Chapter 7

Meilin cocked an eyebrow and turned to Funaho. "Clothes? Since when did clothes deserve any sort of burial?"

Kita stared down into the first tomb. It was completely empty except for a neatly folded emerald green outfit. Towards the head of the sarcophagus sat a green and gold trimmed hat. She ran her fingers over the material and felt herself choking back tears and an overwhelming sadness that had swept through her. She traced her fingers over the black and white emblem on the chest of the top, then let the material of the sash run through her hands.

"How come there are no bodies?" Meilin asked, staring into the second tomb which was completely empty. She knew she would have been upset if there actually were bodies in the tombs, but she had prepared herself for such a gruesome sight and was upset to be so let down.

"These tombs were made a long long time ago. They were built for an ancestor of the Li clan, and for one of the Kinomoto family. Unforseen circumstances kept them from being buried side by side in these tombs."

Kita looked up from the tomb and turned to Funaho. "Please, can I pick it up?"

Meilin cocked her eyebrow again at her aunt's nod and look of sympathy. "How come they weren't buried by each other?"

Funaho smiled sadly and watched Kita clutch the emerald tunic top to her chest. "Two things were not met that had to be. One,"

"They had to die together," Kita said softly.

Miss Li studied Kita carefully, there was something different about the young woman. It might always have been there, she supposed, or perhaps it was simply the past that had brought about the change in Kita's deep green eyes. Her brown hair fell long down her back and into her face a little bit as she bowed her head. Funaho turned back to Meilin who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"The second is that she never said 'I love you'."

"That's kind of ridiculous if you ask me. How come she couldn't just say it? It's easy enough to say if you ask me, just three little words." Meilin said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"If she said it," Funaho replied softly, "That would mean admitting to herself and to him how she felt. When you really mean it, it may be just that much harder to admit. Miss Kinomoto, would you please come with me, I said that I had something to give to the both of you as well."

Kita sat in a large chair, her head hanging over a sink. Miss Li had promised that her gift would be a 'new' Miss Kinomoto. Her long wet hair hung heavy on her head, and as Zima began to cut chunks of it away, Kita became a little uneasy about Miss Li's present.

Meilin danced about in front of three mirrors, marveling at the dress her aunt had given her. She shook her sleeves out for the ten billionth time to listen to the bells jingle merrily. Then, she spun around in circles, letting the very long ends of her kimono type sleeves whirl around her. The entire dress was beige and red, trimmed in gold. The sleeves were the soft beige, almost the same color as her skin, while the chest and stomach were a vibrant red. A yin yang was embroidered across her chest, and Kita smiled wryly at how long the short dress made her legs look.

"Hey, be careful with what you do to my hair," Kita scolded Zima as she watched long lengths of her hair fall to the ground.

Meilin began to laugh, "Oh my Kita, your head looks horrible. Zima, now look what you've done to her head, she won't be able to go outside for weeks."

Funaho sat at a small table in the corner of her room. She looked up from her cup of tea at Meilin's remarks, then glanced quickly at Kita's head. "It is fine, Miss Kinomoto. Zima, take a little more from the front."

Kita didn't get a chance to look at how badly Zima had butchered her hair before Miss Li ushered her off into another side room. This time it was Meilin's turn to wait to see what Kita looked like when she emerged from the same room her aunt had ushered her into earlier.

"There, all done," Funaho smiled at Kita, then spun her around in front of the mirrors in the small room.

Kita stared at herself in the mirror. She didn't look like herself, she admitted, but she didn't look too foreign to herself either. She had had her hair cut short in the past, but nothing had made her feel as comfortable as she did at that moment. She had short bangs in the front, keeping her from hiding her face and green eyes with her hair as she sometimes did. Framing her face were longer chin length pieces of hair, and the back was cut short as well, but layered. She turned about in the mirror, watching her hair, and then again to get a good look at the kimono she wore. It was a rusty orange red color with yellow flowers scattered across it.

"I think I like it, thank you, Miss Li."

Funaho smiled. "It looks very good on you." Of course it does, she thought. It very well may have been yours at one point in time.

Kita went to bed early that night, she felt drained again, but in a different way than when she had first arrived. She had felt something strong looking into that tomb, she had felt sadness, overwhelming sadness, but she could not explain why. And then again, when she had looked at herself in the mirror, she felt something. This time, however, it was something calming, she felt more like herself looking at the way she looked in the mirror then she had any other time she had looked in a mirror.

"I must be going crazy," she said to herself before she pulled the blankets over her head and went to sleep.

Meilin and Zima stayed awake with Miss Li in the dining room. They sat and talked, and every now and then Meilin would ring her tiny bells.

"Aunt Li, I was wondering, how come you always call Kita, Miss Kinomoto. I understand that there is a level of formality you like to keep, but its getting rather old, especially if she will be living with us for a while." Meilin said, staring into her own cup of tea.

Funaho didn't answer for a little bit, she looked like she was thinking what to say, but she was really just trying to figure out how to say it. "Kita is not a name that suits her very well. You know, when her mother first told me that she was pregnant, and the child was a girl, crazy me, I recommended the name Sakura for the girl. But no, her mother would not take my advice, and still, if you ask me, she is more of a Sakura than anything else," Funaho smiled at Meilin with one of her 'I know more than I'm telling' kind of smiles.

"You know, Elda said some strange things to me today." Funaho gave Meilin a curious look, so the young woman continued. "She said I would go on a long journey, a journey that was longer than one anyone has ever taken, and that when I returned, it would all seem like a dream."

"You should not reveal to me all that Elda told you, what she said was for you and you alone. Any journey you take does not really concern me, at the moment at least, but anything more, you should keep to yourself. However, I will suggest that you prepare yourself for any type of long journey, by making short ones. I think you and Kita should go out camping in the forest behind the manor for a couple of days. I hear that there are ruins from very old times out there somewhere, but neither myself nor Zima have ever found them. Perhaps you will be luckier than I."

Meilin nodded in agreement and bounced up from the table. "That's a great idea, Aunt Li. I'll go ask Kita in the morning, I'm sure she will agree, and if not, well then, I'll just have to drag her kicking and screaming along with me."

Funaho and Zima watched Meilin bounce up the stairs and disappear around the corner towards her and Kita's rooms.

"So you have set the wheels in motion as Elda requested of you," Zima said smiling.

"It wasn't Elda this time who asked anything of me. It was the other one who spoke with the three of us, and those two girls have the ability to change things, that she made perfectly clear."

"She will be seeing them very soon you think?"

Funaho nodded. "Sooner than I think they may know."

Author's note.

So I figured I would make this at the bottom, just in case anyone really wanted to just skip it, because I mean, who really wants to read ramblings right? Well anyways, this if my first fanfic ever, and I hope you guys like it so far. I have pretty much the whole plot in my head, so it shouldn't be that long until I should get more/ get it all finished. I appreciate your comments very much, and any tips for improvement are also greatly appreciated. And, if you like my story, please recommend it to your friends. Thanks a lot.