Chapter 26 : Wake Up
Narrator :
Chiriko chatted happily as the horses trotted along the dusty path, leading to his house. All the while, Nuriko had been feeling slightly uneasy. People stared at them as they went down the dusty road that led to Chiriko's house. They whispered among one another and gave the two travellers the cold shoulder.
Chiriko didn't seem to notice it. He was too caught up talking to himself to bother. Either that or he was simply ignoring the imbecile villagers.
Nuriko couldn't help but to regret volunteering to accompany the young seishi. Chiriko was sure talkative for a boy his age. Nuriko's eardrums were bursting from his high pitched childish voice.
Something was bugging Nuriko and he couldn't shake it off. It was like a premonition, that something bad had happened. And Nuriko was completely clueless as to what it was.
"And isn't it funny?" Chiriko asked looking at the purpled haired seishi mounted on the horse.
Nuriko was snapped out of his thoughts. "Uh, repeat?" Nuriko asked, confused.
'This feeling... I felt it before... When...?' Nuriko thought silently as he looked straight ahead at the path before him.
"The joke that my brother told me?!" Chiriko sighed, frustrated that Nuriko hadn't been listening to him.
"Uh... Sure, funny, haha..." Nuriko forced a fake laugh and a smiled although his eyes were filled with guilt and helplessness.
'This feeling... I felt it... The morning Kourin died!!!'
Narrator :
In Kutou :
Yui stared blankly at the grey clouds, wondering if she would ever see the clear blue sky again.
She allowed her thoughts to wonder about, trying to calm herself.
"Perfect day isn't it?" A deep soothing voice boomed from behind. Yui spun around.
Her gaze was fixed on the colourful costume, the ridiculous feathers that were attached to the golden crown and the horrible clown-like face.
"Tomo."
Her lovely blue eyes turned a cold blue as soon as she laid eyes on him.
"What do you want?" Yui spat out coldly.
Tomo cackled. "Miko-sama... You're not a good actress, are you?" Tomo approached Yui and tilted her chin up using his thumb and index finger so that she could see the tall man eye to eye.
Yui felt disgusted to be even close to a colourful maniac. She flinched in disgust. For a second, her cold blue eyes resumed the original blue hue. Except for it was filled with pain and terror.
Tomo smiled as he placed a hand on Yui's trembling shoulder. "You're scared of me, aren't you?"
Yui's cold blue eyes flashed fiercely. "What do you mean, you clown?! I have no reason to be scared of anyone!!!" She slapped Tomo's hand away.
"Tsk, tsk... Yui-sama, stop faking it. You're not a cold hearted person like Nakago. You'll never be... So why fake the cold act when you're just a timid little kid?" Tomo added with sarcasm in his voice.
Yui kicked him in the groin without hesitation. Surprisingly, her leg passed through him.
Damn, another stupid illusion.
Tomo let loose another evil cackle.
"Be careful... Things aren't always as they seem..." With a blink of an eye, he disappeared.
Yui folded her arms. Who did that clown think he was anyway?! What a pathetic excuse for a seishi!
But then again...
He was right, although Yui would never openly admit it. Tomo was right about her faking the cold facade. He was right about something too. Things aren't always what they appear to be...
Yui made a wild guess. Considering that she barely makes contact with him, he couldn't be referring to either of them... It could only mean...
Why of course, that clown did had a brain after all!!! Who else could he be referring to?
Motoki.
So, the pathetic clown had some information about the crazy sadist that he would like to share with her.
Yui made up her mind to find him later tonight.
Hikari :
I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the whole scenario again.
'When I close my eyes, the darkness haunts me. Yet, when I open them, the light completely overwhelms me... There simply is no escape from this terror...' I bit my bottom lip to prevent me from trembling.
Was I willing to be haunted by the darkness?
Or would I allow the light to continue to overwhelm me?
Wasn't there an in between?! I had no choice! I just had to... I had to...
I slowly opened my eyes just in time to see a certain red head about to leave the inn.
"Dame!" I cried out, trying to close the door so that she won't leave. So that I won't leave...
My hand simply passed through the door. I dropped to my knees, face buried in my hands. "Iie!!! This can't be happening... This is all a lie..."
All of a sudden, the whole scene before stopped, everyone freezing in their place. I looked around in confusion.
What the hell...
I watched, wide-eyed as everyone seemed to be moving backwards.
A man at a corner drinking sake was now spitting it out back into the bottle. A woman was walking backwards.
