Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Seven Days to Love ❯ Pink Apples ( Chapter 1 )

Seven Days to Love

"Kaika, it's time for dinner!" Kaika's mother called to the top of the knoll, where her adoptive son was playing his flute to the dying sun. She had stood there for ten long minutes, admiring how in three short years he had grown from boy to man. He turned to her and smiled, shaking olive-blonde hair from his eyes. He rose to his long legs, and she noticed the good six inches he'd put on since then. He still seemed a little lanky and skinny, but it added to his appeal for the younger girls whom didn't admire bigger men yet, and by the time they would, she supposed he would fill out.

"I'll be there in a moment, please, start without me if you must." His pleasant, quiet voice called to her from the top of the hill. She could only imagine that one very lucky girl would one day make that tremendously shy voice whisper soft words of love. Someday soon, she hoped, because Kaika was coming of age quickly. If he didn't choose soon, his father was going to take it upon himself to choose for him. Not that she would doubt her husbands choice, she only worried that poor Kaika's heart would be broken at that. Kaika wished to marry a woman that he loved with all his heart, and his mother didn't think marrying a girl he didn't even know would make him very happy. He bounded down the hill towards her, and she smiled back at him. Yes, a very lucky girl she must be indeed.

"Father, we've had this discussion before" Kaika told his father sullenly. His father had brought up the subject of taking a bride again. "I have no wish to wed yet. I can only remember ever having been with you and mother for three years. How could I possibly wish to leave you now?"

"Kaika, it wouldn't be leaving us, not really. You could build your house right here, in the family compound, Kaika. You would just extend the family."

"I don't want to marry. I don't want to be tied down that way, not this early in life."

"Kaika, think of your future. No marry- able girl will marry a man whom is too old!"

"If she loves me, she will."

"Kaika, marriage is not always about love! It's about ensuring your future and…" Kaika stood up in a rush.

"I will hear no more! That is the end of the subject." He walked out. After a few moments, Kaika's mother and father could hear strains of flute music drifting through the open window.

"Dear, he doesn't want to be rushed into unhappiness! Maybe, in another year…"

"You cannot keep him in the home much longer! Even if he doesn't marry, he will wish to roam about next! In another year, he will probably want to be somewhere away from here, and then… then he's in some hotheaded rebellion and getting himself killed for a stupid cause! That's what happens to unmarried men!"

"It happens to married men too! Even if he married, that would not keep him here!"

Day 1

Kaika strolled through the marketplace, abhorring the crowded disorderliness. Everywhere he turned, there was someone pushing him aside. He supposed that was because festival was in a week. Of course, the fact that everywhere he turned there was another good looking girl in his line of sight didn't help. He had never noticed that his little village held so many gorgeous women. Of course, they were all brought to his attention by hormones and by the endless discussions his parents and he had been having about getting married. His mind was also clouded by the thought of whether to attend the sweetheart's festival in a week. He supposed he wouldn't, though he was finally of age to ask a young woman to go with him. He didn't have anyone to ask, sure there were lots of great women, but… his thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into him. Assuming it may be a pickpocket, Kaika immediately grabbed the person and looked at them.

"Did you just…" his sentence was stopped dead in his throat. He was staring into the darkest brown eyes he'd ever seen before. The girl in front of him had wavy brown hair that was down. All the other girls wore their hair up. It also was short, only to her shoulders, where other girls hair was very long. Where other girls had breasts, she had a very baggy man's shirt. Where the other girls had hips, she had very baggy slacks. She had freckles, something rarely seen on the women in his area. She was everything all the other girls weren't. And Kaika saw her as absolutely beautiful. "Are you alright?" she nodded. "Did you steal anything from me?" she sighed, and pulled a bundle of carrots and a loaf of bread out of her shirt. She held them up, and gave him an ironic look. He lifted an eyebrow, and took them back. He put them back in his sack, and looked at her. She looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Sorry." She apologized softly. Her voice seemed shy, and frightened. He nodded, and she turned to walk away. As she walked away, he realized that he didn't even know her name. He also realized she'd stolen a radish. And his heart.

At home, later, Kaika could think of nothing but the girl. He dropped a bucket of water, he nearly cut off all his fingers while chopping wood, and he burned the stew that he was supposed to be cooking for his mother. After getting his scolding for that, he retreated to his hill, and his willow tree. He sat in the shade, trying desperately to collect his tattered thoughts. He believed very deeply in love at first sight. His mother had taught him to believe in that for as long as he could possibly try to remember. In the world, with all it's horrors and hardship, believing in little things like love at first sight and true love and happily ever after were some of the only things that could help you go on. Of course, believing in something and really believing in something are two different things, so while his heart told him that that must be what had happened, his brain told him that things like that didn't happen to normal people like him. People that are blessed by the gods are blessed with love at first sight, and with true love, and with happily ever after. People like him were merely born to endure and then die and be born again to endure again. But the imprint the girl had left on his heart was one so deep he couldn't deny that it was there. He had to see her again.

