Chapter 21: Ihyō; Surprise
Sumire looked in horror as she saw not only Mikan fall into the dark waters, but Misaki. Accompanying them who jumped in were Natsume, Tsubasa and Yoichi.
Everything happened in slow motion; first the ship rocked, then Mikan fell in. Then it rocked again, and Misaki fell in. Running to the edge trying to do something, Koko grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her away from the railings.
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Koko yelled above the crashing of waves and the slapping of the sails.
"BUT-" Sumire began.
"NO!" Then his eyes glazed over as the sirens sung their song.
"Come to us… poor lonely soul…"
Sumire immediately slapped out of it once the shrill beeping resounded in her ears. She couldn't believe how mesmerising their song was. However, as sudden as the storm came, it also calmed down as quickly.
Sumire noted that it couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes before the singing stopped and the waves calmed down. Remembering that her sister had just fallen into the ocean, she wriggled out of Koko's grasps and looked into the water. Not being able to see anything, she started to panic.
"Are they…" She dared not continue.
Hotaru stood beside her and looked out to the horizon where the sun was beginning to rise.
"Do you feel that she's gone?" Hotaru asked calmly.
Sumire closed her eyes and held her hands to her chest. She knew what it was like to lose someone- she had lost her mother. When she saw Mikan disappear under the dark waters, she didn't feel the same severing of a bond which she couldn't explain. Somehow, she knew that MIkan was still alive, and so were the people that fell into the water with her.
Slowly opening her eyes, Sumire shook her head. "No, they're not gone."
Just then, her wakizashi shook slightly and she took it from her side. Examining the dark shiny scabbard, Sumire knew that her sister had continued on with her quest to find the aqua stone. Looking behind her, she noted that the crew were growing restless due to the lack of a captain.
Ruka was running around in the back trying to get someone to account for those who were lost at sea while Koko was examining the damage done to the ship.
"Where do we go to now?" Hotaru broke Sumire's train of thoughts.
Taken aback that the ice princess was seeking directions from her, Sumire looked to the small sword in her hand. If Mikan was seeking out the Aqua stone and she already had the Terra stone, which left the Aria, Fuoco, life and death. Which one was she supposed to find?
At that moment, a soft breeze blew, blowing open the tattered sails in the ship and moved the ship a little.
"Can I… can I take that as a sign?" Sumire thought to herself.
She felt slight warmth being emitted from the sword and looked up at the sky. It had started to clear as the ominous clouds moved away revealing the navy-blue sky. The wind blew gently again, causing a few stands of Sumire's green hair to come loose from the makeshift ponytail she had on the back of her head. Catching those strands, the first rays of sunlight broke through the darkness and illuminated them in the sea.
Seeing how the first rays brought her attention to something glittering, Sumire looked towards it and noted the brilliant white peaks in the far horizon.
"We're going there." Sumire pointed to the mountains.
Almost immediately, Hotaru took out a pair of binoculars and aimed them at the direction Sumire was pointing in.
"Hm…" The soft hum escaped from her lips as she put down her equipment and walked to Tsubasa's quarters.
Koko joined back with Sumire with his head following the movement of the inventor.
"Where's she going?" Koko enquired.
Sumire merely shrugged and turned her attention back to the waters which were now softly crashing into the hard hull of the ship.
"How are you feeling?" Koko pressed for an answer from her.
Taking aback, Sumire whipped her head and stared into his honest brown orbs. Throughout this journey, no one had asked her about how she felt. Even if they did, they never meant it on a level which Koko seemed to be getting at.
"I'm…" Not sure exactly on how to answer him, she stumbled around for the right words.
"If you're going to say you're fine, I will call you out on it." Koko smirked and looked at her.
"How are you able to stay so chirpy all the time, captain Yume? Even at a time like this when we've lost half our companions?"
"Like the scary Imai inventor said, do you feel that they're lost?"
Sumire shook her head.
"Then there's no need to worry is there? You've got your answer and now we just need to keep moving forward in this… erm… situation." Koko scratched his head to hide his embarrassment.
"It's called a journey, captain."
