17th July 2009
"The Power to Give Life"
Reika's prone figure lay in the middle of the large bed. She was clearly still feverish, but rest was helping her. Her breathing had calmed down and her chest rose and fell at a normal pace under the heavy blanket. When she stirred slightly Chichiri's eyes were drawn to the movement. For a while it had been deathly still in his room, but now Reika was watching him with drowsy blue eyes.
"Am I in your room, Chichiri?" she asked. Her voice was barely a whisper.
"You are, you know. How are you feeling?"
"Not very pleasant" she tried to smile. "I don't remember how I got here." Chichiri frowned.
"That's not suprising, you know. You took an arrow, and it was poisoned you know."
"Obviously I didn't know." She said. He looked suprised until he realised she was teasing him. She began to look around the room. It was the same as the other royal suites, maybe a bit smaller than the one Miaka slept in. Though she decided that made perfect sense. Something had to, in her cloudy brain. The colours were actually becoming a little intense. When she looked back at Chichiri, she realised that his mask was gone, and that he was looking a bit worried. She'd never seen him without the mask before, let alone looking worried. The effect would probably have been startling if she was more alert.
"You should get some more rest you know," he was saying, "I'll come back soon, I want to let the others know you woke, you know." It took a moment to sink in that he was going somewhere. He was halfway standing before her groggy mind caught up.
"No!" They both looked startled. "Ah...that is to say...please stay. I don't want to lie in your room alone." Chichiri watched her for a long moment. It was like he was weighing her up- deciding whether or not she was teasing again. Finally he leaned his staff up against the wall.
"Move over then." Reika's face went blank. He sighed patiently. "I'm not sitting on that hard stool if you can't get to sleep. Move over, you know. You take up some serious space, you know." It seemed to dawn on her that she was being teased this time, but her mind was slowing down rapidly as sleep came on. Instead of her usual argument, she shuffled over to leave enough space for Chichiri. In doing so, she exposed part of her back. A large black tattoo ran along it, from her left hip bone up over her right shoulder and slightly along her collarbone where it ended in delicate twisted vines. Against his better judgement, he reached out and traced one of the curved lines along he shoulder blade.
"How much did this hurt, you know?" he asked as she stiffened. "I've seen sailors that wouldn't get a tattoo this large and detailed, you know."
"The tattoo was nothing compared to the circumstances" she said softly. She sat up, making sure to keep the blankets around her bandaged torso. "Don't worry, I can't sleep now. Would you like to hear how I got them?"
"Them?" he asked. "Isn't it all one tattoo, you know?"
"No. Each picture is individual. The tattoo took one month, and it took one month for me to learn to use them. Every line means something and I can activate every tattoo with my chi-" she paused and turned to look at Chichiri. "Except for three. There are three that I can never work."
"You don't have to tell me this story you know."
"I want to. I've never told anyone the whole thing." She smiled, but her eyes were sad as she looked at him. "Maybe it's the poison talking" she joked. She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and motioned for Chichiri to get comfortable. "I was fourteen, and it was deep winter in Hokkan."
"I lived near the country's spiritual capital, Ifurei. That's where all the oracles and things were, and as a result the local villages got complacent. Why do you need to know how to protect yourself, when all these magical beings can do it for you, you know? My family was an exception. My father taught both his daughters to fight, both physically and with words." the both laughed a little at that. "But when the bandits started to come around, there is only so much one man can do. My parents told me that I shouldn't go to the city and learn to use my gifts, because then the men would steal me away. But that winter it was so cold and we hand nothing, and I thought if I could just bring in a little more money for us..."
It was a dark, cold night. The air was damp with frost, and it stung the dark haired girl's nose as she stepped outside the front gate. It was so cold that the tiny tears on her cheeks froze and her eyelashes caught together.
"Goodbye, mum, dad." She said softly. "I'll be back soon, and my silly sister will be better then." She slung a small package over her shoulder: a small hunk of bread, a smaller slice of cheese and some coins that she'd saved since she was a tiny girl. A long black braid hung over her left shoulder, and a white cap sat on her head. With one last blown kiss at the house, she started on the road to Ifurei.
"You walked?" asked Chichiri.
"All the way. My feet were so cold- I have never been so cold!" She laughed. "I bought a horse after that. It was terrible. But I made it to the city. I was looking for a certain lady, one who had recognised my gift on her way through my village when I was small. She had the scariest face I have ever seen. But I liked her."
"You told me you would teach me!" Yelled Reika. "You old hag, you told me you would help me!"
"WHAT did you call me? Little ingrate!!" the witch bellowed back. She wore a simple green dress and a pink shawl, with her grey hair tied back. Reika realised for the first time that she was actually looking down on the woman- she must have been tiny.
"You told me, you said 'If you ever want to use that gift of yours properly, you come and find me at Ifurei. And here I am, but you won't see me!" Reika fought down tears. "I need to save my family. You can have me, for anything. You can even eat me in a stew. Just let me save my family." The old woman actually looked taken aback.
"Why would I want to eat you? You're too scrawny." Reika went to argue but the woman cut her off. "Come in then. Let's see what I can do with you, runt." Reika didn't argue. She didn't do anything. Instead she stood in the snow and grinned.
"Are you slow, child? Get inside!"
