My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me. So won't you kill me, so I die happy? My heart is yours to fill or burst, to break or bury, or wear as jewelry, whichever you prefer…
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Gossamer Dreams
Part 10
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"This is so exciting!" Rin was nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet as she walked beside her rather calm companion who was showing no sign of her pleasure except for a small twitch of lips and a light glint in his grey eyes. "Think of how dangerous it could be…going on the Youkai side of the river…"
"Exactly why you have never been allowed to do it before, my dear Rin." Miroku attempted a stern voice, but he came off as only vaguely serious. "We both know well enough what dangers our kind face when out in the face of this cruel world we live in."
"Oh…yes, well." Rin quieted down, the bounce leaving her step as her own artificially altered eyes turned to take in her mentor with some concern. "I did not mean to remind you of her."
"Kikyo?" his eyes seemed to sink slightly, his frown deepening as he turned to look at the sky sadly. "I was not thinking of my sister, Rin. Only of your own safety."
"Oh! But now you are thinking of her, aren't you?" Rin looked to be utterly mortified. "And it really is my fault, you will be sad all day now!"
"Rin," Miroku spoke up in a calm voice, but she seemed not to hear, reaching over to clutch one of his arms with her hand.
"I am sorry, truly I am!" she spoke quickly, her soft voice pleading for forgiveness. "And I promise I shall not say one more word about it. When we get home, I shall make dinner all by myself. Anything you want, Miroku! Anything at all, if only you won't be so sad."
"Rin," he spoke up more firmly this time, and she blinked at him, ready to accept whatever punishment he thought fitting for her transgression. "It is nothing. Do not fret over the worries of an old man."
"You are not old, Miroku." Rin insisted immediately, a smile breaking out over young features that showed a hint of future beauty at the change of expression. "You are only eighteen."
"And still single." He sighed heavily, as though this was a heavy burden. "Likely I will die a bachelor, my line ending with me. For honestly, my life is a trial I would never submit any normal woman to. Truly, it would take a singular creature to have the bravery, the fortitude, the cleverness to stand by me through all that might occur."
"So it's best that you grope every woman within reach instead of settling down with one." Rin teased him. She had heard this sob story before and was not impressed.
"I object to that!" Miroku actually looked offended as he led Rin across the bridge to the other, richer side of the river. "I have never once groped you, my dear Rin."
"That's because I am too young." Rin ticked the points off on her fingers. "You told my father you would never do anything of the sort. And besides that, if you tried, you know I would simply use my spirit to throw you into the river." She pointed off the edge of the bridge they had just finished crossing into the rushing water.
"You would do nothing of the sort." He went back into a serious mode that he used while teaching or studying his stacks of books from the University. "As I am far too practiced to let something like that happen to me, especially when you are only my pupil."
"I was only teasing." She pouted slightly and he winked at her so she would not worry that he was upset with her in reality. At this signal, her face broke out into a wide, childish grin. "So then, where are we going? A Youkai manor, I suppose."
"Not today." He told her, his voice just as warm as she was accustomed to it being when he spoke to her. "No, we are going to visit one of the few families living on this side of the river consisting entirely of humans."
"Humans? On the rich side?" Rin frowned at him in confusion. This was news to her, as she had only mastered the eye changing technique a few months ago, and while she had been accompanying Miroku on his calls since then, he had not taken her with him across the river until this time. And so, she was rather unaware of how things worked in the rich sector of the capital apart from what she had heard and assumed.
"I assure you, they suffer no financial strain. This family has a special ability that has given them the special privilege of being in high demand to those that could afford their services, and so," Miroku stopped smoothly in front of a large gate, pulling at the bell that waited there to inform the occupants that he had arrived. "Here they are, and here they will stay unless the Youkai can relearn how to do this thing for themselves."
"What thing?" Rin asked, lowering her voice as she heard footsteps approaching from inside the gate.
"The taijiya," he told her, his tone soft and solemn all at once. "Are assassins." Rin looked confused for a moment before her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped into an o, being closed only when Miroku tapped her chin lightly just before the gate opened to admit them. He watched her with amusement as she took in the woman greeting them with a look of sheer terror that showed she was obviously sure this woman would kill her at the drop of a hat. Rin's open emotions were always amusing, but Miroku wondered if perhaps he ought to have waited until they left the taijiya manor to tell Rin the nature of the occupants. Still, he had healed taijiya before, and while they were obviously dangerous when provoked, they seemed almost like normal humans to Miroku. Except for the fact that they were rich, profiting from the deaths of others. He wondered whether he should admire their ambition or not.
