Chapter 2: The Answer.
Yuki awoke to the blaring sounds of her alarm beeping noisily in her ears. With a groan and her eyes still closed she lazily turned into the pillow and used it to cover her ears, muffling the sound somewhat. But, she knew she'd have to get up eventually and so with a tired arm, she reached for the clock to gently shut it off. When the noise ceased its alarm she smiled in relief having known the noise was gone.
Soon after that she stood up from bed, stretching away the tension in her sleepy muscles and rubbing the fatigue from her eyes. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning. But then her eyes snapped open wider than they ever did before. Today was the day of the archeological dig! The event that Yuki had waited for, goodness, she couldn't miss it; She wouldn't miss it for the world.
So, in a flash, she began to speedily undress in a hurry, practically flying into the shower and turning the valves for the water to start. After cleansing herself, she wrapped the towel around her hurriedly and seemed to scavange through her draws for something to wear. Right now, Yuki was a hurricane of panic. Ah-ha! Finally, she found something to wear. Her choice? Some old jeans and a boyish t-shirt that seemed to be her late father's. After slipping on those clothes, she tied her hair up into a ponytail and put on her glasses. And with that she was finally ready to go to the dig.
"Oh no, oh no. I'm probably late! I shouldn't have woken up so dang late! I have to hurry! Oh Mr. Chairman, please don't start without me!" She said in a panicked tone as she grabbed her favorite hoodie and rushed out the door not even bothering to eat anything.
Soon, Yuki arrived at the archeological dig and met with the chairman, shaking his hand and greeting him with a smile. Of course, she was panting and out of breath, but that was because she had ran. She tried to compose herself as she spoke.
"Oh hello there... Mr. Chairman, how are you... today?"
"Oh, why, you must be that young lady that sent me that message back. You seemed awfully excited for this event. Yuki, was it? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Christopher."
"Please.. you can call me Yuki, sir."
"Okay then, Yuki it is." He smiled with delight that lit up his aged face. "Oh, but, you seem out of breath, is everything alright?"
"Yeah, of course. I just... ran, I'm sorry... I was so excited and I forgot to wake up this morning at the right time, and so I thought I was late and I hurried myself... so I ran here and... and..."
"It's alright, dear. You don't need to explain yourself further. Well, as long as you're here than I won't say another word to you. Why don't we get you started eh?" She nodded with a joyous smile adorning her lips. This was so amazing!
She worked tirelessly, with a shovel in her hands she unconvered nothing but dirt. Man, this was boring. She hated when she didn't find anything. *Sigh.* Yuki couldn't stop wishing that she could find something and so with determination, she kept digging relentlessly. Again, nothing. She didn't find anything and the day had wasted away without so much as anything exciting. She sighed and with the moon over her head, she decided to walk back home, defeated in her task by disappointment. But, as she was hobbling home with the shovel, she spotted something in the distance. A silhouette of a person.
"Who.. who is that?" Yuki squinted as she tried to get a better view at whom was ominously walking her way. The figure was obviously taller than she was, and, from what she could see in her slight distance, the person looked older. At first, Yuki became a little worried. After all, she was alone out here, from the looks of it, and tonight she didn't feel like getting attacked. But wait!
'I have a shovel... so if they try anything... okay Yuki, you can do this. You can defend yourself if necessary.' Her breathing seemed to become louder. It was almost like a light pant now, not something even remotely related to breathing. Her chest seemed to move up and down with her rapid heartbeat. She was nervous and scared, it was evident. But, nonetheless, the figure continued to walk aimlessly towards young Yuki. Could this figure sense her fear? Or was it the fact that she was alone that intrigued the mysterious silhouette?
'Any minute now...' Yuki's thoughts had escalated from that of reassurance in her fear, to that of anticipation in waiting. She would be ready, but, standing there with a shovel was too obvious. So, Yuki pretended like she was digging and actually working, while the shadow continued to make its way closer and closer to Yuki. The moonlight was only illuminating some of their features. A long coat, brown in color, was the only defining feature that could actually clearly be seen. Then, one by one the features began to come into light. The person had long brown locks and seemed to be a woman. Now, Yuki's voice full of panic, could be heard above anything else, since everything in the area just seemed... silent.
"Don't come any closer! I'm warning you!" She closed her eyes and blindly swung the shovel's metal part at the person approaching her. They seemed unfazed by this and just put up a hand to stop it by the wooden part most proximal to them. Well, to her. When Yuki realized that she was swining and still pushing with all of her might and not going anywhere, she opened her eyes in shock.
"I don't wish to hurt you." The figure's gentle voice spoke softly, her voice sounding in Yuki's ears like silk. She blushed as she stopped pushing her strength into attacking the figure and put the shovel down, obviously defeated. A reddish pigment painted itself upon Yuki's face as she dropped her "weapon" and looked up to meet the eyes of the person in the trench coat. They were soft and blue like the purest of oceans. They looked over her with such kindness and yet they still held their own experiences within the pain they showed subtly. It was amazing what eyes could reveal to someone else onlooking. They were beautiful structures, the windows to the soul, I guess.
