AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this was supposed to have a fighting scene in it...but when I look at it now, I think it'll be more suitable to call it an-amatuer-trying-to-bite-more-than-she-can-chew scene ^^ Next time, I'll just steal some fighting parts from Saturn-san's fics *grins* I know this is focused terribly much on Mi-chan, but it's all part of the plot! Really! ^^;; Think of it as an opening to the rest of the fic; a path that eventually leads to lots of other side roads which I'll be exploring as the fic goes on *nods vehemently*
Thanks for pointing out the mistakes, Blue Sorceress! *huggles* Guess this is why I should really get a beta-reader, ne? ^^ Anou na...I guess I've gotten so used to writing one-shot, first-person fics that I haven't quite gotten back into the role of the narrator just yet *sweatdrop* And looking back at the first two chapters, I sorta understand what you meant about the confusion: the only reason I wasn't confused was because I wrote it! @_@
And not only to Blue Sorceress, but to everyone else who sent me feedback/reviews! *huggles some more* Thank you so much! *_* You're all the reason why I can't seem to get this fic out of my head at all, even during dinnertime o.o;;;
The fragments Mi-chan hears later in the fic are in Malay, by the way ^_^ Those who study literature in my school might recognise it from a certain story =^^= Don't worry, it'll be explained later on...but if you know Malay, you could always translate it yourself ^.~
SPOILERS: Mainly for the identity of Mikagami's sister's killer...Though I'm sure that just about everyone should know who it is by now ^_^ Just take caution if you haven't reached the fight between Team Hokage and Uruha Kurenai/Scarlet! Wouldn't want anyone complaining about getting spoiled, ne? ^_~
DISCLAIMER: Yes. Flame of Recca doesn't belong to me. Yes. Its characters don't belong to me, either. But I can borrow them for just a teensy moment, right? ^_^
TRANSLATIONS:
'neesan = older sister
kirei = beautiful
k'so/kuso = um, a curse? Sorta like 'damn!' ^^
matte = wait
==============
The Bonds of Time
Silent Night
==============
It was a quiet night.
A warm, soothing breeze blew gently amid the twinkling stars above, their shining brilliance untainted and uncovered by the usual smog that tend to envelope the busy cities of Japan; the moon was full, with its calm, peaceful glow shedding a bluish-white light upon anything it touched, and revealing the darkness of shadow anywhere it didn't. The weather was so calm tonight, so unlike the stormy turmoil that filled the lone figure's heart.
Mikagami stood on the wide balcony, elbows resting lightly on its marble railing, fingers dangling uselessly in the midst of the soft, flowing breeze. His posture was hunched, and his sky-blue eyes rested absently on the magnificent view below.
Yet the apparent blankness within them gave clue that his mind was not focused on the vista of trees and flowers below him, nor was he actually paying anything close to attention to the whispering wind around him. Rather, his conscience had wandered away from the scenery at hand to reminisce the moment when he first saw the spill of blood, caused not naturally, but by the hands of another. It would be the first of many spills he would come to see.
Subconsciously, his hand stroked the areas that had been wounded, and then sufficiently healed by Yanagi. Yet the emotional scars remained, crystal clear within his mind's eye; he could almost feel the blood still tainting his skin, almost smell the copper scent as it dried.
Seven years ago, he remembered feeling the very same way. He remembered feeling the blood on his hands, on his arms; it smeared his face and turned his vision into a bright hue of red. It felt so warm, and yet it brought about such dread as it spilled onto him, over him, around him.
The similarity was not lost on him. It almost seemed like deja vu, with the only difference being that the blood of the past had belonged to another.
'...'Neesan...'
Flashes of the cold, cruel eyes that had taunted him still remained in his mind, although he could finally place a name to them. Somehow, Mikagami didn't feel too thrilled by that. His master's eyes, those kind eyes that had made him give up all his trust to the older man...they didn't seem to fit those of his sister's killers.
