Chapter 13:
The sky ripped in half. After a few seconds in midair, they all clumsily fell on the humid ground making a large cloud of dirt float.
"Yataa! Mokona made a good landing!"
"You call that a good landing?! You stupid white Manju!" Mirihanna heard besides her. She rolled her eyes 'Here he goes again…' She stood up and looked around only to find a big foggy forest. Her eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Were the hell are we?!" She glanced to Kurogane who was grumpy as always.
"Some kind of Forest." She said putting her hands on her hips. Fai looked around in search of any kind of live form.
"Hmm. What an interesting lake! But were are all people?" He said looking down into the clear lake. Mokona quickly jumped.
"Mokona can sense a very strong power in the lake!" Mirihanna picket Mokona in her arms and glanced down.
"You mean a feather?"
"Mokona does not know…" It said sweetly.
"Oy! You don't expect us to jump into the lake, do you?!" Mirihanna pouted her lips not wishing it to happen.
"Wait!" They all heard from behind. They turned and saw Princess Sakura running towards them in panic.
"Let…me … go…" She slowly said while passing away, making Kurogane grab her. The poor girl had reached her limit. She tried to hard to be awake to say goodbye to Chunhyang and the others that now she was out of strength. Mirihanna gently smile. The young princess was gaining more of her old spirit and it was showing in her personality.
"We should build a fire." She said looking at the sleeping princess.
After a cozy fire was build, Mirihanna, Fai, Mokona and Kurogane when searching for people. Mirihanna walked a little bit further ahead of them, closing firmly her white cape in order to prevent the cold to reach her body. As she walked in the darkness, she gently smiled, admiring the nature around them. After being in two worlds were they stayed in a city and then a small village, this was a pleasant change for her.
"The fog is getting thicker…" She heard behind her.
"Yea…it's dark." The ninja's strong voice responded. She quickly glanced back and looked at the two men.
"It's not that bad." She said with a small smile. Fai was admired with her opinion.
"Heh, Mia-Chan, you look like you're enjoying yourself. Aren't you afraid of the dark?" She quickly shook her head in denial.
"Of course not." Fai looked at her confused and his expression begged for a better answer. She sighted and said to him with pointing a finger in the air.
"Natural camouflage." He smiled at her answer. Everyday it passed, he was getting more and more curious about her. Who was she exactly in her world? She could handle herself in a though situation, she was very smart, loving towards the others and yet so distant. He could sense that something happened to her in the past. It had to be something that scared her for life, but then again, he could see that she was trying to change. In a way he was starting to admire her. She was not like him. She didn't force a smile onto her cherry lips. The ones she gave him and everyone were real and pure. If something really happened to her…how could she bear a smile? There was something very special in her to be like that... Fai couldn't do that so easily for he to had his own traumas.
It seemed that she avoided direct contact. He soon had realized that pushing her to talk or interact would only make her more distant from them. If he wanted to know more about her, he would have to wait.
"We have been walking for quite a while and yet we haven't found a single soul… not even a villager." The mage wondered.
"It's scary…" Mirihanna's eyes widened. Did she hear Kurogane say that he was scared? She looked behind to see a very red ninja.
"Don't worry. I'm here." Said Fai. Her jaw slightly dropped has she raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Kurogane is very happy!" Mirihanna finally released a small laugh at them. She realized by the grammar that that was not Kurogane speaking.
"Who are you and what have you done to Kurogane?" She teased with a smile. Like a volcano, Kurogane finally erupted.
"You stupid white Manju! Stop imitating my voice!" He screamed trying to grab Mokona but the creature quickly jumped on Fai's head for protection. Then he stomped and pointed a finger at her.
"And YOU! Cut it out!" She had to put a hand in her mouth in order not to release another laugh. "OY! Stop laughing!" Fai's eyes softened at the sight of the white haired girl. It was the first time he heard her laugh, and although it lasted no more than two seconds, in his mind her soft voice echoed for what it seemed minutes. He felt a quick grip in his heart and quickly shook that strange brief feeling he was having. He could not feel that way…He just couldn't.
"Mokona you're so good imitating voices!" He said trying to distract himself from the girl.
"It's one of Mokona's 107 secrets!"
