Seed of Hope
Chapter 5: As Long As You're with Me
Soujirou looked up to the sky. It had been a good two years since and he was now back on the road once more. Smiling at the familiar scene before him and taking in the sights and sounds of the place he had come to know so well, he realised he was back again in Kyoto. As he walked on under the warm midday sun, he could feel the memories of that summer long gone return to him as he walked past the inn which he had awaken in.
Opening his eyes, Soujirou brought his right hand up to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. Light? For a while Soujirou didn't know what to do. It had been sometime since he last saw the light of the day and he looked around him in surprise, slowly taking in his surroundings. He didn't know if he should be elated that he could see again.
"Oh… you've awaken. Good!"
Soujirou excitedly turned his head; he could at last uncover the identity of his caretaker! He adjusted himself on the tatami mat to see an old lady smiling kindly at him, her hands holding a bowl in his hands.
"You poor boy, you've been sleeping for five days now. Are you feeling better?"
Soujirou felt confused. No, this wasn't the person who had been looking after him. It couldn't be. The voice didn't sound the same. No… this couldn't be his caretaker… could it?
During his three-month long stay at the old lady's house, question after question plagued him but he remained quiet, quelling his curiousity and ignoring the burning desire in him to find the truth. Only when he was ready to leave, had he asked the old lady whom he had affectionately referred to as 'Baa-chan'
"Baa-chan, were you the one who had always been looking after me?"
"What? Oh no, it wasn't me. " The old lady said, shaking her head dismissively. "You were brought to me, to my tiny inn."
"Brought? But who brought me here?"
Soujirou blinked as he narrowly missed being knocked by a carriage. He never got an answer to that question. Baa-chan never gave him one except for an enigmatic smile and a big hug before he was pushed out of the door struggling under his heavy load- a big bag filled with food for the journey ahead compliments of Baa-chan.
Walking along the streets of Kyoto, Soujirou turned to look at a road that he had never seen before. Had there always been a road there? Soujirou looked at the road again. The path lead to the forest, a path seldom took by travelers. Soujirou looked again. There was something about that path; it almost seemed as if it was beckoning, calling out to him. Mesmerised, Soujirou found himself responding to the call and before long he was walking along that very same path, enjoying the cool breeze and the shade of the trees. Looking ahead, Soujirou found a small clearing just up ahead. Curiousity getting the better of him, he decided to explore the place after all; there was nothing to lose right?
Smiling once more, the 22-year-old pushed back a tree branch that was in his way as he stepped into the open to find himself staring at a small wooden house. The house wasn't very special, but there was something about the house that Soujirou could not place his finger on. It was almost as if he felt like he knew the house, but that couldn't be possible he had never come here before.
He knew what he had to do. He had not count on coming back to Kyoto once more, but he knew that something was telling him that he was close to finding his answer. His search would soon come to an end.
Just then, Soujirou heard what sounded like footsteps and instinctively hid himself behind the tree to his right. He watched as the figure walk past him and into the house. Soujirou waited for a while and then walked up to the house himself. Soujirou slowly slid the shoji door open. He knew what he was doing was extremely rude and had Yumi-san been alive, she would have screamed at him for not asking for permission to enter first.
He watched as the figure in white scurried about doing the usual household chores but ignored his presence. Somehow Soujirou got the feeling that the stranger knew he was there, but just ignored him. Soujirou watched in amusement as the figure in white struggled to ignore him as the number of completed household chores increased in number.
Finally running out of things to do, the figure had no choice but to acknowledge the presence of a certain rurouni.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
Soujirou smiled. He finally got the person's attention. "Don't you remember me?"
The figure seemed to stare at Soujirou for a while before shaking its head.
Soujirou walked closer to the figure in white.
"What do you want from me?" The figure was now trembling. It didn't know what Soujirou was going to do to and was scared.
Soujirou lifted a hand to touch the hood of the white cloak. "Will you let me see your face?"
The figure quickly ducked to avoid being revealed. Frantic it ran further away from Soujirou.
"No, you can't!"
The figure sat down. "I can't let anyone see my face. Please understand this."
Sighing the figure continued, "I never told this to anyone, but I was cursed ever since the day I was born. You see, my mother's parents died when she was little. Left with no other relative, she was forced to stay with her grandmother. She was very beautiful, however everyone was afraid of her. For the people of the town believed that both she and my grandmother practiced black magic. On the day of my mother's sixteenth birthday, she met my father who didn't know about her. The two fell deeply in love, but my mother knew that the happiness wouldn't last because my father was engaged to be married to another lady. Then the day came when my mother found out that she was pregnant with me. She was afraid that the lady whom was to be engaged to my father would find out and so she secretly left to find the mid-wife. Unfortunately she was discovered. Exhausted from the journey both mentally and physically, my mother placed a curse on me so that no one would dare to kill me or in other words look me in the face because you would become blind."
Soujirou listened to the stranger's tale. It was hard to believe such a tale after all did curses still exist? Smiling, Soujirou walked up to the figure.
"I have been searching for something, maybe even searching for my whole life for an answer. An answer to my loneliness, to this emptiness and now I have found it. That person is you. I want to share my life with you." With that, Soujirou walked up to the figure and held its hands. "I already know what's it like to live life blind, but I cannot spend my life without you."
The figure watched entranced by Soujirou's words as Soujirou lifted a hand to remove the hood, to reveal a young maiden of 20 with ebony dark tresses and emerald eyes.
"But how…"
"There never was a curse, your mother did it only to protect you… Misao
"How… how did you know my name?"
To that question Soujirou could only grin and answer, "You learn lots of things when you travel."
Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine
I'm leaving my life in your hands
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind
Risking it all in a glance
And how you got me blind is still a mystery
I can't get you out of my head
Don't care what is written in your history
As long as you're here with me
Bending down to close the distance between the two, Soujirou kissed her gently on the lips to seal his love for her.
I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me
"Misao, as long as you're with me it won't matter if I'm blind or not. Just as long as you stay with me.
Owari
(A/N: WHEE! MERRY X'MAS YOU ALL! This is the end of the fic! Hope you all liked it! Maybe one day I may rewrite the ending cos I don't think it's really working out but still thanks for supporting this fic! Merry x'mas and peace on earth! Review!)