Chapter 7 From Your Past Lives
"Oomph!" That was us landing in another world. I felt coldness engulf me and sat up, shivering madly.
"Are we ever going to arrive in a new world, standing?" I asked through my clattering teeth. Just then I noticed all the whiteness around me. 'What is this?' I poked the whiteness, feeling the coldness seep into my fingertip like ice and yelped, jumping on Kurogane, who was just about to stand up himself. "KURO-SAN, WHAT IS THIS?"
"YAH GET OFF ME!"
"IT'S COLD AND WHITE-oomph!" That was me getting pushed into the whiteness by Kurogane.
"Than it's just like that manju bun," he said, pointing at Mokona.
"Oi, Mokona is not cold. Mokona is warm and fluffy!" Mokona huffed, attacking the black ninja.
"Are you alright?" Syaoran asked, gently and for a second I ignored him, thinking he was talking to Sakura until I saw his hand appear in my view.
"H-huh? O-oh y-yeah, it-it's fine. Just c-cold," I said, shaking violently by now as I grabbed onto Syaoran's mysteriously warm hand. He frowned at me in concern before looking around.
"We should go find a warm place somewhere."
After walking for a while we headed into an inn, receiving a lot of strange looks.
"We really stand out," Fai said with a small smile, observing the people whilst they observed us.
"It's our clothes," Syaoran concluded, "It's so different from the people in this country."
I looked down at my pants and shirt, the cloak wrapped tightly around me to serve me some warmth. Glancing at the woman around here I saw them all wearing dresses you would usually wear during a ball in my world. 'Or just like in those memories,' I thought, remembering that time where I had danced with someone I couldn't see. Narrowing my eyes, I felt a headache forming as I tried to recall who it was until I sneezed, my chair scratching against the floor by the force.
"Bless you, child," the waitress, who came with our food, said to me with a kind smile.
"Eh thanks."
"Hehe, she called you a child," Kurogane smirked and I scowled at him. "Yeah, and she probably thought you were my grandfather with that grumpy look on your face."
"WHAT? YOU BRAT!"
I ignored him in favour of inspecting the food placed in front of me. Or rather, the utensils that came with it. Picking up the shiny object made of metal I looked at it, strangely. "What is this?"
"Hm?" Fai leaned closer with a smile to see what I was looking at. "That's a fork."
"A what?" I looked at him, puzzled.
"What are you spitting there, mage?" Kurogane asked as well as he inspected one of his objects, which looked like mine but had no gaps and looked quite sharp, like a small sword.
"A fork. And yours is a knife, Kuro-tan."
"STOP WITH THE NAMES ALREADY!"
"Have you never seen these before?" Fai directed his question to me as Kurogane was distracted by Mokona trying to steal his food again.
I shook my head, "Don't they have chopsticks here?" I asked, hopefully looking for a waitress to ask.
"I'm afraid not," Syaoran said, "this food is hardly edible with chopsticks." I looked back down at the big steak on my plate.
I dropped the objects on the table with a pout, crossing my arms. "I don't like this country." Fai laughed and Sakura giggled.
"Just watch us and copy our movements."
Easier said than done...
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Kurogane yelled out in frustration at some point. "I can't eat with this!"
"Maybe we can use the ends as chopsticks," I suggested as I held the straight ends of the fork and knife the way I would hold chopsticks, clipping them together.
Syaoran chuckled, quietly. "I've never seen a fork and knife being held like this."
I smiled, slightly and leaned forward in interest. "Are these usual in your country? You seem to handle these good, but chopsticks, too!"
"Hai," he agreed with a small smile, "the country where Sakura-chan and I live uses forks and knives to eat, but I've traveled to countries with my dad that would use chopsticks, too." His smile turned down as his forehead suddenly creased in worry.
"Hm, Syaoran-kun? What is it?" Fai asked, having noted the same.
"We don't have any of this country's currencies. How are we going to pay for this?"
My heart dropped for a second, having not thought of that at all. So far we had gotten generous hosts, who would give us their food for free, so this was new.
"Ah, that's okay," Fai said with a grin, before he suddenly stood up and held his hand up for the princess of our group. "Right, Sakura-chan?"
"Huh?" Sakura asked confused and I eyed her clad in Fai's warm cloak with slight envy. Even inside this inn it was freezing and our food grew cold very quickly.
I sighed, picking up the silverware with a depressed look as the two left with Syaoran to join another table, who seemed to be occupied by people playing some card game.
