Chapter four: Don't Ignore the Signs
The faint snore came as a heavy rush of air in the predawn, a foreign sound in a lady's bedroom as its occupant awoke. Uncurling herself, Lolita stretched, not bothering to stifle the huge yawn. She rolled over to bury her face further into the pillow and froze upon remembering that she had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the large bed nowhere near pillows, much less under blankets. Instantly, rush of adrenaline replaced her sleep-drenched senses, prompting her to spring right up. To her immense satisfaction, a quick inspection revealed that she was fully dressed, though the gown was hitching up, tangled in her legs, and sporting several thorough creases.
Unbidden, a tiny smile curved the edges of her mouth. There was only one person in the world that would be so gentlemanly as to put her properly to bed.
Shaking off the flighty sensation bubbling in her stomach, she got up, changing into the jeans and sweatshirt she had arrived with and had not worn for the longest time. Padding around barefoot, she grabbed the waiting sketchpad and pencil off the nightstand and tiptoed to her door. Little tingles of excitement rippled through her veins at the soft silence that not even the tingle of Chichiri's staff had yet broken. It was so early Lolita did not doubt he was still asleep.
She cracked the door open, already forgetting the scene played out there the previous night. Never noticing the flame-coloured head that dropped off in sleep at a god-forsaken corner of her chamber, she gave a last glance at her room and stepped into the misty morning. Wisps of fog bowed away as she quietly pattered down the open porch into the garden clear across her side of the hall.
Feet bedewed, she trailed down unfamiliar stone paths, traipsing in the growing light. The first orange fringes of dawn were just coming up, soon joined by faint splashes of pink creeping from underneath similarly tinged clouds. Ignoring the smarting nip of the morning air, Lolita made her way up a small, willow-lined incline, selecting the gnarled old one in the middle to sit under. The dampness seeping through the thick denim of her jeans went unnoticed as she leaned back, waiting for the sun to pop through the glowing horizon. Several times she had attempted to capture the fresh look of the garden, but either she overslept, or it got too bright before she could finish.
Time always moved too fast when one was trying to stop it.
Smirking to herself, Lolita flipped over to the unfinished drawing. Today, she would breathe life into that hasty sketch – copy the pale luminosity as it highlighted the white walls of the tower soaring over the edge of the Imperial garden, define the stealthy shadow stretching away from low bushes and vines heavy with fruit... Her pencil moved deftly over the page, dancing down the graceful limbs of ferns, etching the quiet strength of the garden wall bordering the perimeter, catching the liquid slope of the tower roof as it rippled midnight blue. Soon enough she was bent over her work, the real world forgotten as she sought to recreate the magic that would show itself naturally for only one fleeting second.
She looked up...then stopped. Once again, the scene eluded her. It would have to be finished another time. Lolita was getting up to go when the familiar jingle of golden rings glued her in place. A scan over the heavens showed that dawn had come, though day was still an hour away. It was the exact time Chichiri came out for his morning meditation.
Lolita considered scurrying the other direction, but that wouldn't stop him from sensing her presence. In fact, he must have known she was there now, invading his space. She sat in frozen dread, hoping he would turn away and leave, yet at the same time wishing he would walk right on like he used to, perhaps say 'hello', and then let her alone to go...
"Good morning Lolita-chan, na no da." His feet first came into view on the grass beside her, inciting a gasp from one who did not expect him to arrive so fast. Stammering a similar greeting, she let her eyes roam higher up, catching the hem of his kesa, the white tunic, prayer beads... Before she could get to his face, her head whipped back down. Chichiri looked slightly puzzled, but following her gaze, bent over her work. "That's very pretty, no da." Automatically, she slapped the page closed, surprising the observer, who actually took a step back.
Mentally berating herself for the action, "S-sorry. It's a reflex thing. It's not-not you, just my stupid, stupid..." she trailed off, feeling foolishly relieved when he smiled.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, no da. You draw very well."
