|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:05 pm
"B..But... then....I...she..."
It was too much for her to take in. Lumine slumped against the window. Part of her felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. Another part of her wanted to call out to the Shinigami again, right here and now... and yet a third part was terrified to no end.
"But! People say that sometimes, souls remember things even after they've died, things that are important to them!" She slammed her fist on the outside wall. "There must be a way! If Hanari really is my... my Maemi, then I'll find a way to make her remember! I have to! I made an oath to the world-- No, to Maemi, that I would never give up, no matter the cost!"
Without another thought, Lumine hopped up on what was left of the windowsill, her boot pressed firmly against the frame. She lept out of the window and clean over Tebiki's head, landing a few feet behind her. "I don't care if it takes until the end of time, because now I know neither of us will ever die again!"
With tears in her eyes and a prayer in her heart, Lumine called out to the stars and the very Heavens beyond.
"HANARIIII!!!!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:41 pm
Tebiki shook her head,"It is possible, but, it is unlikely. Hakugyokurou is like a limbo, it cleans you out... Bringing back memories would be tough...."
"Lumine that is not quite how it---"
The Shepard blinked as the celestial pounced over her head calling out for the shinigami in question.
"Wha?!" Hanari appeared, back to Lumine momentarily, she had one of the souls in her hands. She quickly turned around to face the celestial,"What's the matter? I was working you know?'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:13 pm
"Hanari, I--! ...I, I mean...You...!" Now face-to-face with everything she wanted, Lumine was confronted with a throng of moral questions. How was she going to say this? How could one tell another who they once were? Would she believe it? Was it the right thing to do? Would reminding her of who she was bring back the memory of the pain she experienced before she died? Was it what Maemi would have wanted? What if... she was happier now?
Lumine's mind swirled with thoughts and emotions in the short moment she stood before the Shinigami. She clenched her fists to the point of being white-knuckled, her body trembling with the overwhelming amount of pent up energy in her heart and mind. It took a considerable amount of effort not to just throw caution to the wind and leap out to wrap her arms around her.
"Hanari... you said that you remember the Youkai Mountains. That you see them in your dreams." She stated finally, with tears that had yet to leave her eyes. "I...I want you to think hard! Is there anything else you remember? Anything at all? Please remember..."
Lumine felt weak now, like she was about to collapse...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:04 pm
"Re-remember what?" Hanari subconsciously held the ghost between Lumine and herself,"My dreams?"
"I told you... I only remember some locations. Like a waterfall, and stuff.... I know there is people but I don't remember more than that. Are you okay? You are trembling--" The Shingami peeked down to the celestial, "I really can't remember more, that is all my dreams remember--
"It is not that simple, Miss Lumine..." Tebiki came , pushing the flat end of the staff between Hanari's hand, scooping the spirit from her grasp."If memories is what you seek, may I suggest visiting important places...?
Hanari looked confused at the Shepard as she took the ghost from her hands,"What is going on....?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:09 pm
"I...I-I..." Lumine's hands were shaking as she worked to stifle her overwhelming anxiety. Every part of her wanted to be as close to Hanari as she possibly could. "I'm...n-not...okay...."
"Important.. places...? But... I'm not welcome in the Tengu village anymore...A-And Master Kazuko's house might be..." Lumine thought for a moment, brushing some stray hair from her eyes. "I guess... the best place to start would be...just going to the mountain. That's where we met, and where we spent most of our time together."
Slowly and with a deliberate pace, Lumine reached out to touch Hanari's hand. She hesitated, but slowly slid her fingers into the palm of the Shinigami, and squeezed gently. "Hanari...can we go? I mean...would you go with me? ...Please, please trust me..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:41 pm
"What's wrong then?...." Hanari's brow knitted a bit, looking a bit concerned. Her expression turned surprised as Lumine took her hand. "Tr-trust you...? about what?... Go where...?" The young shinigami looked confused.