"Kuro-san? What are we gonna do?" I asked him, staring at the fork hopelessly.
He stopped, squishing Mokona in his fist for a second to look at my pitiful form. "Oi, don't get so depressed. It's just food." I gaped at him. "Says YOU? The one, who almost kills Mokona every time she takes a bit of your food!-"
"Well, it IS my food after all!"
"-And then you tell me to stop being depressed about this! You hypocrite!"
"OI, WATCH IT!"
"Pff, talk to my hand."
"WHAT?!"
"I don't talk to hypocrites," I huffed, turning my back on him.
"OI, YOU BRAT BETTER NOT BE IGNORING ME!"
"Huh, Mokona? Do you hear this?" Mokona giggled. "I can hear something, but I don't see anything," I said, pretending to look around. From the corner of my eyes I could see Kurogane's temple twitching as an uproar could be heard at the table behind us.
"Can't believe you won every single time!"
"Are you cheating?!"
"Excuse us, we don't have time to cheat," I distinctly heard Fai's voice in the commotion, "if you are not happy about it, please talk to Mr. Black over there."
I giggled, elbowing said man next to me, "He means you, Kuro-san!" Kurogane turned around, directing his death glare at the table behind us, "What?"
The men instantly cowered away, "No-nothing. Sorry for suspecting you!"
"Nice work, Sakura-chan," Fai petted the princess' head as they came back over, "We now have enough money to afford clothes in this country and pay for the meal!" Sakura just looked at him, confused and I had a feeling she had no idea what she was playing. 'How was she able to win? Must have been luck.'
"You are pretty good, little girl," a waiter with a big belly said as he started taking our plates and cups. I immediately became moody again looking at my unfinished food as he took it away when I was suddenly bonked against the head.
"Oi, keep it together," Kurogane grumbled, looking ahead and I rubbed my head with a pout even though his little punch didn't hurt at all.
"I don't even know the rules," Sakura said, naively and the man started laughing, boisterously.
"You are kidding, right?" I gestured to Sakura to just keep quiet with a smile as she looked at me, unsure and she smiled back, reassured. "Your clothes are pretty weird. Are you tourists?" the waiter continued as inspected each of our clothes closely.
"Yes, we are looking for something. That's why we are travelling around."
The waiter gave us a warning when we told him we had no idea where to stay, yet. Some legend about a golden-haired princess receiving a feather. Unbeknownst to him he just gave us a big lead to where Sakura's next feather could be.
"So...," Kurogane started as we stepped out of the inn into the colder outside. "I guess, we are heading for that little town we are not supposed to go to?"
"Hai," Fai said, smiling, "but first we need to change our clothes."
With that said we walked to the next shop the waiter had told us we could buy clothes from. I breathed slightly in relief as it was warmer in this shop than the inn.
"The cold is really bothering you, isn't it?" Syaoran asked with a sympathic smile and I nodded, rubbing my running nose with an annoyed look. "I've never witnessed a weather like this." I sneezed again, the force pushing me flat against the wall a few feet away.
"OI, stop being a weirdo!" Kurogane grunted.
"I'm not doing this on purpose," I muttered, sniffing.
"Yeah, true. You are just born a weirdo!"
"Oi, don't-," I started, but stopped when someone approached us, Mokona quickly hiding under my cloak.
"Welcome, welcome," an old man - the shop owner - greeted us kindly, "What are you searching for?"
"Just two pretty dresses for the ladies and suits for us, if you don't mind," Fai replied with a grin and we were lead down an aisle where we could try our clothes on.
"These might be fitting for you," the man came back after a while with three suits for the guys before he turned to us, "I shall be looking for you two now."
"Ah, no worries," Fai intervened and I looked at him, confused, "We can look for the dresses ourselves. Thank you!" the man nodded and walked back to the front. "You girls browse around and pick whatever you like, we will be right with you," Fai said cheerfully before he headed into one of the cabins.
"Why can't we pick for ourselves, too?" Kurogane grumbled, annoyed as he and Syaoran headed for their cabins as well. I looked at Sakura with a shrug before we turned towards the many dresses, each of us picking one before we headed to our cabins. Sakura got a purple gown with cute ruffles on her elbows with a matching coat and gloves whilst I got a simple green one with a coat. 'Ugh, I'm not really a fan of dresses,' I inwardly sighed as I stripped off of my own clothes to put the dress on.
