Chapter 8: Enemies Unforeseen (How does it feel to know that your life is about to end?)
"Wow, you're really gonna give me this much?"
"Trust me, if I had more, I'd gladly give it up! You weren't kidding when you said you were a 'Jack-of-all-trades'! To be able to clean clothes, cook, wash dishes, help with the crops, fix up the house, and fight off the local thugs? I thought you'd have to be Suzaku himself to multitask like that!"
"It's all in a day's work, Sir", the teen smiled kindly, "Still, are you sure you wanna give me 30 whole silver?"
"It's yours."
The young man was torn between tears and a shriek of excitement, and bowed before his elder.
"Thank you so much, Sir!"
"The same to you. Now shouldn't you be running off to your next job, Tamahome?" The boy blinked, gasped, bowed once more, and ran off as fast as his legs would carry him. If he didn't hurry to the next village, he was going to miss his chance!
"Ow…ow…ow…owwww…ow" This had become the norm as soon as the group had left the palace, and frankly, Nuriko couldn't take much more of it!
Ayako braced herself for the next step; with every movement, a shooting pain tormented her arm, and she was sure that the growing pain would put a dent into their plans…
"We are not far from the next village", Hotohori reassured, seemingly unaffected, as always, by the miko's faults.
Seta and Hikaru were pretty happy to have their things back, finally, and had changed clothes in the inn as soon as they could! Seta specifically was less fearful about falling off the back of the horse, now that they had been traveling for hours, but still held on loosely to Nuriko's waist just in case.
"It is quite a fortunate event that Yu-hai knew which city Kai-jun's nephew lives in!" the emperor thought aloud, cheerfully.
"I'm not surprised; he seemed really proud of him!"
"The city in question is only a few hours away, not far from the village we are nearing now", he informed them.
The expressions on the girls' faces turned from somewhat painful to happy. Their butts were sore, and whether the others felt the same or not, Nuriko really longed to take a bath and lay down on a nice, soft bed.
"Oh, what good timing! The sun is just beginning to set…" Kang-lin sighed and gazed into the beautiful, warm rainbow of evening.
"Oh my gawd, this place is so amazing…I'm so happy we have the money to afford this type of place!" Ayako exclaimed. The inn they were staying at wasn't nearly as great as the services at the palace, but for someone who wasn't used to being pampered, it was like paradise! They purchased a suite with two rooms and a "pre-historic" version of a bathroom. They each took turns washing up, then went downstairs for supper, with the exception of Ayako, who used the excuse of not being that hungry. By now, the sun had long since set, and she sat in a chair beside the open window, gazing up at the nearly full moon. She sighed, knowing she was going to be in for another painful night, and reached into her pocket for the container of bitter pain pills that the good doctor had prepared for her.
"Damn building…how the hell do you take revenge on a crumbled piece of construction?" she half joked to no one.
Suddenly, she heard a soft thud coming from behind her, making her jar her arm a bit. She made a few funny faces trying not to scream profanities, as the pain she felt traveled up from her wrist to her elbow to her shoulder.
"Who's…there..?" she managed to get out through clenched teeth. She turned to find no one else in the room. A sudden gust of wind came in through the window and blew out the candles, allowing only moonlight to enter the dark room. A silhouette was barely visible just in front of the door; it made Ayako's heart race. Soon she forgot her pain, as the adrenaline coursed through her body and numbed her arm. Using her very shaky good hand, she pulled out a pill and put it in her mouth, eyes wide and not moving from the shadow in front of her. She was shaking so badly that she accidentally crunched it in half and bit her tongue before swallowing.
"It's just your imagination, Ayako-chan…" she said, closing her eyes tightly, "there's nothing there, there wasn't anybody there before the lights went out, and nobody's that fast…" The door slammed open and hit the wall beside it, making her jump and whimper a little. "There's…not anybody there…right?" she asked herself in a mutter, slowly opening one eye to take a peek. The candles were lit again, and everything seemed to be back to normal. "Huh..?"