"What about the others?" Mokona approached her and placed its little paw in its mouth.
"Its…. a…. secret!" Mirihanna smiled and Fai quickly hugged tightly the furry creature.
"Mokona you're such a tease!" They all heard a loud 'Hmpf' from the tall and dark men.
"You three can all stay like that forever!" He said before storming off, quickly passing Mirihanna and leaving them behind. Fai quickly ran after him.
"Kuro-tan, wait! Wait up!"
"Stop calling me stupid names!" Mirihanna was about to jog in their direction but something caught her attention. A bright shiny light suddenly appeared behind them in Syaoran and Sakura's direction. The two men also turned their attention to the strange light and all of them start running in its direction.
Once upon arriving at their camp, they only found Sakura laid on the floor in a deep sleep and no Syaoran.
"Sakura-Chan!" Screamed Mokona.
The light was strongly beaming inside the water. While Fai quickly grabbed the sleeping girl in his harm and wrap her with his furry coat, Mirihanna glanced over the water once more.
"She's just sleeping." Fai said.
"Were the hell is the kid?" Asked Kurogane. Mirihanna glanced around and found the boy's shoes on the end of the river. She rested her hands once more on her hips before answering to the ninja.
"I believe he's inside the water." She said looking at the river, trying to see any living shape or shadow.
"Should we go find him?" She said hoping to hear a no. Kurogane, also looking deep inside the water, glanced before speaking.
"I see no reason too…" She crossed her arms and hoped that the young boy was okay.
"We better stay here with Sakura-Chan. She could wake up in any minute." Mirihanna got closer to the girl and sat near the fire with her legs kneeled on the side. If they couldn't find any feather soon enough, the poor girl could prove to be troublesome in the future. Mirihanna frowned in pity of the girl.
Soon enough, a splash of water came from the river and Syaoran emerged from it. Mokona quickly jumped and started screaming at the boy.
"Syaoran! Sakura is!" The boy quickly started getting out of the water, ready to save the princess from whatever situation.
"Sakura is!" He said in panic and Mokona teased making the boy trip and fall from the scare.
"Fast asleep!" Mirihanna rolled her eyes at the playful creature while it applauded itself.
"Ahah, Syaoran-Kun, were you scared to death? It is one of Mokona's special abilities! Super acting!" Mirihanna sat up and caught Mokona from the poor boy's head telling softly to the creature to cut it out.
"You were really taken by surprise." Said Fai. Syaoran didn't waste time and when to check on the girl sleeping on the blonde's arms. They both started speaking about the girl, showing concern about her situation. It was has Mirihanna thought. The girl needs rapidly her feathers. Otherwise, she will always run out of energy. Today they were on a world with no living creatures, but how knows the dangers that await them in the future.
"This might happen quite a lot…" Started Fai to the young boy. "I think Sakura will be much better when we find more feathers…but until then, you should try to relax a bit." He said straightly to Syaoran. Everyone looked at him in confusion.
"Don't thing about what will or would happen. Don't think about the bad things…otherwise, you won't be able to forget. Even if you want to." For a brief second, he glanced at Mirihanna who looked at him with her vibrant green eyes. He knew this too well. He was used to push away his feelings and thoughts.
"You can smile. You can be happy. No one will blame you for it. Someone will feel happy for you." He finally ended making the young boy lost in his memories.
Mirihanna looked down and wondered if the same could be applied to her. For so long her heart has been hard as a stone. Could she possible be truly happy in the present? After all she has been through? She knew that she joined this journey to solve her problems. To save her people who are being slaughtered everyday by men…leaded by one man in particular… Would it be really fair for her to be happy at that moment? To actually enjoy herself and smile? She did not posses the answers to these questions. Although she tried to concentrate in order to find the best moral answer to this question, her mind was far to confuse to achieve them. All she knew was that she wasn't alone. She depended on her travelling companions now. And she had already promised herself that she would try to change her heart. She was so busy in though that she didn't even notice the young princess waking up and running to the water looking for Syaoran. She gave a weak smile at seeing the boy quickly run to her and stopping her from diving in to the lake. As the two slowly walked back near the fire, Fai started speaking once more to Sakura, telling her the same thing he told Syaoran. Sakura looked worry at him, but sweetly gave a bright smile, saying that she didn't understand a lot of things but that she would work hard not to get in their way. Mirihanna smiled as well looking at the sweet girl. She glanced at the lake and finally remembered that mysterious light.
