Disclaimer: I do not own the FoR characters and half the story belongs to our dearest Ailene, my bestest friend who’s been with me through four years…also, we’ve had quite a similar history. Also, the special appearing characters from RK don’t belong to me either.
Author: Okay…this is a parody of a story originally written by Ailene and me during our Art period as a little assignment. It’s fairytales and nursery rhymes weaved together to form a nonsensical story. I’m not going to provide you with original, as it won’t be as funny as when you know the people used. Read and enjoy…and review.
*****************************
Jade sat the rowdy mass of 1/13 pupils down as her partner, Ailene, got the refreshments. The group of 19 (excluding herself and Ailene) gazed up at their storyteller with wondrous eyes as she began to tell her tale…
"Listen, children of my age, as I tell my story of a young prince in his journeys. Once upon a time, in the Eastern world, near the provinces of China, in the suburbs of…"
"Will you cut the crap and get on with the story already?" An overly irritated Gab rolled her eyes as she told herclassmate off.
"Yeah. I agree with Gab," piped up Sarah.
Fire flickered in Jade’s eyes as she glared at the two.
"Fine, whatever you want. Our story begins in Japan…"
----------
Faraway, in the suburbs of Japan, there was a ninja clan by the name of Hokage. The chief of Hokage and his wife were highly respected leaders. Hanabishi Recca, the chief, had the well-known power to cast flames from his right arm and his flame was the mightiest one could ever own – the eight fire dragons. Sakoshita Yanagi, his wife, had the to power to heal, which was extraordinary and essential to the people of Hokage.
Now, the chief and his wife had two children. Mifuyu resembled her mother remarkably whilst Tokiya had beautiful silver hair. The chief, being an all-caring father, knew that there were assassins after him and that they were bound to attack his precious, defenceless and innocent children. Thus, their births were unknown to the people and they were given a different surname – Mikagami.
Their fake identities were that of the chamberlain’s nephew and niece, who needed to work alongside their aunt, Kagerou, for money. Since nobody actually knew Kagerou’s full name, they ignored this little detail. Tokiya and Mifuyu, however, knew fully well that they were the ‘royal’ children. But their father told them to take their current situation as it is.
Yanagi, however, had no concern whatsoever for these irritating little brats of hers, as she was more interested in being the most beautiful chieftess ever. And also partly because those tiny monsters had made her gone through hell during childbirth.
On a beautiful spring’s late afternoon, Yanagi had a lovely tea with her husband only to find out a shocking piece of news.
The brunette had asked her ninja a simple question, "Hon, what do you think about our darling Mifuyu?"
The chief, of course, was rather taken aback by this question, since she had never much cared to help them out in case she broke a nail.
"Well…she’s certainly a caring
and loving sister towards Tokiya, and she’s grown to be as beautiful as
you," he
smiled softly back at his
wife.
Yanagi flinched. Did he say what she had just heard him say?
"Is that so?" she asked coolly.
"Yeah. You two could walk in the streets together and be mistaken for identical twins," the brainless fool replied.
His remark, meant to be a
compliment to his dearest wife, had very much upset the vain woman. However,
Yanagi
acted as if she let the
remark pass, showing no care whatsoever about the conversation they just
had as she
proceeded onto a different
topic. Deep in her mind, though, she had already begun plotting her evil
plan to
destroy Mifuyu. Also, she
decided that if Tokiya ever grew too beautiful as well, he would be rid
of too.
At the end of their tea session,
she got up and bowed to her husband before taking her leave. Recca had
stayed
behind to take in the sights
and sounds of the near evening.
Yanagi carefully walked down
the dark staircase that had moss growing all over it. Grabbing on to the
rusty stair
rail leading to her private
chambers, she quickly made her mind up on which plan to use.
At last she reached the bottom
of the merciless stairway and proceeded to a huge door, which was, like
the
stairway, old and rusty.
Cobwebs could be seen at its hinges and green growth was gobbling its surface
up.
She scanned the door for
an untouched area before lifting her hand to give three gentle knocks.
Almost
immediately, the door creaked
open and a passageway large enough for her to pass through was formed.
She slid
through the open area and
found herself in room that was…sparkling clean. Its walls were white with
rose designs
carefully printed onto them.
Also, there were about twenty bookcases, filled with books, lining the
walls. In the
middle of the room, was
a long table with a metal tabletop. Behind it, were large, wooden cabinets
made of
polished wood.
Yanagi did not stop even
for a second to take a look at this breathtaking sight. She had been in
here far too many times, and was beginning to get sick of it. Her chamberlain
was already there, dressed in white and awaiting
orders.
She reported to her chamberlain,
"Kagerou-san. Adios-Mif about to take place. I’ve decided that we will
use the
stalk method."
Her words were responded
with a curt nod and the woman walked over to the cabinets, where bottles
and bottles
of wonders were carefully
placed.
Yanagi smiled evilly as she hauled a heavy book out of a bookcase. <Mifuyu, get ready to say bye-bye.>
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Hanabishi-sama,
Sakoshita-sama," Mifuyu waved goodbye to her parents. She felt terribly
uncomfortable with the fact
that she could not call them Otousan and Okaasan.
Sighing, she began her journey
down the lonely path that led deep into the forest and straight to where
her little
brother awaited her. It
felt so unfair to be born a royalty yet not be known a royalty. She stopped
for a moment
and gazed at her clothing
– a simple pair of jeans and an old shirt to accompany it. They were more
like rags to
her. Oh how she wished she
could wear those beautiful gowns like her mother did and have everyone
admiring how strikingly similar both mother and daughter looked.
Her eyes travelled further
down to her little basket. In it, was her little money pouch which contained
the precious
gold which both Tokiya and
she depended on. Sure, the chief often invited them over for meals and
bought them
huge amounts of gifts, but
that was all. The money in the pouch was just enough for their entire daily
needs. The
chief had explained simply
that having less money in the pouch would keep thugs off her trail. She
had, of course,
tried to persuade him to
give a little more by assuring him that Tokiya’s madougu would protect
them. But the
chief had refused.
<Forget about it,> she
told herself, <he won’t risk it. As long as you two are safe, he’ll
keep it that way. Besides,
if you save up enough, you
could buy that expensive gown on display at the Imperial Parlour>
Her thoughts wondered back
to her little brother. Tokiya. Now no older than seventeen, he was indeed
growing to
be a refined gentleman.
If only he didn’t reflect coldness in his eyes, he would look a whole lot
better. With silvery
hair that he took great
care of, and a well-built body, he had dozens of the village girls trailing
him every time he
entered the place.
<He’s so vain, spending
half our money on his hair products and always getting Otousan to buy him
branded
clothing.>
Indeed, everywhere the lad
went, he was bound to be wearing either Armani or Gucci clothing. The young
man
was also a madougu wielder.
