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, Aki and Shokyoku follow Kouji straight towards Tasuki's hideout where he had kidnapped Miaka to, allowing Aki to finally have her reunion with the fanged Suzaku Warrior. But instead of receiving the opportunity to use him to get back what she had lost, she and Shokyoku were pulled into Tasuki's dilemma of not having his rightful place as the Mt. Reikaku bandit leader. Miaka was more than happy to help him out in exchange for information regarding the next Suzaku Warrior (neither she, Nuriko, or Hotohori knew that they had already found him). Aki on the other hand would have rather gotten what she wanted and then let them be. But Shokyoku informed her that Tasuki was not in the right emotional or sympathetic state enough to really be of much assistance to her, so she had no choice but to help him before he could help her.
We also learn that Tasuki has the odd ability to see Shokyoku although he is unable to hear anything she is saying.
After recruiting Nuriko and Hotohori back at the bandit hideout, the seven of them sneak inside, only to be confronted by the faux bandit leader Eiken, wielding the bewitched tessen which had the ability to throw fire, along with the rest of the bandits who posed a threat. Just as Aki was about to have Shokyoku attack them, Miaka threw herself out into the frontlines and ended up as a hostage (again). This caused something to stir inside of Aki, as a male voice from within speaks to her, appealing towards her dormant compassion for her little sister-like friend as well as to her also dormant sense of justice—two things she lost due to the incident with Stella as well as the ring around her head. This dove Aki into a peculiar trance which prompted her to unconsciously use her powers over Wind. Doing so helped free Miaka, but ended up doing just what Chichiri feared: causing internal damage to Aki due to Stella's contamination. Now Aki frequently gets constricted by peculiar purple electricity, which results in her coughing up blood.
Miaka tried to appeal to the bandit's sense of righteousness, but when that failed, Tamahome mysteriously appeared and beat them up. In the middle of all the chaos, Tasuki takes the opportunity to retrieve the tessen from Eiken, thus establishing himself as the true leader of the Mt. Reikaku bandits.
Just when all seems to be resolving, the majority of the bandits become Shadow Kissed and start attacking our heroes. When Tasuki feels that using the fire from his tessen would snap them out of it, the plan oddly seemed to work, but in all the craziness, Tasuki lost control of the fire and accidentally burned part of Aki's upper right arm. Of course she wasn't aware of it given she can't feel anything, but that didn't make the injury any less serious. Aki discovers how impractical it is to not have the sense of touch.
On another note, Tamahome wasn't really there, Miaka had just written his name on one of Tasuki's talisman and "Tamahome" was just an illusion.
On a mountaintop not too far away, we find out that Stella went behind her superior's orders and decided to mess with Aki and her friends by causing a frenzy at the hideout. The Princess of Darkness wasn't too happy about Stella's actions, especially since Aki got hurt for no reason, so the Shadow Maiden was punished.
After Aki's arm got mended as best as it could get, Miaka proceeded on with her priestess duties, asking for Tasuki. The real Tasuki lies to Miaka and the others that "Tasuki" was actually the old bandit leader that just died. Miaka is upset by this, but finds new hope when she discovers that in a village called Choko was someone who could potentially raise the dead.
When she, Nuriko, and Hotohori set out for said village, Aki tells them that she's staying at the bandit hideout. Eventually figuring that there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise, the others hesitantly leave her behind, trusting her decision and promising to come back for her when they're done.
Aki, being left alone with Shokyoku, Kouji, and most importantly, Tasuki, proceeds with her mission. She tells Tasuki that she knows who he really is and that she needs his help. Though taken back a bit by her boldness, Tasuki ultimately agrees to help her, not exactly knowing what to do, but willing to do it because of the pact they made in the past and because she'd helped him out twice by now.
The story continues to unfold…*
*Tasuki's 3rd POV*
Aki looked up at Tasuki with those stoic red eyes of hers—those eyes that always looked weird and oddly deep, going on forever like the sky. But this time, her gaze was blank and unfeeling. And even though they still didn't reflect any light, there was just a quality about them now that seemed so drab.
"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."
Yup, that's what Miaka said. And that was really the only explanation to how any of what was happening could honestly have been going on. It was kind of weird and awkward being around Aki now, not to mention sort of frustrating. And those other guys who came along with her had to deal with her like this for how long? Tasuki didn't even have the full story, barely even a fraction of it, but he figured that some sort of messed up stuff must have went down in order to bring Aki to him in that sorry state. At some point, he'd make sure that he found out who was responsible for all this and just how he'd be able to kick the bastard's sorry ass for messing with one of his friends.
Still Aki stared at him without a word as she waited for him to make a move. Standing next to her at nearly half her height was that weird little grey girl who had the freakiest eyes Tasuki had ever seen. She stared him down too, although there was a bit more malice in her intent, big surprise there, as she crossed her arms expectantly, daring him to make the correct move. The two of them wanted something out of him. And while part of him sort of knew what they were waiting for, ever since Aki mentioned that it was important that he "felt" something when he did it, the revelation hadn't quite surfaced yet on his consciousness.
What exactly was it that he was supposed to do?
"There is something that only you can do for me. I need you to touch me."
Just remembering her saying that to him caused his cheeks to mildly heat up again. Even if she tells me ta do somethin' like the that, it really isn't much for me to work with. Not to mention…As if the situation couldn't get any more uncomfortable, the two of them had more of an audience than he really wanted. Tasuki managed to get rid of the majority of his crew, but, not knowing what to expect out of Aki, allowed Kouji to stay and back him up. So now he and that brat Shokyo-whatever, who was for some reason holding up a black umbrella large enough to produce a shadow that covered her whole body, was there watching as Tasuki and Aki were going to supposedly perform something a tad more private. Those two's presence was just making the bandit leader even more embarrassed, as if Aki's request wasn't embarrassing enough. Would Aki even ask for something like that if she wasn't under the influence of that ring? Probably not. What was he thinking? Hell no—of course she wouldn't! She would have been just as awkward if not more so. Their predicament back at that hot springs when they were stuck together sort of proved that.
But…
As soon as Chichiri released their heads, the two of them sat back down in their seats with their arms crossed, refusing to look at one another.
"Stubborn," Tasuki spouted out.
Aki scoffed. "Impossible."
Chichiri let out a heavy sigh followed by a sweat drop—arms dangling down in hopelessness. "I thought you two were friends, ya know?"
Almost instantly, the both of them snapped their heads towards him and responded with a loud and confident, "We are!"
At the end of the day, she was his friend—his pal.
As embarrassing as it was, it was clear that he had to do something for her. She came all that way just to find him. Somewhere deep down, she was counting on him, even if she herself wasn't aware of it. Tasuki clenched his fists as he fought through his anxieties. There was no way in Hell that he'd let her down.
Now that his resolve had been established, how exactly was Tasuki supposed to go about this? An incredible temptation pounded at him the longer he kept his eyes fixated on that mysterious knotted silver ring around her head. Miaka said that it would have been a bad idea to take it off. Okay, he got that. But what the perky girl forgot to mention was exactly why it would have been a bad idea. Well, maybe she did say something about it, but Tasuki was much too focused on other matters to really pay it as much attention as he should have.
Hmm…
The outcome couldn't possibly be that bad, right? He was tough. He was sure that he could probably handle whatever it was. After all, taking that ring off of her head, might be to Aki's benefit.
And then there was Miaka's warning again.
Tasuki groaned. Damn priestess. Doesn't she know that telling me not to do it just makes me wanna take it off even more?
He shook his head to throw away the thought. Alright, focus! I'll go with Aki's plan first before taking things into my own hands.
And speaking of hands…
"Touch me."
Dammit! Why did she have to go and say something like that?! In what way was he supposed to touch her? Almost instinctively, his amber eyes wandered about the woman's body. Avoiding her bandaged arm out of residual guilt, he couldn't stop his eyes from going to the most obvious sensual places: her neck, her covered breasts, and even…briefly glancing at the forbidden area only to snap his eyes back up out of fear for being called out on being a perv. Just when he thought he had himself under control, his face proceeded with heating up once again at the possibly scenario of what he'd have to do.
That was when a montage of memories flashed in his mind, of the times when he and Aki touched each other for some reason or another and something weird happened: an electrical spark of some kind was exchanged between them. And it only happened with her. Hell, if it didn't happen, they probably wouldn't have even gotten to know each other.
Alright, so this spark happened to them a few times—usually when they felt something strong—
Wait.
Was that what Aki meant when she said that he needed to "feel" something while touching her? It had to be. Yeah…now that he thought about it, it made sense! The flame haired Suzaku Warrior let out a sigh of incredible relief. Thank God that it wasn't somethin' else. But now he was faced with a new set of problems: how the heck was he supposed to even make that spark happen? He didn't even know why they happened in the first place.
Damn this was difficult.
The little girl began tapping her foot impatiently while her face twisted more into irritation. Giving up her moment of silence, she released her arms and tugged on Aki's sleeve. The sorceress finally tore her eyes away from Tasuki's as she gave her attention to the pipsqueak. Opening her mouth to speak, she said something to Aki to which Aki seemed to have acknowledged. Because she seemed sketchy in the first place, Tasuki was even more suspicious of the little girl since he couldn't hear a thing she was saying. By the way she had been shooting daggers at him with her eyes, he didn't put it past her to be planning his doom or trying to pull a prank on him or something stupid like that.
"Hey Genrou." Kouji's voice off on the side broke Tasuki away from the plotting females before him. "What is it that you plan on doin' here? Do you even know what's goin' on?"
Momentarily tossing him a glance, Tasuki tried to play it off as if he was confident that he'd get something accomplished. "Just give me a few more moments—I'll have it figured out soon." He didn't know if he said this for his sake of making sure it looked like he had the situation under control, or for Aki's sake so that she could have faith in him and not lose hope.
Just as he was about to retreat back into the confines of his mind to think on it some more, Aki brought herself away from the brat and approached Tasuki, not stopping until her body was just inches away from his. Startled by the close proximity, he didn't quite know how to react to her invading his personal space in such an awkward fashion. She was just standing there, staring at him as she tilted her head up to meet him. Not very much different than before when she was a few feet away, only that a lot more pressure suddenly pressed down on him now that he really couldn't avoid her hollow gaze even if he tried.
And then, without any warning whatsoever, she lifted herself up slightly on her toes, closing her eyes as she introduced her lips to his in one fluid motion. In an appropriate response, Tasuki's eyes widened in pure shock as his body went rigid.
Even Kouji jumped letting out a startled, "What the?!" As he looked upon his chum getting kissed for no apparent reason by some girl. Well, yeah, it wasn't just "some girl" to Tasuki, but it was pretty shocking all the same.
His body finally relaxed a bit after a few moments went by, but no doubt it would take a while before his brain could fully comprehend what was happening…Aki was kissing him! Aki…was kissing him! Why the hell now out of all times? The blush from before now ran across his face with a vengeance the longer he realized the situation that Aki had put him in.
This was the girl who, before, seemed like she had trouble with intimacy of any kind and now she was lip-locking with him!
Then again…
This wasn't necessarily the real Aki…was it?
The shock finally began to dissolve as reality kicked in. But even under this weird circumstance, Tasuki couldn't bring himself to push her away even if he had no idea as to why she was doing what she was. It was their first…kiss. But this…he never imagined it would be like…He had only mused the idea once or twice in the past, not exactly taking it seriously—you know what sake can do to a person. But now that it was actually happening, nothing felt right about it. Even as he told himself that, on the outside it looked as if he was perfectly calm, but he was unable to do anything about his more than obvious heartbeat which would continue to thump hard and fast as long as their lips stay connected.
She was doing this for some reason—a reason that had nothing to do with her feelings for him. In fact, she didn't have feelings for him, or anyone. So…why?
Thinking back to his past epiphany regarding the spark, something else came to Tasuki's attention: something was wrong…well, more wrong than an emotionless woman kissing him. He was almost positive that if this had happened under normal circumstances, he'd feel something coming from her (at least he thought that he'd feel something from her considering the act they were doing and considering that this was the first time they were doing it). A spark would have definitely happened then…there was no doubt in his mind.
And it was his job to find it. That's what she wanted from him.
Ignoring the outside world and all other distractions, Tasuki decided to invest more of himself into Aki's efforts, mentally preparing himself to dig deep find something that was lacking between them. Slowly sliding his hands upwards on Aki's arms, he stopped them midway just above her elbows and grabbed them lightly to keep her held down in place. Allowing his eyelids to fall to a close in order to aid in the concentration, he gave more of himself into the kiss, taking the initiative to bask in it for all it was worth in thinking that it would get him closer to their goal. For the first time during the interaction, he actually felt her lips. They were soft, just as they looked any other day, but lacked any passion or life to them—no zing at all. They weren't as sweet as he'd pondered them to be. Instead, they were lifeless and detached, with Aki not even contributing any emotion whatsoever. This whole thing was just another meaningless action to her. In fact, the longer this kept on, the less sensual the experience was becoming.
There was something that he could taste, however, and that was the salty, metallic taste of the blood she'd chronically cough up.
"Like I said before, I need your help. And as you can see," Bringing her blood-soaked glove up to her teeth, since she couldn't use her other arm, Aki 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."
