When Dreams Come True
NOTE: The last chapter was the end of part one. I probably should've mentioned something to indicate it but yeah. But the only indication that the part changes is that the poem in the beginning changes. If you study the poems closely, you get a brief description of what is going to go on. The first poem was kind of the surface of the story whereas this poem is digging a little deeper. Can you tell how this story will form?
…Because medicine doesn't heal
And doctors can't tell
If better I'm to feel
And when I'm to get well.
Chapter seven – Stay Strong
The next day, Misao woke with a start in a cold sweat. She had a horrible dream. In it, she saw a swordsman kill another person. Sure that description enough didn't seem like it would shake up a person that much, but what was different about this dream was the swordsman was smiling.
…no…
It was the same smile that Soujiro would always use. But this time, it was evil. And that's what frightened Misao the most.
"Misao-chan! Time to get up!" The door slid open as Okon walked in, "So how'd you sleep? You know it's 11 o'clock already, you can be such a hard sleeper sometimes."
Misao looked up with drowsy eyes, "Okon," but she was once again cut off by Okon's rambling.
"If only you woke up at your normal time, you would've seen Aoshi-kun. He left a little later than usual today. He must've slept in too."
"Okon,"
"And Shiro and Kuro made you a big breakfast too. You should come down before it begins to get cold. Also Omasu's doing laundry today so if you have any dirty clothes, drop them off in front of your room."
"Okon," Misao's voice was annoyed now.
"And Jiya is going to drop off lunch to the Kiyomizu Shrine and he was wondering if you wanted to join him. He's leaving in about an hour so you can make up your mind by then."
"OKON."
Okon stopped suddenly with a surprised face while Misao began to talk, "What wrong with you? You never start blabbing like this unless you're…you're trying to HIDE SOMETHING! Tell me NOW!" Misao yelled as she jumped up and grabbed Okon from around the collar.
Okon held her hands to her mouth, "No! Never! Let me go!"
"TELL ME NOW! YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T RESIST THE GOSSIP!"
That's all it took.
Okon then burst out in a hysterical laughter, "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She then started rolling on the ground. Misao knew Okon's weakness, but the process always scared her.
"Today, Jiya and Kuro are going to go look for Soujiro today!" she then looked at Misao and then towards the door where the other four Oniwabanshuu members with exasperated look.
Okon then bowed, "I'm sorry! She forced it out of me!"
Their heads all hung low. Shiro then brought his hand to his head, "I knew we shouldn't have told Okon…"
Misao stood there angrily, "HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME! I WANNA LOOK FOR SOU ALSO!"
Jiya took a step forward, "Mi-chan, calm yourself down!"
"NO!"
Misao then sprinted downstairs and came back up in a matter of seconds with a huge backpack rested on her back, "I'm ready! Let's hit the road!"
Their heads dropped yet again.
Jiya mumbled to himself, "No peace when it comes to that boy."
By a couple hours later, Jiya, Misao, and Kuro were on their way. Okon watched with teary-closed eyes while she waved a handkerchief off in the direction the three searchers were heading.
Then Shiro asked, "Okon-san, how did you know to send them off to Tokyo?"
Okon smirked, "I didn't," Shiro fell to the ground, "Just kidding…Sou-chan actually told me he wanted to go to Tokyo because that's where Himura-san was."
Shiro nodded, "Ah, so you think he wants to get more of Ken-san's advice?"
Okon could only smile.
But in Tokyo…
Soujiro himself was able to get out of bed. He was now working around Keita's house doing chores left and right because in truth, that's about all he could do besides kill people.
"Hey Soujiro, where'd you come from anyways?" Keita asked. It had only been a little while ago did she even think about it.
"Kyoto."
Her face was a little shocked, "Seriously! And you actually left there? Well, since you're twenty years old, were you a housecleaner or something?"
Soujiro twitched a little, "No, I just happen to be good with housework."
"Oh, cool…I guess," she drifted off while she finished folding the bed sheets.
Soujiro thought for a moment to himself, he wondered if Mr. Himura did housework like he did. He felt a little embarrassed. He wondered if housework was a little too pathetic than Mr. Himura actually wanted him to become.
Or maybe he just wanted you to be happy…Soujiro then stopped for a moment, "How come you don't have any help around here?"
She looked up, "You mean servants? Oh well, I just didn't want any help so I fired them all," she looked up to Soujiro who's face was a little confused, "I mean, well…I mean exactly what I said. I just didn't want any help."
"But what about your,"
"They left," Soujiro glanced at Keita who continued folding laundry, "They heard about how wonderful the West was so they left. But they didn't want to take me so they left me here with my grandmother."
Soujiro glanced back at her, "I've never met your grandmother."
