Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. What, do you think I'm rich enough to own it? Ask Yuu Watase if she'll give it to me without even suing me then… -_-;;;
The next morning seemed even colder than usual, and I shivered as the cold air hit my skin. Hikitsu seemed totally unscathed by the climate, as if he himself was already used to it (he was older than me after all), while Takiko was still busily rubbing her eyes and saying something about pillows and blankets that were chasing after her.
We started out after an early breakfast, with both Takiko and me yawning and with Hikitsu leading. He seemed to know the way better than us, at least- I had only been to the capital only three times, and the last time I went there was when I was…when I was…ten, I think. Besides, my sense of direction was totally unreliable in the first place, so I wasn't surprised when Hikitsu informed the both of us that we had actually gone many, many miles astray from the road leading to the capital.
Takiko, being the totally undependable miko she was , fell asleep, much to my disgust. It wasn't that I minded her sleeping, but why did she have to fall asleep on me? Besides, her skirt was beginning to get blown up by the wind that was blowing from up front…
I sighed in relief, remembering for a minute that she wasn't awake, so there was no way that she could actually hit me on the head. I only discovered how wrong I was when her arm flew back and struck me point blank on the nose, leaving my poor nose red as I glared at her. She, in turn, had merely mumbled something in her asleep about hard beds and tried to turn over- much to my horror. Why did Hikitsu have to leave her with me? Wasn't he the better and only, (in my opinion) seishi? Why did I have to end up with her again?
Still, he didn't seem to be acknowledging the many glares that I shot towards him, and I relaxed slightly, shaking my head as I looked down at the slightly snoring Takiko. Soft wisps of her black hair framed her small face slightly messily, and I reached a hand down to clear them from her face as she mumbled something and turned again in her sleep.
My hand seemed to freeze in its place, and I suddenly blinked, wondering why I had even bothered doing such a thing. After all, this ungrateful onna wasn't going to thank me even if I did so, and besides, she was sleeping! Her hair didn't look that nice even when she arrived, anyway…
"Tomite."
I blinked, responding to that name despite my inward protests to ignore the name that Hikitsu had been set on giving me. He had slowed his midnight-black horse to a trot as he came up beside me, his silvery-white hair flying loosely as the morning breeze blew, playing through his hair with its long fingers. "Nani?"
"How did you meet the miko? I do believe that she wouldn't just drop out of the sky."
"You wouldn't know," I muttered under my breath, carefully keeping it out of earshot. He didn't know how accurate his guess was, apparently, and I couldn't help disappointing him. "Well, I found this head hi…uh, Takiko in the woods when I was out hunting. According to what she told me, she was brought to this world by a book called the 'Shi Jin Ten Shio', the book that all the four kingdoms have, if I'm not wrong."
The seishi never said a word as I spoke, yet his forehead wrinkled slightly in astonishment as I spoke. At the end, I looked at him expectantly, wondering if he had been anticipating stories of dragons who wanted to devour the miko or crazy monkeys who were trying to chase Takiko up a tree. Either one seemed much more interesting than the real story, though.
"I…see," he spoke at last, and I couldn't control the smirk that rose to my lips as I nodded, then almost falling off the horse as Takiko gave a kick to my right leg in her sleep, making me yelp in pain. Why that onna…!
Both Hikitsu and I sweatdropped as she rolled over once again and muttered something about painful the end of beds were, though. The both of us exchanged weird looks, and at last, to my greatest relief, Hikitsu offered to take over her for a while. Takiko awoke somewhere when I was transferring her to Hikitsu's horse, but soon fell asleep promptly asleep, much to poor Hikitsu's horror.
I laughed, and massaging my neck, continued to look forward and bring my horse to a swifter gallop, leaving the rest of them behind, despite Hikitsu's yells for me to slow down or get lost. (I think he meant it literally, but if he meant it the other way round, I wouldn't have minded either.)
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I followed him in after seeing to the horses and practically pushing Takiko who was standing in front of the building with her mouth agape, watching as he requested for two rooms. Well, naturally we had to use two rooms; Takiko was an onna after all, no matter how she didn't act like one. I had absently (and accidentally) voiced out that thought, and resulted in receiving a hard jab on the ribs by Takiko who glowered at me.
"…And may I ask for you names…?" the man with the moustache behind the counter peered at us, and I wondered if he thought we were refugees that had fled from Kuto. Well, we must really look like a wreck if he even thought so, but with Takiko's clothes? I didn't think so.
"Okuda Takiko, Tan Chamka and Chen Emtato," Hikitsu spoke, and I looked at him confusedly. I knew Takiko's name and mine, but who was Chen Emtato? Him? Besides, why was he using our real names (although he had always made it a rule to call me Tomite) when he could have easily gotten free room with the presence of the Genbu no miko?
