Miko no Chikyuu, Gejo no Nihon
AN: Hello. Sorry! I know I haven't updated in awhile but I have been seriously busy lately! I'm lucky I had time to write this! =P And by the way I'm in the process of writing another story and it's VERY long but it'll be out later in the week as will all my other stories, hopefully! =P Also keep in mind this is the same year as the last chapter but Hotaru is also a year older.
Usagi- 9 years
Hotaru- 8 years
*~~~~~*
Hotaru was walking down towards the beach, her favorite place to escape from all of life's trials and tribulations. It was her own little safe haven especially now, in a time of famine.
As she reached the beach's border she could feel the cold breeze on her face and the cold yellowish sand between her toes. 'At least this place doesn't experience hard times, it's never changing.' Hotaru thought as she walked closer towards the icy blue water.
But as she did she saw a person at the opposite end of the beach, and she was collecting sea shells along the seashore. (hehehe.) As Hotaru started to walk closer towards her she became a little tense, to say the least. From several feet away the young girl threw all the shells she had already collected in Hotaru's face.
"How dare you think I would accept your apology!" The girl screamed at her with a deep look of scorn written on her face. All the while Hotaru was holding her left cheek that now had a tiny cut on it.
"Apology? What're you talking about?" Hotaru questioned getting angry at the peeved girl as well.
"For starving our town! You think you deserve something more just because you have political friends while the rest of us have to starve!" The girl yelled approaching Hotaru stomping her feet on the ground on the way.
"We're not starving anyone!" Hotaru yelled. "It's not our fault we're all in a famine!"
"We?" The girl harshly questioned. "You don't seem to be starved right to the bone, you look quite well fed. Look at me!" She shouted as Hotaru actually began to inspect her. The girl had boils on her skin, her clothes were total rags and she had almost no fat on both her legs and arms.
"I have to collect food for my two brothers and myself and everything I do collect I have to give to them. They are both younger than I and they have to depend on me because I'm now their only support since our mother and father both died from this damned famine!" The angry girl shouted running off back into the grimy town.
"Wait!" Hotaru shouted finally understanding the girl's position, but something still plagued her mind. 'How is our temple starving the people?' Hotaru thought while running off back to the temple.
*~~~~~*
Hotaru ran right through the door, banging into one of their slaves on the way without apologizing. She slightly tripped on her way to Mizurei's "office". As she reached the door she stopped in front of it panting and fixing her clothes and hair so as to not disappoint Mizurei.
Hotaru then slowly opened the sliding paper door (I forget what you call those kind of doors.) and walked in as quietly as her feet could. Mizurei was there going through the temple's expenses and she didn't even acknowledge Hotaru's presence. So Hotaru just seated herself on the soft cushion in front of Mizurei's little table.
"Mizurei-sama. Hotaru spoke up trying to get Mizurei's attention, which simply did not work. "Mizurei-sama?" Hotaru questioned but still no answer. Hotaru waited several minutes before Mizurei decided to answer.
"What is it child?" Mizurei asked still not looking up at Hotaru.
"I want to know. What are you doing to the town?" Hotaru almost seemed to demand. At this Mizurei finally put down her ink pen and looked at Hotaru.
"What do you mean?" Mizurei asked.
"I met this girl from town and she says we are starving the people. What're you doing to them?" Hotaru's tone started to rise but she immediately found her place and quieted down.
"Listen we are the ones that are responsible to pray to the gods for good fortune and right when something bad happens look who gets blamed!" Mizurei had a slightly serious tone to her voice.
"But why are we not starving like them?" Hotaru asked getting a little emotional imagining the town's people.
"Listen we have connections to the emperor of Japan and they don't. Who do you think is going to reap all the benefits here?" Mizurei asked as she started to go back to her calculating.
So Hotaru, knowing she would never win, got up and walked towards the door when Mizurei decided to interrupt.
"You listen here Hakkou. Those people are so foolish as to think that the gods are the ones that are doing this. It's our own governments fault since they could not sustain when the rains didn't come for our crops. We are all starving now, no matter what you think every day our food supply grows meeker. They just don't want to face the truth so they must blame someone else for their own troubles. You remember this Hakkou. People in this world are cruel and uncaring all you can do is be bitter and live life. It's sad but true and I think it's time you realized this." Mizurei then went back to her work as Hotaru left if not displeased to say the least.
*~~~~~~*
Hotaru was walking down the hallway with nothing on her mind but that village girl. 'I can't accept the fact that she's going to die along with her brothers but I can't do anything about it either.' Hotaru stopped mid-thought when she decided to take some food from the kitchen and bring it to them.
'It may not be much but at least it's something.' Hotaru thought running off towards the kitchen with her cat-like abilities that she had developed from training days. (Yes she is also learning to fight.)
*~~~~~~*
Hotaru was walking down the town streets with her blue cloak over her wool blue kimono. She tightly held onto her food, which consisted only of a loaf of bread and several rice crackers.
As she passed by many other townspeople looked down on her with pure hatred while others were to weak to even look up at her from the muddy ground. While her skin was perfectly clean and without a smudge of dirt theirs were covered in dirt and some were even wearing wet clothes.
She tried not to stare at them but she had to since she did not know where that young girl lived, but she didn't have to look for long since she saw the girl trying to rob a street merchant. However unsuccessful she was since the man was now hitting her repeatedly.
She escaped from the man's grasp and started to run away and Hotaru ran off after her, but couldn't keep up very well since the girl was extra fast. Hotaru soon lost sight of her and was lost herself. She had never seen this side of town, it was so dilapidated.