"I am glad to see you, Healer." The woman seemed normal, because she was. She was not one of the taijiya at all, but their head servant. It was rather hilarious to watch how Rin stared at a maid so warily sure the woman was actually a loose cannon of some sort. "The young mistress is in a bad way, after she went with the master on his last mission. I would say she was too young to go do such things, but I am in no place, after all. I don't know about how to raise their children, I suppose."
"The young mistress, is it?" Miroku was already back in his study mode, all seriousness, but with such a gentle lilt to his voice that the maid did not feel upset at his questions. "Would that be Miss Shinju?"
"You remember names well, Healer." The maid smiled then, although it was a nervous smile. "Had you treated her before?"
"Yes, and I never forget a patient." Miroku sighed softly. "Especially such a lovely one. She had a broken arm, I believe?"
"I remember that, but this time, it is not Miss Shinju you'll be treating. It's her younger sister." The maid stopped before a pair of doors and turned to him. "She's quite young, about the age of your assistant."
"Rin's age?" Miroku's eyes widened as he tried to recall all the members of the taijiya family. He had treated the father and mother various times, and also a few of the older cousins and the uncle, but he did not recall anyone younger than that in his visits. Perhaps they had been somewhere else, escaping his notice. "That is rather young to be working, but then, Rin is already learning to become a Healer."
"True enough." The maid sighed and shook her head slightly before turning to open the doors and leading Rin and Miroku into the hushed room that housed their patient, a little girl who truly looked to be about Rin's age, sleeping fitfully as her mother stood over her anxiously.
"Healer!" the older woman jumped up with the alacrity born of her craft, nearly dragging Miroku over to the little girl. "You must help, she only returned from the mission a few hours ago, and she will not wake."
"Madam Bekkou," Miroku tilted his head politely toward the matriarch of this assassin clan. "I will do what I can. What is the problem, if I might ask?"
"She took a bad hit when they engaged the target." Bekkou told him, her face strained as her voice. "Zouge said that he was keeping an eye on her, as this was her first mission, but in the heat of battle, who is to say what might happen?"
"Indeed, it is a dangerous life for someone so young." Miroku's tone was not chastising, but Bekkou looked guilty all the same. "Let us take a look." He pulled away the blanket that the dark-haired girl was twisting underneath, and was able to control his reaction when he saw a thick bandage around her stomach, nearly soaked through with blood. However, Rin was still young and new to healing, and her gasp was audible to all those in the room. Bekkou turned stunned eyes to the girl, maroon swirling in a dark panic.
"She is—"
"My apprentice and assistant, Rin." Miroku answered the unfinished question. "She is still young, but I assure you she is rather capable. However, she has yet to learn to not be affected by the state of a patient. I apologize."
"As do I!" Rin interjected, immediately busying herself with opening the bag of herbs that Miroku had set down beside him to examine the young girl. "I am still learning."
"So is she." Bekkou patted the fitful girl's arm, only to have it snake away from her as the child continued to thrash. "Her wounds cannot close if she won't stay still, can they?"
"No, you are entirely correct, Madam Bekkou." Miroku was already digging through his bag, pulling out a packet after some rummaging. "I will have to make something to still the pain, as well as something which will let her sleep peacefully. Then I can set about closing the wound and binding it with the proper herbs for healing." Rin helped him gather the herbs he would need, and he nodded at Bekkou, indicating that she should leave. The woman seemed hesitant to go, but the maid offered her arm, helping the woman out quickly so that Miroku and Rin could work undisturbed. Rin was brewing the tea to calm the girl while Miroku worked on the poultice for her wounds, and soon they had both finished. Miroku checked Rin's mixture carefully, and after an approving nod, dosed the girl so that she would let them work on her more easily. Rin noticed that he let some of his spirit flow into her with the tea, a trick he had mastered for patients that were in more danger than most, as it helped to speed the healing process.
