Anyway, this particular chapter takes place during episodes 11, 12, and 13--the whole Taiji AKA "Great Tree of Fenril" goodness. Enjoy!
And we already know the whole disclaimer, that I don't own Pretear or its characters, so leave me alone!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They had been playing with a kite in the front yard of Himeno's oversized mansion, with Mannen trying to have sole possession of it, and Hajime and Kouri both protesting strongly against this. Shin and Kenjiro seemed satisfied just to run after the older children, waving their arms and echoing Hajime's cries of "No fair, no fair!"
Himeno and Hayate watched the rambunctious group as the former watered the flowers and the latter held a slumbering Samui awkwardly, as if unsure as to the correct way to carry a baby. Neither said a word, enjoying this rare moment of happiness that had once been so daily in their lives. Saihi had changed all of that, and the Pretear was determined to leave before the lives of her charges, friends, and family were put into danger.
At that precise moment, Mannen tripped, seemingly over his own two feet, and toppled to the ground, still clutching the kite to his chest. Kouri screeched to a halt before she joined him and Hajime peered worriedly at the older Knight.
"Mannen-nii, you hurt your knee…"
Sure enough, the white-haired boy sported a dark reddish scrape on his left knee. He prodded it and winced, but then stuck on a façade of bravado. "Awwww, that? It doesn't hurt a bit! I've gotten worse injuries."
"But it looks really painful!" Hajime persisted, and Shin and Kenjiro crowded in for a closer look. Kouri remained where she was for a few minutes, before a mischievous smile lit up her eyes. Planting a kiss on her palm, she placed it firmly on Mannen's knee with an air of great satisfaction.
"There! It'll be just fine now."
Much to her amusement, the boy looked absolutely flabbergasted. "What…WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
The other ten-year-old shook her head at him, lips pursed. "Whenever I fell down, Mom would always kiss it and say that kisses make everything better. So your knee won't hurt anymore."
For once, Mannen was speechless, but Kenjiro tugged on his sister's sleeve. "'Ri, don't you actually have to KISS the spot to make it better?"
Kouri giggled. "Maybe, but there's no way I'm kissing his dirty knee! It's all infected!" In a quick movement, she seized the kite from Mannen's lax grip and sprinted away with it. "Thanks for the kite, Cotton Ball!"
"Hey!" Mannen leapt to his feet, knee all but forgotten in this new indignity. "Give that back!!"
"Come and get it!"
As the shadows of the bright morning lengthened into the afternoon, the children gradually wore themselves out with their rowdy games and soon every single one had dropped off to sleep in the sun-warmed grass. When Himeno ambled closer, she saw that Mannen had his head propped on Kouri's stomach with one arm slung haphazardly across his chest. The girl had her own left arm tucked under Kenjiro, who slept back-to-back with Shin. The Knight of Plants was cuddled with Hajime, and all of this resulted in the cutest picture of innocence anyone could have imagined.
Hayate knew his pink-haired companion all too well, and quickly got a better grip on Samui before reaching over to clap a hand over Himeno's mouth. Sure enough, he heard a faint, muffled "Kawaiiiiiiii!" vibrating against his palm.
The older woman who stood with them seemed to be of the same opinion, extricating her youngest son from Hayate's hold and gazing down at the sleeping group with an air of fondness.
"I almost hate to wake them up…"
Before he knew it, Hayate did a rare thing.
He volunteered.
"I can carry them for you, without waking them up…"
Himeno almost snickered at his sudden timidity. Poor Hayate. Being flustered was a new experience for him, one quickly becoming normal as he spent more time with the Pretear.
"Oh, would you?" Mrs. Awaremi flashed him a grateful smile. "Kouri and Kenjiro aren't at all heavy."
And so it was that Goh, on his way to deliver a customer's order to the chef, saw a very unusual sight.
An attractive brown-haired woman and a very embarrassed-looking blue-haired Knight walked side-by-side, the former cradling a baby and the latter having a ten-year-old and a four-year-old draped over his shoulders like prize pelts.
Goh didn't feel TOO bad about borrowing a camera off a couple of tourists. Something this good just HAD to be captured on film, anyway. If just for the perfect blackmail factor.
---Back to Reality---
Kouri sighed listlessly, taking a distracted bite from her chocolate ice-cream and immediately remembering why one should NEVER bite one's ice-cream.
