Blue Seed Fan Fiction ❯ Dreamer Awakened ❯ Out of the Darkness ( Chapter 29 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

29. Out of the Darkness









Dreamer Awakened


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE



Kaede just stared at Momiji, unsure of what to say, and
averted her gaze when she realized her sister was giving her a searching look.
She ended up staring out across the gently swaying field of flowers, watching
the pink and purple blossoms dance in the wind and tried to arrange her face
into a suitably serene expression.
"It's beautiful here," Momiji began tentatively,
trying to fill the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them, unsure
how to begin what it was that she wanted to say.
"It isn't real," Kaede responded flatly and then
inwardly cringed at how harsh she sounded. She should apologize, she silently
chided herself, but she didn't. Instead she rose to her feet, her white robes
falling gracefully around her lithe figure, and turned her back to her sister
and her husband, who stood discreetly at a distance, watching the two sisters
interact. "It's nothing more than dream; a picture that I have created to
fill the dark void of this place," she explained, unable to keep a thread
of bitterness from creeping into her voice as she waved her hand in front of
her. "If I were to let go of the image, it would disappear and become
nothing; swallowed up in the blackness of endless sleep." Kaede finished
speaking and took a step into the flowers, watching their movement with sad
eyes, remaining silent for a long moment before quietly adding, "This is
the only way that I can… hang on to the memories of the things that I used to
love about Japan; the only way I can get a glimpse of the things that inspired
me to want to become - the Princess Kushinada." Again silence fell heavily
between them, and Kaede let her dark head droop. Her green eyes wandered over
the bright blossoms swaying around the white hem of her robe, mirroring more of
her melancholy than ever before as she said softly, "But just because I can
see them, doesn't make them real." And to demonstrate her point, she
reached down as if to scoop up a handful of them, and her hand swept through
them without disturbing them.
Momiji watched Kaede's actions, noting the stiff set of her
sister's shoulders, and her eyes wandered to the silent figure of Susano-oh,
seeking some sort of guidance from him. She had not expected to find Kaede this
way, and was not sure what she should say to the despondent figure of her
sister. Susano-oh returned her watchful gaze, his dark eyes steady as he gave
her an enigmatic smile. And suddenly Momiji knew that he had brought her here,
not just her sake, but for her sister's sake as well.
"I'm sorry, Kaede," she blurted out, not knowing
how else to start. "If I hadn't failed you -"
Kaede turned, astonished at Momiji's words, "What are
you talking about?" she gasped, interrupting Momiji before she could
finish. She moved towards Momiji and cupped her sister's face in her hands;
green searching green as she stared solemnly into the depths of Momiji's eyes.
"You haven't failed me, Momiji," she reassured.
"But," Momiji began, her own eyes shimmering with
her earnest distress as her fingers came up to curl around those of her sister's,
"I can see that you - you're unhappy. If I hadn't failed to protect
you at the iwatto, then perhaps you could have stayed with us - with me, and
- Kusanagi - and Mom and Mr. Kunikida for a while."
Momiji's statement stopped Kaede in her tracks, an arrested
expression on her face and she dropped her hands away from Momiji's face,
emotionally retreating from Momiji's reach.
"What makes you think that I'm not happy?" she
asked diffidently after a long moment. Her face assumed a blank expression as
she shot a furtive glance beneath her lashes at Susano-oh, who stood vigilantly
watching them, before she once again pinned her sister under her green stare and
reverted the focus away from herself and back to her sister. 'You didn't
fail me, Momiji. There was little that you could do to keep what happened from
happening," she reiterated steadily, and then added in a stonier voice,
"this is where my place is. I could never have stayed with you. Even if I
hadn't misjudged Tamanasu's actions - which was my fault not yours -
I would have returned here, regardless. This is where I belong. It is part of my
destiny as the Princess Kushinada."
"But Kaede," Momiji argued, feeling the silent
presence of Susano-oh urging her on, "why couldn't you have stayed for a
little while? You had the crystal mitama…"
"Because, I don't belong to your world anymore!"
Kaede replied her brows snapping into a line over her emerald eyes as she
responded a little more sharply than she had intended. Closing her mouth with a
snap, she clenched her hands into fists at her sides and strove to gain control
of her more tumultuous emotions. "It is my duty to remain by Lord Susano-oh's
side," she managed in a more dignified manner, echoing what she had thought
to be true until recently, "and do what I can from here, just as it is your
duty to safeguard those around you."
Momiji said nothing, but she bit her lip and stared at her
sister's face and Kaede could see that she wanted to continue arguing with her
over it. But Kaede was already tired of hearing it; not from Momiji, but from
herself.
