Please give C&Cs directed to <wsiewlee@tm.net.my> as I'm not subscribed to
the ML. This will be the finalized version and I'm going to post this up
soon. Please give comments.
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~~~The Past, The Present And The Future~~~
~~~The Past - Memories~~~
Part 3 - Sweet, Sour, Then Bitter
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It was a bright day.
Misuko found herself standing in mid air. She was staring at the bloody
scene below her. She was there, lying on the ground. The evil Crowned
Prince was also dead, by her feet. Wait a second, she was there, on the
ground, a pair of scissors protruding from her belly.
"Why am I here?" asked Misuko silently to herself. She closed her eyes
momentarily, trying to recall what had actually happened. Recollections
began to stream back into her mind. The prince... lunged at her... a pair of
scissors... killed the prince... killed herself... The searing pain of the
stab burned away the last few seconds of her life. The pain was frightfully
real, even now.
Misuko sat down in mid-air, wrapping her arms around her knees. *So I'm
dead now. What am I going to do?*
"Yes, you are," said a voice behind her. Misuko quickly turned her head to
look at the owner of the voice. A girl with an oar was standing behind her.
The girl was dressed in a pair of traditional leaf green kimono with
sparrows embroidered all over. Her black eyes and equally black hair had a
serene-like effect.
"What am I suppose to do now?" asked Misuko, getting up. Tears already
forming in her eyes. Being dead wasn't exactly a nice thought nor dream, but
it was true this time. Misuko had never thought of death before this. It was
so... frightening.
"I'm a ferrygirl assigned to you from Reikai, where you are suppose to go
for registration before going to your last destination. Come, sit on my
oar," said the ferrygirl gently.
For the first time, Misuko was addressed and comforted by someone. Someone
who was a friend. Someone who treated her like a friend. That feeling was
very special, a warm and happy feeling. Someone who cared about her plight.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
"I'm really dead," said Misuko softly, as she sat on the flat part of the
oar. The ferrygirl got onto the oar too and started sailing through the air.
Misuko closed her eyes, feeling the cool breeze caress her face and whipping
her hair all around. The wind somehow calmed down her boiling and unhappy
feelings. Misuko herself was never prefect, although it may seemed that way
to some people. Misuko shoved that thought aside. She would never want to
think about that anymore. It was simply too painful. An agonizing touch in
her life. A black spot there.
The ferrygirl put a comforting arm on her shoulder, assuring her
that nothing will happen.
*What was done, was done.*
At last, the pair reached the mist shrouded building. An air of mystery
surrounded it.
"That is the Reikai Imperial Palace. This is also where all the souls of
Ningenkai were judged and assigned," explained the ferrygirl.
"What's your name?" asked Misuko cautiously. All her life, she had never
been out of the palace. In a way, she had no idea how to make a friend.
"Hanna." answered the ferrygirl simply as she led Misuko into the vast
building. "Because your case is a special one, our Enma wants to meet you
personally."
"A special case?" repeated Misuko curiously. A lump formed in her throat...
"Yes. Let's go." said Hanna.
Misuko nodded and ran into the division office with Hanna. The extremely
busy office was filled with running onis and other unrecognizable creatures.
Hanna knocked on the door of a room located at one corner of the vast
office. A voice answered, requesting them to go in. Misuko looked at the
wooden door, half afraid of what lies beyond. Her first thought was those
of an evil-looking executer waiting to punish her for the crime she done.
Misuko couldn't hide from herself anymore. She got to accept the truth.
Hanna cautiously opened the door and walked in. A boy in his late teens,
about 17 years old was sitting there, sucking his pacifier; furiously
signing documents away. Another huge blue oni was standing beside him,
passing him papers to sign.
"Good morning, Koenma-sama," said Hanna, bowing slightly. She gave Misuko a
small nudge, asking her to do the same.
"Good morning," said Misuko as politely as she could.
Koenma looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. "Good morning," he
greeted back, fixing his gaze at Misuko. In fact, he stared at Misuko for
quite a long time, without paying any attention to the puzzled glances his
blue oni and Hanna were exchanging. Koenma looked at her for such a long
time that Misuko began blushing and tugging at Hanna's sleeve.
"Um... Koenma-sama, this is the girl you wanted to see," began Hanna
cautiously seeing that Misuko was already tugging furiously.
