Notes: argh! I offer my most sincere apologies for NOT UPDATING. -dies- I hate myself for neglecting this for so long especially since I had this chapter done on my computer a while ago. Please please please keep on going I'm sooo sorry. And yes this may look like the end, but I'm making an epilogue. or two. because the end of this chap sucks. I also think I'm going to work on chapter titles for this story. because I'm cool that way
xxXxxCHAPTER 14xxXxx
Aoshi found a spot at the top of the sloped beach where the sand and gravel met a long grassy stretch. They laid the blanket out and made themselves comfortable. People were lighting lanterns that hung from long bamboo poles driven into the ground, so that nobody would be tripping in the darkness. About five minutes later, a bright signal flare came from across the lake. All lights on the beach were extinguished promptly.
The show began. Misao's delighted gasp was swallowed by the whistle and bang of the first fireworks, her eyes shining in the blues, reds, and yellows that lit up the night sky. Each shower of light in the sky was reflected in shimmering replica by the smooth surface of the lake. Aoshi put an arm around Misao and she snuggled up against him without thinking.
The mood didn't last, however. There was a volley of fireworks with a rapid succession of read and orange flares, popping like gunshots and echoing across the lake. Misao felt Aoshi stiffen and then shudder.
"Aoshi! What's wrong?" Misao wriggled to look up at his face. A terrible anger and sadness etched Aoshi's face as light from another round of fireworks cast it in sharp relief.
"I killed them Misao," he hissed into her ear. "My brothers, my friends. Our friends. It was my fault."
"What are you talking about?" Misao crawled behind Aoshi and wrapped her arms around his chest, feeling helpless distress spread through her.
"We were coming home from a movie late at night," Aoshi told her in a tight voice. "Hyottoko and Shikijo were coming to sleep over that night."
"I don't remember any of this," Misao felt a chill in her spine and pressed herself closer to Aoshi.
"Nobody told you. You were six," Aoshi explained tersely. "They were going to go down the streets, but I said we should cut through the park to save time. Hannya listened to me, so everybody else did too. There were some drunken psychopaths in the park and they had guns."
"What happened?" Misao whispered as the cold feeling grew stronger.
xxxx
.Aoshi's flashback.
"Is it just me or are there people in there?" Beshimi muttered, squinting to try to see in the darkness. They'd left the safety of the streetlights behind them as they stepped into the path through the park.
"You're right, there are," Hannya hissed. "Keep quiet."
"Aoshi nii-san's already so far ahead already," Beshimi could make out the tall figure of his older brother, white shirt floating in the night.
"I'll tell him," Hannya whispered. He turned to Shikijo and Hyottoko, "Watch my little brother."
He sprinted towards his other brother as his friends nodded in agreement. The abandoned nine-year-old's complaints were stifled behind Hyottoko's massive hand.
Hannya reached Aoshi at around the same time he saw the other occupants of the park advancing towards them. When he felt his older brother's hand on his shoulder, Aoshi exchanged a glance of comprehension with him. One of the approaching figures let out a string of insults and curses, words slurred with alcohol. His companions roared in raucous laughter.
The two boys moved apart slightly, dropping into well-practiced martial-arts stances. Hannya's eyesight and reflexes were a touch better than his brother's, and when the first man pushed his hand into a bulky coat pocket the teen hissed to Aoshi, "Guns."
A second later there was a sharp click followed by the gunshot. Hannya stepped sideways and collided with Aoshi forcefully. The younger boy went flying and a bullet pierced his leg where his torso had been. Aoshi let out a cry as he crashed to the pavement. Hannya hollered something and Shikijo was there in an instant, asking Aoshi if he was alright and trying to lift him up from where he lay. The older boy roared in pain when a second volley of bullets hit him, rearing up to cover Aoshi's smaller form.
Aoshi's vision blurred in pain and tears as Shikijo fell, his back a bloody ruin. Hyottoko was screaming, running, his giant build tackling the man with the gun and taking him out easily. Hannya was already gone from the scene, having run to the nearest house for help. Lights were already flashing on nearby in response to their sounds of distress, but not fast enough. Hyottoko was dead within seconds of his short victory as a second man pulled a gun.
Beshimi darted out of the shadows when his friend, mentor and idol crumpled. Aoshi tried to call out to his little brother and hold him back but he was weak with pain and his legs would not move as he commanded. He watched helplessly as the frenzied boy flung rocks at the two remaining attackers and executed one of the football tackles that Hyottoko had been teaching him. His small body was flung backwards and peppered with bullets as Aoshi screamed.