"Is that the only reason you came here, Momiji? To ask
me to return?" Her voice rose uncontrollably, and she was unable to stop
it, the center of her thoughts before her sister came, having been just that.
"- There is precious little I can do from here!" she informed Momiji
heatedly, "let alone if I were to return with you!" Kaede stopped and
took a gulp of air, realizing that she was saying far more than she should.
Kaede was used to having responsibilities, used to being
needed, having grown accustomed to the heavy mantle that she bore as the
Princess Kushinada. But with the death of Hikaru, she had slowly come to realize
that her role had become a limited one, for she had not been able to change the
inevitable. And even within the layers of her own world, she was forced to
acknowledge that fact as well, feeling herself increasingly distanced from Lord
Susano-oh because of his continued trust in Murakumo, despite her voiced
objections to the contrary.
There were no rituals for her to perform, no wisdom that she
could impart to her husband, and she felt obsolete; useless and unnecessary,
wondering why she was here, since Susano-oh no longer needed her assistance. For
the first time since she had come here, she felt lost, and she had been struck
by a sudden surge of homesickness. Right before Momiji had arrived, Kaede had
been wishing that she could have stayed behind after the birth of Noa,
wanting to feel needed in some way, like before. But she couldn't let Momiji
know that, she told herself. Her sister had enough to worry about without adding
herself to the list.
"From here, I at least can keep an eye on Mu - "
she blurted out, but stopped suddenly, her green eyes flying to Lord Susano-oh's
face when his voice rang her name out in warning. "Oh! I - I am sorry, My
Lord," she murmured, "I should not have…"
Momiji watched in confusion as Kaede quickly dropped her head
into a submissive pose, and Lord Susano-oh moved towards them, a stern
expression in his eyes as he gazed at his wife. Momiji's head swiveled back
and forth between the two, until she felt an urgent tug at the back of her mind,
and her vision began to blur.
A few seconds later, Susano-oh's face swam into view as he
bent over her and she heard him say as if from a distance, "You have
brought to me understanding, Kushinada, and for that, I thank you. But now it's
time for you to return." And then everything went black and she felt as if
she was falling, the echo of his final words swirling around her in the
darkness, "Someone is calling you."
Kaede watched her sister; the only small piece of reality
within her world, slowly fade from view. And she was left standing alone amidst
the swaying field of flowers and bright sunshine, with Lord Susano-oh just a few
feet away, his back to her, still in the same position as before when he had
freed Momiji from this place of dreams. He turned to face her after a few
seconds, and Kaede hurriedly looked away from him, across the endless field.
Tired of maintaining the façade, she let it slip away, the flowers turning
ashen and the skies going grey. She closed her eyes to it, though, before it
could completely vanish back into blackness, and heard Susano-oh's voice break
through her thoughts.
"You may return, if that is what you truly desire,"
he murmured, "nothing is impossible. You have only but to ask it of
me."
Kaede's eyes flew open at his words. They were meant to
free her, offering her exactly what she thought she had wanted, and yet her
heart twisted in her chest. What was it that she wanted, if not this? And then
she knew. Him. It all came down to him, her love for him and the fact that she
could not serve at his side the way she felt she ought to.
"You…?" she began, her voice quavering as tears
crowded her throat, " - you wish me to leave?"
"I would never wish for such a thing," he denied
vehemently.
She tightly clenched her hands together in front of her and
stared off into the darkness. Then she felt something soft and velvety brush
against her cheek and turned her head to see the petals of a purple blossom
clutched between the fingers of her husband's hand. Her eyes dilated in
surprise, becoming dark as she stared at the delicate bloom. She turned towards
him and reached up, using a finger to trace the fragile petals, her eyes full of
questions as they found his.
"Nothing is impossible," he murmured, his voice
soft and melodic in her ears as he spoke aloud. "You have only but to ask
it of me."
Kaede's eyes grew round as he finished speaking, for the
blackness began to turn to grey and then was awash with color. She was once
again standing in a field, but this time, it was a field of fragrantly sweet
flowers, and the blue sky above was now warmed by the sun and filled with fluffy
white clouds moved by a gentle breeze. It was real. All of it, and again Kaede's
heart twisted in her chest at the depth and scope of her husband's power. What
need did he have for a glorified human as a wife? And even though she might be
the Princess Kushinada, she felt unworthy to stand by his side. Her bottom lip
began to tremble and she tried to turn away from him to hide her anguish. But he
wouldn't let her, his gentle fingers applying relentless pressure on her chin,
forcing her to look into his eyes.
