley. Stifling a yawn, Keitaro decided it would be best for him to retire to his room as well, and he followed Naru's path up the stairs.
Once in his room, he took a seat at his desk and turned on his desk lamp. He placed Seikako's book down on the desk and opened it. There were horizontal lines of orange colored symbols, glyphs, and runes filling each page, and Keitaro fumbled through it, unable to make sense of any of it. Frustrated that nothing about Seikako was making one iota of sense, Keitaro quickly rifled through the pages of the book, until one page towards the middle caught his attention.
To Keitaro's complete astonishment, there were two lines at the top of this particular page that were literally glowing bright orange, in contrast to the remainder of the lines, which remained their normal darker shade of orange. Keitaro rubbed at his eyes, blinking several times, and focused his attention back onto the symbols, making sure he was not hallucinating, yet the glow remained on just those two lines.
Even more bewildering to the young man was that he was able to tell somehow what those two lines said. The other lines remained as gibberish, but something in Keitaro instinctively knew the translation of these particular symbols and glyphs. He fingered the shining symbols as their meaning blossomed in his mind. "Daiichi no jutsu, Faiaru," he said, reading the words aloud.
"So, you are the one that can read my book," a voice said from the opposite end of Keitaro's room. Keitaro whirled around to see Seikako, wide awake, standing in her borrowed nightgown with her arms folded over her chest, a dour expression on her youthful face. "I really have the most rotten luck."
"What are you talking about?" Keitaro asked the girl, feeling as if he were about to go into shock.
"You are my partner," Seikako stated with finality, pointing at Keitaro.
Author's Note: Sorry about the unexpected, extended hiatus, everyone. I know you are probably waiting with baited breath for new chapters of my other active stories, but the past couple of months have been extremely hectic for me both physically and mentally. I'll eventually get back to them, but this new idea for a story has been eating at me for a long while and simply could not wait a moment longer. Hopefully, it won't be another 3 months before you get to read more material from me. Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone!
Author's Note #2: "Daiichi no jutsu, Faiaru" translates as "The first spell, Faiaru" for those that were not aware. For those unfamiliar with this particular crossover I am crafting, the meaning of this will become apparent in the next chapter. For those that do know what it means, try not to spoil too much in your reviews. Thanks!