Day 2

Kaika searched the marketplace high and low. He had been looking for an hour now, but he couldn't find her. He was about to give up, when someone bumped into him. He did his routine grab, like he always did, to prevent pickpockets. There she was, looking very embarrassed.

"Oh." her quiet voice said to him, "it's you. I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to pick your pocket or anything this time. I tripped." He looked her up and down.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine, but I should be asking you that! Did I hurt you when I bumped into you? Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry!" her voice slowly grew to an apologetic crescendo.

"You… you stole my radish yesterday. My mother was very angry with me."

"I'm sorry." She said, very quiet again. "But… I have to feed myself somehow, and I can't get a job. I'll pay you back, if that would make your mother less mad." She dug her hand in her pocket, and found a very battered coin. She held it out to him. "Here. It's all I've got. I hope it's enough…" he closed her hand around the coin.

"No. It's alright. Why don't you tell me your name, instead?"

"Tali." (pronounced Taw-lee). He smiled at her.

"I'm Kaika. Why don't you walk with me, Tali?"

They walked and talked for a long time, until the sun was going down. Kaika felt himself growing to love this girl more and more. She was smart, and sweet, and loved music. She had the prettiest singing voice. Family was the most important thing to her, too. Her dreams, her wishes, they were all identical to his own. He felt like he had known her his whole life. Of course, that was something he always heard about love, so he supposed that it sounded a little cheesy. But it was true. He felt himself imagining what a life with her would be like, a life together, in a home with a farm and a garden, and working everyday and seeing her when he came back in. Imagining settling down, and rearing children with her. He could see it all, so clearly, all of it. He didn't know, though, how to convey this to her. That he loved her so much, despite the very short time that they had known each other. Then it hit him. The Sweetheart's festival.

"Tali!" he said to her quickly. He whirled around to face her, and grabbed her hands. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but I have to ask you something. Would you consider going to the Sweetheart's festival on Saturday with me?" her eyes got big, and then dark and sad.

"I'm… I'm so sorry Kaika… no, I'm afraid I can't…" she took her hands away from his.

"Why not?"

"It's… it's complicated. I need to go home now."

"Let me walk you."

"No! Please. Please. It hurts enough to even be around you this long… please, don't subject me to that torture…" she closed her eyes, seemingly against tears. Kaika was rather taken aback by her statement.

"I didn't know I was that poor of company…"

"It's not… please. Don't seek me out again. If you see me in the market, ignore me. Don't follow me home. Don't play your flute, don't sing your lullaby, don't look at me with those eyes, Kaika… please, just knowing you're alive, Kotoku… that's all I need…" her eyes begged him, "Please, Kotoku…

"Why… why do you call me Kotoku, when just a moment ago I told you my name was Kaika?" tears began to pour down her cheeks.

"Then… then you really don't remember anything… you don't remember me…" she squeezed her eyes shut, and ran away. He took a step after her, but remembered her request of him not to seek her out. His good judgment, however, was clouded by the intense need to know why that girl would call him Kotoku. He followed her every footstep.

Her home was little more than an abandoned stable. He hid outside a window. She sobbed on a bed, where a nice flute lay on her pillow. She seemed to be sobbing someone's name, but he couldn't quite catch it. When she turned slightly towards the window, he heard it, though. It caused a rush of emotions so strong he didn't know where all of them could have possibly come from.

"Oh, Amiboshi… why?" she buried her head in her arms again, and sobbed uncontrollably. The name seemed so familiar to him, like something form another life. It nagged at him at the edge of his mind, not wanting to make itself known. And her tears… they tore at his soul so violently each sob felt like a death-blow. He wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her and wipe all her tears away… he wanted it so badly he could imagine it clearly. And then he realized it. He wasn't imagining it. It was a memory.

Underneath his willow tree, he turned the memory over and over again, but he couldn't understand its origin. It was years ago… at least three. It must have been before the accident with the Forgetfulness leaves. But his parents had told him that he had always lived in Sairou; that one day he had drunken the wrong soup. But, this memory had to be in… Kutou? No, Konan. It had to be Konan, due to the Suzaku shrine in the corner of the room. He remembered… a girl that looked just like her, but younger, and a little more filled out… she was sobbing into his bare chest… she was in her undershirt and skirt… he blushed at the thought of what they must have been doing to look like that. She begged him not to go, but he knew that he had to. That was the end of the memory. He mulled over it, again and again. He didn't know what to make of it. He had to find her, just to ask her.

Day 3

He couldn't find her. Not anywhere. She was nowhere. She had ran away, or hid well. He looked at her home. He searched the streets. She was nowhere. He finally went home after it had been dark for hours, cold and defeated, to be confronted by his father.

