Lola: I'm tired. I'm not even gonna talk.
Disclaimer: It's Yuu Watase's get over it. Paris owns Mischa. Lupi owns Rei. I own Kumiko. We've been through this.
Author's note: Lotsa angsty flashbacks. Whoot. -.-'
Chapter 18 – Tried Souls
"How's she doing?"
"Not well. Not well at all. She's been sleeping since we found her, and doesn't show any signs of waking up."
Rei sighed. "Am I allowed to see her?"
Tai Itsukun shook her head. "No. Only Tasuki and her other guardians are allowed to see her until she wakes. Then you may visit her."
Rei nodded. "I understand, thank you." She bowed respectfully and left.
The group was on Mt. Taikyoku, under the care of Tai Itsukun. After Kumiko had run off, the others became worried and searched for her. Tai Itsukun arrived at the scene just as they found her.
Tai Itsukun looked at the door to the room where Kumiko slept. "You may have passed my test," she said softly, "but I am very afraid that you will fail your own."
"Kumiko," Tasuki whispered softly in her ear, "please wake up."
She made to motion.
Tasuki sighed and put his hands under his chin. She had been sleeping for nearly a day. She lie still in the bed, her bandaged hands folding neatly across her stomach. Her face was peaceful, but hinted at worry and discomfort. Tasuki was ready to do anything to make her wake up, just so he could hear her voice and see her smile. Seeing her like this made him think of…
No, he thought suddenly, Not yet. I'm not going to think about it. She's not going to leave me yet.
He put one of his hands on hers.
"Kumiko, I'm sorry that this happened to you. And I'm sorry I couldn't be there to save you from whatever it was. But please, I'm asking for you to wake up. Please, we need you."
He kissed her forehead gently. "If you've got to sleep, I'll wait. I'm gonna be watching over you, like a guardian should."
As he watched her, sudden tears came to his eyes. Having her there in some sort of comatose form was almost worse than not having her at all.
Suddenly, he felt her hand shift slightly from beneath him. He looked over at her and saw her stirring. He waited in quiet anticipation for her to wake from her slumber.
She did so slowly, moving every few minutes. When she finally opened her eyes, Tasuki was overcome with relief.
"Kumiko! Thank the gods you're awake! We were really worried!" He pulled her into a tight embrace and kept talking, telling her how much he loved her and that he would do anything to keep her by his side.
She gave no reply.
He stopped and let go, looking deep into her eyes. What he saw was not the Kumiko he knew. Her normally large pupils were the size of pinheads, and the hazel color of her eyes and lost their shine. She looked dead on the inside.
She shrunk back from him, obviously afraid. Her lifeless eyes filled with tears which poured out relentlessly.
Seconds later, Amiboshi burst in, "I heard you taking, is she awake?" He stopped short and looked at the concerned Tasuki and the unresponsively crying Kumiko. "What happened to her?"
"I don't know! She woke up and I hugged her and told her how happy I was she was okay. Then she got this glazed look and started to cry."
Kokie soon came in afterward. "What's all the commotion?" He looked to see Kumiko, sitting up. "Priestess, you're awake!" He ran to her bedside eagerly, but stopped when he saw her tears. "Why is she crying?"
"We don't know," Amiboshi said, shaking his head sadly. "Kokie, ask Tomite to go get Tai Itsukun."
"Of course…but why should I not go?" Kokie asked tentatively.
"Because if he sees Kumiko like this he'll explode," Amiboshi explained calmly.
"WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER!" Mischa yelled as she burst into the room. Amiboshi had miscalculated. Tomite took the news relatively well, despite the worrying. Mischa had been the one to yell.
"We didn't do anything!" Tasuki said, aggravated, "There's nothing we can do to help her, at the moment. So if you just calmed down then maybe we could do something-" He took a breath and calmed down. "You're not the only one who cares about Kumiko. A better attitude would make this easier for all of us."
Mischa looked at him, her blue eyes gone stone cold. "Fine. But I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Kumiko's sake."
