Authoress here.
Yeah, so anyways, I found out that between the businesses of this week, I have time to type. One might say it's soothing, to have the familiar clickity-clack of keys beneath one's fingers. Of course, school will start, as will the hours plus of homework every night, and my stories will have to be written more slowly than what I am used to. For right now I just say foo.
Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers!
JewelValentine- Y'know, that would be funny, but sadly, I don't have any ideas to work that into the story without rambling on for at least an additional five chapters.
LadyKatsu- YAY!! Reviews! Thank you! Y'see, this here LadyKatsu is like super-writer and produces two chapters to my one, and hers are beautifully written. I totally endorse her stories, especially her newest one in the Sayuki (sp?) category.
Shessa's Crazy- Yep, this here's the last story. But like I said in the last chapter, I'll end up writing an epilogue and crying once I finish it.
Onto the chappie!
Yujo Chronicles: Ankara's Story
Chapter Three
Hiei locked stares with the black eyes of the girl. Her face was pale, and her hair sable in color. The contrast was sharp, and made her skin look all the whiter. Her eyes were round with a type of expectant fear, and they seemed like twin pools of never-ending sorrow.
She was slender, but surprisingly short, especially after the other people Hiei had seen. In fact, she looked to be shorter than himself!
She backed herself more into the corner, if possible, staring at him with that mix of fear and anger on her face and deep in her eyes. Hiei stood, slowly, and spread his hands apart in an unspoken gesture of peace.
"What do you want?" The girl's voice also surprised Hiei. Unlike the others he had heard speaking, her voice didn't carry the musical quality, nor the evenness of speaking to an unheard tempo. It wasn't as if her voice was unpleasant, just so different than the expectations Hiei had.
"I don't want anything." Hiei answered, his own voice wavering. He was disgusted with himself for showing any sign of emotion.
"Than what are you doing here?!" Her voice was accusing.
"Being punished, I suppose." Hiei replied. His tone suited him better now; flat and devoid of the despair aching inside of him. Even with his voice unrevealing as possible, her brows drew together, and concern flickered in those bottomless eyes.
"For what?"
Hiei scowled. "Listen, wench, I don't need to answer your questions."
"Well, why not?" Her face was resolute, and she crossed equally pale arms across her chest.
"Because!" Hiei snapped. "I just don't. You stay there, I'll stay here, and in the morning I'll leave."
"It wouldn't hurt you just to tell me." Her words were so soft Hiei barely caught them. "Because tomorrow night I won't be alive to tell them to anyone else."
The reality of her statement stung Hiei like a slap. He opened his mouth with a retort, but anything he could think of to say was forgotten as a single tear ran down her face and dropped from her chin. It fell to the stone-flagged floor with a ping! and Hiei saw in wonder her tear had solidified into a perfectly round pearl.
"Y-You're an-" Hiei sputtered. She cut him off.
"And Ice apparition? Yes, I am." The girl picked up the pearl, and regarded it bitterly. "Abandoned on accident sixteen years ago on the lower cliffs of my true homeland, where a widow Suronial found me and claimed I was her own. If only she had told me the truth sooner."
Hiei frowned slightly, still confused. "I don't understand. How were you abandoned?"
Stubbornness came over her posture, and she raised her chin slightly in defiance. "If you can't even give me the pleasure of a final conversation, why should I answer your questions?"
Hiei sighed, internally arguing with himself. A part of him screamed that if he got at all close to this girl, his heart would suffer, just like when Skulpha died. But another voice, stronger than the first, reasoned that if she were to die, a final talk with a fellow apparition would be the kindest thing he could do.
"Fine." Hiei allowed, the second voice winning the internal conflict. "I'm a member of a group of bandits. You probably know about Fulken, leader of the band."
At his name, her face showed a tangle of emotions. Memories both happy and sad shadowed her face, and she nodded slowly, as if not trusting herself to speak.
"I joined maybe four years ago, and I started out as the lowest of all of us. Only one demon befriended me, a mutt named Skulpha." Hiei felt his throat constrict slightly at the mention of his dead companion's name, but forced himself to continue. "He mainly came to me for protection against the others, who bullied him constantly. I guess I grew used to him.
"Just today, we entered Kaere Suronial, and were sent to this building to sleep. Skulpha had almost a fanatical habit of cleaning his teeth. I believe his mother was very important to him, and that was something she made him do. He was finding a twig to do the task when he must of hassled a larger member of the band. They fought.