Heck, practically all who lived in Hokage were madougu wielders. A sword
that grew
longer by the element of
water, Ensui protected the two of them from every danger they had ever
gotten into.
She moved her gaze on to
the shiny red apple beside it. Okaasan had given it to her and said that
it was the
juiciest one she could find
in their garden. Indeed, it did look juicy and tasty, but a slight suspicion
hung over the
girl. The woman had never
bother even as to lift a finger when it came to the siblings. She was always
bossing
them about, as if they really
were working in the premises. But why the sudden niceness?
<Ahhh forget it> she brushed the thought away.
<Besides, I’m getting kinda hungry>
She settled down the basket
and grabbed hold of the red apple. Saying her thanks, she said "Itadakimasu"
to no
one in particular and took
a bite out of the accursed apple.
That’s right…accursed. The
evil chieftess had mixed her little substances about and spiked the apple
with a
potion…that would turn Mifuyu
into the ugliest thing the world had ever seen.
The girl’s eyelids slammed
down shut as she hit the ground. Soon, her body began transforming. And
after a full
twenty minutes, Mikagami
Mifuyu was no longer there. In her place, was a…durianstalk?!!
Tokiya began his daily walk
through the woods. Oneesan hadn’t been back earlier as she had promised,
and since
he didn’t like the idea
of waiting, he decided to go on without her.
<Just a normal round would do> he mentally noted, <Neesan would be upset if I returned late. Or worse still, if she can’t find me and gets lost>
While walking in the quiet
woods and enjoying the peacefulness of the place, he stumbled onto the
most curious
thing he had ever seen in
his entire life. A durianstalk.
"A-a durianstalk?! What in
the world is that?" Mikagami exclaimed as he did a quick check to see if
he was thinking
right.
Sure enough, it was a stalk-like
thingy that had durians hanging from a vine that had twirled itself around
the big
pillar mass of green. Some
of the durians had already fallen off and hit the ground.
"Whoa. Someone could get
seriously injured if he didn’t watch his head," remarked the lad whose
focus remained
on the giant that was overshadowing
him and blocking the view of the setting sun. "This is literally Jack and
the
Beanstalk come alive…except
that a durianstalk is being used."
Tokiya scanned the area a
second time and reflected on what he had just said. He knew the fairytale
very well. In
fact, it was one of the
first few bedtime stories Mifuyu had ever told him. Jack and the Beanstalk
fascinated him
more than the rest.
<Wait a minute> he thought, <Jack and the Beanstalk ain’t Jack and the Beanstalk if there ain’t no Jack>
He looked around for people
who had strayed from the village but found none, to his dismay. He gave
a casual
shrug as he told himself
<Well, Tokiya, guess you’ve gotta be the Jack. And that makes this story
Tokiya and the
Durianstalk…What’s wrong
with me? I must be going senile…but at this age?>
He hauled himself onto the stalk and began his climb up high above the clouds.
<Guess I’ve gotta find
out what happens and be the hero of it all. I hope there ain’t no mother
hen laying golden
eggs though. Hokage’s currency
is strictly yen>
But Tokiya had no idea that
he was climbing up his beloved sister, as he had not checked the area properly.
For if
he had, he would have found
a basket with a money pouch and other assorted items crushed underneath
a large
root and an oversized durian.
His tiring climb came to
an abrupt stop when he found himself at the tip of the durianstalk. Nothing
but clouds
surrounded it for miles
and miles.
"I guess that’s it then,"
a disappointed Tokiya said, scanning the area for a source of hope. He
certainly didn’t
want to climb all the way
back down now. Even images of his dearest sister did not come into mind.
Suddenly, a house covered
with all sorts of goodies appeared on a cloud not too far from where the
boy was
standing. Tokiya was amazed
at the sight. The house seemed to be made out of gingerbread and had all
sorts of
chocolates on it. From Hershey’
Cookies ‘N’ Cream to Mars Bars. Candies from Willy Wonka’s factory could
be seen
clearly on top of the chocolates.
Nerds, Dweebs and Gobstoppers. This was a child’s paradise.
Tokiya, however, was more interested in getting a proper landing to be on, so he leapt into the air and fell through the chimney. Now, that was the silliest thing to do as after going through a black, sooty darkness, Tokiya found that his ass was being fried, much to his annoyance. Without much a do, he immediately took out his precious madougu and used it to cool his red-hot butt.
Quickly, he stood up and
brushed the soot off his precious, branded shirt that he had taken great
pains to clean.
He took a look at his surroundings.
Cupboards and cupboards around him were filled with delicious goodies and
there were a few large kitchen
stoves. At one of these kitchen stoves, was a figure in a black hide.
The figure’s concentration
on the broth she was making did not linger on for too long as it had turned
around to
face the young, handsome
lad. She was rather shocked to see this young man, but also rather pleased.
She had
been dying to meet a human
being for so long and wanted to gobble him up. But she way preferred children.
In her mind, wicked thoughts began to arise, <He looks pretty old, but
that will soon be taken care of. I just need a little secret ingredient>
"Why, hello," the lady greeted him. "My name is Mikoto. May I know who you are? And also how old?"
The lad’s eyes reflected
a kind of annoyance at this woman. But since they always held coldness,
this little detail
was well hidden. He answered
the questions calmly, "I’m Mikagami Tokiya, seventeen this year. Glad I
spotted
your house, Mikoto-san,
or I would have made my way back down that spiky and most idiotic durianstalk."
"Seventeen?" the woman asked.
"Yeah."
"I see. Well, you must be hungry after your erm…climb. What would you like to eat?" She spread her arms out wide to show him the various goodies. And always, a smirk remained on her face.
Little did the woman know
that Tokiya didn’t like candies and such, as he had always considered them
a factor to
blemishes. He didn’t know,
of course, what he was allergic to. Yet his stomach was grumbling. The
climb must
have been a long one, for
he had just taken a snack before his walk – Musli bars, of course. So he
decided that
he might as well get a little
something to fill his empty stomach.
"Do you have fruits?" the young man asked, hoping very much to receive a positive answer.
Mikoto was shocked to receive
such a question. It seemed more of an insult to her. She opened her mouth
to say,
" Of course I do not!" but
resisted the urge and slammed it shut, remembering the later purpose of
the boy.
"I’ll check and see if I
can find anything," she replied, turning around, pretending to fulfil his
request. She had
other plans swirling about
in her mind. Devious plans to roast the young lad and get a great feast
out of his meat.
Strolling over to a pot
of steaming hot, melted chocolate, she eyed the boy and made sure he was
not going
anywhere while she prepared
her dinner.
Tokiya took a closer look
at his surroundings. It was obvious to him that there probably weren’t
any fruits in this
place. The only things that
existed here were mounds and mounds of candy. It seemed, however, all so
familiar.
Like he knew the place,
or even heard of it.