"Oh! Your name is..." Koenma flipped through a few papers and glanced at
them. "... Misuko. You had committed suicide, right?"
"Well, I guess that's the only way to get myself out of this mess," said
Misuko dejectedly. Reminiscences began flooding back to her head. The stab
was still painful, though. Not only it was painful physically, but
mentally too.
"Your place should be in heaven since you didn't do anything bad, but you
committed suicide. Why? That is against the rules of living," said Koenma,
looking at Misuko straight in the eye.
"I had to. I have no choice. Think what would have happened sooner or
later. The death of the prince... King Shu won't let me off that easy. I'd
rather commit suicide than been executed in the public," explained Misuko,
tears starting to well up in her eyes. She had never felt so guilty in her
life. Not just she had disappointed her country, she had ended her own life
herself. Of all, she had failed miserably.
"Just because of this point, the Reikai division office has decided to let
you choose your own destination. You will have your fair chance of
reincarnation, but which do you prefer? The first is to incarnate in three
years time after a year of suffering in the first floor of punishment or you
can work here as a ferrygirl for one hundred years," offered Koenma, giving
her a choice.
"We are lack of workers here, you know," continued Koenma.
Misuko was dumbfound at the offers Koenma had made. To incarnate or work as
a ferrygirl here? Misuko considered. *The world is in such a bleak state
and I was just sitting in otousama's palace without doing anything. Fifteen
years of my life were wasted just like that... I'm a girl. I can't do
anything in the world of feudalism...*
But... she would have to wait for a long time to live again... Misuko
considered and reconsidered. Making decisions were very difficult...
It would take all her determination to do this. Misuko took a deep breath
and voiced out her choice.
"I think I would be a ferrygirl here. I'm tired of seeing all these wars and
fighting in the world. I suppose that would be better, since I could help
and comfort souls in despair rather than seeing them suffer in silence,"
said Misuko, making her choice. She had truly made up her mind this time.
One hundred years may seemed a long time, but at least she could do
something meaningful.
"Fine, than that it will be," said Koenma, smiling at her. "Hanna, show her
around and get her an official uniform of a ferrygirl."
"Thank you," said Misuko as she smiled back. *Koenma seems to be a very
friendly person,* thought Misuko as Hanna led her out. Misuko was thankful.
Very thankful that she had been given a chance to start a new life.
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"Hanna, is being a ferrygirl very hard?" asked Misuko as Hanna showed her
the ferrygirls' sleeping quarters.
"Well, depends on how you divide your time. Sometimes, you can suffer from
an overload of work if you were to linger from jobs to jobs," answered Hanna
as she opened a closet full of uniforms of my sizes and cloth patterns.
"Choose a pair you like."
Misuko went through the clothes and looked at them, hoping to find something
she would really like. Pair after pair of uniform, but she still couldn't
find one that caught her attention.
"Why all these kimonos have some type of flower or bird embroidered on
them?" asked Misuko curiously as she fingered one of the beautiful roses
sewed on one of the kimonos.
"Well, Reikai has a certain rule that the ferrygirls should have an identity
of themselves by putting on a certain type of insignia on their kimonos.
Most of them were flowers or birds anyway. Mine are sparrows," said Hanna,
crossing her arms over her chest. It was a long time already before Reikai
had recruited any new ferrygirls.
"I think I would like a crane as my insignia," said Misuko as she picked up
a pair of dark blue kimono with a pair of white cranes embroidered at the
front. She touched the head of one of the cranes lovingly. *Since the crane
is graceful and slender, it will look good on me...* thought Misuko
silently.
"I think you might be able to start work tomorrow," said Hanna. "I'll leave
you settle to down in your room." Hanna pointed towards a room in the far
end of the corridor.
"Thanks anyway," said Misuko as she clutched the kimono tightly. What lied
for her in this place? One might never know.
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Misuko got up early next morning. *I'm now a ferrygirl in Reikai,* said
Misuko aloud as she hummed her favorite tune to the rhythmic splashes of
water around her in the bathtub.
Slowly, she washed herself thoroughly and got into the her new kimono. *I
look good and refreshed.* Misuko admired herself in the full length mirror
as she tied the peach colored sash around her trim waist.
She combed her waist length hair and tied it up in a braid. Misuko took one
last look at her outfit, making sure that the kimono was straight, and
walked out of the room. As she expected, Hanna was waiting for her outside.
