Chapter Seventeen- The One
Now where did he go? She looked about, putting her hands on her hips and scowling. I know I left him right here… She sighed in annoyance, palming her forehead. He acts just like a pup sometimes…
Asa knew this feeling. She wasn't herself, for the second time. She was someone else… "Ai," a voice said from behind her, making her smirk and turn – to meet a golden-eyed gaze. "You were looking for me?"
Youko… She was Ai, and she was staring at Kurama's demon form. Wow. He seemed to know her, too. Just like the last time, she heard an older voice speak of its own accord from her throat. "Yes, Youko. Where were you? I thought I'd lost you again."
"I didn't go far." He offered her a smirk, glancing her over. She followed his gaze, noticing the rather strange kimono she wore, and he spoke again, "I like your new outfit. Not very priestess-like, though."
"I know. But I needed something to wear to meet Rika. She should be coming here soon."
"I don't like the woman," Youko growled lowly. "She just uses you for your power…she wants you to be something you're not. Your mother's name was not Mitsukai, you aren't the One."
Mitsukai? That was Asa's mother's name. Ai smiled for her softly, and spoke, "Rika is sure that I am the One, at least, she is sure that my soul is also Hers. She is only doing what she thinks is right – she is only trying to save the world from the Shadow." His ears lay back and he tensed visibly. She reached up, cupping his cheek in her hand. "You know what the Shadow is, as well, don't you?"
"I've heard of it, yes." Youko's voice was edgy.
"Then you know why I must do this. I must see. Rika knows it. You know it, love."
Love? Hey, lady, I don't know who you are or why I'm in your body, but you're gonna have to stop it with the "love" stuff. This one's mine. Asa would have blushed, had she been in her own body. Did she seriously just refer to the fox as hers? Um…oops? Youko opened his mouth to speak again, but Asa drifted away, toward a different, darker place…
And the pain was unbearable. She groaned, feeling every muscle in her body plummet back into her possession, and tested her eyes – ouch, that hurt! – but they still worked. She opened them, and could see a fuzzy image above her face – one that slowly cleared and revealed two green reflections of her face.
"Asa? Daijobu?" he asked, furrowing his brow in concern.
"Aa, I'm fine, Kurama. Could you, like, move away or something? I'm having a hard enough time seeing things as it is," she said, weakly lifting her hand to his shoulder and trying in vain to push him out of her line of sight. He took her hand in his, however, removing it easily from his shoulder.
"Asa, we need to talk." His tone was brusque, and scathing, and she already knew what it was he was going to say, to her own surprise.
"I know, I know. I went after an Akumu by myself. I'm in trouble. Right?" She took the paraphrased version of the words right out of his mouth, and he had to blink for a moment to catch himself.
"Uh…right." The stern expression returned. "Asa, you shouldn't have done such a thing. You could have been seriously injured. And it was an Akumu. Did you kill it?" He paused, waiting for her to answer, and after a moment, she feebly nodded. "Then you were cursed, weren't you?" Another meek nod. "Oh, Asa-chan. Do you know what that means? For the rest of your life, your dreams will be wrought with fear. You should have let us handle it."
"It wouldn't have made a difference anyway," she responded wearily. "It's not like nightmares are anything new for me, I used to have them all the time. I told you that. And besides, it's not my entire life. Just until I can face my fear." He eyed her curiously, leaning back and folding his hands thoughtfully beneath his chin.
"Still," he spoke then, "I would have rather had you safe, and unharmed. Do you know how much you worried us all?"
"I've got a pretty good idea…" She tried to sit up, but he kept a hand to her shoulder, pressing her gently back down.
"Better not move yet. Genkai took a look at your injuries, and she used her power to see about healing them. Lying still seems to help the process, so we've all learned." He was being hypocritical, and he knew it. Here he was, annoyed with her for endangering herself, when for as long as he'd known her he'd been in numerous dangers that she'd probably been completely unaware of until she'd seen that tape. And he wasn't surprised by the annoyance in the expression she wore then, was in fact expecting it. "And were you seriously considering not telling us about your encounter with the Akumu?"
"Yes, I seriously, seriously was. Do you see how you're reacting now?" she asked, giving him a glare. "How would you have reacted then?"
He had to give her kudos for that. They would have all been furious if she hadn't been unconscious and exhausted when they found out about the Akumu. His real worry now had to lie with her fears. Silently, he wondered just what it was that she would be "facing" to break the Akumu's last curse. He avoided that topic presently, but didn't hit a mark far off with his next question. "You were having night terrors last night, weren't you?"
