Author's Note: Thanks to those who've commented on this story so far. You might not believe it from the first three chapters, but this story has some parts with nearly as much angst as Fire :) Starting about now...
I've broken the fourth chapter, since it's so freakin' long, into two parts. Comment and I might put up part two sooner (hint hint).
Book Four: Why I Hated Chiba Mamoru (Part I)
Cursing Petunia, I tried to ignore the growing crowd of people around me. I had apparently landed in a very busy section of a city, in the middle of what looked like some sort of market. Wealthy looking women dressed in kimonos and soldiers along with the poorest in the city stood in a horrified circle around me. I cringed. At first there were only appalled whispers, and shocked faces hidden behind exquisitely painted fans. Gradually the roar of outrage grew, and I could see the crowd closing in upon me.
I gripped Petunia's Barbie doll--now naked, I noticed-- close to my body and felt my neck to reassure myself that Mamoru's amulet was still hanging there. I didn't understand how I could have kept these items and not my clothes, but that was an irony I wasn't in a particularly good position to ponder. I felt the crowd getting bigger, and an unreasoning panic gripped me. I remained huddled and frozen in my place on the ground, until I realized that the people were parting for someone. When I saw the armed guards making steady progress towards me, my legs began to work again and I dashed straight into the crowd behind me. I knew it was hopeless as soon as I did it--the guards were too close and the people were too tightly packed--but I tried anyway. As I plunged through the milling crowd, the more proper ladies reeled away from me and some anonymous hands slapped my naked butt in passing. I gritted my teeth and focused on getting away. Blind panic was setting in now. I had visions of myself in chains, dying in an unknown land, and not even able to help the one man I had returned for. In my haste, I did not notice the hem of a particularly long kimono and crashed painfully onto the cobbled street. I knew that all hope of escape was lost. Even so, I fought wildly as the smartly dressed guards grabbed my arms and dragged me upward. One, who may have been good looking in a different situation, made the tactical error of releasing my arms to hand me a cloak to cover myself. Never being one to squander an opportunity, I raised my now free hand and punched him straight in the nose.
You won't look so pretty next time, I thought smugly as I watched him grip his bleeding face. Almost simultaneously, the butt of a dagger smacked expertly against the back of my head and I passed into oblivion.
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I awoke shivering on a cold and slimy floor, still clutching Petunia's Barbie doll in a death grip. Mamoru's amulet, I noticed with relief, still hung from my neck. At first I was only aware of my splitting headache and I wondered if the blood I smelled was my own. Groaning, I cracked open my eyes, and promptly closed them again. I knew the room wasn't supposed to sway like that.
"I think I have a concussion," I muttered to the floor, and noted that I was again speaking Mamoru's language. At least that had worked, anyway. I had enough problems without struggling past a language barrier. Realizing that I would accomplish nothing lying on the floor, I struggled to open my eyes. The scene rocked violently for a while, but after a determined effort on my part, my vision stabilized. Gingerly, I sat up and felt the sizeable lump on the back of my head. Honestly, I was going to have to start thinking before I punched people, even if I had been justified in doing it.
I was sitting alone in an absolutely bare cell. The only light came from a grilled window set at an unreachable height in back. It couldn't have been that long since my debacle in the market, I reasoned, since it was still daylight out. Unless, of course, I had slept an entire day. The thought scared me because I knew that time was crucial in my quest, and my stupidity may have cost Mamoru...more than I was willing to think about. The cell itself was extremely small, no more than six feet square, and the thick wooden door in front made escape seem like a fanciful hope.
"Goddamn it!" I said, banging my hands on the slimy stone. It was at that point that I realized I was still naked, although someone had had the decency to cover me with a ratty blanket. I tossed it away angrily, getting to my feet. I fell backward almost immediately and the wall caught me. I grit my teeth and tried again, this time feeling considerably more stable. My headache seemed to have diminished in the wake of my frustration, for which I was grateful.
"This is just not fair!" I said loudly, pacing from wall to wall. Because the room was so short, I could only take about two steps before I had to turn around again. This began to induce feelings of claustrophobia, which only made me even angrier.
"Great!" I shouted to the wall. "Just what I need! Damn Mamoru and his stupid amulet!" I shouted. "Everything I went through for him, just for this! It's just not fair! I wasted all of my money, went on a wild goose chase halfway across the world, got tricked by Petunia and now I'm stuck here! I'm sick of being naked!" I felt like crying, but held it back. I didn't need yet another addition to my list of indignities. I took a breath to relaunch my tirade but released it unexpectedly when I heard the muffled sound of someone opening the door. I stumbled as far away as I could. I had not given much thought to my fate in this dungeon up to this point, but I considered it graphically now. I tried to cover myself up but I refused to touch the obviously lice-infested blanket. The door screeched loudly as it was shoved forward. I roughly forced back a whimper, determined to at least pretend to be brave.
"Get away from me!" I said loudly, backing up even further away from the door. I was practically climbing up the wall. The intruder was about to come in, and I knew that I couldn't sit here screaming the whole time. After all, I reasoned, this may be my only chance to escape. That in mind, I positioned myself behind the slowly opening door. My stomach churned so badly that I was forced to suppress the urge to vomit. When the intruder entered the room, his face shadowed beyond distinction, I overcame my terror and planted a well-aimed side kick in his midsection. I heard a distinctly male grunt accompany his fall to the floor.
"See if anyone else messes with me, Serena: Avenger of the Innocent," I said giddily. He really must not have been expecting any resistance for me to land a kick so easily.
"Not like I'm complaining," I said to his recumbent frame. His black hair fell over his eyes as he lay there groaning. How hard did I kick him, I wondered as an ominous feeling began to settle in my stomach. Why was I still standing here, anyway? I ought to get out of here as fast as I could and try to find Mamoru. Which was when it hit me.
"Hi, Mamoru," I said, wincing as I knelt next to him. "Sorry about this."
---------------------
I suppose that to an outsider the situation must have been rather amusing. I will admit that I saw the humor, but I tactfully refrained from expressing it. He looked as if he were inches away from punching me himself. From his expression, I knew I had hurt him.
"Serena," he groaned, trying to sit up. "Was it truly necessary to do that?"
"I thought you were a guard!" I said, trying and failing to avoid noticing how gorgeous he looked, despite his twisted expression. "And really," I continued, "you could have said something. And I didn't kick you that hard, don't be a wimp..." I trailed off, slightly breathless as he gave me a pained smile.
"All right, I won't be a wimp. For now, Serena, do you think you could put something on?"
I blushed and I scrambled to my feet to get the blanket, then realized that I was giving him a rather nice view of my butt and sat down again.
"This is ridiculous," I said. Mamoru's smirk didn't help much, either.
"You seem to be in the embarrassing habit of misplacing your clothes. Might I ask why?"
"For someone who just got kicked in the stomach, you're acting mighty cocky."
"For someone who is stark naked, you're acting mighty haughty."
"And to think that I came all this way for you! I should have let you rot!"
He smirked. "I heard. How do you think I discovered you, anyway? You were talking loudly enough for the whole jail to hear you. You're just lucky I came in before one of the guards."
"Yeah, I am," I said angrily. "Lucky, because I got to kick you, instead of one of them!"
"Speaking of the guards..." he said, growing serious suddenly, "if we're going to escape, we must leave now. The guards will be making their rounds any time now, and with all the racket we've been making..."
"You're right," I said. I tried not to show the wave of concern that washed over me when he stood up; he certainly wasn't faking that pained expression. How hard had I kicked him, anyway? I had been too scared to pay attention.
