chapter8

mush, mush, mush, and more mush. drama, drama, drama, and more drama. *real big sigh*

DISCLAIMER: Don't own nothing except my own crazy self....oh yeah, i own Mizu.



Letters



"Good morning, Mizu!" Miaka barged in through the door. But she was welcomed by an empty room. She blinked. "Mizu?"

"Where is she?" The seishi shortly followed.

"I don't know. Let's check the other rooms," Miaka suggested.

They searched the nearby rooms until they reached the room where they left her in last night, writing. The candle has just burned out, and a line of smoke escaped the glowing wick until it completely died out. On the table was a piece of paper. Miaka picked it up, and read its contents aloud for the others to hear.

To Miaka and the Suzaku seishi:

Please forgive me for leaving without notice. I feel the need to go back to my own world and to my father. Miaka, thank you for the great advice, I believe it will work. I thank all of you for being so kind and hospitable. I will try my best to visit you again someday. And, hopefully, when I do, I could stay a bit longer. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I wish you all good luck and prosperity.

Sincerely yours,
Mizu


Miaka read the letter again, silently this time, then looked up at her companions. She smiled. Everybody smiled, too.

"I'm sure she's all right," Tamahome said.

"Yeah, as long as she doesn't fall into a pond when she goes back to her world," Tasuki joked.

Everybody laughed at that one.

They all looked out the small window. The sky was a beautiful bright blue.

* * *

A gust of wind suddenly opened the windows in Heero's room. The noise abruptly woke up the sleeping boy. He looked out of the window. The storm clouds were gone, revealing the blue sky. Still sleepy, Heero groaned drowsily and rolled over to his side. The sound of crumpling paper caused him to open his eyes again. There, in his hand, was a piece of folded paper, sealed with red wax, slightly crumpled. It was obviously not the envelope he held when he fell asleep. The envelope was gone. This was a different letter.

Did she... he thought. He stared at the paper. A few seconds passed until Heero finally decided to open it. He carefully peeled off the seal and read the letter's contents.

Heero,

I really don't know how to explain this clearly, but I'll try my best.

"An inhabitant of one world must not develop intimate emotions towards the thirteenth descendant. If one does, the two worlds would collide and will be reduced to little specks of dust..."

Those are the exact words on the ancient scripture. I couldn't read the last part of it, though. If you remember, I have already explained to you and the others about how I can travel to different worlds. I am a thirteenth descendant and we both belong to different worlds. Do you see the situation now? That's why I can't stay in your world anymore. You must try not to think of anything related to me again. If you do, it'll only cause destruction to both our worlds. I know you also have loved ones you want to protect, like I do. Forget me. For them.

You'll never know how much this news hurts me. Or the trouble I have breathing whenever I think of the situation. If I had told you about this personally, I would most likely be crying by now. But I consider it as a duty to live to preserve the lives of others. In order to do that, I must refrain from disobeying what is written in the scripture.

I will miss your world, I will miss everybody there, I will miss you. I spent less than a day there, but it felt like years. Maybe because I knew so much about the world... I don't know. Maybe I've always been attached to your world.

Please, don't worry about me. The pain I feel now will eventually go. I'll survive all this. I'm still young. I'll go through much more. I think of this as a learning, strengthening experience. Later in my life, I'll know better what to do. I hope you learn from this too.

"...If you love someone, set them free.
If they return, they are yours forever..."

I'm letting you go now. This is because I love you so. If a day comes when there are no scriptures, no rules, no restrictions, no limitations, I believe we will meet again.

Please let go,
Mizu


Heero stared at the letter. Now he understood why she had to go so suddenly. It hurt, but he knew he had to put up with the pain. It'll help Mizu in a way, he thought.

He had almost fully accepted the consequence the two of them has to go through... but something nagged at his heart when he read the letter again. It brought numbness to his whole body whenever he looked back at it. It was her last three words: "Please let go". He wished she hadn't written that. It was too strong. Trying to stop thinking about it, he averted his gaze to another part in the letter.

"...if you love someone..." he started. He remembered something. He picked up one of the crumpled papers on the floor, smoothed it out on the bed, then read the last paragraph of its contents. "what the...?"

* * *

Mizu woke up in a familiar room. It was her room. The curtains danced softly to the sound of the wind. The door slowly creaked open, and her father peeked in the room.

"Good morning," he greeted. He walked closer and sat on the bed. "You shouldn't wake up this early," he touched her forehead. "You still have a slight fever. Rest first, I tell you some good news later."

Mizu smiled him a yes. He smiled back, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Silence.

Mizu glanced over to her study desk. A white envelope was there, her name written on the back. She hurriedly clambered across the bed and reached for the envelope. She sat on her mattress, staring at the envelope. It's for me... she thought absently, as if it was the first time she saw it. Last night's occurrences came back to her suddenly. She remembered Heero's tight grip on the envelope. She remembered saying goodbye. She turned it over and carefully started to open the envelope. In it was a letter, and something wrapped in tissue.

