Fan Fiction ❯ Wishlist ❯ The Bakudan Thieves ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Heita_Genoufuka 
An airship crashlands just outside Negai's house the night after he learns of his sister's illness and prays for a way to fulfill her dying wishes.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.30.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 378 | Status: Completed
An airship crashlands just outside Negai's house the night after he learns of his sister's illness and prays for a way to fulfill her dying wishes.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.30.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 378 | Status: Completed
When the doctor finished Chicchai's health report, my heart sank, and so did my body, right down to the floor, until my forehead almost touched the dusty surface that was so wet with my tears. "Doctor, that can't be true," I murmured as I sobbed like a lost little boy. "Chicchai is only eight. She never even knew what it was like to have parents!" My sadness turned to anger as I looked up at the doctor's solemn face, and my vision fogged.
"Mr. Maboroshi, I wish it weren't so, but there is nothing we can do," he replied in his monotonous voice. "Your sister has been sickly since she was very small. She will die here at the hospital." With that I stood, and flailed my arms about like a mad man as I expressed my outrage.
"You won't even let me take my sister home?" I cried out as a rivulet of tears streamed down my face. "She deserves to spend the rest of her life with the only family she has left!"
"Mr. Maboroshi, please calm yourself." My chest was still heaving, and I wept, even when the doctor smiled at me kindly. "Mr. Maboroshi?" I was silent. "Negai. Negai Maboroshi." Only then did I look up at the man's kind face, and then I was overcome with concentrated sadness. All my anger disappeared, and all I wanted was Chicchai.
"She's all I have left in the world," I rasped. My throat was so dry. "My parents are gone, and I raised her myself. I can't live without her."
"I understand, Negai. Many children were left parentless when the plague of Nazonazo marched into town. Worst five years of my life. I lost my eldest daughter." As my hands rested on my knees, my palms began to itch and sweat like crazy. Just thinking about having Sendoki brought back some of the symptoms from the beginning.
Sendoki was like a tree in the depths of your stomach that just kept growing and growing. Its branches spread throughout your insides, slashing through everything in its way and turning your body into a malfunctioning computer. The disease never killed a child, but most of the children who caught it went crazy. The death tree kept growing and growing inside adults, and many of them died very unpleasant deaths. The victims of Sendoki always suffered for a very long time.
Chicchai had an underdeveloped case of Sendoki since she was very small. She would be the first child to die of the death tree disease.
"Your sister will no longer be able to live with you, Negai, but you are welcome to visit her any time you like," the doctor told me with that kind smile on his face. "You may visit her now, if you wish." When I heard the doctors words, my head jerked up as if I had awaken from a trance, and he escorted me to my sister's room.
Since the deaths of both my parents, the place I'd liked least was the hospital. Being there reminded me of Sendoki, and anywhere that reminded people of Sendoki was a bad place to be. Seeing my sister on oxygen was worse than having the disease. Every breath was precious, because once the breathing stopped, the death tree had done its job. If the breathing even paused for a moment, my heart beat like crazy.
"Chicchai," I whispered as I sat at her bedside. Her long, slender fingers gripped her bed sheets when she heard her name. Her chin-length amber hair was spread out on a green hospital pillow. I knew she was in the first stage of the disease when I saw the peaceful look on her face. She would have trouble breathing, but she was in no pain. "I'm here for you, Chicchai." Her green eyes opened, and when she looked at me, her open lips curled into a smile, but then she tensed up.
"Negai, do I really have Sendoki?" she whispered. She could speak no louder. When I nodded, she relaxed. "Then I'll be fine, right? I'm too young for the death tree to take me." I said nothing. The look I gave her said it all.
"Don't be sad, Chicchai," I told her, though it was I who was blinking back tears. "Passing on won't be bad at all. I'll keep you happy until it's time for you to go." Tears began to run down her own pale cheeks.
"There are so many things I wanted to do," she cried. "There were so many places I wanted to see. You told me we would travel all around the world together." I could bear it no longer. My shoulders shook. There had to be something I could do to make her happy.
"Chicchai, make a list of everything you've ever wanted," I told her, forcing a smile. She looked at me skeptically. "Whatever it is, I'll find it." It took a moment, but she smiled back at me, and I took her hand. No matter what, I would make my sister's dreams come true. I felt the doctor's presence, and released Chicchai's hand as I turned to face him. "Let her stay with me just this one night, Doctor." I looked at him with pleading eyes. It didn't take much. My sister was allowed to stay with me one last time.