"Are you coming?" he asked, turning towards me. His expression was so sarcastic that I felt all my concern vanish, not without some relief. I never did like having to apologize.
"I refuse to spend any more time like this," I said, sitting firmly on the floor, arms crossed around my chest.
"Fine!" he snapped, and for a terrifying moment I thought he was going to leave me. Instead, he grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. Whatever problems I might have had with Mamoru's personality, I was beginning to think that his looks more than made up for it. My eyes traced the perfectly sculpted contours of his pectorals. There were some rather lurid bruises around his midsection, however.
Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes from his chest and accepted the proffered shift. When was the last time I had seen a guy that good looking? In fact, had I ever seen a guy that good looking? I sighed and pulled on the oversized gray shift. At least he hadn't noticed where I was staring, I thought as I stood next to him.
"Let's get out of here," he said with a small smile, for once lacking mockery. He grabbed my hand and led me into the dimly lit hallway. The walls were lined with smoky torches at regular intervals between rows of closed doors. Mamoru closed the door to my cell gently, but any sound he might have made was easily covered by a terrified scream that echoed eerily through the hall. I couldn't tell where the scream had come from.
"Mamoru..."I whispered tensely, gripping his hand. That scream drove home the futility of our situation. I was trying to escape from a dungeon guarded by heavily armed, unsympathetic men with only the dubious protection of a Malibu Barbie doll and Mamoru. Knowing that torture could safely be added to the list of amenities this dungeon provided only increased my desire to leave the premises immediately.
"We're doomed," I said, as we moved cautiously forward.
"No need to be so melodramatic," he said irritably, concentrating up ahead.
"Melodramatic!" I momentarily forgot that this was not the ideal time to get in an argument. "Did you just hear that, or are you telling me it was my--ouch!" I exclaimed as he yanked me abruptly towards the wall. For a second I struggled as he covered my body with his own before I recognized the sound of approaching footsteps. I wrapped my arms around Mamoru's bare waist and pulled him in closer to me as the footsteps grew louder.
"Ignore us. Ignore us. Ignore us," I chanted silently as I rested my head on Mamoru's chest. There was nowhere else to put it, after all. The footsteps slowed, and I could tell that they were almost directly across from us. My chanting grew even more fevered and determined, until I felt lightheaded with the effort. In fact, my entire body felt fuzzy, like when I sat cross-legged too long and my legs fell asleep. Discovery seemed inevitable when the approaching guards stopped in front of us and started having a conversation, but after minutes passed and they noticed nothing, I began to think we had a chance. I was concentrating too hard to really listen to their conversation, but the words "Kojin" and "Ushiro" and "Princess" did manage to penetrate. I figured, distantly, that they were two of the Kojin's many underlings and that this dungeon was certainly under his control. After a few minutes I relaxed enough to listen to their conversation.
"Right," said voice number one. "Let's get the Chiba bastard to the Kojin." Through the fuzziness I smelled the distinct scent of peppermint, and felt Mamoru's arms tense around me.
"Wait," said the other, nervously. "Should we send his swords with him?"
"Hmm..." the first voice pondered. "I suppose so. The Kojin may want to see them."
I heard them walk a few steps further down the hall, and panicked. It was clear they were talking about Mamoru. When they opened his cell door they would know he had escaped. Realizing that I had to do something quickly, I concentrated with a single-minded intensity on the first thought that came into my head:
"Go to the bathroom." I didn't feel fuzzy anymore, I felt desperate. I repeated it silently, my brow furrowed with concentration. Instinctually, I began to gather power the way I had when I first entered Umeru. Let this work, I prayed, even as I braced myself for the inevitable explosion. What did I think I was doing anyway? Practicing magic? It was all so...
"Um...Gendo? Do you think you could wait a minute? I've really got to...you know..."
"Yeah, go ahead. In fact, so do I..."
They both left.
I lay helplessly against the wall. Mamoru disentangled himself from me, forcibly removing my hands from his torso. He gave me an appraising, slightly amused glance and grabbed my hand silently. I was so relieved about our unexpected escape that it took almost thirty seconds to realize that he was following the guards.
"Um, Mamoru, where are we going?"
"I have to get my swords back. Now keep quiet," he said. He stopped abruptly and I walked straight into him, but he didn't appear to notice. His attention was entirely concentrated on the dimly lit figure in front of him. The man was relieving himself against the wall, and I wondered if this world had bathrooms.
Mamoru walked forward quietly and hit the guard on the back of his head. He went down in a heap before he could even turn around or make a noise. Then he grabbed the swords the guard was carrying and walked back over to me.
"Can we leave now?" I asked, a little awed by his calculated display of force.
He took a moment to fasten his swords to his belt, one on either hip. "That's probably a good idea," he said. Neither of us looked back as we scurried further into the maze.
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Mamoru and I sprinted down a dimly lit corridor and careened around another corner, desperately trying to distance ourselves from the guards behind us. To my oversensitive ears, it sounded as though we were making as much noise as a herd of elephants. We couldn't have been that loud, however, because the sounds of our pursuers eventually faded into the distance.
Mamoru and I lay panting against a wall, the beaded perspiration of exertion and fear on our faces. Another disembodied scream echoed through the hall, and I shuddered.
"How can we get out of here? There are guards everywhere!" I said.
Mamoru's eyes were worried. "I can see that."
"Oh, don't be smart! What are we going to do?"
He shrugged. "Getting past the guards is impossible, that much is obvious."
"You don't have any ideas?" I asked. Part of me just wanted to sink to the floor and cry.
"No, don't worry. I'm sure I'll think of something." He frowned. "This place is quite old..." he said after a moment. "There are legends. I don't know if they're true, but it's a chance."
"What are they?" I asked.
"Mirror is one of the oldest cities in Umeru. Almost five hundred years ago the temples dominated this entire area. When the warlords began to usurp control and build these large castles, they tried to subdue the temples' influence...violently. That's why the dungeons of Mirror are so known for their torture devices--the priests and priestesses themselves served as the test cases. Given the dangers, the few remaining temples supposedly undertook a secret task to build tunnels from temples to the most notorious castle dungeons. The tunnels were, of course, very well hidden even when they were new, and there's no guarantee that we could find them now."
"If they even exist," I said quietly.
He acknowledged my statement with a curt nod.
"Is there anything more?" I asked at last. "What does the legend say about how these people found the tunnels?"
"Somehow, the priests had managed to keep some item from the temple with them, and used that to find the tunnel. That part of the legend never made much sense to me, though."
"Why not?"
"Because, as far as I know, the Kojin and the Lady are the only two people in this entire world with the ability to perform magic. And I don't understand how the priests could have found the tunnels without it." He paused for a minute, thinking silently. "But temples have always had a kind of magic of their own. Perhaps it's not so far fetched."
"Wait, wait," I said. "You mean that there is almost no magic here?"
"I didn't even believe in magic until a year ago. Now it seems as though I have far too much contact with it for my peace of mind."
"But...weren't Ushiro and his men using magic earlier? Remember the peppermint?" I said.
"They weren't using the magic themselves, Serena. They were using a special amulet impregnated with the Kojin's magic."
"So, how are we going to get out of here, then?"
"If only I had some object from a temple. At least then I could try it out..."
We sat in silence for a minute. When the solution finally occurred to me, it seemed too easy to be believed. I looked up eagerly and was met by his opaque blue eyes. For a moment we froze like that, blue engulfing me. Seconds later our excitement reasserted itself, and we both exclaimed simultaneously: "The journal!"
