Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE EIGHT

Magic Fingers

The last rays of dusk bathed the garden in a soft, warm, golden glow. Jun and Nori worked in silence to bring in the last of the washing. It was getting late and it would soon be time to get ready to go see the play. As Jun removed the pegs from one of his t-shirts, he glanced across at Nori, who seemed vaguely uneasy. Oh well, he thought, now was as good a time as any.

"Nori, how long are you gonna be this way?"

Nori jumped at the sound of his voice and immediately looked guilty. "W-what? I don't know what you mean."

Jun sighed. "Oh, come on sis, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been tiptoeing around me ever since that day."

His sister cringed and scrunched up the socks she was holding. "Well can you blame me? I mean after what I did I'm surprised you can even stand to look at me anymore."

This was really bothering her, wasn't it? Jun had tried to tell her to just forget about it, but he didn't think she believed him. She honestly thought that he was disgusted with her, and everything he said to the contrary was just to try and make her feel better. It was ridiculous, considering some of the crazy problems they frequently faced. Jun shook his head. "Like I said, it's no big deal."

"How can you say that!" Nori rounded on him, her hands curling into fists and scrunching the socks up even more, "I tried to ... I tried to ..."

Jun winced at the recollection. "I remember, I was there. Nothing happened though, so no harm done."

Nori's cheeks flushed red and she tried to hide her face behind her hands. This meant she buried her face in the pair of socks she was still holding. At least they were clean. She shook her head from side to side. "It was wrong! I'm a disgrace as a sister Jun-kun. I'm so ashamed of myself."

It was a pretty pathetic sight, and even though he was trying to be supportive Jun couldn't help but roll his eyes. Good grief. His life was just plain weird sometimes. He sighed and tried to think of something to snap her out of it. "Look, we're siblings. We care about each other a lot. You ... you're just really emphatic about it, but that's because you're so caring, Nori. That's what makes you such a great person."

Nori lowered the socks a fraction. "Really?" came the muffled reply. Jun couldn't help but smirk.

"Really. Stop beating yourself up about it already. I mean geez, you're basically worrying because you love me too much. That's just stupid. I'd much rather have that than be fighting with you."

Nori threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. "Oh Jun-kun, you're the best brother I could ask for!"

Jun almost laughed at that. "No I'm not, I'm just not the worst. And I used to be, so I know what I'm talking about."

They finished gathering the remainder of the washing, and Jun was pleased to see that she was smiling again. They each hoisted a basket full and prepared to carry them inside. "You think you have it bad," he said, adjusting his grip, "I heard Suiseiseki and Souseiseki talking about getting married. To each other. And Suigintou is head over heels for her sister and her father. All things considered, I don't think you have that much of a problem."

As they entered the living room, they found Suigintou sitting on the couch watching television. She didn't have much choice, as she was tied up. With rope. She scowled at the TV set as Shinku and Hinaichigo sat either side of her. Jun set his basket of washing down and stared at the bound doll, not quite believing what he was seeing. "Is that really necessary?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I said," Suigintou muttered, "I only offered to wash Father's back."

Shinku didn't take her eyes off the television, though Jun could see the disapproving expression on her face all the same. "You were having vulgar thoughts about Father. This is for your own good, Suigintou."

The white-haired doll regarded Shinku slyly for a moment. "Really now Shinku, you ought to try having some vulgar thoughts of your own. You never know, you might like it."

"Umm, should we do something?" Nori whispered to Jun. He shook his head. It was probably best to keep out of it. Hinaichigo had been following the conversation, and seemed confused by something.

"Shinku ... what does vulgar mean?"

Shinku still did not direct her gaze away from the TV. It wasn't even showing the Kunkun show, but it appeared as if she was trying to distract herself. Unsuccessfully. She frowned slightly. "Vulgar is behaviour unbecoming of a lady. Give it no further thought Hinaichigo, for it deserves none."

Suigintou scoffed. "Oh Shinku, you are such a bore." She turned her head to face Hinaichigo, who was still baffled by Shinku's less than helpful answer. "What have I told you before, Hina; if you have any questions then simply ask your big sister and I shall answer them for you. For example, vulgar is like the time Jun peeked under Shinku's skirt when she was wound down."

