I, who sail the skies
I, who can eat the moon
I, who am all that is
I, who flies beneath the DragonSun
Nice poem, no? My friend came up with it. She's really good at that kind of thing. I just put it up because I had no other reason… Um…okay this chapter is either going to be really long or short…I have nothing to say today, other than it's HOT over here and the AC isn't on! Most of you voted choice a), yes, for my Important question, but I feel that V/H aren't quite ready yet… Don't kill me. Maybe in chapters 7 or 8…
Okay, here goes…
Chapter Six: The Broken Seal
Wait, wait, wait! I'm interrupting again… Okay, you can continue now.
Chapter Six: The Broken Seal
The bus ride to Otakuna Hot Springs was fairly peaceful. Hitomi was engrossed in a book that Myoshi had lent her—Trials of the Mage, by a certain Lee Sunibe. (A/N: This isn't a real book, it's actually a document that I'm working on right now. The name of the author—well, I just made it up.) It told of a young mage, or one who practiced magic, in a time when magic was forbidden. Kenji was talking animatedly to Yukari, who was, in turn, half listening to Toroshino's constant chatter about America.
"When are we going to be there?" Arik demanded, practically bouncing with impatience.
"Soon," Amano replied. The conversation had been the same for the past hour. Hitomi put the book aside for a moment and stared out the window at the swamp they were passing. She closed her eyes briefly and summoned up an image of Van.
:Hitomi? You called?: Van's voice entered her head.
:Yes. I can't sense anything yet—: Hitomi broke off abruptly. She looked back out the window of the bus and saw a long form slithering away. 'A demon?'
:Hitomi? Hitomi, are you there?: Van asked.
:Sorry…I do sense something now—it's ancient. It reeks of evil, and yet, it seems to be locked securely enough away…:
:Interesting…: Van said. He sounded puzzled. :Do you want me to come?:
'Yes…please do…' Hitomi thought to herself, but she replied, :I think I can handle this situation myself.:
:We'll speak later, then,: Van sent, and vanished from her mind.
*******************
"Well, we're off to see the sights!" Yukari said brightly. "Hitomi, are you coming?"
"Yes," Hitomi replied. She got up, setting down Myoshi's book, and followed them.
"My, it's rainy!" Myoshi said, unfurling her umbrella. The other girls followed suit. "Back in Tokyo it was never this wet!"
"Never," Kenji agreed.
"I wonder where the boys are," Yukari said.
"Here!" Arik and Toroshino came up. Amano followed, slightly behind them, his hands in his pockets.
Hitomi trailed after them, her senses alert for the demon. She soon wandered away.
******************
A woman's scream cut through the misty air. Hitomi heard it and ran in that direction, a flame ready in her hand.
She saw.
A woman was backed up against a wall, babbling in hysterical fear as a mass of wriggling snakes advanced on her. Hitomi would have intervened, but she was curious, and she watched. The snakes slithered further, and the woman pressed herself up further against the wall. They (the snakes) enveloped her, and her screams stopped. Hitomi decided now was the time to act, and she threw the flame.
The snakes were burnt to ashes, but all that remained of the woman was one stylish, black, high-heeled shoe.
"They were not demons," Hitomi said softly. She stood by the shoe, and knelt slowly to touch it. "I am sorry I did not intervene. Your death might have been prevented."
So the snakes had been eating the people of the town. Hitomi nodded. "I understand the circumstances now."
But there was a part of the puzzle still missing.
What shinma had been controlling the snakes, and where did it roost?
***************
Van battled with himself. "She might need me," he said aloud. "But she said she didn't need my help."
'Why not just go?'
"I cannot."
*****************
"Hey, where did Hitomi go?" Kenji paused.
"We've lost her!" Yukari said.
"That's obvious enough!" Myoshi nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"
"Keep walking," Arik said. "'Tomi probably went back to the inn."
"Yes…this town is boring."
"Drab and gray."
******************
Hitomi had not gone back to the inn. In fact, she was still walking around the town, probing her mind, sensing but not finding. It was frustrating.
'It's well hidden,' she remarked mentally. She walked onward. Suddenly the landscape shifted—from the wet, muddy roads of the inn to a lush, dark swamp.
Hitomi paused in confusion, but her confusion did not last. "So, Shinma. You live here?"
