From Far Forgotten
A/N: School is worse than writers block. sob sob sob
May this be my longest chapter yet. - crosses fingers - Thanks to VisibleHowl for beta-ing!
Chapter 3: Yuuta's Memories (The Brother)
A lithe shadow watched with cool anger as the data specialist and his idiot kohai drifted off to their circadian doings. Twirling an errant strand of obsidian hair, his forehead twitched in irritation at having almost been spotted by that all-too-observant Inui.
As expected of one of my rivals in the data analysis world, thought the shadow. The true target of his observations was moving off, though, and midnight blue pupils followed it with absolute vigilance. Not so easy to follow, a spiritual essence, or ghost, or whatever that is. He chuckled a bit. Why, I do believe he's trying to go home. But that won't work, my dear, as you shall see. I have limited even that. Indeed, his control had grown even beyond what he had expected. His chuckle grew in pleasure as he noted the beginnings of his prey's confusion.
Yes, things have gone well…
Honestly, when that man had approached him, not even a full month ago, he would have vehemently denied that things could have progressed as they had. But at the time, he had been desperate… or rather, by that time, he had been made desperate…
It had been more than half a year since that match against Seigaku, that fateful game which had been the start of his current…. obsession. Yes, since playing the most disgraceful game of his life, he had become obsessed with the very man responsible for this humiliation, the mysterious brilliance that was Fuji Syuusuke.
At first, it had been normal – well, as normal as his activities were – observation of a rather insidious opponent. The hours spent, the days spent… more and more time spent on one fourteen year old, all for the sake of well-contrived vengeance, or so he told himself. But then, his surveillance started to reach beyond tennis… he was learning what Fuji did off the court (for the sake of grasping the tensai's whimsical play style, he reasoned), the kind of student he was, the kind of friends he had. He began researching Fuji's past, hobbies or sports he may have incorporated into his tennis, maybe some sudden changing point that lead to an immense growth of talent.
He found that Fuji had always been talented, that everything came easy to him, and perhaps for that reason he never stayed long with anything. Chess, badminton, yoga, photography... Actually, tennis was the longest activity the tensai courted so far. His potential seemed endless… perhaps because he never bothered to tap into it, or he never played his best so as to keep future opponents off guard. It was interesting data, but not useful enough to develop any absolute scenarios. In fact, calculating a scenario seemed more and more difficult, the more that he learned.
So he dug deeper. He began to harp on every artifact, every detail he could possibly grasp or obtain. He paid thousands of dollars to bribe someone in the government records department to give him Fuji's paperwork, and hacked into school and medical records. He blackmailed and cajoled students at Seigaku to spy on his subject, trying to grasp his daily habits, seeking something, something, amidst all the data…
But it was not enough. He needed more… more data, more info… he needed to get closer… he needed… yes, that was the answer. He needed Fuji. In order to understand Fuji, he would first have to possess him, then study him directly. There was no other solution at this point. But that would require overtaking him, and the whole point of collecting so much data in the first place was to defeat him, right?
It seemed hopeless, yet his obsession only grew more obstinate, more fervent with each passing thought.
His desires, his wants, had just about driven him into the darkest corner of an earthly hell, and then… that man had approached him. He had offered him a solution. No, he had offered him the solution, the very thing he had been searching desperately for. He had offered him Fuji Syuusuke.
He had never believed in such unscientific things as the 'dark arts', but in his desperation, a soul was a small price to pay… and so he'd learned the curse, a maleficent power beyond the natural world…
You can no longer escape, Fuji Syuusuke. You are mine.
It felt like he'd been walking forever, but he didn't feel tired. He couldn't feel tired, without a body, Fuji reasoned, but somehow it seemed improper this way. A small pang echoingly reminded him of autumn tennis practice, the sweat and exhaustion brought on by dozens of laps ordered by Tezuka, a kind of relaxing pound of the muscles that he happily shared with his friends together. Despite being tired, they'd always laugh and go out for burgers, or play street tennis… I was still living that life a few days ago, he mused, chiding his misfit nostalgia, but somehow it felt so distant. Like the way he was going…
Why wasn't he getting there? He'd been trying to reach his home, hoping to meet Yumiko and find out what the truth behind this curse was. But the farther he walked, the farther it seemed he had to go.
What if … !
Why hadn't he realized it sooner! On his left, he clearly eyed one of Tokyo's many waterways sauntering down its muddy tresses. Further down, he knew, train tracks streaked in zigzags and crosses, patterned across the earth for mankind's convenience. If he walked back, and tried to walk away from school, he'd find himself cornered by more rivers, more lines traveled by water, by people, by trains or by cars.
Within them, he was bound.
