o-o...
Grisours: -hugs- ;-;
Naomi: Too bad ;-;
Meowz: That was my favorite part of the chapter too ;-;
Stefy: I see you sound bitter about it xD... Don't worry, more of your favorites might pop up soon. I think o-o;
Wings: You're the first to be happy that she passed on without regret xDD
Ayase: o_o
Ichigo-chan: Thanks xD
JFC: -pats- D:
Heyyouhiya: I was wondering when you were going to read this xDDD Now I'm wondering when Tru_H will, being a hardcore Ishiyoshi fan and all o___O; Anywho, thank you for taking the time to finally read this fic <333 I'm so happy!
Chapter 21: Her Past
People become who they are according to their history…
Miki stared blankly into the nondescript ceiling above her. Her mouth was etched into a slight frown as she lay as still as a corpse.
A corpse…
The tanned woman narrowed her eyes. The hands behind her head wanted to clench if it weren’t for supporting her head—and being bandaged. According to doctors, the slits between her fingers and palms were gaping wide from holding onto that sharp cliff face. It would take weeks for the injuries to fully heal, and it would take awhile after that for her fingers to even be able to fold itself properly.
That injured hand…
The same one I couldn’t save her with…Miki recalled bitterly, resting her injured hand on her left eye.
Again and again… I couldn’t save the people I wanted to protect…
I’m useless…
Miki’s brow furrowed further in frustration. She threw herself up so that she was sitting on her bed. Her arm now rested idly across her raised knee.
Why…?
Why don’t I have the power to save anyone?
Tearing themselves apart…
Rika let the cold water splash her face, feeling its piercing iciness against her skin. Her darkened eyes glanced up from under her eyelashes, finding instead of her reflection, Maki was standing in the mirror with her arms crossed.
“I…”
“Don’t talk,” Rika interrupted, continuing to wash her face.
“You can’t defy fate,” the maiden replied, ignoring the other’s demand.
“What part of ‘don’t talk’ do you not understand?” Rika stood up straight, glaring at the reflection.
“Think of it as an example. A person’s death counter is final,” Maki continued on, her golden eyes also narrowing.
“You had the power to save her!” Rika splashed water against the mirror, “You could fly the speed of a jet! How can you not be able to save her!?” the woman nearly screamed at the mirror. Her hand smacked against the mirror hard and she pointed at the maiden with her other hand, “why couldn’t you save her!?”
Maki remained calm and still. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes flickered with a sort of glint. “I just couldn’t.”
“Just couldn’t my ass!” Rika slammed her hand against the mirror again, “you lead me on… you lead me on into thinking we could have…” her voice cracked as her hand began to slide down the mirror.
“You deluded yourself. I have already told you that there was nothing that co—”
“Just… be quiet…” Rika took her hand away from the mirror, giving her face another thorough rinse.
The maiden could only watch without remorse at the woman on the other side of the mirror.
Punishing themselves…
“How are they?” Yuko asked, leaning against the doorway of her youngest sister’s room.
“They seem to act normal. I’m too scared to ask if they got over it,” the sniper replied solemnly, polishing up one of her guns. She was sitting at the edge of her bed, rubbing the cleansing liquid onto her desert eagle with a small washcloth.
“How are you?”
“Bitter.”
“You didn’t… go berserk that time, right?” Grey eyes studied the back of the younger’s head.
“Neesan, I’m alright.”
“You have to control your temper carefully… Otherwise.. You’ll…”
“I know…” Miyabi sighed, “I know…”
There was a certain time in a past mission where Miyabi… did not act like herself, Yuko recalled. Whatever it was that had made her snap, the results were horrendous. She became so angry that she was unable to distinguish friend from foe, safe spot from fatal injury, life from death… It took Miki, Megumi, and Yuko’s strength to pin the teenager down before she could send any more people into hell with her prodigious gunmanship.
