Heh, bout time I got around to posting this... been awhile since the end of the last one :p
This shall be done in several parts. 3 chaps to each... Hey, that means I'm close to done with part one... YAY!
Ahem, anyway, this is seven years after the end of Separation... Hope you enjoy it... And please don't forget to review... Us writers thrive on those you know.
Trial By Fire
Exerpt
from "Separation" Chapter Nine:Somewhere, far
off in the distance, a lonely fire spirit made his way to what had
once been his home. He had lied to Chihiro, and Haku. He had no
family left, all of them, were dead. Not that he wasn't used to being
alone, in fact, he often preferred it that way... but after months of
being around others, being alone didn't seem too great.
But he
had to stay away. That was certain. No one trusted him after what
he'd done, and he didn't blame them. He didn't even trust himself
anymore.
As
he sat on an old stone, he felt a bit of cold air cross his spine,
giving him the shivers. Prob'ly nothing... "Hello
again, Ryu," said a calm, cool, smooth-as-silk voice, that
somehow sounded dead, "Did you miss me?" End
exerpt Prologue:
Everyone makes choices. Some for the better, some for the worse. You can never know what effect your choices will have on you, the ones around you, or even the world... Not until you've made them. Sometimes, things go right... Sometimes they come back to haunt you.
But what if there was no such thing as "choices"? What if, despite the way things seem, everything is on a set course, and what we think are choices, are really nothing more than an illusion. The idea of not having any choice in your destiny is one that some shun, believing that they have absolute control over their life. And there are others that aknowledge fate, or destiny, whichever you choose to call it, and are perfectly happy believing that they have no control.
Kohaku the River Spirit, his wife, Chihiro, Ryu the fire spirit, and Kei the soul collecter all made choices. Or was it fate?
That
is for you to decide, Dear reader, as you see the new choices made,
or the new threads of fate, weaving together. No can really tell
which is which.
Part One: Choices Made
Chapter One: a Letter
Two, shrill, wails woke Chihiro sometime during the night. A glance out the window, at the moon, marked the time as midnight. Perfect... I have to be up early in the morning... She thought, as she sat up. She looked at the sleeping man beside her, considering waking him up, and making him deal with the source of the wails, as he could sleep in all he wanted to the next morning. As the new owner of the Bathhouse, Kohaku could sleep in if he wanted to, and Mondays were generally the days he did. He rolled over, and Chihiro saw the scar that went from under his arm, down to his hip. He'd gotten that years ago, in a fight with a soul collecting Cat Demon, named Kei.
More wails finally made Chihiro sigh, and get out of bed. It seemed her companion was going to sleep right through the noise. She walked quietly to the adjoining room, and attempted to see what had caused the twins' cries. Not that the one-year-olds needed a reason to cry. There were times when Chihiro thought that they simply liked the sound of their own shrieks.
It had been one hell of a surprise to find that she was pregnant. Even more of one, about eight months later, to find that it was twin girls. As was to be expected, Yuki, and Shinko were strange children. More attentive than any baby their ages should have been, and seemed to understand much more than was a normal as well. Not to mention the little magical 'accidents'... The oddities of their appearences was limited to their eyes and skin. Both girls had one emerald green eye, and one chocolate brown, and white-as-snow skin. Other than the fact that Yuki sported her mother's brown hair, and Shinko sported her father's black hair, they were identical.
Once she had the girls calmed down, and soundly asleep, Chihiro trudged back into her room, and into bed.
"You know, I could have tended them," said Haku, without opening his eyes, as Chihiro settled herself.
"If you were awake," she replied, "Why didn't you get up?"
"I wanted to see if you would even bother trying to get me up on your own."
Chihiro grumbled, but didn't reply. Instead, she rolled over, pulled the blankets up to her chin, and drifted off to sleep
---------------
Haku was actually up long before Chihiro was. It wasn't a morning to sleep in, it seemed, for only a few hours after Chihiro had calmed the girls down he had woken up, and had been unable to get back to sleep. Not that he wasn't used to being up with the sun. Both Shinko and Yuki were already awake, though they were remaining mercifully quiet, as they held themselves up on their feet, over the edges of their cradles, staring at their room.