"Come on, let's hurry or we will be late for work," said Hanna as she took
Misuko by the arm and ran in the direction of the division office.
"Wow, are we suppose to ferry all these spirits before noon?" asked Misuko
as she was handed a sheet of paper about her assignment today. "There are
about twenty names on that list," said Misuko in awe.
"I guess so..." said Hanna, looking at her own list.
"Where am I suppose to get my oar?" asked Misuko.
"Just reach out an open palm and say 'oar'," instructed Hanna.
Misuko did as what Hanna instructed and an oar slowly materialized in her
palm.
"That oar is yours now and you can control it with your thoughts. Just
think. When you want it to fly, just think of it flying the way you want. By
the way, here's a map of routes to Reikai," Hanna handed Misuko a piece of
paper. "One more thing, if you were ever lost, you can command the oar to
get you back here."
"Okay, thanks," said Misuko as she set off with her oar, looking at the
first name on her list. For a while, she was at a lost for what to do.
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"What a day!" said Misuko as she touched down to join Hanna in the Imperial
Reikai Palace.
"What took you so long?" asked Hanna, crumpling her list into a ball and
throwing it into a wastepaper basket nearby.
"I wasn't sure how to get to places and my oar was a little disobedient,"
answered Misuko, also throwing her list into the wastepaper basket. In fact,
today was disastrous. Misuko was supposed to ferry an old man's spirit but
the oar flew her to some remote land in Africa instead... A sweatdrop formed
on Misuko's temple as she thought of that.
"Gods, I'm exhausted," said Hanna, stretching a little. "I think I'm going
to bed early today."
"I'm going to relax a little tonight," said Misuko, walking off in an
another direction.
"Goodnight," said Hanna, her hand stifling a yawn.
"You too," said Misuko from a quite far distance away. *I'm going to sit in
the Imperial garden I have seen from my window - that garden is actually
quite nice,* decided Misuko. Her head was throbbing slightly as she had
never really did hard work before. Misuko sighed softly. She had never
expected to end up here...
Misuko strolled down the path winding through the beautiful landscape.
Flowers were blooming at their fullest and their sweet scent filled the air.
At last, she reached a secluded place in the garden. She sat down on the
soft green grass and drank in the sweet scent of flowers around her. Misuko
closed her eyes and listened to the constant singing of a lone nightingale.
Enjoying the soft sweet music. Misuko wasn't quite sure now. She was tired,
tired of life. What had made she such pessimistic? She had negative traids
in herself, but she had never looked at them carefully. Never bothered to...
*It felt so much like home.* As Misuko thought of that, a hollow feeling
began to take its place in her heart. Home sickness. Misuko missed her
father and other people around her very much. Maybe a week ago, leaving home
was totally alien to a princess who had lived her all life in a palace.
Never going out of the forbidding walls.
After a while, Misuko could feel someone sat down beside her. "Is that you,
Hanna?" asked Misuko with her eyes still closed.
"No. It's me." A squeaky voice answered. Misuko opened her eyes look at
Koenma, this time without his pacifier.
"I'm sorry... Koenma-sama," stammered Misuko as she got up hastily.
"Never mind, sit down again," answered Koenma, closing his eyes.
Misuko also sat down again, setting her mind into a peaceful state.
"Why are you here? I thought I'm the only one in Reikai who actually enjoyed
sitting in the garden during evenings," began Koenma, his voice was in quite
a low tone. Misuko looked at him in surprise as that wasn't his normal
high pitched voice.
"I love gardens, especially such a beautiful one like this. It reminds me of
home," said Misuko dreamily.
"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" asked Koenma, plucking a
stalk of grass and began twirling it around his index finger.
"No," answered Misuko simply, on other hand, Misuko was also curious what
Koenma wanted to ask. *Could it be...*
"How is Ningenkai? I have never been to Ningenkai before, because I have
just got this post from my otousama a few years ago," asked Koenma, his
eyes shining full of hope to see Ningenkai one day.
"Ningenkai is fun, full of interesting things and beautiful scenes like a
typical sunset. Unluckily, the country my otousama is ruling was
jeopardized. I don't know whether the state of Shu will attack after I
stabbed their Crowned Prince," said Misuko with a plaintive sigh. Now,
Misuko felt a tiny stab of regret. Maybe she shouldn't have killed their
crowned prince.