Yuko scrutinized Miyabi further. Miki joined the snatcher business at an age even younger than Miyabi, but she was able to control her emotion so that she would not be able to kill anyone no matter what they did… But Miyabi…
Sometimes Yuko wondered… Who among the sisters is the real demon? Of course, that was a silly question to ask… Considering that she had…
“I was worried really…” Miyabi began, interrupting Yuko’s thoughts, “Ever since Kamei-san’s funeral two weeks ago… I was worried that Miki-nee might be broken again…”
“Ah yes… This Kamei-san was special to her, huh?” the lioness stepped into the room and sat on the bed next to Miyabi.
“She was… But you know, I was glad that Nee-san was a little stronger this time… Not like when Matsuura-san…” the teen trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.
“People have to grow up you know,” the older placed a hand on the other’s shoulder. “What they’ve experienced in the past makes them stronger.”
“So am I strong for having stopped mourning like Nee-san and Ishikawa-san right now? Or am I just running away by doing so?” the gun was then placed on her lap after she turned to face her adopted sister.
“You’re still young, and you weren’t as close to Kamei-san like the others, I’d reckon…” the headmistress said as she ran her fingers through Miyabi’s soft dark brunette hair. “now that you’re done with that…” grey eyes rested on top of the gun in her sister’s lap, “I’m going to have all of you organize the shed a bit.”
“The shed!?” Miyabi’s eyes widened. “There’s so much stuff in there though! It took us a longass time to do it last year! And God knows how much stuff you’ve collected since our last cleanup! Can’t you just put your artifacts in there in the way we’ve organized it for you instead of just putting them in random places!?”
“Well, it gives you all something to do every spring…” Yuko raised a brow, “besides, those two need to get over what’s happened in the past, you know?”
Miyabi blinked. “Are you sure? They might not have the heart to do it…”
“I’ll make sure they do it…” a maleficent aura seemed to replace the benevolent one earlier. Swirls of malicious grey colored the lioness’s horrifying glare, as if preparing to hunt.
“Y…Yuko-nee… Calm down…” Miyabi enunciated carefully, ignoring the barrage of daggers that Yuko’s eyes were sending, “I have a gun you know…”
The gun on her lap shifted slightly before zooming up into the older’s hand.
The sniper squeaked.
Endlessly…
The tension is really bad…Miyabi bit her lip as she carefully shuffled around the shed with stacked boxes. The two older women were almost like moving statues. They would say a few occasional “move that with those” or “careful” quotes, but that’s about it. They reminded the teen of all the business people on those tv shows, only the two she was working with weren’t wearing suits and they certainly weren’t doing anything involving the wellbeing of their companies.
A poof of dust sprang into the air as the teen set the stack down. Well that was heavy… Miyabi wiped the sweat off her brow and blinked curiously at what the contents of the box held in order to garner so much weight. Recognizing the familiar temptation from the past cleanups, the sniper pushed that matter into the back of her mind and continued about her business.
“Yuko seems to collect a lot of artifacts in her free time, huh?”
Miyabi was so glad when she heard Rika finally ask a question sort of unrelated to the job at hand.
“Yeah. Folklorist and all. I was told that all of these items are genuine, but I’m not one to believe in ‘em…” Miki said solemnly, moving a barrel of rod-like items into a corner. The maiden nodded in return before retrieving the last circular artifact discarded carelessly and placed it in the box containing similar objects.
She slipped her fingers underneath the box and lifted it cautiously against her chest. Her body staggered with the weight, but she was able to hold onto it. Well, until she tried to turn… As she revolved about her foot, the weight of the box threw her off-balance and Rika began to fall backwards and would have met the floor with an incredibly heavy box if it weren’t for someone stopping her in time.
Hearing a slight cry, Miki effortlessly caught Rika’s back with her extended arm. With the nudge of her arm, Rika was able to stagger forward to place the box back upon the other stack with a grunt.
“You’re useless,” Miki sighed discontently, scratching her head as she placed her other hand on her hip. “If it’s that heavy, you should have asked me to do it.”
“I just wanted to help…”Rika panted, leaning heavily against her knees. “You don’t have to act so…”
“What am I acting like then?” Miki half-raised her voice as she threw a random staff from the barrel onto the floor in her anger.
She didn’t know if it was the unbearable heat of the shed or the fact that Miki threw something at her, but Rika angrily retorted back, “You didn’t have to act like a jerk about my helplessness, alright?!” and picked up the staff that the younger threw at her.