Then, the whole scene froze again. Now, everyone was working at a normal speed again.
My eyes followed a certain red head as she talked to a young plump brunette.
I walked towards them, eavesdropping on their conversation. A conversation that I knew too well.
"Well Hikari, since we're running low on supplies, we already sent some of the girls out to the market to buy the ingredients," Her eyes flashed with mischievousness. "Of course, to cut down cost, we can gather the wild sweet potato at the forest. And guess what? You're assigned to do that!!!"
The red head beside the brunette groaned loudly. "Why am I always stuck doing the dirty work? Hidoi..."
The brunette let out a loud cheerful laugh. "Just do as okaa-san says. We don't want to upset the village chief you know... He already paid us to prepare the grand dinner for him and his guests. Tonight is special. It's time for a celebration, it's the Star Gazing Festival after all..."
The red head nodded and smiled before she went into the kitchen to take a basket and left.
I simply sank onto my weak knees that were trembling. "This can't be happening!!! Please, let me change this whole thing!!! Please, don't repeat the same mistake, Hikari!!!" I cried out weakly as I tried leaning against a table for support.
Nuriko :
Restless and worried, I decided to push away my doubts and fears by striking a conversation with the now silent Chiriko.
"Uh, so Chiriko... You do know the way, don't you? Jozen City is pretty big..." My strained voice trailed off.
Chiriko stared blankly ahead before nodding. "Hai. Jozen City is one of the biggest cities in Konan. In fact, it's the second largest city. It's divided into three main parts. We have to pass through the busy city first followed by the towns. Unless we take a short cut. Which we are now... I simply can't be bothered to make one big turn just to get to my house. I rather pass through the villages," Chiriko paused before continuing.
"My house is somewhere near the villages and the towns. Some sort of in between the both of them... But it's closer to the village areas. Okaa-san used to say that the house was built there for a purpose. Nearer the village area means a much more quieter and slower paced life. It's pretty close to the town so that it's easy to do business. Otou-san was a merchant before he died. My aniki took over his business. I was born in the city, however. Okaa-san gave birth to me while she was on a business trip in the city..." Chiriko let out a laugh.
"I see..." I murmured.
"Say, Nuriko... Did you notice that, this path leading to the village near my house is strangely quiet?"
I nodded silently.
"Nuriko, abunai!!!" I jerked the horse's reins suddenly, surprising the poor horse. It neighed angrily as it reared on both its hind legs, trying to throw me off. I tried leaning forward and grabbing its neck to hang on but failed, causing me to be thrown off it and landing on my back. The horse trampled its feet before running away in fright.
I groaned as I tried to sit up. Chiriko rushed to my side. "Daijoubu?!"
"I think I broke my back... Itai..." I complained as I laid on the ground, my whole body completely sore.
"Try to sit up!"
"I'm trying!!! My back hurts here, hello?!" I shrieked back at Chiriko.
Chiriko crossed his arms angrily. "Well, you should have been careful! I'm just trying to help!!!"
"Yeah right," I replied with sarcasm as I rolled my eyes. "If you didn't screamed all of a sudden, none of this would have happened!!!"
"You were going to run over a frog!!!" Chiriko looked as if he would cry.
I sighed. "Don't cry okay?" I let out another sigh of frustration. A loud croaking sound caught out attention. Just then, a large slimy frog jumped and landed on my abdomen.
Chiriko yelped in fright as he backed away in fear. "A... A.... "He pointed at the large frog.
Chiriko let out a scream and ran away when the frog let out another loud croak.
"Baka!!! Don't leave me all alone here!!!" I cried away as I watched the small retreating figure.
Of all the damn rotten luck...
I laid there, sprawled on my back and closed my eyes. The pain was beginning to fade. Another advantage of becoming a seishi. You heal fast. Faster than the average human, anyway. It was either that or I didn't broke my back like I thought it had...
I slowly forced myself to sit up. The frog jumped away. "Itai..." I rubbed my aching back.
A sudden high pitched scream filled the air, slicing the silence like a sharp razor knife.
CHIRIKO!!!
Narrator :
Motoki sat there, on her chair, silently watching the events happening in her crystal ball. She licked her dry lips. She so badly wanted to feed... To taste the thick rich blood of a pure mortal again... To feel the blood dribbling down her chin, give a deep red colour to her now pale lips, due to lack of feeding.
She was so, so hungry.
A certain someone's blood would be nice...
