Recca no Honou and its characters are not mine.
May contain hints of spoilers for those who haven't read the manga yet. And yes, the plot was twisted in such a way that it would be as consistent as it can manage with the manga. Please don't sue me. T_T
Several Damned Hours
By: unknown-chan
Chapter XXIV: Tokiya History
A little past 8 in the evening; the Mikagami household
"What the hell is happening there?" Kaze blurted out after some time of tensed silence.
After being sent outside, the other three cousins gathered inside the common room to collect their own wits. It had been a couple of minutes since the lone girl started pacing back and forth, one hand seemingly preventing her forehead from dropping down the wooden floor.
"Really, Kaze. You're exaggerating." Jinka, both legs propped up the dark couch at one side of the room, commented. Azuma who sat beside him simply looked at the girl who had stopped just so she can glare at the redhead.
"What exaggerating shit are you babbling about you damned bloody-headed bastard?! I don't give a damnfucking bull―"
"Hold it! Hold it, Kaze." Azuma interrupted Kaze in the midst of one of her swearing spectacles. "Won't you want to take a seat first? Try calming your nerves…"
"But Azuma…"
"Come sit here. It's an order."
The lad's voice sounded firm yet gentle, too. And because of the magic word "order", the girl was forced to comply. Unwillingly, Kaze walked across the room towards the couch where her two cousins comfortably sat.
"I know you're worried about them…" Azuma started speaking as soon as she settled in between them.
"Aren't you?"
"Of course, we are. That's just stupid, bakaze…" Jinka rolled his crimson eyes and was about to drop more comments but halted when the second head cousin motioned for him to stop.
"You worry too much but you see, 'jiisan won't hurt them as what we think."
"As much as I would want to believe you, Azuma, I don't think he'll let Louie's behavior pass. Sooner or later, one of them would be condemned to hell!" her baby blue eyes were wide as she spoke, reflecting the terror she felt for her cousins. "Is it our fault? Have we gone too far?"
"No… definitely not. Do you really believe 'jiisan will hurt them simply because of that? Do you seriously think he's that unreasonable?"
All the while, Jinka was silent; contented to simply listen to the conversation transpiring between his cousins.
"They'll be okay, right? Right?" Kaze kept on repeating this to herself before taking several deep breaths. "Okay, Kaze, calm down… calm down… they're still alive… they're not hurt…"
###
"We're… safe, right? For now, at least." The amount of attention received by the wooden corridor might enable one to conclude that Fuuko has this job of inspecting floors for any speck of dust overlooked.
"You've been asking that for the twentieth time." Mikagami blandly uttered as they turned on a corner to walk on another long stretch of empty hall towards the common room.
"That's not an answer."
"Am I supposed to say it a hundred times before it drills inside that thick skull of yours? Aren't monkeys supposed to have brains superior to most of the animals save for man?"
"Jerk!" was what she managed to retort plus the jab that almost landed on his shoulder had his reflexes been too slow to react. "You're not supposed to dodge, Frosty!"
Mikagami only rolled his pale blue eyes while continuing to tread the hallway. Unconsciously, his right hand sought out her left, intertwining with it. Noticing that the girl halted in her steps, his eyes turned to her who had a tired look imprinted on her face.
"Mi-chan, what's this?"
He wasn't able to respond, not really understanding what she wanted to say. A brow of his was arched, an indication for Fuuko to explain further.
"This…" she lifted their linked hands so as he could see it before continuing, "What are you doing? Are you really that much of a masochist?! This would get us punished!"
The hallway was too quiet, suffocating; in fact that even her voice seemed to be absorbed by the walls around them. He never responded for some time, nor did he make any move to let go of her hand though he had felt her pulling away.
"What have you done to me?" he finally asked her in a whisper while regrettably pulling his hand away from hers. Placing the retracted hand on his forehead, Mikagami inhaled a massive amount of air while trying to reconstruct the old Mikagami Tokiya façade ever famous for withstanding the old geezer.
Fuuko's mouth gaped open at the remark, a mixture of amusement and irritation reflected on her features as her purple eyes continued to set one ice block aflame. "Are you blaming me, Mi-chan? You really think everything's my fault?"
"That was a rhetorical question in case you did not notice unsurprisingly enough." Mikagami took a few strides ahead of her who soon followed his lead. That's right, better keep away from the fujin girl before his brain can come up with weird things that would give their foreheads a stamp of the word guilty.
"Well then, that's good and if you would please slow your pace. I don't intend on wandering around the house because I got lost because―"
Fuuko never got to finish when the head cousin stopped and turned her way only to grace her with another one of his infamous glares. If only she could convert those to cash, she would have been the richest person in the world.
