9th, two to go! :)
FANFICTION
KAMIGAMI NO ASOBI : THE THREAT OF THE HURRICANE
CHAPTER IX : Lost Light
[ The group goes to the Japanese Realm to find out the truth about the shutdown. Yui is more and more anxious, especially when they realise that a real panic had stricken the Japanese Realm. Sure that Takeru is dead, they try to find out the truth when Yui follows Usamaro who guides her to Tsukito and Takeru. ]
Tsukito and the gods were still staring at Yui who was crying on Takeru's chest, too shocked to do anything…
Suddenly one of the two men who were with Takeru before Yui entered jumped towards the girl and grabbed her by her t-shirt, pulling her away and lifting her from the ground while she screamed in surprised. Takeru reacted, lifting up as well while all the gods were screaming and already threatening the man.
"What do you think you're doing?! Attacking our King! You'll be-"
"Iruka!" Takeru screamed, putting a hand on his arm and glaring at him. "Stop it!"
The young man stared at the blue haired god and raised an eyebrow.
"But.. she attacked you…" He said, tilting his head on a side in a sheepishly way.
"I know! I mean! No! She didn't attack me! It's Yui Kusanagi!" Takeru said, pulling on the man's arm to let him go of the young girl.
"Yui.. Kusanagi?" He repeated, frowning. "Our Que-"
"Shut up!" Takeru suddenly exclaimed, blushing and pulling him away from Yui with more strength than he expected.
Iruka wavered backwards, almost falling but he didn't seem to care. He stared at Takeru then Yui and smiled widely, leaning towards Yui.
"All my apologises, my Q-"
"Iruka!" Takeru screamed once again, glaring at his companion.
"I mean, all my apologises, Miss Yui!" He exclaimed. "I didn't know you were the Yui Kusanagi! I wouldn't have taken you away from my King otherwise! I thought you were attacking him!"
"I.. I figured it out…" She hesitated, looking away from the man.
He was a young smiling man with light blue hair, almost white and blue sparkling eyes. He was wearing an indigo blue Japanese kimono for men: a hakama – wide pants – and a haori – a short jacket. He had Japanese sandals and seemed to shine of joy while happily looking at Yui.
She glanced at the gods and Takeru, a bit worried but Freyr reacted before anyone else seeing the other man who was next to Takeru.
"Hermód?" He hesitated.
The god had blond hair and brown eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed to have been interrupted but Yui quickly realised he was a Norse god. Apparently, his fellow Norse gods didn't know about him coming here and they were as surprised to see him as the others.
"What are you doing here?" Baldr asked.
"I am doing my job, well, I did it until this human girl came and ruined everything!"
Takeru frowned and turned towards the Norse god, pointing him with his finger with an accusing look.
"You weren't doing your job! You were accusing me! Without any reason! You're just a-"
"Susanoo, I think it's enough," Tsukito said.
His brother glanced at him then grumbled something about Norse gods and turned away from Hermód, crossing his arms over his chest and ignoring the others.
"I didn't know you were supposed to come here," Freyr continued to his fellow god.
"Odin had sent me here to look around what was going on," he explained. "He wants me to send messages in every Realm so they know that we are looking for the thief and ready to arrest him."
"I see…" Baldr mumbled. "What were you accusing Takeru of?"
"You mean Susanoo?" The Norse God of Messengers hesitated.
"He was accusing me of being this bloody thief!" The god exclaimed turning around and glaring at Hermód once again. "Like I'd give a shit about your Norse Sword! Seriously! Do you really think I'd lose my time using the Convergence to do such thing!"
"You refused that I looked around!"
"Of course I refused! You're insulting me!"
"You threatened the Norse!"
"You threatened me before I did! And you accused me of thievery! And you are a threat to all Japanese! I don't want to see you here anymore! Not after this accusation! I have other things to do! More important than caring about a Sword!"
"You are being a-"
"Hermód! That's enough!" Freyr yelled suddenly.
Everyone stared at him and he continued, looking annoyed.
"I take care of everything in the Japanese Realm from now on, Hermód. You can go back to the Norse or any Realm you have to go to."
"But-"
"I understand, he threatened you and insulted you but you did as well. Go send the messages, that's all…"
Hermód mumbled something under his breath and nodded.
"If I hear anything about the Japanese Realm, Odin will know about this…" He threatened, looking right at Takeru who snorted disdainfully.