That night we had her favorite meal, oden, and I was able to scratch off number six on her wishlist, which she had completed an hour before dinner. The list was much longer than I had hoped. That would be my sister. I give her an inch and she takes a few thousand miles. Which was an estimate of the length of the list. My sister had two thousand five hundred requests that were to be fulfilled in a very short time. All I could do was pray.
And I did pray. Right after she fell asleep in her own bed.
Just before I went to sleep myself, I prayed for time, and I prayed for a chance to make a dying little girl's dreams come true. Something told me that my prayers were heard, and I settled into bed. That night was the most unusual night of my life.
"Who'd have thought we'd find jewels like this in China?!" exclaimed Bakudan Abura, master thief, as his blue eyes glittered with joy. He was a giant of a man, and towered over his older brother Rui.
"I planned the whole thing, Abura," Rui replied with a weak grin on his face, his own blue eyes sparkling with glee at his accomplishment. He was one sixth the size of his brother, and very frail. "The question is... Why did you doubt me? I thought you trusted me by now."
"Well of course, Rui. I didn't mean it. But just take a look at this stash when you fix your eyes!" He gestured to the cargo hold of their airship, where mountains of jewels and gold were stored, freshly picked from the Chinese emperor. Little did they know that within the cargo hold, waiting for the oppertunity to take back her family treasure, was Bai Xiao Mu, the emperor's youngest daughter. "Rui, set her down here. We're above Nazonazo according to your map."
"I wish you'd told me we were coming near. These sudden landings are hurting Tsuyayaka so badly, Abura." He groaned, and prepared to enter the atmosphere once more.
'Who is Tsuyayaka?' wondered Princess Mu as she listened in on their conversation. 'The ship?!' It was strange enough to see a western ship in China, but now they were talking about it as if it were a woman in their strange language, which she had learned from her father's foreign advisers. Suddenly the ship began to vibrate out of control, and Mu lost her balance.
"What the hell is going on, Rui?" shouted Abura as he struggled against gravity. The ship was speeding faster and faster toward Nazonazo, and Rui seemed to have lost all control.
"I don't know what to do!" he exclaimed. "Our only hope is to sink her and swim for it!" With that, Abura yanked out the safety key, and opened the hatch.
"Rui, we're about two thousand feet above the sea. Jump in right after me or you're finished!" Rui nodded, and gripped the back of a chair by the exit, but he heard a banging on the door of the cargo hold.
"Abura, there's someone in there!" he cried, running over to open the door. His younger brother did not hear him, and prepared to jump. Rui flung open the door, and out came Princess Mu. There was no time for questions, and Rui showed her to the exit. Just as Mu escaped, the ship hit water, and the wave that followed propelled the survivors to shore.
After hearing the crash, I bolted from his house and rushed out to meet the survivors. Both were unharmed, but soaked.
"What just happened?" I asked as I helped Princess Mu to her feet. "And what's that out in the middle of the sea?!" I gestured to the nose of the ship, bobbing up and down in the distance.
"Oh, please, young man!" bawled Abura, clinging to my leg. "My brother... He... he... He did not make it out of the ship in time, and he is much too weak to free himself. Please, young man, save my elder brother!" I didn't need to be told twice. Into the warm sea I went, out to the sunken airship. I returned a moment later, and dragged a half-dead Rui to shore. Abura was ecstatic.
"Br-br-brother," stammered Rui as he regained conciousness. When he opened his eyes, he sat up abruptly. "You fool! You didn't have to risk this boy's life. You can swim just fine. You could have saved me yourself!" Abura looked surprised, and sighed.
"I'm very sorry, Rui," he replied, shrugging bashfully. "I owe this boy all I have. I owe him your life!" Abura stood and bowed before me. "Young man... I would like you..." He looked up at me, the blond-haired teen, with a solemn face. "To take my elder brother as your loyal slave!"
Everyone fell silent for a moment, until Rui let out a sigh of exasperation.
"Abura, I'm ashamed of you," he muttered as he scrambled to his feet. "How could you trade away my life so quickly, after you conned this poor boy to save it?" Princess Mu stepped forth.
"You owe him nothing, but you owe my family all their riches," she announced haughtily. "Our treasure is sinking to the bottom of the sea, and if you are wise, you will retrieve it and return it at once to my father!" This, of course, they would not do, but the globetrotting thieves said nothing.
"If I may make a suggestion," I blurted out, "these two here should repay whatever they owe you, as they are in my debt, and then take me on a trip. Just one trip around the world."
"The trip is yours, but the money is ours," asserted Abura, glaring at me. "We'll give you whatever you like, but this young lady will not be going back to China with her old daddy's gold. No, sir." Princess Mu fumed, and stomped into the shallow water.