"Itaiiiii, that's coooold!" She whimpered, as her older sister glanced at her in disbelief.
"Baka, that's why you're supposed to lick it, not bite it! Honestly, you act like such a child sometimes!"
Kouri shot Okesa a sullen glare. "I AM a child," she muttered rebelliously, the only time she would freely admit it.
Okesa daintily licked her own strawberry dessert and rolled her eyes. At first glance, there wasn't much of a similarity between them. Sure, they both had purple hair, but Okesa's was so dark as to be closer to black than to an actual shade of violet. Her eyes were a simple blue, through and through, unlike Kouri's own muddled pair. Even though she was only two years older, she dressed a bit more like a young lady--this meant wearing long, floating skirts and pastel blouses, keeping her hair long and untangled, and not prancing around barefoot unlike certain little sisters. She was always trying to get Kouri to stop hanging around her brothers and those other little kids that Himeno often brought with her, but it was no use. Kouri disliked being told what to do and did her own thing anyway.
But now, Kouri was uncharacteristically silent. She was staring at a large poster plastered on a telephone pole with a picture of Himeno on it and glaring black characters: SEARCHING FOR A MISSING PERSON. Below that initial announcement, it listed information on Awayuki Himeno--her looks, when she had last been spotted, a reward for her safe return, and a request for any news that anyone might have of her.
I haven't seen her since that day I was at her house with Kenji and Sam-chan, she thought sadly, peering up at the picture intently. I wonder if she ran away…
For that matter, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of any of the Knights either. She hated to admit it, but she missed arguing with Mannen over the slightest thing and planting flowers with Shin and Himeno. She yearned for the days of water fights with Mannen and getting free parfaits from Goh. She even missed the flustered looks Kei got whenever Kenjiro earnestly told him how pretty he was and the way Hayate colored whenever any of the kids "innocently" mentioned him and Himeno in the same sentence. Where had they all gone? If she had been a less than unreasonable girl, she would have thought that she had done something wrong to annoy them and they had left forever. But she knew even if she HAD bothered them, they wouldn't have left like this.
The ten-year-old sighed, becoming aware that on every street corner, a man in a black suit stood, clutching posters. Himeno's face adorned buildings, poles, and even blimps. Kouri half-expected the Pretear herself to step out and wave her arms frantically, yelling, "HAVE YOU SEEN ME?"
Okesa glanced at her sister, seeing her staring transfixed at the poster, with the forgotten ice-cream slowly dripping onto her hand as it melted. The girl rolled her eyes skyward. Kouri was a lost cause.
At that moment, Kouri jerked back to reality, glancing about her with wide eyes. She could have sworn she saw a cluster of pink tongues dart at her from the corner of her eye, and then a bright flash…but it was gone now, if it had even been there in the first place.
Frowning, she turned to her older sibling. "Oneesan, did you see…"
"I didn't see anything," Okesa snapped, grabbing her sister's wrist. "Come on, we have to get back home before Mom goes on her date."
As her sister hauled her away, the younger of the girls looked up at the sky, laden with fluffy white clouds.
"Himeno-neechan, where did you go…?"
---The Next Day---
Kouri was rudely roused from her dreams by her little brother's urgent shaking of her shoulder.
"Go 'way," she mumbled tiredly, curling up into a tighter ball. "Too earlyyyyy…"
Kenjiro sounded exasperated. "No, it's not, 'Ri. It's noon! You slept in!"
This registered, and the girl bolted upright. "I WHAT?!" She NEVER slept in, being one of those early morning risers. This was a first.
"You kept tossing and turning and when you weren't up for breakfast, Mommy said to just let you sleep," the four-year-old explained, while the girl distractedly ran her fingers through her short, mussed purple hair.
Kouri sighed, blinking unfocused blue-gray eyes as she got out of bed and shuffled towards the window. As she hauled on the cord that raised the blinds and the sunlight filtered into her rooms, all haziness in her eyes vanished, to be replaced with sheer astonishment.
"…Hey, 'Ri…" Kenjiro looked from his stunned sister to the window and back to her again. "…Did Himeno-neechan's friends all just fly by, wearing weird stuff?"
"…Would you believe me if I said no?"
"No."
"Didn't think so. Get out for a minute and let me change."
The little boy obeyed and Kouri rummaged through her drawers, grabbing a white, pleated skirt that reached an inch or so above her knees with a pair of black bike shorts underneath. She wriggled into a black long-sleeved turtleneck and struggled into her socks as she hopped down the stairs.
