Legacy
An RK Fanfic: i.e. the author
doesn't claim rights to the anime used.
Chapter 29-Inside
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"It's all for you."
- Our Lady Peace.
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Soujiro awoke with a feeling of
being disconnected from…everything. He was present all right, in body as well
as mind. The limits of his being however, were barely tangible, as if sensed
through a thick cloud of opium.
Groggily he forced himself up
on his arms, desperately trying to shake off the feeling of numbness that kept
him under its control. His eyes roamed blindly about under their heavy lids and
his tongue felt as thick and slow as a cattle's in his mouth, making speech
seem to be a near-impossibility. Then, suddenly, from somewhere to his left, a
voice cut through the haze blanketing his senses…
"I apologize," it
said, "One generally becomes used to the astral plane more quickly when
one is not forced into a coma to get here."
Dimly, he was reminded of the
child that had stood in his and Misao's path only moments before.
"You…" struggled to say, "What have you done to me? Where…where
is Misao?"
The figure sitting across from
him straightened its back as if in defiance. "Misao is safe," she
answered simply, "She is standing guard over your physical form as we
speak."
"Physical form?" he
repeated to himself, the slur in his speech steadily fading. "Look,
you…" he warned as he opened his eyes fully, "I don't know what
you're talking about, but if you don't tell me where the hell my wife is I
swear I'll…"
He stopped.
He blinked.
He rubbed his eyes.
Finally, he just threw caution
to the wind and pinched himself.
No good. He was still where he
thought he was, sitting on a giant rock that seemed to be floating in a space
as large and as empty as the sky itself. On the other end sat a woman of twenty
or more dressed in strange robes that spread out over the edge of their rocky
perch and forward into a pool of clear water that was carved out of the space
between them.
"I'm sorry if you are
startled," the woman apologized again, "I've been gone for such a
long time and shaping this place is just about the only real pleasure I have.
Forgive me if I tend to overdo it just a bit."
Gray eyes widening all the
while, Soujiro scooted as close to the edge of the pool as he could.
"Ok…" he said cautiously, "There's no such place as this
anywhere I've heard of, so this has to be a dream. And if it’s a dream, then
I'm going to wake up any moment." His breathing grew erratic as he rambled
on, the words failing to lend the comfort that he had thought they would.
"Yes, that's right," he desperately tried to reassure
himself, "I'm dreaming and…and soon I'll wake up and Misao will be curled
up next to me as she always is. She…she has to be…"
A wind picked up suddenly,
lifting long sections of the woman's dark hair on either side of her face and
rippling across the surface of the water. "Calm down," she sharply
commanded.
At the sound of her voice the
wind slowed, and the two tendrils that had rode its back settled back onto her
shoulders with flawless grace. "I will have to ask you to calm yourself
Seta-san," she said more gently, "If you disrupt the trance again
you'll make things that much harder for yourself and those who have come to
love you."
Willingly, he obeyed. If the
woman's voice had had the authority to calm the wind, then common sense
dictated that he too should follow suit. "Alright," he conceded,
"But please, just tell me what you want from me so that we can get
this…whatever it is…out of the way? I want to see my Misao again…please."
An expression that was equal
parts amusement and distaste played across the woman's mouth for a moment
before she spoke again. "I want nothing from you Soujiro Seta," she
said almost arrogantly, "But I do wish to offer you a gift."
Soujiro looked skeptical,
"Gift?" he repeated, "What kind of 'gift'?"
An eerily familiar smile was
flashed in his direction. "Truth." she replied simply, gesturing
toward the water's surface as she spoke.
Confused, Soujiro looked down
onto the water's smooth exterior. However, instead of his own reflection, a
sleeping face that was familiar, yet not, floated in a serene halo of ivory
hair in the spot that his should have.
"Yue…" he whispered.
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Hideki worked in silence,
carefully creating a replica of the Clow Circle in the middle of Aoshi's
sitting room in white chalk. Her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth as
she concentrated on the drawing, determined to achieve perfection in her
efforts.
Loathe to disturb her trance, the former okashira sat in a far corner,
the only perceptible movement on his part, the path that his electric blue gaze
traced with the movements of her hands. Although his body did not move, his
apprehension steadily grew with every line and curve that presented itself
under her careful touch. He had not needed to ask her twice if what she
intended to do next would be potentially harmful to her own person, to what
should have been his delight, he found more knowledge in every nuance of her
expression than he could have in any monastery's library. Her eyes acknowledged
the fear that bubbled beneath her surface, fear that belonged more to the
possibility of her failure than the chance that she herself might be hurt in
the process. He too acknowledged that fear. He did not think himself omnipotent
and knew that there was, in reality, very little that he could do to help her
at this point. However, his heart demanded that he stay, if only to lend even
the semblance of comfort through his presence alone. He had promised her that
he would hold her hand through the fire and had no intention on going back on
his word.
