Today is the day that I finally realize that I can do the work for my chapters at home. And let me tell you, it rocks.
Oh, and to ShadeSpirit, I hope you have noticed that there are the characters from the show in here. I'd already had it in, it was just in the chapters after you had asked me that. I intend on bringing almost everybody into the mix, but it's like putting some hot liquid into beaten eggs- you have to do it slowly, or they'll curdle. And goodness knows that's no good. Believe me, I've curdled eggs before, trying to make hollondaise. According to my mother, I didn't stir it enough. But back to the point. I just don't want my story to curdle at all. So I'm makin' it slow.
Now, read, you lazybums with nothing better to do than read what other lazybums like me put up on this site! I apologize if this strikes offense to anyone, I am merely being comical, in my eyes.
Saikyou- She just has a really weird sense of humor.
Hi, Sai-sai!
Saikyou- Hi to you too.
Now, read!
Saikyou- Okay, I will.
Not you! I meant the readers.
Saikyou- Oh. 'Kay, then
Singing to the Wind
Chapter 8
Living in the Dream World
The day had been more than a bit eventful, now that she thought about it, on the flight home. When Hikari touched down on the cliff, she was hit with a wave of pure exhaustion, for whatever reason. She managed to stumble into her bedroom and flop onto the mattress before dozing off.
-- It was dark where she was. Nothing could be completely made out, but it almost seemed like a forest to her eyes. Impossibly old, yes, but still a forest, nonetheless. Instead of being clad in her usual kimono, she found she was wearing a white dress with red ribbons that were tied in crisscross patterns on her waist and above her elbows, then dangled down gracefully in small bows with long ends.
A twig snapped, and she spun. No one was there. She peered further, but the darkness would not yield to her pressing eyes, and for some reason, she didn't conjure a fireball to light her way. It was as though the darkness wouldn't let her break it's strong hold on her.
A sudden feeling of urgency and apprehension clouded her judgment, and where she would have stood her ground and protected herself, she ran instead. She kept glancing behind her, as if some terrible enemy were chasing her through the shadowy trees. She darted back and forth, attempting to lose her invisible foe.
Eventually, she ran into a hollowed out shell of a tree and pressed herself to the inside of what was once a thick trunk. She slid to the ground, breathing so heavily she was almost panting. The terror of it all was almost overwhelming to her.
Abruptly, a figure blocked what little light came into the hollow. She stood, and tried to back away from the person-or thing- that had unexpectedly appeared. Of course, being on the inside of a fairly cylindrical enclosure, she couldn't get very far. All she managed to do was get opposite the doorway, which just made it easier for the intruder to see her.
The figure, male in gender, advanced. He took hold of her arms near the shoulder. His hands hurt, as if they were burning her to the bone, a terrible aching pain. He then brought his head down to whisper in her ear.
However, when he opened his mouth, all that came forth was the loud, harsh, buzzing of many insects.--
Hikari bolted upright, her breathing hard and fast. The dream had felt as real as any experience she'd had in her life, but it seemed unreal in nature. That was, of course, discounting the odd and dreadful buzzing. That couldn't possibly be an actual occurrence. In fact, it was already fading from her mind, as fast as such things normally did.
She looked to the window, noting that the sun was still very high in the sky. She'd probably slept less than an hour. There was still some playtime left in the day.
The diminutive girl leapt off of the bed and skidded on the floor in her rush to the door. She dashed down the hallway, heading for a large wooden staircase, clambering up that as well. It went up and up and up until one would think it couldn't go any further. But it finally stopped at a landing. On that landing had been placed, many years ago, a large, cushioned, high backed armchair in a plush velvet that was a peculiar shade of blue. So blue, in fact, that it was almost black. Sitting in front of it was placed an equally soft navy hued ottoman- a footrest, if you will. There was also a knee-level wooden table, and an end table with a corded lamp sitting upon it resting next to the chair. Against the wall was a single floor-to-ceiling bookcase. If anybody looked at it, they would think that the person had high expectations, but little motivation, for the bookshelves were sparse in their possession of any tomes.
This was Hikari's reading room. The staircase leading up to it got darker the closer it came to the top, giving anyone at the bottom the impression of great height. The ceiling, however, was painted as the sky on a day when the clouds are large and puffy. It was in such detail that one would see that there appeared to be actual rays of light coming from the parting of the clouds.
