Well, I've decided that I'm going to finish this story soon. I've gotten
tired of waiting for reviews, so what I'm going to do is wrap it up in the
next few chapters, and then leave you all hanging, except that I might e-
mail the ending to those people who were kind enough to review. I'm
starting writing this at 12:23 AM on Monday, December 29, so if it isn't up
soon, it's because my mom limited the amount of time that I am allowed on
the internet to an hour. I'm really very upset about this development.
Also, she says that she's worried about me HAVING an account here, because,
and I quote: "There are a lot of weirdoes out there who could stalk you.
I mean, come on. Who'd want to stalk me? I'm just an ordinary kid, so there's really no reason to stalk me unless you REALLY are odd/off your rocker.
Now, once again, the pairings. Now that you've been reading this story for quite some time, the characters should be pretty well ingrained into you by now, so the pairings are, of course, Haku/Chihiro, Jumari/Sky (just appeared in the last chapter). You've already seen the onesided Link/Chihiro, and I doubt that that is going to come up very much anymore, except for maybe a moment of angst at the wedding, which should be in just a few chapters (YAY!)
On with the story!
Writing for HIS glory ALWAYS
Dante/TME/Brian/Isildri
~*~
Disclaimer- I only own Link, Nami, Jumari, Knoma, and Sky.
~*~
Chihiro awoke to find herself lying in a warm room with Haku on a chair next to the bed that she was lying on. She rubbed her temples, realizing that she had a splitting headache, and then wished she hadn't, for the noise she made when she moved her arm caused Haku to moan and open his eyes. He looked into hers for a moment, then smiled brightly.
"Well, it would seem that the sleeping princess has awoken!" He laughed lightly, and she flushed as she realized just how good that laugh made her feel inside. She could feel a warm glow starting in her chest and working its way up to her face.
"Where's Nami?" Instantly, she regretted the words, for she feared that they made her seem as though she was more concerned about Nami then she was about Haku, or Link. She enjoyed being around Nami, to be sure, but she just didn't feel the same way when she was with him as she did with Haku. The connection that she felt when they (that is Chihiro and Haku) where together was something far greater, and far more beautiful than anything else that she had ever felt.
Haku looked at her with a warm sense of knowing in his eyes, and her fears abated almost instantly. "He's lying on the bed next to you. We think that he's going to be okay, on account of the fact that he landed in a deep snowdrift. He doesn't seem to have any broken bones or anything."
Chihiro looked over to the other bed, where she saw Nami lying in his human form, his chest bared and the tunic on a chair across from the bed he was lying on (a/n- a little too redundant?). "Why is his shirt off?"
"It was wet after his close encounter with the snow, so we figured it was better to have him half-naked than dead of a cold." He laughed again, and again she flushed as the familiar feeling rushed through her, like the very blood in her veins. She sat up, then winced as she felt all the blood rush to her head from where it had pooled inside her when she had been lying down. In an instant, Haku was by her side, holding onto her shoulders and giving her the support that only his presence could bring.
"Thanks. I should be fine, I'm just a little dizzy."
"Well, I would imagine that you are. You've been lying there without moving much for almost a day now." He laughed (yet again!).
"A day?!?! What's happened while I was out of it?"
"I don't know. I spent the entire time that you were out by your side, so I haven't the faintest idea what's been going on around here. What do you say we go and find out?"
She nodded and he helped her get to her feet, then left the room so that she could get into a new change of clothes. Once she had finished, she opened the door and walked out, finding him looking out over the grounds.
"What is it?" she questioned, noticing the odd look that he had on his face.
"Well, it seems that there's someone stalking Jumari out there as she walks in the gardens." He looked at her, a smile visible behind his beautiful green eyes.
"Stalking Jumari? Is that wise?"
"I don't know. Come on, let's go see if we can find Knoma so that we can tell him about this."
At that very moment, the door opened and Knoma walked in. "Looking for me?" he asked, clearly knowing that they had just been on their way to look for him. "What can I do for the two of you?"
"Nothing right now," said Chihiro, "but you can tell us just who that is out there who is stalking your master even as we speak." Knoma walked to the window and peered outside, then turned away and cursed.
"What is it?" Haku looked at him, clearly not having expected this particular response from him.