Jun almost choked with surprise at her words, and immediately felt heat rising in his face. "W-what?" he spluttered, "How did you know about that?"

Suigintou turned her attention back towards the television, smiling with an infuriating air of smugness. "I know about all of your debased activities, Jun. Such as the perverted Hentai collection on that computer of yours."

Nori gasped with surprise. Pleasant surprise. She glanced sideways at her brother and giggled. "Really Jun? I had no idea..."

"Unyuu? What's Hentai?"

"SHUT UP! That wasn't me! Itō emailed me that just to wind me up, I deleted it as soon as I saw what it was!"

"And the dreams he has about Shinku..."

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!"

"Oh?" Shinku seemed to take a sudden interest in the loud conversation, and finally looked away from the television. She regarded Jun instead, who would really rather she didn't. "What's this now?"

Suigintou seemed to thoroughly enjoy tormenting him. She flashed him a wicked smile and then casually glanced at Shinku. "Oh, didn't he ever tell you about them? I can't say I'm surprised. Beastly things, full of groping and moaning and what not."

"You lying rotten doll! That is not what I dreamt at all!"

"Then what did you dream, Jun?" Shinku asked. A simple enough question, but Jun's voice caught in his throat even as he intended to answer. He shrank back suddenly, his blush so visible now that Hina laughed and pointed to him, saying "Jun's all red!", which did nothing to help. Suigintou mercifully took pity on him and sighed.

"Actually they were quite boring," she admitted, sounding almost disappointed, "The two of you were just being sickeningly nice to each other, paying one another timid little compliments and smiling a lot. About the only interesting dream was one where he kissed you whilst you were all rehearsing a play about Snow White. And even then he woke up in a sweat the second your lips touched. How old are you again, Jun?"

Jun was spared any further embarrassment, because at that moment something utterly insane happened to draw everyone's attention away from him. Rozen burst into the room, dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel. He ran forwards a few steps and skidded to a slippery stop, snapping his fingers repeatedly. "Word! Word! I need a word!"

Everyone was so shocked by his sudden and erratic appearance that all they could do was stare. Shinku and Hinaichigo stood and peered over the back of the couch at him, while Suigintou rocked back and forth and tried to wriggle out of the ropes holding her in place. Nori blinked and rubbed the side of her head. "Umm, parsnips? Wood? Sunshine? Sunshine is a good word."

Rozen shook his head, splashing droplets of water across the floor in the process. He seemed to be extremely excited about something, yet agitated at the same time. "No, it's a Greek word. I think. You know, the one you shout when you've just had a really great idea. What was it again?"

"I believe the word you are looking for is 'Eureka'," Shinku said helpfully. Rozen grinned and jabbed a wet finger at her.

"Yes! Eureka! Eureka, eureka, eureka! Haha!"

Jun simply stared, too dumbstruck for words, even Greek ones. Something was bugging him about Rozen's appearance. Yes, obviously he had just hopped out of the bath. At least he had paused long enough to grab a towel, unlike a certain Greek inventor. No, the problem, just a minor little thing really, was that Rozen wasn't wearing the towel around his waist. He had it tied up under his arms, the same way a girl would.

"What's going on?" Suigintou continued to struggle to both free herself and turn around to see what was happening. Everyone ignored her. Rozen realised that they were all staring at him and glanced down at himself.

"Oh! Look at me, I'm dripping all over your house. How careless of me. Terribly sorry. I just wanted to be nice and clean for going out tonight. You said a play, right? I love the theatre. Saw Romeo and Juliet one time with my little sister. We both thought it was rubbish. Love's Labour's Won now, that was a good play. Aaaand ... I'm still dripping. Sorry."

They watched him leave, feeling mildly shell-shocked. Jun blinked and waved his hand in front of his face a few times, thinking, did that just happen? Meanwhile, Suigintou screamed.

"If someone does not untie me this instant, I will break free and turn you all into junk!"

It was a quarter to eight and Nori still wasn't ready. Jun glanced at his watch for what had to be the hundredth time and muttered under his breath. What was taking so long? The play started at nine; Jun had promised Tomoe he'd be there an hour before. As he paced back and forth at the foot of the stairs, he was startled when he almost bumped into something that hadn't been there a second ago. It was Barasuishou.