<Gingerbread house…> his
mind began scanning through the unbelievable information stored in that
thick skull of
his. <That’s it. This
is Hansel and Gretel. And Mikoto’s the witch> He felt triumphant in being
able to solve this
mystery. But something was
really wrong with the picture.
*splash* Tokiya was caught off guard as thick, brown liquid oozed down from his head and onto his shoulders.
"Ewww! Gross!" he exclaimed
and glared at the scheming woman. Thankfully for him, his bangs had prevented
the
chocolate from even touching
his gorgeous eyes. "You are a terribly disgusting woman. You know that?"
She just smirked at his remark.
"Yeah, sure I do. Plenty of people tell me that. In fact, this is about
to get a little
more disgusting."
She headed back to her kitchen
counter to grab a chopper as Tokiya began to wash the gooey chocolate of
him
and his expensive clothing.
"Oh don’t do that, you stupid boy!" The witch scolded when she saw only
a spot of
chocolate on him. "The chocolate
took such a long time to prepare."
Feeling extremely irritated
with the fact that this woman had planned on skewing him, and more so because
she
poured creamy chocolate
over him, Tokiya decided that it was time to put an end to all of this.
He drew Ensui out
from his jacket pocket and
a full sword with a transparent blade of some sort was formed not too long
after that.
Quickly, he made an Illusion
and the room began to fill with a hazy mist.
Without further a do, he
slipped out through the front door and ran as far away as he could from
the gingerbread
house. It was a long run
before he stopped to catch his breath. The night had already begun to fall
and he
needed a place to take refuge
in. All around him was luscious, green grass…and nothing more.
*sigh* "Now I expect another
house to pop up in front of me," the lad exclaimed as he scanned the area.
And
sure enough, a plot of land
with lots of tiny houses appeared not too far away from him. He groaned
as he headed
towards the area. "This
has got to be the looniest story I’ve ever participated in."
----------
-There is a short break here. The characters would like to converse with the storyteller for a moment-
Jade hushes her classmates and leaves them to eat the aromatic food while she talks to the characters.
Jade: Yeah. Waddaya want?
Tokiya: This is so way out of the contract.
Mifuyu: Yeah. You mercilessly turned me into an ugly…durianstalk. Ever heard of having a corny sense of humour?
Jade: Look. I said it’s a
parody. And I cut out the part where Mikoto turns into a stupid cow with
tiny blue wings,
flying over the moon. (Whisper:
I sure don’t want her to poison me with those killer objects of hers…)
Recca (fuming): How dare you change my Hime to a nasty, evil witch and make her go through childbirth.
Jade: I didn’t make her a witch. And the childbirth, look on the bright side…you get to be the daddy.
Recca turns into a bright shade of red and walks away wordlessly. He definitely knows how babies come about.
Fuuko: When am I, the beautiful Kirisawa Fuuko, going to make my dazzling appearance?
Domon: Yeah. I want my part of the deal.
Jade: Relax, it’ll be out soon. After…well…you know…
Fuuko: Oh…I see. I’ll go dress up first.
Domon: I’m going with you, Fuuko my love. *rolls eyes*
Both characters leave the classroom.
Jade: Are you all quite finished?
Mifuyu: I’m going to eat my ice cream. And while I do, don’t you dare hurt my little brother in any way.
Tokiya (lifts an eyebrow): I suppose I’ll meet up with a family of three in there?
*nod*
Tokiya (snarl): You owe me big time…
----------
Our main character plodded
to the houses. He was extremely tired and needed rest. Also, it had been
hours since
he climbed the durianstalk.
As he neared the area, he could hear distinct swings of a sword of some
sort.
"Jyu Ichi! Jyu Ni! Jyu San!" Sounds of a young boy practising kenjitsu could be heard.
"Kenji! Your posture is wrong. Do another 90 strokes, and do it properly."
"Hai!"
Tokiya stopped at the gateway
of the place. He could see a wooden board to his right and began to read
off it,
"Kamiya Dojo."
Just as soon as the words
escaped from his lips, Tokiya found himself drowning into a deep darkness
as he dozed
off.
-Mifuyu: Didn’t I tell you not to hurt him? *glare glare*-
Kenshin eyes traced the movements of the bokken swinging up and down with incredulous force and smiled.
A redheaded boy who resembled him had sweat dripping down his face as he made yet another smooth stroke with his wooden sword. After having been corrected by his trainer, he practised more determinedly than ever.
"San Jyu Ichi! San Jyu Ni!" he cried out as he counted his strokes.
Kenshin could have sat there
forever, just listening to the sound of his son’s bokken moving swiftly
through the
air. And just focus his
gazed on the beautiful woman who was instructing the boy. But even in the
middle of the
night, a noise and an unfamiliar
presence disrupted such peace.
Warily, his grabbed his sakabatou
and left the dojo quietly, taking care that he didn’t alert the two of
them and
stepped out into the dark
surroundings. Keeping his right hand on the hilt of his sword, he crept
slowly to the
presence, which led him
to the gateway of the Kamiya Dojo grounds.
"Oro?" he oroed as he saw a figure slumped onto the ground, exhausted. Keeping still for a minute or two, he made sure that there was nobody else in the premises. After doing so, he picked up the person and brought him (her?) in to the dojo where his son had just finished with his lesson.
Tokiya opened his eyes to
find his surroundings unfamiliar. His bed seemed a lot lower than it usually
was. In fact,
it felt like he was on the
floor. The bamboo floor, to be exact. Everything around him told him that
he had
probably been transported
back in time to the Meiji Era. Of course, as much as I would like that
to be true, the
story will not permit it.
He tried to push himself
up, but he was sore from head to toe. His limbs refused to co-operate and
sent a searing
pain through his body each
time he tried to move. <Oh come on now, it couldn’t have been that bad>
"Oh, you’re awake already,"
an unfamiliar voice surprised him. He turned his gaze towards the young
lady who had
spoken. She had dark blue
hair that was neatly tied into a high ponytail at the back of her head.
Tokiya tried to
push himself up again to
get a better look at this woman. Failing yet again, he winced and plopped
back down into
the comfort.
"Ah. Daijoubu ka?" she asked
worriedly as she rushed to his aid. "You really shouldn’t try to move yet.
I’ll prepare a
hot, soothing bath for you
right now. Kenshin will be here shortly to assist you."
"Kenshin?" he asked.
"Hai. He has bright red hair.
You can’t miss him," she explained. "After your bath, we can settle down
for breakfast
and then you can tell us
how you got here. Okay?" she winked at him and left to the bathhouse.
"Hey…" he began, a second too late. "Arrgghh…Now what?"
He checked out his room once
again. This place looked really, really old. Good thing that our dear boy
here had
always paid attention during
lessons to know enough and name most of the items here. The comfy thing
he was
lying on was undoubtedly
a futon. He shifted yet again to sit, if not get, up and out of here. This
time, locking on
the urge to scream, he made
it. He managed to sit up and was on the verge of falling straight back
on the futon,
but his aching muscles told
him that he’d better not.
