This chapter came out really bad... xD Oh well. Next one will be better D<
Chapter 10: Reunion
Again and again…
“She has awakened?” Hitomi raised a brow as she was walking next to her boss.
“Indeed she has,” Kagami confirmed, “However, she is still the same “Ayumi” that everyone knows. Abe-san and her staff are assembling a machine to bring up—or at least attempt to bring up—the memories of her past.”
“I see… I guess I don’t have to lower my standards to speak with her like she’s been infected with some weird brain disease,” the enigmatic guard snickered to herself. “So how long do I have to watch her, chief?”
“Around ten hours at the most. It must be fortunate for you that she is awake and able to communicate instead of just lying there, bedridden.”
“So is there a particular reason why she woke up now? Or is it just a natural phenomenon?” Hitomi placed her hands behind her head as she traversed.
“Nothing caused her to wake up specifically, but for now, you just have to make sure that she doesn’t leave this building nor get into contact with the maiden. We don’t want to risk a transformation with the progenitor in her vicinity.”
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t meet up with the tennyo, then,” Hitomi answered with a slight grin.
“You seem to be in high spirits, did something happen?” Kagami raised a questioning brow at the smiling guard.
“Nothing of the sort,” the enigma lied.
History shall forever repeat…
“So I ended up sleeping until eleven, huh?” Rika rubbed her eyes groggily. With sleep burdening her body, the cursed woman dragged herself over to the closet in order to select the attire for the day. After choosing a simple outfit consisting of tan jeans, a random T-shirt with words of English that she was too lazy to look up the meaning of, and a thin dark red jacket which had a hood and long sleeves, Rika wandered off to the bathroom in order to shower.
As soon as the hot water hit her body, all traces of sloth was removed. Another point of interest which contributed to the loss of lethargy was her memories. A flashback of what had happened long before the sun rose came up to the woman and then smacked her extremely hard, causing her cheeks to grow flustered at the thought of it.
I seriously can’t believe I did that… Rika thought as she scrubbed herself hard with the soap.
I’m not sure if I should feel ashamed or not… Making out with someone of the same sex…Then again, I do have friends who are obsessed with those yaoi doujinshi… And there’s also the popular culture that seems to adore this sort of thing…
Maybe I’m just being a worrywart again…
Hmm…
Who knew that another woman’s lips would be so soft…
Rika nearly fell over when she thought of that, becoming flustered again. “What is WRONG with me?” she gave an exasperated sigh as she had finished her shower and had dressed up, now walking in the hall towards the kitchen, “Why am I so worked up over a kiss? All the guys I’ve dated in the past kissed me and it wasn’t anything new anymore…”
I swear Hitomi… I’m going to sue you if you keep putting me into situations where it feels like a manga…
“Hey, Miss Chin of Doom, would you like breakfast or lunch?”
“I’MA SUE YOU!”
“Where the hell did that come from?” the residential groping demon snickered at the other’s random outburst.
“N-nothing…” Rika went shifty-eyed, embarrassed at her sudden outburst.
That kiss…
It was a little awkward in some aspects…
Was that your first kiss, Hitomi-san?
Pulsation.
Oh no…
The tattoo was spreading fast this time.
Pulsation.
Ragged breathing.
Rika collapsed, holding herself as if trying to prevent herself from lashing out.
“O-Oi! You alright?!” Miki rushed forward, placing her hands on Rika’s shoulders.
“Ugh…”
Rika’s hair did not flicker.
Rika’s eyes did not transform golden.
“Stay away…”
“Not when you’re like this, damn it!”
“Please stay away…”
Miki was forced to back away at the aggravating shocks applied to her bands.
The air around Rika shook a bit, before black butterflies materialized out of nowhere and consumed all space, covering the cursed woman.
The pulsation died.
The butterflies dispersed.
“Ha…So it's finally back, huh?” Came a hostile voice.
“Rika…?” a heavy trepidation burdened Miki’s movements.
“The progenitor has awakened…” The possessed maiden rose from the ground, bones cracking creepily.
“H-hold it! Where are you going?” Miki tried to keep a firm foot on the floor.
Ignored.
Maki walked out into the garden from the kitchen and then levitated in the middle of it as if she was preparing for a long flight.
