Priestess of Ishigami village.
Priestess of Ishigami Village, Ruri, knows her fate. A foretold fate of all those many priestesses before her: a shortened lifespan. Hers would be even shorter. The ache in her chest is a cruel reminder that tomorrow could be her last day.
Her fate is to die. Her knowledge will die with her. The 100 stories would be no more and in some sense that is a relief. She feels certain that those stories are a cursed tale. A tale that eats at the very core of her being each time she tells them. Even so, such knowledge doesn't make her stop. Instead, she pushes more of herself into the tales and prays that the sacrifice she gives will be enough to protect the ones she loves.
This fate has taken her mother and it has taken her grandmother and so many more before that. If it will stop with her, then surely her life will have been worth living.
Yet, in the lonely quietness of her own home, she dreams of living. She prays and begs her forefathers for guidance.
And alone, she sheds her tears.
—V—V—
Watching her sister fills her with pride. Kohaku, who is so strong and who works so hard to ease Ruri's life by bringing her hot water from the mountain. For Kohaku she plasters on a smile and allows an airy laugh to escape her now and then, even as her chest aches and the fever takes hold.
Watching her sister play fight with the warrior men of the village from the high platform of her hut Ruri smiles sadly. She clutches her hands down against the wooden railing and tries to hide how much of a support the structure gives. She tries to hide how weak her legs feel and how dizzy her thoughts are. Filling her with a numbness that makes it hard to concentrate her eyes upon the brightness that is her younger sister. The young girl, soon to be woman, that runs circles around the village men and tackles all obstacles placed in her path with a strongheadedness unlike anything Ruri has ever known.
Her smile drops and she feels her eyes wet watching her. Filled with an emotion that is hard to describe. Maybe it is longing. Longing to be a part of that brightness and not to be hidden up here in her hut so far away from the rest of the villagers.
"Please let me live long enough to see her become a young woman. Let me see her become happy."
The thought is amusing and wanting at the same time: to see Kohaku married. To see lively children with bright blond hair and determined eyes and cocky attitudes.
She chuckles and the light air tickles her throat and finds its way deep into her lungs turning the laugh into a cough that leaves her haggard and sagged dangerously over the wooden railing.
"Sister!"
Kohaku. Her young, lovely, bright sister is there. Warm hands bracing her and pulling her up. Making small but firm circles upon her back that makes the cough bearable.
"Are you okay? Do you need tea? Should I get a bath running? Do you need to lay down?"
Such worried questions. Ruri doesn't want that. She wants the bright sunshine smile and not a nursemaid. "Kohaku-chan, please don't worry. I am okay. Just a light tickle, that's all."
It was a lie. One that was not even hidden. Kohaku doesn't call her out on it; just smiles like Ruri wants her to.
"Moo, sister, don't make me worry."
Ruri leans into her sister's touch and runs her fingers through the tuft of hair sticking out like feathers at the back of Kohaku's head. "Then, you too, don't make me worry."
Kohaku looks affronted and Ruri smiles and leans their foreheads together.
"Come now. Have dinner with me before you smell like a barbarian from all that running around you do."
"I would never smell like a barbarian!"
"But you do run around like one," Ruri can't help but keep teasing her.
The pout she receives is cute. Together they make their way in and towards a platter of food that had been left by one of the guards.
"Tomorrow I will bring you more hot water to bathe in."
"The mountain water is very nice," Ruri says instead of saying thank you or even saying that she doesn't need it. For her sister's happiness and smile is certainly more appreciative than the hot water produced by the mountain that gives protection to their small little island.
"I am certain it has healing properties," Kohaku says and sits down with far less grace than Ruri would expect of a young lady. It causes her to chuckle and tap at her splayed legs.
"Sit properly or the food will taste bad."
Kohaku sniffs. "The food won't taste different because of how I sit."
"Maybe not for you."
The thought of causing discomfort to her sister has Kohaku quickly changing her position to something more formal and less relaxed.
"Sorry."
Ruri laughs lightly and piles the food into a bowl for her sister. "Come now, eat, and tell me about your day. You really do smell of a barbarian. What have you been doing?"
—V—V—
Kohaku is gone. The sun is setting, and her sister is not yet back. The light of the sun has long since disappeared behind the mountain leaving dark shadows to fall over their little village.
"Kohaku-chan," she whispers into the quiet darkness of twilight.
"She will be okay," Jasper, her guard, says. "Come priestess, lay down and rest."
She shakes her head and puts her hands together in prayer. "I cannot rest. Not now. Not tonight if she doesn't come back."
