CHAPTER 4: REVELATIONS
Shimara was combing her hair when Sanzo and Gojyo entered the inn, dragging someone with them -probably the culprit. Sanzo looked worse than pissed off, and even Gojyo looked dark.
"Yo, Hakkai, Shimara, we got company," Gojyo called out as he dumped the captive onto one of the chairs. From where she was standing, she couldn't see the culprit clearly.
Shimara frowned -the captive looked oddly familiar, no, way too familiar- but she didn't want to press her luck. She approached them warily, and when she could see the culprit clearly enough, the comb slipped from her fingers and dropped to the ground with a loud, resonating thud.
Surprised at her reaction, Sanzo and Gojyo looked at her questioningly. Hakkai came down from Goku's room to the inn lobby, wondering what the fuss was all about when he saw a frozen Shimara, a dropped comb and finally, the astounded captive.
"Shi Mou Rou?" He said, shock colored his tone.
That seemed to snap Shimara from whatever trance she was in. Taken aback, Shimara whirled to face them.
"Wait, you guys know her?" She asked, obviously confused.
They gave her a strange look. It was Gojyo who finally answered, "Of course we know who she is! She tried to poison Sanzo, but Goku was in the way, so it was Goku who took the poison instead of him."
Shimara was totally bewildered. "You mean, this isn't her first time of her assault on you guys? This isn't the first time Goku got poisoned by her?"
"You got that right," Gojyo replied, casting a weird look at her.
"Wait, Shimara," Hakkai intervened, confused by the whole situation. "You know her as well?"
A shadow crossed over Shimara's features, a shadow they all knew too well. From her look, they could have easily guessed that Shi Mou Rou was related to Shimara's past.
"How can I not?" She replied evenly, far too evenly. "She was my best friend."
"Nani?" They all gasped, even Shi Mou Rou gaped at her. "Excuse me?"
Shimara nodded wearily. "Yes. Shi Mou Rou was my best friend in my younger years. We were so close and inseparable that many people mistook us for sisters."
A brief silence, then Hakkai spoke up, "What happened, then?"
Shimara raised her sorrowful blue eyes to stare at them, then her gaze fixed on the woman in front of her. Shi Mou Rou felt defenseless with the look she was getting. She felt something stir in her, but she couldn't understand why… she didn't even know who this girl was.
"Remember the story I told you about? About my parents?" Shimara continued, her voice soft with hidden emotions.
They all nodded. Shimara had told them the story-- A gang of youkais had killed her parents brutally when she was just a mere five-year-old. She was there to witness the youkais left her dying parents lying in a pool of blood in their wake. She was there to hear her parents say their last words, urging her to be strong no matter what happened, and that they loved her with all their heart. She was there to witness her parents exhaled their last breath, and watched them slowly stiffened. The whole event was a nightmare to her, even now.
Gojyo looked horrified. "Don't tell me she masterminded that attack?!"
Shi Mou Rou's eyes widened as events started to play in her mind. There she saw a grave, and then looked slowly to her side, at a young girl with Shimara's features who held her mouth in mourning… She tried comforting her, but the vision ended there. Then, the next scene were all shots of people she never knew, who she didn't even think she met any time in her life… and yet, they were all smiling at her, as if they had shared so much; as if they had gone through so much... Shi Mou Rou shook her head. It was like a sealed box in her mind had opened- without her consent. She fought back by shutting her eyes. She shot her gaze back at the woman once more. The woman who she recognized in her vision, mourning by her side.
There was a strained laugh from Shimara's constricted throat. She didn't even notice Shi Mou Rou's reaction, "No. She wasn't the kind of person to kill someone that involved blood. And she was there with me when I mourned on my parents' graves. She was there to give me moral support and slowly shook me out from my world of grief. She was there when I needed her! Just as I was there for her when her father died of being poisoned."
Shimara's last few words triggered something in Shi Mou Rou's memory, she saw once more, shots of someone she often saw, someone she by then realized was no one else but her father. Her heart ached, as her head did. She didn't understand why all this was happening. She wanted to know more; she wanted to know if it was all true… could it really have been that she actually had a friend? She wanted to hear all the answers, she longed so much for them. But deep inside her, she rejected it. Maybe she had been mistaken for someone else.
Shimara inhaled deeply. "Someone pitied my situation back there and adopted me. He was not that old, but he was kind, like my father. I trusted him, and even loved and respected him like one. He knew all about Shi Mou Rou as well, including the death of her father. But then...."
Her eyes bored into Shi Mou Rou's. "One day, I was training in the backyard of Shugo's house, well, that's his name... while waiting for him to return home but he was late. He was never that late. And then I got this feeling that something wrong had happened to him -it was the same feeling that told me that Goku was in danger just now- so I ran, following my instincts and I found him, lying behind a bush in a pool of blood,"
A long pause. Shi Mou Rou looked up, despite the confusion that was driving her insane right there. She tried her best to show that she wasn't affected by Shimara's story, and so she grinned once more and broke the silence, "That's too bad… But what are you trying to say? That I killed him? Sorry, but I don't remember anything at all… I don't know who he is, and frankly, I think you got me confused with someone else!!!"
