I don't own Kannazuki no miko
The next installment of this story, so without futher adieu, here it is.Chapter 2
Confusion
An metallic, copper like taste tainted Kurusugawa Himeko's taste buds. The strange images that had flashed before her eyes before had ceased. How long ago was it that she had saw them? A few minutes? A few seconds? She couldn't be certain. She battled to come back into reality, but could only manage to become more aware of her surroundings. She was lying flat on her back now, though the ground beneath her seemed soft. Something poked her cheek. A hazy memory of staring down at a test paper with a grade that left alot to be desired was all that she could see before the contact was broken.
"She's been out for ages now...I'm sorry for putting you out like this, Miya sama." A voice that was usually loud and slightly arrogant was now toned down, almost shy.
"It's fine, really. Besides, I'm truly worried about her. I've never seen her so pale before and she still hasn't awoken." Again, that soft voice. Calm, yet so full of worry. "I'm starting to wonder if she's sick...You're her roommate, are you not? Did she seem ill earlier on?"
"She seemed fine to me. Well, before she passed out she was kinda spacing out, more so than usual. Wait a minute...Forgive me for asking, but how do you know that I'm her roommate?" The person to her left was recognized by her curious tone, it seemed that the athlete was yet to leave her side. There was a moment of silence before there was a reply.
"Well, we've spoken on more than one occasion..." A stoic girl spoke from her right, sounding almost reluctant to admit the truth.
"You two talk? But how? I mean, she always vanishes of to some unknown place at lunch and-" Mako broke of her sentence, a small gasp of realization confirming that she had finished putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Please, keep this quiet. I know that she gets a hard enough time as it is from others." A rustle of cloth signified that her bestfriend was nodding. "Thank you. She's quite flushed...I think she might have a fever..." An uneasy silence fell over them, and the unconscious girl stirred, feeling her eyes flicker beneath their lids. A small groan of both pain and confusion tumbled from her lips. Eyes opening halfway, she blinked. Something came to rest against her forehead. God, not again. Her features crumpled in displeasure.
Once again, she was being held. This time, however, she was wearing the robes that she had seen the miko wearing earlier. Being held by the other miko that she hadn't seen, even now, she couldn't make out their face, for dark hair hung down and masked their face. The girl in the red robes seemed to have been maimed, that much was made clear by the deep red patch staining the front of her white robes. Leaning up and weakly wrapping an arm around the dark haired girls neck, she offered a faint smile, whispering something that must have been shocking. For the one in purple jolted slightly, a single tear falling from beneath her fringe and dripping onto the blonds cheek. Without a word, she leaned down and placed her lips over those of the wounded girls, just as her eyes closed and her final breath left her.
Without warning, her eyes shot open. A startled yelp was all she could muster as she found herself face to face with Himemiya Chikane, their foreheads resting together. Springing backwards upon feeling something splatter across her cheek, Himeko could see a hue of pink spreading across the girls cheeks. Raising her hand and pressing it against the moisture, her friend did a double take as she saw a crimson smear across her finger tips.
"Himeko...Did you just cough that up?" The worried tone of her roommates voice reminded her that she wasn't alone with Chikane. She opened her mouth to reply, but a stinging pain flared as she did so.
"I-I think I bit my tongue," she mumbled, her speech slightly slurred as she sat up. "What happened? Where am I?" Looking around the foreign room, clearly perplexed, she leaned on her hand before crying out in pain and jerking it upwards from the futon she lay on. Looking down, she found that it was wrapped to the wrist in a white bandage, blood beginning to become visible from putting pressure on the wound beneath it.
"From what I heard, you cut your hand and passed out," Mako informed, wincing as she watched blood seep to the surface of the wounds dressing. She glanced over to the dark haired girl for further detail.
"To keep things simple, that's all I know for certain. I heard you scream, I ran to reach you, but by that time you had fainted." Chikane tried to force the memory from her mind, the feeling of utter dread that she had felt apon hearing such a shriek, how fear hand almost rendered her to her knees apon dashing around a corner to find the one she loved sprawled on the ground, unconscious with blood slowly pooling beside her. Thankfully, those feelings were overwhelmed by pure relief as she found that the blood was only coming from a small gash on her beloveds hand, and that she had merely fainted.
"You're lucky, she carried you out of the shrine and back here!" Mako chimed in, seemingly oblivous in noticing to the lack of colour on the once blushing Himemiya's cheeks.
Looking over to the latter, Himeko was about to thank her before remembering what she had awoken to.
"Thank you, Chikane chan, but why were you...I mean when I woke up..." She trailed of, for a moment wondering if, like the girl in her odd delusion of a dream, she was about to be kissed...
"You where out for over three hours, I thought that you might have had a fever...People don't usually faint from shock and stay out of consciousness for that long. Evidently, you're burning up." Swallowing the lump in her throat, Chikane was amazed how steady her voice sounded. However, what she had said was true. The blond had a terrible fever, not to mention that whilst taking her temperature, she could feel the film of cold sweat that lay across Himeko's brow.
"Now that you mention it...She really doesn't look too good," looking her roommate up an down, Mako looked skeptical about her being in good health.
How could she have thought that Chikane was going to kiss her? She must have been having a terrible fever dream. Suddenly feeling at a loss for any strength, she slouched over slightly.
"I'll be fine..." Her voice sounded weaker than she intended it to.
"To Hell you will! Lie back down, I'm going to go asked Ogami san what's up with those swords, you were fine earlier. Miya Sama, can you keep an eye on her?" Raising to her feet, Saotome Makoto looked determined to maintain her friends consciousness. A brief nod was her answer, and, with that, she turned and walked from the room.
"Really, I swear I'm okay..." Trying to inject some energy into her sentence, Himeko failed miserably. She didn't try to stay upright as Chikane lay a hand on her shoulder and gently eased her back on the futon.
"Try to get some rest. I'll look after you." Those were the last words she heard before the world around her went dark once again, as a few incoherent snapshots of the past flashed in her mind.
