Zaji
A Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee fanficton by Garrarg. And it's all about Zaji! She's the best character in the manga in my opinion.
Legal Jargon bit: I do not own Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee, Zaji, or any of the characters therein and am not making any profit from this blah blah blah. This story may not be reproduced without my permission, so PM me if you want to do anything with it.
(Garrarg's note: This is the first time I will write a story in first-person, so if theres an issue please put it in a PM or a review and I'll work to improve myself. And also, I'm trying to write in a style thats different than my normal, which my normal usually means describing things a lot so there'll be not much description about things untill we reach unchartered areas of Tegami Bachi.)
I walked through the streets of the Yuusari capital, on my way to the Bee Hive, the headquarters for all Letter Bees. Letter Bees risked their lives to deliver letters from town to town, it was a tough job that was becoming more and more thankless. What made it tough for most were the Gaichuu, the giant armored insect-like, heartless monsters that tried to take the "Heart" out of people. I hated the Gaichuu, their very existince and what they do. I want to destroy them all, get rid of every last one of them! So, I became a Letter Bee, and with my "Heart" bullet gun and my Dingo Vashka I travel from town to town, delivering letters so that I can kill any Gaichuu that comes in my way.
I arrived at Nocturne street, where the Bee Hive was. Vashka purred at the sight of it and I smiled a little bit. Yeah, the Bee Hive was more home than anywhere else, and it wasn't much of a home anyways. I had just had a long week of work, and I used my Heart bullet gun too much, I felt drained and much more tired than normal. I was looking forward to a good night's rest, and Vashka was too. The wind was cold and kept driving into my eyes, and therefore I hadn't noticed the man running up to me.
"Zaji!" It was Ralgo Lloyd, the supervisor of the Bee Hive. He looked quite haggard and tired; nearly as tired as I felt. When he reached me and Vashka, he handed a letter to me.
"This needs. . .to be delivered as fast as. . .you can!" He gasped out between big breaths.
"Now?" I asked and looked at the letter. It was addressed to the mayor of a small mining town that was very far away from any other town or city, and not many Bees ever went there. If I were to hurry it'd take days of travel.
"Yes, extremely urgent and your the best available Bee here!"
"When do I need to be there?"
"Within four days, and back as fast as you can with the mayor's reply." Lloyd seemed to have caught his breath and he looked at me with an expression like he was feeling sorry.
"Hmph." Was my reply as I turned around on the spot and walked away, tucking the letter into my bag. Four days would be hard and tiring, but this seemed very important so I could make it. As long as I didn't encountered any trouble, which I'd have to be very lucky to not.
"Thank you Zaji!" Ralgo Lloyd called after me, I just waved without looking back.
I walked quickly and left the Yuusari capital very quickly, and after a while there was no trace of civilization anywhere around me. As tired as I was, I seemed to find new energy. This was possibly a dangerous mission, and normally when a Bee went as far out as I was going to go, they usually had another Bee or two with them. Having someone else would just slow me down though.
The terrain passed by quickly, and it got darker and darker as I went farther away from the man-made sun that lit the sky behind me. I walked fast enough it was almost running, and Vashka ran ahead and around me, on the alert for Gaichuu. If I encountered a Gaichuu, fighting it would make my trip slower, especially if it somehow managed to hurt me or Vashka. If I encountered it, I'd have to just run and avoid it, as much as I hated to do it.
I passed small towns without stopping, passed people on the road that were traveling between towns with wagons of merchandise or people. Some people waved at me, some glared more often than not though. Over the past while Bees have been treated worse and worse by some people who were rebellious to the Amberground government. Eventually I arrived to a town where I decided to stop just long enough for some food.
I found a store that sold mostly canned stuff and some bread, and I quickly purchased enough to get me to my destination. The store owner seemed a little taken aback at my abruptness, but said nothing as I left without saying anything and hurried through the town.
"Hey, your a Bee!" A voice behind me said but I kept going without slowing.
"Hey, wait up!" It said again, and someone ran up beside me. It was a young man who had a letter in his hand.
"Can you-"
"No, I'm on a special assignment and I have no time." I interrupted him and looked away.
"But this is important!" He whined and kept beside me even as I exited the town.
"I need to get someone in four days that would normally take six days, so I can't take any other deliveries." He followed after me for a bit, but I started ignoring him and he eventually stopped.
"You damn Bee! You wont be welcome here again!" He shouted after me. I just sighed.
"What doesn't he understand about I can't take a delivery right now?" I said to Vashka. She purred at me ran ahead again. I walked and walked until I was so exhausted that I couldn't walk anymore, and I barely found a spot to sleep in a little cave before I passed out.
It felt as though I'd just closed my eyes when Vashka woke me up by nudging my shoulder with her head. I looked around blearily, waking up slowly. Vashaka made some odd grunting noise and looked out of the cave. I stood up and looked over her and saw a two-horse carriage making it's way slowly across the terrain on the dirt road. I picked up my bag and ran out of the cave, with Vashka running at my side. I waved at the man driving the wagon, he was alone except for a cat that sat on his lap. I liked him already. He looked over and slowed the carriage to a stop and waited for me to rush up to him.
"Why hello Bee, you in a hurry?" He asked and smiled, showing a nearly toothless grin and his face wrinkled up to extraordinary levels.
"Yeah which way are you going?" I asked quickly.
