Konnichiwa!! ^_^ Here's ch. 7 now. I'm going to send
some of the stats for the new characters I've created
now (on a seperate post of course). I wouldn't have
even thought to do something like that, but someone
gave me the idea and it really helps some.
Here's something kinda interesting. How I came up with
some of the character names:
Chisa: Chisa Yokoyama (voice actress of Sasami,
Tsunami)
Misao: Sasami's best friend (as well as Pixy Misa) in
Pretty Sammy
Ryunosuke: I actually heard it on Nuku-nuku, but I
know it's a Japanese boy's name and I thought it
sounded cool
Keiko: I actually got it off of a character on Yuu Yuu
Hakusho
Boushin and Shyoka: FY OAVs
Mayumi (later in the story): Mayumi Iizuka (voice
actress of Sakuya of STM! and Kasumi (Misty) of
Pokemon)
Shinta (later in the story): Kenshin's name as a child
in the RK OAVs (I've been lucky enough to see the
first 3)
Ongaku (later in the story): Crikit came up w/that one
Mariko (later in the story): Mariko Kouda (voice
actress of Miki from Marmalade Boy)
A Legend Reborn
Chapter 7
"Sire! There are three people outside the front
gate."
"One of them looks to be the priestess."
"Chisa....?"
"Yes, along with a young man and a small child."
"A child?!"
"She�s carrying the priestess and Ryunosuke, your
majesty."
"That is absurd! A small child carrying two full
grown people?"
"It is the truth, sire."
"I�ll go look into this, Emperor Boushin."
"Shyoka...."
"If it is them then we had better get them inside
fast."
Accompanied by the guards, Shyoka runs through the
rain and mud to the front gate to see just what the
guards were describing. There is a young, rain-soaked
girl of about eleven or twelve years of age, her
purple hair pulled back into two little buns on the
sides of her head, standing there, Chisa slung over
one shoulder, Ryunosuke over the other.
"I think these belong to you....."
***
"The guys sure are missing a lot of this... I wonder
if I should wake them up....," Rei thinks to herself.
She looks over at Keisuke, "They were so tired... I
better just let them sleep......"
Keisuke begins to stir.
"Oh! Good morning, sweetheart."
"*yawn* I really needed that sleep... Thanks for
taking over...."
"Oh, I�m happy to do it... I�ve really gotten into
this story.... It�s getting really interesting
now....."
"Yeah? What�s been happening?"
"Here...," she hands him the book, "You look for
yourself. I�ll get some breakfast started...."
"You know, sometimes you�re too good to be true."
"I know....," Rei smiles.
"I really don�t deserve you...."
"I know that, too...," Rei jokes, "I married you out
of pity.... Plus you�re just so cute.....!"
***
"So have you been able to get anything in yet?" Miaka
asks.
Taiis-kun and Chichiri have been trying for the past
few hours to get the mirror to work with no success.
"The interference is tremendous, no daa," Chichiri
says, his hands constantly moving.
"Do you think it might have something to do with the
rain? Sometimes when it rains, our TV doesn�t work
very well....."
"Something like rain wouldn�t affect it, Miaka.
Something.... or maybe someone.... is trying to keep
us from using it."
"Who or what would be able to do something like
that?"
"I have no idea. This is the first time I�ve really
had trouble with this. I�ve never felt such strong
resistance......"
"We�ll keep trying, but it�s really looking hopeless,
no daa......"
"All right...," Miaka sighs. Quietly she exits the
room.
"We both know all too well who is doing this, no
daa...," Chichiri says as soon as Miaka has left.
"Yes, but still I pray that my suspicions are not
true... I pray that I am wrong... There is no absolute
proof of it yet so until then I will not worry Miaka
and the others..."
"You will have to tell them about her sooner or
later, no daa..."
"I know, but for now I feel it is best not to......"
"What will happen to Chisa and Misao, no daa?"
"Only she knows...," Taiis-kun says, "She is the
author of the second prophetic scroll after all......"
***
"Still nothing?" Tamahome asks seeing Miaka come down
the hallway.
"Nope...."
"This is strange.... What could be causing something
like this.....?" Yui asks.
"There have been a lot of weird things happening
lately...."
"One thing I still don�t understand is how Chisa and
Misao even got here! I mean, Chichiri put a seal on
the book so this couldn�t happen......"
"The seal was broken....."
"That�s obvious, but how....?"
"Who knows?"
"Even Taiis-kun and Chichiri have been wondering...."
"Actually.... I think Taiis-kun knows more than she�s
letting on....."
"What do you mean, Chiriko...?"