If she were only healthier, stronger, she could be out there searching. Had the mountain swallowed her sister like it had swallowed many previously? All because of that mountain water that Ruri was unable to deny her sister her want of getting to help ease some of the pain that Ruri went through. But no mountain water is worth the life of her sister. Nothing that eases Ruri's suffering is worth Kohaku's life.
"I am useless."
Jasper's hand is warm as he tugs it away from her clasp of prayer. "You are not useless. None of us are ever useless. We are simply trees in the forest."
It was a saying of her mother's. "And we can only hope our branches are strong enough to support one another," she finishes and squeezes the strong hand holding tightly to hers. "Yes, we are only trees. But even so, what I would give to be the branch that can support my sister the most." She sighs quietly into the night. "What I would give to be there for her as she tries to be there for me."
"I am certain that Kohaku-kun notices your support."
"As I notice hers."
—V—V—
When she comes back, she is dirtied and tired looking. And not alone.
Ruri watches the stranger stand by the bridge that links their village to the mountain side. White and green-tipped hair. From where she stands, she shivers with the feeling of the stranger's eyes gliding over what their village.
He does not seem to be a warrior but something deep within her fears. She fears especially for the closeness between her sister and the stranger. The feeling of change is in the air and even as Ruri gives a prayer of thanks for her sister's safe return she at the same time asks her forefathers for guidance for the change to come.
The stranger does not enter the village and colorful smoke can be seen rising from Chrome's hut.
"I should go and see," she says to Turquoise, who is her guard for today.
"Priestess, please remain here where it is safe. We will strike him down should he be a danger to you."
Ruri shakes her head and turns determined eyes towards Turquoise. "Not just me. You and everyone as well. My life means nothing should this village fall. Please think of yourselves as if you are a part of me."
A deep frown furrows between Turquoise' brows and she looks down, ashamed, upon her hands. "Of course, priestess. I had not meant to offend you."
She clenches down upon her railing and stares out over the billowing smoke. "Do you think he is dangerous?"
The silence gnaws at her, and she feels her heartbeat pick up. Had Kohaku accidentally brought their village to ruins by bringing this man here? It was not something she wished to think of.
"No," Turquoise finally answers, quiet and not at all believable. The woman seems to realize her mistake for she quickly lifts her head and adds with more finality. "He's dangerous, but not to us. I'm sure. He's eyes are sharp, like the elders. Like how your grandfather's eyes were."
Ruri frowns. Her grandfather. She barely remembers the man. She was too little when he passed away. "Sharp…" she says in wonder, glancing up at the dark sky filled with stars and the bright smoke slowly curling its way up towards the heavens.
She feels the pain in her chest and thinks of her short life. Soon her days will end. She already feels too tired to make it out of bed some days.
A man with sharp eyes like her grandfather makes her yearn. It makes her wish for a future where there was no such thing as a cursed tale and a priestess whose only good was her ability to pass the tale down while sacrificing herself.
Her grandmother had died far before her time. Young like all priestesses, but she remembered the fondness and strength in her grandfather's eyes as he told Ruri about her. As he looked upon the sky and said, "her branches might have stopped supporting us, but her roots lay as a foundation from where new trees grow." His warm hand laid on her head as he shook her gently from side to side before leaning down to touch his forehead against hers. "As your life tree grows from, and your sister's. Ruri-chan, your trunk will be thicker than others and your branches as encompassing as the sky."
Ruri had stared up at him with wonder, certain that she would be a foundation just as strong and stable as her grandmother's one day. That she would carry this village and all the ones that resided in it.
Then, came the coughs.
Now, her trunk felt hollow and her branches little more than twigs. Her role model was as dead as the tales she told and Ruri herself was little more than a shadow trying to act out the life of that of the living.
"You think deep thoughts," Turquoise says and pulls her from her wooden railing to lead her inside. "Deep thoughts, but I fear they are not good ones. Sometimes shallow thinking leads to a happier life, priestess."
Ruri can't help the chuckle that escapes her. "Shallow thinking. It almost sounds like an insult. And yet I can't help but think of Kohaku and no thought of her could ever be an insult."
Turquoise hums in agreement and together they look out over where the rest of the villagers are gathered behind the tree line that hides Chrome's hut from their view.
—V—V—
The tales she hears of the man, Senku, makes her wonder. Something sparks deep within her, and she thinks of the 100's tale. She thinks of a man of legends named Senku Ishigami. This could not possibly be him. And yet, her heart has started beating with hope.
"Ruri-chan," her father calls as he takes heavy steps up the stairs towards her.
"Father," she greets.
"Are you ready for your wedding?"
