This would've been sooner, if not for those evil things called exams x_x; Anyhooo, this chapter is about three pages longer than the others ^^; But minimal sap! Yay ^^ And this chapter needs a title...
Opinion question: Who's your favourite mystery seishi (Karasuki, Kokie, Amefuri, Toroki) and why?
~~~~~
"What…?" Tokaki asked slowly, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
"I know where Karasuki is," I exclaimed again, jumping up and going to look out the window. "Because we're so close to the Kutou border, there used to be a lot of immigrants who came here for whatever reason but still worshipped Seiryuu. Sairou forbade worshipping of gods other than Byakko, and closed all temples to other gods over a hundred years ago. There's an old temple a few hours east of here, but it's been abandoned for years and years… It was kind of an legend when I was little, all these stories about ghosts and monsters and weird people worshipping Seiryuu there. But think about it, it's the perfect place for Karasuki! No one would look there and he'd be able to stay in contact with Kutou."
"Wow. Yeah. I guess it's a good thing that we came here after all, or else we woulda been wandering out there for weeks… So what do we do now?"
I shook my head. "Hey, I figured out where he is, you get to figure out how to get the Shinzaho."
"Aww, but you're the smart one!" He protested, but I shook my head. "Uh, okay, then… We bust in there, take the Shinzaho, and run?"
"…And get killed in the process?" I said dryly.
"C'mon, I can take anything they throw at us!"
"Don't be so cocky. Remember, we don't know what Karasuki can do."
"Yeah, you're right…" He glanced down at the floor, then back at me. "Are you always right? That could get annoying." I just smiled, keeping my lips sealed. "Aw, fine. We should wait 'til night, anyway, then go, check the place out and work from there. Sound good?"
I nodded, and an awkward silence followed. Now that that was cleared up, we were faced with the 'morning after'. I turned and looked out the window again, chewing on my lip. Maybe we should have just gone right now to find Karasuki; it would at least get rid of this uncomfortable position. Nothing came to mind to talk about, but I didn't want to just leave, either.
"…And we didn't even do anything last night," I heard Tokaki mumble under his breath, and although I probably should have been mad, I laughed.
"This is stupid," I said, shaking my head and heading over to the door. "Look, as long as I'm here, I'm going to help out Lina. You can just… Relax or whatever."
"Hey, I can help, too," he insisted, jumping up and joining me in the doorway. "It'd get me on Lina's good side, right?"
I raised my eyebrows. "You really want to cook and do laundry?"
"Uh… On second thought, maybe not."
I smiled and started to head off, but turned back instead and rose up on tiptoes to kiss him. His hands slid up and down my back, and I was just about to suggest that we could just go back to bed and hope no one noticed - the forwardness of which surprised me, but I didn't care much - when Lina's voice sounded out behind us.
"Wow… I never knew just how heavy laundry baskets could be," she panted in a faked out-of-breath voice, and I jumped backwards away from Tokaki, my cheeks burning. Lina gave an odd, knowing smile, then continued as if I weren't there. "If only my loving sister were to help me out…"
I bounded forward immediately, taking the basket from her, and she smiled widely. I turned and looked back at Tokaki, who laughed, then headed past me down the stairs, but not without patting me on the rear first. Lina burst into laughter. "Um, where do you want these?" I mumbled, my face beet red.
"I didn't know you two were so cozy," she said slyly.
"We didn't do anything!" I protested, but she shook her head.
"But you would have! And in cases like these, I have to take over the responsibility from our mother, and say 'none of that until you're married!'"
I rolled my eyes, and we set out back downstairs, Lina detailing everything that she needed done that day. It wasn't that much, which was a good thing, for we spent most of the time gossiping, her telling me all the news of the village - who got married, who had babies, who died. I found out that there had been a bandit attack on the village about a month after I left, but that Jin and some other men had been able to fight them off without any damage done. Worried, I suggested that she and Jin come back to the capital with me, at least until their baby was born, but Lina refused, citing that she had a responsibility here. "Everyone has their place in life," she told me. "Maybe yours is to be chosen by Byakko-seikun, but mine is just an innkeeper, wife and mother, and I'll do that to the best of my ability."
