Chapter One
~oOo~
Gone. All gone.
Pain pricked at her feet, as she stepped on several burning rubble and wood on the ground.
How could this happen? How could they?
Hands slack, face distraught and eyes wide, she continued walking forward with eyes unseeing.
They left me. No one cared. They left me all alone.
Her dress torn in tatters and scorched, her whole body covered with bruises and ash, she looked like an average beggar to the untrained eye.
Gone. Why did they leave?
She walked past hundreds of bodies, all burned beyond recognition.
Who were those bad men? Why did father left mother and me?
She never gave the bodies a second glance.
Why did mother leave me in our house? There was a lot of smoke and it's so hot!
Her eyes were stinging, but she couldn't seem to blink. No tears seem to be coming.
Gone. They left. Why?
She barely noticed that she left the burning village behind.
Did they not love me anymore?
She barely noticed the foliage of trees she entered.
No one cared. I am all alone.
She barely noticed the river.
Gone. They're all gone.
She barely noticed the water clogging up her lungs.
Barely noticed that it is very cold.
Never noticed when darkness entered her vision…
~oOo~
"Okaa-san, look! There's a girl swimming in the river. Can I join her?"
A woman frowned in disapproval when her seven year old son began pleading with her. He should know that the conditions are not suited for a swim. There's a storm clearly coming judging by the graying clouds. The parents of that girl should be told off if they let their daughter swim unsupervised!
"Okaa-san, why is that girl not moving? Shouldn't you be moving your arms and legs when swimming?"
Hearing this, the woman snapped her head up in shock to find a body floating motionlessly in the river. Terror seized her heart, and she immediately cried to a couple of villagers fishing at the other side. "There's a child unconscious in the river! Pull her out!"
The men all jumped to action at her voice once they saw the child themselves. Several panicked voices yelled as a few men jumped in to rescue the girl.
"Okaa-san, what's going on?" Her son gazed at her in confusion, too young to realize the current danger.
"Houjun, can you play by the trees over there? I just have something to take care of. It's nothing to worry about, I won't be long."
"But what about the girl? Why are those men scared? Is she drowning?"
She almost forgot how perceptive her son is. Houjun is unusually bright for a child his age.
She smiled reassuringly, though instincts told her to rush and try to save the girl herself. She has enough skills to be a doctor, and the villagers recognized it. "The girl will be alright. Okaa-san will save her. So while that is happening, you should play over there. Find Hikou and let him join you too."
As if sensing the urgency, Ri Houjun smiled and nodded. "Hai, okaa-san. Go save her, I'll be alright here."
"Thank you Houjun." She kissed his forehead and hurriedly sent him away. Once her son left, she immediately headed for the unconscious girl and set to work.
"Out of the way! Ri Sange will look over the girl. Give her some space!" A man cried out and the villagers quickly moved away from the body. Sange immediately knelt down and checked the girl's vitals, taking note of her cold, pale, almost bluish skin and her trembling that suggests hypothermia. The child's pulse is barely there and…
"She's not breathing." Sange whispered in disbelief. Several of the men cried out in a panic and urgently told her to save the child, which she fully intend to do.
"Okaa-san, do that thing where you push their chest and water comes out. She nearly drowned right?" A voice yelled and Sange turned in shock to see her son watching her attempts to revive the young girl. She has half a mind to scold her son for disobeying her orders, but they both know there is no time to send him away, so she just turned back to the young girl who is looking paler by the minute. Sange frowned in concentration and placed her hands on the girl's chest and pushed, followed by forcing air into her mouth.
"One… two… three…"
Come on, live! Don't die on me, you're still very young!
"One… two… three…"
Everyone waited with bated breath, watching Sange's every move and the pale girl lying limply before her.
"One… two… three…"
Sange could sense her son watching her silently, knowing it is a very critical situation. He never even thought of making a sound.
"One… two… three…"
The others were beginning to murmur worriedly, as if sensing that the girl couldn't be saved. Houjun is stubbornly refusing to let his anxiety show, but he can also see that even his mother is beginning to slow with her pushes.
"I don't think the girl's gonna make it…" Houjun heard a villager whisper, and he immediately felt angered. They're so easy to give up, while his mother is doing everything she could. Why won't they help?!
Houjun stared at the unconscious girl, and noticed her wet, tattered clothes and the traces of ash on her face and body. She also has a lot of bruises that are made noticeable by her very pale, cold skin. She looks like she's gone through something terrible, and it would truly be heartless to let her die here now.
She deserved so much better.
"Okaa-san, she can still make it! I know she can. Save her!" Houjun cried.
He knows she can. And his mother can save her. She's an amazing doctor.
She wouldn't let anyone die.
As if responding to his prayers, he watched as one final push on the chest by his mother caused the girl to finally cough and gasp. All the villagers cried in relief and Houjun helped her mother tip the girl's head to the side to let her spit out the river water. Holding her head and arm, Houjun can clearly feel her ice-cold skin and her violent trembling. His instinct told him to warm her by hugging her tight, but he decided to wait for his mother's orders. It's not like he knows what to do in these kinds of situations.
"She's suffering from hypothermia, we should warm her up. Quick! Remove her wet clothes and find a warm blanket."
