Disclaimer: I don't own X/1999, I didn't come up with any of their brilliant characters, they're the geniuses not me!
The character of Alex, Jacob, Venus, Charlie, David and Dimitri are all mine. The Noters are half reality. The rest belong to all the book/movie/TV/anime/manga they came from. If you can spot where they're from then good for you!
WARNING: the mushroom poison test thing is a figment of my imagination; in honest I have absolutely no idea how to tell a poisonous mushroom from an edible one so don't try this at home kids.
Part 21 – Love (chapter 1)
Although it seems like the Lost Dimension's main town population was a small one, at the registry office in the infirmary they could beg to differ.
Every citizen had a file of their own including their origins (in one word or a few sentences), their past occupation and their current occupation. A page with a list of family members, those who came with the citizen or those who were added during their stay, was also added to the small folder along with a written copy of a short conversation with the psychologist for the Noters and Rescue Team's eyes only.
To say that keeping up with the updating of these files was a headache would be modest.
Some days Yutu, Seiichiro and the three Noters who worked in the large office would feel buried under the paperwork. Some days they would be literally buried under the papers as piles caved in and collapsed upon them.
There was a large board on one of the walls where they kept the score of how many times that happened and to whom.
So far Seiichiro gained the most points as he tended to accidentally drop his pencil under his desk and bang against its legs clumsily when he bent down in search of it, thus toppling the piles on himself.
He even had more scores then the goofy Noter with glasses so thick they looked like bottle bottoms. She'd bump into just about anything possible and drop everything from hands at least once a day.
Seiichiro just recovered from yet another burial when he decided he needs a coffee break.
Back at home he always prided himself to be out of the side effects of an editor's frantic life. He wouldn't smoke, wouldn't drink coffee to stimulate himself into work, wouldn't chew on his fingernails and pens or develop involuntary ticks like so many of his collogues.
Here he began breaking those habits. So far he began drinking coffee instead of tea…but only once a day! He had to keep something of his old self after this world began changing him so much.
Sometimes he would gaze off (usually at Yutu's general direction) and sink into wondering if he could ever imagine he would end up like this; here, living with the rest of the Seals and Harbingers (!) then with his family, and having an affair with another man…..
Seiichiro didn't want to think about it but every time he looked at Arashi's slowly developing tummy his heart would ache so much he would feel like he would do anything he could to bring himself back to his family.
This did not go unnoticed by Yutu who could sense any form of love around him. He brushed it off in panic, clearing his mind from such disturbing thoughts. But he knew deep inside him that what's growing inside Arashi is a time bomb for their relationship.
The wind master got back on his feet and duster his suit off, sending a miserable 'I did it again….I'm so ashamed of myself' look at Yutu who returned a beaming smirk.
The moment she stopped giggling the noter in charge of the score board added yet another line next to Seiichiro's name.
"Anyone interested in some coffee?" the wind master asked, embarrassed at the sound of choked giggles and chuckles.
Yutu raised his hand and sent a kiss through the air to his lover. He could actually make them be felt, which often scared those who received them.
As Seiichiro walked to the coffee corner a man passed him by. Seiichiro was with his back to the man so he couldn't see him, he couldn't see the axe the man held in his hand.
This axe, the man said to himself over and over in his mind, had Love's name on its blade. Soon that name would be wiped off with Love's blood.
The moment the man walked into the infirmary Yutu could feel something coming; his heart ached like it did when a broken heart was in his vicinity. An unbearable sour taste spread in his mouth as if he bit down on a lemon.
Yutu raised his eyes to the door as the man opened it, he could tell something was about to happen.
"You!" the man barked out, pointing at Yutu with his axe "The one so called 'Love upon Earth' HA!" He took big heavy steps towards Yutu as he spoke.
"What seems to be the problem?" Yutu quickly scanned the area for any water to aid him as he got up to speak to the man. The only water was half a cup sitting on one of the Noter's desks, it wasn't enough! Damn it, he forgot his ninja whip in his room this morning!
The man didn't give him much time to think onwards as he began roaring again "You call yourself Love, protector of all those in love and with love BAH!
"You married me and my wife, remember? You know where she is now? With another man, that's where she is, the little bitch!".
He swung the axe towards Yutu.
Love evaded the blow elegantly, working his power at the pathetic amount of water near by him.
It merely served to hit the man in the face and blur his vision for a few second.
But the man was burning with anger and eaten by hatred. He closed down on Yutu and thrust the axe's blade against the water master's neck with one hand, holding said neck with the other.
"Now" he snarled into Yutu's face, informing him that he was inebriated beyond logical thinking "you'll feel the pain I feel, now you'll regret you didn't protect my love!".
He raised his arm to aim a hit at Yutu when wind razors slashed through the skin of his palm, another one slashed under his left eye and another at the palm holding Yutu's neck.
The man turned his gaze to an enraged Seiichiro standing at the doorway "Let him go!" he commanded.
The man did as he was told, examined his wounds, and snarled readying his axe to attack Seiichiro.
He was engulfed by wind again. A mini tornado roared around him, trapping him in a cone of fast moving air and the papers it swept with it.
Charlie burst into the room carrying a syringe filled with sedatives. He politely asked Seiichiro to create a hole in the spinning air gesturing for his syringe.
Once such a hole was made, Charlie fumbled inside the wind until he successfully injected the man with the sedatives. He watched the man through the hole for a while until he turned to Seiichiro "It's alright now, you can let him go".
The wind died down and the man flopped to the floor like a pile of discarded rugs.
"Phew that was close" Charlie theatrically wiped invisible sweat from his forehead, it was a hard night before today and he regressed into his Chaplin behavior. "I haven't used that technique in a long time…." He walked out without another word, bypassing Seiichiro as if he wasn't there.