If the Knights are here, they MUST know where Himeno-neechan is! She thought desperately. And after they tell me, I'm going to pound Mannen's face in for not telling me where they went! Oddly enough, this made her feel better and she bade her mother a cheery greeting as she flung open the door and raced outside with Kenjiro in tow.
"Where are we going?" The boy wanted to know as they trotted past the park.
"We're going to follow those stupid flying people," Kouri answered him, giving him a slightly demonic grin. "And when we find them, we're going to yell at them."
"I wanna know how the pretty lady can fly," Kenjiro told her with the utmost seriousness.
"Ask him la--" The girl stopped in her tracks, every nerve in her body suddenly alive and screaming at her to RUN.
Kenjiro blinked up at his sister innocently, blank as to why his sister had suddenly turned white. "Are you feeling okay, 'Ri?"
"Ssh." Kouri held up a finger, cocking her head to one side. "Listen."
Screams. There were loud, panicked screams and the sound of many feet from behind them and several crashes.
The Awaremi siblings turned around--and saw a wave of frightened people stampeding in their general direction, fleeing from…branches?!
"What's going on?" Kouri whispered, but then someone caught her by the hand and dragged her along with the tide of the yelling multitude. She winced as some unfortunate person went flying into a car, thanks to a branch, and looked up at the person who had her hand captive.
Rika Awaremi saw the confusion in her youngest daughter's cloudy eyes and did her best to smile reassuringly. "Keep a hold of your brother, Kouri. Okesa, do you have Samui?"
"Hai!" The twelve-year-old replied, holding her baby brother close.
"Good. Hurry, then!"
"What's happening??" Kenjiro wailed petulantly, straining to get a look behind him. He yanked his wrist out of Kouri's hand and ran the other direction to better see what everyone else was fleeing from. His sister muttered a low curse and ran after him. She found him blinking solemnly at a tree. A giant tree, which seemed to have taken root at…the Awayuki mansion?!
Kouri's eyes narrowed. So that was where the Knights had been headed. But…she still didn't understand what was happening. The tree's roots and branches seemed to be taking over the entire city, entwining around traffic lights and making them malfunction, squeezing cars until they shattered, and hurling people left and right.
"'Ri, I think the tree is evil…" Kenjiro said, after a long silence.
"Don't be silly, Kenji, trees can't be evil!"
One of the dormant roots lifted and hovered above the children menacingly. Their mother dragged them to safety just before the root smashed into the sidewalk where they'd stood, cracking it and forming a small crater.
"…That is an EVIL tree!" Kouri decided, as she ran alongside her family, not wanting to stay close to the malevolent thing anymore. Something was bothering her, however…
It wasn't until they reached the bridge that led out of the city that she realized what it was.
"Gin-chan! We forgot him!" She tried to pull away, but Rika held firmly onto her arm.
"Kouri, don't. He'll be fine! We have to get out of here!"
The child dug her heels firmly into the ground. "NO! He's family, too, and I'm not leaving him!"
A branch swooped down from above and Rika ducked. Kouri took advantage of this to slip free and take off running back to her home.
"Kouri!" Her mother shouted desperately, trying to go after her, but hindered by the needs of her other three children and the flow of the crowd. "Kouri, come back! KOURI!"
Hearing an unfamiliar voice scream a very familiar name, Mannen looked down. A lady was standing there, looking torn, and sobbing heartrendingly.
"You need to get out of here," he told her as gently as he could, floating down while Hajime and Shin kept the roots at bay.
She sniffled, glaring at him through reddened eyes. "I'm not leaving my daughter! I'm not leaving Kouri!"
The Ice Knight frowned. He'd heard right, after all. That little idiot was going to get herself killed!
"Don't worry," he assured the stricken woman. "I'll find her and get her to safety. I promise." After all, Goh had charged him with making sure ALL of the city's residents got out safely. Even the annoying ones. "Just go. She'll be fine."
Rika hesitated, but Samui whimpered in his sister's smothering hold and this decided her. "Bring my daughter back," she told Mannen softly, looking trustingly into his violet eyes. Then she took hold of Kenjiro's hand and the family fled across the bridge, becoming lost amidst a sea of faces.
Mannen sighed, looking at his comrades in arms. "Hajime, Shin, keep getting people out! I'll be right back!"