As soon as I said it, I realized my mistake. I had planned to tell him about it, of course, but I didn't know how to tactfully say that I had been spying on his private life for the past two weeks.
"How could you know about that?" he asked, backing away from me.
"Well...um...it's a long story," I began, but was saved by the sound of approaching footsteps. Mamoru gave me one last suspicious look before taking my hand and dragging me further down the hall, away from the guards.
As soon as we seemed relatively safe again, Mamoru pulled out the book from one of his deep pants pockets. It looked exactly like mine, but it was considerably worse for the wear.
"What are you planning to do with it?" I whispered.
"I'm not quite sure," he said, holding the book like it were some unpleasant and inscrutable parasite. "Maybe close my eyes and pray? Anything is better than sitting here." And he proceeded to do precisely that, holding the book in front of him. After a minute I gave into the urge to tap him on the shoulder.
"Any luck?" I asked.
He opened his eyes and stared in mine, looking a little confused. "No..." he said slowly, shaking his head. "Nothing at all."
"Um...Mamoru, are you alright?" I asked. His pupils were so dilated his eyes looked black, although that could have just been because of the low light.
"God damn it!" He turned from me and walked further down the hall. I hurried after him.
"What are you doing now?" I said, looking behind us. He muttered muffled obscenities under his breath, but didn't answer me.
"Do you want to get caught? Because if you do, then keep this up!"
He paid me not a whit of attention. I felt my nails dig into my palms. How dare he ignore me like this, I thought as I jogged to keep up with him.
Eventually, I noticed that Mamoru seemed to know where he was going. How this could be I didn't know, but while muttering things like "damn book" and "utterly useless," he was walking through the halls like he had lived here all his life. I trotted along after him, content, at least, to see where he would take us. After a number of twists and turns that Escher himself would have been proud of, we came to at a dead end. By this time, Mamoru's monologue seemed to have petered off, and his eyes lost their dazed expression.
He looked at the dead end and then turned back to me. "Um... where are we?"
Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. "That should be my line. You had me trotting after you the entire way here, like a lovesick puppy."
He smiled. "I'm sure you'll find a way to get me back for it," he said, winking. My knees felt a little watery. Thankfully, he turned off the smile and began pacing.
"Now what do we do?" he asked, not looking at me. Before I could respond I heard him grunt in surprise as he tripped over something, and went sprawling into the wall.
"Are you all right?" I asked, running over to him.
"Yeah...fine," he said, holding his torso carefully as he stood up. I would have pursued the point, but I noticed his gaze was intent on some spot on the floor.
"What are you looking at..." I began, but trailed off when I saw it. There was a barely visible circular groove in the stone floor. This in itself wasn't unusual, but the stone was a slightly different color, and dust seemed to have settled in its outline.
"I think we found our way out," I whispered. Without replying, Mamoru knelt slowly next to it, and felt around the edge. Eventually he managed to wedge his fingers underneath the groove and tried to lift it up.
After a few moments of grunting and sweating with no more than a groan in response from the stone, he asked for my help. Even with our combined efforts, it hardly moved at all.
"Brilliant," he said, leaning back on his heels, and wiping his sweating forehead."Maybe if we try again..." I said.
"Serena, this stone probably hasn't been moved in centuries."
"We have to try," I said. I leaned closer to him and noticed the pungent smell of his perspiration.
"What else could we use? Magic?" he said with obvious sarcasm.
I considered the possibility seriously. After all, what had I done back there with the guards? And how had I gotten to this world in the first place? Even if I was wrong, I had to at least make the effort.
"Come on...just one more time. For me, Mamoru?"
He gave me a surprisingly gentle look and nodded.
Smiling, I placed my fingers under the groove and pulled. At first nothing happened. I increased my concentration, willing the block to move. I drew on the same power that I had the last two times, shaking with both physical and mental exertion. And suddenly, it moved. With an almost audible pop, the block flew upwards in our hands and we tossed it to the side with surprising ease. Mamoru stared at the gaping hole and then shifted his gaze to me.
"We did it," he said quietly, disbelief in his voice. Then he grinned. "We did it!" he shouted, and I did so with him. We clasped our hands momentarily, staring into each other's eyes. I felt shock waves rebounding into my arms and chest that made it extraordinarily difficult to breathe. Then I broke contact, and looked into the hole again.
"Let's go," I said, ignoring the erratic thumping of my heart.
"You go down first," he said. He took the nearest torch from its sconce and handed it to me. " You can carry this down. Give it back to me after I put the cover back on behind us." I tactfully decided not to ask him how he planned to lift that thing all by himself.
I took the torch and handed him the Barbie doll. "Could you put this in your pocket for me?" I asked. Mamoru stared at it, but his reaction was cut short by the sound of booted feet and shouts echoing throughout the dungeon. I guessed that our absence had finally been discovered.
"No time," Mamoru whispered. He shoved the Barbie doll in his other pocket. Nodding, I climbed as quickly as possible, careful of my bare feet on the slimy stone. At least the torchlight made everything shadowy. I was quite sure that I did not want to know exactly what I was stepping in. Mamoru came after me, and my eyes widened in admiration as he lifted the heavy cover and placed it above us.
A few guards entered the corridor seconds later. I could vaguely make out the sound of their voices.
"Not here, sir."
"They couldn't have gone far. One of our men heard them a short while ago, in this direction. What's that smell?"
There was a pause while, presumably, the other sniffed the air. "I'm not sure...it smells sweet...I can't say I know what it is, though."
"They must be here...keep looking."
Mamoru nudged my hand with his foot, and I resumed my descent. Thankfully, the ladder did not go very far down and I turned around to face a small, stone lined tunnel that barely reached my chest. Mamoru moved in front of me and I handed him the torch. He and I glanced at each other silently, and then shrugged. It wasn't as though we had any other choices in the matter, after all.
We ducked into the tunnel. Mamoru crawled ahead of me, awkwardly holding the torch in one hand. I scrambled along behind him.
"So," I said after we had gone a bit further down the tunnel, "how did you rescue me, anyway?"
"Oh, that. I did the exact same thing you did, in fact."
"What? You ran around naked?"
He laughed. I tripped, even though crawling was supposed to prevent that sort of thing.
"No," he said. "I can't say that I had that pleasure. I was referring to your plan to clobber the first person who came through the door."
"You mean you stole the keys from a guard? Why didn't they discover you sooner, then?"
"Well, I didn't steal them from a guard...not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"One of Ushiro's men came to visit me--to gloat, I suppose. This time he came alone. I guess that he assumed I would turn magically docile once I made it to the dungeon. He wanted to play with me, apparently. He taunted me for a while and then tried to kick me. Only, since he was alone, I fought back. I managed to slip his key ring off of his belt while I held him in an arm lock. I told him to get out before I did anything more damaging than twist his elbow, and he left. If I know my strong but unfortunately stupid attacker, by the time he realizes the keys are missing, he'll figure that he's lost them himself." Mamoru sounded entirely too pleased with himself.
"Mamoru, you sound entirely too pleased with yourself."
"Well, I should sound pleased. You haven't exactly been helpful recently."
I stopped, overcome with anger. "How dare you say that! I have gone throughhell to get here, and if you don't show me some appreciation soon, you might just have to kiss my help goodbye. Especially since you seem to think that you can do just fine without it! Was it just my imagination, or at our last parting did you or did you not tell me to come and find you?"
