1 Crossover between RK& Highlander
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The room wasn't very well lit. Actually it was quite dark, with only some candles casting some light against the room walls. A table could be seen right in the middle of the room, surrounded by lots of chairs. It looked like a dinner room, with large and old paintings on the wall. It wasn't a Japanese room; in fact it looked quite European, with red wallpaper and all the furniture was from a very dark wood.
The door opened and a man came inside. He looked like he was searching for someone or something and, by the widening of his eyes, it looked like he had found it. He closed the door and made is way to one of the chairs, the one closer to a large chandelier, that cost a large amount of light over a man reading.
"Timon, I've been searching for your old carcass for hours, old man!" Said the man that had just entered. He looked just about twenty or twenty five years old, with a long glossy blond hair, dark black eyes and a sarcastic smile on his thin lips. The man that was sitting, Timon, looked up at his companion and arched a thin eyebrow.
"Is that so, Diego? To what does this 'old carcass' owes the honor of your company?"
Timon, although referred to as an old carcass, didn't looked much older than the other man, but if the eyes still were the windows to one's soul, than these didn't hid the man experience. He looked like he had seen many strange things, normal people would have not understood. Diego pulled a chair closer to his friend and sat.
"I'm very much sick of this town! I understand we have important business here, but can't we do it already and get off of here? You must understand, a man like me can't stand a place like this: no art, no poetry, no life and all these people are absolutely insipid."
Timon raised and closed his book. He looked at his friend with contempt clear in his face.
"It's a shame if you can't understand the importance of a clever wait. One muss not hurry things. One snitch in time prevents nine, my friend. Besides, Kyoto is not that insipid as you portrait it. Try the theater, look at the beautiful meadows, with cherry trees and, last but not least, the women."
Diego cracked a smile and picked up the book Timon had placed over the table.
"Hum… Reading the Odyssey again? You really are a proud bastard, aren't you?" Diego got no answer besides a glare. "The women, you say. Yeah right! If you'd let me run around looking for a nice one, but no… I have to stalk that girl all day for you, while your highness reads all day, in this ugly room."
Timon approached Diego and took his book back with a snap. He then placed it back on the table.
"That is the difference between us… in fact between all Greeks and Spanish. I consider your girl a very pretty one, or I wouldn't have waited so long. You, on the other hand, as all Spanish men, look only to a woman's breasts, legs and behind. If it does not fit your standers you are pretty much uninterested on her." Timon cost a questioning glare at the other man, as if daring him to declare he was wrong. But Diego didn't even bother to say a word. "I find her eyes a wonder of nature, Diego."
"I see nothing marvelous in two blue eyes, old man. If you like them so much why did you left England?" Diego snapped back.
"Oh, Diego, my child! How many times do you see a Japanese woman with eyes like hers? But it isn't just blue, it paints the glory of the skies, don't they?"
Diego looked at Timon and started laughing. "By God, Timon, if someone heard you they might find you very much in love with that tomboy! And you've just seen her twice for five minutes. I'm the one who's forced to see her every boring move! If you like her so much, do it yourself."
Timon walked to a cupboard and poured himself a drink in a crystal glass. He then sat in his chair again and looked at Diego, while drinking his amber drink. He looked very pleased with his friend's boredom.
"Well, don't worry yourself with it no more. We will be making a move in less than two or three days, Diego my friend. Before long, Makimachi Misao will be something completely different from herself today."
- - - - - - - - - - -
Misao looked out her window to the hot day. The summer that year had been very hot and people even began to get sick over it. She had gone trough her chores with an indolence that had never been hers, but that high temperature was impossible to live with. All the Aoiya seemed a bit down, in fact.
Misao dressed a light yukatta and made her way to the kitchen. That day that restaurant was very busy with lots of clients, because of the hot and unforgiving sun. The clients went there searching for good food and a cool shadowy place. Unfortunately the kitchen was horribly hot, not just because of the sun that entered trough a window, but also because of the burning wood used to cook. Drops of sweat made their way down Okon and Omasu's faces, remembering them that the day was still beginning. Misao picked a drag and handed it to Okon, who looked the worst of the two, and offered to take her place for a while.
"Thank you, Misao. I think I'll take that offer."
Okon received the drag and sat on a chair. Misao looked at her, while degutting a fish. Okon looked really tired and Omasu too. After degutting the fish, Misao offered to go to the well to get some fresh water for the three of them. She returned with a bucket fill with it, but the well must've been in the sun's range, for the water was lukewarm and the three women spat it disgustedly.
"What are we going to offer to the clients that ask for water? After these days, most of them ask for it. And I think I'm going to be sick after drinking this." Omasu said. Okon sat again and cleaned her forehead with the drag. Misao looked at the water and tried to come up with something for a solution. Suddenly she raised her head.
"What about that well in the forest?"
"Nani?" Okon asked.
"You know, that well that stands in the abandoned house property. It has lot of trees, I'm sure the sun hasn't been able to get trough them. I can go there and get some water."
Okon didn't answer, but Omasu remembered something.
"You just forgot something, Misao. That abandoned house isn't abandoned, anymore. It has been bought. I'm sure the owners wouldn't like you taking water out of their well."
"I'm sure they won't mind if I take some buckets of water, Omasu. After all, I'm not drying up the well, am I?"
"But Misao, you're going to bring two buckets fill with water all by yourself?" Omasu argued.
"It's alright, Omasu. I'm going there right away."
With further ado, Misao grabbed two buckets and walked out the door. The ever-present burning sun shot a clear beam at her back. Misao got out of the Aoiya property and entered a trail that took her to the forest. Misao knew that trail very well, considering she made it every day to serve Aoshi's tea to him, at the Temple. Walking there remembered Misao of the last time she had seen the man. It had been a week ago and, since then, she had avoided him.
