Chapter 10: Nagusame; Comfort
In the early hours of the morning, Mikan and company thanked the miko once again before setting out on their journey towards the location of the Terra Alice holder.
Serina had given them the old map and marked down his likely location. She also warned them that this forest was not free of its dangers; if they were to insult the forest in any way, they would be punished.
Heeding her words, they adjusted the backpacks they were carrying and walked towards their destination.
"May Kami watch over you." Serina and Yura bowed as the group left.
"Was that all we needed to do?" Yura asked her senior.
Serina looked forlornly at the group as they disappeared into the horizon, "That was all we could do. The rest is in the hands of those two princesses. Let's prepare for the arrival of our next guests."
Hotaru and Misaki had been travelling for half a day and they had finally reached a very large cave. Feeling the cool breeze being blown from its entrance, the duo stopped for a rest.
"Why are you travelling so fast Mikan? Who are you with? Are you safe?" Hotaru thought to herself as she took a sip from the flask she was carrying.
Replacing the cap and screwing it shut, she comforted herself with the thought that no news was good news.
Hearing someone emerging from the cave, Misaki jumped back and pointed one of the baka guns Hotaru had lent her.
"Who's there?!" Misaki exclaimed.
The miko bowed and motioned for them to follow her. Uncertain about her character, Hotaru and Misaki followed the young girl in.
"Greetings Hotaru-san and Misaki-san." Serina smiled at the two ladies. "You are chasing Mikan-hime down. It regrets me to inform you that she has already passed by here and is on her way to find the Alice stones required in her task."
"What Alice stones? Who is she with?" Hotaru coldly inquired.
Serina indicated for the duo to sit on the cushions that were provided.
"She is in good hands, both she and her sister. Now, I will explain their situation to you and your part in this quest."
Misaki looked around the large cave and was in awe at how the lighting was provided by the small glowing plants.
"They are heading towards the inner parts of the forest to meet with the ruler of these lands. Of course, you will meet up with them there and provide them with your assistance." Serina explained.
"How will we do that? Each time we come close to them, they suddenly take off at an amazing speed, almost as if they were riding on Hotaru's inventions rather than walking." Misaki exclaimed.
Serina's eyes twinkled with amusement, "You will because it has been foreseen. I will show you the way."
Kuonji stomped into the dungeon where the King's Guards were kept and yanked the young commander to his feet by his chains.
"Good morning, Kuonji, you bastard." Akira Tonochi spat at Kuonij's face and was slapped hard in the face in return.
Kuonji wiped the spittle from his face and glared at the smirking commander. He was furious because reports had come back saying how the princesses were escaping further into the woods. He knew that they were travelling at a pace unlikely by untrained and sheltered people. Reports came back that there were 3 sets of footprints, but something was bothering him.
"Why are the wounds of the dead so clean? Ruka could have taken down a few, but it was unlikely that he was the sole reason for the growing body count. The only other thing I could think of is…"
"Have you been training Mikan?!" Kuonji shouted at the bruised Akira and the rest of the King's Guard flinched at the loud voice which ricocheted off the cold stone dungeon walls.
Akira looked a Kuonji and chuckled, "what makes you think that?"
Kuonji gave him another blow to the face and the young commander collapsed to the ground, spitting out the metallic fluid in his mouth.
"Don't get smug with me Akira! Ruka can't be the only one who's killing off my men, someone must have trained that girl." Kuonji grabbed the collar of the tattered shirt Akira was wearing and pulled him up.
"So… the body count is piling up. I applaud Ruka and his skills. It was good foresight on my part to assign him to be the bodyguard of the princess."
Once again, another blow was dealt and Akira buckled with the pain that surged through his body from his stomach. His subordinates looked on in hopelessness as they saw their commander being beaten up.
"I'll ask again Akira," Kuonji ordered through his teeth, "have you been training the princess?"
Tono gripped the metal chains as hard as he could to keep himself from blacking out from the pain. However, much Kuonji threatened and tortured him, he made it very difficult for information to pass through his lips.
"Which princess?" Tono drawled on, playing dumb.
"Don't play coy with me Akira. You know what happens when I don't get what I want." Kuonji hissed dangerously.
Akira looked Kuonji squarely in the eyes and responded, "Why would she receive training from us? Isn't she an unwanted princess? Sure, she was taught basic self-defense techniques, but I doubt anyone in the army would train her to take a life. After all, she is still a person of royalty, despite most people in court contempt with her presence."
Kuonji threw the commander against the stone wall and stormed out of the holding cell.
