The Onsen Encounter

Ch. 3

by Bottou-chan

Fuuko politely declined to go with her roommates for an evening soak in the hot spring. Yanagi seemed to wish to contest the point; after all, Recca had told them to stick with each other. But Fuuko was choosing to ignore it, and Yanagi decided that a spring full of other girls would be protection enough. She had courteously asked if Fuuko was indeed fine with being alone at night--- and Fuuko had flashed her patented toothy smile and said in her most self-assured voice that she indeed would be perfectly fine.

"At least turn the lights back on," suggested Yanagi uncomfortably. Fuuko shook her head, sliding one of the outside doors open to reveal a brilliantly speckled night sky overlooking a zen garden.

"You can't see the stars in Osaka," she said.

Yanagi frowned. "You can see them better from outside." Since when did Fuuko care about the stars? But after one last uncertain look, she picked up her towel and clattered down the hall after their classmates.

Fuuko herself wasn't quite sure why she decided to stay in the room, or at least, that's what she tried to tell herself. It was a perfect night for a long, hot soak in the curative waters, and goodness knew she was tense enough to need such a soak. The secondary excuse that kept popping up in her mind was that she wanted to stand guard over the room, to make sure their possessions were safe; but even she knew it was a lie.

Fuuko paced the dark room restlessly like a caged tiger, waiting for something, yet not quite sure what; unused to the self-imposed enclosure.

"Fuuko," came a voice from the shadows behind her; the girl jumped slightly, but even to herself, it seemed like a false movement.

"Raiha--- you--- startled me," she said, her voice sounding uncomfortably forced.

"You were waiting for me," said Raiha, his tone even and neutral. He politely refrained from calling her a liar, but he may as well have. It would have been true, thought Fuuko glumly.

Aloud, she tried to keep up the failing charade. "Silly. I just didn't feel like relaxation in the spring tonight. You can't get much relaxation with the junior class swarming around like that." She ran a nervous hand through her hair and tried to change the subject. "I didn't even hear you come in. You must be keeping your ninja skills in practice, h'm? But did you know this is the women's wing? You might, um, get in trouble if someone finds you here."

"They'll be a while," replied Raiha quietly, giving her one of those funny, inscrutable smiles of his.

Fuuko eyed him through the semidarkness. She admitted it. She had hoped he would show up. But for what purpose? Her mouth refused to form the words to ask all the questions that had piled up since the Tendoujigoku. She felt ridiculous for even *having* any questions in the first place; she had all the obvious answers already. And so she remained silent, feeling foolish for having put herself in this situation in the first place.

"You were always so vibrant," remarked Raiha, picking his way easily across the rows of futons which were laid upon the floor. "Such a dark mood doesn't suit you. The Fuuko I know wouldn't stand around like a lost little girl. The Fuuko I know is blunt and straightforward, says what's on her mind, and uses punches for question marks." His tone was playful, but his eyes were not. She tensed as he came close to where she stood, but he continued past her to stand by the sliding wall which looked out over the onsen's zen garden. Perfectly raked gravel pooled around enormous boulders, like ocean waves lapping up against islands.

Fuuko found herself crossing over to stand near him, to see what was so interesting outside. Raiha was right; she was never this meek. So why did she feel so empty? So hollow? So tired?

"I never thought of you as an enemy," she said abruptly, hunting for the elusive shards of her usual personality. "Why'd you have to be so nice? Why couldn't you have been, like, say, Fujimaru? Or Mikoto? You could've done horrible, awful things, and I would have thought you were a horrible, awful person, and I wouldn't have wasted two thoughts on you. Why'd you have to be so nice?"

"Why are you blaming me?" asked Raiha reasonably, not appearing to be ruffled by the suggestion that he should adopt the style of either Fujimaru or Mikoto. "The weakness was yours. All that training we went through, those days in the mountains. Was it wasted on you?"

Fuuko bristled. "I accomplished a lot in three days. I got to the point where if I put my mind to it, I could beat you. Don't you remember? You rewarded me."

"So why was it so hard to fight me seriously that last time?"

Fuuko snorted. "I think you forgot which of us won the Raijin-Fuujin fight."

