Chapter 1: Arrival of the Time Drifter
Miaka returned to her room, tears were still flowing down her face. She sat on her bed and stared blankly into the dark room. There was a knock on the door it was Chichiri. Miaka wiped the tears from her face and opened the door forcing a smile. "Have you seen anyone new tonight? I sense a presence, you know."
Her eyes widened with concern. If Chichiri someone then someone was there. "No, but I'll watch out."
"No worries, you know. The person isn't good or bad, just out of place."
He waved and pulled the door shut leaving Miaka in her dark room. "Nothing against your friends, but I was thinking myself caught there."
Miaka turned to the voice and saw only an empty chair. She lit the room, still no one to be found. She thought of calling for help but realized that Chichiri didn't find her visitor a threat, only out of place. "Who are you? Why can't I see you?"
"Still nothing against your friends but, if you called one in it'd be a lot easier to catch me if they saw me."
"Can you at least tell me your name?"
The floor creaked. "I wish I knew. I'll be back later. Nuriko might be cold sitting at the door."
"Will you show yourself if I make her promise to leave you alone?"
Her visitor was gone. All the windows still closed and doors untouched. Nuriko also looked around the room and found nothing. Miaka was about to sit down when she noticed the small pile of sand on the chair. It was piled up like a cone with the top point eroded away. "White sand?"
"What did you say Miaka?"
"There's a pile of white sand on the chair now."
"Looks like the sand from an hourglass."
"The voice was from over here but I've never had an hourglass."
"Do you want me to stand watch?"
"She didn't seem threatening Nuriko. I think she's very scared of all of you. If you stand guard she might not come back."
Nuriko left. Miaka waited for her guest to return for over an hour before giving up. She moved the sand to a small dish on the table near her bed. She was almost asleep when the sand started to glow. The light was a deep green. The crystals of sand shimmered with the light. The table suddenly overturned followed by a heavier thud. "That really hurt! Who moved my target?"
"Target?"
"Sorry. My hourglass sand."
"What are you sorry for?"
"I think I broke your table and, for being snippy at you."
"I'll forgive you if you show yourself."
Miaka felt hands over her eyes. She brushed them off and turned around. The girl was about the same height as Miaka with long black hair, paper white skin, and green eyes that almost seemed to glow like the sand. Miaka noticed she was wearing boy's clothes and thought her visitor might be like Hotohori. The visitor blushed bringing foreign color to her cheeks. Miaka realized then that she had been staring at her guest for a few minutes now and also blushed embarrassed to have been so rude. There was a gentile knock on the door. Miaka turned to the sound then back to find the sand neatly piled on the floor and the room empty. Miaka answered the door to find Hotohori waiting, sword drawn. "I'm starting to see why she vanishes every time I have company."
"Where did the intruder go? I must protect you."
"Promise me you'll just stay there and stand quiet if she comes back."
He nodded. Miaka righted the table and was picking up the glass when the sand again started to glow. Hotohori started to draw his sword. "No Hotohori, you promised."
He let go of the sword and joined Miaka in watching the sand. The girl was now standing where the sand once was. She looked from the ground to Miaka and then saw Hotohori. She stepped back. "Oh crap!"
Miaka grabbed the girl's arm tight. "Miaka, please. I can't go if you're holding me."
Fear filled her eyes as Hotohori approached. Miaka still held tight. She wanted the girl to meet Hotohori instead of just running. Now her eyes were actually glowing. Miaka noticed a figure on the girl's left cheek. It was two triangles pointing in on each other; the bottom one was missing the top point. Miaka raised her other hand to touch it. "An hourglass?"
"No, no, no, no, NO! Please let go. I have to leave. You have to let me go now."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to slip time. Please! I don't have the strength left to take you. It's not a good place, you wouldn't like it."
A green light surrounded Miaka and the girl. "Forgive me Miaka, but this is the only way I know to stop it now."
She closed her eyes as the light became blinding inside. The sphere of light burst. The energy of it pushed Hotohori to the wall. The light faded. Miaka still held the girl's wrist. She still had her eyes closed; only now she was in a deep sleep exhausted from stopping what she seemed to do so naturally. Miaka sank to the floor next to the girl. "Miaka, what's her name?"