The killers' eyes were merciless, bloodthirsty. They taunted his inability to save the one he loved, the one person he treasured more than his own life. He could not save her. He couldn't even save himself, let alone another. He had tried to move -- god knew he tried to move out of the way! -- and yet, his body did not obey. It was as if some invisible force had struck out to hold him down, hold him still as the knife flew towards him.
An invisible force that felt very much like fear.
The knife struck, but it did not strike him. Someone else had taken the blow, the blow that had his name on it, and it was her blood that spilled. Hers. Not his. It had taken his own sister to save him from death, using her very body as his human shield.
'I swore to protect you...And I failed miserably...'
It had taken her cry of pain to bring him out from his state of immobility. It was all that echoed within his mind, piercing his consciousness and bringing him back to reality; the rapid footsteps that rushed to their room went unnoticed. Their attackers evidently heard it, though, and left almost immediately. Yet he hardly took notice of their leave, his attention focused on his dying sister.
She lay in a puddle of thick, dark blood, her eyes wide and unseeing, her long, chestnut-brown hair dampened by the scarlet liquid. Her blood. It hadn't occurred to him to call for an ambulance at that time. A child of a mere ten years, Mikagami's entire state of mind had been shocked into emptiness, as he cradled her gently within his arms, not caring even as his clothes were stained a crimson red. He had to wake her up, keep her conscious, keep her alive...
Someone else had called for help.
But it was too late; the wound was too deep, and too much blood had been lost. As the seconds ticked by painfully slowly, he felt the hope of reviving his sister slowly dissipating. Reality sat on him like a harsh wake up call, as he realised that, no matter how hard the neighbours tried to convince him otherwise, she couldn't be saved. And he was right. Then again, he was rarely wrong, wasn't he?
The paramedics didn't even need to take her to the hospital. They announced her death there and then...but only after she had given him their family treasure: Ensui. It was almost as if Ensui had brought her back to life, stalled her moment of death, even if only for a short moment, to ensure that it was given to its rightful master.
Then, the light in her warm brown eyes died, and she was still. The paramedics covered her pale face, once rosy and warm with love, and wheeled her into the ambulance. And he was left standing there, grief and pain filling his heart to the point of bursting, his family's heirloom within his hand. He couldn't remember screaming his sister's name, nor could he remember slumping to his knees as he grieved her death.
Everything had turned into a complete blank; a vacuum within the space of his mind. What Mikagami recalled was merely what the neighbours had told him.
They said he had cried, but he couldn't remember the wetness that was supposed to come with tears. They said he had screamed until his voice grew hoarse, yet he couldn't remember even uttering a word. If he tried to recall those faint memories, all he brought up were scenes he remembered from the attack: the knife, the earrings, the laughter. Everything about the actual incident was so startling clear, yet its aftermath was a terrible mess of blood and screams and unnamed faces surrounding him, trying to bring him out of his stupor.
Mikagami continued to stay with the landlord, who had allowed him to do so more as an act of publicity than any real kindness. The killing had been broadcast on the news that following night, with reports on the "poor younger brother who had nowhere else to turn to". Naturally, people would expect the current landlord to take him in. And naturally, the latter complied, turning it into a form of publicity for his company at the same time.
Such a thought never occurred to him, though. All he thought about, day and night, was of the expression on his sister's face when the knife plunged deep into her back. He never once stepped foot into the room where they were attacked since that day. Even when he merely passed the room, the awful memories would return. They teased him during the day, coming in flashes every once in a while, and tormented him at night. In his dreams, he had to relive every moment of it, over and over again.
He woke up endless times in the middle of the night, crying for his sister. But she would not come, for she was dead. Dead and buried. The funeral was short, ending by noon. Not many had come, as they had lost contact with most of their old friends when they had moved. The few who came were only able to offer sympathetic comments at most.