"You cry," he said, his voice sounding distressed
in the stillness as he let the purple blossom flutter to the ground. "Tell
me why." And when she said nothing, a small frown knit his brow and he
murmured, sounding aggrieved, "do you wish to return to your father and
sister that much?"
"No!" She exclaimed, "I do not belong
there!" She wrenched away from him and took a few halting steps forwards,
numbly noticing that the wildflowers rasped against her robes as she brushed
past them. "But I do not belong here either!" she concluded miserably
in a softer way.
"I see you have forgotten what you vowed you would
not," he chided softly against her ear as he stepped closer to her,
refusing to let her retreat.
"Forgotten?" she mumbled, her fingers intertwined
in front of her as she twisted them together fretfully, the persuasive beauty of
his voice beckoning to her even as she tried to steel herself against its power.
Susano-oh put his hands on her shoulders, and leaned closer
to her, his breath brushing against the curve of her neck as he whispered into
her ear, " You told me that your place was here with me." His fingers
tightened on her shoulders. "And yet I feel you drifting farther and
farther away. Why, Kaede?"
"Because I do not understand you!" she replied
tightly, "I do not understand why… you put your faith in Murakumo! And
because I cannot understand your will, I have become useless to you. What
meaning is there in my existence here if I can only sit and helplessly watch as
the future is shaped? I can offer you nothing of value, do nothing but voice my
fears that serve to oppose the resolution of your will. I know they are not
worthy of merit and should be brushed aside, and yet, they are all I have to
contribute - a poor offering far beneath your contempt! So what does that
leave me? What do I have left to give you?" she railed "- I thought it
was the Princess Kushinada's role to stand by you, to become one with your
will, and yet I have failed at that!"
She felt his fingers slide through her hair as he stepped
around in front of her, drawing her face closer to his. Before she could protest
he pressed his lips against hers in a possessive kiss and Kaede felt a sense of
urgency in his embrace as he held her tightly against him, his mouth sliding
over hers again and again until, when she could no longer breathe, he set her
free.
"You are so young, Kaede," he told her in his
exquisitely melodic voice, his eyes full of tenderness as he brushed his fingers
against her face, "and yet I have waited many lifetimes for you."
Kaede didn't know what to say, and so she just stared up at him, watching as
shadows of the past replayed themselves in his eyes. "In the age of Legend,
the first Kushinada became my wife. She was young, too. Like you. But it wasn't
long before she became disconsolate, being separated from the rest of her
family. She begged for me to let her return, and so I sent her home, where she
eventually met and married a human. And thus, began the long line of your
descendants."
Kaede took a deep breath, a bewildered expression on her
face. "I do not understand - " she began and he silenced her with
yet another kiss, this one soft and lingering; not as deep as the first, but
just as possessive in its own way.
"I do not remember her name, Kaede," he whispered
into her ear after his lips left hers, his arms wrapping around her as he
pressed his face against the curve of her neck. "- Or the color of her
eyes, or the sound of her voice. Perhaps that is wrong, but as time passed, I
found that I did not care that I couldn't remember. That she was a passing
memory with a lasting legacy was what was important to me. - And then you were
born. How fortunate for me that you also happened to be among the
Kushinada."
"But, I thought…" she began tremulously and in a
muffled way, her faced pressed snuggly against Susano-oh's chest.
"That you were the reincarnation of the first
Kushinada?" he asked, amusement lacing the music of his words. "No,
Kaede. You are much stronger than she was. - You eclipse her, casting the pale
shadow of her memory into further darkness as you have brought light to my
world." The continued sound of his voice, and the feel of his arms around
her began to heal the rift that she had allowed to grow between them, and she
felt some of the tightness around her heart lessen. She clutched at him, her
fingers twisting the fabric of his robes so tightly that she thought she might
rip them. "Do you think I would demand that you sacrifice your mind and
your heart? To become a puppet to do my bidding, with no thoughts and feelings
of your own? Why should I wish for such a thing when all I want is to shape this
world for you?" So saying he released her to reach down and pick a handful
of flowers offering the pink and purple blossoms to her, his eyes steadily
offering her something else. "I will love you for always, my sweet Kaede.
Please tell me what it is you desire that will keep you by my side, and keep you
from drifting away from me, for I cannot bear to lose you."
Kaede blinked her eyes, unable to see him properly through
the blur of her tears. "I - I," she stammered through trembling
lips, "I only wish to be your Princess Kushinada, that's all."
"You will always be the world's Princess Kushinada.
But to me, you are more than that. You are my Kaede," he endeared to her
softly, moving towards her and placing the blossoms in her hands, his fingers
folding around hers at the same time. Kaede stared blindly at their combined
hands and said nothing for a moment.
