Title: 50 Years Before Us
Rating: 12 1/2 (hehehe...)
Disclamier: If I owned them, I wouldn't bother writing this fics! I'd be purchasing my own private island resort instead! DUH!
Warning: DARK TOURNAMENT SPOILERS! It feels stupid putting this up in the middle of this fic, but I don't wanna hear any complaitents from anyone later, 'kay?
Author's Notes: Why did I write this? Merely because Shishi deserves some attention! This is his 15 minutes (or however long it take you read this) of fame! And this will be a continuing story. Please R&R!
Chapter Two - The Cherry Blossoms and the Sunset
Shishiwakamaru glared up at his secret love, his heart threating to rip from his chest. Her face was wrinkled and grayed by time. Her hands were more leather than velvet. Her hair was a shade of lost pink. But it was her. Genkai the psychic. Genkai the one and only. There was no one else as beautiful as her. Even aged, she had the same radiant pride pouring out from her.
Her wings were spread and she was still soaring, unwavered by the time. Her inner spirit was timeless. Even after her human husk was rotten and was buried, Shishi knew that that spirit would continue to fly, never falling into the dirt like a horrid snake or snail. That sense of strenght that enraptured her sunk into Shishi's soul, getting him drunk on unreasonable madness. Everything about her was so free, that she made Shishi feel chained to the earth. He felt caged... and oh-so-weak.
If he were to touch her, his insignificant beauty would poison her gentle brilliance. He felt like just a speck of dust when she set her eyes on him. His importance was questioned whenever she swept into the room. Genkai made him feel like the lowly demon he was and would always be.
If there was a chance of humanity... If he could shed the repulsive skin he had been born into, would he finally be able to be her equal? Probably not. No demon or human could ever equal her. She was independance incarnate.
The low growl from his object of admiration brought Shishi back to his senses.
"You invaded my home to cook some freakin' breakfast that resembles the dirt on my shoes," she observed, her voice cracking like a whip upon her admirer's back.
But Shishi took the blows silently. He had nothing to say to her, and yet the words he needed to say were trying to force themselves up his throat.
"Moron," hissed Genkai, turning from the window to go inside. Shishi paused as he heard her sit down at the table and begin to try the food he had set out.
Confused, he wandered over to a nearby tree and fell on to the ground, snoring...
It was amazing how well the burritos and noodles mixed. And the coke went pretty well with all, or at least that was Genkai's opinion. She wasn't entirely sure where the moron had ran off to, but she was sure that he hadn't left the grounds.
After she had finished off the meal, she grabbed the second coke, along with her own soda pop, and strutted out of the kitchen, then out of her home. She found Shishiwakamaru outside, under the cherry tree, the blossums falling around him like snowflakes. He was asleep, sitting down, his back leaning against the trunk for support. He even looked somewhat innocent as he laid under the branches.
Genkai poked Shishi's nose. Shishi responded in scratching his nose in his sleep and mumbling something about a "stupid fly..." If this had been before the tournament, he would have awoken before she had even approached him. But he seemed at peace with the world around him.
"Oh, what the hell," sighed Genkai, turning on her heel. It'd take all her energy... She'd be dry for weeks after... She wasn't as strong as she was when she had her Orb... But what the heck. It'd be stress-relieving.
She walked back to the old temple and went straight to her room. It was around four o'clock. In a bronzen trunk in the dusty far corner, she recovered a blue, floral print yukata 1. White lilies traced up and down the fabric, like paper cranes in a child's pond. A pair of woven sandals accompanied the yukata. In her jewerly box, hidden in the top drawer of her dresser, there was a pair of diamond earrings that shimmered in the fading light. The diamonds were cut in the shape of teardrops, but they were the most uplifting thing she had ever seen.
She lightly placed these things upon her futon, which was rarely in use as she enjoyed sleeping in the pratice hall. Grabbing a soft towel, she padded her way out to the bathhouse. She started the bath and warmed the water. Ideas flooded her brain while she waited patiently. When the bath was ready, she discarded her clothes and dipped her weary body into the warm water.
