A Recca no Honoo fic
By: Tenshi no Ai
Does anyone even read this disclaimer that says that I don't own Recca no Honoo?
Chapter 13: Abekobe
(Yanagi and Recca's POV)
(Yanagi's POV)
Watashi no namae... wa Abekobe desu.
Abekobe holds onto my hand tightly, her eyes flashing with all sorts of emotions. I try to keep my calm. This isn't the first time I've been held against my will for an extended period of time.
But it's the first time that I've done it to myself.
She looks at me and smiles. You're absolutely right, Yanagi. You did this to yourself.
I whisper, more to myself than her, why are you doing this to me?
Suddenly, I'm pulled very close to Abekobe, and she caresses my face with her other hand. This sudden intimacy...I can feel my cheeks turn very hot. It's not personal...well, it was fated to be so. You would've been the only suitable host for me...why do you think that inscription was there? Only for the Kind-Hearted'...and our specialty is to reverse that....
This doesn't make any sense to me!
As I tell this to you, I tell to your surviving friends... she smiles sadly, then uses her hand, the one caressing my face, to grasp me around the waist. Then she pushes her mouth onto mine.
And then I understand it all...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Recca's POV)
There's nothing.
Without my hime, there's nothing left.
We've lost.
Kaachan suddenly rises from her check on Mikagami's body. I know what that means.
Fuuko's in shock. She murmurs something that sounds like It was supposed to be a happy ending.
I don't think there was ever a chance of that happening.
Who knew that the madougu was lying? We should've realized that! Why would it tell us that Hime would be free if we broke its crystal if it really wanted to have her body?
I'm not blaming Fuuko for this. Or kaachan.
I know that it's my fault.
I never thought that Hime felt like this...I never knew.
Now Domon and Mikagami are gone...Hime killed them...
And it's all my fault.
Or rather... the madougu speaks using Hime's voice. I look really close at my hime covered in silver, and just barely notice this thick black mist next to her. It takes the shape of a girl with black hair in a black kimono and a gray obi. Her face is almost see through, with black eyes and gray lips. She holds my hime possessively, like I do sometimes. That is the name of our fused selves.
Fused selves? Kaachan's voice splits the tension.
Forgive me, it is quite a story. This madougu was not always the type inverse', and I was once a living person, she gestures to her ghostly shape, atashi wa Hisome, the hidden hime of the Hokage.
Nani? Hidden...hime of the Hokage? Doesn't that mean...that she would be related to me?
I was the second daughter of one of the earliest flame masters, she shrugs, named so because my otousama didn't care much about having girls. He wanted a son who could create the flame in order to carry the family line, so in consequence, I had the mist looks at Kaachan, you would understand.
No, I wouldn't, Kaachan says calmly, by my time, the head of the Hokage wasn't allowed to copulate with more than 3 women, and they had to be his wives first.
Hisomu smiles. I was from the first wife. I was a true hime. I was to be protected, she looks right at me, but I can't say that any of the ninjas looked after me personally.
Something occurs to me. She's meaning that....she's like Hime.
At this time there was another event going on, she pauses, the madougu were being created by two prominent men. Their names escape me at the moment, but I have a particular distaste for one of them, even though he's dead now. He created this madougu, claiming that it would protect me when no one else could. He promised me that nothing bad would happen.
I think that what drew me into wearing this madougu was the inscription that he said he had written specifically for me. Only for the Kind-Hearted'. It sounds so simple, so sincere, the mist holds Hime tighter, why did I wear something that had never been tested out before? He even had a name for it, something simple and to the point: Aku Nomikomu, the madougu which would digest the soul of anyone evil who dared touch its master.
You are evil, Fuuko spits out, glaring at the mist.
Not then. Now...I guess it depends on perspective. Now, where was I...oh yes, I wore Aku Nomikomu for a short time. The man who made the madougu promised that this would protect me even better than any one ninja. I realize now that it was made for me because of the war that the Hokage was involved in at the time. Otousama didn't want me hurt, but he surely didn't want to spare a ninja that could be better used in the war. Because we were just an average clan when it came to skills and such, it did seem like the best idea.
At that time, many attempts were made on my life. However, that man was right...I didn't need any bodyguards. Any assassin who simply touched me would have his soul sucked into the madougu. Funny how no one even attempted to kill me by throwing a knife...but I guess that they felt that royalty should be murdered by the assassin's hand. That man, pleased by the success of Aku Nomikomu, went on to make many other madougu, such as that Fuujin you have on, Fuuko-san.
Fuuko shifts her feet, looking like she wants to kill. Don't you ever say my given name again. You don't deserve to speak it.
...He also created Mikagami-sempai's Ensui, and Domon-kun's Tetsugan, and a lot of other madougu that Yanagi has seen, Hisomu loosens her hold on Hime and seems to fade again, but those madougu worked.
My tekkou twitches suddenly. Probably that hentai baka Kokuu wanting out. What happened? I suddenly hear myself ask. I want to know how Hisomu fused with that madougu.
Could that happen to Hime too?
