Darknight Encounters
A/N: Very short chapter this time- though important as to set the mood (and form more of a basis on what Tong Hua city is like). And Furu is sorry for the late update, too. (next update will be on Half of a Soul though, once I get my usb-stick-flash-drive-thingy back from my friend…and probably soon).
Explanations for What has Happened so Far:
In chapter One, Setsuna wakes up from a dream (with Konoka in it) and decides to leave the Shinmeiryuu mansion to go find Konoka. Despite protest from Chizuru, Setsuna battles Mana and Kaede- as they try to prevent her from leaving. In the end she wins, and proceeds to leave. By the bus-stop, Setsuna meets a strange brown-haired young woman. They both go on the bus, headed for Tong Hua city. Unbeknownst to the half demon, someone is tracking her whereabouts.
Chapter Two begins with Setsuna's recollection of how she fell in love with Konoka. She awakens from the flashback, to find that she has already arrived at Tong Hua. Not knowing where to begin searching for Konoka nor where to stay, Setsuna seeks help from the young woman she met on the bus. Two group of women suddenly appear, and the young woman (we now learn that her name is Konoe) gives Setsuna a mysterious card. Setsuna runs, following the path lit by the card towards a building, where the guard leads her to a room hid behind the wall. She enters the dark room to find herself being attacked by an unknown force.
Chapter Three begins with Setsuna dreaming. In the dream, Setsuna sees herself as a mermaid. The story of the mermaid begins, where the mermaid falls in love with someone on land- but is cursed to never be able to tell the person that she loves them. In the end, that person falls in love with someone else, and the mermaid's family finds her- telling her that if she kills the person she loves, she would be able to return to sea. However, the mermaid decides not to, and in the end, she turns into bubbles as she dies.
Setsuna wakes up from the dream clutching the shell around her neck. The girl named Konoe enters the room and feeds her, also explaining to her that in Tong Hua, there are two opposing sides. People are recruited to fight in either side. However, having passed the battle in the dark room (in the end of Chapter Two), Setsuna was chosen to protect the princess- who keeps peace between the two opposing sides.
Konoe also explains that Setsuna's dream was caused by a dream capsule, and that the dream would be important for her adventures in Tong Hua. Elsewhere as they speak, someone has released a beast into the town…
(ah…in case anyone happens to see this. I hope it's okay if I put it here. I don't know where else to reply to these reviews for my Oneshots…so Furu has been randomly posting the replies in some of the chapters of my longer fics)
Review Replies for In These Eyes:
Reusch17: Thanks for the review (bows).
Locke SHiSUi: Thankies for the review. Ah…I'm sorry, but I don't think Furu would be able to turn it into a multi-chaptered ficcie.
Akira-kun: Thanks for your kind words. (smiles) I'm glad you liked the Konoka-gramps relationship. Furu had struggled lots with the portrayal to try to make it sound a bit more realistic. (I hope it worked…)
pigtopus: As always, thank you very very much for all of your reviews.
Makuhari-Fan01: Thankies for the review. Hehe Go Konoka Go!
animeaics: Thanks for your kind words.
KonoSetsuna: Thankies for the review (smiles)
Enchaos Ivan: Thank you for the review. Yupyup! Konoka is a bit different here.
Rebanex: Thanks for the review. Ah…she sent Setsuna back in the fic because she knew Setsuna wanted to leave in order to train to become a stronger fighter. However, the only way for Konoka to still be able to know how Setsuna is doing despite Setsuna leaving for training- is if Setsuna goes to the Shinmeiryuu- where Konoka's grandfather and father already have ah….connections.
speed killz: Thanks for the review.
setsuna.kobayashi: Thank you very, very much for that wonderful review. (smiles and bows)
Belgian Waffle: Thank you for your very nice words (bows). Furu was very happy to know that you enjoyed it (hehe I'm glad you liked that line, too)
Bishimimou: Ah! As always I'm glad to see you again. Thank you lotslots for the review. Oh! A tattoo!? (Furu is very curious). Ah (patpats) I hope you get internet soon.
Kring: Thanks for the review (smiles). I'm glad it wasn't that OC.
KuroShiroYamiHikari: Thank you for the review (bows).
Review Replies for Chapter Three:
pigtopus: Thank you for the two reviews. (ah hehe…actually, I've never read the entire Little Mermaid story either…I just added parts that I'd heard about or read here and there)
animeaics: Thanks for the review. Hmmm…I'm not sure if I'll put Konoka's POV in Darknight Encounters…though I might put her point of view in Double Existence.
Carol aka-neko: Thankies for the review. I'm glad you liked the angst Oneshot. Ah, the part about computers was in the intro for chapter two. It's part of the story…though not very clear as to why yet. I've added more of it in this chapter though, and I'll clear it up hopefully soon. (is very sorry that I'm being confusing again)
Bishimimou: Thanks for the review. Ahh! Furu is very happy to hear that you're reading the memoir. Thank you for the PMs, too. (patspats Furu hopes that the internet would let you read the rest of the memoir, too…).
Locke SHiSUi: Thanks for the wonderful review (smiles)
Kazie-chan: Thanks for the review. And ah…I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: I do not own Negima, the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, the shell legends, nor the song Tong Hua (they belong to Ken Akamatsu, Clamp, various urban legends, and Guang Liang).
Notes: Entire chapter in Setsuna's thoughts/POV. Intro is in /italics/
Chapter Four: I've thought for a long time
/-Do you believe in eternity?
I don't know.
-Do you believe in a one true love? An exact half of the soul…? What happens if someone who is better than me shows up?…Can you promise that you won't fall for someone else?
…I've…never thought about those things.
