ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.
All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D
-Aloe
PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.
Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!
You can't trust him…
It had been a while since Genrou and I started traveling around together. During that time, we hadn't really rested much, since he always seemed like he was in some sort of hurry. The thing that sort of irked me, though, was that the talking between us was kept to an extreme minimum. He seemed like such an emotional guy at first who always had something to say—yet he insisted on us having as few conversations as possible. There was no way that he was shy—not this guy—so I figured that he had a lot on his mind. Every now and then he would glance back at me with a suspecting look, following with feelings of uneasiness and uncertainty. Yeah, I was still weirded out about the whole unintentional empathy thing that I had with him—which might or might not work both ways—but it helped fill the auditory void that was so obviously there.
Even without him talking, I was curious about the guy. I decided to join some random dude who happened to be one of the things that irritated me the most in these worlds—a bandit. He didn't really come off as the "torment people for no reason just because I'm a jerk and can" type though. Actually, I wasn't sure about what kind of guy he was…and I had no interest to.
You know nothing about this guy and he doesn't wish to know about you.
The fact that he and Kajou looked so similar still bothered me in the worst way, but I believed that my initial negative reaction to it was over and done. Even if the guy annoyed me a bit, he didn't deserve to be chewed out just because he resembled my dead sister. After all, it's not like he could control the genes he was given.
You know that meeting new people is futile if you have to leave them—it's even worse when they betray you. Tell me Akimoto, do you really want to try your luck with yet another "friend"?
Even as I walked in the seemingly positive environment, the mysterious female voice entered into my head, steering me into a certain, unexpected focus of thought. Her words suddenly produced pictures of everyone I had met so far on my journey in my mind, the more recent ones being of the new people I had acquainted myself with back in the royal palace. Feeling a slight squeeze in my chest, I couldn't help but frown at the thought of them. As much as I didn't want to admit it, the voice was making a whole lot of sense.
The more of them you add to your life, the greater the pain will be when they hurt you. And you know that pain…the despair of loneliness. You'd never experience it if you just kept yourself away from all those that could hurt you—everyone.
Keeping a few feet of distance between him and me, I observed Genrou as he insisted on encouraging the silence. It seemed apparent that he didn't want me around—I knew that from the very beginning. There could have been a number of reasons as to why he didn't like me as well as why he found that my being around was inconvenient to him. He had his own agenda, and I had mine. But even though my curiosities lead me to want to discover the reason for his journey, I found the whole notion to be futile since he didn't give a damn about me at all.
The woman's voice made me realize that my friendship with him was no friendship at all—completely non-existent. This relationship was purely business oriented—I needed him to cover me as I casted, as well as a navigator and he probably needed me to get out of some various scrapes that he might get in—whether he would admit it or not. The fact of the matter was that our personal businesses didn't intertwine, and probably shouldn't, so there's no point. We aren't going to be together long anyway, so why form any kind of bond that I know will be so easily destroyed? Even I could see that I was juggling quite a bit while being friends with Hotohori and the others, as long as I kept them at arms-length, any and all future pain could be avoided.
Don't get too comfortable Akimoto…
While being in the middle of my thoughts, I didn't even realize that the two of us had arrived at the border of a small town. The fact that I wasn't aware of our arrival told me just how distracted I was by everything. I couldn't believe that that voice had the ability to make me so unfocused.
Both of us stopped before progressing any further—observing the new space.
"It's about time we reached a place with people," He said with an irritated tone. "I was gettin' sick of not havin' any luck with things." Turning around to face me, he scratched the back of his head in an annoyed manner. "Jeez, I was beginning to think that you were some sort of bad luck charm er somethin'."
Grimacing, I told him, "Yeah, you would think that. Let's just use Aki as the scapegoat since you can't produce results on your own—real nice Fang-boy." Typical. The first time he talks in a while and it comes out as an immediate statement that could produce an argument.
His eyebrow twitched as his eyes narrowed. "Are you tryin' to say that I'm incapable?"
Closing my eyes, I turned my head and giggled slightly, making sure that my sarcastic tone was apparent. "Nah, I would never say that." Having all seriousness return, I brought my head back into its original position. "If you wanna go there, just do it." I smirked. "You don't need my permission, do you?"
Scoffing, I could see his hand moving slightly, probably tempted to grab out for my throat. Really, taunting should be an Olympic sport, if it were, who knows how many medals I would have had by now. Releasing a deep breath out, his eyes still stayed sharp as they looked upon me when he smugly said, "If I did need permission from someone, it definitely wouldn't be from a woman." He stuck his tongue out at me causing me to widen my eyes and feel taken aback. Counterattack! I honestly didn't expect him to say or do something like that. So much for this guy being a predictable chump.
With his eyes laying on me containing a sparkle of triumph, I knew I had to think of something fast to make sure that he didn't think he had beat me in that little game of back-and-forth. In my mind, my finger snapped as an idea came to my head. Got it! "So…what I'm hearing is that you need permission. Am I right?" Feeling his smug attitude diminish, I decided to conclude my victory by walking away in confidence. The moment I took my first step into the direction of the city, a wave of negative energy seemed to have passed through my body, sending an immediate chill down my spine. As fast as the sensation came, it was already gone—almost as if some sort of warning was shot out at me from somewhere. Trying to search the energy of my surroundings, I feverishly scanned, my eyes darting into all directions hoping that I wouldn't catch sight of some horrible phenomenon.
Genrou must not have noticed my immediate change in demeanor because he persisted with our precious conversation—or...more like he was trying to get the last word in on it. "I don't have to take any of this crap—especially from you." With him walking past me in a huff, I couldn't help but stand there, looking onto the new town that apparently contained some unexplained sense of alarm. Some part of me was saying that there was something up with that place, but the horrible feeling came and went so fast that I couldn't even confirm what it was. There was a good chance that there may have been Shadow Maidens lurking around, but the problem with that theory was that the chilling sensation went away too quickly. I've dealt with those things long enough to be able to tell if it was them or not. If it were, though, then they were toying with me somehow—either trying to get me to leave, or lure me in. Whichever way I wanted to look at it, something about that town didn't seem right.
Noticing that I wasn't following him, flame-head finally looked back with a look that resembled bewilderment and aggravation. "What are ya just standin' there for? Come on!"
"Umm…" What should I do? I knew it was my job to deal with shadow entities, but did I want to deal with this while having Genrou by my side? There was always a chance that it was nothing—I could have just imagined feeling what I did. But then…why would my nerves persist on being on the edge? I didn't particularly like taking people down with me when it came to facing those creatures. After all, they were dangerous, and it seemed like I was the only one who could face them successfully, and only win if I really dedicated myself to it. The guilt would have been absolutely horrible if I had let anything happen to him or anyone at the hands of my enemies.
Yet, another part of me was telling me not to worry and that everything would be alright. I had been through a lot and I knew how to take care of myself. Not only that, but Genrou seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't back down even if I were to tell him of the Shadow Maidens. My leaving probably wouldn't have been a good option since it most likely would have made him curious not to mention suspicious.
You know what? I'll just go along with it and see what happens 'cause standing here like this is making me look like an idiot.
He was finally starting to catch on that something was bothering me. Making his face transform into a look of concern, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Blinking a few times, I shook my head. "Nothing that you need to worry about." Beginning to walk again, I headed into the direction of the city, passing Genrou who still looked upon me with unease. "Let's go." Continuing to walk, I glanced back at him out of the corner of my eye. "You wanted to talk to some people, right? Well you can't do that if you just stand there."
"Y-yeah…" Not a second later, he joined me as we walked into the unknown town.
Whatever happens, happens. And if it does, I'll just deal with it and make sure that no one gets harmed.
After looking around for a while, we couldn't help but notice how there wasn't anyone around. I'm not saying that there was just one person every now and then—no, there wasn't anyone around…at all. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the place or much of a reason for people not to be there, it actually seemed pretty peaceful and like a much smaller version of Konan's capital city, where the royal palace and emperor were. Taking a peek into a good number of the houses, I noticed how each one of them seemed like they were just inhabited not too long ago. There were beds that didn't seem to be made, food still on the table, food still being made on stoves, stuff like that. If this was the case of people moving away, then some of the houses should have been empty of all personal items. If this was the case of something scaring the people away, then the town would have looked a bit more chaotic with various things knocked over due to people running past them and not caring what happened as well as a bunch of footprints that had been stomped onto the ground.