"Why did you stab him?" asked Koenma, opening his eyes to look at Misuko.
"The state of Shu tricked my father into giving me as a 'so-called' prize of
harmony, but it was a conspiracy in order to get me. I was so angry when I
heard that from the Crowned Prince's mouth. He even tried to rape me... I
somehow got hold of a pair of scissors and accidentally killed him. I didn't
mean to end my life like that, but I had no choice," said Misuko, two drops
tears rolling down from her eyes. Memories were so painful for her. Misuko
shoved that thought away as it was ripping her sanity apart.
"It's not much your fault. Humans make mistakes," consoled Koenma, patting
her on the shoulder. Koenma felt true sympathy for this girl, who came to
Reikai yesterday. Koenma himself had seen such cases before, but this had
left him with a strong impression.
"Koenma-sama, do you think that I really did the wrong thing?" asked Misuko.
She was still confused now. She was guilty, guilty of not bringing harmony
to her people.
"No. You did the right thing to protect yourself," said Koenma.
"But what will my otousama think? I'm his only child," Misuko said as she
broke down into sobs.
"Don't worry, I think he would understand," said Koenma.
"I'm really unkind to my father. I brought disgrace to my people. I
heralded war cries..." cried out Misuko, burying her face into Koenma's
shoulder and sobbed out her heart.
Koenma cautiously put a hand to comfort her, hoping that she would
eventually calm down. Slowly, a few stars shone down at them. At last,
Misuko's sobs died down.
"I'm sorry to break down like that," apologized Misuko as she wiped her
tears away with her kimono sleeve.
"I hope that you have finally calmed a little," said Koenma, smiling gently
at her.
Misuko got up. "Thanks for listening to me." In her heart, Koenma was
already a friend. Someone she could lean on when she needed a mere person
to listen to her.
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[Koenma was leaning over her, whispering the magical three words into her
ears. Misuko smiled up at him, Koenma bent down and kissed her lightly on
the cheek...]
*Oh no... This is the third time I'm dreaming about him in a night...*
thought Misuko in shock as she sat up on her bed, sweating profusely. She
shook her head, trying to clear the image before her.
She took a glance outside the window. The sun was already halfway up the
horizon. She got up quickly and dressed.
"Hanna must be wondering what had happened to me." thought Misuko as she
brushed her hair hurriedly. She took her oar and ran outside. Hanna was
there pacing impatiently to and forth.
"What were you doing inside?" asked Hanna, wondering why Misuko was late.
"Oh... I just had a dream," said Misuko quickly. She didn't want Hanna or
anyone else to know that she had a crush on their boss. Besides, what will
Hanna think if she knew about her crush?
"What dream? A nightmare?" asked Hanna.
"Um... no," said Misuko. "Let's get going."
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Koenma groaned for the 50th time as George brought in another stack of
papers. Work at Reikai was so demanding and tedious... Koenma had never
chosen to work in Reikai; but he had no choice. He was the only heir to
Reikai, so he had to do so; whether he liked it or not.
"Koenma-sama, these documents have to be signed by 1.00pm today," announced
George, also obviously a little burned out from the heavy workload.
Koenma nodded as George set the pile down in front of him. *Koenma-sama
seems to be quite distracted this few days. I wonder why...* George pushed
the thought away and went out of the door. *Koenma-sama never tells his
problems to anybody.*
On the other hand, Koenma was having trouble concentrating on the office
papers spreaded out before him. His mind was wandering elsewhere, unable to
make a comeback. He shrugged a little and forced some work.
*I love being in this form...* thought Koenma on another of his occasional
stray periods of daydreaming. *That is my actual form, but otousama wants me
to go back to that smaller form. Speaking of pacifiers and Reiki...*
*She had a very special self within her...* said Koenma aloud this time, but
he quickly clamped his hand over his mouth. He didn't want to think of that
anymore, work was more important to him now.
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Misuko sat in the garden again, for two consecutive weeks. The night air
seemed to calm her, but her mind was still confused. She had even went
avoiding Koenma whenever she saw him. The dreams were painful, especially
when she woke up. *It isn't the reality,* said Misuko sadly to herself every
time it happened; but she simply couldn't control herself.
She breathed in sharply and leaned back on the tree. She closed her eyes
began fantasizing about a night together with Koenma.
"Why are you here?" a voice asked suddenly.