"Wow, Sakura-chan looks pretty," I heard Fai say from the outside, "don't you think so too, Syaoran-kun?"
"H-Hai." I chuckled at the nervous tone in his voice. That boy was whipped. "Sakura-chan, why don't you go pay with the money you earned? Syaoran-kun, too?" Fai asked and I heard footsteps retreating as I finally got finished putting the cursed dress on and stepped out, "Tadaa!" I said, spreading my arms in success and out of breath.
"Aya-chan looks like she came back from war!" Mokona giggled and to my entire surprise Kurogane actually chuckled for a second, immediately regretting it though. "Waaah, Kuro-san laughed at my joke! Another one of my special abilities!"
"YAH STOP MAKING STUPID THINGS UP!" 'And they are back to square one,' I thought, smirking slightly when Fai spoke up.
"Tut, tut. This dress won't do," Fai said, disapprovingly with a hand holding his chin.
I raised an eyebrow, looking down at the dress, "Why? What's wrong with it?"
"I don't like it."
"Eh. I don't care!"
"Wait, here! I'll be right back!"
"What? Ugh, that stupid mage," I grumbled to myself, getting back into the cabin to get out of this blasted dress. This was itching in places, I hated it. Sighing in relief as it finally dropped to the ground, I yelped as a hand stuck in through the curtain, holding a blue dress.
"Put this on, Aya-chan!"
"Hai hai," I said, grumpily. I was starting to hate this world more and more. Not only did I have to wear a dress, it was also freaking cold, they had weird metal stuff to eat their food with and now Fai was turning into a fashionista.
"Is this better now?" I asked as I stepped outside. The dress this time was a light blue and had a thicker material, which I was grateful for. I looked up at Fai, who had yet to say something and noticed the others had come back by now.
"Perfect," the blonde mage said, softly and glancing at him, I noticed his eye colour had the same shade of blue as the dress. 'Weird coincidence.'
"Are we done here? Can we go?" Kurogane grumbled and just then I took a closer look at their clothes. Their suits were pretty similar to each other, only differing slightly in material and colour. Whilst Kurogane's had his usual black and red, Syaoran's was green and brown and Fai's blue like mine. I wrapped the cloak tighter around me, pulling the hood up as we stepped outside.
This time the cold wasn't as horrible since the clothes kept me warm enough. "Neigh!" Startled, I looked up to see three horses lined up, apparently waiting for us.
"Eh, how cute," I cooed, stepping closer to them with a raised hand. I let the one closest to me - an elegant beauty with white fur and light hair - sniff my hand. He lightly nudged it and I took it as a sign to touch him. Petting him, I smiled gently as he huffed some air through his nostrils, resisting the urge to cuddle into him. 'Oh, screw it.' I wrapped my arms around his thick neck, nuzzling into his fur. "So soft," I cooed some more.
"Aya-chan seems to like horses," Mokona commented, jumping on my shoulder to cuddle with the horse, too.
"Hai, I've never seen one in real life before. I always wanted to ride one."
"Well," Fai spoke up, his voice closer than I had anticipated and I turned around to see him, "your wish is about to come true. Let's go!"
I smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown when I realised, "There are only three horses though."
A few minutes later...
"Ugh, why can't I have a horse on my own?" I complained as I was sat in front of Fai on the horse I started to call Softy. We were riding down a road, the white thing I was told was called 'snow' unblemished until the horses stepped on it as if it hadn't been walked on at all. Trees were covering our view outside of the road, the branches weighed down by all the snow.
"Because we could only afford three horses," Fai said and I could feel his breath moving the strands of hair near my ear.
"Then why don't you ride with Kuro-san?" I whined, childishly and he chuckled, looking back at the said person.
"If someone were to ride with Kuro-tan, both would not be able to stay on the horse," Fai remarked and I glanced around him to see how the ninja struggled with the black horse, turning left and right instead of simply going straight forward and I huffed out a laugh despite my grumpy mood.
I sighed. "Can I at least hold the reins for once?" I tried with a hopeful look over my shoulder. He smiled, cheerfully, holding them up for me and I grabbed them eagerly.
"Mokona can't sense any strong powers," Syaoran said, "but that doesn't mean there are no feathers here."
"The legend sounds like something that could have Sakura-chan's feather involved," I pondered absently as I looked at the white specs that were falling from the sky.
