Miko no Chikyuu, Gejo no Nihon
By: Mirai Megami
An: Hello! Well I just finished watching Grave of the Fireflies! Very sad movie but if you ever get the time to see it I suggest you do, it's sad but it's very good! And not to mention it kinda inspired me a little! =P I hope you'll keep on reading and reviewing and be faithful readers! =p
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Usagi then laid down and tried to get what little sleep she would have been allowed.
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Hotaru and her new "owner" Mizurei were sitting by a fire underneath a silk tent. Several of Mizurei's servants were making her bed, and cooking the food.
"Of course we only get the best here. And our food is better than what the town had." Hotaru was merely sitting on the dirt ground, hands in her lap, with her same old dirty dress. She was crying but no matter how much she tried to hide it everyone could plainly see.
"Child please! You've cried enough already, some of us don't want to hear your incessant crying. And do please get out of my servants way, really I wonder if you were worth the money." Hotaru then wiped her salty tears away, but her legs would not move. The servants went about their business as if she wasn't there, some even inadvertently kicked her as they walked by.
"Child move it!" Mizurei then got off her futon and grabbed the ring of Hotaru's dirty dress, and pulled her up. "Come with me. Your such a disgrace." Mizurei then dragged her outside by a little stream. "Get in and clean yourself off. We resume our journey early tomorrow and we don't need a future princess looking like you do. You must be presentable and polite towards the emperor when we meet him and his son, so please also improve your attitude." Mizurei then left Hotaru there to clean herself off.
She quickly took her dress off and then noticed she still had Usagi's necklace. She looked at it a moment before setting it gently down on top of her dress. She then climbed into the frigid water and hugged her shoulders. After several moments of her contact with the frigid water one of the older maids came by. She looked to be about in her 50s, and had on a dress that was quite similar to Hotaru's.
"Come here child I was sent here to help you wash." She motioned with her hands to approach her and had a cloth in her hand. Hotaru at first faltered but then slowly approached her. The woman had cold, rough hands that left Hotaru's skin feeling a little sore. After Hotaru's bath was done another maid came by and took Hotaru's dress, and necklace away with her. Hotaru immediately ran out of the water and grabbed onto the woman's arm and pulled the dress out of her hands. The shell necklace fell to the ground and she grabbed it with both hands.
"You little brat! How dare you!" The young maid seemed to be in her 20s, and was quite scrawny. But she lifted her hand and brought it down on Hotaru's face, and she slapped very hard, despite her looks. "I wasn't hired to baby-sit!" She then grunted and walked away with Hotaru's dress.
'What about my clothes!' Hotaru thought soaking wet and holding her red face. "Get back her young one before you catch your death! Honestly I think you should be punished for this behavior you're putting us through!"
/Punished! Haven't they done enough already! And what they have to go through! What about what I've been going through! Till this day I still hate those words!/**
Hotaru then returned for dinner and she now had on a white and blue cotton kimono. Although it was the first kimono she had ever owned, and the most expensive thing she had ever owned, it still itched her very much. "Don't do that girl, it's not lady-like! And it will give you a rash." Mizurei said while eating her food. Hotaru looked down at her bowl of rice and began to eat.
"May I have some more?" Hotaru asked holding out her empty bowl. "You most certainly may not. A young priestess in training must know when to be reserved, and polite! You should be getting to bed now." Mizurei said getting up and leading her another tent that was not that elegant, in fact some of the servants were sleeping in it.
"You most certainly can't be rewarded for the attitude you've shown all of us today. And you also have to earn your way through her training, nothing can be handed to you. It's hard enough to take care of oneself nowadays non-the-less someone else."
Mizurei then left her private tent and left Hotaru to find her own bed. Luckily there were futons for all of them. Hotaru took one of the extra ones at the way back of the tent, where she tried to get a peaceful night of sleep amongst those that all seemed to hate her.
~~~The Next Morning~~~
Hotaru was being woken up when she noticed it was still dark outside. "What?" She groggily questioned looking at her surroundings. "Wake up young one we are leaving in mere minutes. Hurry up!" The old maid that had washed her the other night told her. Hotaru then rubbed her eyes off and walked out of the tent.
She saw every maid running around frantically trying to get everything packed up in time. "Hurry up! We must leave this place before the sun arrives!" Mizurei barked at everyone walking up to Hotaru. "You know I really must know your name if we're to communicate." Mizurei said without looking down at the young child.
"My names Hotaru."
"Firefly huh? That doesn't seem to be fitting for a priestess. Do you have a last name Hotaru?"
"Yes. It's Tsukino."
"Firefly of the moon?! I've never heard such a ridiculous name before! Once we reach the temple we must give you a more appropriate name!" Mizurei said still refusing to look at her.
The maid's then brought forth their horses. "Well lets go." Mizurei then mounted her horse as one of the maids helped Hotaru on hers. "I hope you can ride fast Hotaru!" Mizurei then took off on the horse at great speed. The maid then slapped the horse and it took off at great speed. Hotaru was clutching the reins with one hand while the other was clutching the shell necklace in her other.