“Who’s acting like the jerk? I just told you to lay off the hard work and let me handle it; that was me trying to be nice!” Miki spat back.
“You could at least do something about that childish attitude…” Rika muttered indiscreetly to herself as she brushed past Miki carefully (bumping into her on purpose would have been very bad, not to mention immature) in order to return the staff to the barrel. However, just before she was able to do so, Miki grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards her.
“What’s your problem now?” Rika glared into the other’s eyes.
“I heard what you said earlier…” Miki glared with just as much intensity as the maiden.
“G…Guys… Calm down…” Miyabi added in, but was completely ignored.
“Would you like an apology then?” the maiden bit her lower lip tightly, trying to keep control of her accumulating emotions.
“I don’t need a damn apology,” Miki replied in a not so courteous voice, squeezing her arm tighter, “I don’t take kindly to insults that compare me to a brat!”
“Then stop acting like one!” Rika cried out as she smacked Miki lightly on the head with the staff in her grasp.
Before she knew it, Rika felt her world become one huge vacuum. All she could see was a typhoon of mahogany and brown colors swirling around her. She shielded her eyes from the vivid swirls, feeling dizzy from having to see them. She noticed her world around her become very dark all of a sudden, prompting her to take her hands away from her sight.
The ground beneath her was no longer wooden, but instead, soft, dark grass. She looked around her, twirling about in surprise as if she was a dog who was introduced to a new house after being trapped in a dark box. She was in the middle of a most beautiful garden, illuminated softly by the orange lights hung around the trees and traditional mansion’s awnings. She seemed to be back in the Fujimotos’ garden… No… this was even bigger than the one she was familiar with…
She was at… the Fujimotos’ main house?
She heard something that sounded like sniffling coming one direction of her senses. As she turned to look, she found someone coming at her! She did not have the chance to move away, so she braced herself for impact. But for some reason, that impact never came… She opened her eyes in realization as the person walked right through her instead of into her.
Do I not exist…? Rika wondered to herself, looking at her own hands to find that they were flickering between wholesome limbs to static-like limbs. Maki… What’s happened?
“I think you may have hit Miki with a Black Staff…”
Rika nearly jumped as she heard that familiar voice. Next to her, Maki had her arms crossed above her chest, her tattoos were still as dark as ever in contrast to her pale skin. Like Rika, Maki seemed to constantly flicker between a wholesome human appearance and a cloud of static in the silhouette of a human.
“A black staff…?” Rika tilted her head in bemusement.
“Because of it, you’re now inside of her memories…” Maki trailed off as her eyes seemed to be paying attention to something else. Rika also looked at what had caught the maiden’s attention and blinked ambiguously.
There was a man of interest who had walked by. His dark hair was cut short and combed to the side. His glaring eyes and Roman nose was easily recognizable to the two who have seen them on someone else prior. He was clad in an all black suit and was headed in the direction where Rika had heard all the sniffling coming from. She turned to follow this oddly familiar man, but paused mid-step to look at Maki, who showed no signs of wanting to move.
“Are you coming?” Rika asked.
“I have no business to. I’ll stay here and wait,” Maki said solemnly, her golden eyes gleaming brightly under the night sky.
Rika turned and sprinted to catch up with the man. He opened the sliding door to a room filled with probably 40 or 50 people dressed similar to him—all in black. Everyone seemed to be in a messy line ahead of her. But Rika just walked passed them—or through them rather—to see what the commotion was all about. Eventually, she came to the view of an altar, decorated in many flowers and a single portrait in the center. In the picture was a woman with a most alluring beauty. Her glossy black orbs felt like they were staring into Rika’s eyes, almost at her heart. It wasn’t that it seemed that this woman was looking at her like she was studying her though. Instead, it seemed that the woman was looking at her with all of the sorrow and sadness she could muster… Clearly, this woman was familiar, yet not… But Rika had finally realized it.
She was at the funeral of Miki Fujimoto’s mother.
If this was her mother… And who she saw earlier was her father… Then where was Miki herself?
“From what I heard, it was suicide…”
“No one knows…”
“I guess it was so hard on her to have such an unruly daughter…”
“That’s too bad, who will take care of Miyabi?”