"So...are we...going to that city?" Kurogane asked, struggling with the animal, "Damn horse," he mumbled.
"Of course," Syaoran answered, determination set on his face.
We walked a bit in silence and I reached out to catch one of those small, white droplets.
"Aya-chan's and Sakura-chan's countries seem to have no snow. Sakura-chan's country is in the middle of a desert, right?"
"Yes, but it is very cold at night in the desert," Sakura replied, softly and I watched Syaoran smile down at her, his arms protectively wrapped around her as he held the reins. I smiled a bit.
"How about Aya-chan? Do you have snow?" Fai asked, leaning a bit forward to see my face.
"Nope. Never," I replied, watching the droplets turn into water as soon as they hit my gloved hand, curiously. "We only have healthy trees with green leaves and the warm sun. But the leaves die at some point and fall to the ground to make space for new ones on the branches."
"We have that, too," Kurogane said, having finally calmed his horse down to trot next to us, "But there is another season in between where snow falls like it does here."
"How about where Fai comes from?" Mokona asked as she wiggled out of his collar.
"It's very cold - I'm from a northern country," Fai replied, "It's way colder than here."
"What?! Even colder than here?" I asked, shocked. "That's horrible!" Fai laughed, suddenly taking a hold of my hands that where holding the reins. Just then I realised I had led the horse to the left when I had turned to look at the blond mage in my astonishment. "You're leading the horse astray...Aya-chan," he whispered and I felt how close he had gotten. I looked up into his eyes and saw him staring right back. 'Eh, why is he being weird again?'
"How about Syaoran-kun?" Sakura's voice snapped him out of his creepiness as he blinked a few times before turning towards the kids.
"I went to many different countries with my dad," Syaoran replied, smiling as he reminisced about the past. Sakura smiled as well, "That's why you have been to both hot and cold countries," she concluded.
"Hey, look there!" Mokona suddenly exclaimed. Turning our attention forward we could see a sign close by and a few houses appearing behind it.
"Spirit," I read and looked over to Syaoran, who had too. We looked at each other in surprise.
"You can read it too, Aya-san?" I nodded and he smiled, slightly. "It's the same pronunciation as what dad taught me."
"That's great!" "You can actually read it!" Sakura and Fai praised as we passed the sign. As soon as we did, though I noticed people closing their doors and windows around us.
"Hey," Kurogane called for attention as he saw it as well, his frown deepening.
"Guess, it's not time to joke around," Fai said as the atmosphere turned tense at our arrival. I watched the houses we passed each closed everything they could close, "I feel like, we are not welcome here."
"It's not a 'feel like'. It's the truth," Kurogane grunted. There was a small girl standing at the doorway and Syaoran jumped on the opportunity.
"Hello there," he greeted her in his gentlest voice. The girl stepped forward, curiously. "I want to ask you something, about this town."
The small child seemed willing enough, but a woman stepped up behind her, quickly seizing her by the arm and dragging her into the house, "Didn't I tell you not to go out!" was all we could hear before this door as well slammed shut.
"Ah, this is bothersome," Fai said, slightly. "How are we going to find out anything about the legend if no one wants to talk to us?"
Syaoran frowned, worried. "At least tell us, where the golden-haired princess is..."
Suddenly there were footsteps running right towards us and I caught a glimpse of several men with guns in their hand before I was suddenly swerved to the left and Fai blocking my view from them.
"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE HERE?!"
"Now, that's quite unfriendly," I muttered. Having no way to see what is going on I could only hear Syaoran talking.
"We are traveling the world to investigate old legends and architectures," he rambled and I frowned in confusion.
"What are you investigating for?" There was a tense silence, before the young boy said randomly, "We want to write a book." I almost fell off the horse in laughter, trying to keep quiet. 'Where did that suddenly come from?'
"A book?" the man said in disbelief, "A kid like you?"
"No, it's him," Syaoran said and I felt the horse turn slightly to see him pointing my way. 'Eh? Oh, he means Fai.'
"That's right!" Fai immediately agreed, playing along as he plastered a welcoming smile on his face and started introducing us. "This is my sister," he pointed at Sakura, "This boy is my assistant," pointing at Syaoran, "this one here is my servant."
"Who is the servant?!" Kurogane growled, enraged but didn't say more so our cover wouldn't blow over. And because Mokona seemed to poke him inside his clothes, distracting him.