She wasn't like this before. When Aki left, hell, she was even doin' a bit better than I was! Of course a hangover was sorta killin' me…but still…She was okay then! And now…He squeezed her arms a bit tighter, forgetting to keep in mind the wound she had on her right arm. I'm gonna get you out of this! But c'mon Aki! You have'ta help me out here! Give me something! As he thought that, the world around him, the trees, the sky, the ground, the building, the brat, Kouji, Aki—everything washed away into nonexistence as Tasuki found himself standing alone in pitch-black void which went on till forever in every direction. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his breathing and his voice, and the only thing to be seen was his own form standing on solid nothing.
This…seemed a little too real to be a dream.
"What the? Where the hell am I?!" Tasuki asked out loud to no one in particular as he spun in every unidentifiable direction trying to get an answer. For a while, he just strode around, calling out, waiting for anyone else to respond, as well as looking around for any other life or means of escape. Why exactly was he even there? Rattling his head trying to remember the last thing he was doing, the memory didn't take very long to return. "If kissin' Aki gives a guy this kind of trip it's no wonder it doesn't happen often," he mumbled. Then instantly, he stood still mid-walk and tensed his body, bracing himself for some sort of impact he was expecting which never came. Further remembering current events, he stood erect again, feeling somewhat stupid for the conditioned reflex. "Oh yeah…that's right…Aki can't get mad right now." He crossed his arms as he pondered a bit. "Hmm…it takes a big man to admit this, but it's kind of depressing not getting' whacked by that hammer of hers…" Taking a few moments to simmer in what he had just said, he inhaled deeply before letting out a big sigh and scratching the back of his head. "Yup, that sounded a lot better in my head. It's not that I miss bein' hit by that stupid thing, I ain't some type of weirdo. It's just Aki. Seein' her like this is the depressin' part…" The silence from all around unnerved him a little so it helped to speak his thoughts. For some reason, having a conversation with himself made him feel a bit better about being alone in that blank space, but not all that much better since he didn't know if he was even capable of helping his friend out or not. With added frustration in his voice, he shouted out, "And now I get thrown into this crappy place! If this is a joke, I ain't laughin' at it!" Stomping a foot forward, Tasuki held up a fist into the direction he perceived to be as up, cursing some omniscient observer that may or may not have been there. "Come out you jerk! You got me here so come out and face me like a man!"
A blink later, the Suzaku Warrior's eyes caught onto a dimly glowing figure in the distance. Letting his arm down, Tasuki curiously addressed the visitor, trying to grab their attention. "Hey! You!" No response…no acknowledgement whatsoever really. So he tried again as he progressed closer to the being. "Can you even hear me? I'm talkin' to you! Hey!" Keeping his eyes fixated on the only other being in that existence, he was still too far away from them to identify any real defining features. Only that whoever this was, they were illuminated, although very poorly, as if they were a flame that was about to go out.
Another blink, and the figure was gone.
He cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "But…how? They were just right there—"
"Who are you?" A feminine voice manifested behind Tasuki and on protective impulse, he swiftly turned around to face the intruder, giving a short gasp the moment he caught sight of the woman who gave off a soft, faint glow, while levitating just inches off of the ground. Her thick, burnt brown hair fell a bit past her shoulders and curled up at the ends, the bangs in front noticeably long as they covered over her eyes. But a few gaps in between strands made it easy to note the red irises that peeked though. She crossed her arms across her upper body, each hand resting on the opposite shoulder as if she were trying to cover up something that she wanted hidden. Not a shred of real clothes to cover her up, her fair, bare skin lay exposed as the only thing that maintained modesty were the several black ribbons that entangled her, just barely covering up her more discreet areas. As for the rest, even though she gave off dim glow, her colors were somehow dulled, giving her a sort of dull, melancholic feel—almost as if she were the personification of a dreary day.
Tasuki gawked at her almost in awe, not knowing how to properly react to her appearance. "…Aki?"
"Who are you?" She asked the odd question again. "I've…I've never…" Tasuki's eyes widened as he finally noticed her tears. A stream of silent tears continuously ran down her cheeks, dripping onto the ground below, almost like a gentle waterfall. There seemed to be no end to them, no letting up whatsoever. And yet, her voice sounded steady as always, not the usual strain you'd expect from someone who had been crying. "I've never seen you here before."
Still Tasuki's confusion never left his face, although once the switch flipped in his brain, he blushed a bit, forcing himself to turn his head enough to the side to where he wasn't gaping at her nearly naked self. The fact that she was crying had him concerned, but even more so that she didn't seem to recognize him. "What're you talkin' about? It's me, Tasuki! Quit playin' Aki…"
"'Aki', huh?" She fell silent for only a few seconds before asking, "How can you address me so casually? As if we're anything more than acquaintances." What the hell is she talkin' about? She really doesn't recognize me? "I'm not a very likeable person…people don't like being around me. All I do is make people suffer and feel bad. Who would want to be around someone who makes them sad or angry? It's only natural that they'd alienate me. Heck, if I were anyone other than myself, I'd probably hate me as well." Tasuki looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she spoke. "But if I were someone other than who I am, then I wouldn't be here. Would that be so bad? I used to think about it and think that it was a perfectly reasonable dream…to be someone who wasn't me. But then I would realize that if I didn't have this burden, then someone else would. I already feel bad enough that my presence is enough to upset someone, but being so cruel as to give them my fate? It'd be just as fair as me having this fate." She finally turned her head to address her guest, smiling bitterly only for a split second as she noted his troubled expression. "That's right, it's not fair at all. But I guess that I was just born into an unfortunate existence. Pain evermore…This is a curse I must face alone—a burden that only I can carry. This is my reality and my destiny."
"That sounds like total crap Aki," Tasuki blurted, causing her to blink at him past her tears in astonishment. "Since when were you ever one to sound so defeated? It's not like you at all." Finally he's able to communicate with her while she has emotions. Only now she sounded as if she had never discovered the words "happy" or "friends" or "fun". Really, what the heck was going on?
Her eyes flashed in anger at his inference. "You doubt what I say, huh? You claim that this isn't like me? Typical. You're like so many others who could never fully understand my predicament. Who are you to say what I'm like? I don't even know you, and yet you sound like you're so high and mighty that you've somehow figured me out." In an instant, she somehow teleported directly in front of him—her levitation making it possible for the two to stare each other down at the same height. She's quick! Tasuki thought, still trying to figure out this particular version of her. From this close, it was easier to see the river of tears and how they had reddened her cheeks, making him sincerely wonder what was going on with her. "Did you know that I have three curses on me?"
"What?"
"Two of them are legitimate, the third technically isn't a curse, but is more like an extension or an effect of the first two…and that's loneliness." Closing her eyes, she bit her bottom lip and lowered her head enough to where Tasuki couldn't even see her eyes anymore. "Do you know how painful loneliness can be?" Without even allowing him to answer, she continued in a lowered, patient voice. "Most people underestimate it. Most brush it off, saying that 'it's not that big of a deal' or thinking that a lonely person is just acting 'overdramatically'. But they don't know. People like you who've lived lives where you can honestly say you're loved could never know. It all boils down to this: there are desires that we all have in life—many of them are innate and necessary for living. If one of those desires is not met, then there could be either psychological and/or physical damage to the one being deprived. One of those desires is the one where people want to be around other people—they want to be involved and feel as if they're wanted. If this desire is not met, even in the most basic way, then it could have serious consequences." Her next words shifted in audio texture, sounded as hard as stone, "Loneliness. Hurts." No…this didn't sound like Aki at all. But if this really was her…or a part of her, then was this really how she was feeling? As much as Tasuki hated to admit it, something about this Aki seemed quite genuine. And that made him a bit sad…mainly for her. Just on the ground below him, he noticed a puddle of tears reflecting her glow as every drop that curved from her cheeks and dripped off her chin reunited as they hit the floor.
"As I've come to learn, sometimes, you can't always do something about the situation you're in—such as in cases like mine. And because of that, the emptiness in your soul piles up more and more…until the pain comes to surpass that of being stabbed in the heart…" Dropping her arms to her sides for the first time, she reveals the ribbon just barely covering her breasts. But in between them, was a long scar that seemed to have closed up what might have been a very ugly wound. "I should know…"
That scar…Where have I…? Tasuki knew he had seen that scar of hers before, but couldn't place an exact moment…He had only seen it once before, probably, which was why it was so damn difficult to remember when. Well, it didn't really matter in the end. What did matter was that he was seeing it now. And judging by the sensitive topic, he knew that this wasn't usually something that Aki went broadcasting around the world about—or really to anyone for that matter. She was someone who was mostly private about her feelings and didn't favor anything that made her look weak. Tasuki could definitely relate to that. But even he had to let loose sometimes. But not Aki. Nope, she had her defenses up the vast majority of the time—it took effort to get her to have fun. So what made him so special? In fact, why was he even there? This place obviously belonged to Aki in some way, and yet he had been allowed in.
Once the seriousness of Aki's state completely dawned on him, all of those questions about his being there just dissolved away. Her expression was just so dark and…with a lack of a better word, downright miserable. It was actually sort of painful seeing her like this—even more so than seeing her without her emotions. Tasuki's heart couldn't help but twist uncomfortably as their empathetic link began working its magic as it had done so in the past. Something had to be done about this.
"Aki…what…what the heck happened to you?" There lies the question that had honestly been bothering him since realizing some time ago that something was definitely up with this woman. If this Aki had no trouble in revealing her deepest feelings, then Tasuki figured that he might as well take advantage of it.
Their eyes then met for what felt like hours while she formulated an answer. With any luck, whatever she tells him will somehow be useful to him in finding some way in helping her back in the real world. Then there'd be the issue with finding a way back to the real world, but that was an issue to be tackled later.
At the height of the serious tension between them, Tasuki's peripheral vision kicked in, allowing his eyes to witness Aki's body as a whole…her nearly naked…body. Breaking their intertwined gazes, he tossed his head to the side once more in embarrassment, completely flushed in the face and mentally doing everything humanly possible to keep his hormones in check. Somehow, he'd have to get through the rest of this encounter without looking directly at her. But…even if he did that…There was no way he'd be able to get the image of her out of his head! He'd just never looked at her in that way before—never thought about it since she always had clothes on and really hadn't crossed his mind. Well, now he couldn't get it out of his mind…especially those smooth curves…and soft looking skin—
He shook his head feverishly. Dammit focus! Why the hell am I thinkin' about that?! This is hardly the time! Feeling the blush burning his ears, Tasuki secretly hoped that by the time he was out of there, he'd stop having such weird thoughts of someone who was supposed to be his pal—his partner in battle—someone he could brawl with, who was tough in more ways than one—one of the guys…someone he had a hard time equating with cliché feminine qualities.
Only…
This Aki was making it real hard to think of her as anything else than a woman who had feelings. Or rather, a woman who had been hurt.
"If only I knew why…" She told him, not even acknowledging his sudden facing away from her. "It had always been this way…always…as long as I could remember. This scar," He saw movement from her in his peripheral, which was probably her bringing her hand up to her chest. "even if it was the result of some stupid mistake, it only makes me hate myself more. All I can see when I look at it is a symbol of how weak I am—too weak to be able to obtain anything better for myself. And…and…" Her voice began to crack as she struggled to get her next words out. And then, nearly silent, high-pitched whimpers could be heard coming from her, sounding as if she was a wounded puppy. The difference lied in her inability to allow herself to really cry, the whole time she whimpered and hiccupped in short bursts, doing everything in her power to hold it in. But by the look of her now reddened face and eyes clamped shut with tears falling even faster than before, Tasuki, who had given up in trying to not look at her, could only watch, not knowing the right thing to say in that moment. At that moment, again, his heart twisted at the sight. "It's just…impossible! It's impossible for me to escape! No matter how horrible it makes me feel, I can never do a single thing about it! Damn…damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! Just dammit all!" Grabbing her head in frustration, she dropped to the ground suddenly in a crouching position, keeping her head tucked in and lowered. She spoke through her tears. "Even if I die…it'll be the most miserable death…because I'll be all alone. I'm afraid…I'm really afraid…"
"You? Afraid?" Tasuki couldn't help but blurt out. Never had he ever even gotten the impression that Aki was scared of anything. Hell, she'd actually go out of her way to prove that she wasn't afraid of anything. But now, it was like she was just throwing everything out there no matter how it made her look. She was being so honest…allowing herself to be vulnerable. This gave Tasuki even more of a reason to not want to believe that this was really Aki—it was just so out of character for her.
She didn't look up at him, but she answered, "Yes…I fear things too…It terrifies me to be alone. Just because…Just because I'm used to it, doesn't mean that it affects me any less…it hurts. It makes me want to just roll into a ball and cry. I know that I can take being hit or being insulted or any other form of abuse, but…I…if I end up dying all alone…my soul will just be consumed by Darkness…" Her body then shook as she yelled, "And I'm just supposed to accept this as my eternal fate! It's a scary thought—a really scary thought, of course I'm afraid!" Under her breath she muttered, "but what can I do?"