Misuko's eyes flew open and looked straight into a pair of brown eyes. "Hi,
Koenma-sama." Misuko's face was already blushing furiously when she said
that.
"You are always here," said Koenma, sitting down beside her. "How come I
didn't see you the last few days?"
"Yeah. I have something to tell you," said Misuko suddenly. Her mind had
sub-consciously made a decision. Misuko never imagined that she would say
such a thing, but she did.
"Me too," said Koenma eagerly, getting up on his knees to be by her side.
"Why not you say it first," offered Misuko, also eager to hear what Koenma
had to say. *Besides admitting first wasn't normal for a girl like me,*
Misuko added to her herself.
"Well, um... this is a problem between us. Are you ready to hear it?" asked
Koenma.
"Yes," answered Misuko as she took a deep breath.
"I had been dreaming about you this few days. At first, I couldn't make any
sense out of it since I was always er... kissing you," said Koenma, pausing
a while; half expecting Misuko to get up and slap him across. Instead,
Misuko just looked at him with no obvious facial expression.
"Finally, I had came to a conclusion." Koenma breathed in before blurting
out the rest of the sentence. "I had fallen in love with you secretly."
Misuko kept quiet, looking into Koenma's eyes. "It really hurts to dream of
you every night, but just to wake up and find that isn't real." continued
Koenma, watching closely for Misuko's facial expression.
Misuko suddenly got up and hugged Koenma. Tears of joy already streamed down
from her eyes. She tried opening her mouth to say something, but she had
just only managed to whisper the words: "Thank you. Thank you for saying
this to me."
Misuko let go of Koenma. "I had been thinking to tell you this too, but
since you said it out, I might as well tell you my own personal experience,"
said Misuko, her pent-up emotions gushing out.
Misuko finished saying what she wanted to say. Koenma looked at her, his
face filled with new found delight. Koenma got up suddenly and pinned her
down on the grass.
"Since we are having fantasies of each other so frequently, why not we try
this once for real?" suggested Koenma.
"Hold on. What if some other people find out?" asked Misuko worriedly. She
was already mentally forming a scene where Hanna accidentally walked in on
them.
"Don't worry," said Koenma as he kissed her gently on the neck.
"Great," said Misuko as she slowly kissed back...
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"Misuko!" yelled Hanna outside Misuko's assigned room. Five minutes passed
but still no sound.
*Has something happened to her?* thought Hanna anxiously.
After a little while, she heard sounds of footsteps walking up the corridor.
It was Misuko. Her face and hands were smudged and bits of grass were
sticking to her hair and kimono. Her hair was disheveled and her kimono was
crumpled.
"What happened to you?" asked Hanna as she took Misuko's hand and took a
close look at her.
"Nothing. I just fell asleep in the Imperial garden." answered Misuko
happily.
Hanna rolled her eyes. "Get cleaned up and dress neatly."
Misuko smiled and walked into her room. "Ah... I'm taking a day off today.
You don't need to wait for me."
"Okay," said Hanna, walking off with her oar.
*My, my. She sure is acting strange today...* thought Hanna.
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"Koenma-sama, how good it would be if we can live together like this
forever," whispered Misuko on the second night.
"Yeah, but we could only do this in the garden." joked Koenma, putting an
arm to caress her.
"What will your otousama react if he knew about this?" asked Misuko, feeling
his neck with her little finger.
"I really don't know," answered Koenma. That very frightened him... Enma
Daiou had a very notoriously hot temper. "Don't care about that now. Let's
continue."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the third night...
"I have something for you." said Koenma as he reached inside his robe to
produce something.
"What's that?" asked Misuko as she saw Koenma was grasping something in his
palm.
Koenma showed Misuko a pendant handing from a gold chain. "This pendant is
made from the best bloodstone I could find."
Misuko looked at it closely. The pendant was cut into an oval shape. The
texture of the stone itself was smooth, cut to perfection. The color of the
stone was in a very deep brownish color. A line of blood red was sprinkled
across the main surface. Its tranquillity was pleasing to look at and the
glossy surface reflected the full moon very well.
"Thank you. It's beautiful." said Misuko happily, leaning against Koenma.
"Misuko, this is for you. This pendant shall represent my eternal love
for you. The speckles of red will forever remind you of me." said Koenma as
he handed out the pendant. "Do you want me to put it on for you?" asked
Koenma.