"Now then, what are you doing out here all alone?"
"Wait, it's... it's you." Her eyes seemed to open wider at the fact that she recognized the person that was speaking to her. It was the same stranger that kindly paid for her meal in the restaurant so that she could eat, after all, she was hungry. "Ummmmm," she continued, "what was your name again?"
"I don't believe I've ever told you my name before." The older woman of the two smiled softly and looked down for a moment at the shovel, then back up into Yuki's eyes. The woman took a step further and extended her hand to shake with Yuki's. "My name is Aya. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Yuki." Yuki complied with the handshake and shook back with a big, stupid smile on her face. What was wrong with her, she thought, she couldn't stop smiling?
"Wait! How do you know my name?"
"I remembered it back from the restaurant. You needed help and so I helped you. But, I hope you'll think nothing bad of my good memory." She seemed to lightly laugh to lighten the mood, after all, the air about this conversation was somewhat tense. "And besides," she continued, "Yuki isn't a name you forget easily."
"Well... it's n-nice to meet you, Aya..." She seemed at a loss for words. It seemed no matter what Aya did, speaking to her or not, scaring her to the point where she feels the need to whack a shovel around to defend herself, she always had an aura of mystery about her, and that was something that was never going to change. Yuki... kind of liked that. Aya's vision then changed to that of the shovel on the ground.
"What is it you're doing out here all alone at this time of night? Were you digging for something?" The moonlight illuminated both of their features beautifully. It shined the most on Aya's mysteriously breathtaking eyes and upon Yuki's flawless and soft skin, slightly covered with dirt from the day's work.
"Oh. Well, you see, there was supposed to be an archeological dig today and a professor invited me to dig along with everyone but I haven't found anything and I stayed later than anyone else."
"Well, that is a shame." Aya sympathized as Yuki continued to speak out her feelings on this dig that turned out to be a bust, personally, for her.
"Yeah, it really is. I was hoping to maybe find the answer to something here, but, I can't seem to find it. You see, I have this golden thing that I have at home that has a riddle on it that I've translated to English. I thought, well, at least it's in my language, it might be easier now, and it wasn't. I can't crack the riddle and solve that thing for anything. And I said it too, I said it last night; the day that I solve this riddle is the day I fall in love."
"I take it then you've had poor luck in romance as well." Yuki could only nod and did one of her famous sighs before looking to the ground and then scanning Aya's figure back up to meet her dead on the eyes. Their gazes locked and once more she felt in entranced by the shady blues of her eyes.
"Well, perhaps I could help you with your riddle. Would you like to show me to your house and we can work on it together?"
"S-sure." Yuki nodded. She couldn't explain why but, she had this feeling of nervousness. The feeling was like something was fluttering in her stomach and for Yuki, it was not something that was able to be explained.
'Great...' She thought to herself. 'Another mystery I'll have to solve...'
Soon, Yuki and Aya arrived at Yuki's house, Yuki linging at the door a little longer than Aya to turn the lights on.
"Welcome to my sanctuary." She said laughing a little bit. "Well, this is it."
"You have a lovely home."
"Thank you."
"It's all full of trinkets and things that seem to be old pieces of history."
"Yes, if you haven't guessed by now, I'm really into things like that. That's the whole point I said yes to the archeological dig, and was so excited for it... the golden thing is in my room, you can go up and take a look if you want. I'm going to get us something to drink. Is there anything you prefer?" She seemed to try her best to hide the shaking happy tone to her voice. But, she did smile at Aya, whom, gently, smiled back.
"Anything you give me is fine. I'm sure it will be delicious." Aya took her leave up the stairs and to the room that was Yuki's, she found it quicker than she expected to.
"I wonder what Aya likes, iced tea or lemonade. Or water." Which, was Yuki's way of asking, I wonder if she likes brunettes or blondes or just not interested at all. "Well, I'll give her iced tea." She happily poured the drink and then joined her friend upstairs in her room. The room was very intimate and seemed to have accumulated more stuff than there originally was the previous day, though, Aya wouldn't have noticed that. She seemed to be very concentrated and hard at work and the atmosphere was silent. Yuki blushed seeing Aya working so hard and concentrating on solving the riddle, it almost made her heart skip a beat. Aya was beautiful all around, in the night under the moon's light and even in the sun's shine as well, she was guessing. But, it seemed that she could be breathtaking and interesting anywhere she went, even in someone's house she barely knew.
"Oh hello." Aya politely welcomed Yuki's presence in the room when she suddenly felt someone standing next to her.
"H-hi." She said somewhat nervously as she set down the tray she was using to carry the drinks up the stairs with. After setting it down gently on a nearby table, her dresser worked fine, she handed the drink to Aya, who, gladly accepted it. She took a sip and it was silent once more for a moment or two. Then, Aya broke the silence with her melodic voice.
