Hey everyone, I'm sooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I never updated for a
while. I feel soooo guilty, cos I kept getting reviews, n I wuz all lazy n
stuff.of course there was the factor of spring va-K and the whole my cp-
getting-all-screwed-up-and-having-to-rewrite-chap8 thing. So PLEASE accept
my apologies!
Anyway, this next chappie is divided into two cos it would be too long if I put the whole thing in one chapter. (I also wanted to put in a cliffhanger! Tee hee ^.^). Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: and now, the moment you've all been waiting for.the story that was inspired by 2 stories I do NOT own.read on!
lalala-flashbacks
'lalala'-thinking
~~~ - Dreaming
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 8 (part I): Sakura, Syaoran, and the Iris Spirit
"Okay, you guys are going to have to take over for me," Rin said hoarsely. She coughed. "I feel terrible.I don't know why though."
Sakura's mouth was agape. Attend to spirits? After all that time she'd been avoiding the whole working-with-spirits-thing? "Uh-uh," She said with finality, "I can't do that.I'm afraid of spirits and ghosts!"
Rin shook her head. "Well you're gonna have to get over it, because if I can't tend to my customers, who will? Then Yubaba will get really mad." She sighed. Rin didn't really want to make Sakura and Syaoran do the hard work, but she felt like a muddy puddle. Working was out of the question. But what really worried her was the getting sick part.
Syaoran spoke up. "I thought spirits didn't get colds."
Rin grinned offhandedly. "Me too. So can you please?"
Sakura and Syaoran gave each other glances. They had to do this; they couldn't let Rin tire herself out working all night.
"C'mon Sakura, it'll be fun." Syaoran encouraged, "We have to help Rin." 'Besides,' he thought, 'I want to get closer to the spirits. It'll be interesting to attend to one; maybe I can talk to the other workers too.'
But Sakura was thinking the opposite. 'Oh man oh man oh man! Spirits, ghosts; well I better get used to this--until Rin gets better.der.' She gave a huge sigh and a nod. "Okay, okay, I'll do it."
Rin gave her a big hug. "Thank you so much guys!" She watched as Sakura and Syaoran walked outside. Rin coughed again, longer and louder.
"Are you okay?" asked another worker.
Rin nodded. "I'm fine."
- - -
A few days later, Sakura was sitting down and massaging her feet. She was fresh out tired. Customer work was harder than just scrubbing floors. Sakura vaguely wondered how Chihiro could manage it, but then quickly brushed away the thought. Thinking of Chihiro was painful.
Instead, she turned her mind to all of the spirits she'd had to attend to over the past few days. Stink spirits, radish spirits, and various animal spirits. They had been given the hard tasks; scrubbing the big tub had been one of them.
Sakura stared at the big tub in horror. "Syaoran! It's so."
"Dirty?" he grinned. "What's a little mud and slime gonna do?" Syaoran hefted his broom and marched towards the mucky tub.
A few hours later, Sakura was on her knees, covered in slime. Chichiyaku's head popped in. "Hey.when you're finished, you've got a customer waiting."
Sakura and Syaoran had decided to split up the work for that predicament. He consented to take care of the spirit, and Sakura would stay behind and finish the tub. He'd meet up with her later. Sakura wasn't completely up to this prospect. But cleaning was easier than catering to another creepy spirit.
That had been a few hours ago. Now Sakura was resting and waiting for Syaoran. Her joints ached.
"Sakura!" She turned, hearing her name. It was Syaoran; she could recognize his voice over the din. And she was glad to see him.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
She grinned. "I'm fine. Just.tired. And hungry!" Sakura's stomach growled as if to back up her statement.
"I'll get some food then. Wait here." Syaoran moved off through the crowd. Sakura watched him, and before she spaced out completely her mind wondered of what Kohaku was doing right now.
- - -
The next day Syaoran found himself stiff and tired. He glumly waited for Chichiyaku to give them their next assignment.
"Alright," the Chichiyaku said to Sakura and Syaoran, "you two get." he looked at his list, frowning slightly.
'He's probably gonna give us the hardest or stinkiest spirit to attend to!' Sakura thought. She fidgeted slightly from nervousness.
"Ah. You'll be attending to the Iris Spirit, otherwise known as.um.well the name is blurred. This is a new customer so don't mess up! Bath 357." With that, he left to boss around some other workers.
"Wait!" Syaoran called after him. "How can we tell which spirit it is?" But Chihiyaku was already busy somewhere else.
Sakura looked around. She spotted a nearby worker. "Um, excuse me, but how do we tell which spirit we're supposed to attend to?"