Mamoru had turned to face me. He blinked several times. "Yes..."he finally said."Well then! If you don't want this stupid amulet, and you don't want my useless help, then tell me so and I will go back to my own world! I don't need this, and I definitely don't need you! I did not go halfway around the world to God-knows-where, with these stupid chickens that wouldn't leave me alone and this horrible wedgie, trying to find my crazed neighbor, only to land naked once again in the middle of this stupid city just to be made fun of by an ungrateful low life like yourself!" I was breathing heavily.
Mamoru's eyes looked sad in the torchlight. He took a deep breath. "Serena," he finally said. "I'm...sorry I said that. It was...dishonorable of me. You helped me even though you had no obligation at all. I was...very surprised to see you, in fact," he gave me a small smile that was, if anything, shy. "My apologies." He bowed slightly, although it's depth seemed more limited by the size of our crawl space than his sincerity.
I was shocked as much by the gesture as by the sentiment. After an awkward moment, I returned the bow.
"Thechickens wouldn't leave you alone?" he said, his easy demeanor restored.I blushed. "It's a long story." He gave me an appraising look, and abruptly turned around again. I scuttled to catch up with him.
"Now, I must ask you something," Mamoru said, and from his tone of voice, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy his line of questioning.
"What?" I asked.
"How did you know about my journal?"
Of course. I had been hoping that he had forgotten the issue in the excitement of our escape.
"Well, see, in my world we don't really believe in other...worlds, like this one. I did actually, but I was a very strange person there. No one really believed me anyway, so it didn't matter. Didn't you ever wonder how I found out about you?"
"Of course I did. You didn't expect me to believe that business about a vision, did you?"
"I did too have a vision...sort of," I said defensively. "Anyway, I found this blank book one day...only the next day it wasn't blank, and I realized that I was reading someone else's journal."
"You were reading my journal in your world? For how long?" His tone relieved me. He sounded more curious than angry.
"The entire time you had it, I think."
"The entire time," he repeated quietly. "So, You read what I wrote about you?"
"Unfortunately. 'She envisioned herself as some sort of savior,' Mamoru? Very flattering!"
Mamoru was making strange choking noises. I frowned at his butt. It was a rather enjoyable butt at that, I thought. Really, its contemplation could preoccupy me for hours...its fine contours, the way it was round without being fat. As Mina was known to say, it was a total "squishy, squishy."
Being so preoccupied, it took me a good two minutes to realize we had stopped and Mamoru was still laughing.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Not very flattering!" he said, "It wasn't supposed to be, Serena!"
"Oh, just shut up! Who cares if I read your stupid journal? You ought to be grateful that I even bothered...Mamo-chan!"
"Don't call me that," he said, still chuckling a little.
"You can't make me stop!" I said, dangerously close to sticking out my tongue."Wait, do you hear something?" he asked.
"Is that...water?" I was suddenly very nervous
He nodded. "It must be an underground river. It sounds as if it's alongside us." We looked at each other for a moment.
"Let's keep going," he said, finally, and resumed crawling. This time I was too worried about the river to pay much attention to his hindquarters.
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Long before I was ready for it, the tunnel stopped to make way for the river. The powerful current churned about ten feet below us. Thirty feet across I saw that the tunnel continued.
"How are we supposed to get over this?" I asked, sitting next to Mamoru. Even if we managed to get down the steep edge and swim across, climbing back up would be nearly impossible. He was silent for a while, and I saw his eyes scanning the entire area. Finally, his face lit up, and he leaned forward.
"Look at this, Serena," he said, pointing to the remains of a rickety rope bridge that dangled from ancient metal stakes pounded into the stone beside us.
"It's broken," I said.
"I know, but we could use the rope." He ripped one of the rope ends from the wall.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Knowing Mamoru's foolhardy ideas, he was probably planning to swim across with only a frayed, God-knows-how-old rope to hold him against the current, and scale the slippery rocks to the other side.
"If I tie these together," he said, tying his broken end to the rope still attached to the wall. The dislodged planks fell without a splash into the river below. "Then I can use it against the current when I swim across."
Bingo. "So how are you planning on getting back up? Levitation?"
"Well..." he said, running his hand through his hair. I raised my eyebrows. "There's some broken rope on the other side, too. I can climb that back up."
"Why don't you just drown yourself and get it over with?" I said, a slightly hysterical edge to my voice.
"Serena, don't be ridiculous," he said. "How else do you propose we get across? What, do you think it will be safer to go back to the dungeon and hope that the guards won't mind that we've been missing?"
"No, but--"
"I hate to be so harsh, but there's no other way. Once I get across, I can toss you a rope and pull you to me."
I stuttered for a few moments, endeavoring to find a reasonable argument against his rampant stupidity, but I could think of none.
"I thought you'd say that," he said with a grin. The blood roaring past my ears was so loud I could barely hear the river.
"And you say I imagine myself as some sort of savior," I said.
"I'm not imagining."
I did not even dignify that comment with a response. He smiled again, and handed me the torch. "Toss this across once I get there...it may not work, but I'd prefer to have a light." He grabbed the end of his rope and prepared to jump into the water. I grabbed his arm.
"Wait...shouldn't you check your knot, first?"
He rolled his eyes and pulled his knot extra tight. I cursed him silently. Just as he was about to jump, I grabbed his arm again.
"What is it this time?" he snapped.
"Good luck," I said quietly.
I turned away from his smile, unwilling to turn into a useless, quivering mass of jelly. I had no intention of standing on the shore, biting my nails and fretting like a good little maiden. If Mamoru was going to risk his life, I was going to make damned sure I did all in my power to help him keep it.
I stood paralyzed for a moment when I heard the sound of his body hitting the water, but I promptly recovered when I saw him surface, struggling against the current. I ran over to where the remaining rope was attached to the rock, and grabbed it with my free hand. As I had feared, the old rope could barely hold Mamoru against the pull of the current. I held onto it for our lives, digging my heels into the rock for support. Mamoru struggled against the current, making progress by inches. Every time his head went under my breath caught in my throat and I felt tears form in my eyes. Intellectually I knew that there really was no other way, but it didn't stop me from fuming with anger at his arrogance. Maybe I was also a little angry with myself for caring so much.
At last, he made it to the far bank. He dropped the rope I held and grabbed one of the ropes dangling down that side's cliff face. I held my breath. There was no more I could do to help. I saw his back muscles quiver with the effort of pulling himself from the rushing water. Just before he had climbed far enough to reach his arms over the top, the rope he was climbing snapped, and for a desperate second I wondered if Mamoru would lose his grip entirely and plunge back into the water. To my relief his right hand shot out at the last possible moment, and grabbed the remaining rope. He hung there for a moment. My voice was stuck in my throat and my hands had flown to my mouth. As he raised his other hand, I realized that it still held the broken rope. It was difficult enough to climb with both hands free, he certainly did not need that rope to further complicate things.
"Let it go!" I shouted, and I suppose my fear lent my voice the volume needed to be heard across the river.
"I can't," he said, after a moment, still maintaining his precarious one handed grip.
"Why the hell not?"
"You can't get across without it," he said.
I was stunned. How could he consider me when his own life was literally hanging by a thread? He painstakingly made his way up the frayed rope, and my eyes examined it carefully for any signs of breaking. If he made it to the top soon, it looked as if it might hold. Just before I thought I would pass out from worry, he threw his hands over the top and pulled himself onto the ledge. He lay on the other side, panting for a moment, and then struggled upwards. For someone who had almost drowned about ten times, he looked okay.
I watched Mamoru rip the other rope from the wall and then tie the two together.
"Serena," he shouted, "toss me the torch!"
