A/N: Well minna, it's been a while, has it not? I haven't been writing
much, due to my frantic searching lately for mp3 files on the internet.
Don't worry all staunch legal fans, since I do buy the CD! But I am
currently and desperately attempting to find 'Mugen no Kaze', a song from
another of Yu Watase's works, Ayashi no Ceres. So if anyone happens to
know where I can get it, could ya tell me, please? Also if anyone knows
some good mp3 rotation sites, I'd be thankful!
Yume no Fue
Chapter 5-Mezame
By Futatsu no Kodou
Rekki stirred, blinking sleep from her eyes. She was so tired, and. . . warm. Instinctively, she snuggled against the warmth behind her, trying to go back to sleep. Her head hurt, throbbing. Wait. . . did that mean? She couldn't remember. . . she had run away from the drunken man and then. . . she didn't remember. Rekki tried to sit up, and found herself restricted somehow, which made her struggle all the more in welling panic.
"Rekki, calm down, onegai? It's me, Kai-Ka, remember?" Rekki opened her golden-brown eyes and looked around, ceasing to struggle and trying to find out where that comforting voice was coming from. She was moving; she could see the dusty brown head of her horse in front of her, bobbing up and down. Dawn was just reaching her rosy fingers over the horizon, bathing the expansive desert in a faint light.
"Are you alright?" Rekki looked up, meeting Kai-Ka's gaze. It was so calming, comforting, so concerned and. . . Rekki stopped herself right there, hoping fervently that she wasn't blushing. She struggled for some words to say. It had seemed so easy before, just to say something to him, but now her throat was dry, raspy, and she couldn't form the three small words. For now she was content to just look at him. She nodded a little, bobbing her head up and down.
Finally she realized what had been constricting her movements before. Kai-Ka's, no, Amiboshi's shirt was wrapped snuggly around her, and she was in the front of the saddle, cuddled against his chest! He only had a thin cotton shirt on, since he had given her his. It got so cold in the Sairou nights. She knew she was blushing now. /Why do I have to blush so much?/ She wondered.
"Um. . . aren't you. . . weren't you cold?" Rekki stuttered, slowly sitting up away from his chest, even though it was a rather comfortable position. Amiboshi, she resolved to call him by that name in her head from now on, looked at her, guiding the horse with his arms rather close to her waist, to use the reins correctly. /K'so! Why am I thinking all this nonsense!/ Rekki had never been prone to thoughts like this. Ramblings, daydreaming, and musings were all good and well, but this was nothing to be sighing over now!
"Well, I'm fine. You kept shivering, so it was no problem." Amiboshi said, smiling softly. /Such handsome blue eyes. . ./ Rekki blinked and tried to remember what had transpired earlier. When was earlier anyway? Amiboshi must have saved her from the man, and for that she was so grateful.
"Ami. . . Amiboshi?" It seemed that he winced faintly when she said his name. "What happened? How long was I. . . um. . . asleep?" Rekki asked tentatively. It was hard to imagine that the gentle person had been so harsh with her before.
"Well, you've been out for almost two days now." Rekki blinked, and Amiboshi repeated himself. /Two days?/ Rekki counted it out in her head. Which meant that she had slept like that, or was she unconscious, for two entire days? It was a boggling thought. She blinked and twisted around on the horse to look at Amiboshi. He looked back at her, blinking.
"Is something the matter?" He asked, blinking again. His blonde- brown hair flopped over his left eye so adorably that Rekki wanted to play with it. She mentally chastised herself for that thought and tried to collect herself once more, her heart pounding painfully in her breast.
"So. . . where are we exactly?" The young woman asked tentatively. She had not forgotten the harsh words he had said to her days before, and she never wanted him to use that tone with her again. It sort of reminded her of the way her father spoke to her when he was in one of his drunken fits. He'd taken to drinking after her mother had died in the Kutou attack. She remembered how Amiboshi had tried to comfort her when she cried after her mother's death, and told her that everything would be fine. She hadn't cried since.
"We're almost in Hokkan now actually. I'll be letting you off in the next village with the horse. You can make your way back to the village then." Rekki sat in silence, her back aching from staying twisted around like it was to watch Amiboshi. There it was again, that harsh, demanding tone. It confused her. Amiboshi, Kai-Ka, wasn't like that at all. But for just a moment, and it was probably just a side effect of the desert sun, but Rekki could have sworn she saw another person in Amiboshi's eyes. They looked normal when she did a double-take.
"Fine. . . I'll go back. . . but you have to promise me something." Rekki said slowly, concentrating on making sure her voice did not betray the inner turmoil her heart and soul were embroiled in. She tugged fitfully on her braid. Amiboshi paused, waiting for her to continue.