She blinks and tries to keep the shock from showing on her face. "Of course." Her answer is hesitant, but her father does not seem to notice. He nods happily.
"Soon you'll have a husband once the tournament is over, and a new village chef will take my place."
A husband. The word feels vile in her own thoughts. Even though she knew this would happen. In her eighteenth year she would be married, and her husband would be chosen through a tournament just as it had been for her mother and most likely her grandmother.
A fleeting thought of Chrome smiling at her as he makes her a crown of flowers flitters through her mind. Happier days those had been. Days when she had thought she had some sort of control over her own fate. Days when she had thought being a priestess was more than a curse and was something close to hope. An encompassing tree that supported the village in its growth.
"I am sure you will be pleased at who wins the tournament. Just as when I married your mother."
"Of course," Ruri answers again and pushes the sadness away that fills her chest. For once there is no pain to distract her from the life she lives. "Kohaku will most likely join the tournament." She says it as an afterthought. Not completely sure about the truth of it. Her little sister is a headstrong young woman and she had never been overly supportive of the idea of Ruri getting married. At least not when Ruri is too sick to make decisions herself. And too sick to even care for herself. A man would be nothing else but a caretaker waiting for her death so that he could be the next village chef.
Just like her father, who is a man she wishes she could support, and yet hates as if he is the cause of her mother's death. A good village chef he might be, but a father and a husband, those are two roles he failed their family at.
Even now, he looks mad at the comment regarding Kohaku. He is so stuck on following traditions and looking back at the past as if there are only fond memories hidden away in its depths. A fool stuck in his own mind and blind to suffering of those around him. Ruri doubts he has the ability to see the unpleasantness the future might bring. She watches his face become an unpleasant redness before looking down upon her thin hands. Hands that represent the fragility of her branches and the thought of supporting a husband in her state makes her sick with worry. For herself and for her village. A faithless future feels like it is just around the corner waiting to gobble her up and all that she has tried to protect.
I hope she wins, she thinks quietly to herself.
To have a husband means to make children and to pass down the title of priestess to one of them. This curse will never break then. It will be a never-ending cycle of shortened lifespans.
Ruri would rather die alone than live knowing she passes this down to the next generation. If this is the end of Ishigami village then Ruri will stay strong and support it to the end. Barren from children and from a man.
"Come, Ruri, you will need to cleanse before the tournament."
Cleanse? Ruri thinks and wonders upon what dirtiness she could possibly carry. Are her thoughts so unclean that she needs to cleanse herself from them to be able to get a good husband? Yet Ruri doesn't feel unclean. She doesn't feel that any extra prayer or moments of solitude will change who she is.
Am I a bad priestess?
Doubt itself might be a dirty thought but Ruri doesn't think she can cleanse herself from it. That doubt is as ingrained in her as whatever malaise resides in her chest, deep within her airways, and it can't be taken away.
—V—V—
Kohaku joins the tournament and Ruri's spirit rises for the first time in over two weeks. And next to her stands the man known as Senku. Red eyes as sharp as she had heard stare up at her. It surprises Ruri that she doesn't fear that sharpness. That fear that she had first felt when she had seen him standing on the edge of their village is gone, replaced with something just bordering on hope.
Chrome had come to her almost a week ago to tell her of the amazing inventions that this man had produced in his short time on the outskirts of their village.
So alike to the legendary Senku Ishigami.
Even if he is not him. Even if he cannot bring an end to her curse. Even so, she quietly hopes that he will take Kohaku away. To take her far from the village and show her a world not stagnated by the tales of the 100 stories. A world where women don't have to die young through sacrifice.
Quietly on her pedestal above the tournament ground she wishes Kohaku can live a life far from this village. Where she will never have to worry about who Ruri gets married to or who she ends up passing the cursed tale on to of her children. A place so far away that she will never have to wonder when the end of Ruri's days will come.
Senku meets her eyes with a sharp toothy grin that matches the glint in his eyes and gives a careless wave. What a weird man, she thinks and turns her gaze to Chrome in hopes of some sort of understanding, but he too—her gentle Chrome who brought her flowers—smiles like a villain and meets her gaze with a wicked knowledge hidden deep within. Ruri shudders just thinking of what those two could possibly be planning. What could two non-warriors have to gain by partaking in this tournament?
From her place above them she watches the tournament take place. How the ever-serious Kinrou goes to battle with Magma, and how deep within as she clasps her hands together before her she sends a prayer of luck to the serious young man. Because she would never know how she would manage the few short years of her life she has left should she become wed to Magma. A man far too boisterous to ever understand the fineness that comes with the cursed tale she carries.
