~Six~
I Wish That I Could Be Back There, but I'm Right Here, Right Now
Fluffy splashes of white, moving almost imperceptibly against the vibrant blue of the sky…no matter where she was, the clouds would always be the same.
It was nice, just lying here on the grass, not thinking about anything that had happened yesterday, listening only to the twitter of the birds in the trees. It was almost like being back home…
She had come to accept that, wherever the hell she was, she wasn't going back to 21st century Japan anytime soon. She did fight a lot of things in life, but this was one that she just didn't feel like doing anything about.
She turned her head to the side lazily, scanning the landscape for lack of anything better to do…nothing new, just Chiriko sitting on the grass a ways away, studying again, grass, trees, bushes, a little brown-and-white cat floating in the air…
"What the hell?" A…floating cat???
Suddenly alert, she scrambled backwards a few feet, wondering if she had fallen asleep and this was part of some surrealistic dream.
"Hi! Is Chiriko around, no da?"
Stunned, the first thing her brain told her to do was reply. "Uh…yeah. Who are you?"
"I could be asking you the same question, no da. Oh, and just for your information, I'm not really a talking, floating cat, na no da."
"Um…you're not?"
"Nope. Just a minute…"
The cat disappeared with a small *pop* and a few seconds later, a tall, blue-haired, fox-faced, smiling guy in monkish garb appeared with another *pop*. "See, no da?"
Chiriko glanced up from his studies, noticing that Aiumi seemed to be rather agitated about something. Tilting his head cutely to one side, he watched as Chichiri appeared, happy as ever, in front of her.
He smiled, eyebrows perking up cutely, and stood up, cutely, and walked over to them, again, cutely.
"Chichiri, why have you come so suddenly?"
"Just thought I'd fill you in on everything that's been going on, no da!"
"Um, sorry for interrupting, but why do you always say 'no da'?" Aiumi frowned in confusion.
"Idiosyncrasy, no da."
"Okay."
"Anyway…Chiriko, I thought I should inform you that a ship from the Sailou territory attacked ours yesterday…we haven't exactly determined why, no da, but there wasn't any bad damage to the ship…Oh, hello, Tasuki!"
"Hi. What's up?"
Chichiri related his story to the bandit.
"SAILOU?!?" He glanced at Aiumi in surprise. She nodded, nonplused.
"Wait a minute…ya don't remember? Byakko!"
Her eyebrows shot up, eyes widening in fear and remembrance.
Chiriko frowned. "It's not often that I say this, but…I'm lost."
"Me too, no da."
Aiumi smiled sheepishly. "It's a long story…"
"Go ahead, no da. I have time."
The sun was high overhead before the two finished their tale, what with Aiumi trying to tell the story and Tasuki constantly interrupting her and being whacked with various items pulled from mallet-space for his trouble.
Chiriko was the first to speak. "Interesting…"
Tasuki deadpanned. "Okay…"
Chichiri queried, "But what would cause both of them to experience the same dream?"
Chiriko continued, "Some believe that the cause of two people having the same dream or being in each other's dreams is caused by falling asleep at exactly the same moment, or purely by the will of the gods…which I think I can safely say was not the case…"
"Or perhaps it was simply caused by their feelings for each other, no da." said Chichiri, with a classic Fox-Faced Monk Look 'O SD Thoughtfulness™.
"WHAT ARE YA INSINUATING?!?! I HATE GIRLS!!!!!" Tasuki screamed, sending the blue-haired monk into Terrified SD Mode™. Aiumi and Chiriko sweatdropped.
"I'M SORRY!!! I just meant, that since you inadvertently saved her, no da, she might see you as someone who protects her…"
"WHAT?!" Now it was Aiumi's turn to grab the terrified monk by the shirt, glaring rabidly like some sort of wild animal. Chiriko's sweatdrop grew as he dragged her and Tasuki away from Chichiri.
"Why in Suzaku's name would that make you mad, no da?"
Aiumi crossed her arms, both ticked off and a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I just kick ass."
"Okay…"
Chiriko sighed again. "Moving on…if Byakko desires Aiumi to be his miko, why was she transported to Kounan and not Sailou?"
"You did say that the tiger you saw in the library went back into the book first, no da."
