by Korii Shoujo
Chapter Three - Ookawa
Faces surrounded him, on every side, but they held no soul or purpose. They simply existed, like the seemingly annoying insects do. They marched and hurried in their crowds around Mitsuru, pushing and stumbling all over each other to win the obscure race of the city with their far-fetched purposes to be exactly on time. The tengu despised the loudness and chaos of the place and as soon as he had entered the turmoil of the city, he had immediately missed the tranquility of the Moon Palace where he had spent the last five years of his life. He had grown so used to the quiet of the hidden world that it had become his second nature to startle immediately at any kind of disruptive noise. In fact, he hadn't ventured out of the premesis very often, except to go to dinner with Mahiru or to occasionally visit her aunt's house in Tokyo. These stays were always brief and usually didn't involve entering the inner city where the confusion reached its peak, unless Mahiru had wanted to.
A sad smile tugged at Mitsuru's lips as he remembered their last date before the illness had stricken Mahiru, their excursion that involved dashing all over the streets and alleyways of Tokyo, as giddy as the couple of teenagers they once were, guffawing and beaming like idiots, just being content with life as it was. Mahiru had given Mitsuru countless reasons to flip his frown upside down and laugh with her because he couldn't resist her charm and silly antics, no matter how bad of a mood he had immersed himself in. Even after she had left him, her request that he smile lingered, ringing sweetly in his ears like a tiny, mournful bell, so he complied with what she wanted and smiled, no matter how false or idiotic he felt in doing so. He'd put up with it for her and her alone as it was her dying wish. Shaking his head as if to physically clear his thoughts away, Mitsuru sighed and looked at the mysteriously ominous sign bearing the word, 'Information' that loomed above his head in a most unwelcome manner. Shrugging off the feeling of dread that began to creep up his spine sinisterly, the tengu pushed open the shining, glass door accompanied with the tiny tinkling sound of a bell.
Once inside, Mitsuru began browing the shelves and shelves of brochures, searching for the one row that would contain information about local shrines and the manner. Although the tengu knew that the one that concealed the Tear would probably not even be known to the general human population, it was worth a try for Mahiru's sake. Sighing in an annoyed way, he stopped looking and grabbed every single pamphlet having to do with shrines that his exhausted amber eyes could focus on. Soaring through the sky all night until daybreak was starting to show its melancholy effects on Mitsuru, plus the sorrow from Mahiru's death was still eating away at his dilapidated soul. Holding the bundle of precious information in his left arm, the tengu walked towards the counter to purchase with his eyes downcast and his mind heavily consumed in thought. Not watching where he was going, he ended up colliding with an older man with a muffled 'oomph'. Looking up to apologize, Mitsuru froze in his tracks and stared, wondering where he could've seen that face before.
"Are you all right?" the man questioned snidely, his lips quirking with a surpressed smirk as he looked a confused Mitsuru over with searching eyes that seemed to reconize him from somewhere else.
"Y-Yeah." The tengu mumbled in reply, picking up a few of the brochures that had fallen and rearranging them in his arms. "Sorry."
The man just chuckled, his eyes narrowing with laughter towards Mitsuru, who was standing before him, not moving a muscle. Finally, the mysterious man left, but not until looking Mitsuru over thoroughly, leaving a certain tengu with even more chaos and fear in his mind than before. After paying for his pamphlets, he left the shop, the tinkle from the bell clinking mockingly towards the tengu, as if it knew something that he did not. Mitsuru re-adjusted the featherweight plastic bag on his shoulder and glared at a few girls dressed in full school uniform as they walked by him and giggled coyly, trying to attract his attention to the insanely short pieces of cloth that covered their bottom half, upset by a stray breeze or two, or maybe to get him to actually approach and started conversing. Mitsuru didn't really give a damn either way.
"I need to work harder...," he muttered to himself, glancing up at a darkening sky, heralding an approaching thunderstorm.
Fleeing from the girls into a secluded alley, Mitsuru closed his eyes tightly and leaned against the imposing brick wall that was to his back, burying his tired face into his slightly red hands that were shaking from the toll his emotions were taking on him, betraying his cool composure physically. The tengu recomposed himself, shaking his head lightly, a determined look masking the tears that were about to surface a mere moment before.