The mist suddenly seems more...there. Recca-kun, don't you know what happens when an absorbent is filled past its capacity? It leaks out again. That's what happened to Aku Nomikomu. All those evil souls that had been absorbed leaked out into me. And so the madougu absorbed my soul because I wasn't kind-hearted' anymore, she laughs, the sound like razor blades, so, the madougu failed to protect me from itself. That man failed. I certainly hope that he turned into one of the legendary flame dragons because of his failure. Then I can at least have the pleasure of knowing that he got his.
Something just occurred to me again, but I think that now isn't the time to ask.
Yanagi's soul will be absorbed into the madougu, of course. She's proven herself more than worthy, but not just because she killed her friends. That's something I encouraged her in. The fact that she obliged is a moot point. She wanted Abekobe's power, and she asked for more and more.
All those evil souls that were inside the madougu were absorbed by my soul, and that madougu absorbed me. That is why I call the result of my fusion with Aku Nomikomu Abekobe'. Anyone kind-hearted who wears this madougu will be inversed. My influence will leak out into them, and then they will be absorbed. They will suffer my fate.
So...that would explain the black energy, Kaachan tilts her head, that is Yanagi's healing powers inversed.
the mist nods, the characteristic heal' inversed to the characteristic death'. But it's a little more complicated than that. Because this madougu's first ability was absorb', I, and by effect Yanagi, have also absorbed a portion of Mikagami-sempai's and Domon-kun's souls. They are in the madougu's limbo, their souls only around' because Yanagi is still not fully absorbed.
So, Mi-chan and Domon are still alive? my only living friend asks.
Hisomu fades out, then reappears, not in the way you would understand it. I would say maybe.
So, that's it? I burst out. When Hime's soul is absorbed, then Domon and Mikagami die?
She nods. There isn't a way for the dead to be revived, even with healing powers. Even Yanagi knows that without asking.
...
I won't give up! Fuuko suddenly shouts, I'd rather die than allow you to hold all my friends! I don't care about your sob story or whatever, you still manipulated the nicest girl I have ever known and made her attack her friends! You made her kill them!
How come I can't do that? Why are my friends doing what is my responsibility?
That is my story, the mist seeps into Hime, that answers Yanagi's request.
Request?
Does that mean that Hime still has a hold, even with that madougu's influence?
Does that mean that there's still a chance?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Yanagi's POV)
As Hisomu draws away, I can feel the tears rolling down my cheeks.
I will be a part of Abekobe.
I know that she's telling the truth. I am no longer that innocent girl who just simply wanted to fight instead of being fought for. I've killed...even if it was all a haze at the time.
And I asked for more.
The worst part is...I've hurt my friends so much. It doesn't matter about me...just my friends.
Recca-kun...there has been some confusion about our relationship. He protects me like a ninja would, but he cares much more than that. That's why we were going out' in the first place, before I became annoyed due to my perceptions about my relationships with the others.
Hokage healer. Mifuyu-reflection. Hime.
Are these really bad labels?
The tears still fall.
I don't know.
It's too late for self-pity, Hisomu says, not unkindly. I sink to my knees, still sobbing as her fingers clasp my own.
It's too late for me...
(I realize that Hisomu is somewhat redundant about what Abekobe will do. Please don't tell me about it, I already know. Besides, it is kinda a big plot point.) I've read up to vol. 28 of the manga recently, and it seems like some points of my story are about right...some aren't (-_-;;). Fanfiction...ya gotta love it...
It's midnight as I finish this chapter. Countdown: 2 more chapters and epilogue. I'm gonna cry....sobs I'm sending this out today, which is my last day of junior year...ugh, Algebra 2 final suc~ked. And then I have summer school starting next week....so you'll have to forgive me for being a little burnt out. Now, to thank the people that make me a little happier during finals week!
Okay, so now it's technically the day after the last day of school. Well, anyway, gotta thank people! ReccaGirl, let me know how you felt about this chapter, k? There's still a lot of story left...I don't mean to make you go crazy, but there's still actual story...did you really think that it was gonna end just like that? Kim, I remember you from Hokage-tachi no Summer Break! Welcome to Abekobe! I'm happy that you like this story very much.' ^_^ And welcome to Abekobe, Showstopper! (Are you really a showstopper? What shows do you tend to stop?) I'm not that much farther in the anime myself, but you're right about Yanagi there. That's why I'm using the manga' Yanagi. blushes Thank you for the compliment...anytime someone compliments my story like that, I really want to make the next chapter even better! Sorry about Domon...I like him too, but seriously tho, he probably would want to go out like that... SGG, I see that you're getting creative in your reviews (and considering what I'm doing to his precious hime, I know Recca'd be the first to flame me -_-;;) You'd better get going with your own fic! And to Lone...sorry for not putting Koganei Kaoru in here, other than that little opening in chapter 6, but at the time, I didn't think that I could write him successfully (and now that I think I can, it's too late ^_^;;;). 8/10...I have a B- fic...? Well, I'll take whatever I can get.
That paragraph looks really big...um, arigato to my special advisor-tomodachi Karen for that clear-up on the Japanese (I never claimed to actually know the language...although I'm learning!)
Hoowee...where are you...don't make me stop writing until I hear from you again...
Next chapter: Recca, do something! (oh, that's a real spoiler...)