"From a Specter to Forgiveness""
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"Why are you being so hostile to me? It is like you don't know me! I'm not an enemy!"
Miyu, her posture of both elegance and contained violence, considered this for a long moment,
a wry smile
appearing at last.
"I must return you to the Dark, because of your nature.."
"The...Dark?" the figure inquired, the feminine voice low and neutral. "What's that?"
"Don't play stupid!" Miyu snapped, but then shrugged. "I sense you are Shinma.
It is my destiny
to confront you. You know this to be true. If you don't about the Guardian,
you're a poor
excuse
for a Shinma."
"I don't know about any of this 'Guardian' or 'Shinma' talk, but you can
explain that to me later."
The figure smiled from under a face-concealing hood. She looked at
Miyu, and then at Larva,
standing behind and slightly to Miyu's right. "I simple wish to
talk to you, my friend." The tone and
inflection she used for the last two words made Miyu shiver visibly, once.
"In private, if you don't
mind. You can introduce me to your friend when we are done."
The mannerism of this creature was starting to confuse Miyu, ever so slightly.
Either it was a very
detailed, elaborate ploy, or Miyu was dealing with a Shinma that wasn't
terribly bright. Miyu decided
to play the game, just to see. "Very well," Miyu replied. "Larva?
Please leave us. I'll summon you if
necessary."
Larva hesitated a moment. "You think that is wise? Perhaps I should stay..."
"Larva, please," Miyu whispered, looking back. Her eyes conveyed her desire
more than
her words. "I'll be fine. Don't go too far, though."
Larva nodded, walking backward and disappearing into the darkness, leaving
the
grinning figure and Miyu to their own devices. Miyu watched the point of
departure for a
long moment, and then turned her full attention on the female. "What is your
name, so
that I might know who I'm dealing with?"
The voice, soft, replied with no tone. "You don't recognize me? Have I
been gone so long now?
I don't think I've change so much. You haven't changed at all!" The figure
shuffled its feet. "I thought
it would be such a nice surprise...but you don't remember."
Miyu tipped her head to the left. Now she was really curious. "I don't know
you, or why you think
I should know you, but it doesn't matter. Even if I did know who you were,
the manner I deal with
you wouldn't change."
Miyu
extended a palm, a flame forming. "And here is your surprise, Shinma."
The figure giggled, in a tone that sounded eerily familiar to Miyu. "That's a
neat trick...magic!" The
figure
shuffled her feet again. "I don't know...if you don't want me around, I can
leave, if that is what
you desire, Miyu."
Miyu showed her teeth in anger. She was growing tired of this game, and the
flame danced in
annoyance in her palm. Miyu paused, not remembering telling the
figure her name. Miyu thought that
was odd, but quickly put it out of her mind as irrelevant. "It
is my desire
and destiny! I will now send
you back to the Dark..."
Before Miyu could finish her sentence, the air around the figure shifted and
blurred, as if
a haze or fog had set in. The world took on a surreal atmosphere, and for a long moment
Miyu felt as if she were in a dream. Slowly, the visual field cleared, and the
two stood alone
in a pleasant park, with a bench nearby. The figure reached up, pulling the
concealing hood
of the raincoat
back and away, and smiled pleasantly.
Miyu found herself staring, her mouth dropped open but unable to formulate
words or sound. Her
vocal cords were
frozen, but
not her mind. The flame in Miyu's palm extinguished itself. "It can't be..."
"Hello, Miyu!" the figure before her greeted, in a voice that, although
committed to a
distant memory, rung true in every tone. "I've missed you, my special friend.
Surprised?"
"It can't be..."
"I have been gone a long time, but I'm back," the figure continued, running a
thin frail
hand through reddish-brown hair. "I came back for you! I've missed you so
much! You,
and Yukari and Hisae...I've missed all my friends! I can't wait for us to all be
together again."
Miyu trembled. Her mind told her, over and over, that the person before her
couldn't be,
that she should react, before it was too late. But Miyu couldn't do anything, for
she was
paralyzed by the ghost before her, a ghost that felt all too real, in mannerism,
appearance,
and even soul...
"Chisato?"
Chisato smiled, her eyes lighting up. "You do remember me! Well? Did you miss me? You
have always
been so quiet, but then you started acting all weird on me when I first showed
up...
I was starting to wonder. And those clothes."
Miyu shivered, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "You aren't real. You
can't be
real. You are in eternal dream, forever locked away."
Chisato laughed. "Silly! The things you say! Perhaps you had a dream, yes?
Thinking
something happened to me, while I simply went away for a while. I'm back now.
I'm
just...me...you look at me like I'm a stranger, Miyu."
"But..." Miyu was confused, and a touch frightened. She remembered the events
of long
ago, or at least she thought she remembered them. She could picture Yukari,
struck down,
and Chisato doing the same to
her. Miyu remembered the pain, as the sword pierced her
body,
impaling her
soul and her emotional center, forever.
But yet here was Chisato, as if the world had never changed, like that dark
day had never
occurred. She seemed so innocent...so...
"I brought you back something, from my trip," Chisato announced,
happily. "It's a relic...
want to see?
You have to come closer...it is a surprise...a present, I guess. I couldn't help
but think of you when I saw it, for some reason."
Miyu, seemingly not in control of her body, took a step forward. "This
can't
be..." she
breathed, over and over. "It just can't...I know it can't...but...it feels like
her presence...
it feels like the time before...before..."
As Miyu approached, Chisato reached behind her back, and quickly brought
forward the
sword. "Isn't it great, Miyu?" she asked, excitement in her voice. "Come
closer! Look at
the details. It's very different."
Miyu looked at the sword, her eyes wide. "You...the sword...what are you doing?"
