And good ole' March is here and here comes the four-leaf clovers! "grins" Always loved St. Patty's Day and now I FINALLY have some green in my wardrobe. Speaking of green, here's a bit of it inside the third chapter of my Year of Love fic. Enjoy!
I do not own Senkaiden Houshin Engi or Soul Hunter, it belongs to the guy who made the manga, Ryu Fujisaki, who ought to have a national holiday for such a cool series XD
Just Lucky
By Daydreamer9
Golden sunlight poured over every inch of the pinkish-white dappled lotus field as midday reached its peak, the first signs of Spring betraying themselves via the rich, warm sunlight. Back at Chintoukan, many were rejoicing the familiar warmth that Spring introduced as the wintry months were left behind for next year. Clothes were being hung outside, children shed their coats, and a festival was being set into motion as the hustle and bustle began anew. But nobody paid any mind to the lotus field beyond the four walls, too busy with their homely business to watch nature come back to life.
Nobody…save for two individuals standing amidst the center of the fragrant blossoms.
Taikoubou grinned a huge grin as he watched his red-haired friend begin to float around the delicate flowers, looking over them all as they were revived by the Sun's warmth. He could tell that the younger boy was finally happy and that made himself happy as well, knowing how much Nataku hated the winter months for the obvious reasons. To bring him out here right now was just the thing that he needed after being cooped up inside all of December and January and only going out last month whenever Taikoubou did, minding the chill. The green-eyed doushi watched his friend float among the flowers that he considered his 'brothers' and was almost compelled to go after him, but decided not to; this was his time to be alone.
Nataku looked around the lotus field, at the multiple pink-white flowers that covered an entire field and sloped up the neighboring hillsides. Two months ago, this entire field was blanketed with nothing but snow; a freezing white cover that had sent all the flowers in sight into a deep slumber. The redhead had to wonder what had kept him from sharing their fate, why he hadn't shriveled away as well. Why not? Being reborn as the incarnation of a lotus flower had caused him to gain a couple of aspects that were traced back to plant-life – according to Taikoubou and his own Master, anyway – he'd assumed that he would share their lifecycle as well. It made sense; ever since his rebirth, he'd grown to fear the Winter Months when before they gave him no trouble and he'd come to realize that he didn't truly need to eat anymore as well (not that he could with the Doushi regulations staring him in the face and that eating anything grown from the earth would be considered cannibalism for him now), gaining nutrients from the Sun. Even some of his brain functions, like his nervous system – which was, for the most part, nonexistent in the human sense – were altered to one that matched that of a plant.
Did this mean that, he wasn't just a weapon, but a lotus as well?
Just what was he?
A human? A weapon? A lotus? these things floated through his head as he basked in the warm glow of sunlight with the delicate flowers below, eyes downcast, just what am I? I'm so many things and yet…I don't feel like I'm anything…
His mother and Taikoubou had both said that he was human, that the weapons he was born with were merely a more exaggerated sign that he was a Sennin, but he could never truly accept it. Back at the outpost, people would stare at him whenever he left the house, even after all these years he could still hear the whispers behind his back and how nervous people would get if he ever approached them. Even his own father didn't favor him too much; he just couldn't accept the fact that his only son was born with supernatural abilities. Paopei Humans were rare, he knew that much, and he was the only one to come along in quite a long while. All of these things, mixed together, just made Nataku feel even more out of place than before. But coming here, to the lotus field, it just made everything that plagued his mind drift away like petals on the wind; he forgot all about his confusion and stress and focused solely on the strange, content feeling that was always present when he walked into the field.
A presence that he only felt around his mother whenever he was away from the field.
As he continued to float deeper into the pink and white field, looking over the flora that he considered to be his 'brethren', something caught his eye from below him.
"Huh?" he actually heard himself ask the empty air, then again, he'd never seen this sort of thing in the lotus field before.
It was almost hidden beneath the soft petals, but he saw it plain as day, and chose the lean over to investigate, a motion that he seldom did…which was probably the reason why he suddenly found himself tilting and then toppling into the flowers below with a startled yelp. He fell backwards into the flowers, the delicate petals brushing across his face, but that didn't really help to soothe the small sting he felt when he realized that he'd just embarrassed himself in front of-
"Nataku! Hey!"