"So…how was the lake?" She asked Syaoran who suddenly gave a smile of pure happiness. He said that there was a tiny town under the water, which was illuminated by a huge bright fish. He showed them the scale of a size of a big rock he caught to them and Mirihanna widened her eyes in admiration.
"That must be a very big fish…" She told him and he nodded. Mokona jumped into Fai's shoulder exclaiming that the strange power it felt was coming from the scale. After a small debate, they all reached the conclusion that the feather was not in this world. Since Mokona could not control which world they would end up with, it was very possible that events like this one repeated. One thing was for certain. For the sake of Sakura and everyone's wishes, it was time for them to move on to another world. The time was ticking.
Mirihanna watched as Mokona jumped in the air spreading its wings. She stood behind Sakura, resting her hand on her small shoulders. The kind princess slightly holded her hand in an effectual way and on the corner of her eyes, she saw Fai look at her. She looked back and gave a small smile only to receive a charming one from him. Finally, Mokona sucked the air, transporting them into a new world.
Once more, Mirihanna was in darkness, along with the rest of the group, travelling through another dimension. It was in these moments that she would close her eyes and go somewhere else. Somewhere far away from the present. And this time, the darkness had led her to a very peculiar moment of her life.
Far away from her people's lands, the girl wearing her long white cape travelled north, on a dusty road besides the mountains when suddenly her march slowly stopped at the sound of wooden wheels getting nearby. On that sunny and lazy day, she stopped and waited the old caravan pass by. But instead on continuing its way, the old mules stopped and the wheels stopped besides her. She kept her head low and her knees flexed in case of a quick escape.
"Need a ride, stranger?" She slowly lifted her head to see and old farmer transporting on the back of his caravan great amounts of hay. The old man smiled, revealing his old rotten teeths and wrinkly kind face.
"It's a long way until next town, miss. Quite risky for the young..." He said with a small stray of hay in his mouth. She just looked at the man, trying to read his intentions. The old man bit the remaining hay in his mouth and spit it out.
"Hop on in the back. There's space for more. We'll be in the next in probably two hours." He said shaking his baldhead at the back of the caravan.
'Space of more?' She though and slowly walked at the back of the vehicle to find more people. One man, sleeping lightly against the hay, and a small boy with long ginger hair at the end of the caravan. The boy looked at her with scared eyes and quickly looked down. He crawled to the side and rested his head on his knees, hiding his face. His clothes were old and dirty, filled with holes and the boy looked thinner than a famish cow. Mirihanna looked at him in shock, noticing his scared ear tips. She frowned at the realization of who the boy was.
"Are ya coming or not?" She heard the old man ask. She quickly sat on the back of the caravan, near the young boy who was trembling in fear.
It was a long and quiet ride. In was that time of the year when the spirits would migrate from one country to another. As she looked into the sky, she could see the small velvety blue spirit birds, slowly flying in the opposite direction, on their way to their new home. She looked at the boy and noticed him looking at her. She gently gave a weak smile but he avoided her gaze, burying his face on his knees once more. She looked at the other man. He was still sleeping tiredly on the hay. Then, she gently placed her hand on the boy's head, making him almost jump in fear. He looked at her with a scared expression and she slowly brushed her long white hair with her fair hands behind her ears, revealing the same scars. The boy stopped shaking in fear and looked at her like if he had seen a ghost. She kept a smile on her face and then hid her ears, not wanting the attention of the other men. The boy never released his eyes from her figure. Instead of speaking, he slowly crawled to her and gently hug her like a son hugs her mother and buried his little dirty face in her chest. Mirihanna hugged him back gently and looked into the distant horizon, wondering what would happen next.
"Fai-san…" Syaoran started looking at the blonde mage who was enjoying a slice of bread. He looked back at the young boy with a smile only to meet a worried face. Mirihanna sat between Sakura and Kurogane with discomfort. Too many eyes were upon them in the tavern were they were eating and the girl didn't like it one bit. She was sitting with her hood on, covering her face and hair.
