Diclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Tsubasa Chornicles or the little tree spirits I took from Princess Mononoke! Don't sue me please.
Tainted Memories
Chapter 14:
It was dark. No, it was really dark. Emiri could feel herself becoming more aware of her surroundings and slowly, some light passed through her eyelids. Who the hell is clicking their tongue? Uhg, she thought. The insistent clicking was starting to grate on her nerves. It wasn't just a few of them; there were hundreds of them coming from every direction. Her brows furrowed slightly as she fought with her eyes to open. She had to blink a few times to adjust to the light. What the …
Little white creatures were scattered all around her. It was impossible to tell gender if there were any. They wore no clothing and seemed to be identical to each other except for their heads. Some had very skinny heads; others had circular ones while others had squares, ovals, triangles and all types of assortments. After watching them for a few seconds, Emiri discerned where the annoying clicking was coming from. The heads of the creatures kept turning 90° and then moved back into place in short jerks. With every jerk came a click and with so many, it was no wonder the noise was somewhat deafening.
Looking around she saw her companions sitting beside her. They were all tied to a large wooden pole in the middle of what looked like the creatures' camp. Something must have been wrong with her head because she could not process anything at the moment except that they were in a foreign camp, and someone was yelling.
"GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU RUNTS! HEY DON'T STICK YOUR FINGER THERE!"
"Puuu, they like you!!"
"HEY WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU TIED UP! I SAID STOP!"
Emiri looked to where the shouting was coming from and before she could stop herself burst out laughing.
"What, hahahahaha, happened to, hahahaha, you!" Emiri managed to say while laughing. Her ribs were starting to hurt.
"OI, MAGE DO SOMETHING!" Kurogane yelled. Emiri didn't answer, she was still laughing too hard and with all clicking it was getting hard to hear him.
Kurogane was covered in the little white creatures. They were crawling over his legs, sleeping in his hair, poking his arms and a curious starfish-headed one was trying to shove its fingers up his mouth and nose.
"Wow, Kuro-wan, they really seem to like you!" Fai commented in a happy tone. From it, you wouldn't have been able to tell they were currently hostages.
"Yeah, you have a wonderful affinity for small white creatures," Emiri said before breaking down into another fit of giggles. Syaoran was the one to bring her back to reality.
"What are these things?" he asked.
"Hmm, I'm not sure," she said chuckling. She bent down to get a better look at one circle-head. She couldn't move very far because her arms were tied to the pole, however she was able to bend to, at least, eye level. It obviously didn't appreciate being scrutinized and threw some kind of dust at her face making her cough and sit up.
"Are they dangerous?" Sakura asked.
"I … don't …" Emiri tried to say as her eyes got weaker. She wasn't able to finish her sentence before she fell asleep.
"Emiri!" Sakura cried out worriedly.
"Don't worry, she's just asleep," Fai said scrutinizing her to make sure she was breathing.
"That dust is probably what put us to sleep in the first place."
"Well that's a great help," Kurogane said sarcastically. "Hey manju, get us the hell out of here." Unfortunately for him, Mokona was currently sitting with the white creatures accepting a bowl of stew. "OI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" he continued.
"What's with all the yelling?" a distant voice said. All heads turned to see a person walking up a hill towards them. His short black hair blew in the gentle breeze and his piercing green eyes could be seen clearly, despite the distance. He looked to be around twenty years old and was wearing loose dark brown pants that had pale green buttons along the sides. He wore a dark green, long sleeved, shirt that slid into the same brown as his pants and wore a short necklace with two blue beads surrounding a white one. "And who might you be?" he questioned as he saw them.
The white creatures started to run towards him as soon as they saw him to Kurogane's delight.
"What have you guys found?" he asked one of them that had climbed onto his head.
"Hmm, I didn't think there were any more of you guys, so why is there a new one here," he said looking at Mokona.
"Mokona's different and not one of the forest spirits." He said.
"You can speak to them?" Kurogane grit out looking as though he wanted to kill the white manju.
"It's one of Mokona's 108 secret skills!" he claimed excitedly.
"Alright, alright, so how did you guys make it all the way out here?" the stranger asked.
