Chapter 6: Yaya

The next morning, the fire's still going and Kukai is cooking something in a pot. The rain still didn't go away; as a matter of fact, I think it looks worse. Besides Kukai, I'm the only one awake. After my shift with Amu, I felt more sleepy and fell asleep in an instant.

Kukai doesn't notice that I'm awake. I'm about to make my presence known, when I feel something crinkle under my sleeping bag. I gently lift it up and retrieve another note. It's the same stationary like the other ones in my pocket. It says, "The Rain Will Last For Three Days."

There's no way that was there before. The cave was totally empty when we came in. No one slipped it under me while I was asleep before my shift; I wasn't even sleeping in the first place. Even during my shift, everyone was fast asleep except for Amu, who I knew didn't move from her post the whole shift.

After my shift; I was asleep, probably in a deep sleep. I put the note in my pocket and look at everyone asleep. Then I look up at Kukai, who still doesn't notice that I'm awake.

"Morning, Kukai," I say. He physically jumps a little and then calms down, realizing it's me. "How was your shift?" I get out of my sleeping bag and pack it up. He shrugs.

"Boring. Nothing big happened, just that the rain is getting heavier. The lighting stopped," he says.

"Did anyone wake up or did you see anyone?" I question. He shakes his head.

"Only I was the one who was up. No sign of life outside, and you all were asleep," Kukai says. "Want some food?" I keep a straight gaze, repeating the conversation over and over again in my head. Kukai was the only one awake. This practically screams suspicion. When can I confront him about it though? Now would be good, but who knows who might wake up.

"Yo! Mashiro!" I feel a bop on my head and look up. Kukai's giving me this confused look. I realize I hadn't answered his question. What was it again? "You alright?"

"Yeah," I lie. This might be my only alone time with Kukai. "Say, Kukai-" I hear a loud yawn and stop mid-sentence.

"Ow! It hurts sleeping on a cave ground!" Yaya sits up and stretches her arms above her head. She sees us and flashes a big smile. "Morning!" Her loudness stirs everyone else awake. I greet everybody as they each start to get up and silently curse at Yaya. Exposing Kukai for who he is will have to be delayed.

"What's for breakfast?" Amu asks, yawning. Kukai pours something liquid in bowls and I help pass them out.

"Porridge," he answers.

"The only thing he can cook," Utau comments. Kukai playfully nudges her. When she's right, she's right. The porridge is really good. In our years of being friends, Kukai's never cooked. I always suspect that it's because he can't, but Utau probably unlocked his true potential. Well, at least with making porridge.

"You can cook?" Ikuto asks. "Any other secret talents you've kept from us?"

"I can cook pancakes, too," Kukai pipes up. We all laugh at that.

"What are the plans for today?" Kairi asks, after the lighthearted mood is over. Everyone looks at me, and I stare back. Then I realize they are expecting me for an answer.

"I'm not sure," I admit. "There really isn't anything we can do while it's raining so hard." It's the truth. We are stuck in the cave until the rain let's up or stops.

"I'll go out and look for more firewood. There really is no point for Yaya and Ikuto to waste their energy for the fire, and it's our only heat/light source," Utau says.

"There's a pathway that circles the mountain, I think I saw some trees near the top," Kairi says. I can't argue with either of them. It's better than just sitting in a cave doing nothing.

"A few of us should go with her. It's not safe to be out there alone," I say. In the end, it's Amu, Yaya, Ikuto, and me who go. Kukai, Kairi, and Utau will stay here guarding the cave. We leave without bringing any supplies; we plan on being back in a few hours.

At first when we start, the rain is beating at us. I hate getting my hair wet because I end up having a tough time drying it up. So I tie it into a ponytail and then put my hood over it. The wind blows against us, making my hood fall off and me fixing it every few minutes until I give up and let it down.

Ikuto and Amu walk next to each other while I'm with Yaya. We try to keep as close as possible. A few times I felt as if the wind would blow me away. Yaya slipped once and Ikuto had to catch her wrist to keep her from falling off the edge.

