I Will Find You
A Recca no Honoo fic
By Tenshi no Ai
Fill in your favorite disclaimer here: ______________________.
New plagiarism warning: If you steal my plot without my blessing, I *will* find you...and not in the good way, like this series...
Ch. 7: Ishiki (Awareness)
(Raiha, Fuuko, Neon and Kagerou's POV)
(Fuuko's POV)
We're walking in the snow-covered park, Raiha and I, and it doesn't feel right. Maybe because Raiha's being quiet. I mean, really quiet. As in, there's-something-troubling-me-so-all-I-can-do-is-smile-and-hope-you-don't-catch-on quiet.
It makes me feel really weird inside.
Raiha calls from ahead of me, and then I realize that I had stopped walking. Hell, I stopped trying to fill the air with meaningless talk. Is something wrong?
Oh, yeah, Is something wrong?' *He's* the one being all not himself and making me feel worried and...
Worried?
Why would I feel worried? I mean, it's not like Raiha's in immediate danger or anything, he's just not talking to me about some stupid thing that happened to him or asking me about my day like other people would have...
...
Okay, so he hasn't talked since, well, since the kissaten. Even though he's not carrying Domon anymore or anything, he's still...he's just smiling every time I look at him.
But that's it.
It makes me...it makes me feel...
ANNOYED.
Raiha-kun, don't you have a tongue or something? Say something! I yell, stomping over to him and choking him, shaking his head around for good measure, I'm sick of talking while you walk around in circles! You said you were my prince; prove it by using eloquent speech or something! I don't care, just TALK!
Raiha's head swings back and forth, while he emits a noise that sounds like I loosen my hold on his throat slightly and glare into his widened eyes.
Yes, Fuuko-san, his voice gurgles out. I let go of his neck entirely and cross my arms, still staring up at him. He smiles, what would you like me to talk about?
He's always smiling. Why? I kinda want to know...why do you smile all the time? My voice sounds quieter, more...feminine to me. It's pro'ly cause he's close enough that I don't have to yell at him or something.
Probably.
He looks sorta depressed. Why...why would you ask that, Fuuko-san? I'm just showing that...I like being around you. I like this...just walking around with a girl that I like. I've never done it before. It's...normal, and yet it feels so weird... he smiles again, is that what you wanted to hear, Fuuko-san?
I gape up at him, the heat in my cheeks growing by the second. Is he just saying things just to mock me...?
Or does he mean it and is trying to hide that by asking me if that's what I wanted to hear?
Say what you want to say, I hear myself mutter, you just tend to hide yourself in your words anyway. He looks at me without any expression, then smiles. But this smile...it looks different.
I think I hurt him.
But I'm not going to apologize for something that I meant.
he says quietly, grasping my shoulders. His hold on me is so strong, yet it doesn't hurt. He looks down at me, his blue-gray eyes staring intensely into my eyes. Fuuko-san...do I hurt you when I'm around?
I'm so confused. What does he mean? He hasn't fought me like in SODOM, so I'm not hurt physically....what does he mean...
Oh.
I look away from his eyes, to the side, where white snow surrounds us. It feels like emptiness.
That's what I felt before Raiha came to me...yesterday? So soon...yet so many things happened since he got here. Sure I fought with Recca, but that was bound to happen within the next week anyway. It hurt to think that Yanagi and Kaoru are concerned about who I hang with, but...now that I think about it, maybe they're just worried about how serious Recca was taking it. Domon was acting a bit more desperately...kinda like he had a rival.
But I don't like Raiha in the same way that Domon likes me.
Right?
All these things happened in a day...it made my day so...fulfilled. Almost like...almost like...like Raiha makes my life more full...with excitement...with fun...
He makes me feel good.
Even though he hurt me so long ago...it's not like he's not trying to make up for his betrayal.
It's not like he doesn't care.
Do I hurt you, Raiha-kun? I ask, still trying to get my feelings under a tight hold. I'm not sure what to make of what I just figured out...maybe I'll figure something out with Raiha's answer.
