Fan Fiction ❯ chase after the wind ❯ 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Rating : PG -13 ( For now)

Disclaimer: Don't own, not mine

Authors notes: Well, thanks everyone who reviewed the first ch. They mean a great deal... In any case here is number two.... One quick thing, I leave for the college here in like 2 days, so these may not come as quickly as I'd like, sorry....

" Nothing really matters much it's doom alone that counts. And the one eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn...." Bob Dylan, Shelter from the storm

Dawn. The light off new sun flowed off the horizon and overwhelmed the forces of the night. Slowly the last and first beat of the cycle sounded, and this was the sound of the roaster crowning. The rays of this new day seemed to hold promise for all begins. And in the wake of death and night, came life and renewal. It was as if god himself had restored to humanity it's garden and given back to the world it's innocent virginity. The light seemed to flow from it's source, pouring over all things and nurturing them all, regardless of the sins of that person, or their father. It seemed as though a new beginning had found it's way to a realm that seemed capable of only producing endings. And all things seemed as they should be, all seemed right with the world.

The light crept slowly from the horizon, extending it's long and lengthy arms and touching everything it saw. There was only one person who witnessed this resurrection, only one who saw the rebirth of the world, and she stood alone, apart from everyone else. Her eyes showed a deep tiredness, but this was 2 fold. She had the look of a person who hadn't slept well the previous night, with deep bags under the brims of her eyes and what appeared to be heavy eyelids seemed to prove this. There was something more there, though, something much deeper. Her eyes seemed to have the same look that old mens gain. It seemed as though, where once raged a brilliant fire, there was nothing left but cinders. The eyes seemed a pathetic shadow of what they had once been, a sick farce of true greatness. They seemed to dead to be alive, and yet they held on for some reason. In any case the light found it's way to her, and she was forced to shield her eyes from the brightness of it's purity.

She really didn't have anything to do that day, which seemed to make everything ten times worse. At least if she had a function, she could take refuge in that, but even that escaped her. She had acted defiantly and was punished accordingly. She was given a fate worse the death, a fate that resembled that of Cain's. She was to exist, but nothing more then that. She thought things over in her mind, for what must have been the 100th time and drew the same conclusion, she had enough of what she needed, and there was no need to gather anything else.

She stretched slowly, allowing herself to indulge in her own humanity, as opposed to simply being a rock. A smile crept onto her face as she allowed her body to tense and then loosen. There was something very real about the feeling of stretching, and she took comfort in that fact. Her stretching was not the normal stretching she did, the kind that served the propose of readying herself for a mission, it was a more fluid stretch. It was the same stretch a person with no training in any fighting style would make. It was universal, and it seemed real enough.

It was during this period that she took on truly human qualities. She allowed her eyes to reflect the emotions within her heart and allowed herself to feel again. It was in these albeit rare moments that she realized that she was still human. There was something very depressing in this 3 or second indulgence, something very sad. It was like knowing Lucifer before his fall and then gazing upon him afterwards. Her beauty only seemed to add to the feeling, it seemed wrong that something so beautiful and pure, should suffer so much. It seemed one of very few true sins.

Her mind inexorable drifted back to the events of the previous night. Who was that person or, more importantly, did they even exist.. A mystery woman simply appearing at her door and prophesying seemed, in the light of day, absurd. Yet there was something very real about their encounter, something so true that it seemed to render the world she looked upon now as a false one. She had only looked upon the stranger for not more then 5 minutes, and yet she felt a kinship there. She felt as if this woman and her had the same pain, just a different way of expressing it. The meaning of the woman's words eluded her, but it wasn't the words that mattered. Words were always such whimsical things, in her eyes. No it was the way in which they were spoken that haunted Ayane. There was an assuredness that she had never heard before in her life. It wasn't arrogance nor was it ranting, the words the cloaked woman spoke seemed spoken with the air of one saying, the sun will rise.