She blushed. Then, remembering what he was there for, gathered up her things to go. "I shouldn't keep you from your meditation. Sorry for...intruding..."
Chichiri stayed her. "It's okay, no da. You don't have to go." He walked a little way down the tiny hill and sat directly facing the sunrise. "Please go on with whatever you were doing and don't mind me."
Biting her lip, Lolita desperately tried to obey. But it was hard when the sun cast such a warm glow over his unmasked profile, showing it to full advantage. The artist in her itched to copy the sight, though for a moment she hesitated, wondering whether it would be invasive to draw him when he was so exposed. But at last her deliberations came to a compromise, and, shifting very, very quietly, she found a new position that allowed her a glimpse only of his back. Angling her legs to support the drawing block, she traced the first faint outlines.
"Ne, Lolita-chan, no da?"
Snap!
Skittering across the fresh page, the charcoal lead carved a deep enough trench that ran down the curve of Chichiri's white paper shoulder. Lolita looked up, surprised by his sudden speech. Wasn't he supposed to be meditating? Apprehension flitted inside her. Maybe he realized that he was being made a model and didn't like it? Tucking the broken pencil in her hand,
"Yes, Chichiri?"
"How would you like to see a little more of Konan, no da?"
Sighing that she wasn't the cause of his distraction, she dug around in her pockets for the cutter stuffed there a lifetime ago and proceeded to uncover the rest of her pencil lead before the subject moved away. As it was, the opportunity to draw him like that was already so rare.
"It's okay, I guess," she replied, heart in her mouth. Was he going to propose a trip? Alone with him that would be...
"Then you'd rather go to Mt. Taikyouku on foot, no da?"
Mt. Taikyouku? "Uh...why are we going to Mt. Taikyouku?" Chichiri and Tasuki had taken her there before to ask her true purpose in the world of the four gods, and honestly, the meeting with the divine creator? It was something she'd rather not repeat.
"We have to ask why Ami-chan's here, no da."
Oh. "There ought to be no question about it," she replied stiffly. "The gods called her here. She appeared in that bright light thingamabob, didn't she?"
Chichiri sighed. "There aren't any more prophecies about foreign arrivals, no da. We have to know why she's here – why both of you are here, no da."
Lolita rolled her eyes behind his back, aggressively shaving away at the poor pencil, her hand gripping the cutter so hard she could barely keep it in control. "Oh, don't worry about me." Contrary to her dark expression, her voice remained saccharinely nonchalant. Thank god Chichiri was still staring at the sunrise and didn't see her face. "We already know my being here's just a mistake. Go worry over Ami; I'm sure a holy being called her."
Sarcasm dripped into her voice, something that made Chichiri glance at her. "Lolita-chan, please don't think we don't want you here, no da. Paying a visit to Taikyouku is just routine."
"It doesn't bother me; really." Chichiri began to stand just as she lost grip on the blade. Lolita stifled the hiss of pain as the cutter darted forward, scraping off a good amount of skin before jamming deep into the side of her finger, stopping just below a phalange joint. Blood oozed from the laceration, running down her hand in a gush of red. "So, when are we leaving?" she continued conversationally, stuffing the injured finger under the hem of her sweatshirt.
"Maybe two days from now, no da. I want to give Ami-chan a chance to rest before we go." He smiled at her, earning an expertly masked grimace as the heavy material of her shirt grazed over the wound. From the sky, his gaze travelled to the residence areas of the west wing. "I better go, no da."
Miss Holy Purpose must be up, Lolita mourned inwardly.
"Are you coming, Lolita-chan, no da?" With her face twisted into such a bizarre expression, he finally caught on. "Is there...something wrong...no da?"
No! Everything's just dandy. The pain in my finger has even begun to numb itself, thank you for asking. Oh, by the way, you wouldn't know how to stop the blood, would you? Didn't think so. But, no! That's no trouble at all! I'll just have to wash out the stain before it cakes through the sweatshirt it's soaking.