The first thing he wanted
to make sure of was, of course, that his clothes were still in tact. Yanking
the blanket
off with an arm screaming
for mercy, he found that he was wearing something quite different to his
daily clothes.
He was clad in a yukata.
<Y-yukata?! T-that means…>
a horrified Tokiya checked twice or thrice to be sure that his suspicion
was
affirmed. Indeed, he was
covered by nothing except the yukata. <If only early Japanese weren’t
like that. Must be a little more sanitary, you know>
"Eh?" A young boy of about
four or five peeked into the silver-haired man’s room. <What’s he doing
here? I
thought the dojo was nicely
concealed…> Quietly, he slid open the shoji, but not soft enough for the
man not to
notice. Cold blue eyes turned
to meet the violet one’s of this boy.
"Ahh," his eyes softened.
"You must be Kenshin." He looked closely at the boy. He was just a young
lad with a
mop of bright red hair.
How could he possibly assist him?
"Oro?" came the shocked reply. <Such eyes…remind me of Aoshi-san’s…> "The name’s Kenji."
Tokiya was confused. He was
sure he had heard ‘Kenshin’, but then again, his ears might have developed
a bit of
a problem. Anyhow, he needed
to be sure. "Well, if you’re not Kenshin. Then who is?"
The younger boy grinned as he ran out of the room and left Tokiya alone yet again.
<What an odd response. Extremely rude too>
"Hey Kenji, what do you think
you’re doing? Orororororo…" voices from outside the room broke through
the peace
and silence.
It was no sooner than a few
seconds that the boy returned. This time, he was with another man…with
exactly the same bright red hair and wide, violet eyes, an exact mirror
image. Only difference was, this man had
shoulder-length hair, unlike
that of the boy’s, which was allowed to be left long.
"O-Oro?" the man looked up
at him with a confused expression. After which, he gathered himself together
and
greeted this stranger with
a bow and a kawaii rurouni smile. "Ohayo. I see you’re awake so soon. Boku
wa Himura
Kenshin desu." He looked
down at his exact twin who grinned back up at him. "And this little twerp
here is my son,
Himura Kenji."
Tokiya nodded his head in
acknowledgement before introducing himself. "Aa. Boku wa Mikagami Tokiya
desu.
Pleased to be of your acquaintance.
A young lady came in earlier on and said that you were…erm…well…supposed
to give me a hand."
The redhead returned yet
another confused look. "Ohh…you must mean Kaoru-dono…I mean, Kaoru. Yeah,
she
told me to come and help
you out after I was done with the laundry." He gazed back out of the opened
space.
"But since I’ve been wrenched
away from my assigned work, I guess its time for your bath."
"Arigato gozaimasu Himura-san.
I really appreciate the help," Tokiya added gratefully as the older man,
who
supported him on the way
to the bathhouse, helped him up.
Tokiya couldn’t help but
let out a satisfied sigh. The water was so warm and soothing, curing his
aching muscles.
So many weird things have
happened and all of them seem to be out of a storybook. So many familiar
bedtime
stories, familiar characters.
And heck! Even he was part of the stories all together.
<Hmm> he thought. <What story could I possibly be in right now? Goldilocks and the Three bears?>
<Family of three…check>
<Deserted living area…check>
<Inhabitants of same species…check>
<Tokiya and the three humans? I don’t think so. Sounds too…normal.>
<Let’s see…the Papa would
be Himura-san. Or Kenshin, rather. The Baby was obviously Kenji-chan. So
the Mama
would have to be…what was
her name again? Ah, yes, Kaoru-san>
<Wait a minute…That’s
it! Kenshin, Kaoru, Kenji…All start with K!> Tokiya marvelled at his ability
to spot patterns
and silently applauded himself.
Then again, he groaned. <Now it’s Tokiya and the Three Ks. Or even worse…Silver
locks and the Three Ks.
How bad can this get?>
This was absurd. <…Yep, I’m definitely losing my mind>
<Wait till ‘Neesan hears
about this. She’ll laugh out loud and tell me that I’m probably losing
my mind and ought to
stop wearing all those expensive,
branded clothes before I go totally loony>
‘Neesan. That’s right. How
could he have forgotten about her? Of all things to forget, this shouldn’t
even be
amongst them. Even in a
wacky world like the one he was in now. ‘Must return as soon as possible
before she
starts worrying about me,’
he mentally noted. <And find the tip of the durianstalk. That’s gonna
be rather
difficult…>
"Mikagami-san! Breakfast’s
ready!" A voice rang out from the hallway as Tokiya reluctantly left the
comfort of the
hot, soothing bathtub of
water and grabbed a towel from the nearby rack and began drying himself
and his shaggy
mane of silver.
*growl*
<Oh bother. I’ll deal
with the getting-back-to-reality later.> He unfolded the set of spare gi
and hakama (courtesy
of Himura-san, even though
the hakama was far too short for his lengthy legs) and slid them on, carefully
tying
the knots where they were
needed and smoothening out the ugly creases. Rolling up the right sleeve
of his gi,
which was distastefully
fuchsia, he reached into the far corner of the bath and unplugged the drain,
allowing the
water to swirl down into
nothing. Regaining his composure, he picked up the soggy towel and wrenched
it dry and
threw it effortlessly into
the wash-basket. He flung his partially dry hair back and carefully picked
up the jade
comb, which Kaoru-san had
so kindly allowed him to use, and began running it through his long, tousled
hair. Laid
out beside where the comb
had initially been, was a long, thin strip of satin. A ribbon – which she
had thought,
would suit him most nicely
if he intended to tie up his hair and dress up more like a lady. He glared
down at it as it
stared back at him, mockingly.
Kenji-chan, however, had
been such a good host as to give Tokiya one of his many elastic bands to
neaten up his
long mass of hair. He was
most grateful that the boy had at least spared a thought. Swiftly, he tied
his hair up
into its usual tight ponytail
and smoothened out the newly formed creases before leaving the warm cubicle.
*gasp*
"You mean…you too?"
"What do you mean ‘you too’?"
"You…you…you came from somewhere else?"
"Well…I guess you can put it that way…"
"Mikagami-san, this is a rather big shock, de gozaru."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well…"
"Otousan! I’ve finished the
rest of them. Can I come in for breakfast now?" a voice from outside the
dojo cut
Kaoru’s words off. Kenshin
tilted his head towards the voice, "Aa. Demo, your okaasan says that you
have to
wash your hands first. I’ve
set a bucket of water there."
"Hai~!" In a few seconds,
the young kawaii redhead stepped into the large room. Donned in a baby-green
gi and
plain hakama, his face held
the same goofy smile, as did his dad’s. A questioning look fell on his
face when he saw
the trio deep in conversation.