'The following days passed so slowly, and more than once I thought I was simply living a realistic nightmare. I wanted to wake up. I tried to wake up. But just when I thought I had escaped it, I would find your grave, and then the nightmare would begin all over again.'
They had all thought he was slowly learning to cope with his sister's death. He's doing so well, the counselor had said. Yet on one of those slow, steady days, he woke up to a sudden change that shocked everyone: his hair had turned white.
Every single strand, from root to tip, had changed into a shiny, silvery white. The counselor was fired, and a new one brought, yet none could find the cure for this sudden transformation. Everyone had been very subtle about it, having been specifically instructed not to purposefully bring it to attention, yet the shock factor was still there, and whispered conversations continued behind the scenes.
Unlike the rest, Mikagami hadn't been as shocked as they had expected; on the flip side, he had taken the change rather calmly.
'I had always known that I would never get over it. No matter how many counselors urged me to move on, I would never let myself forget about you.'
The same nonchalant treatment wasn't experienced in school, though. The children laughed at him, made fun of him, termed him a weirdo that no one wanted to befriend. And they left him alone.
Slender fingers reached up to caress his now-long hair, as Mikagami watched it glisten under the light of the moon. He tried to recall how he'd looked like previously, with his original hair colouring, yet the picture just didn't seem right. While at first he had been slightly uncomfortable with the silver gleam, after seven years of being tormented about its oddness, it was now as much a part of him as his limbs were.
As all this happened, Ensui lay in his bottom-most desk drawer, untouched since that fateful day.
'I hated it. I hated Ensui for drawing those killers to my home...They came looking for Ensui, and killed you instead. I hated it.'
But as time passed, the seed of vengeance grew within his heart. The police hadn't turned up any suspects. No one had a clue on who killed his sister. When the case was closed, unsolved, that seed soon blossomed into full-blown hatred. The police may be willing to give up, but he wasn't going to let it go so easily. It wasn't their sister who was killed, it was his -- and as such, he had to step in personally if he wished to avenge her.
On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Mikagami finally unveiled his chosen weapon: the madougu, Ensui. He would use it to slay the murderers of his sister; one by one he would hunt them down and deal them the punishment they so deserved. Using Ensui was merely the icing of the cake; he found a sense of poetic justice in eliminating the killers using the weapon of the very person they had killed.
And he'd found someone to help him: sword master Meguri Kyoza.
***
Lowering his head, Mikagami wondered what he had done to deserve this outcome. He hadn't ever been truly cruel nor evil the entire time his sister was alive. Oh, there were always those times when he'd flipped her skirt, or caught a grasshopper and never let it go...but those didn't warrant a punishment such as this.
Neither did he actually kill someone when in the midst of finding her killer...injured, yes. But kill? Never. It had simply never come down to that sort of ending. So what had he done, that led to a punishment as merciless as this?
"Why...?"
Meguri Kyoza, his sensei, had killed Mikagami Mifuyu, his sister. She had been the only family he ever had, and his sensei, whom he had once considered to be his father figure, killed her. Killed her, and at the same time, killed his happiness. It ran over and over again in his mind like a never-ending cycle of miserable torture.
The two people he trusted most in his life. One dead, killed by the other, who had gone missing...
"It wasn't just a coincidence, was it, sensei?" he whispered softly, "You lied to me; you said that you wanted to help me find the killers, when you had actually planned her death all along..."
The wind echoed loudly as it gradually picked up, as if moaning for the deep sadness of its lone spectator. But it gave no answer, merely company. Mikagami bit his lip hard, trying to contain the urge within him to just break down and cry. Like he was said to have done seven years ago.
He'd stopped that useless habit after beginning his training, though. There was no time for sadness, or grief, or mourning. He had to practice constantly to achieve his goal of revenge. Crying would solve nothing, only waste precious time and energy, hence he shouldn't even bother with it; Meguri had always said so.