Tai Itsukun hobbled into the room and was greeted by a suspenseful silence. She worked her way right up to Kumiko's bed. Kumiko sat in a complete daze, her eyes empty. She was no longer crying, but simply…drained of all her life. Tai Itsukun peered deep into Kumiko's lifeless eyes and chanted a few words.
Nothing happened.
"I feared this might happen. All life has left her. She's physically alive, but spiritually…she is dead."
"Can we get her back?" Tasuki demanded.
"All of you, follow me. We should leave her be. Anything we do irrationally might make things worse. We shall discuss this elsewhere."
"Alright, ya Old Hag, you dragged us in here, now spill!" Tasuki said irritably. She glared at him, but remained calm.
"When Kumiko ran away, I presented her with a final test, to see if she was finally ready to summon peace to this world, for good. But it seems that although she passed my test, she left her life behind her. Inside the mirror."
"Mirror?" Mischa said suddenly, a deadly tone taking her voice. Tai Itsukun did not answer. "You heartless bitch answer me! WHAT MIRROR?"
"The same mirror that all the priestesses faced," She answered.
"Just like the one I was trapped in," Miaka said, remembering suddenly, "there was an imposter causing havoc while I was trapped inside the mirror!"
"Exactly. Although each test was different," Tai Itsukun said.
"You should have never made her go through that!" Mischa hissed. "It was bad enough for me, but Kumiko shouldn't have had to deal with it!"
"Mischa, what happened?" Miaka asked.
"I had to relive the most painful experience of my life."
FLASHBACK
The Summer night's breeze swept through Mischa's hair. A sickening feeling suddenly took hold as she realized where she was.
'No,' she thought frantically, 'anywhere but here!'
"Hey, Mischa, come on!" Azura, her twin called from the backseat of the car.
Mischa's heart pounded frantically. "No! Azura, we can't, you don't understand! He's drunk! We can't get in the car- I don't care if we're late to get home, I just can't let you die!"
Azura failed to hear her sister, but pulled her along in the car anyway. "It's fine, let's just get home before mom and dad find out we're gone."
"Azura, don't you understand? You're going to die! This car is going to get totaled!" Mischa pleaded with her sister, who only turned away.
As the drove, Mischa kept wishing for it to end. "This isn't real," she told herself, "This is a trick- an illusion! Azura's already dead!"
They turned that fateful corner and Mischa knew the end was coming near. Azura turned back to her solemnly.
"Mischa, you have to stop."
The car crashed. Mischa closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was back where she started.
Back outside the vehicle, with her sister calling for her to come.
"No. NO! I won't do it! I WON'T go through this again!" She cried in agony. But despite her running away, she always ended up in the car. No matter what she did to try and stop it, nothing changed what had already happen. And every time, right before the car it, Azura would say something completely irrelevant to the accident.
"Stop running away."
"Face your responsibilities."
"Take hold of your future- don't forget me."
"Save Hokkan – Don't run away." She said finally. Mischa looked at her sister one last time.
"Okay. I promise."
END FLASHBACK
"Then it stopped," Mischa said quietly. "I made a promise to my sister that I would never run away again. I promised that I would face my fears and responsibilities, no matter what the consequence."
"I had to face the mirror as well," Rei said, "it was one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen."
FLASHBACK
Rei struggled in the darkness, bound by some sort of invisible force. She was helpless. A hooded figure appeared from the darkness. A deadly, sharp knife was clutched in the figure's gloved hand. At first Rei thought she was going to be stabbed. But then she realized that she was not the victim.
The people she cared about all crowded around her, in attempt to defend her from harm. One by one, the hooded figure slaughtered them mercilessly. Her parents. Her aunt Kari. Kumiko. Her senshi. The final one left was Tatara, standing defiantly in front of her.
"I will not let you near her! I will protect my priestess with my life!" He yelled.