Soon, her hand stopped, the
circle spreading itself before her in all its mystical beauty. She looked
toward him as if in disbelief of its presence for a moment, her eyes demanding
his confirmation of the inevitable. Understanding her need, he rose to his feet
and carefully made his way around the drawing to her side, dropping to his
knees behind her kneeling form and draping his arms around her shoulders.
Neither of them spoke a word.
They needed not to hear any to know how the other felt. Lightly kissing the
hand that had come closest to her cheek, she slipped out of the embrace and
calmly walked out into the middle of the circle.
Kneeling on the symbols of sun
and moon, she held out her hands, summoning her weapon to them. She allowed
herself the luxury of one, quick exhalation before deftly flipping it around
and holding it upright before her face.
"O key which hides the
power of the wars…"
No wind ever entered the inner
spaces of Aoshi's rented rooms, but Hideki's hair nevertheless began to stir as
if pulled by a tempest.
"Reveal thy true form
before me…"
The sun symbol in front of her
began to burn as brightly as an electric light, it's glow casting parts of her
face in shadow, lending her features more drama than ever.
"I, Hideki, command thee
under combat…"
The symbol of the moon
flickered briefly before it too began to glow. Not as brightly, but as Hideki's
concentration grew deeper, the glow steadily increased.
Aoshi's fingers dug into the
material of his yukata as he forced himself to be still in spite of the scene
unfolding before him. In the growing light, Hideki's face contorted as if in
great pain, but still she held on, determined to finish what she had started.
Although his heart ached to see her suffer, a deeper feeling of understanding
passed between them. He understood her need more clearly than any other. This
was her chance, possibly her last chance to complete the mission that she had
taken upon herself the day that her little cousin was born.
"Release!!!"
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He covered his mouth in
disbelief at his own words. Where did that name come from? How did he know the
person being reflected in the pool? A thousand near unanswerable enquiries
rushed around his brain, flying around like particles of steam, threatening to
cause him to explode at any minute.
The woman across the pool
regarded him with a motherly concern. Even from where was she could see the
confusion that galloped through his thoughts, trampling on what he used to know
of himself. Her heart went out to him just as it had gone out to Misao when
this very event was brought up in conversation.
"Who is he, Soujiro?"
she asked gently, coaxing him just that much closer to the truth. "Who is
Yue?"
Soujiro's eyes locked onto the
face in the water, "Yue…" he said disbelievingly, "Yue is…Yue is
me."
She nodded, satisfied with the
answer that she had received. Even with the threat of all out panic looming in
the space around them, Soujiro's response to this "awakening" reached
far beyond her expectations. Pausing for the memory of breath, she continued in
a soft, soothing tone.
"You know him, don't
you?" she asked, "Even when you were a child, even when you felt pain
and despair, you never once thought of yourself as alone. You knew. You had
never seen his face, never felt his power but the omniscience of instinct let
you know that he was there."
As she spoke, the image in the
pool seemed to take on a magnetizing effect and without knowing it, Soujiro was
reaching out, his fingers hovering over the water's surface. He could feel the
shadows of memories skirting the boundaries of his mind, begging to be let
inside, begging to be part of him…again.
The woman leaned forward, the
front panel of her gown slipping deeper under the water's surface as
anticipation made itself clear on her features. "Relax little-one,"
she coaxed, "With the truth of your past in your hands, the path of your
future will become clear…" Her voice faded away, eagerness choking off the
knowledge of speech as she steadily looked on.
Closer his fingers fell, their
trembling tips now barely a breath away from the pool. Still, he hesitated,
licking his astral body's lips as if they had become dry under the emotional
strain.
"If I do this…" he
asked, "Will I become different, will I…be lost to my Misao?"
The woman straightened her back
and looked at the young man with an almost frighteningly steady stare.
"If you do this," she
answered, "You will have more to offer her than you ever imagined you
could."
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Control became harder and
harder for Aoshi to maintain as a trickle of blood presented itself at the
corner of Hideki's lips. Her teeth were clenched so tightly that the pressure
had caused blood to flow from the place where they were attached to the gums.
Still, she held on as the light continued to brighten, her turquoise hair now
blown fully upward by a blast that he could not feel.