Tebiki released the ghost that turned to circle them. "Try to not disclose anything boldly Miss Lumine. denial is very well known." Tebiki said,"You yourself must trust in your friend... patience. That is the advice I can give you."
"Hanari, do as your heart tells you. Worry not about your work, I will cover for you," Tebiki said to Hanari, who looked confused still.
The dark haired woman looked from the shepard to the celestial. For a moment her eyes lowered to the floor, before withdrawing her hand. "I don't know you..."
"W-why would I follow you?!" Hanari lifted her face, with an angered expression. "Dreams are just dreams!" She took a step back taking her scythe in both hands,"I don't know what you want from me. I am a shinigami! I am me-meant to take your soul, not go on a vacation with you!"
Tebiki looked at Hanari calm as always, then to Lumine, awaiting the celestials reaction to Hanari's rejection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:38 pm
"But...But!!" Lumine looked after Hanari as she withdrew, reaching her hand outwards. Every word the Shingami spoke was like a dagger, piercing and cutting in the worst possible way. Lumine took a step forward, even in the face of the raised scythe. "You told me... to call your name if I ever needed you. Hanari...I... need you...now..!"
Her legs felt weak under the weight of the sudden assault. She fell to her knees before the Shinigami, her face grimacing with the pain of despair and a broken heart. "Dreams... are more than just dreams..." Lumine bowed her head low, her tears falling to the ground. "It was by a dream...that I once met her... It was by a dream that lead me home, how I found Gensokyo..." Slowly, she reached into the collar of Seijin's shirt, and withdrew the Academy Seal she had been given as a rite of passage so long ago. She took its woven cord and lifted it off her neck, and up over her head. "It was because of my dreams that I found my family... It was how I found the happiness I always wanted!" The seal still held the same glimmer it had the day Seijin gave it to her. "So don't you dare say that dreams don't mean anything!"
With sudden determination, Lumine stood, holding her arms outwards at either side, the seal still gripped in one hand. "If you won't go with me, then strike me down now!" She shut her eyes tightly, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "B-Because...if I can't see you.... Then... I've failed.... And there won't be any point to go on from there!!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:59 pm
Hanari trembled, it was her turnto receive the pierce of Lumine's words. Her knuckles turned white around the scythe's shaft,"Don't challenge me because I will!"
"MAKE PEACE WITH WHATEVER GOD YOU FOLLOW CELESTIAL!"
The scythe was swung down, but it never reached her target. The scythe clashed with the arc of the crescent moon at the tip of Tebiki's staff. The spirit hefted upwards, upturning the shinigami and throwing the scythe over her head.
The weapon stabbed into the soil, before Hanari could take it again, the staff swooped her off her feet, making the shinigami fall. The shepard stood infront of Lumine. "Acting upon rage and ignorance. Thou should be ashamed. It is not for these actions that I ruled you an apt shinigami, Hanari."
The shinigami had her teeth clenched and bared, her own eyes with tears that threatened to spill. "Then what do you want me to act upon, Shepard?! I know nothing more than the Sanzu's water and the Courts Darkness, WHAT IS THERE LEFT FOR ME T-- NGH!"
The arc crashed down, bracing on Hanari's shoulder, making her buckle and fall on her back. The lantern hung centimeters from Hanari's nose as the shepard spoke,"Do not speak those words. Ever. AGAIN. Do you heed? "
Hanari trembled in the floor; she had never seen Tebiki like this, as such she nodded. She moved the staff to be leaned on a shoulder, like the shinigami rested their scythes. "How can you leave for more when you refuse to meet it?" Tebiki took the academy's insignia, looking upon it, she moved and threw it onto Hanari. "You ashame me, Hanari. Just as you ashamed those of your past life."
The shinigami cringed at the words and not the necklace thrown upon her. She gingerly moved to take the badge in her hands, as Tebiki turned to Lumine. "Maybe you should let the matter sink into her head for a bit. Younglings can be so stubborn. I suggest you spend time in others company... she will come to you when she is ready."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:43 am
Lumine winced, awaiting the blow that would fell her completely and absolutely, but...it never came. She heard the clash of steel, and a small grunt from Hanari as she was swept off her feet.
