A Paradise Built for Two
an El-Hazard fanfiction by Vince Seifert (seifertv@csus.edu)
El-Hazard characters and situations are copyright 1995, 2001 by
AIC / Pioneer LDC, Inc. This work is not intended to infringe
those rights.
This story follows "Caryatid", but is not dependent on it:
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/other.htm#caryatid
~~~~~
Blue sea, white sand; blue sky, white clouds... yet
Ifurita's eyes were bluer than the sea, and her skin was whiter
than the sand. She noticed Makoto's glance and smiled back at
him, and her hand tightened on his for a moment. Makoto blushed
and examined his feet as they continued to make impressions in
the sand.
"A pretty place," Ifurita said.
"I came here with a class trip a couple of years ago-- I
mean, a couple of years before I left Earth," Makoto explained.
"I went back a few times afterwards, with friends or with
family."
"I see. Thank you for bringing me here."
"My pleasure," Makoto said gallantly.
"I don't see the point of these 'bathing suits', though."
Ifurita tapped the fabric of her demure black, blue, and silver
one-piece where it was stretched tight across her cleavage.
Makoto's eyes followed her gesture and his capillaries got
another workout.
"It's just what we're supposed to wear, that's all!"
"Ah, another Earth custom," said Ifurita archly.
"Oh, don't give me that! You know all about Earth customs!
Well, as much as I know, anyway. You're just teasing me."
"No," said Ifurita, releasing his hand and taking a couple
of steps away. "This is teasing you." Her posture and
expression altered, just a little, and suddenly her supernal
beauty became a weapon aimed right at Makoto's libido -- but not
to destroy it. Makoto swallowed hard against the urge to lunge
at the Demon Goddess, tear her swimsuit off with his teeth,
and....
"Be my guest," Ifurita breathed. Her look brought "come-
hither" to vivid life.
"Not here," Makoto managed. "People will notice."
Ifurita looked around. "Oh, I think they're all occupied
with their own business," she remarked.
Makoto looked for himself; that certainly appeared to be the
case. The swimmers and sunbathers swam and sunbathed; the food-
stand owners called out their wares; an octopus pot hopped along
farther up the beach, pursued hotly by an angry girl and luke-
warmly by a panda; but no one was near them, and no one was
looking in their direction. "I guess not, but still...."
"Perhaps later, then."
"Definitely later," Makoto croaked. "How do you DO that,
anyway?"
"Feedback loop."
Ifurita came back and took his hand again. They resumed
their stroll along the beach. The sand was hot, but not hot
enough to hurt Makoto's feet; the sun blazed down, but a cool sea
breeze kept it pleasant. However....
"Aren't you going to sunburn?" Makoto asked, eyeing
Ifurita's pale, perfect skin with concern. "Maybe we should...."
"I don't burn," Ifurita said carelessly. She glanced at
Makoto and her expression changed. "Excuse me, let me rephrase
that. Oh, how thoughtful you are, Makoto! By all means, let's
stop and obtain some oil so you can rub it all... over... my...
body. And then I'll do yours!"
"You're teasing me again," Makoto grumped, starting to walk
a little oddly.
"Well, just a little. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a
genuine suggestion."
"I know... but right now, this is fine." They proceeded in
silence, each enjoying the day, the scenery, and the company.
"Urk." Makoto stopped suddenly and looked puzzled.
"What's the matter, Makoto?" Ifurita asked, worried.
"I don't know." His head snapped to one side, then the
other. "I-- think someone--"
Makoto vanished. An instant later, so did Ifurita, the
beachgoers, the beach, the sea, the sun, and the sky.
~~~~~
"Makoto!" A face hovering over him swam into focus in the
dimness of the palace room: a young woman's face, with short
hair.
"Nanami?" His voice came as a surprise to him; it was dry
and rusty, and hurt his throat.
"Yes, of course Nanami, you idiot!"
The face was leaking. The water fell on his own face. It
felt good. Then the stench smote his nostrils. "Urgh."
"What the HELL is the MATTER with you? You're laying in
your own filth!" The face receded slightly, and the bed shifted.
"Open the window," Nanami's voice commanded someone else. "Let's
get some fresh air in here."
Makoto tried to rise to one elbow, but his body failed
him... strange, it was working fine a moment ago. Daylight
spilled into the room, and he blinked. His empty right hand
groped blindly on the covers, seeking something.