So fast they barely flinched, Shimara launched herself at Shi Mou Rou, lifted her up from the chair in a strong chokehold and slammed her up onto the nearby wall.
Shimara snarled. "No, I don't think so. The last few words I heard from him is your name, Shi! He said that you killed your own father, and you had already left for somewhere very far. Maybe he knew a little too much about that little secret of yours, so maybe the person whom you were leaving with sent some ugly bastards to kill him. Don't you remember that, Shi Mou Rou? ...or should I say… Kisami?"
Shi Mou Rou's eyes widened as she desperately tried to pry off Shimara's grip from around her neck. "I don't remember! I swear as hell I don't remember anything! I don't remember anything about you, or anything about you being my ex best friend! If you really have to know… the reason why I'm even working with Kougaiji is to get my memories back! I don't know if what you're saying is true, and I don't know if I really am who you say I am… but if you really want to prove it all, I suggest that you try not to kill me first!!!" At the back of her mind, she was desperately trying to fight off the images once more. And at the sound of that name, her mind was going out of control. She was slowly losing breath as Shimara's grip tightened. She knew she wanted to die, to end it once and for all… but at the bottom of her soul she knew that Shimara was her key… her key to her past. She couldn't die now!
"Liar!" Shimara spat.
"Honest!" Shi Mou Rou said, her voice laden with fear. Dark spots swam in her vision and her head throbbed with the lack of oxygen circulating in her brain.
"I think she's telling the truth, Shimara," Hakkai said softly. "Maybe you should let her go before she passes out. I'm sorry about what happened… and I know Shi Mou Rou looks very familiar to you… but right now, you can't really prove it. Right now, you're not sure if you're confronting the right person or not."
Shimara snarled, then reluctantly released her grip on Shi Mou Rou's throat. Shi Mou Rou dropped to the ground weakly, gasping for breath. Deep inside her heart, she was grateful to Hakkai for saving her life from this mad woman.
Shimara was breathing hard and fast, fighting to rein her rage and grief within the deepest corner of her heart. This was so not the time to be angry, not when Goku was still unconscious.
She heard Shi Mou Rou gasping for breath behind her, and coughing to clear the tightness of her throat. Shimara's gaze darkened, her eyes narrowing with too many emotions to count.
Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo waited patiently for her to calm down, and when she finally did, the ultimate danger was over.
"I guess you are right, Hakkai," She said softly, her voice strangely calm. She glanced at Shi Mou Rou, who had recovered and was now staring back at her with confused eyes. "Shi Mou Rou is not Kisami. At least, she is not the Kisami I know. Both of them are different, even though they have the same appearance. Anyway, I'll overlook the matter for now, since there is more important thing to attend to."
Another silence, then Sanzo snorted, "Humph! About damn time! Thought you have forgotten all about it!"
Shimara grinned as she strode over to her male companions, and from the grin, they knew Shimara was back to normal.
Meanwhile, Shi Mou Rou sat dumbfounded on the floor, her mind and body numb. Although she was aware that the ropes that had bound her limbs had slackened, she couldn't quite bring her body to move; to escape. Her so-called enemies were talking about something but her senses were too muddled to make out exactly what are they saying. Her world now revolved around the names: Shimara, Kisami and Shugo. The names sounded alien to her, and yet a tiny part of her did admit that the names were somewhat related to her.
Her head ached; as it often did whenever she tried to remember the things she had long forgotten. She pushed the pain aside, and with a new surge of determination she forced her brain to recover any memories that were related to the names, or Shimara's story. They refused to come out, and her head hurt even more.
Then, like a sudden volcanic eruption, dozens of images flooded her mind. They came in such a quick succession that she barely had time to take them all in. All she could see was a laughing and smiling young Shimara, her grinning dad waving at her, and hearing their laughter and shouts of joy. Then those images faded away. Darker images now took their place, and as quick as they were, Shi Mou Rou could see her friend weeping hysterically beside a grave, her dad coughing out blood, then herself kneeling mourning beside her father's grave, images of Kougaiji approaching her, then another young man -Shugo? - asked her where she was going. The images dissolved into splashes of blood and screams of agony, and the voice of someone calling out her name.
Shi Mou Rou clutched her head in absolute agony, moaning in pain as more of the visions assaulted her already-distorted mind. Through the torrents of ruthless flashbacks, the voice called her name again, adding to the pain she was experiencing.
"Leave me alone!" She screamed, backing away from the reach of the person. She curled tighter into herself, trying to keep her past as far as possible, while wishing everyone and everything in the world to leave her alone.