The door opened, normally, and Nuriko walked through first.
"Ayako? Were you just talking to yourself? Are you feeling ok?" she questioned, blinking curiously.
"Yeah…I'm fine" 'I think…' she added in her head, beginning to think she was crazy.
Hikaru and Seta walked in, followed by the emperor.
"It's too bad you weren't hungry; the food down there is amazing!" Hikaru explained, a satisfied look on her visage.
"It was ok." Seta seemed less impressed, but she truthfully didn't dislike it either.
"We'd better get to sleep if we are to continue the search at dawn."
"I agree!" Nuriko said, kawaii-ly.
"Of course you do…" Hikaru teased.
"What's that supposed to meeean?" The seishi blushed a bit and walked with the girl to their room.
Seta stayed behind, getting into her own bed as she watched Ayako's face get pale.
"Ayako-chan, are you ok? Pardon the expression, but you look like you've seen a ghost."
"I'm fine, Seta-kun", she smiled a bit to emphasize, "I just thought I saw something earlier, but now I realize it must have been my imagination."
"Oh?"
Ayako gently laid down, happy that her arm no longer ached for the moment. "Well, I heard a noise behind me, earlier, but when I turned around, the candles blew out! I thought I saw someone in the shadows, and closed my eyes…when I opened them again, you guys were here and the candles were still lit."
"That's odd", Seta admitted, stretching a bit, getting comfortable for sleep.
"Oyasumi nasai, Seta-kun", Ayako yawned.
"Oyasumi."
"You can't be serious…" Ayako looked down in defeat. "I knew something would go wrong…"
"How can you not know? It's your kingdom, for crying out loud!"
"Hey, don't you talk to His Majesty that way!"
"I'll talk however I please; this isn't the palace, and we're lost!"
"You're sure you don't know the way, Hotohori-sama?" Seta asked, worried. He narrowed his eyes, then bowed his head in defeat.
"We are sad to say that we do not… We rarely ventured outside of the palace walls as a child, and have been too busy to do it as an adult. Please forgive our ignorance in this situation…"
"Sire, please don't be so hard on yourself…" Nuriko looked at him with her most caring eyes.
"Is there a river or something around here that might connect to the city?"
"Well, actually there is a river, or rather a system of rivers that travel through the country connecting in the east. I see your point, too, that'll help tremendously if we can find it. No village is built too far from the water system, so it should be close by!" Nuriko stated matter-of-factly.
"Good, then we should be on the look out. I wonder if it would be wise to split up into groups…"
"Sure, Your Majesty! I can go with you, and they can run off and do…whatever it is they do!"
"Oh, wow…don't we feel loved", Seta said, dead-panned, the other two nodding.
"Nonsense. If we are to separate, then there should be a seishi in both groups to protect the girls."
Nuriko sighed. "I thought so. Alright, Ayako, you're coming with me! Seta, you can come if you want, but Hikaru…stay behind with His Majesty." She took Ayako by her good arm, and led her away, a confused Seta deciding to follow. Hikaru sweat-dropped; why did she have the feeling that she just got ditched? Oh well, at least she got to be with the emperor!
He yawned and stretched. Traveling from village to village in search of work was tiring, but it was well worth it. He smiled to himself, wondering what he would buy for her if he managed to save up a little extra. Suddenly, a thick fog began to roll in.
"That's odd...did a cloud just decide to drop out of the sky and forget to rain?" he wanted to snicker at his terrible joke, but he had a really bad feeling. Something about that fog just wasn't natural.
"Huh?" She saw the two figures of her best friend and protector disappear into the white. Her head started to ache, a little; fog always seemed to give her migraines!
"Nuriko? Seta-kun?" No response. "Guys? Hey, c'mon, this isn't funny! Dammit...why is it always the heroine who gets separated from the group?"