Seiichiro hurried over to Yutu's side, the water master crouched on the floor holding himself tightly while rocking back and forth gently. His face was pale and expressionless. The bitter taste lingered on in his mouth.
Seiichiro wrapped his arms around Yutu, helping him back to his feet "Are you alright Yutu?"
Love nodded faintly "But that was close….I forgot that love isn't always hugs and kisses…no, it's jealousy, betrayal and pain…." He snuggled into Seiichiro's embrace.
Kakyou went for a walk with Meeeh and her new calf, Beeeh. The calf was born about a week ago and still wobbled a bit on his fragile little legs.
Kakyou took them on a walk everyday to build the baby's muscles up.
He picked up two ribbons from the now abandoned clothing shed and decorated his pets; Meeeh had a big pink ribbon and Beeeh had a smaller, light blue one.
Dimitri carved long walking stick slightly taller then Kakyou with a decoration at its end that looked a lot like Japanese art styled clouds.
Clouds, Kakyou thought, must be the closest thing Dimitri could find to dreams and his dreams were the only thing that Dimitri clearly knew about him.
The three walked deep into the thick forest, enjoying the bright day heating the pines under their feet until they released a pleasant refreshing smell.
Kakyou loved this east european forest. It made him feel like a character out of those western fairy tales, roaming around a magical forest looking for its hidden wonders and treasures.
This time he found mushrooms! A large bed of mushrooms in various shapes and patters, some brown, some white, some eggshell with dimples, some black with cracks through their hat.
Kakyou knew mushrooms were edible but knew that some could also be poisonous. He tip toed across the tiny forest of mushrooms, picking one of each kind to take it back for further examination. He had to gently hop back to stop Beeeh from nibbling at a random unidentified mushroom, thus discovering that he too could leap like any other Seal or Harbinger.
At the sight of the mushrooms Dimitri rose from the little table he was carving at the time and emitted a long impressed whistle, making his lover beam with happiness.
He tossed some mushrooms away at sight, some he sniffed for a long while before putting them in a basket they used to collect nuts and berries in the forest thus deeming them edible.
One type he seemed to be unsure about, he forgot if it was good or bad.
He took his carving knife and sliced the mushroom in half then smelled the freshly exposed flesh. He walked into the house and returned with half a lemon which he squeezed above the mushroom until a few drops of the juice landed on it.
The pale gray mushroom flesh blackened in seconds, Dimitri nodded at this and tossed both halves of the mushroom away.
By then Kakyou began feeling uncomfortable; his palms began itching madly.
Dimitri noted this and examined the delicate small palms; they were reddening, white spots began covering them between the deep red rashes. He shook his head sending an educating glance at Kakyou. One of the poisonous mushrooms he picked made caused an allergic reaction on his delicate skin.
By the time Dimitri returned with some herbs and a jar of butter, Kakyou's palms were burning and tears wallowed in his eyes. He still held out his palms, despite the pain that made him want to dip them in ice water.
Dimitri ground the herbs into a sticky paste, mixing it with some butter from time to time. He handed Kakyou the new paste's jar and returned to his carving.
Kakyou found himself a log to sit and treat himself on. He felt like a child who went out, did something stupid and now his mother told him to deal with it himself as a form of scolding him.
He sat there, rubbing the paste into his skin and pouting at Dimitri's back turned to him.
He pouted at Meeeh who was too busy fussing over Beeeh to note him.
No one here listened to him!...nah, Kakyou smiled to himself.
They had beef and mushroom stew that evening, a fine meal indeed.
It was the kind of meals that would stuff Dimitri into happy, domestic goo. The carver would put down his spoon and pet his belly gesturing the meal was most satisfactory. He'd smoke his pipe a while, shooting malicious looks at Kakyou, then drag the dreamgazer into bed to burn their newly gained calories off.
Not that Kakyou complained, oh, not at all. He snuggled up against the man in bed and let the afterglow sweep him into peaceful sleep.
Only this sleep wasn't peaceful.
The moment he opened his dreaming eyes he realized where he was.
The dark empty void around him, the heavy sensation of a prophetic dream; he was gazing at the future after the long break he had since Death began his war on Justice.
The squiggly multi colored blur that was Destiny stood before him wordlessly. Oh how he hater her sometimes.
He bent his head to the non existing floor feeling a depression ruining his wonderful afterglow. "Why am I here? Why am I here after I begged you not to give me dreams anymore? I had a nerve breakdown, I tried to kill myself! Isn't that enough to tell you that I don't want to be your Oracle anymore!" he raised his teary eyes to the blur before him.
"I do not remember releasing you from your duty" she said simply, her voice changing in tone and octave a few times as she spoke but still keeping the feminine quality to it.
Kakyou laughed to himself silently. "Releasing is a good word for it, it means I'm trapped"
"Do not be insolent Oracle, your personal business are none of my concern. Now look carefully upon this dream I bring you"
"What's it about?" Kakyou bettered his sitting position, understanding that looking like a rag doesn't work anything on this Destiny.
"Love was attacked today. It is something I will not accept. It has been long before I was able to find anyone capable of being Love so I intend to keep him alive. Now watch, Oracle, and spread the word"
The void changed before Kakyou's eyes in the usual 'T.V screen affect' as he called it.
Two men appeared on the screen: Love and Death.
The wind blew around them in the darkness, harsh wind like in a wild storm. It seemed that only one man was bothered by the wind; while Love winced and struggled to keep on his feet in the roaring wind, Death stood stable and undisturbed.
Death handed Love something. It was a strange looking huge gun; longer then probably necessary and a revolver rather then a pistol type. "This would protect you from now on" Death said as Love took the gun from his hand.
The dream ended.
Kakyou opened his eyes back into reality. He lay awake for a few hours, trying to analyze the dream to see if there were any signs of upcoming dangers he should hurry and warn someone about.