She set the last piece of laundry down, "That's 'cause she lives in an entire different house a couple miles away from here. She pays the bills for this house but I rarely see her. But when I do see her it's so annoying. She just calls me my mom's name all the time and then asks me to sit in front of her and drink tea. It's really, really weird."
She finished her speech off with a roll of her eyes. But soon those rolling eyes instantly became wide, "Wait, is this the first of the month!" Soujiro nodded, "Crap! I have to go visit her today! Um…! Do you mind if we can hop on over to her place for a little while?"
Soujiro nodded as Keita grabbed his hand, "Come on! Let's go!" And then they were off.
A couple miles later, Keita and Soujiro arrived at her grandmother's house. It was huge, "Come on!" Keita urged as she tugged on Soujiro's sleeve.
As they entered the house, Keita ran off in search of her grandmother while Soujiro gaped in awe as he observed the tremendous beauty of the interior design. The colors mainly were white or some other light color with a gold trim. It even seemed to glow more because of the chandelier that hung in the middle of the room.
"Grandma Keitorin! Where are you?" Keita yelled. After she yelled it kind of made it clear where Keita got her name.
A maid walked in and stopped Keita from running, "Lady Keita, the Mistress will see you now in her chamber," the maid said gently as she pointed Keita and Soujiro in the direction of her grandmother's room.
As Soujiro and Ketia climbed up the stairs, Keita fidgeted with her fingers. She was obviously nervous.
As they opened the door to where 'Grandma Keitorin' was. When the door clicked and swung open, Soujiro saw a fragile old lady sitting on a rocking chair in the middle of the floor.
"Why hello Sere-san, how are you going today? It's so kind of you to visit."
Sere-san?
Keita walked up to her grandmother and sat next to her, "Are you ok Grandma Keitorin?" She nodded.
Apparently her grandmother was more precious to her than she had made it out to be.
"And who is this young man?"
Soujiro realized Grandmother Keitorin was talking to him, so he bowed abruptly, "My name is Soujiro Seta. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah," Keitorin cooed, "What a nice boy, is this your boyfriend Keita?"
Keita took a step back, "No! He's a rurouni I met yesterday who's staying at my house because he was really tired. But I think he's leaving soon."
"Tomorrow," Soujiro chimed in.
"See?"
The grandmother slumped her head, "Aw, I thought this one was the one…." Keita was shocked by what her grandmother was saying, "But anyways, Keita can you leave the room for a second?"
Keita seemed shocked, "But Grandma Keito," but the maid grabbed her by the waist and hauled her out.
The elderly lady's face grew more solemn. Her darkened brown-grey eyes shifted around. They looked sad, "So I'm assuming Keita-chan has talked to you quite a bit," Soujiro nodded, "Has she told you anything about her parents?"
Sou drew a blank for a second but recalled the conversation, "Actually yes."
"What did she say about them?"
Soujiro looked down, knowing Keitorin wouldn't be absolutely pleased with what she was about to hear, "Keita told me of how her parents got interested in Western culture, so they went there and left Keita-chan with you. But, she also said you gave her a house on her own at the age of ten to get rid of her."
Soujiro watched a tear fall from the old woman's eye, "How sad. I wish things weren't this way."
He tilted his head, this family was obviously having troubles, "Then what really happened since Keita-chan's story is wrong…"
"You see," Keitorin began, "at the fragile age of two, Keita's mother, my daughter, developed a disease of some sort. No doctor in Tokyo let alone Japan could help her as she continued to get worse. So her husband made the decision to take her to the West because their doctoring there was said to more accurate and knowledgeable. So, they left Japan and I gained custody of Keita. I received news that my daughter died there so my son-in-law returned home. He stayed in a separate part of the building for so many years, yet he never wanted to see who his daughter was growing up to be, just because he was afraid he would be remembered of his suffering."
Soujiro was silent during her entire story, his smile was no longer there.
"He finally told me one day a few years back that he wanted Keita to live in the extra house a couple miles away so she could grow up to be strong, unlike him who was so easily broken. So Keita went away hating me, but getting stronger every moment. Never knowing her once thought to be deceiving father was watching her every step of the way. Sometimes he would even take a walk outside once in a while and pass her in the crowd."
Soujiro watched with sympathetic eyes as the old woman's eyes began to water. How hard it must be on her to know that her granddaughter hated her and her daughter had died. But when Keita was talking to her grandmother just minutes ago, her eyes told a different story. Keita forgave her troubles.
Keita really had grown up to be strong.
"So," Soujiro began slowly, "the whole thing about Keita and her father in a crowd…it's a little heartwarming."
Keitorin gave him a confused face, "Well, I guess what I mean is he's always keeping an eye on her. Doesn't that make you feel better, in some different way?"
She smiled, "I guess you're right Mr. Seta. You're a very smart man, you know that?"
Mr. Seta? Smart man? Did his age just give a jump?
