Yay! Finally a new chapter. Life is busy for my co-authoress and myself, we're really trying as hard as we can. Chapter 16 will be our very last chapter, so onwards to the semi-ending!
Girl in Gaea: The Untold Story
By Brenli and AmetrineButterfly
Chapter 15
Kitsune stirred slowly as the felt the heat of the sun's morning rays shining down on her. Beneath her, something was rough and scratchy, hardly feeling like the soft sheets of the bed she had fallen asleep in. Immediately, she was afraid to open her eyes, afraid to take in her surroundings. She knew all too well what happened as she slept. She knew, also, that she could not lie where she was forever. So her dark eyes slowly slid open…
She knew exactly where she was lying. She was lying in the midst of a field belonging to a park she went to often as a small child. She used to lie in this field like she was right now, staring at the sky, daydreaming about the world with two moons in the sky. And Kitsune reached a hand up into the cotton candy blue sky, feeling the tears slip out of her eyes. She turned over and sniffled, her fingers gripping the vivid green grass.
Unfair. Of all times for Kitsune to be sent back… right when she actually WANTED to remain in Gaea. It seemed that the second Kitsune had fully adjusted, she was thrown back into a life she didn't want. Unfair. Completely unfair.
Very slowly Kitsune stood, brushing stray bits of grass off of the white skirt of her dress. Idly, she noted that her Mystic Moon clothes were still on Gaea, and she didn't care. She would keep this dress as a reminder that her trials and tribulations were too real.
As she took a few small steps across the field, the sound of sweet laughter filled her ears. It sounded like Megumi's laughter… she was an acquaintance of Kitsune's through volleyball, back in secondary school. A curvaceous girl who loved to dye her hair brown, and had a laugh as big as her smile. And then Kitsune heard a second laugh, a man's laugh. Another familiar laugh… Toshiyo?
No, that couldn't be Toshiyo… This man had longer hair… and brown streaks in his hair… But then the man turned around, smiling away, and Kitsune felt her heart stop deep in her chest. Yes… it really was Toshiyo. And he really was happy. Without her.
Toshiyo seemed to be pulled to Kitsune's gaze, and he, too, froze. And suddenly Megumi was gone, pressing a kiss to Toshiyo's cheek. "… K… Kitsune?" Toshiyo said with the quite tones of disbelief as Kitsune marched up to him, her face tired and sad.
Kitsune had so many things to say to him, and yet, they could not leave her mouth. After a moment of staring up at him with melancholy dark eyes, she grabbed his hands and led him away.
It was a long conversation between the two former lovebirds… if they had ever been lovebirds to begin with. And that was one of the reasons why Kitsune cried, really. And she told Toshiyo so, and Toshiyo apologized quietly, clearly ashamed. He acknowledged his poor treatment of her and apologized for this as well, and yet, it didn't make Kitsune quite as happy as it should have. It grew quiet between them. Kitsune didn't want to talk about anything else… Not about where she'd been… what she'd gone through… who she'd fallen in love with… Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Megumi had returned and was eyeing them with jealousy, and so Kitsune sent him off, back into Megumi's arms. She watched them smile and laugh and finally, she saw them kiss. They were happy… so happy…and Kitsune felt like she didn't belong there, watching them. And so, wiping away that endless cascade of lonely tears, Kitsune left the happy couple.
She opted to take the longest route home, for she knew in the back of her mind that the last thing she needed as to spend her time withering away in the room that would remind her of Okami. Her true friend, yes, her only real friend. This point was further proven when she ran into her former volleyball teammates. Yes, former. Kitsune had decided that she would quit volleyball, and she slipped the news to her appalled teammates. They couldn't believe it was Kitsune they were talking to… and Kitsune couldn't believe that they found her undesirable the second she wasn't on their team. She was clearly no longer wanted, but she stuck around long enough to hear the sad rumors that had spread since she had disappeared from Earth. Rumors that she had taken to drug use and, of all things, prostitution. It made her sick that the girls before her believed in the rumors until she was there to dispel the lies. Some friends…
She left them all before she would start to cry again, but once she was a block away, the tears began to fall. How long had she been crying now? How in the world was her body able to keep making these drops of sadness? Why couldn't she stop? Suddenly, Kitsune changed her mind. She wanted to get to her dorm room as soon as possible and drown in there, out of the ever-watchful eyes of the passersby. But she needed just one, small comfort… So she flung herself into a phone booth and quickly dialed a number.