"Cut their food and water by another half. We'll see if he still dares to talk back to me." Kuonji angrily commanded the guards on patrol.
With Kuonji's angry footsteps subsiding in the distance, the King's guard closest to Tono asked, "Akira-sama, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. That beating was nothing compared to what the old man used to dish out on me." Akira joked while spitting out another mouthful of blood.
"Please be safe Mikan-hime. We will endure this torture for you. Please carry out your task safely."
Natsume studied the map that Serina gave them. According to his calculations, they would reach the supposed Terra palace within 3 days, considering how fast they were able to move. Looking up at the sky, he noted that they had already travelled for three quarters of the second day and should start finding for a place to rest.
Closing his eyes and tuning out the noisy footsteps the two princesses were making, he focused his attention on the sounds in the environment. He took a deep breath and his nose wrinkled at the scent of moist mud. His ears picked up the sounds of flowing water.
"River? Stream?"
Then his nose picked up another scent, the scent of pine trees. Opening his eyes, he grinned before turning to the party.
"We're stopping here for tonight. Ruka, you want to go foraging for some wood we could use for fire? I'm going to go hunting for food."
Sumire and Mikan looked at each other, "we should help out."
Natsume raised an eyebrow at the dark green haired princess.
"Help?"
Sumire crossed her arms in front of her body defensively, "yes help. We can't continue on like this, with you two doing everything. Mikan and I have decided to learn. With that said, I will help Ruka since I'm no good with the bow and arrow, and whatever tools you use for hunting."
"Uh huh…" Natsume thought hard. Sure, the princess was making sense; they could get more done if the two of them had more knowledge of their surroundings. "All right then. Ruka, go ahead and teach Sumire-hime the different kinds of wood there is to be collected when starting a fire. Mikan-hime, as your sister so aptly pointed out, you are unfortunately stuck hunting with me."
Slipping the bags off his shoulder, Natsume grabbed his crossbow and the quiver of arrows. Moving away from Ruka, who had begun to teach Sumire about the different kinds of burnable material in the woods, Natsume took a few steps deeper into the forest before sensing that he was the only one moving.
Turning around in irritation, "You coming?", his crimson eyes flicked towards the brunette.
Mikan snapped out of her daze and dropped off her belongings before hurrying after him, "sorry, we didn't expect you to agree so fast."
"Why? You sisters made a reasonable request. I'm a reasonable man and I don't say no to extra help. Now firstly, tell me where we are?"
Mikan stopped in her tracks. "Seriously? Is he taking me for an idiot?"
"The forest?" Mikan replied.
Natsume rolled his eyes at her response, "yes your highness, we are in a forest. Can you tell me what kind of forest?"
Mikan looked around at her surroundings. There were so many trees, but she picked up a faint smell.
"Pine…?"
"Good." Natsume commented before moving ahead. "How did you identify it?"
"The smell. It's familiar to me, especially around Christmas." Mikan replied without looking up, concentrating on trying to step where Natsume was stepping.
"Hmm…" Natsume hummed while keeping his eyes peeled for signs of animal movement. Finally entering the boundary of pine trees, he caught sight of what he wanted to see.
"Yukihira-hime…" he began.
"You can call me Mikan. Without the hime. Our difference in status will not aid us in this journey. It's also faster to just call me Mikan." The brunette looked towards him and stated.
Once again, Natsume raised one of his eyebrows at her, unsure of what to make of her request. "That's a first. Ok then, Mikan, this is a rabbit's burrow." He pointed to a hole in a small hill.
Mikan examined it quickly and entered the image to her memory. "How do you know? It could be a badger."
"This girl's thinking at least."
"True… but you see those droppings?" Natsume indicated to the small round pellets on the ground, "They're rabbits. Badgers' are… sloppier." He could not find a better word to describe it.
Letting out a giggle, Mikan quickly pressed her hand to her mouth. "Sorry. Didn't mean to laugh. Please continue."
The ends of Natsume's mouth twitched up, slightly, "it's been a while since you laughed. A first if I should say."
Mikan could feel the heat building up in her face. Was it that long since she last laughed? Was he observing her that closely?
Clearing his throat, Natsume followed the footprints indented in the soft compost of the leaves. Seeing brown ears twitching in between the tall grass, he motioned Mikan to follow closely behind him quietly.
Nodding in response, she crouched down low and once again mimicked Natsume's movement. Despite all her training with the King's Guards, something about Natsume's smooth strides told her that he was much more advance than the guards she trained with. At most, Tono-senpai and Ruka were the only ones who could match up to his level of mastery; that just solely judging on crouching alone.