"And this is my beautiful wife right here!" I was already in wonder what kind of excuse he would make up for my existence, but this was the last thing I had expected. Kurogane too as he stopped cursing his clothes and turned to us, suddenly quiet. 'Did he just call me his wife?' I resisted the urge to look at the blond mage incredulously as I attempted a smile at the village people, who seemed to ponder whether we were a threat or not. It made me frown. 'What happened here for these people to be so hostile? Are the legends really true?'
"STOP!" A sudden shout broke through the tension and the village people made space for a single man running between them and actually standing between us and their weapons. "How dare you point your rifles at innocent travelers!"
"But, doctor! At a time like this, these foreigners..."
"Precisely at this time," the doctor cut him off, "and because they came from another country, we should welcome them! They could help us!" He turned to us as the weapons slowly lowered and I felt Fai relax behind me as he fully turned us back ahead. "I apologise for our rudeness, travelers," the man in round specs said with a distressed look on his face. "Welcome to 'Spirit'. Please, follow me!"
As he was the only person who had been remotely welcoming to us we decided to go with him, having nowhere else to go. Setting the horses in a stall a few houses away as the doctor had none himself, I waited for Fai to get down before I went. "Careful," Fai instructed as he held onto my waist and helped me jump down.
"Thank you," I said, noticing how Kurogane narrowed his eyes at the mage in confusion or maybe realisation, I couldn't tell.
We settled down in the living room of Dr. Kyle Londart as he had introduced himself. I stood near the fireplace, stretching my hands towards the fire, relishing in the warmth that soothed my numb fingers. Kurogane stood next to me, leaning against the chimney whilst Fai, Syaoran and Sakura settled on the couch as Kyle came back with a tray.
"Thanks for letting us stay here," Syaoran started and I registered, how it was yet again him who thanked our host for everything. 'I just won't grow up.'
"Please don't mention it. This place used to be an inn. There are many vacant rooms." I was wondering already, why he would have so much space and not use it. "Anyway-"
"What is the meaning of this?!" a voice thundered as the doors to the former inn burst open to reveal a middle aged man with long curly hair tied back, grey eyes and a small mustache. He quickly strode over to us, "Bringing outsiders here at a time like this! Are you insane?! We still haven't found any of the missing children yet!"
"Precisely why," Kyle responded, calmly, "These people are doing research on legends around the world. They might be able to help us on this problem."
The intruder narrowed his eyes on us. "These vagabonds that came out of nowhere?!" 'Quite literally,' I thought dryly. "What would they know?"
"They know things that are unknown to people living here," Kyle said and they had a stare down before the man seemed to cave in, turning back to head out. "If anything happens again, it will be too late by then."
The tension disappeared with his presence. Kyle sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning to us with a small smile, "Excuse me for not introducing them to you. The elder man is the mayor and Mr. Glosam...he owns much of the land here. I first believed these legends to be just that...legends. But these children disappearing, who would have thought...20 of them are missing as of now and everything is strained."
"No wonder they were on their guard when they saw us," Kurogane realised.
"If you ever happen to find a clue...," Kyle started, his eyes pleading, "no matter how small, please tell me!"
Syaoran looked at him, compassionate and quickly nodded in agreement. I, however, narrowed my eyes slightly in thought. 'A man standing up to us without knowing us in a town filled with hostile people. Letting us stay here and asking for clues. Seems kind of suspicious.'
"We have a place to stay after all," Fai grinned, cheerfully as Kurogane finally got to scold Mokona for poking him inside his clothes, earlier. "You are pretty good at making stuff up," Fai remarked and I noticed how him stating the obvious was his kind of way to ask for an explanation.
"My dad and I used that excuse when we traveled," Syaoran said with a sheepish smile.
I looked out the window at the people walking around with their little lights, slowly disappearing in their houses. "Kids are disappearing," I muttered, softly, "it seems that part of the legend is true. Does it have anything to do with the golden-haired princess though-HACHOOO!" I sneezed unexpectedly and my feet left the ground for a second, startling myself and everyone around me.
"Ah bless you, Aya-chan!"
"Don't tell me you are getting sick, brat."