"Koko. You can just call me Koko." Grinning, Koko turned his face towards the rising sun. "Besides, we can't stop halfway. I've given up my position in the army for this little adventure we have here."
The corners of Sumire's mouth twitched upwards unknowingly. She never knew how infections his optimism was until she was facing the full force of it. True enough, he had given up everything, but so had she. They were all in this together and it was no time to be feeling depressed.
Slapping her cheeks really hard till they were a light pink, Sumire grabbed the wakizashi even harder and made her way to Tsubasa's cabin.
Mikan drifted in and out of consciousness a few times, losing touch of whether she was in the plane of memories or whether she had awoken to reality. But what played on her mind was the memories she was being shown.
"Where am I now?" Mikan asked Kami's sword.
The girl turned and her silvery hair caught the rays of the unknown sun. Looking at Mikan with her piercing eyes, she responded, "A memory of you." With that, the girl in the purple dressed disappeared and the scene changed abruptly.
Mikan blinked and looked down at her feet, feeling tiny grains brush against her skin. Seeing both her ankles deep in sand, she raised one foot to try and stay afloat. But each time she pressed her weight onto one foot, it would sink right through the soft sands. Annoyed that she was getting nowhere, Mikan's attention shifted to the soft sheer material that wrapped itself round her body.
Her arms and feet were covered with a light pink material, but yet her mid-drift was left exposed. Touching her head, she realised that a matching orange scarf nicely hid her face from the scorching sun, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Turning to the left and right in an attempt to regain her bearings, Mikan heard a cheerful laughter. Straining her eyes from the strong rays of the sun, she noted two figures walking a fair distance from her. Picking up one leg and trudging through the sand, she moved close enough to hear their conversation.
One figure was a young girl around the age of 10 while the other was a man in his early twenties. Dressed similarly like her, both had their faces hidden, but she could differentiate the girl from the man by their different dressing. The man wore a deep red vest made of the same light material as his pants. The scarf did little to hide his raven black hair which was peeking from under the head scarf.
"Neh, Shinigami-san, where are we now?" The young girl chirped while holding his hand.
"In the dessert Sakura." The man obviously sounded annoyed.
"How long further till we reach the town?" The young girl relentlessly questioned.
Gripping the reigns of the camel which was shielding them from some of the sun's rays, he put one hand over his eyes and looked into the distance.
"We'll be there by nightfall. Or if you want, I could always fly you there." The shinigami regarded the young girl.
Sakura looked up at him and shook her head, "we mustn't. Remember the promise we made to Aqua-oneesan? She said that your presence cannot be known because the Darkness will be able to find me."
"I remember Sakura, you don't have to remind me." A tinge of annoyance laced his reply. "Are you feeling better to ride on the camel? We're going to cover little ground by walking."
Sakura rubbed her sore bottom and eyed the large animal beside her. "Let's walk just a while more, I think camel-san is tired from carrying both of us, considering how heavy you are…."
The shinigami raised one eyebrow and glared at the cheeky girl. "I could fly off from here and leave you to ride the camel alone you know…"
The young girl's eyes widened in fear upon she heard him saying that he would leave her. Stopping in her tracks and refusing to move.
"Will you really…?" She trailed off.
Fear was obvious in her eyes. Maybe it was the heat that was making the shinigami irritated, or maybe it was the long journey that was starting to get to him.
The shinigami stopped a few paces away from Sakura, refusing to turn his back and face her.
Mikan observed the entire scene unfolding and realised that the man, who was known as Shinigami-san, by Sakura, was a past version of Natsume. She knew the current Natsume was a shinigami, but what she didn't expect was to be seeing memories from so long ago. The only reason she figured this out was when she stopped along the duo and looked into the man's eyes.
Like Natsume's, they were a brilliant red which flashed even more dangerously once he mentioned about leaving Sakura behind. Turning her head to look at the small girl, her breathe caught in her throat as Sakura whipped off her head scarf and started shouting.
"Will you really leave me behind?!" Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she bit her lower lip to keep it in.
Mikan noted the dark markings which were snaking from Sakura's left cheek to her left shoulder. But most of all, she noticed the stark similarity between the small girl and herself. Sakura had hazelnut brown hair like hers and the way her long hair curled at the ends was exactly the same.
