Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ A Gift of Love ❯ Sweet Dreams My Love ( Chapter 26 )

I recently infected a friend with the Shaman King virus. She fell in love with Ren. My job is done.

 

I kinda imagined a closing theme-type animation using “Omokage” with Ren and Pin-Mei and Hua, in contrast to Anna and Yoh and Hao. Of course, he was doing more masculine things than playing with a piece of cloth. I have such an odd mind. Whatever, it helps me think.

 

Notes: Some may find this chapter quite disturbing. It's violent and pretty graphic. You've been warned.

 

It's a dream by the way.

 

 

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A Gift of Love - Chapter Twenty-Six: Sweet Dreams My Love

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

Ren opened his eyes and looked around. Darkness was all that was around him. The void was so big that he couldn't see a single thing. He tried to call out, only to find that his voice had left him. He grabbed his throat, his eyes full of alarm.

 

What's going on?

 

“Niisama!” a tiny voice called.

 

Ren turned to see a four-year-old Pin-Mei running to him, smiling and giggling. He knelt down as she approached him.

 

“Niisama!” she cried again as she jumped to wrap her hands around his neck.

 

Ren gently wrapped his arms around her, and as he looked over her shoulder, he saw something he recognized. She was wearing the butterfly pins. He pushed her away slightly so he could look at her. She was still smiling.

 

“Niisama got really big! Before, you were this high.” She reached her hand up above her head, and then she reached on her tip-toes as high as she could, even jumping. “Now you're this high!”

 

Ren just stared at her. He didn't understand why she was here. If she was really four, then why would she have the clips? While he was occupied, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

 

“Mwah!”

 

She giggled again, then looked like she remembered something. She brought both of her ponytails from under her hair in front of her and took off the clips. He watched as she took his hand and placed them in it.

 

“You can have these back,” she said casually.

 

Ren looked down at them. It felt like he was being stabbed through the heart. She had loved them so much…why was her younger self giving them back? He wanted so badly to ask her why, but not being able to talk made it impossible. She tugged his free hand.

 

“Come play with me!” she cried. She tried to pull him along, but eventually ran off by herself. She looked back at him, still trying to get him to follow her.

 

Ren squinted as he thought he saw something glisten in Pin-Mei's direction. It shined more. His eyes widened.

 

It was a sword.

 

Again, he couldn't call out to her, so he started sprinting toward her instead. The sword started flying toward her at an alarming speed. At the last moment, he dove and brought her to the ground, covering her with his body. He looked down at her, happy to see her safe, but then felt what he thought was a pinch on his back. His expression turned to that of horror.

 

The sword had gone through him and through Pin-Mei. Her heart began to bleed, and her eyes looked heavy. Still, she smiled.

 

“Niisama…please don't sleep on top of me…I don't like it…” Blood began to trickle from her mouth.

 

He couldn't stop shaking. He felt no pain. He wasn't bleeding. But the child under him was suffering, and he couldn't do anything about it.

 

“Niisama…I'm really tired…I'm going to go to sleep now, okay?” She closed her eyes and her head fell to the side.

 

He went numb. She had died, even when he thought he was saving her. This all seemed so unreal…

 

Her body melted into a pool of blood and vanished along with the sword in his back. He collapsed to the floor. If she was gone, did that mean that her older counterpart was, too? He couldn't stand the thought of her leaving, of never seeing her again. In anguish, he slammed his fist against the ground. He did it again and again, getting harder and harder each time.

 

“Get up, Tao Ren.”

 

He looked up to see a girl dressed in a black halter top and a long black skirt with slits up the side. Bracers were on her arms and small black shorts could be seen under her skirt. Her hair was chin-length and dark purple with a clip on top of her head holding her bangs from her face. As she moved toward him, he noticed two long thin braids trailing behind her.

 

Pin-Mei?

 

He staggered as he ran to hug her tight. Although he couldn't voice his relief, he was just glad to know that she was okay. She gave a sad look over his shoulder before gently pushing him away. He looked at her, confused.

 

“I'm not Pin-Mei,” she said in a remorseful but stern voice.

 

That was when he looked at her more closely. Her eyes were blue, and their look was sadder with less innocence. She was a little taller, and she was not as flat as Pin-Mei was.

 

The girl gently placed her fingertips on his lips, then removed them. “You can speak now,” she said.

 

Ren blinked, then grabbed her shoulders. “Where is she? Where's Pin-Mei?” he yelled at her. “And why do you look like her?”

 

Her expression didn't change. “You're afraid she's gone, aren't you?” He just stared at her, uneasy. “Your suspicions are correct, she is gone from you. You cannot follow her. Your parents will not tell you where she is. You won't see her tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after…”

 

“What the hell are you talking about?”

 

“I'm saying that you have two choices: You can keep trying to find a way to get to her until you die, or you can forget about her and move on. It's your choice.”

