Ecounters and the Comfort and Touch of Another Human Being
Ecounters and the Comfort and Touch of Another Human Being
Just finished Chapter 3! This was a really long and complex chapter. Enjoy and Please Read and Review once more.A Reminder on the Characters...
Kanzaki Hitomi is Sakaguchi Alice (Arisu)
Van de Fanel is Kobayashi Rin (Ring)
Allen Schezar is Ogura Jinpachi
Millerna ? is Nishikiori Enju (OK, so the original name was Nishikiori Issei, but that was a guy, so I'm changing it. His past life name was, Enju, and YES he was a women reborn as a MAN!)
May I remind everyone that my fanfics are quite LONG, and this one is even longer than the first 2, so if you don't want to read long stories, here's your warning.
(writing) - things in parentheses are my notes and thoughts
writing - words in italics are what the characters thinking or flashbacks
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or anything of Please Save My Earth for that matter.
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"Jinpachi, I'm so glad your OK," Alice cries.
"Oh, so you already heard the news from Enju, huh? Isn't that great?" he looks her in the eyes, "You know, I feel like I escaped death and I'm finally going to live life to its fullest now."
He eyes her a bit shyly and she wonders what he's thinking. "So, are you in a good mood right now?"
"Hmm?" she tilts her head questioningly, smiling lightly at him.
"OK then, close your eyes and don't peak." he tells her.
She does this and wonders what he's doing. Suddenly she feels his lips on hers. He's just kissed her, it's their first kiss. Enju watches in horror as her hopes go down the drain and Rin watches, distraught.
"No, no, no. It's not supposed to be like this... It should have ended... I should be the one..." Enju mutters to herself, unaware that Rin has just heard her. He realizes then that she must be in love with Jinpachi.
Alice pulls back abruptly.
"Ah, don't look like that! After I found out I'm OK, I feel more confident, and I can tell you my feelings now." he smoothly comments. "I'm so glad we'll be able to live together, forever, in health."
She is shaken by his last line.
"Well see you tomorrow," he says and goes into the building. Alice is just standing there, rooted to the spot.
"Oh my god! What's come over him? Maybe he really does have brain damage! Oh no, what would I do if he did? But-but, that was the first time he spoke of the engagement, and he sounded so serious this time. Eve-even though... That was our first kiss!"
Enju then quickly runs out the building, leaving Rin to stare. Alice doesn't even notice her as she runs past her. She then regains her composure and walks slowly back in. As she walks in, she spots Rin. She then realizes that Enju and he must have saw and heard what just went on. He holds her gaze for a minute, and then turns to leave alone, the sound of his foot steps seemed to echo in her mind. She makes a move to try and stop him, but she doesn't know what to say to him. "It's just like that time... The time when Allen-san kissed me, and I saw Van watching us." She goes up to her apartment and locks herself in her room and starts to cry because she doesn't know what she's going to do.
Enju runs fast to her home with tears in her eyes. She can't believe that they are going to still be engaged. She knows that Alice doesn't see Jinpachi as more than a friend, but she still had felt that sense of duty to him because she felt responsible for him falling of the verandah. She just couldn't stand it anymore. She then quickly makes up her mind to talk to Alice tomorrow before school.
At night, all four are having dreams of Gaea again. It's disturbing, because they are trying to put it out of their minds. Rin dreams of watching Hitomi and Allen kiss on the bridge. Alice dreams of Van seeing her kiss Allen. Enju dreams of Millerna finding out that Allen had an illegitimate son, and Jinpachi dreams about Millerna's wedding. They are now feeling even more and more like their previous lives are taking a hold in their present ones.
Next morning, Rin leaves before Jinpachi and Alice. Alice also leaves early before Jinpachi comes to walk with her, wanting to walk alone and collect her thoughts. As she comes round to Enju's building she stops, Enju says that they have to talk.
"You know, I know you promised Jinpachi you'd marry him because of that accident when you were young, but now that he's better, you can break off that engagement," Enju watches as Alice opens her mouth to speak.
"But-but, even if he's alright, I promised him. I may have scarred him by what I did, and if I refuse him he can be even more heartbroken and may never forgive me," she said desperately.
"So you're going to marry him out of your sense of duty?" she burst out angrily, "That's not right, I know that you don't really love him like that! It's wrong! Marriage shouldn't be a duty to someone, it's something you build with someone you love and want to spend the rest of your life with..." Alice looks up at Enju's pause.
