Chapter 6

«Sur-cease»


Akaihana drank her chocolate and nibbled on a few cookies, looking unconcerned and blocking out the sounds of Gankorika weeping.

"I c-ca-can't...b-b-believe it! S-sh-she wants to... k-kill me!"

Gankorika sobbed and sucked in more breaths. She bit her lower lip as waves of shudders wracked her body and a flood of tears rolled down her face. Yukihani patted her friend's back gently.

"Don't cry, Kori-chan! Look, I'm comforting you, deyo! You mustn't worry about her now; we can find her and play with her later! And then, we can play a murdering game, deyo! Two against one! Don't worry, the odds are definitely in our favor, deyo!" The doll said, eyes sparkling with golden stars at the thought.

Gankorika stared at Yukihani in slight disbelief for a few seconds, although she seemed mostly used to this side of her, before she started hiccuping uncontrollably, her eyes becoming invisible because her cheek muscles were moving upwards as her mouth opened wider. She sniffed delicately and let out a huge wail, crying more unhappily than before.

"What's wrong, Kori-chi, deyo?"

Gankorika buried her face in the rag doll that Yukihani had lent her and wailed even harder, if that was possible.

Akaihana snorted, pushed her drink and treats away, and picked up a book, ignoring the clamor that was going on around her.

"Yukihani! Really, is this how you comfort Gankorika? In fact, is this how you comfort people in general?" Cherriru said, plucking a tissue out of the box and presenting it to the weeping Gankorika.

The frail doll took the tissue wiped her tears and blew her nose gently. Yukihani smiled innocently and twitched her ears. "Well, I don't need to comfort Kori-chi at all! Because Kori-chi is very powerful, deyo!" she chirped, a faraway look in her green orbs.

Gankorika's own eyes darkened and she tossed the paper ball in her hands away, looking miserable. "Me being powerful... is just... is just... nonsense," she said faintly, no longer stuttering.

Hearing this, Akaihana looked up from her book and smiled warmly. "Kirakishou won't be able to kill you, you know that."

She sounded as though she understood the turquoise doll. Akaihana looked like she wanted to say more, but she closed her mouth and sipped her hot chocolate instead, knowing that if she went on, she would spill too much.

Gankorika wore her own smile, a painful, twisted, grim, smile. "Yeah..." she said, voice still soft and slightly raspy.

With her small smile still on her face as she nodded to Gankorika in understanding, Akaihana stood up and took out her watch. She clutched the chain of the watch and allowed it to swing in front of Gankorika's face so that she could properly comprehend the situation.

"Gankorika, you must know that Barasuishou together with your owner killed mine."

Gankorika's grip tightened on her rag doll, her eyes widening and her irises shrinking in fear.

"I-I-I k-k-know...I-I-I saw it..."

She looked as though she were recalling the gruesome scene.

"Don't worry, I won't take any revenge on you. The Rosa Mysticas have to work together and you know that. "

Gankorika sighed and she smiled in relief with a faint, pink blush on her cheeks. "That's good. I was so worried. I thought Akaihana-chan really had changed and turned cold and emotionless like Yukihani had told me."

Akaihana's eyes flashed and for a moment, Cherriru thought she saw Akaihana's irises shrink in fear, becoming small dots surrounded by her orange irises, the way Gankorika's had been earlier.

"You are still the same girl I met when we were m—"

"You saw the Century Clock didn't you? We need to save Hinaichigo first, and then help Souseiseki, and lastly, revive my owner," she said in a hurried tone, cutting Gankorika off.

Gankorika's eyes saddened as she watched the other Rosa Mystica slip the watch back into her purse.

"So... I want you to give us a hand." Akaihana extended a hand to Gankorika.

She hesitated. There was a melancholy nervousness in her heart. Isn't this betraying my master? She thought.

But my master doesn't care about me any more...

Gankorika reached out her small, slender, pale, fingers and grasped Akaihana's hand tightly, indicating that she had agreed to help them.

"Ara? Deyo? Kori-chan isn't scared of betraying Little Kiraki-shou-shou?" Yukihani remarked, hands supporting her face while blinking her bright, naive, eyes.

Gankorika just smiled confidently at Yukihani's question and nickname for her master, while tears once again flowed down her face. This time, they were filled more with determination than pain.

"I will make Kirakishou-sama regret it! I will make her regret that she abandoned me!"

Akaihana picked up her packed case.

"Well said. Very well said. Then let's leave; now."

.

..

...