Letting out a sigh of frustration, the Shinigami closed his eyes and turned while speaking, "do you really think I would…" seeing how frightened Sakura was, he slowly finished his sentenced, "… leave you?"
"Will you?"
The Shinigami realised his mistake and pulled the scarf down to his neck. Walking over to Sakura, he knelt down to her eye level.
"Never. We've travelled for so long and for so far, why would I abandon you halfway?" The shinigami wiped away the tears which cascaded down Sakura's face.
Sakura gripped her scarf tighter.
"Come on now, let's cover up that face of yours otherwise the sun would steam you into a tasty meat bun and passer-by would find out about the sacred markings." Slowly prying the pink scarf from her small hands, the shinigami wrapped it round her head again and placed his hands on her small shoulders.
"I will never leave you Sakura, not even if death called me back to its doors. So stop crying."
"I don't want to lose any more people… I don't want to be left alone." Sakura whimpered.
The shinigami nodded in understanding.
"You've seen a lot of things a 10-year-old shouldn't see. I understand your fear, but I promise to be by your side always. Wasn't that the pact we made before we started this journey?" The shinigami explained softly.
"We're close to the end, right? We only have to find the fire alice stone?" Sakura looked questioningly at her companion.
The shinigami placed the sheathed sword on his bent leg and slowly drew out the sword. Showing her the blade, he pointed to the relevant holes.
"See here? These top three spots are already infused with…" Shinigami Natsume started.
"Terra-oniisan, Aria-oniisan and Aqua-oneesan's alice stone." Sakura completed the sentence while sniffing.
"Correct. This spot," pointing to the empty hole below the three coloured stones, "is for the fire alice stone."
"But there's two more." Sakura noted. "Who else must we collect the stones from?"
Natsume Shinigami looked sadly for a brief moment before continuing.
Mikan immediately picked up the sadness that flashed through those crimson eyes.
"We will worry about that when we come to it. For now, Sakura, we just take things one step at a time. And now, we have to find the vessel for the fire alice."
Somehow satisfied with that explanation, Sakura roughly wiped her face and tightened the scarf around her face.
"Shinigami-san, let's ride camel-san now. Let's hurry find the vessel of the fire alice!" Sakura was back to her cheerful self.
Straightening his back, the Shinigami sheathed the sword and carried Sakura onto the camel. Then placing his feet in the stirrup, he sat behind her and nudged the large animal into a trot.
Mikan was left in the sand and the scene slowly melted away. She was once again back on the whiteness in the plane of memories.
Commander Mihara threw the maps which were on his desk against the wall in frustration, frightening the council of men in the small room.
"How dare they go against me… how dare they have the guts to go against Major Kuonji?!" Mihara seethed with anger.
The scene of the two young captains escaping from him often replayed and rumours were going around the camp that Mihara was a ruthless superior. Not being able to quiet those loyal to the Y squad, Mihara curled his hand into a tight fist.
When he reported his failure to Kuonji, it came to no surprise to the Major that the sisters had escaped from Mihara. Infuriated that even the Major was looking down on him, Mihara narrowed his eyes at the horizon. He was given strict orders not to pursue the group into the sea, but he was not given orders to return to the palace.
A plan formulated in his head and he smirked evilly. His anger subsided and standing up slowly, the men in the room flinched at his movement. Mihara walked to wall where the maps were strewn and picked up one which depicted the entire continent they were on.
Gazing at the map, he knew that the crew had to dock somewhere and putting together the pieces of information Kuonji had given him regarding the port town, Mihara narrowed down on the next town the group would most likely be at.
"Men… we move at daybreak. Pack up! We're heading to colder grounds." Elated at his deduction skills, he rolled up the map and placed it satisfyingly back into the vase that contained them.
Natsume never left Mikan's side while waiting for her to regain her consciousness. The ordeal frightened him a little and he was still trying not to berate himself for kissing her. Whenever Mikan even so much as frowned, he would swim to her side and look carefully at her face.
Nobara did mention it would take some time for her to regain consciousness as Mikan did travel underwater for a period of time without oxygen. However, thanks to the pouch of Alice stones that were round her waist, Mikan was kept fairly safe. Even as he looked at her, he could see a small child sitting at the edge of the bed swinging his legs freely.