The knot in his stomach, which had appeared during the tournament and remained throughout the evening, seemed to twist itself even harder; the tightness in his throat increased, burning his eyes with unshed tears. He hadn't cried for so long...he'd almost forgotten how it felt. Lifting a hand to his forehead, he could feel the hot flush of his face as it contrasted greatly with the coolness of his hand.
Clamping down tightly upon his rising emotions, Mikagami willed himself silently to calm down. He couldn't let himself cry. Couldn't lose control. 'I'm seventeen...Seventeen! How can I cry like a ten-year old when I'm seventeen...'
A faint shudder crawled up his spine. Wrapping his arms possessively around himself, he tried to warm the chill in his body, but it didn't work. Even when the wind was warm tonight, it didn't serve any purpose other than being an annoyance to him. He used to cry, when he was younger. And Mifuyu would always come to make it all better. She would hug him, assure him that everything would be alright, that nothing could hurt him as long as he believed in himself...
'But she's not here any longer...I'm all alone now...' A tiny trickle escaped, and slowly moved down, creating a thin streak of silver across his left cheek. The lone tear seemed icy compared to the heat on his face. Wiping it away quickly with one hand, Mikagami couldn't help but wonder when was it the last time he cried. 'Since I turned eleven...'
Since he picked up Ensui and began his quest for vengeance, his descent into unending hatred.
Since then...everything had been bottled up. Emotions. Feelings. It had been the only way for him to endure the pain...the agonising pain of loneliness that he felt, when the most important person in his life left him.
This recent news though, delivered so suddenly in the Ura Butou Satsujin, was enough to literally break the tightly-shut bottle open. It came flowing out from within him, an angry wave of emotions, in the form of tears and quiet sobs. To stop the flow would be a futile task; it would be like trying to hold back a raging flood with a dam made from a handful of sticks and stones.
Mikagami slid to the floor slowly, his back supported by one of the pillars that connected the railing to the floor. Pulling his knees together until they reached his chin, he rested his forehead gently on them as his arms encircled the lower part of his legs. His eyes shut tightly, squeezing out more tears in the process. He used to do that a lot when he was frightened; a young child trying to seek solace from the darkness. Maybe it would still work.
He could feel the weariness finally taking its toll upon his body. His mind was still active, though not entirely coherent. Random images of his entire life flashed by in quick sequences: Mifuyu yelling at him for messing up the kitchen; Mifuyu searching for him when he was lost in the park; Meguri showing him how to hold a sword for the first time; Meguri demonstrating a two-partner kata; and...
Team Hokage. The people he had fought against and alongside with. He had been roped into their little group somehow, bit by bit, even though he had about as much in common with them as fish did with birds.
The howl of a wolf could be heard, loud and clear amidst the quietness of the night...
'A wolf?!'
He hadn't gone that deep into insanity just yet. He still remembered that he was actually in a hotel, and that wolves did not live in hotels. Mikagami leaped to his feet and immediately headed to the edge of the balcony. His hands perched stiffly on the railing, he was just in time to catch the wolf looking up at him from below, perched on a tall ledge-shaped rock.
'No, it was waiting for me...' he realised with a surprising certainty. He leaned forward slightly, a strange sense of anticipation growing within him at the sight of the animal below.
Its fur looked soft and silky, not rough like one would expect from a wild animal; it glimmered like expensive velvet under the shining moonlight. Surprisingly, its colour was that of pure, clean snow. Not a tinge of black stained the thick, white fur, from the tip of its nose to the very end of its bushy tail. Its eyes were amber in colour, almost to the point of being gold, with the moonlight only further enhancing its glittering quality. They reminded him of two golden flames, burning brightly against its dark background.
As Mikagami stood above, he was mesmerised by those haunting, golden eyes. 'Kirei...'
The wolf continued to stare at him, for several long minutes, before leaping off the ledge and running off towards the lake.
