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!
*On the last chapter of Love Hurts 5 Ways, Miaka, Nuriko, and Chichiri set off to find the remaining three Suzaku warriors while Hotohori, Aki, and Shokyoku stayed behind at the palace in Konan. Chichiri and Hotohori, thanks to Aki's direction, had formulated a plan to allow Hotohori to assist his Priestess on her journey, all while still figuring that Aki would be better off at the palace where she both wasn't a burden or a threat. But in light of what Shokyoku said regarding Tasuki's potential ability to heal Aki, Aki decided to include herself in the big switcheroo. In other words, Chichiri took Hotohori's place in the palace by shape-shifting into him, while Aki, Shokyoku, and Hotohori went to join Miaka and Nuriko.
In the midst of being reunited, sans Chichiri, the group was attacked by the Mt. Reikaku Bandits, ending up with the four being taken in as hostages (Shokyoku not really because they couldn't see her)—Aki and Shokyoku were willingly captured since Aki recognized the bandits name and recognized it as Tasuki's affiliation.
While at the bandit hideout, Miaka realizes that the next Suzaku warrior could be around, so she willingly gets taken to the boss. All the while, Aki sits around, figuring it wasn't her place to point Tasuki out to them, waited patiently for him to appear, since only she and Shokyoku knew of his true identity. Once it was brought to the Suzaku warrior's attention that Miaka was potentially in trouble, they, along with the apathetic Aki who discovered that Tasuki wasn't even around, went to save her from the bandit leader, Eiken.
Shortly after rescuing her from being nearly raped, she was taken hostage by none other than Tasuki himself! Recognizing Aki but not acknowledging her, the bandit ran off with the priestess, challenging Eiken for the spot as bandit leader. Aki, standing around confused as to what had happened, realizes how close she is to potentially getting back what she had lost.
The story continues to unfold…*
Behind me were the muffled sounds of action and struggle—even in my peripheral vision, there were some flashes of movement, the details of which were foreign to me due to my mind being a bit distracted. My eyes carefully scanned the environment visible from the open window where Tasuki had escaped with Miaka. But with it being the middle of the evening, what was visible to me with the assistance of the half moon was mostly just a mixture of rocks and boulders and trees. Any detail more than that would have only been possible for those whose eyes were meant for the night.
What did it matter anyway? As long as we stayed around like this, Tasuki could have been getting further and further away.
No…wait…he wouldn't be that far. He's expecting someone to come after him. There would be no benefit to him if no one could locate his whereabouts. Still, the growls and snarls from the phantom wolves produced by Tasuki's talismans continued to mix in with the various frustrated comments and sounds from the two bandits along with my allies. A little less than half of my attention was even focused on them, seeing as how their importance to me was becoming almost non-existent since finding Tasuki. But still, even a fraction of their racket was enough to make it more difficult to concentrate and plan my next move.
"Aki!" Shokyoku's voice called out from behind me. Once I turned around to face her, I ignored the fighting and rolling around from the skirmish that was still ensuing, and only looked onward to the little girl. Her arm was extended outwards with a pointed finger at the end as she twisted her upper body towards the exit. "The blue-haired monkey just ran out!" Huh? My eyes quickly brushed over the animated scene in the room, jumping from one person to the other only briefly. She was right: Kouji wasn't even in there anymore. Hmm…but was that really even important to me? Even with me trying to debate with myself of this incidents significance, I found my legs moving on their own towards the exit where she was pointing to, and before I knew it, the both of us were standing in the hallway that had led us to Eiken's room in the first place, noticing the rubble that was left behind when Nuriko blew a hole into the wall.
"I really don't know if this matters to us at all, I mean, he could have just been a coward who wanted to escape from all the commotion," She noted while gazing down the extended corridor. "But…I couldn't help but observe his reactions to when the flame-headed monkey came in." Pausing for a moment, she dug into her short-term memory. "It just seemed a bit suspicious, like he had a hidden agenda or something…" Giving me a curious expression, she asked, "What do you think Aki? What should we do?"
Kouji didn't come off to me as a coward who would just bail when things got rough. No…he was relatively too calm and together about the night's events to seem that way. How he was earlier when he first became known to us…he was in a leader-ship-like role, so of course it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that he'd know what was and wasn't going on with his group of bandits. Besides, when I had asked him earlier about a Suzaku Warrior being amongst them, he had this kind of look that gave me the impression that we touched on a familiar topic…even if he didn't outright say it.
There was just an itching at the back of my mind that was urging me to go after him. It was a difficult phenomenon to explain, but enough of me was convinced on this blind hunch to initiate the chase. And so the two of us lightly ran in his supposed direction, not giving another thought to the people we left behind to fend for themselves.
The only familiar part of the bandit's hideout was that one hallway we were striding through as well as the room we were brought to after being captured—everything else was pretty much foreign. Keeping in mind that I didn't have the time to get lost in this place made it all the more important that we managed to catch up to Kouji before he did whatever he was planning on doing.
"Aki, I think I hear someone's movements up ahead," Shokyoku said as we slowed our pace to avoid detection. Keeping close to the wall, I peered around the corner to inspect the situation.
Nothing.
No one was there. Unless I counted the familiar room that was probably now in shambles and littered with the unconscious bandits who tried to prevent us from getting to Miaka earlier. That room was up ahead. And no doubt the activity in there would rise once everyone came to and lost their disorientation.
"Alright guys now hold down the fort until I come back." It was Kouji's voice. Good, so we haven't lost him. "Eiken's panties are all tied up in a knot so he might be a bit unbearable to deal with for a while—what with all the commotion surroundin' the hostages as well Genrou makin' his grand appearance—"
"What did'ya say?"
"Genrou's back?" A question that was followed by faint murmurings around the room, most of which were too ambiguous for me to really understand. Apparently some of the men have already woken up, recovered or not, and their interest on current events was making them a bit anxious.
"Well where the hell is he?" One of them asked. My hearing suddenly became more acute for the answer. For a few seconds, Kouji didn't say anything. But instead, he emerged from the door, first taking a cautious glance to the left and right for any unwanted guest that might have been lingering around. That action cued me to snatch my head from its previous observing position to line it up with the rest of my body as it stood up straight and flat against the wall, fairly positive that he didn't see me. It was imperative that he didn't know he was being pursued. If he did, our chances of having him lead us to our desired destination would drop tremendously.
Something was up though…if Kouji honestly believed that no one was following him, we would have continued giving orders to his men. Was our cover blown?
"Kouji! Tell us what the hell is goin' on!"
To this, the blue-haired bandit finally responded, "Look, with any luck, all of this craziness will end tonight. So just keep doin' what'cha normally do so that Eiken doesn't suspect anything's off. And try not ta get burned. I'll be back in a little while." Try not to get burned? What does he mean by that?
"I don't know Aki, but he's coming this way!" The first part of her statement made it obvious that Shokyoku telepathically caught my query, but the second part was more of a cause for alarm. There really wasn't anywhere else for me to hide from him. Turned out that I was correct before in thinking that he was aware of us…either that or he was just following his intuition. Whichever way it was, if I couldn't find a way to make myself disappear in the next few seconds, then my life would become more unnecessarily problematic. "Wait, Aki there's a spell I can use!" A spell? What kind of spell? She flashed me a smile. "It's a spell that can bend the light around you to make you virtually invisible to anyone who looks your way!" Instead of explaining things to me, what she really should have been doing was initiating the spell. Do it. Keeping her arms tucked in close to her body, she raised her palms out and casted, "Kyokko!" Just then, the coloring all over my body seemed to dull, as if someone on the outside of existence was turning the knob on my brightness and contrast levels. It wasn't really a big change, honestly I didn't really know what to expect, but as long as the spell did its job, then who was I to really say anything about it?
Before I could even take another breath, standing before me, only about a foot away, was the darker-skinned, blue-haired bandit who, from the very beginning, had had his doubts about me due to the spreading of rumors. If he had known that it was me who was tailing him, then my mission would have not gone smoothly at all. But seeing as how he was looking directly over my head with a puzzled expression and scratching the back of his head, the spell must have been a success. To be safer than sorry, it was probably a good idea to keep my breathing really low and not say anything. Just because he couldn't see me, didn't mean that he couldn't hear me.
He took a step forward, I took a step back on the parallel side.
His head leaned to the side and he frowned. "Nothin', huh?"
"Kouji! You still over there? What're you doin'?"
Shaking his head, Kouji turned around and walked around the corner back towards the room with his comrades. "You guys make sure I'm not followed—somethin' weird is goin' on around here…Got it?!" They all gave collective answers of compliance. And with that, he took to running, which prompted us to do the same thing.
Finally we were getting somewhere.
There was still no guarantee that he was going to lead us to Tasuki, but it was better than nothing.
Once we reached the doors to the outside, I had to make sure to catch it before it closed behind him. Otherwise, if Kouji noticed the doors opening and closing on their own, then he would have been even more suspicious than he already was. And if I were in his shoes, I'd lead my pursuer on a wild goose chase away from my primary destination just to throw them off, and then confront them and order them to reveal themselves. With how sneaky I was being, there was a good chance that if he did confront me, he wouldn't kindly tell me Tasuki's whereabouts just by my asking. So in a swift move, I managed to slip through at the last second before the metal door had its chance to close on me, thus allowing me to avoid detection for at least a little bit longer.
Just as expected, most of the scenery was too covered by the darkness of night to really make out any big details. But with the light that the half moon was allowing us, many of the tops of the rocky mountains were reflecting the glow. Unfortunately, Kouji was headed inside of the more so forested area of Mt. Reikaku, which meant that I'd have to rely more on my ears than my eyes through the dark greenery. I figured, though, that as long as I stayed close to Kouji, then there would be nothing to fret about.
Let's keep at it Shokyoku.
The spell continued to hold as we made our way through the mountain, neither Shokyoku or I knowing what to expect at the end, all we could do was keep quiet and avoid any obstacles that would give us away. Because apparently, Kouji was far more perceptive than I gave him credit for. From time to time, he'd even stop and look back at us, completely unaware that he was actually looking at us. Something that continued to arouse his curiosity more and more, possibly making him question his sanity which seemed to be off considering his continued hits and misses with locating his pursuers.
Staying directly behind him throughout our trek, I began to notice that my body was actually getting slower and slower the more I forced it to run. The thing about it was how we hadn't even ran very long or very far. But apparently, my lack of any real physical strength still carried on despite the fact that I was unable to feel anything. Was it possible that my body still knew its limits even though I no longer did? I wanted to figure that since I no longer had the sensation of touch mixed with a lack of emotions, things like a weaker body, or anything harmful happening to the body, wouldn't be able to hold me back. What a bother that would be if my hypothesis was not correct. In that case…I'd have to admit something that I was hoping that wasn't worth pointing out…
I guess I'd have to see how far this went before doing such a thing.
Before too long, and past the many shadows of the mountains and trees, the three of us exited the mini forest and arrived at the base of a few flights of steps that had been carved into the mountain, leading up to some isolated one-story building that stood at the top of a small hill. The structure didn't look like much, probably the size of a two or three bedroom house in my world. But by the way that Kouji was staring up at it, the place appeared to house more of a significance. And seeing as how the windows on the front were dimly lit, it was a pretty safe assumption to make that someone was up there.
Once again, I started to suffer another round of vertigo as everything in my mind and visual perception distorted and spun unnaturally, tempting me to fall to my knees again.
"Aki!" Shokyoku shouted in concern while looking up at me with her wide, dual colored eyes. I had to keep myself up—any kind of sound I made would give us away. And I wasn't going to give us away when we had come so far. The last time this had happened to me, Tasuki had showed up and took Miaka. What if…what if this was my way of sensing him? My way of sensing Shadow Maidens had changed with my current condition, so perhaps it was a similar situation but with Tasuki. If this were in fact true, then that raises another question: why would I be sensing him in the first place?
Kouji wasn't aware of what was going on right next to him at all, so he proceeded up the steps in a quick pace. Shokyoku and I just stood in our spots, waiting for the point where he was no longer in sight and we were all clear. Just to be safe, we kept quiet for a few minutes, for the off chance that he was waiting around in our blind spot for us to reveal ourselves to catch us red-handed. We didn't hear or see anything during the while.
Still…
Best to keep the spell going until we reached the top. I took each step very carefully. All it would take would be for me to trip or kick a rock and then if someone was there waiting for us to slip up, they'd have enough proof to be pretty certain about being followed. As carefully as I was being, my steps quickened as the stairway took a slight turn, giving me a better view of the structure at the top. The path from where I was to the door was pretty clear at that point, and I didn't see Kouji hanging around anywhere. Most likely, he was already inside.
In that case…
Bringing her arms in once again, Shokyoku turned her outward spread palms inward, then clenched them into fists as she slowly brought her arms down, making it look as if she was taking hold of an invisibility cloak and then sliding it off. And the second the veil was lifted, my original coloring returned, signifying the completion of the spell.