At least all of those clues would have made sense. This—everything that we were seeing—didn't. So it made a whole lot of sense that my nerves were quite bothered by the whole thing.
"What kind of whacko place is this?" During our investigation, Genrou stopped and threw his arms up in frustration. "There ain't anyone around and this whole thing is wastin' our time. We obviously won't get anything done here, so let's just go." He started to walk away, not bothering to look around anymore.
As I stood there in the same spot, I began to wonder if leaving was the right thing to do. Something was definitely up, there was absolutely no doubt about that, but should I stay to see exactly what it was? This may have been something that only I could fix…But what If there was nothing to be fixed at all? There is always the chance that the logical explanation for this town being empty being something other than Shadow Maiden related…and on the other hand this was something sinister in the works and I'm expected to take care of it. It wasn't like I was completely intimidated by those things—yeah, some level of fear was in there with good reason, but I had been in enough scrapes with them to know that I could handle what they threw at me. The fact of the matter was that I didn't like fighting them…at all. They were irritating, deadly, and…well no, that's pretty much why. Sure, I may have had the most badass powers ever, but I wasn't invincible, and I wasn't going to pretend that I was—and I didn't particularly like the idea of being killed by them or having someone else killed by them. So I think that I was completely sensible in thinking that avoiding this whole thing would have been fine. If this situation was in any way connected with the Shadow Maidens and whatever crappy luck they tended to bring along with them, then it was almost certain that they could sooner or later follow me. They always did, 'cause didn't you know? I'm the ultimate magnet for dark forces. Just. My. Luck.
But then again, this may not have even been about them.
When I caught back up with Genrou, we continued to walk without any argument of whether we would stay around any longer.
Just then—
"Where are you two going?"
An unfamiliar voice from directly behind us came out of nowhere causing both Genrou and I to completely jump. Resulting in my unexpected involuntary response of throwing myself straight into the "safety" of my fanged companion—with me huddled close to him, hands on his chest looking warily behind at the mysterious figure that spoke to us.
It was a man who looked like he was somewhere in his twenties. He had ceil-blue hair that was in a long, skinny ponytail in the back as well as a very long, prominent bangs—or bang-type of thing—that seemed to defy gravity in that they were blossoming at a spot on his head, sticking straight up, only drooping a bit to the left as it got closer to the tip. His clothes consisted of a simple white shirt with long sleeves under a regalia cloak with circular white designs that were all over it, wrapped around one of his shoulders, almost covering it completely, that linked around with the other corner of his cloak by a ring at his torso. Along with olive green pants that included a white and black attachment and the bottom, he wore black flats and around his neck was a red-beaded necklace that contained several much larger light green beads. Completing his look would be a long golden staff—called a Shakujo staff—with a loop containing dangling rings, really similar to Miroku's staff—this kind of tipped off to me that this guy was a monk of some sorts. His eye color couldn't be seen since his eyes were closed in a playful, fox-like manner. The expression on his face seemed to be one of interest and curiosity.
Realizing that he had startled us, the guy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't think I scared you, ya know?"
Trying to keep a tough character, I shouted, "Scared? What do you mean scared? You didn't scare me one bit!" By some weird, cosmic coincidence, Genrou had said the exact same thing at the same time I did.
"Even though you two jumped? You seemed pretty scared to me, ya know."
"As if!" Again, our words were perfectly in sync.
It was when we said that that Genrou and I analyzed the physical situation we had found each other in. Along with my close proximity to him, I discovered that one of his arms was wrapped around my shoulder in a protective manner. Faces turning red, we pushed away from each other. For some reason, my push seemed a bit more forceful since I ended up sending him to the ground.
Immediately standing up, he started yelling at me. "Why the hell did you push me so hard? I barely touched you!"
Scratching my cheek, I trailed my eyes to the right. "Protective response."
"'Protective response' my ass!" Changing the object of his anger to the blue-haired monk, he pointed accusingly. "And you—what's the big idea with ya popping out of nowhere like that? And why were ya pretendin' to hide?"
The guy tilted his head up, putting a finger on his chin in a thinking notion. "Hiding? I'm pretty sure I wasn't hiding, ya know?"
Genrou grabbed the guy's collar. "Why you—"
Chopping his head lightly, I told him, "Leave the guy alone. I don't think that he had any bad intentions." Seeing how my words allowed him to let go of the strangers shirt, I switched my attention to the guy. "I'm sorry about how we acted, and I know that you don't know who we are, but can you please tell us what's up with town? Why is everyone gone?"
"Well…that's a bit difficult to explain, ya know? Weird things have been happening in this town for at least a couple of weeks now."
Weird things? "Like what?"
He held up three fingers. "Three things have occurred." One finger. "First, all of the women disappeared, ya know?" I swear I could've heard Genrou whisper "Good riddance" in the background, compelling me to elbow him in the stomach. The monk put up two fingers. "Second, a melodic sound, could be heard throughout the whole town." Three fingers. "And third, after hearing the song, all of the men in town went straight to the nearby forest and haven't returned since, ya know?"
"Hmm…" That is weird. Why would they just get up and go like that? And they heard a song? "Do you think you know why all of this has been happening—"
"And if what you say if true, then why ain't ya with the other men?" Genrou interrupted causing me to grimace in frustration.
"To answer your question," he faced the flame-head, "I can honestly say that I'm not completely sure why. Maybe I'm immune, ya know?" Facing me he said, "And to answer your question, perhaps it's some sort of demon or evil spirit, ya know?" Crossing his arms, he displayed a slight look of distress. "And as much as I don't want to say or think it, those men may have very easily been killed or eaten, or both!" Well…they do sort of correlate with one another…"I sort of deducted that whatever that song was, that's what was luring those men in, ya know?"
A lot of what he said was sounding familiar to me. I knew that I had heard some sort of legend like that from back in my world. "Like a Siren?"
Genrou faced me with a puzzled look. "What's a Siren?"
"It's supposedly a water creature of the female gender whose song has the ability to hypnotize its victims, traditionally men, luring them into their watery deaths."
Grabbing his chin, the monk spoke. "'Watery deaths', huh? That's kinda coincidental since a mysterious lake formed in that forest I told you about at the same time the women disappeared, ya know?"
"Huh…I wonder—"
"Who cares about all of this? It doesn't matter to us at all, so let's just go—"
I chopped Genrou's head again for disrupting me. "You know, you have this annoying tendency to interrupt what I say. Why don't you just go off and play—let the grown-ups do all the talking." Ignoring all of his yelling and complaining, the thoughts of whether this whole thing required my attention. After receiving all of this new information, it was obvious that this whole situation was sketchy and sinister. And if it did turn out to be Shadow related, then it immediately made it my problem. Since so many people were already involved, it was my job to make sure that they didn't suffer any more.
"While I'm not completely sure about what's going on, I'm pretty sure it's something evil, ya know?" The both of us looked at the monk. "The aura of this place is riddled with darkness. That's why I came to this town in the first place ya know." The aura? How is it that he can see the darkness in the air and I can't? I've been fighting these jerks for a while and the only thing I get to go on is a feeling.
"Well if ya came to the place for the reason of findin' somethin' wrong with it, then why didn't you just go investigate on yer own?" Genrou asked.
"I tried to, but…" He tilted his head and puffed his cheeks in a comical fashion. "Some kind of barrier wouldn't allow me to get in ya know? A person can only try so hard before knowing when it's time to give up and rethink your strategy."
While we all pondered on the new information for a few minutes, Genrou turned around and started walking away. "Well, this was fun 'n all, but I'm outta here. You comin' or not Aki—" Reaching my arm out, I grabbed onto the back of his shirt, preventing him from progressing any further.
"Hold on there, Tex. We should probably stay and see this thing through."