"Matte!" Desperate, unexplainable panic arose within him at seeing the magnificent creature sprint away from its perch, and before he knew what was happening, his shoes were on and Mikagami was running towards the lake as well. The earlier weariness was forgotten as adrenaline fuelled his veins, giving him the energy to actually get up and run. It was only when reaching the pathway leading to the man-made lake did he finally stop to catch his breath.
Panting heavily, he mentally reprimanded himself, something he had come to do out of habit since Meguri left. A personal teacher, one could say. 'What the heck are you doing?! Running out in the middle of the night after some...animal...like a damn maniac!'
For some reason, he couldn't think of the wolf as an animal. Its eyes...there was something humane about them...
'You stupid idiot! Idiot! Idiot! IDIOT!' He scowled, remembering that this could be another one of Kouran's tricks to capture them...even though it didn't really make sense. Yanagi had always been the main target all this while, so why should Kouran even bother with him? Then again, the recent events were more than enough to heighten his paranoia, and let it be said that Mikagami still wasn't in the most correct frame of mind.
His inborn logic still remained, however small it was, and he walked slowly towards the lake, intending to get as close to it as possible. If this was a trap, then he would need Ensui's power.
A low growl came out from the bush closest to the lake, and Mikagami whirled around to face it, his left hand reaching reflexively into his pocket for Ensui...
...and came out with nothing. 'K'so! I left it back at the suite!' Mikagami resisted the urge to smack himself. Recca would laugh if he saw this.
Ensui not with him any longer, Mikagami immediately got into a fighting stance, something Meguri had practically forced him to learn the first time he started training. As he slowly calmed his breathing, he tried to predict when the wolf would try to strike.
In a flash of silvery-white, it leaped out with the suddenness of a lightning bolt at Mikagami, and successfully pinned him to the ground; the latter too surprised to evade. Its lethal claws tore through the thin material of his shirt, creating several deep scratches on his shoulders. Blood came oozing out slowly from the wounds, but Mikagami hardly paid any attention to his injury.
The wolf tried to get a bite at his neck, but the Hyomon Ken master was able to recover himself quick enough, with the speed of someone who had endured harsh physical and mental training throughout his life, to sneak a hand between his neck and the razor-sharp fangs of the wolf. As he kept pushing the snow-white wolf's fangs away from his neck, a part of his mind was desperately concentrating on sneaking a knee under its soft belly.
It took a while, for it wasn't easy to concentrate on something else when there was a pair of razor-sharp teeth hanging right above you, but somehow Mikagami had managed to get his knee right under its most sensitive spot. As the wolf was about to make its final attempt at his neck, he gave it a hard, solid kick right in the middle, sending his attacker flying backwards.
Several loud yelps were heard as the wolf hit the hard ground, and for a moment Mikagami felt thoroughly guilty for kicking it so hard. 'Why?' He didn't have the time to find out. Shrugging it off as much as he could, he swiftly got back up onto his feet.
Only to find the wolf missing. 'Damn it! He must've sneaked away while I was getting up...'
It was almost impossible however, for Mikagami had gotten up quite quickly. How had his attacker managed to retreat without leaving any tracks, or making even the slightest noise? 'Forget about that! Concentrate. It's hiding out there...somewhere...You have to be ready for its next strike...'
He had to be. His very life depended on it, for he knew that he wouldn't have the strength to hold off another assault such as the last one.
A shuffle was heard from another bush, this time from behind him, but Mikagami remained still. Not turning around, not even the slightest movement was made as he listened carefully. Clear blue eyes scanned the surroundings carefully, all was quiet save his rapid panting, and with his sharp hearing he tried to estimate when and where the wolf would strike next. Once again, without a sound the snow-white wolf made a leap at him, this time from behind.
However, this time around he was prepared, and easily moved out of the assault's range. Landing gracefully on all four paws, a swift turn was made and the wolf made another attack. Again, Mikagami was able to move easily out of its way, not missing a beat as his concentration didn't waver even for a moment.