"I-I..." Enju tries to say, but is getting really choked up, "I'm in love with Jinpachi!" she says abruptly, a tear now falling freely down her cheek.
Alice is shocked none-the-less, never realizing her feelings.
"Is it because he's Allen? Because that would be wrong too, wouldn't it?" she asks.
"No, I've loved him even before I knew who he was..." she wipes the tear with her arm.
"I never knew, Enju I'm so sorry, I made you so sad. I guess you're right though... It wouldn't be fair to either of us, he should be with someone who cares about him with their whole heart," she turns to look at Enju. "I have to tell him that I don't really feel that way about him, even... even if it will hurt him, he'll see it's best this way, and he'll get over me," she tells her.
Enju looks at her with brimming eyes, "Good luck..."
Alice nods her head, and Enju says she's doing the right thing, with the tears still streaming down her face.
Jinpachi has just arrived at school and is looking for Alice. He has something in his hand, a small jewelry box he wants to give her. He spots her looking sullen under a tree. Unnoticed by him, Enju is spying from behind a bush.
"Alice, good morning, I have something to tell you," he said excitedly.
"So do I," she said back.
"I'll go first," he looks at her and gathers his courage. He bends on one knee and holds out the jewelry box. "Alice, every since we were little, I've been in love with you... I feel like I know you better than I know myself."
Alice winces at his words, but he doesn't notice and continues.
"At first, I wasn't sure how I really felt and I couldn't speak my feelings, but now that I've learned I'm healthy and of who we once were... It's given me the push I needed to do this," he said, he quietly pulls back the cover of the jewelry box. "I never officially proposed to you, so this is the time, Alice, please say you'll marry me when the time comes. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Alice is shocked. She looks at the ring in the box, and is speechless. Enju is still hiding in the bush and her face has gone dead white. Jinpachi looks up at her with an excited smile on his face, waiting for her response.
"J-Jinpachi, do you have any idea what you're saying?" Alice exclaimed, "I mean, you can't possibly be serious can you? We're only 16!"
Jinpachi stands and his face falters, for his plan isn't going exactly the way he anticipated. "I'm dead serious, you're the one that I love, we've been engaged since we were little children."
"We were children back then!" she cries. "What you feel for me isn't love, but a routine of what has been for over the past years, and you know that!"
"That's not true, I DO love you. I believe I can make you happy," he says desperately.
"I love you too, just not in that way. Even if you could have made me happy, I couldn't have made you happy..." she tells him sadly. "I'm sorry, this is just the way things have to be." she averts her gaze from his pleading face.
"No, you just can't throw all our history away." he cries. "Please..." he's still holding out the ring to her.
She takes the box and closes it, putting it in his hand and closing his fingers around it, "Please, give this to some other girl who'll love you as much as you'll love her."
She walks away silently to class, leaving him under the tree alone. When class starts, Jinpachi is late, so is Enju. The three of them all have end-of-the-world looks on their faces. Rin is sitting next to Alice, having no clue as to what's going on, but he can sense something is wrong with them. When lunch come, they don't eat together. Rin stays with Alice though, not too sure what to say and how to ask her what's troubling her. Jinpachi decides to head out to the roof of the school building and just sulk. When he opens the door, what he finds is Enju standing by the fence with a faraway look on her face.
"Hey," he greets her, she doesn't answer.
"I feel so wound up, maybe I should talk to Enju about what happened. She'll understand, she always does. Always such a good friend... Always willing to listen to me when I need someone..."
So then he starts to spill the entire story out to her about Alice, unaware of the silent glassy look over her eyes. She, of course, already knows the story since she was spying on them from the bush.
"I can't believe she said that, I mean, we're destined for each other. Even in our past lives we had fallen in love. If I hadn't found that out, I wouldn't have proposed for real because of all my uncertainty," he tells her, she goes rigid.
He waits for some kind of response from her, after a few seconds she does respond.
"So... The reason you proposed to her was because you were Allen and she was Hitomi? Were you really planning to marry ALICE or did you want Allen to marry HITOMI?" she asks, still gazing out at the sky.
"Well, yeah that was one of the main reasons... It doesn't matter if I'm talking about Alice or Hitomi, they're one and the same, and in that past life we were in love," he tells her.
Her face is still expressionless, "So the only reason you're pursuing her is because she was your past life sweet-hart...?" his silence seemed to be the answer to that question.