“Poor thing…”
Rika couldn’t believe what she was hearing around her.
“Maybe it would have been better if Miyabi was her only child…”
“If only she hadn’t had that Miki…”
“Oh, there’s that Miki…” Rika heard at her side. She turned around, half-listening to the voices around her and half-searching for Miki. Sure enough, she found her…
Miki hardly looked older than 7 or 8 at this memory. Her wavy hair was barely at her shoulder and her face remained as solemn as ever. She was walking in the crowd, her black dress leaving wistful trails as it glided through the air where she walked. The crowd moved aside as she walked, almost as if they were afraid to obstruct her path. Rika followed the young Miki, walking through the crowds at the same pace the younger was. She felt a pang of sorrow grab a hold of her hold, watching the forlorn child walk through the crowd.
The murmurs kept going as they walked through.
“That girl isn’t even crying…”
“Even though her mother died…”
“And it was Miki that pushed her mother to her suicide…”
“SHUT UP!” the crowd silenced their rumors as Miki raised her voice at the woman who brought forth such a statement. The little girl glared at the adult before continuing to walk out of the room, muttering to herself.
Rika had no idea what to think of this. She could only follow Miki out the door and onto the garden. Sure enough, she found Maki idly standing around at the spot she left her at. Her golden eyes watched Miki just as intently as Rika’s own. They both stood together side by side as they continued observing the young Miki walking on top of the bridge, watching the koi playing in the pond below.
“It’s not my fault… It’s not my fault…” the child Miki muttered endlessly to herself, standing with her fists clenched tightly.
“It’s not my fault… It’s not…” the child trailed off.
Rika wanted to run forward to hug the poor child, but knew that if she did, her arms would only go through her. This side of Miki was so…sad… and so… Rika didn’t want to use this word, but Miki looked very…pitiful…A figure walked past her translucent body, earning a surprised look from the brunette. That person…!
“Miki?”
The child turned to look at her new visitor, a woman clad in a black kimono. The woman looked no older than 20, her dark blonde hair was trimmed in a style similar to Hitomi’s chin-length hair. Rika knew who she was at this point, but was frankly surprised to see her in this memory, and at such an age too…
“It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!” Miki yelled at the woman, taking a creature-like stance, prepared to jump her if the woman had said otherwise.
“I know,” was all the woman said, her serious face softening into a small smile. “It’s alright…” she said as she bent down to reach eye level with the other.
Miki continued to stare in bemusement at the other.
“I’m Nakazawa Yuko, would you like to stay with me for a while?” the young lioness asked, devoid of her grey contacts and instead, had brown earnest eyes which were softly embracing Miki’s sight.
The young Miki finally began to cry, using the ends of her sleeve to wipe away her tears. “Nakazawa-san…” the girl repeated, then her cheeks grew red as her tears began to come out at full bursts.
“It’s alright…” Yuko hushed again, tilting her head in that small little smile again, “I’m here for you…”
“So you start to cry now?” a disapproved voice pierced the air. Miki and Yuko (along with the two maidens) turned to look at the owner of the voice.
“Yusuke…” and “Father…” were said simultaneously as the man Rika saw earlier approached the two.
“Why did you tell your aunt to shut up? That was very disrespectful of you,” the head of the Fujimoto family growled as he shook his head with disapproval. “Don’t disgrace the family any more than you are already… driving your mother into suicide like that…”
“It’s not my fault!” Miki yelled, almost lunging at him if it weren’t for Yuko holding her back. “It’s not my fault at all! Auntie should die for not telling the truth! I’m not the one at fault here! She is telling a lie! I didn’t kill Mother! She killed herself! I had nothing to do with it!!!” the child panted, out of breath from saying what she wanted to say.
“You’re just a foolish child. You didn’t even cry when you were at her altar. Did you not cry because you were feeling guilty? That you did feel partially responsible for forcing her into suicide?” Yusuke cut in sharply.
“Yusuke…” Yuko said in a low, cautious voice, “don’t say such things to her…”
“She’s just a child. She probably doesn’t understand…” Yusuke said offhandedly, placing his hands in his pockets.