"If you will not help me, then I will retrieve it myself!" she exclaimed, and then dove into the water in her already soaked clothes. We watched the surface of the water and waited. After a few minutes they saw bubbles, and then nothing.
"I suppose I should go after her," I observed. The thieves nodded, and I went to Princess Mu's rescue.
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"Mr. Maboroshi, I wish it weren't so, but there is nothing we can do," he replied in his monotonous voice. "Your sister has been sickly since she was very small. She will die here at the hospital." With that I stood, and flailed my arms about like a mad man as I expressed my outrage.
"You won't even let me take my sister home?" I cried out as a rivulet of tears streamed down my face. "She deserves to spend the rest of her life with the only family she has left!"
"Mr. Maboroshi, please calm yourself." My chest was still heaving, and I wept, even when the doctor smiled at me kindly. "Mr. Maboroshi?" I was silent. "Negai. Negai Maboroshi." Only then did I look up at the man's kind face, and then I was overcome with concentrated sadness. All my anger disappeared, and all I wanted was Chicchai.
"She's all I have left in the world," I rasped. My throat was so dry. "My parents are gone, and I raised her myself. I can't live without her."
"I understand, Negai. Many children were left parentless when the plague of Nazonazo marched into town. Worst five years of my life. I lost my eldest daughter." As my hands rested on my knees, my palms began to itch and sweat like crazy. Just thinking about having Sendoki brought back some of the symptoms from the beginning.
Sendoki was like a tree in the depths of your stomach that just kept growing and growing. Its branches spread throughout your insides, slashing through everything in its way and turning your body into a malfunctioning computer. The disease never killed a child, but most of the children who caught it went crazy. The death tree kept growing and growing inside adults, and many of them died very unpleasant deaths. The victims of Sendoki always suffered for a very long time.
Chicchai had an underdeveloped case of Sendoki since she was very small. She would be the first child to die of the death tree disease.
"Your sister will no longer be able to live with you, Negai, but you are welcome to visit her any time you like," the doctor told me with that kind smile on his face. "You may visit her now, if you wish." When I heard the doctors words, my head jerked up as if I had awaken from a trance, and he escorted me to my sister's room.
Since the deaths of both my parents, the place I'd liked least was the hospital. Being there reminded me of Sendoki, and anywhere that reminded people of Sendoki was a bad place to be. Seeing my sister on oxygen was worse than having the disease. Every breath was precious, because once the breathing stopped, the death tree had done its job. If the breathing even paused for a moment, my heart beat like crazy.
"Chicchai," I whispered as I sat at her bedside. Her long, slender fingers gripped her bed sheets when she heard her name. Her chin-length amber hair was spread out on a green hospital pillow. I knew she was in the first stage of the disease when I saw the peaceful look on her face. She would have trouble breathing, but she was in no pain. "I'm here for you, Chicchai." Her green eyes opened, and when she looked at me, her open lips curled into a smile, but then she tensed up.
"Negai, do I really have Sendoki?" she whispered. She could speak no louder. When I nodded, she relaxed. "Then I'll be fine, right? I'm too young for the death tree to take me." I said nothing. The look I gave her said it all.
"Don't be sad, Chicchai," I told her, though it was I who was blinking back tears. "Passing on won't be bad at all. I'll keep you happy until it's time for you to go." Tears began to run down her own pale cheeks.
"There are so many things I wanted to do," she cried. "There were so many places I wanted to see. You told me we would travel all around the world together." I could bear it no longer. My shoulders shook. There had to be something I could do to make her happy.
"Chicchai, make a list of everything you've ever wanted," I told her, forcing a smile. She looked at me skeptically. "Whatever it is, I'll find it." It took a moment, but she smiled back at me, and I took her hand. No matter what, I would make my sister's dreams come true. I felt the doctor's presence, and released Chicchai's hand as I turned to face him. "Let her stay with me just this one night, Doctor." I looked at him with pleading eyes. It didn't take much. My sister was allowed to stay with me one last time.
That night we had her favorite meal, oden, and I was able to scratch off number six on her wishlist, which she had completed an hour before dinner. The list was much longer than I had hoped. That would be my sister. I give her an inch and she takes a few thousand miles. Which was an estimate of the length of the list. My sister had two thousand five hundred requests that were to be fulfilled in a very short time. All I could do was pray.
And I did pray. Right after she fell asleep in her own bed.
Just before I went to sleep myself, I prayed for time, and I prayed for a chance to make a dying little girl's dreams come true. Something told me that my prayers were heard, and I settled into bed. That night was the most unusual night of my life.
