Hands Full Of Rainbow
-Reiye
Chapter Eight: Hikari
A/N: BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Taidigimon awww, I'm so sorry you had to go thru that! Man just thinking about moving again makes me sick, but doing it all ourselves…shudders well, I'm glad you read the book! I totally agree about the ending, it was a little messed up! Thank you mucho for reviewing!
Lucy well, here's the next chapter for you! Hope you like it… thanks for reviewing!
Crazyamzy hehe thanks! Isn't the book great! I loved it! While I was reading it I was just like omg, this would be a really good taiora!
Yours truly I'm soo happy you liked it!! Thanks for reviewing!
KAT awwww, thankies for the kind words!! Well, here's chapter eight for ya! :)
April So glad you liked it, ugh I can't stand sorato!!Thank you for your sympathy
Kawaii-Q you are sooo sweet, thank you so much for the kind words and sympathy! You're a really good author yourself! I've learned so much japanese thru you! Arigato gozaimasu!!
SoratoL.O.C.Fan thanks…I guess???
DarkMetalAngel of Destruction thanks leon! I love ya! ;)
Sora-star-child omg I absolutely LOVE your fics! Thanks so much for reviewing!
Shiva-dragon :) thank you so much!!
KaguyaEvenstar yay! I really appreciate your kind words, thanks! :-)
ICE WOLF 741 wow, you sounded like a real critic in your review! Thanks so much, and I reviewed your fic too… as a thank you! :)
Disclamier: I don't own Digimon or Gathering Blue
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The Harvest was growing closer and closer by each passing day. Preparations and decorations were set as the people buzzed with excitement. Everything was just about ready for the big day. The stage was lit, and the grounds were cleared to make room for the audience.
As the people worked endlessly throughout the day, the Warden had gathered an assembly for all those who worked in the Manor. The gathering was held in the Observatory, a large oval shaped room with many windows, and chairs, and a podium in the center.
The Warden was standing at the podium while the other eleven Keepers as well as the Warden's son, Yamato, were seated behind him. The advisors and workers occupied the remaining chairs in front of the Keepers.
Sora sat with her fellow workers, the Artisan, the Singer, Mimi and the other tenders. Sora noticed a small girl, not much younger than T.K.; sit next to the old Singer. The girl squirmed in her seat as she fought to get a better view. She had soft, light brown hair, and her eyes were almost the same shade as Mimi's, pale mahogany.
Before Sora got a chance to ask Tai who the girl was, the Warden cleared his throat and began. "Welcome all! Well as you all know, the annual Harvest is merely days away. I have ordered you all here today to remind you of your duties during the celebration as well as your responsibilities."
"While most of you shall be very busy during the festivities, a select few have already accomplished their tasks." He turned to Sora's table. "I take it that the Staff is well in order, Taichi?"
Tai rose from his seat and bowed. "It is, sir."
"Very well, may we have a quick peek at it?" he called to one of the guards who brought forth the long Staff. Its intricate carvings seemed to go on forever. Sora felt her head spin as she admired it. "Very nice Taichi. You have worked for us for thirteen long years, and yet, you still amaze me!
"Now, Sora-san, this is your first year here with us. Let us see where your skills have taken the ancient Robe." The Warden said as another guard heaved a large chest onto the floor and took out the long cloth.
The bright colors danced across the fabric, giving life to the scenes they depicted. Vibrant reds meshed into hues of silky violet. Bold and strong blues collided with flecks of yellow. On and on, the robe seemed to unfold by itself.
"Amazing, absolutely breath-taking," The Warden said in a hushed voice. "Never before has the robe looked so bold and bright. You have done an extraordinary job Sora-san."
Sora swelled with pride. She felt Tai pat her shoulder from behind. She reached up and held his hand for a while and gave it a tight squeeze.
"Well done to you both! Now, Satsuki, you have worked for us the longest!" The Warden turned to the old, aging Singer. "For sixty-seven glorious years, the village has grown with your beautiful voice. But alas, you have announced this to be your last year."
The old man nodded sadly as he sipped something from a teacup. Sora recognized the smell of the substance as honey and mulberry oil mixed in chamomile tea. Her mother would feed it to her when she was ill of a sore throat.
"So, we have scoured the village to find your replacement. "The Warden turned to the little girl seated beside the Singer. "May I have the pleasure of introducing our newest member to the Manor, Hikari. She has worked very hard this year to memorize the long versus of our Song, haven't you Hikari?"