But the figure paid no heed. It only lurched forward and stabbed him with that wretched knife. As he fell to the ground in front of Rei, she could see the reflection of Suzuno's face. She saw her death in his eyes.
Rei shook with fear and rage. She tried helplessly to break free, but it was of no use. The ones she cared for lay in a bloody heap beside her. Their faces loomed hauntingly. The figure dropped the knife and removed the hood to reveal their face.
Rei was staring into her own face.
"Do you see?" The figure of herself told her. "You kill everyone you care for. You drove them all away."
"I loved them. They cared for me," Rei said, tears welling into her eyes. She stared at the lifeless Tatara. "And I loved him most of all!" Suddenly she was free of her binds and the knife was in her hands. She pushed it forward into the cloaked figure of herself.
It gasped, and it's face suddenly changed to that of Suzuno. Rei looked shocked and scared, but knew there was no way to stop it now. The face changed back menacingly and disintegrated into tiny grains.
END FLASHBACK
Rei was silent. Everyone stared at her in awe. She blushed suddenly and squeaked.
"Wait, did I just tell you all that out loud!" She asked, horrified. She turned a deep shade of red and covered her mouth. Tatara shook his head, his cheeks tinged slightly.
"Looks like someone has no inner monologue," Tatara said, embarrassed.
"Even Yui, priestess of Seiryuu had to undergo a mirror test, although hers was not nearly as bad," Tai Itsukun said.
"That's not the point," Mischa cut in, not wanting to feel any sympathy for Yui. "We need to figure out how to save Kumiko."
"Tai Itsukun, did you say that she left her life in the mirror, no da?" Chichiri asked.
"I believe so," Tai Itsukun said.
"Well then maybe if she went back in-" He began.
"No." Tasuki objected. "I won't let you do that to her again. Whatever she went through was bad enough. She shouldn't have to do it twice."
"Tasuki's right," Tamahome agreed. "Once is enough."
"Perhaps if she saw that it was all an illusion," Amiboshi suggested quietly, "maybe she could retrieve her soul, if only by watching."
"It's worth a try," Tai Itsukun said with a nod, "bring her in."
Kumiko sat in front of a large mirror. On each of her side sat her four guardians. Tasuki sat directly beside her, holding her hand tightly.
"Kumiko, what you are about to see is the test you that you had to undergo but a few days ago. Watch, and remember that it is only an illusion that you yourself created."
The vision appeared in the large mirror and began to play. The group watched and saw the wonders of Kumiko's world, astonished by all it had to offer.
Tasuki was angry, watching the illus ional him say horrible, cruel things to the girl he loved.
As Kumiko watched, her expression began to change. Fear was clearly displayed on her face, and just before the vision ended she gasped loudly.
She began to cough and her eyes closed. Everyone ran to her side in immediate worry. When she opened her eyes again, they saw not the dead lifeless color, but the bright brilliance they were accustomed to.
Kumiko was back.
They all called her name happily and hugged her tearfully.
"Kumiko, we missed you!"
"We were so worried!"
"I thought you were dead!"
"I'm so glad you're back again!"
Kumiko felt warm tears of joy pour from her eyes as she hugged her friends and promised them that she would never let it happen again.
Tasuki held her close and whispered, "I was so worried that I had lost you. You were so dead, it scared me. It scared all of us!"
"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough!" She said, closing her eyes and letting the last of her tears pour out.
"Don't be sorry, Kumiko. It was me who made the error, not you. I ask for your forgiveness," Tai Itsukun said.
"You are forgiven," Kumiko said, "I learned a lot in there. I was being extremely selfish. I must summon the gods and bring peace. Those poor miserable souls will not be happy until I do."
Tai Itsukun beamed at her.
"Then it is time. You are finally ready to complete your journey."
Okay, so I lied. NEXT chapter will be better, I promise. So much fluff it'll make cotton candy look rock hard. Thanks to Paris/Rosebane (whatever you wanna be called) and Lupi for all the great ideas for this chapter. Love you guys!
Please Review.
XOXO!
Lola