The boy would occasionally look at Natsume and smile, it was comforting to know that he was a healing stone by the gentle aura.
"Shinigami-san…" Mikan muttered.
It was the first words Mikan had spoken since they enter this watery castle.
Unconsciously, Natsume reached out for her left hand and held it within his palms.
"What could she be dreaming about?"
Slowly, her eyes fluttered open but she shut them quickly again.
"Mikan-hime?" Natsume called out gently.
Tightening her grip around his hands, she squeezed her eyes. The small boy got up and touched her forehead, checking to see if Mikan was all right before smiling and disappearing.
"Are you feeling sore anywhere?" Natsume soothed.
Mikan tried turning but somehow, it felt like both her legs were going in the same direction. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked down and stared at the bright orange tail.
"Am I supposed to feel sore at my legs? Or what is supposed to be where my legs are?" Mikan questioned Natsume, disbelief that she had grown a tail.
"It's the pill. It's an adaptation for our time here." Natsume tried explaining.
"Where are we?"
"Where do you think we are?"
Mikan looked around and saw structures made of white coral. Looking out the window, she saw schools of fishes swim past. Then it all clicked in her head. They were in the ocean after being dragged down by the sirens.
"Are we…." Mikan began.
"No, we're not dead. We are at the bottom of the ocean."
Suddenly aware of the pressure on her left hand, Mikan's gaze moved towards Natsume's larger hand on hers and pulled away.
Everything was beginning to puzzle her. Why was Natsume holding her hand? How long had she been unconscious? Where are they exactly?
Just then, a mermaid with ice-blue hair and a matching tail entered the room. Following closely behind her was a merman with brilliant red hair.
"Ah, you are awake chosen one." The lady sang.
Mikan studied her carefully as she managed to move about so gracefully although they were underwater.
"I'm sorry about what my companion did to you earlier. He was acting under my orders to bring you down here." The mermaid motion to her companion.
The man bowed his head in apology.
"Who are you?" Mikan managed to squeak.
"Pardon me, you weren't conscious when we were doing our self-introductions. My name is Nobara Ibaragi and I'm…"
Before she could finish her sentence, she was rudely interrupted by a high shrill.
Misaki came bounding in and crashed into Mikan with all her body weight.
"YOU'RE AWAKE! YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!" Misaki rambled on without pausing for air.
"Geez, let the poor princess talk." Tsubasa appeared behind her and winked.
Catching Tsubasa flirting openly, Natsume scoffed and Yoichi joined him at the corner of the room.
"I'm fine Misaki, stop fretting over me." Mikan joked and lightly patted the lady-in-waiting's hair.
"How can I not worry! You are our princess! Your mother entrusted me to keep you safe and for the last 2 months you've been running around the entire continent-"
"A quarter of the continent, if I might say so." Tsubasa interjected and received a very cold glare from Misaki.
Clearing her throat, Misaki continued, "and you've gotten yourself into battles with the army! Oh look at how thin you are!"
A soft laughter erupted from Nobara and she tried her best to stifle the sound.
"Oh, don't mind me, continue whatever it is you're doing. It's just that it hasn't been as lively down here for the past few years."
"My lady, now is the time…" The red headed man urged her.
"First things first, why are all of you in the ocean with me?" Mikan asked.
Looking at each other, they sheepishly replied, "well, Natsume saw you being tipped overboard, so he jumped into save you. And then the boat rocked, and we ended up in the ocean. Well, one thing led to another and we're all here."
"Next, how is it I'm breathing underwater?" Mikan relentlessly questioned.
Nobara swam closer to Mikan and spoke, "the pill which you were administered, enables you to transform into one of the merpeople. Along with the tail you now have, you would find gills beside your neck."
Mikan's hand flew to her neck and she could feel pieces of her skin flapping open and close. A little freaked out by that, she forced herself to stop touching her gills.
"Sorry Ibara-san, what were you saying before you were cut off?"
"She's going to tell you that she's the vessel for the aqua element." Natsume spoke up.
