RECALLING THE SPIRIT
Chapter #5
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Nile, Akira, Tamiko, Tamiko's friend (forget her name), Umiko, Kimiko, Masako and, my favourite original character...NILE!
Responses To Reviews:
Porifra: There is a difference between someone dying and someone going INTO death. What did No-Face eat (more to the point, WHO did No-Face eat)? You'll find out soon enough. My fights are good? Thank you! I was worried about that, to tell the truth. Did I put No-Face in because of you? Well, ever since I couldn't find a place for him (her? It?) in Spirited again, I've always had it in the back of my mind. You just brought the idea to hand. No-face is submerged in the story now! Hmm, good scene Idea. Of course, I'll have to alter it a bit, to make it my own, and I'm afraid I'm no good with waterfalls. I'll try my best though. (Like I did with chapter #6) I'll use it in the next chapter. Hey. Have you read any stories by Tamora Pierce? I've read pretty much all of them. Nobody I know reads her books! Send me another long review! I LIKE long reviews!
Aharah Musici: That's really nice of you to say that. THANKS!
Mysticwolfguardian: HI! NICE REVIEW! Thank you! I'm glad you are feeling better! You really think you can learn from ME? T__T
wo-ai-ni-kai-hiwatari- 'Kinda mysterious ways' that's my style of writing all right. ^_____^
CHAPTER #5
Tamiko slowly awakened with the sun in her eyes.
~Great. I forgot to shut the blinds.~
She moaned, turning, automatically reaching down to pull up her blankets up to her ears...
And grabbed air.
She sat up, blinking, to see trees, TALL trees, gently waving in the summer wind.
She looked around, the ribbon she used to tie back her long, raven black hair slipping off, leaving Tamiko's hair to be wild and free...
"And knotted." She muttered under her breath. As she moved her right arm to pick the ribbon up, pain shot up it, causing Tamiko to grit her teeth and wince. Everything came back to her in a flash. As she slowly finger combed her hair, and tied it into a ponytail, she looked over at the other side of what had served as a small fire pit.
She grinned mischievously as she looked upon the sleeping boy. Payback...
Now how to go about it?
Tamiko walked softly, bare feet making no sound on the earth, one arm dangling painfully at her side. She bent over, close to Akira's ear. She took a gentle breath in...
"WHERE'S SEN! I WANT SEN!!!!!"
Akira bolted up, yelling. He looked around wildly, and, seeing no huge towing No-face, glared at the girl, who was now in fits of laughter.
"DON'T DO THAT!!!!!"
Tamiko gasped, "I'm sorry! That was just so FUNNY!"
Akira glared. "To YOU maybe!"
Tamiko, who was rather giddy, bared her teeth. "GRR!"
Akira sat down on a convenient log, and poked at the ashes of the fire. "How did you do that?"
Tamiko suddenly turned solemn. She sat down on the log farthest away from him. "Do what?" she said suspiciously.
"With that blob..."
Tamiko understood exactly what he meant. She felt bewildered, defensive, and ANGRY.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO OR WHAT I AM ANYMORE! IT JUST HAPPENS!!!! YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, I WAS OUT WITH MY FRIEND, LEADING A NORMAL LIFE, THEN MY PARENTS...."
She trailed off. Akira filled in bitterly, "Disappeared?"
For a moment, curiosity outweighed anger. "How did you...?"
Akira stood up suddenly. "Come on! We'd better go."
He grabbed his sweater, and began to walk out of the clearing. Tamiko suddenly felt horrible. "Akira! Wait! I..." She drifted off.
She had to run to catch up with him, the jarring movement hurting her arm.
After a while, she ventured to talk. "Um, where are we going?"
"Somewhere." His voice was flat.
Tamiko rolled her eyes. "Don't you KNOW where you're going?"
+++
"Don't you KNOW where you're going?"
Akira curled his hands into fists. He couldn't take anymore of this...