The woman looked up, surprised. "Well, you go to the entrance deck and you should recognize your spirit."
Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, but I think ours is a new customer, so we haven't seen it yet.and Syaoran and I have just started working with spirits."
"Oh," she nodded sympathetically, "then you can ask Yubaba. She stands there greeting guests sometimes. If she's not there you could ask Aniyaku or Chichiyaku or the other Yuna which spirit is yours."
"Thank you!"
"By the way, what spirit are you attending to?"
"The Iris Spirit." Sakura called over her shoulder as she left to tell Syaoran.
The Yuna watched Sakura go, slightly confused. "An Iris Spirit? Why, we haven't had one in ages! This should be exciting."
- - -
Aniyaku grunted with annoyance at the two humans approaching. 'Great. Another load to this night,' he thought. He tried to keep his focus on the customers coming into the bathhouse. Some of them behaved so regally, like they were the queen of the world or something! But he had to smile, yes, how are you, smile, thank you for coming back, smile. At the end of the day his cheeks hurt.
The two humans had got to the greeting platform. "Hello.um could you point out to us which one of these spirits is the Iris spirit?" asked one of them, the girl.
He sighed. Honestly, didn't these two know that the Iris Spirits hadn't been here for years now? "My dear girl.you must be mistaken. There haven't been any Iris Spirits visiting since--"
"Iris Spirit!" called one of the workers, announcing its presence. Everyone seemed to be surprised and startled from the appearance of the Iris Spirit.
Sakura and Syaoran turned to look at their customer. The Iris Spirit was beautiful.
It had smooth pale skin like white silk and was very tall and elegant. Its eyes were light lavender and it didn't have any kind of garment on; it was covered in the leaves of the Iris plant that grew from its head like olive- green tresses. The spirit brought the fragrance of lilacs into the bathhouse and let off a soft whitish-mauve glow. Atop its head, like a crown, was a magnificent white Iris blossom.
If anything, this spirit was a girl. 'Unless spirits have no gender.but look at the Yuna,' Sakura thought. She was in awe of the Iris Spirit. If anything, it should have gone to the best attendant in Aburaya, not to her and Syaoran.
Syaoran looked at the spirit in question. There was something wrong about it, but he couldn't tell what. Aniyaku's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Why hello my dear Iris Spirit! Thank you for coming to the baths.ah.here are your two attendants. I hope you don't mind that they're humans. They're quite civilized, you know." He bowed with great aplomb.
Everyone looked at the spirit, waiting for its response. Unfortunately, it gave none. The spirit stood calmly, looking down at Sakura and Syaoran. Aniyaku began to wonder if it had heard him at all. He sighed. "Well you two.get along now! We can't keep our customer waiting." He gave a large, phony smile and ushered Sakura and Syaoran down the hall, the Iris Spirit trailing along behind them.
Sakura definitely noticed some heads turning as she and Syaoran led the spirit towards bath 357. It pleased her to be noticed, for once. When they arrived at the right bath (which was a special new one created like a sauna room, although if spirits knew about saunas Sakura wasn't sure) she let the Iris Spirit in and closed the door. The room immediately got quieter.
'These rooms are much better than those others,' Syaoran thought, surveying his surroundings. The walls were light and bamboo with paintings on them. The bath was in the middle but there was a bench around the perimeter of the room. It smelled new.
Sakura held up a bath token she'd filched while no one was looking. "One compost soak, comin up!" She'd chosen it because plants needed fertilizer, and she vaguely remembered elementary school where teachers demonstrated the goodness and recycling qualities of compost.
Syaoran went and picked up some bath scrubbing items; although why this spirit needed to be washed he hadn't the faintest clue. It was as sterile as a doctor's needle.
Sakura pulled the rope for water and watched as the hot water streamed out of the long wooden trench. She breathed in deeply. Compost soaks weren't that bad-she'd expected smelly brown water, but this water was only tinged a brownish green, and smelled like.a little bit of everything that grows.
A soft mist floated around the room, creating a warm humid atmosphere. Syaoran turned towards the Iris Spirit, to usher it into the tub. He frowned. The spirit was leaning against the wall, panting and blinking rapidly. It almost looked like it had a fever or was going to faint.
"Sakura.look." He pointed.
Sakura turned and saw the hyperventilating spirit. She immediately felt something was wrong. "Syaoran! I think it's sick, or something." Sakura approached it, cautiously. Syaoran hesitated. He didn't want Sakura near it.
"Don't get too close!"
But she crept near anyway, until Sakura was almost two feet away from the Iris Spirit. It closed its eyes for a long time, and slid down to the floor. She gasped. "Syaoran! It fainted! Go get someone, quick!"