"…Okay. Follow that boy over there- he'll bring up your luggage. Hope you have a nice stay. Next please," the almost bald man spoke monotonously, which I suspected, was more of a routine when you were stuck working in such a dreary job. We watched as a blond haired boy hurried over, limping slightly and grabbed our luggage as he whistled to a few other boys of his age to come help him.
We were forced to walk up the stairs for approximately five floors, if I counted properly on our way up. The boys seemed to have no problems; they ran up the stairs, and beside me, I heard Hikitsu wonder aloud about how they had so much energy. I couldn't agree more, noticing much to my glee, that Takiko was slowly huffing her way up, still somewhere on the first floor stairs while we were on the third floor.
Sighing, I jumped down the stairs, two at a time and picked her up, only to get hit hard on the head for my efforts. I glared at her, daring her to do anything more as she gave me an answering glare and a swift kick in my shins that made me grimace at the sharp pain that flew up my knee.
"Will you simmer down?" I asked exasperatedly, walking up slowly, wondering if I should drop her 'by accident' somehow. "If you keep kicking around and hitting me like that, I'll be bound to trip and drop you over the railing sooner or later."
Those words seemed to have the desired effect over her, and she became slightly quieter and stopped fidgeting, but that didn't stop her from mumbling some insults at me under her breath which I tried not to pay any attention to. Hitching her higher, I felt her arms tighten around my neck, and I blinked, realizing for the first time that she was afraid that I'd drop her. With that, I grinned slightly and continued the unpleasant task of carrying her up.
We finally arrived at the top of the stairs, and I was out of breath. I didn't understand how heavy she could be when the normal girls that I usually hung out with (okay, perhaps I did more than hang out with them) were usually lighter than her. Still, I didn't say this out loud, wisely reminding myself of the hard jab in my ribs that still ached from where she nudged me.
Hikitsu's and my room were across the hall from Takiko, and it took much cajoling from both of us before she agreed to sleep in her own room. We exchanged relieved looks, and I wondered for a minute what would happen if we had ended up in one room, and how we would explain what happened that to the emperor when we got to the capital.
Dinner came soon enough as the growl of our stomachs seemed to fill the air, and I was painfully and hungrily reminded of the fact that we hadn't eaten lunch. Needless to say, we didn't have to go hungry any longer and were soon sitting at a table at a crowded bar. We wisely avoided the areas with more people, instead sticking to those in the darker areas of the room.
Waiting for the waiter to come to take our orders, I inquired idly, watching as the waiters went from table to table. "How long more before we arrive at the capital?"
Hikitsu shrugged, taking out a map from his pocket and opened it, making sure that it didn't roll back when lying flat on the wooden surface of the table. Looking at the map, I studied it, noting that the capital was somewhere to the southwest, near the country of Sairo.
"We're here," he pointed at a small spot that symbolized the northern provinces on the brown scroll that had been marked with black ink. Moving his finger to the capital, he frowned, estimating the amount of time and route that we should take to arrive at the capital faster. After all, the country needed the miko as fast as it could.
"If we take this path though these mountains here, we could shorten our journey by half," he observed, tracing his finger down the suggested trail. "The capital isn't far after that- it shouldn't be more than a half a day on horseback after we've got though the mountains."
"Demo, aren't the mountains dangerous?" Takiko asked, and I nodded, agreeing with her. "Seeing the climate around here, I don't think I need to ask how cold it is up there. What if we get caught in an avalanche?"
Hikitsu frowned, then traced another, but longer route onto the map. "It's either that or we can ride around the mountain, but that would take longer as we would've to cross the river here."
He pointed at the small, squiggly line that ran from the sea and his eyebrow furrowed. I could see that it was further than taking the mountains, but the risk was always there. Then again, everything had its own risk.
Looking up, he gazed expectantly at the both of us. "What do you think?"
I frowned, folding my arms as I scrutinized the scroll. Which was the better route?
"Mountains," I decided at last, looking up to see Takiko's reaction. "Demo, we'll need to pack extra supplies, or we won't be able to last up there. From what I hear, it's extremely cold up there."
Takiko nodded, her forehead wrinkling. "I suppose I can't disagree since it's two against one. Now, our main problem is the money. For supplies, we need money, and I don't think even you have enough," she looked at Hikitsu who nodded in reply. I quirked an eyebrow at her, noticing the serious look on her face for the first time.
"I could always go and look for firewood to sell," I volunteered. Despite being shunned by the villagers back home, I had learnt that people were extremely lazy and would pay to have a measly job like that done for them. I wouldn't be surprised if there were people like that here too.