"But my lord -" she gulped, a single tear sliding
free and splashing against his hand as she attempted one last effort to make him
understand that she had failed in her duties as his wife.
"Do you love me, Kaede?" he asked her.
"Yes," she answered without hesitating, her heart
clearly reflected in her eyes as they finally rose back to his face.
"Even when you cannot understand why I have placed my
trust in the Prince of Aragami?" he further challenged.
"Yes," came her answer almost before he finished
speaking.
"There is nothing greater that the Princess Kushinada
can do for her lord than to offer him this. There is nothing more that I would
ask of Kaede than her love, for that is what makes this unending sleep bearable
for me." His hands finally left hers to rest feather light against her
cheeks and he entreated once again, "Please, Kaede, tell me how to keep you
by my side."
Finally she gave him a smile. "When you speak to me, I
find that I cannot stray too far," she teased breathlessly, "for your
voice is so beautiful and I would miss it if I were to leave."
"Then, for you," he told her, his lips curling into
a smile as he spoke, "my voice shall speak my thoughts, if it is siren's
song that calls you to me. But not now," he teased in return, his smile
taking on a slightly seductive twist. He trailed his fingers away from her face,
down her shoulders and around her back, letting them slide downwards until they
were resting against her hips. Then he pulled her up against him and leaned
forward, his eyes sliding to her sweet smile. "Right now I find that I
prefer to use my lips for something that requires your participation as
well."
Kaede wrapped her arms around Susano-oh's waist, angling
her face upwards to meet his, the last remnants of her sadness fading in her
husband's warm embrace.

Momiji thought she heard Kusanagi's voice through the
darkness surrounding her. It sounded so far away at first, but it was getting
louder with each passing moment, as was an uncomfortable sensation that she
couldn't place at first. But as Kusanagi's voice grew louder and more
insistent, Momiji began to realize what it was she felt. She was being shaken;
rather viciously too, her stiff body protesting vehemently through sharp jabs of
pain each time she was snapped first forward then backwards.
She opened her eyes, his name passing her lips in the form of
a croak, but he didn't seem to have heard her, for the shaking continued and
she was forced to squawk loudly, "Stop! Stop! Before you shake my eyeballs
out!"
The jarring ceased then, Kusanagi's hands releasing her,
and Momiji let out a relieved sigh, closing her eyes on the wave of dizziness
that assailed her at the abrupt cessation of motion. She felt herself suddenly
veer backwards and heard Kusanagi swear loudly as he watched her slow tumble
towards the water.
"Dammit, Momiji!" he hissed at her, his fists
catching her by the front of her robes and hauling her back to a standing
position before pulling her cold body up against his and wrapping his arms
securely around her. "Are you all right?" he asked her after a moment,
his anger mingling with his concern as he felt her nod into his chest.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, and remarked accusingly before
she could reply, "I thought I told you to wait for me at home."
Momiji gently pushed away from him, and peered up at his
stern expression through the dimness of the iwatto, the light from before, gone.
"I know," she replied, a note of apology in her voice. "And I
would have waited," she told him haltingly, having difficulty
concentrating. She put her hand to her forehead as she fought to pull her
jumbled thoughts together. "But Ryoko called this morning about Kaede and
the murders in Tokyo and telling Mom - and I couldn't tell her no, you
see?" she babbled incoherently while Kusanagi just looked at her,
helplessly lost.
He stared at her, his mouth slightly agape, and then
demanded, "What!? What the hell does that have to do with why you're
standing here, half dressed staring off into space - " he broke off as
she dropped her hand away from her face, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at
her.
Momiji watched him study her, giving him a questioning look
as he put his finger out and trailed it across her forehead. Then he pulled back
and brought his hand up in front of his face, transferring his gaze to it, and
his eyes narrowed even further.
"You're bleeding," he muttered, and grabbed her
hand, looking at the slashes across her fingers and the long one across her
palm. Then he bent down and scooped up a handful of water and poured it over her
hand, gently washing the blood away. "What the heck have you been
doing!?"
Kusanagi watched Momiji pull her hand away from him and turn
it over to look at it as if she was seeing it for the first time. "It was
the Ceremonial Blade of Sacrifice," she muttered absently, her other hand
going to her waist before she muttered, "… Susano-oh took it." And
then she glanced at Kusanagi, who was still staring at her as if she'd lost
her mind, "I came here to talk to Kaede," she told him, and watched as
understanding flashed across his face, his anger rapidly dwindling away.
