Gekko no Senshi (Moonlight Warrior)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 5
Flowers bloom sevenfold and eightfold but the Kerria laments, for a single fruit it does not bear… Even if I can make flowers bloom brilliantly, to bear such a fruit, is beyond my ability…
He wiped the cold sweat that flooded his brow and the rest of his body. Another nightmare, he thought as he sat up in his bed mat and sighed.
Otome, why did you leave me? Was I not good enough for you?
Those where the questions he repeatedly asked himself, especially after a nightmare or randomly remembering her poem.
"Sometimes I believe she didn't love me as she said she did," he whispered to himself, placing his palm on his face. A few tears escaped… he didn't feel like holding back.
Then just when I thought I wouldn't get another chance at love, she comes in and leaves a mark in me, Rihan quietly sobbed as he remembered the girl with the toothy smile. In between his sobs, he chuckled as he remembered her pulling his cheeks whenever he had a long face.
Her light shone so bright, but it dwindled too fast…
"The world is not the same without you… my world, is not the same without you, my dear Wakana," he let out a sigh, as his tears stopped flowing.
He plopped back into his bed and looked up to the ceiling. The image of that dark haired youkai with icy blue eyes appeared in his head. Also the girl that Rikuo helped; she had similar eyes… but hers were warmer. Remembering her face made Rihan feel less sad and he silently wished to see her again as he slipped back into deep slumber.
The next morning, Tomoe tried on her new school uniform. She felt weird inside. This can't be serious… I am actually nervous! Heck, I have fought against gods and demons, yet I'm afraid of some pesky humans… please…
Tomoe scoffed at herself for being so idiotic. She sighed, and then looked at herself in the mirror: a white shirt with a blue bow, a pleated blue skirt, a dark grey vest and black ankle-high Converse sneakers. She nodded a 'not bad' and walked downstairs.
"Ohayogozaimazu," she said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Ohayo, Tomoe-chan. How was your sleep?" asked Inoue-sama.
"Refreshing," she replied. It was a dreamless sleep, which she was very grateful for. Lately she's being having these weird dreams of her being surrounded by yamabuki flowers and a man standing beside her, but she can't make his face, only that it made her really sad. She doesn't understand this dreams and what they mean, making her upset.
"Is everything all right, Tomoe-chan?" inquired Inoue-sama.
Tomoe hadn't realized she had made a face when she thought about her dreams, "Everything is fine, Inoue-sama… I just… miss my father, that's all." It wasn't entirely true, she did miss her father but she somehow knew he was going to be all right. Even though she worried about this youkai army, she also knew their forces where strong enough. She couldn't, though, shake the thought of the sadness she felt whenever she saw yamabuki flowers.
It all started from the moment I became a youkai, she thought.
"You have drifted back into dreamland, Tomoe-chan. You will need to be awake for school."
This brought Tomoe back to reality. "I am a little scattered brained sometimes," she laughed nervously.
After she eats her breakfast, she quickly brushed her teeth, rushed down with her schoolbag and waved a quick goodbye to her new family. She ran towards the bus station, hopped on the bus that'll take her half a block away from the Ukiyoe High School.
"Rihan! GET OUT!" Rikuo yelled as he grabbed a towel to cover his shamefulness.
"But what's the problem? Is not like I haven't seen you before… we used to bathe together as kids, I don't see why we can't do it now," said Rihan nonchalantly as he got comfortable in the bathtub. A little yellow rubber duck swam aimlessly. Rikuo blushed madly.
"This is getting out of hand. I am getting tired of your shit, Rihan." Rikuo growled.
"It will get out of hand if my hand where to start swimming around your naked little tush," Rihan winked, all the more to make Rikuo blush as red as a beet.
"You are impossible!" he said stepping out of the tub. "You are gross and immoral! Stop it!"
"Being immoral is my job, I'm a youkai. I'm supposed to be that way," answered Rihan with a wicked grin. "By the way, what do you want me to stop?" he cocked his head to the side, feigning incredulity. Rikuo sweatdropped.
"STOP STARING AT ME!" yelled Rikuo at the top of his lungs. Not far away, you could hear glass breaking from the plates one Yuki-Onna was holding after hearing such things. Nurarihyon shook his head.
"Staring, at what? There's nothing to stare at?" Rihan laughed, bracing himself for the hit, for Rikuo threw him the shampoo bottle, before rushing out of the bathroom huffing and puffing.