"Just a feeling I�ve been having....."
"I think the best thing for us to do is go to Konan
and Kouto ourselves."
"That�s a good idea, Tamahome."
"Miaka, you and I will go to Konan and Chichiri and
Tasuki can escort Yui to Kouto."
"Hey! I don�t want to take orders from you!"
"You got a better idea, Tasuki?!"
"Fine... Whatever...," Tasuki huffs, "but I�m not
doing it because Tamahome said to!!"
***
Chisa awakes to warmth. Squinting, she sees the hand
hovering over her again.
".....Sh.... Shyoka....?"
"Ah! Chisa! You�re all right! I�m so relieved!"
"Where.... where�s Ryunosuke?"
"He�s in his room...."
"You took care of him first, right...? He�s healed
now, too, right.....?"
"Actually....."
"What happened.....?"
"Well, you see when I told him that I can only do
this special healing thing of mine once a day.....
well, he insisted that I heal you first....."
"Once a day....?"
"Yeah...."
"But.... but he was the one in real pain! Why did he
do something like that.....?"
"I don�t know, but he absolutely wouldn�t hear of me
helping him first... Believe me I tried to convince
him that you weren�t very bad off... really I did...,
but he was absolutely stubborn about it....."
"......Ryunosuke.....," Chisa sighs.
"What happened out there anyway?" Shyoka asks, "You
two came back in pretty bad shape....."
"We were on our way back here when we were attacked
out of no where by some bandits....."
"Bandits.....?"
"Ryunosuke saved me.... he fought them off...," Chisa
says, "but they weren�t ordinary bandits... I could
feel it.... There was definitely something strange,
almost not human, about them......"
*knock knock*
"Enter..."
"Hi. The cook asked me to bring this to you....."
"Who are you....?"
"Oh, Chisa, this is Keiko."
"Pleased to meet you, Suzaku no miko!"
"Keiko is the one who found you and Ryunosuke. She
carried you both all the way here."
"Carried us....?!"
"I know it�s hard to believe, but she really is quite
strong....," Shyoka says.
"I found you and that guy passed out near my house
and I had recognized that you were the miko so I
figured that I should bring you back here."
"Thank you, Keiko....."
"Oh! The food! The cook figured you would be really
hungry so he sent me to take this to you....."
"Mmmmmm.... Smells great!" Chisa quickly snatches the
tray away from Keiko and begins chowing down,
finishing it all within a matter of minutes. She
pushes the sheets away and leaps out of bed.
"Where are you going?"
"I�m going to go see Ryunosuke now."
Chisa walks down the hall to Ryunosuke�s room where
several of the royal physicians surround his bed.
"Excuse me...."
"Oh! Miko."
"Could you allow me to talk with Ryunosuke
privately?"
"Of course. We were finished anyway."
The physicians quietly depart from the room, bowing as
they pass her.
"Uh... Thank you...."
Quietly she approaches Ryunosuke.
"Don�t let all those doctors scare you.... I�m really
fine...," a bandaged Ryunosuke says sitting up in bed,
"They were just dressing my wounds...."
"I�m... I�m so sorry, Ryunosuke...."
"Don�t say that.... I knew what I was doing.... I
wouldn�t have just left you there for them to
kill....."
"I know that....," Chisa says, "but... but I don�t
want you to go and get yourself killed..... You knew
you were outnumbered.... Why would you do something
like that....?"
"I just had to.... It�s my job....."
"Do you really think I�m that stupid.....? I know
that�s not all... I know it... Why wouldn�t you let
Shyoka take care of you first? I was fine... Look at
you...! Your ribs are broken for crying out loud...! I
want to know why!"
"What does it matter...."
"It matters to me... You matter to me...! Tell me
why!"
"Because.... because I love you dammit!!" Ryunosuke
snaps, "I admit it, okay...? I don�t know why, but
ever since I first saw you... I knew... that I had to
protect you... I knew that I couldn�t let any harm
come to you.... From the start......"
Chisa simply stands there. Her hands over her mouth,
tears in her eyes, her mind racing.
"The truth is.... even if you had decided not to be
the miko.... I�d still protect you.... I couldn�t do
that for anyone else......"
No response.
"Now that I�ve made a complete idiot of myself.... I�m
going to get some sleep.....," Ryunosuke says coldly.
"But.... Ryunosuke....," Chisa stammers.
"Just go....."
Chisa slowly and quietly leaves the room, shutting
the door behind her.
Chisa stands outside the door in shock, her hands
still covering her mouth, Ryunosuke�s words echoing
through her head.
".... but..... I love you, too....," she whispers.