Sometimes Lina surprised me. Normally she just seemed like an average older sister, sometimes teasing, sometimes protective, but sometimes she would spout off these pearls of wisdom as if she were some great philosopher. Maybe I had been the one to travel off to foreign places, and she hadn't ever left this village, but she seemed a lot more worldly and knowledgable about how things work than me.
After dinner, I went out to collect the laundry off the line, and saw that Tokaki was out in the street, playing with a bunch of local children, most of whom I recognized. Reminded of how I had found him like that back in the capital after Suzuno had disappeared, a smile crossed my face, and I found myself wondering what it would be like if those children were ours.
I didn't even notice Lina joining me on the porch, but she followed my gaze and smiled, as well. "He's good with children. I bet he'd make a great father."
"Mm," I agreed, and Lina's face broke into a broad grin.
"You were thinking about that!"
"What?! No!" I stared at her, wide-eyed, and shook my head frantically. "No, no, I was not. We barely even know each other, I'm not thinking about that!"
"Thinking about what?" Tokaki appeared next to me, and I jumped back, startled.
"Don't do that! You're going to give me a heart attack!" I put my hand on my chest. "Nothing, I wasn't thinking about nothing. Right, Lina?"
"I don't know," she said. "Not thinking about nothing means that you're thinking about something, doesn't it?
"I wasn't--" I protested, trying to signal madly with my eyes for her to not say anything. She just smiled back at me, and I threw my hands in the air. "Oh, go away!" She pouted momentarily, but then turned and went back into the house. I turned back to Tokaki. "Where'd your friends go?"
"Past their bedtime."
"I think you need some older friends," I told him, and he grinned, then glanced at the sky.
"The sun's going down. We should get going."
I nodded slowly, then looked towards the East. We really had to do this, we really had to face Karasuki. All day I had been able to push it out of my mind, to just forget about it and go about doing regular things, but now that the task was right in front of us, my heart pounded with anxiety. Tokaki went to get the horses ready, and I went inside to tell Lina we were leaving. All I had told her was that we had to go find the seventh Seishi, and although she looked suspicious, she didn't fuss too much. I hadn't told her much about the whole situation with Karasuki, so she didn't know that he was the one we were after, and therefore didn't realize the danger. She asked why it was we had to wait until nightfall, but I avoided the question, telling her we would be back by morning.
During the couple of hours it took to ride to the temple, I babbled like an idiot, going on about all the things Lina had told me about everyone in the village. While Tokaki didn't say much, I was sure that my nervousness was making me sound completely stupid.
The temple was just inside a small forest, surrounded by several small creeks and streams. We dismounted a fair distance away, past the edge of the trees. While Tokaki tied up the horses, I stared at the building, which was barely visible through the foliage, trying to shake my uneasiness. "I don't like this," I finally said in a quiet voice. "Something bad is going to happen."
"Of course it is," Tokaki replied simply. "We're not exactly here for a friendly visit."
"Well, why not?" I asked. "Why can't we just sit down and talk it out, instead of having to fight?"
"Don't be so naïve, Subaru," he said in an exasperated voice. "This is the real world. People don't just sit down over tea and discuss their problems."
"I'm sorry for being optimistic," I reply hotly, blinking back the tears that stung the backs of my eyes. "I'm not an idiot, don't talk to me like that."
Tokaki sighed, turning to look at me. "I'm sorry. Think about it, though: if you wanted to talk nicely with someone, would you send assassins after them? I didn't mean… It's just that I'm a bit, uh… On edge, I guess."
"And you're the one who knows how to fight! Think about how I must feel!"
"Yeah," he looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Oi! Who's out there?" A voice called out suddenly, and I heart a rustle in the trees in front of us. Tokaki grabbed me, and the next thing I knew we were up in the branches of a tree. I stared down, wide-eyed, my heart nearly stopping. When I was about four or five, I had fallen out of a tree and broke my arm, and ever since I'd had a deathly fear of heights. I turned and hid my face in Tokaki's chest, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"Can we get down now?" I mumbled in a muffled voice.
"What? Don't tell me you're scared of heights!"