Hikari scowled, but nodded. She shifted uneasily in her chair as people turned to catch a glimpse of the future Singer. Sora frowned, she didn't like the idea of forcing a girl so young to memorize the arduous stanzas of the Song.
The meeting ended with a few words and assignments to the tenders and advisors. After the Warden had dismissed the groups, Sora went up to her room where Mimi had left lunch. She stared moodily at her delicious meal and began to pick at her food. She didn't feel like eating. She was disgusted.
"Penny for your thoughts," Tai said as he watched Sora lazily twirl a noodle around her chopstick.
"It's awful!" She pouted.
"Really? I think it's rather good. Try the dumplings, they're-"
"No, not the food. How old do you think she is? No more than T.K's age I would imagine."
"You mean Hikari? Yeah I would say around eight or nine-" Tai began.
"It's disgusting! Absolutely appalling! Forcing a girl her age to memorize the Song! Do you realize how long the Song is?" Sora fumed.
"Well, not really…I've never been able to stay awake for the whole thing," Tai said sheepishly.
"Well I haven't either, but I heard it took Satsuki three years to memorize the entire thing!"
"Really?"
"Yes, so that must mean Hikari's been here since she was only five! She deserves freedom! She's only a tyke after all! Can you imagine being forced to work at five years of age-" Sora gasped. She just remembered Tai's story of his childhood. He had been at the Manor ever since he was only four.
"Yes, actually I can!" Tai said angrily as he grabbed his tray and left Sora's room.
"Tai wait!" Sora called after him. She ran to his room but he had locked the door. "Tai please open the door! I didn't mean anything I said!"
No answer.
She sighed and returned back to her room. 'Great! Now you've really done it!'
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"Can you believe its tomorrow? The village looks so beautiful! Have you heard of the new Threader that the Manor has appointed?"
"Yes, I think her name is Sora, she was the daughter of Sakamae-"
"Sakamae's daughter? Really? Then we better good seats, I'm sure the Robe will look incredible!"
"Not only that, I heard this is Satsuki-san's last year singing!"
"No! Are you sure?"
The village was waiting nervously and anxiously for the next day. The ladies at the Weaving Shed gossiped and shared rumors about the oncoming Harvest, while the men laid out their cooked game for everyone to admire.
The overall mood of the townspeople had changed. Instead of bustling and arguing, they smiled and greeted each other with polite waves and kind words. The Harvest was after all, a coming together of the people. A reunion of the older generation with the younger.
The Threader made her way hastily down the village. She was looking for someone. She looked behind moldy logs, and under piles of leaves. But she couldn't find her little friend anywhere.
"Where is he?" Sora asked herself irately as she looked through the hollow chinaberry tree.
"Looking for me?" A spunky voice said from behind.
"T.K! Where have you been? I need to ask you something," Sora said.
"What?"
"Do you know anyone named Hikari?"
"Hikari?" T.K. scratched his head thinking hard. "The name sounds a bit familiar…"
"She's going to be the Singer, light brown hair, fair skin, pale brown eyes."
"Oh! You mean Hikari! Yeah I know who she is," T.K said broadly.
"What do you know about her?" Sora asked.
"Well, her parents died when she was born, so she lived with her grandparents until them Manor folk came and took her away. She sang real prettily."
"How did her parents die?"
"Her mum died giving birth to her, and rumor has it that her dad went mad and couldn't cope with her death, so he killed himself."
"But that's horrible!"
T.K nodded sadly. "Say Sora, if she's at the Manor, do you think I could come around sometime and have a looksie at her?"
"Sure, I think she'd really like that," Sora smiled genuinely. Even though it was hard to tell through all the mud caked onto his cheeks, she noticed them go slightly pink. "Why are you hiding here anyway?"
"Three guesses."
"Bath?"
"Yup."
"Well, you know you're going to have to take one sometime today, the Harvest is tomorrow! And don't you want to look nice for Hikari?" Sora teased.
T.K grew red. "I have to go!" He said quickly before he darted of towards the creek.
Sora laughed as she walked back to the Manor. She saw Yamato sitting casually on the front steps reading from a book. She decided she would join him. It was certainly a beautiful day to be outside.
Yamato looked up from his reading. "Oh, good morning Sora-san!"
"Morning Yamato. Lovely day isn't it?"
"Perfect! So what are your plans for today?"
"I don't know, Mimi says she has a surprise for me later this evening. Do you have any idea what it is?" Sora looked eagerly at Yamato.