Miki ran out, armed with her black chopsticks, “I SAID… Where are you going, damn it?!”
Maki slowly turned her head towards Miki, looking down upon her in the air. “Do you wish to become my enemy as well?”
“If it means…” Miki began, but paused slightly when she saw Maki fly towards her, leaning downwards so that her feet were higher in the air than her head, “If it means that Rika will come back, I’ll do whatever it takes…” the demon pointed her sharp chopsticks at Maki’s neck.
“You know…”
The voice gave her shivers.
Maki placed her hands onto Miki’s cheeks delicately, as if afraid to break her. “I’m going to the main Shibata International Company…” the maiden smiled, “There is your answer.”
“But Rika…”
“Hush…” Maki placed a finger on Miki’s lips, “You have done nothing to wrong me… I would not dream of harming you, Miki…”
And with that, Maki flew backwards from the stunned Miki, and then she turned around and flew into the sky without a trace. She still had the shivers from where that woman had touched her. Though, Miki was unsure whether it was a good thing or bad thing… Sure, the woman was hot and much curvier than Rika, but such power… And such abilities like the gift of flight…
Miki stood in silence.
“Oh my, she flew.”
Miki jumped into the air and clung to the nearest mini sakura tree, “YUKO, WHAT THE HELL?!”
“Yup, she flew!” Kei placed her hand over her head like a salute, trying to catch sight of Maki.
“Where the hell did you come from?!” Miki detached herself from the tree, brushing the dirt off of herself.
“I was hiding behind a rock,” Kei laughed, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
“I was watching from the other room,” Yuko motioned to the shoji door to their left which happened to have two conspicuous finger-poked holes on the lowest panel.
“You two are cowards…” Miki sighed and looked down, putting her hands on her hip. “Nevertheless, we did hear “Main Shibata International Company, so off we go!”
Even at the end of the cycle…
“Shibata-san? This is Hitomi, she will be your primary bodyguard unless we instruct her to do a few tasks, so you two should get along,” Kagami said, motioning to the tall woman who bowed her head formally.
“Hitomi, huh? What about your family name?” Ayumi was sitting on the sofa opposite of where the guard stood next to her second cousin, her body rid of bandages now that most of her scars had covered themselves up and didn’t need the assistance of them to protect against bacteria.
“She doesn’t know about—” Kagami began, but was interrupted by Ayumi.
“Come now, Hitomi-chan knows how to speak, so no need to talk for her,” the scarred woman smiled.
“Alrighty…” Hitomi raised her head, becoming casual now that she knew Ayumi seemed to not care for formalities, hearing Ayumi call her name with a –chan, “I don’t have memories of anything but my name, but right now, they’re looking for my family.”
“Aw! I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, I prefer not to dwell too much in that business anyway. The present is now and I’m your bodyguard. Please treat me well,” Hitomi bowed her head yet again to the older.
“So yeah, just get along and things will be alright, Hitomi will get you anything you require.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen much,” Ayumi waved her hand dismissively, “this entire floor is like a suite room, so the most I’ll probably do is send her out for groceries, huh?”
Kagami smiled at his second cousin, “Have a good day,” and with that, he walked into the door into the hallway which inevitably lead to the elevator.
A new one starts…
Miyabi fiddled with her tresses, bored by the lecture her Japanese teacher gave about proverbs and the like.
Choosing a window seat does have its benefits though.
The physical education had a class outside—and in that class was Risako.
Miyabi felt bad for her though, and the entire class in general. It WAS feburary…
But it’s not like Japan received snow anyway, except maybe the Hokkaido area…
Why was she thinking about that?
She should be focusing on Risako doing the endurance run…
Risako bouncing up and down energetically…
The sweat playing off her hair…
Miyabi bashed her head on her desk at such lewd thoughts.
I’m supposed to be in middle school damn it! But I’m entering high school this spring…
“Fujimoto-san! I’d rather you not fall asleep in class! You can sleep all you want during the lunch break!” her teacher called out.
“I’m sorry!” Miyabi became frantic, much to the amusement of her classmates.
Ugh.
Miyabi found herself nodding off to the yet still boring lecture her teacher gave. The last she recalled was something about forks and roads that supposedly had something to do with life. It was unfair that she had all of the fun classes first, but all the boring classes in the other half of her school day. She would rather doodle off in art class or become intrigued with weird things in her science class.