She panted for a bit, and then finally took a deep sigh. "Stupid…paranoid monkey. If he didn't keep stopping and looking over his shoulder like that, it would have taken a shorter time to get here…" Her grey-scaled form began to attract scattered horizontal lines of interference, similarly to how it did that night when Tamahome left the royal palace. Using a spell for that long, plus running, added to her unstable form probably all meant that she was getting close to her limit. Unlike before, however, the interference ceased and her form became more or less crystal clear again when she relaxed her breathing and centered herself. Temporary moment of weakness? She then gave me a small smile. "Nothing to worry about! Just too much strain all at once kind of gives me a harder time. Lately, I suppose I forget every now and then of how this isn't a true physical form. It really is unfortunate…" She nuzzled up against me. "But regardless of if this form can handle anything or not, I'm willing to give anything a try for you Aki!"
Whatever. I guess it's not that important.
"Tasuki is in there, isn't he?" I asked.
Groaning as if this were a topic she didn't want to discuss, the small girl said, "Good chance. After all, Yuki's inside."
"How do you know that?" Her eyes suddenly widened as she jumped away and folded her fingers behind her back, deliberately doing her best not to look me in the eye.
"Umm…doesn't really matter…it makes sense though, right? I mean, the monkey went in there, so naturally, th-the others would be in there too!" Her face twisted in distress. If she was really that determined to keep something to herself, then at least she should do a more efficient job at it. Clearing her throat, she brightly smiled while winking at me. "It's a secret!" That's what I thought.
In front of me was a large iron door with bolts lined in rows and columns, and handles in the center which would allow me my access inside. Grabbing hold of them and not even giving a thought to knocking or asking permission, I invested a bit of force to push them open and of course, was met with a little resistance along with a more than obvious scraping sound that accompanied with the metal making contact with the ground as it moved.
Upon entering, I was welcomed to a large, dimly lit room, being illuminated only by a couple candles sitting on a single table. The room itself was actually pretty barren in a matter of materials or furniture, making it pretty clear that this wasn't the type of place where someone would live—at least not long-term.
And sitting in the middle of the room almost in a huddle, were the Priestess of Suzaku, unharmed, along with the two bandits we had been chasing.
Tasuki…he's here.
"ONEE-CHAN!" Miaka sprang up from her spot on the floor and practically flew at me, throwing her arms around my neck, her velocity being too much for me to handle, resulting in us abruptly falling to the ground and her on top of me. The Priestess of course seemed unfazed by the fall seeing as how she was still clinging onto me as if all of life depended on it. "Onee-chan you came for me! I'm so happy! I knew that you still loved me deep down!"
"Hey!" Shokyoku got down to her knees to yell closer into Miaka's ear. "Stop hogging Aki all to yourself as if she belonged to you or something! Hey! I said hands off!"
Looking over Miaka's shoulder, my eyes locked onto Tasuki's amber orbs. And somehow, this brief connection brought out a snicker from him.
"Took ya long enough ta get here Aki—I was beginnin' ta think ya wouldn't show." So he did see me before. Thought so. For some reason his long coat was off, leaving him in his white long-sleeved undershirt. I didn't expect him to find him in such a comfortable state given the night's evens, but whatever.
"Like I was tellin' Kouji before, I would have acknowledged ya, but that probably would have ruined the badass effect I was tryin' ta set. So don't worry, I couldn't forget about'cha even if I tried."
Finally, Miaka brought her head up, her face only a few inches away from mine. Then she peeked back at Tasuki then back at me. "Aki-nee-chan…how exactly do you know Genrou?"
Remembering not to reveal too much to her, I began to say, "Well, I—"
"'Aki-nee-chan'?" Tasuki repeated in mild confusion. "What the hell is up with that? I thought'cha said before that your sis passed away?"
I addressed him. "Kajou is dead…and she is or was my only sibling."
"Aww…" There was a swift flicker of melancholy in her olive eyes, but only for a fraction of a second before placing a large grin on her lips. "I know you say that now Onee-chan, but I know how you really feel!" Miaka turned to him. "We're not biologically related—we're just really good childhood friends! And I respect her so much that she seems to me like a big sister."
"I knew someone was followin' me," Kouji pointed out accusingly, "And I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda hopin' that it wasn't her." He then gave Tasuki a look. "Alright Genrou quit with the suspense, how the hell do ya even know this woman?" Kouji sat with his arms crossed and with a mix of concern and intrigue reflecting off of his face. "It's been itchin' me for a while about who she is."
Tasuki tossed a look over to me before giving his friend an answer. "Who, Aki? She's a sorceress I met and traveled with little while ago while searchin' for Hakurou's cure." He then gave a smirk that displayed one of his fangs. "At least now she's dressin' a little more normally. Before she made it a little too obvious that she wasn't from around here. And now," The attention of the room was brought over to the modern school-uniformed Miaka. "This chick comes in wearin' some equally weird clothes. Man, must be some world they come from, eh?"
Somewhere along the lines of Tasuki's explanation, Kouji caught onto a point of interest. "A cure? For the old boss?"
Sighing with exasperation, Tasuki sat back with a noted hint of frustration in his voice. Sitting cross-legged and leaning his cheek into his palm, he complained, "Yeah…ya can't even imagine the crap we went through ta get that damned flower. But now it doesn't even matter since…Hakurou died before I even had a chance ta give it to 'im…" So in the end, I wasted a part of my life for nothing. Of course, whenever it comes to helping people, there is always the chance of running the risk of getting absolutely no benefit in return. Looking back on it, if I were in the same position I was in now, considering the Mt. Reikaku's leader's life had no significance to mine in any way, shape, or form, there was a good chance, that I wouldn't feel obligated in any way to even help Tasuki out. In fact…I couldn't even recall why I had in the first place… "And then what? When I come back I find all my men grovelin' at Eiken's dirty feet as if I never even existed. What the hell ever happened ta loyalty?"
"Nah ya got it all wrong Genrou," Kouji assured. "We're only doin' what he says 'cause of the treasure that the old boss left behind." Treasure? "If Eiken didn't have that kind of power, there's no way in Hell that we'd take orders from him. We all know that you are the rightful boss—that's how Hakurou wanted it."
"Hold on." Everyone in the room turned to me as I finally found something worth talking about. "When you say 'treasure', what is it that you mean?" If whatever this was had such a negative effect on people, perhaps I needed to see if it proved to be any kind of threat to me.
"It's a tessen," Kouji told me.
"A…tessen?" Miaka had a puzzled look on her face as she place a finger under her lip while pondering on it.
"A fan," I clarified.
"Ohhhh~" She dropped a fist into the open palm of her opposite hand in understanding. "You guys are afraid of a wimpy fan?"
Their sudden frustrated reactions shown on their facial expressions led me to believe that both guys were a bit insulted by her inquiry. The flame-headed bandit quickly cleared up the misconception. "Look, it's not what'cher thinkin'! This fan is made out of solid iron and it has a special ability."
"Really? Like what?"
Kouji continued, "When you say a certain spell, it shoots out some intense flames that can burn ya to ashes without even a second thought. So you can imagine our difficulty in tryin' ta go against him."
"Is that so?" A fan with that kind of power did seem vaguely interesting. Of course, with my powers over the elements, it was most likely no cause of alarm to me. But at some point, it would be best for him to know his place in the natural order.
"Ya know…somethin' else has been buggin' me." Tasuki scratched the back of his head irritatingly before shooting his sharp eyes at me. "What's up with you? You've been actin' funny ever since ya got here. I mean, where's the attitude? I half expected'ja ta bring a storm in after I took your little sis." He pointed to his head. "I even mentally prepared myself for you whackin' me in the head with that damn hammer o' yours." All of those were the kind of emotionally charged responses I'd usually give…It figures he'd expect something like that from me. He didn't know what had happened to me yet.
"What the?" Kouji gave him a peculiar expression. "Why the heck would she be whackin' you in the head? Exactly what kind of relationship do you two have?"
Tasuki's head immediately snapped at him. "Now don't you go assumin' things either—it's not like that!" Not like…what exactly?
"Umm if you're wondering about Aki-nee-chan…" The mention of my name made Tasuki switch his attention towards his priestess (the priestess of which he wasn't even aware of yet). Her face fell, wiping away all signs of her normally cheery nature. "Well…you see…there was an incident…" Noticing her serious expression prompted a similar reaction from Tasuki, who immediately calmed down and adopted an atmosphere of concern.
"None of that matters," I told them as I pushed Miaka away to allow me an easier access to standing up. Once I was on my feet, I slowly made my way over to Tasuki with only one goal in mind. "The only thing that matters is the present…and how the present can benefit my future…"
"What the hell're you talkin' abou—" I dropped to my knees, facing him from less than an arm's length away, a notion that, for some reason, made his words trail off. And I just sat like that with a straight face, ignoring anyone else in the room as I gazed into his amber eyes, still wondering what it was exactly that I was trying to accomplish. My close proximity to him gave me the impression that he was a bit uncomfortable seeing how stiff his body appeared to be, along with his expression that was trying to figure out the meaning for my actions. "What're you doing?" In the middle of his question, I reached out and rested his cheek in my hand, an feat that not only earned me a blush as his eyes widened, but Kouji and Miaka both rushing up to us as if we were some amazing side show—both of their mouths gaping open.
"I've been looking for you….I need you…"
"Wait a second…! What the hell?" He did a mini jump in his seat as he tried to scoot away, but something kept him from proceeding any further.
"Genrou? What's goin' on?"
"Omigosh a love confession!" Miaka's fingers were intertwined with each other as her eyes sparkled upon watching the sight. "I always knew that Onee-chan would find someone! Although I sort of question your tastes, I completely support you! The power of love shines through even past her emotionlessness!"
Tasuki only caught onto a few of her words due to his being distracted. "Emotionless? Wait…why would you question her tastes? You sayin' somethin's wrong with me?!"
He's not paying attention to me. Taking my hand from his face, I took hold of his hand and held it up into view. He can do and say what he wants to anyone he wants after he's given me back what I lost. After that, I don't even care if he dies or not. "Don't pay them any attention. Like I said before, I need you." I leaned in only slightly, allowing my mind to venture back to the time when Shokyoku had told me the reason for coming along with Miaka and the others. Something of mine was missing, and although I didn't know what it was, she informed me that he might be the only one to restore it. There was something that he had to do… "Listen to me very carefully Genrou." I still had to remember to keep his identity a secret. "There is something that only you can do for me. I need you to touch me."
For a few moments, everyone in the room, including Shokyoku, gave me blank faces—as if none of them knew what to do with themselves…or as if their brains were temporarily malfunctioning.
Shokyoku was the first to speak. "Aki…I love you but…I really wish you could have said that differently…" What did I say? Isn't that what I came here for? She chuckled uneasily. "You don't…quite understand…I guess you wouldn't…"
"WHAAAAAAT?!" And just like that, the others were unfrozen and reacting in an unnecessarily animated manner as the shock of whatever I said finally settled.
"Onee-chan don't you think you're moving a little took quickly?" Miaka frantically asked with a flushed face. Kouji too gave off the impression that he wanted to say something, but he was too wound up in watching Tasuki to observe his next move.
Tasuki jerked his hand away and shifted his body perpendicular to mine, to where it no longer directly faced me. "Aki what the hell has gotten into you?! Stop messin' with me!" In a huff, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes. His blush still ran across his face and had covered his ear as well. Clearly my words had more of an impact than I was intending. It was just a simple request—why were they making such a big deal about it? And that was when a thought entered into my head. They don't think that I meant in a sexual manner did they? Shokyoku caught onto my question and nodded. I don't see why they should assume something like that.
"You misunderstood me." I continued to stare at Tasuki, trying to get him to comply with my request. The more I thought about it, I could sort of see why they'd come to that kind of conclusion. In a way, it was my fault. I should have elaborated on what I was asking for. Unfortunately, I could not elaborate for I myself was still in the dark about what I should have been expecting. However, given the context of the situation, you'd think that they would be intelligent enough to figure that I wouldn't mean something sexual. They really needed to get their minds out of the gutters.
"Well what else was I supposed ta think when ya say somethin' like—" Once he took a glimpse at me out of the corner of his eye, something told me that he finally got the message of how serious I was about this. Though his cheeks were still kind of pink, his body noticeably relaxed as he started to twist his upper body towards me. Something about my face must have allowed the wires in his mind to connect. "Aki…you…"
Right when I thought that we were making progress, Kouji shoots himself up from the ground and rapidly grabs the back of Tasuki's collar then drags him away muttering, "This is ridiculous! You and I are gonna have a looooong talk about what the heck happened between you two on your journey. Somehow you went from hatin' women to shackin' it up with some girl? I don't believe it."