She averted her gaze quickly, mumbling, "Well, it's a part of that curse thing. You didn't seem to be sleeping so well yourself." At his askance expression, she explained, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, "I heard you muttering in your sleep when I left. So you were lying to me when you said that those dreams had gone away…"
"I wasn't. I thought that they had. I figured out…the meaning behind them."
"And was she a memory of Youko?" Surprised, he looked up at her. "It sounded like a name that you spoke." She was really trying to see if his dreams were about the same priestess as hers had been of late.
"Yes… She was a priestess he loved by the name of Ai," he explained, furrowing his brow at her unsurprised look of recognition toward the name. "Do you know of her?"
"She was the High Priestess of the Order of the Fox, wasn't she?" she asked. He nodded once. "Yes. I know of her. I had a dream about her…Natsumi, Kasumi, Jin, and Touya told me the little bit they knew about her – that she lived in Makai and died around fifteen or sixteen years ago."
"A year before Youko did," he told her with another nod. "Yes, I remembered that."
"So, who is she exactly? I…had a dream that there was a High Priestess, Rika, who was coming to see her…thought she was someone important. The One. Whatever that means."
"The One?" he repeated, furrowing his brow. "I don't have any memories about that…"
That damn Rika. I never liked her. -
"…But apparently Youko does," he added, when he heard the angry growl in his mind. "He doesn't seem too fond of Rika."
"No, I didn't take it that way, either. You can speak to him?" He nodded. "Can you ask him about Mitsukai?" He gave her a puzzled look then, remembering something from Koenma's story about 'Mitsukai.' "Just humor me, okay?"
Youko, did you hear Asa? Do you know anything about Mitsukai? Wasn't she the supposed mother of the priestess who would bear the Light?
- She was, and is. Ai was not her daughter, and although Ai's soul was shared with the One, Rika was incorrect in thinking that Ai was that priestess. Ai was powerful – but she wouldn't have been able to survive the Light. She didn't even survive her own powers, brought to their full extent… - His voice had turned sad, and Kurama's expression matched the somber mood that stole over them both then.
"He remembers something?" Asa asked, reaching for his hand instinctively to wipe the grave look from his face. He glanced down at her hand as it laced with his, then gave her a strange look. She tinged slightly, but kept gazing at him expectantly anyway. She couldn't stop compassion, and no matter how hard she worked to conceal any other emotions, she would not let him wear that expression.
"He says Rika had assumed that Ai was Mitsukai's daughter – we had heard a legend from Koenma about this daughter earlier, and she is supposedly a priestess who, with a power called the Light, could save the world from the Shadow. But Youko says that Ai only shared a soul with the true One, not her power or her mother." The look of pure shock, and fear, on Asa's face then couldn't be matched by any other, except the fearful look she might have given him if he was on the brink of death. "Asa? Is something wrong?" he asked, returning the pressure of their clasped hands.
"Kurama…my…my mother's name was Mitsukai."
-
Kurama emerged from his steady vigil in Asa's room sometime later, looking quite troubled. Hiei noticed him first, but Yusuke was the one who addressed him. "Daijobu, Kurama?"
"Hai. But…no, too." He looked up at them, his expression unquiet and thoughtful. "Asa's mother's name is Mitsukai."
Everyone gave him a shocked expression, except for Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were too dense to recognize the name. "So? Why're you worried about her mom? How's she?"
"If you remember, dimwit, Koenma just told you a story about the daughter of Mitsukai. How she's the wielder of the Light – that power that can save the world?" Yusuke's expression turned slowly into one of understanding, and his widened eyes turned back to the red-haired fox standing in the doorway. "But that could just be a coincidence, Kurama."
"But she told me she's been having dreams about the last priestess whom was thought to be this One. Her name was Ai. The High Priestess of the Order of the Fox."
"I remember her," Genkai nodded. "She'd actually been a student of Rika, the High Priestess, who was a close friend of mine. But Ai died some time ago."
"Yes, she was destroyed by her own power," Kasumi added, looking from the psychic to her sister. "But she was one of the most powerful priestesses in all the Order, and there were rumors that she shared the One's spirit."
"There is another legend that says once a full-fledged priestess, the One could be consumed by her own power, just as Ai was. That was why it was assumed by many that she had been the One, but the demon she'd destroyed wasn't the Shadow."