I nodded frantically, and he started to laugh, but stopped abruptly. I heard the sounds of someone walking below, the same voice that had just called out muttering, "I coulda sworn I heard someone…"
When the footsteps finally quieted, I dared to speak again. "Down now?"
Tokaki put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me away, then looked into my eyes. "Hey, you stay here, I'll go get the Shinzaho and I'll be right back."
"What?" I exclaimed. "No, Tokaki, don't--" He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, then pulled back. I tried to grab for his arm, but he was already gone. I stared at the place where he had been for the longest moment, too petrified to move. How stupid could he be? Go alone? My eyes slipped downwards again, and I gripped the branch tighter, the bark scratching my hands. This was not going well at all.
After a few moments of going over every worst possible situation in my mind, I figured out that there was no way I could just sit there and do nothing. Careful not to look down, I glanced around at the building - only to discover that a branch led right to a small window, albeit with a gap of a couple feet between the end of the branch and the building. Still, there was no way I could get down onto the ground again; the lowest branch on the tree was several meters off of the ground.
Mentally repeating to myself not to look down, I got to my feet slowly, holding onto the trunk of the tree tightly. I edged my way around the trunk to the other side where the branch that was my goal was. When I reached it, I told myself that was half the battle done, there was nothing to worry about. I gripped the branch above so hard that my fingers turned white, and slowly started making my way down it towards the window. Only when the branch starting thinning out did I start to get nervous, and when I reached near the end, I felt it start to bend under my weight. The window was still too far away, as well - there was no way that I could jump that far onto such a small ledge.
I went backwards onto the thicker part of the branch and nearly burst into tears at having my clever plan become unsuccessful. I found myself thinking of Tatara, how if he were here he could make the tree grow so that it would be close enough to the window - and another idea occurred to me. An aging tree would be the same as a growing one! I knelt down and put my hands onto the branch I was standing on, then whispered the incantation and watched as the branch slowly got thicker and longer, new leaves sprouting as it reached the window. "Subaru, you're a genius," I declared to myself, smiling triumphantly.
I went back out further onto the branch, then knelt again and pushed at the window shutters. Locked. I hit them hard with the side of my fist, but that resulted in nothing but a sharp pain in my hand. I winced, but wasted no time in using my powers to age the wood significantly until it was rotted enough to be hit again successfully.
After sliding through the window, I stood and took a minute to brush myself off before proceeding. Voices outside the door made me freeze, but the door on the opposite wall didn't open, and I relaxed as I realized that the men were only talking about what a boring job guard duty was. Finally, I looked around the room. It was rather plain, with nothing but several boxes piled up at one end. I was stuck on what to do next. I couldn't go out into the halls and risk being found by the guards, but surely I couldn't stay here. Luckily, the guards gave me a valuable piece of information.
"What is this Shinzaho thing anyway?"
"I dunno. I just know that it's important."
"That important that it needs both of us guarding it?"
My heart jumped. The Shinzaho was in this room! I headed over to the end of the room with the boxes. There were so many of them; how was I supposed to know where to look? I knew I didn't have much time and that I couldn't risk the noise I would make opening and searching through all of them. At that moment, the moon came out from behind a cloud, illuminating the room. A glint in the corner of the pile caught my eye, and I moved closer to see a shining red box with gilded gold edges half-hidden by several large boxes. I pulled it out as quickly and quietly as I could, then undid the clasp and threw back the top.
Inside were the two most beautiful bracelets I had ever seen. They were ruby red, embedded with diamonds and had gold edges. I pulled them out from their silk resting place and slid them onto my wrist, then shut the box turned to put it back in the same place I had found it, but my elbow hit another box and I watched with horror as the pile went falling to the ground with a loud crash.
The door opened, spilling light into the room, and I turned to see the two guards come rushing in, expressions of first surprise, then delight on their faces. I glanced towards the window, but one of the guards was already ahead of me and ran to block it.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said the guard at the doorway, wearing a smirk on his face. "Don't you know stealing is a crime?"
I hid my arms behind my back, moving backwards until I ran into the pile of boxes. There was shouting in the hallway, and suddenly five more guards came rushing in. Whatever chance I had at taking on merely the two of them had just gone out the window. My heart sank.