She finally turns to look at him, with intense sadness and longing in her blue eyes. "Nee, do you really know who I am? Who I once was? You talk and act just like Allen did back on Gaea, you really have a lot of nerve, telling me your romantic troubles..." she narrows her sad eyes at him "...Jinpachi."
"Will you stop staring at me like that? It's creeping me out," he tells her.
"Remember, I was Millerna, back then, you were my lover. You loved me, and I loved you," she said, still looking at him.
"That's the past though, it was over with them when she married Dryden anyway!" he yells.
"Wasn't the relationship with Allen and Hitomi in the past as well? Even so, she denied you're proposal back then also. Not only that, she was in love with Van..." she tells him softly. "You see... Millerna never stopped loving Allen." she moves closer to him, her arms encircling his neck. "And... Remember... I was Millerna..." Enju then leans in and kisses him.
The kiss lasted about 10 seconds, all the while, Jinpachi never looked very comfortable. After he regained he sense, he started to struggle against her.
"Mmm-mmm. Eghh!" he pushes her back and wipes his lips with the back of his hand. "What is this?! Some kind of a joke?!"
"Of course it's a joke! Baka..." Enju is hiding her face with her hand and pushes her blond hair out of the way of her eyes. When she does this, Jinpachi sees tears caught in the air. He stops, realizing what he's just done to her. She turns away from him and slowly walks toward the stairs, never looking back. Jinpachi puts a hand to his forehead, not believing himself or how cruel he was. (This is a stupid note, but while I was reading over this part with Jinpachi, I was listening to the music in the scene like this that was playing in Please Save My Earth. It just made me think of the things I felt during that heart-breaking scene with Jinpachi and Issei. Very sad and emotional, you should definately see that part. The reason it was so sad... was because... Issei is a guy who's the reincarnation of a women... Well, I won't spoil it too much for ya!)
Meanwhile, Rin is sitting with Alice under the same tree she was talking to Jinpachi under that morning. She hasn't eaten anything and just looks out at nothing in particular. Rin is really starting to worry.
"Nee, Alice. Are you OK? Is there something troubling you?" he asks her tentatively.
She snaps out of it for a second and turns to him "-Eh, ah there's nothing on my mind, really..."
"Liar, I can tell you're depressed over something. Didn't I tell you once that you could come to me with anything? Your troubles will seem lighter if you talk to someone about it," he tells her.
She looks at him, now her eyes look like they are holding back flood gates. His neck snaps his head up in shock at the look on her face. It's worst than he must have thought. He moves closer to her, getting nervous. He then pulls her in his arms, shaking some tears from her watery eyes.
"I'm sorry, if you really don't want to talk about it to me, I'll understand. We just met, you probably don't feel you can really trust me," he says.
"No, it's not that at all. Even if we've only known each other a short while, I feel I could trust you completely..." she tells him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"You look like you need a good shoulder to cry on, so don't hold back. I won't say anything, OK?" he pulls back and smiles gently at her.
His comforting look releases her tears and she just sits there crying away her pent-up emotions. Everything, everything had been going wrong for so long... She felt safe just laying there in his arms, feeling his warmth from his body. It was so comforting. He pulls back again, looking into her eyes soft emerald eyes with his intense ones and smiles that warm welcoming smile. He lifts his hand and gently wipes away a tear from her eyes. She blushes a bit at his gesture, but still continues to have tears come down her face. He reaches his hand toward her again, moving towards her chest. He tugs at the end of the red ribbon on her uniform. "Etchi." she thinks. She closes her eyes, thinking that he'll do something perverted or something, instead, he just undoes her ribbon and uses the cloth to gently wipe away her tears. He still looks deep into her eyes as he does so, and Alice just feels entranced.
"Nani? What is this feeling I have? A feeling I felt a long time ago, like we met before. Those eyes, always so deep and intense, hiding a sorrow deeper than the darkness. Always comforting me... There for me..." So familiar... So concerned...
His eyes squint, a look of determination comes across his face. He moves in closer, as if he's going to kiss her. She slightly moves closer, feeling his warm breath on her skin. She lifts her head. He lowers his. Their lips are milimeters from meeting, but then the bell chimes, signaling that lunch is over. They pause, still in their very close position, looking into each others eyes, not really noticing the people around them. The lunch bell didn't seem to phase them, they didn't seem to notice the sound of footsteps coming from behind the bush that Enju had once been hiding. They start inching ever closer until a someone gasps. Alice whirls around, looking into Jinpachi's gaping, mouth-open face.
