Chapter 11: Leafenia
The night air had become bitter cold. Himeno walked onto her balcony and saw Sasame walking towards the entrance gate of the Awayuki home. The cold air stung her face as well as the hot tears that were running down her face. She wiped them away slowly with her arm, and jumped down from her balcony to catch up with Sasame.
Sasame was acting very differently. He did not look behind him once to see whether Himeno was following him or explain Hayate's condition. His expression remained cold and serious but with a sense of calming reassurance that Himeno didn't know whether to trust or not. Himeno's feet were beginning to hurt. She had come out of her home in nothing but her night dress and the gravel stones on the path way out of the Awayuki home began to dig into her feet. But she kept walking. Her eyes did not move off Sasame, she was hoping he would turn around any second to say something to her. But he never. He continued walking into the night clutching Hayate's body tightly. Hayate's body seemed to float, his arms dangled lifelessly behind Sasame's back, his dark long hair had become lank and covered his face, so Himeno could not see if he was awake or not.
Sasame suddenly stopped. His eyes travelled behind him slowly, as he turned to Himeno. Himeno stopped dead in her tracks; she looked up at Sasame, hoping he would at least say something to her. Sasame quickly closed his eyes, as if he was trying to think of something. A gush of cold wind swept by, and Sasame still remained silent.
"Are…" began Himeno nervously "…Y-you going to tell-"
"We have to go to Leafenia" began Sasame, as his eyes opened quickly staring at Himeno.
"Oh…" said Himeno surprised. She kept staring at Sasame, thinking he was about to add something to his sentence. "…well…you know what's happ-"
"Lets go!" snapped Sasame.
It was clear to Himeno that he did not want to hang around and talk. Nor did he want to answer any questions Himeno wanted to ask. Sasame slowly raised his hand. In a split of a second, a porthole with bright rainbow colours appeared in front of them. The gateway to the land of Leafenia. The porthole grew larger, enough for Sasame to and Himeno to pass through. Himeno followed him. Walking through the porthole was like a dream. Himeno could see many colours in front of her and a dark figure, that she clearly knew was Sasame.
Before Himeno knew it, she had snapped back and was standing in the land of Leafenia. Himeno had been here once or twice before, but today she saw a different side of the beautiful land. The land was dark. Himeno could not see the emerald green grass she was standing on nor could she see the beautiful clear blue sky above her, or the sound of tropical birds in the near by forest.
Sasame was walking a head of her. Himeno speeded up her walking and caught up with him. She quickly glanced around, it was more darker than she had ever seen a night. No moon, or stars. Nothing to guide them through this dark night. The air felt hot, and as if the presence of something was near by.
A dim light shone in the distant. Himeno began to realise they were reaching the place Sasame was taking Hayate. The healing tree. A very tall and ancient looking, willow tree over 300 feet tall. Himeno could make out the grey and brown lining of the trunk, and a small gap at the bottom that shown were the light was coming from. It grew brighter at Himeno and Sasame walked closer. Hayate's condition had not changed and he shown no sign of movement. Tears slowly formed in Himeno's eyes, she looked at the ground as her vision became blurred. She didn't want to cry, she had to be there for Hayate and like he always told her don't think about your emotions and concentrate. The last words he said came running back to Himeno.
"Hey! What are you doing here? Himeno? Is that you?"
Himeno quickly snapped out of thought. They had reached the tree and a figure was standing in the doorway entrance of the old tree. It was Goh. Goh was another one of the Leafe knights; he was the knight of fire. His dark brown questioning eyes travelled back to Sasame.
"What's going on? Why is Himeno here? And what's up with Hayate? What is-" began Goh. Sasame quickly raised his hand in order for him to be quiet. Goh quickly stopped talking and his expression still remained puzzled.
"I'll explain in a bit" began Sasame calmly "But we need to get him to the energy chamber…he's been badly hurt"
"How? How is he hurt?" began Goh. His expression suddenly dropped. "It's her isn't it?" he finished in a serious tone.
Sasame's eyes flinched. His eyes became wide and he began to say…
"What's going on? said a sleepily voice.
A young boy, no older than 8 had appeared. He had straw blonde hair and very large green eyes. He looked around slowly, and a smile appeared on his face as he laid his eyes upon Himeno. It was Shin, one of the youngest Leafe knights.
"Hello Himeno" he began "I didn't know you were coming to visit us"
Goh looked down on the boy and took his small hand. "Let's get you back inside…it's cold" he began reassuringly. The boy waved Himeno goodnight as Himeno smiled falsely at him. Her heart pained, but she couldn't let a little boy at such a tender age know that something horrible had happened. Goh slowly turned around before he walked away with the boy and whispered to Sasame "Come in…Kei is awake…."
Himeno glanced at Sasame. His expression still remained cool. Himeno was surprised how calm he was. In a way she was proud of the way he was taking the situation. It's no good getting panicky when things go wrong, she thought to herself, it doesn't help the situation get any better. But in another way, she was mad at him. Mad at him for being cold to her, not telling her what was going on.
Sasame walked into the entrance. Himeno followed, until Sasame turned around.
"No, you stay outhere" he said in a tone Himeno thought she's never here from Sasame. Demanding. He looked at Himeno fretfully as she slowly backed away saying nothing. Sasame glanced away and turned on his heel and walked away. Himeno walked back outside. She sat down on the cold grass outside and waited patiently, as more tears formed in her eyes.
"It's my fault...no wonder Sasame is acting this way" Himeno whispered slowly to herself as tears formed "My. Fault...oh Hayate…I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, so, sorry" she sobbed into her hands. Himeno choked back on her tears, as she cried more and more into her hands.
