I have to say this ch. contains some of my most
favorite scenes in it. Not much here to explain so
I'll just let you get to the story (I know you're just
dying to read it! ^_~) (j/k). Enjoy all! ^_^ Bai-bai!
Sakuya-sama ^_^ no Jurai
A Legend Reborn
Chapter 9
As they travel to Konan, Miaka and Tamahome come upon
a small village.
"This village....," Miaka thinks, "It�s his
hometown... Now I understand... I�m so sorry,
Tamahome.... I should have realized this was where you
wanted to go..."
Tamahome stops the horse near the clearing where his
family lays. He ties the horse to a nearby tree and
then lifts Miaka down out of the saddle. He walks
silently beside her to the grave site. The stones
markers he placed there so many years ago are still in
place along with little Yuiren�s ball. Tamahome kneels
down in front of the graves and clasps his hands in
prayer.
Miaka, however, walks into the surrounding field.
"It�s been so long...," she thinks as she picks
flowers, "The last time we came here was the visit we
thought would be our final to this world... I only
wish that Chisa had been able to meet her other family
on that journey..... instead of seeing their graves...
They all would have adored her... and she them....."
Miaka joins Tamahome at the grave site. She places the
flowers on each the five graves and then joins him in
prayer.
***
"Well, this was all I could find," Tetsuya dumps a
pile of books on the table in front of them.
"And these were the ones that were at our house,"
Keisuke and Rei dump their piles with the others.
"Where should we start?"
"Well, first of all, what all do we know about this
new creator?" Rei asks.
Everyone pauses in thought.
"Her name is Etsuko..."
"Is that all...?"
"....Pretty much, yeah...."
"I think we better get started then. We�ve got a lot
of work ahead of us," Keisuke says, "Grab a book and
start reading..."
"You two go ahead. I�m going to keep reading this,"
Rei says referring to the Book of the Universe of the
Four gods, "I�m way too into this book to just stop
reading now...."
"I guess it�s just you and me then, Tetsuya....,"
Keisuke says.
"Wait a minute. Why does she get the fun job?"
Tetsuya complains.
"Oh just shut up and read!" Rei says.
***
"That was a good meal, Shyoka!" Keiko says.
"I must agree with young Keiko....," Boushin says.
"Is there any more?" Chisa asks holding her bowl out
to Shyoka.
"More....?! Don�t you think you�ve had enough....?"
Shyoka asks.
"I�ve only had...," Chisa counts on her fingers,
"....ummmm..... three..... no... four bowls...."
"....that�s what I mean....."
"Well, I was especially hungry!" she says, "It was a
long time between lunch and dinner...."
"It wouldn�t have taken nearly as long to get dinner
ready if you and Ryunosuke hadn�t taken so long
getting the firewood!" Shyoka says, "What were you two
doing that took you so long anyway....?"
Chisa avoids eye contact.
"Where is he anyway?" Keiko asks.
"He went to the stream to refill the canteens,"
Boushin replies.
"I didn�t even know he left....," Chisa says.
"Where are you going?" Shyoka asks seeing Chisa stand
up suddenly.
"I�m going to go find Ryunosuke," Chisa calls out
behind her, "Oh! Thanks for the meal, Shyoka! It was
really great!"
"I really do wonder what exactly happened with
them...," Shyoka thinks, "Well, at least their getting
along again..... that�s for sure...."
***
"I wonder why Ryunosuke didn�t tell me he was
leaving... I would have gladly come and helped
him....", Chisa thinks. She walks through the woods
toward the small stream.
"Well, there�s the stream... so where�s Ryunosuke?"
she looks up and down the stream, "...there..." she
spots him, "...oh my..." His back toward her, he�s on
the opposite side of the stream, kneeled before three
stone markers. "...his family... is...is this where
they�re buried...?" she thinks, "Ryunosuke... I
shouldn�t have come... He hasn�t seen me... I�ll just
go back to camp quietly...."
She turns to walk away, but steps into a small patch
of mud. Chisa slips, falls backwards, and hits the
stream with a splash.
"Ow...!! Real graceful, Chisa...," she thinks,
smacking herself on the forehead, "When am I going to
learn it hurts when I do that.....?"
"Are you all right?"
Chisa looks up to see Ryunosuke standing above her,
his hand outstretched to help her up.
"Yeah... I guess so...," she takes hold of his hand
and pulls herself up.
"What are you doing here?"
"Boushin told me you were refilling the canteens...,"
she says, "I�m really sorry..... I shouldn�t have
come... I understand if you�re upset... I didn�t mean
to disturb you... If I had known, I..."
"Don�t worry about it....," he says, "I don�t think
anything you could do would upset me....."
Chisa practically melts at this. Her face once again
flushed, she changes the subject, "Is that....."
"Yeah... That�s my family....," he replies, "Come
on... I�ll show you...." Ryunosuke leads her by the
hand to the clearing where his family lies.
"My father, Takeshi, my mother, Yuko, and my sister,
Mayumi," he points at each marker, "I haven�t visited
here in a long time... I used the canteens as an
excuse to come here..."
"If you don�t mind me asking," she says timidly, "how
old were you when they died?"
"I was ten....."
"... that young...."
".... yeah...."
"How... how did it happen.....?"
"My father owned some land near here... We had a
pretty good life... We weren�t rich or anything, but
we made it through..., but then one day..... These men
in black cloaks knocked on our door..... They said my
father owed them money... My mother managed to get my
sister and I out... She told us to save ourselves... I
remember my sister and I running... We ran as fast as
we could, but I was the only one who made it.... They
caught my sister.... I hid in a hollow tree till
morning.... I went back home... it was practically
demolished... my mother and father were dead..."