"She didn't know."
"Strange. She trusts you."
"Why do you say that?"
"She's completely defenseless now because she stopped whatever it is that allows her to disappear. She also sounds like she wasn't going to risk your safety."
Chichiri peeked through the door. "I just felt a lot of power, you know. She must have been our intruder."
"She used all her strength to keep from escaping to keep Miaka here."
Tasuki just arrived to the conversation. "I think she's still a threat."
Blood was now starting to flow out from around the edges of the hourglass on the girl's cheek. Miaka looked at the blood then to Chichiri for an answer. She was now starting to bleed around her eyes and from her nose. "Please get help. She's getting worse."
Tasuki darted away to return with Juan. He healed her. "So is this our intruder?"
She opened her eyes. "Miaka, why do you cry? Am I the cause?"
"This time you scared me, last time it was because of what I had to do to Tamahome."
She looked around and saw all the company. She tried to get up. "Oh crap, oh no, oh ouchies!"
"They're not going to hurt you. Besides, Juan can only heal once daily."
"How can you not know your own name?"
"Why? I'm me. I know myself."
"Do you even have a name?"
She slowly stood up still much shorter than Hotohori. She looked up to his eyes. Her green eyes were now cold. The tone in her voice was deathly serious. There was humor in that the strength of her facial expression was not supported by her body. She stayed up yet slightly wobbled. "I have one, of that I am sure. When I find them I'll let you know."
"Who are you looking for?"
She sank to the floor. "My family. I lost them when I was about five. Being alone I forgot so much."
"How do you plan on finding them if they're gone?"
"Not dead! Lost! I jumped and I don't know when I jumped from. I don't know if I've been born yet or should have died long ago. I only exist where I am and when I am now."
"Until then I name you Suu."
"Hey! Don't do that. I'm not that."
"How do you know?"
"Do you know what time is like? From a view outside of it, time resembles a tangled ribbon. Some places look worn and frayed. The way I hide is like a reflection of yourself in the lake. Under clear water you can see the fish. You are in the water but not your actual self. When you step into the water, that is what it's like when I become visible."
"What happened a few minutes ago then?"
Suu looked past Hotohori. Everyone looked like they wanted to know as well. "Part of me was getting out of the water. I was tearing myself in half to stay. This side won I guess."
"You could've died."
"Miaka, you're right, but you have a goal and a place to be. I'm a lost soul."
"How long have you been jumping time, you know?"
"About eleven years. I wish I knew something that would narrow the time."
"Could all of you please leave? Suu needs rest, not questions."
All but Chichiri respected Miaka's request. In the brief quiet as the audience left Suu fell asleep. Chichiri helped Miaka carry Suu to the open room next door. "Thanks Chichiri. I didn't want her to have to sleep on the floor."
"She came for a reason, you know."
"She never said why but she kept being interrupted."
"That she came back makes me think this is more than just a random time she's slipping through, you know."
They talked about why Suu was there well into the night before they finally ran out of theories. That night Miaka dreamed of sweets and Tamahome. Next-door Suu also dreamed. Miaka awoke to hear Suu quietly crying. She went and knocked on the door. "Are you alright?"
"Miaka, you can come in."
"What's wrong Suu?"
"I just had a few sad thoughts."
"Like what?"
"Doesn't matter. Most of it was self-pity. I wanted to ask yesterday, would you like to try to get home by going back before this became a mess?"
"I'll have to think about it. Mind if I ask what the white sand is for?"
"I use it like a bookmark. It isn't necessary, just makes finding this time easier."
"What's it like?"
"The timeless void?"
"Yeah."
"There is darkness everywhere. The thread of time is both the only thing there and the sole light source. All you really feel like doing is sleeping but that could cost your life. Loose track of time and time will control you."
"Did you?"
"Never. The first time I slipped the sight frightened me so badly that entering time at any point would be better than there. That also was not a smart choice."
"How far into the past and future have you gone?"
"Many times earlier than this but never past. I don't dare to enter past the fray in time. Maybe my family is then, even for them I still won't."
"What is the symbol on your cheek?"
"Symbol?"
"You've never seen the mark on your cheek?"