But he smiled. It felt good to help people…help people.
Help people. Opposite of killing.
It felt good…very, very good.
Soujiro stepped out of the room to find Keita sitting at the bottom of the stairs, "Ready to go back Soujiro?"
He smiled and nodded.
As they left the leaves crunched under their feet. Soujiro sensed something funny so he took a look behind him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for one thing. He looked up to the west wing of the building in one of the second floor rooms. A face was visible. Even though Soujiro was the one looking up, the person didn't make eye contact with him at all.
Oh…Keita's father.
From what Soujiro could see, the man had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was obviously not of Japanese decent. He watched carefully as Keita walked away from the house.
It was kind of sad. Soujiro wondered if Keita ever wondered about her parents, and that they truly didn't desert her.
With Misao…
"Where is he!" Misao, Kuro, and Okina were now in the midst of a crowd in the middle of Tokyo, "Okon said he'd be here!"
"Misao," Kuro started to speak, "Tokyo's a big place, she never said we'd find him right away."
"Yeah, yeah…" Misao grumbled as she continued walking. It had been a long trip. Misao had encouraged that they didn't stop their journey until they found him. But Kuro and Okina obviously made her stop.
But she hadn't gotten any sleep during the whole trip. She couldn't stop thinking about him…
But something caught her eye in the crowd. It looked something like, "SOUJIRO!"
He turned around to find an eager Misao running towards him, "Soujiro! I found you!"
Then she tackled himand he hit the ground hard. Yet he didn't hurt one bit for some reason.
She found him…
They found each other.
"Sou! You have to come back to the Aoiya! Please come back! I'm begging you!"
She sat in front of him with her hands entwined with each other. She was serious, she was begging him.
"Misao," He didn't really know what to say, he just wanted to say her name. It seemed all of the worries he had planted into his mind were now beginning to fade. His smile felt so natural too.
"What?"
They could only stare deep into each other's eyes as they both soaked up each other's presence.
"Hey! Who do you think you are!" It was Keita, her hands planted firmly on her hips.
Misao looked up with confused eyes to Keita who was obviously not happy with Misao being there.
"I think I'm Misao Makimachi and I think I'm going to take Sou back to his home!"
Keita was really mad, "WHAT! Excuse me? You just popped out of nowhere! I saved Soujiro when he was out dying in the street!"
Soujiro just sat back with Kuro and Jiya as the two women kept arguing. It was only after several minutes did Soujiro have the courage to step up, "Um…Keita? Misao?"
Their heads snapped around with horrifyingly angry eyes as they screamed, "WHAT!" in unison.
Soujiro stood up and set his hand on Keita's shoulder, who was sending off confused vibes. He then said with a kind voice, "Keita, Misao is right. Her home was my home a week ago." Keita's eyes grew sad.
"But…does that mean you're going to leave?"
Soujiro looked at Misao while she nodded. Soujiro wasn't actually planning on going back with Misao and the others, but once he thought of what Keitorin had said to him earlier, you know, about her becoming stronger for her father? Well, Soujiro knew he had to let her live by herself, no matter how much he wished he could help her.
"I'm terribly sorry Keita, but I'm afraid I have to."
Keita's eyes began to grow sad, "But…!"
Soujiro brought a finger to her lips to quiet her gently, "Promise me you'll be strong."
She could only smile.
About an hour later while Soujiro, Misao, Kuro, and Jiya were back on the road towards Kyoto, Misao asked, "What was that all about?"
Soujiro just smiled, "It's a long story."
"Too long if you ask me," Kuro added as he scratched his head a little in confusion. Jiya just watched the road ahead of him. Then Soujiro looked up to then sun to see what time it was around, "About four…"
"What?" Misao asked while Soujiro just smiled.
Soujiro had to make a decision. He either could go back to the Aoiya with Misao, or he could continue his journey as a rurouni. Decisions, decisions…
His mind told him the only way to heal himself was to keep wandering for ten years just like Mr/ Himura. But in his heart…his heart told him that Misao might just be able to save him just as much as any long journey could. It also told him that Mr. Himura never said it would take Soujiro ten years to find himself just like he did.
Maybe it was time to finally put his journey to a rest…
Or at least take a nice long break.
Plus, he couldn't just turn down Misap's kindness. That would be just rude.
End.
PLEASE READ ME!
I know, I know. The ending was way too rushed, but I was getting aggravated with this chapter so, sorry! Also, I'd like to thank krn-chan for the magnificent picture, which inspired me yet even more. Also, thank you End Hope for responding my email with your critique. Constructive criticism and critiques always make me watch out for my mistakes even more, which make my stories even better.
Sorry if there are any really, terribly obvious mistakes that you might just find in here. I make my writing interesting that way! …Ok maybe not…
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NaiLAUG!