"Now, if you could just give back what you've taken," continued the first guard, stepping over to me and holding out his hand. "We'll kill you quickly and minimize suffering." He grinned, then reached for my arm, pulling it out from behind my back and grabbing the bracelets and yanking them from my wrist.
"Let go of her!" Tokaki suddenly materialized in front of me, pushing the surprised guard backwards and hitting him hard across the face. The guard coughed and wiped at the blood that spurted from his nose, and Tokaki turned back to me quickly. "Didn't I tell you to wait there?"
"Don't go running off by yourself!" I exclaimed in protest. "And don't leave me in a tree!"
"You'd have been safe there!" He turned just as another guard rushed forward, brandishing a small dagger. Tokaki grabbed the man's arm just in the nick of time, then twisted it, and I heard a sickening cracking noise and the man cried out in pain, dropping the dagger and grabbing his arm.
The first guard spat out a mouthful of blood, then raised his head and growled, glancing back at his men. "Don't just stand there, you idiots!"
Tokaki looked at me, then at the bracelets in the first guard's grasp, and I nodded, and he turned back to the other guards, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, c'mon, can't any of you fight?"
The minute that they rushed forward, I dashed over to the first guard, who was momentarily distracted by the fight. When I grabbed the bracelets from him, he stared at me, startled, then hit me across the cheek with the back of his hand. I winced, tasting blood in my mouth, but didn't relinquish my hold. "Let go, you bitch!" He snarled.
I gripped his hand, ready to try the same thing I had done to the assassin yesterday, albeit a little wary. But before I could, a sudden silence washed over the room, and I looked over to see that two of the guards had fallen, but a third guard looked disturbingly triumphant and I stared in horror as I realized that his knife was embedded in Tokaki's shoulder. The guard yanked the knife out and turned to smirk at me, but Tokaki raised his other arm and hit the guard in the back of the neck, sending him crumpling to the floor. Tokaki looked over at me with an expression of disbelief on his face, then fell to his knees, holding his shoulder and blood soaking his shirt.
I started to rush forward, but the first guard grabbed my arm and I stared at him with terror. "Too bad your little mission failed," he sneered at me.
This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. Today had been so perfect, so wonderfully peaceful, and now this? It didn't seem right. I looked back over at Tokaki, who was staring at his blood-covered hand. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, mentally repeating to myself that this was just some sort of bad dream, that it wasn't real - but the pain in my cheek and where the guard was holding my arm was far too real.
"I don't want this anymore," I whispered. "Why is this happening? Why can't I just have a normal life? Don't do this to me," I opened my eyes, directing my comments now at the guard who held my arm, as if he were the one responsible for everything that had happened in my life. "Just stop it… Stop!" I cried, tears spilling over my cheeks.
I don't know how I did it, but something happened. The symbol on my chest burned, and I felt a sudden surge of power rush over my body. In an instant, it was gone, pushed out of me, and I felt as though that was all the energy I had in my body - my legs felt weak, as if I would fall at any moment. When the soft buzzing started in my ears, I realized the silence in the room, and stared around, my hands starting to shake.
Everything had stopped. The first guard had a sneer frozen on his face, while the others stood motionless, either looking at me or Tokaki, who was still staring at his hand. Slowly, I pulled my arm away from the grasp of the first guard, holding onto the bracelets tightly. I stepped away from the guard, holding my breath and walking lightly, as if one wrong step or loud noise would break the spell.
When I reached Tokaki, I fell to my knees in front of him, feeling as though I couldn't stand any longer. I reached out and touched him lightly, and he blinked, looking up at me, then at the rest of the room, confused. "What just happened…?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"You idiot," I murmured, the tears starting again. "I didn't wait that long just to lose you after a day."
"I didn't want you to get hurt," he started to explain, but I shook my head. My arms felt so heavy, but I raised my hand and held it over his shoulder. My eyes started to blur, and I blinked several times to try and clear them, but to no avail. "Onmi…" I whispered, the words feeling slurred in my mouth. My mind felt like mush, and I struggled to remember the words.
"Subaru…?"
"Shh… Onmikartera whamasu," I mumbled weakly, my eyelids drooping. "Tokaki…" I finished, then slumped forward into him, and I felt his arms close around me as everything went black and I surrendered to the oblivion of unconciousness.