Maybe.
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Raiha's POV)
I was so sure that I'd put Fuuko on the spot, and then she'd tell me the first thing on her mind about how I've hurt her in the past, how I've separated her from her friends and all I've given her so far was a ride to her school and free food. And with that, I could just leave her knowing that my departure wouldn't hurt her.
But then she turned away, instead of screaming in my face.
Maybe I don't know Fuuko as well as I thought I did.
And now she's put me on the spot.
What am I supposed to say? The truth, that I want to stay with her, I honestly want to be her prince, but that...that my first loyalty is to Kurei? That I have strong feelings for her...but if Kurei told me to leave her, I would?
I wouldn't kill her for Kurei, but I think that I would leave willingly.
I don't want to hurt her again.
I don't.
I shouldn't even have come back into her life again. I should've just stayed away and let her be a normal teenager. I should've! Why did I...
I want us to be together, Fuuko-san
I was being truthful that time. So long ago...four or five months ago...
My feelings have grown since then.
But are they more than my loyalty to Kurei?
I say, my voice hoarse, I want to tell you that...
bip-bi-ba-bip...bip-bi-ba-bip...bip-bi-ba-bip
Fuuko walks back to her schoolbag, which she had dropped when she went over to choke me, and pulls out a cell phone. She flips it open with not-so-practiced ease.
Then she pales.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Fuuko's POV)
Surprised, I go over and lean against a tree, I didn't know you knew my cell number. How's Tokyo?
The voice on the other end hmphs' slightly. That's not important, Fuuko. I need you to find Yanagi-san and bring her to Akihabara.
Mi-chan, she's in love with Recca. I think you should give up your crush for her, there's other girls in the world, I bluntly say, disgusted.
There's a pause, where I think he was trying to calm down, then, Tendoujigoku has apparently entered Kurei's body. He's already tried to absorb Neon. I think that Kurei's fighting the presence, so Tendoujigoku's still fairly weak. Yanagi-san is the only one that can destroy him and you know it. Now...
I shout, Yanagi doesn't have her powers! We're all powerless to stop him!
...I don't think that's the case right now. If Tendoujigoku has finally manifested in Kurei, that means that Yanagi-san and Hanabishi should have their powers back. Now...
I shout again, but Yanagi was only able to destroy most of Tendoujigoku because she died and Recca made her into a flame angel! Even if Recca has his flame back, he's pro'ly not going to have all his dragons back. And even if he does, that means we'd have to kill Yanagi or let Tendoujigoku kill her again so she can be turned back into a flame angel! What the hell are you thinking, Mi-bou?
I hear him breath out deeply, that's a risk we'll have to take. Would you rather that Tendoujigoku was alive, in the body of the stronger of the flame casters, and absorbing whoever he wished to make his power even stronger?
My heart stops. Whoever he wanted?
He's already slowly draining Neon. We had to escape out of the hotel he was in to mine.
Oh kami-sama...a hotel? In Akihabara? In Tokyo, the most crowded city in Japan? Okay...I'll go over to Recca's house. That's where Yanagi usually is. Now, where's your hotel?
...I've been trying to tell you that, but you kept on interrupting.
Just shut up and tell me, I groan, exasperated. He gives me the address and hangs up. I run over to my bag and toss the phone in. Raiha-kun! We gotta...hey...
He's not around. Not even a footprint on the snow to tell me where he went.
Whatever. I gotta find the girl who has the power to kill a monster.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Neon's POV)
There's a white ceiling above me as I wake up. Not Kurei's grinning face.
a masculine voice says near me, hopefully she's wrong about Yanagi-san not having her powers again.
That voice...sounds vaguely familiar.
I turn my head from side to side. A bed. I try to sit up, and the unresponsiveness of my feet is annoying. I hate that, especially the tingly feeling afterwards. I sit up on my forearms and push up into a full sitting position.
There's a silvery-blue haired man standing in front of the bed, his back to me. But I recognize that hair, that arrogance in even his relaxed stance.