An angry snarl came from the wolf, furious at being toyed with, and made another attempt at its prey. This time, rather than just pinning him down, it aimed straight for his neck. The result however, was the same as before. Before this cycle could continue though, a soft, singsong voice came floating towards the two. Mikagami's concentration snapped with such suddenness when he heard it that it almost caused him to lose his footing.
"Maka Tuan Puteri Bongsu pun lalulah..."
"Who is it?!" he demanded, trying to find the source of that voice. The area was empty; he couldn't sense anyone being anywhere close him. Yet the song continued to reverberate all around him, as if it emerged from the very wind itself, and not from one particular source.
"...menangis terlalu amat sangat..."
The wolf lifted its grand head and howled.
'What's happening here?' he wondered, confused and bewildered as the singing echoed louder and louder. It was a wonder no one else had heard it yet. The lyrics were very faint, and barely distinguishable. He could only catch fragments of the song, albeit very poorly, as its melody surrounded him. And it disturbed him immensely that he couldn't recognise the language that was being used.
"...air matanya seperti..."
The last fragments couldn't be heard, as the voice drifted back into the darkness, with the melody following in its wake. The wolf, no longer the terrifying beast it was before, now looked as gentle as a puppy, eyeing him with its amber eyes filled with...sadness?
Once again, Mikagami found himself enthralled by those golden orbs, and couldn't help but admire its beauty, as he did before from the balcony. The wolf gave one last, short howl before leaping over a tall hedge and out of sight. Mikagami watched, his body paralysed, his mind screaming at him to follow. The paralysis was exactly the same as that he experienced seven years ago...
It was happening all over again. He was covered in blood, just like before; unable to move, just like before, as his body was held down by some invisible force. Only this time, he couldn't find a word to describe what this force felt like.
Barely minutes later he regained control over his body. He didn't bother trying to get over the hedge, in hopes of finding that wolf.
'It's long gone by now...' he mused silently, regrettably.
The wind, a whole lot colder now than before, blew his hair all about, and chilled his damp skin. The fact that his shirt wasn't in the best of conditions didn't help warm him in the least. Pushing his long bangs out of the way, already dampened by sweat, he wrapped his arms around himself, particularly over his bleeding shoulders, in an effort to protect himself from the icy cold wind. Mikagami walked slowly back to the warmth of the bustling hotel, trying to put his thoughts back into perspective, wondering what in the world just happened.
He still couldn't get the voice out of his mind, though. It was as if it had, during the brief time that he had heard it, been embedded permanently into his consciousness. There was an ethereal beauty in that voice; a reverberating ancientness that was similar to those of ancient opera performances. It was something not of this world...
It sounded pure, the voice of an angel...although it was an angel that tried to kill him. 'Great. Now I'm getting all poetic.'
A sigh escaped his lips as the wind picked up even more, causing him to tighten his hold on himself, trying to warm himself as much as he could. His long, silvery hair swayed violently against the strong wind, and Mikagami said softly, the irony plain in his soft voice, "...And it was such a quiet night..."
It looked like he would have to take another bath before retiring to bed.
From its perch on one of the highest branches of a nearby tree, a figure watched the Hyomon Ken master slowly make his way to the hotel. Its lips turned up into a satisfied smile, and it whispered, completing the strange song from before. The words were barely heard above the wind that snatched them away.
"...mutiara yang putus dari karangannya..."
The moonlight, now shining brighter than ever, swept over the figure swiftly. Protected by the thick leaves and branches of the tree, the figure's appearance and features were blurred and covered by the shadows. However, if there were anyone around to witness it, he would undoubtedly notice the two points of haunting golden flames that were its eyes, glittering under the light, burning so brightly amid the dark background that was the sky.
And the wind, once calm and soothing, became an all-out tornado, thrashing against the trees, howling mournfully into the dark, charcoal-black night...
~tbc~
