Althe: I updated!!! ......eh? Aren't you going to, like, give me a congrats or something?.......checks the calendar.......
Ah, well.......I never meant to keep you all waiting........Okay........um.........it's not like I meant to stop or anything.......right?
Oh, yeah. I made Aya pretty thick about the relationship between Miaka and Tamahome, but come on. She married at the age of sixteen! Dumped school for a man that was about to die........she wouldn't be as bright ya know? Sorry, to all those Aya fans out there, but I prefer Chidori way more than her But she's still a great gal.
And haps birthday to Modern-Eponine who turned two thousand nine hundred thirty nine years old a few months ago!
:::Cross Hearts:::
12. And then there was Fire
Tasuki was whistling a tuneless melody up in front, his hands locked behind his head and his foot kicking at nearby pebbles.
Miaka watched him kick at the small stones absentmindedly from her horse.
The sun was up, but didn't make the scenery happier considering the fact that the weather was a tad too hot for their liking without a cloud in sight to cover their sweat-drenched bodies.
Tamahome wiped his brow with his right hand while the other held onto the rein. He looked at Miaka for a brief second before turning his eyes back on the dirt road. The sides of the road were steep so he had to be careful not to get off course.
The day dragged on like that for hours.
Pretty soon, Tamahome was dozing off, but snapped out of his fatigue when the horse tripped onto a fairly large rock in the ground.
The horse stood on its hind legs, screaming in confusion and fright.
Tamahome was lucky not to have fallen because his hands were still tightly holding onto the reins.
Miaka wasn't as lucky I'm afraid.
She toppled off the side of the horse and fell hard on her ass, probably scarring it for life considering the ground was covered by small sharp- ended rocks. ( I'm so evil)
Believe me, rubbing the 'cheeks' won't make the red marks go away.
Plus the fact that dear Miaka was wearing an extremely mini skirt (which got ripped in the process), our dear miko was then reduced to flashing her 'red' undies to our laughing senshi (boys, if you don't get what I mean by 'red undies' ask a girl.............it's not from a bleeding butt by the way).
(Wrote that last paragraph for fun cause I felt evil. If you feel offended by it, gomen, but.......I'm sugar high right now and thought you'd like a laugh)
::::::::::::
Aya rolled over to her side.
She felt so tired, yet so refreshed at the same time.
After a few minutes of suffocating herself by putting her face in the pillow, Aya turned her head to open one of her eyes half way.
Hmmm.......she never knew she had curtains in her bed before.......and her sheets......were they always this silky?
Aya bolted right up.
She this wasn't her bedroom.
Then she remembered. She was still in Ceres's crazy world.
Aya looked around the bed.
Strange.......she could have sworn Nuriko was with her last night.......but she shook her head and concluded it to be a mere illusion she hallucinated.
It had to be. What kind of man would walk into your bed and sleep with you without your consent?
Besides, he looked too gay to be interested in her.
She pushed the semi see through curtain aside and swung her feet onto the cold tile floor.
She stood up and yawned and stretched for a few seconds before taking in the scenery in front of her.
The room was much bigger than what she was use to. It even had its own table with two little stools. It had so much space. It made her feel as if she were standing in an open field.
The two fairly large windows were open and the cool wind drifted into the room, making the blue curtains wave.
She walked toward the window closest to her and stuck her head out. She immediately put her hand on her hair to keep it from falling in front of her eyes. It was quite a windy day, but the sun shone beautifully.
Her eyes went wide for a few seconds. She was inside a palace! There was a huge Chinese garden below her and the corridors to her sides were long and led to many directions.
Her high-class surroundings made her feel so small and timid.
Aya backed away from the window and turned to look once more at her new surroundings.
She found a door to her far left in the upper corner, probably leading outside into a hallway. She walked towards the framed door and turned the knob. Slowly, Aya peaked out into the long hall. The coast was clear.
Aya stepped out and admired the dressed up hall with great envy. The floor was tiled and the walls were beautifully painted in a colour between peach and pink. It had a perfect summer look to it.
Aya began to walk mindlessly down one direction of the hallway, looking around frequently.
The tiles were cold on her bare feet, but she ignored it and kept on walking. The silk gown she was also wearing was too thin for a windy day and she shivered in the breeze.
She passed by a framed window and awed in silence at the waterfall in the garden.
There was no question about it. This place was huge.
Aya kept her gaze at the waterfall for a few more minutes, then turned to go on down the hall. As she turned, she bumped into something massive that made her fall down to the ground in surprise.
Aya shook her head to clear her head and started rubbing her aching butt, that cushioned her fall on the hard floor.
She looked up to find herself staring up at two blue eyes, a lighter shade than her own.
The man, who appeared to be wearing ancient armour of a soldier's, narrowed his eyes at her.