"We were not originally from this place too, you see."
"Hai. The mirror that Kaoru-dono bought kind of sucked our house in. It was a terrible experience de gozaru yo."
"It wasn’t entirely my fault!
You were the one who tripped on it and got it activated. Besides, how was
I to know
that such a thing would
happen…And stop calling me Kaoru-dono! It’s high time you learned to drop
the ‘dono’."
"K-Kaoru-dono…Eeep!"
"BAKA!!"
"Orooo!"(Kenji and Tokiya sweatdrop)
"So you all aren’t from here either…and something transported you here, is that what you’re trying to say?"
"Hai."
"Where were you originally from?"
"Japan. We came from the Meiji Era. What about you?"
"Also from Japan. 20th century, I think."
"NANI? Our time gap is so wide!"
"Yeah. I know. I didn’t come
here through a mirror though. It was some kind of…this may sound weird
but I came
here by climbing a durianstalk."
"A durianstalk? What’s that?"
"Must be some kind of morphed beanstalk de gozaru."
"What’s ‘morphed’?
"I have no idea de gozaru yo."
"Kenshin…"
"Orooo!"
"Anyway, I need to get back home. My sister is waiting for me, you see. And I’ll need your assistance."
"Hai, Mikagami-san. Demo,
this world is strange and if we leave the dojo we may never be able to
find our way
back."
*sigh* "That means that I may never find the durianstalk again."
"Iie. You will find it again de gozaru yo. It’s only where you’ll find it that will bother you.""So you’re not coming?"
"Like what Kaoru said, we cannot leave our home."
"Demo, don’t you want to go back to the real world?"
"The time difference, Mikagami-san! Even if we head down the stalk, we still wouldn’t be back in our own world."
"Kaoru-dono is right. Demo, we won’t entirely be unable to go back home."
"What do you mean Kenshin?"
"I know a way of going back."
"NANI? You mean you knew it all along and you never told us for two and a half long years?! KENSHIN NO BAKA!"
"Su-Sumimasen K-Kaoru-dono! I didn’t mean to…ororo!"
*sweatdrop*
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU? DROP-THE-‘DONO’!"
*double sweatdrop*
Tokiya pondered over what
he was to do now that the samurai turned down his request. If what the
woman had
said was true, he might
never be able to go home again and see Mifuyu. He will never be able to
see his parents
again. And most importantly,
he will never be able to take such good care of his hair as he used to
and never
again will he be able to
buy branded clothes. *sigh* This was so depressing.
He glanced out the dojo’s
wide-open shoji, past the young lad and to the clothesline. There, hanging
limply and
dripping wet, were his clothes.
His branded clothes. So that’s it huh? He’s got to go off alone and find
his way
home. "Himura-san, Kaoru-san…"
The rurouni who was being
heavily attacked by his wife was not able to respond. Kaoru, however, had
heard her
name being called and stopped
to look at the man, who now had a rather big sweatdrop appearing on his
forehead.
"What a violent woman…" he
muttered to himself such that she would not hear. She just blinked and
let go of
Kenshin’s gi before regaining
her composure and knelt on the cushion when she heard her name being called,
looking intently but not
unkindly at the silver-haired man as if nothing had happened. "Nani?"
"I’ve decided maybe I’d better leave soon so that I can return earlier."
"Tokiya-niichan, you’re go back so soon?" a whiny voice came from behind him.
"Hai Kenji-chan."
"Demo…aren’t you going to even stay for lunch?"
"Kenji is right. You should stay for lunch."
"Aa. I will then. But it
will have to be quick. I think it’ll be rather unpleasant if I were to
wander about when night
falls."
"Hai Mikagami-san. I’ll go
make lunch now de gozaru yo." The rurouni stood up and gave a short bow
before
hurrying off to the kitchen
to prepare lunch.
Kaoru’s turned her wide, bright eyes to Tokiya. "So…Mikagami-san, what would you like to do now?"
His eyes turned cold again for that day. "I’d like to wait for my clothes to dry off properly and be alone now…thank you." The last two words were painfully forced out of his mouth. He obviously hadn’t forgiven her for the ribbon incident.
Now dressed snugly in his
usual clothes and out of those uncomfortable garments, Tokiya was thoroughly
pleased
as he waved goodbye to The
Three Ks. Lunch had been wonderfully made by Himura-san and his amazing
culinary
skills. He was fully energized
now and sure that he would definitely find the durianstalk in no time at
all. Reaching
into the far depths of his
coat pocket once again to ensure that Ensui was safely in place, Tokiya
said a last
goodbye and turned on his
heel, leaving the premises.
As soon as he had reached
the top of a hill, sure enough, the dojo disappeared from sight. He shrugged.
Himura-san had said that
there was a way for them to get back to their own world, so they must have
left as
soon as Tokya had departed.
But he was wrong. Sure Kenshin would have left this world sooner. But he
hadn’t,
not yet at least. Tokiya
had failed to understand Kenshin when he said that finding the durianstalk
would bother
him. He had also ignored
Kaoru pretty much when she had explained that they might never find the
dojo if they
left it. What they had truly
meant was that places in this world appeared and disappeared as and when
they
wanted to. What had really
happened to the Kamiya dojo was that it had been transported to another
area in this
world. The durianstalk remained
at where it had originally been. But the candy house, which had been near
the
durianstalk, had been transported
over time and brought Tokiya along with it to where luscious green grass
was.
This too was something Tokiya
hadn’t observed.
Tokiya walked on for hours
and hours, trying to retrace the path by which he had gotten here. The
surroundings
were all different now.
The grass didn’t go on and on like it did just yesterday. Instead, there
were trees all
around him, casting shadows
where he went, allowing no daylight to shine through in their pursuit of
being the
tree most exposed to sunlight.
The grass was damp and dead leaves cover them, shielding the tiny communities
of
insects from their predators.
Long vines twined themselves round the trees, some of them sucking nutrients
out
like leeches, others in
a race to reach the very top.
By the time night had already
begun to fall, lethargy had begun to take its toil on Tokiya. Tokiya himself
was
barely awake to support
himself and had taken out Ensui to use as a walking stick. He plodded on
for what
seemed like an eternity
before finally giving up and deciding to spend the night in these woods.
He came into a
clearing with five or six
trees surrounding an empty plot of land with a lonely stump and sat down
for a rest before
he made his sleeping quarters
for the night livable. Using his trusty sword, he jumped as high as he
possibly could
and swung his sword at the
tree branches, natural firewood provision. Then, using Ensui to suck out
all the
moisture within the wood,
he made proper firewood and split all of them easily into a reasonable
size with his
elemental weapon. He arranged
the firewood and began to rub one of them into another to create a fire.
Sure
enough, insignificant smoke
rose from the wood and Tokiya blew gently at an angle, causing the red
glow to
become a tiny fire. He added
some dried leaves and sticks to build up the fire before adding the larger
pieces of
wood. This process did not
take up too much of his time as the fire grew strong and warmed the tired
man.