"I'll...catch up with you...later on."
He gave her a confused look, but put on his mask and nodded. "Then...I'll see you."
"Y-yeah. See you!" As soon as he was out of earshot, Lolita retrieved her finger. By then, the blood had settled in a sticky scarlet blot over her entire left index finger. Shoving the cutter into a back jeans pocket, she picked up the discarded sketchpad and pencil, stuck them in her mouth, and resumed grasping the injured appendage as she dashed back to her room.
The return trip was hastier and less pleasant than the departing one, especially since Tasuki was stirring awake in his corner, and her banging inside was the last jar that yanked him back into irritable morning consciousness. Doing away with the customary yawn and rubbing of eyes, he jumped up, ready to pounce, but broke into a fit of laughter when he saw what was hanging from her mouth.
"Good mornin', lil' puppy," he cooed sardonically, ambling over to pat the top of her head. Lolita spat out her sketchbook and pencil to snap back.
"First thing in the morning and you're being insufferable. Try to be helpful for once, would you?"
"Ya got yer own hands –" A raised eyebrow sent his attention down her arms to the bumps of that were wrists under a bloody sweatshirt. "Fuck!"
"Finally, somebody has discovered my plight."
Scrambling over to a dresser, Tasuki yanked the drawers open, tossing out various articles of clothing as he riffled through the contents for clean towels and bandage. "Wha'd ya do? Stick yer arms intuh' the meat grinder? Shit, I can't find the fucking towels!"
"In the meantime, you could help me stop the bleeding."
He whipped around. "We need a doctor for this. I don't know how to stop mutilations from –"
"I've still got hands!" Pulling them out from under the folds of her clothes, Lolita shook the said limbs at him, showering red droplets onto the floor.
"Say it, don't spray it," the bandit muttered, making a face at the crimson trickling down her arm. Reaching into a tiny cupboard on the vanity table, he triumphantly retrieved a roll of bandage. "C'mere."
Lolita followed, plopping down onto the plush satiny seat before the jug of water and basin on the table.
"Stick yer hands out." She did, and very carefully, Tasuki poured the water over them, gently wiping away the dried blood. When all the deceptive red was gone, only the ripped flesh remained, bright against pale skin. "Hurts?" he murmured when he saw that she was chewing on her lip. Lolita shook her head.
"What happened?"
"Sharpening my pencil. I got agitated."
"Why? Chiri kissed ya?" There was a hard, bitter tone in his voice that she cringed to hear.
"N-no. He just told me about going to Taikyouku. You know, to find out why Ami's here and everything."
"An' th' thought `f seein' the old obaba scared ya intuh a flurry, huh?"
"Yeah."
He paused from bandaging, staring at her face long and hard. Finally, he returned to his work, tearing the strips of gauze and knotting them. "If `A didn't know ya, I'd say ya were jealous, Lo."
She snorted, allowing him to cradle her hand. "Sure. You would." After a moment, her averted face met his and she smiled wryly. "But you know what, Tasuki? I am. I am jealous of Ami."
"Hey..."
"Don't worry, though, because I won't do anything stupid."
Nothin' that'll make Chiri sad, if that's what ya mean by 'stupid'. Shaking the thought from his head, he manoeuvred her arm so that the hand pointed upwards. "Keep the cut above the heart. If ya don't, it might start bleedin' again," he explained, moving away from her. "Ya might want to get changed, too, so I'll wait fer ya outside, and we can go to breakfast when yer done." As an afterthought, he added, "Don' take too long."
***
Face securely buried in her arm, Lolita finally let out the huge yawn she had been trying to hold back for the last few minutes. The heat of Konan summer had nothing on the refreshing bath she just took, and now, waiting for Chichiri and Ami to arrive, the coolness was making her remember just how early in the morning she had gotten up. Across the room, Tasuki slid a glance over to her, deadpanning an "Above th' heart, Lo. Above th' heart."