Suu walked over to the mirror. "What are you talking about Miaka?"
"When you tried to leave it appeared. You started to bleed around the mark first. It almost looked like an hourglass."
"Never seen it, sorry. I normally don't look in a mirror then either. I should go. Can't stay in here all day right?"
"I guess not."
Suu ran down the hall with Miaka following. She almost got past Tamahome. He threw his arm out and pulled Suu in by the waist. "Let go, let go, let go!"
"Who are you?"
Suu's eyes started to glow again. "Let me go now!"
"Not until you answer me."
"I've made no promise to you. My third warning, the final one, let me go."
The hourglass had appeared. It was almost as bright as her eyes now. "Tamahome let go of her."
"Miaka, why?"
"Just do it."
He pushed Suu away as she vanished. "Where'd she go?"
"She said it's a timeless void. She might have left you there if you didn't let go."
Suu opened her eyes. Her green light faded. The thread of time floated in the nothingness below her. "I'm glad he let go. He cost me the chance of marking though. I'm not sure I dropped the sand in time."
The force of her exit pushed her away from the thread. Floating down to the area she thought she entered last she started to look for either something familiar of the sand. Suu smiled as she found when Miaka first came to this world. She continued down the thread and saw a faint shimmer.
Tamahome scratched his head. His hair was shimmering now. "Miaka, do you know what this is?"
In the palm of his hand were a few grains of the white sand that Suu threw in her haste. "It looks like Suu's sand."
His eyes squinted as he moved the sand around his palm with a finger. "Sand? Why does she carry sand?"
"She said it marks a place in time."
"How much do you think it is worth?"
"Tamahome!"
"What?"
"Never mind."
The little sand in his hand and that still in his hair started to glow green. Suu was now standing on Tamahome's hand. She looked down at him trying to free his hand. "Sorry."
"Where'd the sand go?"
"Sand? Oh! My time sand you mean? Gone, it disappears as I come back."
"Do you have anymore of that sparkly white sand?"
"Why?"
"Because he wants to sell it."
"Miaka!"
"Why should I give you any? You wouldn't let me go."
"Why do you fear the embrace of a man?"
"That was not a kind motion between friends."
"Then the mark on your cheek. What side are you on?"
"I'm on time's side. Think for a moment. Sure the mark fades like yours but all the celestial warriors have kanji, not the actual object."
"She has a point Tamahome."
"I think she knows too much and is too powerful to trust until we know her intentions."
"I already do."
"You know I'm still here, right?"
They continued to argue about Suu's motive as she walked away. She found Hotohori busy with important matters, Tasuki and Juan were talking, Chiriko was studying, and Nuriko was taking a nap. She found Chichiri overlooking a lake fishing. "It has been a long time since I have seen such peace."
"You know more about what's going on then you're willing to say."
"It doesn't matter."
"I've been wondering why you were so afraid of us, you know."
"I can run. My power is to skip out on what is happening around me. I guess I just fear anything that could e a serious threat. The last two jumps I didn't control. They were a reaction."
"Do you really think you can control your power well enough to take Miaka to another time if she accepts your offer?"
Suu raised an empty hand over Chichiri's head and made a motion like she was sprinkling sugar over a cake. He looked up to see the white sand falling from her fingers. "Do you know what this is?"
"Your marker sand."
"More than that. Sand of Time, part of me."
"You're a dreamer, you know."
"I challenge you to explain it then."
"You're gift, your power, you know."
Suu left him to his fishing. She waived behind her. "Memories scar deep. Well past the flesh. Some are too horrible to remember yet still effect us from the unknown depths of the mind."
"So you know that too?"
"As you said, I know."
He turned towards her to ask her more but she was already shouting distance. "Strange girl but, if she can do what she says then she is a very dangerous girl as well."
Suu climbed up into a large tree in the courtyard. She watched people going about their normal daily business, too busy to notice a girl in a tree. Hotohori and Tamahome walked past. "Hello down there!"
"Be careful up there little one."
"Little, Hotohori? We're about the same age."
"I keep forgetting. Can you forgive that?"
"No problem. Can I talk to you, Tamahome, when you're done?"
"Sure."