The sound of an old man came through. "Moshi moshi?"
"Papa…" Kitsune greeted quietly.
"Kitsune…? Kitsune…! My girl, where have you been?"
"You… won't ever… believe me…"
"Are you okay? Sweetie, where are you?" Kitsune's father asked in worry.
"I'm fine… And I'm near the university. I'm on my way to my dorm room…"
"Good, good then. I'm glad you're okay. …So you're going back to hang out with your roommate or something?
The mentioning of her roommate made Kitsune, yet again, teary. "… Iie."
"… Kitsune?"
"… Okami-chan… isn't here."
"Oh, sweetie… What happened?"
"I don't wanna say right now…"
"… And you're sure you're alright?"
"I'm not in any danger!" Kitsune cried out angrily.
"… I heard about Toshiyo." Her father heard her lightly sob. "I'm so sorry…"
Kitsune suddenly started to laugh. "Papa, you HATED Toshiyo!"
Kitsune's father mumbled that Kitsune had cared for him, though. Kitsune softly told him that Toshiyo no longer mattered to her, and he said,"Oh? Did you find someone new?" Fatherly as he was, his voice became deep, grumbly. "Is he a good, honest man? Will he take good care of you?"
"Papa…!" Kitsune laughed. "… He is a military man, Papa. A good, honest soldier. He could definitely take good care of me."
"A MILITARY man, my girl? How on Earth did you come across a man in the MILITARY?"
"… It happened by chance, Papa. But you would like him if you met him."
"Then let me meet him! You've got no classes this weekend. Spend it at home! Bring him with you!" Kitsune's father pleaded.
The small smile on Kitsune's face disappeared. "Papa… he isn't here… He's far away, now…"
"… Far away…? Where is he, then, sweetie?"
Kitsune let yet another tear tumbled down her face. "He is… home…"
"Ah, a foreign man…" Her father said quietly. "It will be difficult… But it's all up to you… If you are willing to wait for him, my dear."
"… I'm going to wait." Kitsune said firmly, sniffling up her continuous tears.
"… Very well, then, sweetie." He said softly. "… I will let you go… Please visit me this weekend?"
Kitsune bit her lip, but she nodded. "… Okay. Bye, Papa…"
And so Kitsune hung up the phone, feeling a little comfort, though it was tiny compared to the mass amounts of sadness encased within her aching heart. The rest of the walk to her room was a blur. Soon she was a block away. Then she was in the building. As she walked down the hallway to her dorm room, she noticed a bright pink paper that was advertising for kendo classes. It called to her, and she tore down the paper to take with her. And then, finally she was just outside of her dorm room, her hand hovering over the doorknob. She knew that no one was in there, but she could already feel the memories of Okami haunting her. "… Get it over with, Kitsune!" Kitsune hissed at herself, and she slowly pushed open the door, the creaking of its hinges louder than usual in her ears.
Immediately Kitsune's heart began skipping beats. She saw a disheveled mass of curly blonde hair laying on the bed typically claimed by Okami. There was no way that could be real… could it? She moved closer and around the bed, and the body came into view, tightly curled in a fetal position. However, Kitsune could not see any skin; the body was covered either in hair or clothing. Visions of mummified corpses began swirling through her mind, and Kitsune's stomach slowly turned over. The body didn't even look like it was breathing.
There was no way that life would be so cruel as to send Okami's dead corpse back to the Mystic Moon, letting it rot on a bed… right? Kitsune swallowed the lump in her throat and very slowly reached a shaky hand out to touch the body's shoulder…
Her hand touched warm and pliable flesh, and the shoulder immediately flinched away, revealing wide, hazel eyes through strands of blonde and dark curly hair. "Kitsune! Don't DO that!"
It was Okami! A very lively Okami, breathing hard and obviously shaken. The shock was too much for Kitsune to bear, who jumped, stumbled back, and tripped over her white skirt, taking an ungraceful fall to the ground. "OH GOD, DON'T HURT ME!" Kitsune screamed, holding her arm over her eyes in pure fear.