Hikari sat in the chair and stared at the ceiling. She closed her eyes, a soft smile on her face. This was the place she could think, the place where no one could find her. In theory, that is. She just didn't expect to be found here.
Breathing deeply, she let out a sigh. The day had been tiring, to say the least. Saving that baby bird, surveying, interrupting a fight between two very important people, and now the dream...
"I'd say you've had a pretty interesting day, wouldn't you agree?" Hikari jumped out of her comfortable position in her chair to be greeted by... well, herself. Sitting on the landing railing, looking rather bold and learned.
She opened her mouth, and something a bit more than a squeak came out. "You're me."
The other her raised her shoulders. "If that's the way you want to put it, go right on ahead. But the thing is, while I am you, I'm just a reflection of you. I could never be the real thing, I'm just here to give you some company, someone to talk to."
Hikari thought a moment, then replied. "But how can I talk to you if you know everything I do? Isn't that being a bit pointlessly redundant?"
The one on the railing smiled brighter. "Big words for a girl so small." she hopped down from the banister and leaned against it in a cocky sort of pose. "You never grew up. That's why you look like you do. And since you have a mind too young to try and figure everything out yourself, I'm here to answer questions. So ask."
Hikari tucked her legs under her again, settling back into the pillowed chair. "What are my dreams of? They make me more confused than I am when I fall asleep. And I get pretty confused."
The other girl laughed softly. Unlike her more childish counterpart, her laughter was deeper, with more of a cloudy resonance, whereas the real Hikari had laughter the rang through the halls like a cello concerto. "I know, believe me, I know. But I honestly have very few ideas of where the dreams come from."
Hikari scrunched up her eyes and shook her head. "I didn't ask where they came from, I asked what they were of."
The clone nodded. "Oh. Well, I suppose that they are just of other places, other times. You could even be reading other people's minds in your sleep, though I highly doubt it. Your dreams aren't vague, or misplaced, and the things in them are completely straightforward. All in all, you seem to be dreaming in some sort of pattern, but I have no idea what it is."
"Don't you think that they seem to be getting closer somehow," Hikari posed. "The first one was distant, and I couldn't feel so much. The second was a bit more real, and I could understand it better. The one I had a little while ago was confusing, but I felt like I was actually there, not just doing something for no reason."
The copy crossed her arms, looking thoughtful. "You're right. It's entirely possible that you could be dreaming of different lives that you lived, or, more likely considering what was in them, lives that you will live." She moved from her spot by the stairs to sitting on the ottoman, looking directly into Hikari's eyes. "For now, though, until you can figure all this out by yourself, I'll come from time to time. When you feel the need to think things over. Just stay out of trouble until then, okay? We don't want that last dream to turn out to mean something really bad, and not be able to guard against it, now, do we?"
Hikari beamed and shook her head vigorously. "Nope!"
Her counterpart stood once more. "I suppose I should leave now. Unless you have any more questions, that is."
Hikari looked up, head tilted. "Just one... Is you coming out another power of mine?"
The duplicate shrugged. "It could be another power, or you could be going crazy. It doesn't make much of a difference to me."
Hikari looked down, staring at the folds of her kimono, spattered with lavender and powder blue blossoms. "Well, goodbye then. I hope you'll come to play with me soon." As she looked up, she noticed that her double was already gone. "Aww, nuts," she grumbled. "She barely even said bye to me. Not like she really needs to, though." She slumped into the chair, suddenly very bored. Should she read, or draw, or go outside? Oh, the choices were many and varied. "I think I'll go out. It's probably right around lunchtime in the village right now! I think I'll visit and watch them eat!" With that, she jumped up and hopped on the curving railing that lead all the way down the stairs. Naturally, she chose to slide down the length of it, it being a smooth surface and Hikari being of the mental age of a ten-year-old. Her cries of delight resounded throughout the halls, reverberating off of all the rice paper doorways and stucco walls.
A few minutes later, after Hikari had changed into her plain worker clothes, covered her hair, and smudged some dirt on her face, she was on the road to the village with a basket of apples for sale. Since she had extricated herself from the village, she'd established a different sort of history with them, often visiting to 'sell' things at the market. Her latest ruse was that she lived with her grandmother in a hut just on the other side of the smallest mountain, a little ways out of the valley. The village people were a very trustworthy bunch, and accepted her as soon as she'd acquainted herself with the current head priest.