• Flashback—
Misao sat in front of Aoshi has he drank his tea. His eyes were almost closed and he never once looked at her, since she had entered that room. Misao knew that day wasn't like the others, that day she had decided she was going to tell Aoshi how she felt. She was sure he already knew, but that way she would force him to reveal his felling for her. She had got sick of guessing everything with him; she wanted a straight answer for once.
She filled her lungs with oxygen and prepared for her speech.
"Aoshi-sama, I've been meaning to tell you something." As she expected he didn't even acknowledged her voice. He always did that, so she didn't feel demoralized. "I… I love you." She hadn't mean for it to be that simple, she had planned it to be preceded of a clear speech that would prepare him for what was coming. But the words had simply made their way out of her mouth, and every plan had been turned to nothing more than hopes. She had stated her case; it was now up to him.
He didn't say a thing for a while and didn't even look at her. He looked like he was considering something, but he made no move and he would have easily passed has a deaf man, for he looked like he hadn't heard a thing Misao had said. Then he raised his lids and locked his eyes with her and Misao knew what he was going to say. She could easily see the sadness and the pity he felt for her, even if he tried to hide it.
"Misao, even if I'm highly honored by your feelings, I don't partake of them. I'm sorry." Had been his answer. Clear, plain and simple. He didn't love her. Misao felt her breathing become raged and she understood she had to get out of the room, if she didn't want Aoshi to see her cry. She made her excuse and ran out. Outside, when the hot air made contact with her skin, Misao felt a growing iciness in her chest, surrounding her heart. His face wouldn't get out of her way, it looked like he was still looking at her face, saying those heartless words! She had always considered the risk she took, if she confessed her love to him, but after doing it, even after the result, she felt like a huge weight had been took off of her shoulders. But another weight had been placed instead of the previous one. The weight of misery. She felt lower than dust, she felt like she had been taken her most desiring and daring wish she had.
Tears had blurred her walk back to the Aoiya and, before she knew it, she was looking at the restaurant's gates. Even if the afternoon was already ending, the sun hadn't set yet and the sky had a red shade across it and the clouds were pink. She entered the compound and went to her room. When she got there, she let her true tears free.
1.1 End Flashback
Even after some time, when Misao remembered that day, she could feel tears coming to her eyes and her lungs constrict. After that day, she had felt so lost! With no reason to go on and nothing to motivate her. She had lived the last weeks as if she had been in a parallel universe, for she still didn't know what to do with her life, who to cling to. She remembered the past days, as a continuous number of hours mixed together, nothing more.
She came to the place were she had to go right, to go to the well, or left, to go to the Temple. She found that fork a very good representation of her life: would she go on living her life after Aoshi's shadow and scrappy bits of attention, or would she go on without him and construct a new Misao? After some seconds of thought, Misao toke a deep breath and moved to the right side of the rode. She had made her choice.
After some minutes, she arrived at the well. She was surprised to find the well surrounded by a very beautiful garden and a trail of pretty little white rocks. The new owner of the well had obviously done that and it was beautiful. She got closer to the well and grabbed the rope to knot the bucket to it. She released her hold on the bucket and watched it disappear inside the well's darkness. She pulled the rope a little and concluded that the bucket must've been fill already, so she pulled the rope until the bucket appeared fill with water.
"Great! This isn't very far from the Aoiya. I'll get back in no time." Misao thought out loud.
"Hum… is that so?" A voice asked, behind her. Scared, Misao let go of the bucket and turned around. At about five meters away stud two men that looked a little older than her, one with stunning blonde hair, the other looked like a cynical bastard. The last one had is black hair cut short and wore European clothes, while his friend dressed in Japanese clothes.
"Who… Who are you?" Misao asked. The blonde man smiled at her and turned to his companion.
"See, Timon? I told you she was here, didn't I?" The other one, named Timon, didn't even acknowledged the man's words, so busy was he staring at Misao. "So, can we do it, already? I'm sick of the waiting."
Misao was starting to feel a little scared. Do what? Why was that man staring at her that way? And why did it looked like those men knew her?
"Who are you?" She asked again. The one named Timon answered.
"We, my dear, are the owners of this land."
Misao felt a kind of relief come in to her.
"Oh! I'm truly sorry for being inside your property, but this is the only well I know that has cool water these days. And I thought you wouldn't mind all that much." She said. Timon seemed to consider her words.
"Well, we really couldn't care less about the well, my dear. On the other hand, we do care about YOU, Makimachi Misao."
"How… how do you know my name?"
The blond man laughed. "Little girl, we know everything there is to know about you. Which isn't all that much, since you've had a pretty boring life trough out your twenty year old life."
"Shut your stupid mouth, Diego. You're scaring our little one."
Misao was livid. Who were those men? She felt like throwing her kunai at them, but she was at the same time, frozen to the spot.
"What do you want from me?"
"Rest assured, we aren't going to rape you or anything. That would be very unpleasant, wouldn't it?" Diego said. He had a particular vicious smile in his face, as if he knew something she didn't. He looked at her and at his companion, who continued to stare at her. Timon steeped in front and smiled at Misao.
"My dear, you have a great potential hidden in you. You'll make a great lam for me. But, before that, we must do something to you."
Misao steeped back, looking warily at both men. She hadn't like the sound of those words Timon had just said. What did he mean with lam? She felt her hand move to her back, to get a kunai. But they must've suspected, because Diego appeared to produce a sword from his back. Timon steeped back and let Diego fight. Misao took all her kunai and observed Diego's move, but the man seemed to wait for her, so she threw two kunai right at his face. With a quick move of his sword the two kunai were on the floor, in front of him, without having touched him. Misao didn't felt has badly has she should, she had the rest of her kunai, after all. And now she knew her adversary's strength.
Diego's sword wasn't as the other swords she had seen: it was thin, with no blade and had sharp end. She had heard of swords like that one, they were called foil and were European. Misao was going to throw another round of kunai, when Timon steeped in front of her.