"You have to promise that you'll come back, to the village. When all of this is done, and you finish with this business, you have to come home." /Come home to me. Come home with Me./ Amiboshi looked at her, a scrutinizing look. Rekki looked right back, her usual stoic attitude returning. Deep blue eyes returned the look of golden brown before Amiboshi blinked and mustered a faint little smile.
"I can't promise you that, Rekki. I honestly can't. If you only knew what I needed to do, you'd understand. But I will promise to try." Rekki felt an intense weight on her heart lift somewhat. He would try, at least. She wanted, craved to ask him what his business was, but she knew he would only shake his head and stay silent. So, Hashira Rekki did the most daring thing she had ever done in her life. Turning back around again she resumed the comfortable position against Amiboshi's chest and fell back asleep, with nary a blush.
Amiboshi settled in to the rocking motion of the gangly horse as it walked along the well-traveled road. Hokkan would be reached soon, for that he was glad. Suboshi kept speaking to him of the danger that waited there, and he knew it as well. Every now and then he thought he could sense something that might have been the energy of a priestess. Yet, it wasn't his priestess, or really, Seiryu's priestess. It was someone else's, which of course was impossible since all the priestess had appeared already. His mind was playing tricks on him.
Rekki stirred against his chest and wriggled about, trying to get comfortable. She's insisted on giving his outer shirt back and every now and then she shivered in the cold dawn air. It would warm up again soon, but not that much. Already he knew it was different. The noon sun was never as merciful in Sairou as it was now. Hokkan was a cold country, and he could tell, it was much nippier at night and almost cool in the afternoons.
"Kai-Ka?" Amiboshi looked down instinctively. Rekki was mumbling in her sleep again, her golden brown hair spilling out around her shoulders. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked with the new sun spilling a rosy color over everything, highlighting the soft curve of her cheeks, her closed eyes.
With a start, Amiboshi realized he was getting lost in thought again. He didn't need to be thinking about Hanashi Rekki right now. He had to focus on what he might encounter when he reached Hokkan. /Aniki? Can you feel it? / Suboshi separated, and Amiboshi shivered. It always felt peculiar. Like someone was peeling off a second skin. It didn't hurt, but it felt . . . funny. And it felt better when the merge of souls occurred, he felt himself again.
"Suboshi. . . what is it?" He asked. He couldn't physically see anything. He felt that peculiar presence again. It was his priestess, and it was not. /that is Yui-sama. Aniki. / Amiboshi was sorely confused, mostly in part to the fact that Rekki was doing only what he could name as . . . nuzzling . . . against his chest, and it felt very good. Snap out of it, Amiboshi! He snapped at himself. It's not like you love her or anything!
"How is that her, Suboshi? We could feel her Seiryu chi if it was!" He protested, knowing anything else would defy reason. /She's Genbu's priestess now. She isn't our priestess anymore. / That was just confusing. Amiboshi shook his head. He needed to think about something else. Rekki was waking up finally, reminding Amiboshi that he hadn't slept in a few days time. Four days actually.
She stirred and sat up, stretching. The first time she had woken up she had seemed quite embarrassed by her perch on the saddle in front of him, but she no longer blushed and got all flustered when she woke up, which was good he supposed. She had also seemed very uncomfortable with his arms around her waist, but that couldn't exactly be helped, since he had to use the reins.
"Kai . . . I mean, Amiboshi?" He looked at her. She was twisted around in the saddle so that she could speak to his face. "Where are we?" He had to mentally remind himself not to be gentle with her as he'd like to. Otherwise she might end up following him into danger.
"We're almost to where I need to be, so I'll be dropping you off at the next village." He reminded her that he was going to abandon her, though it pained him to be so cruel. He could read the hurt on her face, and she turned away from him and looked pointedly straight, her shoulders rigid and her back straight. She was hurt, he hurt her.
Trying not to think on that, Amiboshi was silent for the rest of the day until a village came into view on the horizon, situated on a vast plain. Grass and sky spread out for miles, abruptly coming into view and Rekki forgot she was made at him. She gasped and smiled.
"It's beautiful . . ." She said in awe. Amiboshi stopped himself from nodding and spurred the horse down into the valley. On the outskirts of the village, just out of earshot of the people there, he paused. Night was approaching and twilight began to spread. Then, suddenly, he felt it. /There, Aniki! It's her!/ He felt a surge of power, it had to be Yui, and more seishi powers flaring. It was . . . the Suzaku seishi? Without another thought, Amiboshi sprung from the horse's back.
"Amiboshi! Where are you going!" Rekki cried out, sliding off the horse after him and making to follow. He turned around.
"Stay here, Rekki. If I don't come back soon, go back to the village, and tell . . . my parents, that I'll see them someday. Good-bye, Rekki." He said, before turning and pelting off in the direction an immense evil was radiating from.