A dark shadow melted out of the darkness behind the two men. Aoshi saw through his tears a white mask with hideous fangs and glowing eyes like a demon, but it could have been an angel. Hannya's changed appearance startled the men enough for him to get one of them down, but his companion had his revolver aimed point blank at the youth's chest before he could make any further move.
"Die."
Bright lights washed the scene as Hannya's lifeless form hit the ground. Aoshi's scream could be heard over the wail of police sirens and the loud commands of the officers. His world was ending.
.end of flashback.
xxxx
"Oh," Misao tried to stop the tears from falling as she held onto Aoshi, her cheek resting against his shoulder.
"I kept that mask. It was cracked but I got all the pieces. The police thought I was crazy," Aoshi shuddered again and something wet fell onto Misao's hand as a brilliant white firework bloomed in the sky. Tears glistened on his face and Misao's heart twisted painfully.
Sliding around to sit beside Aoshi again, she wiped the drops away with her fingers. "It's not your fault. It was a freak accident; how could you have known?"
"I should have just gone with the original plan to take the streets."
"No, you didn't know it would turn out like that," Misao told him sternly, wondering dryly to herself where her patronizing wisdom was coming from. "Do you think Hannya-kun would want you to be like this? Even if it is your fault, he would forgive you. They all would, I'm sure of it."
"How can you say that?" Aoshi growled. "He was fourteen. Fourteen. Beshimi died when he was only nine."
"Does it matter?" Misao asked patiently, taking Aoshi's hand. "They will not find peace in death if you keep blaming yourself. So what's the point? Let them go. You can't bring back the dead. Think of the happy thing that you shared with them, and enjoy the present."
"The present," Aoshi sighed. "Yes. I have you now."
"That's right," Misao smiled. Aoshi slid an arm around her waist again, pressing her against him. She felt his breathing grow even as the fireworks flared to an exhilarating finale. Misao's heart soared when she looked up at Aoshi;' face and saw him smiling softly in the flashing colors of the fireworks. Perhaps today was a day for finding inner peace for them both.
Applause and cheering rose from the people scattered on the beach as the fireworks ended. One by one, the lamps were lit once more and people started to get up. Blankets were folded and rear ends dusted off, so Aoshi and Misao followed suite. Yagami-san and his wife found them soon after and invited them to join in the rest of the celebration. Aoshi declined politely but firmly, telling them that he and Misao had to get home. Kazuko saw them off, hugging Misao warmly. The girl smiled luminously in the night, although she was showing obvious signs of fatigue.
It was nearing 10:00pm when they reached the highway. Misao had her chin cupped in one hand as she stared out the window with unseeing eyes.
"How are you feeling " Aoshi reached one hand across to Misao's free hand. Without thinking, he laced his fingers through hers.
"I'm fine," she replied, turning to him with a tired smile. "I'm just exhausted."
"Then sleep," Aoshi suggested, raising their hands to brush her cheek with his knuckles.
Misao shook her head softly, "I don't want to."
"Oh?"
"I just want to…spend this time with you," she admitted seriously. "I can sleep when we get home."
"Of course," Aoshi agreed quietly.
"I wonder…what will the others think?" Misao mused quietly.
"I'm sure they'll be happy for you."
"That's not an answer, Aoshi," Misao frowned. "Remember this morning? Okon was getting all worked up about me spending so much time with you."
"I believe the problem was that we are still coping with Okina-san's death," Aoshi reminded her. "Besides, didn't she go talk to you in your room afterwards?"
"Well yes, but---"
"Then we have nothing to worry about," Aoshi assured her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "We'll tell them about it in a few weeks, maybe, when this isn't so fresh on our minds."
"You're right," Misao sighed happily. "It'll be okay."
"Yes, it will."
Hands intertwined, they sat together in the car as the city flowed past them. The shadows that passing streetlights cast upon them flew swiftly by like memories that were retreating back into the past, where they belonged. Even in the semi darkness, Misao's eyes shone with newfound happiness, shimmering blue like the sunlit surface of a lake---the same lake where the two of them had bid farewell to their darker memories and begun life anew. Together.
xxxXxxx
TheUniverseBeyond: omigosh YOU feel bad? -gasp- I should feel bad. and i do -sniff- and...yeah real life is hardly ever this nice but that's why we have the stories right? It makes us feel better, I suppose.
Moonlight Shadow Alchemist: mm...I've made you wait -cries- gomenasaiii. If you're still reading this, you won't have to wait long for the next thing.
again, im hating myself for not updating sooner. I promised myself that I would never neglect a story because that ticks me off sometimes but..I guess I'm inconsistent. :)