I stared at the object and the thirty foot distance dubiously. I was notoriously bad at all sports that involved projectiles, and none of those had been flaming. If I lost our light in the river how could I get across? Perhaps it was better for me to leave the torch here, and go across aided by light, although we wouldn't have any for the remainder of our journey. I didn't like the idea, but it sounded better than losing the light here. I said as much to Mamoru, but he shook his head emphatically.
"We can't afford to lose the light--who knows what else is out there?"
"But what if I can't make it? When I say I'm bad, you have no--"
"Don't worry, Serena," he said. "I trust you."
Damn him, I thought, what am I doing? Praying that I would tap into some heretofore undiscovered athletic talent, I raised the torch over my head and lobbed it with as much force as I could...straight into Mamoru's face. I stared in horror but at the last possible moment, Mamoru's hands shot out and grabbed it expertly by the handle. He lowered it slowly, and winked at me.
"Was that supposed to tell me something?"
I knew he was raising his eyebrows, he was just too far away for me to see clearly. He set the torch carefully on the ground and tossed the rope across to me. It didn't quite close the gap, however, so I had to lean forward to grab it. After the fifth try, I managed to securely grip the frayed end, but overbalanced as I was, I plunged head first into the churning water. My right hand still gripped the rope, but for several terrifying moments I could not struggle to the surface, and lack of air made me feel light headed. Then, I felt the rope yank violently upwards and I surfaced, gulping air. Mamoru pulled me forward little by little, as I struggled against the current. This had seemed much easier when I was safe, dry and ten feet above the water. Now, I seriously doubted that I would survive this experience. Despite that, I fought against the current, trying to aid Mamoru any way I could. When I had a few more feet to go a particularly strong current ripped the rope out of my hands, and I sank beneath the surface. For a moment I was still, almost paralyzed with fear. Then, with a silent roar, I forced myself above the surface.
I fought my way towards Mamoru, searching for the rope. Moments before I almost gave up in exhaustion, I saw it and grabbed it gratefully. Only a second later Mamoru hauled me the few remaining feet through the river and up the cliff face. I collapsed in a wet heap, my breath coming in short gasps that resembled sobs. God, but that had been close. I felt like one cold, wet bruise.
"Serena," he whispered, putting his hands tentatively on my shoulders. I guess I really must have been exhausted, because I relaxed under his touch. "Are you all right?" Something in his voice made me open my eyes, and roll over to face him. At his expression, I smiled. "I'm fine," I said.
He looked relieved, and helped me to stand up. I tried wringing out his soaked tunic, but without taking it off, there wasn't much I could do. When I began shivering, he looked as though he would say something but decided against it.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing the torch.
"All...right..." I chattered. Still dripping, I dropped to my knees, and followed Mamoru through the tunnel.
God damn it, I thought, momentarily forgetting about how cold I was. Even after all this, his butt was still gorgeous!
---------------------
After perhaps another hour of crawling through the freezing cold tunnel with only Mamoru's backside as my view we arrived at another stone ladder.
"Finally," I said.
He climbed up silently and I followed. Above us it looked as though there was a seal over our hole, similar to what we had removed back in the dungeon. I only hoped that this was easier to release.
"Here," he said, handing down the torch.
"Hey! Don't burn me," I said, wincing from my close proximity to the smoking object. It didn't smell too nice, either. He placed both of his hands on the stone and shoved. The stone began to move, and within a few more seconds he painstakingly pushed it off. Natural light flooded my eyes. I winced and waited for Mamoru to crawl out. He didn't move, however. He looked like he was hunched over.
"Mamoru, are you planning on leaving anytime soon?" With a wordless grunt, he climbed out and I crawled after him.
---------------------
We seemed to have interrupted some unfortunate shrine maiden's meditation, and from her expression we were a rather unexpected interruption. Her bowl of incense sat forgotten before her, and the stick that she had intended to light it with was about to burn her fingers. She had long black hair and deep brown eyes that almost looked maroon.
Closing her mouth with an audible snap, she bowed low, her forehead touching the ground before her. Even with my rudimentary introduction into the culture of this place I knew that the gesture conveyed far more respect than was worthy two nameless intruders who had just interrupted her meditation. Mamoru and I glanced at each other. After a moment I bowed as well.
"We welcome your safe return and rejoice in it as a miracle of the Lady's making," she said this in a stilted, halting manner as if these were the words of a ritual. I hadn't really thought about our reception on the other end of the tunnel, but I certainly had not expected this.
"As payment for accepting the Lady's gift, I ask that you now return the object which brought you to us."
Mamoru and I looked at each other again, not confused, but carefully considering the pros and cons of giving this shrine maiden the journal. I was flattered that he would even bother allowing me in on the decision, and after a moment I nodded with what I hope was relative imperceptibility. Raising his eyebrows at me in a way that was certainly not imperceptible, he fished the water-logged journal out of his pocket and handed it to the woman.
The priestess' eyes widened, and her hands shook as she reached for the book. She looked back and forth between us and the book in shocked confusion. She bowed low, almost reverentially before standing up and rushing to a corner of a room set off by low hanging red, embroidered silk curtains. She tugged frantically at a rope of braided red silk, and I jumped when I heard a bell tolling.
"What the hell is going on?" I mouthed to Mamoru. He shrugged his shoulders, looking just about as lost as I felt. In a matter of seconds, I could hear the sound of rushing feet and then someone roughly shoved open the screen door to our left. A short, bald man flanked by three others of somewhat greater stature appeared in the doorway
"Rei-chan," he shouted, "what's the meaning of ringing the sacred bell..." he trailed off and stared at us.
"Are they..." he began, shock registering on his features. She nodded silently, and held out Mamoru's journal.
"Is it real?" he asked.
"Look at the inscription."
He fingered the gold writing--that was in Mamoru's language, I noticed--reverentially. He looked between us again, then showed the book to his colleagues. I noticed that they all wore the same uniform of voluminous red silk pants and white shirt, regardless of gender.
The four newcomers walked toward us. They knelt as the priestess had done and bowed low.
"My name is Jinsei," the short man said. "I am the steward of this, the Jin-doji temple. This is my granddaughter Rei. These three behind me are my novices, Yasuo, Hyōgen and Tenkai. Please accept our humble offer of hospitality to the Lady's honored guests."
I stared at him blankly, but Mamoru nodded and bowed slightly. I followed suit.
"We are pleased and honored to accept your generous invitation," Mamoru said solemnly. "My name is Mamoru and this is Serena."
Jinsei nodded and then looked toward Rei. "Rei-chan, feed and clothe them as properly fits the honored guests of the Lady while we prepare for the ceremony" He paused and looked at us again, something almost approaching joy in his eyes. "Thank God it's happening now," he said, and left the room with his novices.
"Come with me," she said quietly. Mamoru and I stood up and followed her.
We walked through a long hallway lined with similar sliding doors. She opened one near the middle and led us inside. I looked around, noting the sparse but comfortably rich furnishings. It looked like an anteroom of some sort. A small wooden table stood in the middle of the floor, and a richly embroidered pillow had been placed at each side. Through the circular windows, I could see a well-cultivated garden, and small bonsai trees stood in niches on the walls.
"Please sit." She gestured towards the table. "I will send the servants to attend to your food and dress shortly." The mention of food reminded me that it had been at least twenty-four hours since my last meal, and my stomach grumbled loudly. Mamoru and I stared at each other for a few interminable moments.
"I don't suppose staying could do any harm," he said finally, sitting down at the table.
"Did you have any other plans?" I asked, sitting across from him. "It seems to me we're pretty well boxed in."