Crap… Mi-chan's reeeeeally irritated…!
"I'd be happy if you would take time to reflect on how your mouth actually affects me, Kirisawa Fuuko."
Her purple eyes widened for some time after digesting what she thought it was. And yes, she never pictured Mikagami Tokiya to be this way. He sounded more of a… a…? "Mi-chan, you pervert…" she gaped at him, different thoughts rushing into her brain all at once.
The "pervert" being referred to only raised a brow, not really understanding why his cousin was scandalized. What's wrong with indirectly telling someone to keep his mouth shut because it causes migraine on other people?
"What nonsense is that again, Fuuko?" Mikagami seemed more comfortable with calling the girl by her first name that he did not bat an eyelash with saying it.
"You're a pervert!" she pointed an accusing finger at him who only continued to stare at her as if she'd grown two more limbs.
Her cousin only rolled his eyes in reply, not wasting any effort to decipher what in Kami's name convinced the girl that he was indeed a pervert. Mikagami Tokiya really finds it difficult to understand how actually complex the inner workings of a monkey's brain are.
A few minutes ago I look like a girl and then the royal assness. Now I'm a pervert. Great. Just great. I'm thrilled to know what's next…
It was, surely, the ironic thoughts of a certain lad in a black kimono who was wondering whether or not murdering monkeys would definitely send him to jail. But as always, despite the mean things they say and think about each other, both know that they are quite close. Especially now that they are surprisingly of the same blood.
Both ex-Hokage teammates silently padded along the corridor to meet with their other cousins. After the misunderstanding not more than a couple of seconds ago which they failed to clarify, it seemed as if nothing happened. In fact, the aura surrounding them was pleasant; too incompatible with what had transpired between them.
"Mi-chan…" Fuuko broke the companionable silence hovering around them when a thought suddenly came to her mind. "I was wondering… if this never happened, would you have…" she trailed off, unable to finish her question. Not because of anything personal, Fuuko only thought that the question didn't seem clear and comprehendible.
"I thought I told you that I was already scheming something to get you as my girlfriend? Or you were once again having a hard time recalling past events given how inferior the thinking capacity of primates?"
Mikagami fought the urge to give her nape a bop. What the hell is his cousin thinking, asking weird things again? If she keeps on bringing up stuff like that one, he won't be surprised to see both of them in a deserted island.
Exiled.
Not that he has any objections in being with Fuuko alone in the same island…
"Uhuurrrmn…" was what he did to turn his mind to more pleasant thoughts. Yes, thoughts that goes like "Fuuko and Mi-chan? Not gonna happen." Besides, since when did he start to think like some deprived maniac? Not that he indulges in such weird activities. Mikagami Tokiya simply doesn't have the time to spare on those when he was supposed to be exchanging faces with his hard-bound biology books.
###
"Eh? You're… alive and well, intact?"
That was the opening query thrown at Mikagami and Fuuko the moment they entered the common room where their other three cousins stayed. Indeed, the question came from one crimson-eyed lad who had a bewildered look on his face. Of course, it was fake. Simply to mock the head cousin.
"As much as I do not intend to disappoint you, Jinka, we are." Mikagami slowly slid the shoji door close after Fuuko entered. "The old geezer told us that supper's ready and he'll be expecting us at the dinner table soon. What?" his stare clashed with that of Fuuko's who was looking at him incredulously.
"Ill-mannered insolent bastard of a grandson! You foul-mouthed relative of a polar bear! You―"
"Well, primate-looking bitch, you are my relative in case you forget." His arms were placed across his chest while a brow was arched higher than the other. If only the others do not know him, the former ensui wielder will definitely be mistaken for an antagonistic young woman who takes pleasure in making the lives of some wide-eyed innocent-looking country girl miserable (though Fuuko was quite far from being one).
Surprisingly, the primate-looking bitch failed to find any word that would accompany the movement of her right hand as it raised itself to point an accusing finger at the foul-mouthed relative of a polar bear.
The three other occupants of the room, meanwhile, continued to shift their gazes from Mikagami to Fuuko and back. Well, that was unexpected. Though they had this vague idea of them being spared from any form of punishment, nobody expected them to barge into the common room and argue (which they seemed to like doing very much) as if nothing happened.
"I can't believe it. Mikagami-jiisan is more tolerable than you! I can't believe I even had the gall to lo―" the girl halted her impromptu speech that may be summarized into how stupid she was upon seeing the warning glance thrown at her by the once ensui wielder. Crap! I almost… Fuuko no baka!
