Wooow! It has been a long time since I came here and published some news. I'm very sorry, guys!
But some reviews I received made me so happy that I found some time to give the atention this fanfic desirve! Here I am... I hope my language is ok and you can understand what is happening in my humble story, after all, I believe the chapter's title says something very interesting for its own ;)
HERE HE IS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! You all may know how anxious I was about that!
Good reading, my friends!
Chapter 4 – The White Baboon
"Sir, I couldn't feel any youki inside her, I'm sorry," the priestess told after examining Annabelle carefully. She was the third miko to go to the castle in order to unmask the owner of the flaming hair.
Seated on the ground, Annabelle turned to Hitomi's father and stared at him, although the lass was bored she smiled playfully, annoying the man as she always did.
"Can I go now, my lord?" she asked while bowed, pretending cordiality.
Furious, the shogun released her with only a gesturing of his hands. Then an excitedly Annabelle raced out of the hall to the garden. At last, she had some freedom and was no longer escorted by maids or samurais, for the foreign girl hadn't abandoned Kagewaki in distress, she inspired confidence in many people. It was she who prepared the medicinal tea that Hitomi drank to recover and she also taught some of her recipes to the local monks. Even at the master's grudge, Annabelle gradually acquired a good reputation, and every time she went to the garden, there was her protector leaning on a wooden crutch, waiting for her company. She reached the wounded nobleman and took his other arm, helping him to have some balance. Hitomi was mesmerized by the resplendent smile gracing the cheery face of his bonny savior.
"I'm sorry I caused you this." She commented while seeing him limp. They walked side by side on the lawn.
"Don't say that, you saved me." The lad smiled tenderly.
"If I hadn't run away, that wouldn't happen to you." The lady in blue realized, she was about to lose her natural glow, but Hitomi lit her with his serenity, as usual:
"Leave it all behind, Anaberu. The important thing is that now we are here together and never again someone will force you to do something you don't want to." He suddenly broke his steps, dropped his crutch and touched her shoulders.
"Careful, my lord, you may fall!" She took him by the arms, making him laugh softly.
"I trust in you, you won't let anything happen to me" Kagewaki pulled her to him and entwined her in his gentle arms. Her cerulean eyes closed slowly and her arms wrapped around his back. Their hearts was beating together in unison as he said confidently: "and I will never let anything happen to you, Anaberu Rosu".
"I'll make it up to you. When your leg is completely healed, I will teach you how people dance in lands beyond the sea" that blooming white rose smiled faithfully as she laid her chin on the shoulder of that charming prince.
"Sometimes I think my recovery is fast because of you" he wondered.
"Don't be silly!" She laughed, releasing herself from the embrace and then picking up the crutch thrown in the grass. "Merit is all yours, you are a strong man." Finally, the young lady returned the cane to the Shogun's son and they walked arm in arm again.
He had no idea that Annabelle was really the cause of his almost instantaneous regeneration. Every night while he slept soundly, she sneaked around his room, kneel beside him and conjured the ancient words of the Celts while touching his leg.
During the day she helped him in other ways. She brought food, tea, she played the harp and sang stories of kings and queens, of heroes and fairies, of life and death. She also took some time to teach him to read and write in one of the languages she was fluent in – the language of Britain. Annabelle tried to make Hitomi utter phrases and ended up laughing of the inability of the oriental man to produce certain phonemes. The foreign girl even tried to draw a map of the places where she went, according to her memories, and demonstrate the distance between the European and Asian mainland. With her, the young master learned every day how vast the world could be and his curiosity to discover new lands grew. When they barely noticed, they planned to travel together. Hitomi wanted to know every country, every building that Annabelle described – from the old Scottish stone castles to the Gothic gargoyles of Notre Dame, from the mystical Highlands and its tales to the beautiful architecture of Muslim heritage, the Alhambra castle – he wanted to see every marble sculpture, every art piece, he dreamed of knowing the woods, the lakes, the ocean... and she promised those things to him every day.
In fact, her company also helped him a lot. In a little more than a month, with summertime's coming, Hitomi was ready to walk normally. It was time for Annabelle to fulfill one of her promises: to teach him to dance like a Western gentleman.
They met in her room, no longer cared about society conventions like what people would think about they two because they were there alone, or something like that. Hitomi was learning with Annabelle to get rid of these bonds, he wanted to be like that free spirit of hers.