Chichiri :
I forced my good eye to open. I immediately shut it close when bright light filled it. Slowly, I tried opening my eye. It took me several minutes for my dull senses to get used to my surroundings.
I stared at the ceiling above me. My whole body felt sore. I could feel my skin rubbing against the smooth blankets.
What the hell?!
I peeked beneath the blanket. I let out a sigh of relieve. What the hell was I thinking?! How can I think of such a stupid thing as to sleep in nude?!
I shook my head, chiding myself. It was then, that I noticed that there were loud familiar snores coming from beside me.
I turned and saw a lethargic red-head sitting on a chair, snoring away peacefully. The thought of him taking care of me for the whole entire night brought a smile to my lips.
Throwing the covers off me, I sat up. I felt something tugging my hand. I looked down and saw a tanned hand had gripped my hand firmly, stubbornly never letting me go.
I looked at Tasuki and the extra blanket on the floor. I bend down from my sitting position and tried reaching for the blanket. Finally, after grabbing it, I threw it over Tasuki's sleeping form.
'Must have slide off the sleeping fool,' I laughed silently to myself.
I realised that my shoulder was no longer injured. Placing a hand on my smooth skin, the previous events ran through my mind.
Only one person could heal me.
Mitsukake.
So, Mitsukake had returned and healed me. What about Hikari? Did he managed to heal her too?
My eyes scanned the room before finally noticing that there was another person laying on an extra bed beside Tasuki.
Hikari.
I could see her chest heaving up and down, hear her shallow and quick panting.
Was she alright after the incident?
I got up from my bed and walked towards her. She seemed to be perfectly alright to an unobservant person. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that both her hands were bandaged. Her ki level was extremely low that I could barely sense her presence.
But, since Tasuki was holding her hand as well, I assumed that she was fine and safe. I heaved a sigh of relief. Now, it wouldn't hurt to sleep for a little while longer, would it?
I yawned and stretched my sore arm. Laying down on the soft bed, I pulled up my blankets and drifted off to sleep.
Tamahome :
"Onii-chan, is Miaka one-chan going to be alright?" little Yurien whispered softly as she tugged on my sleeve.
I looked down at my little sister and smiled. Placing a finger on my lips, I bent down and whispered into her ear, "Miaka onee-chan is going to be alright. Just keep quiet okay? Where are the others?"
Yurien placed a finger on her chin as she tried recalling where her other older siblings had gone to.
"Oh!" She exclaimed suddenly.
"Ssshhh!!!"
Yurien blushed as she apologized. "Anou... They went to explore this big house. Hotohori-san brought them around. I wanted to see Miaka onee-chan," explained Yurien, her voice barely audible.
Strangely, all my younger siblings could barely recall the incident. I had lied to them in the morning that otou-san and Chuuei were still back home at the village. I was actually relieved that none of them could remember the incident. It just meant that I now had less problems.
I gently picked her up and placed her on my lap. Patting her head with one hand, another hand shot out, stroking Miaka gently, brushing aside the long fringes that covered her face.
Miaka.
What happened?
Why did you suddenly wanted to break up? Why? Where had I gone wrong? Did I hurt you?
It couldn't be... You forgave me about the Kutou incident and I never insulted you before. So, where did I go wrong and hurt you? Why? Was my proposal too sudden? I thought that you badly wanted, needed me, just as I need you. Why? Have you found another man?
A large tear slid down my cheek.
A chubby hand clumsily tried wiping away my tears as they began to flow down freely.
"Onegai... 'Nii-chan, don't cry. Miaka one-chan is going to be fine," The soft sweet voice said reassuringly.
I sniffled and tried to stop my tears from flowing. "Right. Miaka is going to be alright..."
Author's notes :
Okay, this update took a really long time... Reason for this... I was re- editting some chapters. I managed to fully re-edit four chapters. I will edit more.
Okay, I was a little unhappy with this chapter. You see, I'm not in the right state of mind currently. I've been thinking of my exams. I'm sorry if this chapter stink or if the scenes in this chapter don't seem to match your standards. I just had to get this chapter out of my mind before I can fully concentrate for my mid-year examinations. So in a hurry, this chapter was created and I don't really like certain parts.
Next, I don't ride horses. So I'm sorry if Nuriko's horse got scared when he pulled the reins suddenly.
Stop complaining, we're going to see more of Hikari's past. Just relax.
And finally, for the millionth time, I do not own Fushigi Yuugi.
List of Japanese words :
Onee-chan – Big sister