He started to go away, glancing one last time at the Japanese God of Sea and Storms.
"And stop insulting the other gods! Or it'll end up in a war!" Freyr exclaimed.
Hermód didn't answer and Takeru rolled his eyes.
"If there is a war, it won't be because of this Sword but of your behaviour!"
"What do you mean?" Freyr asked, frowning.
"You keep accusing everyone of everything. Give us a break! It's not surprising almost all Realms are ignoring you!"
"You ignored us!"
"We have other problems to deal with!"
"You-"
"I think it's enough yells for a day!" Apollon exclaimed, stepping forward. "Take-Take! It's been such a long time!" He exclaimed.
Takeru looked at his friends but kept frowning.
"What are you all doing here? And what is she doing here?" He asked, glancing at Yui who gasped, surprised by his tone.
"Uh.. that's a long story?" Apollon hesitated.
"What about we all calm down, sit and talk?" Baldr proposed.
"I think we might need to calm down, indeed…" Artemis mumbled.
Takeru looked at everyone one after the other and his gaze stared longer at Yui before he sighed.
"Right… I'll go change, Iruka, take care of them…" He said, turning away.
"Aye, my King!" The young man said, jumping happily to guide the others.
Tsukito stared at his brother before following the others.
They all entered a huge room and they sat, Japanese-style, waiting for Takeru to come back and Iruka to come with tea. Now that he realised none of the guest were any threat to anyone, he was always smiling and happily obeying orders.
Takeru finally came back in his human form, his golden eyes gone to let the cinnamon colour shine instead. His hair was the same as back at the Academy. He was wearing an outfit similar to the one he was wearing when he was in his room with Tsukito.
He sat with everyone else when Iruka arrived and put cups and tea for everyone. He was about to leave when Takeru called him:
"Iruka, stay here, please," he said.
He happily obeyed and sat next to the God of Sea who sighed before introducing:
"Iruka, you already know most of them here. Yui, this is Iruka, my second."
The blue haired God glanced at Artemis and Freyr and Baldr introduced them:
"Freyr is the Norse God of Sun and Prosperity."
"And this Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt, my twin sister," Apollon said.
"You have a twin sister?" Takeru repeated. "Goddess of the Moon, nevertheless… Kinda reminds me of someone, right Tsukito?" He asked, glancing at his brother who nodded.
But both had worried eyes, saying this…
"Anyway, it doesn't matter…" Takeru continued. "What are you all doing here?" He asked.
"We are looking for the thief who stole my Sword, the Sword of Life," Freyr said.
"Yeah, I figured it out after your mate yelled it at me a few dozen of times…" He mocked.
"What Takeru means," Tsukito said, "is that we do not understand why you are coming here in the Japanese Realm."
"Well.. it's a long story…" Apollon said with a sheepishly grin.
"And what is she doing here?" Takeru asked, pointing at Yui and frowning.
"Another.. long story ..?" Hesitated the Sun God.
Yui lowered her head. She didn't understand why since they arrived Takeru kept glaring at her and pointing at her, asking why she was here as if he didn't want to see her. But maybe it was the case…
"What?! What do you mean she has been chosen by your Pythia?!" Takeru exclaimed suddenly, getting Yui back in reality.
"I don't know why either," Apollon answered.
"This is bad! Now she'll stay in the middle of all this until the thief is found!" He mumbled.
Yui swallowed, realising that he did not want to see her around… She looked away, sadder than she would have thought and Tsukito probably noticed it because he stared at his brother.
"Takeru, don't say such harsh things," he said. "Even if you want to keep her safe, there is no need to say it this way…"
Takeru glanced at his brother and Yui, surprised. The Japanese girl stared at Takeru, surprised that all his harsh words were to protect her. Their eyes met and they both looked away, Takeru too embarrassed to say anything and Yui with a little smile on her face, reassured.
"A-anyway… What about the thief?" Takeru asked. "Did you find him?"
"That's why we're here," Freyr said.
"Uh?! Are you accusing the Japanese?!" Takeru exclaimed, frowning.
Freyr sighed and shook his head.
"We don't know, we have a few suspects here and there," he said glancing at Yui and Loki. "But we can't be sure until we find the Sword. We came in the Japanese Realm for two reasons: firstly, because of the unexplained shutdown. Secondly, because of Yui."
"Yui?" Tsukito repeated, surprised.