When he spoke, his words cut through the air like glass.
"What are you doing here?"
::::::::::::
Chichiri yawned with his arms high up in the air.
If heat wasn't killing him, then boredom was.
He could see pretty pink butterflies dancing in front of him, under a tall pine tree. Pretty Pink went well with Purple........
Chichiri shook his head at an alarming rate.
He had to lay low from Nuriko for a while. Another lecture from him about bright colours and what matches well with them, he might start taking shopping trips.
"Chichiri?"
"Hm?" Chichiri said absentmindedly, not really caring who was calling out.
"You okay? You look like the dead."
Chichiri looked at Tasuki with his eyebrows raised.
"Come again?"
Tasuki sighed.
"You're warping out again. Geez, you're even worse than Hotohori."
Chichiri frowned at Tasuki.
"It's just the heat no da. Everyone's like that right now."
Miaka let out a scream at Chichiri's words.
"I hate this heat wave! When's the next town?!"
Chichiri shaded his eyes with his hand as he looked up at the clear blue sky.
"Before sun set. It shouldn't take us any longer as long as we follow this road-"
A rustle in the bushes interrupted Chichiri.
The group stopped in their tracks and listened intently, wondering if it would be another ambush.
Tasuki readied his fan, preparing the burn any living thing that pops out of a bush.
There was more rustling to their right.
Tasuki turned just in time to see a dark figure emerge from a small bush.
He didn't care if it was a bird. It was going down.
"REKKA SHIEN!!!"
::::::::::::
Nuriko walked briskly through the thick forest, with its branches and thorns scratching at his bare cheeks and ripping at his thin clothing. He waved away the low branches that threatened to scar his face.
His escape was too easy.
Luckily, he didn't have a death encounter with Nakago; just palace guards that couldn't resist a drag queen's charm.
Nuriko looked behind his back anxiously and quickened his pace. The alarms would've sounded by now- probably hours ago.
Nuriko had gone off the road to be safe with any encounters with anyone.
He looked up ahead but only saw more trees with long thick branches.
As he was about to let out an exasperated sigh, his head jerked back. Someone had a hold of his braid.
In a panicked state, Nuriko quickly spun around and punched the lights out of whoever had a hold of his hair.
Birds of various sizes started flying in all directions, blinding Nuriko with their dusty feathers and wings.
Finally, after regaining sight, Nuriko looked up to find a splintered branch lying on the ground, and a good lock of his hair caught on it.
He gave a huge sigh with relief, clasping his hand on his chest to ease his beating heart.
It was only a branch.
Nuriko noticed his braid had come undone and was now left with huge tangles.
He let his lady like fingers comb at his long silky hair. He liked the feel of it and ended up spending a lot of time combing it into perfect order.
His hair was too long and vulnerable for a forest this big with its awaiting branches ready to snatch at it.
Nuriko quickly searched for his hair tie.
In a rough manner, he tied up his hair in a bun on one side.
The bun was huge and unstable, jumping around every time he took a step, but it would have to do for the time being. He had no time to spare to do his hair in the middle of a forest.
His pace once again quickened, looking back every now and then to see if he was being followed.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, yet was only minutes, Nuriko heard voices. Familiar voices.
It was Chichiri and Miaka's voice!
Nuriko jolted towards a blinding light, knowing that he was close to the dirt road. In his clumsiness, he stepped onto a bush, getting his foot caught in its thorns and branches. It also made an awfully loud sound, causing silence from the talking senshi and their miko.
'Shit,' Nuriko thought to himself.
They probably thought he was a spy or something.
And if Nuriko knew Tasuki well, which he did, he'd burn Nuriko to a crisp if Nuriko didn't approach them in the right way.
Nuriko quietly slipped his foot out of the bush and crept slowly towards the group. He heard feet turning towards his direction as he moved some leaves away from his eyes.
Oh great.
Jumping out of a bush in front of anyone of them was like having them tie you down to a tree and shout, "Ready, aim, fire!"
Other than that small problem, getting them to know that he was Nuriko and not a spy was going to be as easy as taking a candy from a baby........as long as that baby was drugged with heroin that is.
Lost in his train of though, Nuriko tripped on a root on the ground, causing him to stumble out of his hiding place and into the shade of the tree where everyone could see him.
Before Nuriko could speak, he heard the loud scream of Tasuki's voice.
And then there was fire. Althe: No. Nuriko didn't die.:::Cross Hearts:::
Still Chapter 12. Escape -"Aya kept her gaze at the waterfall for a few more minutes, then turned to go on down the hall. As she turned, she bumped into something massive that made her fall down to the ground in surprise.
Aya shook her head to clear her head and started rubbing her aching butt, that cushioned her fall on the hard floor.
She looked up to find herself staring up at two blue eyes, a lighter shade than her own.