"Uh ... hi there. Umm..." Jun didn't know what to say. The creepy Enju doll had been acting out of sorts for days now. One minute she would be giggling and chasing Hinaichigo around the house in a game of tag, the next she would be sitting on the ceiling, watching everyone in complete silence. Jun was starting to wonder if Rozen had made a mistake when he repaired her and something had snapped inside. Barasuishou stared at Jun for a long moment.

"Come," she said abruptly, before brushing past him and climbing up the stairs. Jun gaped, taken aback.

"Huh?"

She didn't respond and he had no choice but to follow her upstairs. She led him to his own bedroom and pushed the door open to reveal Rozen standing at the side of Jun's bed. Fully dressed and mostly dry, he was staring down at a familiar looking figure wearing orange. It was Kohaku, Barasuishou's broken sister. She was laid out on the bed as if having a quiet nap.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jun demanded, taking a step into his room. Rozen spun to face him, eyes widening.

"Ah! Great, just the person I wanted to see. This poor doll," he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Kohaku, "is broken. Why haven't you fixed her already?"

Jun frowned. "I tried. I couldn't do it. I'm just not good enough."

Rozen actually stuck his tongue out at him. "Rubbish," he said, "Barasuishou here has been telling me all about how you patched up that clown and called its soul back, not to mention repairing Shinku's arm. This should be a piece of cake to someone like you."

"Well..." Jun struggled to think of what to say. He shrugged. "It's not, okay? I told you already, I tried to fix her, but she's damaged inside. There's nothing I can do."

Rozen strutted over to Jun, shaking his head and tutting. "Give me your hand," he instructed, extending his own. Jun just gawked at him, wondering what the heck he was talking about. Growing impatient, Rozen rolled his eyes and waved his hand about. "Come on Sakurada, I'm not going to propose. Give me your hand."

Jun reluctantly did as he said and presented his right hand. Rozen took a hold of it and started to examine it. He held it up, peered at it, turned it over and squinted. "Good," he said, "Now wiggle your fingers."

"What?"

"Go on, wiggle them! It wont kill you."

So Jun wiggled his wingers, feeling like a complete idiot and growing increasingly concerned that Rozen might be insane. Rozen watched his fingers intently and quickly covered his mouth as he sniggered. Jun gritted his teeth.

"What? What's so funny?" he demanded. Rozen shook his head and let go of Jun's hand. He was smiling about something.

"Nothing, sorry. It's just ... you have no idea do you?"

"No idea about what?"

Rozen seemed about to answer but stopped as something occurred to him. He gestured for Jun to follow and led him over to the bed where Kohaku lay. Barasuishou continued to watch them in silence from the doorway. Rozen sat down beside the red-haired doll and indicated that Jun should do the same. He then took a deep breath. "Okay, believe me when I say that you can easily repair this doll. The only thing stopping you is that you don't think you can. And there's no surer recipe for failure than doubting yourself."

Jun tore his gaze away from Kohaku and directed it at Rozen with a growl of annoyance. "But I don't know what to do!"

Rozen chuckled. "Of course you don't, it's instinct. You've wired all of the basic skills you need into your head, now you just need to let your fingers do the work. Look, give me your hand again. No, your left hand this time." Rozen took a hold of Jun's left hand and pressed their palms together, intertwining their fingers. Then he grabbed Jun's right hand and steered it so that it was over Kohaku, palm down facing her.

"What-" Jun started to ask. Rozen quickly shushed him.

"Listen. This is easy. Remember when you repaired Shinku's arm? You didn't try, did you? You just thought about what you wanted and it happened. It's the same here; don't think about it, want it."

"You might as well tell me to click my heels together and make a wish," Jun scoffed, finding it hard to believe a word of this. But, well, this was Rozen after all, wasn't it? If he didn't know how to do it, then who would?

"If you like," said Rozen, "If it makes it any easier, imagine it as touch typing, or sewing. You relax and let your fingers do the work. You've trained them to do what needs doing without having to think about it. Just keep in mind what you want and let them do their thing."