They walked off. Suu sat staring into the distant sky. It had been a few hours now but she trusted Tamahome was just busy. "Just a green eyed neko in a tree, you know."
Suu looked down at Chichiri holding his fishing supplies. "Why do you call me that?"
"You give the impression of a lost kitten, you know."
Suu jumped down from her perch. "Did you catch anything today?"
"Thinking like a cat, you know."
She stuck her tongue out. "Trying to be nice, you know. I'll stop the effort."
He shrugged. "Do as you wish. Who did you ask to know about my scar?"
"I didn't ask. I saw it happen in what now would be the past."
Suu wondered what was taking Tamahome so long as Chichiri continued past. She walked down the path they had gone earlier. She found them still talking in a gazebo overlooking water. She sat quite visibly, yet out of earshot and waved. They both saw her. Hotohori waved back. Tamahome shouted to her, "We'll be done in a minute."
They talked on for another hour. Suu waited quietly gazing over the water. The day's light was gone but it didn't bother her. Suu's eyes were used to the darkness. In truth her day in the tree was mostly to hide from the bright sun. She closed her eyes and felt the cool breeze from off the water. It played with her hair. Someone picked her up. It was gentle, almost enough to have left her in her thoughts. "Let me down."
She said it so coldly Tamahome almost dropped her thinking it wasn't Suu. "Hey, sorry I thought you fell asleep out here."
She opened her eyes, they were glowing but it quickly faded. "Sorry. I didn't hear you walk up. In a dealing mood?"
"What kind of deal?"
"Still interested in time sand?"
"What do you want for it?"
"Some information. You seem like you've been many places and made many connections."
"Haven't you?"
"Many times but only in this area."
"Ok, deal."
"I remember it was a small house. Dad worked and Mom tended a magnificent garden. We were fortunate to be near water. There was a symbol on the door. Dad once told me it was his gift to Mom right after they built the house. Only once he told me what it was. Violet, because they were her favorite flowers. He put 'kaze' on the door to my room. I have memories of sitting in the garden and just enjoying the feel of the wind in my face. That's about all I remember now."
"Sounds like you haven't changed much. I can't say that I've seen such a place yet. Can I have sand now?"
She held an empty hand over his outstretched cupped hands. Suu brushed her other hand over dropping sand into his hands. "Please keep looking for me."
"Sure, I'll ask around."
"I hope you have a good sale. When I find them again I'm going to ask the only one I can think of to take this power from me."
"Why?"
"I'm no longer going to exist soon. With every slip I become less human and more sand."
"I can't take this is it's part of you."
"It's fine. I should go it's late. Night."
She ran off into the darkness. Tamahome went to his room and put the sand in a bag for safekeeping. "She's as white as the sand. It probably covers her body by what se said. With how easily it came off picking her up or grabbing her probably pulls a lot off her."
Chiriko knocked at the open doorway. "What you're saying would make sense. Sorry to have listened in."
"Do you know a way to help her?"
Tamahome shared everything he knew about Suu. Chiriko shook his head. "If we knew when she is originally to have lived it would be her last slip. I don't know anything about the rest. The violet would be a rarer symbol and was probably specially made."
Suu didn't go back like she said she would. She asked permission to borrow a horse from Hotohori. He went down to the stable and showed her to one of the best natured ones. "Are you sure you know how to ride?"
"Yes. Thanks for humoring me this late."
"Where do you need to go that needs you to leave now?"
"A fragment of memory that might fade by dawn."
"Be careful. Are you sure you don't want someone to go with you?"
"I'll be fine."
"Good-luck."
She rode off into the night. Hotohori asked Nuriko to follow Suu the next morning when she hadn't returned. "Why me?"
"She might need help, or it might be a girl thing that I could never understand."
Nuriko agreed and rode after Suu. After a long ride she found Suu. She was sitting on a mound. A stream wrapped around three quarters of the mound. Beyond it was a field of wildflowers. Behind her were more flowers that ended at a small abandoned home. She sat perfectly still. Suu must have sat there all night. She sparkled as the morning sun hit the dew covering her. "Suu?"
She turned to see who called her. Slowly, she stood up. Nuriko noticed there were tears in her eyes. "What's wrong? Why did you come here?"_________________________________________