Obviously he had to tell this to Yutu because it was a dream about him getting something due to his attack today. The question was if it was such an important message that he had to convey it to Yutu right now and leave the warm bed he was snuggled into. Dimitri was splayed half across him and getting up would only bother the both of them.
After some thoughts Kakyou decided it wasn't that important and returned to sleep. He'll tell Yutu tomorrow.
That night, while attending personal business, Love and his partner fell to the floor straight through their beds.
When they entered the room they had two separate beds and since free furniture were not so common around the city they simply joined their beds to one when they became lovers.
This falling down right through the middle happened from time to time and they got used to it, even joked about their being deeds so passionate the beds couldn't take it anymore (Seiichiro would shush Yutu's mad laughing down, blushing at the idea that the whole house might hear what he was laughing about).
Since it was a nerve wrecking day today they decided they had had enough of this nonsense.
The next morning they took a day off from the office and headed towards Dimitri's cottage.
Dimitri was a carpenter, making furniture in exchange for food as an occupation in this world.
They wanted him to make them a new double bed they won't fall through.
They borrowed two horses from the nearby Noters base and headed towards the forest.
"Yutu…." This was going to be uncomfortable to ask, but the question was bothering Seiichiro's mind for a while now.
"Yes darling?" it embarrassed Seiichiro when he called him that but Yutu loved seeing the man blush too much to stop himself from doing it.
"Were you….I mean, did you ever….what I mean to say is….were you always….you know….with men…." His face was on fire but at least he got the words out of his mouth.
Yutu's smile widened "Well, not really. I mean, I had my early years' experiments and experiences but I never really had a relationship with another man. I sort of tried it once or twice and kept it as an option"
"A sexual option?"
"Not only that. You see…oh it's a bit of a long story but we do have some ride before us so I guess I'll tell you anyway.
"Maybe you haven't been dating around enough but Japanese women, and especially Tokyo girls, have this tendency to change themselves on the outside. They think their bodies aren't good enough compared with the western women they see on television and on Hollywood films so they do all sorts of crazy things to change their appearance and appeal to men.
"I'd often bring home a nice looking girl and find that she is wearing hair extensions, cushions in her bra and at the back of her underwear, heavy makeup and high heels. Of course that by the time she's home with me I wasn't sober enough to care about such things but I didn't like it when I woke up the next morning by to something that looked more like a sixteen year old boy then the woman I remembered bringing home.
"it's not that I didn't like them this way too, it's just that I felt like I'll never find anyone that's going to give me what they showed me the first time I see them. I came to the conclusion that if I was in a state to make love to something looking like a sixteen year old boy I might as well make love to a real one….well, not necessarily a sixteen year old one but…you catch my drift.
"That's when I told myself that if it's a girl I specifically like then it's the girl I'll be with and if it's a boy that I specifically like then I'll be with him"
Seiichiro was in silence for a while "So you didn't care?"
"No, I was more concerned about my love then what I'm in love with. I couldn't care less about what society had to say about it, if I was in love and happy then that's all I should care about.
"It's the same thing here with couples I help. Sometimes people approach me asking me why I married a couple from two different species. I tell them that all I see is the love within their hearts and not the body those hearts belong to. I always saw things that way"
"I see why you are Love"
Yutu smiled at him, Seiichiro was so cute sometimes. He wanted to kiss him.
They arrived at Dimitri's cottage at evening fall. By the time they arrived it was pitch black and the other side of the magical forest was revealed: blinding darkness and unfamiliar voids gaping between the suddenly somber looking trees.
The horses under them began taking slower, softer paces, shaking their heads in discontent at the unknown environment. Their riders were just as nervous as they too fought to see something in the dense and dark forest.
They arrived at the cottage weary and agitated.
Kakyou served them warm cups of tea with a merciful face "I suppose I got used to this forest after a while. I do remember how frightening it was when I first walked in it at night".
"Kakyou-san, are there any wolfs here?" Yutu asked, giving nervous little glances to the cottage's windows and the forest outside.
"Wolfs? No, non at all….there are some deer and hares but no wolfs…not a single predator in this forest if I'm not mistaken….but I'll ask"
he turned to Dimitri who was examining the sketch of the bed they wanted Seiichiro handed him. "Dimitri, volk?" he asked pointing at the doorway.
Dimitri screwed his face and shook his head "niet, niet" then he said something about Kakyou and wrapped a large arm around the dreamgazer's fragile shoulders.
Kakyou looked down hiding his reddening face from his guests "I don't understand everything he says but I'm starting to learn a few words here and there. He already knows how to say 'dream'….well, that's the only thing he knows but…" he raised his eyes back to his guests.
"He said that you're completely safe here and even if something will happen that's what he's here for" Yutu beamed.
Seiichiro and Kakyou blinked at him astonished.
"How do you know?" Kakyou managed to ask.
"Because he was talking words of love, I understand that" now Yutu was really beaming.
Seiichiro was still looking out of the window unsure of the outside which bothered Yutu so much.
After some thoughts he decided that a permanent city dweller like Yutu would be somewhat acrophobic out in the uncivilized wild thinking it to be filled with beasts and monsters.
If he didn't grow up in a temple deep in the Japanese forests before he moved to Tokyo, Seiichiro presumed, he would be just as worried as Yutu right now.
In his childhood he learned the magic of the forest's silence and how much better it was in comparison to the constant buzzing and beeping racket of the city.
Tssk, he thought, and Yutu was the one supposed to protect nature…
"Ah! Kigai-san! I just remembered something; I had a dream about you last night!" Kakyou placed his cup of tea on the dining table.
"Death was there and he handed you a gun, said that it'll protect you from now on. Lady Destiny said it was because you were attacked and she needs to keep you in one piece because it's taken her a long time before she found someone to fit the Love position"
Yutu stared at Kakyou in silence.