She scrubbed her skin clean, she scrubbed her hair clean. She washed her wrinkled face, she washed her calloused hands. Then she began.
First she summounded her energy. All her energy... Every last drop of power she managed to save. Then she distributed it back into her body, instead of her soul. It mingled with the flesh, pouring into the limbs, purifing the fighter. Her hair glowed bright, her fingertips glowed bright, her toes glowed bright, and for a rare moment, her eyes glowed as well.
Like a timeless work of art, a familiar face gazed up out of the water's reflection. Fifty years ago she had looked like this - clean and young and pure. Like the water lily in the creek, she floated in the bath, the water caressing her new human husk...
After some time, she covered herself in the towel, picked up her clothes, and walked out of the bathhouse. Shishiwakamaru was still alseep under the cherry tree. Genkai paused and took in the beauty of the slumbering demon. A part of her forgotten side felt relieved to have some one near her today.
The sun was setting behind her and the sky was ablaze in a deep crinsom fire. The golden rays were streaming past her, setting the sleeping figure in a rich fire. The day's last light kissed his face, his nose, his eyes, his cheeks, his ears, his hands, his feet.
Genkai felt a lump rise in throat. She felt nervous, but she didn't understand why. It wasn't like she had any feelings for him. No, this was just the start of well-played game of hers. She'd showed him what it meant to play the fool.
"Huh?" whispered the demon, raising his head to catch Genkai's steady gaze. His violet eyes were glazed from the slumber as he stared at the beauty, who wore nothing but a short towel.
"Wha-?" gasped Genkai, Shishi catching her off guard. Caught up in the moment, Genkai let go of the towel, revealing it all to Shishiwakamaru. The golden rays poured past her, coating her silken, pearl flesh in a warm glow. The flaming sky behind her blazed past her. Every missed drop of water on her body gleamed with minature rainbows. She was covered in a golden aura.
"Genkai...you're...again..."
Shishi smiled at the entranced women and then nodded back off. Once he was back alseep, Genkai recovered herself, scrambling for her towel. Blushing despite herself, she rushed back inside.
Once in the sanctuary of her own room, she flung the towel into a corner and began to get dressed into the blue yukata. The fabric felt so soft on her youthful skin. This body would only last until morning. But that'd be all the time she'd need.
Peering in an oval mirror, she took out her precious, ivory hairbrush and began going through her thick, bright pink hair. The locks tumbled down her shoulders, being swayed slightly in the breeze from her window. Her large, questioning eyes studied her face. She then slipped into her sandals and put on her diamond earrings.
"Perfect..."
She was dressing, he knew it. Her could see her sillouhette against the window, adorning herself with beautiful things that matched her soul.
Shishi wasn't completely sure, but he was pretty sure that he had seen her younger self. At some point he had woken up and had seen her... younger and prettier that ever before. She had been clothed in layers of heavenly light.
"Oh no!" gasped Shishi, thinking back at the sight of her appearnce. "Maybe..."
Had she died while he slept? Was that her ghost he had seen? Was she an angel now in the "Great Beyond?" Had she...?
"Oh, man, I really am losing it..."
He shook his head, thinking to shake such thoughts lose. Apparently, it had just been a dream... A sweet, sweet dream...
"Uh, Shishiwakamaru-san2?" came a much younger, much softer voice.
Shishi looked over to entrance of the temple where the younger Genkai stood in her blue yukata with her diamond earrings sparkling like stardust.
"Uh, yeah? What?" Shishi mumbled, unable to keep himself from staring.
Genkai dipped a foot off the deck and gracefully swaggered over to the demon.
"I want a dance, Shishiwaka-whatever," the girl snapped.
Shishi half-grinned to himself, not even caring about his mutilated name. He carried himself of the ground and brushed the dust off his pants. Swiping a handful of cherry blossums off the ground, he poured the flowery rainfall over Genkai's head.
"Okay, if I must..."
TBC...
1 A Japanese summer kimono
2 A honorific, meaning Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss, ect.
A/N's: Please, please review! I want to hear what ya think! Okay! Okay! Good! Thanks for reading!