***
"Hey all you sleepy heads! I thought you were going
to leave today! Get up! Wake up!" Nyan-nyan calls out.
"But the sun isn�t even up yet!"
"Don�t make me force you up again! *clink*"
"Nuriko!!"
"You don�t have to be like that!"
"Do you really think we�d over sleep with something
this important to do?!"
"Yeah....," Nuriko shrugs.
"You know, you could�ve at least hesitated a little!"
***
Chisa sits alone outside on the porch of the palace,
watching the sun rise.
"I didn�t sleep at all...," Chisa thinks, "It seems
like the longer I stay here the worse it gets... That
stupid Ryunosuke... Why does he have to love me.....?
Risking his life like that... The idiot...," at this
Chisa begins to cry, "What am I thinking...?! I�m the
idiot... I just hope he�s all right... I hope he�s not
mad at me....."
She turns to see a figure approaching. "Ryunosuke...?
Oh... what am I going to do... I�ll just be cool...
Just don�t worry about it....," she thinks as she
wipes the tears from her eyes, "Maybe he doesn�t
remember anything about last night.... What the heck
am I thinking?! Of course he remembers!!!" "Uh... good
morning...," she says.
"Mornin�"
"So..... Shyoka took care of you already?"
"Yeah...."
"I�m glad to see you feel better...."
Ryunosuke continues to walk by her.
Chisa hangs her head low and sinks to the floor, "How
did everything get so messed up all of a sudden....?"
She buries her face in her hands as the tears return
to her eyes, flowing down in streams as she sobs.
"There you are, Chisa," Shyoka says, "The emperor has
called us to his chambers for a meeting......," she
stops, "Chisa... What�s the matter....?"
"Nothing.... I�m fine....*sniffle*," Chisa wipes her
eyes again.
"No you�re not.... You�re crying.....," Shyoka kneels
down next to Chisa, "Please.... Tell me what�s
wrong....."
"It�s... it�s nothing.... I just don�t want to talk
about it right now....."
"All right... but please... as soon as you are ready
to talk about it, I�d be more than happy to do what I
can to help....."
"*sniffle*.....okay....."
"Why don�t you get dressed and then we�ll go to the
emperor�s room together? I�ll wait for you."
"I guess I should clean up a bit......"
"All right....."
Chisa walks into her room and begins to change.
"Shyoka is so nice... She reminds me so much of
Misao.... She even looks like her.... a little.... not
really... Well her hair anyway.... She�s so nice to
me... Misao is always willing to listen to me....."
Chisa splashes her face with a little bit of water.
"Maybe now I won�t look quite so bad...."
"Okay... Let�s go...."
Chisa walks with Shyoka to see the emperor.
"You didn�t get any sleep last night did you?"
"Is it that obvious?" Chisa sighs.
"What happened last night after you went to see
Ryunosuke?"
"Actually it was when I visited him that all of this
started."
"Really?" Shyoka stops walking.
"Yeah.... I guess I can talk about it now....."
"Then I guess I can listen now....."
"What about the meeting with the emperor....?"
"Just talk while we walk...," Shyoka says, "We can
take the long way if you want....."
Chisa lets out a deep sigh and tells Shyoka about the
night�s events, the picnic, the bandits, and the
confession.
"Oh.... I see now.... That explains his mood this
morning... You had quite a rough night..., huh....?,"
Shyoka says, "So what do you think you�re going to
do....?"
"I don�t know...," Chisa replies, "That�s what I spent
all night worrying about....."
"Well, don�t worry about it too much... I�m sure
things will straighten themselves out...."
"The thing is, though.... that.... I love him,
too...."
"I knew that already...."
"....really....?"
"I knew you two liked each other.... I mean, why else
would a guy jump in front of a runaway horse?!" Shyoka
says, "I�ve seen the way you look at each other...
That night, our first night at the palace... and then
the carnival.... I was just waiting for you two to
realize it....."
Chisa stares at the floor.
"Just don�t let it bother you too much... that�s all,"
Shyoka says, "I know that everything will work out the
way it�s supposed to be......"
"Shyoka.....?"
"Yeah?"
Chisa wraps her arms around Shyoka suddenly.
"Thank you.... I�m really glad that I�ve gotten to
know you and that you�re so nice to listen to me.....
You�re the only one I can turn to......"
"It�s no trouble at all...," Shyoka says, returning
the embrace, "Now, let�s go.... I don�t think we
should keep the emperor waiting much longer...."
"You�re right..."
"And one more thing, Chisa...."
"Huh?"
"Don�t forget to smile......"
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