Syaoran rushed to comply. Spirits getting sick and fainting? He pulled on the door, but to his surprise, it was stuck. "It.it's stuck!"
"WHAT?"
He strained, pulling with all of his weight. "Yeah."
Sakura shook her head, and crept closer to the unconscious spirit. Suddenly, its eyes flashed open. But instead of the soft lavender just moments before, its eyes were deep red. Sakura stood up instinctively. Those eyes.
The Iris Spirit.or maybe not the Iris Spirit anymore.straightened up. It flexed its long fingers, and looked up at Sakura, trapping her in its crimson stare. As she watched, the leaves on its head got darker, poisoned, mottled; the blossom on top looked diseased. Its skin had turned ashy gray.
"Syaoran!!!!!!" she yelled, turning around and running away. Syaoran already got his sword out, ready to fight.
"Just hide Sakura! I don't want you to get hurt!" he yelled as he charged forward. Syaoran swung his sword and cut the beast in its arm. Black ooze spilled out. "Not beast!" he said, "You're a demon!"
The demon turned and growled. It grabbed his sword, and with strength like iron, bent Syaoran's hand. The blade cut him in the side, and Syaoran sprang back, clutching his stomach where the blood was. Sakura had had enough. "I don't care Syaoran! You're not getting hurt either!"
But as she moved forward, something in his eyes made her take a step back. "NO!" he yelled.
The demon stepped in front of him, and delivered a few powerful blows to his head and chest. Syaoran went flying against the thick wall. He fell onto the bench, unconscious.
Sakura yelled, "SYAORAN!" But he was out cold. "That's it!" she screamed at the demon, which stood there, ready to spring on her.
She gained her composure and tried to think of something. 'Of course! The cards!' she thought. Sakura brought out the key to release the wand. The demon came flying at her and both of them crashed against one of the other walls, Sakura pinned down.
Struggling as she might, Sakura couldn't get out of the fatal embrace. The demon grinned evilly. It took off one of its hands and held up a finger. A long, thin, and deadly, pointed claw grew out of it. The creature positioned its hand directly on her neck. Sakura felt the steely point against her sweaty skin.
She took a deep breath, and the demon brought its hand back to strike.
~ - ~ - ~
so how's that for a cliffhanger? (XD) *doges veggies*
Thank you to all of my reviewers, ther are so many that it would take forever to do this, but I appreciate all of you SO MUCH! You gave me motivation to write this story, and write it fast!
silent H
Anyway, this next chappie is divided into two cos it would be too long if I put the whole thing in one chapter. (I also wanted to put in a cliffhanger! Tee hee ^.^). Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: and now, the moment you've all been waiting for.the story that was inspired by 2 stories I do NOT own.read on!
lalala-flashbacks
'lalala'-thinking
~~~ - Dreaming
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 8 (part I): Sakura, Syaoran, and the Iris Spirit
"Okay, you guys are going to have to take over for me," Rin said hoarsely. She coughed. "I feel terrible.I don't know why though."
Sakura's mouth was agape. Attend to spirits? After all that time she'd been avoiding the whole working-with-spirits-thing? "Uh-uh," She said with finality, "I can't do that.I'm afraid of spirits and ghosts!"
Rin shook her head. "Well you're gonna have to get over it, because if I can't tend to my customers, who will? Then Yubaba will get really mad." She sighed. Rin didn't really want to make Sakura and Syaoran do the hard work, but she felt like a muddy puddle. Working was out of the question. But what really worried her was the getting sick part.
Syaoran spoke up. "I thought spirits didn't get colds."
Rin grinned offhandedly. "Me too. So can you please?"
Sakura and Syaoran gave each other glances. They had to do this; they couldn't let Rin tire herself out working all night.
"C'mon Sakura, it'll be fun." Syaoran encouraged, "We have to help Rin." 'Besides,' he thought, 'I want to get closer to the spirits. It'll be interesting to attend to one; maybe I can talk to the other workers too.'
But Sakura was thinking the opposite. 'Oh man oh man oh man! Spirits, ghosts; well I better get used to this--until Rin gets better.der.' She gave a huge sigh and a nod. "Okay, okay, I'll do it."
Rin gave her a big hug. "Thank you so much guys!" She watched as Sakura and Syaoran walked outside. Rin coughed again, longer and louder.
"Are you okay?" asked another worker.
Rin nodded. "I'm fine."
- - -
A few days later, Sakura was sitting down and massaging her feet. She was fresh out tired. Customer work was harder than just scrubbing floors. Sakura vaguely wondered how Chihiro could manage it, but then quickly brushed away the thought. Thinking of Chihiro was painful.