"Oh no...!"
Jinpachi is still standing there staring at the scene before him. Rin is still holding her, but now their heads are turned from each other to face Jinpachi. She pushes herself away and starts to get up.
"No, don't get up on my acount," Jinpachi said, his shock changing into anger.
"It's not what you think it is..." she said desperately.
"Oh, I think I know exactly what this is!" he said.
"You don't understand..." she pleaded.
"I understand VERY well now, the reason why you refused me was because you had someone else!" he yelled.
Rin catches his breath, watching the scene unfold around him. "So that's what was bothering her."
"That's not it! There's nothing between us! Believe me!" she cries.
"I think better go to class," Rin said, and leaves the two to talk.
"Gee, you sure could have fooled me by the way he was holding you!" he said sarcastically.
"He was only trying to comfort me! As a FRIEND! I'm just upset about this as you are. It's really hard on me as well, I didn't want to be the one to hurt you, I didn't mean to hurt you..." she goes silent.
"Well you have, and seeing you with someone else makes me mad right now..." his voice seems to lose it's anger. " I know I don't own you or anything, and that I have no place to tell you who to be with, or who to love, but... I guess it's just that... I don't want to believe this is really happening... Even more, I don't want to see you end up with some guy that will hurt you!" he said sadly, but his eyes showed understanding in them.
Seeing this, she takes his hand in hers, "You'll see someday, this is better for the both of us. Besides, I'm not going out with Rin, and he's never hurt me," she smiles. "Thank you for caring," she hugs him.
"If anyone hurts you, I swear they won't get away with it! Even though we don't have a relationship like that, I'll hurt anyone who tries to hurt you!" he said.
"Of course, you're still my oldest and best friend, it's understandable. Nothing will change that fact," she tells him.
He smiles back at her now. They move back to class, and their both late! When Jinpachi spots Enju in class with her depressed face, he remembers what he did to her. After school, he walks her back. At first he doesn't know what to say.
"Um... Enju, about the incident on the roof..." he mentioned.
"Oh, that. Forget it, it was a joke, and a pretty bad one at it. Sorry for making you kiss me," she said with her head down low.
Jinpachi takes a good look at her for a second, and realizes just how pretty she really is. He's caught of guard for a second and almost walks straight into a tree.
"Anyway, the thing with Alice..." he starts.
A pained expression starts to form on Enju's features. She doesn't want to hear anymore of his love troubles.
"... I've accepted that we weren't really meant for each other after all, and I'm sorry for making you always listen to my troubles," he apologizes.
She brightens a bit, a nice smile lighting her face, "It's Ok, that's what friends are for right?"
Her smile makes him stop thinking for a moment, and then he smiles back at her as they continue walking together. Meanwhile, farther away and walking seperate from them, Rin is walking with Alice. She's in a much better mood and is smiling, because she's cleared up everything with Jinpachi. Rin feels uncomfortable about asking what happened after he left, because it's really none of his business, but he wants to know!
"Um, uh, err,"
"Eh, nani?" she asks when she starts noticing the funny sounds he's making, she smiles at him.
"Ah, is everything alright with Ogura-kun (Ogura is Jinpachi's last name)," he asks uncertainly.
"Mmm-hmm," she nods her head, "everything is alright now, we've cleared everything up and promised to still be good friends."
"Ah, that's good." he says.
"And... Arigatou... For comforting me back there..." she reddens slightly. "You're too nice to me."
"No, it's Ok, besides... I like you better when you smile anyways," he says, smiling kindly at her.
She really starts to blush at this. "What am I doing?! Why am I blushing like this?"
Rin notices her blush and starts to blush a very deep red. "Um, there's something I want to give you."
"Hmm? What is it?" she asks.
He takes something from around his neck and places it in her hands. It's Hitomi's pendant. "I recently found it, I thought you should have it, seeing as Hitomi's memories reside inside you and it was originally hers in the first place."
She takes it from him and holds it in her hands. The beautiful pink crystal glows slightly. Her mind is then transported to the time when she and Jinpachi were little, and he dropped her pendant down to the ground, and she slapped him so hard that he fell off. She smiles, it's that same pendant. Now I know why it made me so mad when Jinpachi threw it down... It was because it meant so much to me, it was Hitomi's reminder of Van...
"Arigatou, it's really beautiful even after all this time. Are you sure you don't want to keep it though? After all, Hitomi did give it to Van, and I'm not really Hitomi, I'm sure it must mean a lot to him," she said.