Chisa remains silent, staring at the stone markers
before her.
"I brought their bodies here and buried them..... the
only thing is... I still haven�t found my sister�s
body...," he says, "I had hope that she was still
alive, but it�s been so long.... I don�t know... It
wasn�t until about a year ago that I put up a marker
for her....
"Since then I�ve lived on the streets. I hire myself
out doing all kinds of odd jobs... stealing if I have
to.... whatever it takes to get by...." Ryunosuke
turns to head the other way. "They�re probably
wondering about us back at camp. We should....," he
stops suddenly.
He turns to see that Chisa has dropped down to her
knees. Her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes
shut tight, she offers a prayer to Ryunosuke�s
deceased family.
"Okay...," she says standing back up again, "let�s
go..."
***
"Are you still crying?!"
"I can�t help it! *sniffle* It�s the saddest thing
I�ve ever read....," Rei takes a tissue, blowing her
nose loudly.
"Why do women get so worked up over things like that?
I mean, they�re always crying over everything....,"
Tetsuya says.
"You men just don�t understand," Rei says in a
matter-of-fact way.
"I guess not...."
"Yeah, it�s a �woman� thing."
"Chisa and Misao are always watching that kind of
stuff on TV. I thought it was just teenage girls who
like that stuff, but even Yui and Miaka get into it!"
"Oh man, don�t even *try* to talk to Rei when her
soaps are on!" Keisuke says.
"Like you aren�t the exact same way with your
sports?!"
"That�s different! Sports are interesting!"
Keisuke receives a pillow to the head as a result of
this remark.
"Actually, you know something like that might make a
good shoujo anime someday," Keisuke says.
"Naaa....," Tetsuya shakes his head, "Who would want
to watch a show about a girl heroine surrounded by a
bunch of pretty boys who go around saving China?!"
"Yeah, you�re right...."
Rei merely rolls her eyes.
"I can�t believe I almost threw all this stuff away,"
Keisuke says rummaging through his stack of notes and
books.
"If it had been up to me, I would have tossed it the
day we moved into our house," Rei says as she turns a
page of the Book of the Universe of the Four gods.
"I actually did get rid of a lot of my stuff,"
Tetsuya says, "For Yui..... she had a really rough
time in that book... I didn�t want her to be
constantly reminded of it... Even though it might come
in handy now, I don�t regret doing it..."
"I understand, man," Keisuke says, "It seems like
forever ago... I didn�t think we�d need this stuff
ever again...."
"What does that girl think she�s doing?!" Rei
exclaims.
"What? What�s going on?"
"Read this... right here," she points at a particular
part of the book.
"�....That night, being careful not to wake the
others, the priestess packs her things and sets out
alone for Kouto in search of her friend...,�" Keisuke
reads out loud, "What?! By herself?! Doesn�t she knows
how dangerous that is?!"
"I think she can take care of herself. She was able
to get rid of those bandits before. Tamahome has been
giving her martial arts lesson since before she could
walk," Tetsuya says, "Besides, have you ever tried to
take food from that girl?! You�re liable to loose a
limb! If there is anyone to be worried about it�s
anyone who might try something on her!"
***
"�...I know this isn�t a very logical or rational
thing to do, but please understand. I have to find
Misao. I can�t leave this world without her. If I
don�t find her, who knows who will. I sincerely
apologize for any worries I might cause, but I�ll be
all right. As soon as I have found my friend, I will
return with her to Konan.
Love,
Chisa �"
"I can�t believe that she would do something like
this!" Keiko says.
"How could she just leave?" Shyoka says, "A young
girl like her alone like that..... it�s dangerous!"
"Well, I checked the saddlebags....," Ryunosuke
reports back.
"And...?"
"She took the map, the scroll, a satchel, and some of
the food supplies."
"We should set out and search for her immediately,"
Boushin says.
"There really is no need for all of us to go, sire,"
Ryunosuke says, "I�ll go after her. She�s on foot so
she couldn�t have gotten too far. You three should
continue," he says mounting his horse, "I�ll get Chisa
and catch up to you."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, I�ll be fine."
"We will seek shelter in that nearby village and wait
for you there," Boushin says.
"I understand..."
"Bye, Ryunosuke..."
"Good luck..."
"See ya!" with that, Ryunosuke rides off into the
woods.
***
"Let�s see.... If I stay on this trail here... I
should be in Kouto by tomorrow...," Chisa thinks out
loud looking at the map. She rolls it back up and
stuffs it in her bag.
"They�ve probably found the note already...," she
thinks, "I really hate to do this, but... I have to!
And I have to go alone... It�s really safer this
way... I don�t want to endanger them, too... I�ve got
to find Misao myself... before she becomes the
priestess of Seiryuu... like Aunt Yui..... Who
knows.... she may already have... I can�t believe it
took me this long to figure it out... It�s just so
hard to believe that my Aunt Yui could have done all
those things... She�s always treated me as if I were
her kid.... That scar on her wrist... she never did
tell me the truth about it.... Aunt Yui.... But even
though they went through all that, they�re still good
friends, right? I mean, they survived... Misao and I
could, too.... no.... I can�t take that chance..... I
could never be against Misao... never... she�s my best
friend... more than that.... she�s my sister...."
Chisa�s thoughts are interrupted by a rustling in the
trees.
"Huh?" Chisa looks about her, "Must be the wind...."
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