Tasuki started to flail his arms around. "Hey! It ain't me that's screwy! It's Aki! She's more insane than usual!"
Sliding over to me, Miaka tugged on my sleeve with a tentative expression. "Onee-chan...did you do adult things with this guy while I was away?"
Shokyoku immediately intervened. "There's no way that I'd allow that to happen!"
But naturally, the priestess had no idea of what the grey-scaled girl even said. "Please tell me: are you a woman now?"
From nowhere, Tasuki appeared standing next to Miaka and leaned over a bit to punch her upside the head. "Look you. I didn't do anythin' to 'er so stop makin' me out as some kind of horny guy er somethin'!"
Miaka cringed from the punch but proceeded to ask, "So…you do wanna do something with her, right?" She started to nudge him with her elbow as a mischievous smile played on her face. "She is quite the catch!" Again, he whacked her in the head, but this time, he continuously twisted and drove his knuckle in an uncomfortable fashion. Her face twisted in distress. "Owie ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!"
When he figured that she had had enough, he let up from the torture and crossed his arms, throwing his head to the side in frustration. "Alright we're wastin' time here—there's better things we should be doin'."
"Changin' the subject only makes ya look more suspicious," Kouji blatantly pointed out.
At that, Tasuki gave a low growl while clenching his fist. Feverishly turning to me, he asked zealously, "Why the hell are you actin' so damn calm here?! I'm not the only one in this!" Of course all of their emotions raging like that once again lead to a continuous loop of pointless conversation that was leading nowhere. If people didn't put so much emphasis into things, then problems like this wouldn't happen.
"Oh yeah…about that…" Miaka beginning to speak earned her a nasty glare from Tasuki, who thought that she was going to say something that he disapproved of once again. But on the contrary, she referred to his observation of my calm demeanor. "You see that ring around her head? It takes away all of her emotions. So she's most likely to not only not react to much, but she has the habit of being quite blunt, even more so than her usual self who has a little more self-control." I have plenty of self-control. Probably even more than I had with my emotions. She was making it sound as if I was less efficient this way. Well…this only displays more of her flawed reasoning as an emotionally dependent being.
Inspecting the silver ring encircling my head, Tasuki stroked his chin as the new information processed. "So it's all 'cause of that thing, eh?" He reached out for it, leading me to prepare for an evasive maneuver at the intrusive act, or, if necessary, physical retaliation. "Why don't we just take it off then? This Aki is sorta freakin' me out—"
"No Genrou!" Miaka warned, making him pause and look at her. "You can't take it off…something really bad will happen if you do. Because of her Darkness, not only would we get hurt, but," Her eyelids drooped as her previous peppiness drained from her. "She's get hurt worst of all…"
I lifted my eyes up to his. Stella had changed so much about my life in the matter of seconds—left me in a state where I couldn't defend myself, swirling in a hurricane of my own negative emotions fueling the Darkness that taunted me every day for as long as I could remember, and then of course taking away one of my primary senses. All of this in the effort to get me to convert into a Shadow Maiden. Of course she failed given that I was still who I always had been, but somewhere in that whole transaction, something was lost. And its absence to my being had only been affecting me recently. To ensure my survival, even if I must live on in this emotionless state or be cursed to a defenseless existence, I knew that deep down, I had to retrieve what had been taken from me…or else be forever incomplete.
The first step, before anything else on my life's path, had to be to get back what I had lost. And supposedly, Tasuki was potentially the key. So I needed him to cooperate.
"Alright," Kouji strode over to us nonchalantly—his character coming off as all business, shaking away all of the hijinks from before. "I'm sure that what ever happened to ya folks was unfortunate, but Genrou, we can't stay distracted like this. Remember that we're tryin' to do somethin' about Eiken. We can't get involved with other people's problems when we have our own."
"Well yeah…I know you're right…" Even as he said that, he gave me a sideways glance, a move that Miaka happened to catch onto.
"Aki-nee-chan really does need help but…" The priestess extended her arm out and laid her hand on Tasuki's arm in sympathy. She gave him a small smile. "My other friends and I are all working on it so you don't have to worry about her. Thank you so much for caring though!"
Taking his hand, he scraped her hand from his arm in an act of annoyance and mumbled, "I don't care…"
As if someone had flipped a switch, Miaka perked up and clapped her hands once, and made a proclamation to the population of the room with much vigor. "Alright people! Our mission right now is to help Genrou get back to his rightful place as the bandit leader!"
"…what?" Kouji and Tasuki both exchanged an air of disapproval.
"I mean, that guy stole it from you right? So why not we all work together?"
"Hold on a minute!"
"It's not your problem so you stay out of it!"
She ignored any of their protests. "We'll have to sneak back and meet up with Hotohori and Nuriko and tell them what's going on—no doubt that they're worried about us right now. But once we're all together," Her smile widened, "That pig-man Eiken won't even have what it takes to stop all of us at once! Not even with that fire fan of his!"
This had blown too far out of proportion. What was supposed to be a simple operation or exchanged turned into something that I had absolutely no interest to take part in. Honestly, Miaka had no right to bring the rest of us into this. Their bandit problems were of no concern to me. All I needed was for Tasuki to touch me so that I could see if Shokyoku's hypothesis was correct. Because if it wasn't, then I needed to know so that I could move on to find out what the cure really was.
"What a stinkin' minute!" Tasuki erupted. "What the hell're you doin' callin' all the shots? You're supposed ta be our hostage!" That's right…she was kidnapped, wasn't she?
Somehow, she still didn't hear him. "I think it's fair that if we help you guys out, then you have to help us find out who Tasuki is—I'd say that's a fair trade, right?"
Tasuki just grinded his teeth in response while Kouji pointed out, "I think she's ignorin' us. And I have a feeling that when she's fired up like this, it's pointless tryin' to get through ta her." The two of them turned their backs to the girl who was still standing tall and deciding the future plans for the group all on her own. They huddled together in an effort for a semi-private meeting, Kouji leaning his elbow on Tasuki's shoulder. "I'm gonna be frank here: I don't wanna bring her along. Hell, I especially don't wanna bring red-eyes over there along either. They are unnecessary baggage and are probably more trouble than they're worth."
Mulling it over in his head, Tasuki just groaned and scratched his head. "Ya know what? This whole mess is just a huge pain in the ass and I really don't wanna have ta focus on two things at once. Our goal is to take Eiken down, and if these girls tag along with their little chums, whatever—we're just waistin' time arguin' about it. If any of them get hurt, then it's all on them." He motioned over to me with his thumb. "Besides, Aki can actually be pretty useful, so it's not the worst idea bringin' her with us—"
"Alright then!" Miaka jumped up and wrapped her arms around both Kouji and Tasuki's necks, bringing the three of them in closer together. "So it's settled! We're all going!" Still leaving them with irritated expressions, Miaka released them and pointed to the door in an overly dramatic fashion. "So let's get a move on!"
Repeating his method of punishment from earlier, Tasuki dropped a heavy fist onto the top of his priestesses head, stopping her in her tracks. "Stop takin' the lead! I'm the boss and you are the hostage! We call all the shots, not some twerp like you!" And just like that, it had been decided that there was a plan to take seize of the Mt. Reikaku bandit's hideout.
I opened my mouth to rebut their choice, seeing as how the situation no longer had anything to do with me or my well-being, but Shokyoku suddenly spoke up. "There's no point now Aki." No point? "His heart isn't in the right place to help you out now. Like the moron he is, his mind is too distracted with his other problems." She sighed. "As much as I'd love to force and torture him to comply with our agenda, it wouldn't work." There were still so many questions about Shokyoku's plan in the first place, and now I was learning that there were conditions for it. "In order for things to play out in such a way that we get positive results, we'll have to time it just right." Scoffing lightly, she rested her small hands on her hips. "I'm pretty sure we would have had him earlier if that blue-haired monkey and useless priestess weren't there to interrupt." Interrupt what exactly? No matter how much I asked, it would appear as if I would never get a clear answer. All I could do in my position was just ride out the wave until my opportunity hit.
Whatever it was...
Being as discreet as we could manage, the five of us crawled through the thick layers of branches and bushes that just so happened to have conveniently grown in a location that made it easy for us to survey the situation going on inside of the bandit's hideout. There was quite a bit of movement going on, enough to where we could see the shadowed silhouettes dashing back and forth in the windows. I was most definitely certain that the men Hotohori, Nuriko, and I had taken out were surely awake by now.
Off to my side, the most noticeable sight was of Tasuki and Shokyoku glaring at one another. Something that I didn't even think was possible until our journey back over here.
Walking along the same dark, mountainous path that Shokyoku and I had followed Kouji down proved to be a lot less of a bother now that we no longer had to sneak around and use up energy to do so. The half-moon had traveled to its newest position in the sky, being almost directly overhead, providing only a smidge more of light that we had to work with before, which at least made the path more visible and the obstacles more avoidable. Still though, it was necessary to watch our backs just in case Eiken had sent out a scout or something to watch out for us and report back. But that guy really didn't come off as someone who would actually give anything very much thought. Which of course probably meant that defeating him wouldn't prove to be much of a problem, even with his bewitched tessen. In any case the faster we got this over with, the faster I could retrieve what was lost to me.
In the meantime, Tasuki and Kouji were preoccupied and borderline fascinated with my emotionless stat—Tasuki more so since he had known me before while I was more vulnerable to emotions. It was almost as if the two of them couldn't even believe that such a thing could happen to a person.
"Eh…I don't buy it," Tasuki said while inspecting me up close. "I heard what Miaka was sayin', but I know you. There's no way that ya can't feel anything. I say that especially 'cause it's you."
Kouji joined in, also tossing me a peculiar countenance. "Yeah…I may not have met this chick before, but if what you're tellin' me is true Genrou, then she really is the woman that those Mt. Kaou chumps were so freaked out about. Someone like that doesn't come off ta me as the type of person who could be detained so easily." Clearly those two didn't understand the complexities of magic, and they underestimated its capabilities.
Miaka tried to cease their doubt. "It was hard for us to accept either and believe me, we tried getting a reaction out of her…but nothing! And to tell you the truth, she's not that better off without the ring on her head either—Hey, what are you guys doing?!" The two bandits began conducting their own experiments bent on getting some sort of rise out of me—a feat that I was positive that Nuriko had attempted before but of course didn't work. They started making faces, pulling on my cheeks, poking me with a stick—all the things you'd sort of expect a little kid to do in this kind of situation. If anything this gave me a rough estimation of their mental ages. Just as predicted, though, I didn't get mad or sad or…anything really. I just kept walking, allowing them to do what they wanted until they were satisfied. Better to get this out of the way sooner than later. Miaka however didn't think of this as the best idea on their end. "Aki-nee-chan is not going to like you doing that!"
"I dunno…" Tasuki said while continuously poking my cheek, an action that I would otherwise have been unaware of him doing without my ability to see it in my peripheral. "I'm gettin' the feelin' that she doesn't mind it all that much. If she was gonna do somethin', she woulda done it by now."
While I didn't necessarily mind the game they were playing as we passed the time, Shokyoku looked as if she was ready to murder someone, what with her right, turquoise-colored eye intently sending daggers at the bandits from its corner as she looked back at us from ahead. Without giving it another thought, she paused and stuck her leg out in from of Tasuki, investing just enough energy to make it solid enough for a normal person to interact with. And just as I'd expect from someone who couldn't see her, the flame-headed Suzaku warrior immediately got his foot caught, making him lose his balance and fall face-first to the rocky ground below.
"God…dammit…" He muttered.
Kouji towered over him with crossed arms, looking down at his companion. "Hey Genrou. You know these mountains like the back of your hand, how could ya be so uncoordinated like that?" Shokyoku just snickered.
"Teaches him right for messing with my Aki like that~"
Bringing his hands into a fist, in one swift move, he jumped up to his feet and pointed an accusing finger directly towards Shokyoku. "What the hell ya stupid brat?! I've had just about enough of you!" Shokyoku blinked at him, not fully convinced that he was talking to her.
Miaka held up her palms in a defensive manner. "But that wasn't me!"
He shook his head at her. "I wasn't talkin' to you Miaka. I'm talkin' to that oddly dressed kid who's grey all over except for her freaky eyes!" This time it was my turn to be surprised. There wasn't any possible way that he could actually have been talking about Shokyoku…right? "I thought I was imaginin' things earlier when I saw her, and no one else seemed to have given her a second look other than me, but this pretty much slices it! I know you're there kid, so stop hidin'!" Extending his arm out, he attempted to grab at her collar in one swift move, but his hand proceeded to phase right through her, causing his eyes to widen as if he had seen a ghost. He even brought his hand up to his face to check if it had happened to catch hold of anything. But as expected, there was nothing. "What?"