"FINE! IF YOU'RE SO UNSURE, JUST LEAVE! I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS ANYMORE!!! I'M TIRED OF THIS, AND OF YOU! IF YOU'D RATHER BE BY YOURSELF, GO! WHY DO YOU STAY!?!
Tamiko opened her mouth to shout an angry retort, and thought better of it.
Akira looked at her, fuming as they walked, so see her lower her head.
"Because I...I need your help."
+++++
There. Finally. She had admitted it, not only to him, but to herself as well. She clenched her fists, trying to hold on to her anger. She COULDN'T do this alone. She DESPERATLY needed help, and Akira obviously didn't take kindly to the idea of them traveling together...
"Sure, why not."
Tamiko raised her head, getting that odd confusing feeling you get when you just KNOW what somebody's going to say next, and then they go and say something COMPLETELY different. This tends to get people off track.
"Wha..."
"It's not like I've got anything better to do."
Tamiko gaped. "Do you have and alternate personality or something?"
Akira snorted. "Thanks."
Tamiko smiled, not really paying attention. She let her mind wander and focused on sounds she could hear, trying to define them.
...water...
...birds...
...a tra-
SMACK!
Tamiko stepped back, rubbing her sore forehead. She looked at Akira. "You could have WARNED me!" she said wryly.
"Of what?" he replied, innocently.
"The TREE!"
"What tree?"
Tamiko pointed, furious.
"Oh! THAT tree!"
Tamiko stuck out her tongue, and then remembered what she had heard. "I HEARD A TRAIN!" she said, excitedly.
"Yeah, so?"
Tamiko, if she were animated, would have sweat dropped. "It means CIVILIZATION! Come ON!"
And with that, she ran, as fast as she could, with Akira closing up the gap. "YOU MUST HAVE REALLY GOOD HEARING!!!" He shouted after seven minutes. "BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!"
As they came to a clearing, he raises his eyebrows quizzically. "A bath house." He stated quietly to himself, almost as if to convince him of it. "In the middle of nowhere." He looked around for Tamiko, seeing her standing near a wooden curved bridge, brushing the wood gently, and feeling the smoothness with her fingertips. It reminded her of the first part of her Mother's story, the one that her mother gave her permission to read, saying that the other half was to...old for her age. That it had 'bad, scary things happening in it.' So, of course, Tamiko had gone ahead and read it. But that wasn't the point. The point WAS, the bridge rang a bell. She loked over it's edge and saw train tracks.
She ALSO saw the last rays of sun sink beneath the horizon, and the lights flash on in the bath house. She looked at the bridge, remembering Sen had had to hold her breath.
~How old am I again?~ she scorned herself. ~Referring to fairy tales? Besides, I'm..we're,~ she reminded herself of Akira again. ~Alone. No one can see us!~
"Come on! It's clear!" she shouted at the boy, who was about two meters away from her.
And that's when Fate decided to prove her wrong.
Right before her very eyes, life appeared. Milling crowds began to cross the bridge, while a very harassed..frog?...greeted them.
Tamiko ducked behind a rose bush, and pulled Akira down too. "We'll have to cross." She hissed.
"Who made you boss? We're not going ANWHERE." He whispered back.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Would you prefer us to stay OUTSIDE tonight?"
Akira looked over at the crowds of...things. HE could have sworn he saw a seven foot tall walking radish. And something that looked like a giant wolf, white teeth gnashing, along with two slightly smaller wolves. The large one was at least three times the height of Akira, and he was by no means, short. They looked ready to kill anything. Or anybody. Akira wouldn't let ANYONE, he thought, looking at the savage teeth, ANYONE he cared about, cross that thing alone.
"Yes."
"Fine then! I'll go alone, and you can wait here!"
She stood up, and turned as she heard a rustling behind her. "Thought you said you WEREN'T coming." She reminded Akira.
"If you don't want me to come, then I'll come." He said easily.
Tamiko shook her head slowly. "That made no sense."
Akira shrugged. "I rarely do."
Tamiko looked puzzled, but then smiled. "If you're sure."
They stood up, and walked out from behind the bushes., Tamiko leading the way.