"Nuhakuju, the other demon, ended up crushing Skulpha's windpipe. I saw him die, and madness overtook me. I killed Nuhakuju in return."
Hiei had no idea why he felt he must poor his soul to his silent face in the shadows, or why it was so easy to keep talking. But the constant stream of words eased his pain, and he kept them coming until his story finished.
The girl regarded him unblinkingly. "What is your name?"
"Hiei."
"Then, Hiei, I'm sorry." The girl murmured. She glanced up sharply to study him hard. "My name was Sablae. Or, at least that's what my foster mother called me. Just recently I found out my true name is..Ankara."
At Hiei's confused glance, she continued. "My foster mother was a widow when she climbed up the cliffs of Ice World. She refused to tell me how she found me, but from what she said I guess she stole me and called me her own child. She told me that my entire life, until now."
Hiei shifted into a more comfortable position. "What made her tell you?"
Ankara gave a sad little smile. "You see, all my life I was different. I stopped growing long before the others my age did. I was a clumsy child; everyone else could float on air. I couldn't sing a note without going horribly flat; all the others could harmonize and blend as if only one was singing."
Hiei studied Ankara's face intently while she finished her tale. A faint smile came to her eyes and voice as she spoke about the hours she spent watching the others dance, listening to music, finding the rhythm, finding her grace. As she told of her foster mother's joy in her achievements, some of that pride was mirrored in Ankara's eyes.
And when Ankara came to the end of her story, where the elders told her foster mother her daughter was to dance as the Sacrifice, a blunted pain and shame, fleet as it was, forced tears to her eyes again.
"My foster mother was devestated, but couldn't change anyone's mind. She came and told me everything the night before I myself was told the news. That was when I was taken and put in here, only six days ago, by my reckoning."
Now, Ankara both physically and emotionally collapsed, throwing her hands to her face and sobbing, littering the ground around her knees with pearls. Hiei quickly stood up, and walked over to her.
Kneeling beside her, Hiei placed a hand on her shoulder and kept it there until she had cried herself out.
"Are you scared?" Hiei ventured to ask.
"No." Ankara's voice was bleak, but pride kept the untrue answer spilling from her lips.
Hiei gingerly patted her back. "It's...okay to be scared, I guess."
"You guess?" Ankara's cheeks and nose had gone pink from the tears.
"Yes, I guess." Hiei said sharply. "I'm- I've- argh, I'm not good at comforting people. If I knew how I would do it, okay?!"
Ankara regaurded him in a matter-of-fact way, her eyes boring holes into his soul, making him want to look away. "I know how you can."
Hiei's eyes asked the unsaid question, and she stood, proving him right about her height. Her head was level with his eyes, forcing him to look down to be eye to eye. Hiei gulped, nervously, hoping she didn't want him to...do things.
"Be in the crowd tomorrow." Ankara whispered sadly. "Somewhere were I can see you. So I know there are decent people left in the worlds."
Hiei moved as if his body were in control of itself, ignoring his mind and better judgment. His arms were around her, clutching her to him a little too tightly, taking the embodiment of his own pain close, trying to salve her hurts as well as his own. Ankara started crying again, though she never let another tear fall.
As if making a conscious recognition of his actions, Hiei let go quickly, and moved back a pace or two. He settled back down on the stone floor, crossing his arms across his chest resolutely. Ankara mirrored him, falling silently into a crouch before sitting quietly feet away from him.
"So, what exactly happens in the Red Heel ceremony?" Hiei asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
Ankara didn't burst back into tears at the statement, confirming her own strength as well as his question in her answer. "It is the most scared event of our culture. Of the Sorunial culture. Our god, whom of which I am not worthy to speak of, keeps us safe, but for an awesome price.
"Every twenty seasons, every twenty cycles of the moon, or every five years, our god has need of another dancer to grace his court in the sky among the stars. As his only loyal children, blessed with his movement and supreme grace, we must pay the ultimate price and send our best to his courts, to keep him in high spirits and also to thank him for the safety he has provided our village."
Ankara sounded as if she was reciting. Hiei nodded, and asked another question. "What exactly happens in the ceremony?"
"The dancer will have both of their heels painted in red, the sacrificial color of blood, just before the ceremony begins. Then, the dancer is carried to the Circle of Six. The Circle of Six is named for the six archers who shall stand with bows at the ready, lest the dancer lets one heel touch the ground." Ankara explained, monotone. "The sacrifice will sing a song, telling of their spirit to ready the god for his newest dancer. A dance will mirror their words, telling our god of the new arrival's skill."