So, enjoying the privacy, Annabelle discreetly suspended the first layer of the long, thick skirt revealing the white lace underneath, and took a few steps before she whirled. The lass wore a green dress with pink roses embroidered on the depts of the fabric. Hitomi wondered if that fancy clothes were a festive costume in her culture. It was perfect in her, anyway. He couldn't take his eyes off the woman who was circling him gracefully, her hair bouncing at the same rhythm of her round skirt.
"You must do the same" she guided him and Kagewaki imitated her awkwardly.
The choreography was basically taking steps back and forth and turning while facing each other. From time to time, the palms of their hands touched, they walked by each other side and then – another spin.
The couple managed to synchronize the steps after a while, so the young master circled the large room with the maiden without stumbling. As their hands touched each other, they stared unreservedly, happy without needing to smile, tuned into their innermost being, drawned to each other and understanding the inevitable. The shameless Annabelle closed the distance between them – something considered an obscenity at an official ball – and induced him to hold her waist.
"Raise me up" she whispered as her nose brushed against his. Hitomi, intoxicated by everything she was, lifted her up.
Her hands clasped the back of his neck. She was elegantly thrown up, then lowered by him and their noses touched again. They opened their lips at the same time, talking with gestures, the thirsty mouths approached and when they were within a millimeter of tasting each other a deep and unknown voice sounded next to them, someone else was inside:
"Young master, forgive-me my intrusion"
The couple got scared and walked away immediately. Annabelle suddenly felt sick and dizzy. That gloomy air had returned – the aura she had felt in the forest – it was as if a dark cloud hovered over the white baboon shroud that covered the strange fellow.
"Who are you?" Hitomi asked.
"My name is Naraku, your father appointed me as his counselor. At your service, sir." He bowed to the lad, yet the real object of his attention was Annabelle and she realized it. A malicious grin formed beneath the mask of the unknown man. "I am here because your father wishes to speak to you alone and has instructed me to call you."
Annabelle held Hitomi's hand tightly and looked at him as if she wanted to tell something indispensable. He, a little confused, caressed her face and said that there was no reason to worry, because soon he would return to the room and be there beside her. So the Shogun's young son went out the door. Naraku was going right behind him, but he stopped at the door for a second only to look at her again with the same evil smirk grinding his teeth.
The dream, the spider, something very serious was about to happen, she knew it…
That man wasn't human, he couldn't be.
"What is happening, father?" Hitomi asked as long as he entered the hall.
"There is a youkai around the castle, I've been told" the lord said triumphant.
"Don't you say you think it is related to Anaberu! A lot of priestesses came here to examine her, will you never get tired of it?" Hitomi was outraged.
"That woman is human, no doubt of that" Naraku spoke at last "but it doesn't mean she is common, though. She can be a Shadow Priestess or even a witch that has the power to manipulate a weak youkai".
"But of course she isn't common! Anaberu doesn't belong to these lands, she was raised in a very different culture, it doesn't make her a threat!" The young master insisted.
"More of our lands seem to be infertile, I don't remember our situation was so critical before that woman stepped in here" the lord remembered him.
"Father, a long time before Anaberu being imprisoned here by your small army, we were dealing with this problem".
"We don't know since when she was wandering around, Hitomi" the patriarch of the castle didn't give up on arguing.
"She saved your son's life! Doesn't it matter to you?!"
"I'm here for this, anyway" the White Baboon revealed, smirking discretely "I'll chase down the youkai and if the woman is a witch or something like that, I, Naraku, will figure it out."
"I say you won't find anything wrong about Anaberu, Naraku. I'm sure you won't." Kagewaki bowed to the two men in the living room and departed a little disturbed.
"The young master is in love, sir. He cannot see some things even if they are right in front of his face. But if the woman is a witch and if she is the cause of your lands' misfortune, I'll find out" the counselor was confident in himself.
Annabelle felt like she was suffocating, she could no longer stand walking in circles inside her room, so she found courage to get out there, she went out the castle and what she saw made her scream – a deep purple cloud, almost black, was approaching – seeing that horrendous mist in the sky, the girl ran to the gardens just to notice that some of the plants were dying. That was a very weird thing to happen in early summer – tree leaves were drying, grass fading into dust and discovering the dark earth.
It's him, I know! What more could it be?