Opinion question: Who's your favourite mystery seishi (Karasuki, Kokie, Amefuri, Toroki) and why?
~~~~~
"What…?" Tokaki asked slowly, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
"I know where Karasuki is," I exclaimed again, jumping up and going to look out the window. "Because we're so close to the Kutou border, there used to be a lot of immigrants who came here for whatever reason but still worshipped Seiryuu. Sairou forbade worshipping of gods other than Byakko, and closed all temples to other gods over a hundred years ago. There's an old temple a few hours east of here, but it's been abandoned for years and years… It was kind of an legend when I was little, all these stories about ghosts and monsters and weird people worshipping Seiryuu there. But think about it, it's the perfect place for Karasuki! No one would look there and he'd be able to stay in contact with Kutou."
"Wow. Yeah. I guess it's a good thing that we came here after all, or else we woulda been wandering out there for weeks… So what do we do now?"
I shook my head. "Hey, I figured out where he is, you get to figure out how to get the Shinzaho."
"Aww, but you're the smart one!" He protested, but I shook my head. "Uh, okay, then… We bust in there, take the Shinzaho, and run?"
"…And get killed in the process?" I said dryly.
"C'mon, I can take anything they throw at us!"
"Don't be so cocky. Remember, we don't know what Karasuki can do."
"Yeah, you're right…" He glanced down at the floor, then back at me. "Are you always right? That could get annoying." I just smiled, keeping my lips sealed. "Aw, fine. We should wait 'til night, anyway, then go, check the place out and work from there. Sound good?"
I nodded, and an awkward silence followed. Now that that was cleared up, we were faced with the 'morning after'. I turned and looked out the window again, chewing on my lip. Maybe we should have just gone right now to find Karasuki; it would at least get rid of this uncomfortable position. Nothing came to mind to talk about, but I didn't want to just leave, either.
"…And we didn't even do anything last night," I heard Tokaki mumble under his breath, and although I probably should have been mad, I laughed.
"This is stupid," I said, shaking my head and heading over to the door. "Look, as long as I'm here, I'm going to help out Lina. You can just… Relax or whatever."
"Hey, I can help, too," he insisted, jumping up and joining me in the doorway. "It'd get me on Lina's good side, right?"
I raised my eyebrows. "You really want to cook and do laundry?"
"Uh… On second thought, maybe not."
I smiled and started to head off, but turned back instead and rose up on tiptoes to kiss him. His hands slid up and down my back, and I was just about to suggest that we could just go back to bed and hope no one noticed - the forwardness of which surprised me, but I didn't care much - when Lina's voice sounded out behind us.
"Wow… I never knew just how heavy laundry baskets could be," she panted in a faked out-of-breath voice, and I jumped backwards away from Tokaki, my cheeks burning. Lina gave an odd, knowing smile, then continued as if I weren't there. "If only my loving sister were to help me out…"
I bounded forward immediately, taking the basket from her, and she smiled widely. I turned and looked back at Tokaki, who laughed, then headed past me down the stairs, but not without patting me on the rear first. Lina burst into laughter. "Um, where do you want these?" I mumbled, my face beet red.
"I didn't know you two were so cozy," she said slyly.
"We didn't do anything!" I protested, but she shook her head.
"But you would have! And in cases like these, I have to take over the responsibility from our mother, and say 'none of that until you're married!'"
I rolled my eyes, and we set out back downstairs, Lina detailing everything that she needed done that day. It wasn't that much, which was a good thing, for we spent most of the time gossiping, her telling me all the news of the village - who got married, who had babies, who died. I found out that there had been a bandit attack on the village about a month after I left, but that Jin and some other men had been able to fight them off without any damage done. Worried, I suggested that she and Jin come back to the capital with me, at least until their baby was born, but Lina refused, citing that she had a responsibility here. "Everyone has their place in life," she told me. "Maybe yours is to be chosen by Byakko-seikun, but mine is just an innkeeper, wife and mother, and I'll do that to the best of my ability."