"No, I want you to have it. I'm not really Van either, besides, I'm sure Van would've wanted Hitomi to have it back someday too..." he trails off.
She puts it around her neck and thanks him. "You know, this pendant used to be mine in this life as well? It's the same pendant I had as a little girl, but I never thought to look for it after Jinpachi tossed it over the window and I made him fall. Now that I have it back with me again, it reminds me of how much I really loved it," a smiles lights her entire face.
He looks at her smiling face and is glad, because giving her the pendant really seemed to have made her happy. They then walk back home, all the while smiling at each other from time to time in the light of the setting sun in front of them.
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A Few Notes on How This Fic is Related to Please Save My Earth
Alright, now as I promised I'll explain the whole Enju and Jinpachi thing to you, as well as the whole Issei and Jinpachi thing from PSME, but before I get into the complicated stuff, I'll just add that the part after Jinpachi kisses Alice and she's thinking to herself was also taken from the thoughts of Alice when Rin kissed her in the show. Ok, the talk that Enju had with Alice, was really inspired to me by the talk Jinpachi had with Alice. It was right after he found out that Alice was engaged to Rin, and he himself was in love with her. He then confronts her about it at school, and she says it's true. He then says that it was wrong to marry him because of her sense of duty, and that marriage should be based on love. After that he pauses and makes up his mind. He then tells her he loves her, which takes her by total surprise. She then says: "But, he's just a little boy, and I might have scarred him for life." He then asks her if she was going to marry him because she thought she had an obligation to him. She says nothing to that and he continues on. "Besides, inside he's not a little boy, deep down he's really-" and that's where Alice cuts him off. "No! No! You're wrong, Rin-kun is just a little boy, and it was my fault that I wasn't there when he needed me the most. I'm not Mokulen (who she's the reincarnation of)! I'm just plain old Sakaguchi Alice who pushed Rin-kun of the verandah!" she then runs off leaving a speechless Jinpachi. After this it goes to a scene where Jinpachi and Issei are on the roof talking about what just happened with Alice. This is the part where Enju is talking to Jinpachi in the fic. Some background info on Issei first. He's the reincarnation of a women on the moon, so he's a women reincarnated as a man. Now that causes problems for him, because the women was in love with a man on the moon base, and she still really loves him, and he feels these feelings as well. It just so happens to turn out that Jinpachi is the mans reincarnation. On the moon they had a bit of a relationship, but the man (Gyokulan) was in love with Mokulen (Alice) and he never really loved her. She even followed him onto the mission to ZKK101 (Earth) because she wanted to be with him. That just shows how much she was head-over-heels for him. So it's very awkward because they are both guys now and Jinpachi isn't aware of the things he says is hurting Issei. He keeps telling him that he's in love with Alice and he thinks the reason Issei got angry that time was because he was in love with Alice as well, which isn't the reason at all. Now I'll summarize that scene for you. Jinpachi confides to Issei about what happened with Alice and he asks if he's worried if he thinks she doesn't like him anymore. Jinpachi apologizes for telling her his feelings (that he loved Alice), because he knows that he likes Alice too (that's not the real reason!), saying that he just had to tell her his feelings. Issei then tells him the reason this was probably bothering him so much was because he was acting just like Gyokulan on the moon. "You think so?" Jinpachi asks."Nee, do you really know who I am? You think and act just like Gyokulan did, you have some nerve telling me your romantic troubles. Jinpachi..." (Ok, so these are the dub lines, but they are the ones I remember by heart so make do with them.)"Hey, would you stop looking at me like that, you're starting to creep me out," he tells him."You know, you're not the only one caught in a previous incarnation." he moves toward Jinpachi and puts an arm out toward him. "...Because I was Enju." He then kisses him. After a couple a seconds Jinpachi pushes him away and asks if this was a joke cruelly. Issei then says: "Of course it's a joke, baka" and flilps his head revealing tears to Jinpachi and walks off the roof. End of summary. So what do you think? Isn't that sad? Well I thought it was sad when I watched it, especially with that great music by Kanno Yoko in the background, it went really well.
There's the 3rd chapter. What did you think? This one is a little more mushy than the first 2, and this is the first one of all 3 that didn't quite end in a "cliffhanger" moment. Stay tuned for Chapter 4 when it's done! E-mail me with questions at: foolishchild5@aol.com