"Why the hell should we do a thing like that? It doesn't concern us—"
"You're wrong, it concerns me!" When I said that, he stopped fussing. "Well…it probably concerns me. I told you that I was on a journey for something, and this very well might be a part of it." I couldn't allow those people to suffer…not at the hands of the dark forces of the universe. "Look, if we save them, then you'll have a bunch of people to talk to regarding your problem. Isn't that reason enough?"
He growled as he thought about my words. "By the time we rescue them—if we rescue them—you and I could have already been in the next place. Besides," Giving the monk a suspicious look, he continued as he got closer to me and lowered his volume, "this guy could be makin' the whole thing up. I mean, what do we honestly know about him? He could be here to devour our souls er somethin'."
My eyebrow shot up. "'Devour our souls'? What are you smoking?" When he gave me a peculiar look, I went on. "You didn't know anything about me when we met a while ago, and you still don't—and yet you keep me around. Are you honestly telling me that he looks like more of a threat than I do? Please." We both snuck a peak at the fox-faced guy, only to return back to our conversation.
"I guess ya have a point there. But I still don't see the practical benefit in all this…"
"What's the benefit? The benefit is saving innocent lives as well as useful info. I know that we could be asking other people, but you know as well as I do that they might not have the information you want. These people we save might." I know we'd be juggling a lot on this, but either way, I have to go and check this out.
For a few moments, Genrou and I stood there staring into each other's eyes, both of us trying to get the other to break. All that mattered was that I made it there to take care of the problem, if he didn't wish to come along, then…the better, right? So, why was I persisting so hard on getting him to agree with me?
After a while, the monk finally spoke up. "Umm…are you two okay? Or is this some new type of courtship ritual that I'm not familiar to?"
"No way!" The two of us shouted at him, thus breaking our staredown.
Genrou coughed and looked away. "I guess we'll come with you to find those people…" My face softened as it formed a slight smile.
The monk clapped. "That's good to hear, ya know? I honestly wasn't expecting to recruit any help, but I'm very much open to it. So, thank you." He bowed to us.
Waving my hands, I tried to get him to stop. "Oh, please don't bow like that. Any decent person would help." I shot Genrou a look, causing him to growl again. As that was said, we all just stood there exchanging glances from one another. Fang-boy became irritated before too long and turned his annoyed self to the monk.
"Well what're we waitin' around for?"
"Huh?" The monk gave him a puzzled look. "I was kind of hoping that we would all introduce ourselves. I heard that that was the standard thing to do when meeting someone new, ya know?"
Genrou and I exchanged looks. Introduce ourselves? I knew the idea sounded completely normal, but looking back at my record, I recalled how almost every first-encounter and name exchange I had with people on my journey consisted of something that a person usually wouldn't envision as a proper meeting. When I first met Inuyasha, he was trying to kill me, when I first met the Sohma's, I crashed through their roof and made Kyo transform into a cat, and then transform back into a human without any clothes on (that memory still makes my body temperature rise), when I met the Hitachiin twins, they were blackmailing me, when Miaka and I met Tamahome, he was helping us out in a fight and we didn't formally meet until we were in jail…and the list goes on. The fact that this guy wanted us to do an actual normal introduction shocked me a bit. But it was slightly refreshing.
Extending my hand, I told him, "My name is Akimoto Tsubaki, but I preferred to be called Aki."
Smiling in a friendly way, he complied by shaking my hand. "It's nice to meet you Aki. And your friend?"
"You can call me Genrou." The monk extended his hand out as well, and Genrou took it reluctantly while rolling his eyes. Narrowing my eyes at flame-head, I thought, oh, he shakes his hand, but not mine? Bastard.
Returning to my hospitable smile, I turned to the monk. "So, what shall we call you?"
His smile widened. "I'm Chichiri! You two seem like you'd be a bunch of fun, ya know?" We looked at each other.
"Yeah…things are a barrel of fun with us…" Sarcasm was called for in this situation, it really was.
He walked ahead of us. "I guess we can get going now, ya know? Just follow me."
Before I could take a proper step forward, Genrou reached out and grabbed my arm, bringing me back so that he could talk to me in a closer proximity. "If we don't get positive results from this, then I don't know if I'll be able to keep ya around. I told you that I was searching for somethin'—somethin' that I need really fast or else somethin' bad might happen. I can't afford to waste my time. So…"
Expression becoming serious, I nodded. "I understand. If you don't get the answer you require, then I'll leave you alone—we'll part ways then and there."
About an hour later, the three of us managed to make our way over to the neighboring forest. Each step closer towards the unknown territory made my body feel more and more anxious. And with each step, previous feelings of doubt about whether or not Shadow forces were at work here were beginning to diminish. The only time my senses were on high alert like this was when those things showed up. But like some of the other times, this feeling wasn't completely the same as the one when I got with the legitimate Shadow Maidens. Considering all of the women had disappeared from that town, there was a good chance that they had been Shadow Kissed—the phenomenon that was still quite a mystery to me. I still couldn't grasp onto how the live women could be possessed like that—was it because they wanted to be possessed? Did they allow darkness to take over their hearts in a time of doubt and weakness? Or were they forced? Too tell you the truth, I was still unsure of how the Shadow Maidens came to be. Knowing who they were was just a part of the bigger puzzle. Damn, I hated figuring out stuff on my own.
All of a sudden, a chilling sensation seemed to hit my body followed by the world around us becoming as dark as night—which was odd considering it was still in the middle of the day just a few moments before. The scenery around us began to consist of tall trees as well as other well-grown plants signifying our arrival into the forest.
"So this is what it's like on the other side of the barrier. I didn't think it'd be quite like this or that easy to get in, ya know?" Chichiri continued leading the way in front of us, looking back (as well as he could with closed eyes anyway) to make sure that we were still there.
"Barrier, what barrier? I didn't see or feel anything," Genrou commented.
Chichiri turned his head to the other side to face me. "What about you Aki, did you feel anything?"
"Well…I sort of did, but my mind was sort of elsewhere at the time, so I wasn't completely aware of it, sorry."
He tilted his head in a curious manner. "Your mind was elsewhere? Perhaps it would be better for you to retrieve it again before we continue on into the unknown, ya know?"
Catching the joke—hopefully it was a joke—I sighed. "It's a figure of speech ya know…" Oh crap! Now I'm doing it!
"I wonder if it's because of one of you two that the barrier accepted us. Last time I was here, it repelled me completely ya know." How suspicious—I come along and the three of us are instantly invited. Sure, there was always the chance that this place really wanted Genrou and not me, but if I were to go back to my record again (damn this thing has gotten big! If my permanent record back at home was this huge, the school administrators of every district would most definitely be breathing down my neck, keeping me under lock and key) the pattern seemed to be more in my favor—and by my favor, I mean completely against me. "But now that we're in, how do we deal with the evil forces?"
Giggling nervously, I told him, "Let's just focus on finding them for now." After all, I had a hunch, but I still wasn't one-hundred percent sure that this was as bad as I was hoping it wasn't.
For a while, we kept walking deeper and deeper into the darkness-ridden forest, neither of us knowing what to expect. The unbelievable feeling of déjà vu occurred to me, making this whole thing feel like that night I went after Naraku. Back then, my magical skill was a little on the iffy side, and yet I chose to go running after one of the most powerful demons—okay, half-demon—just so that I could prove myself. That was also the same night that I came across the Shadow Maidens for the first time—the first time their horrible chill coursed through my being. They didn't do anything to me then, all they did was watch me with their glowing yellow eyes, swaying from back to forth in an ominous way.
My body just couldn't shake the feeling that even now, almost a year later, they were still watching me in reflection to the day we first encountered each other. But were they always watching me? Was that night really the first time we saw each other, or have they been with me longer than that? Even after all we had been through, it astounded me how much I still didn't know about them.
Before too long, the three of us arrived at a beautiful lake that seemed to be located directly at the center of the forest. From where we were standing, it looked pretty normal, and yet I couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong—the anxiety persisting to gnaw at my side. There was nothing that I could see that would tip off anything evil—it was a good think that I knew about false appearances and their dangers.