She continued to walk. Soon she came to a shrine, hidden deep within the dank swamp. It was made of old wood, and the stench of rot reached her nose. A shining mirror, strange in darkness such as this, sat in the center of the shrine. Hitomi stepped forward, toward the shrine. She noticed a vast lake of some sort in front of the building. It shimmered.
*****************
"I'm getting kind of worried," Yukari said. "Hitomi wasn't at the inn, and now it's getting late. What if she's vanished, too?"
"Hah! Little chance of that," Toroshino said. "Hitomi can kick ass, if she wanted to. She's perfectly safe."
****************
Hitomi stumbled over a stone. She fell, but not because of the small rock jutting from the soil, but because someone or something bowled her over. Hitomi raised her hand, flame lit, ready to see the shinma, ready to destroy it.
It was a little boy. He smiled, joyously. "You've come! You've finally returned. I've kept my promise to you—I have, I have!" Hitomi looked him over. He was young, perhaps five or six years of age, with a mop of unkept brown hair—piercing blue eyes. He seemed healthy enough. But when he saw who she was, his face fell. "Oh. You aren't—you…oh…"
"Who are you?" Hitomi asked.
"I—I can't tell you. I promised her."
Hitomi wondered who 'she' was. "I'm Hitomi," she said, probing the boy's aura with her own. He was no shinma.
"Oh…I guess you'll be leaving now, right? Please don't go! I'm lonely here! Play with me?"
"All right. What shall we play?" Hitomi knelt down, so she could see him. He was dressed in modern clothing, though she sensed he was old—very, very old indeed. "How long have you been here?" she asked.
"I don't know. It's been so long."
"Oh. I see…" Apparently the boy's promise had bound him there, keeping him alive, and young, until the mystery girl returned.
"How about tag?" the boy said eagerly. He slapped her arm with his chubby fingers. "Tag—you're It!"
Hitomi nodded and gave in pursuit, going purposely slow so as not to catch him as quickly. When she got close enough to grab him, he dodged her arms and kept running. They ran about the grassy expanse of the swamp, Hitomi, silent as usual, the boy laughing and yelling. The sun was beginning to set as they finally stopped. "I must go now," Hitomi said.
"Oh no—please don't go—" the boy began, but Hitomi sensed an attack coming her way. She grabbed the boy and leapt aside. Ice needles rained down upon the spot where they had been standing a moment before.
"Nihon!" Hitomi snarled. "Nihon, he is innocent! Stop this foolishness!"
"Oh? And are you so sure?" Nihon asked, and sent more vicious needles their way. Hitomi crouched protectively over the boy as she vaulted to another place—directly above the shrine. Nihon aimed.
The boy squirmed in Hitomi's arms. "No! Please don't destroy the temple! I promised her! I promised!" he pleaded hoarsely. Nihon sent the needles, smiling ruthlessly as Hitomi was forced to jump again. "No!" the boy cried, as the temple was demolished—the ice shattered the mirror. Shards off glass fell to the ground.
"NO!" the boy screamed. "I promised her!" he ran to the shrine, unprotected, and fell to his knees, weeping. "I'm sorry—I'm sorry—"
A new noise interrupted.
The lake was splitting.
Like a smaller version of Moses and the Red Sea, the lake divided down the middle, and rising out of the water was—
Hitomi's eyes flashed green. Demon!
What emerged from the lake bottom was a serpent, uncoiling majestically to its full height. Instead of a head a humanish body was situated, black, snake-locks of hair and evil, slanted red eyes, nostrils like a reptiles. It wore a kimono—but most interesting about it was the seal-like cloth that wrapped around it's waist. The seal. Now Hitomi understood—this shinma had been sealed by the power of the shrine, by some previous Guardian before her. It was the Guardian the boy was waiting for, and now that the seal had been broken, the shinma was released.
"Nihon, you fool!" she yelled. Nihon smirked and vanished.
Hitomi readied the flame in her hand and flung it, without much care or aim, and, to her dismay, the Shinma blocked it easily with its long, thick tail. Hitomi shoved the boy out of the way of the snake tail, but she received the blow herself. She was thrown forcibly into the wreckage of the shrine. Hitomi gasped as her back came in contact with the splinters. It healed instantly, but she felt the pain.
*********************
Van felt the pain as well. "She needs me," he said simply, and vanished.
********************
She rose painfully, only to be confronted by the tail of the snake. It wrapped about her, tightening mercilessly. Hitomi had never expected mercy from a shinma, so this came as no surprise. As the coils grew tighter, though, she felt the air being squeezed from her lungs, and the muscled tail began to crush her. She whimpered, the edges of her vision already beginning to go black. Her hands were pinned to her sides, and she was unable to raise flames.