"Now Sora, even if I did know why should I tell you? It would ruin the surprise!" Yamato said matter-of-factly.
Sora huffed. "I hate being patient. I know you know what it is. Can't you give me a little hint?"
Yamato laughed. Just then Tai walked out. He averted his eyes when he noticed Sora sitting on the steps. "Where are you off to Taichi?" Yamato asked.
"Thought I'd go visit Koushiro for a while. Be back soon," Tai said shortly as he went down the road.
Yamato gave a slight frown. "Is he okay?"
"Well, not really. He's mad at me." Sora said. "We were talking about Hikari and I was complaining about how hard it must have been for her to memorize the words to the Song at such a young age, and I completely forgot Tai had to sort of go through the same thing."
Yamato nodded. "It is difficult, but it is also her duty now. Her mother and father died and she is now orphaned. We took her in and in return she will sing for us."
"But she's just a little girl Yamato. Surely you can remember what it was like to be young and being able to come and go as you choose. To play with the other children, and be free."
"Sora, I don't like it either, but it's just how things are. I've tried to talk to my father about letting her go for a while and mingling with the other children, but he says it would interfere with her memorization. But you are aloud to visit her whenever you wish. Her room is directly above yours."
Sora sighed. She got up and left Yamato to his reading. She decided she would go and pay a quick visit to Hikari. She climbed up the spiral staircase of the East Tower. She stopped in front of a large wooden door, very similar to hers and Tai's, that read "The Singer".
She placed an ear to the door and heard a soft, muffled voice singing beautiful scales. She knocked twice. The singing stopped. The door creaked open and a small girl stood in the doorway.
"Y-yes?" Her voice quivered.
"Hello Hikari," Sora smiled lovingly. "My name is Sora, I'm the Threader. My room is just below yours. I thought I'd introduce myself, may I come in?"
Hikari nodded and opened the door a little further. Sora stepped inside the room, which had the same layout as her own. A workroom, washroom and bedroom. Instead of a threading frame or logs of wood in her workroom, she had a large stand, several tuning forks, bottles of ink, quills and rolls of parchment scattered across the low table.
Hikari stared curiously at Sora as she leaned over her small table to read some of the parchments. She watched her finger the long feather of the many quills.
"Can you read?" Sora asked.
"I'm learning," Hikari replied softly.
Sora turned to the girl. She gave a motherly smile. "You don't have to be afraid. You know, I'm a good friend of T.K's."
At this the girls eyes widened. "T.K.?"
Sora nodded. "He says he'd like to stop by for a visit sometime, if that's okay with you…"
"Yes! When will he come?" She asked eagerly.
Sora laughed. "Soon, once the harvest is over."
Sora spent the rest of the day with Hikari and ate lunch with her. Sora told her stories, like she used to before she moved to the Manor. And in return Hikari sang for her. Her voice was truly that of precious songbirds. Perfectly in tune and crystal clear.
After the fourth bell, Sora left Hikari's room, and promised to return soon. She stopped by Tai's room and attempted once more to apologize.
"Tai?"
No answer.
"Tai, open up. I'm really sorry. Please unlock the door!" Sora cried banging her fist on the heavy door.
"He's not here. He went to go see Koushiro." Mimi said as she brought up her food. Sora noticed she was only holding one tray. "He says he's going to stay there for dinner." Mimi flushed.
"Oh, at Koushiro's huh?" Sora asked wryly as she watched Mimi's face grow steadily redder. "What exactly did you two do when I left?"
"Nothing! He invited me over for tea and naturally I agreed, I mean let's face it, it's been a very long time since we've see each other, so I thought what the heck, and we went over to his burrow and had tea and a civilized, sophisticated, mature conversation about the Harvest and-"
"Mimi, you're babbling." Sora said slyly. "Is there something going on between the two of you that I should no about?"
"Well, that depends. Is there any thing between you and Tai that I should know about?"
Sora felt her cheeks warm up. "No, w-why should there be?"
Mimi smiled triumphantly. "Very well then. You better eat soon. Your dinner's getting cold." She set the tray down on one of Sora's worktables. "Well, see you tomorrow."
The knot in Sora's throat loosened as she watched Mimi leave her room. She sat down and ate her dinner, for the first time at the Manor, alone.
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A/N: !! Hmmmm, what's Sora's present? And what's bugging Taichi? Hmmm… Yeah I know, not a very Taiora-ish chapter, but it'll get there. Slow and steady wins the race! (???) Well, please review!!
Reiye