He tilted his head in acknowledgment, and we again lapsed into silence. Despite everything that we had gone through together, I suddenly felt awkward around him. I was sure I looked like a drowned rat. Sometime during our escape, my hair had completely fallen out of its braid, and now hung in a tangled blonde mess. I felt doubly pathetic, because I knew it shouldn't have mattered to me how I looked, but I just couldn't stand the thought of looking so ugly when he could have posed for a Greek statue.
"Serena...are you okay?" he asked, peering at me.
I squirmed. "I'm fine," I said.
Then my stomach grumbled loudly again and I seized upon the opportunity. "I'm so hungry!" I said, sprawling on the table for dramatic effect. I wasn't acting much, either. After a moment, Mamoru laughed and I looked up at him. To my surprise, his expression was merely amused.
"I don't suppose you have mastered the use of our foreign utensils since you left?" he asked, still smiling.
After a moment of incomprehension, I groaned. "Everything was so hectic! I didn't even think about the damned things," I said.
"You know," he said, leaning back on his heels, "I have never met someone so fond of eating who is so bad at it."
"I'm not bad at it!" I said, sitting up again. "I'll have you know that back in my world I'm a master eater."
"I'm sure you are," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively while his gaze traveled over my full figure, which had been given some subtle additions by my inordinate fondness for boxed chocolates.
"Oh, shut up," I said, feeling even stupider. He shut his mouth, but his eyes danced with amusement. They looked ethereal in the orange streaked light of the dying sun. Who would suspect that behind those eyes hid such an insufferable, pompous, self-assured, jerk? Well, he wasn't a jerk all the time, I conceded, but he sure made up for it.
"What are you looking at?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably.
I blinked. "Nothing," I said, "I get strange when I'm hungry."
"I can't disagree," he said, and I knew his eyebrows were raised without even looking.
"Is it possible for you not to make fun of every thing I say?"
"Perhaps if you could say something intelligent?"
The ability this man had to anger me was positively uncanny. I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away from him. He just smirked.
Two women attired in simple light blue kimonos entered the room at that moment, each carrying a tray filled with tea and an unopened ceramic pot. Delicious aromas drifted in my direction and I lifted my nose. Looking away deferentially, the women placed a tray in front of both of us, and backed out of the room, bowing ceremoniously.
I opened the dish.
"Noodles," I said flatly. "Noodles with chopsticks."
I looked up and was confronted with the picture of Mamoru in the throes of helpless laughter.
"It's not like my day could have gotten any better," I said. "I look like a drowned rat, I'm cold and I have spent the last six hours with you. And just when I thought that something was working properly, just when I thought that I could eat, they have to serve me noodles... with chopsticks!"
"You," Mamoru said, "are absolutely brilliant."
I looked at him curiously, all petulance forgotten.
"I've never met anyone quite like you. I think you may be insane."
"You think I may be what?"
"Don't worry." His eyes were somehow sweet as he said this. "It's possible you're growing on me."
And before I had a chance to ask him what he meant by that, he started eating his noodles.
I wondered if I should just use my fingers, but figured that the chopsticks were worth at least one more try. Avoiding Mamoru's curious gaze, I gingerly reached for them. For twenty-two years I had made every effort to learn how to use chopsticks, and I had failed miserably. Faced with the prospect of never eating again, I proved a remarkably fast learner. A couple of false starts and half a dozen soup stains later, I managed to insert some noodles into my mouth. Five minutes later, I was slurping the remaining juice out of the bowl.
"You know, I think that you got roughly half of that in your mouth," Mamoru said, staring at me like I was a strange and possibly dangerous lizard at the zoo.
"I know, aren't you proud?" I said. I was much too pleased with myself to be angry at anyone, even Mamoru.
"Only because it's you, my dear," he said. His smile lit his eyes in a way that made my stomach feel strange. I was grateful when the two ladies returned. At first I thought they had come to retrieve the trays, but it appeared that they were planning on retrieving us instead. Prompted by sotto-voce requests, we stood and went into the corridor again. I experienced a moment of panic when they lead Mamoru and I in different directions.
"Wait, what are you doing?" I said, trying to keep the panicked edge out of my voice. Obviously I didn't succeed very well, because Mamoru took it upon himself to calm me.
"Don't worry, Serena. They're just taking us to change our clothes for...whatever it is that's happening."
"But...will we see each other again?" I asked.
He gave me an incredulous smile. "Of course." And, after a moment, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
And with that, we were dragged apart. I felt like an idiot. Why had Mamoru said that? I didn't need protecting, and certainly not from him. I fumed at myself as I marched down the hall. In fact, I found my fuming so satisfactory that I continued to do it as I was led into another room, barely noticing as the two female attendants performed the long and arduous task of making me look presentable. After a while I began to enjoy the pampering, even when they attacked my tangles and put my hair into an elaborately braided coif.
After almost two hours, I was fully dressed. I was even wearing those strange wooden shoes on what looked like small stilts with socks separated for the thong. They were remarkably difficult to walk on, and considering that I was draped in at least seven layers of fabric, it was even more difficult. The ladies admired my appearance in the mirror, and even I had to admit that despite my extreme discomfort, I looked rather dignified. Thankfully, the formal outfit did not drown me. A light blue obi was tied across the dark blue kimono at my waist, and a long train of light blue fabric hung down my back. I quite enjoyed the way that it accentuated my hips. The sleeves draped over my hands, and the collar covered me to my neck. I turned to thank them when I heard a loud commotion outside the doors. I knew it was Mamoru even before I heard his voice.
"What have you done with Serena!" he shouted. "I know it doesn't take two hours just to get dressed!"
"Please sir," a male voice said, "the ladies are preparing for the ceremony. I assure you that she is safe--"
"What preparations could possibly take more than two hours?"
"Sir, though I imagine that you are used to a slightly...humbler lifestyle, I assure you that among those of culture it is no extraordinary thing to take two hours to prepare oneself. Indeed, for those of great refinement it often takes much longer."
I recognized the sneer in the man's voice. I had heard it often enough from the other girls in my college who thought it was shameful that I, a scholarship student who bought her clothes from K-Mart, had the gall to share the same breathing space with them. No one had been there to stick up for me then, but I would be damned if I let this pompous ass humiliate Mamoru.
I strode to the doors, maintaining my precarious balance on the shoes, and slid the screen door back roughly. The two--I recognized the other man as one of the novices I had met earlier--turned towards me in surprise.
"Oh, Mamoru, there you are! I am so sorry to have kept you waiting for such an inordinate amount of time. Really, can you imagine servants of the Lady taking so long to do such a simple coiffure? Don't take it out on him," I said, gesturing to the novice, "I suppose we must be understanding to those who haven't been exposed to such refinements."
I held my breath. The novice's face was so flushed with embarrassment that he looked close to fainting. Mamoru, though, was staring at me with an expression so layered I couldn't even begin to read it. His eyes held mine roughly for a moment.
Had I done something wrong, I wondered for a panicked instant, but then he smiled and I could not help but smile back.
"Of course, Serena. I forget myself." He gave a stiff, formal bow to the novice and then reached for my hand without bothering to see if the bow had been returned.
"Oh, Mamo-chan," I whispered as we were walking down the hallway. "What would you do without me?"
---------------------
Across a low table, Mamoru and I stared at Jinsei, Rei and the novice who had accompanied us here. I noticed that the novice was nervously eyeing Mamoru's long sword. It was again in its traditional place on his back, over the delicately embroidered jacket the temple had given him. I grinned to myself.
"We welcome you to our humble shrine," Jinsei said, bowing low over the table."I'm afraid that we don't quite understand these...procedings. If you would care to enlighten us..." Mamoru said.