Sometimes Lina surprised me. Normally she just seemed like an average older sister, sometimes teasing, sometimes protective, but sometimes she would spout off these pearls of wisdom as if she were some great philosopher. Maybe I had been the one to travel off to foreign places, and she hadn't ever left this village, but she seemed a lot more worldly and knowledgable about how things work than me.
After dinner, I went out to collect the laundry off the line, and saw that Tokaki was out in the street, playing with a bunch of local children, most of whom I recognized. Reminded of how I had found him like that back in the capital after Suzuno had disappeared, a smile crossed my face, and I found myself wondering what it would be like if those children were ours.
I didn't even notice Lina joining me on the porch, but she followed my gaze and smiled, as well. "He's good with children. I bet he'd make a great father."
"Mm," I agreed, and Lina's face broke into a broad grin.
"You were thinking about that!"
"What?! No!" I stared at her, wide-eyed, and shook my head frantically. "No, no, I was not. We barely even know each other, I'm not thinking about that!"
"Thinking about what?" Tokaki appeared next to me, and I jumped back, startled.
"Don't do that! You're going to give me a heart attack!" I put my hand on my chest. "Nothing, I wasn't thinking about nothing. Right, Lina?"
"I don't know," she said. "Not thinking about nothing means that you're thinking about something, doesn't it?
"I wasn't--" I protested, trying to signal madly with my eyes for her to not say anything. She just smiled back at me, and I threw my hands in the air. "Oh, go away!" She pouted momentarily, but then turned and went back into the house. I turned back to Tokaki. "Where'd your friends go?"
"Past their bedtime."
"I think you need some older friends," I told him, and he grinned, then glanced at the sky.
"The sun's going down. We should get going."
I nodded slowly, then looked towards the East. We really had to do this, we really had to face Karasuki. All day I had been able to push it out of my mind, to just forget about it and go about doing regular things, but now that the task was right in front of us, my heart pounded with anxiety. Tokaki went to get the horses ready, and I went inside to tell Lina we were leaving. All I had told her was that we had to go find the seventh Seishi, and although she looked suspicious, she didn't fuss too much. I hadn't told her much about the whole situation with Karasuki, so she didn't know that he was the one we were after, and therefore didn't realize the danger. She asked why it was we had to wait until nightfall, but I avoided the question, telling her we would be back by morning.
During the couple of hours it took to ride to the temple, I babbled like an idiot, going on about all the things Lina had told me about everyone in the village. While Tokaki didn't say much, I was sure that my nervousness was making me sound completely stupid.
The temple was just inside a small forest, surrounded by several small creeks and streams. We dismounted a fair distance away, past the edge of the trees. While Tokaki tied up the horses, I stared at the building, which was barely visible through the foliage, trying to shake my uneasiness. "I don't like this," I finally said in a quiet voice. "Something bad is going to happen."
"Of course it is," Tokaki replied simply. "We're not exactly here for a friendly visit."
"Well, why not?" I asked. "Why can't we just sit down and talk it out, instead of having to fight?"
"Don't be so naïve, Subaru," he said in an exasperated voice. "This is the real world. People don't just sit down over tea and discuss their problems."
"I'm sorry for being optimistic," I reply hotly, blinking back the tears that stung the backs of my eyes. "I'm not an idiot, don't talk to me like that."
Tokaki sighed, turning to look at me. "I'm sorry. Think about it, though: if you wanted to talk nicely with someone, would you send assassins after them? I didn't mean… It's just that I'm a bit, uh… On edge, I guess."
"And you're the one who knows how to fight! Think about how I must feel!"
"Yeah," he looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Oi! Who's out there?" A voice called out suddenly, and I heart a rustle in the trees in front of us. Tokaki grabbed me, and the next thing I knew we were up in the branches of a tree. I stared down, wide-eyed, my heart nearly stopping. When I was about four or five, I had fallen out of a tree and broke my arm, and ever since I'd had a deathly fear of heights. I turned and hid my face in Tokaki's chest, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"Can we get down now?" I mumbled in a muffled voice.
"What? Don't tell me you're scared of heights!"
I nodded frantically, and he started to laugh, but stopped abruptly. I heard the sounds of someone walking below, the same voice that had just called out muttering, "I coulda sworn I heard someone…"
When the footsteps finally quieted, I dared to speak again. "Down now?"