"Yes." Misuko smiled as Koenma slipped the chain around her neck. The
pleasantly cool stone excited her.
"Koenma-sama, I shall wear it everyday of my life and never leave you."
answered Misuko gratefully. She had never expected Koenma would do
something that nice towards her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Why is Koenma that careless over his work nowadays? He has wrongly judged
spirits and sent them to wrong places..." grumbled Enma-Daiou to himself as
he went through the monthly reports from the Reikai information database.
"What could possibly made him that distracted from his work? That day I saw
him, he was even a little pale, like he was suffering from lack of sleep,"
wondered Enma-Daiou.
"Lack of sleep... what is he doing? I'll find out," said Enma-Daiou loudly,
making his decision.
"Will, can you please call George over?" said Enma as he flipped on the
intercom.
The voice acknowledged and minutes later, a blue oni stumbled into the
office room.
"Yes, Enma-Daiou. May I be of your service?" said George politely.
"Do you know why Koenma is acting so strange this few days?" asked
Enma-Daiou.
"He seems very distracted and kept looking at the time. He seems impatient
waiting for night time," answered George truthfully.
"Night time," repeated Enma-Daiou slowly.
"Yes, night time," said George.
"Thank you, George. You may go now," said Enma-Daiou.
George gave a little bow and walked out of the room. Enma-Daiou stopped
writing to ponder on for a moment. Then, he summoned a detective he had just
appointed a few days ago into his office.
"I want you to spy on my son. I suspect he has something behind him," said
Enma-Daiou to a figure clad in a trench coat. The mysterious figure gave a
sound of acknowledgment and went out.
"That will teach that fellow not to slacken in his work," smirked
Enma-Daiou, continuing his paperwork.
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"Koenma-sama! Lord Enma wants to see you now!" yelled George as he slammed
the door with his fist.
"Yeah! I'm coming!" said Koenma opening the door. "Do you know why otousama
wants to see me?" he asked George. George shrugged and Koenma ran off
towards the direction of the throne room.
"Otousama, is there anything?" asked Koenma innocently as he walked into the
throne room.
"Ask yourself," said Enma-Daiou coldly as he threw an envelope at Koenma.
Koenma caught it deftly and tore open the cover. His eyes widened in shock
as he looked at the pile of photos.
"Explain these photos," said Enma-Daiou. Koenma rubbed his eyes and looked
at the photos again. Sure enough, there were photos of him and Misuko
during their late night meetings. One photo showed him and Misuko engaged
in a really passionate kiss. Beads of cold sweat began to form in his palms
and forehead.
"Who is that girl?" asked Enma angrily.
"Enma-Daiou, she is Misuko, a ferry girl," answered Koenma weakly.
"Tell me now! What had you done wrong?" roared Enma-Daiou.
"I... I had fell in love with her. Please, otousama, I really love her with
all my heart and soul. We are bonded physically and mentally. I can't live
without her. Let us be together..." pleaded Koenma.
"You know the rules of Reikai," answered Enma. "You must never ignore them.
You are Prince of Reikai and you are my successor," continued Enma.
"I know..." said Koenma.
"Since you know, why did you break the rules?" demanded Enma.
"Please... otousama. Please change the rules for once," pleaded Koenma
again. He knew the consequences of this act, but he had never brought it to
light... To the light of reality.
"No. You are suspended from work today onwards and your sweetheart will be
thrown into prison until further orders," said Enma. Two guards turned up
and took Koenma by his arms and dragged him away.
"No! Please!" shouted Koenma. Enma-Daiou just looked away, refusing a grant.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enma-Daiou had locked up Koenma in a room and had Misuko thrown into prison
for having secret affairs. Koenma was depressed. Everyday, he will try to
think out a way to get out this room and see Misuko. Finally, he found a
hairpin (goodness knows where he found it) and he pried open the lock with
it.
"Come on... You can do it!" mumbled Koenma to himself as he dug around the
keyhole. Suddenly, the locked responded with a soft click. "Eureka!" shouted
Koenma but quickly clamped his hand over his mouth.
Koenma peeped out from his room. "Good, coast's clear." He tiptoed out
silently and looked around. *Blast! I forgot which direction is the
dungeons!* cursed Koenma mentally.
Koenma was at a lost for a way to get to the dungeon. At last, he found a
maid walking nearby and he forced her to tell him where the prison was
located. Quickly, he rushed to the prisons and began looking for Misuko.