[I have no idea whether sucking out moisture exists within Ensui’s use. But just ignore it anyway]
Tokiya was exhausted. The
preparations for the night had used up the very last ounce of his strength.
Alas, he
could bear it no longer
and slumped against the tree stump, hugging his coat tightly around him,
hoping for a
peaceful and fruitful sleep.
It wasn’t long before dawn came when a huge burly animal nudged the sleeping figure.
Tokiya mumbled a "Just five
more minutes. I promise to do the housework after that. Five more minutes…please
neechan…just five more…"
His words were replied by
an unexpected grunt, which caused him to wrench his eyes open. No sooner
had they
opened then did his eyelids
part as far as they could. Hovering above him was a…a gorilla! <Ensui…>
was his
immediate thought. But that
was of no use, the madougu had shrunk back to the tiny dagger and wouldn’t
stand a chance against this big ape. He tried to squeeze his way out of
the gorilla’s corner, but his legs were numb and
cold.
<This is it. And in a place like this…I’m not even next to neechan, not even near her. What a horrible way to…>
"Lay off him, you great big
ape!" a new voice rang out and warded the gorilla off. It had, too, heard
the voice and
obeyed instantly. It backed
off and revealed the owner of the voice. It was…a monkey?
<Oh great. Just what I need, another monkey which can actually command apes>
Daylight had already begun
to seep through the tiny gaps of the treetops as the sun’s warmth fell
on Tokiya,
breathing life into his
stiff limbs. He pushed himself up and brushed the earth off his clothes.
By that time, a young
girl had already taken the
monkey’s place and in the gorilla’s place a man…who looked like a gorilla
anyway. He
stared questioningly at
the two of them. <I must be dreaming…> "Erm…are, were you the monkey
that saved me?"
he directed at the girl.
She looked, for a second,
as if she was going to pulverize him into tiny bits and pieces but turned
around after
that and called out to her
partner. "Come on Domon. If we don’t leave soon, it’s bound to fly off
somewhere
again." The gorilla-man
nodded and followed her lead. She stopped for a moment to face Tokiya.
"You can come
along if you don’t wanna
stay around here in these woods. But you’d better make a move fast or we
won’t get
there in time."
Tokiya glanced around at
his surroundings before deciding to take refuge with these morphing monkeys
rather
than living out in the wild
and getting his clothes all dirty. He shrugged and trudged along behind
gorilla-man,
whose proper name was Domon.
Or least he thought so, according to what the girl had called him.
Tokiya stared at the sight
before him. All seven of them, living under the same roof. They definitely
weren’t
blood-related in any way
and didn’t look or act like each other. Likes and dislikes differed very
much. But basically,
the females, the overruling
party, decided everything that went on. All were as violent and abusive
and as vulgar
as the other. Except maybe
Raiha, the Sensitive New Age Guy of them all and Ganko, who was far too
young to
be bothered by these words.
It was evident that the two monkeys had gone out earlier to hunt for food,
but
came back with yet another
human. He had tried making conversation with the males went the ladies
had gone to
make breakfast.
"So…you guys are all madougu wielders?"
"Who are you?" a boy who resembled Recca demanded.
"Yeah. It’s not like Fuuko-han brings back guys everyday you know."
"Oh. Gomen. I totally forgot about the introduction. Boku wa Mikagami Tokiya desu."
"I am Koganei Kaoru. Glad to meet ya," Chibi-Recca introduced.
"Kaoru?"
"Yup. Is there a problem?"
"It’s just that I met a woman earlier on with the same name."
"NANI?"
"See you little brat, I toldya it was a gurlz name."
"What did you say you great big dummie?"
"Maa maa…Kaoru-chan, Domon-san.
Please…we have a guest. Mikagami-san, boku wa Raiha desu. Just Raiha will
do." The purple-haired man
had a constant smile on his face as he spoke.
"Boku was Joker desu. Like
Raiha-han, just Joker will do," the one with braids and a baseball cap
introduced
himself.
"And I’m Domon. The strongest one around here," the gorilla piped up.
"Yes, I’m sure. So you all aren’t from here either?"
"Yeah. We used to live in Hokage. Until Sakoshita-sama decided that we may overrule."
"H-Hokage? O-Okaasan?"
"Eh? Mikagami-han, you sure you’re okay?"
"Yeah. Waddaya mean by ‘Okaasan’?"
"Hokage…I came from there too…and I’m Otousan and Okaasan’s son."
"Of course you are your otousan and okaasan’s son. Who else can you be?"
"No…I mean…I am the son of
the chief of Hokage. Otousan just made it seem as if we were the relatives
of
Kagerou-san."
"…"
"…"
"… …"
"…So it’s true then…the rumour
that was spread about the chief’s children. What are you doing here then,
Mikagami-han? This place
is one where a heir should not be."
"Unless, of course, the chieftess has something against you…"
"I’m not sure…all I know is, I came across a durianstalk and wha-la I’m here."
"A-A DURIANSTALK? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
THAT’S GOTTA BE THE FUNNIEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD OF!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Domon and Kaoru howled in laughter as they fell on the floor,
clutching their stomach
and begin rolling about in laughter. Kaoru, of course, was first to get
out of that ridiculous
state. Forcing a serious
face, which he failed to do miserably, he gave unending apologies to the
slightly irritated
man.
"Forget it. It doesn’t matter.
In a weird would like this, strange things do happen," he responded to
the child’s
continuous ‘sorry’s. <This
is so embarrassing…>
"How did you all get here then?"
"Oh…that. Sakoshita-sama
gave us a weird looking table. She gave it to Fuuko-san, actually. We were
going to
her house for this party
you see. All of us here together with Kurei-sama were celebrating 2 years
of great
friendship. And something
happened so we got sucked into it. Good thing Kurei-sama picked that time
to go to the
washroom."
"Kurei-han may have also
come here, but I seriously doubt so. It looked like it can only be used
once anyway.
Sakoshita-sama’s hocus pocus
don’t last very long."
"Poor Fuuko-neechan and Domon-niichan here accidentally ate some of her jinxed food."
"Hai. And we don’t know how
long we’re all going to stay here. Probably for the rest of our lives.
There doesn’t
seem to be a way out of
this place…You have a way out, Mikagami-han?"
"Oh. Uh…yeah, I kinda do.
You see, I came here by the durianstalk and now all I gotta do is get back
to it and
climb back down."
"What did the place look like then, when you first arrived?"
"Erm…cloudy…?"
"That’s easy. We’ll be transported
there in a week or so," a new voice arose. All heads turned to see the
purple-haired girl who was
leaning casually against the wall just in front of the kitchen.
"Fuuko-han? Aren’t you supposed to be helping them out?"