"No. He was also an Akumu by the name of Goshi, but he wasn't strong enough to be any Shadow." He was aware that they were all gazing at him questioningly, as if to ask where he'd learned of this information. He would usually have been at least graceful enough to blush – right now, he was petrified for Asa. "Ai was the priestess Youko fell for before he died," he explained. Brows shot to hairlines, all but Hiei's, but no one questioned him. "It occurred to me a few times before, when we first found out about Asa's being a priestess, that she and Ai had far too many similarities for it to be coincidence. I think Asa might be Ai reincarnated, but only partially in soul, which would be what everyone meant by Ai's sharing her soul. But I hadn't really truly thought about it until just now. We're going to have to speak with Koenma about this."
"Sure, Kurama, whatever you want," Yusuke nodded. "We'll go now. You can stay with her, if you want." They all knew that was what he wanted. He offered a nod and a small smile, but then turned to return to Asa. "Hey, she is alright, though, right?"
"She'll be fine. You know she's far too stubborn to let an Akumu defeat her," he glanced at them over his shoulder one last time before hurrying back to her. They were silent a moment, before Kuwabara spoke.
"So, um…she could be in danger, right?"
"Aa. That girl's getting a knack for it," Touya agreed. "Just like you lot, it seems." They all chuckled halfheartedly at the joke. This new revelation meant two things for them: one, if Asa was the One, she'd be in grave danger of her own power, and two, if that be the case, they'd have to train her even faster. Sakai was the Shadow, Asa was the Light. They didn't know what her ultimate power was, but the thought that it could destroy her was frightening, and the knowledge that she may have to make that sacrifice, for them, for the world, was unbearable.
-
Asa had fallen asleep again under his careful eye, and he sat beside her, watching her fitful expression and wishing he could do more for her. The others had gone to see Koenma immediately after he'd come back to her room to watch over her. Now, he'd solve another great piece to the puzzle that had become Asa. But he was still uncertain about why she'd been so closed-up to him since her return. She had been so extremely careful to avoid showing emotion of any sort, it was baffling.
Sweat appeared on her brow, and he took the cool cloth that he'd collected earlier and dabbed at her face gently, careful not to disturb her too much. His expression was thoughtful when he sat back, eyes always on her, as well as thoughts. Priestess training requires mind, body, and soul to be in perfect harmony. He knew that much, but it didn't help him piece together the final parts of his puzzle. Did it?
- To have perfect harmony of the mind, the body, and the soul, one must suppress any constraints to others, to be within oneself. -
So she…has to cut herself off from others – from me
- Maybe you're not so dense after all, Shuuichi. -
Kurama glared at the air between himself and Asa, not bothering to even comment on Youko's "compliment." She had to cut herself off…from him. That meant she still had some emotional connections with him.
He barely restrained himself from grinning like a fool, merely because of the fact that those emotions connected with him might very well be anger and remorse. But then again, they might be something more, he decided, remembering the past few days and her more surprising actions toward him, the blush that would paint her cheeks when he was near or said something nice, the way she'd paled when they had their first real conversation after she'd returned.
Asa was strong. She could get through her training well enough without showing those emotions. He knew that, and he also knew that she was by far stronger than he was, that she would prevail over her power. She wouldn't let the Light take her as Ai had.
In that moment, Kurama loved her more than he had ever allowed himself to admit, if it were possible.
There. Some cuteness for you. And some not-so-greatness, too. Okay, so now we know about a buncha stuff concerning Asa and Ai. Yay, right? Right? Okay, reviews!
Hiei- Chardene, is it? Meka says you can claim me. Thank you for the review (and for ruining my life. Do you know how embarrassing this is going to be? You'd better be cute o.O)
In other words, Chardene, he likes you. (wink)
Yusuke- Hiya, Sazuka-chan. Yeah, I have to agree with you. Mama-Boy IS being slightly OOC. What's up with that, Meka?
(ahem) Yes, I concede – I've been changing our boy slightly. But it's with purpose, I promise! He's always so calculative and so KNOWING, but he's never really known all there is to know about Asa. She's his "puzzle," so I have to alter him ever-so-much to make him…well, Asa's lover boy. (biiiig wink) Um…so. Yeah. (shrug) But thanks for the reviews, as usual!
Kurama- Hello, Mel-chan! Don't worry…the "game" won't last too much longer. Meka has informed us of a certain…thing. (raises eyebrow) And, this last chapter wasn't all that "gamey," as she puts it.
Hey, stop that!
Kurama- Stop what, dear child?
…THAT!
Kurama- (weird look)
…Damn Giles. I'm never letting you guys watch Buffy again. It alters your mindsets.
Kuwabara- …Wha?