"Umm…Genrou? You feelin' alright?" Kouji gave his friend a look of bewilderment and concern. Miaka's face didn't display any much of a difference. "There isn't anyone there…"
Tasuki was quickly getting agitated. "I'm tellin' you she's right there!" Shokyoku (nor I) could really grasp onto this new discovery right away. She'd circle around him to see if his eyes would follow her, her own eyes inspecting him closely, and sure enough, he was able to catch onto her exact movements. So it was true...
He could see her!
I took a glimpse over to the others who were watching Tasuki watch Shokyoku. But to them, it just appeared as if Tasuki was moving his head and eyes around for no apparent reason. From that alone, it was safe to assume that they still couldn't see her…but he could.
"Well what do you know…the flame-headed monkey can see me…I can't say that I'm thrilled about this Aki…" Her whole face fell into a sour grimace the more the fact sunk in. I continued to observe him and half-expected him to say something in response to her comment. But he didn't. And if he was able to see her earlier as well, then he would have said something in regards to what she told me about him. But he didn't. Did that mean that he could see her, but not hear her?
How strange…
Still the other two gazed upon him as if he were some kind of side show wonder, not quite knowing how to respond in this kind of situation.
But finally, Miaka managed to mentally dig up a bit of information that she had temporarily forgotten, which had ended up causing her to get caught up in the type of confusion that she shouldn't have been effected by in the first place.
"Ahhh now I see what's going on here! Silly me!" Holding up her index finger in explanation, she gave Kouji and Tasuki her attention. "I feel kind of stupid now. But I just realized! Genrou must be talking about Shokyoku!"
The bandits stared at her collectively. "What?"
"Shokyoku is this invisible girl who hangs around Aki-nee-chan. We don't really know that much about her, only that she really loves her. And that she's been looking out for Onee-chan ever since the incident back in Kutou. Yup~" Miaka laughed and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "She even possessed my body a few times!"
Kouji's expression deadpanned. "Should you really be laughin' about that? Seems kind of messed up to me."
Tasuki repeated out loud part of what she said before coming to a realization. "Loves Aki? Hangs around her?" He then sent me a look. "Wait, does that mean you can see her too?"
"I was the one who could see her first," I told him.
Taking a stomp forward, he brought a fist up to my face level. "What the hell Aki! Why didn't ya say anything in the first place?!"
"Don't blame me for your inept memory. As I can recall, I've mentioned her to you before." That's right…in fact, he was the first one I told about her after meeting her for the first time. Of course then, she was still inside of the Dark Ring, and not walking about as she was now. "And before you doubt me, I have no reason to lie to you."
Just as if a fire had been extinguished by a bucket of water, the fanged bandit simmered down, running his fingers through his flaming hair as he did an about-face to continue on with our trek. "Whatever. I don't feel like remembering right now or dealin' with that crap. Just keep the brat away from me."
Grinding her teeth, Shokyoku hissed under her breath, "Call me a brat? That monkey's lucky I don't take advantage of Aki not giving a damn about him right now."
I continued to watch his back as he walked further and further away, my curiosity still at its peak from everything that had just happened.
How incredibly strange…
Even now that we've made it to the bandit hideout, I just couldn't shake it. What exactly made that guy so special in my life? First it turned out that he could be the only one to restore what I had lost, and now he was the only human who could see Shokyoku—not even Chichiri could really see her and his senses and abilities were heightened far above Tasuki's. The more I thought about, the more I was able to go back to that memory of when I first informed him about Shokyoku. He had pointed out first that he was able to see the Dark Ring before I had even told him anything about it—that he had always been able to see it. He obviously was just a human, not what Shokyoku, Stella, and I were. And visually speaking, he wasn't anything extraordinary. Nothing really stood out as unique from others.
So…why?
A voice from inside of the structure tore me away from my thoughts. "I want Genrou found! He's out there somewhere and I'm not gonna let him get the jump on us. Keep your guards up and don't go easy on him once he shows!" This was followed by a band of acquiescent cheering. Turned out that Eiken was still hell-bent on finding Tasuki and had already figured that he'd come back to the scene of the crime. His shadow showed that he was waving something around in his hand. Was that the oh-so-feared tessen?
Miaka threw a fist in the air, and proceeded to step through the bushes, "Alright let's go get him!" Tasuki and Kouji put a hand on her shoulders and forced her back down to keep her out of sight and from blowing our cover.
"Do ya wanna be burnt to a crisp or somethin'? Then stay back until we come up with a plan."
She only pouted for a second before taking notice of the item in the faux leader's hand. "Hey, is that the scary fan that's got you all so worked up?"
Tasuki nodded as he kept peered over the bushes, making sure that he was hidden enough. "Yup. And all we have ta do is get it away from him and he'll lose all of his power. Too bad that sounds simpler than it is." To recap, this guy, Eiken, not only had a fan that could spew fire, but also a hoard of thugs ready to snap anyone in half when given the order. All in all, it didn't seem too bad, but having to rely on Shokyoku for magic was beginning to be a bit inefficient, especially if Darkness was the only element that was available. Sure, I wasn't as helpless in comparison with the alternative, but if I was able to use my full palette of powers, not having to be cautious of what Stella may have done to me, then this could have ended a lot quicker and a lot cleaner. With any luck, perhaps part of what Tasuki could do for me includes getting back free access to my power.
Reaching inside of his black coat, Tasuki took out the talismans he used earlier to summon those wolves. Miaka took notice and snatched them from his hand with wide, curious eyes mixed with amazement. "Aren't these those paper things you used before? How do they even work?"
Instead of getting annoyed with her taking his property, Tasuki kept an eye of what was going on inside and replied, "They're talismans that I got from a monk some time ago while I was traveling. When you write what ya want to appear onto them and say the spell, then they'll show up as an illusion to screw up your enemies."
"Oh wow, really?" Miaka sounded impressed. "So all you have to do is write what you wanna see, huh?"
"A 'monk' gave them to him?" Shokyoku chimed in with her input on the matter as Miaka continued to fondle over her new toys. "Aki, do you think it's possible that that fox-faced monkey swung back around to flame-head here after you left for Konan and gave him those things?"
Without looking at her, I said, "We are in an ancient Chinese-like world. It's not that uncommon for more than one monk to be walking around."
Her eyes sharpened as they glared at Tasuki out of their corner. "Yeah…I don't know…for some reason, I can't help but wonder…"
Feeling her eyes on him, he finally tore his away from the scene going on inside and returned a similar glare mixed with mild irritation. Didn't take too long, though, for him to break it and go back to scouting.
"Must be weird, huh?" Kouji asked Tasuki.
"What?"
"Seein' a girl that only you and Aki can see—must be some pretty weird stuff."
"Meh," He shrugged while grinning slightly. "More annoying than anything else. Whenever Aki's involved, I can almost count on my world turnin' upside down somehow. Just didn't expect that this time it would include some invisible twerp who has a beef with me."
Kouji chuckled in response. "Yeah, you're still gonna tell me what happened on that journey o' yours, but until then," Shifting a bit, he proceeded to crawl off in another direction, making sure to keep low to avoid detection, "I'm gonna go around and look for a way inside." Tasuki nodded in acknowledgment as he watched him disappear in the thick greenery covered by the shade of night.
That was when he realized that Miaka still had his talismans, of which she had spent more than enough time with, and swiped them back from her. "These aren't toys! Stop playin' with 'em—" From the depths of the bushes came a short rustle before there emerged a long blade that aligned itself with Tasuki's neck, only a few inches away from cutting out his throat. Being aware of his predicament, he lifted his chin up and carefully glanced over to the side to his supposed assassin. Using my eyes to follow the line of the sword, I caught sight of a familiar set of hazel eyes. It wasn't until the man inched out of his hiding spot that I could see him better, holding up his royal weapon as if ready to make the fatal blow when necessary.
"Tell me where Miaka is or else I will not hesitate in slowly cutting out your throat!" Hotohori demanded. Tasuki warily looked down at the sword and then to the emperor, being very careful about his next move. He brought the sword even closer, the sharp part of the blade just barely touching the bandit's skin. "I said speak!" Lifting myself up a bit more from the camouflage, I was successfully able to catch his attention enough to make him lower his weapon. "Akimoto?"
"What? Aki's over there?" Peeking over the emperor's shoulder, I saw Nuriko grabbing hold of Kouji's collar, effortlessly rising him up in the air in a threatening manner to minimize chances of escape.
Hotohori still held his sword up, but with less intensity than before. "Akimoto, what are you doing here with them? Where have you been and where's Miaka?"
"Here I am!" The young priestess popped her head up like a Daisy, beaming with a smile on her face. "Hi you guys! I've been wondering where you were~"
Shokyoku groaned. "Great…now everyone's here and accounted for. Too many monkeys around if you ask me…Now suddenly I'm in the middle of a zoo."
Nuriko went on with physically tormenting Kouji as he joined in on the reunion. "Miaka! You're okay! I didn't know what to think after that guy took you." Once he focused back onto me, he lowered the disoriented Kouji and dragged him over with one hand as he used the other to rest on his hip as he gave me a look of disapproval. "As for you. Where the heck did you go? You just up and left us to defend for ourselves with those wolves attacking us!"
My eyes nonchalantly trailed over to his. "Relax. You're still alive, aren't you? So no harm done."
His pink irises flared angrily. "You know what? I'm getting sick and tired of your apathetic, blasé answers like that! The real Aki was at least a smidge more considerate to other people's feelings."
"Nuriko!" Hotohori scolded, only to lighten up a bit. "Your frustrations are understandable, but poorly distributed. We can't get angry for every little thing we disapprove of while she's like this. It doesn't get through to her anyway." Nuriko's shoulder's fell as he let go of the tension that was building up inside, allowing him to relax enough to let Kouji go. "Besides, we must now be thankful that our beloved friends are safe and sound, and that we're all together again."
The purple-haired Suzaku warrior sighed in submission. "You're right Sire..."
Seizing his opportunity, Tasuki lifted up his hand to carefully push the bladed threat away from his person. Seeing as how we were all okay and how neither Miaka nor I were really even in any danger, Hotohori allowed this, but maintained a careful eye on the rightful bandit leader. "Now that we're done with all this sappy stuff, can we get on with this operation already?"
At that rhetorical request, Hotohori and Nuriko exchanged glances.
"What kind of operation?"
All the while Miaka was debriefing the two newcomers, the seven of us managed to make our way into the hideout seemingly without detection. There still wasn't really any clear-cut plan we were working with, only that we had to get Eiken to lose the tessen somehow. Other than that, it was mostly just make it up as you go along—definitely not the most professional route to go. But I supposed since they managed to actually make their way in, perhaps they weren't completely incompetent.
"And so, I feel that it's our duty to help Genrou out!" Miaka explained as we searched the corridor for any other sign of life. "'Cause when you think about it, it really isn't fair what happened to him. Plus he's really not that bad a guy when you give him a chance!"
"Tch," was Tasuki's only response to that.
"And I'm positive that Tasuki is here somewhere and it would just be a great help if we could all just help each other, right? And then everyone's happy!"
Hotohori smiled at her gently. "I'm not too sure about assisting bandits, but I trust your judgment Miaka. Your kindness and optimism make it nearly impossible to do otherwise."
"Yay! Thanks Hotohori!"
"That's good and all," Nuriko said while taking a cautious look around. "But we saw the kind of power that that tessen has. Where would we even begin in trying to get around it?"
"You don't."
The five humans jumped with surprise at the unexpected visitor. Kouji cursed. "Damn, they spotted us!" Eiken appeared holding the tessen firmly as he stood in front of a fairly large group of bandits.
"The intruders have been found!" Bellowed a nameless grunt. With that alarm being set off, more of them began to spawn in a similar fashion to cockroaches. And very soon, we were surrounded. Figures. In a place like that, I wouldn't have been surprised if they had their ways of having their eyes on practically every square inch of the structure. For all we knew, there was a spy in the ceiling somewhere who had been tailing us since we made it inside.
But Tasuki was unfazed by the ambush. In fact, he reached inside his coat again and revealed his talisman, prepared to make use of them once again. "Leave these guys ta me! Genjutsu Shinzarou!" Upon being released from his hand, the talismans flew out, only this time, the unexpected happened. Instead of turning into a pack of black illusionary wolves, a bunch of desert foods like cakes, and puddings, and cookies poofed into existence. Tasuki looked dumbfounded. "What the?" He tried again, "Genjutsu Shinzarou!" But just like a few seconds before, more deserts emerged and fell to the floor, creating a nauseous and disturbed expression on Genrou's features, followed by the rest of our allies falling to the ground in a supposed comical manner. "What the hell happened to all my talismans? What's with all the food?!" Almost as rapid as lightning, Miaka rushed over to the pile of food and scooped up an bunch, only to return to her previous spot where she crouched down to eat her prize.
Nuriko stood behind her with his arms crossed while tapping his foot on the ground as he stared down at her contemptuously. "Miaka…what did you do?"