"Hai. But they say that I’ll
probably blow up the whole place, so I came here and overheard Mikagami’s
current
problem."
"But how can you tell where and when the house will appear in Cloudland?"
"This place goes anywhere
everyday. We’ve already been to Grassview, Forestness and Goldmine in the
past three
days. I’m sure we’ll get
to Cloudland soon enough. We were there just about a month ago. *sigh*
so many places
to go and see. This is a
dreamland."
"Hai…"
There wasn’t much to do at
the house. The guys just lazed around a lot, except Raiha and Joker of
course. Kaoru
was constantly playing with
his Rubix cube or going into the garden during the afternoons to practice
with his
Kougan Anki. Domon ate and
ate and ate while trying to figure out how to get rid of the silly spell
that was on him
and was forced to spend
his ‘gorilla nights’ in garden. Fuuko, the purple-haired woman was rather
tomboyish, it
seemed. Short tempered and
turned into a monkey at night, she spent days lazing around at times or
practicing
with Kaoru. She also had
‘monkey nights’ like Domon, but spent them in the living room, as it was
her assigned
area to clean. Neon had
long flowing auburn hair and pretty much took charge of the house alongside
Fuuko. All
meals were prepared by her
with the frequent help of Ganko and the food which Fuuko and the guys brought
back. Fuuko used to be in
the kitchen until realised an annoyance, so she got chased out constantly
and began
taking to it after a while.
Ganko was a young nine year old little girl and was easy enough to get
along with. She
spent her nights together
with her ‘Fuuko-neechan’ in the living room and was never allowed out for
food hunts.
It was so easy to get along with these people. Living with them made Tokiya feel as if he had another family. Daily quarrels over the bathroom and stuff like that made them all seem like one big family of siblings and he began to drop the formality. After Tokiya had arrived and told him his current situation, Fuuko and Ganko would look out of the window early every morning and checked to see if they were in Cloudland yet. It was even agreed that on the day they arrived at Cloudland, all would pack up and leave the house forever in order to find the beanstalk and go home.
On this very day, Tokiya
had been dragged of the comfy sofa and forced by Neon to "go with Fuuko
and Kaoru to
find food". The two had
brought along their weapons - Kaoru with his Kougan Anki and Fuuko with
her Fuujin and
kunais. Since they had landed
in Plantation Haven, food was easily available. Everywhere they went, there
were
dozens and dozens of vegetation.
His two companions had brought along a large bag each and filled them with
all
sorts of fruits and vegetables.
As they walked on through
the vast land of edibles, Tokiya began wondering about his new companions,
especially
the two ‘Monkey people’.
The reason why the spell was on them was already known, but how to get
rid of the
annoying fact was a bit
of a problem. Domon had clearly spent his time pondering over how turn
back into a
normal human…but Fuuko didn’t
seem to be bothered, at least she didn’t act it. He glanced at the Fuujin-wielder
and then to the boy beside
him.
"Kaoru…"
"Hmm?"
"May I ask you something?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you guys found out a way to get rid of the spell?"
"Huh? What’re you talking about?"
"You know…the monkey thing…"
"Oh…that…well…we don’t know
about Domon-niichan’s solution, but Fuuko-neechan definitely knows how
to break
it."
"And…?"
"I don’t know. Neon-neechan,
Fuuko-neechan and Ganko used to talk about it secretly, but they stopped
a year
ago. Musta found out how…"
"WHAT? You guys have been here for over a year!?"
"Uh huh."
<Oh boy…in a place like
this? That’s gotta be awful. But then again, Himura-san’s been here for
more than two
years…>
"So you don’t know?"
"Are you nuts? Of course I don’t. None of the guys would anyway…what the girls do is none of our business."
"I see…"
"If you really wanna know,
why don’t you go and ask Neon-neechan or Ganko. But don’t ever question
Fuuko-neechan directly,
you’ll get badly bruised, you know what I mean?"
"Un."
Signs of dusk making its entranced prompted them to leave the abundant land and retreat back into the house.
Fuuko opened her eyes drowsily
as her stomach growled yet again. <Teme. Always bothering me at the
wrong
time.> Darkness beyond the
other side of the window told her that the sun hadn’t begun to rise yet.
Dragging
herself into the kitchen
where the remains of last night’s supper were scattered, she rubbed her
watery eyes and
stretched.
*YAWN* her mouth opened as
wide as it could. While popping a single juicy round cherry into her mouth,
she drew the curtains and pushed open the windows as her daily routine.
Fresh morning air floated through the open
window. The breeze seemed
awfully good today. Newborn streaks of light gave her a clearer view of
the world
outside. It was white. Not
the flaky kind of white, but sort of wispy. Then she knew that they had
reached their
destination.
Immediately, she dashed into
the males’ room without thinking and came upon a repulsive sight. The white
sheets
of the joint twin beds were
crumpled under Tokiya and Kaoru’s weight. Both were shirtless and had the
blankets
drawn up to their waist.
Legs were poking out from underneath those blue sheets of silken cloth.
Raiha and Joker
were both on the floor.
Raiha slumped against the wall in his everyday ninja clothes with purple
hair strewn across
his face, and Joker stretched
out on the floor with (as always) his baseball cap on, hiding his eyes.
His braids still
stuck out from underneath
the cap, and just like Raiha, he was fully dressed as well.
Joker was the first to wake
up as she gawked at them. He expression turned from a sleepy one into a
highly
embarrassed one. "FUU -
FUUKO-HAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
His outburst was, of course,
loud enough to awake everyone in the household and even the gorilla in
the garden.
She was already beginning
to transform back into a human when Neon, Ganko and Domon hurried in to
the room.
"Mi-Minna…Domon…did you see it?"
"Huh? Fuuko, what are you talking about? See what?"
"Outside…they’re clouds…"
"Yeah…so?"
It took awhile before these
dodos’ brains could translate the meaning of Fuuko’s words. And in the
blink of an eye,
the guys were fully dressed
and the women packing food into backpacks. It took them about thirty minutes
before
they could bound out of
the door and say goodbye to their safe refuge for more than a year. The
clouds were
strong footholds even though
they were supposed to be made up of water particles.
A hazy mist obscured their
view, but that was soon dealt with when Fuuko used Fuujin to clear the
mist. Even in
the horizon, wispy white
still rolled on and on, never ending. There were no dangers in this area
of the large world.
None at all, except for
thunderstorms. Bolts of lightning would flash and if one was not careful,
you could kiss your
ass goodbye. Having Raiha
around was very useful for this matter, and Fuuko could easily calm the
winds.
They carried on walking for
days and days, only to rest in chilly nights without a single source of
light. Silken
blankets were tightly bundled
round everyone during those cold hours. Joyful were they when time came
for them
to thaw a little and continue
their journey.