There was an awkward pause. "What the hell!" Okami frowned, her eyes still distant as if she was as confused as Kitsune. "I'm not going to hurt you."
But the shock was still running through Kitsune, and curled into a small white ball, shaking in nervous laughter. "Oh God… Oh my God… Okami-chan, you're alive!"
There was another pause, and Okami looked down at herself, touching her hair, thoroughly disoriented and shaky. "I am… alive… how can this be?"
Okami watched Kitsune's body stiffen noticeably, and her dark eyes shifted to the ground. "I… stabbed you – well, you made me stab you… And you died, Okami-chan. We held a funeral burning… and now… here I am."
" A funeral… burning…?"
Kitsune blinked up at Okami, suddenly realizing that there was, indeed, the possibility that Okami hadn't really had anyone to talk to about Gaean customs… or at least not funeral customs. "It is the way they perform funerals… When you send back the bodies of the dead Dragon Cavalry, we gave them the same funeral… Dallet told me that by burning the body, they release the soul into the Heavens…" Kitsune pondered for a short moment. "I guess that means we sent you right back here…"
Yet another ill at ease pause stretched on. "Dilandau…" Okami frowned. "How did he… take it?"
Kitsune bit her lip and fidgeted. "… I think… well… I know he was hurt, Okami-chan. But you know… he is very strong." She offered Okami a small smile. "He accepted your death… but I know that he still misses you."
"And the worst of it is… he doesn't know I'm alive. We can never go back, can we?" Okami asked quietly, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice.
"… No." Kitsune replied in the same soft tone. "Probably not."
Okami sniffed, fighting back her tears, but she lost, her tears beginning to flow. Strangled sobs racked her body as she tried too hard to regain composure.
"Okami-chan…" Kitsune sighed softly and approached her, embracing Okami in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry…"
Okami let go, crying into Kitsune's shoulder. "No… I'm the one that should be sorry. I've done terrible things Kitsune… Especially to you!"
Kitsune went wide-eyed. "To me…? What have you done to me…? Mouthed off and dueled with me? I forgive you for that…" She spoke gently and comfortingly, pushing her own bits of shaken emotion deep inside for the time being.
"No… I didn't trust you… I didn't help you to see what Folken really was. I made myself your enemy needlessly… And I hurt Dallet."
"Relax…! It was a stressful time for both of us… And we didn't know each other well enough to trust each other, at the time. So you're forgiven for that, too." Kitsune smiled. "And Dallet is fine, Okami-chan…! I'd know; I cleaned the wound up for him."
"So he did survive?" Kitsune nodded and Okami gave a sigh of relief. "Good. But it still doesn't change all the lives I took. And I bet the people celebrated my death…"
Kitsune's face changed from friendly to annoyed and angry. "Some did… I told them all off. I would've liked to fry their hair off, though. That would've showed 'em!" She said this half-jokingly, a small smile curling her lips.
Okami laughed weakly. "Yeah it would…" A pause. "So… what do we do now?" Her voice was quiet, almost defeated.
Kitsune dropped her smile. "… Live here. There is nothing is else can do." Kitsune frowned. "… I am visiting my father this weekend… and I'm quitting volleyball." She said these most recent plans and then shrugs, her lips quivering. "… Go back to being students. There's nothing else."
Okami nodded. "Then we'll live. I guess eventually life will turn to normal… except for maybe this." Okami cupped her hands, and a tiny ball of dark energy forms in her hands. "I still have my power…"
Kitsune blinked. "Wau… I would've thought that…" She held up a finger and began moving it about in a circle. A ring of small, bright lightning crackled in the path of her finger. "Weird…" She smiled. "… But cool."
"So long as we don't use it in public view… we'll be locked up and used as lab rats… or assassinated by religious extremists…"
Kitsune cringed at the idea. "Oh God, no. We don't need that kind of crap, after all this…! … Besides, what am I gonna use my power for, anyway? Tripping circuit breakers?"
Okami laughed. "A really good way of getting out of class, eh? Convenient power outages?"
Kitsune suddenly broke into a wide grin. "But only on exam days! And, of course, I know NOTHING about it." She winked, and Okami giggled in reply.
To be continued...