Raiha didn't seem perturbed at all. "And I think you forgot which of us was conscious afterwards. Do you forget the strength that your friend Domon lent you? Do you think I couldn't have dispatched both of you with one stroke of my sword? But I didn't. The fate of the Fuujin-Raijin was fulfilled. And that was enough."

Fuuko scowled. She didn't like conceding that any part of her victory over him was due to his efforts. His efforts in tirelessly training her for three days. His efforts in renewing the Fuujin's lost capabilities. His efforts in refraining from administering the coupe de grace even after his madougu was shattered, and their one-on-one had become a two-on-one.

"You talked about the rivalry of the madougu. The rivalry of the Fuujin and Raijin. How all of our chance meetings came from one of them calling to the other. How much of it was Fuujin and Raijin… and how much of it was Fuuko and Raiha?"

A glimmer of his playful self returned as he beamed, "I always thought you were stalking me!"

"Baka!" Fuuko reached out to punch him; it was a habitual, reflexive movement. She was surprised when she felt her fist connect with his shoulder, as she had expected him to nimbly fade away with some ninja dodge technique. He didn't, and the realization that he just stood there and allowed her to hit him angered Fuuko. She stood with her arms folded ominously, a sour expression on her face. "But we're still meeting up, even after the Fuujin and Raijin are destroyed. And I don't know what it means."

"It could be a genuine coincidence," suggested Raiha. "There are other things in the world that influence our lives, besides madougu. And just because you run into me, it doesn't have to mean you acknowledge my existence. You could have just ignored me, and left back to school, and nothing would have happened."

"You're the one wandering around in the women's wing," grumbled Fuuko under her breath.

Raiha gave her the goofy grin again. "And you were the one waiting for your prince."

Fuuko's cheeks reddened at the reference, to yet another time he had appeared to save her from her own foolishness.

"Baka," she grumbled again, hugging herself tightly so as not to touch him. In a louder voice, she added, "What kind of prince does that make you, anyways? If it was just the thing about Raijin and Fuujin, I could forgive that. I understand that. The way Raijin possessed you--- ugh, I know why you thought it was creepy. Why you didn't like to use it. But… but… there were things you said. Cold, hurtful things you said, when you were in your own mind, before the Raijin took over."

"You said you wanted me to do cruel, hateful things so you could dismiss me as just another opponent," replied Raiha, his gaze fixed on the zen garden. "That wasn't enough for you?"

"A few minutes' of coldness doesn't counteract weeks and weeks of kindness," said Fuuko, perturbed. "What you said, and what you did--- two completely different things. That's what's been driving me crazy. 'I will kill anyone Kurei wants revenge against, whether it's Mori Kouran or you'. Please. I don't think you would give Mori Kouran so many chances when you went up against him. That talk about death, and killing--- I mean, putting me on the same level as Mori Kouran --- and you saved my life so many times--- you were always so cheerful and silly--- except for that time with Soukakasai--- where you saved my life yet again--- I'd never seen you so serious--- it's disturbing--- aghhhh! You *say* that we're enemies, but you never acted like it until then, and then you stopped acting like it for whatever reason, and I just can't figure it out. I don't know anything. You're an irritating enemy to have, you know, especially now that Kurei's been dead for hundreds of years, I guess. With your *master* gone--" she spoke the word scornfully "—what does that make us now?"

Raiha smiled, amused by her frustration. "It depends. What do you want us to be? You'll never forget the past. One harsh act can't completely erase a dozen acts of kindness, and a dozen acts of kindness can't completely erase one harsh act. If you wish to be friends, you'll never forget what I said when we fought. And if you wish to be enemies, you'll never forget the cauldron, the water-trap, or the training."

Fuuko turned to him. "Why can't you just tell me you hate me, and that would be that?"

"Because I don't," he answered simply. He reached forward and touched her cheek. "I---"

But whatever he was about to say was abruptly cut off. Fuuko felt his fingers tense, and the next moment, he had vanished through the outside door, although she didn't quite see where he had gone. A split second later, she didn't see anything at all, as her eyes were blinded by the room lights suddenly being flicked on. She gave a wordless cry, shielding her face until her eyes could adjust.

"Tired of the hot spring already?" she asked, peeping cautiously through her fingers to see if the light still hurt. She froze, though, upon recognizing the individual. "Mikagami?"