Mizu,

I'm not really sure why I'm taking the time to write a letter to you, since I can't be certain if you'll be able to read it or not. But since you're reading it now, thank you for coming back. I just had the feeling you'd come, so I made this letter, just in case I won't be able to talk to you.

The first thing I want to say is an apology for my quite... aggressive behavior. I don't know. When I first saw you, you looked like an angel: glowing in this bright light; levitating in the air; with such a peaceful expression. You were right in front of me. You fell into my arms when you lost consciousness. You should have seen how surprised I looked. I was shocked because I just learned then that not all angels have wings. And I didn't believe in angels before. Then when you started talking. When you told us about your ability to travel to other worlds, and how much you knew about them, and me...it made my perception of you shift from an angel to a goddess. I can't imagine anything you cannot do or obtain. You are the most special person I've ever met. That's probably why I wanted to take you before anyone else does.

I'm sorry. I'm too possessive. I shouldn't have used the word 'take'. I'm not taking you as a possession. I didn't mean that. How else can I express myself? I'll rephrase my statement: I wanted to declare my feelings for you before anyone else does. I hope you understand.

When I kissed you. It felt different. My want became more of a necessity. Like I needed you for survival. I couldn't stop myself. I held on to you like a lifeline. But when you pushed me away, when you told me to forget you... a large part of me crashed to pieces. That part of me only started when you first came. It rapidly took over most of my life. But you left... leaving me with an almost empty soul. Nothing could fill in the space except for you.

I spent a lot of time alone that afternoon. The storm outside reminded me of you. Every time I thought of your name, the rain seemed to grow stronger. Stronger and stronger, until I heard your voice in my head, screaming, telling me to stop.

Now I understand everything. I'm sure you have a very good reason for your actions. You didn't resist my kiss, or anything I did. Does that mean you express the same feelings? If it did, then I suppose your reason for going would be for the betterment of what I would like to believe as a relationship.

Whatever your reason may be, I'll try my best to accept it, as long as it ensures your safety and happiness. I heard this quote somewhere, sometime in the past: If you love someone, set them free If they return, they are yours forever...

I'm letting you go now. One day, when there are no more barriers between us, we will meet again.

I enclosed a gift for you. If I'm supposed to forget you, then I hope you can remember me instead. But I cannot certify that I will forget you completely. You're already a big part of my life.

I will miss you.

Sayounara,
Heero


A tear fell on the last page. Slowly, Mizu opens the tissue. Inside is a silver necklace with a half-cross pendant. The fine chain shone brightly in the sunlight pouring in from the window. The small half-cross had intricate engravings on every surface, improving the luster, making it shine brighter. Mizu closed the necklace in her fist. "Thank you..."

A few more tears fell on the paper. Mizu tried to wipe it off when her eyes fell upon the last few lines. "...if you love someone...". Mizu looked at it curiously. Then she remembered her own letter.

* * *

"Dad, what was that good news you were gonna tell me about?"

"Come here, Mizu. I'll show it to you," Mizu's father motioned his hand to draw her closer.

"What is it?"

"Look," he pointed to the computer screen. It was an image of the final words on the scripture. The letters looked different.

"It's... a bit clearer..." Mizu commented.

"Yes! Isn't that wonderful? Now you can read it!" he was ecstatic.

"Well, Dad, I said it was a BIT clearer. I still can't read it properly."

"That's what we're gonna work on, kid. Innovation! One day you'll get to read it. Who knows what's written in there!"

"Okay, Dad. We'll do that," she patted his back. "Good work."

Mizu looked at the screen again. Wow, I'll finally get to read it. I wonder what's written there. I hope it's good news...

"Oh yes, there's another piece of news."

"About...?"

"My evil ex-colleague."

"Oh yes, what happened?"

"He..." her father snickered, "he was gonna dilute some Hydrochloric acid when he poured water into 100% acid... everything splashed all over him and he melted! HAHAHAHA!!! That's the stupidest thing an expert scientist like him could ever do! Can you believe it? HAHAHA!!---ouch!"

"That's not funny," Mizu smacked her father on the head. "It's terrible news!"

"What are you saying? He tried to kidnap you!"

"Yes, but he was your *colleague*. And he's still a person! That makes him no different than you or me."

"I never knew I had such a righteous daughter. Sorry."

"It's ok," but I must say, it did serve him right, she continued in her head.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Huh?"

"That," her dad pointed at her neck.

"Oh, this," Mizu fingered the pendant inside her shirt. "It's a... goodbye present..."

"Nice. Well, I'll get back to work!"

"Okay, you do that," her voice seemed a bit less cheerful. Her hand still held on the pendant.






Criticisms, flames and death threats are highly expected. No fear, I won't bite.