"Now," she whispered. "We can't breathe as we cross the bridge. Or they'll be able to see us."
"Pinch me."
Tamiko looked at him as if he had a second head. "What?"
"You heard me. Spirits? This is all a dream." He looked Tamiko up and down. "OR a nightmare."
"Excuse me!?!"
"I SAID..."
Tamiko slapped him across the face.
"See," she shrugged, grinning. "It's NOT a dream."
"Oww." He groaned, as they approached the bridge. "Now take a deep breath..." warned Tamiko, taking one herself.
They crossed the threshold of the bridge. ~It seems a LOT longer from this point of view.~ thought Akira, already feeling the urge to breathe again, though it was not urgent. Being a strong swimmer (sadly unlike poor Tamiko), he could hold his breath for long periods of time.
Tamiko though, was beginning to struggle. They were halfway across now, perhaps she could actually make it...
She began to fight herself, her body telling her to breathe, while her mind was against the idea. She was also beginning to feel light-headed from the lack of air. In normal circumstances, this would have made her crabby, but all it was succeeding to do right now was make her REALLY dizzy.
And on top of that, all this movement opened the wound in her arm, bleeding through her shirt, dripping down her arm.
Akira looked at her sideways, and noted that she was pretty much out of breath. His gaze was then caught by the dark red substance staining her white shirt. Puzzlement and...anger?...crossed his features. Striding the last few steps, he gestured for her to hurry.
Tamiko stumbled off the bridge, and collapsed on the ground, gasping.
She closed her eyes blurrily, and opened them to see Akira kneeling beside her. "Did I make it?" she asked, her words coming out between gasps. She tried to struggle up, and bit back a cry of pain as she put weight on her bad shoulder.
Whatever rude, sharp, sarcastic remark Akira was about to say (And, knowing him...) completely left him. "Stupid idiot. What did you do to yourself?"
Tamiko, shook her head, which cleared the dizziness away. "I didn't do anything." She said stubbornly. "What are you talking about?"
"Idiot, you didn't even bandage it!"
"Bandage what?"
+++
"Bandage what?"
A rather scaly spirit looked over at empty space. Had she heard something? She squinted. There. Every couple of minutes, something would flash in and out of her sight. She grinned a rather wide, sharp-tooth grin. Finally. Something interesting was happening. Good...
+++
"What did you do to your arm, girl?"
Tamiko sighed. "I..I fell on it. Last night. When the No-face dropped me. BUT," she stated, "It's not a big deal. I'm not going to sob and cry, over some little scratch. What good's that going to do me?"
She stood, pushing back the pain to the back of her mind. Akira stood to, looking at her, frustrated. "You're REALLY stubborn, you know that? What good's a useless arm going to do you?"
Tamiko opened her mouth to reply, and stopped, thinking.
Akira rolled his eyes, and ripped a bit of material from his T-shirt. Deftly tying it around her arm, he stated: "I need something to tie it on with."
Tamiko frowned, and, reluctantly, pulled the red ribbon from her hair. Without looking up, Akira tied on the makeshift bandage on, pulling it into a knot. "That will hold."
Tamiko was speechless. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
Akira shrugged. "Picked it up somewhere."
Tamiko looked at him quizzically, then shrugged. "Come on, we'd better go."
She turned, took a few steps and stopped, standing there frozen.
After a minute Akira said tactfully. "Where?"
Tamiko turned and glared at him. Akira smirked. "I suggest we go towards the bath house."
Tamiko stuck out her tongue. " I suggest we go TOWARDS the bath house" she mumbled under her breath, and began walking off. Akira followed, noting on a bush some berries. Realizing they were raspberries, he picked a few and ate them, jogging to catch up with Tamiko.
Behind them, in the beginnings of early night, something followed...
+++++
WOW! I think that was my longest chapter EVER! 0___0
OH! I HAVE GOT SUCH COOL IDEAS COMING UP!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading.
Hope desperately to update soon!
HAPPY 2004!!!!!!