"Are you feeling alright, Aya-san/chan?" Before I could reply to any of them and commenting how they were obviously ignoring my weirdoness, Dr. Kyle appeared with the keys to our rooms. "Here you go. I got three rooms prepared for you. One for Syaoran-kun and Kurogane-kun," he handed the key to youngest as the ninja was emitting an unapproachable aura as always, "one for Sakura-san," 'Eh? For her alone?' "and one for the couple." My eyes widened as he placed the key on Fai's waiting hand. "What?" I hissed at the mage, who just grinned at our host, thanking him. As soon as the man disappeared though I grabbed his waving arm and pulled him down to my eye-level, "You don't expect us to actually sleep in one room."
"Why now, Aya-chan? We are married. It's only common," he replied, easily and I blanched, incredibly speechless for once as he pulled me with him to the assigned room. Staring in the room, I saw what I had already dreaded; one bed. Facepalming I turned to the blond mage, who smiled to himself stupidly. "Great job, Fai-san. What are we going to-?" I sneezed again, for once being able to stop myself from being blown away and Fai handed me a handkerchief. "Bless you again. Is someone catching a cold here?"
"There are bigger problems we have to be worried about right now!"
"Relax, I will take the couch," he waved me off and I looked at where he was heading.
"Eh, Fai-san?"
"Hm?"
"You know, you don't fit in that couch with your size."
"Aya-chan, are you calling me fat?" he asked, astonished and I almost giggled at the expression he made. 'He never takes anything seriously.'
"No, I'm calling you too tall for that couch," I sighed, looking at the bed, warily. 'It looks big enough, I guess,' I thought to myself in resignation. "We can share the bed," Fai perked up from his crouching position where he was poking the couch to test their cosiness, "but you better stay on your side, mister."
"I wouldn't dare do anything else," he held his hands up in surrender with a grin, "Not after seeing you slashing everything with your wind magic back in Koryo." I halted from untying the coat I had been wearing up until now, frowning at his words as I remembered the confusing situation back in the other world. 'I still can't explain it to myself, fully. But it seems I'm able to control the wind to my uses.' I knew I had some kind of affinity to the element, but it seemed trivial like a child having an affinity to a certain ice cream flavour.
"Aya-chan?" Fai called out, snapping me out of my musings and I blinked at him, the bed between us, "are you alright?"
"Hm? Yes." He smiled, almost gently. "You seem to wander to other worlds with your mind every so often. It's almost as worse as the princess, who keeps falling asleep everywhere," he chuckled, quietly and I raised my eyebrows at him, questioningly. He sat down on the bed, his slender fingers gliding through the material, "You should be careful not to not blank out too often. Not with dangerous situations lurking in every corner," he advised, somewhat seriously. I stared at him, not used to this side of him. He rarely turned this solemn, not even when his life was in danger. Even back in Koryo he was laid back during the situation with the Witch even though our death seemed inevitable at that time...
"But of course as your husband I will make sure, you are alright. Good night!" I blinked and before I knew it, he was under the covers, his back turned to me.
"You-, what-, ugh whatever," I mumbled to myself, getting rid of the coat and the first layer of the dress before hesitatingly slipping under the covers as well, making sure to keep as much space between us as possible. "Good night, Fai-san," I muttered, even though I was sure he couldn't hear me.
"-"
"-"
"-"
"I love you, too."
My eyes snapped open and I felt my heart pound in my ears. 'Those words...I said that to somebody?' I distinctly remembered another dream where I told a person that before they had to leave, it was very blurry, though. Sighing, I tried to drift back to sleep, but the blissful state of peacefulness seemed to escape me.
Frustrated, I stood up, flinching at the cold as I got out from the covers and touched the icy floor with my bare feet. 'Gotta get used to this until we find Sakura's feather.'
Walking up to one of the two windows, I looked at the black sky, mesmerised by the way the white snow fell from the darkness to the ground. 'So pretty. I've never seen anything like this before.' If it were not for the cold, I could grow to like this kind of season.
Suddenly a bright light in my peripheral view caught my attention and I turned my head to the left. A single light bulb shone in the middle of the road and I rubbed my eyes, taking a closer look. 'The golden hair...is that...the princess from the legends!' I gasped as she turned, confirming my suspicion. She was slowly moving away from where I could see her.
"Fai-san," I whispered, urgently getting louder when he didn't wake up, "Fai-san. Fai!" He didn't budge. Huffing I turned back to the window, placing a hand on it and pressing my nose against the cool surface, trying to see where she was going. 'Ugh, this won't do.' On the spur of the moment I opened the window, climbing out. Looking down at the ground, which was a bit far away, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. 'I can do this. Don't fail on me now, magic.' And with that I jumped, landing on the ground slowly. Grinning to myself at the success I quickly stopped the wind around me as it got me shivering in cold. 'Forget the cold now, Aya. You need to follow the princess!'