Mikagami Tokiya.
He turns casually. Jyushinshuu Neon.
My eyes narrow. Where's Kurei-sama? Where am I? He continues to regard me in the matter that Genjurou used to regard his experiments; utter dispassion. No wonder I hated the man.
Then he shakes his head. Why do you care about the man who tried to kill you? This is my hotel room, in a far away hotel from Kurei.
What do you mean, why do I care?' I shoot back, annoyance growing to a very real sense of anger, something's happened to Kurei-sama, and you know it! Let me go back to him!
I hate that a whine has entered my voice with my demand.
The blank look on his face slightly shifts to one of faint disgust. He walks over to the side of the bed and reaches down to my feet. I try to move my leg away, but he grabs my left foot without me feeling it and raises up my leg...
Stone. My foot...it's turned to stone...
Now do you want to go back to your he says, faint touches of mockery in his voice. I think. You can take yourself there, then. Besides, I have a feeling that, while he's still draining your energy, he can find you if he wanted to. Would Kurei want to?
Would it matter? I shoot back, It's not like we can do anything against Tendoujigoku, especially if he's in Kurei-sama now, I move my left leg around, let go of me.
that...boy snorts as he lets my foot drop. I wince as my foot drops to the mattress like a...rock and bounces several times before staying still. The others will be here soon enough, and we'll be able to figure out something from there.
A wave of dizziness passes over me.
I refocus as that brat's quiet voice reaches my ears. Last thing I need to see is his attempt at pity or something. I snap, seeing his face in front of mine. He stares at me, those ice blue eyes staring at my face, then they narrow and he turns away.
Would you die for that demon?
I stare at his back. I would gladly die for Kurei-sama.
he turns back to me, annoyance flitting across his face, that's not what I asked. I asked if you would die for that demon.
Would I die for...Tendoujigoku? What kind of question is that? No, I wouldn't...why do you ask?
He studies my face, then looks over at my stone feet. If they get here too late, that's all that going to be left, he says casually, just making sure that someone won't be tossing themselves in front of a demon in disguise.
I turn away from him. I'm sick of his casual attitude about all of this...like he's barely affected. That, even though he's a good 4 or so years younger than me, he's got to watch out for me as if I'm a child.
Brat.
He didn't ask the right question, either. I wouldn't die for a demon.
But I'd give my life so that Kurei can regain his.
Bitterness wells up in me. Not like I can even walk with the stone creeping up over my legs and my strength lessening.
But I know who would even be more gung-ho about dying to save Kurei than possibly even me.
Jyushinshuu Raiha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Kagerou's POV)
Yanagi painfully smiles at me as I finish wrapping the burns on her arms. That's not too tight, is it Yanagi-chan? She shakes her head, and I clip the end of the bandage. I turn to the side and pick up the remaining roll of gauze. I'd prefer that the medication that I already rubbed onto the burns would be left alone and the burns themselves get some air to heal, but Yanagi insisted. Remembering what I knew of her family life, what with her being taken care of by an overprotective duenna while her parents are away, I'm inclined to agree with her judgement. The woman who takes care of Yanagi already doesn't like Recca; seeing burns on her charge after a visit to his house wouldn't help the feeling for the better.
So I wrap the burns, somewhat mechanically, mulling over what I've heard in the last hour or so.
According to Yanagi, she was tutoring Recca in his classes. He leaned in for a reason that she won't say but I can suspect, then he moved away from her, his body on fire. She did the first thing she thought of, which was to hold him and use her healing powers to calm him down.
This would explain the second and third degree burns on her chest, arms, hands, and neck. Miraculously, her face was untouched.
When the fire died down, she tried to call me, realized she was losing consciousness, and bit her tongue to stay awake. When she heard me coming, she let herself succumb to unconsciousness.
She said that the last thing that she remembered was an image of Tendoujigoku.