Cell by cell, he went through all of them but he still couldn't find where
is Misuko.
"Where is she?" thought Koenma frantically. At last, he reached the last
cell and he looked into it and saw a weak Misuko lying there.
Koenma hugged her and heard her groan. When he reached down to carry her
out of the cell, he felt a warm and sticky liquid. He looked down and saw it
was blood. He looked at Misuko wide-eyed and he was devastated when he saw a
dagger sticking out of her belly.
"Koenma-sama. Thank you for all the love and care you had given me all the
time. I couldn't repay it all. Here, I want to give you back the bloodstone
that you had given me on that memorable day," said a dying Misuko in his
arms.
"No!!! You are not going to die!!! I will find the best doctor in Reikai to
heal you!" screamed Koenma, Misuko's hand already pressing the chain into
his palm.
"No, Koenma-sama, I'm going to die soon, so let me finish my last words.
You know that our love could never be together again. Why not I end my life
as to end your love? And to end our suffering? When I die, forget about me
and continue your life normally..." As Misuko said that, blood spluttered
out of her mouth and her eyelids closed.
"Why! Why must this happen to me? I'm the one who dragged you into this
mess..." Then, Koenma's voice lowered to a soft tone. "I'll never leave you.
You will be the only girl that I will ever love and I'll wait for you
forever..." After saying these, Koenma broke into heart wrenching sobs. The
bloodstone chain slipped from his hands and fell onto the stone floor with a
clink. A sound of an everlasting flame dying...
The next day, Enma-Daiou had asked for Koenma again and there, they had
their negotiations again.
"Koenma, my son, I express condolence on the death of Misuko; now, I felt
that maybe I had been too harsh on both of you. Let me give both of you a
chance..."
"What chances or possibilities are there? Misuko is already dead, no one
could change that!" said Koenma bitterly.
"No, you're wrong, my son. Misuko still has a chance to incarnate. If you
could find her ever again, I'll give you my approval."
"Otousama, Misuko's chances of reincarnation are very slim, people that died
once mustn't die again, or they will simply cease to exist. Even though she
could have escaped that fate, but chances are very slim. I doubt I'll ever
find her again..."
"A chance is still a chance, but you must promise me one thing, that is to
keep this incident a secret for the sake of me, you, Misuko and Reikai."
"Alright, anything..." As Koenma said that, he burst into tears and ran out
of the throne room. Tears didn't come easily for him, but tears of grief
streamed down uncontrollably... Devastated and broken, Koenma hid in a
dark and seclusive world of his own.
Ever since that incident, Koenma had buried himself in work and refused to
give himself anytime to relax. He had even began turning back into his
toddler form to avoid any more girls being attracted by him. Deep down
inside his heart, Misuko will be an eternal flame burning inside him. He
would never be the same again. Never ever.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pain inside him was still fresh; even until now. Koenma had never told
these things towards anybody else, not even to Botan. Until now, he had
nothing that belonged to Misuko except the pendant and her prized kimono.
The dreams of Misuko still haunted him. Misuko will belong in a secret part
of him. In his darkest and most hidden corner in him. He had never thought
of her for a long time. Was he too scared to face the truth and reality set
before him? It was sweet, then sour. At last, it turned bitter.
When he heard that familiar voice, he was dumbfound. Koenma turned around
towards that voice's direction. There, he saw a teenage girl with big
beautiful brown eyes and perfect complexion. She was dressed in a typical
schoolgirl uniform. She was there, chatting and laughing away with her
friends.
A raw recognition overcame him. Sentimental feelings overwhelmed him in
waves at once. Koenma stood there as if he was struck by lightning. A
hoarse word escaped his throat and he cried out: "Misuko..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
First version: December 1997
Second version: March 1998
Copyright reserved 1998 W. Siew Lee
All standard YYH disclaimers apply to this fanfic.
E-mail: Siew Lee <wsiewlee@tm.net.my>
URL: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/3638/fanfic.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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You got my bodyshakin'
Sends a shiver to my soul
I didn't get no warning
You got me shaking to the bone
I got my secret weapon
I'm gonna get you all alone
So let your body lose control
Excerpt from 'Bodyshakin'' by 911
Siew Lee --- 911 rulez!
YYH fanfics --- http://members.xoom.com/hiei/yyh.htm
=======================================