Tokaki put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me away, then looked into my eyes. "Hey, you stay here, I'll go get the Shinzaho and I'll be right back."
"What?" I exclaimed. "No, Tokaki, don't--" He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, then pulled back. I tried to grab for his arm, but he was already gone. I stared at the place where he had been for the longest moment, too petrified to move. How stupid could he be? Go alone? My eyes slipped downwards again, and I gripped the branch tighter, the bark scratching my hands. This was not going well at all.
After a few moments of going over every worst possible situation in my mind, I figured out that there was no way I could just sit there and do nothing. Careful not to look down, I glanced around at the building - only to discover that a branch led right to a small window, albeit with a gap of a couple feet between the end of the branch and the building. Still, there was no way I could get down onto the ground again; the lowest branch on the tree was several meters off of the ground.
Mentally repeating to myself not to look down, I got to my feet slowly, holding onto the trunk of the tree tightly. I edged my way around the trunk to the other side where the branch that was my goal was. When I reached it, I told myself that was half the battle done, there was nothing to worry about. I gripped the branch above so hard that my fingers turned white, and slowly started making my way down it towards the window. Only when the branch starting thinning out did I start to get nervous, and when I reached near the end, I felt it start to bend under my weight. The window was still too far away, as well - there was no way that I could jump that far onto such a small ledge.
I went backwards onto the thicker part of the branch and nearly burst into tears at having my clever plan become unsuccessful. I found myself thinking of Tatara, how if he were here he could make the tree grow so that it would be close enough to the window - and another idea occurred to me. An aging tree would be the same as a growing one! I knelt down and put my hands onto the branch I was standing on, then whispered the incantation and watched as the branch slowly got thicker and longer, new leaves sprouting as it reached the window. "Subaru, you're a genius," I declared to myself, smiling triumphantly.
I went back out further onto the branch, then knelt again and pushed at the window shutters. Locked. I hit them hard with the side of my fist, but that resulted in nothing but a sharp pain in my hand. I winced, but wasted no time in using my powers to age the wood significantly until it was rotted enough to be hit again successfully.
After sliding through the window, I stood and took a minute to brush myself off before proceeding. Voices outside the door made me freeze, but the door on the opposite wall didn't open, and I relaxed as I realized that the men were only talking about what a boring job guard duty was. Finally, I looked around the room. It was rather plain, with nothing but several boxes piled up at one end. I was stuck on what to do next. I couldn't go out into the halls and risk being found by the guards, but surely I couldn't stay here. Luckily, the guards gave me a valuable piece of information.
"What is this Shinzaho thing anyway?"
"I dunno. I just know that it's important."
"That important that it needs both of us guarding it?"
My heart jumped. The Shinzaho was in this room! I headed over to the end of the room with the boxes. There were so many of them; how was I supposed to know where to look? I knew I didn't have much time and that I couldn't risk the noise I would make opening and searching through all of them. At that moment, the moon came out from behind a cloud, illuminating the room. A glint in the corner of the pile caught my eye, and I moved closer to see a shining red box with gilded gold edges half-hidden by several large boxes. I pulled it out as quickly and quietly as I could, then undid the clasp and threw back the top.
Inside were the two most beautiful bracelets I had ever seen. They were ruby red, embedded with diamonds and had gold edges. I pulled them out from their silk resting place and slid them onto my wrist, then shut the box turned to put it back in the same place I had found it, but my elbow hit another box and I watched with horror as the pile went falling to the ground with a loud crash.
The door opened, spilling light into the room, and I turned to see the two guards come rushing in, expressions of first surprise, then delight on their faces. I glanced towards the window, but one of the guards was already ahead of me and ran to block it.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said the guard at the doorway, wearing a smirk on his face. "Don't you know stealing is a crime?"
I hid my arms behind my back, moving backwards until I ran into the pile of boxes. There was shouting in the hallway, and suddenly five more guards came rushing in. Whatever chance I had at taking on merely the two of them had just gone out the window. My heart sank.