"So…what's wrong with it?" Genrou asked referring to the lake. "I don't see any demons er evil spirits runnin' around."
"Don't let things fool you," Chichiri informed him. "I know, this place seems like a pretty relaxed atmosphere to the untrained eye, but in reality, it's completely enshrouded with a black aura, ya know?"
"Ah." Genrou nodded in agreement as the monk's words sunk in. Then he spoke up with a loud tone, "Hey! Wait a minute—what do ya mean by 'untrained eye'? You sayin' that I don't have what it takes to see what you see?"
I answered almost immediately. "Yes that is exactly what he is saying." This resulted in him giving me a nasty look where he bared his fangs.
Chichiri sighed. "I didn't think you two would manage to turn that into an argument, ya know?"
Ignoring flame-heads eyes shooting daggers at me, I proceeded to walk up to the edge of the lake, trying to see if my horrible feeling persisted. Never failing, I actually felt worse—body shaking almost feverishly as well as a beating in the back of my mind warning me about very imminent danger. Even though I knew that something was wrong, I was still bothered by the fact that Chichiri could actually see the evil aura and I couldn't. Did Taiitsukun know about this ability? If she did, then shouldn't she have thought that it would have been a useful skill for me to possess? What if one day the Shadow Maidens mask their essences? Then I'd be in trouble since I didn't have any other means of locating them. Forget waiting for that old hag to make a move, I'm gonna ask Chichiri to teach me how to do that.
Stopping at the edge, it only took me a second to realize that I was the only one who took the initiative to investigate up close. "Hey, why aren't you guys joining me over here? Don't you think that getting close would kind of, oh I don't know, help?"
For some reason, I could feel a nervous reaction come from Genrou, being illustrated by him looking away uncomfortably and rubbing the back of his head. Speaking quickly, he said, "N-nah, I think that my distance is good enough. My keen eye for detail is way more effective from a distance. Believe me, I can spring into action all the better from here." 'Keen eye for detail'? Who does he think he's fooling?
"I'm not completely sure that getting that close is all that safe, ya know?" The blue-haired monk told me.
The confident part of me compelled me to smile back and tell him, "Don't worry. If anything happens, I could—" All of a sudden, a black hand sprung out of the lake and grabbed around my ankle, causing me to look down in horror. Before I could react fast enough, a violent tug downward resulted in my being forced into the lake. Struggling ferociously, I flailed my legs repeatedly in an effort to escape—all while holding my breath to prevent me from drowning. Being completely submerged by water was making me panic in the worst way, leaving not even a second for me to relax and think things through. I had to get out.
When I attempted to move my arms, I found that they were being held up by someone or something. As that particular force attempted to pull me up, the stronger, more plentiful entities that had done this to me in the first place was dead set on me sinking to the bottom. All I could do was struggle and fight the best I could, to no avail. My heart was racing so much that it seemed like it would give out at any time. Nothing seemed clear—my body wouldn't do what I asked and my mind was completely freaking out, trying to ignore the burning in my lungs tempting me to take a fatal breath. Dreaded memories of the past brought out my horrific fear of being submerged by water—a phobia that I had hoped had been overcome with my new abilities.
But apparently, some parts of the past don't die out just because you've grown up a bit.
"Hey demon, why don't we send you back to where you came from?"
My parents, Kajou, and I all decided to come to the park and have a picnic next to the lake about fifteen minutes from our home. If my big sister didn't suggest the idea—say, if it had come from me—my mother and father wouldn't have even considered it. They never listened to me or what I wanted, but a part of me was still happy that they came out here to spend time with Kajou—I was pretty much there as an attachment.
A crowd of about ten to fifteen boys ranging from ages six to thirteen completely surrounded me—a few of them containing the same several guys that I was forced to make leave that little girl Miaka alone about two or three months ago. I honestly didn't expect a bunch of kids to come around and ambush me for making them feel bad. I mean, the idea was totally farfetched all things considered. I was just thrown a little off guard by the angry mob. It wasn't exactly my fault they they got hurt, after all, I only made people feel miserably whenever I felt threatened. In fact, most of the time I really couldn't control it. I had just simply learned to read it's patterns. The ability wasn't something that I was proud of, but I did admit that it was handy at times. Hopefully it would be useful in this situation as well.
"You think that just because you have those red eyes that you're so tough?"
"Well how tough do you feel now?"
I had to admit that the way they formulated this little plan, was slightly impressive. No matter what, I couldn't let my emotionless facade falter. "Quite tough. I can't believe that you guys came all the way here just to suffer—at the hands of an eight-year-old no less." Talk about a shot to the ego. These people cause themselves pain. Why can't they just leave me alone? Somehow, they had managed to back me up to the edge of the small lake. A small amount of rage welled up into me knowing that my parents were sitting under a tree watching all of this unfold without any questions. Kajou had gone off to get some ice-cream, leaving the perfect opportunity for these punks to jump out and attempt to scare me.
"This isn't going to be like all the other times."
"We're going to make sure that you pay for hurting us."
"It wasn't right!" They all shouted at me.
Narrowing my eyes at them, I allowed a little more emotion to come through than I honestly wanted, "It wasn't right? Please tell me one time that I actually came after you on my own. You all know that I prefer to be alone, so why would I come after you?" They thought that I was being unfair to them? All they had to do was stay away from me and they'd be free to live happy lives. The way I made them feel? That was how I felt virtually all the time. I was really the only one who was allowed to complain. They had no right! Not with how easy life was for them. I closed my eyes, regathering my self-control. "You guys get hurt 'cause you bother with something that you don't understand."
"Shut up!" One of the older boys roared. "Just because you are off by yourself doesn't mean anything! The fact that you exist means that someone is always going to get hurt—"
"Not to mention humiliated…" Another one mumbled to himself with a slight blush. Are you seriously telling me that this is really an ego thing? Please, these guys are so pathetic! I was really the one who had problems. You didn't see me out and about trying to take it out on the rest of the world.
"Just leave me alone…" I warned.
"We're not going to let you tell us what to do anymore. You don't have your sister around to get you out of this, and your parents don't even care. Teaching you a lesson will do the world some good." When they proceeded closer, my sense of feeling threatened lit up, forcing me into the defensive position of protecting myself. Concentrating as much as I could, I tried to manipulate the strange power surrounding me. A wave of darkness shot out and struck all of the boys, causing them to stop in their tracks, body shivering from the chill of despair. Thinking that they had gotten the idea, I backed off, allowing them to recover. But to my surprise, they kept on coming towards me.
What?
A part of me though that perhaps I wasn't trying hard enough, so I took a step forward to hold my ground better, agreeing to let more dark energy seep through. This time, I was sure that it had hit them, since the added effort made the ring flare unexpectedly. They just kept coming at me, pained looks written on their faces—some of them looking as if they were about to barf and/or break down and cry. My ability was affecting them, they were just toughing through it…
For the first time, I was beginning to become afraid.
Time after time again, I shot out another wave, but they wouldn't stop. What's going on? Why are they still coming at me? How are they still able to keep going? Then something occurred to me: what if the dark ring didn't just bring feeling of pain and misery, but of rage and anger as well? Those were negative sensations, after all. I just wasn't used to that particular reaction.
But why did the dark ring choose now to change its objective?
Before I could think another thought, the boys violently grabbed me. I tried to break free, but the fact that I was just a small eight-year-old against a bunch of guys who were bigger than me didn't give me much of an opening for escape.
I had no choice. The second after they took hold of me, my tough facade broke and I screamed out. "Kajou! Kajou! Kajou help me!" There was no use, she was still off getting the snacks. Mentally hitting myself, I forced myself to ask for help elsewhere. "Mommy! Daddy! Help me, please!" When I caught sight of them, it was like they were pretending as if nothing was wrong. They just sat there under the tree drinking tea and talking to each other. The thing was, I knew that they heard me because for a second, I saw their cold eyes glance over in my direction.
