Hime/Otome Love Part Two
Generations 2 of 3
So lonely... so alone...
--
After the bloodshed...
--
The war had been a nightmare for both sides. We had enhanced strength and reflexes, the power of our Elements, and of course, the Childs. They had near endless numbers, the best technology the world had to offer, and worst of all... they had fear. They used people's fear of what couldn't be understood to open the doors of global panic. The world became an ugly place, a place where being different was likened to being evil. It's sad, really, that the one thing to finally bring the world together under a united banner... was hatred. By the time the fighting was over, the western continents and most of the major cities were in ruins... so much had been lost.
My name is Mikoto, I can't remember my last name, I'm not even sure I'd ever heard what it was. I'm sixteen years old and I live like a nomad, moving from place to place to avoid drawing too much attention to myself. Even though the war was over and I had survived the fighting I was still being hunted for one reason or another. After all, in this ugly, hate filled world I am one of the very few that are considered to be the most different. I am a Hime.
I'm not even sure how many of us are left now, probably less than five after Kiyohime's summoner had been taken. With her had gone Duran's Hime, as well as her sister, the user of Artemis. It was bad enough to lose one of them, even worse that they had been each others keys. It has pained my heart to this very day to have seen them go, in a way they had been the only family I had ever known. Family, a loved one, the person you cherish most... the tragic life of a Hime and her Key.
It was strange though, as far as I could tell I had no special person. Outside of those I had fought beside I couldn't put a single name to any of the faces in my memory, let alone have someone I cherished above all others and yet... Miroku still headed my call. At first it had made me feel special, I was the only Hime who could do it alone but... over time... alone was all that I felt. The memories of the time I had spent with the other Hime and their Key's, while I would always treasure them, had left me feeling bitter.
No matter how much I told myself otherwise, that was what I was really looking for on this journey... my Key. The older I became the more I could feel it... feel the person waiting for me. I'd had so many dreams about her. Images of falling asleep in the arms of another, a flash of hair the color of strawberries, a glimpse of piercing gray eyes, and accompanying them all, no matter how crazy it sounds, the sensation of a full stomach. It tortured me to be away from her and we haven't even met.
I'd been wandering for two years searching for her and had no luck, nothing, not even a glimmer to keep my hopes up. Two whole years and I had nothing to show for it other than a few extra scars from times I'd gotten careless. The only comfort was that things could have been a lot worse. After the war, orphans wandering from place to place weren't so rare a sight, giving me a chance to blend in and avoid too much notice. It wasn't much of a life though, most of it spent fending for myself in the wilderness or, on rare occasions, doing some work for a local to earn a few sparse meals or a bed to sleep in. The yearning to find my most important person and settle down with a place of our own was becoming unbearable... and it wasn't until I'd almost given up hope that I found her.
It was all there just like in my dreams. The strawberry red hair, those beautiful gray eyes, even the aroma of food that filled the eating area of the inn where I'd found her. The instant I laid my eyes on her I had known right down to the very depths of my soul that this was my most special person. And yet even here, in what was the happiest moment of my life the world was laughing at me... she couldn't have been more than ten years old...
–
“Look at what I made, mommy!” she said, proudly holding up a plate of half blackened rice to a waitress I could only assume was her mother as the two of them looked nothing alike. The woman looked down at the plate and grimaced out of reflex before putting on a hollow smile. Before the girl's mother even spoke a thought floated through my mind. A single word that managed to fill my lonely heart with more joy than it had ever known.
'Mai...'
“It looks delicious, Mai.”
“Aren't you gonna try it?” the girl asked hopefully. The woman looked down at the plate like it was a snarling rat.
“I would, Mai, but I'm busy,” the woman lied, making a show of wiping down the table she'd just finished cleaning. Mai was a smart girl apparently, she hadn't been fooled at all and sniffed loudly as a few fat tears fell onto the plate. It broke my heart to see her so sad.
“I know it doesn't look pretty but I tried really hard!” the adorable little girl whimpered. The woman sighed, more out of annoyance than concern which grated on my nerves.
“Look, Mai, I'm very busy, why don't you go upstairs and play or something?” I had expected the little girl to break down completely but she simply nodded and turned away to trudge toward the stairs, apparently this was a regular occurrence. I could feel every bit of the pain that had seized the girl’s heart from being brushed aside.
“I'll eat it!” I said much too loudly, wincing afterward. I didn't speak to people very often and it always felt awkward when I did. I turned away quickly, fearing I'd scared the wits out of the poor little thing. It came as quite a surprise when the plate was sat down in front of me and her adorable face leaned into view.
