(Back to Aya's POV)
I found myself standing in the midst of my backyard. The one that I had grown up with. The one from before I had been living in that cooped apartment. The place I had lived with-
"Eh!? Mother!?" I yelled in astonishment.
I saw her sitting on a large rock by the stream that I remembered used to flow through the small garden. I stepped over towards her.
She answered," Yes, it is I."She was wearing a red kimono with black flowers on it. She didn't seem as translucent either as she had been in the dark void earlier. Her wavy black hair shimmered.
"Yeah, but what are you doing here....? Why are we in our old backyard?"
She smiled playfully," This is a dream, Aya. I promised I would see you again, did I not?"
"Like hell you did, you said maybe! That's not a promise!"
"Haha~same anger issues as always. Although, now that you've reached the height of those adolescent years, that might change. You're practically an adult now. My, how time flies..."
"Its...good to see you, mother."
She stared downwards with unreadable eyes,"I've missed you too, dear. But I wanted to visit you to see how you have been faring with your journey," her lip curled up," Any boyfriends?~Hmmm~?"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Neh? Aren't you with Fai-kun~?"
" He was just doing that boyfriend thing to cause my misery, don't remind me! ah...wait, how do you know that retard?!"
"It's~a~secret~!" she teased.
"What kind of secret is that!?"
" Teehee~I'll avoid that question!~"
"What!? Don't ignore me!"
She closed her eyes and didn't say anything for a moment.
I blinked, "...Are you okay?..."
She opened her eyes again and looked at me," Its....nothing..."
"Mom?..."
"...Its alright for you not to fully understand the things you have faced or will be facing. You've been thrown into the midst of something beyond anything you would have imagined back in Japan. Traveling through different realms, facing new and unknown dangers...it is quite a lot to take in."
"Yes..."
"And you payed Yuuko's price."
"You know Yuuko?!" She seemed to know everyone I was forced to be involved with. And the worst of it all, the most troublesome ones...
She grinned a little," Let's just say Yuuko and I were very good friends. Back to the point...there couldn't have been any other way for you to go to another world without her help."
I turned my head to the side," I've lost my memories of father. That was my price to travel dimensions. I wasn't entirely sure in the beginning what exactly was my purpose in this all, I mean, everyone is very kind to me, the people I'm traveling with, and I have Masumi...but..."
"But what?"
"I'm...well sometimes I feel like I don't know who I am anymore..."
"That isn't an alien emotion then. There are times when we all feel like that. That feeling will go away. But I don't know if the transition from it will be a good feeling or a bad feeling for you...," her eyes gazed into mine. They looked almost teary,"I know you can't and won't remember your father, but he would have been so proud to see you right now..."
She looked up at the setting sky,"...I'm sorry, Aya, I don't like doing this, but there are still boundaries that hold me back to the spirit world. I've spent much too long here, I have to go. You too. You are needed back in your world, whichever one you are in. Now....please wake up...."
My eyes fluttered open. I scowled. I hated how our conversations in the dreams always seemed to end with her saying riddles...because I hated solving them. What the heck did she mean by transitioning?!
As I stood up, I shivered. The room was cold, and the floor I had been laying against had been hard and unforgiving. I was starting to remember now...I had been hit on the head with something hard. The assaulter must have brought me here.
"Damn it...I was careless..." I hated being screwed with. Plus, I was starting to have a strong dislike for how much I'd been sleeping these days. It wasn't normal.
I checked my surroundings. A crappy, splintered wood ceiling, the floor was cement and dusty, the walls were stone and had many cracks and crevices. There was a shackle attached to my bare ankle, but whoever put it on was a bakahead because the hinges on the chain that held it to the wall had already rusted so much that I easily tugged it and it disconnected. I got up and walked towards the door, which for a strange reason, was already open. That's when I wondered...
"The princess is...I hope she's alright...", I mumbled. As soon as I walked out the door...
"Aya!!!!" Sakura grabbed my arm and continued running. In her left hand she was holding some sort of large crystal. It had her memory feather inside it. There were children following behind her. The children of the village!
"S-Sakura?! You scared me! Phew, well at least you're okay! That's your feather! What's going on? The children-"
"Ehhh, long story! We have to get the children out of here and back to the village! Gah!-" She tripped on one of the cobblestones.
"Sakura!" I picked up the crystal with her feather and bent down to help her up. Just then, I saw Doctor Kyle running towards us.
"Doctor?!"
"Aya! Sakura! I came to find you guys! Here, let me help Sakura up, it must hurt running barefooted like that."
She held her hand back,"...How do you know I'm barefooted?...."
He sneered," You're clever. Like that boy...come now, Aya. Hand me that thing you're holding, it must be heavy, right?"
I clutched the feather close to me," No."
"Sakura, Aya!" I saw Syaoran running towards the Doctor and us. Masumi, Fai, and Kurogane right behind him.