My son lies next to Yanagi, unmoved since the incident. I had to find my herbal concoction to induce longer sleep. If he woke up again without his tekkou to dampen down his fire, I doubt that anyone could stop it.
Kagerou-san...how do you suppose that Tendoujigoku is still alive? Yanagi suddenly says as I wrap the gauze around her neck. The chest burns are too bad to cover for now. I shake my head.
Don't try to talk right now, Yanagi-san.
Minutes go by, until I finish with her neck. Since her school jacket and shirt was destroyed by the fire, Yanagi pulls on a thick sweater of mine over her head. As I put the leftover gauze away in the medical kit, something catches my eye.
There are...characters forming on Recca's arm.
The karyuu?
My son twitches with each new character forming, until it seems inevitable that he will wake. I grab for the cloth soaked with the herbal solution and press it over his nose and mouth until he stays relatively still. he sighs as I remove the cloth, and Yanagi blushes from her spot next to him. She lays a wrapped hand lightly on his arm, rubbing the newly formed characters of Saiha, Nadare, Homura and Setsuna on his left arm.
I move over to his other arm. I need to know...if the Resshin character will appear more quickly this time...
If Ohka will accept his son's use of his power automatically...
Madoka...Rui...Kokuu...
An acrid smoke drifts from the character of Kokuu, forming into a man-like shape in front of me...
And suddenly the human manifestation of Kokuu appears on my lap, his face in my...
As I smack him away, I remember why I didn't quite mind Recca's dragons disappearing for good. Kagerou! We haven't seen each other in so long, and this's how you treat me? An old man like me? he gives me a look, as if I should pity him.
I glare at him. Hello, Kokuu. You're here to help Recca, *aren't you*?
Of course, Kagerou-chan, he says, straightening his print shirt, then smiles at me with a glint in his eye, but what will you give me for it?
With a bland face, I look over at my son. What can you do for Recca?
I hear knocking at the door. I start to rise when I hear Hanabishi-san open the door with a Fuuko-chan! How're you today?
Fine, Jisan. Gotta see Recca and Yanagi! There's the sound of thudding footsteps on the staircase, then the door opens with a flourish and a Recca! Yanagi! We gotta-
the perverted dragon leaps at Fuuko, who punches him into the far wall, where he slides down to Recca's futon. She cracks her knuckles and stares down at us.
What happened to Recca...kami-sama! What *happened* to you, Yanagi! she sits down next to Yanagi and stares at all the bandages wrapped around her.
Yanagi blushes. Don't worry about me, Fuuko-chan. They're just burns.
Fuuko stares back at her, incredulous. Over most your visible body? What were you doing, full contact cooking with the stove fire?
I intercede when Yanagi starts to look a little flustered. Recca has his flame back.
Oh, so how come you have burns all over the front of your body...oooh, Fuuko stares hard at Yanagi with an evil smirk. Yanagi blushes, then squeaks as Fuuko grabs the loose end of the gauze wrapped around her wrist and tugs it gently, that means you got your powers back too, right?
Yanagi nods.
she says, we have a lot to do in Akihabara...
I speak up, What's in Akihabara?
Tendoujigoku's somehow entered Kurei, Kokuu's voice sounds slightly more echoed...more like his dragon voice, as he walks off of Recca's futon, toward Yanagi, because of this, the powers designed to fight off the madougu creature became activated once again. Recca's flame, he pauses and stares directly into Yanagi's face; she looks at him blankly, and Yanagi-chan's healing powers. But...
Fuuko glares at him. But what?
Recca's powers won't work again; just like last time, Tendoujigoku has absorbed a flame caster, therefore his powers don't work, Kokuu suddenly reaches out and holds Yanagi's chin up. She doesn't react, just stares back calmly. I think you know what may be required of you, Sakoshita Yanagi.
She smiles sadly at the dragon in front of her. I don't want to die again. I just want...I just wanted to have a normal time with my friends again... her eyes start tearing up slightly, but he's going to come after me soon enough, isn't he? He still wants my powers...he still wants me.