I don't know, because… I don't need to think of those things. I just know that I love you. Whenever I think of the people I've met- I think of how nice they are, and how happy they make me, how happy I am to know them. When I think about life- I think of my experiences, of what I'm doing now…and of the future.
But when I think about you…I forget everything else. I think of the times I had spent with you, and I long for when we can be together again. There are no forevers, no thoughts of what should and could happen that might separate us, because I won't exist without you.
I think of the smile that would appear on your face on the day your beauty blooms to its fullest
I think of little children with your hair and eyes, running and playing in the park. I think of wanting to see your grey hairs when we grow old…and I think of wanting to see you each and every day of my life.
I think of wanting to make you happy, to see you be happy. And only when I realized this…did I fall in love./
--
The temperature outside is ninety five degrees Fahrenheit. The tree-less sidewalks combined with tall cement buildings make it seem much, much more. The sun shines relentlessly upon streets crowded with motorcycles and taxis going in every direction, and everywhere you go, people are wearing masks.
Within every few meters, there is an area fenced off for construction. Due to lack of wages, the construction workers aren't in any hurry to finish, so dirt continues to pile and scatter.
I'd heard that there was a store in front of this house once, before they fenced off the street in front of it. The store closed after two years. The fence remained. Then…an outdoor restaurant opened. People arrived drinking wine and eating hotpots beside the construction fence, occasionally throwing up upon the sidewalk. Sometimes at three in the morning, I would still hear them singing or yelling or fighting.
The water pipelines are polluted and blocked, and sometimes in the evenings after a particularly hot day, you would be able to smell the stink of rotten food and wastes that rise from the bathrooms or from the hole in the kitchen.
Rats are common. Lizards crowd the lanterns, preying for insects. The lights flicker on and off, while the stairs creak as though the house is haunted.
There could be no ghosts, of course…because the sounds of motorcycles and cars honking are always constant, while light from buildings shine as bright as day through the night.
Every evening, it would rain. Acid-mixed waters pouring upon the dirt, making the streets murky and brownish-grey.
There would be no rain-dancing, they said. No showering or goofing off in the rain…because it is dirty. It is acid.
They tell me I'm not supposed to go outside, because the dirt and heat would make me sick. They tell me…it is dangerous with the lawlessness of the city. Cars drive in wrong directions during red lights, while thieves run amok, ripping ear-rings from people's earlobes.
I was to know nothing of this.
The room I stay in is a small one, about a foot wider then the two mattresses laid upon the ground. The lantern beside me is the only source of light, besides the dim sunrays that manage to pass through the window blinds. I was to never raise the blinds, less the heat of the sun enter the house.
On the ceiling above me is an old fan. Sometimes when it spins, the broken blades with squeal and protest, leaving me to wonder what would happen should it fall.
My days were always the same. I wake up at five in the morning to the clattering in the kitchen downstairs. Shortly after, the maid would call me down for breakfast, as everyone else leaves for work or to go the market. I was to return to the room until evening, when called upon to set dinner.
The room is bare, besides the two worn mattresses that fill it.
There is nothing.
Nothing to do…nothing to see. Occasionally, I would wonder if this is what it is like to wait for death to come.
I haven't seen Konoe in days. And I'm starting to wonder…what have I gotten myself into?
The bed sheets pull against me roughly, scratching my skin as I lay, watching the window blinds move as a rare breeze blows by.
In and out. In and out.
On some nights while everyone sleeps, I would dare myself to approach the window and lift the blinds up gently. The window glass is broken at the center, and through the jagged edges, I would see signs upon signs on the buildings lining the streets on both sides.
There are no stars. No moon.
Artificial lights from the streets burn me with their coldness, as electricity flows through them like the chilled arteries within my frozen heart.
My hand and feet are numb. My brain tells me that I am probably dead. Or not far from it, anyway.
There is no summer heat. No dust, no dirt blocking my lungs and making my heart work harder. There is only coldness. There is no acid rain- because I've heard it. I've slept through the sounds for many nights, listening to the clarity of the water drops. Smelling the freshness of the air. People, scattering for shelter. The drip and the drop, and the raising of my hands to touch the wetness as it falls.
There is nothing.
I want to leave this place.
There is nothing.
Only cemented streets, with buildings packed with strangers.
There is nothing.
But then again, does it matter?
I am nothing.
This place isn't real. I shouldn't exist.
It's funny…see?
I say that all I have are these memories.
What I call reality.
Playing hide and seek, matching swords with a friend. Watching the moon raise in the garden at home. Planting flowers.
Parties. A friend's wedding. Dinner at home. Dancing in the rain. Graduation from Shinmei school.
But if you ask me when I felt most real of all…
I would say
Sitting in an empty room with a computer. Typing to someone, about nothing at all.
Curse me, for I am addicted. Obsessed. In love with the one thing that would mean my loneliness.
'Go out. Get out…make friends with the people around you!'
No…it doesn't help, mother. I've tried, mother. It's killing me, mother.
Because everywhere I go…the world is not real. And it will remain that way until I come back to that place, to wait for that person- who probably doesn't remember that this pathetic stranger exists.
Konoka.
Her screen name was 'Konoka'.
And everyday I remind myself I'm in Tong Hua now, to pursue my reckless dream of meeting her.
--
End.
A/N: Ah…I hope that wasn't too bad. Though…it might be…because I'm being angsty and bad again. I'm sorry. I'm going to probably disappear for a while. Furu will try to update Half/Soul soon though (technically...I wasn't supposed to be online to update this chapter either, butbutbut...)
Next Chapter: I'm starting to get worried
Don't enter my heart. Don't make me love you. Because I only have one life. I can't take any chances with this limited body…I can't bet with it. I only have one opportunity, to sacrifice this life for one person. And that person shall be the One for me.