"It is," she replied, raising her head and yawning again before she could stop it. The arm with the injured finger was sticking straight up from the table she slumped all over, and the position was just beginning to strain her shoulder some. In fact, the first tingles of numbness were starting to creep up the pads of her palm. "What's taking them so long?" Sitting upright, she rubbed her eyes.
After Chichiri had voiced his desire to consult Taiitsukun, Hotohori decided to call a meeting, apparently to discuss plans. To Lolita, for whom travel was a snap of the fingers and a car's drive or a flight away, the whole thing was going to be a bore. What on earth should they discuss? The colour of pyjamas to pack? She snorted at the thought, earning a curious glance from Nuriko.
"They're not here yet," she said defensively, and it came out sounding like a whine. The femininely inclined seishi's worried pout did nothing for her agitated spirits.
"Now that you mention it, it is rather uncharacteristic of Chiri-kun to be this late."
"Or to be late, for that matter," rejoined the regal Hotohori, examining the hands he spread over the long conference table and smiling happily. "It has been so long since I came into this meeting room for the purpose of having a meeting."
"What's on the agenda anyway?" blurted out Lolita, no longer able to hide her impatience.
"Important things!" piped up Chiriko, turning from a scroll he was scanning. "For instance, the kind of horses to be used, routes to take, things to take along –"
"Shouldn't that last be left to our discretion?" Lolita broke him off. Tasuki interrupted her in turn, letting out a loud guffaw.
"If we leave your packing to your discretion, we're gonna need a hundred packhorses, ten thousand mules, and a few dozen ox carts."
"Don't come crying to me then when you run out of hand cream!"
Nuriko sighed, floating over to catch Lolita's attention. "Darling, please. Tasuki will never, never in his life, ever need hand cream," which loud whisper caught enough of the girl's attention to send her wide-eyed gaze over to the bandit.
"When you're old your hands are gonna..."
"Live off the land!" called Ami, choosing that very moment to barge inside, leaving Chichiri to close the door behind them.
"I'm sorry we're late, no da,' he bowed apologetically, sliding into a seat beside Lolita. At once, Tasuki left his corner and positioned himself on her other side. One by one, the seishi drifted to their places around the table, Chiriko and his paper and brush and ink to Hotohori's right. Clearing his throat, the (ghost) emperor gestured towards the large map spread before them.
"It would be safest to follow the trade routes," he began, tracing a translucent finger along a newly painted squiggle snaking around the base of an ink mountain to join a thicker, older squiggle branching out in all possible directions. "This new one goes around Eiyou and passes through several small north-western villages, so it's not too crowed. A detachment patrolling the area keeps it safe, too. It joins in with the main trade road, where from there, you may follow a northeastern course. Unfortunately, there is no direct road to Taikyouku, so you're going to have to break off from there and be on your own."
Lolita was peering at the map, which was really nothing more than a large patchwork of animal hide blotted with mountains, rivers, and foreign characters marking their names, and began to get a little worried. Taikyouku looked pretty far from Eiyou, a thousand times – maybe even more than – the distance between the palace compound to the suburban walls. If it took roughly half a day to get from the palace to the wilderness outside, she couldn't begin to imagine how long it would take to get to Taikyouku manually. Glancing at Chichiri, she ventured to ask, and her mouth nearly locked open at his reply.
"I can't tell for sure."
"What do you mean you can't tell for sure?" She was beginning to regret immediately agreeing to his proposal earlier in the morning. Stupid dawn. "We're going to get there, right?"
He nodded. "Of course. But there will be the usual delays that come with travelling, so assuming that nothing goes wrong, it would take around two months to get there."
Two months? Two damn months!? In her world, it would take thirty minutes to an hour to fly from the palace to the base of Taikyouku, and then maybe a forty-five-minute drive to get to the top, navigating perilous cliffs, raging rivers and all that jazz. But two months!? On what? Horses, most obviously. They'd be riding for days and days, never stopping for anything. And it would be so deathly boring. And Ami would be there the whole time, going on and on and on about god-knows-what and who-cares-what and hogging all Chichiri's attention with her childish cuteness and Lolita would just wish herself dead than be thrust into that situation.