"What? But that's ridiculous!" Seiichiro spoke up, anger sneaking up into his words "He doesn't need anyone specific to protect him, certainly no one Death has anything to do with. I protected him very well back then and I could do it again, we spend most of our time together anyway" he looked at Yutu for approval.
"You don't come with me when I go visit Venus"
"Well you know why that is" the windmaster looked away, developing a light blush.
"So what if she's running around naked, it's okay to stare you know Seii-chan, I wouldn't be jealous".
It was a funny sight to see; the more Seiichiro edged away from Yutu as if to escape his words was the more Yutu leaned on to have those words heard more clearly. Finally Seiichiro almost lost balance on his chair and had to violently grab the table to keep himself upright. He sent a most reprimanding glare at Yutu who grinned happily back.
A loud crack sound from the outside snapped them all to attention. It was the sound of something big falling through the trees, snapping their twigs and shaking their limbs.
There was no sound of landing on the ground, only the sound of wood creaking.
Kakyou, who recognized the direction the sounds came from as his sheep pen, shot to his feet and out the door. Dimitri and the two visitors followed suit.
A few meters above Meeeh and Beeeh, who were just cuddling in with each other for the night, a man hung from a tree branch. He looked down at the four men who ran up to him and waved his hand awkwardly "Hello" he said in English.
"If he'll fall he could hurt my sheep!" Kakyou hurried into the pen and herded the sleepy beasts away from under the newcomer. He sent a few glares at the man hanging above him as if to reprimand him for landing here of all places.
The man was wearing a long coat in a flaming shade of red with multiple black straps and buckles which surely acted as decorations rather then having a real practical purpose. His left hand was covered in black strips of leather like a long glove up to the middle of his arm. He had a bright blond spiky hair with three straight bright bangs that fell gracefully down to his face. He had big bright turquoise eyes and a beauty spot under the left one
As Kakyou herded the sheep away he stepped on something that crunched under his foot like a dry leaf. Now he raised it from the ground and saw it was a smashed pair of sunglasses with broken yellow lenses.
The man looked down at him and made a pained expression "Oh no, and I loved those glasses so much" he grieved, shedding a small dramatic tear.
Next a gun came falling down from the man, a large gun that made quite a painful thud when it hit the earth. If the sheep were not moved they would surely be hurt by the weapon.
But Kakyou didn't think about that; he stared amazed at the gun from his dream. He picked it up (with much effort for the gun was way heavier then he had imagined it to be) and stared at it.
"Errr, that's my gun there ma'am, I hope you won't try to shoot me with it" the man laughed nervously.
He received a death glare from Kakyou who knew enough English by now to understand that he was just mistaken for a woman….again.
"What is it Kakyou? What's with the gun?" Seiichiro called out from outside the pen.
"Ah! Japanese eh?" the man said, swinging his legs like a child on a swing set "wait, wait, I know this….." he straightened his body, clasped his palms together as if in prayer and bowed as much as he could in his position "Ko….konichi-waaaa".
Yutu burst into wild giggles. Seiichiro shook his head mumbling something about the stupid gaijin.
Kakyou still stared at the gun. He was joined inside the pen by Dimitri who examined the complex set of branches on the tree above them until he found a branch close enough. He half climbed the tree and began dealing heavy blows to the start of the branch the man hung from.
The man stared at him and whimpered (!) like a puppy. Finally, after a good few blows, the newcomer came crushing down on his rear end.
Instead of getting on his feet, saying something or trying to contain his pain, the man arched his back and grabbed his behinds squirming and rolling on the floor while squealing.
Kakyou pushed him away with his foot the moment he was close enough. He couldn't keep the annoyed disgusted expression off of his face.
The man got to his feet and limped out of the pen with the most painful expression on. "Where am I?" he asked looking around at the dark forest and his new companions.
"You are in the Lost Dimension that took you away from your original dimension into itself. We all came the way you did. Welcome!" Seiichiro answered looking the man up and down "What's your name sir?"
"Vash" he answered "can I have my gun back now, it's not good for people who don't know how to use it to handle it" he asked Kakyou who just stared at him back.
Yutu translated it for Kakyou and the dreamgazer returned the gun to its owner "That's the gun from my dream Yutu"
"Wait; did you just say Lost Dimension?" Vash turned back to Seiichiro, some recognition in his eyes.
"Yes, why, have you heard about it?"
"I sure did! From Alex, he told me he came from there, do you know him perhaps?"
Things started to click in Seiichiro's mind; this must be a man who knew Alex when he was looking for Kamui.
"Indeed we know him, how do you know him?" Yutu began leading them all back to the cottage, the night around them began chilling and it was better to sit and discuss things inside a warmer place.
Once they were inside the little house again, sitting to another cup of tea each, they began talking again.
"You knew Alex when he traveled worlds to find Kamui, is that correct?" Seiichiro turned his cup on the table.
"He did that? That's how he got to our world isn't it? Ah, that makes sense now…" Yutu nodded in understanding. The Harbingers didn't know the story of how Alex got to their world in the first place so Yutu and Kakyou were all ears now.
"You're Japanese right? Kamui, according to Alex, was Japanese too. Is he from your dimension? This Kamui that is" Vash gulped his cup of tea in one go and now began attacking the small plate Kakyou prepared with home made cookies and biscuits. He was stuffing his face with them, gaining some reproving stares from Seiichiro and Kakyou.
"Yes" Yutu answered, bowing his head a little.
"Oh wow! So he's here again now? Did he get Kamui back?" Vash's eyes were glittering with excitement, only he was talking about a somewhat uncomfortable subject.
"Well…..it's a delicate matter really…" Yutu looked away, feeling his chest ache whenever he thought about the broken heart involved.