"Diego, how many times have I told not to use that sword. They are useless in a fight."
Misao was quite taken aback with that. Timon had deliberately interrupted a fight to say that? She was looking at them now. They were arguing heatedly.
"What do you mean useless? This is my ancestors sword, how dare you say ill of it?" Diego shout.
"Stop shouting, I'm not deaf. You won't harm anyone with that sword and you know it." Timon said.
"I thought you didn't want me to cut her head!"
"Would you just shut up?"
"Well, if I can«t fight with this, how would you like me to do it now?"
Suddenly Timon turned around, facing Misao, and pointed a gun at her. Misao gasped as she saw what he was holding in his hand. Diego stud where he was and only smiled at her, while Timon said something. But Misao didn't hear him. She could only see that gun, in front of her. She still couldn't believe something like that was happening to her. Those two men had to be insane! The bad part about it was that she, most probably, was going to die soon. She tried to hear what Timon was saying, but she seemed to have only caught the ending.
"Bye, Misao. We'll see each other soon."
And, with that, Misao heard him pull the trigger and saw, almost in slow motion, that round iron bullet flight right at her and crash against her chest. Misao felt something break trough her skin and a burning ache, when the bullet entered the flesh. She could only feel that strange burning sensation, for she lost touch in her members. She could see herself falling and then she felt the rock from the well bang the back of her head. Then everything went black.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How does one image Heaven? Would one really see these huge gates of golden wonder, suspended upon pink clouds, with a great number of angels there? With all the people one knew and lost, there receiving one to their new home? Could one see the living from up there, like looking down and seeing all the loved ones doing their everyday life or mourning the dead?
It didn't really matter in the end, did it? When Misao opened her eyes she expected to see a spectacle of lights and colors, all there to receive her to her new home. She expected all the beautiful angels there. But what she saw was a strange hard punch in the face. She was in a room, laying in a stretcher and nothing more. She immediately looked at her chest, expecting to see the bullet wound, but she only found the blood on her shirt and nothing more. She didn't hurt at all! She raised her hand to touch her nape, expecting it to be bleeding, but again she only found the dried blood in her hair and nothing more. After all of this she could have easily doubted she had even gone out the Aoiya in searched for water and found those crazy men. But there was always the blood in her shirt and in her hair.
After this, she could just panic. Even if the bullet wound hadn't been fatal, she should have the hole there. Where was it? How could she be alive after all that pain? It couldn't be possible that what had happened could be right. Most probably she had had a wound but nothing like she had though. But she didn't have one single wound! Not even a scar, nothing.
And where was she? She looked around the room, trying to find something familiar, but failed completely. The room was absolutely unknown to her. It had a window, but Misao didn't trust herself to walk all the way to the wall. She just felt so lost! She was sure she was going to start screaming and, if she did, she wouldn't stop.
The door from the room opened and Misao saw, with horror on her face, the blonde man go inside. He entered and sat on a chair Misao hadn't seen before. He looked so at ease with her and he seemed to expect her to be fully well. He just stared at her and she stared at him. Misao, for the first time in her life, felt completely petrified and scared.
"So, Misao, how do you feel?" When Misao didn't answer he went on. " I remember when it happened to me, I was pretty confused, not to say afraid. Can you believe it if I told you that I thought I was a demon from hell or something? Well, can you blame me? I had died from a sword wound… a pretty vicious one in fact… and then I woke up as if I'd been asleep? And you know what? I was pretty much fucked. I had died in a duel, so I couldn't really just go back and say 'Hey everyone, I'm not dead after all'. So, I had to run away from Spain, for a while. Hey, you're listening?" Misao just stared at him, but he seemed to have accepted it has a yes. "That's when I found Timon. He's Greek, you know? A proud bastard, but a great sword fighter. He tough me everything there is to now about us. He's been here for more than three hundred years, you know? I'm just two and a half centuries old. Pretty young compared to him, ne?"
Misao's brain felt like it was going to crash, with the rush of words, facts and sounds all around her. Three hundred years? What was that? A joke? But then, she had died and came back? If so, what did that mean? Did Kami think she still had a mission before dying and sent her back? But that monster, Diego, and apparently Timon too, were given that too? But…
"What happened to me?" She managed to ask, after a while. Diego smiled.
"Misao, you died, my dear. You were dead for about an hour and a half. The first time it takes more time to come back, but you'll get it faster and faster. Can you believe Timon wakes up after three or two minutes?"
"You mean I died and came back to life?"
"Yes, exactly. You, Misao, like me, Timon and many others, are an Immortal. You cannot die, unless another Immortal cuts your head in a duel. Other than that, if no one cuts your head, you'll be pretty much alive for hundreds of years. You'll not grow old and you'll look eternally like you do now."
Misao would have fainted, if she were inclined to it. Unfortunately, she wasn't, so she could just stare at that man again. He then got up and left. He closed the door behind him and Misao could hear his steeps trough the door. She felt all her reality was turning curiosity strange. She was an Immortal. The mere thought was laughable, if had been in another situation, but where she was she could just shake her head and declare Diego was either really mad or he had been playing with her. But why would he do such a thing? Unless it was a strange innocent joke, it was pretty much sick.
But, what if it was true? What if she really was an Immortal? Everything in the last hours pointed to it and not the opposite. The fact that could swear she still remember the pain the bullet had brought, the touch that burned and that rock heating her back head, bringing welcomed blackness. And then waking up, with no wound at all, just some bloodstains, and no pain at all. Diego seemed so at ease with it!
After calming down a bit, Misao started to think of a way to get out of that room and back to the Aoiya. The window she had seen before was huge, with wide glazing. She could only see the blue sky, while sitting on the stretcher, but when she raised and came closer to it, she saw were her room was located. It seemed the house was built over a cliff and her room had a direct view to it, with all the rocks and pointed edges one might think off. So the only way out of the room, was trough that cliff, getting down clinging to the house's exterior walls.