Admitting her fears like that… definitely not like Aki. And yet…he never could completely shake how his heart was reacting to all this—how he couldn't wipe away how utterly miserable he felt the longer he was with her. The thing was it wasn't even his own misery that he was feeling—it was her sadness being projected into him…through the bond of empathy that only he and Aki shared. This was Aki, just…another side of her. He didn't know how he came to be introduced to this new side, but one thing was for sure…
He was filled with an incredible urge to help her.
"Well, if that's how it is," And if he was going to help her, he'd have to show her that he was capable of doing just that. Starting with a promise. Despite the feelings that she was sharing with him, he gave her a wide grin, displaying assurance and confidence. "Then how about you let me take the load off for ya?" Her shaking noticeably halted after he said that, yet she still didn't look up to face him. "Not only will I help ya out of this mess, but I'm guaranteed to make you smile!"
A few seconds passed as he allowed her to come up with a response. Finally she settled with, "It's impossible."
"No it's not so stop thinkin' that way. Maybe you tried to do it on your own a few times and it didn't work. But that sure as hell doesn't mean that you've tried every way possible. It ain't over till it's over!"
To that, she slowly stood back up, but kept her head somewhat lowered, avoiding eye-contact with him as she looked down and to the side—tears still flowing down her reddened cheeks. Her expression displayed a bit of malice as she replied, "Everything that could be tried has been. Nothing you or anyone does can make a difference in my life…" Finally, her eyes honed in onto his. "You're really cruel, you know that? Dangling this thing called freedom in my face when it's too far out of my reach to grasp…"
"Then stop tryin' to get it on your own!" Tasuki exclaimed, earning him an astonished reaction from her. She straightened up to hear what he had to say. Keeping his grin, he pointed back at himself with his thumb and said, "Look, I owe you for havin' you get involved with my problems. So now it's time for me to put up or shut up. And a real man never goes back on his word or lets down a friend." The essence of her emotions still gave off mostly negative vibes, containing bits of hatred and hopelessness, proving that it really was not going to be easy to sway her. Tasuki didn't honestly believe it would be considering these curses had her very well trained. But underneath it all, was a tiny hint of Light, almost like a speck of dust, making the storm of her Darkness seem almost like a tunnel in which the Light at the end was the goal. However it did go without saying that it was a very dark and extremely long tunnel. "I'm in this whether or not you want me to be. Deal with it." Somehow though, Tasuki would have to find a way to push her towards it.
Appearing as if his words hadn't gotten to her at all, she told him her same answer as before. "It's impossible." Only this time, the tears rushed out in even more urgency as she clenched her fists and cried out, "Please help me! I can't keep living this way, I don't want to experience this pain anymore—I don't want to always be afraid." If there was anything he could say about this Aki, something that he sort of appreciated, was how honest she was, with him and herself. Even with her proper emotions in check, the real Aki would have been much tougher to crack. At least this way, he knew her true feelings despite anything she'd say in the future. "Help me…please. Don't you…" She tried to say something else and Tasuki urged her on, only to realize that her physical form was dissolving away back into the blackness.
"What?"
She demanded once she was nearly gone, her voice remaining its volume even without a body to support it, "Don't you dare give up on me! Even if it is impossible—"
…
And then he was returned to pitch darkness, however unlike before unable to see his hands in front of him. Feeling himself holding something, Tasuki's eyes quickly peeled open to the scenery of Mt. Reikaku, immediately taking notice of the pine-fresh mountain air and the many colorful details nature had to offer.
To his surprise, falling from his cheeks, he felt the wetness of tears streaming from his eyes, but couldn't for the life of him explain why the heck he was crying. In front of him stood his answer looking up at him with emotionless red eyes as he kept his hands firmly grasping her arms: a fully clothed and very real Aki.
Deep down, she had so little faith in him, so little faith that she'd be able to fight her way past this. Every doubt and fear he felt pierce through his own heart, sharing the constant aching that she claimed had tormented her for as long as she could remember. Her life must have really sucked this whole time, huh? And she sure had one hell of a tough face that she showed the rest of the world on the outside. No one would have been able to really guess what was going on unless they pried it out of her. In fact, Tasuki didn't really even believe that the truth could have ever been pried out of her during normal circumstances.
But now, he was back in the real world. Aki still had that ring around her head for a reason that was still left unexplained—the ring that took away her emotions.
Speaking of, now that he was back on the outside, he wasn't able to make an empathetic connection with her anymore. It was immediately severed once that other place disappeared. So then…was he crying because she couldn't right now? Maybe he couldn't feel her at that moment, but the intense feelings he was getting from her before, those would be difficult to forget. Tasuki couldn't believe that they had gotten to him so much that he was crying too.
"Hey Genrou!" Tasuki snapped out of his trance as reality became an issue again. The voice of his pal Kouji coming through in a rather concerned tone prompted the bandit leader to look over at him in surprise. It was only then he noticed that Kouji's hand was on his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"I've been shakin' you and ya didn't respond. I didn't mean to interrupt you two, but…what the hell happened to ya?" So Kouji was shaking him…maybe that's why he was kicked out of that black place. Didn't want to interrupt us? But what—
He suddenly remembered her lips meeting his.
As if on cue, his blush returned with the memory. Oh yeah…that did happen…
Still feeling a bit embarrassed, Tasuki looked over Aki's shoulder to the little grey girl with the asymmetrical eye colors, standing there with an intense expression of controlled loathing as she glared at him patiently from her spot. Normally, that'd just tempt him to give her a nasty look in return, but it was her all-business atmosphere that made him recall his epiphany about that kiss: it meant nothing, but it did a heck of a lot of something, mostly unintentionally.
Taking his hands away from Aki, who has thus far said nothing in response to their kiss, he wiped away his tears and address Kouji. "I'd love to explain it to ya, but…I still think that I'm tryin' to figure it out." Even with all his new knowledge about her, Tasuki was unable to retrieve the thing that he was initially looking for: the spark. Maybe that was what he saw in the middle of that whirlpool of Darkness—that small bit of Light. Whether it was or not, he was unable to reach it.
He made such a big fuss to her in that other dimension, pretty much telling her that the situation was under control. But…how the hell was he supposed to help her? The answer wasn't clear.
*Aki's 1st POV*
Did it work?
I stared at Tasuki as he interacted with his friend, wondering if I was supposed to have known if anything happened or not. Before, Shokyoku had told me to kiss him, saying that if I did that, he'd have the necessary feelings it took to fix my condition. The evidence for such reasoning was out of my understanding, but at this point, I really didn't care what I needed to do, only that whatever I did had a purpose behind it and gave results. So I walked up to him and kissed him like she told me to. And for a few moments, I just stood there with my eyes closed…waiting for something. As always, with having my eyes closed in this state along with the inability to feel anything physically, I was returned to the blackest world behind my eyelids, acting as a soul trapped inside this hollow, unfeeling body…just floating along, not knowing what to expect and yet expecting it anyway. I'd just stay like that until there was any sign of improvement.
When Kouji started to stir Tasuki out of his concentration, I was the first to open my eyes, although not the first to break the kiss. My eyes had opened only slightly, to observe the man in front of me, and I found something rather odd: he was crying while his eyes were closed.
Why?
Had I done something to make him sad? The more peculiar part was that he wasn't really sobbing, tears were just flowing out as if it were nothing—like someone had turned on a faucet in his tear ducts on the lowest setting and just let the tears run down his cheeks despite his emotional state. Once he opened his eyes, his voice had no hint of sorrow or anything and for a second, it even looked like he was wondering himself why he was crying. But as easily as they came, Tasuki just wiped them away, turning off the faucet as he addressed Kouji.
From what I could tell based on their conversation, the results of our efforts were still unclear. I didn't really expect my emotions to come back, it was the ring on my head that managed those, but that wasn't really my goal in the first place. It was…the other issue…
"Aki? What happened? Did it work?" Shokyoku's voice emerged behind me filled with concerned curiosity. Almost as if there was some cosmic force that was listening in on her inquiry, an answer was delivered upon the immediate constraint of my body by the resurgence of the purplish-black electricity. And just as expected, the ending of that first wave brought in the second symptom of my condition: the expulsion of my blood from my body. Unable to stop it, a few violent coughs into my palm brought Tasuki and Kouji's attention back to me, only to have them find trickles of red liquid dripping from my hand to the ground.
"Hey, are you gonna be okay?" Kouji asked, taking a step towards me in concern. "Maybe it wouldn't be that bad of an idea for you to go see a doctor…"
Shokyoku scoffed at the idea. "Foolish and naïve human, thinking that one of their normal doctors has the ability to help our kind—if only it were that simple…" Indeed. If something like that were really an option, we would have taken the initiative already without him having to point it out. Stella and the Shadow Maidens just would not be that big of a threat if one could simply "go to the doctor" to undo whatever damage they cause.
No…
They couldn't help me. And neither could Tasuki.
The flame-headed Suzaku Warrior reached out for me as I regained my composure, and to that I told him, "Stop." His arm stopped midway before his hand could reach me, with him carrying an expression of surprise.
"But Aki, you—"
"Thank you," I interrupted him as I turned around and walked towards Shokyoku, showing him my back as I spoke. "Thank you for your assistance in all this—I appreciate the time you took out for this experiment…even if it didn't end with the preferred outcome." I only thanked him because it was common courtesy—it wasn't like I actually felt any real gratitude. Besides, we were just working with a theory to begin with. Shokyoku even said that she wasn't completely sure that it would work. But like I said before, I was willing to try anything. And so, we tried it and it didn't work. Tasuki was useless to me now.
Without giving either of the bandits another look, I continued walking, even past Shokyoku and, for some reason, towards the direction that Miaka and the others went…although that was mainly coincidental.
Tasuki called out to me using a somewhat irritated tone, "Hey! Wait a second!" But I just kept walking for there was no longer a reason for me to stay with him. Eventually, Shokyoku got the message, and I could hear her light steps trying to catch up with me along the dirt road. I thought I heard Tasuki calling out to me again, his voice tapering off as Shokyoku and I walked further and further away. But I wasn't sure considering I was no longer focused on him. My thoughts were somewhere else as I contemplated my fate.
We kept walking along the path at our own no-reason-to-rush pace, without exchanging any words between one another, passing the scenery and terrain of the mountains as well as every other bit of nature along the way. I'll have to be honest, though. I wasn't really paying much attention to where we were going or if we were even going anywhere—did we pass anyone along the way? And somewhere along the way, I lost track of time. Perhaps it was around the afternoon? The sun had already traveled directly overhead and past that, and our, or my, shadow was changing as the day went on…that was about the only thing that did manage to catch my eye. It didn't really matter though…being lost in my own thoughts allowed me to begin to see that nothing really mattered…not to me anyway. I was just riding along in this body like a passenger, not able to really experience anything, but just there as a spectator. Maybe…I'd just keep walking and walking for day and night until my body finally gives out and dies.
After all, I couldn't protect this body anymore and I had nowhere to go.
Yes…things were clear to me now…
Shokyoku quietly strode next to me without saying anything, but every now and then, tilted the edge of her parasol enough so that she may glance up at me sadly out of the corner of her eye before lowering it down again to put her focus back in front of her. It was more than obvious that she wanted to say something, but didn't—far be it from me to pry something out of her if she didn't really want to. Who knows how many times she did this especially since I only caught her doing it a few times in between my zoning in and out.
But at some point, with her free hand she bunched up the hem of her dress that she had been fidgeting with for a while and brought herself to a halt in the middle of the road, leaving me to continue walking ahead of her. Finally, she began to speak, but in a rather meek manner. "Umm…Aki…I, uh…"
"Shokyoku." Stopping in my tracks several yards in front of her, I decided as well that I had something to say as well. This was as good a time as ever I supposed… And just as I expected, she respected me more to allow me to talk before her. "It's come to my attention that I no longer have a reason to exist—there's nothing for me to do and there's nothing out there for me."
"What?" She genuinely sounded shocked by this. Although I hardly believed that the thought hadn't crossed her mind as well. "But Aki, what about Stella? You wanted to get revenge on her for taking away what you lost, remember?"
Tossing my head back so that I could see her, I admitted, "I can't defeat her. There's no way that I could with how my condition is now." Her expression turned ever more distraught, but I remained unfazed. "So when you think about it, there really isn't any point in me trying—it'd be a waste of time and effort, and I would only end up looking like a fool. The rational thing to do," I paused for a second as I reviewed everything I had thought about for the past while, then I concluded with, "is just give up. No point in fighting a battle that I know I can't win." Predicting just what she was about to say—something about how I shouldn't give up and how Stella needs to be stopped and shouldn't be allowed to get away with what she did. But in all honesty, I didn't care.