"Oh he loves that boy" Vash didn't seem to have heard the last words judging by his tone "he went on and on and on about him endlessly! He could spend a whole day just talking about this Kamui kid.
"How his eyes are like this and his face is like that. How cute he looks when he does this and how clever he is to figure out that so soon….sometimes I could scream if I heard him say that name one more time. But I let him rave on, he really loves that boy so who am I to…."
The silence and the uncomfortable looks around him began giving Vash hints on the delicate matter ahead.
"What? What's wrong? He didn't get him? Was he too late? Was the Battle for the….what was it?" he spun his finger in the air as if to reel his mind into finding the right word "Earth thingie lost?...what?...did he get him in the end?"
"He did…..and then didn't….it's a long story…." Yutu answered with a sigh.
"So you knew Alex and you have this gun….you're here to be Love's protection…." Kakyou mumbled after sinking into thoughts for a while.
"Eh!"
"What! Him!" Seiichiro glared at Kakyou, gesturing at Vash who still had cookie crumbs around his mouth "He's….he's.…well look at him, he's worse then Sorata-san, surely she couldn't mean this would protect Yutu!"
The men around him were talking in Japanese again and Vash couldn't understand a single word they were saying. He stared at Dimitri who simply shrugged and left the tableside to look at the sketch of the bed again, leaving the other men to their business.
"Can someone please tell me, in English, what this is about?" he asked, sounding weary. At least he was serious for once. A sneaking suspicion began crawling at the back of his mind and he didn't like what it meant one bit.
"You're here to be my bodyguard, that's what he saw in his dream" Yutu answered, gesturing at Kakyou "He's an Oracle who foresees the future, he saw you coming here to be my protector".
Vash stared at him for a while, refusing to agree "Listen, I heard about this place and how people are brought here for purposes and stuff but….I can't be here, I have much more important obligations to do back home"
He was answered by uncomfortable silence. Seiichiro glared at him.
"No, honestly" he went on "I have things I have to do, things I must do or else….you really don't understand…I have to get back…my brother…."
"You think we want to be here!" Seiichiro snapped "We were taken away just like you! I was taken away from my wife and young daughter, don't you think I want to go back to my family too!"
Yutu clutched at his chest, feeling his own pain now.
Vash stared at the windmaster with a pained expression then bowed his head in defeat.
They stayed over at Kakyou's for a little while longer to get some things cleared about their bed with Dimitri, then left.
Vash had to be registered and relocated before he could start his new occupation so they headed towards the infirmary.
Before they left Vash took one last glance at Kakyou and frowned "Wait a moment!" he said, he was standing in the doorway with Yutu and Seiichiro already outside the cottage.
He pointed at Kakyou who leaned against the door wondering what it was now. "They said that you were a 'he' dreamy-thingy…..you're a he!"
The door slammed on him, pushing him out of the cottage and making him stumble to the ground.
Seiichiro looked away covering his face with his hand. This is going to be such a headache.
Seiichiro didn't like Vash to say the least. The man was a tall goofy clown who hung around them like silly a shadow.
Even if it was for Yutu's safety Seiichiro still didn't like the fact he wasn't thought of when Destiny looked for Love's bodyguard.
He had special powers, what did this blond idiot have that he didn't?
Vash was loud, foolish, clumsy, silly, gluttonous, annoying, mildly lecherous at times and often babbling to the point of extreme annoyance.
He stayed at the Rescue Team's main house and was kept as reserves there due to his unique speed at times of need and his weapons.
Besides the strange gun (Arashi mumbled something about it glowing with power she didn't like) his leather covered arm was in fact a fake one holding yet another small automatic rifle within it.
He was housed in Alex's old room. The story he heard of where his old friend is made him silent and sad for a while.
The reactions to Vash in Yutu's home were split in half: those who thought him rude and intolerable, and those who loved him to bits.
Arashi, Seiichiro and Karen (who swore that if he stares at her neckline and drool one more time he's toast, literally) couldn't stand his roaring laughter, the way he hung over whoever cooked dinner like a vulture waiting for his meal, how he'd gulp up those meals like a pig and how his size and clumsiness would disturb the wa (1) in the house.
Sorata, Yuzuriha and Kazuki loved Vash immensely. Sorata seemed to have found his true soul mate when it came to talking about women, food and joking around. Yuzuriha loved the way Vash was so clumsy and foolish at times. He cheered her up and made her feel a little less lonely now that Victoria wasn't around her.
Kazuki was probably the person who loved Vash the most; he could read her mental age off of her and the two would spend hours on end playing like little children in the back yard (they played in the house once, broke a chair and got scolded for an hour and a half by a seething Arashi).
Fuma, who was hanging around the house like a ghost even after both his arms were completely healed, had one conversation with Vash which was quite enough for him.
He walked into the house after an attempt to do court work.
Vash was in the living room playing cards with Yuzuriha, Kazuki and Sorata.
Karen watched over everything from time to time after she gave up trying to learn how to cook from Arashi.
Fuma stared at the new man in the house, puzzled at the strange looking clothes he wore. It's not like it was Vash's first time in the house nor the first time he was within eye contact with Fuma.
The teen was not himself lately, sometimes he simply didn't see things, or saw them but failed to fully register them. He had countless black and blue bruises on him from banging into things, including walls sometimes when his mind was in a complete daze.
Vash stared back just as amazed to see Fuma.
Karen was suddenly hit by a premonition of what might happen yet found she was frozen when it came to doing something to stop it from happening.
Vash got to his feet and walked closer to Fuma until their faces almost touched. The bright turquoise eyes examined Fuma's face close up.
Fuma stared back puzzled.
"You look like Alex" Vash said finally, pointing at Fuma victorious at his revelation.
Everyone else in the room, besides Fuma, cringed painfully.
Fuma glared at Vash and stormed away back to his room without a word.
Sorata banged his head against the card table.