"It's an old friend of hers. Sky Nightrider. He's the spirit of a star (hence the silver-white hair). They were in love long ago, longer than I can remember. She wanted him to commit to her, and he declared that he just wasn't ready to. He left her and broke her heart. He must have decided to come back and pick up where he left off." Knoma let out a short, harsh laugh. "Little does he know just how hard it is to pick up where you left off with her. She isn't one to forgive and forget. I've never in all my life known someone to hold a grudge for as long as she can." He looked back at them. "Do either of you feel up to having lunch? I don't think the kitchens are open right now, but I can have something brought up to my room."
Chihiro nodded, and then she and Haku followed Knoma to his quarters. He lived on the 58th floor, and his quarters were breathtakingly beautiful. The first thing they noticed when they walked in was the fact that the entire room, and indeed, as they would later find out, all the rooms that made up his apartments, were made out of black marble with white veins of impurities running through them. When they asked him what the impurities where, he simply answered 'sunstone'. At this sudden revelation, Haku took in a sharp breath, and when questioned by Chihiro as to his reasons for the startled reaction, he replied that sunstone was the second most valuable jemstone in the spirit world, second only to the rainbow diamond, of which she had one on the engagement ring that he had given her.
"The walls of this room are worth a god's ransom." He declared breathlessly. Knoma just shrugged it off and led them to the sitting room, which consisted of several comfortable sofa's and many artifacts from earlier dated hanging from the walls, as well as furniture and vases and other odd items standing on the ground. Haku was intrigued the moment he saw them, and instantly declared to Chihiro that she was standing amongst the finest collection of rare antiquities that he had ever seen.
"We'll wait in her until the food comes, and then we can eat in the dining room."
"How many rooms make up your apartment?" Chihiro asked, curious as to how much luxury someone like Jumari would give to her servants, even if they WERE her personal attendants.
"About twelve," was his answer, and he looked away from them, seemingly embarrassed by something he had said. Haku let out a soft sound of sudden realization.
"She gave you all this luxury because you were her lover, right?" he asked. Knoma nodded.
"I'm not proud of it, and I wish that I had never agreed, but if I hadn't, she would have certainly killed me, and I'd rather be a whore than dead."
Chihiro shook her head. "It would be far better for me to be dead than to not save myself for the one I love," she stated, a firm believer in her words. Haku looked at her with gratitude in his eyes.
"Well, anyway, the food's here, so let's eat." Knoma led the way to the Dining room, where they all proceeded to stuff their faces.
~*~
Jumari walked slowly through the gardens, her heart aching with the pain that she was feeling over Sky's return. If only he had just stayed out of her life. Before he came back, things had seemed so much clearer, set in stone. Nothing was out of place, and there was nothing that threatened to destroy the walls that she had built up around herself.
She walked over to a stone bench and sat down, burying her head in her hands. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to just let him start where they had left off so long ago? Was she supposed to allow him to tear down the walls that she had built up around her heart? She just wasn't sure of what to do anymore.
Sky approached her cautiously, not wanting to upset her with his presence. He had been following her ever since she had entered the gardens, but he had not been able to muster up the courage to speak to her until now. He knew that if he was to get her to come around, he needed to leave her alone to think, but for some reason his heart just wouldn't allow him to do that.
"Jumari?" She looked up, the fury that had once been in her eyes had been replaced by a look of utter desolation.
"What do you want?" she asked, not really caring what his answer would be.
"I just thought. . . maybe we could talk about things."
"Talk about what?"
"Well. . . about whether or not you're going to let me stay here. About whether or not you're going to let me pick up where we left off."
"I told you before, I have no intention of picking up where we left off. We are over. End of discussion."
"But. . ."
"No. When you left me, I vowed never to allow another person to hurt me, ever again, and that includes you. I won't let you build me up just to let me down (song by the Foundations, from the sixties)."
"I just needed some time to sort through my feelings."
"You needed five hundred years to sort through your feelings." It was a statement and question mixed into one.
"Well, no. I intended to come back before the year was through, but I kept getting waylaid. People kept asking me for help, and then I got in trouble with the spirit of a volcano and spent the next seventy years trying to stay away from him."
"All right. That still doesn't explain why you didn't try to find some way to contact me."
"I was afraid. I was afraid of what I felt for you, and afraid of what might happen if we ever WERE together. I didn't want to hurt you more than I did just by leaving."
"So then you didn't know. . ."
"What didn't I know?"
"You didn't know. . . that I loved you. That by leaving, you were hurting me more than you possibly could otherwise."
For the first time in his life, Sky was totally speechless.