"You don't understand? Pardon my rudeness, but how did you get the Lady's journal?" Rei asked.
"I was sent on a quest to find her before this plague ravages all Umeru. I was given the journal as a clue and it led me here."
"And who gave you the sacred journal?" Jinsei asked, with an insulting emphasis on the word "gave." I tried to keep my uneasiness from my expression, but Mamoru made no effort to hide his displeasure.
"It was given to me by the late emperor Nakatomi Ashitaka on his death bed."
The shock at his words was palpable. "Why...did he entrust this to you?" Jinsei asked.
"He told me I was his son," Mamoru said. I knew this already, but I still felt impressed. The way he held himself, staring straight into Jinsei's eyes, made me inexplicably proud.
After a moment, Jinsei nodded. "I understand. It is then our duty to help you on your quest. But, if you will allow me one more question, who is the girl?"
I glanced at him nervously, but he was staring straight ahead.
"She is my trusted companion. Beyond that, you need not know."
Jinsei looked as though he would argue, but then nodded.
"The time has come then," he said. "We will begin the ceremony. There we will perform our sacred duty and give you the box the Lady entrusted us with those centuries ago."
Mamoru nodded; it seemed that everyone had forgotten about my presence."If you will excuse us," Jinsei said as they rose from the table. "We must prepare for the ceremony. Attendants will fetch you shortly." They left, leaving me alone again with Mamoru.
We stared at each other silently, while I searched for something to say.
"Here," I said, finally remembering the amulet that I had come all this way to give back. I removed it and regretted its loss immediately. I had grown accustomed to its weight.
He regarded both the amulet and myself with surprise. "Serena," he said, closing his hand over mine. I shivered. "I think...that you should keep it, for now. Thank you for bringing it back, but I don't know what is going to happen to us, and it might be safer if you had it."
"All...right..." I said, and with shaking hands replaced the object over my neck.
"You know, I didn't recognize you in that outfit," he said with something closer to his normal informality. This language, unlike English, had special words and ways of speaking dictated for every social situation. It was funny, I thought, but around me, even though custom would dictate more formality, he had almost immediately reverted to the most intimate, informal language--generally reserved for family and lovers. The thought made my cheeks grow warm.
"I noticed," I said, avoiding his eyes.
"I have a feeling you're not going to get very far in those shoes, though."
"Glad for the vote of confidence."
"It's not my fault you're clumsy. I just make observations."
"I am not clumsy!"
"Is that right? What exactly do you call your...interesting use of chopsticks?"
"Eating!"
"Maybe if you're a pig."
"Are you calling me a pig?"
"As my mother always said, if it looks like one and oinks like one..."
At that opportune moment, a serving girl I recognized from earlier entered the room.
"You got lucky this time, Mamo-chan," I said.
He just laughed.
---------------------
We sat in front of the fire, turned away from the kneeling figures who had gathered for this occasion, but I could feel their eyes boring into my back. It seemed that the entire household had turned out for the ceremony. Rei and the old man had taken seats on either side of the fire, facing us. As of yet, nothing had happened, and the intense silence was beginning to make me nervous.
"In the old days," the old man suddenly intoned. His booming voice made me jump a little in surprise. "Temples were created in honor of the four great kami: stone, fire, tree and storm. Here, in the land now called Mirror, the fire temple was established, and it prospered. Even when the great warlords ravaged the land, we alone of all the Mirror temples remained sustained in our power. But we cannot forget the debt we owe to one great woman, the savior who rescued us in that desperate time and gave us great fortune. The Lady, benefactor of all this land, endowed this temple with the magic to save those imprisoned in the warlord's castles, by impregnating certain objects with her magic and giving us the means to build the tunnels. But, she requested one favor. According to the legend, she took a thin book, filled with blank pages, and wrote an inscription on the inside cover:
---------------------
"Beyond the Mirror lies the Lady's key
You who hold this: write, so unseen eyes can see.
---------------------
"Instead of leaving this in our possession, however, she took it with her. Should ever anyone come to us bearing that book, we were to open this box and leave the contents with them. This," he paused for a moment to draw out Mamoru's journal, "is the same book. They have come to us through the hidden passageway, escaping from the castles as of old. It is time for us to reveal the secret we have faithfully hidden for over four hundred years."
I stared at him, rapt, but his story appeared finished. Rei had unfolded herself with an enviable grace and walked in front of the large fire. She stood there with her head bowed penitently and chanted for a few moments. Then, with a force so sudden that I had to repress a cry, she let out a scream--perhaps of challenge or rage, I really wasn't in a condition to tell-- and reached her hand inside the fire. After a time that was far longer than any normal human could willingly stick her hand in a fire, she removed a thin wooden box, roughly a foot in diameter.
By all force of logic, her hands should have been burned, dress scorched and the box--if it had been resting in that fire-- should have been reduced to smoldering ashes years ago. Yet, she walked towards us with an outward appearance of total calm, and placed the box gently between us. Mamoru and I reached for it at almost the exact same time, and I could feel his mirrored disbelief.
The box was cool to the touch.
---------------------
"Let the two open the Lady's gift together." Mamoru and I stared at each other for a stunned moment before he nodded. Trying to control my shaking hands, I helped him open the box. Inside was a simple piece of parchment. The beautiful calligraphy was carefully written over a delicate depiction of a forest in gold leaf. Mamoru's eyes raked over it insistently, and his puzzled expression only deepened.
"I don't understand," he said, peering into the old man's eyes. Jinsei shrugged.
"We have performed our duties. That is all the Lady ever entrusted us to give."
Mamoru looked like he was about to push the issue, but kept his silence.
"As is the tradition," the old man intoned again, "those who were lost have returned, and our sacred mission and debt has been repaid in full. Let us ring the bell in celebration."
The ringing seemed a cue for the audience to stand. One by one, they processed in front of us, bowed low and then left. After five strained minutes we were alone again with Rei and Jinsei.
"Rei, please discuss the arrangements for tomorrow with our guests," he said, as he stood up.
"Yes, Grandfather," she said, her eyes downcast. Somehow she still didn't look very submissive.
His expression softened. "You were...brilliant today, Rei-chan."
She smiled, and the expression revealed even more of her exquisite beauty. "Thank you, Grandfather."
He left, leaving us alone with Rei.
"Thank you for your hospitality, but we will be leaving tomorrow," Mamoru said. I looked at him in surprise, but didn't dispute his decision. As much as I disliked his tendency to speak for the both of us without consulting my opinion, I had to agree that it was better to move out as quickly as possible.
Rei acknowledged his statement with a dignified nod. She couldn't be any older than I, and yet she had an air of maturity and worldliness about her that I could never hope to achieve.
"We will provide you with all you require for a safe journey...the details can be worked out tomorrow morning. As for now, I suspect that you may want to rest?"
I blushed, because she had caught me mid-yawn.
She laughed a little. "Come, I'll show you to your rooms."
I was surprised when she showed Mamoru and I to separate rooms. To my sleep-fogged brain it had made perfect sense for us to sleep together, and whatever that meant, I didn't want to think about. I waved a sleepy goodnight to Mamoru, and as I turned to enter my room, I wondered if I had just imagined that almost sweet softening of his expression as I smiled at him.
In my room two of the maids helped divest me of my cumbersome blue kimono. They let me keep the light shift--a jiban, they called it--to sleep in. As soon as they left, I lay down on the pallet in the middle of the room, relishing in the foreign feel of the mattress. It felt sort of like a bean bag, I thought as I snuggled deeper inside. I fell asleep mere moments later.