Nori watched in silence as all the dolls picked up their luggage, entered the mirror, and disappeared before her eyes. She knew that they were heading out to a new battle, a new war, but she couldn't do anything to help them. All she could do was wave at them, say her good byes and wish them good luck. She could only wear a smiling face and look like she didn't care — when she actually did.

Nori was worried about her little brother. All along, she could only watch in silence as the dolls and Jun step into the mirror and evaporate from her sight like thin air. Ever since the loss of Hinaichigo, Nori had finally come to the realization that this really wasn't a simple, childish, game. Every Rozen Maiden was fighting, fighting for survival, fighting for their lives, fighting for that one chance to meet their Father again. She had watched and witnessed the disappearance of one doll and then another. Who knew who would be next? She had started to love every one of the dolls as though they were her sisters. She remembered how she had cried when she learned that the sweet, smiling, Hina-chan was gone. Nori had wept for each doll that had left, but in silence though. She was the support for Jun; she couldn't wither in grief, or else her brother wouldn't know what to do.

Nori still remember to this day what Jun had said before he had entered the portal door Laplace had presented.

"Don't worry, I will bring everyone back," he had stated with an air of determination and absolute certainty.

Nori was afraid, honestly afraid, that one day, Jun would not, and would never, step back through that mirror and reenter their world. That in his mission of bringing everyone back, he would lose himself. And she honestly hoped that that day would never come. However, she herself could not do anything. The most support she could provide was sit at the dinner table day after day, every second she could spare, stare at the cooling flower-topped egg hamburgers, and wish with every fiber of her being that all the dolls and her sibling would come back safely.

When Jun heaved his backpack onto his shoulders and prepared to leave, the high school girl called out to him. And although her heart was overflowing with the words she wanted to say, Nori only offered up a sunny smile and the parting words, "Be careful~"

All Jun did was nod his head simply. He didn't look at her, nor did he answer her. This made the cold sensation Nori felt all over worsen, and her heart gave a tight squeeze. Finally, her brother vanished away in a flash as he stepped into the mirror. She was alone in the house now. Again.

Nori chopped the vegetables without any strength behind her actions, her mind all on her little brother. Even when the blade sliced her finger, Nori just stared at the laceration and bright red blood dripping out of it blankly, dismissing it as a light cut and watching it drip onto the green leaves. She moved her finger over to the sink, watching the crimson liquid pool on the bottom before she turned on the tap.

The girl tried to imagine all her fears washing away along with the stains, but they only seemed to press on her harder, flooding her mind with all those horrible situations and images. They seemed to shove away everything else.

Tears burst from her eyes and she used her wet, bloody, hands to hold her face as she cried.

"Tou-san, Kaa-san. What can I do? If anything... anything... happens to Jun-kun... Then..."

"...Then I don't want to live either!"

She stumbled onto a chair beside a table and laid her head down onto the cold surface. Her fingers fumbled around and picked up her parent's photo.

"Pa-pa, Ma-ma, should I tell Jun that you two are at heaven or not?" she asked and cried even louder.

.

..

...

"I can't walk anymore, desu!" Suiseiseki cried out as she fell down to her knees.

Souseiseki lowered herself down too and massaged the older doll's back gently, relaxing her sore joints.

"Suiseiseki, get up. We still need to save Hinaichigo, yes?" Souseiseki soothed, giving Suiseiseki a miniature pep talk.

Even though Souseiseki was trying her best to encourage her sister, lines of exhaustion were fiercely prominent in her own features. Tsukikin noticed this and rested her hand onto Akaihana's shoulder, their unofficial leader.

"Everybody is tired," she said, gazing at Akaihana in silence for the next few seconds, a lost look hovering in her golden eyes.

Of course Akaihana knew that the dolls were tired. They had walked miles and miles without rest. It have been different for Suigintou and Yukihani because they could fly, but considering how Suigintou had been chased around in the air by a singing Yukihani who was shrieking off-pitch... She could deduce that the Suigintou was probably tired by now.

Akaihana raised her hand high as a silent signal to stop and motioned to Cherriru and Tsukigin to start putting up the tents.

With a small smile and a sigh of relief, Gankorika settled down onto the stable surface of the shifting Sea of Subconsciousness and looked around her. Everything was the color of midnight. The only things that weren't black were the floating doors and portholes in the air. The reason they could see the sable-colored water was because it was like a mirror made of shadowed glass. The reflected images of the N-field entrances and exits were convoluted and distorted. Nothing else resided in the darkness. They were alone, with only ghostly whispers and a maze of portals to keep them company.