Nataku honestly didn't know if it was possible to feel as miserable as he did right now, but then he saw the green-eyed doushi standing over him, concern written all over his face as he leaned over to help his redheaded friend up.
"Whoa, took quite a fall, eh?" Taikoubou joked, smiling as he helped the disgruntled teen sit up.
The misery just got worse as Nataku huffed impatiently as he turned away from the other's helping hands and instead re-angled himself amongst the lotus to find what had caused him to fall. With Taikoubou now kneeling beside him, he hoped that it wasn't ruined in the current mess; he wanted to know what it was. He was almost relieved when he saw that it was still there, but decided to get straight to the point; he didn't want to be on the ground for much longer.
"What's that?" he asked without looking at the other, eyes locked on the strange green thing hidden beneath the lotus.
Blinking in confusion, Taikoubou looked over the other's shoulder at where he was staring; he almost didn't see it, but then again, almost doesn't really count.
"Hey…" the older doushi said, surprised to be seeing what he knew of as a super rare sighting, "is that a…whoa, it is!" He turned to look over at Nataku with a big grin on his face. "How'd you spot it under all of these lotus flowers?"
Nataku's eyes remained on the small green growth in front of him, not even touched by the excitement in the other's voice; why get excited over a weed?
"It wasn't here last year," was the redhead's simple response.
Taikoubou couldn't really help but chuckle and shake his head.
"Of course, I might've guessed," he said, fondly, regarding the younger doushi with amazement, "you're come here so many times… I guess if anyone were to find a four-leaf clover amidst all this greenery, it would be you."
Now it was Nataku's turn to blink as he finally allowed himself to turn to regard the other doushi.
"Four-leaf clover?" he asked, his tone holding a curious note.
Nodding, Taikoubou reached down and, ever so gently, plucked the small clover from its resting place and held it up closer for his friend to see.
"Yep," he said, cheerfully spinning it between his thumb and index finger, "it's something I learned from my old village; it brings good luck to whoever finds it. And, since you're the one who found it…" That was when he turned to glance at Nataku, bringing the small clover over to him. "…you're the one who gets to make a wish."
Nataku stared down at the clover, completely clueless as the one who held it waited expectantly for the other to take it. The redhead turned back to Taikoubou…and suddenly seemed to realize just how close the two were at this point. Any closer and their noses would be colliding with one another. Normally, Nataku felt uncomfortable being this close to someone, it just made him want to fly as high as he could; the primary reason as to why he was constantly floating above others. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the strange feeling that he suddenly felt, a feeling that he recognized as the feeling, the one that he'd been musing about prior to all of this…
"A…wish?" he managed to get out, starting to realize that that one feeling wasn't the only one that was slowly creeping up on him.
Nodding, Taikoubou continued to grin and it was then that Nataku noticed how the doushi's eyes matched this 'four-leafed clover' almost perfectly.
"Yeah, but don't tell me what it is, okay?" the other said, winking, "otherwise it won't come true and you wouldn't want that, would you?"
At this, he took the redhead's hand, startling him a little as Taikoubou managed to place the small clover inside. Staring down at the small, four-leafed plant in a mixture of confusion and curiosity, Nataku didn't really notice as Taikoubou stood up and started to walk away, but his voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"We'd better get back," he called back over his shoulder, still cheerful, "wait until your Mom finds out what you found; those things are really rare…"
Still kneeling, Nataku looked over his shoulder to watch the other doushi walk away, but he still felt that feeling again, the one that he never thought he'd feel around anyone else but his mother and this field. Still puzzling over it, the redhead looked back down at the small clover that was now in his hand for a few seconds more, recalling what Taikoubou said, before turning back over his shoulder.
"Taikoubou?" he called out.
"Yeah?" came the simple response.
Taking a moment to wonder why the air suddenly felt a bit warmer as it blew past his face, Nataku asked his question as he held the clover protectively from the wind.
"…could you…help me up?"
And there ya go "smiles" I actually had a bit of trouble with this one as I had two separate ideas and so I finally just picked one out. Hope you liked it; so many things have happened this month, I didn't even know if I'd finish it on time. Yay, me! XD I'll try to work on the next chapter ASAP and until then, review!
