Get Backers: Golden Bells

Author's note: now to the last part of the show, wherein I show you everything I learned from Kaori Yuki, especially Ludwig Kakumei, which I love, and this is quite long too. That is, for me. I've always preferred the trusty ball pen to my key board anytime. And at least papers don't emit the waves my monitor might. Isn't that so medieval­?

Anyways, since I typed this at one go… I won't be able to entertain reviews… if there are any. Please let there be! Yoroshikun onegaishimasu!

And oh, mythology fans, yes, I borrowed some parts from Procris and Cephalus. That's a spoiler, I know. But here I am. And I just can't do without borrowing stuff from other stories. I don't know how I'll survive Creative Writing ( which is my course, but you didn't ask. ) now, let me quit bothering you and go on:

There was something diabolically sweet in her tones – something of the

tingling glass when struck – which rang through the brains

even of us who heard the words addressed to another.

Dracula, Bram Stoker

Part 3: The Story of the Huntsman

The shogun's daughter fled the household in her peasant's garb and with the horse she had stolen from her father's stables. The disguise afforded her with enough time to get clear of the village in safety, although she had to cover her face with her hood for it was a face that one seldom forgets. She chose to go by the woods, for she was more or less familiar with it's natural paths since she had often fled there when things got unbearable in the household and play her guitar in peace.

She had not gone deep into the forest when she spied a deep brook. Remembering that she had not eaten all day, she cupped her palms and drank some water from the sparkling brook with a sigh. It was then that she heard someone whistle from behind her. The horse reared with a shrill whinny and ran towards the direction of the noise. Katsuki arose instinctively, knowing that her father's soldiers had espied her and had raised cry. There was no where else to go but cross the brook, which looked treacherous now, instead of the friendly waters it had been when she was thirsty. But it was either that or face her father again. And if she would drown in the process, then it would serve her right. After all, it was unnecessary to have killed Ren. Her Ren. To think that she had died for naught!

But the shogun's daughter had miscalculated the depth of the brook and the pressure of the currents. Gasping for air as the waters claimed her, Katsuki only had one thought. I'm sorry, Ren…

……….

The shogun's daughter opened her eyes slowly. Closing them abruptly again when the rays of the sun bathed her face with curiously comforting warmth. A figure leaned towards her, blotting out the rays of the sun and she glanced at the package she held close to her bosom. So, she still had the kimono. How fitting it all was, she thought. It seemed that fighting her father had been like facing her father.

She sat up, looking vaguely at her savior. He was smiling at her gently. ' I hope you had not been trying to kill yourself.' He said. ' That would have been unusual for a lady.'

Katsuki asked him if he could show her the inn, but was informed that there was none in the village. The huntsman offered her his house, however, and told her that he was called Kakei Jubei. The shogun's daughter doubted the wisdom of staying with a man she barely knew. But faced as she was with no other choice, she agreed, however reluctantly.

As they were walking home, with Jubei in front, he suddenly asked her. ' Ren, did you really love him?'

The shogun's daughter frowned at him. ' How did you know about Ren?' she asked tersely.

' You were talking of him in your sleep. I guess you loved him, huh? Is this why you tried committing suicide? But you are a beautiful woman.'

' That is none of your concern.' She answered. ' But yes, I loved him.'

……….

A year had passed since the shogun's daughter had met the huntsman, and since then had tried to keep his house in so a satisfactory way that Jubei was thinking of marrying her. He had the feeling that there was something more to his beautiful visitor's problem than slighted love. She always had a faraway look about her that bespoke of a certain fear. He knew that she treated each day like it was the last. No, she was running from something. And he was more than willing to protect her.

He came in one day from town and told the figure by the fire that the shogun had died the day before.

The woman he had saved checked if the rice was still boiling before answering. ' I didn't know he was sick.' She observed, although her tone was disinterested.

' Oh he didn't die of natural causes. He set fire to his whole house, with himself inside. They say he was mad.'

The dead man's daughter gave him a smile. ' So it was not his son.'

' What son? They say, in town, that he became mad when his daughter died. She was all he had, after his marriage, you know. He didn't have a son.'

' Didn't you know, it was said that it would be his son who would cause his downfall.' She elucidated, absently.

' I hadn't known that.'

……….

The shogun's daughter had reached the crossroads of her life. There were two vague paths that she could take. But neither looked promising. She had chosen one, nevertheless, and stay on it she would. But to do that, she must leave the huntsman.

One day, after Jubei had gone out to hunt, she put on the kimono with the cherry blossoms and went out in search of the path he usually took in search of game.

The huntsman stopped in his tracks when he heard the leaves rustle from behind him. Reaching for his crossbow, he waited for the right time, standing on guard. When the leaves rustled again, he let an arrow fly, hoping it to be a fat animal that he would bring home to his lovely companion that night. What he had heard and saw was not what he wished for.

The shogun's daughter felt the searing pain on her stomach and let out a low cry. The short, strangely impersonal sound cut through the stillness, startling the animals. Katsuki smiled bitterly before falling down.

……….

Katsuki woke up several hours after. Someone had tended the wound. The huntsman looked up at the person he had saved twice with a face so devoid of emotion he seemed to scream out in pain.

' Why did you- How could you?'

The shogun's son rose from the pallet shakily to face his savior with a small smile. ' So you found out.' He said, in a monotone. It was the same voice that the huntsman had loved. But coming from this stranger, it tore his heart apart. ' I didn't mean for you to find out. I was to kill you and go from here. With the shogun dead, I'm free. You see? And now you know. There is no other way. I must kill you.'

' How could you lie like this?'

' I've lived a lie since I have been born. What with the astrologer saying that I would be my father's downfall, he would have me dead, you know that? And so when I was born, my mother told everyone that I was a girl. She herself killed the old woman who helped bring me to this world. It was perfect. And I was perfectly miserable.' He gave a short laugh. ' When she died, she said one thing that was my way out. She did not know what she was saying. But it went as I thought it would. And came to this.'

The huntsman grabbed the bow and the arrow that was still splattered with his love's blood. ' You would kill me? How?'

The other looked down at the torn kimono he was still wearing, fingering the edges where they gaped open to reveal his bandaged chest. ' Oh, I'm grateful to you, of course. But I must survive, you see. I have decided upon that. Ren died for me. I can't die now.' He smiled at the memory, and Jubei saw wistfulness there. ' The kimono is ruined. It's no more. I'm free of him. You saved me from the waters. But you are in the way.'

' Bastard! You killed people and you stand there, saying that you want to live! You don't deserve life. Look at what you did to it.'

' At what the shogun's daughter did to it.' Katsuki corrected. ' I am not her. That woman who killed her maid, whom you loved is no more. I am not her. I deserve a chance at life too, Jubei.'

' Don't say my name.' But the huntsman dropped the arrow. How can he kill that person that bears her face? And to kill a human being! He had not her coldness. ' I trusted you.'

' Oh, my Jubei, my beloved Jubei,' Katsuki pulled out the chimes from his hair. ' I didn't tell you to trust me, did I?'

……….

Ai: I'm not speaking out of experience. Just from what I observe. Love ties you to somebody, when you lose them, they bring part of yourself with them. And yet we could not help but love. Ja ne.