"Did you find her?" he quietly asked, and then
after she slowly nodded, "and did she tell you what you needed to know -
that there was nothing you could have done?" And again she slowly nodded,
but instead of looking relieved, her expression became troubled, her green eyes
glinting solemnly up at him.
"I'm worried about her, Kusanagi," she murmured,
biting her lip, "she was so…. sad, and I felt - like she was drifting
and lost. I wanted to help her, but…" she stopped, recalling Susano-oh's
last words to her and she perceived that he too was aware that Kaede had been
drifting.
"You shouldn't be worrying about Kaede, Momiji,"
he told her softly, again reaching down into the water and then grasping her
chin and angling her face up so he could brush away the smear of blood her hand
had left on her forehead with his wet fingertips. "I think that Susano-oh
can take of her without any help from us." As he worked his eyes drifted
over her expression and he could see that she wanted to believe him, and he
allowed himself a small smile as he finally let go of her chin, satisfied now
that the blood was gone. "And besides, just as you insightfully pointed out
to me last night, he is a god -" He pretended not to notice the
flood of color that stained Momiji's cheeks at the mention of the previous
night, barely pausing before adding, "so I doubt that he will allow Kaede
to be unhappy for too long."
"I suppose you're right," Momiji replied in a
subdued way after a moment of consideration. "I know that he cares deeply
for her, and that she feels the same way -" she stopped what she was
saying as if she just realized he was standing in the pool next to her, her eyes
trailing downwards to see the long tails of his coat billowing out in the water
and the faded color of his jeans darkened by the water saturating them. With a
look of dismay, she exclaimed, "Kusanagi! Your coat!" and then
wordlessly pointing, " - and your jeans! You're soaking wet!"
Kusanagi snorted at her belated observances and crossed his
arms in front of him. "No wetter than you, Princess," he retorted
wryly.
"But, you shouldn't have come into the water like
that," she protested, still staring at the sodden tails of his coat.
"Did you expect me to remove my pants??" and at her
embarrassed look added, "I didn't think so. Besides, you gave me little
choice," he informed her in a seething way, "since you weren't
coming out. And at least I remembered to take my shoes off before coming in to
get you." As he finished speaking, he leaned forward, scooping her up
despite her protests that she could walk, and waded through the water, back
towards the ledge of the pool. "Now," he grunted as he deposited her
on dry ground and climbed up after her, "suppose you tell me just exactly
why you didn't wait for me, and what happened to your hand."
"Well," Momiji bit her lip and looked from him to
the black water of the pool, wondering if he would believe her, especially since
she found it difficult to believe herself. After a deep breath she launched into
her tale, beginning with Ryoko's phone call and ending with her encounter with
Kaede. Through it all, he just stood there listening intently, his face showing
none of the alarm he felt when she talked about what had happened with the
Ceremonial Blade of Sacrifice.
"Where is the Blade now?" he wanted to know when
she finished.
"Lord Susano-oh must have kept it," she mused,
"because I don't have it anymore. I wonder if Grandma knew what it was
capable of."
"I doubt it," Kusanagi replied speculatively,
stepping over to the ledge where the solar mirror sat, turning and pulling
himself up into a sitting position next to the neat pile of her clothes and
sliding his shoes back on. "If Susano-oh wasn't aware of its true
potential power, then surely your grandmother couldn't have known. - I'm not
saying that she didn't know that it held a special power," he amended as
an afterthought, knowing that the little woman always seemed to know something
about everything, "but I doubt she would have given it to you if she had
known what would've happen when you dropped it into the pool."
Momiji nodded in agreement, silently mulling it over in her
head as Kusanagi reached over, finally finished with his shoes, and picked up
her clothes, holding them out to her. Momiji took them from him and stood there
holding them, looking at him expectantly.
He quirked a brow at her and asked, "Aren't you going
to get dressed?"
"Aren't you going to wait outside?" came her
flippant response.
"No," was his dry reply.
"Why not?" she demanded, her brows snapping
together over eyes that still managed to sparkle despite the lack of sunlight.
"After what's happened here, you can still ask me
that, Momiji?" He raised disbelieving eyebrows at her and she made a
frustrated noise. "Why are you getting so upset?" he couldn't resist
adding, "It's not like I haven't already seen your b -"
"Mamoru Kusanagi!" Momiji screeched, her face
filling with hectic color, mortified beyond words that he would bring that up.
"Er, all right, all right," he said, trying to hide
his amusement at her overabundant modesty. He lazily motioned to the mirror then
and said in an offhand manner, "If it makes you feel better, why don't
you douse the light and then get dressed."
Momiji's eyes slid from him to the mirror, a petulant frown
marring her expression.