"Is it alright?..." The young boy asked with a serious expression. The blond smiled in confusion and asked what was the problem only to hear Syaoran reminding him that they didn't have any money from this country. Mirihanna looked at their table and it was filled with food for a feast. The blonde brightly smiled at consoled the poor boy, pointing at Sakura. A few minutes later, Sakura was gambling in another table with some town folks winning every move. Everyone was gathering around the table in admiration. Mirihanna watched from a distance and smiled, happy to see that the attention was no longer on her. Sakura was truly an amazingly lucky girl. She didn't lose any match. She pushed her hood down and was now prepared to attack the food. She quietly smiled and with a small metal fork, she picked one salty boiled potato from Kurogane's plate.
"OY!" He barked like a dog at her. "NOT YOU TO." He added looking at her and Mokona, suggesting that the small creature was also stealing his food. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"It was just one little potato." She told him in defense and she was almost sure that he just growled at her in anger. She released a small giggle and brushed her hair with her fingers, making her ears visible. Kurogane stopped glaring and closely looked at her ears.
"Oy. What happened to your ears?" The girl looked at him surprised and then touched her ears, noticing that they were expose. She quickly covered them again with her hair and muttered a small 'nothing'. Kurogane looked at her with a suspicious look but quickly ignored her, taking a huge bit of a juicy beef. She gave a small sigh in relief. This was why she enjoyed Kurogane's company. Although he would be rude and loud, he didn't bother her much with questions. And she could tell that he was an honest person. No thought was spared in his mind.
Mirihanna noticed a couple of men from Fai and Sakura's direction looking at them with an angry face. Mirihanna poked Kurogane and pointed at them hoping that they would avert their eyes once seeing the grumpy ninja.
"What?!" He shouted at them and the two men shivered in fear. Her plan was a success. Seconds later, Fai approached with a big bag of money. The rest of the group rejoined them and kept eating the big feast with a much relief expression.
"You were pretty good little girl!" She heard the waitress say to Sakura besides her.
"You gents look like tourist." He said again placing another glass of water on front of Mirihanna, which she gladly accepted.
"Yes, we're travelling the country looking for something." Responded Syaoran. The fat waitress smiled and asked them with interest if they knew were to go next. Syaoran shook his head, giving him the answer.
"Well I'll give you a piece of advice…" The man started behind Mirihanna and for some reason, she didn't like the way he spoke.
"Don´t go north." Mirihanna hear closely as the man explained that there was a legend of a Princess that gained a very powerful feather. Soon after the king and queen died, she became the master of the castle and suddenly several children started disappearing one by one never being seen again. The white haired girl stayed quiet and kept listening the conversation. Fai was deeply intrigued by this story, claiming that it was merely a fairytale but the waitress strongly disagreed.
"Just like the legend…Children started disappearing once more." He finally said. At the end of their meal, it was decided. This was not the first bizarre situation they caught. Most likely this was one more of Sakura's feathers.
Mirihanna was now helping the young princess putting on her long layered dress in shades of pink. She was already wearing her long white and aqua vintage dress. She noticed that the other women at this country whore a very distinguish kind of hairstyles. Since she had long hair, she decided to try and copy them, braiding her long white hair in a swirl, leaving a high bun on top. Luckily enough, her bangs were also long enough to cover her nearly discovered scars ears. She left the tavern with the princess at her side only to find the men already ready, waiting patiently for them. Each of them had a horse. Sakura walked to Syaoran and paired with him in his brown horse. Mirihanna looked at the horses and crossed her arms.
"Only three?" She asked and Fai smiled at her.
"Sorry Mia-Chan. We didn't gamble that much money. These fancy clothes were expensive!" He joked near his white horse. She pouted her lips and looked at her two options.
"So whom do I pair with?" She glanced at both of them. Kurogane quickly mounted his strong dark horse and muttered an 'Tsk' in annoyance. She looked at Fai and shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
"Guess we're stuck together." He joked at her. She got close to the horse, ready to jump on him, but unfortunately her beautiful dress was in her way, preventing her to freely mover her body like she used to.