"If I do this, I'll die for certain."
But, after all, she had died already and had came back, hadn't she? If what she had heard was right, she couldn't die from a fall. The thing was- was it true? Maybe when putting her in that room and saying those things to her, they were expecting her to do exactly what she was thinking. But, yet again, what would be the point in that? Timon had mentioned a lam, was that what he was referring to? Misao found that rather unlikely. He and his sick friend had to have a point in all that.
So, after sometime of thought, Misao concluded she had nothing to lose, for she would eventually die with those two. She opened the glazing and felt the wind come inside the room and touch her skin and hair.
"Nothing to lose, Misao. Remember that."
Misao placed a hand and a foot in the window's frame and raised her weigh on them. The other hand came to rest on the wall outside, while the other foot joined the first one. The house's walls weren't of wood, but stone, to Misao's pleasure, for it make it easier to descend. Foot after foot hand after hand, Misao was almost touching ground when a strong felling surrounded her. Misao couldn't describe it. It wasn't pain or pleasure, it was just a sense that the walls were dissolving and just one important thing stud, but Misao didn't know what that thing was. Before the sensation disappeared, Misao lost her foot and her body fell the rest of the way to the ground. Her body crashed to the ground with a loud thud and Misao could feel some bones in her body break and some blood coming from a wound near her eye.
After that Misao didn't know what to feel like. They had lied to her, for she was bleeding and that certainly wasn't supposed to happen. She raised herself as quick as she could and started walking away from the house. She had to realize what had happened that day, had to figure out who those men were, if they were Onibanshu's enemies or something like that.
She heard the sound of water running, near her, so she ran after the sound and found a little stream between a green and yellow meadow. Yes, she would clean herself and then she would be less conspicuous in town. She cupped her right hand, fill it with water and raised to her face to get it clean of the blood there. After taking all the blood, Misao could see the deep wound there, which ran from her hairline to near her eye. She could feel a smirk form itself on her lips. Immortal… Yeah right!
She stopped laughing, however, when she saw the deep cut simply disappear and cure itself, leaving no scar, leaving nothing at all. Misao ran her hand trough her face, searching for that cut and could only feel her smooth skin, even when pressing she felt no pain. She moved her left harm that had been broken she some minutes ago and felt it move like always, as if cured.
Misao breathed in and tried to control herself. So, they had been saying the truth and she could cure herself and not die and… she was an Immortal! She felt her legs take her back to the city and to the Aoiya. And when there, what to do? What to say? She couldn't exactly say what had happen, could she? If she said it, she would have to hide all her new discoveries and face the option of her family going after those two and getting themselves killed. She couldn't allow that. No, she would have to hide it. But how to explain the bloodied clothes and where she had been all that time? She was supposed to be bringing water.
Misao stopped her thoughts when she got to that fork and stopped. Not because of the thought she had when she had last crossed that path, but because she felt that sensation again. Like the world was revolving around him and she had a sense of not being alone. It started to abate when Misao turned around and found herself face to face with Aoshi.
She had no idea what to do now. She was facing the last person she wanted to see, with her clothes all bloodied and a dirty face. She could see that he was wondering what she was doing there, but he didn't said a thing, as always. He was waiting for her to say something, when he let his eyes wander over her and he took her sight in.
"What happened, Misao? Who's that blood's from?" He asked.
Misao's mind started running around and around, trying to find an answer that would seem plausible. And she found one.
"It's not mine, Aoshi-sama. To my disgust, I tripped and fell over a dead carcass."
She could see Aoshi was highly surprised, but the fact that she was talking to him after all that time made him forget it.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Misao nodded and turned around to walk, but felt him starting to move along side her. She stopped.
"What are you doing?" She asked him. Aoshi seemed mildly surprised.
"I'm going to the Aoiya, why? Do you wish to go by yourself?"
That had been a rhetorical question, but Misao didn't lost the opportunity. "Yes, yes I would prefer it that way, if you may."
She could see she had taken him by surprise but he nodded and headed for the woods. Misao started walking again and was near the Aoiya's gate after some minutes. She had already an excuse for the blood in her clothes, but she still had no idea what she was going to do. She couldn't stay in the Aoiya and see all her friends age, while she stayed the same. For once it would be too depressing and second, they would suspect if she was fifty-two and looked like twenty. She couldn't stay at the Himura's for it would be the same. He only choice was to pack her things and travel the world. She would settle someplace else, where she wouldn't have to give nobody anything, where she owed nothing to anybody.
She had made her way to her room and, while the sunset, Misao looked around her, seeing what she would take and what she would leave behind forever. She would have to remember. After a while she had a large suitcase and she would have a hard time carrying it. She would have to get away at night, but it would take a while. She was finishing packing, when Omasu called for dinner.
Misao sat at the table looking at all of them. Okina ate and drank while laughing at Kuro's joke. He looked so happy! He had always been such a happy old man. Kuro just talked and talked, he didn't seemed to run out of jokes that night. Shiro laughed too, sometimes choking on food or drink. Okon looked much better than that morning. How that morning seemed far away now! Omasu was always patting Shiro's back, trying to help him when he choked. She was wearing a beautiful kimono that night. Misao would have to remember that. Aoshi... he looked like he always did. Composed, cool and unmoved by a thing. Misao had had that feeling again when she had entered the dinning room. He seemed to have forgotten what had happened when they had meet, for he drank his tea quietly and looked at no one. She would miss him a lot. Even after what had happened, she would miss him terribly. All of them in fact, but she would be miserable without her Aoshi-sama. Silently she said goodbye to her family.
