AUTHOR'S NOTE: More Aishiteru (I Love You) goodness!

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Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Things only started to get stranger from then on.

More questions rose, and the mystery deepened.


Aki IV: Hekugaewake


"Sir, there is a message from the Optistery Ministry of the Federation of Windurst. It appears that Koruha-Boruha is concerned that the beastmen are starting to gather together at Castle Oztroja outside the Federation, possibly to attack the joint Tarutaru tribes." The words came from the raspy voice of my office assistant, First Class Private in the Juenoan Ducal Guard.

Two weeks and one day had passed since I saw her again.

My rough fingertips reached up to my face and started to message my sore temples as I closed my eyes in deep frustration. I turned away from the assistant, facing the blank back wall.

"Private, please get a notebook and a writing pencil, and prepare to take a dictation to be sent out immediately back to that Taru." I commanded quietly.

He fumbled around inside his pockets for his scratchpad and pencil for a couple moments, before giving back with a faint trace of actual 'soldierness' in his voice an affirmative reply.

"Dear Minister Koruha-Boruha...", I began slowly, tracing the words that I want to say slowly in my head, putting them together into some sense of order.

"Dear Minister Karaha-Baruha...", I started again, "We at the Grand Duchy of Jeuno have yet to receive any word from our spies within the beastmen empires that they have any designs upon any land beyond their current borders. Or to put it quite simply, the Federation of Windurst is safe. If the situation changes, the Grand Duchy will inform the appropriate authorities of your native land about any threat."

I briefly paused, and rocked slightly on the balls of my feet.

"Yours sincerely, yada yada yada, of the Juenoan Ducal Guard, yada yada yada..."

With that, I gave the private a backwards flick of my hand to dismiss him from my office. I heard his feet scuffle along the plush carpet as he retreated softly, and then the ever satisfying click as the door closed shut behind him.

Letting out a gentle sigh, I turned around and then clenched my Elvaan hands on the red velvet plush chair at my wooden desk.

I never will understand these Tarus...so concerned about their Star Sibyl, believing that everything she says is going to come true.

I can't understand why they were so worried about a war for that matter either.

Except for that incident in Tavnazia abit ago, the world has been in a period of peace not seen since before the Elvaan were removed by force from the Quon continent many years ago. Even the towns of Tavnazia, Selbina, and Mhaura were flourishing, bringing prosperity to their parent countries.

I picked up a slice of a Kazham pineapple that my assistant had brought to me earlier in the day from the soldier's canteen, and then began to nibble at the tangy flesh.

Tasty...

That thought entered my brain as I played around with the yellow soft melon on my tongue.

I really should stop buying those bags of herb seeds covered in rock salt that are so damn addictive...these are so much more healthy for me.

It was with that thought that my office door was then slammed open, and in marched five armed paladin gaurds with the distinctive crest that marked them as being part of the Ducal Guard upon each of their shoulders. In between the star shaped figure they made up, there was some person that they were dragging who was bound in chains.

The lead soldier took two steps away from the rest, and stood at attention before speaking.

"Sir, we caught this person plotting a conspiracy with the goblins in order to counterfeit the international currency of gil that currently exists between the nations of Vana'diel. What are your orders sir?"

I quickly looked over at the prisoner, and saw a sniveling individual who had a slightly hooked nose and darting eyes. Amusingly, he kept trying to nervously adjust his cracked glasses so that they wouldn't fall off of his face as he twisted his head from side to side to look around the room.

A rather pitiful being.

"What is his name and background?" I inquired of the soldier.

Not wasting a single word, the guard spoke: "Amas Depotana. Employee at Cid s workshop at Bastok s Metalworks. Wife, two children. Is bilingual."

It was that last part that caught my ears.

"Is his hands properly restrained with the proper enchantments?" I asked of the paladin.

He nodded sharply once.

"Fine then, all of you, leave me. I want to ask him some questions. Alone." I gave the command in a tone of voice that does not suggest even a minute tolerance of disobedience in it.

The soldiers paused for a moment to ingest my orders, before quickly turning back around with the sharp turn that was drilled into them at the academy. They then filed out of the room without a single sound or word, being sure to close the door behind them without having to be asked.

Once they were gone, I then strolled over to the prisoner and stopped just two feet away from him.

I looked him up and down a couple of times to take better stock of his build and what I thought he would be capable of, before then coldly staring him in his eyes. Amas immediately averted his gaze away from me, mostly likely out of fear of what he knew I was capable of ordering to be done to him.

"You are accused of crimes that amount to treason against the Grand Duchy of Jeuno...how do you plea?" I spoke in an emotionless voice to him, not really caring WHAT he said back to me.

Amas stumbled over the words slightly as he finally spoke after a moment.

"G-G-G-Guilty..."

He then turned his head to me and looked me directly in the eyes with bloodshot eyes through his cracked lenses.

"I had to! No choice. The war is coming...can you not see it?! Can you not feel it in the air?!"

He then started to chuckle softly, which then grew into a higher and higher pitch of tone. After a moment, he then tilted his head back towards the ceiling and let out a howl.

"THE TOMBS...THE TOMBS...THE TOMBS..."

Rambling those two single words over and over again, I finally got tired of it and I slapped him hard across the face. His head twisted to the point where I feared that his neck was going to break, but instead it just snapped back into place with a simple pop sound.

"Get a hold of yourself man." I commanded of him.

Now for the real reason I am keeping here, before I order him to be put away in a place so dark that he will never be able to feel Her warmth ever again...

Clearing my mind for a moment, I felt my breath stuttered in my lungs as I closed my eyes and tried to remember the mage's words perfectly.

"Now tell me this...what does 'Watashiwa watashichiga futatabiaukotoo shitteta...' mean?"

I saw Amas' body suddenly take a entirely different composure to how it was just a few moments before, the man pulling himself into something that seemed to approach sanity. He tapped his finger to his bottom lip and he appeared to think for a moment.

"Hmm...that s an interesting phrase. The closest I can come up to is 'I knew we would meet again..' Is that what you are looking for?"

I don t bother to give a response, trying to instead remember other things that the black mage had said to me back in Tavnazia. Unfortunately, only a single fragment comes back to me in any sort of clarity

"Then...what does 'yomino mimali' mean?" I ask casually, keeping any real interest hidden away from my voice.

Amas replied immediately without pause. "Why, that means 'keeper of the dreams'. What, you going to interrogate me with phrases? Idiot." He snorted that last bit out at me, with a highly arrogant tone to his voice.

With that, I stepped back behind my desk, and clicked a small red button on its underside, which indicated for the gaurds that I was done with the prisoner and to come take him away.

Once they had re-entered, I spoke to them without wasting words.

"The prisoner has admitted to treason. I want him placed in the cells beneath the city streets until the Archduke sees fit to set a date to execute him."

The leader nods, and they quickly exit, leaving me along with my thoughts.

"I knew we would meet again.."

"Keeper of dreams..."

I spoke the words aloud inside my mind, trying to reason them out.

How could she know that we would meet again? And what is this "Keeper of the dreams"?

So many more questions, so many more than what I had ten minutes ago, before that piece of garbage had been brought before me.

-fin Aki IV: Helugaewake