The houses that were made of mud were peeling off and some had huge holes in them and the roofs of most houses looked like they were about to collapse. "How awful." Hotaru said lightly under her breath.
Just then she heard three voices not far ahead of her. When she approached them she could begin to make out the words they were saying. "We're going to starve like mom and dad aren't we?" A small young boy said.
"No we're not! Not if I have anything to do with it!" An older girl reassured him.
"But we have no food!" Another young boy said.
"We will!" The older female reprimanded him as Hotaru turned the corner.
The minute she did Hotaru saw the girl she had been chasing after and her two smaller brothers. While she was about the age of 14 the second youngest had chestnut hair tied back into a braid and looked to be about 10 and the youngest had dark hair and eyes like his sister and about 7.
After a few minutes the teenage girl looked over at Hotaru and wasn't pleased with what she saw.
"You?" She harshly said. "Don't you know when to give up?" She shouted as the two boys looked on in confusion. But Hotaru paid no heed to her ranting and raving she just approached the three of them, the food still concealed beneath her cloak.
The girl then hugged both her brother closely to her as if protecting them from Hotaru.
"Listen I just came here to give you this." Hotaru said as she pulled the bread and crackers out from her pouch.
"We don't want or need your sympathy food." The teenage girl yelled.
"Yes we do Wabigoto!" The chestnut haired boy said walking up to Hotaru to accept the food but he was pulled back by his sister.
"You listen here Duo, I'm your older sister and we are descendents of the great Togarigoe clan. We don't need her!" She said glaring at the smaller child. (Just so you know her name Wabigoto Togarigoe can roughly be translated into 'sad words but angry voice'.)
"Well I'll let you three decide for I must go now." Hotaru then set the food on the ground and walked off without looking back. But as she left she could hear two little boys talking about food and she could even hear sounds of eating, which left her with a smile on her face.
*~~~~~*
Hotaru walked into the temple with a smile still on her face, but that smile soon faded when a slave girl came running up to her.
"Hakkou! Hakkou! I've finally found you, come on come!" The young slave shouted frantically.
"What's wrong?" Hotaru asked totally clueless.
"Your…" The slave stopped for a breath of air so she could speak. "Your mother just showed up at the temple, she's gravely ill and she's in with the doctors now." The slave girl said as Hotaru couldn't feel anything in her body after those words.
'My…my…my mother!' Hotaru thought. 'But how?' Just as the slave began to slow down Hotaru saw Mizurei there with obvious displeasure on her face, no doubt she didn't want her mother there.
The minute Hotaru arrived the doctors came out with a grim look written on their faces. As Mizurei approached them the eldest doctor started to whisper in her ear and then walked off with the doctors. Mizurei's facial features didn't change one bit after the news but she motioned for Hotaru to go into the room to see her mother.
As Hotaru walked in everything around her seemed to fade away and all she could see was the bed with her pale faced mother lying in it. She didn't even notice it but her feet were carrying her over.
Before she knew it Hotaru was standing right in front of her mother, whom she hadn't seen in years.
"Mother?" Hotaru almost silently questioned.
/No matter how much I hate to admit it at this time. I had never wanted to see her again. I still had grave thoughts of her when she sold me away. But that was before I knew the truth, and I feel so stupid to this day for greeting her like I did./
"Hotaru?" Her mother struggled to speak even her own daughter's name.
"Why?" Hotaru scornfully asked.
"Why what?" The mother slowly spoke.
"Why'd you sell us away?" Hotaru asked tears forming in her amethyst eyes.
"It was not me.." She began. "Your father and I were going broke. He wished to sell you two away since her only wanted sons. You know how this society is. It's always the man's way, we as women have no choice." She finished.
"But why couldn't you just run away with us." Hotaru asked kneeling down beside her.
"I tried my dear. But we would have no where to go and would have starved to death. My dear…" Hotaru's mother said as she caressed Hotaru's cheek with her cold hand as Hotaru began to cry.
"You've grown a lot." She said as she smiled up at Hotaru. "I'm so proud of you." She said.
"Mother." Hotaru squeaked out as she embraced her mother for the first time in over three years.
The two sat embracing each other for several moments before Hotaru broke away.
"But what happened to father?" Hotaru asked.
"I don't know. I left several days after you left and have been searching all this time…" She choked out. "But not in vain." Hotaru's mother then smiled up at her. "I love you so much." She said as Hotaru grabbed her hand to hold onto.
"I love you too mum." Hotaru said smiling and crying both at the same time.
"My dearest daughter Hotaru. Please promise me this." She began as Hotaru weakly nodded her head. "Promise me you'll say good-bye to Usagi for me and please be strong, don't let anyone step over you like they did me." Hotaru's eyes then streamed out with tears.
"You don't need me to do this. You'll get better I know it and we'll all leave together and die happily with one another." Hotaru said smiling as best she could.
"Oh I would love that dear. We'll all dream together." She said. "And I'll always be with you." Her eyes then began to close and her grip loosened on Hotaru's hand.
"No mother. No, no don't." Hotaru cried out as her mother passed into the other world. Hotaru then let her head fall on top of her mothers and she cried there for awhile, saying good-bye in her own way.
/My past just jumped back at me and caused me pain. But I would have rather seen her one last time before she left since I have so many lovely memories with her. And her promise I would make sure would not go unfulfilled. But as you know promises aren't always easy things to live by./
AN: Hello! Yes Duo was in there. He will be a more prominent character in the future so don't worry. Also in the next chapter I intend to have a little something in store for Usagi. And thanks for everyone that was read this! I really appreciate it! Thanx! ^.-