Someone screamed from near the door, and several other
people drew in their breaths sharply; one coughed, as though he'd
regretted it. "Oh my god," Nanami said slowly. Her head whipped
around. "Get a doctor," she snapped. "Not a scholar, a
physician. Right now!"
For the second time in a few minutes, Makoto's world went
away, but this time by spinning and shrinking into the dark of
unconsciousness.
~~~~~
Nanami stared in horror at Makoto's sunken features and
wasted body. There was food and drink nearby, apparently
untouched, and that was certainly consistent with Makoto's
condition. "How could this happen?" she muttered. She glanced
at Rune Venus, slumped in the arms of a couple of her handmaidens
by the door; there wasn't a whole lot of point in chastising the
ruling princess until she recovered from her faint, and maybe not
even then. Her attention was diverted by the other figure on the
bed.
Ifurita stirred and opened her eyes. Her expression stayed
neutral as she glanced at Makoto, then looked up at Nanami. "Is
there some problem?" she inquired in a low voice.
"Damn right there's a problem!" Nanami shouted, and suddenly
words weren't enough. She lunged at Ifurita, not with the
rousing slaps she'd dealt to Makoto, but to punch the Demon
Goddess' lights out.
One steely hand seized her wrist and another her waistband
as Ifurita levitated off the bed. Dangling Nanami like snared
prey, she pivoted in midair and slid sideways to set the
struggling woman neatly on her feet on the floor. "Desist," she
said sternly, swooping aside and landing beside the bed.
"He's DYING!"
"Everyone dies," Ifurita murmured absently, but her hands
were already reaching for Makoto. She lifted him carefully from
the bed, cradling him in her arms, and turned toward the
bathroom. "Don't touch that," she warned everyone in the room as
she left, nodding to her Key staff where it lay on the bed beside
the depression she'd made.
Nanami followed, then watched in bemusement as Ifurita
expertly started a luke-warm bath and carefully began stripping
Makoto of his soiled clothing. "Um... can I help?" she asked, a
little ashamed of her outburst, a little bashful about bathing
Makoto, and very concerned.
"If you wish. Please bring the washcloths and the soap."
Between them, it wasn't long before they had Makoto cleaned up
and floating in the bath, Ifurita gently supporting his head to
keep his face above water.
"How could you let this happen?" Nanami asked finally.
Ifurita didn't look up. "It was his wish."
"To starve to death?"
"Actually, it's mostly dehydration--"
"Never mind that! What were you DOING?"
Ifurita's lips quirked, but she still didn't look away from
Makoto. "Anything we wanted to."
"You mean...." Nanami blushed.
"Yes. Everything we couldn't do here... and lots of other
things, too."
"But how--"
Ifurita finally looked up. "Nanami, haven't you ever
experienced a moment so joyful that you wished it would last
forever?"
"No...."
"I see." Ifurita lowered her head again. "A pity. Well,
try to imagine it, then... and try to imagine being able to make
a whole life of such moments."
"And that's what you and Makoto were doing?"
"More or less. He can't do it alone, and I can't do it
alone, but together we can make memories and live in them.
Anything we can imagine, we can live."
"Wow," Nanami said slowly. "And he wouldn't come out even
to eat and drink or use the toilet...."
"I'm afraid not."
"Stupid maids should have said something earlier," Nanami
muttered.
"Is that what brought you? Well, they're trained to respect
the privacy of their charges... and beyond that, they fear me,
and even Makoto a little."
A commotion in the other room announced the arrival of the
physicians. They confirmed Ifurita's diagnosis of acute
dehydration and less acute malnutrition, approved her warm bath
but added salts to the water, prescribed broth and bed rest for
after the patient awoke, and retired, muttering in their beards
about Demon Gods pretending to be doctors.
The palace staff changed the bed linens, then decided to
change the whole bed. This done, they retired as well,
conspicuously not muttering; they'd seen the look Ifurita had
directed at the departing doctors.
"So now what?" Nanami challenged Ifurita. She glanced at
Rune Venus, hovering anxiously outside the bathroom's doorway to
preserve Makoto's modesty, but close enough to participate in the
conversation.
"Now I nurse him back to health," Ifurita replied.
"No, I mean are you two going to disappear into your navels
again?"
"That's up to him." Ifurita nodded at Makoto.
"So he's going to starve to death. Great plan."