"But where are you going??" Hajime cried.
"To find an idiot!" He paused as something shifted and looked to Shin for an answer. "What's going on now?"
"The tree…it…"
---Back to Kouri---
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Kouri kept repeating, as her beloved dog leapt up and washed her face with his tongue in the throes of delight. She wrapped her arms around his thick ruff and hugged him fiercely, then grasped his collar and led him swiftly down the ruined street. At least he hadn't been hurt by any of the roots.
Without warning, a blinding white light suddenly filled the area, once again emanating from the Awayuki place, and Kouri blinked when she realized that the roots had stopped moving and now lay limp and complacent.
"I don't know what just happened, but let's go, Gin-chan!" She quickened her pace and the dog fell into a fast trot beside her. They kept this up for a good ten minutes, but then Kouri flinched when she both felt and heard an ominous rumbling. The renewal of yells in the distance verified that the evil tree was on the move again. However, she didn't need any confirmation, for suddenly, the sidewalk buckled and pitched up, heaving girl and dog into an emptied convenience store--via the window.
In a shower of jagged glass, Kouri hit the floor, arms still clenched tightly around Gin-chan. Her entire body ached sharply, and there was a searing line of pain across her left cheek. Judging by the wetness she felt dripping down it, it was bleeding. Her dog seemed relatively unharmed except that his floppy ears were shredded at the tips and he was limping a little. Several thin ribbons of crimson liquid drizzled across his side, marring his formerly pristine white coat.
Fierce rage filled Kouri's small body and she scrambled out of the store, glaring daggers at the offending root, which was still thrashing about.
"Leave my dog alone, you stupid stick!"
Acting almost as if it could hear her and was affronted, the root steadied and raised itself up. Then, abruptly, it shot for her, knocking her off her feet and sending her careening into a pillow.
Wait…a PILLOW?
"Aaaaaargh, baka! Why'd you have to go and run off?"
Kouri blinked and realized that it wasn't a pillow she'd hit. Pillows couldn't hug you so hard that it felt like your ribs were being crushed.
"What the--Mannen?!" She turned to get a better look at her rescuer as they floated slowly to the ground. Sure enough, it was the same Ice Knight with the disheveled white hair and the large purple eyes. Except he looked like he'd been in a fight with Godzilla and Godzilla had won. His Knight outfit was torn and ripped, he bore several cuts on his face and hands, and the teasing spark that usually lit up those dark oculars was just a mere pinpoint now. He released her and wearily raised a hand, firing a jet of ice at the tree appendage and freezing it solid before it had a chance to attack again.
"Your mom freaked out and I promised I'd find you and get you away from here." Mannen grinned crookedly, swiping at a particularly dark smudge on his face with his fist. His eyes rested on the cut on her cheek. "Are you okay? You got cut…"
Kouri returned his grin with one every bit as lopsided. "Awww, that? It doesn't hurt a bit! I've gotten worse injuries."
The boy chuckled ruefully as she used the exact words he'd said on the day he'd last seen her. And then, remembering what else had taken place that day, he leaned forward and left a lingering kiss on her cheek. "So it'll feel better," he whispered, his cold lips brushing the tip of her reddened ear.
Before Kouri could counter with a biting remark to hide her flustered confusion, Mannen had seized her hand and was rising into the air once more.
"Hey, wait!" She pointed at Gin-chan, who was now loping towards them. "What about Gin-chan?"
Mannen sighed. "You're heavy enough! I can't carry him too!"
"Then I'll walk. I'm not leaving him behind again!"
As he gazed into her scowling face, the young Knight wished that he'd saved someone a little less stubborn.
"Look, I'll fly slow enough. He can run along and you make sure he keeps up, got it?"
Kouri realized this was the best she was going to get from him. She looked sternly at the family canine. "Gin-chan, follow. DON'T SNIFF ANY FIRE HYDRANTS."
The dog wagged his tail and whined in agreement and the girl allowed Mannen to lift her into the sky once more, grasping his hand firmly.
"What's going on, anyway?" With a sweep of her free hand, she indicated the rubble of the streets and dwellings and the tree in the distance.
"Saihi took control of Himeno-neechan's sister and made that tree start attacking people and Sasame went to her side, and Himeno-neechan and Hayate went to fight her. Goh and Kei told me, Hajime, and Shin to get everyone out of the city. The tree calmed down for awhile, and Shin said it was confused, but then it woke up again and it's been like that."