But that annoying person did not understand. Hands gripped her shoulders with a painfully strong vice, and shook her really hard.
"Oy, Shi!" The voice shouted, successfully penetrating through the haze in her mind. "You gotta snap out of it now! I mean it! Snap out of it. Now!"
Slowly the images faded away, and she forced her eyes open to the painfully bright surroundings. Her head throbbed, and her surroundings spun crazily. She blinked, trying to focus on the figure in front of her. Concerned, worried and questioning azure blue eyes filled her vision, belonging to the one person she now recognized.
"Shimara?" She murmured, gazing up into the clear pools of blue ocean and felt herself drowning in them, but the waiting darkness surged from its hiding place and consumed her vision hungrily. She remembered falling and falling, into someone, then everything went peacefully, blissfully black.
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"How is she?" Hakkai asked as soon as he saw Shimara trudging wearily down the stairs.
Shimara shrugged; her expression unreadable. "She'll be fine, I'll guess."
"Now what the hell had just happened?" Gojyo demanded. "First, Goku passed out from Gods-who-know-what reason. Now this. And we are taking care of our enemy. What the world is coming to?"
Shimara shot him a glare. "And what are you getting at? Shi Mou Rou's not our enemy. Not yet anyway. Until we have found out the reason why she works for Kougaiji."
"There's no need to find out why," Sanzo said coldly. "She's our enemy. Period. Anyone who works with Kou and the bunch of fighting gods, or who attempts to steal the sutra from me is defined as enemy. Full stop."
"And she tries to poison one of us," Hakkai pointed out reasonably. "Not once, but twice. That makes her our enemy as well."
Shimara stiffened, her eyes narrowing. For a moment, they glinted darkly, then it was gone; disappeared under the mask.
"Okay, fine, whatever," Shimara said, "But let me just make this clear. Shi Mou is our enemy, true, I can't deny that, but Kisami isn't."
There was a brief, tense silence.
"Agreed," Sanzo said, staring at her with his piercing amethyst eyes, which were unreadable as well. Shimara met his gaze without flinching.
"Okay, enough for the staring competition," Gojyo announced, clapping his hands together. "Let's get back to business. Now that Shi is out cold, she can't tell her to tell us what's in the drink, and since one of us here had analyzed the potion when me and Blondie went off to capture the culprit in the rain, I would like to invite her to share with us the results."
Shimara cast an amused look at Gojyo, "There's no need to make it sound like a game show, Gojyo."
"Ch," Sanzo said irritably, clearly at the end of his patience, "Just get on with it."
Shimara cleared her throat. ""Okay, fine, I'll make it quick alright? Geez, now I remember that someone among us here needs a beauty sleep, or he'll go dangerously cranky without it."
Gojyo burst out laughing at this. Even Hakkai flashed a broad grin. Sanzo seethed, "Temee...! Kono-baka!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Shimara protested, holding her hands up in front of her as if to ward Sanzo's anger off. "I don't specifically say who, so that person doesn't have to be you, Sanzo. It can be Hakkai, Gojyo or me."
Gojyo laughed. "She's right, Sanzo." Then he frowned, "Now why do I need a beauty sleep?"
"You said you'll make it quick," Sanzo said through gritted teeth, "but all I can see is you delaying it!"
"Okay, fine!" Shimara said, annoyance creeping in her voice. Sanzo really doesn't know how to joke. "This is the Cliff Notes version of what I had analyzed from the drink earlier on. That potion in the drink is very concentrated, and it is called -I forgot its name- anyway, if Goku drank all of the coffee, he will suffer from TOTAL memory loss. Since he drank only a little -ehem, thanks to me- he will only suffer from amnesia. So in this period, it's probable that he may not be able to remember our identity- or even his own."
"This is bad," Hakkai murmured as he began to realize something. "could there be any other side effects of that potion?"
Shimara shrugged, "Perhaps. There's a possibility he may start to hallucinate every now and then... we don't really know for now."
"Is there an antidote for it?" Sanzo asked.
Shimara nodded. "Should be. I don't know if Shi has created the antidote or not, but if she hasn't, she better do it quick, because if we are to leave Goku to recover on his own, there are chances that he will not remember us at all. Same thing if we are to leave him like that for too long."
"How can that be?" Gojyo asked, a little horrified.
It was Hakkai who answered. "Most potions are like that. Antidotes and cures need to be created quickly to avoid complications. In worst cases, such complications can lead to insanity and death."
Gojyo shuddered. "Let's hope that's not the case with our saru."
Sanzo stood up. "Let's," he said darkly, then turned away from them and walked up the stairs to his own room, leaving his friends in a daze.
Author's note: Thanks to those who reviewed the fic! Rachel and I are still working on the following chapters, but hopefully, we'll be posting them up really soon! We hope you liked the story so far!