"It's all you're gonna get Princess," he told
her, unrelenting, "Because I'm not leaving this cave without you."
"All right, fine," she huffed sourly and stalked
over to the mirror, turning it with a jerk and immediately plunging them into
darkened silence.
Momiji put her clothes back on the ledge next to Kusanagi so
she could unknot the belt to her robes, and as she did so, her hand brushed up
against the warmth of his knee. He didn't say anything as she quickly pulled
away, disconcerted, and began pulling at the knot. After a few moments of
protracted silence, she heard the sound of low, soft laughter.
"Are you having difficulties, Momiji?" he asked
quizzically, the darkness doing nothing to hide the amusement in his voice.
"No!" she muttered resentfully, her eyes shooting
daggers at the spot where his voice came from, even though she knew he couldn't
see her.
She went back to work on the knot after his murmured,
"Just checking." And then after a few more moments of unproductive
struggle, he once again broke the silence by saying, " - Because it seems
to me that you're having trouble," his tone no less amused this time than
the last.
"And why would you think that?" she tossed back,
jerking hard at the knot, staring down into the darkness where she knew it would
be and silently willing it to give up its unholy clench.
"Well, because I don't hear anything remotely like the
sound of rustled clothing - only your heavy breathing from the effort you seem
to be putting into removing them."
Momiji's head whipped up at that, and her fingers quit
tugging. "I am NOT breathing heavily!" she was stung into retorting
and then growled when he chuckled. "The knot is stuck, you fathead!"
"Well then, why don't you let me help you," he
murmured, the sound of laughter mingling with his amusement. "Otherwise we
might be here all day."
Then she felt something cold and wet bump into her hip, and
she let out a squeak, frightened until she realized it was his leg. He had
brought it up and hooked it around her, using it to propel her in his direction.
She shuffled her feet, moving awkwardly in the darkness as he applied pressure
against her, and then felt his hands grab her by the arms when she came within
reaching distance. He pulled her closer, his inner thighs resting on either side
of her body, lightly brushing against her hips, and she felt his fingers loosen
their hold on her arms; but he didn't let go. Instead, he let them drift
inwards to rest against her ribcage and then downwards, following the curve or
her body until he came to her belt where he stopped.
Momiji knew that he had only touched her to find the belt
because he couldn't see it. But that didn't stop her from losing her breath
all the same. And if he were to accuse her of breathing heavily at that
particular moment, she knew he would be right. She tried to hold it to keep the
rapid flutter of it from breaking the stillness around them while he worked at
the knot, and at the same time did her level best to ignore the feel of his legs
touching her. Amazingly enough, she succeeded; but only because she suddenly
realized she could feel the warmth of his breath falling across her cheek.
Momiji was then assailed by the sudden urge to lean forward,
just a little, knowing that if she did, her lips would most likely brush against
his. Such thoughts set her on fire, and she closed her eyes as the heat began to
burn in the pit of her stomach and spread slowly outwards. At that point, she
gave up trying to regulate her breathing, knowing that she would pass out from
lack of oxygen if she held it any longer.
"There," Kusanagi said abruptly and the cord around
her waist hung loose.
The dangerous urges began to fade as he leaned back and she
was no longer able to feel his breath again her cheek. She drew in a shaky
breath and slowly let it out trying to regain her composure and then stiffened
as Kusanagi's right leg pressed hard against her, and she wondered if he was
trying to drive her insane.
"Here," he said, and Momiji felt her shirt and bra
shoved into her stomach as the pressure of his thigh against her eased up again.
She automatically reached up to take them from him.
"Thanks," she mumbled and then, with nowhere to put them while she
removed her robe, she handed them right back to him, saying, "can hold
these for a second?"
"Er… I guess," he replied and then swiftly
changed the course of the conversation, wanting to talk to her about Midori.
"Momiji, I need…to…." he stopped abruptly and Momiji wondered why
as she pulled opened the front of her robe and slid it off her shoulders before
neatly folding it up.
"You need to… what?" she prompted as she put a
tentative hand out in front of her until she felt it brush against the soft
cotton of his black t-shirt. Then she transferred her robes to that hand and
pushed them up against him. He in turn, took them from her and stuck her shirt
and her bra into her questing hand. "You need to what?" she prompted
again as she slid her arms into her bra and then reached around to fasten it.
"To-o-o," he drawled, his sudden loss for words
baffling her. Mentally shrugging her shoulders she pulled her shirt on and
reached for the first button, freezing in place as he apparently found what it
was he wanted to say after clearing his throat several times, "to talk - I
need to talk to you."