Her wonderings were cut short when hands reached out from the fog and grabbed her, covering her mouth so she wouldn't scream.
"Something isn't right...we can feel it. Something unnatural is causing this fog", Hotohori said, uneasily. Hikaru didn't know what to say. Although she'd probably never admit it, she was getting a little scared, herself.
There was a noise in the bushes, and Hotohori quickly drew his sword. He swiftly took Hikaru and pulled her in close to protect her, just in case.
"Who is there? Identify yourself, immediately!" he commanded, a dark look on his face.
"Whoa, easy there, fella!" The boy put his hands up, defensively, hoping that he didn't just start a fight.
"Hey, it's you!" Hikaru gaped at the boy she and her friends met a while back. "You're...you're, uhh..." she snapped her fingers, trying to remember, "Takagome!"
The boy deadpanned. "You mean Tamahome!" The young emperor gasped.
"'Tamahome'? As in the celestial star of Suzaku?" Tamahome blinked, cutely, and nodded.
"Yeah. What's it to you?" he asked, harmlessly enough.
"Watch your tone in the presence of royalty..." he warned, "and we wanted to know because we bear the mark of Suzaku as well."
"Wow! Really? Which one are you?"
"We are known as 'Hotohori'."
'What's with the 'we' business? Does he actually believe he's the emperor?' He shrugged it off, and thought no more of it.
Hotohori had let go of Hikaru, and she stood between them, looking back and forth at the two. Wow, so Tamahome was one of the famous shichiseishi! Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. She smiled at him.
Suddenly, both Hotohori and Tamahome jumped.
"You felt it, too?"
"Yeah..."
"Something's wrong..."
"I keep seeing that other girl in my mind...is she really the priestess?"
"We will speak later, now is the time to act! Hikaru, stay here until we return!"
"Hey, but-!" Then they were gone. "dammit!" She leaned against a tree, knowing she would have no hope of finding them in this maze of trees and fog.
"Thaaat's right, priestess of Suzaku. Just be quiet, we wouldn't want one of your little friends to discover us!" The man cloaked in black held her in secrecy atop a tree, observing the seishi run around like aimless fire ants, smiling to himself. He kept her obedient with the threat that he would crush her already injured arm if she did not cooperate exactly. Once the purple-haired seishi was out of hearing range, he loosened his grip only slightly. "So, tell me Your Eminence" he began, thick sarcasm coating the title, "how does it feel to know that your efforts are wasted? That your dreams will never come true? How does it feel to know that your life is about to end?"
Her eyes filled with tears. What could she do in a situation like this? Why did her arm have to be broken?
"How informative." He smirked, then drew a poison-tipped dagger out, and aimed it at her throat.
"Let go of her!" A voice called.
"Unhand her, or your punishment will be worse than death itself!"
Soon, Nuriko and Seta came into view, Nuriko charging to the tree, threatening with her fists to knock the whole thing down before he could do anything. His smirk grew, and he poked the dagger closer to her throat, nearly breaking the skin. She choked up, and wondered if this was the right job for her after all... At least she couldn't say her life was boring.
"Your efforts are futile. This land will belong to us, and this little brat will not get in our way! It ends now!" He prepared to slash her throat.
"Not today, I'm afraid!" called an unfamiliar voice. Everyone looked around, but none could see a body to fit the sound. Suddenly, a bright light flashed at the top of the tree, startling Nuriko into hitting it...causing the tree to begin to collapse.
Just as the light appeared, time seemed to slow for Ayako, and she squinted her eyes to see a person other than the assassin...a man, yes, but it was much too bright to see any significant details.
"Who..." And just like that, time sped back up, and she found herself free-falling!
"Dammit! You're not getting injured on my account again!" Nuriko called, and ran to catch the miko. The girl fell into the woman's arms with a soft thud, and she smiled up at her in a thankful gesture. "Jeez, I just can't take my eyes off you for a second, can I?" she chuckled, not really annoyed. She didn't know why, but she was beginning to like her miko.