"Wait, Mia-Chan. I'll help you." He said and swiftly grabbed her waist like a light feather and placed her tiny body on top of the horse. He jumped as well onto the horse and the three horses galloped to the north. Mirihanna stood sideways with her shoulders and back touching Fai's chest. His arms were grasping the reins of the white horse inevitably wrapping Mirihanna's body in his embrace. She could even feel his light warm breathing on her head but she didn't mind the awkward situation.
A small white snowflake touched the tip of her nose. She put her hand outside her white cape and caught some more in the air. She looked at the sky in confusion and gave a big smile.
"Is this snow?" She asked particularly to no one. Fai smiled at her and tilted his head to the side to look at her.
"Never seen snow before?" She shook her head as she tried to grab more snowflakes with both hands.
"Don't you have snow in your country?" He asked her and the girl quickly answered.
"In my country, Spring never leaves…it is always sunny during the year." She told him smiling to herself. He then looked at Sakura.
"Sakura's country is in a desert, right?" The girl nodded.
"Yes, I remember that it is very hot during the day and chilly in the night." She smiled.
"How about Kuro-run's world?" Kurogane slowly galloped with his horse and tried to ignore his nickname.
"The country of Japan has four seasons… cold during the winter and hot in summer." Mokona jumped on Fai's shoulders.
"What about Fai's?" It squealed. Mirihanna looked back at it and smiled.
"Me? I come from a northern country. It's very cold."
"That's why you wear so many jackets?" Mirihanna asked him with pure curiosity. His blue eyes met hers and he closed his eyes and made a kind smile.
"Of course, otherwise I would freeze!" Mirihanna smiled back and wondered how exactly a cold country was like.
"How…how is it like?" She asked him a little shy. He opened his eyes in confusion. And she rephrased.
"You're country. How…is it like?" He adjusted his hat and smirked.
"Well, nothing much to see besides piles of snow covering everything!" He laughed. Her mouth slightly opened with curiosity.
"You mean that the snow…gets big?" She was confused, trying to understand what he was saying.
"Well, not big. The snow just keeps falling and then the ground accumulated it making it very tall."
"You speak the truth?" She said with eyes widened. Fai giggled at her and nodded. She looked down, trying to imagine what it was like.
"Will it be the same here?" Fai looked around and shook his head.
"I don't think so, my country is a lot colder than this." She nodded in understanding and finally she looked at him.
"I would like to see it." He looked surprised at her. The girl kept talking with her eyes on the falling snow.
"You're country. I would like to see it one day." She said with a big warm smile. He froze for a second but then reattributed the smile. There it was again, that feeling he was having towards her. A feeling that he never thought he deserved. She was clueless of it. She just kept smiling, lost in her thoughts about snow and white fields. Would he embrace this feeling he was having? Or would he just ignore it like every emotion he has. Even if he wanted to ignore such thing, could a mind control a heart? She just kept looking at her with his eyes softened while she clumsily tried to grab more snowflakes in the air, unaware that in the corner of his eyes, Kurogane watched him closely.
"Look!" Mokona said pointing at a wooden sigh swinging by the gentle cold wind.
"Spirit…I think that's how you say it." Read Syaoran. Sakura and Fai happily applauded him for being able to read the sigh.
"Hey." Called Kurogane with a serious expression.
"This is no time to joke around." He finally said looking forward down to the small town. As they came into view, closing doors and windows were heard from all corners. Shadows were peaking between curtains on the upper floors and the crows were flying, singing their deadly song on naked tree branches.
"I get the feeling that we're not welcome here." The mage said.
"It's not a felling. It's the truth." Kurogane stated, hearing from a distance a group of man marching closer.
"Someone's coming." Mirihanna said glancing further. Fai held the reins of his horse, holding the girl closer. She noticed this. She could feel his grip getting tightened and his body slightly tensing.
'What is this?...' She thought. 'Why is he behaving this way?' She was confused, simply not understanding the meaning of the sudden sense of protection.
'Hold on… is he protecting…me?' She talked to herself for a moment, wondering why in the world would someone like him protect her.
'Could this be a mortal thing?' Her mind wouldn't stop there if there weren't armed men in front of them, ready to shot.