The Celestial stood there for a moment longer, eyes closed, almost wishing the blow would finally come. Slowly, she let her arms fall, and opened her eyes to gaze upon the scene unfolding before her. The Shepard had seemingly come to her rescue, and had Hanari pinned to the ground. She listened to their trade of words, not bothering to move or say anything herself, and she didn't object when Tebiki took the necklace from her grasp. The only purpose the trinket served now was as a reminder of a life she'd never have again.
Lumine turned away from the two. Tebiki offered to let the matter sit, telling her to seek out companionship. Having no other goal in mind anymore, Lumine solemnly nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I'll...do that..."
Maybe this had been the wrong choice after all. She had never seen Hanari, or even Maemi, so upset before. It crushed her to see her beloved's face twisted up in such confusion and anger, and having no way to console her at all. The sight came with a pain she had scarcely felt before, one equal in magnitude to the tragedy of Maemi's death so many years ago.
Not bothering to give Tebiki or Hanari another look, Lumine retreated towards the door of the house, though not before mumbling with a pain-stricken voice, "..Thanks..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:52 pm
Tebiki watched Lumine retreat with a nod. Now with no other interference, the shinigami could receive the full wrath of the spirit.
The shepard turned and picked Hanari by the front of her shirt, lifting her up at least to Tebiki's eye level. The spirit was surprisingly strong for a dead girl,"You best be ashamed and repentful. Not only have you harmed another's emotions through your own ignorance, but you have spoken words no embassador of death should speak. Words like those are the motives demons are created, the reasons for corrupted souls, reasons for the weak to fall."
Hanari blinked trembling in Tebiki's grip. Now she noticed; the ghosts that usually circled the shepard where gone. "You can no be trusted with your job this moment, Hanari, I am suspending you until you find what confounds you. Until your fight your own demons will you able to fight others' !"
With that, Tebiki released Hanari, moved to the scythe, and took the weapon in her other hand,"Think over your actions, Shinigami, then look for me." And like that, Tebiki walked away into the forest once more leaving a trembling Hanari behind.
The shinigami took the necklace in a hand staring into the shiny insignia that seemed so familiar. For now, she sat there, hugging her knees with one arm and watching the Necklace sway in the air.
She looked towards the door of Lumine's home... thinking... Slowly she stood...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 5:42 pm
Even inside the house and away from the two Servants of the Court, Lumine didn't find any solace in her solitude. She merely leaned against the door for a time, not wanting to move, or think, or even exist at this point. Being alone with her thoughts was probably the worst thing she could do right now, but until the Shepard and Shinigami left, she didn't want to exit the house either.
Once they left, she decided, she would go and visit Michiko and, if she was still there, Ochiba. It never occurred to her that they might start fighting once Ochiba woke up, having a sort of rivalry to begin with.
So, at least she had a plan. Lumine moved toward her bed and desk, retrieving the items she had left behind last time. The Nodachi, Seijin's messenger bag, her own hat, and--
Lumine paused. On the desk was the letter she had began to write to give to Maemi once she found her. She wasn't one to leave matters unfinished, even if they were out of her hands now. Dropping the items she had collected thus far, Lumine slid into the seat of the desk's chair, picked up her quill, and began to write again...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:23 pm
Hanari, on the other side of the door, thought of bursting inside Lumine's home. Instead she looked at the badge on her hand, gripped it tightly and vanished in the usual poof of sakura blossoms.
The shinigami staid close to a river for the time being, she had much to think over.
-----
....
Like Lumine had thought not long ago, Michiko and Ochiba had a sort of rivalry, and they never quite stopped their challenging of each other. Still, the wolf tengu housed the rabbit, who did not quite wake up in all her senses.