Th doctor now had me cornered. I motioned my head over in their direction, implying Sakura to go to them. She looked back at me reluctantly, but nodded and ran over to Syaoran.
"You little brats...." he growled. I could have sworn I heard Kurogane mumbling somewhere in the background 'That's my line.'
"...Oh well, I don't need that girl or you, I want that feather. Hand it over, please."
"I will not."
"Very well then," he pulled out a knife," I'll just have to make you!"
I squeezed my eyes shut, tears were flowing out of them. Goodbye world...I mean worlds.
"Stop! Move out of the way!" I heard a familiar voice shout as they grabbed me just before the doctor's knife sliced through me.
I opened my eyes, tears were still streaming down my face.
"...Masumi?....Masumi!! You're bleeding!" I noticed some blood gushing out from her right shoulder.
"Its....fine...this isn't...that bad...won't die", she gasped and even tried to smile a little.
I gripped the top part of her dress," Masumi....you...stupid...don't do that...ever again."
"Don't....do what....?...Save your life? We're friends...right....?" she said with a light grin and lost consciousness.
I clenched my fist, "...Don't you force yourself to smile for my sake either when you're in pain, fool....owwww...." I felt my bandaged arm from Hanshin, the blood had been starting to seep through the cloth from when we had crashed against the floor.
CRACK!
Water started to blast out from one of the walls.
"The lever that held the water back broke! We have to get out! Get the children out!" Syaoran yelled. Whatever that meant, but it sounded okay with me.
I started to push Masumi slowly up against my shoulder. I held in a yelp. My right arm was not cut out for any more of this. Kurogane came beside me.
"Here let me help you. Hand me over that idiot," he was carrying 2 kids already.
"But Kurogane...."
"Its an insult to my strength as a ninja, saying he can't carry 2 kids and a clown. And you can't carry her with your condition right now," he pulled her on his shoulder, "Plus, when she wakes up, I want to be around to give her a good punch in the head."
Mokona popped out of nowhere,"Geez, Kuro-pipi is such a violent person! Mokona will knock some sense into his head too!~ Pow Pow!~" Mokona danced on his head.
"Damn it Manjuu-bun, not now!"
I smiled," Thank you, Kurogane."
"Tch. Whatever."
"Let's get moving, my darling!~ Don't wanna drown!", I felt myself get scooped up.
"What the hell!? Who the..." That's when I looked up to see the blue eyes," Oh...its just you, mage. Hmph. And stop calling me darling and stuff, would you cut it with the shitty boyfriend act!?"
"Aw, whats with the gloomy expression?" a fake tear was out of one eye.
"For your information, I can walk just fine."
"Phew, yeah, I'm struggling here!~" He acted like he was limping as he ran.
"Then put me down, weakling!...wait I'm not fat!"
"Never said you were~ heheh~!"
"God, I hate this world! Its too cold and annoying and unpredictable! And you're not making it any better!" I pointed my finger at his face.
"Hey whoa, stop shuffling and ranting about, it makes it hard to run," he whimpered.
"Ehhhh?! Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Just don't move around so much...that arm of yours....I'll bandage it when we get back," he patted my head.
"....thank you...Hey! Don't pat my head like I'm some dog!"
"A hug then?~"
"In your perverse dreams, sicko."
"How do you know what I dream about?"
"I don't! There's probably nothing in that shell you call a brain to process a dream anyway!"
"You're right...I don't have dreams...at least, not the good kind...," he muttered.
At the last second, we had reached it to the other side of the frigid river, when the castle had collapsed to nothing but a pile of rocks and debris.
"Hey, where's the doctor!?" A villager man asked.
I gazed over at the heap of stone on the other side," He had the same fate as the castle....and blondie! You can put me down already!!"
"Okay!~" Fai dropped me into the snow.
"At least give me a better spot to land!"
"You didn't specify~"
"You evil little-"
"Thank you...for saving the children," I turned around to see the Princess Emauraude.
"Of course," Sakura said. I simply nodded.
"I finally...feel at peace...here, you may have this," she broke the ice around the feather and placed it into Sakura, " goodbye, please be careful on the rest of your trip, someone has been spying on you....," and with that said, she vanished.
"Bye....wait...spying on us....?" Sakura and I both mumbled in unison. We looked around.
"Who are you two talking to?" Kurogane asked.
In the distance of the trees....
"The doctor has failed," the man said as he spoke into a communication device.
"Ah, I know. But never mind it, just a slight miscalculation. The power to control time and space will be mine indeed....and after all, I still have my pawns.
Wooo!~ End of Chp 9! Thank you for all reviews, so many from last chp! I have 600+ something hits now , it means a lot! Plz, if you read and you like, I'd love getting more reviews! I like hearing ideas and comments that keep me writing '^^ I want to make chp 10 something really special!