Tears forming, I knew that calling out wasn't going to do anything for me, but through gasps, I continued to try. "Kajou!" Lifting me up, they threw me into the lake. When I tried to fight it and swim back up, punching and kicking against the water, I felt a bunch of hands holding me down so that I wouldn't get out. The only thing that I could hear was my screaming from under the water, and the cruel laughter from up above. To add insult to injury, a bunch of rocks shot past me, a good majority of them impacting with my body in a stinging sensation.
Then they became cruel. The boys would lift me out of the water for a split second, only to dunk me under again…and again…and again. My lungs were crying and eventually, my body started to give out, accepting that this may have very well been the place that my life would end. With one final push, they held me under the surface, with me staring up at their pained, yet mocking expressions.
Vision blacking out, I didn't expect to be completely brought out of the water by warm, inviting arms. Feeling my body hit the ground of the surface, I coughed violently to get all of the water out of my system, gasping for air. With my brain still in shock, all I could see were the various clouds in the sky floating overhead—everything else in the world seemed to be blocked out. My heart still felt overwhelmed with pain, feeling as if it could give out at any time just from the agony of it all.
"Aki! Oh, my dear Aki!" It was Kajou. She came for me before it was too late. A wave of relief swept over me when her beautifully familiar long, flaming locks hung over my face—her inviting yet worried amber eyes forming tears for my well-being. Holding me up, she embraced me in a hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay!"
"K…Kajou…"
"Shh…don't speak. You need to rest. And don't worry…I dealt with those evil boys…" When I weakly looked around, I saw all of the boys scattered on the ground—completely motionless. I didn't see a twitch or the raising of chests to signify breathing.
My big sister held me closer before turning around to face our parents, a look of extreme fury in her eyes. "How could you two allow this to happen?"
Not to my surprise, they didn't faze. "They were just playing around. We knew that everything would be alright."
My mother took another sip of her tea. "You shouldn't have disturbed them my dear daughter, children develop better when they can engage with their peers."
Kajou cursed under her breath. "Damn those two…" Shaking her head, she reached into her pocket and brought out a cell-phone. Dialing in the numbers clumsily, she managed to get the number she wanted and put the device up to her ear. "Yes? I need and ambulance, hurry!" A few seconds later, my physical and mental exhaustion took the best of me, putting me into a deep sleep that I wouldn't awake from for three days…
Struggling to open my eyes, I tried to catch what exactly was tormenting me. My eyes immediately widened at the sight: there was a bunch of pale women, each with a dark tint to their bodies, the eyes that were visible were a soulless, pitch black. The thing that really stuck out to me was that they all had black fins of some sort on the lower halves of their bodies—almost as if they were mermaids. And I'm not talking the friendly type of mermaids you see in things like Disney movies either—no, these women seemed much, much worse.
As one of them continued pulling on my leg, the rest of them tugged on the rest of my body, wrapping themselves around me in attempts to make me submit and sink. The ones that weren't latched on kept circling around me, sending their miserable thoughts and feelings my way.
"Why won't he love me?"
"I know he's cheating on me. He's almost never home!"
"Have I not been a good wife and mother?"
"What more must I do to please him?"
These women have been Shadow Kissed…
"I'm pathetic…a horrible excuse for a woman…"
"What's the point of living if I'm going to be alone?"
"Why must I be the only one who suffers! Only they, the men should feel our pain, if not more!"
"I will make him love me, even if he has to suffer!"
"We will be together always…I don't care what he thinks or says!"
"Kill myself…that's the only way of leaving behind this sadness…"
The thoughts were overwhelming my head—the sensation was even worse with their feelings of agony absorbing into me, as if I was some sort of negativity sponge. Their chilling aura's brushed up against my skin, leaving me surprised that I hadn't frozen over yet. With all of the warmth of light being blocked to these women, the only thing their minds and bodies could process was desperation and depression. The whole idea of one's attitude projecting out to others was in great play at this moment. It was like they all fed on each other's despair, thus making the situation worse. I realized that it was because of them that my childhood trauma had come back into light, making it even harder for me to even think rationally long enough to get myself out of this situation.
And eventually, my lungs couldn't take the torture any longer. Unfortunately, my mind was all over the place, so I couldn't relax, making my heart and lungs work even harder for the sake of keeping myself alive. When it comes to those systems, though, over-working could mean death from the heart and lungs growing tired and giving up. Even while knowing this, I struggled and struggled against the violent forces, every thought in my head progressively getting worse and more morbid.
I was beginning to think of what the benefit to survival would be. There was no one I could love, no place I really belonged, and chances were that I would be killed by Shadow forces somewhere along the line, so why progress it any further? Why should I continue pretending that everything was alright?
Akimoto! You must focus!
My eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar, yet still unknown male voice.
This is not the time to be giving up and giving in to the darkness! Don't allow yourself to be caught inside the same trap as these women—you are stronger than this!
In my head, I started to cry. But…
No! Do not doubt yourself! Take no heed in what these women are saying. They need you, Akimoto, to find their light again. Or else they will lose it forever and be no better off than the Shadow Maidens. Now, stay strong!
Forcing myself to relax the best I could, still shaking in fear, I tried to forget that I was under water. During my temporary mental calm, my eyes caught sight of something at the bottom of the lake. There were giant spheres, maybe bubbles of some kind, containing some people in individual ones. Squinting harder, I discovered that it was the town's lost men—each sleeping in their spheres.
Just as I was observing the sight, a great pull on my arms lifted me up and out of the water, right out of the Shadow Kissed hands. Flying out of the water from the force, I landed on the ground right on someone's chest, next to him was someone else.
Coughing and hacking, my body was at the same time shivering from the cold and extreme fear of reliving one of my worst childhood nightmares.
A voice spoke to me with a concerned tone. "Aki, are you alright? C'mon! Say somethin'!" Hyperventilating a bit, my eyes stayed fixated on the water that had almost taken my life for the third time.
"You have to calm down—breathing like that isn't good, ya know?"
I felt someone's arms wrap around me, sending a warm jolt surging throughout my drenched body. After blinking a few times, the world around me began to focus again.
Breathing finally calming down, my eyes shot around to see what was going on. Turns out that I was on the ground, being held by Genrou, and Chichiri was right next to us, also on the ground as if he had just recently fallen back.
"Genrou…Chichiri…" Assessing the situation, I realized that the upward tug on my arms was those two grabbing onto me, attempting to get me out of the water. They must have managed to hold onto me at the last second before the Shadow Kissed was able to pull me completely down.
"Are you alright now?" Genrou asked.
Figuring that the position we were in was just as uncomfortable for him as it was me, I moved, weakly, out of his grasp. Nodding I told him, "Yeah. Sorry I put you two through all that." Facing Chichiri, I gave a weak smile. "I guess you were right about getting too close being too dangerous." Lesson learned: only be confident when you know everything about the situation.
Before the monk could even speak, flame-head spoke up with a voice filled with more anger than concern. "Why the hell didn't you just use your powers? You could have easily gotten out of that!" His words were filled with anger, but our empathy bond was telling me that he was feeling a slight hint of worry and guilt.
My powers…I could have used my powers, but my brain and body were panicking so much that nothing seemed to get through. It was hard to think rationally, making the only clear messages being "get out of the water, I don't want to die".
The mere memory of my experience a few seconds prior caused my body to start shaking feverishly.
I tried to speak. "I—I'm…" But the shaking just persisted, making it hard to proceed on.
Chichiri's face seemed to soften as he looked upon me. He then turned to Genrou, who still looked like he wanted to punch something. "Hey, why don't you give her your trench coat?"
"What? Why?"
"She'll catch a cold if she stays in those clothes, ya know? They need to dry and she needs something to wear."
Covering my body with my arms, I told them. "I d-don't need it. I'll just use my powers over Wind to blow-dry myself."
The monk's face fell. "That will just blow cold air onto you, making you sick even faster, ya know?" I grimaced. Damn…he's right. And I can't afford to get sick right now…
Without any other hesitation, Genrou took off his black coat and handed it over to me, leaving only a white shirt with long sleeves to be worn on the upper half of his body. "Take it." Blinking in surprise, I didn't think that he would give it over so easily. The notion caused me to blush a bit, forcing myself to look down as I reached out and took the coat.