Jo-chan
Chapter #5
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Nile, Akira, Tamiko, Tamiko's friend (forget her name), Umiko, Kimiko, Masako and, my favourite original character...NILE!
Responses To Reviews:
Porifra: There is a difference between someone dying and someone going INTO death. What did No-Face eat (more to the point, WHO did No-Face eat)? You'll find out soon enough. My fights are good? Thank you! I was worried about that, to tell the truth. Did I put No-Face in because of you? Well, ever since I couldn't find a place for him (her? It?) in Spirited again, I've always had it in the back of my mind. You just brought the idea to hand. No-face is submerged in the story now! Hmm, good scene Idea. Of course, I'll have to alter it a bit, to make it my own, and I'm afraid I'm no good with waterfalls. I'll try my best though. (Like I did with chapter #6) I'll use it in the next chapter. Hey. Have you read any stories by Tamora Pierce? I've read pretty much all of them. Nobody I know reads her books! Send me another long review! I LIKE long reviews!
Aharah Musici: That's really nice of you to say that. THANKS!
Mysticwolfguardian: HI! NICE REVIEW! Thank you! I'm glad you are feeling better! You really think you can learn from ME? T__T
wo-ai-ni-kai-hiwatari- 'Kinda mysterious ways' that's my style of writing all right. ^_____^
CHAPTER #5
Tamiko slowly awakened with the sun in her eyes.
~Great. I forgot to shut the blinds.~
She moaned, turning, automatically reaching down to pull up her blankets up to her ears...
And grabbed air.
She sat up, blinking, to see trees, TALL trees, gently waving in the summer wind.
She looked around, the ribbon she used to tie back her long, raven black hair slipping off, leaving Tamiko's hair to be wild and free...
"And knotted." She muttered under her breath. As she moved her right arm to pick the ribbon up, pain shot up it, causing Tamiko to grit her teeth and wince. Everything came back to her in a flash. As she slowly finger combed her hair, and tied it into a ponytail, she looked over at the other side of what had served as a small fire pit.
She grinned mischievously as she looked upon the sleeping boy. Payback...
Now how to go about it?
Tamiko walked softly, bare feet making no sound on the earth, one arm dangling painfully at her side. She bent over, close to Akira's ear. She took a gentle breath in...
"WHERE'S SEN! I WANT SEN!!!!!"
Akira bolted up, yelling. He looked around wildly, and, seeing no huge towing No-face, glared at the girl, who was now in fits of laughter.
"DON'T DO THAT!!!!!"
Tamiko gasped, "I'm sorry! That was just so FUNNY!"
Akira glared. "To YOU maybe!"
Tamiko, who was rather giddy, bared her teeth. "GRR!"
Akira sat down on a convenient log, and poked at the ashes of the fire. "How did you do that?"
Tamiko suddenly turned solemn. She sat down on the log farthest away from him. "Do what?" she said suspiciously.
"With that blob..."
Tamiko understood exactly what he meant. She felt bewildered, defensive, and ANGRY.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO OR WHAT I AM ANYMORE! IT JUST HAPPENS!!!! YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, I WAS OUT WITH MY FRIEND, LEADING A NORMAL LIFE, THEN MY PARENTS...."
She trailed off. Akira filled in bitterly, "Disappeared?"
For a moment, curiosity outweighed anger. "How did you...?"
Akira stood up suddenly. "Come on! We'd better go."
He grabbed his sweater, and began to walk out of the clearing. Tamiko suddenly felt horrible. "Akira! Wait! I..." She drifted off.
She had to run to catch up with him, the jarring movement hurting her arm.
After a while, she ventured to talk. "Um, where are we going?"
"Somewhere." His voice was flat.
Tamiko rolled her eyes. "Don't you KNOW where you're going?"
+++
"Don't you KNOW where you're going?"
Akira curled his hands into fists. He couldn't take anymore of this...