Her line of sight totally vanished, along with her breath and she couldn't draw breath—her lungs were flattened…dimly she could hear the boy shouting, dimly she could hear the cackle of the snake-shinma, and all of the noise, the sound, the scene, was melting rapidly into a whirling pit of gray…then to black…
Then the tail was severed in a fluid motion from Van's sword.
Hitomi fell to the ground on all fours, gasping for breath, trying to fill her lungs again. She did not need to give another command; Van attacked the shinma with the ferocity borne of anger, slashing and parrying with the fangs, skillfully as ever. As Hitomi felt her breathing returning to normal, she summoned her flames and shot. The flames caught on the seal, and soon the whole snake demon was burning. It disintegrated with a scream, and a haze of greenish ashes—the temple followed suit. Van slowly helped her rise, touching her shoulder. Hitomi was too tired to jump, or she would have at his gentle touch.
She looked at him gratefully and nodded. "I'm fine," she whispered.
"I felt your pain," Van murmured. "So I came."
The boy watched them with his piercing blue eyes.
"Little boy," Hitomi said softly, "do you want to return home?"
"No. I must stay here. I promised her that I would guard the swamp until she returned. I will keep my promise," he said. Hitomi looked deep into his eyes, and she felt he would keep true his promise.
"Good bye, then," she said, and touched his arm.
"I'll remember you," the boy smiled. He turned and walked straight into the waters of the lake. Van started, beginning to go after him, but Hitomi stalled him.
"He is safe there."
Van nodded, falling back.
"I should be going back now," Hitomi said.
"Will you allow me to accompany you, Hitomi?" Van asked.
Hitomi hesitated. "Yes," she said finally. "Yes, I'd like it."
He offered her his arm, as he had once to a princess, countless years ago, in Fanelia. The memory stung, but this was new, and he was walking with Hitomi. They stepped back through the gate and into the town. Hitomi turned to Van.
"Thank you for saving my life," she said gravely. Van nodded. He didn't move as she reached up and pulled the mask from his face. She closed her eyes, remembering his promise to her. Van touched her cheek tentatively, then, as she didn't object, ran a long finger down the side of her neck, and bent his head a bit closer. He wasn't sure if she would take it well if he kissed her lips, though. Just as he was about to kiss her cheek, he heard her friends coming, and he took his mask from her hands and vanished, with a smile on his face.
Hitomi turned to Myoshi, who was slightly ahead of Yukari and Kenji.
"There was a young man!" Myoshi insisted. "With a black cloak, and he was about to—"
"No one was there," Hitomi said wearily, though she longed to know what Van had been about to do.
"We didn't see anyone," Kenji said, while Yukari shook her head.
"Nope, we didn't. Hitomi, you gave us a scare! You were gone for the whole day!"
"I was busy…" Hitomi said.
"Oh? Doing what?"
"Fighting," Hitomi whispered.
"Fighting?"
"Against the temptation to buy anything," Hitomi corrected hastily.
"Oh, I see," Myoshi grinned. "Well, come on! They're serving dinner already at the inn—you'll miss it if we don't hurry!"
******************
:Goodnight, Van,: Hitomi sent. She had examined her ribs to make sure no permanent damage had been done. There were only bruises, and even those were beginning to fade. Now she was lying on a bed, reading Trials of the Mage. Her human friends were in separate beds, all sound asleep.
:'Night, Hitomi,: Van replied quietly. Hitomi could see him in her mind's eye, standing silently on their roof, staring at the moon. She looked out her own window and saw the moon, and it gave her some comfort that, for one, Van was looking at the same moon, and that she would be seeing him again in a few days.
Hitomi put the book aside and fell asleep as her head hit the pillow—and her last thought was of Van…
Hey…they were getting really close to some action there. You can't blame me for not rushing them. This has to come GRADUALLY. See, she's falling for him anyway!
For the next chapter, vote on the second Very Important question.
a) Hitomi focuses mainly on her life as a Guardian, while yet another demon emerges
b) V/H, mostly, accompanied by a cat-loving garden shinma who steals the souls of the cats and imprisons them in the flowers…
Another songfic, topic vague
Mr. Mahmood comes in to talk about the Chewbacca and Yoda (Mahmood's my science teacher…by the way)
Well, take your pick!