"So, they will shoot you if you touch your heels to the ground?!" Hiei asked, horrified.
Ankara gave a grim smile. "If only it was that. No, only one archer will fire, striking the thigh, calf or foot. Every time the red heels touch the ground, another arrow shall be fired until the dancer has been shot through the heart."
It took Hiei a moment to absorb this piece of cold-blooded information. A hope came to his mind, and he pursued it. "And if you don't let your heels touch the ground...?"
"If I manage it," Ankara whispered, referring to herself as the sacrifice for the first time, "then I'll be brought back to this room. I will be starved until my spirit flees for the courts of our god."
"But he isn't your god!" Hiei sputtered, amazed and nettled at the horrific show of cruelty the sacrifices must face. "You don't have to do this!"
"Yes I do!" Ankara shouted back, her voice rising high with a mix of anger and pain. "Do you think I wouldn't think of that?! Do you really think I wouldn't try everything to get out of doing this?! If I refuse, I'll be forced to cut off my own feet for disgracing the god, and no one will be allowed to help me tend my wounds, on penalty of the same fate. I will bleed to death, alone and miserable, without a shred of honor! I cannot run away, I have no ware to run!"
Ankara stood up abruptly, and ran back to the corner she had started in. Hiei noticed suddenly that it was the farthest she could get from the little door in the opposite wall. He also saw how Ankara looked like a terrified, cornered animal.
They didn't speak for a long time. Ankara was huddled against the wall, face covered and her back to Hiei. He was staring pensively at the ceiling, feeling increasingly nervous about being so long in an enclosed space. When a knock came on the door, they both started. The lock slid back, and Hiei stood to leave.
He stopped, and stared at the ground. He spoke, so quietly Ankara had to strain to hear him. "You will see me in the crowd, Ankara."
The door opened, and Hiei crawled out, heartsick and dreading the night.
Authoress here.
I went deep into the vaults on this one. The idea my Ankara-based-off-of friend and I made together was a loooooong time ago, and the details are quite fuzzy. So, I put on a little depressing music and dug deep into my gruesome punishment crap...
I' m gonna get a little sleep. Goodnight!
Yeah, so anyways, I found out that between the businesses of this week, I have time to type. One might say it's soothing, to have the familiar clickity-clack of keys beneath one's fingers. Of course, school will start, as will the hours plus of homework every night, and my stories will have to be written more slowly than what I am used to. For right now I just say foo.
Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers!
JewelValentine- Y'know, that would be funny, but sadly, I don't have any ideas to work that into the story without rambling on for at least an additional five chapters.
LadyKatsu- YAY!! Reviews! Thank you! Y'see, this here LadyKatsu is like super-writer and produces two chapters to my one, and hers are beautifully written. I totally endorse her stories, especially her newest one in the Sayuki (sp?) category.
Shessa's Crazy- Yep, this here's the last story. But like I said in the last chapter, I'll end up writing an epilogue and crying once I finish it.
Onto the chappie!
Yujo Chronicles: Ankara's Story
Chapter Three
Hiei locked stares with the black eyes of the girl. Her face was pale, and her hair sable in color. The contrast was sharp, and made her skin look all the whiter. Her eyes were round with a type of expectant fear, and they seemed like twin pools of never-ending sorrow.
She was slender, but surprisingly short, especially after the other people Hiei had seen. In fact, she looked to be shorter than himself!
She backed herself more into the corner, if possible, staring at him with that mix of fear and anger on her face and deep in her eyes. Hiei stood, slowly, and spread his hands apart in an unspoken gesture of peace.
"What do you want?" The girl's voice also surprised Hiei. Unlike the others he had heard speaking, her voice didn't carry the musical quality, nor the evenness of speaking to an unheard tempo. It wasn't as if her voice was unpleasant, just so different than the expectations Hiei had.
"I don't want anything." Hiei answered, his own voice wavering. He was disgusted with himself for showing any sign of emotion.
"Than what are you doing here?!" Her voice was accusing.
"Being punished, I suppose." Hiei replied. His tone suited him better now; flat and devoid of the despair aching inside of him. Even with his voice unrevealing as possible, her brows drew together, and concern flickered in those bottomless eyes.
"For what?"
Hiei scowled. "Listen, wench, I don't need to answer your questions."
"Well, why not?" Her face was resolute, and she crossed equally pale arms across her chest.