"Lo, are you okay?" Tasuki nudged her, seeing her frozen with a stricken face. Very slowly, she shook her head, landing back down on earth. Why Chichiri wouldn't teleport them there, she knew – he wanted to make sure Ami was pure enough to get into Taikyouku. But even that implied suspicion of somebody she considered a rival of sorts wasn't enough to cheer her up.
"I'm...I'm going to get a job."
"What!?"
Pressing her lips together, Lolita looked at each of the seishi in turn before her eyes finally settled on Ami, who still wore that irritating innocence and looked earnestly at her. "I'm going to get a job," she repeated slowly, gritting the words out one by one behind clenched teeth.
"Why would you want to do that, no da?"
"Because..." and even Chichiri felt a chill go down his spine by the way she slid that sidelong look at him, "I want to go home. So while you people are enjoying a trip to the sacred mountain the hellish way, I'll somehow support myself, return to where I first dropped here, and find my way back to the right time and the right place."
"But you said..."
"I miss my blow-dryer. I said that a month ago and I'll say it again: I miss my blow-dryer so I'm going home."
The seishi all looked puzzled, but Ami simply giggled. "You'll survive two more months without a blow-dryer. Think of what you're going to miss if you go!"
"She's right, no da."
"For a chance to be behind a Lambo again, I'd gladly trade in muddy fields, dusty roads, and surprise rain showers, thank you very much." With that, she scraped her chair back, moving to go.
"It'll be tons of fun!" Ami promised, jumping up, eyes shining in excitement. "Sure Konan's different from the world you're used to but that doesn't make it much worse."
"The society I grew up in was pretty ethnocentric. I guess I picked it up," she replied flippantly, trying to contain the increasing agitation that had begun to build up ever since Ami popped into the room. A tense silence now settled over the gathering – an apprehension only Ami did not seem to notice.
"Think of this as an opportunity to learn about a new culture, then!"
"So that's why you're here?" Lolita suddenly snapped, holding the urge to smile sarcastically as Ami started back. "Why did you come? I'm sure it wasn't just because of an irrational wish, is it?"
The other girl opened her mouth, but just as soon closed it again. Several times she tried to say something, but every failed attempt seemed to further prove a secret excuse. The seishi exchanged questioning looks.
"You don't have to answer that question." Conscience edging on her, Lolita decided to drop the subject. "I'm sorry I asked it in the first place. Go to Taikyouku, though, and you just might find out why you're here." If you don't, then join the club, she wanted to add, but settled for excusing herself and leaving. As she closed the door behind herself, Lolita heard Hotohori break the awkward quiet and steer the conversation back to where it was supposed to be going. Tasuki was probably boring holes into the table, Chichiri frowning behind his mask, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. When she heard Ami murmur an excuse to leave, Lolita hurried back to her room, certain that the trip was not going to be discussed for the remainder of the seishis' meeting.
She couldn't help the nagging feeling that she had been too mean, though.
A/N: First of all, let me apologize to those who reviewed before I posted chapter 3. I know, I was whining in my author's note there, but that's only because I haven't seen the reviews yet. Anyhow, a big hug to ChichiriLover, the first one to review! Thanks also to i wished on her star! T.T
Finally, chapter four. This one took longer in coming (maybe cause I'm running out of highs...or ideas, whichever...) but at last it's edited and posted. (sigh) I'm really happy with the way this chapter ended, mainly because I didn't want to see Lo beat herself up over Ami anymore. At least here, she bites back. (That's my girl!) Poor Gen-chan, though. Yeah, weird seeing him all strung up over a girl...(shrug)
Oh, right. The disclaimer. Ah, well, don't wanna go there. Everybody knows we fic writers don't own a cent of FY's returns anyway. If we did, we wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it...