Mikan's gaze dashed back to the icy-blue haired girl and her eyes widened.
"Oh! I'm so so sorry! Please pardon my intrusion and rudeness." Mikan swung her tail out of bed and attempted to keep her body upright but somehow, she kept moving forward.
Having a tail was not as easy as she thought.
"You'll get use to your new tail soon. It took the rest of them a day to stay upright and not move." Nobara indicated to Misaki and Tsubasa.
Seeing that Mikan's gaze moved to Yoichi and Natsume, Nobara continued, "they… had a natural ability despite being out of their usual environment."
"My lady…" Nobara's companion pressured her again.
"This is Reo, the man who brought you here, albeit unconscious. Now that you're awake, I will tell you the task that you have to accomplish."
Everyone in the room quietened down and perked up.
"Unlike my brother you have met, and the rest which you are to meet, I would like to just hand you my Alice stone but there is a problem. A few years ago, my water Alice had somehow turned to this." In one wrist flick, the door which they had entered by turned into solid ice.
"This is problematic as we are to have a festival soon. If the princess cannot perform her purification ceremony, the ocean water will start to poison itself from its impurities." Reo explained.
"When did this problem start?" Yoichi asked.
Crossing his arms, Reo answered, "about a year ago. After the previous vessel passed on and named Ibaragi-hime the next vessel, her Alice wouldn't respond accordingly."
"It was fine when the previous vessel was alive, but after she passed on, my Alice became like this." Nobara added sadly.
"As you know, water is needed for life everywhere. If the waters in the ocean aren't purified, the impurities would be transferred to other water bodies and soon, the land dwellers would not be able to survive." Reo gravely said.
"The extinction of mankind would occur."
"In that sense, that would make you the most powerful Alice wielder." Natsume stated.
Nobara looked at him, "if you're not counting life and death, then yes. Essentially without my Alice or the Aria Alice, the other elemental allies are unable to survive. Did you forget this brother?"
"Stop calling me brother." Natsume snapped.
"You have it within you, but your fear is holding you back." Nobara preached.
"I don't need to hear it from you." Narrowing his eyes at the vessel, she sighed and turned back to Mikan.
A little confused by their exchange, Mikan enquired about the task she's about to be set. "what is it that I have to accomplish to get the aqua Alice stone?"
"Find a solution to return my Alice from ice to water. Return it to the way it is. Only then can you achieve the stone." Nobara instructed.
"However, you only have 5 days. If you are not able to return Ibara-hime's Alice back to water, you will not get your stone. Your world will be doomed, faster than you can prevent it." Reo warned.
"Best get to it then. Let's revisit the place you were last at when you realised your Alice wasn't responding the way you wanted it to." Mikan chirped while grabbing on to one of the coral pillars for support.
Smiling a little, Nobara nodded and held Mikan's arm.
Yuu wandered around the dimly lit place and a white cloud would form each time he breathed out. Cursing internally at how the Gods forced him to send a message to this forsaken place, his eyes slowly adapted to the dark. Dark blue and blood red flames provided the little light needed to illuminate his path.
A chill ran down his spine as he heard moans and groans.
Pulling his brilliant white wings closer to his body, he tried to sort some kind of protection from them. Each step he took gave a loud crunching sound and upon looking down, the contents in his stomach churned.
He hated being down here. In his entire service to the Gods, he has only been here twice. Once was to greet the all the gods and their vessels, so that they would recognise him as a messenger. Secondly was when the world was in chaos due to the imbalance. This, being his third time, wasn't of any comfort.
Another moan bounced off the cold walls of this hellish fortress.
Yes, that is precisely where he was.
Yuu was in hell.
"What do I have the honour of, such that the Gods' personal messenger would be doing here in my lair?" A voice drawled on in the darkness.
Yuu stopped in his tracks. Not only was the voice biting cold, it seemed like the temperature kept dropping, ironically as he was in the underworld.
"Don't stand there like a fool! I'll be waiting in the main chambers." The voice shot out once again.
Lifting his foot to take a step, his footsteps echoed loudly, harmonising with the voices of those forced to spend the rest of eternity suffering due to their misdeeds.
