WARNING: This new twist might be a bit (or a lot) farfetched. Don't flame me for it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own FoR or any of its characters. This plot is a product of my imagination. Any similarities to other fan fictions are unintentional.
BABY YOU'RE MINEBy bishounen lovah
Chapter 13
Is this heaven?
Somehow it wasn't what she had imagined. True that the place was beautiful and somewhat peaceful but there was something in the atmosphere that couldn't be described as heavenly. She couldn't determine what it was but she could feel it in the air, giving her chills every now and then.
Heaven?
Shouldn't one be dead in order to gain entry to heaven? Did this mean she was dead?
No! She shook her head in order to get rid of the fog that had been clouding her mind for a long time now. I can't be dead. This can't heaven.
She shakily stood and retreated from the shade of the tree she had been leaning on. She looked around, trying to make sense of her surroundings. There were hectares upon hectares of dewy green grass as far as the eyes could see. This place…it was familiar. She'd been here before but when? And there was something different…
The people! Who are they? What are they doing here? What am I doing here?
Several men, women and children were scattered across the meadow, minding their own businesses, looking lost in their own worlds. One woman was sitting at a patch of wild flowers, peeling the petals one at a time; a boy was sitting high atop a tree, barely aware of the petals flying his way; and there was that man to her near right, sprawled on the grass, staring at the cloudy sky. There were more people about but none spoke to each other, none even looked at each other.
Surely they are not…angels?
They didn't look like one and they most certainly didn't act like one. They all had one thing in common though. All of those people were dressed in weird clothes—peasant clothes…ninja clothes.
And then she remembered…and understood.
This really wasn't heaven. It was more like purgatory. She was trapped in the worst purgatory of all…She was inside a madougu! Her soul and these other people's souls were condemned to this forsaken dimension for eternity.
All of her memories started coming back: the puppet devices, Kondo, Uruha, Hokage, Tsukiho, the Spirit Ball, and Kaoru.
Kaoru? He was hurt…dying. Did he survive? Of course. He was alive. That was the reason why she was in here. His life for her soul. She was given that choice and she made the right one. She would never regret her decision. Kaoru was her life. If he died, she wouldn't want to live too.
No. No regrets. Well maybe there were two…she wasn't able to bid a proper farewell and she wasn't able to say she loved him. If only she could see him just one more time, that would be enough. But it seemed such an impossible wish.
She looked around again, this time forcing herself to move farther from her obviously designated zone. She passed one person after the other, always failing to make eye contact. Then she came upon a little girl, so like her when she was young. She felt a sudden stinging at the back of her eyes as the first emotion since she broke out from the trance shook her.
"Hey there," she kneeled beside the girl, "that's some doll you got there. I used to have one just like that. What's your name?"
"Don't waste your time. She'll never answer you back."
She jumped in surprise then instinctively posed in such a way it would be easy for her to attack and defend. Three meters away from her, a teenage boy with glorious red hair stood with mischief clearly written in his eyes. There was something familiar about that boy too. There was a happy air about him that made her want to trust him.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"A friend," he grinned. "Aw, come on. There's no need to be defensive. I won't hurt you."
She didn't know what made her lower her fists. It could be his voice, his words, his smile, his eyes, or even the familiarity in the atmosphere but she dropped it anyway despite good sense. She observed him closely but try as she might, she couldn't recall ever meeting this boy. One thing that struck her odd was the hint of life in him, unlike these other people who acted like zombies.
"Are you the guardian of this place?"
"Heck, no," he laughed and she found it annoyingly familiar yet again. "There is no guardian. The Spirit Ball does not need one. You knew that, Ganko-chan."
It was no surprise that he knew her name too. She was half-expecting it. Frankly, she didn't care how he knew. She was more interested in knowing more about this place where she was to spend eternity and this boy seemed to know a lot about it.
"Why are they like that and why aren't we like them?" She gestured at the people, slightly shivering at the eeriness of it all.
"They have been in here for far too long despite the fact that time does not exist in this world. Actually, it's probably worse this way since all they can do is recalling their memories until their souls exhaust away. I've seen some go but most of these people are still hoping that their souls will be released."
She felt sorry for them, felt sorry for herself. But this is what she had wanted. No regrets.
"We are the more recent arrivals. But sooner or later we'd probably end up like them," he continued.
She didn't catch the implications of his words primarily because she wasn't listening anymore. These people, they've been in here for centuries and none of them found an escape. Why would anyone create such a horrible madougu like this?
"Come. We'd better make use of whatever time we have left."
"What do you mean?"
"Come. I'll show you." He walked up to her then grabbed her hand. He dragged her around, weaving in between people and changing sceneries. Once they were beside some clear pond, he wasted no time to play in it. His laugh was contagious and she suddenly decided to let loose for a while and have some fun.
Their squeals and laughter pierced through the silence as they splashed around in an effort to get each other wet. It was fun and it felt like old times though she couldn't imagine why. This boy was a stranger but if he was, how come he knew her name?
"Ganko."
She glanced back at him to see why he called her but noticed that the boy wasn't paying any attention to her anymore. He was stomping in the water, amused by the waves that he caused.
"Ganko."
There it was again. This time she was sure that the boy didn't call her for his mouth didn't move. But if it wasn't him then who?
"Baby…"Kaoru? It had got to be him! But what was he doing here? More importantly, where was he?
"Wake up, princess…"She brushed a wet curl from her face and looked around. There was no one else in the area but his voice was still echoing in her head, calling out to her. She stumbled out of the water and tried to locate the voice. The sound led her to the other part of the meadow.