With that thought I quickly picked up the layers of the stupid dress and ran over the snow, ignoring the stinging feeling that creeped up my bare feet from the ice. "Hey! Princess, stop!" I yelled after her but she was steadily moving away from the village towards the forest and I suddenly noticed the children, who were walking ahead of her. "Hey! Hey, the children!" I exclaimed, running faster. We reached the forest by now and I halted for a second, staring at the darkness in the midst of the trees- Fear climbed up my heart, but I quickly shook it off as I saw the light the princess was emitting inbetween all the trunks, running again. "Wait up! Where are you taking them?!"
But no matter how fast I was running they were fading even though I was sure they were walking at a normal pace. 'What the hell?' "Stop walking- oomph!" I don't recall what tripped me but the second I hit the ground, everything went black.
Voices. I could hear voices, but only muffled as if I had stuffed my ears with cotton balls. I used to do that to me and Jun whenever Dad threw a tantrum, having drunk too much to control his actions. 'Am I home? Did I fall asleep? Where is Jun?' Stirring slightly, I heard the voices stop before a single one spoke up.
"Aya-chan? Are you awake?" I stirred again, forcing my heavy eyelids to open, though I immediately shut them again as the bright light stung my eyes.
"Ah, she is awake. Call Dr. Kyle!" the voice said again and I forced my eyes to open again, staring right at the wooden ceiling above me. Trying to move my hand to scratch an itching spot I felt myself being unable to as piles of blankets made me immobile. 'What's going on?' A sneeze shook my entire body, causing an aching feeling and a tremendous headache and I winced.
"How are you feeling?" the voice asked and I turned slightly to the right, my neck immediately protesting to see the blonde head of Fai.
"Sick," I croaked, my throat dry like a parchment. He grinned, slightly. "Of course. Everyone who falls asleep in a pile of snow is bound to get sick." I scrunched my eyebrows together, pondering what he meant. Flashbacks of last night passed through my inner eye.
"The golden haired princess!" I shouted or my like tried to but my voice gave away.
"Easy, brat," I heard the gruff voice of Kurogane to my left and I saw him leaning against the wall next to the bed.
"You...saw the golden-haired princess, too?" another male voice cut in and my eyes snapped to the right where none other than Mr. Glosum stood. 'What's he doing here?' My question must have been showing on my face because Syaoran spoke, "Mr. Glosum thankfully found you in the snow after he and the other villagers went to search for the missing children. He brought you here."
"Ah, Miss Aya. You are awake," Dr. Kyle stepped into the room. "Thank goodness you were brought here in time or your case of hypothermia could have turned fatal," he said, gently taking off the cloth from my forehead that I hadn't noticed at all, replacing it with his hand to check my temperature. He frowned, slightly. "You seem to catch a bit of fever. I will bring you some medicine." I nodded slightly in thanks and he turned to head for the door, Mr. Glosum following suit but I suddenly remembered and caught his sleeve. "Wait. There were children, too."
"What?" Mr Glosum turned around sharply, his eyes piercing into mine. I nodded again, "They were walking in front of the golden-haired princess. It was like she was leading them...," I trailed off in thought and the land owner grasped my wrist, tightly.
"How many?"
"W-What?"
"How many children did you see?"
"Eh, about nine or ten." His eyes widened, his frown deepening.
"Did you see where they went? Did they go to the castle? How did they cross the river?!" his grip tightened with each question and I flinched back in surprise, trying to tug my hand away but he wouldn't budge. "I-I don't know."
"Now, now," Fai interrupted and I noticed how the atmosphere had grown tense. Syaoran and Kurogane had stood up straight at Mr. Glosum's advancing, Sakura had her hands over her mouth, sitting on the edge of the bed with Mokona in her lap and Dr. Kyle stood at the doorway, his eyes wide and settled on me. Fai gently but firmly pried the land owner's hand away, enveloping mine with his instead, "You don't wish to harm my wife when she is already in this weak state, do you?" he asked with his usual smile but there was an underlying tone of threat in his voice and Mr. Glosum backed away, clearing his throat as he straightened up. "Apologies," he muttered before he swiftly went past the doctor and out of our sight. I noticed how the eyes of Dr. Kyle narrowed slightly at me before turning away to retrieve the medicine.