I reach over to Yanagi, wanting to comfort her, but Fuuko beats me to it, wrapping her arm around the gentle girl's shoulders and smirking. Yanagi-chan, if you do this, you and Recca'll be normal again. Sounds fair, right?
Yanagi sniffles and wipes her tears with her bare arms.
My son utters another groan. What should we do with Recca? I ask, concerned, when he wakes up he'll won't be in the right mind when he realizes that he hurt Yanagi, even though it was unintentional. However, I don't have enough herbal solution with me to make him sleep indefinitely.
Kokuu prances over to Recca and easily slings my son's body over his shoulder. Resshin's been wanting some father-son bonding time anyway. I'll kick Recca out if he's needed, he grins. Fuuko stares at him in confusion.
Take him where?
A large, ornate mirror materializes in front of Kokuu. he tosses Recca into the mirror, bye-bye, pretty girls! Then he jumps into the mirror, which fades away.
I don't know what to say...I'm hardly considered a girl' anymore...
But it's comforting for me to know that...Recca will spend some time with his real father...
There's a muffled clamor downstairs, ending with Hanabishi-san yelling, Fuuko-chan! Hime-chan! Recca! There's three girls here for you! Fuuko and Yanagi look at each other, equally confused. Finally Fuuko stands up and walks out of the room, Yanagi close behind.
Three girls?
I close the door behind me and silently follow the two girls. As I walk down the stairs, I realize that we could be blindly walking into a trap. But, as I step behind Fuuko and Yanagi, I see in full fighting outfits Aki...Miki...and in the middle...
Fuuko yelps in surprise.
The tall ninja smiles and bows deeply, the hilt of his sword pointing straight at us as he does so. Fuuko-san, I've brought you a chariot to take us to the ball...
~Owari to 7th part~
I honestly did not know that I would finish with this part so quickly! With the race to clean the house, I've still managed to write out this part! Yay! Yes, I realize that this part is, like, mostly exposition that *sounds* like exposition, but in reading the reviews for last chapter...well, it *would* be helpful to understand what the heck's going on, right? But, you don't have to deal with crappy exposition if you don't want to! Thanks to Sacharrine, who asked me where the Shounen Sunday translations for the FoR manga, I realized that I could summarize all the chapters that come after volume 31 and post them up on my website! So, that's what I did. And if you're confused by what happens before then, I have a link to Sumeragi's FoR translation site! There, that's my public service duty for the month.
Reviewers!
Hey, Sacharrine, does that above message help with SS translations? I just have pictorial summaries, nothing special, but they are detailed, so I hope they help. I think you've said that you want to write like me. If you wrote like me, I'd be screaming about plagiarism, and you wouldn't want that, would you? :P Well, why do you kill people in your fics to begin with? Fics with characters dying aren't that great unless there's a reason why, y'know. Ah, and happy new year to you too!
Hi Foggy! I'm very flattered by your kind words...they make me feel like writing more! I'm 17, that's not too old, is it? Well, in this chapter you found out that the madougu don't matter when it comes to Tendoujigoku because of Yanagi-chan! (I swear, someone's going to tell me how they don't like it, but it's not even my plot contrivance! It's Anzai-sensei's!). Ah...I love Chinese New Year...
And really, the reward I get for writing and posting these fics/chapters are all your wonderful reviews!
Showstopper, I just have one thing to say: Siam Shade rules! I love the songs...I'm listening to One Third', one of the ending themes to Rurouni Kenshin, I believe. Yeah, Yanagi's a lot more manipulative than the average person knows...but then again, she also kindly' threatened Domon to work on her comics with an Exact-o knife (Don't run away...). As you can see in this chapter, Neon and Tokiya aren't on the friendliest terms right now, and not just because Tokiya took her away from Kurei. This series has sub-plots! Funny, I just realized that ^^;;. I don't even know if the Fuuko/Raiha thing is the main plot, or if it was a sub-plot that started out the story...it's sad when the authoress isn't sure... Oh, and about the college textbooks thing...? Two words: You're cruel. Have a nice day too!