In the periphery of her vision, she sees Kohaku run off back across the bridge, and a lead weight drops in her stomach.
"Kohaku…"
Jasper is there by her side. His eyes, too, tracing after the disappearing figure of her younger sister. "You should not take your eyes off the contestants, priestess," he says quietly. Unable to assure her like he usually does when they are alone. Here before the villager's eyes, he is but a lonely guard. Today he is not by her side as a family friend.
Pushing the fear that worries its way into her she brings her burning eyes back to the fight. A sense of helplessness washing over her.
Please take me away from here.
A silent plea she had not meant to think.
—V—V—
Ruri gasps as Kinrou gets taken out from behind and tries not to show the disdain she feels on her face. Magma had gone too far with that last attack. Such a cowardly attack, how could her father agree with it? Yet, he makes no call against it and Magma proceeds to the next rounds.
She worries over Kinrou as he gets pulled to the side. Though, that worry quickly wanes as she sees Chrome step into the ring. Her heart plummeting. Even as she worries, she watches, amazed, as Chrome pummels Mantel with fast, harsh swipes. And her support on the wooden beam drops as her eyes widen with realization.
Chrome has grown up.
The boy who made her flowers was no longer a boy she needed to fear for. Before her on the grounds a young man stood.
She presses the back of her hand against her mouth to withhold the sob that wrecks through her, trying to press back the tears that want to spill. Desperately she withholds her feelings.
When he wins Ruri can't bring herself to take her eyes off of his back. Watching as he stands tall in the center. The silhouette of his younger self disappears from her eyes, replaced by the broader back of a young man and Ruri realizes that she has remained blind to the aging of those around her. Everyone has grown up. Everyone except her, she feels.
Only she remains the same. The one among her age who grew up too fast and too early. She had been so blind to the growth that the friends around her had been doing.
How they had been moving steadfast towards their goals and maturing into adults.
Congratulations, Chrome, she wants to say. She wants to run down there and throw her arms around him and pull him into a hug like she had done when they were younger. Standing there above them, she realizes she didn't want to marry just anyone.
Her mouth opens and a silent gasp escapes her. She can't say anything. She can't change fate. The words she wants to say fall silent and the feeling of selfish want that burns within her she forces away. Pressing her eyes tightly shut she digs her nails deep within her palms and tries to calm herself. She searches for the hollowness within her and tries to forget what the feeling of want is.
When her eyes open they are a little less bright and when her hands pull open just a hint of blood can be seen underneath her nails. Too fine of a volume to be noticeable. Ruri pulls herself together and forgets the burning feeling that has rushed through her.
—V—V—
Senku wins by default and Ruri can't even look at him. Her eyes trail the edge of the village in search of her little sister. A dust cloud appears in the distance and her sister's form soon follows rushing back towards the tournament but coming in too late.
Ruri is surprised when she doesn't stop. When Kohaku ignores everyone in favor of throwing her arms around the young girl, Suika.
What is going on?
She turns a confused gaze to Jasper, but the man shakes his head. He too does not seem to know what is going on. Had something happened? Both Kohaku and Suika seemed alright, though, and her father was making no moves to stop the tournament.
Had this been his idea of getting Kohaku away from participating? To make sure she would be unable to prolong the date for Ruri's wedding.
Numb all over as the hope that had filled her when she had seen her sister stepping in to join the tournament washes away. Not realizing until just then how much she had been hoping, wishing, for her sister to win. To take her away, if just for a moment, from the responsibilities of being a priestess. To allow her, at least once, to spend time with Kohaku like real sisters should: without expectations and without the responsibilities of her position getting in the way of how they may act with one another.
Her mind wanders until she sees Chrome stepping into the ring again. Their eyes meet for a moment and Ruri is filled with so much doubt. The ugliness of it, a blackness within her soul. Deep within she truly feels that it is impossible for Chrome to win over Magma.
It's painful to watch. And yet, she can't take her eyes off of him. Chrome bloodied and beaten, and his eyes filled with burning determination.
"You can do it, Chrome." It's a whisper that should have never been heard. She doesn't doubt by the stiffening of Jasper's shoulders that he heard her. At least it wasn't her father.
There are many things Ruri doesn't understand. Chrome's fascination with stones is one of them. The word science is another. So, when they start yelling about science and its sorcery, Ruri can do nothing else but frown in confusion.
Chrome standing still holding Suika's mask as if it is a weapon is a sight that makes her wonder if her childhood friend has finally gone mad in his search for stones and their meaning. Then, Magma's clothes catch on fire and with it her breath gets stolen.