Indeed, Fuuko realized her grand stupidity, almost spilling their secret in front of three other Mikagami people. Of course it was not a secret so to speak since Kaze and the boys are in fact aware of their situation. But since the fujin girl was quite dense (and well, Mi-chan didn't probably think that Jinka and Kaze knew though he impliedly told Azuma about them)…
Well, I stopped in time, right? She told herself as her purple eyes scanned the faces of the three who continued to stare at them with curious expressions.
"You know, cousins, you should really break that habit of arguing like a married couple." Jinka smirked with a raised brow, as if to provoke the former Hokage teammates.
Kaze merely rolled her powder blue eyes heavenward while letting out an exasperated sigh, her pointer finger flicking outward straight at her cousin's direction. The lad suddenly had his back leaning on the couch, his head thrown backwards as if some invisible force just hit him point-blank.
"What the… you okay, Jinka?" Fuuko asked, surprised, while hurrying to the lad, but halted when he held out a hand as if to say stop. She would not tell it out loud but at that moment, she would swear her eyes caught an almost invisible gust of wind spiraling towards the guy.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Curious purple orbs shifted to the owner of the voice and came to rest on cold blue ones. With the look Fuuko had on her face, he figured that she did. But then again, what would he expect? The girl was almost at par with the eggplant-head ninja freak from the elite group of Kurei's Uruha Jyuushinshu. And yes, Raiha's skill falls only two paces short to excellent which then makes her…
"But…"
"That shouldn't surprise you, right, Fuuko-chan? Since you've met people who had abilities similar to us, we figured that it shouldn't be much of a big deal if you see Kaze firing gusts of wind at Jinka." Azuma offered an explanation… sort of. "And the incident with 'jiisan a while ago…"
The cup and the droplets… evaporation… what…? Fuuko felt her head spinning, she was sure her eyes were exaggeratedly swirling now just like what she'd seen on tv what with the overflowing information forcing its way inside her brain. She felt more than saw her once comrade catching her as she started to sway sideways, her temperature seemingly getting hotter.
Or maybe, she was just getting dizzy due to the tight obi?
She rose from the trance she seemed to be in upon hearing the laughter of someone, certain someone she assumed to be Kaze. Fuuko sat up before rubbing her eyes, making sure that she was awake.
"See, I told you she didn't really faint."
"Louie looked panic-stricken. I would've paid a million yen to see that face again." Jinka laughed while holding his stomach. Fuuko guessed it was due to excess laughter.
She was almost sure that it had been a couple of hours since she thought she passed out and kami, did she ever have to mention that she was already getting anxious by the minute upon realizing that Mikagami-jiisan had been inconvenienced?
Perhaps the old man dismissed her or something? Probably disowned her?
"You lost consciousness for… ten seconds, Fuuko-chan." Azuma explained looking totally amused; although she couldn't find anything amusing about anyone losing consciousness.
The girl would have retorted something like "What, you were counting?" or "Really? I thought it was 8.5…" but decided against it and contented to shake her head to hopefully clear her mind out.
"What the hell happened to you? I thought you would dent the floor!" Mikagami almost scolded while he glared at her full-force enough to put a halt to a blazing snowstorm.
Yeah, right. Leave it to Mi-chan to say "I'm worried" in a roundabout way. Fuuko thought while suppressing the urge to roll her eyes (which she successfully did). "I don't know what happened either…"
"Figures." The head cousin murmured while moving away from her who still occupied the entire couch Kaze and Azuma shared not too long ago.
Looking around, she noted that the blonde girl was holding the pin Sayuri-san used for her hair and only then did she realize that her hair was undone. Not that it was of utter importance; Fuuko just thought it would have been courteous to let her hair be since it took the head servant some effort to fix some stubborn strands. She stood in between Azuma and Jinka who were all giving her inquiring looks, what they were inquiring about she could not just be so sure for the meantime. And when her gaze landed on him…
The ensui wielder was wearing the signature Mikagami expression and for some reason, she thought she read "What the fuck?" from his face.
"It's probably not a good time to explain things to Fuuko-chan." She heard Azuma's calm voice and she can only nod in agreement.
"Whatever. We shouldn't keep him waiting. We merely came here to fetch you for dinner." Mikagami rose from the couch and started taking steps towards the door.
"Wait. You go on ahead. I'll just fix Fuuko-chan's hair." Kaze cheerily called out to the head cousin who shrugged in nonchalance while nudging her two other cousins, their cue to get out.
Making sure that the boys were already out of earshot, Kaze resumed her previous seat and motioned for the other girl to turn her back. Using her slender fingers as substitute for a comb, she proceeded to rake them onto Fuuko's hair to rid it from a few tangles.
"You can command… the wind?"
Kaze stopped at the question hurled. With a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, she managed to reply. "Yeah. Just like you."