See you next chappie!
I, who can eat the moon
I, who am all that is
I, who flies beneath the DragonSun
Nice poem, no? My friend came up with it. She's really good at that kind of thing. I just put it up because I had no other reason… Um…okay this chapter is either going to be really long or short…I have nothing to say today, other than it's HOT over here and the AC isn't on! Most of you voted choice a), yes, for my Important question, but I feel that V/H aren't quite ready yet… Don't kill me. Maybe in chapters 7 or 8…
Okay, here goes…
Chapter Six: The Broken Seal
Wait, wait, wait! I'm interrupting again… Okay, you can continue now.
Chapter Six: The Broken Seal
The bus ride to Otakuna Hot Springs was fairly peaceful. Hitomi was engrossed in a book that Myoshi had lent her—Trials of the Mage, by a certain Lee Sunibe. (A/N: This isn't a real book, it's actually a document that I'm working on right now. The name of the author—well, I just made it up.) It told of a young mage, or one who practiced magic, in a time when magic was forbidden. Kenji was talking animatedly to Yukari, who was, in turn, half listening to Toroshino's constant chatter about America.
"When are we going to be there?" Arik demanded, practically bouncing with impatience.
"Soon," Amano replied. The conversation had been the same for the past hour. Hitomi put the book aside for a moment and stared out the window at the swamp they were passing. She closed her eyes briefly and summoned up an image of Van.
:Hitomi? You called?: Van's voice entered her head.
:Yes. I can't sense anything yet—: Hitomi broke off abruptly. She looked back out the window of the bus and saw a long form slithering away. 'A demon?'
:Hitomi? Hitomi, are you there?: Van asked.
:Sorry…I do sense something now—it's ancient. It reeks of evil, and yet, it seems to be locked securely enough away…:
:Interesting…: Van said. He sounded puzzled. :Do you want me to come?:
'Yes…please do…' Hitomi thought to herself, but she replied, :I think I can handle this situation myself.:
:We'll speak later, then,: Van sent, and vanished from her mind.
*******************
"Well, we're off to see the sights!" Yukari said brightly. "Hitomi, are you coming?"
"Yes," Hitomi replied. She got up, setting down Myoshi's book, and followed them.
"My, it's rainy!" Myoshi said, unfurling her umbrella. The other girls followed suit. "Back in Tokyo it was never this wet!"
"Never," Kenji agreed.
"I wonder where the boys are," Yukari said.
"Here!" Arik and Toroshino came up. Amano followed, slightly behind them, his hands in his pockets.
Hitomi trailed after them, her senses alert for the demon. She soon wandered away.
******************
A woman's scream cut through the misty air. Hitomi heard it and ran in that direction, a flame ready in her hand.
She saw.
A woman was backed up against a wall, babbling in hysterical fear as a mass of wriggling snakes advanced on her. Hitomi would have intervened, but she was curious, and she watched. The snakes slithered further, and the woman pressed herself up further against the wall. They (the snakes) enveloped her, and her screams stopped. Hitomi decided now was the time to act, and she threw the flame.
The snakes were burnt to ashes, but all that remained of the woman was one stylish, black, high-heeled shoe.
"They were not demons," Hitomi said softly. She stood by the shoe, and knelt slowly to touch it. "I am sorry I did not intervene. Your death might have been prevented."
So the snakes had been eating the people of the town. Hitomi nodded. "I understand the circumstances now."
But there was a part of the puzzle still missing.
What shinma had been controlling the snakes, and where did it roost?
***************
Van battled with himself. "She might need me," he said aloud. "But she said she didn't need my help."
'Why not just go?'
"I cannot."
*****************
"Hey, where did Hitomi go?" Kenji paused.
"We've lost her!" Yukari said.
"That's obvious enough!" Myoshi nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"
"Keep walking," Arik said. "'Tomi probably went back to the inn."
"Yes…this town is boring."
"Drab and gray."
******************
Hitomi had not gone back to the inn. In fact, she was still walking around the town, probing her mind, sensing but not finding. It was frustrating.
'It's well hidden,' she remarked mentally. She walked onward. Suddenly the landscape shifted—from the wet, muddy roads of the inn to a lush, dark swamp.
Hitomi paused in confusion, but her confusion did not last. "So, Shinma. You live here?"