Karen walked out to the back yard to have a cigarette.
Yuzuriha bit her bottom lip.
Kazuki stared slowly revising her knowledge of the house's social connections to figure out what happened. When she managed to get it right she sighed a little.
"What? What did I say?" Vash was looking from one face to another trying to understand what was going on.
He forgot about it two seconds later when the smell of Arashi's cooking hit his nose. He ran to the kitchen to look at the cooking process over Arashi's shoulder.
He received a nasty blow to the forehead from the wooden spoon the woman held at the moment.
He limped back to the card table's side with a nasty sauce covered welt starting to swell on his forehead.
Yuzuriha and Kazuki had to work hard to stifle their giggles.
Sorata sighed deeply "My honey is so strong" he almost wept with pride.
Vash only dug himself deeper into the wide collar of his red coat.
Dragging noises from the hallway woke Sorata from his afternoon nap before his upcoming night patrol. It sounded like four men were dragging something heavy down the corridor towards a room on its end. Several harsh scolds said in Seiichiro's voice told Sorata that Vash had something to do with it.
This morning he was woken up by similar noises as Yutu and Seiichiro rid themselves of their two single beds. These noises must mean they were dragging a new bed in.
it was a bit strange for Sorata to think about Seiichiro with Yutu, or any other man to be exact….or thinking of the windmaster with anyone who wasn't his beloved wife in general….but this dimension changed them all and they were both happy so why should Sorata object?
He got off his bed and dressed. He took the time to examine Arashi's sleeping form still in the bed. She was getting bigger. Sometimes when he thought about it Sorata's heart could explode with love and pride.
He opened the door and saw the moving job itself was finished. A line carved into the floor leading from the end of the staircase to Yutu and Seiichiro's room showed the bed they were dragging was a heavy piece of furnishing. Why didn't they call him for help?
He walked into the room and saw Yutu, Seiichiro and Fuma sitting and panting on the bed frame while Vash was struggling to keep the large mattress he was holding from falling on the three men.
"Hey guys, why didn't you call me to help you?" he managed to catch the mattress before it flopped down on the bed and its inhabitants. Vash made an apologetic expression at letting the thing slip.
"Don't be silly Sorata-kun, you were taking your rest with Arashi, we didn't want to bother you" Yutu waved it off happily, starting to beam again.
"Oh ha ha ha! It's not what you're thinking! We were only sleeping!" Sorata roared making Fuma and Seiichiro start moving about awkwardly, each from their different reasons.
"That's alright. You know you can do more if you want to, it's alright"
"Kigai-san!" it was probably the first thing Fuma said after a long period of silence he had since Kamui's kidnapping. He glared at Yutu "That's enough"
Yutu had a flash of the Dragon of Earth Fuma for a second there and shut his mouth immediately.
The rest blinked at the youth, shocked at the harshness in Fuma's voice. Seiichiro noted how suddenly old and bitter Fuma seemed.
"So where did you get this bed from? It looks brand new!" Sorata ran his hand on the smoothly polished wood of the bed frame.
"You know Kakyou's boyfriend Dimitri? He's a carpenter so we ordered a bed from him. He sort of feels like he owes us since the time Kakyou tried to kill himself"
Kakyou having a boyfriend, on the other hand, did not surprise Sorata one bit. In fact, he was surprised when Arashi told him that Kamui told her that Subaru told him that Kakyou was once broken hearted over the death of Subaru's sister who was apparently his girlfriend
"Wow….so, how did you get it through to him what you want from him?"
"You bring him a sketch with measurements and about two or three days later it's ready! You only have to write a few types of measurements because I'm not sure which he works by"
Sorata was deep in thought now. He was staring at a delicate little carving on the headboard. It was an intricate set of intertwining lines that wove amongst each other to form a heart shape. It was an impressive work of art.
"Did he carve this too?"
"He carved it but he didn't design it" Yutu ran his fingers lovingly on the wooden grooves. "A noter in our office doodled it and I loved it so much we added this to the sketch of the bed.
Fuma left the room without a word. The room seemed to have lightened up after his departure.
"So he can do things like that…." Sorata was talking to himself "Well, thanks anyway, tell me if you need any help okay? Don't be shy now!" he walked out of the room waving Vash goodbye.
An idea came to his head shining like a star the way that all his ingenious ideas came to be.
So far he and his honey didn't do much to prepare for the baby. Sure, it was due to some time from now but it still needed preparing for didn't it?
Arashi would be so proud of him if he started making things for the baby to come, wouldn't she? She would be happy to see that he's already preparing a nest for their child.
The room earlier belonging to Kusanagi, Nataku and Fuma was now empty and free. The inhabitants of the house all agreed without hesitation that this room will be the baby's future room. Right now it was an empty room with three unused beds, no cabinets or cupboards.
The baby would need a cradle, and a little cabinet to keep its clothes in, maybe some space where they could change its diapers on. A chair for the mother or father to sit on while watching the baby or while breastfeeding….so many things to take care of….
These furniture probably cost something, surely Dimitri didn't work for free…never mind, Sorata would save up and get the furniture one by one until this room would be full and ready for their child!
But there's a problem: he and any form of drawing were worlds apart. He couldn't even write kanji properly! He was often mocked at by his fellow monks that when he drew the markings they always ended up looking like something completely different.
So how the hell would he make a sketch of the furniture he wanted to make!
As he walked with his head heavy in thoughts he passed by the girls' room where he caught a glimpse of Kazuki. She was sitting on the floor with pages and crayons scattered in a little chaos all around her. She was literally bent over a page working feverishly on her art. She even stuck her tongue out with the effort.
Without thinking Sorata walked into the room and sat down by Kazuki, pulling out a crayon he accidentally sat on. "What are you drawing there Kazuki-chan?" he lowered his tone by the end of his sentence when he saw the page. It was covered by blotches of red in various tones. Was she drawing something she remembered from her Nataku days? He dreaded the thought.