'Damnit, Mitsuru. You know there are more important things to worry about.' he thought, angry with himself for even considering to rest for a few minutes. Suddenly, an icy feeling coursed through his body, conjuring nausea and emptiness from nowhere, a feeling that fled seconds after it had come. The air around him held an ethereal aura and from nowhere, a whisper found itself racing back and forth violently within the confines of Mitsuru's ear.
"Rest, please. Don't hurt yourself, Miru, please." A haunting voice rang out as a humid series of air scraped the edge of Mitsuru's ears, feeling uncannily like someone's breath on his ears. All of the tengu's remaining color drained from his face, knowing the voice all to well.
"No, Mahiru," he gasped, clutching at his chest, deja-vu sweeping over him like a broom, "Come back to me, please! I know I'm not hallucinating, damnit! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!"
His frantic, tortured screams were lost in the breath of the rising, morning air and were carried away like broken wishes to be lost over the sky scrapers, standing proud against the silouette of a sky blackened by clouds.
As Mahiru lay on her hated death bed listlessly as she had since Mitsuru had left to find the Eighth Tear, frantically praying that Mitsuru would be okay, a faint, yet strong choking scream reached her ears from somewhere inside her brain, one that belonged to the tengu. He begged her to come back, a more desperate plead from her love than the girl heard in her entire life and afterlife. The Princess threw her entire self up, her mouth hanging open with disbelief and excitement. Tears coursed down her cheeks and she almost pulled her mouth up into a smile, wondering if he had heard her fading prayers. Drawing her knees up tight against her chest, she rocked back and forth, newfound hope igniting the first sparks in her heart.
"Are you listening to me, Mitsuru? Be careful, please," she whispered with a trembling voice, clinging to what ever optimism she had left.
"Come back for me."
Sleep hid her in whatever covert position it had the power to conceal in, veiling her in white satin like a nervous bride. The wispy veil remained for days, months, years, even to the extent that she gave up the hope of ever waking up from the impenitrable nightmare her reality had twisted itself into becoming, cruelly enough. However, nothing lasted forever, especially in the detatched world that the girl existed in and slowly the veil, overgrown with cobwebs and dust, was lifted carefully one bleak, summers day, as she opened her shining eyes for the first time in almost five years. However, as soon as her eyes unclosed themselves, disgust filled every fiber of her frail being as she viewed the eyes and face and hair of the person, the horrible man, that had shoved her into her coma-induced sleep for such a long time. She hissed as an onslaught of light suddenly reached her eyes; her pupils squeezed themselves shut to avoid recieving too much too soon. The bastard man who sat by her bedside smiled overly sweetly, finishing awakening her.
"You," she growled dangerously, hatred flashing against the portraits of her eyes, "What the hell is your problem?"
"Oh, so you're finally awake, love?" he replied in a neutral voice, standing up with some difficulty that showed in the worn lines of his face, "I certainly thought you would sleep forever. It's a good thing I woke you up."
Her fury mounted indescribably, nearly blinding her with rage, part of a grudge that had built in her sleep for years and years. She wanted to spit in his face, to wrap her frail, pale hands around his neck and choke him till the breath left his mouth and his face contorted, turing to an undesirable blue-ish tint. She, however, desired it more than anything she had ever desired in her life. His eloquent tongue did not confuse or fool her in the least; she knew his motives, just as clearly as she had before the Sleep had taken her from the world temporarily.
"I hate you," she spat, gripping the sheets that covered her around her naked body protectively.
"Ah, but love, hate is such a strong word," he replied, honey dripping like poison out of the edges of his smirking grin, "Besides, I own you, my little birdie. You do what I say, or there will be consequences. Isn't that right, my darling Keiko?"
Keiko did not respond; instead, she looked down at herself and closed her eyes tightly, holding back from lashing out as it would get her no further in her prediciment than she was already in now. Instead, she looked away towards her hands, replying to the man in a weak, shaky voice. She had promised herself she would never succumb to him and his ways, but now things seemed to be growing much bleaker for her and her fate than she could ever image.
"Yes, Hokuto."
"Yesterday you gave your burden a face.
Yesterday you gave your burden a name.
But your burden looks an awful lot like her.
Love rhymes with pity now.
Love rhymes with sympathy now."
"Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck" by Blood Brothers
A/N: I believe this chapter is a bit under par compared to the rest. I apologize for that, but the plot building was esstential for the story to continue. Oh, and many thanks to my lovely reviewers!