She continued to walk. Soon she came to a shrine, hidden deep within the dank swamp. It was made of old wood, and the stench of rot reached her nose. A shining mirror, strange in darkness such as this, sat in the center of the shrine. Hitomi stepped forward, toward the shrine. She noticed a vast lake of some sort in front of the building. It shimmered.
*****************
"I'm getting kind of worried," Yukari said. "Hitomi wasn't at the inn, and now it's getting late. What if she's vanished, too?"
"Hah! Little chance of that," Toroshino said. "Hitomi can kick ass, if she wanted to. She's perfectly safe."
****************
Hitomi stumbled over a stone. She fell, but not because of the small rock jutting from the soil, but because someone or something bowled her over. Hitomi raised her hand, flame lit, ready to see the shinma, ready to destroy it.
It was a little boy. He smiled, joyously. "You've come! You've finally returned. I've kept my promise to you—I have, I have!" Hitomi looked him over. He was young, perhaps five or six years of age, with a mop of unkept brown hair—piercing blue eyes. He seemed healthy enough. But when he saw who she was, his face fell. "Oh. You aren't—you…oh…"
"Who are you?" Hitomi asked.
"I—I can't tell you. I promised her."
Hitomi wondered who 'she' was. "I'm Hitomi," she said, probing the boy's aura with her own. He was no shinma.
"Oh…I guess you'll be leaving now, right? Please don't go! I'm lonely here! Play with me?"
"All right. What shall we play?" Hitomi knelt down, so she could see him. He was dressed in modern clothing, though she sensed he was old—very, very old indeed. "How long have you been here?" she asked.
"I don't know. It's been so long."
"Oh. I see…" Apparently the boy's promise had bound him there, keeping him alive, and young, until the mystery girl returned.
"How about tag?" the boy said eagerly. He slapped her arm with his chubby fingers. "Tag—you're It!"
Hitomi nodded and gave in pursuit, going purposely slow so as not to catch him as quickly. When she got close enough to grab him, he dodged her arms and kept running. They ran about the grassy expanse of the swamp, Hitomi, silent as usual, the boy laughing and yelling. The sun was beginning to set as they finally stopped. "I must go now," Hitomi said.
"Oh no—please don't go—" the boy began, but Hitomi sensed an attack coming her way. She grabbed the boy and leapt aside. Ice needles rained down upon the spot where they had been standing a moment before.
"Nihon!" Hitomi snarled. "Nihon, he is innocent! Stop this foolishness!"
"Oh? And are you so sure?" Nihon asked, and sent more vicious needles their way. Hitomi crouched protectively over the boy as she vaulted to another place—directly above the shrine. Nihon aimed.
The boy squirmed in Hitomi's arms. "No! Please don't destroy the temple! I promised her! I promised!" he pleaded hoarsely. Nihon sent the needles, smiling ruthlessly as Hitomi was forced to jump again. "No!" the boy cried, as the temple was demolished—the ice shattered the mirror. Shards off glass fell to the ground.
"NO!" the boy screamed. "I promised her!" he ran to the shrine, unprotected, and fell to his knees, weeping. "I'm sorry—I'm sorry—"
A new noise interrupted.
The lake was splitting.
Like a smaller version of Moses and the Red Sea, the lake divided down the middle, and rising out of the water was—
Hitomi's eyes flashed green. Demon!
What emerged from the lake bottom was a serpent, uncoiling majestically to its full height. Instead of a head a humanish body was situated, black, snake-locks of hair and evil, slanted red eyes, nostrils like a reptiles. It wore a kimono—but most interesting about it was the seal-like cloth that wrapped around it's waist. The seal. Now Hitomi understood—this shinma had been sealed by the power of the shrine, by some previous Guardian before her. It was the Guardian the boy was waiting for, and now that the seal had been broken, the shinma was released.
"Nihon, you fool!" she yelled. Nihon smirked and vanished.
Hitomi readied the flame in her hand and flung it, without much care or aim, and, to her dismay, the Shinma blocked it easily with its long, thick tail. Hitomi shoved the boy out of the way of the snake tail, but she received the blow herself. She was thrown forcibly into the wreckage of the shrine. Hitomi gasped as her back came in contact with the splinters. It healed instantly, but she felt the pain.
*********************
Van felt the pain as well. "She needs me," he said simply, and vanished.
********************
She rose painfully, only to be confronted by the tail of the snake. It wrapped about her, tightening mercilessly. Hitomi had never expected mercy from a shinma, so this came as no surprise. As the coils grew tighter, though, she felt the air being squeezed from her lungs, and the muscled tail began to crush her. She whimpered, the edges of her vision already beginning to go black. Her hands were pinned to her sides, and she was unable to raise flames.