"Now, get out of those wet clothes, and hang them on a nearby tree. A nice enough fire and a little bit of time will make them dry in no-time, ya know!" He smiled.
Rushing to some nearby bushes, I proceeded with taking off my clothes—except my bra and underwear—and put on the bandits' long black trench coat, tightening the belt at my waist to fit my smaller form. The sleeves were long, going past my hands, and the whole thing carried his scent. The whole situation was completely embarrassing, but I couldn't help but feel a sensation of warmth overcome me.
My face continued to heat up. Why the hell did I end up being the one stuck in this situation?
Coming from behind the bushes, I kept my head low to void the gazes of the men regarding my probably pitiful look. Even Genrou was looking away from me at this point. Man! If a person were to come along at this moment and see what I looked like, it may seem like I just got out of bed with someone after a hot and steamy night. I hate this soooo much.
"It doesn't look too bad on you, ya kno—"
"Shut it!" Face completely flushed, I couldn't help but make an outburst like that, resulting in the backing off of Chichiri with a uneasy smile on his face.
In an effort to avoid discussing the situation, I proceeded with hanging my wet clothes on a tree. After laying down a few sticks and braches for firewood, I snapped my fingers, instantly sending a small flame to ignite the stack.
Keeping my eyes closed, I walked over to the two with an irritated yet discomfited attitude. Even with the two standing, I sat on the ground, cross-legged, and crossed my arms. Looking up at them, I put on a serious face to mask my true emotions. "Let's get down to business. When I was down there, I saw all of the towns men and women. The mystery of where they were at has been solved."
Genrou's eyebrow cocked up in surprise. "Really? Were they all alive?"
"The women…more or less…and the men, not completely sure. The men were trapped in some bubble-like thing at the bottom of the lake, so it was hard to tell for sure. And the women…"
"The women what?"
I sighed. "Well, the women will be more of an obstacle to handle…"
"What do you propose we do?" Asked Chichiri.
"I'm not completely sure…" This whole situation all on its own was different than the others. Coming up with a sound plan may prove difficult.
While groaning, Genrou tried to put his point across. "I don't know what the big problem is!" He faced Chichiri. "Yer some type of monk, right? Why don't cha just seal off the lake er somethin' so that no one else gets hurt?" Then he looked down at me. "And you—why don't you just use some of that magic mumbo jumbo to nuke the place er whatever?"
Chichiri looked troubled. "Well, I suppose that is always an option, ya know?"
I shook my head. "No, it's not quite that easy." They both faced me with curiosity. "The people down there are all victims—anything that has happened or does happen here isn't their fault. It would be wrong to punish them for acts they couldn't help committing."
"How do ya know that they're not just demons or evil spirits like Chichiri said?"
Without hesitating, I told him, "I've dealt with them before—or something very similar. Those women have been Shadow Kissed against their will. We have no choice but to find other means of overcoming this obstacle." But how am I going to bring light to them? I can't go back underwater, they have the obvious advantage under there…
"This is quite the conundrum…" Chichiri held his chin, tilting his face up in thought.
"I don't know what yer talkin' about. I understand that they are being forced to do things against their will, but shouldn't we stop em from hurtin' anyone else?" Genrou gave me an identifying look. "Aren't you the one who said that we had ta do somethin' about it?"
Shooting him a glare, I asked him, "Why don't you go do something about it if you're so eager to walk into the face of danger?"
Taking a hint and the bait, the bandit looked at the lake with an anxious look. Laughing nervously, he said, "You know what? I am completely okay with you two takin' yer time." I couldn't help but be curious about something. From what I knew about this guy, he seemed like the type of person who wouldn't back away from any kind of fight—especially after claiming so many times what it meant to be a "man". Every time he lost his composure, though, he seemed to glance at the water. Could it be that…he's afraid of the water too? Or can he not swim? Shaking my head, I knew that I had to focus on the task at hand before trying to de-bunk yet another mystery.
Until we figure this out, perhaps it would be good to at least slow them down. Standing up, I walked past the boys and up to the edge of the lake once again. Even out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the two of them twitching when the saw me head towards the same spot where I found myself in trouble just several minutes before. Putting up a hand at them, I let them know that it was alright. Believe me, I wasn't stupid enough to allow myself to be pulled in for a second time. Gathering up my energy, I allowed the manipulation of Water into Ice to take place. "You who crosses between sky and Earth, gently flowing water, gather in my hand and give me power!" The temperature of the area lowered considerably around the lake—a thick fog started to roll in. "Demona Crystal!" The thick, white fog completely enshrouded the lake, making it temporarily unseen.
"What'd ya do to the place?" To my surprise, Genrou actually walked up to me this time.
Smiling slightly, I told him. "Just wait." The moment the fog rolled away, the surface of the lake revealed to be completely frozen over (just the surface, the water underneath was still very much in the liquid state)—earning me a look of complete astonishment out of Fang-boy.
"Holy crap! That was awesome!" He shouted with a big smile on his face that revealed his fangs.
Closing my eyes, I crossed my arms and grinned widely with triumph. "Why thank you."
"I knew you were a witch and all, but I didn't think you could do anything this epic—" Almost immediately, that comment earned him a good chop in the back of the head, sending him straight to the ground, grabbing the back of his head in pain. "Why th' hell did ya do somethin' like that? I was complimentin' you!"
Maintaining my "pleasant" smile, I said, "It would be wise for you not to call me a witch, m'kay?"
He growled. "I can't believe you—"
"This is quite impressive Aki. When Genrou said that you could use magic, I didn't think it was this advanced, ya know?" Chichiri walked up next to me and stared at the lake…at least I think he was looking…it's a bit hard to tell with his eyes closed. Honestly, how does he see that way? Pretending that I wasn't thinking about the mystery of his eyes, I thanked him. "I'm a bit curious—how did you learn this branch of magic anyway?"
The question surprised me. This branch of magic? Are there other kinds? Or is there something he knows that I don't? "U—umm…"
All of a sudden, a muffled melody began to be heard from under the ice, causing us all to stop what we were doing and stare at it. We couldn't really decipher any legitimate words, but there was definitely some type of musical noises coming from under there. Before we could even ask any questions or exchange glances, a very distinct cracking sound emerged from the sheet of ice. No freakin' way! In quite a few spots, the ice was cracking from underneath. In a blink, a fist managed to punch completely though, and then another…soon, my ice was completely shattered by an army of fists.
Eyes widening, I was shocked to see the fists belonging to all of the men of the town, all emerging out of the water, inching closer to us on land. The three of us back up, trying to assess the whole situation. Each one of the men stumbled around with sleepy looks on their faces—as if they were trapped in some type of trance. Of course they are. I groaned. You know, I'm going to rule out right now that speaking to them rationally won't work.
There wasn't even any time to think of a good plan since they charged at us so suddenly. None of them had weapons, but considering something had to have been pulling the strings on them, I didn't think that it would have been very wise to underestimate their abilities. The numbers of these men was too much to count, after all, we were talking about a whole town's worth of them. Even as those ones were coming at us, even more emerged out of the water. The odd thing was that they weren't trying to mutilate us, per say. Each time they came at us, it was more like they were trying to grab us—quite similarly to how cliché zombies in all of those movies go after their victims by first grabbing onto them…and then tearing them limb from limb. Well, this was like that…except for the whole "limb from limb" part. There was no way in Hell we would even allow them the chance to do that.
Genrou ended up punching and kicking all of the guys around him, while Chichiri was fending them off the best he could with his staff.
"You sure that we can't kill off these guys?" Genrou yelled at me.
"Yes, I am very sure. They aren't—" One of them came at me from behind, resulting in me sending a gust of Wind his way, knocking him directly into a tree. The sight earned me a look from Genrou making me shrug. "What? I said you couldn't kill them, I didn't say you couldn't use self-defense."