That night Misao picked her things and left. Twenty minutes later she was in the train station with a ticked to no where in particular.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The room wasn't very well lit. Actually it was quite dark, with only some candles casting some light against the room walls. A table could be seen right in the middle of the room, surrounded by lots of chairs. It looked like a dinner room, with large and old paintings on the wall. It wasn't a Japanese room; in fact it looked quite European, with red wallpaper and all the furniture was from a very dark wood.
The door opened and a man came inside. He looked like he was searching for someone or something and, by the widening of his eyes, it looked like he had found it. He closed the door and made is way to one of the chairs, the one closer to a large chandelier, that cost a large amount of light over a man reading.
"Timon, I've been searching for your old carcass for hours, old man!" Said the man that had just entered. He looked just about twenty or twenty five years old, with a long glossy blond hair, dark black eyes and a sarcastic smile on his thin lips. The man that was sitting, Timon, looked up at his companion and arched a thin eyebrow.
"Is that so, Diego? To what does this 'old carcass' owes the honor of your company?"
Timon, although referred to as an old carcass, didn't looked much older than the other man, but if the eyes still were the windows to one's soul, than these didn't hid the man experience. He looked like he had seen many strange things, normal people would have not understood. Diego pulled a chair closer to his friend and sat.
"I'm very much sick of this town! I understand we have important business here, but can't we do it already and get off of here? You must understand, a man like me can't stand a place like this: no art, no poetry, no life and all these people are absolutely insipid."
Timon raised and closed his book. He looked at his friend with contempt clear in his face.
"It's a shame if you can't understand the importance of a clever wait. One muss not hurry things. One snitch in time prevents nine, my friend. Besides, Kyoto is not that insipid as you portrait it. Try the theater, look at the beautiful meadows, with cherry trees and, last but not least, the women."
Diego cracked a smile and picked up the book Timon had placed over the table.
"Hum… Reading the Odyssey again? You really are a proud bastard, aren't you?" Diego got no answer besides a glare. "The women, you say. Yeah right! If you'd let me run around looking for a nice one, but no… I have to stalk that girl all day for you, while your highness reads all day, in this ugly room."
Timon approached Diego and took his book back with a snap. He then placed it back on the table.
"That is the difference between us… in fact between all Greeks and Spanish. I consider your girl a very pretty one, or I wouldn't have waited so long. You, on the other hand, as all Spanish men, look only to a woman's breasts, legs and behind. If it does not fit your standers you are pretty much uninterested on her." Timon cost a questioning glare at the other man, as if daring him to declare he was wrong. But Diego didn't even bother to say a word. "I find her eyes a wonder of nature, Diego."
"I see nothing marvelous in two blue eyes, old man. If you like them so much why did you left England?" Diego snapped back.
"Oh, Diego, my child! How many times do you see a Japanese woman with eyes like hers? But it isn't just blue, it paints the glory of the skies, don't they?"
Diego looked at Timon and started laughing. "By God, Timon, if someone heard you they might find you very much in love with that tomboy! And you've just seen her twice for five minutes. I'm the one who's forced to see her every boring move! If you like her so much, do it yourself."
Timon walked to a cupboard and poured himself a drink in a crystal glass. He then sat in his chair again and looked at Diego, while drinking his amber drink. He looked very pleased with his friend's boredom.
"Well, don't worry yourself with it no more. We will be making a move in less than two or three days, Diego my friend. Before long, Makimachi Misao will be something completely different from herself today."
- - - - - - - - - - -
Misao looked out her window to the hot day. The summer that year had been very hot and people even began to get sick over it. She had gone trough her chores with an indolence that had never been hers, but that high temperature was impossible to live with. All the Aoiya seemed a bit down, in fact.
Misao dressed a light yukatta and made her way to the kitchen. That day that restaurant was very busy with lots of clients, because of the hot and unforgiving sun. The clients went there searching for good food and a cool shadowy place. Unfortunately the kitchen was horribly hot, not just because of the sun that entered trough a window, but also because of the burning wood used to cook. Drops of sweat made their way down Okon and Omasu's faces, remembering them that the day was still beginning. Misao picked a drag and handed it to Okon, who looked the worst of the two, and offered to take her place for a while.
"Thank you, Misao. I think I'll take that offer."
Okon received the drag and sat on a chair. Misao looked at her, while degutting a fish. Okon looked really tired and Omasu too. After degutting the fish, Misao offered to go to the well to get some fresh water for the three of them. She returned with a bucket fill with it, but the well must've been in the sun's range, for the water was lukewarm and the three women spat it disgustedly.
"What are we going to offer to the clients that ask for water? After these days, most of them ask for it. And I think I'm going to be sick after drinking this." Omasu said. Okon sat again and cleaned her forehead with the drag. Misao looked at the water and tried to come up with something for a solution. Suddenly she raised her head.
"What about that well in the forest?"
"Nani?" Okon asked.
"You know, that well that stands in the abandoned house property. It has lot of trees, I'm sure the sun hasn't been able to get trough them. I can go there and get some water."
Okon didn't answer, but Omasu remembered something.
"You just forgot something, Misao. That abandoned house isn't abandoned, anymore. It has been bought. I'm sure the owners wouldn't like you taking water out of their well."
"I'm sure they won't mind if I take some buckets of water, Omasu. After all, I'm not drying up the well, am I?"
"But Misao, you're going to bring two buckets fill with water all by yourself?" Omasu argued.
"It's alright, Omasu. I'm going there right away."
With further ado, Misao grabbed two buckets and walked out the door. The ever-present burning sun shot a clear beam at her back. Misao got out of the Aoiya property and entered a trail that took her to the forest. Misao knew that trail very well, considering she made it every day to serve Aoshi's tea to him, at the Temple. Walking there remembered Misao of the last time she had seen the man. It had been a week ago and, since then, she had avoided him.