"Now, if you could just give back what you've taken," continued the first guard, stepping over to me and holding out his hand. "We'll kill you quickly and minimize suffering." He grinned, then reached for my arm, pulling it out from behind my back and grabbing the bracelets and yanking them from my wrist.
"Let go of her!" Tokaki suddenly materialized in front of me, pushing the surprised guard backwards and hitting him hard across the face. The guard coughed and wiped at the blood that spurted from his nose, and Tokaki turned back to me quickly. "Didn't I tell you to wait there?"
"Don't go running off by yourself!" I exclaimed in protest. "And don't leave me in a tree!"
"You'd have been safe there!" He turned just as another guard rushed forward, brandishing a small dagger. Tokaki grabbed the man's arm just in the nick of time, then twisted it, and I heard a sickening cracking noise and the man cried out in pain, dropping the dagger and grabbing his arm.
The first guard spat out a mouthful of blood, then raised his head and growled, glancing back at his men. "Don't just stand there, you idiots!"
Tokaki looked at me, then at the bracelets in the first guard's grasp, and I nodded, and he turned back to the other guards, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, c'mon, can't any of you fight?"
The minute that they rushed forward, I dashed over to the first guard, who was momentarily distracted by the fight. When I grabbed the bracelets from him, he stared at me, startled, then hit me across the cheek with the back of his hand. I winced, tasting blood in my mouth, but didn't relinquish my hold. "Let go, you bitch!" He snarled.
I gripped his hand, ready to try the same thing I had done to the assassin yesterday, albeit a little wary. But before I could, a sudden silence washed over the room, and I looked over to see that two of the guards had fallen, but a third guard looked disturbingly triumphant and I stared in horror as I realized that his knife was embedded in Tokaki's shoulder. The guard yanked the knife out and turned to smirk at me, but Tokaki raised his other arm and hit the guard in the back of the neck, sending him crumpling to the floor. Tokaki looked over at me with an expression of disbelief on his face, then fell to his knees, holding his shoulder and blood soaking his shirt.
I started to rush forward, but the first guard grabbed my arm and I stared at him with terror. "Too bad your little mission failed," he sneered at me.
This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. Today had been so perfect, so wonderfully peaceful, and now this? It didn't seem right. I looked back over at Tokaki, who was staring at his blood-covered hand. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, mentally repeating to myself that this was just some sort of bad dream, that it wasn't real - but the pain in my cheek and where the guard was holding my arm was far too real.
"I don't want this anymore," I whispered. "Why is this happening? Why can't I just have a normal life? Don't do this to me," I opened my eyes, directing my comments now at the guard who held my arm, as if he were the one responsible for everything that had happened in my life. "Just stop it… Stop!" I cried, tears spilling over my cheeks.
I don't know how I did it, but something happened. The symbol on my chest burned, and I felt a sudden surge of power rush over my body. In an instant, it was gone, pushed out of me, and I felt as though that was all the energy I had in my body - my legs felt weak, as if I would fall at any moment. When the soft buzzing started in my ears, I realized the silence in the room, and stared around, my hands starting to shake.
Everything had stopped. The first guard had a sneer frozen on his face, while the others stood motionless, either looking at me or Tokaki, who was still staring at his hand. Slowly, I pulled my arm away from the grasp of the first guard, holding onto the bracelets tightly. I stepped away from the guard, holding my breath and walking lightly, as if one wrong step or loud noise would break the spell.
When I reached Tokaki, I fell to my knees in front of him, feeling as though I couldn't stand any longer. I reached out and touched him lightly, and he blinked, looking up at me, then at the rest of the room, confused. "What just happened…?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"You idiot," I murmured, the tears starting again. "I didn't wait that long just to lose you after a day."
"I didn't want you to get hurt," he started to explain, but I shook my head. My arms felt so heavy, but I raised my hand and held it over his shoulder. My eyes started to blur, and I blinked several times to try and clear them, but to no avail. "Onmi…" I whispered, the words feeling slurred in my mouth. My mind felt like mush, and I struggled to remember the words.
"Subaru…?"
"Shh… Onmikartera whamasu," I mumbled weakly, my eyelids drooping. "Tokaki…" I finished, then slumped forward into him, and I felt his arms close around me as everything went black and I surrendered to the oblivion of unconciousness.