"Ah," Syaoran started, "we found our way out of the mountain when we fell asleep because of some dust. When we woke up we were here." He said lamely. The person laughed and started to untie them.
"I'm sorry these guys caused you trouble. They don't really trust any human except me. I'm Miron, by the way and it looks like you've stumbled onto my territory." He said. "Wow, you guys did a great job with these knots," he commented to the creatures. While Miron was working, Syaoran introduced everyone.
"Emiri?" Miron said. He froze in his work at the mention of her name. Kurogane's eyes narrowed sensing danger. Miron lifted his head and walked around to the sleeping Emiri and knelt in front of her staring intently into her face. The group tensed as Miron quickly took a knife from one of his pockets and instead of fiddling with the ropes like before, cut through them. He made a stabbing motion towards Emiri but before he could do anything Fai grabbed her and hoisted her into his arms. Missing his target he charged towards Fai but was stopped by a sword at his throat before he could get close. Kurogane stood between him and his targets.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Kurogane spoke dangerously.
"Pfft, you're actually protecting her? She needs to be taught a lesson so get out of my way," Miron said. The forest spirits started to get restless and tried to pull back the two fighters. Even together they were not strong enough to move the two humans away. After a short glaring contest between the two fighters, Miron finally made a move to put his knife away. "Alright, I get it. You won't let me hurt her, just put the sword away and follow me," he said while turning his back to the group and walking away.
"Why the hell should we follow you?" Kurogane demanded.
"Kurogane, I don't think he means to kill," Syaoran said walking up to him. "I know he tried to attack Emiri, but I didn't sense any killing intent. Besides it's starting to get dark and we need to find somewhere to stay," he continued.
"There is no way we're staying with that guy," Kurogane said.
"That's probably for the best," Fai added.
"Hey are you guys coming or what?" Miron shouted. "Just hurry up it's getting dark and we don't want to be stuck in the forest after sunset. I promise I won't go near you guys."
After a quick whispered discussion and a yawn from Sakura and Mokona, the group decided to follow the stranger, albeit a few meters behind.
"Where are we going?" Syaoran called to Miron.
"To my village, it's in the middle of the forest and protected by a strong barrier to keep the demons out." He called back. There was a hint of amusement in his voice and eyes as he looked back at them.
"Why did you try and attack Emiri?" Fai asked. Miron completely stopped and turned around to face the group.
"How did you meet that girl?" he asked.
"Answer our question first," Kurogane replied. Miron sighed.
"Listen, a word of advice, once we get to my village it'd be best if you just left her there and went your own ways. She's very dangerous to be around so if you value your lives get away from her as soon as you can," he warned. Fai absentmindedly glanced at the girl in his arms. He was having trouble believing that the face he was looking at could be that dangerous. The way Miron described her was like she herself was a type of demon. However he shook the thought out of his head, it could be true, he thought. Just look at me.
"What are you talking about?" Kurogane growled. Miron was cut off from answering by a sharp howling that almost sounded like hundreds of people screaming.
"What was that?" Sakura asked fearfully. Mokona slid further into her arms and the rest of the group looked around them for any sign of danger.
"We'd better finish this discussion once we reach the village," Miron said as he quickened his pace, as did the others.
"What was that?" Syaoran repeated Sakura's question.
"If we don't hurry we're going to find out. My guess is emberins," he said breathing slightly harder.
"Emberins?" Fai asked.
"Keep running I'll explain later," Miron said as he increased his pace. They had luckily reached the village in only another ten minutes. They came up to large wooden doors that seemed to be the entrance of the town. A small stone path had led up to the town which was circled by logs the same height as the door.
"Open up, it's me," Miron said loudly. A watchman at the top looked down to them at Miron's call.
"Who do you bring with you? It is folly for strangers not of this land to be in these woods," the guard said eyeing the groups clothing.
"They are with me and no threat. I heard many emberins earlier and I doubt they didn't know we were there. I would open the doors quickly before they catch up," Miron said a little more commanding.
"Ah yes, we heard them as well. But then there's still her to deal with. You don't expect her to take shelter here do you? She will bring misfortune upon all of us," the guard responded. Miron sighed loudly in frustration.