"I didn't realise until just recently who that woman really was" said Reika with a small smile. "Who would have thought that Taiitsukun would have plans for a sickly little village girl."
"You called Taiitsukun a hag?"
"I didn't realise who she was. When she appeared to Miaka yesterday, that's when I realised." Chichiri remained silent. Reika decided to go on. "She taught me some very basic things first. Controlling your life force, channeling it through objects. She quickly discovered that I had a talent for drawing and that I could use my chi to make those drawings real." Chichiri inhaled sharply. Reika patted his arm. "You've put it together, finally. I can still use drawings, but this way was so much more convenient."
"It's time to give me your payment, Reika." It had been a month since Reika had called the old woman a hag, and now she sat before the fire practicing her drawing spells.
"I thought you were just going to eat me in a pie."
"No." the old woman looked at the girl, and she could have almost sworn that she looked sad. "I have a test for you. You can control your power now, but the test is this. I have plans for you. I don't know when you will be needed, but it will be important."
"Spit it out" Reika said. She was starting to feel nervous. "What do I have to do?"
"You have to give up your ability to create life. If you do that, I can make your drawings a part of your body. You will be able to save your family, and strong enough for me. When the time comes." The girl frowned.
"My ability to give-"
"You are of child baring age aren't you? You bleed every-"
"Yes." Reika had blushed deep red. "Yes, I do. And what you are saying is...if I give that up...if I give up my ability to have a family in the future, I can save the family I have now?"
"Nothing is set in stone. But yes, you would have a much better chance."
"Ok. Do it then. Whatever it is, just do it."
"You can never have children?"
"Never. But that's fine. I have Tasuki to keep me on my toes, right?" She laughed. Chichiri hesitated, but smiled too. "It took them one month, to draw in every line and shape and even some spell words. And even then, I have added to the marks over the years, new things I've learned or discovered." Reika winced. "It stung so much. But returning home was much worse."
"Were your parents angry at what you'd done, you know? Running away?"
"I'll never know. I never got the chance to ask them."
The fine black horse sped down the road. It was Spring now, and though the air was still icy the white that covered the ground was not snow, but just frost. Both their breaths misted in the air. Reika laughed with the sheer joy of being alive. She was going home, her family would be waiting and they'd forgive her and they'd never want for anything again. They slid to a stop at the front gate. Reika nearly fell off the horse's back in her eagerness to dismount.
"I'm home!! Mum! Father!! SISTER!! I'm here, and I have such good news-" she stopped her shouting. She stopped breathing. The front door of the small house was open, and there was no sound. Reika didn't notice anything, except for the pale white hand that lay across the doorstep. She was almost too scared to see what it was attached to.
'It's a burglar. Dad took care of him and they're at a neighbours...or something...' But it wasn't a burglar. That silver bracelet- her mother never took off that silver bracelet. She tried to breathe, but the tears were too much. She was choking on them.
Chichiri opened his mouth to speak, but for once nothing came out of it. He had no words of wisdom for the small woman beside him. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and he could see the tattoos snaking around her body because she had let the blanket slip away.
The small girl sat in the centre of the floor. Her mother lay near the door. Her father by the table. And her sister, her lovely, fair sister was nowhere to be found. All that was left of the tiny gold haired girl was her hairbrush. Reika gathered the hairs from the hair brush, her parent's wedding rings and her mother's silver bracelet. She packed up anything that had belonged to her and put it in the black horse's saddlebags.
It took her a week to dig the graves. Nobody would help her- they said she'd brought a curse down on her family by running away to that city.
She placed flowers on the grave. Then she set fire to the house and yelled out a curse.
"I went back to the old woman. I told her that I was hers forever, so long as I could search for my sister. She taught me how to make my sister's hairs into a necklace." She motioned to the sliver chain around her neck. "My sister's hair is inside, and the silver is Mum's bracelet. My rings are their wedding rings- when I put them on that day they shrunk to fit my fingers. I can't take them off. And now I use my powers for whatever Taiitsukun wishes, which is keeping Miaka alive." Chichiri cleared his throat.
"What are the three tattoos that won't work, you know?" he asked. He pictured the dragon tattoo on her inner right arm, in silvery ink. She seemed to know what he meant.
"The dragon works. I'll show you someday." She smiled. It was a smile dripping with irony. She shifted to face him and tugged gently at one of her bandages. Chichiri started to turn away. "Wait," she said. "It's nothing like that." He turned back to her. She was showing a tiny fraction of her left breast.
"Stop blushing like such a virgin Chichiri" she scolded. There were three words visible, with three names.
Mother. Father. Sister.
"These don't work. No matter how hard I try. I can never even summon a- a ghost. N-not a ph-phantom." She finally gave in to tears. Chichiri had been wondering how long the girl would hold out. It was such a massive story to tell, let alone live through. He realised with a start that her hand was still on his arm from earlier. This is a bad idea he thought. But he reached across and pulled her into his arms anyway.
Reika vaguely realised that she was sobbing. But she was so tired. So, so tired.
Once she was asleep, Chichiri maneuvered her so that she was laying on her side, tattooed back to him. He drew the covers up to her shoulders and gently left the bed. There was more to the Ink Witch than met the eye, in so many ways.
He was going to have to meditate for hours after this.