Natsume carefully pulled the crossbow over his head and pulled the string all the way back before a soft click was heard. Showing this to Mikan, he drew out an arrow and placed it in the groove and it attached to the crossbow with another soft click. Mikan nodded in response, indicating that she understood how to use the crossbow.
Raising it to his eyelevel, he targeted the unsuspecting prey and lightly squeezed the trigger. In a blink of an eye, the arrow whizzed out of the contraption, found its target, and a muffled thud was heard.
Standing up to allow the blood to flow back to his feet, Natsume replaced the crossbow on his shoulders before walking over to the dead rabbit.
"We try not to waste resources. So if you can retrieve the arrow shot and it's not damaged, just clean off the ends and return it to the quiver." With his back towards Mikan, Natsume instructed before pulling out the arrow from its small body, flicking the blood away from the tips of the arrow before returning it to the quiver at his side.
Picking up the rabbit by its ears, Natsume turned to show Mikan his success. However, instead of seeing an impressed princess, he saw how pale her face had gone, even in the setting sun.
"Yukihira-hime? Mikan-hime?!" Natsume rushed over to her side.
"No… no…" Tears started streaming down Mikan's face.
Placing everything on the ground, Natsume knelt in front of her and wave a hand.
"Mikan-hime?! Snap out of it!" Natsume was frantic. Mikan remained in her crouching position, hugging her knees tightly. Her eyes were glossed over, and tears wouldn't stop spilling out of from them.
"He's dead. He was killed, right there. All blood drained from him just like that. He's dead. HE'S DEAD!" Mikan started screaming as images of her beloved father flashed in front of her eyes. She could see his blood pooling around him, the expression of shock as colour drained from his face.
"Mikan! Calm down!" Natsume shouted over her screaming voice while grabbing her flailing arms.
"HE'S DEAD! HE'S GONE! WHY?! WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE SUCH A CRUEL DEATH?!"
Not knowing what else to do, Natsume grabbed her and pulled her close to his chest. She struggled hard against his grasp in an attempt to break free, but he held her tight, stroking her brown hair to try and calm her down.
"Shhh… it'll be all right. Everything's going to be ok."
Mikan continued screaming until her voice was hoarse, "he's gone, he left me… I'm already so lonely and now… I'm really alone."
"Shhh… you're not alone. You have your sister, you have Ruka… now you have… me. I'll… be here. Whenever you need me." The words slipped out his lips hesitantly, "everything's going to be all right. Calm down."
Mikan let out a soft wail and grabbed the cotton shirt Natsume was wearing. She cried her eyes out, she poured out her sorrow. Finally, everything that was bottled up was finally released. Mikan finally grieved over the events of the past 2 weeks.
Suddenly Natsume felt that this had happened before and a scene replayed in front of his eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me, not now."
While hugging Mikan, he looked afar and saw a small girl in the distance crying in front of a burnt down village.
"They're all gone, they took everything from me. I'm alone, all alone now. Is this payment for causing Kami pain? Is he trying to inflict the same pain?"
Feeling a surge in pain on his back, he bit his cheeks to keep himself from shouting out. Right now, he had to comfort the frail, crumbling princess in his arms; his pain was something he could think of later.
Ruka's head whipped sharply behind him. Then he heard it, he heard wailing. Looking to Sumire to see if she heard the same thing, her pale face indicated that she heard it as well.
"Sumire-hime…?" Ruka began.
The sharp wailing freaked Sumire a little. Was the forest haunted? They were the only ones in the forest, right? If that is so, then the one crying… "is it Mikan-nee?" Sumire whispered.
Ruka saw a bird flying past and raised his arm. The bird landed and started chipping. Nodding in response to the bird's song, it flew away after answering the questions Ruka had asked him.
"It is Mikan. It seems that she freaked out after seeing Natsume kill a rabbit. The scene most likely triggered memories of that night." Ruka explained.
"But… she seems so tough. She even had training with the King's Guards." Sumire began.
Ruka looked at the younger princess in surprise. How did she know that Mikan was receiving training from the King's Guards? Mikan had ensured that her training only took place at night, within the barracks of the guards. No one except those in the King's Guards knew that she was being trained, and that itself was information kept to a handful of people.
"Even the toughest people crumble once they see their loved ones dead in front of them. You seem to have coped better though. Aren't you plagued by the scenes?" Ruka enquired.
Sumire moved about uncomfortably. She certainly was disturbed by the palace invasion. At night, whatever sleep that came to her were accompanied by bloody nightmares and the images of her parents murdered in their bedroom. But one thing was for sure, she had seen worse.