The man, who appeared to be wearing ancient armour of a soldier's, narrowed his eyes at her.
When he spoke, his words cut through the air like glass.
"What are you doing here?" "-
Aya stood mesmerized by Nakago's clear blue eyes that shone like glass. His pupils looked like an endless pit, engulfing Aya from her senses.
"I will only repeat myself one more time. What are you doing here?"
"What?" Aya said thickly, snapping back to reality with his stern words.
One look at Nakago's expression could send any child running the other way.
"I- I'm just looking around," Aya stumbled, taking her gaze away from Nakago and on the painted wall.
"You're not permitted to go anywhere."
"Wh-what?"
"Go back to your room. Now. I don't have time to baby-sit such crap."
Aya turned angrily at him, hitching her chin high to make herself seem taller than usual.
"Crap? Excuse me?"
"Go back to your room before I force you in there."
"Is this how you treat all the people you meet? Who the hell do you-"
It came so fast that Aya couldn't feel the blow for a full ten seconds.
She slammed onto the wall and slid to the floor, shock over coming her body. Her mouth was open at a strange angle and bits of saliva were at the corners of her mouth.
Then it came.
Pain and a terrible stinging sensation filled her right cheek and jaw. She could barely feel her mouth from the numbness let alone move it.
After a long while of silence, Aya slowly touched her cheek with her fingertips, but quickly drew back from the pain.
She was too dumbstruck to even cry.
Nakago turned away from Aya, but looked back at her before leaving.
"I hope this teaches you to never disrespect me." Adrenaline must have been kicking in because before Aya could even think, she was up on her feet.
"'at hurt."
That was the last sentence Aya said before running up to Nakago and giving him a good bitch slap right on his cheek.
Nakago was too stunned to even block Aya's slap.
Of course, it didn't hurt- not as bad as Aya's at least- but the thought of having a women to him was far too great for Nakago's comfort.
His eyes narrowed and before he could stop himself, he grabbed his sword and quickly slid it out of its sheath.
Aya's eyes widened in surprise at the blade coming towards her.
But as soon as it came, it suddenly disappeared.
When Aya came back to her senses, she was on her feet, staring at Nakago lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding with a rather nasty gash cutting through his thick armour, baring his wounded chest.
As Aya started to collect back her thoughts, she realized she had his sword clutched tightly in her right hand.
The long blade was covered in blood. The sticky substance was dripping down to the ground and also stained her shaking hand and clothing.
Aya quickly dropped the sword.
What had happened?
She already knew the answer, but didn't think that someone could posses such power to knock out a full grown man with a weapon to the last inch of his life.
Voices and quick footsteps could be heard from down the hallway.
Aya looked around nervously before running the other direction of the voices.
If she were caught, she'd probably be as dead as cold turkey.
::::::::::::
If Nuriko hadn't blocked his face and tied his hair into a bun, he'd probably be bald for the rest of his teenage life.
Nuriko slowly looked up from the dusty ground coughing at the smoke and flinching in pain from the noticeable burns he now had on his arms and hands.
By some miracle (done by me of course) not a hair on him- not even his eyebrows- were burned to ash or scorched. Alas, his sleeves did not get the same treatment.
The thin material was burned to a crisp, unless from the very beginning to protect his porcelain skin.
He roughly ripped his sleeves from shoulder to wrist and tossed it aside and got up gingerly.
After dusting himself lightly, as to not harm his hands any further, he looked up and glared at Tasuki with such great force that he dropped his fan.
"Geez, Nuriko! Where the hell were you?!" Tasuki shouted, not bothering to pick up his fan.
"You could've barbequed me you fanged idiot!" Nuriko screamed, shoving his red hands in front of his face.
"You scared the hell out of us! What did you expect me to do? Jump in there to see if it was my cousin or something?!"
"You could've killed me!"
"You should have been smart enough not to come out so suddenly!"
"I tripped on a root!"
"Then it's not my probl-"
"There's no need to argue," Hotohori said quickly, sensing a fight coming between the two.
Nuriko crossed his arms, pouting. Tasuki snorted at Hotohori, but picked up his fan and said nothing else.
Hotohori turned to Nuriko, a worried expression plastered on his face.
"Where have you been Nuriko? We thought you were captured by the Seiyuu."
"I was," Nuriko replied, looking awkwardly at all the surprised faces.
"Were you able to find Aya?" Chiriko asked anxiously.
"Yeah," Nuriko said quietly, looking up at the sky for a second before looking back at them.
"Then where is she?" Tamahome said, with a raised eyebrow, taking a quick glance at the trees.
"Still being held by the Seiyuu."
"You didn't bother to rescue her?!" Tasuki screamed, shaking a fist at him.
Nuriko shrugged, "There was no way I could get us both out of the castle without being noticed. The Seiyuu seemed to have cared less for me than with her."