• Flashback—
Misao sat in front of Aoshi has he drank his tea. His eyes were almost closed and he never once looked at her, since she had entered that room. Misao knew that day wasn't like the others, that day she had decided she was going to tell Aoshi how she felt. She was sure he already knew, but that way she would force him to reveal his felling for her. She had got sick of guessing everything with him; she wanted a straight answer for once.
She filled her lungs with oxygen and prepared for her speech.
"Aoshi-sama, I've been meaning to tell you something." As she expected he didn't even acknowledged her voice. He always did that, so she didn't feel demoralized. "I… I love you." She hadn't mean for it to be that simple, she had planned it to be preceded of a clear speech that would prepare him for what was coming. But the words had simply made their way out of her mouth, and every plan had been turned to nothing more than hopes. She had stated her case; it was now up to him.
He didn't say a thing for a while and didn't even look at her. He looked like he was considering something, but he made no move and he would have easily passed has a deaf man, for he looked like he hadn't heard a thing Misao had said. Then he raised his lids and locked his eyes with her and Misao knew what he was going to say. She could easily see the sadness and the pity he felt for her, even if he tried to hide it.
"Misao, even if I'm highly honored by your feelings, I don't partake of them. I'm sorry." Had been his answer. Clear, plain and simple. He didn't love her. Misao felt her breathing become raged and she understood she had to get out of the room, if she didn't want Aoshi to see her cry. She made her excuse and ran out. Outside, when the hot air made contact with her skin, Misao felt a growing iciness in her chest, surrounding her heart. His face wouldn't get out of her way, it looked like he was still looking at her face, saying those heartless words! She had always considered the risk she took, if she confessed her love to him, but after doing it, even after the result, she felt like a huge weight had been took off of her shoulders. But another weight had been placed instead of the previous one. The weight of misery. She felt lower than dust, she felt like she had been taken her most desiring and daring wish she had.
Tears had blurred her walk back to the Aoiya and, before she knew it, she was looking at the restaurant's gates. Even if the afternoon was already ending, the sun hadn't set yet and the sky had a red shade across it and the clouds were pink. She entered the compound and went to her room. When she got there, she let her true tears free.
1.1 End Flashback
Even after some time, when Misao remembered that day, she could feel tears coming to her eyes and her lungs constrict. After that day, she had felt so lost! With no reason to go on and nothing to motivate her. She had lived the last weeks as if she had been in a parallel universe, for she still didn't know what to do with her life, who to cling to. She remembered the past days, as a continuous number of hours mixed together, nothing more.
She came to the place were she had to go right, to go to the well, or left, to go to the Temple. She found that fork a very good representation of her life: would she go on living her life after Aoshi's shadow and scrappy bits of attention, or would she go on without him and construct a new Misao? After some seconds of thought, Misao toke a deep breath and moved to the right side of the rode. She had made her choice.
After some minutes, she arrived at the well. She was surprised to find the well surrounded by a very beautiful garden and a trail of pretty little white rocks. The new owner of the well had obviously done that and it was beautiful. She got closer to the well and grabbed the rope to knot the bucket to it. She released her hold on the bucket and watched it disappear inside the well's darkness. She pulled the rope a little and concluded that the bucket must've been fill already, so she pulled the rope until the bucket appeared fill with water.
"Great! This isn't very far from the Aoiya. I'll get back in no time." Misao thought out loud.
"Hum… is that so?" A voice asked, behind her. Scared, Misao let go of the bucket and turned around. At about five meters away stud two men that looked a little older than her, one with stunning blonde hair, the other looked like a cynical bastard. The last one had is black hair cut short and wore European clothes, while his friend dressed in Japanese clothes.
"Who… Who are you?" Misao asked. The blonde man smiled at her and turned to his companion.
"See, Timon? I told you she was here, didn't I?" The other one, named Timon, didn't even acknowledged the man's words, so busy was he staring at Misao. "So, can we do it, already? I'm sick of the waiting."
Misao was starting to feel a little scared. Do what? Why was that man staring at her that way? And why did it looked like those men knew her?
"Who are you?" She asked again. The one named Timon answered.
"We, my dear, are the owners of this land."
Misao felt a kind of relief come in to her.
"Oh! I'm truly sorry for being inside your property, but this is the only well I know that has cool water these days. And I thought you wouldn't mind all that much." She said. Timon seemed to consider her words.
"Well, we really couldn't care less about the well, my dear. On the other hand, we do care about YOU, Makimachi Misao."
"How… how do you know my name?"
The blond man laughed. "Little girl, we know everything there is to know about you. Which isn't all that much, since you've had a pretty boring life trough out your twenty year old life."
"Shut your stupid mouth, Diego. You're scaring our little one."
Misao was livid. Who were those men? She felt like throwing her kunai at them, but she was at the same time, frozen to the spot.
"What do you want from me?"
"Rest assured, we aren't going to rape you or anything. That would be very unpleasant, wouldn't it?" Diego said. He had a particular vicious smile in his face, as if he knew something she didn't. He looked at her and at his companion, who continued to stare at her. Timon steeped in front and smiled at Misao.
"My dear, you have a great potential hidden in you. You'll make a great lam for me. But, before that, we must do something to you."
Misao steeped back, looking warily at both men. She hadn't like the sound of those words Timon had just said. What did he mean with lam? She felt her hand move to her back, to get a kunai. But they must've suspected, because Diego appeared to produce a sword from his back. Timon steeped back and let Diego fight. Misao took all her kunai and observed Diego's move, but the man seemed to wait for her, so she threw two kunai right at his face. With a quick move of his sword the two kunai were on the floor, in front of him, without having touched him. Misao didn't felt has badly has she should, she had the rest of her kunai, after all. And now she knew her adversary's strength.
Diego's sword wasn't as the other swords she had seen: it was thin, with no blade and had sharp end. She had heard of swords like that one, they were called foil and were European. Misao was going to throw another round of kunai, when Timon steeped in front of her.