"AMIBOSHI!" She called after him, but he only sped faster into the encroaching night, leaving her cries far behind and a great evil much closer.
A/N: Ahem . . . the end.
Mezame - Awakening
Yume no Fue
Chapter 5-Mezame
By Futatsu no Kodou
Rekki stirred, blinking sleep from her eyes. She was so tired, and. . . warm. Instinctively, she snuggled against the warmth behind her, trying to go back to sleep. Her head hurt, throbbing. Wait. . . did that mean? She couldn't remember. . . she had run away from the drunken man and then. . . she didn't remember. Rekki tried to sit up, and found herself restricted somehow, which made her struggle all the more in welling panic.
"Rekki, calm down, onegai? It's me, Kai-Ka, remember?" Rekki opened her golden-brown eyes and looked around, ceasing to struggle and trying to find out where that comforting voice was coming from. She was moving; she could see the dusty brown head of her horse in front of her, bobbing up and down. Dawn was just reaching her rosy fingers over the horizon, bathing the expansive desert in a faint light.
"Are you alright?" Rekki looked up, meeting Kai-Ka's gaze. It was so calming, comforting, so concerned and. . . Rekki stopped herself right there, hoping fervently that she wasn't blushing. She struggled for some words to say. It had seemed so easy before, just to say something to him, but now her throat was dry, raspy, and she couldn't form the three small words. For now she was content to just look at him. She nodded a little, bobbing her head up and down.
Finally she realized what had been constricting her movements before. Kai-Ka's, no, Amiboshi's shirt was wrapped snuggly around her, and she was in the front of the saddle, cuddled against his chest! He only had a thin cotton shirt on, since he had given her his. It got so cold in the Sairou nights. She knew she was blushing now. /Why do I have to blush so much?/ She wondered.
"Um. . . aren't you. . . weren't you cold?" Rekki stuttered, slowly sitting up away from his chest, even though it was a rather comfortable position. Amiboshi, she resolved to call him by that name in her head from now on, looked at her, guiding the horse with his arms rather close to her waist, to use the reins correctly. /K'so! Why am I thinking all this nonsense!/ Rekki had never been prone to thoughts like this. Ramblings, daydreaming, and musings were all good and well, but this was nothing to be sighing over now!
"Well, I'm fine. You kept shivering, so it was no problem." Amiboshi said, smiling softly. /Such handsome blue eyes. . ./ Rekki blinked and tried to remember what had transpired earlier. When was earlier anyway? Amiboshi must have saved her from the man, and for that she was so grateful.
"Ami. . . Amiboshi?" It seemed that he winced faintly when she said his name. "What happened? How long was I. . . um. . . asleep?" Rekki asked tentatively. It was hard to imagine that the gentle person had been so harsh with her before.
"Well, you've been out for almost two days now." Rekki blinked, and Amiboshi repeated himself. /Two days?/ Rekki counted it out in her head. Which meant that she had slept like that, or was she unconscious, for two entire days? It was a boggling thought. She blinked and twisted around on the horse to look at Amiboshi. He looked back at her, blinking.
"Is something the matter?" He asked, blinking again. His blonde- brown hair flopped over his left eye so adorably that Rekki wanted to play with it. She mentally chastised herself for that thought and tried to collect herself once more, her heart pounding painfully in her breast.
"So. . . where are we exactly?" The young woman asked tentatively. She had not forgotten the harsh words he had said to her days before, and she never wanted him to use that tone with her again. It sort of reminded her of the way her father spoke to her when he was in one of his drunken fits. He'd taken to drinking after her mother had died in the Kutou attack. She remembered how Amiboshi had tried to comfort her when she cried after her mother's death, and told her that everything would be fine. She hadn't cried since.
"We're almost in Hokkan now actually. I'll be letting you off in the next village with the horse. You can make your way back to the village then." Rekki sat in silence, her back aching from staying twisted around like it was to watch Amiboshi. There it was again, that harsh, demanding tone. It confused her. Amiboshi, Kai-Ka, wasn't like that at all. But for just a moment, and it was probably just a side effect of the desert sun, but Rekki could have sworn she saw another person in Amiboshi's eyes. They looked normal when she did a double-take.
"Fine. . . I'll go back. . . but you have to promise me something." Rekki said slowly, concentrating on making sure her voice did not betray the inner turmoil her heart and soul were embroiled in. She tugged fitfully on her braid. Amiboshi paused, waiting for her to continue.
"You have to promise that you'll come back, to the village. When all of this is done, and you finish with this business, you have to come home." /Come home to me. Come home with Me./ Amiboshi looked at her, a scrutinizing look. Rekki looked right back, her usual stoic attitude returning. Deep blue eyes returned the look of golden brown before Amiboshi blinked and mustered a faint little smile.
