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If it Takes Forever
By: Raikku of the Darkness
Chapter 7: Chosen Part 2
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"RAIKKU!" Amidamaru screamed as I dropped to my knees. The pain from the arrow was so unbearable. Poison dipped. "That bastard." I thought to myself.
I tried to stand, but to no avail. My legs had given out and Nirvana, my Naginata, dropped from my hands. Amida-kun grabbed me before I fell.
"Raikku…" he began, his voice quivering as he pulled out the arrow. I hissed in pain. "Why? Why did you do that!"
I didn't know what to say. "Because I…love you, Amidamaru." I fought to say, but the words wouldn't come out.
I smiled at him. "Because I couldn't bear to see you die."
Tears began to fall from his eyes and I wiped them away. He, gently, pulled me into his arms; so warm but I was still hurting. It seemed that the arrow had been dipped in the poison of the Puffer fish, and was beginning to take affect. My legs were numb and it was beginning to spread.
Amidamaru stroked my back, trying to make me feel better, but he could not. I tried to speak, but my voice was paralyzed by the poison and was starting to blind me. My life began to flash before eyes with echoes of voices I had forgotten.
My mother.
My father.
Ishio.
Mosuke.
Amidamaru.
The memories were…soothing in death. I lied there watching them for a while.
Suddenly, my heart slowed and my lungs began to repel the breath of life. I knew it was the end of my tragic fairytale but I was glad to end it like this; in the arms of the man I loved.
Then it stopped. I could feel my soul being pulled from body. "No! Please!" I screamed in my mind. "Let me stay! I'm not ready to leave!" But the reaper would not allow me to.
I heard Amidamaru call my name. I tried to answer him, but death's hold on me was eternal.
"Raikku!" he yelled again. And I knew no more.
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"I'm dead. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dead." Raikku thought to herself. She moved her arm over her forehead. She jolted up.
"I'm dead?" she asked herself aloud. Her green eyes looked to her surroundings. Raikku was in a white room, empty and she wore an all white kimono with a white headband upon her head. And she was…floating?
"AH!" she screamed, pawing the air for something to grab on. Her kicking legs touched the ground.
Raikku looked down. "Oh. Hehe." she laughed. Then she remembered what had happened.
"Amidamaru. Mosuke." she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
Tears began to seep from her eyes. She sat down.
"So, this heaven? Or is this my own personal hell?"
"It's neither." a voice answer her from behind. Raikku jumped.
"Who said that!" she asked nervously. Her eyes bounce around the area, looking for the source.
"Oh, Buddha, I'm going crazy."
"Dear child, you are far from crazy." Raikku turned around to see a woman with long black, brilliant brown eyes smiling at her. She wore a white kimono, also, but with red stitching and flowers on it. Raikku didn't know what to think of this beautiful woman, but her aura…was…so calming; motherly perhaps.
"Who…Who are you?" Raikku asked. The woman chuckled.
"My dear Raikku, I'm Amaterasu, goddess of the sun."
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Raikku had been shocked to find out that the Lady Amaterasu had found the time out of her busy schedule, smiting people and what-not, to take special interest her. I mean, her: Hitachi Raikku-Neshi, ronin samurai and orphan. So as the goddess teleported them both to a large-- shall we say palace, she was in awe. The woman had never seen such architecture; large roman pillars and strange doors with little gold assents on the sides. It was beautiful!
"Wow!" Raikku gasped as Amaterasu lead her up the stairs of the huge house. "It's…amazing! Is it heaven? 'Cuz, I could get used to this!"
The lady laughed as she opened the door. "You just may, Raikku-Neshi. You just may."
The two walked into a hall lit with candle. It echoed with their footsteps.
"Do you know why I've brought you here, my dear?" Silence. "My dear Raikku?"
"Oooo, exotic. Look how it turns!" Raikku said, fiddling with the strange object on the door, known as a "door knob".
"Raikku!"
"Sorry." The women reached another door, this one, leading to a large room full of people.
"Thor, you cur!"
"Ares, you braggart!"
"Boys, please! You'll wake Osanyin and you know he needs his sleep!"
"I'm already up, Ishtar."
"You cheat!"
"You're a cheat!"
"By the gods, if you two don't shut up, I'll lock you both in a tomb!"
"Lady Hecate, we are the gods."
"Lakshmi, don't go to Dumbsville on me."
Raikku's already wide eyes widen as she pasted through the room. Men clad in armor of nations she had never seen. Women in beautiful dresses of every color imaginable. Amaterasu stopped suddenly and Raikku, who was not watching where she was going, bumped into the goddess.
"Oh! I'm…I'm sorry, Milady."
"Quite alright, Raikku." She turned to her, smiling. The goddess always smiled.
"Do you know what's behind these doors, Raikku?"
"Um…I don't know."
"Behind these doors is the master of all you know."
"Lord Buddha?"
Amaterasu chuckled. "No, no, my fair girl. The Lord of Lords. King of Kings. And God of all gods."