Jun raised a sceptical eyebrow. "How do you know about touch typing? You've only been here a day."

"And I've had a bunch of darling daughters talking my ear off about everything from strawberry rice cakes to a detective puppet show," he reached across and flicked Jun on the forehead, prompting Jun to yelp with surprise.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I'm trying to get you to shut up and do as I've been telling you to. Did it work?"

Grumbling for a few seconds more, Jun concentrated on the doll in front of him and gave it a try. Well not thinking about how to do it was easy, seeing as he didn't have the faintest idea how to fix her. And of course wanting her fixed was no problem either. But it wasn't as if sitting here trying to will it to happen would just magically-

"Woah!" Jun's eyes went wide as he felt a sudden surge of warmth flow from Rozen's hand into his own. Almost at once his free right hand glowed with a bright golden light. Kohaku flared with a brilliant corona of sparkling energy and floated a few inches up towards Jun's hand. He watched in amazement as his fingers made odd movements, as if rapidly typing out instructions on a keyboard. In response, the gaping hole in Kohaku's chest where she had been impaled began to close. Just like magic.

The light faded and Kohaku drifted gently back down onto the bed. Jun turned his right hand over and stared at it in wonderment. Had he really just done that? He glanced over at his other hand, which was still holding onto Rozen's. Maybe he had, but he'd had a helping hand as well. Rozen grinned and let go. "What did I tell you? Easy. Maybe now you have some idea of how special you are."

Jun had to resist the urge to laugh at that. Him? Special? Hardly. He lowered his gaze shook his head. "Not really."

"Hey," Rozen waved his hand in front of Jun's face to get his attention, "Not just anyone can do something like that. It takes a particular kind of person. You have hidden talents. And I don't think I'm the first to tell you that, either."

Jun held his hands up and wiggled his fingers, a wry look on his face. "Magic fingers, right? Give me a break Rozen, I'm just a dumb kid."

Rozen crossed his arms and huffed, giving up. He twisted around and fixed his green eyes upon Barasuishou, who had not moved an inch during the entire affair. He jerked his head, inviting her over to see her sister. She hesitated at first, then cautiously approached the bed where Kohaku lay. She still had not stirred. Was she fixed?

"Eiko?"

The word was faint, barely above a whisper. Yet there was no mistaking; it had come from Kohaku and no other. Her bright orange eyes fluttered open and she sucked in a long, deep breath. She sat upright in a sudden swift motion and blinked up at Jun, who was sitting in front of her. Her head tilted slightly. "Eiko?"

"Umm," said Jun. Kohaku frowned and rubbed the side of her head.

"No ... wait, you're not. You're ... Jun. What happened?"

No one else seemed about to answer her, so Jun was left to do that himself. He stumbled over his words a few times before getting a coherent sentence out. "Well, you sort of got broke and went away for a while. But I ... I mean we ..."

Her eyes widened as she realised the implications of what he was saying, and she gasped. "You brought me back. I remember now ... you called me back from the darkness."

"If you say so-" Jun started to say. He was cut off as Kohaku sprang forwards and wrapped her little arms around him, embracing him tightly.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Err, okay-"

Kohaku seemed to be on the verge of tears. She snuggled her head into Jun's lap, much to his intense embarrassment. "So cold ... it was so dark and cold, and so very lonely. Thank you for bringing me back, Master Jun."

"Wait, what? Hold on just a second, I'm not your Master!" He searched about for some sign of Barasuishou in the hopes that the other Enju doll would be able to take care of her, but there was no sign of her. It was as if she'd just vanished. He frowned. "Hey, where'd she go?"

Nori appeared at his doorway, having finally finished getting ready. Anyone would think she was going to be in the play herself with the amount of time she'd taken. She waved to him. "Hey guys, are you ready? We should get going. The play starts in almost an hour."

"Coming," said Jun, intending to get up. Unfortunately Kohaku was holding tightly onto the front of his shirt and showed no sign of letting go in a hurry. He tried to prize her off without hurting her, but it did no good. Finally he asked Rozen for help.

"Who, me?" Rozen pointed a finger at himself and then gave Jun a look of mock disappointment, "Sorry, can't help you there. I'm just a dumb kid."