"I can't promise you that, Rekki. I honestly can't. If you only knew what I needed to do, you'd understand. But I will promise to try." Rekki felt an intense weight on her heart lift somewhat. He would try, at least. She wanted, craved to ask him what his business was, but she knew he would only shake his head and stay silent. So, Hashira Rekki did the most daring thing she had ever done in her life. Turning back around again she resumed the comfortable position against Amiboshi's chest and fell back asleep, with nary a blush.
Amiboshi settled in to the rocking motion of the gangly horse as it walked along the well-traveled road. Hokkan would be reached soon, for that he was glad. Suboshi kept speaking to him of the danger that waited there, and he knew it as well. Every now and then he thought he could sense something that might have been the energy of a priestess. Yet, it wasn't his priestess, or really, Seiryu's priestess. It was someone else's, which of course was impossible since all the priestess had appeared already. His mind was playing tricks on him.
Rekki stirred against his chest and wriggled about, trying to get comfortable. She's insisted on giving his outer shirt back and every now and then she shivered in the cold dawn air. It would warm up again soon, but not that much. Already he knew it was different. The noon sun was never as merciful in Sairou as it was now. Hokkan was a cold country, and he could tell, it was much nippier at night and almost cool in the afternoons.
"Kai-Ka?" Amiboshi looked down instinctively. Rekki was mumbling in her sleep again, her golden brown hair spilling out around her shoulders. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked with the new sun spilling a rosy color over everything, highlighting the soft curve of her cheeks, her closed eyes.
With a start, Amiboshi realized he was getting lost in thought again. He didn't need to be thinking about Hanashi Rekki right now. He had to focus on what he might encounter when he reached Hokkan. /Aniki? Can you feel it? / Suboshi separated, and Amiboshi shivered. It always felt peculiar. Like someone was peeling off a second skin. It didn't hurt, but it felt . . . funny. And it felt better when the merge of souls occurred, he felt himself again.
"Suboshi. . . what is it?" He asked. He couldn't physically see anything. He felt that peculiar presence again. It was his priestess, and it was not. /that is Yui-sama. Aniki. / Amiboshi was sorely confused, mostly in part to the fact that Rekki was doing only what he could name as . . . nuzzling . . . against his chest, and it felt very good. Snap out of it, Amiboshi! He snapped at himself. It's not like you love her or anything!
"How is that her, Suboshi? We could feel her Seiryu chi if it was!" He protested, knowing anything else would defy reason. /She's Genbu's priestess now. She isn't our priestess anymore. / That was just confusing. Amiboshi shook his head. He needed to think about something else. Rekki was waking up finally, reminding Amiboshi that he hadn't slept in a few days time. Four days actually.
She stirred and sat up, stretching. The first time she had woken up she had seemed quite embarrassed by her perch on the saddle in front of him, but she no longer blushed and got all flustered when she woke up, which was good he supposed. She had also seemed very uncomfortable with his arms around her waist, but that couldn't exactly be helped, since he had to use the reins.
"Kai . . . I mean, Amiboshi?" He looked at her. She was twisted around in the saddle so that she could speak to his face. "Where are we?" He had to mentally remind himself not to be gentle with her as he'd like to. Otherwise she might end up following him into danger.
"We're almost to where I need to be, so I'll be dropping you off at the next village." He reminded her that he was going to abandon her, though it pained him to be so cruel. He could read the hurt on her face, and she turned away from him and looked pointedly straight, her shoulders rigid and her back straight. She was hurt, he hurt her.
Trying not to think on that, Amiboshi was silent for the rest of the day until a village came into view on the horizon, situated on a vast plain. Grass and sky spread out for miles, abruptly coming into view and Rekki forgot she was made at him. She gasped and smiled.
"It's beautiful . . ." She said in awe. Amiboshi stopped himself from nodding and spurred the horse down into the valley. On the outskirts of the village, just out of earshot of the people there, he paused. Night was approaching and twilight began to spread. Then, suddenly, he felt it. /There, Aniki! It's her!/ He felt a surge of power, it had to be Yui, and more seishi powers flaring. It was . . . the Suzaku seishi? Without another thought, Amiboshi sprung from the horse's back.
"Amiboshi! Where are you going!" Rekki cried out, sliding off the horse after him and making to follow. He turned around.
"Stay here, Rekki. If I don't come back soon, go back to the village, and tell . . . my parents, that I'll see them someday. Good-bye, Rekki." He said, before turning and pelting off in the direction an immense evil was radiating from.
"AMIBOSHI!" She called after him, but he only sped faster into the encroaching night, leaving her cries far behind and a great evil much closer.
A/N: Ahem . . . the end.
Mezame - Awakening