He lifted Yuki from her cradle, when she spoke to him in the gibberish that only babies seemed to understand. He knew Shinko would prefer to be left alone, until it was time for breakfast. Haku had the feeling that the girls were going to be comeplete opposites. It was already appearent. Where Yukimi was loud, energetic, not the least bit shy, and loved any attention that was given to her, Shinkokami was quiet, laid-back, shy of any strangers, and didn't like alot of people around. Though she did love any attention her parents would give her.
"Ow!" Haku quietly exclaimed, when Yuki pulled his hair, with surprising force. With some difficulty, he pried her fingers open, to release the hair. "I'm going to have to cut my hair, before you manage to yank it all out," he told her, as she smiled. A glance at Shinko told him she had been amused with her father's pain, as much as her sister had.
"Already yanking hair at dawn, huh?" said Chihiro, from the doorway.
"yeah," Haku replied, turning towards her, and trying to keep hold of Yuki, who suddenly leaned towards her mother so far that she might have fallen. "And it seems that the instant you show up, she no longer has any use for me."
Chihiro laughed, and took her more lively daughter, leaving Haku free to get Shinko, whom had realized that her sister was now getting attention from both parents and obviously wasn't very happy about it.
--------------
Chihiro sat at her desk, trying to tally up the bathhouse accounts, for that week, but wasn't having much luck in actually succeeding. Her mind wasn't on the accounts. Her mind was stuck on a dream. A dream of her parents had been plauging her sleep for the past several weeks, making life difficult... It wasn't that it was a nightmare, or visions of awful things happening, it just wasn't a good dream. If it was true, then her parents' life wasn't as good as her's was.
She had always known her parents would search for her, after she disappeared, and that they would get the police to help... But with no real evidence of foul play, other than a gang of bullies that had beat her up a few times, no body, no evidence that she had even come to any physical harm, much less evidence of a murder, and the knowledge that Chihiro was often a depressed, troubled girl, and that her parents had been planning on sending her to a relative in anohter country, then the police would likely come to the conclusion that Chihiro was a runaway. And in a way, that was the right conclusion... She had made the choice to leave.. and she had made the choice to stay.
Despite knowing that her parents would search for her, she hadn't expected the search to continue, seven years after the fact... But then, she had gotten her determination from her parents. If the dream was true, then the police had long since given up on finding her, but her parents kept at it, and it was taking its toll on their lives. A younger Chihiro might have gone back to her parents, or stayed in the spirit world for selfish reasons. But at twenty-two, Chihiro knew that no matter which world she was in, she would cause someone emotional pain. If she stayed, her parents suffered, if she took her daughters, or, heaven forbid they couldn't leave,and she had to leave them behind, and went to her parents, then she, Haku, and her children suffered, and nothing was worth causing her daughters or her husband greif. It was the Spirit World or the Human world, there was no middle ground, and Chihiro had made her choice the moment she had woken up the day she had come back to this world. It had been made final nearly two years before, when she had married Haku, and the deal was permanently sealed when Yuki and Shinko had been born. Staying was the lesser of two evils, and nothing would make her feel guilty about her choice.
Nothing.
The dream could make her life hell, could keep her from sleeping, or even being able to concentrate on her work...
But it wasn't going to make her feel guilty.
You're worrying about something again, Darling, Haku's voice echoed through her mind, making Chihiro jump slightly.
Don't do that... And it's nothing,
really... Just a dream. The one about you parents.
You've been poking around in my head
again, haven't you?
What
do you mean 'again'? I keep to myself, unless I'm worried about you.
And you didn't tell me what was wrong this time. Sorry... But
yeah, it was that dream... Do you regret staying here? Of
course not! Would you go back? Not even if I could. I
belong here, with you, and the girls. I just wish I could find a way
to tell them I'm okay... You would have to ask Zeniba... You
know where to find her at least... Yes, but the train to
Swamp Bottom is such a long one... You know I can't be away that
long, there's too much to do. You have a dragon around, and
you would go so far as to even consider the train?
What about Yuki and
Shinko? I'm sure Lin can care for them for a few hours.
------------------
"Yes, you can, but it's a tricky little spell, and it's possible it might not go where it's supposed too," the old witch, and former bathhouse mistress replied.
Chihiro smiled breifly at No-Face, whom had decided to entertain the twins (as Lin had been sick, and unable to watch them) before she said, "It's worth a try at least. "
"Why didn't you tell me about this when I was desperate for a way to talk to Chihiro?" Haku asked, suspiciously.