"Besides, I…hold no malice towards Stella." She gave me a puzzled look. I pointed to my face, my emotionless expression. "Remember? No emotions. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I only began this quest of vengeance because you convinced me to—told me that it was something I had to do. And I think after a while, somewhere along the way I was beginning to think that that was truly what was meant for me." For some reason, after the whole incident with Stella occurred, I couldn't remember any of my motivations or goals, if I even had any. So yeah…that way of thinking that Shokyoku had me in fooled and distracted me for a while, what with everything that was going on, but now that things were in perspective once again, I could see how my reality really worked. I guess you could say that the failure with Tasuki somehow shocked me back into my place. "If anything, my only purpose was to keep myself alive—I don't know where that specific urge came from, but it was there…But now that I went against Chichiri's warning and used my powers, it's only a matter of time before this body becomes weak from blood loss, or by whatever contamination Stella left, and expires…"
Once those words left my mouth, Shokyoku managed to make her legs move, making her break out into a small run towards me, making the parasol made of shadows disperse into nothingness as she used her energy to make her body solid enough for her to take hold of my good, left arm and wrap herself around it, thus making this the first time that she had voluntarily exposed herself to sunlight. She didn't seem to care. Throwing her head up to face me, she started to cry. "You can't just think like that! You can't!" Allowing her emotions to take over, she kept forcibly tugging on my arm in response to her disapproval of my decision. My body jerked around to her movements without very much resistance. "We can still do something! I won't ever give up!"
"Shokyoku…we can't do anything—you'll feel better if you just learn to accept it." Seeing as how she still wouldn't listen to me, closing her eyes as tightly as she could to block me out, I tried to reason with her on another route. You even said before…Her eyes shot open as she caught onto my thoughts. Tasuki really was not only our best hope, but our only hope. Also, Stella herself is incapable of reversing what's already been done.
'Just because I said that doesn't mean—'
Think about it. Don't you think that it's better that I die rather than turn into a Shadow Maiden? Without that ring on my head, there was no doubt at all that I would have fallen right into Stella's plans. Even now, I could still remember the pathetic state I was left in right after Stella got to me. Those emotions…no doubt would have destroyed me. Taiitsukun was playing it both safe and smart in creating this enchanted item. Maybe I had no personal preference of my own, but there were simple facts. And one of the facts was that Shadow Maidens provided no benefit towards the grand scheme of the universe. By becoming one wouldn't have been a proper usage of my abilities.
So death it is.
The only thing I could really do was wait for my life to run its course as I stay out of the way of everyone else's fates.
I accept my death, so it's fine. "After all, you don't see me being upset about it, so you shouldn't either."
To that, she immediately let go of my arm and shot her arms down to her sides, her hands balled up into a fist and her lifted on her toes as she shouted with evermore tears, "Of course you aren't upset about it! You have that stupid ring on your head!" That might be true, but I really don't see why you're so worked up about this… Seeing my indifference towards the whole situation made her eyes grow wide for a second in disbelief before calming down and lowering herself back down to the flat of her feet, unclenching her fists in the process. She lowered her head and shook a bit as she continued to sob. "Aki…I love you but…I really don't know how else I can help you…I want to encourage you and tell you everything is okay but…" She sniffed. "I…I-I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry Aki! I'm sorry that I can't do anything more to help you! I'm sorry that I don't have what it takes! I-I'm just so sorry…" Lifting her arms up, she brought the back of her hands over her eyes as she threw her head back and just cried out without holding back. "I'm sorry! Please-Please forgive me!"
She was making such a big deal about this, it's not like it was her fault. I don't blame you for anything. I wasn't completely sure if she even caught onto that message seeing as how she was pretty much an emotional wreck right about now. Was this really something to cry over? Well I guess it was customary for someone to cry over someone's dying. But if that were even the case, I wasn't dead yet. So I rattled my brain for why Shokyoku would possibly be so upset about this. And that was when something occurred to me. "If I die, does that mean that you die too?" I asked.
Taking her hands away from her eyes, she hiccupped through her words. "P-P-P—" she took a deep breath and tried again. "P-Probably. W-W-We are c-connected after all…"
Well, at least now it makes sense. "You're upset that your life is coming to an end as well."
"W-What?" Using her sleeve to whip away her tears, she tried to stop her weeping. "I can't-I-I can't believe you'd think that! It's not t-true! I'm sad for you not me!"
I didn't know who she was trying to fool. "I'll admit, when coming to this conclusion, I only thought that I'd be the only fatality. It didn't occur to me that you'd be affected as well. I apologize for the inconvenience."
Shokyoku shook her head. "No no no! You're not getting it Aki—" She stopped her sentence midway when she peered past me and kept her eyes locked onto something. When I turned around to see what she was staring at, I found myself standing before the blue-haired monk with the fox-faced mask.
Chichiri.
What's he doing here?
To him, it only appeared as if I was with by myself, talking to myself. Fortunately he knew the true story even if he couldn't see it. Unlike normal humans, this one had a bunch of tricks tucked away in his sleeves, not to mention he was much cleverer than he led on. With his knowledge of magic and the works, he really would have been the only one who could approach us so stealthily that neither Shokyoku nor I would notice until a certain point. How long has he been standing there?
I spoke up first. "So, how much did you hear? Anything need to be repeated?"
Instead of answering the question directly, he replied with a rather troubled expression. "I guess you guys weren't successful, huh? I was really rooting for you guys on that, ya know? After all, it did sound like a good idea…"
"Shouldn't you be at the palace masquerading as Hotohori? You'll mess up your priestess's journey if you're found out."
His signature smile, or shall I say, the masks smile, returned in response to my comment. "Oh, that's not really something worth worrying about, ya know? Even the advisors at the palace should think that the emperor needs to be alone every now and then, away from all the stress. So I'm just taking a break!" Fortunately for Konan, he's only a temporary ruler.
For the most part, I didn't believe that was really his reason for being here. Taiitsukun must have tipped him off or something. Either that or he was spying on all of us the entire time and just now felt that it was the time to intervene. He made a playful frown and said, "'Spying' sounds so intrusive—it'd be best to say that I was checking up on you, ya know? No harm in that~" Apparently, even given the state of current events, reading my mind was still a thing.
"As if my day couldn't get any worse, this guy shows up," Shokyoku bitterly hissed under her breath. Not even a second later, she gasped and slapped a hand over her eyes after seeing something. "And again, I was wrong…" Her loathing towards how this situation was progressing along somehow reminded her of how she was standing directly in the sun's rays. She winced at its intensity on her, not even realizing how her whole issue with the sun was purely psychological. Bringing her arm up with her hand towards her shoulder and curled in such a way that it looked as if she were holding something, scattered shadows suddenly manifested into her grasp, merging together as they molded their fused form into the shape of a parasol. Then she placed her free hand on her hip with a sour expression.
Chichiri brought his head up and raised his eyebrows in reaction to whatever Shokyoku was loathly remarking about. Then he smiled again and said, "Hey! I was wondering why you weren't already here, ya know?" Again, I turned around so that I may understand what everyone was referring to.
…
Make that a who.
"Aki! I'm comin' along with ya!" He announced. The flame-headed Mt. Reikaku Bandit leader presented himself before me, his magic tessen fastened onto his back with a harness—a look of complete assurance on his face. "And I ain't takin' no for an answer. You nagged me when we met to bring you along with me, so!~ Now, I'm payin' ya back!" He scratched his head. "Of course now you're not really puttin' up a fight…but…" Walking up to me and completely shoving Shokyoku out of the way, to which she gave him a nasty glare since it was most likely intentional, he patted my shoulder a few times and gave a wide smile that displayed his fangs. "I'm sure you'll give me hell later on when we get you fixed up!" Somehow he was still stuck in the delusion of an idealistic future. Why was he even here? His path was with Miaka or with the bandits, but for some reason, he stopped for me. When he stopped patting me, he brought his arms in to be crossed casually. "You don't have to worry about the gang. I left Kouji in charge until I got back. Everyone seemed fine with that and I'm sure that the old boss would have been too." After he had a few moments to drink in his surroundings, Tasuki finally took notice of the fourth person in the party who had been so patiently standing directly behind me. "What the! Chichiri! How long have you been standing there?"
I adjusted my position so that I may easier converse with the two. Chichiri scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Took you long enough to notice, ya know? As always you're not very observant. If I were you, I'd have that checked out~"
Tasuki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Was that supposed to be some kind of crack, monk?"
To implore diplomacy and diffuse any misunderstanding, Chichiri excitedly waved the hand not holding his golden staff. "Of course not! Well anyway~" He looked over at me and then back to Tasuki, realizing that we have formed a circle of some sort. "It seems like its been a while since it was just the three of us, ya know? Even though we know that it wasn't that long ago."
"Three of us?" Tasuki motioned back towards Shokyoku who was still shooting daggers at him with her eyes. "So I'm guessin' that you can't see the brat there either, right?"
"Nope!" Chichiri cheerily admitted. "I can feel her presence, and I can see her parasol, but I'm afraid that I can't see her, ya know? Although I'm not all that surprised that you can—you and Aki do have a bond after all~"
I blinked in surprise at the new bit of information. Wait a second…we have a bond? Blushing a bit, Tasuki scratched his cheek and looked away. "Yeah…I guess that would explain it…Though it's not all that great since that little girl is nothin' more than a pain in the ass."
"How dare you call me such a thing you good-for-nothing monkey!" Shokyoku stomped over to the circle and pointed an accusing finger at her insulter—an anger vein appearing at her temple. "You have no right to talk about me when you couldn't do your job right and help Aki! You had one job. One! And you couldn't even do that! Just like a stupid monkey."
As I ignored their banter, my mind was still wrapping itself around this concept set before me. A bond? What kind of bond could it have possibly been to allow him to be able to see Shokyoku? A bond…I couldn't help but wonder if this was the bond that was supposed to make it possible for Tasuki to heal me—why it specifically had to be him. Well, if that were the case, then the bond that we have must have been pretty useless since my condition was no better. Assuming I was correct, then there was no point in thinking about it any further.
Then again…
Chichiri and Tasuki were talking about it so casually in front of me, as if the both of them expected me to already have this information. If that was true, then how come I couldn't remember?
"Hey Chichiri, why the heck are you here anyway?" Tasuki asked his fellow Suzaku Warrior. "Not that I'm complainin', I just didn't expect for you to be around."
The monk tossed him a knowing smile. "I'm pretty much here for the same reason you are, ya know? I was worried about Aki and wanted to assist!"
Still Tasuki's cheeks remained flushed a bit, but he tried to play it off as nothing. "You know that she and I are pals, of course I'd come and help her out. But you should know that I came along for another reason as well. It's not all about her."
Chichiri nodded at him. "I didn't think it would be just that—you are a Suzaku Warrior after all."
"How did?!" Completely shocked, Tasuki threw his arms out to further animate his surprise. "How the hell did you know that?" He snapped his head over to me. "Did you tell him?" I shook my head. That's right…when we traveled together before, it hadn't been exchanged between us that the two of them were Suzaku warriors. They both kept it to themselves and I was in the dark most of the time. Chichiri was the one who was most informed about everyone, knowing pretty much what I was all about as well as "Genrou's" true identity despite the fact that the monk kept us guessing the entire time. I found out about Tasuki when he got drunk and let it slip that one night. And it wasn't until Miaka came into the picture that Chichiri made the truth known…to me and the others anyway. So today was finally the point in which Tasuki became the last to know. Better late than never I guess. "So what…Aki knows, Chichiri knows…did that girl Miaka know and she was just playin' dumb before?"
Chuckling at his comrade's reaction, Chichiri told him, "I doubt that Miaka would have left you here without a fight if she'd known about you, ya know? Actually, I knew who you were when we met—before that really."
"That's a...kinda creepy Chichiri." Inching away from the monk due to discomfort, Tasuki quickly jumped to conclusions. "You sure you're not some kind of a stalker or somethin'? I always knew you were a creep—I told you guys I don't swing that way!" Hmmm…no, that's not worth thinking about.
Chichiri sweat-dropped. "You've really missed the mark that time Tasuki. No, you got it all wrong, ya know? See, I'm a Suzaku Warrior as well!" He put his free hand on his hip, tilting his head to the side with a slight disapproving frown upon his mask. "If you knew anything about the constellations of Suzaku, it should have been obvious the moment I introduced myself before. It's not like I made any efforts in disguising myself or anything."
Upon being accused of being uneducated, Tasuki was left not knowing how to respond (which sort of confirmed that he really didn't have much knowledge about the legend). "Uhh…well…" Considering the circumstance, normally I'd think it was a bit pathetic that he didn't even know something as important as this about his own country. But if memory served right, Tamahome didn't know very much about the whole thing either. This either meant that the legend was only provided to the privileged, or that Tamahome and Tasuki were just incompetent. I guess it's just up to viewer's interpretation.
"I guess the important part is that you know about it now, ya know? It's good to officially have you on board now." Then, almost as if a switch had been flipped, Chichiri turned to me harboring a more serious countenance (as serious as that mask could possibly get anyway). "Alright, now back to business. You really couldn't find what you were looking for, huh?" Why ask? You already know the answer. Upon hearing my accusation of him in his head, Chichiri automatically went on the offensive, albeit with a calm tone."I just received the information about your being here—I really wasn't spying on you. So I don't really know all the details, ya know? But I guess I was wrong to expect too much. Under normal circumstances where you were…well, more like you, then I have no doubt that Tasuki would have been the solution." In offense, the bandit's attention quickly snapped towards Chichiri. "I should have anticipated that more factors would more likely have to have been involved." Chichiri then let out a sigh in disappointment.