Finally I can get some peace, Rikuo thought as he was walking to school. Rihan's behavior is getting out of hand.
He sighed heavily as he reached the school's gate. When he arrived to his homeroom he was greeted by a-
"Nura-kun!" the boisterous voice of his long time friend Kiyotsugu boomed throughout the classroom.
"Good morning everyone," he greeted.
"We will be going on a youkai hunt tonight at this abandoned building outside the city! You must come!"
Rikuo sweatdropped. He doesn't seem to grasp the real danger of youkai. I must go to protect them.
"Sure, why not?" he laughed nervously. Kiyotsugu squealed like a schoolgirl.
Saori grabs Rikuo by the sleeve and pulls him towards her, "We where hoping you'd say 'no' so that we wouldn't have to go," she whispered.
"You could've said that a little earlier, Maki-san," he whispered back. She muttered a 'damn'.
"Ok class, sit. We have new student coming to us all the way from Northern Japan," announced Nakagawa-sensei, as she ushered a girl to come in.
Rikuo quietly gasped as he saw who walked him. He had to do a double take, because for a second he thought he saw that youkai girl that slew the Garo.
This can't be, Rikuo said in a state of bewilderment. My eyes are deceiving me.
"Please, introduce yourself," said Nakagawa-sensei.
"Hello, I am Yatogami Tomoe, I'm new to this town and I hope I can make friends with you all," she smiled.
There's a certain coldness in her eyes, Rikuo thought to himself, though he felt her smile was genuine. She reminds me of someone…
"You will be sitting behind Ienaga-san," motioned the sensei to Tomoe. With that Kana shot her hand up so that Tomoe could see who she was. Kana smiled at the girl as she sat behind her; Tomoe returned the smile.
Yura in a corner watched the girl suspiciously. There's something about her that I can't figure out.
Yura, who is sitting in front of Nura, turned around and whispered, "We gotta watch this girl, Nura-kun. There's something about her, we should be careful." He only nodded in response, understanding her feelings; he felt them too.
She seems pretty ordinary to me, he thought. But yet, there's something…
Recess came and some of the students lounged around the classroom. Kana and the new girl chatted quietly, both giggling. Yura eyed them warily.
"Yatogami-san, welcome to our school!" Kiyotsugu vociferated.
"You are the girl I help the other day, with the address," Rikuo interjected.
"Yes! Now I remember. You seemed familiar," she smiled. "Thanks again… umm," she hesitated.
"Oh, Nura Rikuo," he gave her his hand. She hesitantly shook it.
"Thanks again, Nura-san," she said.
There's something about this boy. I don't know what it is but I can feel great power coming from him. Is he a youkai? Tomoe asked herself.
There was an awkwardness in the air as those two kept their hands together. Everyone was staring.
"Well! Now that you are an old friend of Nura," everyone sweatdropped at Kiyotsugu, "I guess you would like to join us for a youkai hunt tonight at an abandoned building, Yatogami-san."
This picked an interest in Tomoe, for she suddenly perked up, releasing Rikuo's hand, "Sure, I'd love to join."
Rikuo and Yura looked at each other. Kana said, "You don't certainly believe youkai exist, do you Tomoe-chan?"
"But of course! They do exist. Youkai are real," she said. "As a matter of fact, I've seen youkai." Rikuo and Yura dramatically looked at each other.
"WHAT?!" Kiyotsugu yelled. He nearly knelt before Tomoe as if she where a godly apparition. "You… you've seen youkai?"
"I have," she nodded. Kiyotsugu squealed. "Not all of them are as bad as they seem but others are pretty dangerous."
Yura spoke up, "How do you know so much about youkai?"
"Well," Tomoe answered, "through TV shows, history books, old wives tales, some stupid novels about youkai falling in love with humans and the like, and because I've seen some myself; from the village I come from."
"You have youkai in your village?" asked Kana.
"You could say so, yes, but they are more like well spirits, forest spirits… pretty inoffensive," Tomoe explained. "But I also believe that searching for them is nonsense, we should be extremely careful. We don't know what we might encounter out there."
Saori beamed, "You just became my new best friend."
"Hey!" yelled Natsumi. Saori mouthed a 'sorry.'
"Don't worry about that, Yatogami-san. We have our own personal onmyoji, Keikain-san." Kiyotsugu said, pointing at Yura. The latter narrowed her eyes at Kiyotsugu and Tomoe raised an eyebrow. I should keep away from this girl. If she knows who I am, she'll have me purified and my mission would not be accomplished.