We make it to the top of the mountain where the wind is blowing at it's strongest. Ikuto keeps a hold on Yaya's arm to make sure she doesn't blow off. There are lots of trees up here, enough to use for firewood for weeks. Let's just hope it doesn't come down to that.

"Amu, try to control the winds while Ikuto, Yaya, and I start cutting," I say. She nods and a few seconds later, the winds are less strong. We get to work.

Ikuto goes off on his own to get wood while I'm with Yaya. The three of us try to stay as close to Amu as we can. Yaya and I gather small pieces of wood scattered around the ground, but it's difficult with the rain and wind pounding on us.

Everything seems to be going well, until I notice Yaya seems to be getting tired. I've seen Yaya take on monsters on Halloween for a whole day, fly for hours on end without breaking a sweat, and even make fires with a snap of her fingers. In a moment, I understand what's wrong; the rain.

I should've known better than to let Yaya out here. Damn it! Why was I so stupid! Why did I let Yaya out here! Water and fire don't mix, Yaya's probably fighting it off internally.

"Yaya why don't you stick with Amu, Ikuto and I will finish it off," I suggest. She doesn't say anything, but willingly walks over to Amu, who looks to be struggling. "Are you alright, Amu?"

"The wind." She takes the moment to gasp. "It's really pushing against me. I don't think I can hold it." Amu seems to be really be fighting against the wind. Beads of sweat are trickling down the side of her face. Her teeth are firmly grit and fists clenched. Her stance is stiff with her feet pressed together, her posture straight, and her arms stretched out next to her. Her breathing starts to become ragged.

"Just hold out Amu. Ikuto and I are almost done." I'm really pushing it. I shouldn't be making her do this. Why didn't I bring Kairi along? Why did I bring Yaya along? This is all just a mistake, one big mistake.

"Mashiro! Hurry up and help me out! The faster we get this done, the faster we can get them to safety!" Ikuto commands. I rush over to him and help gather more wood until we decide it's enough for a few days.

We make our way over just as Amu collapses to the ground. Ikuto is immediately at her side, holding her weak body.

"Something's coming," I hear her mutter. Behind me, I feel something shift. Without hesitation, I kick behind me. My foot lands in a Vulture's face and it doubles back in pain. Three more Vultures appear out of the shadows and surround us.

Yaya and I stand back to back. Ikuto is to my right, holding Amu behind him.

"Well well, if it isn't the blond one," one sneers. Is that what they call me? "Isamu will be pleased to know we have captured you."

"Where's Nagihiko?" I ask.

"We do not know what you are speaking of. No matter though, you won't be speaking in a few minutes." One lunges toward me and I create a water ball toward it. It pushes it back, but the Vulture still manages to tackle me to the ground.

It's talons dig into my neck and I feel the air get cut off from my lungs. I kick and thrash around until I feel a puddle of water near my head. I turn and concentrate hard on the puddle. When I feel like I'm about to faint, the water from the puddle shoots at the Vulture, making it fall off me.

I get on my knees and gasp for breath. I look up and see Yaya and Ikuto fighting off Vultures. I see one of them dragging Amu away, toward the edge of the mountain. My eyes widen and I stretch out my hand. Clenching my fist, rainwater shoots at the Vulture and turns into ice.

Feathers grab my arms back, which makes my ice shards fly out of control. I get a good hit and hit my kidnapper in the eye. The Vulture screeches and lets go of me. I go after the one that has Amu.

I make more ice shards to stab at the Vulture, being careful not to hit Amu in the process. Amu seems to be unconscious, but seems to be waking up. Her eyes flutter open and realizes what's going on. In a second the Vulture is swirling in the air, and Amu is on the ground controlling the currents around it.

She throws the Vulture off the mountain and lands on the ground, breathing heavy. I rush to her and help her up.

"Amu, are you alright?" I ask.

"I'm fine. Leave me, help Ikuto and Yaya. I'll be right here," she mutters. For precaution I lean her against a tree that is covered by a bush, so none of the Vultures find her.