---------------------
Dressed in a far simpler kimono of patterned light pink and wearing a pair of flat thong sandals, I dined with Mamoru the next morning. My hair was held back from my face with two simple bone combs. Petunia's Barbie doll, which Mamoru had returned to me last night, was tucked safely into the thick obi of the kimono.
"About this journey of ours," I said, "what did that parchment say, anyway?"
"You didn't read it?" he asked. "You were staring right at it."
I rolled my eyes. "Mamoru, I can't read your language."
He still looked blank. "But...you can speak it...you mean, this isn't what you speak in your world?"
"Of course not! It's part of the way I traveled here...I can understand and speak your language without thinking about it. But I still can't read it."
Mamoru looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, maybe you'll be able to make more sense out of it."
He fished the protective tube holding the parchment from the deep pockets in his overcoat. He rolled it open carefully, his fingers tracing the writing lightly.
"The rhyme itself is very simple. It just doesn't make any sense. 'Find the house with no windows, no doors, and a star in the middle.'"
I waited a moment while he stared at me with raised eyebrows. "That's it?" I asked.
"Isaid it was incomprehensible."
We stared at the parchment silently for a few minutes until an idea came to me. "Do you think that the trees in the background might be a clue?" I asked.
He glanced up at me and smiled. "You may be right...it might be the only way this thing makes any sense."
"So...a house in a forest, you think? That narrows it down. Aren't there forests all over this country?"
"You're right..." he said slowly, his finger still absentmindedly tracing over the designs, "but...look at the trees!"
I looked closer, but I couldn't see why he was so excited.
"The trees are on a sharp slope," he said. "There is a certain forest in the Setsuna hills that is known for its wild, untouched nature. Not even woodcutters will venture there--they say there are mountain-goblins in the forests that play tricks on them and steal their children. Even bandits scared away by all the old legends of vengeful spirits and magic."
"How can you be sure? That can't be the only forest in the mountains."
"No, but it's the only one still untouched. Listen, Serena, I know we can't be positive, but at this point definite assurance is a little too much to ask for."
"If you say so..."
As if on cue, Rei entered the room and bowed respectfully. "Have you finished?" Mamoru nodded, and I gazed at his untouched food longingly. I had been feeling rather hungry this morning. "Grandfather requests your presence to discuss your journey."
Mamoru and I followed her through a small courtyard to a circular building with a wooden porch. We removed our shoes on the porch, and she slid the door open.
Jinsei was kneeling on tatami rice mats in the middle of the room. Spread before him was a large map. He beckoned us to sit across from him. Rei and Mamoru sat easily, but all of this kneeling was really taking its toll on my ankles. I longed to sit cross-legged, but I had a feeling that it would be impolite.
"Have you interpreted the Lady's message?" he asked.
"Partially. We plan to make our way to the forest in the Setsuna hills."
The old man nodded gravely. "That is a wise decision. I expect that you know the way there is dangerous...especially in these times."
"We do," Mamoru said, and I glanced at him sharply. What was this 'we' business, anyway? It was news to me that the trip was dangerous, although the prospect actually excited me more than it scared.
"From what I have heard," Jinsei continued, "the plague has not yet reached Mirror. In fact, the plague's progress appears to have slowed down. At least now it travels more like a normal sickness than the wildfire it had been before."
"Does this mean..." The excitement faded from Mamoru's voice when Jinsei shook his head.
"No, it seems that the Kojin has changed tactics. The tales of people disappearing without a trace have increased. I would guess that he is looking for someone or something. We can be grateful that he has not yet found it, but..."
"That 'someone' may very well be us," Mamoru said.
"Or the Princess," Jinsei said. "And the daimyo have been slaughtering or conscripting those lucky enough to survive the plague. All of their petty skirmishes... their greed is destroying this country as surely as the plague. The wars to the northeast of here have been devastating, we've had to start turning away the refugees. Thankfully Mirror has so far escaped that fate--Tatai Daimyo is still strong enough to protect us. But I have heard rumors that forces of the Kojin himself have been riding through villages and towns offering the people relief from the plague and from war if they surrender their loyalty to him."
Mamoru nodded. "We will have to be very careful then. If we leave now, Ushiro and his men will have no idea where we are. It might be better to take a more circuitous route to the Setsuna hills, but we can't afford to take too long."
"Ushiro?" Jinsei asked.
"One of the Kojin's top officials. He captured me, but Serena escaped. In the process, we killed several of his men. He has an intense personal desire to see us killed."
"I see. I agree with your assessment of the situation, then. I suggest that you two masquerade as husband and wife. As pilgrims, perhaps, to the great Hokusai shrine in Rin. We will provide you with enough money for your journey, but you should not appear unduly rich. You must endeavor to remain as unremarkable as possible."
Up until now I had been content to let the two men have their little discussion, but there was one thing I had to make quite clear before they went any further. "There is no way I'm going to masquerade as his husband," I said.
The old man stared at me, but Mamoru grinned. "It's not a fate that most women would object to, you know."
"You are not getting married. You are simply pretending. In the privacy of your room you may do whatever you like. This is a matter of safety, not personal preference. It is unheard of for an unmarried man and woman to travel alone together, as you two will necessarily be doing. There is no other way. Do you understand?" Jinsei asked, looking at me.
"Yes," I muttered, trying to ignore Mamoru's sardonic gaze.
"Well then," the man said, rubbing his hands together in a business-like manner. "Let's plan your route."
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In the end, our trip looked far more like a "c" than a straight line. At least we didn't have to travel to other islands on the archipelago, since the Setsuna hills were situated on the very tip of Mamasa, the main island. Unfortunately, by avoiding areas ravaged by the plague and those loyal to the Kojin, we were also traveling through some notorious bandit hangouts.
Rei had left to attend to attend to our baggage, expressly ordered to be modest-looking. The less rich we appeared, the fewer bandits would want to rob us. When we were finished, Jinsei rolled up the map and handed it to Mamoru.
"It seems from here our paths diverge. I humbly thank you for the honor you have brought to this temple by your presence and I wish you luck on your quest." He paused and then added, "You have given us a reason to hope."
Jinsei bowed low and Mamoru returned the gesture. I mimicked him a beat later.
"Our gratitude for your generosity and kindness know no bounds. We are forever in your debt," Mamoru said, bowing again.
At that moment Rei entered the room again. "Everything is prepared, Grandfather," she said. "Are you ready?"
Mamoru nodded.
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The temple was perched on a hill just outside Mirror. The whole city lay before me, it's sloped roofs extending far beyond the city's siege walls. Rei led us to the stables, kept in an open courtyard on the east side of the temple. An attendant stood beside a large brown horse fitted with a wide saddle and two bags on either side.
"I guess that's it then," I said.
We turned to our hosts and exchanged bows silently.
"Mamoru-san, Serena-san" Jinsei said softly, adding a suffix of respect to our names, "we will keep a fire for you."
Mamoru nodded and then jumped easily on the horse. It took me a moment to realize that I was to ride behind him, and yet another to realize that I had to ride sidesaddle. By that time, he had already picked me up and dumped me unceremoniously on the horse's rump.
"Do I have to ride sideways?" I whispered. The prospect of doing this for three weeks did not sound very appealing.
"Yes," he said, spurring the horse forward. I had the premonition that he was going to try something flashy, so I gripped his waist tightly seconds before he urged the horse into a gallop.
"Goodbye!" I heard Rei call from behind us, and I turned and waved.
We were on our way. For now, though, I just concentrated on keeping my seat.
END PART I