The ten-year-old looked slightly befuddled. "Who're Saihi and Sasame?"
"Sasame is one of the Knights, but he's in love with Saihi. She was once a Pretear, but she went bad because of Hayate and became a Princess of Disaster."
"And you're all fighting…" Kouri was silent as they flew towards the bridge, noticing the two familiar figures fighting off yet more roots. Goh and Kei… "Mannen, I want to help."
The Ice Knight stopped short and glanced back at her. There was no hint of playfulness in his gaze…just fatigued worry.
"No. You're not a Knight or a Pretear. You'd only get hurt."
"But--" Kouri began, but he cut her off sharply.
"You're always defending your family, without thinking about yourself! I know you're worried about Himeno-neechan, but you can't help this time! I promised your mom I'd give you back safe and alive! Worry about yourself for once! Besides, you'd just get in the way."
He stiffened, having spotted the tears brimming in his companion's eyes. "Oh geez, I didn't mean it that way. The best thing you can do for us is to be safe and I don't want anything happening to you!" His voice cracked slightly. "Even if you don't believe it, you're my friend, Kouri! So please, go be with your family! We'll be all right, I promise! Just don't cry!"
"I know I'm being stupid!" Kouri sobbed, the tears flowing unhindered now. "I know it! But all of you, risking your lives to save everybody…who's going to save you? I know I'd only get in the way, but…I don't want to run away like a fraidy cat!"
"Baka," Mannen chided her, eyes softening. "You're brave so don't think you're being a wimp. Stop worrying about everyone else and help your brothers. They're scared and they need you right now." He set her down on the asphalt as Gin-chan halted just beside them. "Your mom's coming. I need to get back to Shin and Hajime."
He started to fly off, but Kouri slowly reached out, eyes still watering. It was then that Mannen realized that despite her tough talk and her penchant for violence, and her claim that she didn't need anyone's help…Kouri was still a kid, just like he was (as much as he hated to admit it). She was just as afraid of losing people she cared for as he was.
With this new knowledge implanted in his mind, Mannen took her hand. They shook hands solemnly, and then, without a word, he took to the sky. Without a word, a promise had been made between comrades. A promise to survive.
"Be careful, Cotton Ball," were Kouri's departing words to him as her hysterical mother and relieved siblings came racing up to engulf her in hugs.
---Later…---
Kenjiro stuck out his hand to receive a falling snowflake, watching it as it melted into chilled water the instant it touched his warm palm. "It's snowing," he whispered, in tones of great wonderment.
His ten-year-old sister nodded, observing as the bloody strips on Gin-chan's fur and ears disappeared and her own cut was healed. But Mannen had already made it better.
"Something happened," Okesa noted, watching everything rebuild itself before her very eyes and hugging a cooing Samui while her mother wept tears of joy. "We were saved."
Kouri nodded, inhaling deeply as a fresh breeze carried cherry petals across the pale blue sky and unaware that someone else was also watching the sky with eyes of amethyst.
---OOC---
Trust me, if you haven't seen this episode, you'll probably be confused. The tree was the ebil tree that was created when Sasame broke Mawata's heart by kissing Takako. The bright light was when Mawata emerged from the tree, which made it dormant for a bit because she had been its core of despair. Then Sasame died and TAKAKO became the new core, which got the tree in an uproar and it started attacking again. And the snow is the Leafe Snow that heals everything. Himeno made this happen when she transformed into the White Pretear. The end. And if you're STILL confused…watch the anime. -.-
Please review and here's a preview for the next chapter: Kouri Meets Her Conscience!
The dark, ominous shadow crept over to the bed in which her new puppet lay. "Despair," she whispered tantalizingly. "Hate, my dear…become my puppet of darkness!"
Kouri blinked. "…Are you my conscience?"
Needless to say, the creature was unsure how to approach this. "Ah…yes, it is I, your conscieeeeence…despaiiiiir for no one loves you…"
Goh chose that moment to throw open the door in a very heroic manner. "DON'T LISTEN TO A THING SHE'S SAYING!"
The child smiled sweetly at him. "Oh, hello. Are you my conscience too?"
It was Goh's turn to blink. "Uh…"
"If you are, please tell Kei I'm sorry for throwing up on him. I'm gonna go to sleep now, the macaroni's dancing…"
10 pages…-dies-