Highways, railways, rivers; the flowing motion could even be generated by streams of people. What served as transportation in the physical world became a boundary to the spiritual world. He always thought it was ironic, that the trains which carried people in great convenience also doubled as protection against harmful spirits and demons. He'd even heard there was a freeway in LA that could block the walking dead from crossing during rush hour. But they also destroyed the sprites of nature - where the path for man to tread lay, no trees or plants could grow. It was a disturbingly selfish lifestyle of humans, that Fuji never felt quite comfortable accepting.
Now he definitely hated it. His body had the same principles of a mononoke, and was bound by the same disturbing limits. In his mind he mapped the path of the waterways and the train tracks around him, eyes dimming with laced despair as the area he was confined to diminished.
"I can't go home," he thought soberly.
Fearful tingling swept throughout his nerves, but he refused to panic. Everyone always said he was a tensai, a genius, but somehow all that knowledge seemed to be backfiring on him, as everything he knew only showed him how truly dangerous his situation was. Many others would have fallen into the blissful ignorance of being bodiless, for spirits have the inverted freedoms of humans - unaffected by fatigue, never feeling pain or hunger, and even walking felt more like endless drifting, often times they tended to forget their limited space, and feel as if in an infinite hole. But his instincts told him that he couldn't fall into the illusional calm, he couldn't give in, for a more horrible fate awaited him then simply ceasing to exist, and as he drifted his mind grew numb with anxiety...
Tezuka, what should I do...
Then, as if to answer his prayers, his eyes came to rest upon an enormous shaft of wood and moss nestled fitfully between the river banks. The fallen tree trunk beckoned like a siren, a natural bridge for human and spiritual rascals alike. Even without calling ethereal power to his pupils, he could see a trail of kodama marching sappily on their way, twitching their tiny white heads in a pitter pattering sound that always reminded him of light spring rains.
They weren't the only thing that brought a smile to his face, as he realized where the trail could take him. St. Rudolf was that way! "Neesan is always saying there is no such thing as coincidence." He tapped his lips thoughtfully. Maybe if he could find Yuuta, something would happen. Even if nothing did, he'd be able to spy on his cute little brother with absolute inconspicuousness. Feeling almost cheerful at the thought of all the wonderful things he'd get to see in his brother who usually yelled at him, and all the things he'd gain to blackmail the adorably teasable boy with, he marched along with the kodama on his way to the next stage.
For the umpteenth time that day, Yuuta groaned.
"Stop groaning da ne! It's getting on my nerves da ne!" his fellow teammate Yanagisawa criped, poking him with his elbow.
"Like you're one to talk," his other teammate Kisarazu said his in soft, unfluctuating tone. "Yuuta-kun, your face will freeze like that if you keep scowling."
"Che, leave me alone!" His sempais were so annoying sometimes! "I just have this really bad feeling today, okay! Like there's someone out there trying to make my life miserable." His scowl deepened, if that was possible, and he decided to take it out on the nearest locker.
"U-um! That's m-my locker you're kicking - "
"Like I care!" Yuuta gave that stuttering glasses guy's locker one more solid kick, before heading off to his room. Really, today he just couldn't get any more irritated!
His stupid 'sixth sense', as his sibling always called it was tingling like crazy, telling him something was up. He'd always complained that he needed an off switch, so that no, he wouldn't have to see ghosts and spirits and dumb things like that whenever he didn't want to. Everyone in his family was born with these stupid powers, which they all called a 'gift', and he'd been told that if he trained he could be able to control them, but there was no way he was going to sit under waterfalls and chant gibberish sutras and lame stuff like that!
So, no, he couldn't turn them off, even though he knew something was wrong, terribly wrong... he felt so sick that morning he'd thrown up during practice and spent his first couple of periods in the nurse's office. He hated it, he knew something black was all around, suffocating and loathsome, something horrible had happened, though he didn't know what it was or what to do about it.
He'd been lectured about all that stuff enough to know that there'd been some sort of curse cast, not at him but that this was a side effect of the curse, that he'd been affected by a part of it. He remembered someone, someone had told him that if something was going on that he wasn't involved in, that he shouldn't get involved, that someone else would take care of it for him, would take care of him.
He'd already decided after his fourth time puking not to do anything about it, and let the problem fix itself, and if it kept on bothering him then eventually he'd get around to doing something, or complain to his nee-san about it. Of course if he brought it up with his sister, she'd immediately start prodding him about honing his senses or try to read his inescapable destiny on her tarot cards or some other annoying thing.
But still, he couldn't help but feel really frustrated. He actually really, really did care; he knew that whatever the curse was, it had hurt him somehow, or had stolen something from him, in a way that he couldn't tell but would always regret. He felt a strange pang of something missing, like the pain of loss he'd felt when his first cat died, only a hundred times worse. He felt really sad, like all his dreams and goals had been ripped away in an instant, and he hated that, so then he started to feel angry. It was better to feel angry, if he got mad enough then he couldn't feel anything else, he couldn't feel sick, and he could take out his anger on his facial muscles and Nomura's locker, though even that didn't feel enough, so he started kicking everything in sight, the bench, the door, the trash can, and when that stupid Yanagisawa unwisely got a little close while making one of his horrible da ne knock knock jokes, Yuuta felt a little better getting to sock his teammate in the face.