"She's having dreams that has something to do with the thievery," Apollon said.
"She saved me from a trial that would have cost me my head," Loki added.
"And she dreamed of you," Artemis continued.
"M.. me?" Takeru hesitated.
The gods looked at each other, wondering if they could talk about it but Baldr answered with sad worried eyes.
"She dreamed of your death, Takeru…"
"My.. my what?" He repeated with wide eyes.
"Who dares threatening my King?!" Iruka suddenly yelled.
"We don't know," Loki replied.
"We didn't even know if the dream was from the past or the future or if it's just any dream," Thor added.
Takeru seemed a little shocked and he swallowed before forcing himself to smile.
"Well, I'm not dead and I won't let anyone kill me!"
"That's why you were so moved earlier," Tsukito said to Yui who nodded hesitantly.
"When we saw all the panic and when you looked saddened, Tsukito… I thought.. I thought Takeru was really dead…"
"What is it with this panic, anyway?" Loki asked.
"Does it have anything to do with the shutdown?" Freyr asked.
The two Japanese gods looked at each other and even Iruka lowered his head, dropping his smile. The atmosphere suddenly changed and became heavier before Takeru started to explain:
"Well… As we kept repeating it, we have a huge problem here… And this is the reason of the shutdown and the panic…"
"What happened?" Apollon asked.
The two brothers shared a gaze one last time before Takeru sighed and answered while Tsukito was looking at the table.
"Our sister.. had disappeared…"
Silence fell in the room before Freyr suddenly hit the table with his fist.
"She must be the thief!" He stiffed.
"She's not!" Takeru exclaimed, frowning. "Stop accusing everyone please!"
Baldr elbowed Freyr slightly to force him to calm down and he lowered his head while Tsukito started talking:
"A few days ago, just when the Convergence started, our sister, Amaterasu disappeared. She is the Goddess of the Sun and Takama-ga-hara's leader…"
"Takama-what?" Loki asked.
"Takama-ga-hara," Yui said. "The.. sacred land of the Japanese gods…"
"Y.. yes… How do you know that?" Takeru asked.
"I.. uh.. I don't know? I probably heard it back at the shrine…"
"Anyway, she suddenly disappeared and we have no idea what happened to her or why she left," Tsukito explained. "But there are already a lot of consequences of her disappearance: we lost our leader and our sun."
"Is this why it's night, here?" Apollon asked.
They nodded while Yui opened wide eyes.
"The sun? But! The missing sun! Is it because of that?"
Takeru nodded once again before continuing:
"Since her disappearance, everyone is panicking. Not just because we don't have a sun and because the sun disappeared from the human World as well, but also because she is our leader and she is the one making all the decisions usually…"
"Without her, we're completely lost…" Tsukito added.
"We figured it out…" Loki mocked, looking away.
"That's why we shut down and ignored you, we were busy trying to find our sister," Takeru said, looking right into Freyr's eyes.
He nodded slightly before continuing:
"Don't think I'm accusing anything or anyone, but would there be a chance she is the thief?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"I doubt it, why would she ever need it?" Takeru said.
"Plus, she already has a powerful Sword on her own, it disappeared as well so we think she took it and ran away somewhere to do something," Tsukito explained.
"A Sword?" Baldr repeated, frowning.
"Yes, the Kusanagi-no-tsurugi Sword," the God of Moon answered.
Yui opened wide eyes and lowered her head, trying to hide her face with her hair. How could she have the Sword if it belonged to Amaterasu?
But no one seemed to notice her change of mood even if Loki frowned, thinking about the Sword.
"If she already has a Sword, I don't see why she would steal mine but still, her disappearance is really weird…"
"We need to find her before the end of the Convergence… Or it might get worst after that…"
"With the sun missing," Tsukito started, "and the disasters that keep falling on the human World because of the tensions between Realms, it became a terrible place to be right now…"
"Di.. disasters?" Yui repeated. "What do you mean?"
"Well… Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanos… The usual things…" Takeru answered.
"But.. but! Zeus said.. He said that it would happen only with a war!" She exclaimed, staring at Apollon.
"Sure, with a war it would only increase, but.. with the tensions, ti's enough to have consequences in the human World…" Freyr explained.
Yui breathed and slowly she swallowed.
"What.. what about my parents..? And my brothers, and my friends?!" She exclaimed, lifting up and staring at the tow Japanese gods.