The small vermin was very disoriented and confused when she did come too, quickly turning to try and flee, hurting herself and Michiko in the process. Her host was swift to subdue her and place her in bed too. The wolf tended to any wounds,seeing the first job of bandages was barely adequate and kept the rabbit in her sight for as long as need be.
Michiko wondered if Lumine would come back visit them as soon as she had her things ... or if she would not see the celestial again in years to come
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:01 pm
An hour or so would pass - Lumine wasn't keeping track of time - and she was done with writing the letter. Or rather, she had written all she had cared to write for the moment. She had almost given up the project entirely, at many times poised to rip the small stack of written parchment in two, but something deep within her stayed her hand, and quieted her writhing soul.
Now content with the knowledge that her guests outside had probably left by now, Lumine stood from the desk, Maemi's letter in tow, and re-collected her things for a second time. With everything safely strapped to her person or otherwise secured, Lumine opened the door to the house, and peaked outside. She was both pleased and saddened to find there was nobody outside to greet her.
...
More time passed, and the Celestial eventually found herself outside the humble home of Seijin's daughter. She had taken a much needed and lengthy stroll through the woods, giving herself plenty of time to vent tonight's transgressions before going to see her friends, and although her mood hadn't improved much, she now at least knew she wouldn't take it out on perhaps the last people who cared for her.
Approaching Michiko's door, Lumine reached out to grasp the handle and, with a short rotation of her wrist and a gentle shove, pryed the door away from its frame. "Hello, Michiko? Are you home?" She welcomed herself in, not waiting for a reply, and shut the door behind herself. "I... I'm back. And I... I have my stuff!" She strained her voice to carry its usual energy, hoping it sounded anywhere near normal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:19 pm
"Hm?" Michiko came out from her bedroom. She had some bloodied gauze on her hand, but even so she smiled, giving her guest a nod,"Lumine."
The celestial's voice made the wolven host's ear twitch. The strain was evident in her voice. "Go on and sit down. As soon as I am done with Ochiba I will put some water on the fire for some tea." The wolf returned to her room for scarecely five minutes before she returned to wash her hands in the small sink like furniture piece. She soon put some water on the stove-like contraption and moved to sit,"Did you find all your things? I hope nothing was stolen."
Michiko seemed to have warmed up towards Lumine. Unsure, she was, of the reasons and motives, but Lumine's prescence brought the certain kinship only Ochiba had brought previously. As such, she was a bit relaxed, her tail wrapped to frane her leg, hands crossed on her lap and ears attentive and searching for what may afflict her guest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:34 am
When she saw Michiko, Lumine smiled. She was happy to see the wolf, and to hear that Ochiba was still resting here.
"Okay, thank you Michiko."
To the side of the room, Lumine began to set her things in an unusually neat pile, setting down the bag first, then the Nodachi beside it, and finally her hat on top, taking up as little a space as possible. Afterwards, she complied with Michiko's offer, and moved to sit on the couch one more. It was just as comfy and soft as the last time she laid upon it, making her wonder just how long it would be before it made her fall asleep again. The thought of sleep induced a yawn from the Celestial, but she quickly stifled it upon Michiko's return.
"No, no, everything was there. I took everything that belonged to me." Lumine paused, adding, "...I don't really feel comfortable there anymore, with those two demons still on the loose, and...other things." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and stared into the floor before her. "Um... Would you mind if I slept here sometimes? I don't... want to be alone right now, and I feel like you and Bunny-Sensei are the only ones I can trust anymore... I don't even know if I can trust myself."
Instinctively, Lumine moved a hand to caress the spot where the Academy Seal should be, only to find it missing, and remembering why. She had it. The absence of the necklace was alien to her, and it made her uneasy to think she may never see it again... it was easy to admit now that she regretted handing it over to the Shepard so easily.
But, now was not the time to think about it. "S..So! How's Ochiba doing? And...and you? Are you okay, Michiko?" Lumine turned to look at the wolf, forcing a smile that lacked an energy that it once possessed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