She raised two big proud eyes to him and yanked the page from the floor. She nearly slammed it into his face, stopping inches from his nose "LOOK!"
"Y…yes….ummm….what is it?" he tried to sound like it wasn't so gory and revolting in appearance, it was far too close to him to notice any specific details anyway.
"It's a sheep giving birth!"
"Ah!" he sighed with relief inwardly and yanked the page away from his eyes enough to see the details.
Sure enough, there was a sheep with in various stages of birth drawn there. The page was in fact not a still picture but a square-less comics of the sheep in various stages of birth. The details were actually quite well drawn so that Sorata could tell what was going on.
First the sheep was seen with its mouth open as if saying something. Then it was sitting down with a pool at its rear. Then the red blotches started showing the birth itself and the sheep bending its head backwards to look at herself. Finally, after several other reddened panels, a little lamb was drawn sitting with its head upright and its mother by it. The physical details, as often sickening as they were, were astonishingly well made and exact.
Sorata examined the drawing with an impressed expression.
"Kazuki-chan, you have quite a gift for this you know? I've never seen a sheep give birth but now I know how it looks like. You really know how to draw"
She beamed a huge proud smile and blushed a bit. She took the page from him and re-examined it, adding a line or two here and there. "It's not finished yet" she frowned at it.
"Never mind, it's very very good" he ruffled her hair fondly. It was long enough to reach down her face in soft long white bangs.
An idea came to Sorata, perhaps she could help him!
"Kazuki-chan, could you help me with something?"
She turned eager eyes to him, awaiting his words.
If there was one thing that Kazuki loved it was helping people about. Helping made her feel like she's not completely useless.
The realization that the Battle was over and that she, who was literally made for the Battle, is left redundant hit her harder then she let it show or realized it herself. When she first came to this world she felt like a great big empty void on two legs and nothing more.
After the incident with her possessed dress her self esteem fell so low that she seriously considered suicide, though she never conveyed it to anyone including her shrink. Working as the vets' assistant was her lifesaver.
She worked all her energies into helping whenever she could.
Once she accidentally even worked her powers on the kitchen towel while dishwashing in order to dry the wet dishes. She scared Seishiro, who was in dishwashing duty at the time, half to death.
If Subaru hadn't laughed and praised her for it she would have spent that evening in her bed crying about being reckless and useless sometimes.
"I want to make a gift for Arashi but I don't know how to make it and I'm not good at these sort of things so…." Sorata hung hopeful eyes at her.
Kazuki nodded enthusiastically before he even finished his sentence.
They sat in the room planning and drawing drafts until dinner was done and the two were called downstairs.
Kazuki hid the final sketch under her mattress like a treasure so that Arashi might not accidentally see it if she was ever to enter the room. She overly fussed around the task like the child she was really.
They came up with a rough sketch of a cradle with a detailed carving of Arashi and Sorata holding a baby at its headboard. The two were drawn inside a big heart, their faces smiling as they looked down at their precious child.
Sorata looked at the drawing and his heart overflow with love. Tomorrow he'll take a day off and go to hand the sketch over to Dimitri along with measurements he'll take today while Arashi was busy with dish washing and couldn't see him plotting about.
Kazuki, who was very exited about her part in the surprise Sorata was planning for Arashi, babbled about it endlessly to Anthony's ears.
"And they are holding a baby in their arms, and they're both looking very happy! Oh it's going to be so beautiful! Arashi-san will be so happy! I can't wait to see the look on her face!" she clapped her hands excitedly. She was standing up to her heels with reeling chickens she was supposed to catch and assist Anthony with.
The aging man sighed deeply and shook his head. Kazuki was always helpful and efficient but when she was swept up by something exciting she was almost deaf dumb and blind to the world around her. Gladly that didn't happen very often and when it did he knew how to handle it.
"What's the expression on the baby's face?" he asked, picking up a chicken and dealing it with the vaccine they were here to give.
Kazuki rolled her eyes to the sky trying to remember "….The baby is sleeping soundly I think…." Her expression suddenly darkened "Do you think I should have drawn him smiling too?" she was honestly worried now "Sorata-san already took the sketch to Dimitri and change can't be put in anymore!" her eyes started tearing.
Anthony smiled kindly at the panicking bioroid "If the carving is on a cradle then it's obvious the baby would be sleeping, that's what they're supposed to do when they're in a cradle Kazuki"
Kazuki's face brightened again and a great smile cracked out "Yes! Then it's perfect isn't it? but I should tell Sorata not to give the second sketch to Dimitri yet so I can make a new one with the baby smiling" by now she was out of her cloud of thoughts enough to pick another chicken and hold it to Anthony for treatment.
"Another sketch? He wants more then just a cradle?" he brought his wrist to his mouth to suck on a fresh scratch the chicken carved into his skin with her claws. "Hold their legs better next time, they might seem stupid but they're devilish little bastards when they want to"
Kazuki nodded, blushing deeply at the language, and picked a new chicken so that its claws were securely held "Yes, Sorata-san wants to make a whole new room for the baby. Next is a cabinet for baby clothes and diaper changing and then there's a rocking chair…." She released the now vaccinated chicken and grabbed another one.
"That's a lot of furniture, is he sure he has the currency for it? You guys get your food from the Rescue Team fond but you're all eating off of it too, right?"
Kazuki nodded, released the chicken and picked the last one.
"Do you still get the food for the people Death took away?"
She shook her head.
"No….I thought so, food is getting scarce now….as much as making a room for the baby is important I'm sure keeping the mother and father from starvation is equally important…." He wiped his hands on his working apron and sank into thoughts.