Miyabi let out a quiet sigh as to not catch the attention of her teacher. Why couldn’t Risako be older so that she might have a class with her? At least Miyabi could stare at her the entire school day instead of watching the window for her PE class for a short amount of time…
The bell rang its soft slow ringing, signaling that the class was over, and that it was now lunch period.
Alright.
Today, she was going to try again with the confession. Since this was during school, she believed that her sisters wouldn’t DARE kidnap her for another annoying mission or something…
Or would they?
Miyabi shut off all thought of that as she walked in the hallways, searching for Risako to show up randomly. The reason why she did not try for the last week was due to sheer embarrassment of facing her again. During their walks home, there would always be this weird and awkward silence, and she hated it. Miyabi figured that it had to do with her ever so ‘mysterious’ disappearance with Risako closing her eyes for almost fifteen minutes and then finally opening them to find that the older had ‘ditched’ her. Miyabi had defended herself, saying that there were ‘important family matters’ that she suddenly remembered, but Risako didn’t really buy that idea. So their conversations afterwards were often silent or simply meager. At least they still waved at each other in the hallways or whenever one spotted the other…
Then there she was…
Miyabi straightened herself up, brushing off any excess material on her uniform, and walked hastily towards the junior walking in the crowd. Eventually, she caught up to the younger and stuck close to her. Risako did notice the older shuffling around her, so she smiled to acknowledge her presence.
“So what are you going to get today?” Miyabi tried to look indifferent, staring out the windows as they passed them by.
“Hmm… I’m thinking of going into the bread line today, you?”
“Haha, I'm going into the noodles line. Curry udon for me, definitely,” Miyabi ssexy beasted.
“Eh? You don’t splatter it when you slurp it? It always happens to me, curry udon and all…”
Good… I finally have a ongoing conversation with her…
Now I just have to confess soon…
“My sister sometimes cooks it exclusively for me for lunch when there’s no school, and she would become angry if I splattered it, so I guess I trained myself to not make a mess when I eat it.”
“Aww! I’m jealous. I wish I had a first-class chef as my sister! You’re so lucky, senpai!”
“Just like I’m lucky to have you…” Miyabi said, asserting a firm and even flirtatious tone to her voice.
“Oh senpai…” Risako tried to laugh, but ended up blushing and looking away from Miyabi to hide it, “Look at what you’re saying…”
Miyabi was about to reply to that.
She had a good reply to that too…
And would have confessed right after that reply…
If she wasn’t snatched from the window.
…By a certain grinning older sister of her’s.
“Put me down!” Miyabi smacked the back of Miki repeatedly, having been swept caveman style.
“No way!” Miki grunted, running low among the bushes against the wall so that no one would find them. “This is seriously an emergency!”
“Like hell it is! You probably want me to watch your back as you sneak in some house looking for a yakuza lord’s daughter or son or something!” Miyabi still struggled to get out of Miki’s grasp.
“Why so edgy eh? Did I happen to interrupt you in the middle of another confession to that cute junior of your’s?” the demon grinned widely.
“None of your business, Miki-nee!” Miyabi became flustered and stopped struggling.
“Oops, I did it again,” Miki let out a laugh, almost ramming into the van outside the school gates if it wasn’t for Yuko opening the door beforehand.
“Ugh…” Miyabi crawled over to sit in the back, but her mood suddenly rose when she saw a certain suitcase… “What sort of mission is this?”
“An infiltration mission that requires a lot of fighting to get through…” Yuko said grimly, “We’re heading inside of the Shibata International trading firm…”
“We’re going into the main building this time?” Miyabi raised a brow, “What for?”
“Rika transformed into the celestial maiden, so Yuko-nee tells me,” Miki looked out of the window. “The maiden said she was going to that company, probably because that’s where Fisherman-kun’s direct descendant is, remembering the story and what she said…”
But that wasn’t what was occupying Miki’s mind right now…
Ishikawa…
You’re not in love with the enemy, are you?
…But I’m here…
Not her…
Why did you go for her, huh?
It was a weird feeling really. Normally, she would care less for the people she took interest in…
There was something in Rika that had intrigued her.