"That was scary," Mokona whined, jumping over to nuzzle her forehead against my cheek and I smiled. "It's okay, he's just worried."
"Or maybe he is scared someone will find out how he is kidnapping all those kids," Kurogane said, solemnly and I glanced at him in surprise. "You think, it's Mr. Glosum? But I didn't see him there!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, you are never really observant," the black ninja said, dismissively as he looked out the window, "something is the matter with him." 'Oi, I'm very much observant. That jerk...,' I thought, having no energy to fight with him though. Silence enclosed around us as we pondered his statement. From my view it was too early to suspect anyone even though the behaviour of Mr. Glosum was certainly unusual. 'Maybe one of his kids got kidnapped, too and he is desperate.'
"Does Mr. Glosum have kids?" I asked, breaking the silence and they all twitched.
"WHAT'S WITH THIS RANDOM QUESTION? THIS IS A SERIOUS MATTER!" Kurogane yelled and I looked at him, affronted. "I was just wondering and it's not a random question! I-"
"Ugh, you and your mind in a sick state is worse than when you are healthy!" he complained and I narrowed my eyes. 'Screw it, I always have energy to fight with him.'
"OI, it's your fault I got sick in the first place!"
"WHAT? WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?"
"Yeah, if you had let me stay on your shoulders when we arrived, I wouldn't have made contact with that blasted snow in the first place!"
"THAT WAS YESTERDAY. YOU PULLED THE SAKURA MOVE AND RANDOMLY FELL ASLEEP IN THE SNOW FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT!"
"Pff, keep trying to put yourself out of the blame," I waved him off, my throat scratching uncomfortably from this amount of talk already.
"WHY YOU LITTLE-!" the others laughed and Mokona started mocking the ninja, who grabbed her by the ears angrily as Dr. Kyle stepped back in with a tray. He smiled a bit at the commotion but was smart enough to not comment on it as he placed the tray on the nightstand next to me. Upon closer inspection, I saw it held a bottle with some green substance in it with a cup and a mug filled with water. "Make sure to take a spoonful of this medicine every night before you go to sleep and wash it down with water. This way you will be fit in no time."
"Thank you very much," I said, though inwardly I pulled a face. I hated medicine.
He nodded, opening the lid of the bottle. "You should take one now, it's almost night anyway." I went to grab the so called spoon when I became fully aware of how Fai hadn't let go of my hand, yet. Looking down I could see his hands had mine completely covered, serving as a kind of warmth that spread through my entire body. It made me feel disappointed when he quickly let go after noticing my glance, but I shrugged it off and took the 'spoon', inspecting it with suspicious eyes before letting the doctor pour the green liquid on it. Putting the silver object in my mouth I instantly jerked. "Blegh, this tastes awful!" I complained, causing Mokona and Fai to laugh heartily. Quickly taking the cup of water I eagerly drank it, becoming aware of how dehydrated I was.
"I believe, we should let Miss Aya rest right now," Dr. Kyle said and as if on cue I started to feel drowsy, my heavy eyelids getting even heavier and I laid back down with a sigh. "Mr. Fai, I will prepare another room for you to sleep in, so you won't catch her cold."
"Ah no, it's fine," Fai denied with a grin, "Someone should watch over her and I vowed to stay by her side in health and sickness after all!" I heard Sakura and Mokona giggle and Dr. Kyle sighed in defeat. "Who am I to separate a couple?" he smiled, wryly before bidding us good night and left. I distinctly heard the others say goodbye as well when I closed my eyes, sighing deeply.
There was a moment of silence and I thought everyone except for Fai had left by now when Kurogane's gruff tone caught my ears in my half-asleep state, "Your acting is really convincing."
Fai shifted. "Of course. Moko-chan is not the only one with that ability-"
"Too convincing...," Kurogane cut him off and the mage fell silent. "...not to mention your acting before you decided to make her pretend to be your wife."
"Hm? What is Kuro-tan talking about?"
"The dress you picked...," Kurogane continued, uncharacteristically undeterred, "...has the same shade of blue as your eyes."
"Eh? I thought it was closer to her eye colour, though."
"The lie about not being able to afford more than three horses...the panic you radiated off when she went missing."
"..."
"You might fool everyone else with that grin you put on your face like a mask, but you can't fool me." And with that he left.
Tell me what you think. :)