"Why're you makin' it sound like her bein' this way is my fault?"
"I didn't say it was your fault, ya know? Only that you just weren't the exact solution that we're looking for. It's not like this is something you have control over." When you examine it a bit, Chichiri's statement almost made it sound as if Tasuki was incapable of getting the job done. In actuality though, there was no "almost" about it. Tasuki didn't have what it took to help me. This wasn't an insult, it was just fact.
"Well what the hell was I supposed to even do?! No one explained anything to me." If he was so willing to cooperate like he said he was, then the details really shouldn't have been all that important. What good what it have done to tell him everything anyway? It wasn't like he could actually make a difference in anything. "The whole time, you people have just been givin' me vague answers and that ain't good enough! And then out of nowhere, Aki comes up and just kisses me—" At the realization of his admitting that last part, and failing to cut it as short as he would have liked, Tasuki held back from explaining the rest and retreated his argument as his cheeks reddened a little.
Chichiri raised an eyebrow. "You guys kissed? Huh." Tilting his head only slightly, he pondered as he spoke. "I guess if you were going to take advantage of her in this emotionless state, I guess that would be an effective way to do it, ya know?"
To that Tasuki immediately exploded. "What the hell are you thinkin' you damn monk?! I said that SHE kissed ME—not the other way around! What kind of guy do you take me for?!"
Showing him a somewhat nervous smile, Chichiri replied, "I was just teasing you, ya know? I know you'd never do something like that so calm down." Once Chichiri's word's got through to a still somewhat unconvinced Tasuki, who looked like he was suffering through a flushed, annoyed face, giving Chichiri a silent warning with his fierce eye contact, the masked Suzaku warrior peered over towards me. "I have a feeling that this would be a lot more fun if you still had a sense of humor Aki~" Fun? I wasn't aware that this was a situation meant for one to enjoy themselves. How would being humorous benefit anyone?
Bringing a fist up to Chichiri's view, Tasuki ordered, "Alright Chichiri, quit your dancin' around the bush already and tell me what the hell has been goin' on since we all separated. Why is Aki all messed up now?"
Chichiri finally gave him a straight face and didn't hesitate any further on giving him the answer. "You remember when we helped that one village out a while back? Ya know, the place where all of the people had disappeared into the forest but it turned out they were all just being possessed by something?" He was referring to the day that Tasuki and I met Chichiri. For some reason or another, we all investigated a supposed ghost town whose community seemed to have just gone up and left. The village still looked as if it was still being inhabited, but everyone was just…gone. Long story short, the women of the town had been Shadow Kissed and by using their negative emotions, used their siren-like abilities to turn all of the males into compliant, living zombies. However…for some reason…I couldn't remember how we got out of that or if we ended up saving them or not…Did we? How was it that my memory was so crystal clear up until it got to the resolution of that crisis? At that point…it's just blank…
That's…peculiar…
Maybe I blacked out or something?
"Yeah, what about it?" Tasuki pushed further.
"Those women were being possessed by a much more alarming threat—beings called Shadow Maidens. I'll spare you the details on what they are exactly, but these creatures have been determined for a long time to get Aki to become one of them, ya know." Tasuki opened his mouth to speak, but Chichiri anticipated his question. "And before you ask, yes, Aki does have the capability of becoming one. On their side is a very intelligent and distinguishable Shadow Maiden whose powers easily tower over the rest of her kind. During a search and rescue mission into our enemy country Kutou's royal palace, that Shadow Maiden, Stella, was somehow able to overpower Aki. Me and the others don't really know everything that happened during that time, only that Stella was in the process of Turning Aki into one of them. If Shokyoku and I hadn't intervened, the unthinkable would have happened, ya know? Unfortunately…I had arrived too late to get her out of there…and that Shadow Maiden had already left a serious imprint on Aki, leading to unfavorable effects. Aki…" His head lowered a bit as his tone became a tad more melancholy. "…lost something's precious to her, two of them being her sense of touch and her ability to move. The others…well…" He gave me a quick glance before continuing. "…I can't say for certain. However now I can see that her condition has gotten worse." Turning to me again, he asked. "Did you by any chance use your powers recently even though I strictly advised against it?"
I nodded without reluctance. "Something strange came over me when Miaka was in danger. I had no control over myself and ended up fighting with my own abilities instead of with Shokyoku which was initially planned. How can you tell?"
"Ever since I gave you that ring to put around your head, your aura has shrunk and become incredibly dull, ya know? By using the same ability I use to see auras, I noticed how now you have a smoky black cloud cloaking your whole body—this wasn't there when you left the palace in Konan." He crossed his arms in concern. "Your life force is also fluctuating very unnaturally and it's got me kind of worried, ya know?"
Hmm…I haven't really given much thought to my aura or how it was affected by all of this. Guess it made sense. If there was any visual way to display that I had been given a lethal curse, then I guess that a black cloud might have been appropriate. Might as well tell him the full diagnosis. "Because I used my powers, I am chronically stricken with a surge of purple electricity which makes it nearly impossible for me to move. And then, I end up coughing up blood." Chichiri looked alarmed. "This kind of thing used to only happen when I had used up too much of my energy, sans the electricity. But now, it goes to that point all on its own, even without me using my powers. It only took one time for this trap to activate."
"Damn…that really isn't good at all," Chichiri bit the side of his lip in frustration.
After what seemed like a while, Tasuki brought himself back into the conversation in a forceful tenor. "Alright, some messed up shit has gone down, but what does that ring on her head have anything to do with anything?"
"The state that Stella left Aki in proved to be troublesome for a few reasons," His fellow warrior answered. "One, Aki couldn't move herself which made her vulnerable to any attack. Two, Aki couldn't, or should I say, wasn't supposed to use her powers. And in doing so also left her vulnerable. And three, Aki's Darkness had grown exponentially and uncontrollably. Because of that, it made it difficult for any of us to come into contact with her ya know? It was too dangerous. Not only that, but with all that Darkness wrapping itself around her, it would only be a matter of time before that force alone did the job that Stella couldn't and turn her into a Shadow Maiden."
"So…what, you're sayin' that there is more than one way to Turn Aki or anyone that comes long?"
"Umm…yes, there is more than one way to Turn Aki into one, but the ability to Turn is only reserved for certain people," Chichiri assured. "Don't worry, you're not one of them, ya know?"
"I wasn't worried!"
Chichiri gave him a small smile. "I can tell. Well anyway, my teacher crafted that ring and put a spell on it—it's an item meant only for Aki, allowing her to walk and move around even though she can't feel and it takes away what's left of her emotions so that her Darkness could stay in check. Of course, it's meant to really only a temporary fix ya know? And…judging by that black cloud and what Aki told me, time is not on our side anymore."
Placing a hand on his side, Tasuki took a peek at the decorated hoop around my head. "Now Miaka's warning is makin' more sense. Jeez…All that crap went on in such a little time…" He scowled as he closed his eyes, allowing all of this new information to sink in. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, he asked rather zealously, "Where do I come in in all this? Not that I mind helpin' her out or anything, just…why me?" Finally a point of interest. Since Shokyoku omitted that information from me, perhaps Chichiri could help spread a little light.
"Well, you already know about your bond, right? There's a lot more to it than just your aura's connecting and turning gold under the right circumstances, ya know? One of them is your ability to create, exchange, or amplify the element Light. Even when Aki had her emotions and everything was fine, you two haven't matured this power yet, so it might manifest as what seem like tiny electric jolts or something that you share. Am I right?" How was I not aware that something like that even existed between us? That…must have been something I already knew. And yet…it's sounding a lot more like new information to me. If it was so important, you'd think that I would already know about it.
"Hey…yeah!" Tasuki thought it over for a few seconds before confirming. "So that's what that whole spark thing is about. But what's the point of it?"
Chichiri rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly—earning him raised eyebrows from Tasuki who was expecting an answer. "That answer…is a bit more complicated, ya know? Besides, it's not my place to tell you that~"
"Eh?" Tasuki have him a puzzled look. "What'ddya mean it's not—"
"If I could just answer your previous question…if you and Aki could use your bond to create Light, then most likely, the contamination that Stella left inside of her would have been dispelled…in theory anyway. However I have a feeling that no such thing happened, did it?"
The flame-headed Suzaku warrior dropped his shoulders and looked to the ground in a rather defeated fashion. "No…it didn't…" So by what they were saying, some type of spark was supposed to be exchanged between Tasuki and I and that was supposed to give me back what I had lost. But for some reason, that didn't happen. Chichiri still didn't explain how the spark was even produced. By the way he avoided Tasuki's similar question, I could tell that Chichiri wasn't really up for giving us the answer. Either that, or he also didn't know why that happened. Bet I know who does though: Taiitsukun. If knowing that information was actually helpful, I was pretty sure that Taiitsukun wouldn't have kept it to herself, not if she was as determined on taking down Stella like everyone else was. Must not have been that important.
Bringing his hand up and lightly grabbing his chin, Chichiri frowned as he tried to think things out. "This is a problem…I was hoping that this wasn't the case, but Stella must have done more damage than I thought. Or…maybe…" He looked over at me and I knew exactly what he was insinuating.
"Or maybe I doomed myself once I used my powers. It did make things worse after all…"
When he stepped a bit closer to me, he put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a smile. "It's not your fault Aki. When you look at the big picture, Stella is ultimately to blame, ya know?" His face became sterner. "Your powers are a part of who you are. I feel bad for even having to tell you that you couldn't use them. It must have been difficult to go without them for so long."
"No difficulty at all. Like I told you before, something just came over me and I used them." Seeing Miaka in danger for some reason woke up something inside of me…something that took over my body. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever know what that was all about. "It all happened too fast for me to really prevent. And now…I've taken myself past the point of healing…all of my options have been exhausted…"
Shokyoku peaked up from under her parasol to stare at me woefully. "Aki…"
"Aki, we don't know how your core got damaged or when, so stop saying that you're the one who did it. And there is a solution out there, ya know? It's just a bit more complex than what we thought, but it is out there."
"Dammit all!" Tasuki shouted, clenching his fist so much that it was vibrated from the stress. "I couldn't do anything to help her…If what we did before didn't work, then what is it that we can do? I refuse to just stand around and be useless in all this—"
"You both are wasting your time," I told them abruptly, not caring a bit for their opinions or wishes on an idealistic outcome. "What do you think you're doing? Going out of your way for me… Even Shokyoku understands by now that there isn't any point in investing any more time on me. It would be more logical for you to put the time and energy needed to perform the tasks given to you without my existence serving as interference. My time's almost up, so don't go running after a lost cause when you could be doing something more productive." Bringing my hand up, I slid Chichiri's hand off of my shoulder as politely as I could, then, upon deciding that I no longer needed to be in their company, started on walking again down the path, expecting Shokyoku to follow momentarily, and for the Suzaku Warriors to just sit there and listen to the rest of my words as I left. "Your purpose is to protect your country and priestess, not to get involved with an unrelated cause. Tasuki, you need to catch up to Miaka and the others. Chichiri, go back to the palace before you blow Hotohori's cover. Forget about me—" All of a sudden, I found myself unable to move forward and my body losing its balance as my vision progressed upwards upon my falling back. As a reflex, my legs worked to awkwardly correct the problem. In my attempt to stand up straight, I found that my good arm had been tugged hard enough by Tasuki at my wrist to keep me from going on any further.
"You must be pretty stupid to think that I'd just let you walk away like that again. I made a promise to you and I'm gonna keep it." Letting go of my wrist as I turned to face him, he reached back to grab the handle of his tessen, preparing himself. "If you wanna fight about it, then fine. But you ain't gettin' rid of me that easily."
I blinked at him, lingering on the words he said at the beginning of his proclamation. "Promise? What promise?"
Chichiri met up with us while walking in from behind. "He's just saying that we're your friends, ya know? And not just us, Hotohori, Nuriko, Tamahome, and especially Miaka all care about you. So no matter what you say, we'll make time for you." But…why? Them doing that doesn't make any sense at all. Where's the logic behind it? How would it help them? Their enemies in Kutou were probably doing everything they could to make sure they were always one step ahead of Konan, and yet these guys were wasting their time on me.
I just didn't understand.
At that moment, the atmosphere in that area suddenly shifted, bringing along with it a force that inflicted my vision with a single purple and black lightning strike. Just one? That's…odd…If it was a Shadow Maiden, there would be more…Could this be something different?
Chichiri's reaction soon followed not a second later as he grasped his staff with both hands and stood at attention, keeping alert to the impending danger. "Who's out there?! Show yourself!"
Shokyoku, in contrast, stood rather still and calm as she scanned the environment. "This seems…familiar…It couldn't be…" She gasped, her eyes growing wide in horror. Barely a whisper escaped her lips as her body feverishly shivered. "Oh no…"
"H-Hey, you guys, what's with the ground?!" Following Tasuki's gaze, the three of us snapped our heads down to find that we were standing in the middle of a large black blob which was, although flattened along the terrain, seemed to be alive as it curled, waved, and shifted on its own. And then, an indistinguishable woman's voice ran past my ears in an almost barely noticeable volume. Thinking it wiser to move out of the pit of dander, I attempted to move, but found that my body wouldn't budge—I was frozen in place. What? At first, I wasn't that alarmed since this was the sort of thing that had been happening to me lately. The part that made it odd was how I expected that constricting electricity to be the doing of my incapacitation. But the longer I waited, the more I began to realize that this was something different. I couldn't even move my head to see what was going on with me.