Chrome has won!
He won, not by fighting, but by planning and scheming and Ruri's chuckling with airy huffs into the palm of her hand. Her Chrome has grown up and has just shown himself as fearsome as any warrior even without the slightest of fighting skills. The villagers are already whispering about him. A mix of awe and fear in their voices.
Indeed, is this the child her father had banned to the edge of their village due to his fascination over rocks and his never-ending quest for answers to all his brilliant and yet scary questions?
She is floating in a blissful cloud now and not paying much attention to Ginrou who is making a fool out of himself much as he always does. Her eyes only have one in their sight, and he has just shown himself as capable as any other of the village men. And if she was allowed to say so to herself, even more capable.
It comes as a shock when she expects him to win only to find him passed out sleeping peacefully at the edge of the tournament circle. A carefree snore to his breath that stalls her thoughts to a grinding and painful halt.
Senku wins by default once again and a stifling uncertainty takes its hold over her, freezing her in place. The young man doesn't carry a heavy presence, but his eyes are almost cold in how they trace over her, head cocked to one side. Ruri wishes to cover herself. She wants to hug herself tight and throws a nervous glance at the sleeping form of Chrome. Jasper stands rigid next to her, a tight hold on the weapon by his waist. But the rules are rules. This is the man she is to wed and have children with. This is the man who will be their next village chef.
A stranger to their lands. Even if he carries the name similar to the one in the tale's legend.
Her voice is weak when she speaks to him, and her chest constricts painfully. It's a relief when the coughing starts. When it takes over her very being and hides the tears she wishes to shed.
"Then I want a divorce." Such carefree words. Did she just hear the man correctly?
She gasps in a ragged breath and level's Senku with wide, confused eyes. The villagers around her all have come to a similar shocked state. Then, chaos.
Senku is cackling, carrying off with their wine and vinegar as he runs off over the bridge.
"Did I just become the first divorced priestess?" she asks no one in particular.
"So it would seem." Jasper, her ever faithful shadow and guard says the words so light-heartedly. "Isn't this good, priestess?" It's a quiet whisper just between the two of them.
Good? She thinks and just catches the rueful grin of Chrome as he disappears over the last bridge behind Senku. "Yes," she says and allows a small smile to grace her features. "Maybe this is for the best."
-V-V-
They come back the next day, racing across the bridge and demanding to see her. She gets dragged out by her hand and pushed in front of Senku. The man is grinning, and Chrome is vibrating with enough excitement to be bouncing in his steps.
"How can I help you, Senku-sama?" She wonders, voice meek, uncertain how to talk to this stranger of a man who asked for a divorce upon being married to her. Had he seen how pitiful her life tree was and deemed her worthless? Was her strong front nothing more than grass straws easily toppled by any who wishes to see?
Yet, Chrome's smile puts her at ease and even Senku's far more wicked grin does not carry any malice in it. They are genuine when they guide her to sit. Their hands are kind when they support her and their palms—not as broad as a warriors nor as rough—are warm against her side.
She eases down to sit and feels the fear creep away. An odd feeling of peace settles over her and she even dares give Senku a smile before offering up her mouth to whatever it is he wishes to give her.
Rough and dry with a stale powdery after taste assaults her tongue. She wrinkles her nose and does her best to swallow it even as her lungs constricts and she feels a cough make its way up her spin to tingle at her throat's edge. Senku is behind her, a steadying hand against her upper chest close to her clavicle and pressing her back against something hard. It seems he is listening to something within her and she dares do nothing else but hold still and hold her breath.
"Don't stop breathing, idiot." The reprimand makes her feel young and even as she drags in a breath she's chuckling through the exhale, earning herself a light swat to the side of her waist.
"Don't call sister stupid, you science idiot!" her faithful sister yells in her defense and Chrome looks like he's lost a war with his emotions for how red he is, yelling alongside Kohaku, "Ruri-san isn't an idiot!"
The chuckle delves into a deep laugh and Senku stands before her looking pleased. He's as tall as a tree with how straight he stands and Ruri feels certain his branches won't just support this village, but the world as well.
Over the course of a few days, Ruri feels her energy return. When she exits the village for the first time in years and hears the rustling of the wind in the tree canopy, she thinks of Senku Ishigami, a living legend. And as she smiles up, twirls in her spot, not feeling a single twinge of pain in her chest, she swears she sees the tall shadow of Yggdrasil, thick and strong with branches that can support all of life and roots as wide-spread as the Earth itself. Within her she doesn't doubt that this man, Senku, must be the legendary world tree, Yggdrasil.