She was certain that all of that was Naraku's fault, so the red-haired woman returned to the castle quickly and asked every servant she found in the way where Hitomi was, till one of them tells her his whereabouts. Knowing where to find her gentle prince, Annabelle took the first steps to the place, but she was intercepted in the back. A hand covered her lips so she could not scream and her body was pulled into a small room. There, the man she feared thrust his mouth into her ear, piercing it with his heavy breath and melting it with hot saliva.
"I saw what you did into the woods. If I tell them, do you think your dearest Hitomi will still believe that you are a harmless woman? Don't you dare to turn against me, witch. You must know what happens when people find out about women like you, and men like Hitomi will always fear the unknown" as the man blackmailed her, Annabelle's skin bristled and the closeness between them choked her, as did the grip on her waist. Naraku's fingers were impetuous, she moaned and he smirked in response: "I must admit, you are an interesting little thing…"
Compelled by fear and revulsion, the prey found enough strength to let go and push her predator against the shelves on the wall, some objects fell. The guy held his baboon mask hiding the face, but not his flashing red eyes. "Ku, ku, ku, ku" He laughed enjoying her misery.
"Don't touch me, you filthy one!" Annabelle raged madly. So she rubbed her hand over her ear and wiped it, then tossed her hair over the top.
"Remember our arrangement, you stay quiet and I'lI keep my mouth shout"
She left after closing the door abruptly. The scent of the woman's despair penetrated the baboon's nostrils as if it were an aphrodisiac, and it was not her only perfume. Naraku could still feel the scent of hot liquid that splashed discreetly between her legs when he pulled her against his body and whispered in her ear. It was sudden and instinctive, she couldn't control her own body. The poor woman wanted to beat him by blackmailing her, by cornering her and leaving her defenseless, as if she were caught in a web.
What I'm going to do? - The lass wondered as she sought shelter in the room given to her by the young master of the castle. After closing the door, she leaned her back against it and slid down to the floor, her hands over her orange head. Bad memories were drawn on a screen of bad thoughts and were revived in a vicious cycle, making her sway back and forth in agony.
"Belle? Belle! Where are you?" a golden-haired girl ran among the trees looking for her. "Belle, please, come here and see the beautiful garland I made!" She was carrying red roses braided in a crown and hopped over the stones. "Belle?" and then she stalled to see her sister kneeling before a nightingale lying on the grass.
"Poor thing, it's not fair!" the ginger child said tearful. "It's so young and beautiful to die in this way…"
"Let's make a funeral for it!" the other one, kneeling by her side, tried to comfort her. "Put it here, inside the garland" the blonde suggested.
Annabelle took the bird within her hands carefully and would give it to her sister, but something made her change her mind and the little red-haired child brought the nightingale to her chest instead. She closed her indigo eyes tightly, as she was asking for the daily skies, asking for the Goddess, asking for any entity to bring the bird back to life.
"Belle, it's useless… Come on, leave it!" the blond girl grabbed her arms and shook her insistently. "Don't be silly…"
… and a low pound sounded inside the grieving girl hands.
"Belle, you did it! It's alive! How did you do that?" her round eyes widened, and a broad smile colored the youthful face. "Belle?!" The smile and the colors faded as she realized that her sister was paralyzed in trance, and the little girl's eyes that once were precious blue, now were completely apathetic and white. No pupils, no irises, nothing – just a whitish void. "Daddy!" that poor blond thing ran to the stone hut nearby, shouting as loudly as she could. Then she returned to the camp with a man of a certain age. Father and daughter groped and shook the other girl, then tried to lift her, yet her body seemed to be made of stone.
In a random moment, without anyone noticing, the girl's eyes returned to normal, her body regained its usual weight, her hands slowly opened and the small nightingale flew and disappeared into the sky. Then the scene darkened in the sight of little Annabelle Rose as she fainted. When the girl awoke she was already inside her father's hovel, listening he spoke: "My little Belle, listen carefully, no one should know about what happened today. You have a gift, a beautiful gift you inherited from your mother. But people may not understand the beauty of what you can do and they may judge you for it. So keep it as a secret and use it only in case of extreme need. You have to give me your word about that. Promise me, child."
"I promise, daddy…"
She did not travel the world for pleasure, but to hide what she really was:
Witch – Annabelle reminded the mourning she felt after the word that sentenced her mother to death.
To be Continued…
Naraku finally appeared, fellows! Despites I'm happy for this moment, our dear Annabelle is very pissed of. LOL
Well, things are going to be more and more interesting from now own, I can promise you that. See you again in the next one, and I'll do my best to publish soon!
XoXo