Intermission 2

The reason I smile! Lilium…

"*sniffle* I helped people my whole life, and this is how I'm repaid? *sniffle*" I curled up in my bed. Everything was going cold. My hair is thinning. The light is fading. My cures could fix everything… but I guess, I couldn't cure the incurable.

I looked over to the door of my small hut in the village. They stopped coming. They all came to me for remedies, which I would give to them for only a dollar. They gladly came to me and paid the meger fair, and then they'd return a few days later and thank me for saving their family member's/friend's life. But, nobody came to my aid… All I ever did was be kind, I never yelled, I never got angry… I always helped.

Why me?

Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes and let the life slowly leave me. I'm sorry I couldn't help anyone anymore.

…

…

…

I opened my eyes and looked around. It's my hut… was it just a bad dream? I looked over at my bed. I'm still there… am I still dreaming? I walked over to the bed and reached my hand out to touch my hair. My hand went through…. Why'd my hand go through? I backed away and turned to the door. I ran towards it and stopped after I… after I ran through it….

What's happening to me!

Why am I like this? Suddenly, I looked around and ran over to my neighbor. The kind old lady, she checked in on me when I got sick, until she became to ill to do it anymore. I looked back in my hut. That last vile of medicine, it was for her. I ran over to her.

"Mrs. Nora!" I reached out and passed through her to. She didn't even notice me… Why? Is this a prank? Are you all ignoring me? I turned around at the sudden presence. I saw a man standing in the shadows of the forest looking straight at me. He waved his hand for me to come to him and I smiled.

Someone who's going to help me!

I ran over to the trees. "Mr., please tell me what's going on!" I demanded.

"You're dead, a ghost." He said. I froze… a ghost…

"You're lying… you're part of the prank too!" I shouted at him and ran away. I heard the man start coughing violently, and out of habit, I turned to look at him.

"Are you OK! I could make you some med…." I looked down. I sat on the floor and pulled my knees close to me and started crying…

"I am dead aren't I…?" I said, the tears continued pouring. The man looked at me with no syumpathy, no emotion. I looked back at him, "Who are you?"

"Shigemori Sumimura." He said. I looked down again, letting the tears fall.

"Can you help me, Mr. Sumimura?" I asked. Suddenly, there was a rustling from behind the young man.

"Who's this, a pitiful ghost? Destroy it so we can move on." A young woman ordered from behind him. He turned back at me and there was suddenly a kekkai around me.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to help you. I can end it all for you, no more suffering." He said. I looked at him, the young woman gave me a stare.

"You… You could help me pass on?" I asked. Shigemori looked over to the girl and they both shrugged.

"Fine, but let's make quick work of it." The woman said. "Who were you when you were alive?"

I looked down, "I was the village healer. I made natural remedies for anything you could contract in the village, I helped everyone." I said, wiping away the tears.

"How did you die? What was your name?" The woman continued.

"I died of cancer… My name was- is, Lilium." I said. I stood up from my self-loathing position and looked at the box I was trapped in. It's tinted blue… but there's a green gas accumulating in here. I looked around, and waved my arms through it. I can touch this gas…

"She seems to be giving off a poisonous gas… It'd be easiest to just emilinate her." The woman said again. But, shigemori released the box and the gas scattered all around, making anyone who came in contact with it violently cough. I looked around, tearing up at the pain I was bringing others.

Suddenly, a green kekkai popped around me. The woman held her hand out, she had made it. Shigemori looked at me with sympathy. I shook my head, I don't want to disappear… I want to pass on… I want to meet my mother… she dies so young… from this very disease that I'm spreading…

"I don't want to disappear!" I shouted at her. Suddenly, the plants acted as if they followed my feelings and pierced the box open. The woman looked at me, stunned and created another around me. The vines spun around me rapidly, preventing the box from forming.

"We have to sliminate her, at this rate she'll become an ayakashi. She's got to many negative feelings." The woman said as she repeated tried to make a box around me. Then, Shigemori jumped in and created a box. The box pushed me aside and I fell on the ground. I looked up at him sadly…

"You couldn't kill a little girl could you? I was only fifteen when I died…" I said, looking up at him. He hesitated and I jumped onto my feet and ran away. I'm too weak to do anything! I can't even fight for my life right! I ran as far as I could, running through wall as people, leaving behind the trail of noxious gas.

I closed my eyes, I don't want to see the people get hurt. I covered my ears, I don't want to hear their pained coughs and pleas for the pain to go away.

I'm sorry….

I'm sorry…

I'm sorry!

I…. I'm sorry…. I can't stop it… I don't know what to do…. Maybe, it would have been for the best to let them kill me? If I had died, all these people wouldn't be suffering… Those people said I might become an ayakashi… I would become a demon?

Maybe… If I became an ayakashi… I could die for real this time… and pass on?

Maybe…

I'm still sorry…

I walked onto the deserted school grounds… I overheard some kids…

They said that the school had weird things happening. I wanted to see the tree. They said that the tree blooms out of season. The beautiful cherry blossoms. Could I still see them in this body?

I'm sorry…

I hurt everyone... I rubbed my tears away and sat at the foot of the blooming tree. I looked up and saw a creature staring at me. It licked its lips, like I was a snack. I looked back down and let the plants protect me like they always do… It's like the plants want me to stay alive…

Wherever I go… the people get sick, but the plants gain new life. The dead plants spring back to life…. They wilted flowers bloom again. Maybe I'm the one who made this tree bloom.

I heard that sound! The sound that those boxes make… I haven't heard that sound in years… I looked over and saw the woman and Shigemori running towards me. I shrieked and ran behind the tree.

"Don't look now, but it seems that there's a ghost nearby!" A flamboyant voice shouted happily. I peeked over the tree and they both recognized me immediately.

"You again! I thought we saw the last of you in that village a couple years ago!" The woman shouted at me.

"Calm down Tokiko, she's just a confused ghost. She hasn't become an ayakashi." Shigemori said.

"Oh contraire, If this ghost stays any longer here, she will become an ayakashi." The white flamboyant ghost dog said. I shivered and the plants immediately former a barrier around me. I sat on the ground…

"Once I become an ayakashi, I'll die… then I can pass on and everybody will be happy. I could never do anything right anyway…" I mumbled to myself as I felt the transformation coming.

Suddenly, I was solid again. My hair was back…. I was taller. I don't feel like a teenager anymore, I feel like I aged 5 years in 2 seconds…

The plants vanished and I walked out of the barrier. I can control them now. I feel so much better. I plucked a cherry blossom from the tree and put it in my hair. So much better. Why would I want to die? This is the best I've felt in years. I looked at Shigemori and Tokiko. I pushed Tokiko away with a giant vine and turned to walk away.

I felt the box form around my head and it collapsed, taking my head off with it. I panicked… Wait… I'm not dead. Suddenly I could see again. I could hear again. My head… grew back? I turned and pushed Shigemori away to and walked off the academy campus and into the forest. I like this new form…

To think of all the things I could do now…

All the people that I could…. "visit"

I smiled.

No more tears.

I'm not sorry anymore….