"Diego, how many times have I told not to use that sword. They are useless in a fight."
Misao was quite taken aback with that. Timon had deliberately interrupted a fight to say that? She was looking at them now. They were arguing heatedly.
"What do you mean useless? This is my ancestors sword, how dare you say ill of it?" Diego shout.
"Stop shouting, I'm not deaf. You won't harm anyone with that sword and you know it." Timon said.
"I thought you didn't want me to cut her head!"
"Would you just shut up?"
"Well, if I can«t fight with this, how would you like me to do it now?"
Suddenly Timon turned around, facing Misao, and pointed a gun at her. Misao gasped as she saw what he was holding in his hand. Diego stud where he was and only smiled at her, while Timon said something. But Misao didn't hear him. She could only see that gun, in front of her. She still couldn't believe something like that was happening to her. Those two men had to be insane! The bad part about it was that she, most probably, was going to die soon. She tried to hear what Timon was saying, but she seemed to have only caught the ending.
"Bye, Misao. We'll see each other soon."
And, with that, Misao heard him pull the trigger and saw, almost in slow motion, that round iron bullet flight right at her and crash against her chest. Misao felt something break trough her skin and a burning ache, when the bullet entered the flesh. She could only feel that strange burning sensation, for she lost touch in her members. She could see herself falling and then she felt the rock from the well bang the back of her head. Then everything went black.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How does one image Heaven? Would one really see these huge gates of golden wonder, suspended upon pink clouds, with a great number of angels there? With all the people one knew and lost, there receiving one to their new home? Could one see the living from up there, like looking down and seeing all the loved ones doing their everyday life or mourning the dead?
It didn't really matter in the end, did it? When Misao opened her eyes she expected to see a spectacle of lights and colors, all there to receive her to her new home. She expected all the beautiful angels there. But what she saw was a strange hard punch in the face. She was in a room, laying in a stretcher and nothing more. She immediately looked at her chest, expecting to see the bullet wound, but she only found the blood on her shirt and nothing more. She didn't hurt at all! She raised her hand to touch her nape, expecting it to be bleeding, but again she only found the dried blood in her hair and nothing more. After all of this she could have easily doubted she had even gone out the Aoiya in searched for water and found those crazy men. But there was always the blood in her shirt and in her hair.
After this, she could just panic. Even if the bullet wound hadn't been fatal, she should have the hole there. Where was it? How could she be alive after all that pain? It couldn't be possible that what had happened could be right. Most probably she had had a wound but nothing like she had though. But she didn't have one single wound! Not even a scar, nothing.
And where was she? She looked around the room, trying to find something familiar, but failed completely. The room was absolutely unknown to her. It had a window, but Misao didn't trust herself to walk all the way to the wall. She just felt so lost! She was sure she was going to start screaming and, if she did, she wouldn't stop.
The door from the room opened and Misao saw, with horror on her face, the blonde man go inside. He entered and sat on a chair Misao hadn't seen before. He looked so at ease with her and he seemed to expect her to be fully well. He just stared at her and she stared at him. Misao, for the first time in her life, felt completely petrified and scared.
"So, Misao, how do you feel?" When Misao didn't answer he went on. " I remember when it happened to me, I was pretty confused, not to say afraid. Can you believe it if I told you that I thought I was a demon from hell or something? Well, can you blame me? I had died from a sword wound… a pretty vicious one in fact… and then I woke up as if I'd been asleep? And you know what? I was pretty much fucked. I had died in a duel, so I couldn't really just go back and say 'Hey everyone, I'm not dead after all'. So, I had to run away from Spain, for a while. Hey, you're listening?" Misao just stared at him, but he seemed to have accepted it has a yes. "That's when I found Timon. He's Greek, you know? A proud bastard, but a great sword fighter. He tough me everything there is to now about us. He's been here for more than three hundred years, you know? I'm just two and a half centuries old. Pretty young compared to him, ne?"
Misao's brain felt like it was going to crash, with the rush of words, facts and sounds all around her. Three hundred years? What was that? A joke? But then, she had died and came back? If so, what did that mean? Did Kami think she still had a mission before dying and sent her back? But that monster, Diego, and apparently Timon too, were given that too? But…
"What happened to me?" She managed to ask, after a while. Diego smiled.
"Misao, you died, my dear. You were dead for about an hour and a half. The first time it takes more time to come back, but you'll get it faster and faster. Can you believe Timon wakes up after three or two minutes?"
"You mean I died and came back to life?"
"Yes, exactly. You, Misao, like me, Timon and many others, are an Immortal. You cannot die, unless another Immortal cuts your head in a duel. Other than that, if no one cuts your head, you'll be pretty much alive for hundreds of years. You'll not grow old and you'll look eternally like you do now."
Misao would have fainted, if she were inclined to it. Unfortunately, she wasn't, so she could just stare at that man again. He then got up and left. He closed the door behind him and Misao could hear his steeps trough the door. She felt all her reality was turning curiosity strange. She was an Immortal. The mere thought was laughable, if had been in another situation, but where she was she could just shake her head and declare Diego was either really mad or he had been playing with her. But why would he do such a thing? Unless it was a strange innocent joke, it was pretty much sick.
But, what if it was true? What if she really was an Immortal? Everything in the last hours pointed to it and not the opposite. The fact that could swear she still remember the pain the bullet had brought, the touch that burned and that rock heating her back head, bringing welcomed blackness. And then waking up, with no wound at all, just some bloodstains, and no pain at all. Diego seemed so at ease with it!
After calming down a bit, Misao started to think of a way to get out of that room and back to the Aoiya. The window she had seen before was huge, with wide glazing. She could only see the blue sky, while sitting on the stretcher, but when she raised and came closer to it, she saw were her room was located. It seemed the house was built over a cliff and her room had a direct view to it, with all the rocks and pointed edges one might think off. So the only way out of the room, was trough that cliff, getting down clinging to the house's exterior walls.