Instead, she turned her mind to all of the spirits she'd had to attend to over the past few days. Stink spirits, radish spirits, and various animal spirits. They had been given the hard tasks; scrubbing the big tub had been one of them.
Sakura stared at the big tub in horror. "Syaoran! It's so."
"Dirty?" he grinned. "What's a little mud and slime gonna do?" Syaoran hefted his broom and marched towards the mucky tub.
A few hours later, Sakura was on her knees, covered in slime. Chichiyaku's head popped in. "Hey.when you're finished, you've got a customer waiting."
Sakura and Syaoran had decided to split up the work for that predicament. He consented to take care of the spirit, and Sakura would stay behind and finish the tub. He'd meet up with her later. Sakura wasn't completely up to this prospect. But cleaning was easier than catering to another creepy spirit.
That had been a few hours ago. Now Sakura was resting and waiting for Syaoran. Her joints ached.
"Sakura!" She turned, hearing her name. It was Syaoran; she could recognize his voice over the din. And she was glad to see him.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
She grinned. "I'm fine. Just.tired. And hungry!" Sakura's stomach growled as if to back up her statement.
"I'll get some food then. Wait here." Syaoran moved off through the crowd. Sakura watched him, and before she spaced out completely her mind wondered of what Kohaku was doing right now.
- - -
The next day Syaoran found himself stiff and tired. He glumly waited for Chichiyaku to give them their next assignment.
"Alright," the Chichiyaku said to Sakura and Syaoran, "you two get." he looked at his list, frowning slightly.
'He's probably gonna give us the hardest or stinkiest spirit to attend to!' Sakura thought. She fidgeted slightly from nervousness.
"Ah. You'll be attending to the Iris Spirit, otherwise known as.um.well the name is blurred. This is a new customer so don't mess up! Bath 357." With that, he left to boss around some other workers.
"Wait!" Syaoran called after him. "How can we tell which spirit it is?" But Chihiyaku was already busy somewhere else.
Sakura looked around. She spotted a nearby worker. "Um, excuse me, but how do we tell which spirit we're supposed to attend to?"
The woman looked up, surprised. "Well, you go to the entrance deck and you should recognize your spirit."
Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, but I think ours is a new customer, so we haven't seen it yet.and Syaoran and I have just started working with spirits."
"Oh," she nodded sympathetically, "then you can ask Yubaba. She stands there greeting guests sometimes. If she's not there you could ask Aniyaku or Chichiyaku or the other Yuna which spirit is yours."
"Thank you!"
"By the way, what spirit are you attending to?"
"The Iris Spirit." Sakura called over her shoulder as she left to tell Syaoran.
The Yuna watched Sakura go, slightly confused. "An Iris Spirit? Why, we haven't had one in ages! This should be exciting."
- - -
Aniyaku grunted with annoyance at the two humans approaching. 'Great. Another load to this night,' he thought. He tried to keep his focus on the customers coming into the bathhouse. Some of them behaved so regally, like they were the queen of the world or something! But he had to smile, yes, how are you, smile, thank you for coming back, smile. At the end of the day his cheeks hurt.
The two humans had got to the greeting platform. "Hello.um could you point out to us which one of these spirits is the Iris spirit?" asked one of them, the girl.
He sighed. Honestly, didn't these two know that the Iris Spirits hadn't been here for years now? "My dear girl.you must be mistaken. There haven't been any Iris Spirits visiting since--"
"Iris Spirit!" called one of the workers, announcing its presence. Everyone seemed to be surprised and startled from the appearance of the Iris Spirit.
Sakura and Syaoran turned to look at their customer. The Iris Spirit was beautiful.
It had smooth pale skin like white silk and was very tall and elegant. Its eyes were light lavender and it didn't have any kind of garment on; it was covered in the leaves of the Iris plant that grew from its head like olive- green tresses. The spirit brought the fragrance of lilacs into the bathhouse and let off a soft whitish-mauve glow. Atop its head, like a crown, was a magnificent white Iris blossom.
If anything, this spirit was a girl. 'Unless spirits have no gender.but look at the Yuna,' Sakura thought. She was in awe of the Iris Spirit. If anything, it should have gone to the best attendant in Aburaya, not to her and Syaoran.
Syaoran looked at the spirit in question. There was something wrong about it, but he couldn't tell what. Aniyaku's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Why hello my dear Iris Spirit! Thank you for coming to the baths.ah.here are your two attendants. I hope you don't mind that they're humans. They're quite civilized, you know." He bowed with great aplomb.