Miaka gave Nuriko a disapproving look.
"But that isn't like you Nuriko. You always help others."
Nuriko looked at Aya with no changed expression.
"Aya can handle things on her own. She'll be fine."
"But.......Nuriko-kun.......She just came from the modern world and you know Nakago. He'll have her killed."
Nuriko stood staring at Chichiri for a long time.
He hadn't really thought of that.
The real reason why he had left Aya behind because he didn't want her to get the wrong idea when she woke up and found him beside her in bed.
He mentally slapped his head. He was being self-centred. He was thinking like a guy (no offence), which was not like him at all.
"She can handle things on her own," Nuriko repeated, keeping up with his calm expression.
Miaka's frown deepened.
"But Nuriko! Aya just came here! She doesn't know where she's going! How'd you expect her to reach us?"
Nuriko started walking, ignoring several pairs of eyes staring at his back.
"If we're going to reach the next town by sunset, we'd better start walking," he said softly to the others.
The group gave each other unease looks at each other before following Nuriko down the dirty path.
Tasuki however, didn't walk with them. He just stood there with a critical expression smeared on his face.
When he realized the group didn't notice him not with them, he turned into the woods and began walking towards Seiyuu territory.
::::::::::::
Suboshi walked down a corridor, whistling a tuneless melody to himself.
Three soldiers walked past him nosily, turning right in a different direction, towards the prison.
His put his arms behind his head and continued his whistling before turning the opposite direction of the soldiers.
He stopped his whistling suddenly when he saw someone lying motionlessly near the end of the corridor.
He dropped his arms and quickened his pace.
There lying as dead as a corpse was Nakago, covered in blood and a beauty of a gash cutting into his perfectly good abs.
Suboshi couldn't help but give Nakago a good kick in the ribs to test if he was still walking the earth.
Nakago coughed loudly, spitting out blood in the process.
Suboshi wanted to do a tap dance and sing.
Smiling was all he could do to keep himself from laughing out loud.
Nakago wasn't dead, but close enough to give him happiness.
He could either leave him here to die, or call for help.
Hard decision.
Suboshi smiled down and Nakago before turning away from him and continuing his walk in a more merry fashion.
::::::::::::
"Nakago!"
Nakago twitched his eye, irritated by the voice calling out his name continuously.
His head felt as if someone had swung a mental mallet to his side. His body stung and felt extremely exhausted. He felt like crap.
"Nakago!" the voice repeated, even louder this time.
"What?" Nakago snapped in a cracked voice, opening his eyes slowly to blinding candlelight.
He didn't bother wiping his eyes from drowsiness, as he recognized the voice as Yui's.
"Nakago, what happened to you?" Yui shrieked, her eyes stinging with tears.
Nakago noticed a new change in the scenery.
He was in his room, and in his bed half naked with bandages covering his navel.
"I don't know.......One minute I was with that girl, the next.......," Nakago placed his hand over his forehead, feeling the burn of a high temperature.
"I-I just found you there on the floor.......," Yui said in a shaking voice.
Nakago didn't say anything.
He remembered pulling out his sword towards Aya, but then the rest was so strange, he had doubts if it actually happened or it was just a figment of his imagination.
He remembered a purple haired girl grabbing his sword and slashing him, but it happened so quickly he didn't have time to react.
It had to be a dream. Aya's hair was blond and didn't look much like a fighter; but how could that explain what happened to him?
Nothing made sense at the moment.
"Where's the girl?" Nakago said, shifting his eyes towards Yui.
"Who? You mean the one that monk brought in?" Yui said, with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know."
"Bring her here," Nakago said, already knowing she wasn't in the palace anymore.
Yui gave him a quizzical look, but nodded, waving her hand towards a nearby servant.
"Bring the girl here," Yui commanded.
The servant nodded and quickly removed himself out of the room.
Yui looked back at Nakago before asking, "Why do you need to see her?"
Nakago didn't answer her. He needed answers for questions he didn't even know.
The two were silent while they waited for the servant to return with Aya.
When the servant finally reappeared once more into the room, he looked aghast, gasping for air.
"The girl doesn't seem to be in her room! The prisoner Nuriko also seems to be missing too my lady!" He added hastily, bowing down at Yui.
Nakago snorted.
Escaping without him noticing. He was rusting faster than he expected.
"Let them go," Nakago finally said. "They are of no use."
Nakago closed his eyes and continued on with his sleeping, not seeming to care with Yui staring at him with a strange look. Althe: Yeah. Decided to split the chapter a bit
I decided to give due dates for my chapters now since I'll only get lazier once summer break starts.
Check my bio to see when the next chapter of 'Cross Hearts' will show!
My guess for now is probably June 25, Friday
Ja ne!