"Because of the fact that there is no guarantee it would work, and would have only upset your wife even more, if it had," Zeniba answered bluntly, "Now, about the spell, I need a letter written first. Then I can send it off for you."
It took a while to write the letter, as there was alot to try and say, without making her parents think she was suffering delusions, but Chihiro got it done eventually, and handed it over to Zeniba, along with another piece of paper... Now all she could hope for was that it got to where it was meant to go.
-----------------
Kenshin might have missed the envelope on the front step, had it not been such a vivid green. Confused, he picked it up. It was addressed to him, and his wife. All the more puzzled, he opened it, and began to read.
Mom, Dad... Please don't just throw this
away, as you read those two words, assuming that this is some sick
prank by some kid, though I won't blame you if you do, I know I
would, if I were you. Seven years is a long time to go without trying
to contact you, I know, and I hope you can forgive me for it...
First
off, I'll tell you why I disappeared... The day I went missing, the
gang of bullies that I had told you about followed me. I'm fairly
sure that they meant to do more than leave me with a few bruises, so
I ran. And I kept running, until I got to where I am now... I wasn't
so much as running away from home, as I was running towards home...
I can't explain that. Couldn't even if I had a hundred sheets of
paper to write on.. Just suffice to say that everyone who said I
didn't belong there was right, I didn't. I'm where I belong now.
Secondly, I would like you to stop searching for me. You
aren't going to find me.. I'm closer to you than you think, yet
farther than you could imagine. Again that is something I can't
explain, because I know you wouldn't believe me if I did. And... I
don't want to be found. I'm finally happy. I'm the-, well, let's
say I run a business with my husband. Yes, my husband. I've been
married for two years to Kohaku River. Mom, you'll know him. Look at
any of my paintings that you might have kept... And I have two
beautiful children... Twin girls. Yukimi, named after you, Mom, and
Shinkokami, after your baby sister, Dad. I wish you could meet
them, but I'm afraid that isn't possible. I'm sure you'd love
them, if I could find a way for you to meet them. They just turned
one last month. Don't have many teeth yet, but they use the ones
they have. This is probably the only communication you're
going to get from me for a long time, as it is rather difficult to
send letters from where I am... I only wrote this one, even knowing
it may not get to you, because of a dream I had about you. I don't
know if it's true or not, but I have the feeling it is. Again I ask
you to stop looking. If not for me, then for yourselves. It is only
bringing you pain. I realize, and accept the fact that it is mostly
my fault. But, I had, and still have my reasons. Dad, you
should go back to your model-making... You used to love building
those things... On one side of the second sheet of paper is a drawing
of my new home... Perhaps you could build that? Mom, start
sewing again. You were always so proud of your clothes. I would draw
something you could try, but I know you always hated following
patterns, so use your imagination. I love you, I miss you, and
I'm always thinking of you, Your daughter, and
her family,
Chihiro
Kohaku, Yukimi, and Shinkokami.
Hands trembling, Kenshin took the letter, the painting, and the envelope inside the house, to his wife. He doubted this was a prank...
He just couldn't believe it... After all these years... It was almost too much to take in.
Yuki, his wife, was speechless after she read the letter, and simply stood there for the longest time, staring at the paper.
"I ju- I just can't believe that she's.." the woman said dumbfounded, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She suddenly embraced her husband tightly. "She's alive... Our baby's alive..."
Kenshin hugged her back, "And happy, if this is true, and she's not lying.."
"I don't think she's lying... She wouldn't. Not about being happy."
"You're right. She never lied about being miserable. She has no reason to lie the other way around.."
"I still want to find her. But I'm afraid she's right, and we won't find her..."
"Even if we don't, we know she's alive and well."
-----------------------------
Eh, that letter drove me NUTS... still not happy with it, but drat it all, it's HARD to come up with something someone might say in a situation like that...
Oh, and here is a pic of Shinko and
Yuki... MUCH MUCH older though:
http://
i11.
/Anime/Innocent.jpg
and this is something I did for my RP
game, for Christmas. Didn't turn out as good as I had hoped... The
blonde is Chihiro's friend, Sakura Yukihiro. And I couldn't resist
having Lin as an elf :p
http/i11.
/Anime/HappyHolidays.jpg