The priestess just chuckled nervously while avoiding his condemning gaze. "Well…you see…I kinda had a craving for something sweet…and when Genrou told me what those paper things could do, I guess I let my stomach take control…"
Tasuki yelled back at her, "YOU IDIOT!"
From not too far away, Eiken snickered in mischievous delight as he witnessed his prey's predicament. "Poor Genrou…you honestly thought that you could just make your way back here without suffering the consequences? Such an arrogant brat you are—and apparently the universe must be on my side since it took your sad tricks away." His grin widened as his grip on the tessen intensified. "Prepare yourself!"
Nuriko took a step forward with clenched fists, but Hotohori held him back. "We can't risk it Nuriko, if Tasuki is in there we can't afford to hurt him." Now I can't help but wonder how this whole thing would turn out if I were to just tell them. Whatever. Probably wouldn't need their help anyway. Considering how I knew the truth, I wouldn't have a problem attacking and I wouldn't have to hold back since I knew that I wouldn't be hurting any Suzaku Warrior. Besides, it was best to make the first move before that guy had a chance to unleash the power that that fan possessed.
"Shokyoku." She nodded without even looking at me. Making her way to the front of the group she stood ready for my command. "Hell Blas—" Almost immediately, I held back on my casting, for Miaka suddenly shot herself up from her spot and sprinted directly towards Eiken without even considering the consequences. She had absolutely no means of protecting herself. Why would she do something like that?
"Miaka!" Hotohori and Nuriko shouted out. Reaching out her hands, the girl tried to grab at the tessen using her strength alone, thinking that she alone might actually be able to do something. But before she could even get a good grasp on it, Eiken shifted around her advances and hooked his arm around her neck, leaving her only option to take hold of his arm with both hands to attempt to pry him off of her. But it was futile, putting her in a position where she could either suffocate, or where he could potentially break her neck or have an easy fire target, either way, things did not look good for her.
There was no way that she actually thought that she could make a difference here. Face it, she's too tiny and scrawny compared to those thugs—it was no wonder why she needed seven guys to protect her.
Miaka was never that good at thinking things through.
"Miaka!"
"What on earth was that crazy girl thinkin'?" Tasuki thought out loud. Noticing her extreme discomfort prompted an emotional response out of him, causing him to grind his teeth and growl, "That's pretty low Eiken—takin' a little girl hostage even when you know that she's not a real threat ta you…You really are a bastard." It kind of went without saying that he sort of did the same thing not too many hours ago. But, then again, it wasn't really a sincere kidnapping.
"Sticks and stones Genrou!" The pig-faced leader tightened his grip around her neck. "Besides, I'm the one holding all the cards here—I've got the power and the girl. Perhaps I'll use one to destroy the other. I'll let you decide which one does what."
Nuriko's face twisted with increasing anger. "Why that creep…if he didn't have Miaka right now I'd…!"
Still pressing his luck, Eiken continued his taunt. "Just give it up, boy! You don't have what it takes to be the leader, so just surrender now before you embarrass yourself." I knew Tasuki, he was the kind of guy to jump into any situation even if it meant risking his life. And he'd press on an on until the job was done, whether or not the added effort was even necessary. So I couldn't help but wonder what was holding him back now. Was he that afraid of the tessen? Or was he afraid for Miaka's life? If he really wanted his leadership position back, he'd just accept the sacrifice of one girl's life and just go for it. His emotions were acting as a heavy anchor holding him back…
How weak…
"Well, it looks like Konan is about to lose their priestess~" Shokyoku said without a lick of sympathy.
'Akimoto…'
What?
'Akimoto Tsubaki…"
Huh? I blinked and searched the crevices of my mind for the mysterious voice I just heard. What was that? Who's there? It wasn't Shokyoku…no, this was a male's voice. And it was very faint.
'You must protect her…'
Protect…her?
'Protect the Priestess of Suzaku. Protect Miaka'
Just then, my body reacted on its own to the mental intruder, standing erect and stiff, no longer in my control as it had me directly face my line of enemies—the ones putting Miaka in danger.
Sensing a disturbance, Shokyoku slowly turned around to face me. "Aki? What's wrong?"
My mouth and voice both worked against me as they responded in a whisper, "I have to keep Miaka safe…" Then a little louder, "She's my…little sister and…I won't let anything bad happen to her…" What am I saying? Finally, my voice erupted, "LET HER GO!" The hallways and all of its inhabitants suddenly fell victim to a fierce wind with speeds and forces extending far past those of a typhoon. Absolutely everyone, even Shokyoku was forced to brace themselves and grab onto anything that they hoped would prevent them from being either blown away, or caught in the current and slammed into a wall in beyond survivable speeds.
"Aki! Calm down!"
"Where is all this even coming from?!" I could only faintly hear sentences…the rest of them, if there were any, were lost to the vortex which made it nearly impossible for anyone to hear anybody…the sounds simply got sucked in…similarly to how black holes could absorb light. Round and round the gusts zipped by, taking with it a plethora of debris, from bits and pieces of the building's structure, like parts of the window, from various hats and other possessions that used to be on an individual's person. Nothing could escape my power. My power. No one could stand up against me, no one could get in my way. I could not see or hear anyone or anything…my reality was only my Wind, and my heart…My heart…Even in the middle of the high volume gusts, I could hear it…
Ba-dum…
Ba-dum…
I could feel it…
Ba-dum…
Ba-dum…
Like I was finally awake after a long sleep. It had been locked up inside of me for so long and now it could blow freely…
My heart, was the Wind.
And then, an interruption.
From my bottom peripheral vision, I saw a tiny body grabbing onto my leg. It looked up at me with an orange eye and a turquoise eye, the only message they read was that of concern. Her mouth moved, but her voiced was lost in my creation. So she invaded my thoughts.
'Aki! Stop using your powers! It's too dangerous! Think about what could happen to you!'
A quick flash left my mind hanging on a single memory: My body lifted up without my control, an outstretched hand of a shadow buried deep in my chest, squeezing my very core…I couldn't breathe…I felt cold…and my heart…was shattering as a fast-spreading virus of Darkness continued to spread and consume me…
The Wind began to die down, maintaining a more manageable, yet more than steady breeze allowing everyone a sigh of relief now that it was possible to stand without being swept away.
But still, my body stood still, unmovable under no circumstances as my power persisted in slipping though.
Taking her chance, Miaka forced herself away from the distracted Eiken, running back towards us only to lose her balance and fall to the ground half way in between her allies and those wishing to harm her.
She was okay…
After what seemed like forever, I blinked hard, snapping me out of the trance—the forces holding my body down relieved themselves of my company and I could move freely again, my control allowing the Wind to cease completely. Unfortunately, my breaking the rules wouldn't be overlooked. Within a second after taking a single breath, my body was consumed by surges of blackish-purple lightning. And once again, I was constricted, unable to break free of the trap's binding
"Aki!" Shokyoku shouted out as she jumped away.
Miaka looked up and her face morphed into that of concern. "Aki-nee-chan!"
Like the calm in a storm, it ceased just like that. But without warning, I let out a violent cough, bringing my hands up as a reflex, but not before a splash of deep red liquid had its chance to escape and drip past my approaching fingers.
So this is it… There was a consequence to using my powers—they'd been tainted and I allowed myself to use them…
My grasp on my body's weight diminished, allowing gravity to take control of me as I fell backwards, half-expecting to hit the ground, still staring at my blood-stained hands up until I no longer had the ability to hold them up either.
"I've gotcha Aki."
…I didn't hit the ground. In fact, I was still on my feet. With my arms fallen limply to my side, I looked behind to see what obstructed my fall. Turned out to be a who.
The world sped up again and I became aware of there being more people in the vicinity.
Tasuki was holding me up in his arms, being my support seeing as how I couldn't do it myself.
"Jeez…" Nuriko let out a deep sigh that seemed would end in him toppling over. "That damn near brought the whole building down. I really wish she would stop spontaneously doing things like that—I don't think my heart can take anymore. And I am much too young and good-looking for a heart-attack."
"Is Akimoto alright?" Hotohori rushed up to Tasuki and I, his eyes widening from the sight. "Blood…you coughed up blood…" An authoritative tone was added to his voice. "Chichiri told you to not use your powers." I didn't even know why I did it. After hearing that man's voice, whoever he was, I malfunctioned…again. And this time, it cost me.
There was a mixture of murmuring from the group of bandits, followed by Eiken, who was still a little shaky from the experience, roar out in a mixture of confusion and anger. "What the hell was that Genrou?! Was that some secret weapon? Well," He stroked the tessen up and down greedily, "it didn't work and I'm still in control!" Bringing the fan backwards, he swung ferociously and shouted, "Rekka Shinen!" With the spell cast, a violent torrent of fire spewed out towards us, and even more alarming, Miaka, who was still relatively close to the singeing flames.
Too close…
Kouji took a few steps forward in an effort to save her before stopping himself. "It's no use, I won't reach her in time!
"Miaka!"
She looked backwards towards her scorching fate, resolving to tearfully bury her head in her arms as she helplessly lied there fully aware that there was no way she could escape.
…
"Seoshi." The familiar dome of nearly translucent energy surrounded not only the priestess, but all who happened to be in the line of danger. If I was going to go out of my way to further my internal destruction by protecting one person, might as well do the rational thing and keep as few fatalities as possible.
"Aki, no!" But Shokyoku's warning was all for naught. The intense flames impacted the barrier head on, leading everyone inside to observe the attack in amazement and reprieve, but in no way did it have the ability to break through. And soon enough, ended up dying down.
As anticipated, once the barrier dissolved, the purplish-black electricity coursed through me, ending with yet another cough that sent blood trickling down past my lips.
"Onee-chan!" Shuffling up to her feet, Miaka ran over to me as I remained motionless in Tasuki's care. With tears running down her cheeks, she scolded me, "You shouldn't have used your powers! Just stop it...you have to stop before it kills you!"
Yes, I knew that if I could feel it, my insides would be crying as I insisted on putting them through this torture, fully aware that using my powers was only putting me in a worse state, but I had to face facts: I couldn't just rely on Shokyoku's powers. Darkness alone wouldn't get the job done. It was inefficient. The downside to not heeding Chichiri's warning? My life may have just been put on a timer—and a shorter one than desired.
No turning back from my first mistake…
As long as I had enough life energy to help me survive until I get back what I had lost, then it was just enough…
"Huh, so that woman won't be able to pull that off again?" Eiken prepared for another go. "Lucky me."
"Aki…" Tasuki only looked down at me with a pained expression for a second before squeezing my arms, visually noticeable to me, and sending the faux bandit leader a sharp glare that could pierce almost anything. "Damn that Eiken…things have gone too far now."
"What're we gonna do?" Kouji never lifted his wary eyes from Eiken either. "He'll scorch us before we can even get close!"
A glimmer of determination displayed in Miaka's olive eyes, prompting her to run towards the bandits once again. However this time, she stopped before she reached a dangerous proximity. Looking to her left and right, she addressed all those who opposed us from both sides. "Why are you all just standing around? You all can't really believe that this is right, can you? You know that Genrou is your true leader, so do the right thing here!" They all exchanged glances with mixed reactions. "Don't be afraid to take a chance! So what if this fake leader has a fan that can shoot fire? Stand up for yourselves! We're strangers and so what if that fan intimidates us? We still won't let fear separate us from our morals!" Her voice strained. "Can you all honestly look at yourselves in the mirror every day, knowing that you're allowing this to happen? Please…"
For a moment, there was silence as the bandits mulled over her words.
And then…
"It's sad to think that you all consider yourselves men—pathetic." That voice…There's no way he should be here. "If what it takes is to beat some sense into you, then so be it!" Manifesting from places unknown, the form of a young man with long, dark teal hair in a ponytail and deep purple eyes suddenly appeared—a glowing red Kanji symbol revealing on his forehead, identifying him as only one possible person…
"Tamahome…" Miaka uttered in barely a whisper as she stared off in disbelief and awe of her significant other.
He's supposed to be in Kutou…how and when did he…?
Without even really acknowledging the rest of us, the first discovered Suzaku warrior leapt and viciously punched the nearest bandit in the face, sending the guy backwards as blood spurted from his nose. And then he moved onto the next one, kneeing him in the stomach full force without very much resistance. The immediate threat managed to finally budge the bandits who were all standing by, each of them charging towards Tamahome in a nearly useless effort to take him down and regain their dignity. Regardless of their numbers, none of them had what it took to take on a human blessed with extraordinary fighting ability given to him by a god.
One by one, they opposed him. And one by one, they fell.
"How is Tamahome even here?" Nuriko asked, both him and Hotohori watching the spectacle from the side. "I mean, that is Tamahome right?" There were just so many questions about this that didn't seem to make very much sense. Something about it just seemed a bit off to me.