 

He grasped her harshly again. “If you know so much, then when WILL I see her?”

 

She still remained placid. “That is not for me to decide. Whether you really want to waste the time and energy going after her is your own choice. It has nothing to do with me.”

 

He was getting angrier by the second. “Then why the hell are you here?”

 

“To give you this.” She handed him the pink rose ring.

 

He gawked at it. Another present given back. He clutched it and glared at her. “Why do you have this?”

 

“It came into my possession upon entering. Pin-Mei must have discarded it.”

 

“She wouldn't! She loved it!”

 

She shrugged. “Again, not under my control.” She looked behind her. “If you have anything else you need to take up with me, you should do it quickly.”

 

He looked at her skeptically. “Why?”

 

“Because…”

 

A sword came from behind her drove through her, slamming her against Ren, who again felt no pain nor bled. The girl looked up at him, and he looked down at her with pained eyes.

 

“Have you made your decision?… Will you go after her?” Her voice was beginning to give out.

 

Ren gave her a muddled expression, then suddenly softened. He was beginning to understand why she was being harsh.

 

 

“Yes…if she really is gone, then I will go and bring her back.”

 

She smiled. “Good…That's what I was hoping for. I don't want her to be unhappy…You'll be a good husband…”

 

The sword disintegrated and she fell to the floor. He turned his head to the side and tried not to look as her body melted into a pool of blood. She resembled Pin-Mei so much that it felt like she was the one who was died, and not this stranger.

 

The sound of crying met his ears. He snapped his head up.

 

“I'd know that sound anywhere…”

 

He bolted in the direction the noise was coming from. It kept getting louder until he finally saw her, kneeling on the floor, her hair long and spread about her, her back turned to him. Cream colored ceremonial robes were draped over her shoulders. He was half-smiling, half-worried as he approached her; happy to see her, but not to see her crying.

 

“Pin-Mei, what's wrong?” He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, but she quickly turned and pushed him away.

 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed.

 

Ren stumbled back and stared at her. The robes slid off her shoulder to reveal scars on her back. As his eyes fixed on them, she glared at him.

 

“Don't act like you don't know where these came from,” she said in a hateful voice. “You did this to me.”

 

He tensed. “What do you mean?”

 

She scoffed at him. “Tch…Always hurting me…Being cold to me…but still having the gall to tell me you love me…Grandmother was right…I should have just gone home.” She threw something at him. “I don't need nor do I want this anymore. You can have it back.”

 

His heart stopped. He swallowed hard as he bent down to pick up her engagement ring. It glistened before the diamonds shattered in his hand. His eyes showed the projection of an excruciating pain that no human being could ever live through on their own. He looked up at her. She had a pleased look on her face.

 

“Maybe now you've felt about ten percent of the pain you've inflicted on me.”

 

He could barely breathe. She had never shown him this side of her. “…Pin-Mei…why?”

 

Her face was hard and cold again. “Don't insult me by acting like you've been perfect this whole time. I gave you everything I could, and even then it wasn't enough…you felt the need to take even more from me!” She smirked at his further confused and pained expression. “You want to see the latest masterpiece you've carved into me?” She stood up and allowed the robes to drop as she moved her hair to the front. Ren gasped.

 

He was staring at her bare back, a large scar resembling his emblem was cut into it, still bleeding. She turned around to face him, her long hair covering her disrobed body. Scars covered her torso, legs, and every other part he could see.

 

“I hope you're pleased with yourself. These scars will never fade. My body will always remember how you've wronged me. I will always have this ugly scarred body, for the rest of my life, a symbol of your “love””.

 

His head drooped to cover his eyes. “…I'm sorry…I didn't think I was hurting you,” he said. She saw a tear roll down his cheek. “I do love you. I told you to never forget that, but you obviously have.” He looked up at her, and she could see more tears coming. “Your body isn't ugly, so stop saying stupid things. I'm sorry if I put those scars on you, but they don't make you ugly. Nothing could make you ugly to me.”

 

Her eyes quivered and tears fell. “Ren…” She covered her face with her hands and knelt down again as she cried. He smiled weakly at her.

 

Then his eyes shot open. Three swords were hovering over her body. He started running toward her.

 

“Pin-Mei, move!” he yelled.

 

“What?” She looked up as they fell and sliced through her. As she bled, she collapsed to the ground, her eyes faded and soulless. Ren knelt down next to her.

 

“Pin-Mei! Pin-Mei, wake up!”

 

Her hand twitched. She spoke to him in a gargled whisper. “Will you hold my hand before I go?”

 

As the tears streamed down his face, he nodded and carefully held her hand.

 

She smiled. “Thanks…” She closed her eyes. “I love you, Ren…”

 

The hand went limp.

 

Ren screamed.