Momiji's heart quit beating inside of her chest and her
mouth went dry, her mind immediately flying to earlier this morning when he had
said those exact same words in regards to what had happened between them the
night before.
Now? He wanted to talk to her now? she panicked.
"Do you think that now is really a good time?" she
hedged, desperate to delay him for just a while longer. Her fingers were
suddenly shaking so hard that she had difficulty sliding the next few buttons
into place, so she stopped. "I mean, I - that is, we - really need to
go and pick up Noa, and I, I… you, you… and besides I didn't really mean -
"
Kusanagi listened to her nervous chatter for several seconds
and then rolled his eyes. "It's about Midori, Momiji," he managed to
insert over the mumbled excuses she was making so that she finally stopped and
drew in a long breath.
"Midori?" She stared into the darkness, feeling
relieved and puzzled at the same time.
"I saw her today," he informed her quietly.
"You did?" she gasped, "where? Where was
she?"
"She was Ise," he further imparted, adding,
"but I imagine that by now she's back in Tokyo."
"What were you doing in Ise?" Momiji wanted to
know. Her mind flitted in a hundred different directions and before he could
even respond to her first question, she rapidly added, "How did you find
her? And why hasn't she told anyone where she is?"
"Midori found me. I didn't find her. Why she didn't
tell anyone where she was; well your guess is as good as mine - As for why I was
in Ise," he continued reluctantly, "I - was looking for something
- someone."
"Who?" Momiji continued to inquire intently.
It was Kusanagi's first inclination not to tell her yet,
since he couldn't be sure. But he decided, after a moment's hesitation, that
it would be best if she knew. Especially since he wanted her to try and find out
what it was Midori was hiding.
"I was looking for Orochi - or Murakumo - I can't
really be certain which," he began slowly, "but I am fairly certain
that I sensed one or the other last night. "
There was a long moment of silence while Momiji absorbed the
information. "What do you suppose that means?" Momiji asked him
worriedly.
"I'm not sure what you're asking," he replied
cautiously.
"Well," Momiji ruminated, while her fingers
absently twisted one of the remaining buttons that she had yet to push into
place. "You don't suppose that Noa's birth reacted as a catalyst - the
same as when Kaede and I were born do you? To reawaken the Aragami?"
Kusanagi grimaced through the darkness as she managed to hit
upon the one possibility that he had been unable to completely banish from his
mind, try as he might.
"No," he responded flatly anyway, trying to
convince her as well as himself that this couldn't happen. "When you and
Kaede were born, the Aragami were awakened because the strength of the flow in
the Kushinada bloodline had been weakened. Noa isn't a Kushinada so how could
his birth reawaken the entire species."
"I suppose you're right," Momiji conceded,
continuing to yank and twist the button even more as she stared sightlessly into
the darkness in front of her, "But still -"
"M-m-momiji," Kusanagi began reluctantly, and then
ended up by trailing off with, "you're going to…"
"Hmm?" she asked, her fingers pausing as she waited
for Kusanagi to finish what he was saying.
She heard him grunt and then he muttered, "Never mind.
What were you going to say?"
Trying to recall what she had been thinking, she started in
with the button again as her thoughts raced ahead of her and she finally gave
voice to her speculations. "If Noa is impervious to the power of the
Kushinada, like you, then don't you think it might be possible for some of
that power to carry over to the rest of the Aragam - oh!" Momiji
exclaimed, and jerked in surprise when the button shot off her shirt and headed
for the floor. She flung her hand out in reflex trying to catch it, knowing that
it was a wasted effort since there was no way that she could catch something
that she couldn't see. A split second later there was a thin, scrabbling sound
as the button hit the rock floor and spun like a coin.
Kusanagi gave a martyred sigh. "Could you please just
finish dressing before you manage to yank the rest of the buttons off as well,
Momiji? And then we'll finish this conversation."
"How…? How did you know that I lost a button?"
Momiji asked in an odd sort of voice.
"Huh?" came the sound of Kusanagi's startled
voice, "well, I… heard it hit the floor."
"But how did you know it was my button?" Momiji
wanted to know, wondering if his cat-like eyes could see her through the
darkness.
There was a long pause and then he answered matter of factly,
"What else could it be, Princess?" Momiji let it drop for the moment
as he again prodded her, "If you'll hurry up, we can turn the mirror and
look for your, er, button, while we finish talking."
Momiji quickly finished with her shirt and tucked it into her
pants, lamenting the fact that the button she lost had been right in the middle,
so that she now had a nice gaping hole level with her navel. She patted her
stomach, trying to flatten it down, but it didn't help. She could still feel
the cool air of the iwatto brush against her skin.