*~*
Wow. This chapter was fun to write, and is like two thousand words, which doesn't hold cotton to my first chapter I ever wrote, but is still a significant achievement. Thanks so much for reading!
If you don't have time to review, just tell me one of the following: Great, Good, Okay, Bad, or Go Jump Off A Cliff.
I mean, come on. Who'd want to stalk me? I'm just an ordinary kid, so there's really no reason to stalk me unless you REALLY are odd/off your rocker.
Now, once again, the pairings. Now that you've been reading this story for quite some time, the characters should be pretty well ingrained into you by now, so the pairings are, of course, Haku/Chihiro, Jumari/Sky (just appeared in the last chapter). You've already seen the onesided Link/Chihiro, and I doubt that that is going to come up very much anymore, except for maybe a moment of angst at the wedding, which should be in just a few chapters (YAY!)
On with the story!
Writing for HIS glory ALWAYS
Dante/TME/Brian/Isildri
~*~
Disclaimer- I only own Link, Nami, Jumari, Knoma, and Sky.
~*~
Chihiro awoke to find herself lying in a warm room with Haku on a chair next to the bed that she was lying on. She rubbed her temples, realizing that she had a splitting headache, and then wished she hadn't, for the noise she made when she moved her arm caused Haku to moan and open his eyes. He looked into hers for a moment, then smiled brightly.
"Well, it would seem that the sleeping princess has awoken!" He laughed lightly, and she flushed as she realized just how good that laugh made her feel inside. She could feel a warm glow starting in her chest and working its way up to her face.
"Where's Nami?" Instantly, she regretted the words, for she feared that they made her seem as though she was more concerned about Nami then she was about Haku, or Link. She enjoyed being around Nami, to be sure, but she just didn't feel the same way when she was with him as she did with Haku. The connection that she felt when they (that is Chihiro and Haku) where together was something far greater, and far more beautiful than anything else that she had ever felt.
Haku looked at her with a warm sense of knowing in his eyes, and her fears abated almost instantly. "He's lying on the bed next to you. We think that he's going to be okay, on account of the fact that he landed in a deep snowdrift. He doesn't seem to have any broken bones or anything."
Chihiro looked over to the other bed, where she saw Nami lying in his human form, his chest bared and the tunic on a chair across from the bed he was lying on (a/n- a little too redundant?). "Why is his shirt off?"
"It was wet after his close encounter with the snow, so we figured it was better to have him half-naked than dead of a cold." He laughed again, and again she flushed as the familiar feeling rushed through her, like the very blood in her veins. She sat up, then winced as she felt all the blood rush to her head from where it had pooled inside her when she had been lying down. In an instant, Haku was by her side, holding onto her shoulders and giving her the support that only his presence could bring.
"Thanks. I should be fine, I'm just a little dizzy."
"Well, I would imagine that you are. You've been lying there without moving much for almost a day now." He laughed (yet again!).
"A day?!?! What's happened while I was out of it?"
"I don't know. I spent the entire time that you were out by your side, so I haven't the faintest idea what's been going on around here. What do you say we go and find out?"
She nodded and he helped her get to her feet, then left the room so that she could get into a new change of clothes. Once she had finished, she opened the door and walked out, finding him looking out over the grounds.
"What is it?" she questioned, noticing the odd look that he had on his face.
"Well, it seems that there's someone stalking Jumari out there as she walks in the gardens." He looked at her, a smile visible behind his beautiful green eyes.
"Stalking Jumari? Is that wise?"
"I don't know. Come on, let's go see if we can find Knoma so that we can tell him about this."
At that very moment, the door opened and Knoma walked in. "Looking for me?" he asked, clearly knowing that they had just been on their way to look for him. "What can I do for the two of you?"
"Nothing right now," said Chihiro, "but you can tell us just who that is out there who is stalking your master even as we speak." Knoma walked to the window and peered outside, then turned away and cursed.
"What is it?" Haku looked at him, clearly not having expected this particular response from him.
"It's an old friend of hers. Sky Nightrider. He's the spirit of a star (hence the silver-white hair). They were in love long ago, longer than I can remember. She wanted him to commit to her, and he declared that he just wasn't ready to. He left her and broke her heart. He must have decided to come back and pick up where he left off." Knoma let out a short, harsh laugh. "Little does he know just how hard it is to pick up where you left off with her. She isn't one to forgive and forget. I've never in all my life known someone to hold a grudge for as long as she can." He looked back at them. "Do either of you feel up to having lunch? I don't think the kitchens are open right now, but I can have something brought up to my room."