Tsukigin let out a loud groan and stretched the fabric of the tent tight with all her might. Yukihani was working hard too, for once, securing the poles that would hold up their temporary shelters. Cherriru was unpacking the blankets and sleeping bags and arranging them inside the tent that was still being constructed. Akaihana wondered why she didn't mind having the not yet stretched fabric and the poles lie on her back as she worked. Perhaps it was because she was a rather tall doll and had a broader back, or it could be because she just didn't care about the weight. Tsukikin fumbled in her purse, found a small candle lamp, lit it, and held it up.

"Are we staying here tonight?" Jun asked as he settled down onto the floor with a thump, his arms folded behind his head.

Akaihana eye's narrowed at the boy's lazy attitude as he had not helped them at all with building the tents. Rolling her eyes, she nodded. "Of course we are staying her for rest. Isn't it obvious? What else would we take the tents out for, so we could eat them?" she retorted, taking out a bottle of hot water from a thermos flask and starting to make tea.

"Why aren't you making hot chocolate, deyo?" Yukihani butted in, staring at the tea while sniffing and wrinkling her nose at the smell.

"Because it can be a bother sometimes to make and chocolate might not be the best drink for traveling. It's too rich," Akaihana answered, preoccupied with pouring out a cup.

"What tea is this then, deyo?"

"Puer."

Yukihani stuck out her tongue. "Puer? Deyo? Ew..."

"What? Is there a problem with that type of tea?" Akaihana said, raising an eyebrow.

"I think Puer tastes horrible, deyo. Yukihani likes Black Tea much better."

Akaihana filled up another cup and passed it to Tsukigin, who took it with one hand without looking, drained it, and set it down to the floor before continuing with her busy chores. "Puer and Black Tea are quite similar." Akaihana stated, still defending her beloved Puer Tea.

Yukihani glanced at her cup, gave it a cautious sniff, warily drank a thimbleful, and choked. Quickly, with amazing speed, she dumped spoons and spoons of sugar, milk, and slabs of just sliced lemons into the steaming drink.

"Well... You can put yummy, sweet, creamy, milk and fresh-tasting lemons in Black Tea so it tastes good deyo! Puer still tastes bad after you put lots and lots of sugar and stuff in it, which Yukihani thinks is a miracle, although it's a bad one. Sugar makes EVERYTHING taste better, deyo."

Akaihana had already emptied her cup and she filled it up again, drinking all of the hot liquid with one gulp, showing off how she could drink Puer... without dying like Yukihani.

"Is that so? That's a very interesting reason." said the Rosa Mystica.

Sure... and Yukihani is the first person I know who puts sugar, milk, and lemons in her Puer tea... Who adds those ingredients in Puer? Seriously!

Rolling her eyes, Akaihana continued her job of passing cups of tea to the travelers. After everybody had drunk all they wanted, she packed away the teapot and took out a nightgown.

"It's late. Let's sleep.


Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes...

She saw them smile at her, crinkling up that distinct way.

A hand appeared and cupped hers. Something warm was passed from palm to palm. Something warm, something soft, something full of life.

The hand moved away and a cute, yellow, fluffy, chick was left in hers. She marveled at the sight, smiled, and looked up to say "thank you".

But the eyes were gone. Hers widened in surprise and she fell back, down an endless hole, space warping around her. A soundless scream left her lips. Something landed on her shoulder and she looked up in reflex, only to see a pair of unforgettable eyes.

A pair of unforgettable, dark, gentle, blue eyes.


Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes...

She saw them widen in surprise.

The owner's body must be close to hers, because for the first time she could look deep inside them, counting the long lashes and reading the perceivable emotions.

Something was pressing her body down while leaves and twigs jabbed at her skin...

She shrieked, slapped at the weight, squeezed her eyes shut and flushed, not even knowing why. A voice gasped in pain and the burden on her body lifted.

When she opened her eyes again, the other pair was gone.

She closed her eyes again in dismay, in sadness, in hurt. But darkness did not shield her, and behind her shut eyelids, she could see a floating pair of eyes.

A floating pair of dark, gentle, blue eyes.


Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes...

She saw them staring back at her, looking disappointed.

They blamed her.

They blamed her for being so uncaring, for being so aloof, for being so detached.

They blamed her with an irrevocable hatred.

She opened her mouth to try to explain, but nothing came out and her words died in her throat.

She ran, trying to tell the eyes that she wasn't a selfish person...

She tripped and fell, and when she got up...

The eyes were gone, again.

Until they weren't and her whole world was filled with representations of eyes.

Representations of dark, gentle, blue eyes.


Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes...

She saw them, right in front of her, set into a face that would forever be imprinted into her mind. She saw that they were unfocused, no longer staring into her own with love.

It had disappeared.

This time, it wasn't the eyes that were gone; it was the spark of life they contained.

She stared into a pair of blank, unfeeling, dead, eyes.

They still looked accusatory.

"Why did you do this to me?

"It's all your fault...

"All your fault...

"Your fault...

"Your fault that I'm dead.

"Dead.

"Dead.

"Dead.

"Forever."

This time, when she shrieked, the mute button was lifted.

A scream broke the stifling silence of the night.

Akaihana jolted into a sitting position, still shrieking, her hand on her forehead. She could feel the wetness of cold sweat on her palm.

"What's wrong? Akaihana?"

Hachidori was the first person to rush to the doll's side.

One of Akaihana's hands was supporting her head; the other was over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking.

"I d-do-don't know... I... I... don't." Her voice was fragile and weak, sounding like the small croak of a newborn hatchling. It was different from the way she usually acted and presented herself.

"It was a nightmare, yes? What did you see?"

Akaihana slowly lifted her head, her movements stiff and clumsy.

"I... I saw... the past... our past..."

The doll's pupil's shrunk noticeably at an alarming rate and a pearly tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another, and another. Noticing this, Hachidori hugged the unnerved doll consolingly, patting her head gently at the same time. "It's okay, Akaihana, it's okay. Nothing's happening to you right now, it's all in the past. You'll be okay."

Jun stuck his head inside the tent. "Oi! What's going on in here? Why are you all so loud, you bunch of—"

Seeing Akaihana's state, he quieted down immediately. It was the first time he had ever seen the fierce, driven, doll cry. "Master... Please leave us alone. Please." Souseiseki said gently, pointing outside.

"Uh... Oh! Okay... Okay! Okay!" he said, stuttering a bit, and walked outside.

Akaihana continued hyperventilating, eyes scared and lost in the "past". Hollier was hopping around manically, seemingly frantic about the Rosa Mystica.

"Don't worry, Hollier. I'm fine," she said, and took in a deep breath with her eyelids shut tightly. She opened her eyes, looking calmer. Her orange orbs had found its sharpness again.

She turned towards all the other dolls, inclining her head. "I'm sorry for my outburst and loss of composure."

Suigintou carelessly flicked her hair over her shoulder in a way that suggested that she was bored with the incident already. "How embarrassing," she stated dispassionately.

Akaihana did not stop to retort, she just went on. "I'm very sorry. I delayed everybody. Let's head out."

Suigintou snorted, the very sound expressing that Akaihana's behavior was undermining her authority.

Akaihana's orange eyes flashed, but she chose to ignore the skeptical doll, instead beginning to collapse her tent. With a jerk of her head, she indicated that everyone should do the same.

Packing everything tightly into her pack, she looked around their campsite. Seeing as everyone else was still busy, she used the chance to check their progress with the Century Clock.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her watch, tracking the movement of the pink handle. Hinaichigo…

"We're running out of time."


Scarlet: So. Hina-chan is DYYIING!

Gellie: That's... nice.

Scarlet: BAKA! Show some compassion, yeah?

Gellie: You said it again! You said it again! DEIDARA-CLONE!

Scarlet: I AM NOT A DEIDARA-CLONE! I do want a plushie of him...

Gellie: Yeah, I know, you said that a million times already.

Scarlet: Whatever, seriously. So! We are going to invite a character here for your enjoyment, nice people that we are... Yeah right.

Gellie: That's... nice...

...

NOT!

Anyways, we are inviting... *drum roll*

Scarlet: DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN! Hachidori!

Gellie: Bet you didn't expect that! Betcha didn't expect that! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! OH YEEAAAH!

Scarlet: Gellie. Calm down.

Gellie: Oh yeah! Oh yeah! OH YEEAAAH! Oh. Okay.

Hachidori: I'm happy that you are fine. :)

Gellie: Hachidori, you're so polite!

Hachidori: Growing up as I did, I have to be.

Scarlet: Yeah, yeah. Anyways, Hachidori! Umm... How are you? Nah...

Gellie: Why did we call you here anyways?

Hachidori: I have no idea. Don't ask me, please.

Scarlet: And this A/N is already too long, so I'm signing out!~

Gellie: Same...

Scarlet: And that's all, yeah...

Gellie: DEIDARA-CLONE!

Scarlet: I ALREADY TOLD YOU, I'M NOT A DEIDARA-CLONE! CHA!