“You’re wrong…” Miki muttered under her breath, clenching her fists yet again.
“Yusuke, I’m going to watch Miki for a while. I trust that it will be to your benefit to have her not be in your sight?” Yuko said as she stepped forward, still keeping her hand on Miki’s shoulder.
“Watch that demon all you want, keep her, if you really want to…” Yusuke said solemnly as he turned about his foot to walk away.
“And Miyabi?” Yuko called out to the head, still keeping a firm grasp on the younger’s shoulder.
“I’ll be watching her,” the head said as he continued walking, “There’s no way in hell that I’m letting her be with that disgusting demon that drove my wife into suicide…”
And with that, Rika and Maki were swept away by the typhoon of colors yet again.
Not easily forgotten…
When Rika came around, she saw that she was in one of the dance halls of Yuko’s school, the same one she was living in. Here in this bright orange room, she saw an older, adolescent Miki with a short haircut along with a bright yellow vest and shorts sparring with an older Yuko with bright blonde hair whose layers jetted outwards.
Now there were those cold grey eyes that Rika was familiar with. Both women had hardened expressions as they were fighting.
Their footwork was amazing. Their feet were in a constant war of extreme footsies. Miki slammed her foot on the ground, swinging her knee against Yuko’s own, causing the older’s leg to almost buckle. However, the lioness found her strength despite the disadvantage and shoved the younger’s knee back, switching their offense and defense situation in a complete 180° turn. Miki brought her other knee up in an effort to get Yuko’s stomach, but the other lifted her knee just the same and canceled out the attack. Then their feet interlaced as they stomped the ground once more.
Watching their hands move was like watching two fierce cats—a lion and a tiger—going at it. Yuko’s hands were like long swipes while Miki’s were always bent at the elbow. Their fingers were both curved to a certain degree, almost as if they were claws instead of fingers.
The lioness’s style seemed to be based on blocking and then punishing mistakes. When Miki missed a palm attack on her face, Yuko grabbed onto her arm and pulled her close for an uppercut which sent the other soaring. Miki twirled her legs in a circle before literally hopping to her feet. Then she used the momentum to spin yet again and then elbow the older hard in the chest. When the hit connected, she did a half-turn and used that moment to charge up another punch to the same spot and then executed yet another half-turn to do a round house kick, sending Yuko flying just the same as she did for revenge.
“Good job, you finally knocked me down…” the lioness smirked as she looked up at Miki.
“Lovely…” the younger smirked as well as she went over to help her master up. “So what now?”
“Your partner should be arriving any minute now,” the blonde said as she brushed herself off, now simply smiling at the other, “you two would work great together!”
“Oh really?” Miki drawled, “But seriously, I don’t need a partner, you’re my partner in that snatching business, you know? I don’t need a third.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of retiring from putting myself into the crossfire.”
“What?!” Miki turned around with widened eyes, “Why!? You’re great with projectiles, I need a long-range fighter as my partner!”
“I’m getting to old for all this action, dear,” Yuko laughed as she patted Miki on the shoulder. “I’ll just pull the strings from now on. I might participate in some missions, but other than that, I’ll be here from now… But that’s why you should look forward to your partner. She’s great with long-range like I am!”
“Pfft! No one’s better than you!” Miki sighed exasperatedly.
“Actually, this girl IS better than me, so it’ll be beneficial for all of us.”
Rika grew curious now. If this new partner was a long-range fighter, did this mean she finally raised Miyabi up for the fighting? But wait… Miyabi was probably only 10 at this point of time, how could she even hold a gun at that age?!
“Yuko!” came the familiar voice of Kei, the main housekeeper of the mansion. Rika was surprised to see Kei with long hair! She actually didn’t look bad in it. But Kei still had a long way to go before being considered the Ayumi Hamasaki of this house… “The guest is here!” she smiled before leaving. The other two hurriedly followed after her, Rika eagerly doing the same (Maki was the only one who wasn’t excited and just walked slowly).