Chihiro nodded, and then she and Haku followed Knoma to his quarters. He lived on the 58th floor, and his quarters were breathtakingly beautiful. The first thing they noticed when they walked in was the fact that the entire room, and indeed, as they would later find out, all the rooms that made up his apartments, were made out of black marble with white veins of impurities running through them. When they asked him what the impurities where, he simply answered 'sunstone'. At this sudden revelation, Haku took in a sharp breath, and when questioned by Chihiro as to his reasons for the startled reaction, he replied that sunstone was the second most valuable jemstone in the spirit world, second only to the rainbow diamond, of which she had one on the engagement ring that he had given her.
"The walls of this room are worth a god's ransom." He declared breathlessly. Knoma just shrugged it off and led them to the sitting room, which consisted of several comfortable sofa's and many artifacts from earlier dated hanging from the walls, as well as furniture and vases and other odd items standing on the ground. Haku was intrigued the moment he saw them, and instantly declared to Chihiro that she was standing amongst the finest collection of rare antiquities that he had ever seen.
"We'll wait in her until the food comes, and then we can eat in the dining room."
"How many rooms make up your apartment?" Chihiro asked, curious as to how much luxury someone like Jumari would give to her servants, even if they WERE her personal attendants.
"About twelve," was his answer, and he looked away from them, seemingly embarrassed by something he had said. Haku let out a soft sound of sudden realization.
"She gave you all this luxury because you were her lover, right?" he asked. Knoma nodded.
"I'm not proud of it, and I wish that I had never agreed, but if I hadn't, she would have certainly killed me, and I'd rather be a whore than dead."
Chihiro shook her head. "It would be far better for me to be dead than to not save myself for the one I love," she stated, a firm believer in her words. Haku looked at her with gratitude in his eyes.
"Well, anyway, the food's here, so let's eat." Knoma led the way to the Dining room, where they all proceeded to stuff their faces.
~*~
Jumari walked slowly through the gardens, her heart aching with the pain that she was feeling over Sky's return. If only he had just stayed out of her life. Before he came back, things had seemed so much clearer, set in stone. Nothing was out of place, and there was nothing that threatened to destroy the walls that she had built up around herself.
She walked over to a stone bench and sat down, burying her head in her hands. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to just let him start where they had left off so long ago? Was she supposed to allow him to tear down the walls that she had built up around her heart? She just wasn't sure of what to do anymore.
Sky approached her cautiously, not wanting to upset her with his presence. He had been following her ever since she had entered the gardens, but he had not been able to muster up the courage to speak to her until now. He knew that if he was to get her to come around, he needed to leave her alone to think, but for some reason his heart just wouldn't allow him to do that.
"Jumari?" She looked up, the fury that had once been in her eyes had been replaced by a look of utter desolation.
"What do you want?" she asked, not really caring what his answer would be.
"I just thought. . . maybe we could talk about things."
"Talk about what?"
"Well. . . about whether or not you're going to let me stay here. About whether or not you're going to let me pick up where we left off."
"I told you before, I have no intention of picking up where we left off. We are over. End of discussion."
"But. . ."
"No. When you left me, I vowed never to allow another person to hurt me, ever again, and that includes you. I won't let you build me up just to let me down (song by the Foundations, from the sixties)."
"I just needed some time to sort through my feelings."
"You needed five hundred years to sort through your feelings." It was a statement and question mixed into one.
"Well, no. I intended to come back before the year was through, but I kept getting waylaid. People kept asking me for help, and then I got in trouble with the spirit of a volcano and spent the next seventy years trying to stay away from him."
"All right. That still doesn't explain why you didn't try to find some way to contact me."
"I was afraid. I was afraid of what I felt for you, and afraid of what might happen if we ever WERE together. I didn't want to hurt you more than I did just by leaving."
"So then you didn't know. . ."
"What didn't I know?"
"You didn't know. . . that I loved you. That by leaving, you were hurting me more than you possibly could otherwise."
For the first time in his life, Sky was totally speechless.
*~*
Wow. This chapter was fun to write, and is like two thousand words, which doesn't hold cotton to my first chapter I ever wrote, but is still a significant achievement. Thanks so much for reading!
If you don't have time to review, just tell me one of the following: Great, Good, Okay, Bad, or Go Jump Off A Cliff.