"Woah…who the hell is guy? And where did he come from?" By the somewhat uplifted tone of Tasuki's voice, I could sort of tell that he was a bit impressed.
Kouji gave the impression that he shared similar sentiments. "I dunno, but he's sure makin' our lives a hell of a lot easier. Look!" Tamahome made a swift move, dodging a plethora of threatening advances towards him, which resulted in him throwing himself in the air, directly above Eiken who was at a loss of what to do amongst all the chaos. The Suzaku warrior singlehandedly managed to break the order than Eiken had established, something that easily made the pig-man panic and freeze up, unable to avoid his attacker knocking him directly to the ground, face first, via drop kick. During the impact, he lost grip of the tessen, which fell a few inches out of his grasp.
Using one of his arms to support me, Tasuki, who had a confident smile, used the other to pump his fist in triumph. "Alright! Now we're talkin'!" Quickly remembering what his first priority was, he leaned me up against a wall, forcing me to gather up enough energy to hold myself up. His face turned somewhat serious again. "You'll be fine if I leave ya here, right?"
"Do what you have to," I told him in monotone. And he did, making sure that he didn't lose his chance to get his old leader's treasure back before Eiken had the energy to.
Sprawled out on the ground where Tamahome left him, Eiken struggled to make his beat-up body move—to make his arm stretch up far enough to reclaim his one and only key to power. But all hope came crashing down for him the moment Tasuki reached down, finally allowing the tessen to be placed in the hands of its rightful owner. And he humbly accepted the trophy, grasping onto its handle tightly while placing the folded part on his shoulder, smiling in victory down to his defeated opponent. Kouji stood loyally behind him with crossed arms, reveling in the night's success.
"So Eiken," The pig-faced bandit cringed uncomfortably as he looked up with a look of malice and a splash of fear in his eye at the new fanged leader. "Hope your phony ass enjoyed your little time in the spotlight, but it's over now. The fan is all mine and so is the gang."
"You just better be happy that you're gettin' off so easily," Kouji commented once the volley was sent his way, observing the obvious pain that Tamahome left him in.
The whole ordeal was finally over. The thing that was distracting Tasuki so much as to make him useless to me was quickly resolving, and once again, I was being presented with a supposed opportunity to get back what I had lost.
To think…I was for a second delusional to believe that there would be a time when I could rest easy and have events work out smoothly…
Shokyoku's head quickly snapped to me as she warned with an alarming tone, "Aki!" She didn't need to really say anything, I already knew. Unknown to anyone else but me and her, the atmosphere of our location had shifted to a darker state. Through my vision, the world bent and distorted as a single crash of purple lightning stroke across, signaling the presence of an intruder.
Shadow Maiden.
As if by a force of habit, my eyes jumped all over the place, trying to locate the shadowed anomaly, preparing for it to appear anywhere and to react accordingly.
"Is it Stella?" I had to ask. The answer made all the difference to the severity of the situation.
Shokyoku shook her head as she too tried to spot them. "It's not, I'm fairly positive of that. The presence actually isn't that strong, but it's definitely there." Nothing was showing up or phasing in from any direction. What reason had they to hide? What were they playing at?
An unexpected event took place following our investigation as the pion bandits suddenly yelled out indistinguishable phrases in inappropriately placed rage—their complexions draining to almost white, although with an ominous dark tint to their overall forms, as their irises became the deepest black. It was at this cue, that the unaffected others, Kouji, Eiken, Miaka, and the Suzaku warriors, took notice of the peculiar occurrence, forcing them to abandon the past circumstance and focus on the new one at hand.
"What's up with them?" Nuriko asked as he took a defensive stance.
Even the ones that Tamahome dealt with rose up suspiciously unshaken by their wounds, caring only for the bloodlust they now possessed. In an inexplicable frenzy they charged in at us from all directions, violently grabbing onto anyone they could get a hold of and exploiting their anger in a matter of clawing, punching, or any other means that would cause harm.
As big of a group as they were, they managed in no time to herd us all into one big mush of people, where they trapped us in a large, crowded mush making it difficult to escape.
"Genrou! Control your men!" Hotohori demanded. He and Nuriko were still too paranoid in thinking that one of the others could be their fellow Suzaku warrior, so refrained from fighting back in fear that they might seriously harm in. And so with no other alternative they were forced into defense, doing their best not to let the spontaneous swarm consume them.
Unsurprisingly, Tasuki was having a similarly difficult time. "I have no idea what's gotten into them! They've never acted this crazy before!" One of the bandits suddenly reached out and grabbed one of Miaka's hair tendrils as tightly as he could, making a loud yelp to escape her lips, attempting to pull her closer towards him. Quickly catching sight of this, Hotohori abandoned his self-proclaimed rule and armed himself with his still-sheathed sword, whacking anyone in his way with an intense vigor in an attempt to close the gap between him and his priestess. But his efforts were all in vain. No matter how much he or Tasuki or Kouji or anyone hurt them, they remained unfazed and pressed on…as if they were zombies or something, all muttering maliciously under their breaths.
This seems familiar…
They seemed so calm once the Eiken situation was dealt with, but for some reason, they were acting up as if they were a herd of mindless wildebeest that had just been spooked by something—just attacking and raging blindly without any care to collateral damage.
Quickly the curiosity of this situation drained from me.
Levitating above me to avoid from making any kind of contact with our attackers, Shokyoku pondered until she came to the same epiphany I had. "Aki, do you suppose that they've been…?" I nodded.
They were Shadow Kissed—something that happened when a Shadow Maiden took advantage of the Darkness in a human's heart, twist it in a deranged way, and use it to cloud the human's sense of judgment and cause them to act as single-minded drones.
That would explain the slight presence Shokyoku and I felt earlier. Shadow Maidens had been there, but they left the moment they left their mark on these humans.
Alright, so I knew what was going on. But…how was it that I was supposed to deal with them? I think I was able to do so in the past…So why couldn't I remember?
"I've had just about enough of this crap!" Tasuki announced. Giving one hard swing, he sent back one of his men crashing into a group behind him, only to get back up and fling himself at his leader again. Taking firm hold of the tessen, he prepared to swing. His possessed men followed his abrupt movement with their eyes, most of them changing their previous agenda quickly just to hone in and attack him all at once, making it difficult for him to land an exact shot. "Let's see if a little bit of fireworks'll snap ya out of it! Rekka Shinen!" The fan spontaneously glowed as it ignited to life, wildly shooting out flames in nearly all directions as his control was a bit skewed from the tugging and fidgeting that influenced his primary intention. Like sewer rats fleeing from the sight of immediate bright light, the Shadow Kissed bandits scurried away as quick as they could, some purposely dropping to the ground for cover. A stream of flames rushed past me as I stood undaunted, certain that it would miss me as I judged its path beforehand. Before it even had a chance to impact Miaka, Hotohori didn't hesitate to lead forward and embrace her as he fell for cover, Nuriko reacting similarly as he crouched down just in time.
Metaphorically putting the lid on his power, Tasuki ceased the release of flames without any trouble. And then, as he retracted it into a more comfortable position, he scanned the area to see the outcome of his actions.
"So! Have you all snapped out of it?" He asked in a commanding tone. "Or do I actually have ta char one of you to get some results?" As everyone began to relax and recover from the scare, I couldn't help but notice how the heaviness in the room's atmosphere had been relieved without my noticing. The bandits, whose normal coloring had returned and their irises back to normal, held their heads in confusion, inspecting the wounds that had been dealt to them in their trance. All while looking around and talking low amongst each other as they proceeded to internally gather themselves away from the fading negative influence.
Kouji was the first to address them. "What the heck happened to you guys back there? Why'dja suddenly go crazy on us?" A collection of baffled expressions rose up from the question, each one of them looking to the other for an answer. Clearly there was none—none they could understand anyway.
"We have no idea what came over us!"
"…I just remember feelin' really angry all of a sudden, my insides burned like hell! It's just that I wanted to crush anything and everything for no reason."
"I don't think I've ever been that furious a day in my life—it was so weird!"
"Yeah, we didn't mean to do what we did. Hell, I barely even remember!"
"Me neither!"
"Really sorry, we just couldn't control ourselves."
They've actually regained their normal selves? It shouldn't have been that easy. Power or no power, a human like Tasuki, or any human in that matter, didn't possess the ability to reverse what a Shadow Maiden could do.
Nuriko shot up from his spot and complained. "What's the big idea flame-brain?! You could have seriously hurt someone with that!"
Turning to the side, Tasuki grinned, unaffected by Nuriko's threatening tone. "It worked, didn't it? And everyone's fine. In fact, you should be thankin' me."
"Thanking you?! That was just plain reckless! Honestly…" Dusting off his sleeve with an irritated look on his face, let out a swift, exasperated exhale. "I get enough of this with just having the emotionless Aki around, but at least she has an excuse for not giving a damn about the safety of those around her. Try planning things out next time before reacting to the first thing that pops into your mind."
Instead of getting downright angry, Tasuki just waved off Nuriko's comment. "Whatever—I saved the day so I think that that should earn a little appreciation~ Just give me a bottle of sake and we'll be even!"
Nuriko's expression turned stern. "You'll get nothing and like it." That was when he remembered his other companions and turned to them in concern. "Sire, Miaka! Are you two alright? Where's Tamahome?" Hotohori proceeded to help Miaka up as she seemed to be clenching on tightly to a wrinkled piece of paper that looked like one of Tasuki's talismans.
"He was never here…" Miaka said in a low, melancholy voice. "I just really wanted to see him…so I thought…maybe…" Her shaky grip creased the paper's center even more with her increased abuse to it. Hotohori and Nuriko, not knowing how to console her, only sent her sympathetic gazes. That paper…Oh, I get it. Tasuki said that whatever you wrote on the talismans would end up showing up once he said the spell to release them. So I guess other than food, she also wrote Tamahome's name, and in all the confusion, forgot that it was just an illusion spell, nothing more. She allowed her emotions to not only fool her, but give her false hope—both dangerous vulnerabilities in the long run. It was just so absurd to me why anyone would want emotions if they caused too much trouble…they were inefficient and just complicated things. But I supposed that asking them to share my opinions was too much.
"Aki," Shokyoku landed back down to the ground as she patted her dress to straighten it out. "The Shadow Kissed influence that was on them before suddenly disappeared right before that monkey even used his fire spell—like a split second before." Huh? How could that happen? "I think that whoever did that to them just up and reversed it…Although," She crossed her arms and tilted her head in thought. "I just don't understand why they'd do that." That was pretty odd. What was the point of going through the trouble to Shadow Kiss them, if they were just going to take it back? It was just plain counterproductive and illogical. The little girl finally took her visual focus off of her dress and onto me, which was when her eyes widened with panic. She brought both hands over her mouth in shock as she cried, "Aki! Omigosh!"
"What?" I asked.
Hearing my voice made Nuriko turn to me, and his alarmed reaction to whatever the problem was, was similar to Shokyoku's, automatically sending him into a protective state. "Aki, your arm!" With that proclamation, the room's attention suddenly fell on me, accompanied by an assortment of gasps.
"Onee-chan! Are you alright?"
Still, I didn't know what everyone was getting worked up about. "My arm?" Looking down to my right arm which was most exposed to the outside, as opposed to my left which was leaning against a wall, I discovered a large tear in the material of my hanfu, and even on the highest part of my long black gloves underneath. The edges of the tears were coarse-looking in texture, but clean-cut and asymmetrical, and were a deep, charred black which then faded into a deep brown as the damage moved further away from the edge, not returning into the natural color of the clothes for at least a few centimeters in.
Wait…
My clothes weren't cut…they were singed. I tried to move my arm, but it took increasing effort in concentration, more effort than was usually necessary. I already could not feel my arm, so I had no idea how much I would have to try in order to get it to cooperate with me in this case. It was moving…or at least, it was trying to—which was obvious by how it would twitch and vibrate the more I tried to move it. So instead of attempting to get it to do what I wanted in one big, swift move, I gave it the message to twist slowly, so that I could inspect the center of where my clothes got damaged.
Once I twisted it as far as it could go, I saw the problem. A large area of my arm in between my elbow and shoulder, more than half a foot long and a few inches wide, had uneven patches of charred, bloodied skin that had been severely blistered and was now puffed up from inflammation.
I've been burned, I thought calmly as I continued to inspect the injury, and by the looks of it, it's more serious than a first degree…maybe even a second degree…but I can't say for sure…But when did…?
My eyes snapped up to Tasuki's, who's face had gone a little pale as she stared at me. Oh that's right…he used that tessen while the others were Shadow Kissed. It was pretty safe to conclude that when I had thought that I dodged that blast of fire that past me, I actually hadn't.
Well that explains why I can't really move my arm at all.