She took a deep breath and sighed. Her eyes looked at the landscape around her abode and she seemed to take everything in. The birds just now woke to their day of neither reaping or sowing, and the woodland creatures seemed to be raising from the dead. The wind blew gently, and caressed her body, as she imaged a gentle mother's hand would. It felt good to have the wind playfully toss her hair and stroke her body. She observed it's effect on the trees and watched as they swayed gently to the motion of the breeze. The woods, which seemed the very pit of hell that night, had taken a very new persona. They seemed now the giver of life, not the great destroyer. She wasn't sure why, but she felt the urge to cry. Of corse she suppressed this at once and turned stoicly away from the new Eden that lay before her. She had her indulgence and she could feel what was left of her humanity being buried again, deep within her.

She made and ate breakfast, though she wasn't hungry. She chopped wood, though she had enough for at least 2 weeks. She attempting to sturdy her walls, though she knew this was futile. And the hours slowly crept by.

Finally she decided to see her brother. He had told her that, under terms of her exile, that she could enter the village once a week to see if any news on her half sister had come, or if there was any use that had been found for her. She really didn't expect anything from either of these conditions. They seemed, to her, to be false hopes. She went anyways. The road to the main village was a long one from where she stayed. No paths had been formed, for the intent was to keep people away from the village, and so she descended deeper and deeper into the ever darkening woods, night's last refuge. She felt no fear at her goings, for she knew the way to the village by heart. She watched as the trees progressively grew closer and closer, chocking out more and more sunlight. The woods became filled with shadows and the ground obscured by darkness. She ventured father and father into the wasteland, until even the birds seemed to scared to sing, until she finally reached her village.

It seemed an oasis in the middle of the desert. It seemingly came out of no where and the contrast was striking to say the least. The grass she stood in currently was up to her hip, but in 2 steps, it rested neatly below her feet. There was also a great deal of sound that floated off the village. The sounds of people busying themselves with this and that. The sounds of children laughing and crying. The sounds of other people. The sun poured through holes that had been cut in the otherwise impenetrable canopy of branches. This only added to the contrast.

There were only four buildings clustered together in this oasis of light. They formed a rectangle. The longer of the 2 buildings, both sitting parallel to the other, were the sleeping places. They were very reminiscent of army barricka, though done with a keen attention to design and fluence. Indeed the compound, as a whole, seemed to flow out of the ground and looked as they it had been present before the fall of man. It seemed a part of that which was around it, not at odd with it. Of the other two buildings, the one facing north was the temple, which stood on slightly elevated ground. The other was the gathering place where the elders met. This was the place in which Hayate's throne resided. Contained within the empty space that the rectangle defined were a training grounds, a place for preparing food and a few animals grazing lazily, out of the reach of the predators who would kill them. Farmland seemed to radiate out from the structure and extended on all sides for about 35 meters. She stood about 10 meters away from this, on the outskirts of the village.

She paused for a moment, considering weather or not she truly wanted to move forward into this place. Her mind came to rest on the idea that there was nothing for her to do at her home and that, although she really didn't want to do this, it was still something to do. She entered the village and, as always, was greeted by cold and menacing stares of the villagers. She really didn't pay any of this heed, she was accustomed to it by now. They all stared at her with malice and she walked by them on an air of aloofness, the way things had always been. She walked slowly and deliberately, being attentive to every step.

She found herself at the building that served as court, gathering place and her brother's throne room. She drew back the gate slowly and found her brother in deep conversation with a villager. Upon her entering he motioned towards a chair and then continued the discourse for several more minutes. When he finally left they gazed upon each other with uttering a word. Finally Hayate broke the silence.

" The chance to redeem yourself has come... They have announced that another tournament is to be held. If we leave tonight we can arrive in time to enter. She will assuredly enter, for she will desire to speak with me..... We must kill the runaway, she has eluded us for far to long. It will be blood for blood, her blood means your salvation, your blood if you fail. Do you understand?"

She gave a stoic nod.

" Good, be ready to depart when the sun has touched the first peek of the Shinza mountains, we depart."

She stood there for a few more seconds, just gazing on him. In spite of herself, she still could not help but blush slightly in his presence. He seemed to her, to be a god among men. She studied the delicate curves of his face and the perfect way his body seemed to flow. Even during this time where he stood and did nothing, he still seemed beautiful to her. She had know that body in her dreams and would willingly give up her life to just touch it once, without the pretense of combat.

" Is there something else?" He asked, clearly annoyed at her presence.

" No" she said cooly and began her journey home.