One unfortunate evening,
however, just before the monkey natures were about to pop out, Fuuko slipped
on the
white mist and banged her
head
against the clouds. Now, this was a terrible mistake for as soon as her
head had
plunged into the fluff,
she fell into a deep, deep sleep, never to be woken for another ten thousand
years or so.
Neon, Ganko and Raiha dashed
to her side and pulled her head out of the fluff and began shaking her
vigorously in
hopes that her lids would
pry themselves apart.
"Fuuko-neechan!"
"Fuuko-san!"
"Fuuko-chan! Wake up! Please, you’re scaring me."
These wake up calls carried on for over an hour, but she never woke up. She just laid there, dead-still.
Tokiya stared off into the
darkness as soft snores erupted from the mounds all around him. One particular
one
made no sound, just the
gentle rise and fall of her chest. Curled up next to it was a tiny ball
with telltale strands
of yellow hair protruding
from the sheets.
Fuuko had been asleep for
five days straight now and had been traveling with them at the same time.
All agreed
that to find the durianstalk
was their first priority as the food was running short. But now with Fuuko
down, their
supplies could last longer.
The men took turns to carry her on their journeys. Only Kaoru did not have
that
particular responsibility,
as he wasn’t as well built as the rest. However, that meant that he would
have to carry
the extra load alongside
Neon and Ganko. In a few hours time, he would have to take another turn
and carry her.
The green tip of the durianstalk
had been easily distinguishable and the party was now heading towards it.
Foreign
objects appeared from time
to time and wells were provided every few miles. Water bags were prepared
for those
special occasions when they
came across one of these lifesavers.
Rays of light began to appear as the pitch-blackness slowly turned dark purple. Just beside him, Kaoru was already getting up and rotating his head around and around, trying to get rid of the stiff neck he had gotten overnight. One by one, the madougu wielders got up from their night’s rest and soon, all were ready to continue their journey back to Hokage. Tokiya checked her temperature yet again before gently picking up the blue bundle and led the rest to the small green object in the near distance.
It took them no longer than
three days to reach the tip of the durianstalk. A glance downwards revealed
large
spikes of the durians’ shells,
green and almost impenetrable. Carefully, they loaded their luggage onto
their backs.
Sadly, the food supplies
had to be left behind as they were only extra load and unnecessary. Joker
was the first
to set off down the green
stalk. He was followed by Raiha, who had Fuuko in his arm and made his
way carefully
down the durianstalk, making
sure of footholds and hanging on tightly to the defenseless being. The
rest
proceeded after these two,
also making sure that their safety was assured.
Once down the long, winded
stalk, Tokiya quickly led them to the cottage that he was currently living
in. Mifuyu
wasn’t home as expected,
so he hurried and head towards the palace of his dear parents. He passed
by the
durianstalk as he did so
and met Yanagi and Recca there.
"’Kaasan, Otousan, what happened?"
"Hime, look at what you did to her."
"Go-gomen ne Recca-kun. I’m
so, so sorry. I didn’t expect it to last for so long. I-I got jealous,"
Yanagi sobbed in
a pitiful state.
"Ah, Tokiya. We’ve been wondering where you went."
"Huh?"
"Hime, hurry up and pour the antidote over her."
"Over her?" Tokiya was confused
and looked around for another female being. His mother reached into the
folds of
her kimono and pulled out
a tiny clear bottle filled with a dark purplish liquid. Popping open the
cork, she titled it
slightly so as to allow
a single drop to land on the roots of the durianstalk. Almost instantly,
it began to mutate
and shaped itself into a
female figure. [Fully clothed of course, all u hentais…]
Tokiya’s jaw dropped open. "’Neesan?"
"That’s over. Can we go now?"
"Nope, not until you find back my loyal guards. All seven of them."
Tokiya began to take interest in their conversation. "Your loyal guards…do they all own madougus."
"Hai. Kurei-niisan will be wanting my head off soon with a battle if I don’t return Neon to him."
"Neon?"
"Hai."
"Do their names happen to be Neon, Fuuko, Ganko, Kaoru, Raiha, Joker and Domon?"
"Hai…how did you know that?"
"Because they are currently in the cottage…one of them is…in a bad state…"
"Hime, quickly!" Swiftly,
the chief picked up his daughter and slung her over his shoulder as he
sped off to the
cottage. [Whoa, what a violent
dad…didn’t even pick her up gently…]
"Gomen ne, Domon-kun. I’m terribly sorry you had to stay a night gorilla for so long."
"Hn. Sakoshita-sama, youre are over the people-being-in-greater-power business, aren’t you?"
"H-hai."
"Demo, Sakoshita-neechan,
Fuuko-neechan still hasn’t awoken and we can’t do anything about her until
she
wakes up, right?"
"Un. I’m afraid I can’t do anything about the effects casted on her due to the clouds Sleeping Fluff."
"…"(Domon)
"… …"(Kaoru)
"__________…" (Tokiya)
"…Hime, are you very sure?"
"Um. There is one solution to this, though."
"WHAT?" All shouted eagerly, the guys especially.
"But you can’t do it unless you really know Fuuko-san really, really well."
"Never mind about that, just tell us please, Okaasan."
"Well…itistoletthemanofherdreamskissher."
"Huh?"
"But how would we be able to know who Fuuko-neechan dreams of?"
"That’s what I was trying to say…"
"Any other alternative, Yanagi-sama?"
"I’m afraid I know not of any other solution."
*sigh*
So they placed her in a beautiful
glass casket in the middle of the palace. And she was never ever woken
up by
the man of her dreams. Tokiya
passed by her glass casket everyday as Mifuyu and him were brought back
to the
palace to be Hanabishi Mifuyu
and Hanabishi Tokiya. He always wondered who the man of her dreams was
and
sadly, he never figured
that it could be him. He kept waiting for the one to come and wake her
up, in hopes of
being able to snatch her
away. He even got Kagerou to teach him Hokage’s method of gaining everlasting
life, for
as Fuuko ner woke up, she
never grew old. Thus, they stayed that way-Tokiya waiting for her to be
awoken, and
Fuuko waiting for him just
to break her spell.
And here, minna-san, is where our story ends. They lived waitingly ever after.
-----
"Kaoru-dono, Kenji-chan, are you all ready?"
"Hai."
"Un."
"Let’s go then. San! Ni! Ichi!"
The three K’s saw an electric
blue flash and felt as if they were being suffocated. Soon, they landed
back in safe
Tokyo. But they remember
seeing a queer sight before that…
-----
Fuuko watched as yet another
spaceship flew past her head. She glared at the silvered-hair baka and
screamed
at him, even though she
knew he could not hear. ‘BAKA, WHY DON’T YOU JUST WAKE ME UP, FOOL. IT’S
ALREADY
5009. AREN’T YOU GOING TO
DO ANYTHING?’
****************
Did you enjoy it, minna-san?
I had a great difficulty in finding a proper ending. *shrug* Hehz. Cya!