The tall, silver haired seishi nodded in agreement. "I can see if I can help any of the merchants. I know a little about accounts and counting- with any luck, I may be able to work in a granary."
"I could cl-" Takiko started, but was sharply cut off by Hikitsu.
"You are not going to do anything, Takiko-san (she had insisted that he call her by her first name). You're going to sit in the inn and not go anywhere at all. We'll be checking on you during breaks."
"Demo…!"
"We don't need you to be too exhausted when we finally gather enough money to make the journey. The emperor and Genbu would never forgive us if you ended up dead at the palace doorstep."
"You mean the palace has a doorstep?" I muttered under my breath, then receiving a warning glare from Hikitsu. Why didn't that stupid onna have to do any work? She couldn't be excluded just because she was the miko! "Talk about an onna who's got too much free time in her hands…"
"Tomite, I'm warning you…"
The seishi's voice had risen to a higher volume, and he was glaring dangerously at me. I immediately fell silent, waiting as a harried waitress finally came to attend our table. I looked down at her legs, noting that they were long and…
WHACK!
"You baka hentai! Don't you know how not to be serious?" Takiko's fist had landed on the side of my head this time, and glared sideways at her as the shapely waitress sweatdropped but continued taking orders from a very amused Hikitsu.
"Oh, and this comes from some ungrateful onna who shows too much of her legs anyway!" I taunted her in my best irritating singsong voice, somewhat eying her skirt that had been drawn to a very interesting height above her knees. She narrowed her eyes, and I could practically see the lightning that seemed to flash between us.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Hikitsu sighed, and got up, putting a hand on both of our heads before pushing us down on our seats as he huffed exasperatedly.
"Honestly, sometimes the two of you act just like kids," he commented, despite the fact that the both us were too busy glaring at each other to listen to him. "Now, cool down before you bring this place down, okay?"
I snorted, folding my arms as our food began to appear, starting with the cups for the tea. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if some stupid onna brought down this place with her damn whacking, for Genbu's sake!"
Hikitsu sighed. "Tomite, don't make me make you shut up."
Takiko smirked, taking a sip out of her cup. "Yeah, Chamka, your mouth's too big sometimes. It's something like this," she spoke as she stretched her own mouth, making her look so ridiculous that I started laughing.
"That doesn't look like mine, you damn onna! That looks like yours when you're asleep!"
We started off again, and Hikitsu finally stopped trying to silence us after a few attempts, resorting to eating his rice quietly and letting us get at each other's throats before we started to choke from eating and talking at the same time.
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The town seemed so much more subdued at night, I noted as we walked out of the bar after paying the tab, inhaling the fresh night air. It wasn't as cold here as my village, since it was further south, yet a trace of the lingering coldness still remained.
Takiko rubbed her arms, and eyed the goosebumps that had rose on her flesh with a raised eyebrow. That reminded me- we had to get her some new clothes- she couldn't possibly face the emperor in such indecent attire. Besides, I was afraid that Genbu would be too horrified to grant her any wishes.
It was then that we caught sight of a bright ray of light that lit up the entire area and the loud sound of crackling flames. We exchanged looks, and all three pairs of eyes widened as the smell of smoke in the air became inevitable.
"Is it just me or is that a fire?" I asked, but the other two had already set off running in the direction of the light, leaving me standing alone to stare at the bright, red-orange flames. "Hey, wait up! You don't expect me to keep out of the fun, do you?"
Author's Notes: Yup, this story is slow paced…what do you expect? I'm the type that loves to drag stories along and write short chapters (well, in my opinion, they are short).
This time, Hikitsu and Tomite have at least learnt how to get on together (as opposed to Tomite and Takiko who are still fighting like cats and dogs). Yes, the other seishi will be appearing soon, be patient! Maybe they'll appear in the next chapter, or the one after that, or the one… *cowers as everyone glares at her*
If you're wondering where I got the idea for the mountain route, I was thinking of Mulan's 'Tung Shau Pass' in the show. I figured that since that show was set in China, there had to be mountains in China, ne? *happily ignores Geography teacher who is glaring angrily at her* ^_^
Slight clue for following chapters: Someone by the name of Kyou Geishun will be appearing in the future chapters. To tell the truth, I wanted to use that name for Tomite at first, but then I found out his real name… . The name Geishun is cute! Don't you guys think so? ^_^
Thanks for the reviews! *is even more geared up to write* Okay…don't forget to R and R! I don't want to push you people, but I love reviews too, you know! Please?????? *big puppy dog eyes*
By the way, congrats to Kaze-chan as she's the first reviewers! Oh, and Flying Heart, thanks for the reviews!! ^_^
Okay then, until next time, ja ne ~!