The riddle confused Raikku. "Lord of Lords? King of Kings?"
"But, my Lady, in all due respect, how can there be anyone more…powerful than you?"
The lady of the sun turned from her follower, looking toward the oak double doors.
"Raikku. We gods and goddesses are mere spirits compared to Him. He is our Lord. Your King. The King of Spirits."
Raikku stared at her back. "The King of Spirits?" she repeated it over and over again. The King of Spirits. Amaterasu opened the doors.
It was so dark in the dim lit room that Raikku could hardly see, but she could tell the room was huge. The only thing she could see was the Lady Amaterasu's beautiful light radiating from her godly body.
The goddess lead her to the room's center; their shadows dancing on the marble floor.
"Milady?"
Silence.
"Lady Amaterasu?"
Still Silence.
Why did the goddess not speak to her? Did they reach their destination? Raikku pondered these things as she looked at the back of the illuminated lady. Amaterasu still didn't speak so the young female ronin decide to keep quiet. Suddenly, after minutes of waiting, the goddess bowed?
"My Lord, I have brought the Naginatist from the east as you instructed."
Raikku backed away a few inches. "Who is she talking to?" she thought to herself as her hand creped to her hair, moving it from her vision to see this "lord". Her eyes had adapted to the darkness so she could she the large chair that dominated the far side of the room. The chair was made of a fine wood, like cherry wood (A/N: Very pretty wood. -sigh- I've got to get out the house.), that was finer than anything she had ever seen. Into it were carved roses.
"You have done well, my child." a man's voice answered. The voice seemed older, mature; like the man lived a life of power, a life without pride. This lord must have been powerful to bring a goddess to her knees in tribute.
From what Raikku could see of the man, which was only his lower body, he wore a long white robe with sandals. Fairly simple. "If he is a lord, why does he not wear something more glamorous?"
"Because I have no equal." the Lord said.
Raikku was in shock. "You…You can read my thoughts?"
"Of course I can." he laughed
"What am I thinking now?"
"Where's Nirvana?"
"How about now?"
"This is cool."
"Now?"
"Enough!" Amaterasu exclaimed. "My Lord, how is this part of your plan?"
The Lord chuckled again. "Amaterasu, my dear, you need a sense of humor. I was only getting to know the protector of the vessel."
"Protector of the vessel?" questioned Raikku. "W-what are you talking about?"
The goddess turned to the bewildered samurai.
"Raikku, you know of shamans, no?"
"Yes, but I don't see what that-"
"It has everything to do with you." the Lord laughed. The Lord seemed to laugh a lot.
"Every 500 years, there is a tournament to determine the strongest of all shamans-"
"The Shaman King." he interrupted.
"Yes," Amaterasu started again. "the victor gains the ability to talk to the King of Spirits and have their deepest desires become a reality. In the next tournament, in 100 years, a great evil is to arise to try and win to have his own horrid desire for a shaman-only world to be realized."
Raikku was still confused. "I still don't see my connection to this, Milady."
"Let me finish. Although, he will be stopped, he will not be gone for good." Amaterasu sighed. "This man will be reincarnated."
"Amaterasu," the King began. "get to what Raikku needs to hear, without the back story."
The goddess nodded. "Yes, My Lord. Your duty to us is to protect the vessel."
"Vessel?"
"This vessel will contain the secret to the evil's downfall and do not doubt that he will try to take it and use it for his own purposes."
"But, Lady Amaterasu, what can I do? I'm dead."
The lady chuckled. " The vessel will be in the tournament as well. Shaman use ghosts, like yourself, to battle."
"So, you want me to be the companion of the vessel, protect it, and fight with it in the "Tournament of Shamans"?"
"Precisely."
Raikku smiled and let out a hardy laugh. "And how do you expect me to get back to the living world? A ferry?"
The King shook his head. "No, a carriage." (A/N: Insert drum noise here.)
The goddess reached into the sleeve of her kimono to reveal a beautiful silver pendant on a matching chain.
"This will contain you until the time is right."
Raikku bowed to her. "My Lady."
"Do me proud, Raikku." And with a swing of the necklace, Raikku was gone and the glow of the pendant began. The goddess walk over to the pedestal that had just appeared. She held the necklace over the bowl of crystal clear water on the top and dropped it in.
"Do you think that she will be able to protect the vessel, My Lord?"
"Hmm, we'll see, my dear. We'll see."
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And that's the end of my little two part chapter on Raikku. I hoped you enjoyed it.
Ares: Greek god of war. (Mars in Roman Mythology)
Thor: Norse god of thunder.
Osanyin: The god of herbs and plants used in medicine and ceremonies of the Yoruba, a tribe in Africa.
Ishtar: The Babylonian goddess of physical love and war.
Hecate: Greek goddess of darkness and magic
Lakshmi: Hindu goddess of abundance, good luck, and beauty.
A/N: If I offended anyone with this chapter with the talk of gods and goddess, I apologize.