"FINE! IF YOU'RE SO UNSURE, JUST LEAVE! I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS ANYMORE!!! I'M TIRED OF THIS, AND OF YOU! IF YOU'D RATHER BE BY YOURSELF, GO! WHY DO YOU STAY!?!
Tamiko opened her mouth to shout an angry retort, and thought better of it.
Akira looked at her, fuming as they walked, so see her lower her head.
"Because I...I need your help."
+++++
There. Finally. She had admitted it, not only to him, but to herself as well. She clenched her fists, trying to hold on to her anger. She COULDN'T do this alone. She DESPERATLY needed help, and Akira obviously didn't take kindly to the idea of them traveling together...
"Sure, why not."
Tamiko raised her head, getting that odd confusing feeling you get when you just KNOW what somebody's going to say next, and then they go and say something COMPLETELY different. This tends to get people off track.
"Wha..."
"It's not like I've got anything better to do."
Tamiko gaped. "Do you have and alternate personality or something?"
Akira snorted. "Thanks."
Tamiko smiled, not really paying attention. She let her mind wander and focused on sounds she could hear, trying to define them.
...water...
...birds...
...a tra-
SMACK!
Tamiko stepped back, rubbing her sore forehead. She looked at Akira. "You could have WARNED me!" she said wryly.
"Of what?" he replied, innocently.
"The TREE!"
"What tree?"
Tamiko pointed, furious.
"Oh! THAT tree!"
Tamiko stuck out her tongue, and then remembered what she had heard. "I HEARD A TRAIN!" she said, excitedly.
"Yeah, so?"
Tamiko, if she were animated, would have sweat dropped. "It means CIVILIZATION! Come ON!"
And with that, she ran, as fast as she could, with Akira closing up the gap. "YOU MUST HAVE REALLY GOOD HEARING!!!" He shouted after seven minutes. "BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!"
As they came to a clearing, he raises his eyebrows quizzically. "A bath house." He stated quietly to himself, almost as if to convince him of it. "In the middle of nowhere." He looked around for Tamiko, seeing her standing near a wooden curved bridge, brushing the wood gently, and feeling the smoothness with her fingertips. It reminded her of the first part of her Mother's story, the one that her mother gave her permission to read, saying that the other half was to...old for her age. That it had 'bad, scary things happening in it.' So, of course, Tamiko had gone ahead and read it. But that wasn't the point. The point WAS, the bridge rang a bell. She loked over it's edge and saw train tracks.
She ALSO saw the last rays of sun sink beneath the horizon, and the lights flash on in the bath house. She looked at the bridge, remembering Sen had had to hold her breath.
~How old am I again?~ she scorned herself. ~Referring to fairy tales? Besides, I'm..we're,~ she reminded herself of Akira again. ~Alone. No one can see us!~
"Come on! It's clear!" she shouted at the boy, who was about two meters away from her.
And that's when Fate decided to prove her wrong.
Right before her very eyes, life appeared. Milling crowds began to cross the bridge, while a very harassed..frog?...greeted them.
Tamiko ducked behind a rose bush, and pulled Akira down too. "We'll have to cross." She hissed.
"Who made you boss? We're not going ANWHERE." He whispered back.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Would you prefer us to stay OUTSIDE tonight?"
Akira looked over at the crowds of...things. HE could have sworn he saw a seven foot tall walking radish. And something that looked like a giant wolf, white teeth gnashing, along with two slightly smaller wolves. The large one was at least three times the height of Akira, and he was by no means, short. They looked ready to kill anything. Or anybody. Akira wouldn't let ANYONE, he thought, looking at the savage teeth, ANYONE he cared about, cross that thing alone.
"Yes."
"Fine then! I'll go alone, and you can wait here!"
She stood up, and turned as she heard a rustling behind her. "Thought you said you WEREN'T coming." She reminded Akira.
"If you don't want me to come, then I'll come." He said easily.
Tamiko shook her head slowly. "That made no sense."
Akira shrugged. "I rarely do."
Tamiko looked puzzled, but then smiled. "If you're sure."
They stood up, and walked out from behind the bushes., Tamiko leading the way.