From his palm, Chichiri released a light blue, oblong energy ball towards the black blob and for a split second, a big tear was left in that spot. But it was all for naught when that area was replaced with more of the black mass.
"Alright, I'll take care of this," Tasuki announced as he reached for his tessen. But before he had a chance to do anything, the black blob spread outwards and up over our heads, blocking the light from the sun as it covered us like a blanket. Did this stop Tasuki's plan to burn a hole out of there? "Rekka Shinen!" Apparently not. A roaring flame escaped from the fan as he waved it, racing out towards a specific spot on the black walls that confined us. Much to our surprise the flame just kept going until it burned out—not hitting anything at all. "What the?! I was sure that I got it!"
This place…we weren't in pitch darkness as originally perceived, not to mention that we could all see one another clearly, so this wasn't a case of someone turning out the lights. I knew this place…or something like it…but where…? By some means of escaping the laws of physics, this place, wherever we were, didn't appear to have walls at all—not really anyway, unless you consider the visible blackened layer that surrounded us, which had in it dark metallic colors as it seemed to flow like magma. Hard to consider that a wall, though. If my hypothesis about this place being like an abyss was correct anyway. It was its own space altogether. Hmm…Strange how I could think that matter-of-factly. Or maybe…not so strange…I was positive that I had been there before…or at least somewhere like it.
In my mind flashed an image of Shokyoku lounging around on a large throne.
That's it. This place closely resembled the inside of Shokyoku's ring…I went inside there once. That was when I met Shokyoku.
But…why would we be in a place like that? And this time…it was as if we were actually there. What was that thing that swallowed us? A means of getting here wasn't as…interactive before…
"Umm…Aki?" Shokyoku's voice came from behind me, but I was unable to face her.
"Whose voice was that?" Tasuki asked off to my side. Huh? He swirled around in the direction where Shokyoku stood. "Whoa…the brat. She's not grey anymore!" What? Not only did he face Shokyoku when she spoke, but he said she's not grey anymore?
"Is that…Shokyoku?" Chichiri asked. He can see her now?
Before I even knew it, Tasuki, Chichiri, and Shokyoku, who was indeed in her normal colors again, were all swiftly rushing past me as my frozen body was being dragged against my will.
"Aki!" Taking their focus off of Shokyoku's appearance, my teammates turned towards my direction in urgency but then, I suddenly came to a halt.
A menacing giggle manifested without a source, jumping from ear to ear and echoing all around.
After that, a quick swish created by a shadow swept across my vision and then…
Everything faded away into blackness.
*Tasuki's 3rd POV*
Even while being trapped in that freaky place, something that should have had more of an effect on him, hearing that little girl's voice threw Tasuki off a bit more than anything else at that moment. The whole time, she had been mute, as far as he could tell, and then out of the blue, she actually spoke—and he heard it! And he knew he wasn't crazy since even Chichiri was a bit shocked to have finally heard her. Not only that, but it was as if the plain shades of grey which made up her whole complexion, except her weird dual colored eyes which were still her most prominent feature, were suddenly painted over with actual colors—noticing mostly her dark plum hair and the lightest creamy colored skin. Something like this didn't seem as if it would be that big of a deal, but now that he could actually hear her and see her in all her entirety, she just seemed a lot more real and not just some bratty shadow that followed Aki around everywhere. And that was made possible, most likely, to wherever they were.
Speaking of which…
While Tasuki should have been a tad more alarmed about their whereabouts, his adventure into Aki's subconscious earlier, or…wherever the hell he was, sort of made whatever this new place was lose its luster a bit. This didn't however mean that he was any less prepared for what ugly monster might show its face. It was just…that place gave off a whole different vibe than in the place he was before…this felt more cold…sinister…the energy in the air more than the place itself was enough to send a shiver down his spine. Somethin' ain't right here…
Upon looking around to see any potential threats, Tasuki's internal alarm went off as he witnessed Aki, posed as erect as a statue, being effortlessly dragged away from our group by a pair of shadowy hands which had wrapped around her.
"Aki!" Now was the time to react. Just as the flame-headed Suzaku warrior took a few steps towards her direction in pursuit, the hands ceased their kidnapping, and stood a peculiarly consenting Aki upright. Figuring that that display wasn't the end of it, Tasuki and Chichiri readied themselves for whatever storm was coming. But what they didn't expect was for an arm risen above her to swiftly wave its hand over Aki's eyes, and the moment it did, a drowsy expression crossed her face before her eyelids immediately fell…and stayed closed. Aki's head soon followed, limply dropping to where her chin almost touched her chest.
"Aki!" Tasuki called out to her. No response…and no budging either. He and Chichiri rushed up to her standing, unmoving body, being cautious of those suspicious shadowy arms returning anytime soon. "Aki! C'mon, wake up!" None of his shouts seemed to be reaching her. The blood began to wash away from his face as his eyes grew wide as the worst case scenario entered his mind. "She isn't…?"
"No, she's fine," Chichiri assured him. "I can still feel her life force, ya know? I think she's just under some kind of spell that put her to sleep or something..."
Although relieved, Tasuki briefly made eye contact with Chichiri before focusing on the slumbering Aki with curiosity mixed with a sense of urgency. "A spell? What's the point of that?" Maybe they set off some kind of trap when they were out on the road. Yeah…that's what it was. Now they were stuck in someone's sick idea for a cage and Aki was their prime target. Sort of dirty and underhanded to render her helpless by putting her to sleep like that without even giving her the chance to fight. Well unfortunately for the sorry bastard…or bitch…who put them in there, they didn't do a thing about the three people who would have a chance at taking them down. He put his hand on Aki's shoulders and shook her, trying to get her to snap out of it. "Hey Aki! Wake up! Snap out of it!" Progressively, he shook her more enthusiastically, thinking in the somewhere in the back of his mind that this method would actually work.
But before he even got a chance to even see if his shaking would render her conscious again, a long, pitch-black tentacle-like extension shot out like lightning from the side, serving as a divider to separate Tasuki and Chichiri from Aki. From the depths of the darkness came an unfamiliar woman's voice, angered by her captive's actions. "Get your filthy hands off of her!" Then without any warning at all, the solid shadow appendage used its unbelievable strength to forcefully swipe them away from Aki, hitting them into the air until they roughly landed near Shokyoku about seven to ten or so yards away. As the men winced from the pain of the impact, they strove to recover and stand up again against this new unseen enemy. The same woman's voice echoed all around in a much more civil and rather mocking tone as it appeared again. "I do apologize for my rudeness. Where are my manners? Perhaps I should have told you from the start that I need Aki to be unconscious for this little visit. That'll make things less…complicated~"
Who the hell?! As if Tasuki would let some bitch get the best of him. Even if this was her turf, he'd never take that kind of hit sitting down, especially not from some no-good woman. Skillfully jumping up onto his feet, the Suzaku warrior of speed dashed towards his at the moment helpless friend Aki at high hopes of accomplishing something this time around. "Why you!" Unfortunately, he didn't quite seem to get the message the last time. Another shadowed extension shot out at him, this time from a different angle, and caught him mid-run. Using some type of heavy energy, Tasuki's body was rapidly launched directly towards his starting point, the sheer force of the attack hindered his ability to cancel it on his own. Before he was shot too far away, Chichiri intervened, blocking Tasuki's path with his own body and reinforcing it using magic to serve as an obstacle capable of stopping the progression. The plan worked, both grunting on impact as they were knocked backwards, Chichiri receiving most of the weight as Tasuki landed on him.
Fueled mostly by anger now, Tasuki struggled up, grasping his tessen with full vigor, bearing his teeth, ready for another round. "Hey! Why don't you come out before I roast you out?!" He proceeded to go forward until Chichiri reached out and grabbed his shoulder, holding him back a bit.
"Think Tasuki. That isn't going to work. We'll have to be smart if we're going to figure this out." The impact from Tasuki violently knocking into him had knocked Chichiri's mask off, revealing the intense scar that permanently closed his left eye, a detail of which was not of great importance to the monk at that moment. His fierce reddish brown eye stared Tasuki down, sending out a message to force his subordinate to stay calm.
The woman's voice came in again, sounding rather amused. "No please, let him keep going. I enjoy it when humans further prove their inferiority. If I'm lucky, he'll keep at it until he's dead." By using pretty much the majority of his willpower, Tasuki held back, heeding Chichiri's advice. Where was that bitch's voice even coming from? What the hell did she want?
Suddenly recalling the answers that Chichiri had given him earlier, a light lit up in Tasuki's mind. "Hey Chichiri…Is this that Shadow Maiden or whatever you were tellin' me about earlier? The one who messed up Aki?"
"No…" For the first time for what seemed like a while, the two-colored-eyed brat slowly and uneasily stepped out of the spot she had been stationary in for a while. As if she were moving against her will, she reluctantly brought herself closer to Aki, but being careful as to not get too close to where the shadows would attack her too. A large grimace spread across her face, her complexion turning almost a sickly green as she took a long glance at the sleeping Aki. "It's much…much worse." Chichiri and Tasuki turned to her in alarm. Without even facing them, she felt their questioned-filled eyes. "M...Mother..."
From the darkest depths of the abyss behind Aki came forth an attractive young woman with long, layered, flaming red hair that classily twisted at the ends, and with parted bangs—her hair being a very similar color to Tasuki's. And her sharp, cunning cat-like eyes were a deep amber…also a similar color to Tasuki's…weird...Even her skin had a similar tan to his. From anyone on the outside looking in, it would appear as if the two could be siblings, but upon further investigation, the air about them couldn't be more different than night and day, with her being the only one harboring dense negative energy that practically oozed from her being.
She wore a long black sleeveless one-piece dress which fanned out at the bottom and split down the center in the front of her upper body, strings connecting one side with the other as she shamelessly revealed her cleavage. A menacing smile spread across her painted lips as she tenderly wrapped her arms around Aki's neck, embracing her while shooting a deathly glare at the Suzaku Warriors.
"Aww…looks like the secret is out~" She said coolly, referring to Shokyoku's introduction. Shoky's mom? Seriously? There was no doubt at all that she was the one making that place feel so damn off. Something about her presence was just wrong… So that little girl came from her? Huh...
And she was much too close to Aki.
The woman lifted Aki's seemingly lifeless head a bit so that she may rub her cheek up against hers, but still keeping her gaze fixated on her enemies. "Oh Akimoto…my darling Aki…I've missed you so much and now I have you back." Her smile grew ever darker, her eyes staying in direct contact with Tasuki's. "Have the bad people been treating you poorly? I did warn you about them…"
What the hell is with that look she's givin' me? It was almost like she was issuing some kind of silent challenge or something, just waiting for him to take the bait. Even while guessing her intention, he was damn close to taking the bait anyway just to show her what he's made of.
"What is it that you want with us?" Chichiri asked in a demanding voice.
She tore her glare away from Tasuki and gave Chichiri her chilling attention. "On any other day, nothing… and on any other day, I would have just sent Stella instead of coming out here myself. But~" She continued cuddling Aki, an act to which prompted Tasuki to grind his teeth in resentment. "I just didn't want to pass up the opportunity to be with my love Aki again!"
Tasuki's eyes widened with a lifted eyebrow at her strange comment. "Her…love? What the hell is that broad goin' on about?"
She levitated herself from the ground a bit and hugged Aki's head, cradling it up against her bust. "Just as I said. Because you should know right now…" Her voice then reached its ultimate chilling point, setting Chichiri and Tasuki into a state of unease. "…she does belong to me. I. Own. Her."
"That's bullshit!" Tasuki shouted out, mostly wondering what kind of place this whack-job dropped out of. Saying she owned Aki. "Don't be so full of yourself—if Aki was herself, she'd—"
"But she's not, is she?" Bringing Aki out of the hug, the woman slowly traced her finger around the silver ring encircling the sleeping girl's head. "What a foolish idea of Taiitsukun's…that old hag…messing with what nature intended by using this ridiculous ornament. And you all went along with it, thinking you know what's best for Aki when in fact…you don't."
While gathering himself onto his feet, Chichiri, who was unconvinced by her declaration, told her, "You're insane. You claim that you care for Aki so how can you even think for a second that turning her into a Shadow Maiden is best?"
She shook her head in contempt. "You naïve little specimen. Even with what Taiitsukun taught you, you'll never know everything. You can stay in your own little world and believe that you do, but you would just be merely stuck in a delusion." Bringing Aki in close again, the woman began to repeatedly pet her and stroke her hair, making sure to keep her eyes on the men. "For you to honestly believe that you've got the whole picture—ha! Don't make me laugh. You're just insulting yourselves. But most importantly~ You humans will never come to understand Aki the way I do. Her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her secrets—all of them are shared between us. And so much more." Tilting her hostage's head up towards her and taking a firm hold of her jaw and parting her mouth a little, the mysterious woman forcefully planted her lips onto Aki's, kissing her deeply, earning a gasp from her spectators. Deep down in Tasuki's gut and even clouding his mind, for some unexplainable reason, an intense rage boiled and swirled within him, his face completely flushed with anger. From the very beginning of this, from the moment he laid his eyes on that bitch, the Suzaku warrior already knew that he couldn't stand her—she was conceited and spelled all kinds of trouble, leaving an unsettling feeling in his gut. But now at that very moment while he stood there watching her kissing a helpless Aki, making it seem as if she was branding her with her lips, he wouldn't mind seeing that woman dead and burning in Hell.