"I can feel him," she
announced between clenched teeth, "He's close…he's so very close…"
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Kero's usual line of jabber
suddenly gave way to a yelp that was equal parts pain and surprise. Wide-eyed,
Kaoru stepped forward quickly to catch the sun guardian in her arms lest he
fall to the ground and hurt himself.
"Kero?" she asked in
alarm, "What is it? What's wro…"
Kero writhed against Kaoru's
bosom like an animal that had been poisoned, another sharp cry escaping his
triangular mouth as his entire body began to glow with a sharp, probing light
that cut her words short and echoed a dull ache that had suddenly begun at the
back of her skull.
"Hideki," he panted,
"Don't do it. It's not worth…." Another sharp cry ended the sentence
there.
Just as he mentioned her
cousin's name, images began to flash in her mind's eye and the pain in her head
increased. Visions of light and blood filled her head to bursting and she could
almost hear her cousin's voice pleading with her own body to hold together
until she was finished.
With more than a little effort,
she cleared her mind just enough to notice that Kero had passed out in her
arms. Loathe to waste even a second of time, she pulled the ribbon from her
hair, wrapping it around Kero as if he were an infant before turning in the
direction of Aoshi's apartments at a run.
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Closer his fingers moved toward
the surface, curious as to what wonderful gifts he would have to offer his love
at the end of his ordeal. He was about to close his eyes when something
happened that made them wider than they had ever been in his entire life.
The man in the pool was awake.
The image stared into his eyes
with an intensity that he could scarcely stand and for a moment he froze in its
path. Gradually though, he became aware of an extraordinary thing. Even as he
looked down on the image in the pool, he could also see on the parameters of
his own vision, an image of his own face staring down into the water. Astounded
by the perfection of it all, he leaned closer to the pool, his hand unwittingly
becoming immersed in the flow.
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Misao's eyes widened in fright
as Soujiro's face suddenly contorted with great pain. Under her hands, she
could feel the muscles of his body clenching as if in protest, and a thin mist
of perspiration quickly coated his brow.
Frightened, but determined, she
reached a trembling hand into her obi and pulled out a handkerchief to gently
dab the moisture away from his skin.
"Hold on Sou," she
pleaded, "You're almost there, just hold on a little longer…"
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A pain with all the shredding
power of the edge of a serrated knife seared across Kaoru's chest causing her
to stagger to a stop within a quarter of a mile of Aoshi's home. Holding Kero
tightly to the spot that hurt her so, she forced herself forward again, praying
that her cousin was still alive when she got there.
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Soujiro's scream echoed from
every corner of the spirit world like a wounded animal's cry. Knowledge flowed
into him relentlessly, filling him up much more quickly than he could stand to
bear. Memories of pain and sorrow took over every one of his senses, making him
relive agony that he never knew he had experienced before.
"What is this?!" he
screamed, "What's happening to me?"
The woman at the other end of
the floating rock did not answer him audibly, but the way she leaned forward
with an open look of horror on her face was proof enough for him that whatever
it was, it wasn't good.
"No," she finally
managed to whisper, "No, no, no. It's too soon…too soon…"
Whatever small part of Soujiro's
brain that managed to remain logical, allowed itself a small look of
incomprehension at her words. However, it did not last long, for the pain soon
intensified and his lips parted in another shout of anguish.
The woman across from him
covered her mouth with the long sleeves of her robe, her frightened eyes as
wide as dinner-plates above them.
"Heaven help us…" she
pleaded.
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Aoshi could bear it no longer.
In one swift movement he was on his feet and heading for the center of the
circle where Hideki sat. Dimly, he was aware of the sound of the outer door
slamming itself open, but for the moment, all his focus was on the woman that
he had come to crave more deeply than the very air he breathed.
"No Aoshi! Don't!!!"
Had he imagined that cry or had
it really come from someone else who had made their way into the room? He
scarcely had time to wonder for his foot had already touched the outer edge of
the circle of Clow. An act that soon proved itself to be a huge mistake, that
fact made quite apparent by the energy that now flowed freely through his body,
instantly claiming it as a fragile and unwilling conduit for its awesome power.
Suddenly, he felt himself being
pulled back by a pair of small, but very strong arms. Promptly, they pulled him
out of the magic's path, unceremoniously depositing his half-conscious body on
the floor. By sheer effort alone, his eyes barely opened wide enough for him to
see the disheveled figure of Himura Kaoru step into the circle, her arms held
wide to catch the weakened body of her cousin as she fell.
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