Fushigi YuugiLife As It Is"Wuh…what is all thi—"
"Come on, you have to follow quickly or else you'll have to find another way in."
Koa's words were mumbles in his ears, for he was too shocked and confused at the sight of what was before him. There was a village. In the forest. Well, it made sense if Koa lived there since it was her forest. But then, why were there five houses? Did the animals live with her in their own empire? Was she in need of company because she lived alone, so she built a hut for each set of animals? He was confused, alright. But then was he here to treat 'Stripy' and 'mini-monkey'? Or maybe he was wrong. Maybe she lived with someone. Maybe she…
"TASUKI!"
"Huh? I'm sorry, what were you saying Koi? I mean! Koa! Yes, Ko-a?" he blushed darker than his hair.
"Follow me as fast as you can or I'll leave you behind. That would mean our injuries would have been in vein." She jumped down toward her village, which was in a sort of canyon, with Tasuki right behind her.
He knew what she was referring to; the similar marks on their wrist. That also made him curious. What was that about? Why did he have to give her a 'blood oath' just help her help her friends? Why did he have to get an injury in order to heal one? It wasn't making any sense to him at all. It was just going too fast for…
'…H-huh? What…is this feeling?' As they landed, Tasuki felt another wave of energy wash over him. It was a similar wave to the one he felt when 'Forest Girl' had pushed their bloody wrist together. It calmed his soul greatly, but only sped up his heart. He had no idea where he was anymore or why this people were here. And how come Hotohori had never mentioned this to him? Did he not know of the tiny village? Oh, Tasuki hated not knowing, so he decided to just be on guard.
"Well, I see the transfusion was a success after all. Good thing, too. If it didn't, we might still be in trouble." Her voice crept into his ears ever so softly.
He turned his head in her direction, only to find, for the first time since he met her, a gentle smile on her face. It was nothing you needed to look into or take rather seriously, but it was…such a sight. And her eyes seemed to have relaxed too, they were no longer stone cold. But the moment was broken when she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted,
"MI-KOMI-I! WHERE ARE YOU?"
"In Arashi's hut!" the mountain wolf heard a squeaky voice answer. Okay, so she wasn't alone.
"Ok-ay! We—I'M COMING! Come on Tasuki! We have to get over to them quickly. Let's move!" and she was off yet again.
Tasuki sighed heavily. 'Why is it that since I met this chick, all I've done is chase her? Oh well, I'm glad that I got what I was looking for. Might as well make the best of it.' So, he was on her trail again.
He watched her through the middle of the 'village'. The huts were in the shape of a five-pointed star. Tasuki thought maybe she had a reason for this, like it held some sort of meaning. He also assumed that meant there was five other people in the village. One must belong to Koa. One to the 'Squeaker' he heard just moments ago. One to each of her two injured friends. And…maybe the other one was for the animals, like he thought?
Koa ran to the hut that, what Tasuki would call from when he was standing up on the cliff, was the top right point of the star. He was only moments behind her. As he came to grab the knob, he realized the door was made of wood; six logs tied together with a rock handle. The hut was also made out of logs, in a vertical fashion. And the roof was just a few layers giant tree leaves tied together with a small openings here and there. They must have been…a poor village. But then, why didn't they just go to Hotohori or one of the other empire emperors, since he had never seen Koa before he assumed she was from another land, and ask for assistance? Even if their rulers refused, Tasuki was sure Hotohori would offer help. That was how Tasuki was treated.
'No wonder she was worried for her friends. They don't have any modern medication, so it must be even more difficult to help someone when they're injured or ill.' He thought sadly.
"Okay Tasuki!" he heard Koa call from inside, "you may come in now," As he entered, and saw three more women with he. She also added, "Thank you for waiting and giving us time to speak. I'd like you to meet three of my friends. The one who's house you reside in right now is Arashi Faita-Kaze. She is the one on the bed. I told you about her. She is the one with the broken leg and smashed nose."