"It definitely did scare me, seeing your parents murdered in cold blood. I've had nightmares in the initial few nights, but now… it seems like I've accepted it. I don't know. Maybe it's because I've seen death before?"
Ruka was surprised, "When?"
Sumire let out a sigh, "not many people like my mother and many have attempted to assassinate her. I guess when I was about 5, someone poisoned the maid that worked under my mother. I saw a more horrific scene then. Blood came out from every opening of her body and she just fell dead in front of me, writhing in pain, suffocating on her own blood consciously. I don't think anything could have topped that scene."
"How…" Ruka was clearly confused.
"Of course it was never reported. My mother didn't want news of the assassination to get out of hands and for other scheming ministers to plot for her demise. But that scene… it scarred me for life. I couldn't sleep for a whole month." Sumire concluded.
Ruka rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He was part of the King's Guard and that protection only extended to the King's first born and wife. Since Izumi lost his wife at a very early age and Luna-sama was never officially crowned Queen, the King's Guard's protection was never officially extended to Luna and Sumire. Ruka never knew the hardships that Sumire and Luna-sama had to go through without their protection. Protecting Mikan required round the clock surveillance, he could not believe how much they had to fend off by themselves. Ruka started to feel a tinge of pity for Sumire and her mother.
"Don't pity us Ruka. That would be smearing the image my mother tried so hard to uphold."
Nodding in compliance, Ruka spoke, "how do you know that Mikan was receiving training?"
Sumire snorted, "I've always envied Mikan. She had such a blissful life compared to mine. Sure, she was mistreated, but compared to the countless of deaths surrounding my mother and I, her life was a million times better than mine. I guess my mother felt that she had to treat Mikan badly to ease out the injustice she felt."
"You're not answering my question." Ruka looked at the princess while gripping the wood for the fire.
"I've followed Mikan once at night. Standing from the second floor, I saw her running across the courtyard towards the army's barracks, more specifically, the barracks for the King's Guards. Of course, I went down to investigate and saw her training with Akira-san. But what surprised me was that I didn't know she was proficient in military arts."
"She was a fast learner. She mastered each technique within a short period of time. But all we taught her were self-defence moves. We never taught her to attack because she would put herself out there, to save people she didn't need to." Ruka explained.
Standing up from the ground and brushing the dirt from her dark green breeches, Sumire picked up the wood she had collected and walked away from Ruka.
"Everyone's the same. They see Mikan as the perfect princess for the throne. While she's the first born, her only downfall is that she has no Alice. Remember that Ruka. The ministers will never accept her no matter how much the people love her." Sumire said acidly while walking away. The feelings of competitiveness rose within her. She never liked being compared to Mikan.
"To be honest, Mikan has been telling me that you are more suited for the throne. You may not be as strong as her physically, but she has always been envious of how you are able to keep composure in a critical situation. She's envious of how you are able to evaluate things from different points of view. She has always felt that her compassion, her empathy was her strength, but also her greatest weakness."
Sumire stopped in her tracks. Mikan never told her. She has always tried to be the perfect princess, reading a lot, studying a lot, but everyone still loved Mikan. However, hearing what Ruka had told her, Sumire felt her hard work pay off to a certain degree. She felt satisfied, but most of all, she felt immense surprise for the regard her sister had for her.
Mikan and Natsume arrived at their meeting point long after the sun had set. They saw the soft glow of the fire Ruka and Sumire had managed to start. Seeing how Ruka was teaching Sumire about starting a fire and keeping it going, Natsume supported Mikan to the base of a tree before walking over to Ruka.
"Skin this will you?" Natsume handed the rabbit to Ruka and Ruka swiftly stripped the skin off the rabbit's body.
"Sumire-hime, pass me a thin stick from the pile will you?" Ruka asked the princess while slicing up the meat thinly on a flat rock.
Natsume opened his bag and took out a thin piece of linen. Pouring some of the water from his bottle onto the cloth, he walked back to Mikan with the moist cloth.
"Here," Natsume crouched down and handed her the cloth, "put it on your eyes. It'll help with the swelling."
Mikan had cried so much that her eyes were swollen and she literally had no more strength to walk back to the meeting point. Throughout the whole journey, she tried to keep her feelings in check, but it took a lot of strength on her part not to burst. Seeing how Sumire was in relatively good spirits, she could not just break down like that.
Placing the moist cloth over her eyes, Mikan immediately felt relieved at the touch of the cold cloth on her warm eyes. The cooling effect of the cloth brought great comfort to her eyes.