Seeing that slimy woman doing anything to any of his friends gave him enough of a reason to deal the blow himself. Preparing to take a swing with his tessen, Tasuki casted, "Rekka Shin—" But at that moment, Chichiri used his staff to strike Tasuki's arm, deflecting the flames which were already forming towards another direction in the space, soon dying out as they failed to hit a target. Tasuki sent his comrade a threatening glance. "What the hell?!" Shokyoku's mother calmly opened her eyes halfway, looking at the spectacle out of the corner of her eyes while continuing her lip-lock with Aki.
"Look Tasuki, I don't like what that woman is doing either, but we can't just attack her! Aki is standing right there too, remember? Do you really want to risk her getting caught in the fire?"
Staring down to the ground in disdain, Tasuki struggled with the idea of not being able to do anything at that moment. But then the image of the burn on Aki's arm came to mind. Even if she couldn't feel it, that didn't take away the damage…or the guilt he still had about it. He lowered his tessen. Speaking through gritted teeth, he asked, "What do we do then?"
Finally the sketchy woman brought her lips away from Aki's, who's head dropped back down towards her chest while she slept. Keeping an arm around Aki's waist, the woman said, "You'll do nothing and listen. I suggest you stop trying to 'help' Aki. You don't know the help she needs and because you don't understand her or our kind, you'll only end up doing more harm than good." Their kind? What the hell is that supposed to mean? She flipped her flaming orange hair. "But since I know you all will insist on doing the exact opposite of what I say, I won't bring an end to it...yet. Everything you do will just end up delaying the inevitable. So really, try all you'd like with her to 'heal' her, get it out of your system, and when you ultimately fail, my point will only be proven and Aki will be mine for good." To add even more insult to injury, she brought the arm up that wasn't around Aki's waist and gently slid the back of her palm down Aki's cheek and uttered, "Body, mind, and soul." She spoke with such assurance and calmness in her voice, showing off her façade of sophistication. But Tasuki wasn't buying into any of that crap. This bitch was just toying with them, so confident that they couldn't do a thing to change the situation. And that made him despise her even more.
He had made a promise to Aki…well, sort of a different Aki in a way…but Aki nonetheless! So there was no way he'd let some chick who shared some of his physical characteristics to come along and talk all that mess. What about that girl? Quickly taking a glance just several feet away from him, he witnessed that little girl with the ridiculously long hair and dual-colored eyes just standing there, frozen in place as she couldn't take her eyes off of the woman coddling Aki. Her whole body was shivering, a completely distraught expression on her small face.
This girl seemed so protective of Aki before—so much so that the impression she came off as was nothing more than a pest….and, yeah, a brat. But now that a time came up when she needed to prove her loyalty, she chokes. In the end, the only thing she was good for was revealing that woman's identity…like that really mattered to Tasuki anyway.
"I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing Chichiri. Either you come up with a plan or I'm chargin' at her."
Chichiri spoke without taking his focus away from the woman. "Don't be stupid. If you just go charging in, she'll get you like those times before. This isn't an enemy that we can underestimate—it's a very delicate situation ya know." The monk turned to face Tasuki so that he could see him out of his good eye. "I am working on a plan though, just be patient—I need some time—"
"We don't have time! I just wanna give that bitch what's comin' to her!"
"Tasuki!" Chichiri's sudden snapping at him appeared to snap Tasuki out of his taste for blood. "We can't be reckless here! That woman is dangerous and there are only a few ways we'll all be able to get out of this alive." He then softened up and assured his friend. "I know you're strong and I know you want to help Aki, but there are times when you have to use your head first." He turned back towards the direction of the Shokyoku's mother and Aki. "I'm going to need a few more moments. I won't be able to defeat her, but I can get all of us," extending his arm out while holding his golden staff sideways, he closed his good eye and made a sign with his free hand, "and I mean all of us, out of here."
At that moment, Aki finally stirred, but instead of waking up, her body twitched as that ominous purple electricity entangled her and then a second later, the electricity halted, leaving Aki to cough up more blood. But since she wasn't in any position to bring her hand up to take the blood, it sprayed from her mouth, leaving a red liquid trail running down from the edges of her lips. The woman's reaction to this gave the impression that she was genuinely concerned for Aki, her face twisting with sadness as she brought Aki in from the side for a one-sided hug.
"Oh my dear Aki…you suffer now, but it does require a little pain to achieve true happiness. What you're going through now may seem like torture but I promise you that it'll all be better soon. Just wait a bit more sweetie."
That…bitch…What kind of person would intentionally put someone they loved through pain? No matter what she said, Tasuki would never accept that woman's feelings as love. She was a damn sadist and needed to be taken down.
Her eyes trailed off to the side at Tasuki. Then she motioned over to him. "Hey, you. Boy who looks like me."
Tasuki braced himself for anything. "What do you want?" He asked harshly.
She gave a wicked smile. "I noticed your anger is at its peak whenever I touch Aki—tell me, does it bother you?" He didn't respond—this just sounded like another game that he didn't want any part in. With a hint of a mocking tone in her voice, she taunted. "So you're not going to answer me? What a rude little boy. Well, maybe I'll just have to do a little experiment to get you to talk." Placing her hand on Aki's cheek opposite to her, the woman asked, "Does this bother you?" And then she kissed her on the cheek. Tasuki's hand twitched as a reflex. Every inch of his body was more than ready to blast that bitch, but he had to remember what Chichiri said. The woman continued on with her playing. "No? Well, maybe this then." Shifting her position so that she stood behind Aki, making Tasuki notice that the woman was just a couple inches taller than Aki, she wrapped her arms around Aki's waist and brought her head down to Aki's neck. Giving Tasuki a provocative glare, she placed her lips on Aki's neck and began to kiss and suck up and down that side. Now Tasuki's eyes flared with rage, his whole body just shook with pure anger ready to burst at any moment.
"You get away from her…" he muttered quietly. Then he shouted. "You better f$#king get away from her you bitch!"
Bringing herself away from the still motionless Aki, the woman licked her lips seductively. "Oh, now we're getting somewhere! You humans are too easy…allowing your emotions to get the best of you—you're weak." Her mischievous grin widened. "Luckily I take pleasure in your weaknesses." The hands that were around Aki's waist started to move, sliding themselves along her still, unresisting body, one of them traveled upwards and landed over one of Aki's covered breasts. "If Aki is just your friend, then why would my doing these things bother you so much?" She grabbed then, and massaged what she could despite the clothing material separating her from actual flesh. Tasuki couldn't help but stop and analyze her comment and his anger. His being mad was justified, right? No one…no real man would just sit there and let his friend being taken advantage of—it just so happened that his friend was a woman. He was acting appropriately as a friend. He and Aki had made a deal to watch each other's backs. So this…how he was reacting, was completely normal…
…right?
The woman's hand continued to move and grope his friend inappropriately, an act that allowed Tasuki to set a personal record for longest time gone by without killing someone who had been provoking him in such a blunt manner.
What he didn't expect was for someone else to snap before he did.
The woman's eyes widened with surprise as an odd force dropped down on her, causing her body to go rigid as it braced itself, vibrating from the immense pressure that was attempting to crush her. By this time, she had already pushed Aki away from her enough so that this silent assault wouldn't involve the innocent bystander. Shoulders hunched and her head forced down as the attack pushed down on her even more, she did her best to remain standing, but her knees were progressively lowering, showing that the pressure might have been overpowering her.
"What the hell's going on?" Tasuki asked out loud to no one in particular. When he looked around, Chichiri was still calm as ever, remaining in that energy gathering, spell casting pose from before. Seeing as how he wasn't showing any physical strain at all, Tasuki didn't think that this could have been his doing. But further off on his side, he caught sight of the little girl clenching her fists as tightly as possible with her teeth bearing and grinding, tears forming in her eyes and face red with frustration as she maintained an intense and focused expression directed towards the struggling woman. The little girl's body also had an eerie black and dark violet halo outlining it.
Using her strength, the woman fought against the powerful pressure and struggled to bring her head up, an inch at a time, still shaking as it was tempted to fall again. Once her eyes were brought up high enough to get a full view of her attacker, she displayed an amused smile, even through the strain.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here? My darling daughter is actually opposing me! Didn't expect that~" Kind of left an uneasy feeling in Tasuki how she was still so calm even though someone was trying to crush her at that very moment. "And here I thought that you were going to just sit off to the side like a good little girl...but I guess that's what makes this such a pleasant little surprise" The little girl didn't dare answer her. Instead, she maintained her concentration. It was a bit alarming how that woman still seemed so confident even after what was being done to her. "I'm impressed and sort of proud of how you managed to catch me off guard. But…" She snickered in such a way that could make someone's skin crawl. "I hope you don't honestly believe that this can hold me. Now I wouldn't want to get your hopes up or anything." Shokyoku's eyes began to gloss even more from the tears forming, but her very obvious and strenuous determination helped prevent them from flowing out. "Hmm but you seem to already know that. You're terrified of me," the woman's eyes sharpened and Shokyoku winced. So…that was fear. That's why Shokyoku just stood there doing nothing for a long time—she was afraid! "and you're right to be so."
Tasuki couldn't help but just gawk at everything that was happening—even despite the woman's over-confidence, it was pretty cool to see Shokyoku getting the job done like that...and against her own mom! Gotta give credit where credit was due, that brat Shokyoku was there for them—guess she did have more to her than he was lead to believe.
"Hey moron!" Or…not. Shokyoku managed to tear herself away from her interaction with the woman and turned to Tasuki. Instant offense was taken at her insult and he was ready to give a comeback when she finished what she was saying. "I don't know if you know what's going on, but I'm giving you an opening here. Get Aki before my mother breaks out of it! I don't like the idea of leaving this up to you, but I don't have much of a choice here." He stared at her—still a bit fascinated with how he could actually hear her, but snapped out of it when she ordered, "GO ALREADY!"
Taking the hint, Tasuki placed his tessen into the harness on his back, then worked his legs and used his Suzaku given ability to dash towards Aki in a flash, the air rushing past him as he scooped her up into his arms faster than anyone else could even see. By the time he terminated his run, he was carrying a sleeping Aki while standing a bit behind a struggling Shokyoku.
He snapped his head at Chichiri who was still engaged on focusing. "Now's a real good time for you to wake up Chichiri and execute your plan!" With that cue, Chichiri shot his eyes open and yelled out as he called forth his energy. In the blink of an eye, a rush of power in the form of a raging golden light emerged from Chichiri's being. While this power illuminated the previously darkened space, the atmosphere did a complete 180, turning from miserable and unpleasant to warm and delightful, creating the familiar feeling that he'd feel when his bond with Aki was activated, although to a lesser extent. The light blazed with a fury as it grew and expanded outwards, forcing Tasuki to shield his eyes from the bright intensity, making sure to keep a good hold of Aki.
When he cracked his eyes to take a peek, he noticed the shadowed world they were trapped in being chased away, with the lit-up Chichiri in the center. Almost as if they had been confined inside someone's giant fist, Chichiri's power was opening the hand, allowing Tasuki and the others to be exposed to the dirt road they had thought was taken from them. And as the pitch-black hand opened up even more, the greenery of the nature from the mountainside lit up and rustled away as it was being influenced by Chichiri's release. Once all sign of the blob that had captured them in the first place had vanished, the monk put a lid over his energy, the light died down and finally extinguished. He fell forward onto his knees in exhaustion as he panted, bullets of sweat dripping from his face.
Tasuki, who still had Aki in his arms, was awestruck at his fellow Suzaku warrior's display which seemed to have scared off the woman and her void. "Damn Chichiri…" That was intended to be more of a thought, but it was said out in the open anyway.
Chichiri, despite being worn out and recovering from such an insane usage of energy, turned to his comrade and smiled, giving him a thumbs up.
Without any warning, Shokyoku's mother's voice echoed out of nowhere, beginning with an amused giggle. "Very impressive monk. Impressive for just a human anyway. Look how using that technique practically drained you of almost all your energy—pathetic. You and I both know that humans aren't meant to call forth their inner Darkness or Light—your bodies aren't constructed in such a way to allow you to do so without consequence. You may be skilled, but you are still just a human. So if that's the extent of what you can do, admirable as it is, then you don't stand a chance. You have no way of defeating me on your own." She paused for a few moments, then added, "I'll let you all go this time. Just make sure to treat my Aki well. For sooner than you think, I'll be back to collect her~!"
Tasuki glared at no one in particular as he groaned. I really hate that woman.