Tasuki's eyes slowly wandered over to the girl on the bed. She had long, thin blonde hair that leaked over the side of her mattress. She wore a similar outfit to Koa's. Hers was white as the clouds, but turned into a silver shine wherever her outfit tucked away, which was in all the same places as the green suit, except she wore a flowing skirt. Her pocket gear was on the side of her silver slip-on boots, which had not yet been removed from her feet. Her right arm, which hung over the side, had a tornado-shaped tattoo in the same style as Koa's. It even had the circle around the tornado and another about mid-tornado around her arm. But what scared Tasuki was her eyes. The cloth on her nose made it hard to see, but her brown eyes were still able to glare at him disapprovingly, as if to say, "Get out of my house."
Koa, noticing his uncomfortable situation, carried on.
"The one on the futon is Jemu Faita-Mizu. But we like to call her Jem," Koa telling him this, earned herself a glare from the girl on the floor, "She has a bruised tailbone and two broken hands."
Tasuki turned his eyes downward, almost shaking, to see his other paitient. Her eyes were pure blue, like the ocean. Her stare wasn't as hard as Arashi's, but it still made him feel unwelcome. Her hair was a bright blue, it reminded him of Chichiri, and was cut up to her ears. It was very wavy and curled in at the tips. Her outfit was a paler shade than her eyes and followed a cross between the other two styles. She wore pants for her outfit but they fanned out at the bottom. Her gear was wrapped over her shoulder and rested on her hip. Her marking on her right arm was in the shape of a dewdrop. The two circles were evident as well.
"And last but not least, Mikomi Faita-Ki. She was the one you heard respond to my call earlier. She is the youngest, and isn't as skilled in defense as the rest of us, but she is still a valued member of the group." Koa finished the introductions.
And once again, he examined the said girl. Her rose leaf-green eyes were wide as she stared at him in awe, as if she had never seen a guy before. She had more of a hot pink undershirt on with a vale-like cover that substituted as sleeves. She had a pink sash around her waste to tie the over-sized vale that hung over her like a dress. However, it was cute in the middle and floated at her sides. She wore a ruffled skirt, same color as her shirt, for a bottom piece. She had magenta gloves on her hands that matched her shoes and she didn't seem to have any pocket gear like the others did. Her arm symbol was different than the others, though.
The three other girls' marks seemed to represent an element. Leaf for earth, tornado for wind and dewdrop for water. But this little girl had a trace of a rose as her mark, but with the same circular surroundings. He wondered what this meant.
"Well," Arashi's voice broke the silence, "Are you going to treat me or what?" Her voice wasn't rough, just shaken. She tried to act on guard, to show she didn't trust him and that she could defend herself. But he knew both these injured girls would not be able to stand let alone against him. He glanced back and forth between the two bed-ridden girls a couple times before giving Koa a list of things he would need in order to treat them. After hearing what he need, she sped off in search of what he asked for.
Tasuki began with Jemu, only because she was closer to him and he did not want to go jumping around her and then step on her foot or worse, her hand. Her fingers were pointing in all different directions or were curled in an unattractive manor. Her left palm actually had two bones pushing through the middle. And her right wrist was twisted as if she was pointing toward the door without moving her arm. Since she was already on her back resting, there was nothing he could for now about her tailbone.
He explained his diagnosis to Mikomi, then went over to Arashi while watching his steps very very carefully. She turned her head away from him the moment she realized he was coming toward her. He groaned at her ignorance and began examining her leg. But when he went to take off her injured leg's boot, her other healthy leg kicked him in the face. Tasuki went flying and had to forma bridge over Jemu in order not to land on her.
"Arashi!" Mikomi and Jemu yelled in unison.
"Hmph, he will not touch me! He was trying to take off my gear! He was going to…"
"He was going to help you!" Mikomi fought in Tasuki's defense.