"If I do this, I'll die for certain."
But, after all, she had died already and had came back, hadn't she? If what she had heard was right, she couldn't die from a fall. The thing was- was it true? Maybe when putting her in that room and saying those things to her, they were expecting her to do exactly what she was thinking. But, yet again, what would be the point in that? Timon had mentioned a lam, was that what he was referring to? Misao found that rather unlikely. He and his sick friend had to have a point in all that.
So, after sometime of thought, Misao concluded she had nothing to lose, for she would eventually die with those two. She opened the glazing and felt the wind come inside the room and touch her skin and hair.
"Nothing to lose, Misao. Remember that."
Misao placed a hand and a foot in the window's frame and raised her weigh on them. The other hand came to rest on the wall outside, while the other foot joined the first one. The house's walls weren't of wood, but stone, to Misao's pleasure, for it make it easier to descend. Foot after foot hand after hand, Misao was almost touching ground when a strong felling surrounded her. Misao couldn't describe it. It wasn't pain or pleasure, it was just a sense that the walls were dissolving and just one important thing stud, but Misao didn't know what that thing was. Before the sensation disappeared, Misao lost her foot and her body fell the rest of the way to the ground. Her body crashed to the ground with a loud thud and Misao could feel some bones in her body break and some blood coming from a wound near her eye.
After that Misao didn't know what to feel like. They had lied to her, for she was bleeding and that certainly wasn't supposed to happen. She raised herself as quick as she could and started walking away from the house. She had to realize what had happened that day, had to figure out who those men were, if they were Onibanshu's enemies or something like that.
She heard the sound of water running, near her, so she ran after the sound and found a little stream between a green and yellow meadow. Yes, she would clean herself and then she would be less conspicuous in town. She cupped her right hand, fill it with water and raised to her face to get it clean of the blood there. After taking all the blood, Misao could see the deep wound there, which ran from her hairline to near her eye. She could feel a smirk form itself on her lips. Immortal… Yeah right!
She stopped laughing, however, when she saw the deep cut simply disappear and cure itself, leaving no scar, leaving nothing at all. Misao ran her hand trough her face, searching for that cut and could only feel her smooth skin, even when pressing she felt no pain. She moved her left harm that had been broken she some minutes ago and felt it move like always, as if cured.
Misao breathed in and tried to control herself. So, they had been saying the truth and she could cure herself and not die and… she was an Immortal! She felt her legs take her back to the city and to the Aoiya. And when there, what to do? What to say? She couldn't exactly say what had happen, could she? If she said it, she would have to hide all her new discoveries and face the option of her family going after those two and getting themselves killed. She couldn't allow that. No, she would have to hide it. But how to explain the bloodied clothes and where she had been all that time? She was supposed to be bringing water.
Misao stopped her thoughts when she got to that fork and stopped. Not because of the thought she had when she had last crossed that path, but because she felt that sensation again. Like the world was revolving around him and she had a sense of not being alone. It started to abate when Misao turned around and found herself face to face with Aoshi.
She had no idea what to do now. She was facing the last person she wanted to see, with her clothes all bloodied and a dirty face. She could see that he was wondering what she was doing there, but he didn't said a thing, as always. He was waiting for her to say something, when he let his eyes wander over her and he took her sight in.
"What happened, Misao? Who's that blood's from?" He asked.
Misao's mind started running around and around, trying to find an answer that would seem plausible. And she found one.
"It's not mine, Aoshi-sama. To my disgust, I tripped and fell over a dead carcass."
She could see Aoshi was highly surprised, but the fact that she was talking to him after all that time made him forget it.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Misao nodded and turned around to walk, but felt him starting to move along side her. She stopped.
"What are you doing?" She asked him. Aoshi seemed mildly surprised.
"I'm going to the Aoiya, why? Do you wish to go by yourself?"
That had been a rhetorical question, but Misao didn't lost the opportunity. "Yes, yes I would prefer it that way, if you may."
She could see she had taken him by surprise but he nodded and headed for the woods. Misao started walking again and was near the Aoiya's gate after some minutes. She had already an excuse for the blood in her clothes, but she still had no idea what she was going to do. She couldn't stay in the Aoiya and see all her friends age, while she stayed the same. For once it would be too depressing and second, they would suspect if she was fifty-two and looked like twenty. She couldn't stay at the Himura's for it would be the same. He only choice was to pack her things and travel the world. She would settle someplace else, where she wouldn't have to give nobody anything, where she owed nothing to anybody.
She had made her way to her room and, while the sunset, Misao looked around her, seeing what she would take and what she would leave behind forever. She would have to remember. After a while she had a large suitcase and she would have a hard time carrying it. She would have to get away at night, but it would take a while. She was finishing packing, when Omasu called for dinner.
Misao sat at the table looking at all of them. Okina ate and drank while laughing at Kuro's joke. He looked so happy! He had always been such a happy old man. Kuro just talked and talked, he didn't seemed to run out of jokes that night. Shiro laughed too, sometimes choking on food or drink. Okon looked much better than that morning. How that morning seemed far away now! Omasu was always patting Shiro's back, trying to help him when he choked. She was wearing a beautiful kimono that night. Misao would have to remember that. Aoshi... he looked like he always did. Composed, cool and unmoved by a thing. Misao had had that feeling again when she had entered the dinning room. He seemed to have forgotten what had happened when they had meet, for he drank his tea quietly and looked at no one. She would miss him a lot. Even after what had happened, she would miss him terribly. All of them in fact, but she would be miserable without her Aoshi-sama. Silently she said goodbye to her family.
That night Misao picked her things and left. Twenty minutes later she was in the train station with a ticked to no where in particular.