The appearance of the maiden and her kindness towards Miki was making her think otherwise. Was it possible that the maiden’s personality was somewhat based off a sub-consciousness of Rika’s? Was it possible that Rika really was secretly fond of Miki? She can’t exactly put a label on Rika’s feelings yet though. She would have to explore her limits a bit, to see if she had a definite form of love for the demon.
Things will definitely be more interesting once Rika has been retrieved safely…
“So what am I armed with this time?” Miyabi pondered aloud, eying the suitcase on the floor between the two chairs that her older sisters sat on.
“Dual Nagant M1895. And the sound suppressors too.”
“That’s what we packed?!” Miki looked at her elder adoptive sister, “Why didn’t we bring the better guns?”
“What better guns?” Yuko looked at Miki shifty eyed.
“You know…! The badass brown one!”
“You mean the desert eagles?” Miyabi leaned forward in her seat, gripping the edges of her sisters’ chairs. “You need to learn your guns, Nee-san…”
“They all look the same and do the same things to me,” Miki waved her hand dismissively.
“We can’t bring those on this mission! Those things are loud! Even with the silencers!” Yuko also waved her hand dismissively.
“But they’re cool and make a cool sound too!” Miki pouted, hitting her lap with her fists in a cute frustration.
“Forget it,” Miyabi pressed her forehead on Yuko’s chair, “the entire building will hear us and they’ll send all of the guards to us… So a Nagant is our best bet, since the silencers work best with them.”
“Say, how fast do you think that maiden flies?” Miki changed the subject.
“She zoomed pretty fast in the sky… Think she’s faster than a jet?” Yuko perked up.
Dot.
Dot.
Dot.
“DRIVER! HURRY UP! BEND EVERY DRIVING LAW IN JAPAN IF YOU HAVE TO!” Yuko knocked on the wall separating the driver and passenger seat from the rest of the passengers.
The black window rolled down, and the driver turned their head, shocking the others with their identity…
“You got it!”
“Kei?!” the Fujimoto siblings gaped.
“B-but you’re our housekeeper! What happened to our chauffer?!” Miki was blown away by the surprised, pointing a shaking finger at the aforementioned person.
“Well I knew something like this would happen, so I switched with your driver,” Kei replied in a singsong voice.
“Do you even have a license?” Miyabi asked cautiously, backing up and gripping the edge of her seat tightly.
“Sure I do~!” Kei replied in a singsong voice yet again.
“Don’t talk in that voice! Look at us in the eye and tell us you have one in a serious voice!” Miki retorted, fear edging her voice.
Kei turned her head to face the siblings, having a serious glint in her eye…
“Nevermind that, just keep your eyes on the road!” the pitch of Miki’s voice became ten times higher than usual.
“Look ma! No hands!” Kei giggled as she set the van on cruise and steered the van with her feet.
“Idiot! Drive normal and don’t sit like that! It’s bad for the kimono!” Yuko lurched forward in her seat to give her housekeeper an even messier hair style than usual with her right hand.
“High speed? Understood~!” Kei laughed heartily again as she put the van on manual again and stepped on the petal extremely hard, causing the van to zoom across the streets.
“TOO FAAAAAST!” the siblings called out, being thrown about relentless in their seats at the twists and turns of the town they were passing by.
“Teehee~!”
“IDIOT! THE LIGHT’S RED!”
“Oh well~!” heart heart heart.
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!”
“Oh look! We made it to the next town in less than ten minutes~!”
“DON’T BE SO FRIVOLOUS!” Miki screamed, trying to keep a steady sitting posture by putting her hands on the ceiling of the van.
“This is fun~!” Kei’s cheerful expression suddenly became almost sadistic, her nose flaring and her grin exceeding her face. “Ohhhh yeaaaah!”
“Wait! What are you doing?! This isn’t a movie!! YOU CAN’T CLEAR THAT JUMP!”
“I dedicate this next move to Tom Cruise!” Kei stepped on the driving pedal harder, the van definitely breaking all speed limits of Japan combined altogether.
“DON’T DEDICATE YOUR INSANITY!!!”
A familiar, yet new cycle…
“Do you know of Rika’s condition right now? I don’t know anything that’s happened since I saw that hand…” Ayumi traced the cross-shaped scar on her face.