"Oh no...where did the assailant go?" Hotohori noticed, and looked quite worried, as Hikaru was away from the group.
"LET GO OF ME!"
"...I've made a mistake!" He ran as quickly as he could back to where they had left her, the others following swiftly behind, Ayako back on her feet.
"Stay still, you wench!"
"Not likely!" Hikaru avoided his attacks with amazing ease, trying to tire him out. "I dare you to hit me, just try!" Taking the dare, he swung at her, injuring his arm a bit as she ducked out of the way. She punched him hard in the face, catching him off guard.
"Hikaru!" She looked up to see the others.
"Oh, hey, Ayako!" She pointed at the bruised man happily.
"Watch out! He's got a poisoned blade!"
"Huh..?" The twin turned around, and quickly tried to dodge the attack...but to no avail; he may not have cut her deeply, but the scratch on her cheek was enough to stun her, allowing the poison to spread.
"VILLAIN!" Hotohori cried, aiming his sword for a stab as he ran toward the man. The assassin smirked, thinking he could escape easily, but when he turned, Nuriko was there! He tried to take the opening between them, but Nuriko quickly grabbed him, and Tamahome suddenly appeared, using a flying kick to knock him to the ground.
"Ooomf!"
"Now tell me, why are you attacking us?" Nuriko demanded.
"Hehehe..." he saw the barrage of arrows just moments before they rained down into his body from the sky, piercing him deeply and making him bleed profusely. "She was...too feisty...anyway..!" he joked looking at Hikaru just before he passed on.
"That's it! I can't take it anymore! I just want to go back home...it may be boring compared to all this, but at least we won't have to worry anymore!" Seta felt like she was about to have a mental breakdown, and fell to her knees, crying, something she rarely did in plain sight.
After another half an hour of searching, they managed to find the river, and the fog finally lifted. Seta walked behind everyone, looking down, accompanied by Hikaru, who tried to comfort her. Apparently the poison in the blade that nicked her was only enough for a short-lived, temporary paralysis, almost like a spider's venom.
"So, you say you're heading to a city in the west of the prefecture? Well, I dunno how to break this to you, but you're waaay off course!"
"I knew this might happen..." Hotohori sighed, disappointed.
"I've travelled around a good portion of Hong-nan for various jobs, so I've got it pretty mapped out in my head. Now, if my calculations are right, then we're much closer to the northern prefectures. There should be another village not too far from here if we follow the river to the east just a bit. I think we should buy a map while we're there, plus I need to get some food for my travels...I'm about out."
"I see. You seem to be quite a valuable asset to our team, Master Tamahome", Hotohori complimented and smiled respectfully, making the younger of the two blush slightly with embarrassment.
The village came into sight rather quickly, much to their excitement and relief. It was a very lively place with children running around as well as se adults. Ayako was beginning to worry and wonder whether or not this was a safe place for a girl with a broken arm... Her unvoiced question was quickly answered when a woman rammed straight into it! She had light brown hair, half put up into loops in the back, and wildly blue, extremely apologetic eyes
"AHHHHHH!" she shrieked, she was sure that it must've broken even more. 'That's it, they might as well just amputate it now cuz it's never gonna heeeeeal!' Tears filled her eyes, but they did not fall over the lids.
"Oh my goodness, I am sooo sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going...please, come with me, I'll take you to my fiance-he's a doctor!" She insisted that Ayako come with her, abandoning the spring rolls she had been carrying home to the ground. Nuriko assured the emperor and the others that she would keep an eye on her to keep her out of harms way in the meantime, allowing them to do what they needed before moving on.
"I'm home!"
"Ahh! Where are those delicious spring rolls..huh? Who's this?" a tall man with a purple and yellow headband that held up his relatively short black hair looked at the girl, and answered his own question when he saw the sling her arm was in.