Once she had stilled her struggles, Miroku removed her bandages and began to stitch the deep gash together, the whole while explaining everything he was doing to Rin and asking her questions just as if they were studying from a book instead of learning this technique on a real girl. It was effective in calming Rin, listening to his voice and concentrating on the idea that he would not let this girl die. Miroku hated for children to die, and even if he had to give half the spirit he had in him to keep a child alive, he would do it. Even if it meant he would have to lean on Rin the whole way home and end up sleeping for the rest of the day trying to regain his energy. He was in high demand because his patients almost never died, and it was a hard thing to juggle healing and studying at the University, but he did it rather well, and even had time to spend with Rin besides all that. He had taught her how to use her spirit by the time she was nine, and when she turned ten, he began working on teaching her the mastery of the eye changing technique. She had taken little time to work it out properly, and so there remained between them the silent question of when she might leave for Seiiki. She had no visible Mark, and with her ability to control her eyes, Rin could leave as soon as Miroku could arrange it. However, she had grown to see him as family over the past two years, and it seemed horrible to leave him alone in Yuurei. At the same time, he did not want her to feel she must leave right away, and so nothing was said on the matter. He was, after all, prone to missing the sister he still kept an eye out for, even though he feared the worst in Kikyo's case. It was a foolish dream, to see her again, but there it was.
"Now, we need only apply the poultice and bind her wound securely." Miroku did as he said, his practiced hands working swiftly and gently to finish his job. Rin smiled brightly when he had finished.
"She'll be fine, won't she?" she couldn't help asking, even though she knew Miroku would not allow a little girl to die.
"Yes, she will be." He smiled back at her, and took her hand, rising to leave the room the same way he had entered it. Once they were out of the child's room, they were accosted by Madam Bekkou once more.
"Is she going to be okay?" the woman demanded. "Is there anything I should do? Will you be returning?"
"She will be fine, Madam Bekkou, as long as she is not disturbed. Right now, she needs rest and nourishment so that she might heal more quickly. I will return in two days to check on her progress, but if any of the stitches come loose, or if she complains of the pain, then you may send for me, and I will return as swiftly as possible." Miroku told her, his voice calming and soft, low lilting rhythms. "And please, drink some chamomile tea before you go to bed tonight, as you could use the soothing."
"Yes, I will." She assured him, just as if he had given her a mission. "I will do everything you say."
"Very good." He nodded slightly to her and turned to leave the compound with Rin. He seemed preoccupied the whole time, his eyes moving around as though he were looking for something. Finally, when they had left the front gate, Rin addressed him again.
"Is something wrong? You seemed odd on the way out." She told him, her young brow furrowing in concern. He smiled and patted her head softly. "Like you were looking for something."
"Oh, only the lovely Miss Shinju. It is a pity that you did not get a chance to meet her, Rin. Truly, a beautiful and dangerous young woman." Miroku sighed fondly. "I enjoyed treating her very much."
"I bet." Rin rolled her eyes. Trust Miroku to go from a serious situation to thoughts of women so easily. He was always like that, though, and so she had learned to simply ignore it. "She was brave, though, wasn't she?"
"Who?" Miroku blinked at his companion in confusion.
"The little girl, to go out and fight, getting such a horrid wound." Rin shuddered slightly. "Rather special, you think?"
"Singular." Miroku nodded slightly. "Odd, I forgot her name. Do you recall?"
"We didn't remember to ask." Rin bit her lip. "I feel silly now, not knowing her name at all."
"We can ask next time." Miroku assured her. "Would you like to go with me on the return visits?"
"Of course!" Rin nodded enthusiastically. "I would like to have a chance to talk to her."
"Funny, you seemed terrified when we went in, and now you can't wait to see the taijiya again." He teased her.
"I was not scared, only surprised." Rin defended. "And who could blame me? I had no idea that there were those type of people living here."
"They must live somewhere, you realize." Miroku sighed, his voice solemn. "And yet, I have only one hope…"
"What's that?" Rin wanted to know.
"Next time, Miss Shinju might be there." Miroku continued, his voice as serious as before, though his eyes twinkled with laughter. "That I might once again behold her beauty."
"Let's just go home." Rin was not about to try and stop Miroku from being the way he was. She had long since decided that such a thing would be rather impossible. It would take a strong woman indeed to settle down with someone as lecherous and incorrigible as the Healer Miroku.
*****
The End (Of Part 10, That Is)