"Now," she whispered. "We can't breathe as we cross the bridge. Or they'll be able to see us."
"Pinch me."
Tamiko looked at him as if he had a second head. "What?"
"You heard me. Spirits? This is all a dream." He looked Tamiko up and down. "OR a nightmare."
"Excuse me!?!"
"I SAID..."
Tamiko slapped him across the face.
"See," she shrugged, grinning. "It's NOT a dream."
"Oww." He groaned, as they approached the bridge. "Now take a deep breath..." warned Tamiko, taking one herself.
They crossed the threshold of the bridge. ~It seems a LOT longer from this point of view.~ thought Akira, already feeling the urge to breathe again, though it was not urgent. Being a strong swimmer (sadly unlike poor Tamiko), he could hold his breath for long periods of time.
Tamiko though, was beginning to struggle. They were halfway across now, perhaps she could actually make it...
She began to fight herself, her body telling her to breathe, while her mind was against the idea. She was also beginning to feel light-headed from the lack of air. In normal circumstances, this would have made her crabby, but all it was succeeding to do right now was make her REALLY dizzy.
And on top of that, all this movement opened the wound in her arm, bleeding through her shirt, dripping down her arm.
Akira looked at her sideways, and noted that she was pretty much out of breath. His gaze was then caught by the dark red substance staining her white shirt. Puzzlement and...anger?...crossed his features. Striding the last few steps, he gestured for her to hurry.
Tamiko stumbled off the bridge, and collapsed on the ground, gasping.
She closed her eyes blurrily, and opened them to see Akira kneeling beside her. "Did I make it?" she asked, her words coming out between gasps. She tried to struggle up, and bit back a cry of pain as she put weight on her bad shoulder.
Whatever rude, sharp, sarcastic remark Akira was about to say (And, knowing him...) completely left him. "Stupid idiot. What did you do to yourself?"
Tamiko, shook her head, which cleared the dizziness away. "I didn't do anything." She said stubbornly. "What are you talking about?"
"Idiot, you didn't even bandage it!"
"Bandage what?"
+++
"Bandage what?"
A rather scaly spirit looked over at empty space. Had she heard something? She squinted. There. Every couple of minutes, something would flash in and out of her sight. She grinned a rather wide, sharp-tooth grin. Finally. Something interesting was happening. Good...
+++
"What did you do to your arm, girl?"
Tamiko sighed. "I..I fell on it. Last night. When the No-face dropped me. BUT," she stated, "It's not a big deal. I'm not going to sob and cry, over some little scratch. What good's that going to do me?"
She stood, pushing back the pain to the back of her mind. Akira stood to, looking at her, frustrated. "You're REALLY stubborn, you know that? What good's a useless arm going to do you?"
Tamiko opened her mouth to reply, and stopped, thinking.
Akira rolled his eyes, and ripped a bit of material from his T-shirt. Deftly tying it around her arm, he stated: "I need something to tie it on with."
Tamiko frowned, and, reluctantly, pulled the red ribbon from her hair. Without looking up, Akira tied on the makeshift bandage on, pulling it into a knot. "That will hold."
Tamiko was speechless. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
Akira shrugged. "Picked it up somewhere."
Tamiko looked at him quizzically, then shrugged. "Come on, we'd better go."
She turned, took a few steps and stopped, standing there frozen.
After a minute Akira said tactfully. "Where?"
Tamiko turned and glared at him. Akira smirked. "I suggest we go towards the bath house."
Tamiko stuck out her tongue. " I suggest we go TOWARDS the bath house" she mumbled under her breath, and began walking off. Akira followed, noting on a bush some berries. Realizing they were raspberries, he picked a few and ate them, jogging to catch up with Tamiko.
Behind them, in the beginnings of early night, something followed...
+++++
WOW! I think that was my longest chapter EVER! 0___0
OH! I HAVE GOT SUCH COOL IDEAS COMING UP!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading.
Hope desperately to update soon!
HAPPY 2004!!!!!!
Jo-chan