"Well, I'm not really sure…I think so…"
"That might explain it, if the book was recently used to travel to Kounan, then Aiumi would be pulled to Kounan if she touched the book before the link between the worlds closed."
"Maybe. I think there's only one way to find out, no da."
"Taiitsu-kun?"
"Is that scary ol' sunbabake baba yer solution for everything?
"It is rather a long distance away, Chichiri. It will take them some time to get there."
"Them?" Aiumi queried.
"You and Tasuki, of course! Speaking of time, I'm out of it! Bye, no da!"
And with another small *pop*, the monk was gone, leaving the other three blinking in confusion and surprise.
Aiumi perched on the branch of a tree, staring out across the water, sinking back into her disrupted reverie. As it was, it turned out that the reverie liked being disrupted, and went into a temper tantrum. Aiumi fired the reverie and got a new one.
"Aiumi!" Tasuki yelled up to her, not having any implication that she'd be bothered.
She yelped in surprise, falling off of the branch, directly on top of…I'm sorry, into Tasuki's arms. "Ow."
"Sorry."
"You'd better be." She dusted herself off, examining a nasty rip in her shirt. "Damn. Stupid flimsy material." She stalked off, totally ignoring Tasuki.
She flopped onto her bed, fingering the frayed edges of the material, near tears. The realization that she might never get out of this place, might never go home again, was depressing, it really was.
"Konnichiwa!" Tashima slid back the rice paper panel, smiling sweetly.
Aiumi blinked. A girl about her own age, albeit taller than she, wearing robes of royal red and gold, dark hair pulled gracefully back into a high bun, was standing in the doorway.
"Can I get you anything?"
Aiumi couldn't help but smile a little, the other girl being so cheery. "Um…actually, I could use a new shirt…if it's not too much trouble."
"Oh, no trouble at all! Come with me!"
As it turned out, finding a new shirt was a bit of a problem. The royal tailor just wasn't used to fitting young girls for anything but kimonos and various robes. The poor man tried his best, and Tashima giggled behind her hand at every particularly funny attempt.
Aiumi sighed, the royal tailor sighed, and Tashima regained control of herself. "I'm sorry. This isn't working," Aiumi said.
"It's alright, we'll think of something! I happen to have a lot of practice doing this, serving the…lady…Nuriko." Tashima smiled reassuringly.
"Wait a moment! The lady Miaka dressed rather like you, there may be a suitable garment somewhere in her quarters!" Tashima was off, dragging Aiumi behind her.
Tashima flung open the wardrobe as Aiumi glanced around her. The room was much like her own, maybe a little more sumptuous, but it certainly wasn't as clean. Various candy wrappers and manga novels littered the floor and were scattered across the bed. She picked one up, smirking at the idealistic romance story. How silly. Like it ever really happens this way in real life…
"Here we go!" Tashima triumphantly held up what was probably the only neatly pressed garment in the wardrobe. A simple white blouse, obviously part of a school uniform, something Aiumi was familiar with. She noticed some other uniform components strewn across the wardrobe's bottom, a basic brown vest, skirt, and jacket. She remembered wearing these and hating them, only a few years ago. Oh, well. It would have to do.
She spun in front of the mirror, a sarcastic smile on her lips. It was better than nothing. A little small, and with a kind of rigid elegance, attempted to be made more casual by leaving the cuffs and top button undone. She smiled, fingering the pointy lapels.
"It looks great!" Tashima grinned.
Aiumi couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing at herself, at how she'd gotten so worked up and homesick. "Thanks…no one would mind if I borrowed a couple of these, would they? I need some idealism in my life." She held up a couple of the mangas.
"Go ahead!"
Tashima sat on a stone bench, gazing at her reflection in a decorative pond. Orange and white splotched Koi darted about in the shallow water. Smoothing a stray curl back from her forehead, she began to daydream…
In her mind's eye, a handsome boy joined her on the bench…a boy with long, rich purple hair pulled back into a thick braid. "Ryuuin…"
Not Nuriko. Not Kourin. Ryuuin.
She didn't care about Nuriko the dedicated Suzaku shichiseishi, all she knew was the little boy, her childhood friend, who had said he loved her…once…
Ryuuin's face suddenly faded away as her thoughts turned to other matters. She should tell him how she felt, it was silly to just be there.
As soon as he came back from Hokkan…
End of Chapter Six