After standing there loathing her for a few more seconds, Tasuki took in the smell and view of the fresh scenery and just being thankful that he wasn't in that freaky place anymore. This was when he took notice of something. "How the heck did it get dark so fast?" Yeah…it was weird. When the four of them went into the woman's trap, it was still the afternoon. Now the sun had already set and the night sky darkened the world, the only source of light being the less than full moon.
Shifting on his spot on the ground, Chichiri went into a cross-legged position, still panting quite a bit as he rested. As he placed his cheery mask back on his face, he explained, "If you recall, the maze we were in before was a bit like this. Time sped up on the outside while it was slower for us on the inside, ya know? Although it wasn't quite to the same extreme as before, that appears to be the case for the connection between where we just were and the outside world which we had just returned to. Luckily, I think only several hours went by instead of months like it had last time, ya know?"
"Huh…" Tasuki sweat-dropped. Well I guess that makes sense in a confusing sort of way. He still wasn't completely sure about the mechanics of it all, though he didn't really care all that much to be honest. Tossing his head back, he called out, "He Shoky! You doin' alright back there?" A pretty good distance away from Tasuki and Chichiri, Shokyoku was grouching low to the ground, hugging her legs while facing away from them.
Bringing her head up, she turned her head with a bitter attitude, only so that her right turquoise eye could be seen. "Next time you pull something like that, how about you give a bit of a warning?! Honestly! You monkeys have no class…And don't you dare call me 'Shoky'! Aki named me Shokyoku, so I expect you to refer to me as such…or 'Your Majesty'…or 'Beautiful Girl Who is Clearly more Superior than I'…either one of those will do."
Tasuki scowled at her. That cocky little…Then a rewind of what she just said revealed to him how Aki's name had just been said. Looking down at her sleeping face, although with blood still wet from her mouth as it came from the cough she had before, he was filled with a sense of relief now that she was no longer in the possession of that damn mother of Shokyoku's. No…his hand squeezed her shoulder. That woman just didn't seem right—whatever ideas she had about Aki, where no doubt messed up. She'll never belong to her. Not as long as I'm around.
Joining in on the conversation, Chichiri turned to the child as well, flashing her a smile. "You did a really great job back there Shokyoku. I can understand if something like that was hard for you to do...all things considered, ya know. Thanks for the help!"
"I don't need to hear that from you," She bluntly told him. "And don't thank me. I didn't do that for you, I did it for Aki." She suddenly gasped as she shot up from her spot on the ground. "Aki!" Quickly bringing herself over to her oh-so-coveted one, she managed to ignore that Aki was in his custody long enough to reach out for her and bring a softened smile across her lips. "Thank goodness…You came back to me…"
Finally mustering the energy to stand up, with the help of his staff to assist, Chichiri wiped the dirt from his pants then walked up to Aki. "Well, I'd say it's about time to wake her up. How about you guys?"
"What?! You could have woken her up this entire time?!" Tasuki loudly asked.
"Not exactly…that woman had a pretty rock solid sleep spell on Aki, ya know? With me being unable to get close to Aki, and because that woman kept a close eye on her spell the entire time, I could have done it, I guess, but it just wouldn't have been as simple as it is now that she's gone~!" His expression temporarily became grim. "Besides…I don't exactly think that that was the type of memory I'd like Aki to have. At least now she'll never know about it since she was under a spell."
Tasuki lowered his gaze solemnly. "Yeah…" When Aki got her emotions back after everything was said and done, he didn't want to think about how vulnerable and defiled she'd feel if she realized what that woman did to her.
"Alright, I'm gonna undo the spell now—"
"Hold on!" Shokyoku interrupted. The Suzaku warriors looked down at her, both of their eyes widening from how her form was gradual changing. In Tasuki's eyes, from the bottom working its way up, her coloring was leaving, turning her back into the grey-scaled form she had before…and most likely this transformation would take away her ability to communicate with him as well. So she had to talk fast. "You monkeys have to promise me that you won't tell Aki about my mother."
Twisting his face in confusion, Tasuki told her, "Keep up kid. We just said that we don't want her to know about what happened." And what's with her calling us 'monkey's'?
Shokyoku shot him a look. "No, you don't want her to know about the situation. I'm telling you that she can't know about the actual person. I would tell you that you could tell her about her if you could keep quiet about what she looked like and what she said, but since I know you monkeys are unreliable, just don't mention her at all." Both men gave her a bewildered expression.
"Why?"
"What are you tryin' to hide?"
Puffing her cheeks in annoyance, she then replied sternly, "Just don't tell her! It would upset her and if you guys are her friends as you claim, then you'll protect what little happiness she has. Or…" She chose her words more carefully, Tasuki noticing even more how the grey effect had almost reached her neck, climbing to the top fast. "The little happiness she will have once she's healed. Just promise—" And just like that, her grey-ification was complete, the rest of her sentence was muted even though her lips still moved. Bringing her hands up to her face, she inspected them back and forth and then gave a silent sigh.
"Well I guess that's that," Chichiri said. "At least now I know what she looks like. Now I won't be so curious anymore!"
"You really can't see her, huh?"
"Nope! And you can still see her?"
"Yup," he smiled satisfyingly, "but at least now I don't have to listen to that pushy mouth of hers anymore." To that, Shokyoku threw her fists down in resentment and shot daggers at him with her still colored eyes. Completely ignoring her, although feeling quite triumphant, he motioned to Aki with his head. "Can we get goin' with this?"
Chichiri laughed uncomfortably as he temporarily forgot his task. He nodded. "Right!" Without doing anything too fancy, he waved his hand over her face and almost immediately, her still emotionless eyes popped open.
*Aki's 1st POV*
Why am I staring up at Tasuki? To be doing that, I would either have to be lying on the ground, or he was carrying me. Again…why? Last thing I could remember, Chichiri, Tasuki, Shokyoku, and I were captured by some black mass that consumed us and we were somehow transported to some place that resembled the inside of Shokyoku's ring. And yet…it wasn't that. I recalled not being able to move for some reason…but what I couldn't recall was why I couldn't move in the first place. And then…that's when my mind became fuzzy.
Now we weren't even in that space anymore. So obviously…something happened, a certain amount of time went by, otherwise I wouldn't have been in some different position than I was in before. Not to mention the time of day it was. Before I blacked out, the sun was still in the sky, but now it was the moon shining down on me.
If that much time had passed…then most likely…A thought came to mind, so I brought a hand up to my mouth, swiping my index finger under my lower lip. As my finger came into vision, my suspicions had been correct. There was blood on my face, it was beginning to look a bit thick from drying, but it still had some liquid properties to it. Not too long ago, I coughed up this blood, but I couldn't remember when I did that.
"What happened?" I asked, Tasuki finally allowing me to stand on my own feet. The moment that the question came out, Shokyoku avoided eye contact with me while the two Suzaku warriors searched their brains for an answer. If it had to take them this long, then most likely they weren't going to tell me the truth.
Chichiri opened his mouth to answer, but Tasuki came in all too suddenly and enthusiastically. "You imagined the whole thing!" In that instant, Chichiri severely whacked his companion upside the head with his staff. "OW! What the hell?!"
The monk cleared his throat. "What he meant to say, was that after we went into that weird space, whatever was targeting us snuck up on you and knocked you out, ya know? It took a while for us to find a way out of there, but we managed, so there's no reason to think about it anymore than that!"
I just stared at them, Tasuki giving Chichiri an intense glare while holding the back of his head, and Chichiri just giving me the usual smile that came with the mask, wondering if they really expected me to believe that story. Perhaps I would have if Tasuki hadn't slipped up first. More than anything else, it was surprising that Shokyoku wasn't providing me the information I asked for. Hmm… Before deciding that this mystery in the long run really wasn't all that significant (after all, if Shokyoku wasn't telling me, then maybe I just didn't need to know), I figured that I'd bring one more thing to their attention.
"And the reason for it being nighttime now?"
Chichiri showed very little hesitation this time. "You were out for a while, ya know?" Whatever. If that was the story they felt like going with, then it was a waste of time to interrogate them any further. Whatever actually happened, it didn't really matter. Nothing mattered to me. With my life still on a clock counting down, in this weakened body, I wouldn't be alive long enough to attach myself to an issue. Keeping up with his perky façade, Chichiri patted my head. "I'm really happy that you're alright, but I've got to get back to the palace, ya know?" He came in closer to make it so that I could hear his next part better than Tasuki. "Who's to say how loud of an uproar is happening over there, what with the 'emperor' being gone for so many hours." Taking a step back, he spoke so that everyone could hear, displaying a somewhat sad smile. "Aki please…don't leave us just yet. We'll figure something out, ya know? I have no doubt about it. So don't give up, okay?" There really was no hope. What Stella did to me couldn't be reversed. Like I said before, they were wasting their time on me—the time that they needed to get a step closer to winning the war and surviving.
However…
I was beginning to see that trying to convince them would prove futile and would only waste what little time I had left.
No purpose…no place to go.
Since that was the case, it wasn't the worst idea for me to just tag along with them. Their efficiency in their business would remain high as long as they didn't pay me much attention. But judging by past experience, they wouldn't agree to that. There was no fighting it.
"Very well," I told him. He and Tasuki smiled in response. I'd never believe that anything could be done for me, but if they could be put at ease by my staying, then at least something would be getting accomplished by them finally focusing on what they needed to do for their country.
My answer finally earned me a glance from Shokyoku, who hadn't talked to me since I woke up. Investing some energy into her palm, she made her hand solid so that she could take hold of my sleeve and look up at me sympathetically.
Bringing out his kasa hat from…well, nowhere really, Chichiri displayed the widened opening towards us, its depths deceptively extensive for it usually served as a means of transportation or teleportation.
"You guys lost some time because of that whole ordeal, so I'll save you the trouble by taking you to the others!"
Tasuki looked at him in confusion. "Hey…you're a warrior or Suzaku as well. Why aren't you comin' along with us?" Oh yeah…no one told him yet about Hotohori being the emperor and Chichiri being his stand in.
Chichiri just smiled at him and started to say, "Well that's because—" The three of us were then rushed into the hat by means of magic, facing a bottomless pit as we fell nowhere. In no time at all, we tumbled out of the portal and onto a new terrain—which must have been somewhere near Choko—in the middle of a field made of what looked like stone and dirt, completely devoid of live plants but filled with scattered tombstones. On the outer rim of the field on most sides were with full bushels of leaves on its branches. But in the field we were transported to, all the trees that were scattered around were dead and naked. Seemed appropriate for a cemetery.
Straightaway, Tasuki angrily got up to his feet and showed a fist to the sky, appearing as if he were initiating a challenge. "You damn monk! You did that on purpose! If ya didn't wanna tell me, you coulda just said so!"
When Shokyoku stood, she also displayed a rather annoyed expression, but quickly wiped it off as she pointed out, "I don't see Yuki or the other monkeys anywhere around. You think the blue-haired monkey missed his target? I don't see why they'd be around a bunch of dead humans."
"No…he didn't miss." Once I was standing, I scanned the area for them. The environment wasn't exactly flat, there were elevations and dips. Those guys could have been down in a ditch or two to four stories above us. Chichiri had never been wrong before, so they were around somewhere.
"Hey Aki…" Cooling down from his spontaneous vendetta, Tasuki's voice became much less hostile as he spoke to me. "We made a promise a while ago to have each other's backs. And since I'm not the type of man to go back on his word, you shouldn't have any second thoughts about leavin' everything to me." Sporting an over-confident smile, he tossed his head to the side and placed his hands on his sides. "You'll be back to your old self in no time at all. We've got this, no problem!"
Not even caring to take in anything he said, there was no remorse, as if there would be considering the circumstances, as Shokyoku and I completely walked past him to proceed with looking for Miaka. At least, that's what my intention was. I was telling my legs to walk, but for some odd reason, I was walking in one place, my body wouldn't go forward. Something was holding me back.
"Ya know, I'm getting' real sick of you walkin' away from me like that." Mystery solved—Tasuki was grabbing onto me in such a way that I couldn't progress with my search. Dragging me back to where we were facing each other again, he let go of my collar, which I guess was the thing that he grabbed onto. "Did you even listen to a thing I said?"
"Yes. You told me to let you handle my condition, giving an empty promise that you won't be able to keep."
Bending his torso a bit so that he could better match my height, he pointed to himself with his thumb. "Look you. If I tell someone that I'm gonna do somethin', I see it through to the end."
There I told him, "Do as you like. But I suggest you focus more on your job as a celestial warrior than on me—" All of a sudden, a plethora of varying degrees of grey, decayed arms broke through the gravel of the ground, reaching up for us. Shokyoku's head shot around to all the bits of movement surrounding her, almost like an excited cat, even though realistically, none of the hands could actually touch her, they'd just phase right through.
"The hell is goin' on here?!" Tasuki scrambled around to avoid getting caught as more and more arms spawned from the depths of the cemetery, all of them moving onto the next stage in lifting their complete dead bodies from their graves—most of which were shriveled up, drained of any and all nutrients and mass, reducing them to nothing but skeletons with missing teeth, eyes, and perhaps little to no hair, covered with the thinnest layer of rotting skin. My attention was torn away from them the moment that a bony limb shot up next to my person and grabbed my ankle.
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!