"Who'd have thought we'd find jewels like this in China?!" exclaimed Bakudan Abura, master thief, as his blue eyes glittered with joy. He was a giant of a man, and towered over his older brother Rui.
"I planned the whole thing, Abura," Rui replied with a weak grin on his face, his own blue eyes sparkling with glee at his accomplishment. He was one sixth the size of his brother, and very frail. "The question is... Why did you doubt me? I thought you trusted me by now."
"Well of course, Rui. I didn't mean it. But just take a look at this stash when you fix your eyes!" He gestured to the cargo hold of their airship, where mountains of jewels and gold were stored, freshly picked from the Chinese emperor. Little did they know that within the cargo hold, waiting for the oppertunity to take back her family treasure, was Bai Xiao Mu, the emperor's youngest daughter. "Rui, set her down here. We're above Nazonazo according to your map."
"I wish you'd told me we were coming near. These sudden landings are hurting Tsuyayaka so badly, Abura." He groaned, and prepared to enter the atmosphere once more.
'Who is Tsuyayaka?' wondered Princess Mu as she listened in on their conversation. 'The ship?!' It was strange enough to see a western ship in China, but now they were talking about it as if it were a woman in their strange language, which she had learned from her father's foreign advisers. Suddenly the ship began to vibrate out of control, and Mu lost her balance.
"What the hell is going on, Rui?" shouted Abura as he struggled against gravity. The ship was speeding faster and faster toward Nazonazo, and Rui seemed to have lost all control.
"I don't know what to do!" he exclaimed. "Our only hope is to sink her and swim for it!" With that, Abura yanked out the safety key, and opened the hatch.
"Rui, we're about two thousand feet above the sea. Jump in right after me or you're finished!" Rui nodded, and gripped the back of a chair by the exit, but he heard a banging on the door of the cargo hold.
"Abura, there's someone in there!" he cried, running over to open the door. His younger brother did not hear him, and prepared to jump. Rui flung open the door, and out came Princess Mu. There was no time for questions, and Rui showed her to the exit. Just as Mu escaped, the ship hit water, and the wave that followed propelled the survivors to shore.
After hearing the crash, I bolted from his house and rushed out to meet the survivors. Both were unharmed, but soaked.
"What just happened?" I asked as I helped Princess Mu to her feet. "And what's that out in the middle of the sea?!" I gestured to the nose of the ship, bobbing up and down in the distance.
"Oh, please, young man!" bawled Abura, clinging to my leg. "My brother... He... he... He did not make it out of the ship in time, and he is much too weak to free himself. Please, young man, save my elder brother!" I didn't need to be told twice. Into the warm sea I went, out to the sunken airship. I returned a moment later, and dragged a half-dead Rui to shore. Abura was ecstatic.
"Br-br-brother," stammered Rui as he regained conciousness. When he opened his eyes, he sat up abruptly. "You fool! You didn't have to risk this boy's life. You can swim just fine. You could have saved me yourself!" Abura looked surprised, and sighed.
"I'm very sorry, Rui," he replied, shrugging bashfully. "I owe this boy all I have. I owe him your life!" Abura stood and bowed before me. "Young man... I would like you..." He looked up at me, the blond-haired teen, with a solemn face. "To take my elder brother as your loyal slave!"
Everyone fell silent for a moment, until Rui let out a sigh of exasperation.
"Abura, I'm ashamed of you," he muttered as he scrambled to his feet. "How could you trade away my life so quickly, after you conned this poor boy to save it?" Princess Mu stepped forth.
"You owe him nothing, but you owe my family all their riches," she announced haughtily. "Our treasure is sinking to the bottom of the sea, and if you are wise, you will retrieve it and return it at once to my father!" This, of course, they would not do, but the globetrotting thieves said nothing.
"If I may make a suggestion," I blurted out, "these two here should repay whatever they owe you, as they are in my debt, and then take me on a trip. Just one trip around the world."
"The trip is yours, but the money is ours," asserted Abura, glaring at me. "We'll give you whatever you like, but this young lady will not be going back to China with her old daddy's gold. No, sir." Princess Mu fumed, and stomped into the shallow water.
"If you will not help me, then I will retrieve it myself!" she exclaimed, and then dove into the water in her already soaked clothes. We watched the surface of the water and waited. After a few minutes they saw bubbles, and then nothing.
"I suppose I should go after her," I observed. The thieves nodded, and I went to Princess Mu's rescue.
Converti ng /tmp/phpJ2otwR to /dev/stdout