Everyone entered a different room in which Rika recognized as the same dancing hall that she was taken to at first in order to be told about the celestial maiden story. Sitting on a cushion in the middle of the hall was rather cute-looking woman. Rika was right in thinking that it wasn’t Miyabi, but this girl…
She had shoulder-length hair which was brunette in color, but very dark which signified that it was fading back into black. The girl looked to be about Miki’s age, but unlike the other, this one had a more charming, dignified air about her. Her smile combined with her mischievous eyes and snake-like eyebrows made her almost seem like a devilish imp in a sense. Her clothes consisted of a cute red blouse with a V-neck and quarter sleeves and a dark mahogany skirt.
Miki and Yuko sat down and the guest bowed to them.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Yuko said as she returned the bow, “I am Nakazawa Yuko, though formally Fujimoto Yuko since I am now adopted.”
“Fujimoto Miki. Pleasure to meet you,” Miki said simply as she gave a slight bow to the guest.
The guest smiled widely, before also introducing herself. “Nice to meet you, I am Matsuura Aya, please treat me well from now on,” the girl said before bowing again.
Rika wanted to know more about this Matsuura, but before she could listen any more, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at the one who had just squeezed her shoulder and her smile vanished when she found out who it was.
It was the modern Miki.
She couldn’t look Miki in the eye and instead, looked away, feeling all the guilt constricting her all of a sudden. Although the actual Miki did not say anything, Rika knew that that body language meant that she was really edgy about this.
That’s right… I accidentally looked into her past without her permission… Rika thought bitterly. The scene before them became inaudible to Rika’s ears. The only thing she heard was her heart pounding rapidly, overwhelmed by what she had seen and the real thing actually showing up. She saw the colors around them swirling, and also Maki disappearing, probably back into her body.
Rika felt really tense despite the dizziness the swirling colors were supposed to cause. She remained perfectly still, continuously refusing to look at the woman behind her. Memories before the deep dive into Miki’s head came flooding back into Rika’s head and immediately, she regretted picking on her attitude. How was she supposed to face her now?
Not easily forgiven…
The rest of the cleanup went without a word. Rika looked at Miki’s back with a worried expression, clearly still thinking about how to talk to her. Miyabi had already left thanks to Miki sending her away, leaving the two of them to finish the rest of the job by sweeping here and there and then finally finishing.
She wished she didn’t do that.
Hitting Miki with that black staff…
And then viewing her mother’s funeral…
Things got better when they got to meet Matsuura, but that was when Miki came in and pulled Rika out of her memories.
Who was Matsuura Aya?
What was she?
Who was she to Miki?
Why was she even curious?
“Well done, you two,” a clap came. Miki and Rika turned their heads to the entrance of the shed, finding Yuko standing in the middle of it and clapping her hands. “You both did a great job.” The corners of the oldest’s mouth turned upward in a bracket-like smile.
Both of them didn’t say anything in return.
“Well, you two can go free now. I hired some people to cook dinner for us today, since our dear chef can’t with her hand like that.” With that being said, Miki hid her injured hand behind her, looking away from her elder sister. But realizing what she had said at the beginning of the sentence, Miki perked up.
“You hired cooks?!”
“Yeah, they’re in the kitchen right now. Although you can’t do anything, you can still check on them to make sure they…” before Yuko could finish that sentence, Miki bolted out the door past the blonde and ran for the kitchen.
“She must really enjoy cooking if she gets like that…” Rika raised a brow as she and Yuko followed Miki to the kitchen.
“Well, she really won’t be happy once she finds out who I hired…” Yuko chuckled to herself.
The calm aura of the slow day was interrupted with Miki’s scream upon entering the kitchen.
“WHY THE HELL IS MY KITCHEN PINK!?”
Guess who’s back?
Now that it's past twenty chapters, I'm doing the comment rule again. Right now, I'd say either 6 good comments or 12 halfassed ones will do xDDDD
Too bad, lurkers >:]
For the next chapter, I'm thinking of uploading an OST (Original Score Track) update. This time, there's more insert themes like when Rika deep-dived into Miki's mind and a few more character themes, including Eri's theme and her ... death theme... xD; So look forward to that xDDD.
Topic: Our Cursed Gift II [NON SEQUEL] Chapter 22: Another side: Another Story (10/6) (Read 71059 times)