"I will see to it that he doesn't go this long without
maintenance again," Ifurita assured her. "You should understand
that I don't want him to die either. If I'd realized he was this
fragile, I'd have warned him. I thought he knew his own
limitations."
"You're just going to dream away your lives in here with
servants bringing food in once in a while? I know the palace is
famous for its hospitality, but really!"
"He has earned that, and more," Rune Venus put in from the
doorway. Nanami shot her a you're-NOT-helping look.
Ifurita sighed impatiently. "I said, this won't happen
again. Makoto will live a normal lifespan, if I have anything to
say about it."
Nanami gritted her teeth. "You're missing the point! While
he's with you in this dream world, he's not doing anything real!
He's not bettering himself, he's not seeing his friends--"
"Listen to me," Ifurita cut her off. "This is what Makoto
wants. This was his choice. I'm not forcing it on him."
"Well, I don't see you stopping it, either!"
Ifurita's remaining patience snapped. "Why would I stop
him? I'm a genie of destruction! Burn a city to ashes? Simple!
Abduct a princess? Yes, Master, at once! But HIS wish was for
me to accompany him to Paradise! After lifetimes of blood and
dust, I am allowed to experience joy and beauty, to be loved and
pleasured!"
Both Nanami and Rune Venus were taken aback by her
vehemence. "Ifurita..." the princess murmured, misty-eyed.
"So you're just going to go along with this?" Nanami
demanded. "For as long as he holds out?"
Ifurita looked down at the man in the bathtub and her
expression softened. "If that continues to be his wish." She
looked up. "Everyone dies. What matters is how we live."
Nanami's face twitched. "I don't call that living, you--"
"Nanami!" Rune Venus interrupted firmly.
"What?"
"Let us go for now, shall we? I think we can safely leave
Makoto in her care."
"But--!"
"Nanami, please."
Nanami reflected on a ruling princess who would say "please"
to a commoner, and reflected further on the possible consequences
of not assenting. "Oh, all right," she said without grace,
getting up.
Rune Venus led Nanami out of Makoto's rooms. The maids
closed the door and fell in behind them, but at a slight gesture
from the princess, they bowed and retired out of earshot as
Nanami and Rune Venus proceeded down the hall.
"You were about to start making demands," Rune Venus said
before Nanami could ask. "It seemed you might even call upon my
authority and my guards to separate Makoto from Ifurita."
"And if I was?"
The princess smiled ruefully. "I don't want my palace
demolished and my guards slain to no purpose. I think perhaps
you forget who she is and what she can do, sometimes."
"Do you really think she would?"
"To stay with Makoto? Oh, yes, no question about it. And
she is likely to still be here when Makoto is gone... so, for the
sake of my successors and my people, I would very much like her
to think kindly of us."
Nanami's blood chilled. "So you'll just let her...."
Rune Venus stopped and turned, looking very serious.
"Nanami, it's not a question of letting her. No power I command
can prevent her, not even the Eye of God. I really don't see why
you can't grasp that."
"I can." Nanami sighed and slumped. "I just don't want
to."
"Well, I don't think Ifurita is lying; this really was
Makoto's wish, and may continue to be, whatever we think of it.
We can only imagine what it's like... perhaps, if we were offered
the chance, we'd lose ourselves in a dream world too."
~~~~~
Makoto groaned and his eyes opened. "Ifurita?"
"I'm here, love," she assured him gently. "How do you
feel?"
"Lousy." His hand lifted from the water and reached out.
"I want to go back...."
Ifurita sighed. "All right, but just for a little while."
Her hand met his, their fingers interlacing. Just before the
link took her, she fixed her mind on her ultimate goal. "You
will live on within me," she whispered.
~~~~~
Blue trees, red rocks; blue sky, red clouds....
"Wow, what a sunset. Where is this?"
"It's not far from here, actually, but it no longer exists.
It was destroyed in the wars. Fortunately, I got to see it
first...."
~~~~~ end A Paradise Built for Two ~~~~~
Thanks to Dave Roeder and Darniil Entroth for prereading above
and beyond the call of duty.
Thanks also to all the people on FFML who contributed to one of
the most inspiring rounds of C&C I've ever been involved in.
It's not over yet...
Vince Seifert Fanfic Analyst FFIRC Frog
Prime: seifertv@csus.edu
Backup: seifertv@myrealbox.com
Techie: http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/
Fanfic: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
Ideas are worth their weight in gold.
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