"Don't worry, the shrine is fine," Takeru answered. "There were only two earthquakes in your town," he added.
"Only two earthquakes?!" She repeated. "I have to go!"
"Fairy! Wait!" Apollon exclaimed.
Baldr caught her arm and she looked at them.
"It's too dangerous, plus, we can't let you go right now…"
"We'll go check on your family, I promise," continued Apollon, "but wait a little longer…"
She looked at each of them and Baldr continued:
"Please…" He begged.
She fell on her knees once again but before anyone could add anything, someone suddenly entered in the room. It was the same Japanese woman from earlier but she didn't seem to realise there were gods from other Realms in the room, she stared at Takeru and Tsukito with eyes full of panic.
"Tsukuyomi! Susanoo!" She called.
"What's going on, Shizuka?" Tsukito asked.
"Your sister! Amaterasu! The locating spells finally worked!"
The two brothers stood up suddenly, staring at the Japanese who continued:
"She's here! In the Japanese Realm! But we can't find where exactly!"
"That's still a huge clue to know she's still here!" Tsukito said.
"Let's send more people after her," Takeru added. "Now we know we have to search here!"
They were about to get out of the room when they remembered their friends and turned towards them; Takeru turned towards Iruka.
"Take care of them, Iruka! I'll come back as soon as possible!"
"Aye, my King!" He exclaimed.
Running after Shizuka, the two gods left them…
A few minutes later, Iruka guided all of them in rooms. He took care of Yui in last and he guided her in another part of the Palace. She looked everywhere and realised that even if it was a traditional Japanese building, something felt different. All the lights seemed to be blue despite the normal white lights everywhere. The atmosphere seemed.. different…
Iruka noticed Yui looking everywhere and staring at the blue reflections everywhere and he explained:
"We're under the sea," he said.
"Wh-what?!" She exclaimed, shocked.
He smiled and she shook her head.
"That's impossible! The Palace we were in, it was on a hill! On the ground! On the earth, we can't be under water!"
"You crossed through a water door, right?" He said.
"Yes.. but.."
"It lead you here, in Susanoo's undersea Palace."
"You.. you mean that all this belongs to Takeru?" She hesitated.
"Of course, he's our King after all!" He answered with a smile.
She looked at his smiling face and she asked what bothered her since she met him.
"Why do you call him 'King'?"
"Well, that's obvious, he's the King of the Seas."
"I know he is the God of Sea and Storms but.."
"He's one of the three most powerful gods of the Japanese Realm. The real Japanese gods, not the Shinto ones you humans are usually praying in Japan… Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo are the three most important gods here. Amaterasu takes care of everyone and with Tsukuyomi, they reign on the surface while down here, it's Susanoo. He is the King of all the Japanese Seas and undersea creatures. He can create storms and he usually is the one behind all the typhoons."
Not answering, Yui stared at the young man who explained all this. She knew who was Tsukuyomi and Susanoo of course, she knew that her two friends, Tsukito and Takeru were gods. These gods… But back at the Academy, she never truly understood how powerful and how.. divine all the gods were before the battle… But as Thoth told her, they are gods and they are different from her…
She never thought that Takeru who spent most of his time sleeping under a tree or in class would be so important and had so many duties…
"Is he a good god?" She asked, not really knowing why she would ask such a question.
Even Iruka seemed surprised and thought of it a long time.
"A good god? I don't think a god can be 'good'… He is executing his duties and sometimes, it's not always in a good way. As a human you would most probably accuse him of being responsible for the storms and typhoons that can destroy places and hurt people. But it's part of a cycle to preserve a balance in the Universe. If you want the good to be, you need the bad as well. If you want the light, you need the darkness…"
He paused before continuing, looking straight into Yui's brown eyes.
"But my King has always been lonely and unpredictable, just like the Sea. All the other gods, even knowing his power and his rank, always acted the same way towards him. They were rude and he became hateful and mistrustful of everyone except Tsukuyomi… Even his sister Amaterasu was often angry at him even if they try to maintain the feeling of family holding them together…"
Yui remembered what Tsukito told her at the Academy. That the gods accused Takeru to be responsible for a goddess' death while he only tried to save her. He wouldn't trust anyone because of that and she had a hard time earning his trust…
"But since he came back from Zeus' Academy.. he has changed…" Iruka hesitated.
"Changed?" She repeated.