That wasn't the person he really wanted to punch, though.
Whoever it was, whoever was at fault, he wouldn't forgive them for making him feel so miserable.
Watching as the facade spirit drifted towards his rampaging younger brother, the dark shadow chuckled in quiet triumph. "Since you have stepped into my territory on your own, shall we move to the next stage, my dear Syusuke?"
Fuji wanted to kya like a fangirl. Yuuta was so cute! Smile widening in amusement, Fuji wished he had a camera as he watched his little brother kick at a trash can repeatedly. Those tiny wrinkles, popping veins, narrowed eyebrows - the gleaming frustration in Yuuta's face was just so adorable, he almost forgot his predicament thinking of all the evil things he wanted to do (out of love, of course) to make that darling expression last forever. Oh well, he vowed to work on it another time.
It seemed nothing much had happened, as he had already expected. Yuuta hadn't actually learned how to use his powers, after all, and Fuji had told him all sorts of half-truths to make sure his brother never wanted to. He didn't want Yuuta to be caged in all the expectations and consequences of learning the arts of the onmiyouji. He'd had enough himself of his family's cajoling, always asking for this or that favor, help with this or that curse or spell, whenever someone messed up, they would just call in the family tensai and everything would be all better. Uncles who could call storms and quell hurricanes, cousins who could channel the voices of deceased loved ones, sisters who always knew the future, mothers who could literally crystallize emotions and peer into a person's soul... a lineage of useless deific abilities that lost their place in the modern technologized world. Yuuta didn't even know he had such relatives.
Fuji had only one request for his services - he wanted Yuuta to be left alone. He wished for Yuuta to live a normal life and find the everyday happiness that he never would. He'd told Yuuta many times not to get involved, that if anything happened aniki would be there to make it all better.
Using magic for his brother's sake was the only time he actually liked to.
Well, it had been a pointless venture, but he'd find another way. He did come from a family of theurgies after all; someone had to have noticed what had happened, right? He swept around to head for the campus gate, but as he slipped through the propped open main doors, he noticed a shaded figure blocking his way.
Not just blocking his way. Looking at him. Watching him.
No...
Mizuki Hajime stood before him, an elated smirk glimmering in his eyes and across his mouth.
It can't be... Mizuki is the caster!
But only the one who did this to him would be able to see him in his current state with such a cold, triumphant glare...
Has he been following me this whole time! But how could I not have noticed him!
Mizuki tilted his hand in a beckoning motion, and horror boiled through Fuji's blood as his body wavered forward slightly on its own in response.
No... it wasn't that... I couldn't have noticed him. I wasn't allowed to notice... His heart raced desperately in fear. The curse has progressed this far... just how much can he control me...
Somehow, his feet managed to find their place moving backwards, and he stumbled back into the school's hallways. He couldn't be caught here! His irritatingly genius mind had already begun to calculate his limitations and his options, and it only confirmed his hopelessness... he began to fall upon instinct, just trying to somehow get away, away from those piercing, midnight blue irises coated with an eerie anticipation...
He found himself lost, disoriented in the unfamiliar hallways of dim whitish paint, trying to go somewhere, anywhere, but feeling as if the walls were closing all around him. A voice crept up behind him, whispering, "Shhh... you're inside my barrier."
A/N: definitely the 405.
Mononoke are evil/vengeful spirits. Kodama are tree spirits. Yeah, the same mononoke and kodama from Princess Mononoke. Onmiyouji are sort of like the japanese wizards (that's a terrible description), they appear in Abenobashi Magical Shopping District, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, and are featured in Onmiyouji and Onmiyouji 2. The most famous Onmiyouji and apparently the founder of this spiritual art was Abe no Seimei. I don't really know that much about it, though... ;;;
Thank you thank you for reviewing!
yamatoforever: Hm... I wonder... how much Tezuka really feels. '( He's so cold and expressionless all the time...
DnKS-giRLs: Yay! Sorry I took so long. I hope that you have many more frowns and smiles and emotions from this story in the futuire 3 boku o gambarimasu!
Slyhterinette: huggles arigatou. I hope I do not dissappoint.
kuroaki: hehehe, I hope my beta took care of those... though there were a few grammar errors I refused to correct ;; sorry I am like this! This story gets more and more... unique... ;; hopefully in a good way.
Alaena F.D.: Yes, Inui may think that science is the big thing, but actually science and magic aren't so different. Poor Kaido! I think I got a little lost too... O ...
tezukaeiri: Hehehe ;; you are too good! ... though there's a lot more in the shadows than just one small Mizuki Hajime...
TorawMacaw: Yay, I'm so happy you read! Always looking forward to new chapters of HoDG. I will do my best! D
Review Review! ask questions, flame, huggle, anything! D