And there he was, standing…waiting for her.
She was struck with the familiarity of the scene again but this time she knew why. The dream. It was exactly like her dream.
How could she forget that dream? It was the one when she thought she was kissing Kaoru but ended up being mauled by Tsukiho. But there was no Tsukiho anymore. Only Kaoru…standing several feet away from her. He raised his arms, beckoning her just like in her dream.
And just like before she ran to him and held on to him, fearing that he'd disappear again.
"My Ganko."
For a moment she felt safe but then realized that the warmth was disappearing. She looked up and saw that his face was wavering as well as his body. "No! Don't leave me!"
"I miss you, baby. Come home."
Her hands clenched on his shirt but were only able to grab air. Soon, Kaoru's image totally disappeared. Her knees finally gave and she couldn't help but sob in desperation.
"You're going back to him," the red-haired boy stated in an accepting tone.
"I want to. I want to but I can't."
"Sure you can."
"What?" Her tears stopped at that. "What did you say?"
"The boy helped her up and grinned at her stupidity. At that moment, she realized whom he reminded her of.
"Kondo?" She couldn't quite keep the shock and incredulity in. His grin grew wider and wider until she thought his face would crack. That was how he grinned, corners stretched all the way up. He was really the kitsune but he was not a kitsune anymore.
"But how?" She was getting more confused by the second.
"What? You didn't think that Tsukiho was the only ghost who could possess a doll, did you?" Her face blanched at that. Kondo thought it was best to explain quickly before Ganko passed out. "Okay, so I was your basic wandering soul, drifting aimlessly to find a purpose for my non-existent life and then I found one. I liked your group so I decided to stick around. As it happens you were trying out the Kata Kugutsu on the fox plushy and the rest is history."
"But why didn't you tell us?"
"I guess I thought there wasn't any point. Kondo's life began with the Hokage and my past wasn't that important. Look, as I was saying, you go back to them and I'll stay here for you. The condition was the madougu needed one soul in replacement for Tsukiho's, right? And I figured since I'm dead already, I'm going to be it."
Everything was going too fast for her and she couldn't think while her emotions were warring. "Why are you doing this?"
"I told you already," the boy brushed the tears from her face. "My life began with you and this is my way of thanking you for giving me another shot at life. Besides," the seriousness disappeared and was replaced by mischief again, "that monkey you call a boyfriend sounded pathetic. It's irritating."
"Oh, Kondo, I can't leave you in this awful place."
"But you should. You know, at first I thought that maybe we could both stay here and have some fun like we used to. But I realize now that you don't belong here. Tell you what, once you get outside maybe you could find a way to destroy this madougu. That way, there wouldn't be an 'awful place'."
"But you'd be destroyed too."
"I'd rather have that than turn into one of these guys. Please, Ganko, go back. I'm already dead."
"No you're not. You'll always be alive here in my heart."
The boy snorted in laughter. "Man, that's the corniest thing I ever heard! Bwahahahaha!!!"
She never was one who could take insults so she whacked Kondo so hard he had a hard time separating himself from the ground. "Baaa-ka," she muttered.
Once the chaos stopped, the boy insisted again. "So you're going?"
She nodded a bit reluctantly. What he said made sense. "But how do I get out of here?"
"Just click your heels, Dorothy, and say 'there's no place like home' over and over again. What? Can't you take a joke? Oh-oh! Maybe I could throw you off a cliff so that when you wake up you'd find yourself back in bed. Just like in TV! HEY!!!"
She managed to whack him good again. In truth, she didn't mind his antics. In fact, she was going to miss them…going to miss him. As soon as he stood up she hugged him tightly and could have killed him in the process had he not been dead already.
"Thank you, Kondo."
"I guess we're even then, huh?"
"I'll be back for you. I'll find a way to get you out of here."
She stepped back when she felt that warmth again. The swirling colors surrounded her as the madougu began to communicate with her again. She expressed her wish to go back. It had Kondo's soul. It didn't need hers anymore.
A sudden tremor shook the place, creating a huge gap in space. Through that gap she saw Kaoru trying to feed her mortal body to keep her alive. The scene touched her heart. All doubts that plagued her before about whether or not he loved her disappeared. How could anyone do such things for her, not knowing if she would come back or not, and not love her? It might be a bit presumptuous of her but she recognized his deeds as acts of love.
She took a step closer to the gap then remembered Kondo. She looked back, greatly reluctant to leave him behind.
But the boy wouldn't have any of it. He gave her a last hug then a light push. "Go on. Tell Koganei I think he's lucky. Tell him he should take care of you or else I'd haunt him in his dreams."
She shook her head and smiled through her tears. "Iie. I'm the lucky one because I have the greatest friend in the whole world."
"Then I guess I'm lucky too. Promise you won't forget me."
"I won't. You're stuck in here, remember?" She tapped her chest indicating his place in her heart. "And I'll keep my other promise. I'm going to set you free one way or another."
"Good. Now go before I change my mind. And give that stupid gorilla a good kick in the butt for me too."
Before she could react, Kondo gave her one hard push. He hated long goodbyes. Might as well get it over with. As soon as she went in the gap, the place shook again and a second later the gap was gone. He stared at the area where Ganko disappeared for a moment longer then turned back to the pond to wait for his eternity to end.
To be continued…
BISHLOV: Hehe. Remember, no flames. Constructive criticisms are allowed but none would be done about it because I only have about one or two chapters more to go. Hey, guess what? Just a couple more days and this fic will celebrate its first year anniversary. I know it's nothing to celebrate about since it took me this long but, hey, the end is near.
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