"The faster I get this message passed on, the faster I can get out of here." That was the only thought which kept Yuu motivated.
Reaching the familiar cast iron doors, the guards beside them bowed at his presence and pushed the heavy doors open. Unlike the last few times he was in hell, the decoration (to put it nicely) changed drastically.
Sitting upon a menacing throne, the man beckoned to Yuu.
"Come closer…" he drawled.
Yuu inched closer to the throne, moving slightly to his right, where there was a large fire burning, in hopes of getting some semblance of warmth while walking forward to pass on his message.
"You know you won't get any heat out of it, seeing as you weren't sent to this place. The flames are only felt by those 'worthy' enough to feel it." The man teased Yuu.
"Are you done playing around?" Yuu asked, since he had to deliver the message.
"Come now Yuu, don't you know that I've been busy registering the souls condemned to arrive here? We're a very busy place, seeing how the number of people dying to get in are increasing." Yuu could clearly make out the smirk on the man's face despite the darkness.
"I have a message for you." Yuu braved on.
The man clasped his hands together and looked at the quivering messenger.
"Oh don't keep me waiting… do tell what's this message that is sooo important."
"Please take this serious!" Yuu was starting to get annoyed.
"Trying to be brave little messenger? Do you know that death is a continuous cycle? I am both Kami and a vessel. I see death yet.. I'm death."
Yuu scoffed, "that doesn't make any sense."
"Nothing makes sense once you're down here long enough. Death doesn't need to make sense, you naïve fool. Now spit out the message you're supposed to deliver." The man's voice changed immediately.
Straightening up, Yuu faced him head on, "The Gods wants me to inform you that the chosen one will be visiting you soon."
"So soon? I last saw her a century ago…"
"You mean three centuries."
"What did I tell you about this place? Everything doesn't make sense, even time itself is warped."
"You are to expect her, and she will be retrieving a part of your Alice."
"Again? Now what for?"
Yuu sighed. He really hated dealing with this God because of his inability to concentrate and be serious. Didn't he know that the world was in a dire state, mainly because he was the one responsible for letting the darkness seep into the living world?!
"Because you allowed too much darkness into the living world! You had one job and that was to contain the darkness in this forsaken place!" Yuu snapped.
The man unclasped his hands and with a wave of his hands, Yuu was trapped against a wall. Unlike normal walls, this was crawling with souls desperate for some light in this darkness.
"LET ME GO!" Yuu struggled violently.
"You know what will happen if they touch one of your pristine white feathers, don't you?" The man threatened.
At that moment, one of the desperate souls touched the tip of his wings and immediately, the entire feather turned black and crumbled to dust.
Enjoying the little torture in front of him, the God continued, "now what happens if you're touched too much, I wonder…"
"ENOUGH WITH YOUR GAMES! LET ME GO!"
"Oh, that's right, if all your feathers crumble to dust, you can't return to heaven. Then you'll just have to be my little messenger!" His voice was gleeful like a little child.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flew down and hit the ground inches away from where the God of death was standing.
"Tch, stingy people. They can have all the fun they want, yet when it's my turn, they're such party poopers." Snapping his fingers, Yuu was released from the wall and the souls disappeared.
"How dare you…" Yuu glared at the God while rubbing his wings.
"You mean how dare you threaten a God?! How dare you lecture a God?! Those feathers you've worked so hard for can be easily removed by me. So watch your tongue!" The Death Kami spat.
Ruffling his wings, Yuu turned on his heels and stomped out. Then stopping mid-way, he spoke, "one more thing, I'd like to know why the place changed its décor."
The Death Kami walked over to his throne and picked up a porcelain white mask. Placing it over his face, he looked into the fire place.
"When the darkness has escaped and entered the universe, it would slowly gather power…" Kami stared quoting the tale which was known throughout Nuru.
Yuu then abruptly finished his sentence, "… and once it starts to cause an imbalance, everything which was, will become nothing."
"So, you see God's favoured messenger, what was logical has now become illogical."
"Your point?"
"Didn't the story say that we'd know we're in a dire state when the unexpected happens?"
Yuu didn't know what the God was trying to say, "you could say that."
"The change in décor was out of my control. Hell has frozen over."