"I am not really into relics and ancient mysteries as you are, Yuki-san. But, I have solved some in the past whenever I have come into contact with them. And this, it does seem misleading or confusing. I had to read it about 20 times to first understand what the first line actually means. But, after thinking about it and studying it, I have an idea as to what the answer might be." Yuki seemed hopeful and took a seat on her bed, waiting for Aya to continue her thought path; It did seem like it was going somewhere.
Aya then took the golden relic and flipped it to its other side, the dorsal side, which, strangely, had a small indentation in it. It seemed something was to be placed there, some sort of item that would fit the slot and perhaps solve the mystery.
"Yeah, that thing has had that dent in it for years. I don't know if something is supposed to go there or what. I've tried fitting things and nothing ever works, so I just thought it might have been slightly damaged from being weathered over the years." Yuki said as she sipped on her drink.
"Would ... this be what you're looking for, perhaps?" Aya reached down her shirt a bit, and Yuki was curious as to what she was doing; But, then, Aya brought out a necklace that was around her neck with a small diamond charm attached the end of it. Slowly, she took off the necklace and detached the charm from the end of the necklace. Yuki watched in awe as Aya's graceful form moved in such an elegant way. It was almost like she was dancing. Aya then proceeded to place the gem into the slot and to Yuki's surprise, it fit! Just as Yuki was about to react in joy of what mini miracle Aya just pulled off, the golden relic began to glow and it's text illuminated along with the item itself. Aya began to read the text out loud...
"This relic lost in time will see its day again, the sun and moon both shine on the ages of new friends. The era of uncovery, a lonely soul will be reunited with the emotion happy. Uncover this mystery and thy will see, the true mystery lies with thee." Now, suddenly everything seemed a bit more clear. She smiled gently as she set the golden relic down on the desk and almost instantly, it stopped glowing.
"Still sounds confusing to me." Yuki said as she huffed. Was this mystery ever to be solved?
"Yuki?"
"Yes?"
"Let's talk about history for a moment. If that's alright with you."
"Sure, what do you want to talk about Aya?"
"The ideals of love throughout the ages." That in itself seemed to throw Yuki for a loop. She wasn't big on love nor did she know much about it whether it was ancient or present day.
"W-what do you mean?"
"For example, during the medieval times, it was always a maiden, a damsel, a princess, or a lady. Those were the terms that were used for a woman back in those times. And the lady, and all of the other terms was always searching for her knight, or her prince, a man in her life to fall in love with. Everyone yearned for love and everyone feared for their lives with the constant wars and the ignorance of others. But, what they never feared to do was search and scavange for love."
"Oh?"
"Yes, and the same thing happened with every other time period in history that is significant or important. Everyone searches for love. And I know you are as well." Yuki seemed shocked by this statement as Aya continued. "The relic's riddle is saying that the two people, the two souls that have been reunited through time will be together once again. They will find each other and fall in love."
"That is really interesting. So, is it up to us to find out who these two souls are?" Yuki seemed less excited about the answer than she was hoping for. It seemed like a lot of work to find the two souls of everyone in the world and then play matchmaker for them. She didn't like meddling in others' lives too much, but, she might have to.
"Well, it may sound like a lot of hard work, and ... it is." Aya got up and started to walk towards Yuki, standing right in front of her, since the room was rather small. Their gazes met again and Yuki looked up into Aya's eyes with a blush, as Aya's blue eyes looked deeply down into Yuki's, a slight pink color painting her face as well.
"I-I was afraid of that." Yuki said nervously and then sighed. "Well I guess I'm willing to work at this and make it happen."
"Me too."
"Well it won't be so bad knowing you're going to help me."
"We'll help each other, Yuki."
Yuki smiled softly. "That... that sounds... amazing." She said, her breathing increasingly readily with her heartbeat. She seemed to be breathing a lot more heavily now again. Aya just had this effect on her that seemed to make her hot and nervous and... flighty. Was she...
"Well, I'll tell you something, we won't have to travel far. These two souls are closer than you might think." Aya softly spoke as she moved closer and slowly brought her hands to hold her by the waist and bring her closer. Yuki, in turn, blushed a bright crimson color at the intimacy as well as the touch of Aya's gentle hands. She remained silent, however. Aya continued, her voice tracing off to almost a whisper. "The two, the gem and relic, they go together. They were meant to be together."
"Just like the people who possessed them." Yuki giggled. "You know, it's true. I know what this feeling is and I'm not afraid of it... the day I solve the riddle is the day I fall in love." Aya only moved closer as Yuki complied and wrapped her arms around Aya's neck, bringing her face right up to Aya's so that their foreheads were touching. Their gazes were locked deeply on the other's, still and unmoving. Then she started to giggle, searching her eyes for an answer. "You know, Aya, you're a mystery."
Aya smiled back softly and whispered to Yuki, "And you're my answer." Aya then pressed their lips together and both of them stay there in that embrace as the relic began to glow again brightly, illuminating both of them. They had met again and fallen in love.
NOTE: This is complete! :D Tell me what you think y'all.