"I bumped into this poor girl even after she had already had an injury...please, darling, won't you treat her?" She gave him puppy-dog eyes, and his heart melted, just like it did every time she looked at him that way.
"Of course, a patient is a patient! Please, sit over here." He gestured to a chair beside their dinner table, sweetly. "Are you injured, miss?" he asked, referring to Nuriko.
"Oh, no, I'm just her guardian."
"You have a pretty daughter", the woman complimented, unaware of what the purple-haired seishi really meant.
"She's not exactly my daughter...but she might as well be; she gets into enough trouble!"
"Yeah, as if half of the time it's not your fault!" Ayako teased, looking at her arm, which was throbbing.
"Let me take a look at that..." The young doctor untied the sling, and slowly unbandaged the arm itself, a look of horror entering his eyes at how bad the break actually was. "Are you aware that it's become infected-?"
"WHAT?" Ayako shouted, loudly. "PLEASE tell me you don't have to amputate it!" she pleaded. He laughed whole-heartedly, and shook his head a bit.
"It's nothing I can't handle. You may feel some slight discomfort, but your arm will be as good as new soon, I promise." He took a swab and dabbed it in a cleansing oil and gently rubbed off some of the infection. She jumped. "I'm sorry, did it hurt?"
"Cold..!" He smiled at her, then threw the swab into the fire to kill the germs.
"This should warm you up, then..." He lifted his left hand. "I must ask you to close your eyes, though. You too, ma'am." They blinked, but did as they were told.
Ayako felt warmth, just as he had promised, and her arm was beginning to feel better and better, as though it were going back in time.
"Lift your arm."
"What?" She was a little scared of the pain that would come with that.
"Just trust me." Terrified, she slowly did as he asked, and lifted it until it hit a barrier. She opened her eyes to find that she had lifted it almost all the way with no pain at all until she touched his hand above her head.
"Amazing..!" She was nearly speechless. Her arm was entirely healed! "I...I don't know what to say...I'm so thankful!" she stumbled.
"That's perfectly alright."
"I saw you with a group of people...won't they be worried about you?"
"Wait, how much do we owe you?" Nuriko asked.
"Just be healthy. I don't need money."
"Thank you so much, mister...?"
"You can call me Mr. Miao."
"We are in your debt, Mr. Miao..." Nuriko finished. "Let's go, Ayako!"
The couple watched happily as the two ran from the house. The man looked weak all of a sudden, causing a clatter as he fell to the table. A small white cat with brown markings walked up to him, mewing sadly.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, Shao-huan...thank you. I just...used too much at once."
"Here, I'll get you some water."
Ayako and Nuriko overheard the two, and debated on whether they should go back inside, when the others called to them from the distance.
"We got a map, guys! C'mon, let's hurry before it gets too late in the day!" Seta called, thankfully more cheerful; the faster they assembled the seishi, the faster they could go home.
"Coming!"
"That's amazing, how was he able to do it?" Hikaru asked.
"I'm not sure, but I feel better than ever!" she stretched to emphasize the freedom. "There isn't even a scar, see?"
"That seems a bit suspicious, does it not?" Hotohori thought aloud. "I wonder..."
"-If we'll make the perfect couple? Of COURSE we will, Sire!" He sweat-dropped.
"Give it a rest!" Hikaru shouted, and Nuriko gave an innocent smile and a wink.
"Oh yeah! I just remembered..." Tamahome stated.
"Hmm?" Ayako looked at the boy curiously.
"So how much're ya gonna pay me for my services as a seishi?" He looked incredibly hopeful, with a boyish grin displayed quite clearly on his face.
Author's Note:: Not quite according to the script, but ya gotta admit it's original, huh? huh? :D lolz anyway, I'll get to working on chapter 9 as soon as I can, in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the double-dose of FY 'What if' -^_^-
e-mail questions to fy_whatif (at) ymail . com for a quick response!