Ikuto seems to be having fun with the situation. He's holding off two Vultures at once. He has one of them crushed under a rock while using parts of the mountains to push the other one toward the edge. Yaya on the other hand, is a different story.

The Vulture is practically on top of her. The fire in her is very weak with the rain, and it's effecting her fighting. She pushes her hand in the Vulture's face and a spurt of fire unleashes out. Yaya takes the time to crawl away, but doesn't get far. The Vulture recovers quickly and grabs at Yaya's ankles with it's talons.

I take off. I tackle the Vulture to the ground and make a water ball over it's head. Freezing it, the Vulture starts to thrash about, knocking me away. I roll on the ground and watch it as it's movements cease. It isn't my favorite way to kill a Vulture, but it's one of the least messy. Dead Vulture smell is almost unbearable.

I look around and Ikuto is just finishing off the last Vulture. Amu is coming out of her hiding spot with a slight limp. I turn this way and that. Where's Yaya? No matter where I turn I can't find the small auburn haired girl anywhere.

"Help!" I look around and don't see anything. "Rima-chan! Ikuto-kun! Amu-chan!" I hear it again, but still don't see any sign of Yaya. My eyes widen and I go to the edge of the mountain. As my suspicions told me, Yaya's hanging on a nook in the mountain, but I can see her slipping. I can't see anything below her except for fog. Her wings are soaked, which means she can't fly.

"Rima-chan! Help me!" she screams. Yaya is pretty far away from me. I don't think I can reach her. I get on the ground and reach my hand out, but it's still not close enough to her.

"Yaya! Hold on! I'll get Ikuto!" I shout to her. Ikuto's taller than me, and has longer arms than me. Surely, he'll be able to get her.

"No, Rima-chan!" I stop as I'm getting up. I turn to her and her eyes scream sadness, but something else in there. Guilt. "It's no use. Ikuto-kun won't be able to get me in time."

"Don't be silly Yaya!"

"Listen to Yaya," she says. She looks down, which she immediately looks back up at me. I don't know how long it's been since Yaya talked in third-person. "Yaya's sorry Yaya already failed you. Rima-chan is Yaya's best friend. Yaya hopes Rima-chan will find Nagi-kun; complete the mission Rima-chan. Tell Kairi-kun, I love Kairi-kun for Yaya, and that Yaya will miss Rima-chan, Kairi-kun, and Kukai-kun very much. Yaya will miss everyone."

"Yaya, stop talking like that!" I scream at her. I feel the tears prickling my eyes and they fall. I try again to reach out for her. One of her hands slip so she's only dangling by one hand. "Yaya!"

"Goodbye, Rima-chan." Her weight gives out and her hand slips. Yaya slowly falls back into the fog abyss.

"No! Yaya!" I scream. I try to grab onto her, but she's too far away. I let my wings out and am about to jump in after her, when a hand tugs me back. I look up to see Ikuto. "Let me go! I have to save her!"

"It's too late, Mashiro! She's gone, there's nothing we can do," he says. Ikuto holds me tightly around my waist, preventing me from going and getting her.

"No! It's not too late! I can still save her!" I shout. "Yaya!" Tears fall from my eyes, but I keep my gaze on the ledge. I have to save her.

"Rima, there's nothing you can do." That's Amu. I feel a hand on my shoulder, but I pull away, still struggling against Ikuto.

"We won't know until we try!" I pursue. Ikuto let's go of me, but then holds me tightly by my shoulders, forcing me to look into his eyes.

"Look at me Rima. If you go down there, you won't come back out. Yaya's probably already dead now and if you try to play hero, you'll die. Then what will we do? We'll be stuck without a leader. Is that what you want? Do you want to die and leave us without a leader? Do you want to be selfish and giving up your life this early because you lost one friend? Yaya wouldn't want you to do that," Ikuto lectures. I look down in shame.