"Okay listen. I do not have to explain everything that I do to you. I suggest you open the doors now before I knock them down forcefully--don't give me that look, you know I can—then you won't have much defence against the forest," he threatened. The guard once again looked upon the strange group. Syaoran Fai and Kurogane listened to the argument carefully, now weary about the girl still is Fai's arms. Mokona and Sakura looked to the ground trying to ignore the argument. Soon enough, the gates opened for the group and they walked into the village.
The sun was now below the horizon and only the faint glow of twilight remained along with the lanterns among the small town. Even though it was nearing dark, the villagers were still up and lively chattering with neighbours or looking at merchandise. The group followed Miron through the village. He seemed to be popular as almost everyone they passed greeted him warmly. Emiri, in contrast, got many stares, some of them hostile. Kurogane slowed down and set his pace to Fai's.
"The mage doesn't seem to be very popular. She's hiding something," he said.
"We all have secrets," Fai responded nonchalantly. Kurogane narrowed his eyes.
"You would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Kurogane said. Fai's eyes darkened and the air became thick with tension but he didn't respond. The silence between the two was broken when Miron spoke.
"Alright this is my house. You may stay here with me," he said. At Kurogane's intense look he continued, "or there is an inn just down the street that you can go to. Of course, you'll have to pay." The group looked at each other but before they could say anything Emiri woke.
"Uhg, where are we?" she said groggily. A questioning look came to her face when she realized Fai was staring down at her. She looked around in confusion and signalled for Fai to let her down. Miron had become very quiet during this time and seemed to be very stiff. Emiri also became stiff as she realized where she was.
"Nice of you to join us," Miron said. Emiri whipped around and her eyes widened. "Ah, I see you remember me."
"Oh oh." Emiri said starting to back away.
"You've been skipping out on your training." Miron stated. The group looked on in silence as they conversed.
"What makes you say that?" Emiri said still backing away. Faster than she could see, Miron was right behind her pinning her arms together. Both Kurogane and Fai made a move to get Emiri away but were quickly stopped by her voice. By this time, many of the towns people were watching, some looking on in amusement, other looking as if she was getting what she deserved.
"Wait what's going on?" Syaoran asked unconsciously placing Sakura behind him.
"Don't worry, its fine," Emiri said struggling to break free.
"Alright, now that I have you, you are coming inside with me." Miron sated while literally shoving her to his door. "You guys should come in too," he said watching them.
The group was concerned for Emiri but could see that she didn't want them to interfere.
The villagers slowly left as Emiri was pulled into the house and the hesitant group soon followed. Miron shoved Emiri into a chair rather roughly and went into another room.
"I think it's time you explained a few things." Kurogane said. "Who is he?"
"Miron," Emiri curtly replied with a little scorn in her voice.
"We know that, what does he want from you?" Kurogane forcefully asked.
Syaoran, Sakura, Fai and Mokona took a seat on one of the couches and looked on in amusement. Emiri had gotten over her original shock and didn't seem to mind Miron too much so they figured he wasn't too much of a threat and as Fai had stated just loud enough for Kurogane to hear, "We have Kuro-daddy to help if we need it!" earning a vain to pop up in Kurogane's head.
"No idea," Emiri said in response to Kurogane's question, not hearing what Fai had just said. Just when Kurogane was about to speak again, Miron came back.
"Here it is," he said triumphantly as he came into the room holding onto a bunch of plastic cables with needles coming out on one end; the other ends were attached to a black square box. Emiri stiffened at the site of the contraption and a slight hint of fear was wafting off of her.
"No." she stated calmly, though they could easily see the unease in her posture.
"Emiri," Miron said warningly.
"There is no way you are putting that anywhere near me," she said, still deathly calm. The group still looked on and didn't know whether they should interfere or not.
"We'll see about that."
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A/N
And so ends the long process of editing EVERYTHING. The document manager was giving me A LOT of trouble uploading all of these. It would underline everything and italisize everything so I had to go back and make sure that all of the thoughts were italisized. But I finally got it done. I want to send out a really large apology to everyone who's reading this. I know it's been a while. I've actually hit some writers block on this and now with University starting again, I so tired from studying that I don't have much will to write. However, I WILL finish this story, just please be patient. Thank you again for everyone that's stuck with this story throughout the months it hasn't been updated. I'll keep working on it when I can.