Eventually, the same song from before could be heard, but since the ice was broken, the melody could be heard at a much louder volume—I don't know about you guys, but I had a really bad feeling about this. The men became more aggressive, leading me on to believe—or rather, confirm—my theory of this being a siren-like situation. Grabbing at my hair and clothes, the loose trench-coat began to slide off of me, revealing my black-laced bra. Face completely heating up from the thought of my two companions seeing me more exposed than I really wanted, a ferocious wave of energy shot out from me, knocking all of the men down like dominoes.
Sliding the coat back up my shoulder with one hand, I used my other to cast a plethora of spells. Pointing to a group of men in one direction, I shouted, "Giga la Seoshi!" The same green Seoshi from before appeared around them, trapping them completely in the energy sphere. Turning to another group, I repeated the spell. "Giga la Seoshi!" And then another, "Giga la Seoshi!" A few more times, "Giga la Seoshi! Giga la Seoshi! Giga la Seoshi!" Panting harshly, I observed the results of my casting. At least ten large green Seoshi completely covered the area, entrapping all of the men in trances. Some of them attempted to go through, but found they couldn't when a painful shock electrocuted them the moment they made contact with the barrier. That was the difference between Seoshi and Giga la Seoshi—One of them was purely meant for protection, while the other trapped your enemies in the type of container that could hurt them whenever they tried to be hostile.
Thinking that my troubled were over if only for a few minutes, Chichiri yelled out to me. "Aki!" When I faced him, he motioned over to Genrou who seemed to be staring at the lake. I hadn't realized it, but the song being sung by the Shadow Kissed—Sirens…whatever—was still going on. My eyed widened. Then that means…
Without saying a word, Genrou walked slowly towards the lake that he was cringing at before.
"Genrou!" I called out—he didn't even react. "Genrou!" Running after him, I blocked his way to the lake. Looking into his eyes, I saw…nothing.
And for some reason, that bothered me.
Reaching down for his wrist, I used my power to cause the natural shock between us to intensify. In a quick flash of bright, golden light, he blinked a few times and held his head with his free hand.
"Wha-what happened?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, I told him, "You let yourself get caught in their hypnotism, you idiot."
"What? No way!" He argued. "I'd never let myself get caught so easily!" Looking down, he noticed that I was still holding onto him. With his face slightly turning red, he gave me a nasty look. "Do you mind?"
Averting my eyes, I gave him an answer, "Yes I mind. I'm not doing this 'cause I want to. I'm doing it because you'll just end up in a trance again if I let go." Believe me, if we didn't have that stupid spark between us, this option wouldn't even have been on my mind. Which reminds me…"Hey Chichiri! How come you didn't get hypnotized?"
Trying to think of an answer, he said, "I guess I have some sort of immunity, ya know? It's probably because of all my years training in the ways of magic and being a monk that got me out of it."
A part of that explanation stuck out to me. "Wait a second…did you say magic?"
"However, I am quite curious as to why your touch snapped Genrou out of it so quickly." Holding up a finger, he instructed, "You should probably continue to hold onto him so that nothing bad happens, ya know?" His confirming of my past statement to Genrou caused us both to shift uncomfortably.
Coughing, and in an effort to change the subject, I observed my surroundings. "Okay, we can't kill the men since they aren't at fault here, and we can't exactly fight, nor hurt, or brutally maim the women down there because—let's face it—they'd kick our asses in that lake." In no way was I saying that I couldn't defeat them. On the contrary, I could easily use Lightning to send a deathly shock through the water, since water conducts electricity, and completely fried those women to a crisp (fish sticks anyone?). But like I said, I'm really being limited by the fact that these women weren't doing all of this on purpose. And I just knew that my conscious would be bothering me for the rest of my life if I were to go through with killing them.
"You think that whole trick you did with me could snap those guys out of it?" Genrou pointed to the still trapped men. Thinking about his suggestion, I rolled it over in my head.
"Probably not…they aren't the ones being possessed by darkness…If they were the ones who were Shadow Kissed, however…then a similar thing would get them out of that miserable state…" But that's where the problem lies. How do I win against people in their own element? I listened to the never ending melody, watching the men continually fuss, attempting to escape captivity. The song…An idea suddenly hit me. What if there was a way that I could block the frequency of the song and fix everything?
Chichiri spoke my thoughts. "If we could just stop that song somehow, then we would be the ones with the advantage, ya know?" Fortunately for him, I had already thought of an idea—but I wasn't going to like it.
I sang.
"Just drive, I'm sick of talkin'
We know where this is going.
I'm done, take me home, home." My voice stayed at a moderate talking volume, just so that I could make sure that my voice was up for the task.
"I can't wait forever,
For you to get yourself together.
I'd rather be alone."
Genrou turned to me. "What…are you doing?
Face flushing from the embarrassment of it all (because I really didn't like singing in public, and now I was putting on a performance for the enemy? What has this world come to?), I told him, "Just trust me, okay?" If my song could somehow mix with the Siren's song, or even overpower it, then I could probably win this!
"I'm so tired of pretending,
Just want a happy ending."
Gathering up my energy, I allowed it to flow out along with the lyrics, transforming this song into a makeshift spell.
"Wish I could put a spell on you,
Wish I could make you feel like I do,
Wouldn't that be sweet?
So magical!"
The men in the Giga la Seoshi's were starting to calm down and listen to the music—high sign that my plan was working.
"Wish I could blink and wave a wand,
Get everything that I ever wanted.
And put a spell on you,
And make it all come true."
I could tell that the Shadow Sirens were starting to get frustrated because their song's volume increased. Apparently, my song was a threat—another great sign that I was making valuable progress.
"You taught me what I know,
Guys like you come and go,
But I know things can change."
Using my natural power over Wind, my voice gets sweetly carried throughout the whole area, lake included, to make sure that everyone could hear every word, loud and clear.
"See my heart it may be broken
But that won't stop me hoping.
Wish I could put a spell on you,
Wish I could make you feel like I do,
Wouldn't that be sweet?
So magical!"
At this point, each and every one of the Shadow-possessed Sirens poked their head above the water in an attempt to make their voices more prominent. They knew that they were losing and if I was going to finish it, it had to be now.
No matter what, I had to keep singing, especially when the enemy was now fully exposed, allowing all of their energy to come gushing out in one big burst. Even I was beginning to feel the chill of the darkness emitting off of them, but like the voice said: I had to stay strong.
"Wish I could blink and wave a wand,
Get everything that I ever wanted.
And put a spell on you,
And make it all come true.
I just wanna know what we should've done,
Wanna figure out what we could've become,
Cause in my heart I'm not over you."
Letting go of Genrou, since I was sure that the Sirens' song wouldn't affect him at this point, I levitated myself into the air, floating over the lake and maintaining my initial focus. Any chance of me winning this relied on my use of Light, so while reliving happy memories of the past, the warm feeling of Light welled up in me.
I hadn't even realized it, but I was smiling as I sang. I suppose that singing does calm me down a bit…I recalled how on the night I sang at Hikaru and Kaoru's party, I received my first kiss—believing that that was where I truly belonged. But thanks to Dark, I knew that I still had a part of my dearest friends in my heart, who gave me the strength to continue on every day.
"I just wanna go back and try it again,
Turn back the time
This isn't the end of us.
This isn't the end of us!
Wish I could put a spell on you,
Wish I could make you feel like I do,
Wouldn't that be sweet?
So magical!"
With the warm feeling growing inside of me, waves of pleasure continued to run through me, putting me in a moment of genuine bliss. Why am I feeling so amazing this time? Every other time I used Light, it felt good, but the incredible feeling was never this dramatic and…and natural! Has something happened to make me feel this way? For the first time in my life, I felt like I was the most powerful being alive—as if nothing could ruin my blissful buzz.
With my body completely covered in Light—and might I point out that this was the longest I had ever managed to maintain this power—I dipped one finger into the water, resulting in my Light spreading completely throughout the water, consuming the women in pure cloaks of golden energy. Brightness emitting the whole area, I looked over at Genrou and Chichiri who were staring in awe. While being in the state of true happiness, I gave them both a smile. Once Genrou and I locked gazes, a shock wave left my body, encouraging the light to shine even brighter.