Ikuto's right. Yaya's probably dead by now. If I try to save her, my wings will give in with the rainwater pounding down on them and I will die alongside her. It is selfish of me to give up my own life. I have to be strong. I have to be a leader.

But in this moment, I just hold Ikuto and Amu, and cry. For a moment, I won't be the leader and I will cry for the loss of my best friend. Ikuto doesn't say anything, but hold Amu and I. I think Amu's crying, but I'm not so sure. She rubs my back gently and gives me soothing words. They don't mean anything to me at the moment. Yaya's gone, and it's all my fault. I feel tiredness overcome me as I fall asleep in the rain with Ikuto and Amu holding me up.

When I wake up again, I'm in my sleeping bag. There's soup next to me and I hear the fire crackling near me. I sit up and the first thing I notice is that my muscles are very sore. My neck especially is stiff and I turn it a few times. I look around the cave. Everyone else is crowded in the back, talking quietly. I see Amu in her sleeping bag, asleep.

I slowly get up and stretch out all my tired muscles before making my way to the group.

"Rima," Kukai says. All eyes turn on me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What happened?" I ask. My head is a bit dizzy and I can't remember clearly what happened. I just know it was something really important. As I look at the group I realize two people are missing. "Where's Yaya and Kairi?"

"Kairi's outside," Amu says. "Yaya's..." No one says anything.

"What? Where's Yaya? Why won't you guys tell me?" I ask. Ikuto gets up and hands me something red. A bow. Correction, one of Yaya's red bows. It all comes rushing back to me; the Vultures, the rain, the wind, Yaya. The tears come back to me, but I refuse to cry again. I just look down at the red bow, remembering the little bubbly character it had once belonged to.

"We found it near here," Ikuto says. "We didn't find anything else." I force my eyes to the cave entrance. I can just make out a figure outside, sitting in the rain.

"How'd Kairi take it?" I ask. I don't look away from the figure.

"Not so good," Utau said. "He won't come back inside." I put the bow in my pocket and make my way outside. The rain has lightened up a bit, but even so, I can still tell Kairi's been crying.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey," he replies. I take a seat next to him and we both just stare at the mountain range. It;s probably not healthy for either of us, but neither of us care at the moment. We both lost someone who cared about us, and all we can do is mope.

I can feel everyone else watching us, but we don't care. We'll stay here as long as we want. Nothing can move us.

"It's all my fault," I mutter, finally letting the tears out. "I shouldn't have let her go."

"You? What about me? I should've stopped her," Kairi replies. "It's both our faults."

"She told me to tell you she loved you, and she'll miss you a lot," I say, trying to keep my voice from quivering. He doesn't say anything, which brings us both back into silence.

"You think she's watching us right now?" he suddenly asks. I look at Kairi, who is looking up toward the clouds. I look up with him. The rain gets into my eyes, but I just blink them away and look directly at the clouds.

"Probably," I whisper. "Probably thinking 'Kairi and Rima are being big cry-babies right now." We both laugh at that, but then the bad mood is back.

"She's probably also saying 'I'll always be with you guys, and you shouldn't be crying because I love you both, forever.'" I can't say for sure Yaya would say that, but it's just a guess. That guess seems enough for Kairi because he smiles.

"Yaya's probably also saying 'get off your butts before you idiots catch a cold'," Kairi says and we both laugh again. "Let's go inside." I nod and we both get up, walking inside the cave together. Amu and Utau immediately jump us with blankets and make us sit by the fire. Kukai gives us a lecture about why we shouldn't sit out in the rain for so long.

I'm secretly smiling because I know no matter what, Yaya will always be with me. Don't worry Yaya, I'll complete this mission like you told me too.

I know you probably all hate me now! (I hate me too!) But it is all part of the story plot line!

A question I have for everyone that randomly popped into my head this morning: Who do you all think Amu should've ended up with BESIDES Ikuto? I always guessed if it wasn't Ikuto it'd be Tadase, but then I knew a majority of the fans would disagree. So what do you all think?

R&R

~HAHE~