"Thank you." Mikan hoarsely said.
"Hm." Natsume grunted. Standing up to help Ruka cook the meat, he suddenly felt a tug on his shirt and saw Mikan's mouth moving.
Whispering softly, Natsume crouched back down to catch what Mikan was saying.
"Please don't go. I don't want to be alone."
Natsume let out a sigh. He pressed the cold cloth onto Mikan's eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here but I need to help Ruka with the meat. You and your sister need more food in your system otherwise you could be fainting again."
"Please…" Mikan whimpered.
Gently taking her hand, Natsume held them within his hands, "I will be here. Not more than 10 metres from you. I will be back as soon as the food is cooked. In the meantime, just rest all right?"
"What happened to all the defences you were putting up with this princess? Are you letting them crumble just because she cried? Why are you softening up?" His conscience chided him.
He couldn't help it. Who would just leave a crying woman by themselves? Especially one whom they thought was so strong, yet ironically, crumbled when they saw an animal being killed? Who in their right mind would ignore and abandon a woman wailing like that?
"This was the exception, the only exception." Natsume reasoned with his conscience. He had no more desire to be this compassionate the next time.
Putting her small hand on her lap, he patted it one last time before moving over to Ruka to help him.
"She cried really hard?" Sumire questioned.
Natsume nodded in reply, while his hands moved robotically to prepare the meat.
Finally skewing all the meat, Natsume began roasting them while Sumire stared at the flames entranced.
"How many more days till we reach the Terra kingdom?" Sumire snapped out of her trance.
"We should be there tomorrow. We're covering good ground." Nasume replied and passed her one of the skewers when the meat was cooked.
"But the problem is that we've never been so deep in the forest, so how would we identify the palace?" Ruka voiced out his concern.
Passing Ruka another cooked skewer, Natsume kept his eyes on the final two.
"Serina-san to look back to the stories we grew up with. Was there anything on the Terra stone?" Natsume asked.
"Deep in the forest, all the little girl could see was green. The deeper she walked, the more she got lost. However, Kami would not abandon her side. She was the chosen one and she was given signs. Following the wind and the direction of the leaves, she walked on and on. Deep in the forest, there she saw, the Terra element sitting on his throne." Mikan quoted while pulling the cloth from her eyes.
She got up and moved closer to the fire, sitting next to her sister.
"Deep in the forest… wind… direction of leaves…" Natsume picked out the important details. Passing Mikan the cooked meat, he bit one off from his own stick and pondered.
"We haven't smelled anything out of place since we've been in the forest." Ruka remarked.
"True. But remember, we are a day's journey away from the Terra kingdom. We might see some kind of sign tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled. That means, everyone is to sleep. Ruka, I'm taking the first shift. I'll wake you up 4 hours later. The both of you," Natsume indicated to the princesses, "get as much rest as you can."
Both of them started protesting.
"But you said that we could help!" Mikan argued.
"We can wake up. Keep your word." Sumire contended.
"I am. 'She was the chosen one and she was given signs' didn't you say this Mikan-hime?" Natsume interjected.
Mikan nodded.
"Since you both share the responsibility of the chosen one this time round, only both of you would be able to pick out the signs. How are you to do that when you are tired and bordering on delusion? Go to sleep after eating. End of discussion."
Stuffing the last piece of meat into his mouth, Natsume threw his stick into the fire and kicked the crossbow into his arms. Clutching it tightly, he jerked his head in the direction of the base of a tree, indicating that the princesses should quietly get to sleep.
Throwing their own sticks into the fire, Mikan and Sumire grabbed their backpacks and used it as a pillow. Taking out the cloaks that were inside the bags, they threw it over their bodies and closed their eyes. Succumbing to the sleep they needed greatly, the duo fell straight into a deep sleep.
"You. Sleep as well." Natsume indicated to a clear spot beside the fire and instructed Ruka.
"I will." Ruka had little to argue about. His body was fatigued and heavy, and he was not about to pass up on some quality sleep. "Good night Natsume."
Natsume grunted in reply, keeping his eyes on the darkness of the forest.
"Thanks for comforting Mikan as well. She'd always keep her feelings from us. It's good that she finally found an outlet for it." Ruka murmured before falling to sleep as well.
"Yeah yeah. I know. I could tell that much from the short time we've been together, but the real battle begins tomorrow."
It's really heartening to see some of my old readers reviewing and telling me that they're happy this fanfic will be seeing a continuation! I'm glad that you have not forgotten it!
Your thoughts and reviews are greatly appreciated!