"Kaika, where have you been? You've shirked your chores two days in a row." He shrugged, and tried to walk away. His father grabbed his arm, but Kaika promptly shrugged it off. "Kaika, what's wrong? You've never acted this way before." He whirled around and glared at him.

"I'll tell you what's wrong when you're ready to tell me what really happened 3 years ago!" he shouted at him. He was instantly sorry. "I'm sorry, father. Forgive my loss of temper. I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"No, Kaika, your mother and I should be sorry… we should have told you the truth…"

After a very long story was told to him, about falling into a canal, and arriving in Sairou to this poor family that had already lost one son, and "losing" his memory and a girl named Miaka showing up, too, and his regaining of his memory, and him really losing his memory once and for all, his head was left spinning. But it filled so many gaps.

"So…you and mother aren't really related to me after all?"

"No, my son." He looked at him. "But we love you like a son."

"You should have told me. I would have had no intention of leaving."

"But now…"

"Now… I have to do something. I have to find a way to regain my old memories. If that will staunch her tears for even just a moment, then… then…"

"Her?"

Kaika blushed when he realized that he spoken aloud.

"Y… yes… someone that once knew me. I have… a single memory of her… enough to know… but I can't find her now… she doesn't want me near her… I don't know… what am I going…" he put his head in his hands, trying to calm his thoughts. Kaika's father had never seen the boy quite like this.

"I take it you've found a girl…" Kaika nodded.

"But, she seems to have known me… she keeps calling me Kotoku… I haven't a clue why…" he stood up, and wrapped his arms around himself. "I need to go out to my tree." He walked slowly out. His father knew better than to try and stop him. Kaika rarely did things for a selfish reason, but his trips to the tree were sacred to him.

Kaika's Willow, as it had been rightly named the year before, was where much composing and thinking happened. It overlooked the lake in the middle of the oasis his town was poised on, the lake that, this late at night, was freezing cold. He sat beneath his tree, and watched the lake. He put his flute to his lips, and tried to play. All that came out was jumbled noises, a cacophony. It reminded him of the dissonance of his own thoughts. Eventually, he found himself standing at the water's edge. This was the water they used for drinking, cleaning, and bathing. Supposedly, it was holy water. The round, full moon reflected off the water, making it shine like ice. The water lapped at his bare feet, and it wasn't as cold as he thought. It wasn't nearly as cold as ice. He remembered, suddenly, the year it had snowed at his home in Kutou. He and his Shun and they're tou-san had played in it, while kaa-san stayed in the house, where it was warm. He didn't know where the memory had come from, or what life it was from. It made no sense to his poor mind right then. When he came back to full consciousness from mulling over this new mess of a memory, the water was up to his knees. He was wading out into it. He continued out, until it hit his waist. His sash, and pants looked unclear and wrong in the water. He stood, in the water, and looked up t the moon. He had always felt a unique kindredship with moon; looking at the moon comforted him always. But now… now it mocked him. It mocked him and his confusion. It mocked his newfound love for Tali, the village pickpocket, it mocked the jumbled memories and warped thoughts that she had brought with her when she moved so suddenly into his heart. It mocked everything he once was, everything he believed himself to have once been. And it mocked what he had become in 3 days time.

"Why?" he shouted to this cold, lifeless orb so many miles above him. "Why me?! Why not someone else?! What have I done to deserve this torture?!" Though frightened he would wake the neighbors, he continued his rant. "Why have you forsaken me?!" he pulled his flute from his sash, and stared at it for a moment's time. Playing had not yet brought him the solace he needed. As he stared at his flute, more memories flooded him. Guilt. He felt a guilt so strong he thought he would fall down. He was drowning, suddenly, though his head was above the water. And he deserved it… he cocked his hand back, and threw his flute as far into the water as he could. It didn't help him, it just added to his melancholy. His flute had almost always presented the answers to every problem, but the piece of wood had not yet made obtainable the solution. And yet, even with the offensive instrument gone, his mind was even more jumbled. He thought that diving into the water might help cool him down. He slipped farther and farther down, and he gently slipped into a much welcomed darkness…

Day 5

Kaika came to in a familiar stable-turned-home. He had no clue what had happened, though, he just remembered diving into the water, and everything going black. A familiar figure came into view, the figure that had haunted him for nearly a week now. He sat up, only to be hit by dizziness and have to lay back down. He fought down the vertigo, and turned to her.

"Tali… where were you yesterday?" he asked her. She turned with a start.

"Oh! You're awake! Yesterday? Yesterday, I was here, taking care of you." he frowned. That meant he had been asleep all the day before.

"Then it was the day before."

"I was out by the lake all day… imagine my surprise when the very reason I was hiding came wading into my lake… imagine my surprise when he began to drown…"she smiled. "I saved you. It isn't the first time I've had to, but… you wouldn't remember that…" she looked sad again.