The villagers immediately set to work. Several removed their outer robes and presented it to his mother. Sange concentrated on removing the ruined clothes of the young girl. Houjun reddened when he saw what his mother is doing and turned around. He knew it isn't polite to stare at a girl with her clothes gone. His father often told him off about those things.
His best friend Hikou has no reservations about it though.
"Houjun, you can look now. She's covered." He heard his mother say, amusement clearly evident in her voice despite the worry. He blushed even further and cleared his throat.
"I'm going to let her rest in our house. Unfortunately, I don't have clothes for girls. Are any of you willing to lend her some?" Sange asked, her authoritative 'doctor' voice taking over.
"My daughter has some old clothes. I'll bring them over to your house later." A villager said.
"Thank you very much." Sange smiled. "I'm sure she will be grateful as well. We'll be leaving now. Please help us carry her. Come along Houjun."
Houjun watched a man as he slowly lifted the girl and carried her in his arms. Once he is sure she's safe, he finally nodded. "Hai, okaa-san."
~oOo~
Houjun crept towards the close door of his parents' room. He knows eavesdropping is bad, but if it concerns the girl resting in the room next door, it concerns him too.
He proceeded to rest his ear against the door, trying to make his movements as quiet as possible.
"…child… unconscious… the river?"
"Yes… Houjun found her." He perked up at the mention of his name. "Without him, the girl may very well be dead by now."
"But what kind of parent leaves their child unsupervised? They should know better!"
"She must have come from a nearby village. No one around here recognizes her. She must be floating in that river for several hours!"
Several hours?! It's a miracle that she's not dead. Houjun hurriedly backed from the door and tip-toed away. The girl… the girl's a miracle!
His parents' voices faded as he stepped into the spare room where the girl currently resides and closed the door. He still hadn't informed Hikou yet of her, but he's sure his best friend will hear the rumors going around the village somewhere and will come by here tomorrow to see if it's true.
For now, it's his turn to look.
Cautiously, he approached the still body on the bed. Her body's covered by a whole pile of warm blankets above her, but Houjun could still see her face because of the lamp that's glowing softly beside the bed. One look made him gasp and his face to heat up madly.
Her face, while dotted with bruises and scratches, cannot hide her natural beauty. Houjun has never seen any girl in this village as pretty as the girl in front of him now. Maybe his mother is right, she did come from another village.
Or maybe from the god Suzaku himself. She looks so much like an angel from the heavens.
But why would she be unconscious in the river? Maybe she's swimming when she got carried away by the 'currents'? His mother sometimes doesn't allow him to swim in the river if she felt that the 'currents' are too strong, though he doesn't really know what that means. Or maybe she fell on accident? Maybe she isn't a good swimmer? If that's the case, he can teach her a few tricks!
Too caught up in his thoughts, he failed to see the girl stirring and her eyes opening, but he did notice when she gasped and started flailing around, her panic clearly written across her face.
"Hey, it's okay! Don't be scared! It's okay, you're safe. No one's going to hurt you!" He tried to calm her, his voice taking on a soft, comforting tone like he's heard his mother use when he's scared. But the girl didn't seem to hear him. She continued gasping and crying out, her hands getting in a tangle with all the blankets on top of her.
Maybe she's suffocating through all those blankets! His panic-ridden mind said, and he immediately set on the task of removing those blankets from her while murmuring words of comfort. Slowly, her panic is dying out when she noticed the blankets being removed. Houjun continued to whisper soothingly, doing his best to calm her down himself.
He finally got rid of the last piece of blanket covering her and let out a sigh. Suzaku, where did they even get these heavy blankets? There's like, a hundred in the pile!
"Ari.. gatou…" A soft voice muttered, and Houjun snapped his head in shock at the sound. It sounded really weak and tired, but relieved nonetheless. He turned to look at the girl and is struck speechless at the bright emerald eyes that were gazing softly at him. It almost reminded him of the trees he loved climbing around. He can almost see himself reflected back at those bright, beautiful orbs.
She is really pretty.
"Um… uh… it's alright! No need to umm… thank me." He stuttered and scratched his head sheepishly.
Why is he stuttering?!
The girl said nothing, and only tried to sit up. He watched as she sighed when she found that she couldn't, and turned to face him again.
"W-Who are you…?"
"Umm… my name is Ri Houjun." The girl continued to stare at him. "Uhhh… you're here in my house right now so you can rest." He said for lack of anything better to say.
The girl doesn't look like she has anything to say either, so they both settled for silence.
"So um… so what's your name?" Houjun asked and smiled encouragingly.
The girl blinked at him in surprise, then she looked thoughtful, as if trying to remember it. Houjun frowned slightly, how could she even forget her own name?
Finally she turned to him and he watched as she tugged at her lips and revealed a smile for the first time, and it felt like he is frozen at that moment. The moment that will forever be etched into Ri Houjun's memory until the day he died.
"I'm Kouran."
The day Kouran came into his life.
A/N: Ri Sange is pronounced as 'Ri San-ji'.
And if Houjun sounds OOC, it's because he's still a child and far from being the mature adult we all know him to be.
Please PLEASE review and tell me what you think!