Knowing that I was on the verge of winning, I summoned away the Giga la Seoshi's, which left a whole bunch of un-trance(d) men fallen to the ground, sleeping.
Time to finish this up.
"Wish I could blink and wave a wand,
Get everything that I ever wanted.
And put a spell on you,
And make it all come true.
Wish I could put a spell on you,
Wish I could make you feel like I do,
Wouldn't that be sweet?
So magical!
Wish I could blink and wave a wand,
Get everything that I ever wanted.
And put a spell on you,
And make it all come true." With that last word, the brightest flash of light imaginable shone throughout the area. The moment it dimmed down, the lake was completely gone, not even a crater left behind, and the women had (thankfully) reverted back into normal humans, sans the mermaid tails, pale skin, and black eyes.
Energy completely drained, gravity took over, causing me to drop to the ground. At the very last second, I could feel myself being caught by someone—Genrou.
Giving me a confident smile, he commented, "That wasn't half bad. I never woulda though that you could do anything like that."
Returning the smile, I told him, "You and me both." I'm completely exhausted, but it felt wonderful. I was lucky that I was even able to do all of that—even if it was a one-time thing, I was very grateful.
"I'm impressed with your singing!" Chichiri complimented. "Besides that, you really seem like the type of person who would be full of surprises, ya know?"
Dude, you have no idea. "Story of my life."
After I recovered and clothes dried off (thank God), the three of us managed to help everyone out and rally them back to town. Luckily the town was neighboring the forest, otherwise this would have been a huge pain. I didn't notice it until we got out of the forest that the negative energy barrier that had contained it, making it look as dark as night, had dissolved away—returning the space to its natural state.
Everyone was so grateful for what we had done that they completely surrounded us in the town square—men and women alike had huge smiles on their faces reflecting that all of the darkness was purified out of them.
"Suzaku bless you three for helping us."
"We owe you our lives."
"I never felt so happy in all my life!"
"What can we ever do to repay you?"
"We would have been stuck in that misery if you three had never come along!"
All the attention was making me self-conscious. Even if it was good attention, it didn't change the fact that I hated being in the middle of crowd—and since I was literally in the middle of the crowd, I felt even worse.
Yet…I felt really good.
Looking down with a flushed face, I made sure that they got the record straight. "I only did it because it's my job to take care of the Shadow Maidens n' stuff…" I wasn't sure if they could hear what I said since it sort of did come out as a mumble.
A group of little kids fight their way to get through the front of the crowd just so that they could present themselves to us. Apparently, the little kids were in town the whole time, they were just hiding in little nooks and crannies to avoid being influenced by the darkness. The mystery of how they avoided it—cause I was completely sure that hiding wouldn't excuse you from the inevitable darkness—was beyond me.
"Thank you so much, Miss, for saving our parents."
One of them tugged on my jacket. "I was so scared…but you three made everything okay."
"I want to be just like you guys when I grow up!"
Seeing all of their big eyes and cute faces made the blood rush to my face even faster. What I didn't expect to see what Chichiri leaning over to look at my face.
"You're as red as a tomato. You should get that checked, ya know." Gasping, I turned away and hid my warm face with both of my hands. How embarrassing!
From being my fingers, I could hear Genrou gasp as well—but more in an epiphany than in embarrassment. "Oh yeah, there's somethin' I've been meanin' to ask ya folks—"
"Why get so serious my young friend?" An elder of the group pointed out and exposed a big wrinkly smile. "This is a time for joy—get questions out of the way later—after the celebration!"
The bandit groaned. "Look old man, I really gotta—"
"There will be much drinking and merriment for all! Even a big feast!"
Genrou continued. "Like I said, I can't—" He paused after the man's words sunk in. Then a goofy grin appeared on his face. "Did you say…drinking? As in sake?"
The old man nodded. "Why yes! What kind of celebration would it be without it?"
"Alright then! Let the party begin!" Flame-head bellowed followed by laughter. The rest of the townspeople felt compelled to laugh along with him.
Off to the side, Chichiri and I stared at the sight.
"I'm amazed that it was that easy to get him off track, ya know?"
I sighed. "Seriously."
"Well I hope that you're happy with yourself."
It was late in the night and the town was still hot in celebration. Either this place was really grateful to us, or this was just a party town from the beginning. There were colorful lanterns lit up everywhere, as well as tables and tables of food being surrounded by merry dancing people to music being made by the town's musicians.
Genrou had pretty much been eating and drinking sake the whole time, apparently enjoying himself. When you first meet the guy, he seems like this tough badass who is all work or fight-oriented the whole time. Never did I expect this guy to also be the fun-loving type.
"Happy? Hell, I'm completely content!"
As the town continued to celebrate, Genrou and I found a nearby rooftop to sit and watch the events of the night take place below us. Chichiri seemed like he was having a good time playing with the little kids—showing them some magic tricks and giving them piggy-back rides. The whole scene was actually pretty adorable.
Rubbing my temples, I voiced my opinion. "Out of all the people to travel with, I happened to attach myself to an alcoholic."
He sat up. "Who are ya callin' an alcoholic?"
"Oh, I don't know, probably the underage drunkard sitting next to me."
"What d'ya mean underage?" His eyebrow cocked up.
"You know perfectly well what I mean. You can't be any older than me, and the law says that if you're under twenty one—" My words trailed off as he persisted with his peculiar look. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm not in America and I'm not in my world or timeline—of course the laws are different. Sighing, I told him, "Never mind."
"Besides, I'm not an alcoholic. That stuff is a luxury that I don't get the pleasure of havin' all of the time, even if I wanted to. Plus, you gotta understand," Putting his hand on my shoulder, I turned to him in an alarmed state. His face seemed slightly flushed and his eyes a bit droopy, the apparent scent of alcohol rolling off of his breath. Yup…he's drunk. "I hadn't eaten or drunken anything decent in weeks! Those damn jerks back at that inn sorta interrupted my meal, remember?" Nodding, I signified that I recalled that day quite well. Maybe not a heavy drunk, more like buzzed, tipsy at best. Without warning, he put his arm around my shoulders and started to chuckle. "Plus, you gotta lighten' up Aki! It is a party after all. Sometimes, one needs to have a good time!"
Taking my hand, I took his from around me, causing his arm to drop to his side. "No, I don't. Scene's like this aren't really my thing." This whole conversation was almost an exact reflection of the one I had with Hikaru at that festival in Karuizawa. I wasn't quite sure whether the memory should have made me sad or happy… "I guess I'll have to be the one to point this out, but didn't you want to ask the townspeople for something?"
"Oh yeah…" Falling back onto the rooftop to lie on his back in a comfortable position.
"And…" Letting out a deep exhale, I went on, "I promise to keep my promise."
Turning to lie on his side, he faced me. "Promise?"
"Yeah…I told you that if you didn't get any leads towards the info you wanted, I'd leave you alone."
His face softened as my words processed in his brain. "Oh yeah…I forgot about that." Closing his eyes, his voice began to trail off. "Why do you women have ta complicate things? How 'bout we talk about this in the morning? Or…whenever I wake up…"
Looking down at him, I waited for him to say something else, but there was nothing coming out of him except for gentle breaths. He was asleep.
I couldn't help but sigh again, but this one resulted in a small smile. "Genrou, you are definitely an interesting character." Upon further observation of his features—his wild fiery hair, the way his seemingly gentle face reflected the glow of the lanterns below, the sharp canines of his that could be seen with every inhale—it occurred to me that this guy wasn't that bad looking…in fact, he was kind of attractive (him being asleep helped considerably as well)—not that I was enticed in any way! Not at all! Only of you like that whole "tough guy trying to be macho" kind of thing...
Seeing Chichiri, the newest character added to the story of my life, down below with the children in mixture with the fanged bandit next to me, I began to wonder about all the things that were about to happen. Miaka was probably going to be gone for a while, so I was probably in for a long, wild ride.
The song was called "Magical" by Selena Gomez.
ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.
All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D
-Aloe
PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.
Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!