"Two years ago." Fuuko added feeling a bit nostalgic about her prized madougo.
It was a memory that was not so distant and yet, she felt as if it were only yesterday when she last wielded her fujin and summoned the power of the wind. How can she forget the day it shattered to pieces as their final adventure as team Hokage ended? But then again, if she felt as if a part of her was lost with the fujin, what more of her presently cousin?
"Louie never needed the ensui to begin with." Kaze spoke from behind her as she made the final touches on her hair which she skillfully tied into a neat bun. "There you go."
"What… what do you mean?" her eyes followed the girl in pink kimono as she stood and motioned for her to follow. Fuuko cautiously trotted towards her as they made their way out the common room to proceed to where the rest of the family awaited.
"Just like what I did, Louie can do that, too. With water, of course. And yes, we don't use any madogou. Just pure skills. Although this kind of ability is limited to the immediate family… or how should I put it? The ability is passed on to the successor. Something like that."
"But if he already knew that at the time Mifuyu was murdered how come he…" Fuuko stopped short of what would complete her statement. She realized that it was, in a sense, some sort of accusation on Mikagami for not defending his sister. "Crap… sorry about that."
Kaze offered her a smile before nodding her head in understanding. "That's alright, Fuuko-chan. You see, he asked that same thing over and over again for several years. But of course, no one here blamed him for that. It's not a child's fault if he becomes gripped by fear when faced with something like that. Just shows that Tokiya is human, too.
"Although because of that, he almost ceased to be human. And mind you, Fuuko-chan, Mifuyu-neechan never knew about it. Our abilities, that is."
"So… the siblings have secrets that they can't tell… to each other…"
"That's right. In the same way that Tokiya never knew that Mifuyu-neechan took up the ensui in his place before her demise… well, until the Meguri Kyoza told him, that is."
Fuuko only shook her head, realizing how complex Mikagami's relationship with his sister must have been. Although she could not imagine him as a child making excuses to going somewhere only to train as a ninja or Mifuyu apologizing for not coming sooner to fetch him from school because she was learning the art of swordsmanship with the ensui. She can only wonder if things would still be the same had they known of the other's secret.
"Kaze…" she paused as blue eyes came to rest on her own. "The Meguri Kyoza… you say it as if…"
"Well, we do not speak his name, Fuuko-chan. An exiled member of the immediate family is considered dead. Although he died two years ago… honestly, I never knew his name. I'm sure Tokiya did not, as well."
Their footsteps were light, almost soundless as they continued to tread the hallway. Fuuko can only nod as her cousin pointed to the other doors like a tour guide and she, the tourist.
What the hell is up with this family? How can they manage to erase a family member from their memory just like that simply because of a centuries-old dislike. And kami forbid, it did not even reach the point of warfare… though it was a thing to be thankful for. But still, it seemed to her that it was out of their ancestors' whims.
"Would you know if… I ask… you see, Meguri Kyoza mastered the ensui and Mi-chan told me that he told him… wait that was confusing. Meguri Kyoza told him that he was his real grandfather. And if the skills are passed on, then―"
"Probably." Kaze interrupted her. "But we've been arguing about that two years ago. Meguri Kyoza took up the sword while he can command the waters. That was probably the reason why he was sent outside. Jiisan was the one who taught Tokiya with the water thing so he inherited that ability from jiisan and not Meguri Kyoza." The girl paused before continuing, "Wait, you sure you won't faint again? I don't think I can afford to go to the dining room without you and tell them you fainted because of information overload."
Both girls laughed. At the back of her mind, she realized how much she doesn't know about him. But given the present circumstances, there sure will be a lot of time to patch things up. Fuuko was sure of it.
"Then that would mean… two members of the immediate family had the ability to control water? Since you said that 'jiisan and Meguri Kyoza…" Fuuko paused, getting more and more confused the further she thinks about it.
"Why not try asking the head cousin himself? Perhaps he knows more given his position in the family…" Kaze suggested with a glint in her blue eyes.
She wasn't sure what that glint meant but she can only hope for things to work out for them. Yes, him and her.
###
Author's notes: I was wondering if it should be "Tokiya History" or "Tokiyan History" (since Mi-chan's name became an adjective as in Japanese history. XD) but decided on the former since Tokiyan sounds a bit… odd. But it was all thanks to Kaze and Fuuko's gossiping that this chapter became long (in my standards). Yeah, it does contain spoilers. I'm sooooooo sorry about that. But please review. I would love to hear what people think of it so far. And yes, I know that the pace is painstakingly slow and it tool forever before I updated. Hontou ni gomen nasai… just been busy with…life in general. m(_ _)m