“I guess she’s fine… She has been taking up residence with another wealthy family with good security, and I haven’t told your uncle or cousin her whereabouts, so you can rest assure,” Hitomi said as she munched on a bag of dried squid.
“This is all so overwhelming though… First I get all these weird scars… Then my family tries to kill her, and now I’m hearing some weird things about her having another spirit inside of her? This is one fucked up fairytale…” Ayumi placed both of her hands on her head, lowering it so that she was facing the floor. “On top of that, now they’re asking me to cooperate with them, saying that they want me a part of this project and want to restore memories I don’t have for the benefits?! Then some weird people came in saying that if I don’t agree to their plans, they’re going to kill Rika?! What the hell is going on?! What did we do wrong?!”
“Nn…” Hitomi tried to think of what to say in her head, and then formulated her thoughts into words, “Well… I don’t care if you’re sick of it or if it brings you to tears or what… But may I say a few words…?”
Ayumi looked up at Hitomi, clearly with the frustration in her eyes, “Go ahead… Preach me with something…”
“You’re not the only one suffering. Rika has her share of pain too. While you were in a coma from the scars for a week, ignorant of everything, she was almost killed by your family. There’s a spirit within her that possesses her, and if not possessing, she seems to see nightmares among her normal vision too. That isn’t normal you know, and to think she has to deal with living in fear constantly… She’s trying like hell to fight it, you know. What about you? You don’t like what you’re going through, but what are you going to do about it? It seems that right now, all you’re doing is complaining, yet she has the will to endure it all and move.”
Ayumi studied Hitomi’s face as she said that.
“Oh well, you two sure like to make me talk huh?” Hitomi sighed, stuffing herself with more sticks of dried squid.
“You seem to be having fun, huh?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you enjoying this? You sounded like you didn’t take me seriously when you said that. On top of that, smiling while trying to preach too, huh? Is watching us squirm in pain amusing to you?”
“Why are you getting upset all of a sudden?” Hitomi raised a brow.
“There you go again, acting indifferent and ignorant…”
“Whoa whoa whoa, Shibata-san, I didn’t mean to sound like that, it’s just the way I act… In truth, I am taking you seriously, I’m sorry if you had the wrong interpretations of me acting like I’m having fun, but I truly believe that you shouldn’t just look at yourself. Rika has gone through a lot more than you…”
“I see…” Ayumi looked over to the side. But then, something caught her attention… “Come again? Did I just hear you call her Rika?”
“I let it slip again, huh?” Hitomi set the bag on the table.
“Oh… I don’t mind, I guess I’m surprised that you would call her by her given name…”
“Formality isn’t really my thing, sorry if that offends you.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, it’s not my thing either, as you’ve seen an hour ago,” Ayumi scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
“Yeah, haha.”
“Hmm… Now that I really think about it… To defend her like that… You must really care for her, huh?”
Hitomi remained silent.
But then something caught her eye…
“Get down!” Hitomi commanded as she stood up, moving her hand as if she was batting something away, thus a stiletto with images of demons and hell engraved onto the hilt came out of her sleeve came out of her sleeve and then she caught it.
Ayumi did as she was ordered too, surprised when she heard an incantation of a sort and all of a sudden, weird black web-like material hit the floor in front of her.
“Wha?!” Ayumi shifted herself around, viewing her attacker.
“Pfft, I thought you wouldn’t be able to see me…” Maki let out a snort.
“Those clothes… Rika?!” Ayumi stood up, “Golden eyes and blood red hair… you must be that maiden Kagami was talking about!”
“And those scars… You are the one who shamed me!” Maki yelled out in anger, lunging forward for an attack.
Again and again…
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Narrowly missed that stop sign, huh?”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Awww! I almost ran over a squirrel!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“YES! Cleared another ramp!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Oh look! A bunch of old women crossing the street!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“That was close, huh? But those poor old women must be traumatized…”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Yuko-sama? Can you please stop screaming in my ear all the time? You’re ruining my concentration~!”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Shall History forever repeat.
Yeah... Everything went by too fast xD I'll remedy that for next chapter >_>;
So comment! D<
Lurkers will be hit by that black spider thread magic attack of Maki's xD
Topic: Our Cursed Gift II [NON SEQUEL] Chapter 22: Another side: Another Story (10/6) (Read 84451 times)