"How do you know me?" he asked. She smiled sadly.

"I have a story to tell you first, Kaika, about a girl named Natalia and a man named Amiboshi. Both were 15 years old, and one was posing as a seishi of Suzaku, Chiriko. The other, the girl Natalia, was a servant in his majesty Hotohori's imperial court. They met at a feast the night that the priestess Miaka returned with her six seishi to the palace. The boy posing as Chiriko was to be an honored guest, and Natalia was the girl chosen to serve him." Tali paused to take a breath, and sat down next to him on the bed. "Amiboshi beckoned the girl, and asked her name, something few people ask of servants, and she shyly replied. He smiled at her, and told her `Natalia? That's such a pretty name. It suits you.' From that moment on the girl was in love with the Chiriko boy. He flirted with her endlessly all night, but that was nothing she wasn't already used to, many men get drunk." At Kaika's request, Tali laid down on the bed beside him. She propped herself up on one arm so she could speak better. "From that night on, Natalia slept in his room, in the doorframe, so she could be near him. She wanted him to love her, but she was afraid it would never be. He was one of Suzaku's chosen, and she was just the favored servant of his majesty. Many, many months, she slept there, though the floor was uncomfortable, and the room was cold without any blankets. Amiboshi had many nightmares, one a night, and she was the one to speak soft words to him, and smooth the hair away from his face, and calm him. And her voice and touch always calmed his inner demons. But she still could not lead herself to believe that this blessed warrior loved her. He saw her bathing once, and after she dressed, he held her to him, and caressed her arms, and asked how a servant could possibly have such soft skin. Frightened that she would be scolded, she told him that it wasn't because she was lazy; that her skin could be rough if he wanted it to be. It told her that that would be a crime to all humanity. She smiled, and he held her that way for a very long time, until they had to go so someone else could use the bath." She laid down next to Kaika, and Kaika pulled her close. She started a bit, and continued. "That night, he professed his love for her, that he'd loved her for as long as he'd known her, since the night of the feast. He also confessed that he was not Chiriko, that he was a Seiryuu seishi sent to destroy the summoning ceremony named Amiboshi. She told him that she loved him anyways." She stopped for a moment.

"Go on, please." He said to her.

"Sorry, it is so hard… to remember sometimes. You know this, ne?"

"Yes." He said, almost bitterly. "Please finish."

"Alright. This was only a 3 days before the ceremony, so they had only three days to be together. On the third day, the day that he would go to his doom, for they both knew that he would die almost no matter what, she threw herself at him, refusing him exit from the room, sobbing uncontrollably. He held her tight for what seemed like hours, but were really just disguised moments. He wiped her tears away, and, though she begged him not to go, he had to leave…" Kaika's memory of her and him came to him quickly.

"But I…" she held a finger to his lips.

"I know… but let me finish. Later that day, he fell to his seeming doom in a canal. His last words were `I love you, Tali-chan…'" Kaika watched tears began running down her cheeks, " within 3 months, she realized she was pregnant with his child. And, when the child came, all knew that she had been his lover. No one else had eyes that color. The baby was taken from her, and quickly beheaded as the child of a treasonous snake. For the next year or two, they debated over what should happen to the girl. She didn't care anymore, they had taken everything; her Kotoku, her status as marry-able, her baby, she would have been glad to give them her life, too. She admitted to them, one day, that she had known about it, and she was sentenced to the same death her lover had died. She drifted to a shore, and decided to just try and live again, make enough money to buy a proper blade… but one day, she picked the wrong pocket…" she was crying very hard by now.

"You…" he said to her, "You were Natalia, ne? And I, I was Amiboshi?" she nodded, and he pulled her to his chest tighter. "Everything makes sense, now, that I would fall in love with you so fast. I'm sorry, Tali-chan, I can only remember little snippets… but I know I love you. I know it. Just like then."

"I love you too, Kotoku."

"I'm Kaika, now."

"Then I love you, Kaika."

Days 6 and 7

It didn't take long to alter his mother's old wedding dress. The arrangements were made quickly; her lack of family made for no dowry or anything like that. His parents loved her, and they decided that Kaika and Tali could live right there in their house until they had one of their own. His father gave him new clothes of white with gold trim and a gold sash. His ring was simple gold; her's white jade. His mother washed her, and trimmed his unruly hair, and washed him, and then washed him again. Kaika and Tali enjoyed many sweet kisses underneath his tree by her lake in the light of their confidante, the moon. Two days later, 7 days since they had met in so long, they married to the village's delight on the Lover's Pavilion on the day of the sweetheart's festival. His wedding gift for her was beautiful bracelets. She had bought him (with a little help from the villagers [of they're own free will]) a beautiful glass flute. And, when they shared their wedding kiss, fireworks erupted in the sky.