"Because!" Hiei snapped. "I just don't. You stay there, I'll stay here, and in the morning I'll leave."
"It wouldn't hurt you just to tell me." Her words were so soft Hiei barely caught them. "Because tomorrow night I won't be alive to tell them to anyone else."
The reality of her statement stung Hiei like a slap. He opened his mouth with a retort, but anything he could think of to say was forgotten as a single tear ran down her face and dropped from her chin. It fell to the stone-flagged floor with a ping! and Hiei saw in wonder her tear had solidified into a perfectly round pearl.
"Y-You're an-" Hiei sputtered. She cut him off.
"And Ice apparition? Yes, I am." The girl picked up the pearl, and regarded it bitterly. "Abandoned on accident sixteen years ago on the lower cliffs of my true homeland, where a widow Suronial found me and claimed I was her own. If only she had told me the truth sooner."
Hiei frowned slightly, still confused. "I don't understand. How were you abandoned?"
Stubbornness came over her posture, and she raised her chin slightly in defiance. "If you can't even give me the pleasure of a final conversation, why should I answer your questions?"
Hiei sighed, internally arguing with himself. A part of him screamed that if he got at all close to this girl, his heart would suffer, just like when Skulpha died. But another voice, stronger than the first, reasoned that if she were to die, a final talk with a fellow apparition would be the kindest thing he could do.
"Fine." Hiei allowed, the second voice winning the internal conflict. "I'm a member of a group of bandits. You probably know about Fulken, leader of the band."
At his name, her face showed a tangle of emotions. Memories both happy and sad shadowed her face, and she nodded slowly, as if not trusting herself to speak.
"I joined maybe four years ago, and I started out as the lowest of all of us. Only one demon befriended me, a mutt named Skulpha." Hiei felt his throat constrict slightly at the mention of his dead companion's name, but forced himself to continue. "He mainly came to me for protection against the others, who bullied him constantly. I guess I grew used to him.
"Just today, we entered Kaere Suronial, and were sent to this building to sleep. Skulpha had almost a fanatical habit of cleaning his teeth. I believe his mother was very important to him, and that was something she made him do. He was finding a twig to do the task when he must of hassled a larger member of the band. They fought.
"Nuhakuju, the other demon, ended up crushing Skulpha's windpipe. I saw him die, and madness overtook me. I killed Nuhakuju in return."
Hiei had no idea why he felt he must poor his soul to his silent face in the shadows, or why it was so easy to keep talking. But the constant stream of words eased his pain, and he kept them coming until his story finished.
The girl regarded him unblinkingly. "What is your name?"
"Hiei."
"Then, Hiei, I'm sorry." The girl murmured. She glanced up sharply to study him hard. "My name was Sablae. Or, at least that's what my foster mother called me. Just recently I found out my true name is..Ankara."
At Hiei's confused glance, she continued. "My foster mother was a widow when she climbed up the cliffs of Ice World. She refused to tell me how she found me, but from what she said I guess she stole me and called me her own child. She told me that my entire life, until now."
Hiei shifted into a more comfortable position. "What made her tell you?"
Ankara gave a sad little smile. "You see, all my life I was different. I stopped growing long before the others my age did. I was a clumsy child; everyone else could float on air. I couldn't sing a note without going horribly flat; all the others could harmonize and blend as if only one was singing."
Hiei studied Ankara's face intently while she finished her tale. A faint smile came to her eyes and voice as she spoke about the hours she spent watching the others dance, listening to music, finding the rhythm, finding her grace. As she told of her foster mother's joy in her achievements, some of that pride was mirrored in Ankara's eyes.
And when Ankara came to the end of her story, where the elders told her foster mother her daughter was to dance as the Sacrifice, a blunted pain and shame, fleet as it was, forced tears to her eyes again.
"My foster mother was devestated, but couldn't change anyone's mind. She came and told me everything the night before I myself was told the news. That was when I was taken and put in here, only six days ago, by my reckoning."
Now, Ankara both physically and emotionally collapsed, throwing her hands to her face and sobbing, littering the ground around her knees with pearls. Hiei quickly stood up, and walked over to her.
Kneeling beside her, Hiei placed a hand on her shoulder and kept it there until she had cried herself out.
"Are you scared?" Hiei ventured to ask.
"No." Ankara's voice was bleak, but pride kept the untrue answer spilling from her lips.
Hiei gingerly patted her back. "It's...okay to be scared, I guess."