Chisato giggled. "I'll be careful, Miyu! I would never hurt you, my friend!" Chisato
started to walk forward, the sword out before her. "Never! I just want you
to see it."
The words Chisato had used rolled through Miyu's head over and over again:,
as her eyes
watched the apparition
approach.
"I would never hurt you, my friend!...I would never hurt you...I would never...I..."
Miyu's looked once more at the sword. Her thoughts raced. "I can't believe I
didn't think of it
before...the answer
has always been there, but my anger and hurt blocked it away..."
"I see us having a great time in this life, Miyu!" Chisato announced, though
her voice seemed
a little off now. "Do me a favor..."
"Lies!" Miyu cried out, her voice filled with anger. Miyu jumped back and
away from
the tip of the sword, just as Chisato lurched, nearly thrusting it into Miyu's
abdomen. "Reveal
your
true self, Shinma! I know your true nature!" The flame reappeared in Miyu's
hand, the
tips dancing with her fury.
Chisato stood still, holding the sword. "What nature? That was just an accidental slip, Miyu..."
"You won't cloud my mind again!" Miyu declared fiercely. "You've
managed to change your
appearance, but you have revealed your sinister self to me.. I know now what I've been
seeking - what I should always have known - that the creature that acted against me wasn't
the true Chisato. The true Chisato died when the egg within her
hatched."
The flame leapt from Miyu's hand, engulfing the form of the girl before her.
"If I'm wrong, this won't have an affect on her," Miyu told herself,
preparing, but
there was
no need. The air around Chisato blurred, and in her place a wrinkled old female
Shinma
stood, thrashing and screaming in its throes. In a moment, it was gone,
consumed by the fire,
with only a wisp of smoke remaining.
Miyu sank to her knees, looking at the ground and taking deep, calculated
breaths, tears
in her eyes. A moment later, she turned her head, acknowledging the form of
her companion.
"Larva."
"That was very strange," Larva observed, looking at the spot the Shinma vanished. "I
have heard
heard
of that Shinma...Urakata...a scene shifter of sorts, but had always thought her
more of a legend."
He extended a hand out to Miyu,
helping her up. "She was said to have great power, with the ability
to make her target see whatever she desired them to see." Larva studied Miyu
a moment, as she
worked to regain her composure. "What did she reveal to you in her visions,
Miyu?" He placed a
reassuring hand on her shoulder, looking in her eyes. "You appeared confused and frozen
a moment,
until you
recovered."
Miyu closed her eyes, inhaling. "I saw Inoue Chisato." When Miyu opened
her eyes, they
both
stood under the crimson sky of her world. "It was so real, Larva. It felt like
Chisato...even smelled like her, if you can believe that. She apparently could
manipulate the
senses as well."
Larva nodded. "She must have known a bit about your past to use that against
you. Perhaps she was a bit telepathic, to pull from your thoughts as she went
along."
He leaned against a blackened tree. "I had a hard time not interfering, but you
seemed to
snap out of her trance on your own."
Miyu smiled, slightly. "It is good you didn't interfere. I discovered
something, about
myself and the past. It is something I've always known, but denied, inside.
Lingering doubts,
you might say."
Miyu walked to the trunk of an old, rotted tree, reached in, and pulled a
round handball. The orb
faded away, and Miyu held the
severed head of Chisato, cradling it to her and hugging it softly.
"I know that the true Chisato wasn't
the one who hurt me so...that she ceased being Chisato
when the Shinma took
over her
body." Miyu sighed, stroking the red head softly. "I think I knew
right away, when I put her in eternal bliss, but I convinced myself
afterwards that it had to be her
fault, because it hurt so much, and I placed myself in the position for that
to happen."
"She was a tool to get at you," Larva injected, soft and steady. "Neither of
you are to blame. It
was the Birds who did this, to both of you. She lost as well."
"All this time, I have held her responsible, to different levels at different
times, but it wasn't her.
She
was, at the end, what she was in life...innocent." Miyu looked at the head. "She
still is, in her
dreams."
Miyu turned the head, cradling it in the nook of her arm and, using her
fingers, opened
Chisato's eyes. They started back, expressionless and vacant. "It still hurts,
and I'll never
trust a human to that level again, but fault her? I can't fault her any
longer...I never did. Her name
may
bring me pain, but it will also bring me good memories, too, for what she
was, for a
little while."
Larva nodded. "It is good to relieve this burden from your soul. It is good not to carry it
around,
and let
it engulf yourself and everything you live for."
Miyu sighed, hugging the head of Chisato once more, and it slowly turned back
into a handball.
When she was done, Miyu
handed
the handball to Larva, gently. "Please take Chisato away,"
she whispered. "To a
nice place, but
a
place I don't know of. I don't need her around any longer,
and now she can dream
in true peace. Make it a beautiful place, fit for the pure of heart and soul,
that she was."
"I will put her in a proper place," Larva promised, taking the
handball from Miyu
and slowly
walking away. The head faded away, replaced by the glass orb once more, and
Larva handled
it delicately.
"Thank you, Larva." Miyu watched Larva go, and soon he disappeared into the
dense forest in
the distance. After he was gone, Miyu wiped her eyes. "Goodbye, Chisato," she
whispered." Miyu
jumped up into the tree that had been home for Chisato for so long,
sitting on a branch and gazing
out at the landscape.
"My existence will never be the same again, because of the Birds," Miyu
whispered
to
herself. "But I will remember the time I had you in my life when you were really
yourself, Chisato. Perhaps someday, when I think of you, I'll smile for you."
Miyu glanced up in her red sky, a close-lipped grin evident. "Maybe."
Copyright 2002 Kevin Turnquist. Rights...right.