"The next town that away," he pointed ahead of us, it was in the direction I needed to go and it would take me hours to walk there.
"If I pay you some Rin would you take me there fast?" I said and dug some Rin out of my pocket and showed him. He smiled.
"I'd take you there for free, anything for a Letter Bee. Since I'm going there anyways. Hop on!" He waved at me to get up and so I jumped up onto the seat beside him, and Vashka sat across my feet. The black cat on the old man's lap purred at me and my Dingo.
"All right let's mosey!" He tapped the reins lightly and the horses took off at a trot. After a few seconds he quickened their pace, and after a minute they were at nearly galloping speed. This was way faster than walking!
"So, you got important delivery or something?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, this'll make it much easier though."
"Glad I could help, Bee."
And after that we were both silent. He wasn't that talkative and neither was I, and he seemed to enjoy my company; and he wasn't even afraid of Vashka like most people. He kept the horses at a good pace the entire trip, only slowing when we came to hills and even then they still went fast. After about an hour the next town had come into view, and the old man slowed the cart to a fast trot until we entered. Once we were in, he slowed again to a slow walk, and I dug some Rin out of my pocket.
"Now Bee, you don't have to do that." He said and smiled at me.
I just grunted and handed him the money and jumped off the wagon.
"What's your name anyways?" He called as I started to walk away, with Vashka behind me.
"Zaji!" I called back.
"Good luck, Letter Bee Zaji!"
I waved at him without turning back, like I had done to Lloyd at the Bee Hive. Walking through town, I noticed that everyone was glaring at me. I had been to several towns recently where people disliked Letter Bees a bit, and this looked like another one. I just hurried along and didn't look anyone in the eye, ignoring them.
"Hey, Bee!" A gruff voice called, in front of me. I looked up at a tall man with an enormous gut and scary amounts of facial hair, he stood a few feet in front of me with his arms crossed and legs apart.
"There's a fee fer passin' though here!" He said loudly, and a bunch of people turned to watch us.
"There's never been a fee to pass through anywhere, especially not for a Bee on important government business." I said coldly and moved around him. He grabbed my shoulder with a large, greasy hand. I drew my Heart bullet gun and turned to him, pointing the gun at his overlarge face.
"Don't mess with me!" I said to him, burning with anger. Vashka growled at my side and lashed her tail from side to side. The man let go and backed off, he was just a coward. I turned away and started walking quickly to the edge of the town, people got out of my way hurriedly. I smiled a little bit.
"Get him!" Someone shouted. I turned quickly to where the voice came from, angry again at being called a 'him' and about to correct them, but something hard hit my shoulder and bounced off. It was a fist-sized rock, and I saw that everyone had picked up rocks.
"Vashka, scare them out of their skin!" I said to my big cat, and she growled and ran to a group of men with large rocks. Instead of running like I thought they would, they pelted their rocks at me. I ducked and started to run, but some people ran in front of me and threw more rocks. I dodged a lot, but eventually there were too many and I was getting hit everywhere. Vashka growled and jumped on some people, with her claws sheathed so she would just knock them down.
"Behind you Zaji!" I heard the old man shout and I whirled around. A tall man with huge arms was running at me with an iron frying pan, clearly wanting to hit me over the head with it. I ducked to the side and stuck out my leg to trip him up. He fell to the ground swearing, and I laughed.
"Get him now!" I barely heard someone shout, and then three people dived onto me and knocked me flat on my back, driving the wind out of my lungs. Vashka was growling and I heard her run past me and a man scream. She was probably using her claws now. I struggled to get out from under the pile of angry people, but the same big guy that had the frying pan was sitting on me and drew his arm back to punch me. I picked up my gun quickly and pointed it at him and he froze.
"You wouldn't." He said.
"I would, and have; now get off me!" I said, my voice full of hot anger. When he showed no signs of moving I leaned forward and smacked him across the face with my heart gun, he fell back enough for me to squirm out from under him and stand.
"Vashka!" I called to my Dingo and she ran to my side. It seemed she hadn't used her claws but a lot of people were covered in dirt and some were still on the ground. I looked around at the angry people that formed a ring around me, looking for a weak point.
"What is wrong with you people?" I heard the old man that drove the carriage shout and everyone turned to see him walk into the ring of people and towards me.
"She done nothing wrong to you!"
"She?" I heard someone say from the crowd stupidly, and some people squinted at me and it seemed to dawn on them that yes, I was a she.
"Them Letter Bee's are just the dogs of the government and have no care for anyone else!" The man that originally confronted me said loudly and the crowd all agreed.
"Just let her go." The old man said and he seemed to have some kind of authority, sine everyone started to break up and move away, mumbling angrily and glaring at me.
"You better get going, Zaji." The old man said and walked up to me and smiled.
"Thanks." I said and started to walk away, trying my best not to limp. Someone had thrown a few particularly heavy rocks at my right leg, and it hurt a lot whenever the muscles did anything. I wanted to get as far away as possible and get on with my mission as fast as I could. Vashka didn't stop growling until we were far enough away from the little angry establishment that we couldn't see anyone. My new array of bruises across my body would make the remainder of the journey interesting, and difficult to keep up the pace I had. I ignored the pain though, and I was glad that at least I cut off a few hours of travel from taking the ride with the old man; and I didn't even ask for his name.