They received their pay from the farmer and walked towards their horses now. Anthony was slacking behind Kazuki's fast skipping pace as his mind slowed his legs.
Kazuki turned to look at him questioningly "What's wrong?"
He reached to the food basket the farmer handed him as pay and checked its content. There was a dead plucked chicken, three potatoes and four small corn cobs; these should do for at least one of the future furniture.
He walked to Kazuki and clasped her palm on his basket's handle "Here, give this to your friend to pay Dimitri with" he was stroking her palm as he spoke.
Kazuki stared at him, then at the basket, then at him again "Are you sure? Won't you be hungry?" her eyes were already tearing with gratitude and happiness.
He shook his head and smiled, pressing both hands on her palm warmly "We've been busy lately with the sheep's lambing season and I have piles of food at home. I won't starve without this. They need this more then I do, they have a baby to prepare to, I'm a lonely old man. And please tell him not to thank me too much, Japanese people are too polite for their own good sometimes" with that he mounted his horse and rode away.
He left Kazuki behind, standing by the farm swooning with joy.
When Blue Fairy drove her canoe by, attracted by the mental warmth emitting from the bioroid, she received a shower of information as she gave Kazuki a lift to her home.
Kazuki stormed into Sorata's room the moment she entered the house, startling Arashi and the monk from their midday sleep. She had to contain her happiness to whispers when she told Sorata about Anthony's contribution so they won't wake the sleeping priestess.
She didn't manage to contain herself from jumping up and down with excitement though.
Two weeks later the cradle was ready. There were several misunderstandings about the measurements due to translation problems between the monk and the carpenter, but finally Sorata had his first gift. The day he came to pick the cradle up he brought with him a sketch of the diaper changing cabinet, also decorated with the same carving only with a smiling, well diapered baby.
He leaped his way there to get there fast; he had other things to do today after all.
That evening it was Sorata's turn to make dinner and it was already getting late. Arashi climbed the stairs to wake him from what she presumed was a lazy afternoon nap stretching into the early evening time. Sometimes Sorata could be just as lazy as he was loud and enthusiastic.
She didn't find him in his room. Strange.
"Sorata….Sorata, where are you?" she had to walk by the deserted onmyoujis room as she looked for him. The gaping empty space gave her the creeps and she became angry at Sorata for making her do this.
Her lower back began complaining about her body's change of balance and she preferred not to walk unless necessary.
"Wait a minute honey! Don't come in yet!" came her husband's shout from the spare room.
They wedded just a little before the whole Justice/Death war began, in the days when the house wasn't so silent with tension and sadness that seemed to be oozing from Fuma wherever he walked.
It was a humble little ceremony, carried only due to Arashi's conventional opinion that if she is to bare a child then she should at least be married to it's father even if no one from their temples (the closest thing they had for families) was here to see them.
Times like these, when Sorata would come up with some silly romantic surprise that mostly ended up in embarrassment or discomfort for Arashi, made her regret her new title as his wife sometimes.
There was the attempt to make a romantic onsen for two which nearly led to a fire in the whole house.
There was the romantic covering of their bed with flower petals but the only flowers around were Venuses' daises that for some reason made Arashi sneeze until she nearly lost her balance and fell…so many romantic attempts….so embarrassing….
"You can come in now!" his voice tore her from her uncomfortable thoughts.
Oh god, what was he up to now? By his tone it's another one of his silly little plans…what now!
A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the empty room, a second hand covered her eyes.
Oh no, it's one of those surprises….can't he tell she wasn't in the mood for things like that….and in an empty room of all places….oh god…
Her mind froze in shock the moment the hand covering her eyes was removed and she could see the real surprise.
She couldn't move her limbs; she was far too amazed to command her body.
There, in the middle of the room, stood a perfectly new baby cradle. The future father stood by it, beaming with pride and moving nervously awaiting her reaction.
She knew that if this is going to be their child's room then it's going to need a bed for the baby and the thought of getting a used one disgusted her horribly. But this….a new one…..god….
She walked towards the cradle feeling like she was in a dream. Oh let this not be a dream!
She ran her fingers on the smooth sweet smelling wood, on the soft newly made mattress (feathers courtesy of the farmer Kazuki helped with his chickens, mattress case courtesy of Karen's sowing, patience to find a decent fabric courtesy of the firemaster, Ace and Spike who helped her in the crowded shed) and her head spun. This was real!
She raised large fogy eyes to her husband "How did….where….oh Sorata" she whispered, covering her mouth with her hands ashamed of her sudden lack of words to thank him. Her palms were shaking, her eyes welled up with tears.
Sorata walked towards his wife and circled his arms around her, gently bringing her body close to him. He buried his nose in her hair, planting a kiss at the top of her head. "I promised I'll do all I could to be the best father. A cradle is a start ne? The guys helped out too…" his mouth was shut by a kiss from his wife.
Smiling into the kiss, he ran his fingers across her cheek, wiping away tears shed in joy. She didn't really need words to thank him, this was just enough.
Downstairs Yutu took a deep breath feeling the wonderful rewarding warmth spread in his chest.
He was stocking food from his lunch for the past few weeks to help the couple with their future furnishing.
He helped Karen break into David's well locked shed to get the fabric for the mattress case.
He married this couple off, he put a guarding Love spell on their relationship through the future hardship of child bearing and raising.
This little moment of happiness was his reward for a job well done.
It was evening time by now and though the living room was darkening no one was around to light any candles yet. Yutu's shining suddenly illuminated the room as if a hundred candles were lit all at once.
Vash walked in with the two coffee mugs he was making them and smiled as he saw his Love in this condition.
"What's up Yu-Yu? Who's rubbing fuzzies up there?"
Yutu only smiled back at him without a word, choosing to preserve the moment with silence.
(tbc)
(1) The sense of domestic peace and harmony which is an essential part of Japanese families.