"Yatogami-san is right, Kiyotsugu-kun. Youkai are dangerous. We should keep away from them," inferred Rikuo.
Tomoe nodded, "I agree with Nura-san. We will be searching for trouble if we go looking for youkai."
I don't know how the youkai are in this town, but if they are anything close to the ones up north, we are in serious danger. I can't let that happen. I've seen death enough to know that. This group of kids seems innocent, except for that Yura kid and that Nura boy. There is something about him that I can't put my finger on.
"Tomoe-chan?" this brought her back to reality.
"Yes, Kana-chan," responded Tomoe.
"Do you really believe there are good youkai out there?" she asked meekly.
"Kana, I'm going to be honest. And this is for all of you: youkai are creatures of darkness, they are bad and mischievous. But don't get me wrong; some youkais are formed from deep sadness and sorrows, which do not want to harm others. Yes, youkai hate, destroy, create havoc but there are others who know both worlds, light and darkness, and these are the ones that are compelled to protect those who don't have a glimpse of either world."
A dead silence spread after Tomoe was done with her small speech. Rikuo was in awe of such knowledge displayed from the new girl. She seems to know a lot about youkai. She just described part of the essence of the Nura Clan!
Yura still eyed her warily. She knows more than she seems. Could she be an onmyoji? Nah, I would've known already.
Kiyotsugu, with glassy eyes, approached Tomoe and took both her hands in his, taking her by surprise.
"I've being waiting for someone like you who shared my love for youkai!"
Everyone gasped in astonishment, especially Tomoe. What the hell just happened?
Saori approached the couple and hits Kiyotsugu in the head, "You're appearing creepy to the new girl! Stop it!"
He laughed nervously, releasing Tomoe's hands, saying: "I'm sorry Yatogami-san, I was just too excited."
"I can see that," she answered, still bewildered.
With that the bell rang, signaling recess to be over. The rest of the day went as smooth as it could go. Tomoe had no problem keeping up with the school material. Biology, chemistry, Physics and history came easy for her. But she found herself having trouble with Math and Geometry. These where the last classes for the day, so at the end…
"I can't believe I'm getting tortured by Geometry and Math," Tomoe lowered her head as she face palmed herself.
"Is something wrong, Tomoe-chan?" Kana turned around while she grabbed her books.
I don't understand shit! That's what's wrong, Tomoe thought to herself.
"Geometry and math are tormenting me," she said giving Kana a weak smile.
"Oh? So the new girl doesn't know how to count?" smirked Yura, who was standing behind Tomoe, which turned around and gave her the coldest of stares, making Yura cringe. Yura felt her body freezing for a second.
"That's not nice, Yura-chan," intervened Rikuo, trying to lighten up the mood. I believe I've seen that stare before, but where?
Yura scoffed, turned away and left the classroom.
"Yatogami-san, I apologize for Yura, she gets a little 'catty' when around strangers," explained Rikuo.
"You mean she starts acting like a bitch, I can see that," Tomoe responded, while putting away her books. "Well, I guess I'll go to the library to get over this godforsaken geometry homework. See you guys tomorrow."
"Are you not coming to the youkai hunt, Yatogami-san?" asked Kiyotsugu.
"After this?" she waved her geometry book. "If the Kamis know one thing is that Yatogami Tomoe doesn't like geometry. I need full concentration in order to get it right, so I won't go with you guys… happy hunting," she said as she walked out the door. Kiyotsugu cried tears of despair at Tomoe's wake.
"Well, that means I am not going either," said Saori.
"What! Maki-san, not you too!" cried Kiyotsugu.
"I'm sure we can go some other time, Kiyotsugu-kun," said Natsumi. "Besides, we don't even know if the youkai is going to be there."
"If you guys are not going, I won't either," said Kana meekly.
"Noo! Kana-chan not you!" cried Kiyotsugu.
"It's settled, then. We will go some other day," Saori said, grabbing Natsumi and leaving. She whispered, "Let's go to the mall." Both of them giggled.
"Well, see you guys tomorrow. Kana-chan, walking home?" said Rikuo.
"Yes!" she grabbed her stuff and walked out the door with Rikuo, leaving a comically sad Kiyotsugu.
A/N: Please owe me the honor of a REVIEW! Thanks!