“You really mean it?!” she squeaked happily. I looked from the plate of half burnt food to her sweet smiling face. In that instant our eyes met I knew I'd do absolutely anything to make this girl happy. Too stunned to speak I simply picked up the chopsticks and lifted some into my mouth, my eyes instantly widened in shock. I don't know if it was my near starved state, the hope in her eyes, the bond that we shared, or if the girl had actual talent but... it was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted. “You hate it...” she said sadly, having mistaken my expression for distaste, and began to remove the plate.
“No!” I shouted, grabbing it from her little hands and shoveling more of the delicious food into my mouth. I noticed she was staring at me, seemingly confused and a little frightened at the same time. I swallowed hard to clear my overstuffed mouth and gave her a wide smile. “Mai's cooking is the best!” I felt like an idiot as the words left my mouth but one look at her overjoyed face told me it had been exactly the right thing to say.
“Thank you so much, Mikoto-chan!” she squealed, throwing her arms around my neck and giving me huge hug. I could feel that my body was hugging her back but my mind had practically shut down at the sound of my name coming from her lips.
'How does Mai know my name? Does she recognize me? This food is so good! Does she know she's my Key? Does she even realize what's happening?' The torrent of thoughts halted when she pulled away, looking down at her shoes with an embarrassed blush.
“Sorry, I got excited...” Even with my mind awash with questions she was so adorable I couldn't help but smile. Not wanting to say the wrong thing I simply went back to eating with her beaming proudly at me the whole time. When finished I sat the chopsticks down on the plate and patted my belly. “Wow! I thought you might have just been being nice but you really liked it!” she said, looking at me so adoringly that I blushed.
“It was good! I told you, Mai's cooking is the best!”
“I'll go make more!” she squealed happily, running off towards the kitchen.
“Wait! I don't have anymore... money...” my voice trailed off, she was already gone. I didn't know what to do, whoever was in the back would probably think I was trying to steal food and have me ran out of town. Sure enough, a few minutes later she reappeared leading a balding man in an apron towards me. For a second I considered running but one look into those happy gray eyes kept me rooted in place.
“See daddy, this is the girl! She said my cooking was the best!” Cheeks blushing I looked up at the man and smiled sheepishly, noticing that Mai didn't look anything like him either.
“Sorry, Mai looked sad so I said I'd eat it and when I told her how good it was she ran off before I could tell her I don't have more money,” I said, bowing my head in apology. 'Please don't make me leave... please don't make me leave Mai now that I found her!' The man looked at me sternly for a few moments before his face softened.
“You're the one that only ordered the bread and butter, aren't you?” he asked. I nodded ashamedly.
“It was all I could afford.”
“Are you passing through with your...” he trailed off as I shook my head.
“I'm alone, the war...” He shook his head sadly.
“Look, sorry for having to ask all this but...”
“Make sure I wasn't stealing, I know.”
“So you really liked my daughter's cooking?” he asked, masking his incredulous tone to spare the girl’s feelings. I smiled as I turned to the little girl that had stolen my heart so many years before in my dreams.
“Mai's cooking is the best!” I said with a wink, earning a wide smile from both of them.
“You heard her Mai, one extra large order of fried rice needs cooking!” Those beautiful gray eyes lit up like the stars and she quickly pulled the man down for a hug, whispered something in his ear, then scurried off towards the kitchen.
“I don't have money, but I could do work to pay you.” The man waved the offer away.
“Don't worry about it, if two war victims come away a little happier then it's well worth the cost of a little rice.”
“Two? You mean...” He nodded, a grieved look on his face.
“Came wandering in alone a few years ago, wearing nothing but a torn sheet and thin as a skeleton. She couldn't remember much of anything other than her first name so I took her in...” he trailed off for a bit before continuing. “But enough about the past, she wanted to know if you'd stay the night with us, from the looks of things there'll be a few spare beds tonight and... it would mean a lot to her if you did. There aren't any children near her age here and I think she's taken to you.” Normally I would have refused, not that I would have left town or anything now that I'd found her but that last part he said had sealed it.
“Okay, I'll stay. I know how she feels so I'll keep her good company.” The man gave me a grateful smile.
“Now, I should get back there and make sure she doesn't burn it too badly.”
–
It was quickly made clear to me that despite how young she was and how childish she acted on occasion, Mai was smarter than me. Having grown up in a third rate orphanage and being thrust into war at age eleven probably had a lot to do with my being so behind but I was still in awe of her. She was like a beacon of light in this ugly world. Such a warm personality, so cheerful and full of determination to make all those around her just a little bit happier if possible. And I was happy, happier than I had ever been just by spending the day talking with the little girl who had been, and always would be, my most special person.