Her line of sight totally vanished, along with her breath and she couldn't draw breath—her lungs were flattened…dimly she could hear the boy shouting, dimly she could hear the cackle of the snake-shinma, and all of the noise, the sound, the scene, was melting rapidly into a whirling pit of gray…then to black…
Then the tail was severed in a fluid motion from Van's sword.
Hitomi fell to the ground on all fours, gasping for breath, trying to fill her lungs again. She did not need to give another command; Van attacked the shinma with the ferocity borne of anger, slashing and parrying with the fangs, skillfully as ever. As Hitomi felt her breathing returning to normal, she summoned her flames and shot. The flames caught on the seal, and soon the whole snake demon was burning. It disintegrated with a scream, and a haze of greenish ashes—the temple followed suit. Van slowly helped her rise, touching her shoulder. Hitomi was too tired to jump, or she would have at his gentle touch.
She looked at him gratefully and nodded. "I'm fine," she whispered.
"I felt your pain," Van murmured. "So I came."
The boy watched them with his piercing blue eyes.
"Little boy," Hitomi said softly, "do you want to return home?"
"No. I must stay here. I promised her that I would guard the swamp until she returned. I will keep my promise," he said. Hitomi looked deep into his eyes, and she felt he would keep true his promise.
"Good bye, then," she said, and touched his arm.
"I'll remember you," the boy smiled. He turned and walked straight into the waters of the lake. Van started, beginning to go after him, but Hitomi stalled him.
"He is safe there."
Van nodded, falling back.
"I should be going back now," Hitomi said.
"Will you allow me to accompany you, Hitomi?" Van asked.
Hitomi hesitated. "Yes," she said finally. "Yes, I'd like it."
He offered her his arm, as he had once to a princess, countless years ago, in Fanelia. The memory stung, but this was new, and he was walking with Hitomi. They stepped back through the gate and into the town. Hitomi turned to Van.
"Thank you for saving my life," she said gravely. Van nodded. He didn't move as she reached up and pulled the mask from his face. She closed her eyes, remembering his promise to her. Van touched her cheek tentatively, then, as she didn't object, ran a long finger down the side of her neck, and bent his head a bit closer. He wasn't sure if she would take it well if he kissed her lips, though. Just as he was about to kiss her cheek, he heard her friends coming, and he took his mask from her hands and vanished, with a smile on his face.
Hitomi turned to Myoshi, who was slightly ahead of Yukari and Kenji.
"There was a young man!" Myoshi insisted. "With a black cloak, and he was about to—"
"No one was there," Hitomi said wearily, though she longed to know what Van had been about to do.
"We didn't see anyone," Kenji said, while Yukari shook her head.
"Nope, we didn't. Hitomi, you gave us a scare! You were gone for the whole day!"
"I was busy…" Hitomi said.
"Oh? Doing what?"
"Fighting," Hitomi whispered.
"Fighting?"
"Against the temptation to buy anything," Hitomi corrected hastily.
"Oh, I see," Myoshi grinned. "Well, come on! They're serving dinner already at the inn—you'll miss it if we don't hurry!"
******************
:Goodnight, Van,: Hitomi sent. She had examined her ribs to make sure no permanent damage had been done. There were only bruises, and even those were beginning to fade. Now she was lying on a bed, reading Trials of the Mage. Her human friends were in separate beds, all sound asleep.
:'Night, Hitomi,: Van replied quietly. Hitomi could see him in her mind's eye, standing silently on their roof, staring at the moon. She looked out her own window and saw the moon, and it gave her some comfort that, for one, Van was looking at the same moon, and that she would be seeing him again in a few days.
Hitomi put the book aside and fell asleep as her head hit the pillow—and her last thought was of Van…
Hey…they were getting really close to some action there. You can't blame me for not rushing them. This has to come GRADUALLY. See, she's falling for him anyway!
For the next chapter, vote on the second Very Important question.
a) Hitomi focuses mainly on her life as a Guardian, while yet another demon emerges
b) V/H, mostly, accompanied by a cat-loving garden shinma who steals the souls of the cats and imprisons them in the flowers…
Another songfic, topic vague
Mr. Mahmood comes in to talk about the Chewbacca and Yoda (Mahmood's my science teacher…by the way)
Well, take your pick!
See you next chappie!