"You guess?" Ankara's cheeks and nose had gone pink from the tears.
"Yes, I guess." Hiei said sharply. "I'm- I've- argh, I'm not good at comforting people. If I knew how I would do it, okay?!"
Ankara regaurded him in a matter-of-fact way, her eyes boring holes into his soul, making him want to look away. "I know how you can."
Hiei's eyes asked the unsaid question, and she stood, proving him right about her height. Her head was level with his eyes, forcing him to look down to be eye to eye. Hiei gulped, nervously, hoping she didn't want him to...do things.
"Be in the crowd tomorrow." Ankara whispered sadly. "Somewhere were I can see you. So I know there are decent people left in the worlds."
Hiei moved as if his body were in control of itself, ignoring his mind and better judgment. His arms were around her, clutching her to him a little too tightly, taking the embodiment of his own pain close, trying to salve her hurts as well as his own. Ankara started crying again, though she never let another tear fall.
As if making a conscious recognition of his actions, Hiei let go quickly, and moved back a pace or two. He settled back down on the stone floor, crossing his arms across his chest resolutely. Ankara mirrored him, falling silently into a crouch before sitting quietly feet away from him.
"So, what exactly happens in the Red Heel ceremony?" Hiei asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
Ankara didn't burst back into tears at the statement, confirming her own strength as well as his question in her answer. "It is the most scared event of our culture. Of the Sorunial culture. Our god, whom of which I am not worthy to speak of, keeps us safe, but for an awesome price.
"Every twenty seasons, every twenty cycles of the moon, or every five years, our god has need of another dancer to grace his court in the sky among the stars. As his only loyal children, blessed with his movement and supreme grace, we must pay the ultimate price and send our best to his courts, to keep him in high spirits and also to thank him for the safety he has provided our village."
Ankara sounded as if she was reciting. Hiei nodded, and asked another question. "What exactly happens in the ceremony?"
"The dancer will have both of their heels painted in red, the sacrificial color of blood, just before the ceremony begins. Then, the dancer is carried to the Circle of Six. The Circle of Six is named for the six archers who shall stand with bows at the ready, lest the dancer lets one heel touch the ground." Ankara explained, monotone. "The sacrifice will sing a song, telling of their spirit to ready the god for his newest dancer. A dance will mirror their words, telling our god of the new arrival's skill."
"So, they will shoot you if you touch your heels to the ground?!" Hiei asked, horrified.
Ankara gave a grim smile. "If only it was that. No, only one archer will fire, striking the thigh, calf or foot. Every time the red heels touch the ground, another arrow shall be fired until the dancer has been shot through the heart."
It took Hiei a moment to absorb this piece of cold-blooded information. A hope came to his mind, and he pursued it. "And if you don't let your heels touch the ground...?"
"If I manage it," Ankara whispered, referring to herself as the sacrifice for the first time, "then I'll be brought back to this room. I will be starved until my spirit flees for the courts of our god."
"But he isn't your god!" Hiei sputtered, amazed and nettled at the horrific show of cruelty the sacrifices must face. "You don't have to do this!"
"Yes I do!" Ankara shouted back, her voice rising high with a mix of anger and pain. "Do you think I wouldn't think of that?! Do you really think I wouldn't try everything to get out of doing this?! If I refuse, I'll be forced to cut off my own feet for disgracing the god, and no one will be allowed to help me tend my wounds, on penalty of the same fate. I will bleed to death, alone and miserable, without a shred of honor! I cannot run away, I have no ware to run!"
Ankara stood up abruptly, and ran back to the corner she had started in. Hiei noticed suddenly that it was the farthest she could get from the little door in the opposite wall. He also saw how Ankara looked like a terrified, cornered animal.
They didn't speak for a long time. Ankara was huddled against the wall, face covered and her back to Hiei. He was staring pensively at the ceiling, feeling increasingly nervous about being so long in an enclosed space. When a knock came on the door, they both started. The lock slid back, and Hiei stood to leave.
He stopped, and stared at the ground. He spoke, so quietly Ankara had to strain to hear him. "You will see me in the crowd, Ankara."
The door opened, and Hiei crawled out, heartsick and dreading the night.
Authoress here.
I went deep into the vaults on this one. The idea my Ankara-based-off-of friend and I made together was a loooooong time ago, and the details are quite fuzzy. So, I put on a little depressing music and dug deep into my gruesome punishment crap...
I' m gonna get a little sleep. Goodnight!