"He still has his anger issues, as you saw earlier… But he's calmer and more opened to everyone…"
He turned his blue sparkling eyes towards Yui and continued:
"I think it's thanks to you…"
"M-me?" She repeated, blushing lightly not even understanding why.
"Yes, he told me everything about you and everything you've all been through at the Academy. He told me how thankful he was to you, he told me how you had saved him and changed him, he told me how much he wanted to keep you safe, he told me when you protected him from Zeus' anger… He told me everything…" He repeated looking right into her eyes.
Yui blinked and looked away, not able to look back at him, blushing even more from his words…
Iruka smiled and opened a shoji, showing her a bedroom.
"Here is your room, Yui Kusanagi. You are right next to my King's apartments and Tsukuyomi's ones."
"Wh.. what?" She hesitated, blushing even more and her heart pounding.
"My King will want to keep an eye on you to be sure you are safe."
She lowered her head, hiding her red cheeks with her hair and entered the room. Iruka smiled and closed the shoji, talking to her through it.
"Have a good night, My Queen," he said before walking away.
Closing her eyes, she leaned against the shoji and put her hands on her hot cheeks, shaking her head.
"Come on, what's going on?" She muttered to herself.
She opened her eyes and blinked before gasping of surprise. She stepped in the room, amazed by the beauties in it. There was traditional Japanese furniture but what struck her was the amazing view she had right under her eyes.
She stepped towards a huge round window and looked at the undersea view… The water was clear blue and there were thousands and thousands of colourful fishes swimming in front of the window, looking at her curiously before going away happily. She saw all kinds of fishes and sea creatures like dolphins and sharks, she even saw a whale very far away. With the seaweed and the corals, it was like a magical world of colours and lights…
She heard knocking and she turned to see Takeru hesitantly sliding the shoji.
"Do you like it?" He asked with a smile when he realised what she was looking at.
"It's beautiful! I never thought the sea could be so magnificent!" She exclaimed happily.
He smiled softly at her and got closer, immediately, fishes and creatures came even closer while he put his hand on the window glass… Yui stared at it and smiled happily.
"They like you," she realised.
He laughed and turned towards her.
"They like you too," he said.
"How can you know that?" She asked.
"They told me," he answered as if it was obvious. "They like you and they're happy to see you here…"
She hesitated and glanced at Takeru while he kept looking at the fishes with a protective gaze.
"And.. and you? Are you.. happy to see me here?" She asked in a low voice.
He seemed astonished by the question and stared at her before answering:
"Of course I'm happy to see you here! Why would you even ask me that? I've never been happier than when you jumped on me today!"
Relieved, she breathed and smiled, feeling ashamed to even think he wouldn't like her being here.
"That.. that's great… Since I arrived here I feel as if you want me far away from here…"
He dropped his smile and hesitated before continuing:
"Of course I want you far away from here. A war is about to explode between Realms because of this thievery and everyone at Takama-ga-hara are terribly worried for my sister… You are in danger here and in every Realm and I don't want to know you in danger…"
She looked away and though of what Iruka told her earlier about Takeru wanting to protect her and keep her safe…
"In my World too I would be in danger with all those disasters…"
"Don't worry for your family, Tsukito and I made sure the shrine would be protected and until now, the spell remained."
"Thank you…" She whispered in a voice full of relief.
"I.. I thought you would be there… Not running in every single Realm after this thief…" He added with sad eyes.
"Still, I prefer being here and as useful as I can possibly be to find this thief than hiding in my home while the Worlds are collapsing…" She said with a smile.
He laughed gently and put a hand on her head in a joking way.
"Stop being so stubborn, it'll get you killed someday!"
"No, I'm too stubborn to be killed!" She laughed.
Once again, he laughed with his bright light laugh and his beautiful true smile. She stared at him and when she realised it, she looked away, glancing at the bed. Takeru noticed it and misinterpreted her gaze.
"You're probably tired, you'd better go to sleep. I'll be not too far away, if you need me. Tsukito too isn't far. I wonder why Iruka put you here while all the others are on the other side of the Palace…" He muttered to himself.
Yui smiled sheepishly while the blue haired God left her alone.
She sighed and with a smile went to bed. For the first time in weeks, she felt peaceful going to sleep because she knew Takeru was alive and safe and sound…
The references are explained in this chapter. :)
What do you think of Iruka, by the way? :D
Truly yours,
May