"My fault" she thought to herself as she continued to cry "It's all my fault, my fault he was hurt…and he…done it…to…protect me….he should not have trusted me to finish her off, but I can't blame him. It wasn't his fault, it was mine!…oh I've been so stupid…I'm sorry Hayate…I'm sorry Sasame, Goh, Kei, Shin, Mannen, Hajime…Mom…I've disappointed you all, I'm sorry…." Himeno continued sobbing into her hands, she couldn't stop the crying. It was making her feel weak and not think straight, she cried so much.
"He'd laugh if he saw you now…" said a familiar voice. It was Sasame, standing over Himeno. His expression had changed, he seemed more…happierand pleasant. He smiled slightly at Himeno and handed her a white tissue.
"Here…" he said. Himeno glad the tissue, her hands were damp from all the tears that it slipped slightly from her trembling hands.
Sasame sat down next to her, and removed his jacket placing it around her. Himeno continued to look at her feet, as she felt Sasame's eyes looking at her. "I'm…sorry…" began Himeno stiffly.
"Don't be…" said Sasame with a low sigh "It really isn't you fault…"
"But it is!" snapped Himeno, she was so wound up she began to stutter "I-I-I coul-d have preve—ee-vented thi-ss I could have done, I could have, I could have s-s-st-"
"Your stressing you self out, calm yourself" said Sasame placing his arm around her. Himeno slowly breathed in and out, as she looked at Sasame. "It's my fault…" she said in a low whisper.
"No, it's not. This was…an accident waiting to happen. You have no need to blame yourself. But…that's easier said than done. I know." replied Sasame as he looked at the sky.
"Is…he alright?" said Himeno croakily. All the crying had strained her voice.
"He will be…" began Sasame staring back at Himeno "He just needs time to heal. We got him here in time before the wound could affect the rest of his body. He's lost a lot of his energy and strength, but he'll be fine. You know Hayate…he's a strong guy…" Sasame smiled to himself.
Himeno smiled back. This time it was a real smile. She thought the same, she knew Hayate was tough and she had a lot of hope now, that he would be back soon. Back so she could talk to him about everything that's happened.
"Maybe…" began Sasame, as Himeno snapped out of thought "you should go home…and get some sleep…"
Himeno's eyes widened. She did feel tired and lethargic, and desperately wanted to sleep. The though of Fenrir coming back however, was also in her mind. Himeno got up awkwardly and looked down at Sasame.
"Yeah…I want to go back"
Sasame nodded and got up as they walked away from the tree. Himeno glanced back as they continued walking, thinking of Hayate, and how he is. If he's awake. What is he thinking, does he remember what's happening.
"Can I see him tomorrow?" said Himeno.
Sasame took a while to reply. It was like he was in deep thought, his eyes didn't look at Himeno or did he make any kind of gesture.
"Let's just wait and see…" he said simply "I'll come by your house tomorrow and tell you about his improvement. Whether the energy chamber he's currently staying in, has started to show results…"
"Okay…" said Himeno. She was disappointed. She wanted Sasame to say yes, and she wanted badly to see Hayate. Just to see him, his face, just to hear him speak even if he called her "tulip head", a nickname which Himeno detested to hear, but if it came from Hayate, it would make her happy.
Sasame opened the porthole. The swirl of colours shone brightly and the porthole opened. Himeno stepped closely to it, and waved Sasame goodbye. Two seconds later, but it felt longer to Himeno, she was back standing in the driveway of the Awayuki home.
It had started to become brighter. It must have been the early hours of the morning. Himeno could hear the wind in the near by tree's rustle, which reminded her of Hayate. She sighed to herself and walked towards the big door. She rang the doorbell which gave a loud bell dangling noise. Himeno could hear footsteps on the other side about the answer to the door.
It was Mikage. She looked at Himeno, with a sense of shock.
"Miss Himeno!" Mikage gasped "What are you doing? And outside? It's only 4:30 in the morning!"
"I know…" started Himeno with a slight laugh "I um…wanted to…um check on some flowers…you know…to see if they…um bloomed? But…heh, I forgot to bring a key with me…"
"So how did you get out?" began Mikage puzzling "I didn't hear you come down the stairs…or the door go"
"Oh right" said Himeno laughing "I came from my…bedroom…balcony…but now the door is locked there…and now I…had to use the door…"
"You jumped from your balcony?" said Mikage shocked.
Himeno laughed nervously again. She was never good at lying. "Oh. I um…didn't want to wake anyone…so jumped from my balcony…well from my drain pipe but I ugh…I am uh…"
"Miss Himeno" began Mikage. "Your not lying to me are you?"
Himeno stared back at Mikage. Her eyes shifted slightly as Mikage kept staring at Himeno.
"No…I'm not" said Himeno lowering her head. She didn't like to lie, especially to Mikage. She had been a good friend to Himeno ever since she moved into this house since her father got married. Actually, Mikage was the only friend to Himeno in the Awayuki home.
"Well…you must come in…" began Mikage "it's quite cold…go and get some rest. I'll call you at around ten for breakfast."
"Thanks Mikage…" said Himeno sleepily, as she walked past Mikage and up the stairs. Without turning back, she walked past the bedrooms, and into her room closing the door as silently as possible with a low creak.
Himeno turned around and looked at her bed. The thought of the dream and Hayate getting hurt flooded back to her. Himeno closed her eyes and walked slowly to her bed. Himeno glanced to her balcony, and saw the pink flower, that her mother had given her and put so much time and effort into growing. Then Himeno remembered the dream…and what happened with her mother.
"Thanks mom…" she said in a low whisper as she walked towards her bed and got under the covers. "Goodnight…"
Himeno laid her head softly on her pillow. And closed her eyes, as a single tear dropped down her face.
Next chapter up soon.