"No he wasn't! He was trying to hurt me! Can't you tell? He's just another…"
"Oh knock it off, already!" Jemu yelled up at her fellow injury-ee, "He is just doing what Koa asked of him. Jeez!"
"And Koa asked him to come here because he said he could help you and Jem. You know how Koa is. It's amazing she brought anyone other than one of us here. You should learn to trust him, for her sake. Beside, he made a promise with her."
Arashi's eyes opened wide with shock. She turned to look at Tasuki, but had to drop her fear and concern when she saw him wobbling over Jemu's torso, trying not to land on her. "C-could anyone help me up? I'm still here, you know!" he shouted in a stretched voice.
Arashi grunted as Mikomi helped him stand. "Fine!" she mumbled, "I'll try to like him. But I'm only doing this for Koa. You got that fluffy head?"
"Hmph, whatever you say, girlie. Now sit tight so I can get this boot off. I need to examine your foot."
"You must be lucky," Tasuki turned to the door and the sound of Koa's voice. He also noted she was smiling again, "If it weren't for the fact that she was injured right now, Arashi would surely beat you into the ground the moment you called her 'girlie'."
Koa and the two girls on the floor laughed.
"You bet your ass I would!" Arashi shouted at no one directly.
"That's nice and all, but I think we need to worry more about healing you two before anyone's ass gets kicked. So if you don't mind, Mikomi and Koa, could you help with these two?"
Both girls nodded and did exactly as they were told. But to be honest, Koa was shocked at how much knowledge he had. He had told her he could help heal her friends, but he didn't look like a doctor. Yet here he was, wrapping up Arashi's leg so softly, she wasn't complaining. In fact, she was sleeping! And Jemu's left hand was wrapped up and looking normal again faster than Nuriko had ever landed a punch on him. It was really a sight to see.
After both had been treated and properly diagnosed to Tasuki's extent, he waved good-bye to Mikomi and Jemu, since Arashi was still sleeping. Then he walked off with Koa toward her hut which was to the left of Arashi's.
"I have to say Tasuki, for a martial artist with a personal healer, you were wise in the situation back there."
"Yeah, I …wait, how did you know about Mitsukake?"
"Is that his name? The animals told me about him. I already explained to you how I get my information. Although they call him, 'Pineapple Giant', because of his hair and his height." She giggled in remembrance.
"Yeah, I can see how they get that." Tasuki smiled as he put his hands behind his head.
Koa gasped and bowed. "Oh, please, forgive my rudeness. I didn't mean to laugh at your friend. The animal's just refer to him as that because they cannot pronounce his name. I'm sorry. That was terribly rude of me."
"No, it's okay. Really. It's fine. I call him and everyone else funny names all the time, so forget about it."
"Okay…"
She didn't sound to convinced, so Tasuki decided to move on from the topic.
"So, Koa, I have been meaning to ask you, what is your last name?"
She stopped and turned to look at him.
"My last name? Why?"
"I just wanna know."
"It's Faita-Chi. My whole name is Koa Faita-Chi."
"I noticed that all your last name's originate with 'faita-' in it, meaning fighter. And each one of you matches up to an element. Like you. Your name translation is 'Earth-fighter'. And you also have a leaf tattoo on your arm. But what does all that mean? And why do you guys live here like this?"
"Arashi lives over there," she piped up while pointing to the house they had just exited. Then she turned and pointed to the house left of it, "And that one is mine. To the left of me is Mikomi. To the right of Arashi is Jem."
"Then who lives between Mikomi and Jem?"
"It doesn't matter. You'll probably never meet her since she doesn't like to stay in the village that much. She prefers to be on the go and we get mad at her for that, so she just stays out longer. That way she doesn't have to hear it."
"But why would you get mad at her? Whoever she is…"
Koa just sighed. "I guess I better let you on a few things now that we're sealed. Alright, let's go to my house and get some tea. Then I'll tell you as much as I can."