Shokyoku's eyes flared with anger as she stomped up to the frozen Tasuki, her tiny form suddenly overcome by weak swirls of black energy. "You did this!" Her shoulder's shook almost as if she were trying to contain her rage. "You were just like a child playing with his new toy…too stupid to tell when would be the appropriate time to use it…You weren't thinking! How could you hit her?! Don't you know how to use that thing—"
"Shokyoku." She stopped mid-sentence to peer back at me. "It wasn't his fault. It was the Shadow Maidens' hijinks that messed up his accuracy." Think about it. Though she was still mad, the energy she was producing began to simmer down. Besides, it wouldn't make much sense to make someone the leader, if they didn't know what they were doing. That goes without saying. It wasn't Tasuki's fault. If anything other than Shadow Maidens, I underestimated that fire. More and more mistakes I continue to produce…more malfunctions that had to be fixed. Or like a domino effect, things would only get worse.
"Aki…I'm…" Tasuki tried to say something, but was soon interrupted by Nuriko and Miaka, who had dropped the talisman in her hand mid-run, rushing over to me.
Nuriko ground his teeth nervously. "That burn looks really bad…"
Miaka brought her arms up and advanced towards my burnt one, her hands trying to figure out what to do with themselves as she was unsure how to handle the situation. "I…uh…I don't know what to do!" It almost sounded like she was about to cry. "Onee-chan, what do I do? I want to help, but I don't know if I'll just make it worse or if I'll hurt you!"
"It doesn't hurt," I assure her. "I can't feel it at all, remember?"
"Yeah, but…"
Poking up his head from my wound, Nuriko raised the volume of his voice to capture the attention of all the bandits. "Are you bums blind or something? Make yourselves useful and get me some bandages and cold water! And if you have any kind of medicine, bring that too!" They all just stared at him. "Did I stutter?! Get a move on!" With that sudden uproar, the bandits scrambled around like chickens without heads as they dispersed from the hallway to go get the provisions that Nuriko demanded. He turned back to me. "You might not feel it, and you might not care now, but this is a really bad burn. It has to be treated at least a little before it gets worse. Too bad we don't have a doctor around…that would be a huge help…But we'll make do with what we have for now."
"Genrou!" Tasuki jumped and snapped out of his daze once Hotohori's austere voice called to him. "If you're going to be the user of that fan, then I suggest using it more intelligently and taking responsibility for your actions!"
In response, the flame-headed Suzaku warrior shook his head and placed on his stubborn and hardened demeanor, turning his back to the Emperor as he strode up to Eiken, who was still getting up from the place where Tamahome left him. "Dammit... As if I don't feel bad enough about it…But it wasn't my fault!" Within a few seconds, he ended up towering over Eiken, glaring down at him in resentment. Bringing his leg back, he put his strength into a strong enough kick into his side to bring the pig-man back down.
"Ahhh! What the hell Genrou?!" Eiken rolled around on the ground holding the area that was impacted by his leader.
He kicked him again…and again, not caring how much pain he was inflicting to his subordinate. "Aki got hurt because of you! If ya hadn't taken Hakurou's tessen, then none of this would have happened!"
From behind, Kouji placed a hand on Tasuki's shoulder after watching the violent display for a few moments. "Lay off Genrou, I think you got your point across." Tasuki looked back at his friend, taking hold of the silent message that was being exchanged between them. Then he sighed and closed his eyes, holding back on his displaced frustration and ceasing the abuse.
3rd POV~
On the very tip of mountaintop not too far away from the events that were taking place in the Mt. Reikaku bandit hideout, a lone figure sat cackling like a hyena sporting her Cheshire-cat-like grin under the inadequate lighting of the half-moon. Her black form appeared to be only another shadow in the night while her glowing, almond shaped eyes peered down in amusement towards her prey's direction.
Her laughing persisted, even as she spoke through her Southern-bell accent. "Oh my! Never did I think that my little bit of fun would turn out even better than I anticipated! Not only did I get to torment some humans, but as an added bonus, my little cousin got a little boo boo! Not intentional, but entertainin' all the same!" Thinking about it even more just tickled her up until she exploded again in a hearty laugh that almost pushed her from her spot.
Sitting in seclusion away from any other form of life put the Shadow Maiden into a false sense of security, allowing her to lower her guard. As if she was ever really completely alone…
'Stella!'
The thunderous voice inside her head not only put an immediate end to her laughter, but stiffened her body up so tightly that even a brick wall would be impressed.
"Y-Your Highness!" She flipped through the depths of her mind of a good enough excuse to tell the Princess, thinking how stupid she was for convincing herself that what she had done was a good idea. "I was just—"
'I know exactly what you were doing! You deliberately went against my orders! I told you to not interfere with Aki and to only act on my command!' With every word that left the Princesses mouth, Stella cringed as she waited for the inevitable. If anything good came out of her being there at that moment, it was that she didn't have the displeasure of being scorned by the Princess face to face—or worse, being scorned by the Princess face to face and talking about Akimoto Tsubaki. As if she didn't hear enough of that girl. Eighty percent of the time it was "Aki this" or "Aki that", if Stella didn't go out most of the time to cause some sort of mayhem or benefit from her own personal therapy of torturing those that she despised (like humans and Aki), then no doubt she would have gone insane, or would rather have been one of the typical Shadow Maidens who didn't have enough of their humanity or will to even give a damn about the Princess and her stupid obsession.
Stella tried to slither her way out of punishment. "If I may say, Your Majesty, I didn't do anythin' to Aki directly. And technically, you never said that I couldn't give her and her little group of humans a bad day~" She shouldn't have said that. It wasn't until she uttered that last word when she realized the flaw in what she had said…and it was going to cost her. Fear consumed her from the bottom up, even creating a nauseous feeling in the pit of the stomach she didn't even have anymore.
She hated taking orders from the Princess of Darkness for various reasons really. But to her chagrin, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The Shadow Maiden's arm suddenly rose involuntarily—the fear intensified. And in a rapid motion, her hand gave a loud, painful crack as it was forced to bend completely backwards, making contact with her wrist. An excruciating scream escaped past the narrow openings in between her perfectly crafted, razor sharp teeth. The agony only intensified as her whole arm was manipulated into curling in on itself in such a way that was beyond capable human standards. Normally, without her old human form, there was no problem for her to do the impossible and defy the limits of human restraint—doing things like shape shifting and twisting her body in any form or size that was convenient for her was a breeze on a normal basis. But whenever the Princess took control, whenever she got really, really pissed, she temporarily took away Stella's inhuman ability, making her body nearly as vulnerable as a human's. Only nearly because she could still take a lot more than a human could. That didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell though.
Much to Stella's horror, the core of her body was the next target, even while her arm was still incapacitated. As if wires were holding her up by her pigtails, she lifted into the air without consent, feeling the worst kind of torture as her waist was stretched to its limit, ready to rip apart at any moment. And then, like the wrapper on a piece of candy, she was rolled and twisted ever so slowly, just so that she could experience every aching snap and tear that was no doubt going on inside.
Just as quickly as it had begun, the entity reverted her to back to normal and violently threw her down to her spot on the mountain tip. Once she found that she was in control of her own actions again, she instinctively felt around her body, although she already knew that nothing was broken or damaged. Still, old habits died hard.
The Princesses livid voice came through as before, her message getting through loud and clear. 'If you ever twist my words into a technicality ever again, I'll do much, much worse. Do you understand me?!'
She struggled to speak through her pain and terror. "Y-Y-Yes…Ma'am…"
'Remember, Aki is my property—so only I can decide what happens to her! Don't forget that.'
There was that girl's name again and Stella cringed in anger from the sound of it. But no matter what the Shadow Maiden's nefarious desires were, they'd have to be put on hold since she was the Princesses dog after all, and at all times, the Princesses superior abilities served practically as an invisible shock collar, always there to make sure that she stayed in line. The hierarchy of power was kind to no one.
Aki's 1st POV~
It took at little more time than I would have liked, but the necessary act of mending my arm had finally been completed. After the process of cleaning it and spreading over it what medicine they could find, although Nuriko wasn't exactly sure how effective it would be or not, he proceeded to wrap my arm in a white bandage for the time being until we could get a qualified someone to take a closer look at it. Even with it being mediocrely taken care of, there was only increasing difficulty on my part to get it to function to its full potential…or even half its potential.
So I supposed that the theory I had earlier was proving to be more correct than I would have preferred. Without my sense of touch, I may have been able to remain calm in situations and not react to pain that would otherwise leave someone unconscious, but it also meant that I wasn't completely aware of my limits. I wasn't invincible now that I couldn't feel it, I was actually vulnerable. Pain was a natural process for everyone and it alarms someone to any danger that their body might be facing. Without it, one might not know if they were in danger or not, and would just keep going on fighting in ignorance until the moment when the body would decide for itself when it could no longer go on. If I had just felt the heat of the fire as it was passing me, most likely I would have reacted instinctively and moved it out of the way before the burn could get to as bad as a state as it had.
It was now imperative that I retrieved what I had lost as quickly as possible.
After everything was said and done, all Mt. Reikaku bandits as well as the Suzaku warriors, Miaka, Shokyoku, and I grouped together in a large room within the hideout, reflecting on the night's events as well as preparing for the road ahead.
"Everything that happened tonight was completely crazy." The bandits, except Kouji and Tasuki, sat and obediently presented themselves before us on their knees while the rest of us stood at the front of the room looking down on them. Tasuki, their rightful leader who had finally been able to claim his post, searched the faces of each one of his subordinates as he spoke. "An emotionless woman, an invisible kid, the Priestess of Suzaku, and my men turned into a bunch o' lunatics for no reason—somethin' that apparently no one can even tell me what the hell happened."
"Sorry about that boss," They all said simultaneously, though some said it almost painfully as if they didn't like to admit their mistake.
Their fanged leader closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. "Yeah, yeah. I got that. Just if any of you start to remember who the sorry bastard was who did that to ya, point me to him so I can kick his ass for givin' all of us a hard time. And speakin' of a hard time," He quickly looked at me out of the corner of his eye while I stood next to him opposite Kouji before addressing his men again. "Whoever messed you all up musta got to me too somehow and threw off my aim—but I'm makin' a promise that that kind of mistake will never happen again."
In the second row of bandits facing the front, Eiken brought his head up and pointed a finger at Tasuki. "What?! You're admitting your mistake? That means that you know you hurt that girl, not me! Why the hell was I blamed and beat up for what you did—" Leaving his post next to his leader, Kouji discreetly made his way to the in between area behind Eiken, and stroke the big-mouth hard upside the head, shutting him up instantly.
"Shut'cher trap." He ordered in a calm, yet irritated tone.
Without turning to Tasuki, I told him, "It wasn't a bit deal—I didn't feel anything, so there is no need to be sorry about it."
His tone temporarily lost some of its edge as he noted my comment. "Aki…"
"Hey, if there's anything worth pointing out," Kouji had on an amused smile as he walked back up to where the rest of us were, "it's how sincere I've noticed Genrou being towards that girl Aki." This made Tasuki jump a bit at the accusation, his face turning a slight shade of red. "Never thought I'd live to see the day when he'd actually give a damn about somethin' he couldn't stand"
Tasuki took a hard step forward, putting his whole body into it as he held up a fist and threated his friend. "You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about, so just shut it!" Just as he said that, Kouji's words resonated more with the rest of the bandits than Tasuki's, so they all began to snicker silently amongst one another. Catching the sight of this, Tasuki zealously continued to make his case. "I still can't stand women, so don't any of you go gettin' any bright ideas. And if any of you give me any grief about this, then I'll burn you all for real next time, got it?!" With his intimidation working, the lesser bandits, hushed up rather quickly in fear that he might live up to his words.
"Umm, Genrou?" Miaka leaned down to get a better look at him from her spot.
"What is it?"
"I was wondering, now that we've helped you get your job back, you can help us!" Bringing herself back up, she spoke to all bandits in the room with a smile. "So do any of you know who Tasuki is? Or where we can find him? We know he's somewhere around here and it would be a big help if you could help locate him for us."
Since Eiken was the first one before to mention Tasuki's name to her, he was the one who admitted, "I actually don't know who he is—I thought it was just a rumor that he was here somewhere. But I can honestly say that I can't place a face to him…"
Miaka's hopes died down a bit. "Oh…is that so...?" I couldn't see why Tasuki didn't just tell Miaka and the others who he was. Not that it was of any concern to me, but he was a citizen of Konan as well, meaning he was just as much in danger of Kutou and their god Seiryuu just as the rest of Konan was. So it would make sense for him to reveal himself and just make the whole process a lot smoother.
No matter how he wanted to play it out though, it wasn't my place to interfere, nothing regarding Suzaku or that country had anything to do with me, so I would keep the secret to myself.
"I know who Tasuki is," Tasuki himself said, making me think that he was actually going to tell them. "But you're not gonna like what I tell ya. You see, Tasuki was our old boss, and well…he's dead now." And the lie continues.