Hey ChibiRaihaHK, if I kept on writing a Fuuko and/or Raiha POV for each chapter, I'd go crazy. Love em, sure, but there's a limit. Anyway, I made up for the lack of Fuuko/Raiha with this chapter, right? Haven't a clue about Aki or Miki's personalities...I just sorta used what I remembered from the anime and what real girls their age (late teens, probably?) would think or do. A lot of the idea of doing 1st person POVs is taking what you know of a character, and expanding it...I hope I succeeded... Kurei isn't really himself right now, you'll have to leave a message with the lovely and angry Neon instead... If you fail an English test, and you write in English...doesn't sound right...
Rhiannon...can't...breathe! ^__^ I'm happy you like this series...I'm completely ad-libbing from the summaries I wrote of each chapter (read: I'm making up everything as I go along...) Obviously, I love doing the Recca/Yanagi scenes, just for fun. Wow, you have a lot of questions...Neon and Mi-chan, the Kurei thing (sorta), and Aki and Miki coming to rescue their sister...you found that out in this chapter; the madougu I can answer with a resounding The madougu had all been destroyed after Tendoujigoku's body and mind was destroyed, but something else *could* replace that...can't say if Recca and Yanagi will get to be normal, after all, Yanagi knows that she could die for good...and if they're getting some action', it won't be in this *PG* rated fic. Raiha's still confused, and he's not even done being indecisive...but that indecisiveness could very well kill Fuuko...
Luna Crescent! It *has* been awhile...Raiha *is* kawaii! As for his relationship with Fuuko...well, thank you! I'm just trying not to be really WAFFy when it comes to those two--Fuuko don't play that game--I'm just trying to portray them as accurately as possible, sorta. I think I've gotten a rep for angst, and there's more angst to come! The Kurei thing is sorta explained in this chapter, but will be fully explained in a later chapter. Neon...well, she's dealing in her own way, her main concern right now is the brat' Mikagami ^^;; I'll try to comply with the couples, I know what you mean about no WAFF, but some moments. That's how I usually try to write, anyway ^__^ Wow, you think I'm going fast? Everyone else tells me to hurry up with the next chapter NOW!
Gomen, Blue, but the only thing I can really offer is the SS pictorial summaries. It takes a damn good writer to fit that kind of exposition in the middle of the freakin' story, and I'm nowhere near that level. I am trying, if this chapter is any indication... As long as your angsty confusion' doesn't turn into annoyed confusion', I'll be happy. Yes, torturing the characters by taking away what they really, truly want is always a good thing...except when it's a bad thing. Oops... Grapes of Wrath? Never read it in high school, always got the wrong teacher or something. But it does sound interesting...
Flutter, long time, no see! Yes, I hope that this series is getting better all the time, but thank you for telling me that it was good before! Also, thanks for telling me that I'm posting pretty fast...yeesh, sometimes it seems like I take way too long between chapters...
Okay, one more time, because I notice that, after the story and everything, no one really cares about what I say... the pictorial summaries for all the Shounen Sunday chapters that came after volume 31 is at my site, which is located at: http://tenshinofic.zzweb.net/ Obviously, you don't have to be exposed to the rest of the rampant spoilers from that, you could just glean whatever info from what each character has to say about it...but only if the character is Kagerou or Mikagami or even Kurei, all who are more level-headed than, say, Fuuko. These *are* 1st person POVs, after all... ^_-
Ch. 8: Parts of Team Hokage, Team Oto and Team Rai are on their way to Akihabara; all Tokiya and Neon can do is sit tight and hope that Kurei doesn't suddenly want to find the woman who cares more about him than he himself does...while Recca finds out just how Tendoujigoku managed to absorb Kurei, and what he plans for his loyal Uruha...
(I've been reading the first half of the manga series, especially the Urabatousatsujin III volumes, so that's why the reference to their team names. That and I didn't feel like listing 7 or 8 names...that chapter will be done before the 18th!)