"Are you finished yet," Kusanagi asked her
impatiently.
His voice jarred her into motion. "Yes," she
mumbled, turning to walk over to the ledge and reached for the mirror.
"You know, Princess," she heard him remark in a sly
voice as she adjusted the lens for maximum affect, "I must say, I'm
surprised that there were no cute and fuzzy animals on your… bra, since you
seem to favor them on your other, er undergarments."
Momiji whipped around and stared at him, her eyes rounded in
dismayed surprise. Her hands flew up to her chest in belated reaction as the
suspicion that he could see without the aid of light bore fruit. "I thought
you said you couldn't see in the dark," she accused, pointing to the
mirror.
Kusanagi's teeth flashed brightly as he gave her a devilish
smile. "No," he corrected her dryly, "what I said was, if it made
you feel better, you could turn the mirror. I never said that I couldn't see
in the dark."
Momiji balled her hands into fists and stalked stiffly over
to him, glaring at him. He just laughed at her and pushed off of the ledge,
landing on his feet, his eyes glued to the sparkle in her eyes. He probably
shouldn't have said anything, but he couldn't pass the up the chance to
tease her just a little bit.
"Relax, Princess, I didn't see anything" he lied,
thinking it was best to try and soothe her if he wanted to try and get back to
their serious conversation of earlier.
"Then how did you know?" she demanded furiously.
"Easy," he grinned, pointing to the ledge next to
the mirror, "I saw it sitting over there, on top of your shirt
earlier."
Momiji's face momentarily froze and then assumed a sheepish
expression. "Oh."
Kusanagi chucked softly before he turned and bent down, and
Momiji watched him pick up her lost button without even having to search for it.
He handed it to her and she took it from him, her gaze flitting suspiciously
from it to his face. He just gave her an innocent look and she looked away,
tucking the button into her pocket.
"Back to what I was saying earlier, Momiji, about
Midori," he began seriously, and again her eyes settled on his face, but
this time, she gave him her undivided attention. "I was at the iwatto in
Ise when she found me. She said she had come back there to look for her things,
but she was acting very strangely."
"How?"
"I think she lied to me about what she saw the day she
was attacked," he conceded.
"But why would she lie to you?" Momiji asked,
perplexed as to why he would think such a thing.
Kusanagi sighed and stared over her head, remembering the
look of panic on Midori's face. "She wasn't acting like herself,"
he explained, "she was - nervous, and tried to avoid talking about what
happened to her. She seemed eager to get away from me too, until I mentioned
Noa. She seemed to have already known about him." Momiji's mouth fell
open at this piece of information. "That's why I need you to try and talk
to her. Get her to tell you what happened to her at the iwatto that day. She
wouldn't tell me, but you're her best friend. So she might tell you. It's
important, Momiji. I can't help feeling that there is some tie to the presence
that I felt and what happened to her. "
Kusanagi looked at her expectantly and Momiji responded
appropriately by saying, "I'll do my best to find out for you, Kusanagi.
I'll call her after we pick up Noa, which we're already late for," she
noted as she looked at her watch. "I also need to stop at a department
store and pick up some… things," she mumbled as an afterthought,
remembering that she needed some underwear, since all of hers had mysteriously
vanished.
She gave Kusanagi a speculative look, once again wondering if
he could have anything to do with their disappearance, but she brushed the
thought aside as he told her, "I'm ready, if you are."
Momiji nodded, grabbing her coat, and Kusanagi helped her
into it. Then she turned the solar mirror, and the iwatto was once again thrown
into darkness. She turned and looked up, the only light now coming from the
rectangular entrance at the top of the stairs. She had just taken a step
forwards when she felt Kusanagi's fingers on her arm pull her to a stop. She
found herself swung around and then propelled forward as he grabbed the lapels
to her coat, dragging her towards him.
Before she knew what was happening, he had crushed her body
against his and molded his lips to hers in a searing kiss. Momiji eagerly opened
her mouth under the insistent pressure of his and succumbed to the liquid heat
that flared out of control as the velvety tip of his tongue slid against hers,
tasting her, teasing her. She wrapped her arms around him in a desperate attempt
to get even closer to him, wanting it to go on forever. But all too soon, he was
pulling away from her, holding her within the loose circle of his arms.
Both of them were breathing heavily, and they stood there for
a moment, neither willing to break the silence.
The Kusanagi leaned forward, his lips grazing her forehead
and whispered in a husky voice, "The next time I ask you to wait for me,
Momiji, please do it - there was something very important I needed to talk to
you about, and now I'll have to wait much longer than I care to…"