"What?!" Miaka gasped.
"Tasuki's dead?" Nuriko turned to Hotohori. "Sire, how are we going to summon Suzaku without all seven warriors?"
Hotohori closed his eyes in defeat. "We cannot. It's impossible."
Miaka looked down to her feet with a look of hopelessness in her eye. "It just can't be true…" As much as I tried to understand, it was just too difficult for me to fathom why keeping the secret was so essential. Was Tasuki really that against being part of the Suzaku 7? Or was it something else?
Only a short few hours later, the sun had just made its way over the horizon and was giving light to the world and to the peaks of Mt. Reikaku. The morning had brought with it a light sheet of fog that covered the mountainous valley, only to burn off slowly as the great star proceeded with its daily journey across the sky.
A brief walk away from the hideout and down a forest path, a group of bandits along with their leader and Kouji lead us visitors to a small, dome-shaped windowless structure made of cement-like bricks, which served as the tomb for the late leader of the bandits.
Inside, there was only a little light being provided by a few candles that were hanging on the wall. Upon entering, we all circled around the closed brown casket in the middle that held the old leader's decaying body.
Tasuki gazed upon the coffin in lament. "He really was a good, strong man. Too bad that sickness got the best of him…" Back when Tasuki and I first met and after we had met Chichiri, he told us about his leader who was suffering from some serious illness. In fact, the reason he left Mt. Reikaku in the first place was to look for some cure. And somewhere along the way, he and I ran into each other and ended up doing just that. Leading up to us going through a universe formulated maze which Chichiri had enlightened us about, all so that we could obtain the Sacred Blood Lily which was a magical flower that only bloomed ever thousand years and had the ability to cure any illness, poison, etc. And after many trials and tribulation through the time acceleration of three months, we obtained the flower, all supposedly believing that Tasuki's leader would end up being saved. But it appeared as if we were too late.
"He tried to fight it out as long as he could Genrou—he gave a good fight up until the very end," Kouji said.
"Weak human," Shokyoku tossed her hair back superficially with an irritated countenance. "How dare he not only put my Aki in danger by requiring her services to put her life on the line to get him that flower but then he had the nerve to fall prey to that sickness and die. Aki went through all that trouble for nothing!" She scoffed. "He wasn't worthy of living."
"So it's true…" Miaka wasn't able to take her eyes off of the circumstance that had been put before her—failure. "How can we summon Suzaku or get Tamahome back now without Tasuki?"
For a few moments, everyone just stood in there, all wondering, or pretending to care about wondering, about how to get around this unforeseen obstacle. Just then, one of the pion bandits had an epiphany and spoke up.
"Hey boss?"
Tasuki acknowledged him, "What is it?"
"I don't know if this will really be any help, but I heard that in the north in a village called Choko, there is someone there who has the ability to raise the dead."
Miaka immediately jumped in optimism with sparkles in her eyes as she turned to that bandit. "Really? There's actually someone like that?"
Feeling uncomfortable to the situation, he meekly added, "…well that's what I heard…"
"Someone who could raise the dead…imagine that," Nuriko contemplated in awe and curiousness. "Hmm…might be useful, but it sounds kind of suspicious to me."
"But it's the only lead we've got!" The Priestess of Suzaku turned to her comrades. "We can't afford to give up now when we've come so far! Especially since Tamahome is doing all he can to help us out—we can't let him down. Konan and everyone in it is relying on us to summon Suzaku, so even if it's just a rumor or even just a small chance of this person being in Choko, then we have to take it!"
Her speech automatically got the approval of the emperor. "Well, if you're so determined, then we're with you all the way Miaka. And you're right, we have to do all we can and explore all options before we could even consider giving up."
Nuriko let out a sigh in defeat, but then gave his priestess a reassuring look. "Well, if we've been through all we have up until now, I don't see the harm in checking this place out."
She smiled at him. "Hotohori, Nuriko…Yes! Let's keep doing our best and bring Tasuki back!"
I for one had absolutely no desire to go along with them—there was really no reason to. There was only one reason why I went along with them in the first place. During the time while those hours went by, I came to discover an unfavorable characteristic of my current condition. At first I was lead to believe that using my own powers resulted in my coughing up blood only when I insisted on using them. But the truth of it was how even if I didn't use my powers again after that incident with Miaka being in danger, my body would still experience the few moments of constriction as that ominous purplish-black electricity conflicted me, resulting in my dispelling even more blood from my body. The malfunctions have sped up now, and my time was ticking away.
Those Suzaku people could go on a wild goose chase as much as they wanted, but I only needed Tasuki, the real Tasuki, who was already with me. And if he was going to pretend not to be who he was, then fine, but I needed to stay with him and do whatever needed to be done in order to get back what I had lost…before it was too late.
Another couple of hours went by and the bandits offered food to us while returning the items of ours they stole—most of them apologizing for all the trouble that they had put us through the day before. Miaka, Nuriko, and Hotohori felt little to no hostility and accepted their kindness. Shokyoku and I on the other hand, didn't require any such service and watched as the whole thing took place.
Once two horses were loaded up for the journey ahead, Nuriko hopped onto one and Hotohori and Miaka on the other while Shokyoku, who was using her large black parasol to protect her skin from the sun, and I stood with the bandits in front of the hideout's gate.
Nuriko noticing my stillness, called out to me, "Aki, what're you waiting for? Hop on so we can get going!"
"I'm not going with you. I'm staying here"
…
…
…!
Taking advantage of their silence, I explained simply by saying, "The reason is of no concern to any of you."
Nearly everyone had their own version of shock from my words—those on the horses looking at me with questioning eyes, and the bandits in back of me all gasping and complaining in some fashion.
"What the hell?! We're not gonna let some girl stay with us! Especially not this freaky broad." I couldn't help but think that some of them had some sort of animosity or uneasiness towards me. Wonder why that could be…
"We're not accepting any new members girlie, so run along with your friends."
"This chick must be some kind of delusional, maybe she got burned in the brain without realizing it—" And at that, Tasuki sent them a deathly glare that caused them to keep their opinions to themselves.
Now it was the Suzaku people's turn to try to convince me.
"Akimoto, what are you saying? Why on earth would you want to stay here with them?" Hotohori asked.
Sending me a distraught signal, Miaka pleaded, "We can't leave you here Onee-chan! You're one of us!" No, I'm not. "And I don't want to have to go through any of this without you! And plus…you're condition…we promised to help you—"
"My life and decisions should be of no concern to you like I said before. Go along and do what is necessary for you Miaka, and I shall do the same."
"Onee-chan, but…!"
Nuriko turned to Hotohori, "What should we do Your Majesty? We can't really just leave her here." Gazing up at me, Hotohori locked eyes with mine, trying to search for an answer that he most likely wouldn't find. It was pointless for them to try and get me to change my mind—they needed to understand that. And if anyone, maybe Hotohori could comprehend at least that much.
Tugging on the reins, the horse that the emperor and the priestess sat upon spun around to face the road to Choko. Nuriko tried to interject. "Sire!"
"I don't like the idea of leaving her behind either Nuriko, but we have no choice but to do just that."
"Hotohori, why?"
Taking a glimpse into his distraught priestess's eyes, he smiled gently at her. "No matter what state she is in, emotionless or not, when Akimoto takes a stand, she stays there, and it's usually for a good reason. Maybe we don't understand, but she does and I trust her. There isn't any point in standing around all day trying to make her listen to us." At least one of them is learning. He paused for a second before continuing. "You even said earlier that we have to do what we can to summon Suzaku, right?"
"Yeah! But—"
"Miaka, if we do end up finding that person in Choko, then we'll end up coming back anyway to resurrect Tasuki. And when we do, we'll come for Akimoto as well." They could do what they wanted, but there was really no guarantee that I'd even need them anymore. So it would have been best for them not to get used to the idea of me not being with them.
Miaka wanted to protest more, but knew that nothing she would have to say would beat out the emperor's logic. As the horse they were on ensued with treading down the path, the priestess twisted her upper body back towards me as she called out, "Aki-nee-chan! We'll definitely come back for you! So just sit tight!"
Although it took a few seconds, Nuriko finally submitted to the reality of my staying behind, leading his horse in the same direction as his emperor and priestess. But not before he made a similar motion as Miaka and spoke out to me. "You're welcomed to join us at any time Aki just in case you feel like changing your mind halfway. Just make sure you don't do anything too crazy while you're away from us, alright?" I didn't know what could constitute as "crazy" to him.
Moments passed as we watched the road they were traveling on up until they weren't visible anymore. None of the bandits said anything to me seeing as how they couldn't wrap their minds around the predicament I had put them in—all of them, except Tasuki, just stared at me as if I was an extraterrestrial or some other species they had never seen before. But really, this had nothing to do with them either.
Shokyoku had enough of them standing around, so she began to say, "Aki, tell them to leave so that you can—" But was stopped just as the poisonous electricity infected me again, something to which the pion bandits winced in astonishment. Wrapping herself around my good arm, Shokyoku looked up at me with extreme worry, under the impression that her interference would actually make a difference in my condition. Knowing what would come next, I pushed her away, quickly bringing my hand up to my mouth as I coughed.
Tasuki protectively brought up his arms to support me, but didn't even get close to contact the second he saw the blood in my hand. I couldn't help but wonder exactly how much damage was happening to my insides the more Stella's trap persisted. Clenching my fist with the blood, I calmly showed him a knowing look, hoping he knew what I was expecting to come next.
Straightening his body, Tasuki dropped his hands to his sides and indirectly spoke in a stern tone to the others. "Get back inside, all of you. I can handle what's goin' on out here."
Some of them tried to speak back to him, "But boss, she—!"
But he wouldn't take any of it. Sending them an intense glare, his amber eyes glowing a bit golden as the sun reflected off his irises. "I said I can handle it. Just go find somethin' else ta do." They jumped back in response to his coercion. Seeing their reaction, he held back and grinned wide, allowing one of his fangs to show. "We can celebrate my officially becomin' the leader later on. Go make sure we have enough sake ta go around~" Once they believed his carefree changes in attitude, they thought it as nothing and broke into chatter mixed with a bit of laughter as they retreated back into the hideout, leaving me alone with Tasuki and Kouji. I didn't exactly expect the latter one to stick around, but whatever—him hanging around wouldn't be that big of a deal as long as he didn't interfere.
" Hey Genrou, you don't mind if I stick around, do ya? This girl still has me kind of curious," Kouji asked. Then he baited him on with an impish smile, "Unless you'd rather the two of you be left alone~"
"Stay if you really wanna!" Tasuki answered rapidly, which was actually a pretty impressive reaction. "I don't care!" And so the air around us finally settled onto that of a serious one—no more joking and no more interruption. Calming down and looking at me straight on, he asked, "You have my full attention now Aki. What's been goin' on with you? What happened after you flew off that day?"
After closing my eyes for a second, they snapped open to him. "I know who you really are…Tasuki." The two of them sent an exchange of surprise between each other, and catching the drift of my no-joke attitude, they lost any motivation to try and tell me otherwise. By how calm Kouji was, I guessed that he already knew this bit of information the whole time—which would make the getting my point across a lot quicker by avoiding the questioning stage. "Like I said before, I need your help. And as you can see," Bringing my blood-soaked glove up to my teeth, since I couldn't use my other arm, I bit onto the material, slowly sliding it off. And then threw it onto the ground, noticing how some of the blood that hadn't soaked in dripped onto the dirt. "I am not well."
He glanced down at the glove before back up at me. What I didn't expect was for him to smirk. "Well, whatever it is, we're pals, right? Don't think I've forgotten about that. And by now you've helped me twice. If this keeps up, I'll never be able to pay you back. So what do I have ta do?"
"Touch me."
His eye twitched while jumping backwards, almost bumping into Kouji who was behind him and shared a quite similar shocked expression to his companion.
"This chick really doesn't quit, does she?" Kouji asked in disbelief.
"Would'ja stop sayin' that?!" Tasuki exploded with reddened cheeks at me before holding back a bit and crossing his arms. "Ask me to do anything else, but not somethin' like that…"
Again with the misunderstandings. "Listen to me," I told him, "I lost something very important…and I don't have any idea what it was…but its loss from my body, among other things that are connected to a similar incident are causing me to malfunction." The blush from his cheeks soon disappeared as he took in the significance of my words. "I don't know why, but Shokyoku told me that you touching me might help me be restored. She said that you had to feel something though. I'm not sure what that means, but I was counting on you knowing for me." My eyes narrowed a bit. "Please…"
Eyeing me from head to toe, his expression turned troubled. Then he fixated on my injured, bandaged arm. And with his face twisting in guilt, he brought his eyes back up to mine, hanging on as he searched through his thoughts. I think…he knows what Shokyoku is talking about. In that case…
I just have to leave it up to him.
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!