'Usagi!'
~~~Elsewhere~~~
"Usagi! Usagi!" Usagi then slowly opened her eyes to see Kiray leaning over her.
"Usagi you better get outta that bed! I don't care how comfortable it may be! The master'll kill you if he still finds you in bed!" Kiray yelled at her pulling her onto her feet. "We leaving now and the master's coming in here to make sure we're all gone. Quick lets sneak out through the window. If he catches us in here we'll both be dead." Kiray said picking up Usagi and tossing her out of the window. Kiray was climbing over herself when she heard the barn door being opened.
The old master entered to see no one inside but he still decided to give it a quick search. Kiray was kneeling on the ground outside as the master passed by the hay where they once were. She looked back and then grabbed Usagi and ran towards the others, dragging Usagi behind her.
"Kid you really gotta shape up or your not gonna survive. I won't always be there for you." Kiray said looking down at Usagi.
"I'm sorry I'm just not used to this." Usagi said looking up at her. "Well you better, but anyway no need to worry about that now! We just gotta take it as it comes to us!" Kiray said putting her hands behind her head. The master then exited the barn and then ordered one of his slaves to bring him his horse.
"I hate him so much! He's always so bossy! I bet if he didn't have any of us to help him he would die in less than a week." Usagi scowled at him, even if he had no idea of what she thought of him.
"Kid we all think that! But there ain't nothing we can do about it! And don't you ever let him catch you saying that or he could give you a good 15 lashes, he could even kill you or leave you for dead." Kiray said looking down laughing.
"Alright you dirtbags listen up! We will be leaving for Kyoto today and I want to be there by tomorrow so you better keep up!"
"Not more running! Why doesn't he just get off his horse and run with us! Lets see how he likes it!" Usagi growled at him.
Kiray then started laughing as silently as she could. "Kid you crack me up! I think we could become great companions!" Kiray then put her hands down. "But today we don't have to run. Just normal walking thank the gods! And we will get about two breaks so be thankful."
"I have mixed emotions about weather or not I should be thankful." Usagi said looking up at Kiray with hateful eyes.
"Yeah well you better be. I sure as hell am!" Kiray said as the two of them walked some ways behind everyone else-but not to far.
"I'm also really hungry." Usagi said holding her stomach.
"Well you missed our little breakfast but-" Kiray then dug in a pocket, she had sewed in herself, for something. She then pulled out a little bread. "I stole this from your town when no one was looking. I already ate the rest of the loaf so you can have the rest since I'm no longer hungry." Kiray said handing her the bread.
"Thank you." Usagi said devouring the slightly stale bread.
"As long as you don't tell a soul!" Kiray said looking down at her.
Usagi was licking her fingers as she swallowed the last bit. "Cross my heart and hope to die!" Usagi said crossing her chest. Kiray then smiled down at her.
"But wouldn't someone try and steal the bread from you?" Usagi asked looking up at her.
"Well they wouldn't dare do that because well. I've lived in Kyoto as a slave almost my whole life! And in Kyoto many, many samurai like to come through. And of course the master was once a samurai himself so he likes to invite them over and some of them, awed by my beautiful face, teach me how to fight with both a sword and fists. So no one would dare try anything on me!" Kiray said raising one of her fists in the air.
"You're a real ham! So would you teach me how to fight?" Usagi asked full of anticipation.
"Well- Maybe." Kiray said looking up at the blue sky. "So that girl you were trying to save." Kiray began. Usagi immediately looked up at her. "Is she your sister?" Kiray asked daring not to look at the young child. Usagi then got depressed and looked at her feet.
"She was. But- Now I don't think I'll ever see her again. But I think- I think one day I'll break free of these tight reins and run off to her!" Usagi said looking up with a bright face.
"You got spunk kid! And it's that exact kind of spunk the master wants to kill. But then again that's what I love about you! And when you do run away I'll come with you! We'll roam the world together! I don't intend to be a slave my whole life either!" Kiray said looking at Usagi, who was now walking ahead of her.
"The three of us will run away together one day! We'll even walk all the way to England if we have to! We'll leave this country and become great explorers!" Usagi said throwing her fist in the air, just like Kiray.
"I'll look forward to that!" Kiray said smiling.
/Now that I look back at that. I believe that we did accomplish our dream, in one way or other. But that's for later./*
TBC…………..
An: Hello! I hope you didn't hate it! This is all working forward to big events in the future! Sorry but the g-boys will appear in the next chapter-of course it'll only be Wufei and Hiiro! But hey new character! ^.^v Also think about what Usagi reflected on! You may even be able to predict something! =P
Also I have some ideas for what the two will go through but I need some more ideas! Please tell me either via email (
Review please! And thank you everyone that already has! I luv you so much for that! ^.^