Walking into the village, she was greeted by three children, who often said hello to incoming travelers, thought they were few and far between. The kids, two twin girls and an older boy, nearly trampled Hikari with her green cabbages.
The first girl, Koki, took pride as she showed Hikari her newly lost tooth. her twin, Roki, rolled her eyes. Apparently, she'd already lost her corresponding tooth, and to her, her sister being proud of losing it was childish. But, when asked if anything was new with her, Roki immediately showed her a scar from when she had fallen while playing tag. Both of the girls were six, and still greatly looked up to Hikari, admiring that she lived almost all by herself.
Masuka, the boy, was upwards of ten, and quickly approaching Hikari's height. When Hikari asked him what was new in his life as she strolled to the market, he replied with a nonchalant shrug, and stated that he'd ended school, and that his parents wanted to engage him to a local village girl. Masuka had always been a boy with a mind far beyond his age, and Hikari knew that he'd loved being in school.
"Having to end school must be hard for you," she commented. "I know how much you loved it." Silence. Hikari figured, at this point, it would be a wise time to change the subject. "Well, then, you're nearly as tall as me now, aren't you? Soon you'll be taller than your mother, I suppose."
Masuka looked at her quizzically. "Why is it that I have known you for near two years, and you haven't grown any? My friend's sister is about your age, and she grew lots last year."
Hikari tensed, not knowing how to answer such a question. If she gave a reply that insinuated something, then yet another secret would be revealed, and she would once again have to leave the village alone for a long while. It would take about sixty or so years for everybody she'd met to die. Too long. Avoiding it was always a good policy.
"I suppose," she started, "That I have finished growing for my lifetime. Not everybody can be as tall as they like. Some have to make up the ranks of the vertically challenged, you know." Masuka laughed. She had successfully averted a small disaster.
The rest of her visit went fairly pleasantly. She sold off the apples, which were quite the hot item, there not being many serviceable apple trees in the valley. The villagers all said hello, or started lively conversations with her, asking about her grandmother. Once all the fruit was gone, she bid the people farewell, and headed off.
After traveling up a slope to a small peak entitled 'Kitsune Tail', she changed back into her normal clothes. Now was time to simply play. She ran through the trees, calling to any animal that would listen to join in her games. A fawn and several rabbits came and frolicked about her, small sparrows then coming to flit about, chirping happily. This was what she lived for, to see the people happy, and then to see that the animals were equally happy.
Kitsune Tail was a unique peak, not only in shape, but in the fact that it was quite hollow. There was a hole near the tip of the peak that was near covered by vines and ferns. Once one got inside, however, it was apparent that it was not the only hole, for there were shafts of light everywhere. All the other holes were simply too small and far too densely protected by all that underbrush to slip through.
Hikari had long ago dug some ledges that resembled stairs into the dirt inside the peak so that she could climb in and out without struggling or the need to fly. At the bottom of the hollow, there was some grass that needed barely any light to survive. It provided a soft cushion on which Hikari could sit and watch the wind cause the light to shift.
As she settled on the grass and moss, Hikari noted that something about the place was different. As though someone had been there in her absence. That was highly unlikely, though. No one else knew that this place existed, and she had never known any of the villagers of its location.
She suddenly felt the sensation that someone was whispering incoherent words into her ear, and turned to the wall that was situated to her left. This was where something was wrong, for sure. She grabbed a stick lying on the ground and carved out an area, about one foot square. Then she chipped away at it, to reveal a very curious object.
She stared at it a moment, completely in a fog as to what it really was.
Hikari- Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yes, it is a cliffhanger, but I felt it was- not necesssary, per say, but I thought it would be nice for a change of pace. The story has been kind of focusing on the one day, and everything seems to be happening in that one day, so what's a cliffhanger or two, I figure? Later on, the story will break up a little, and I'm giving you a heads up, so no one comes to me and wonders where all the words went.
Hikari- As I was reading through it again, I saw the words 'village people' and I cracked up. Not that I'd intended for those words to mean that, but it was funny.
Please review!