Everyone looked at the spirit, waiting for its response. Unfortunately, it gave none. The spirit stood calmly, looking down at Sakura and Syaoran. Aniyaku began to wonder if it had heard him at all. He sighed. "Well you two.get along now! We can't keep our customer waiting." He gave a large, phony smile and ushered Sakura and Syaoran down the hall, the Iris Spirit trailing along behind them.
Sakura definitely noticed some heads turning as she and Syaoran led the spirit towards bath 357. It pleased her to be noticed, for once. When they arrived at the right bath (which was a special new one created like a sauna room, although if spirits knew about saunas Sakura wasn't sure) she let the Iris Spirit in and closed the door. The room immediately got quieter.
'These rooms are much better than those others,' Syaoran thought, surveying his surroundings. The walls were light and bamboo with paintings on them. The bath was in the middle but there was a bench around the perimeter of the room. It smelled new.
Sakura held up a bath token she'd filched while no one was looking. "One compost soak, comin up!" She'd chosen it because plants needed fertilizer, and she vaguely remembered elementary school where teachers demonstrated the goodness and recycling qualities of compost.
Syaoran went and picked up some bath scrubbing items; although why this spirit needed to be washed he hadn't the faintest clue. It was as sterile as a doctor's needle.
Sakura pulled the rope for water and watched as the hot water streamed out of the long wooden trench. She breathed in deeply. Compost soaks weren't that bad-she'd expected smelly brown water, but this water was only tinged a brownish green, and smelled like.a little bit of everything that grows.
A soft mist floated around the room, creating a warm humid atmosphere. Syaoran turned towards the Iris Spirit, to usher it into the tub. He frowned. The spirit was leaning against the wall, panting and blinking rapidly. It almost looked like it had a fever or was going to faint.
"Sakura.look." He pointed.
Sakura turned and saw the hyperventilating spirit. She immediately felt something was wrong. "Syaoran! I think it's sick, or something." Sakura approached it, cautiously. Syaoran hesitated. He didn't want Sakura near it.
"Don't get too close!"
But she crept near anyway, until Sakura was almost two feet away from the Iris Spirit. It closed its eyes for a long time, and slid down to the floor. She gasped. "Syaoran! It fainted! Go get someone, quick!"
Syaoran rushed to comply. Spirits getting sick and fainting? He pulled on the door, but to his surprise, it was stuck. "It.it's stuck!"
"WHAT?"
He strained, pulling with all of his weight. "Yeah."
Sakura shook her head, and crept closer to the unconscious spirit. Suddenly, its eyes flashed open. But instead of the soft lavender just moments before, its eyes were deep red. Sakura stood up instinctively. Those eyes.
The Iris Spirit.or maybe not the Iris Spirit anymore.straightened up. It flexed its long fingers, and looked up at Sakura, trapping her in its crimson stare. As she watched, the leaves on its head got darker, poisoned, mottled; the blossom on top looked diseased. Its skin had turned ashy gray.
"Syaoran!!!!!!" she yelled, turning around and running away. Syaoran already got his sword out, ready to fight.
"Just hide Sakura! I don't want you to get hurt!" he yelled as he charged forward. Syaoran swung his sword and cut the beast in its arm. Black ooze spilled out. "Not beast!" he said, "You're a demon!"
The demon turned and growled. It grabbed his sword, and with strength like iron, bent Syaoran's hand. The blade cut him in the side, and Syaoran sprang back, clutching his stomach where the blood was. Sakura had had enough. "I don't care Syaoran! You're not getting hurt either!"
But as she moved forward, something in his eyes made her take a step back. "NO!" he yelled.
The demon stepped in front of him, and delivered a few powerful blows to his head and chest. Syaoran went flying against the thick wall. He fell onto the bench, unconscious.
Sakura yelled, "SYAORAN!" But he was out cold. "That's it!" she screamed at the demon, which stood there, ready to spring on her.
She gained her composure and tried to think of something. 'Of course! The cards!' she thought. Sakura brought out the key to release the wand. The demon came flying at her and both of them crashed against one of the other walls, Sakura pinned down.
Struggling as she might, Sakura couldn't get out of the fatal embrace. The demon grinned evilly. It took off one of its hands and held up a finger. A long, thin, and deadly, pointed claw grew out of it. The creature positioned its hand directly on her neck. Sakura felt the steely point against her sweaty skin.
She took a deep breath, and the demon brought its hand back to strike.
~ - ~ - ~
so how's that for a cliffhanger? (XD) *doges veggies*
Thank you to all of my reviewers, ther are so many that it would take forever to do this, but I appreciate all of you SO MUCH! You gave me motivation to write this story, and write it fast!
silent H