“You're so warm Mikoto-chan...” the half-asleep girl murmured, snuggling in a little closer. She'd asked me to hold her until she fell asleep and I simply couldn't resist the offer. “I think... my mother used to hold me like this.”
“She doesn't anymore?”
“I only call Karin mommy because it makes daddy happy, I meant my real mother. I can't really remember anything about her but I think I remember this...” I held her a bit tighter, her warm breaths tickling my neck.
“You... you can think of me like your mother if you want,” I said, a furious blush claiming my cheeks.
“I'd like that... Mikoto-chan...”
“Why does Mai know my name?” I asked uneasily. The question that had been nagging at me all day but I hadn't wanted to startle the girl. She surprised me by giggling sleepily into the crook of my neck.
“I was wondering when you would ask me. I've seen you,” she said quietly, her voice was getting more and more of a sleepy quality to it, “seen you in my dreams.”
“Dreams?” I asked, my voice trembling. She nodded against my neck.
“Only I was older than you and we went to school together and... I... had really big... boobs...” she managed just as she drifted off. I was only able to hold in my laughter out of fear of waking the girl.
I held her for a few more minutes, relishing the feel of the piece of me that had been missing for so long. She may be far too young for the more intimate of my dreams to come true but I was more than happy with what I'd found. I put her down in her bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin, hesitated for a moment, then placed a light kiss on her forehead. As I backed away to the entrance of the room I could hear Miroku humming with pleasure in the back of my mind, apparently pleased with having the source of his power so nearby.
“I want you to leave!” a voice called out as I stepped into the hallway. Of course things couldn't be so easy. I turned to see Karin glaring at me. “The one brat has stretched us thin enough without anymore of you little war leeches showing up!” I simply nodded and left, knowing that no matter how much I hated the woman it wouldn't do to risk making things harder for Mai. I made my way outside the village and climbed the sturdiest tree I could find, breaking off a few branches to create a makeshift nest.
“Mai...” I whispered to the night air, laying on my side so I could see the girl’s window. Even though I couldn't make out the figure through the curtains it was comforting to know she was there, filling my heart with the unfamiliar sense of joy. It was well into the morning before I was able to calm my nerves enough to drift to sleep, dreams filled with images of Mai's sweet smiling face.
–
My right shoulder burned, the Hime mark glowing like coals in an open flame. The battle raged all around me, the smell of blood and smoke mingling into a putrid stench that had become all too familiar. The roars of the Childs grew so loud and full of fury that they even drowned out the bursts of machine gun fire. This was home, this was all that I knew. A soldier appears before me, his rifle raised, Miroku appears in my hand and...
–
I woke with a chocked scream, tears streaming down my face as my lungs struggled to take in precious air. I'd never had a dream so intense, I could still taste and see the smoke. It was almost like... the unmistakable roar of an enraged Child tore through the air around me. I turned to see a great white dragon with wings of flame breathing a massive gout of fire onto the houses of the village.
'Kagutsuchi!' Much like Mai's had the name of the great beast sprang into my mind. 'His user never joined the war... why here... why now... MAI!' I sprang from the tree, calling Miroku into the world beneath me, already in flight mode and tearing off toward the center of the village. With Miroku still here I knew she was alive but probably not for long considering the inferno that lay before me. With my senses so heightened, I couldn't help but notice that Miroku seemed to have grown a great deal but quickly put the thought into the back of my mind. Mai was all that mattered right now.
“Calm him down if you can, wound or kill if you have to!” I shouted as I leaped from Miroku's back outside the inn, one of the few buildings still standing in spite of the flames. “Mai!” I called as I kicked in the door only to be engulfed in a cloud of escaping smoke. “Mai, where are you?!” I barreled into the building and was instantly met with the all too familiar sight and smell of burnt corpses. 'The fire isn't too bad in here, surely they could have...' That's when I saw her. Naked, and levitating a few feet from the ground, flaming rings surrounding her wrists and ankles, a Hime mark glowing on her right breast.
“Mai...” it was barely a whisper but it seemed to reach her, the flames disappearing from her eyes as she lowered to the ground.
“Mikoto-chan...” she looked around herself in horror as tears began to stream down her face. I ran towards her and fell to my knees so I could wrap my arms around her neck. “I didn't... I didn't mean to...” her voice quavered in my ear and I held her tighter. The image of a tiny girl with short brown hair, a bloody sword gripped tight in her hands as she muttered those same exact words flashed through my mind.
“I know, Mai... I know.”
“She saw the mark and she started hurting me and calling me a monster! I just wanted her to stop, I didn't want... I didn't want this! Daddy...” I pulled away and took her face into my hands to lock my eyes with hers, yellow pleading with gray to understand.
“It's not your fault, Mai.” She stared into my eyes for a few moments, lips trembling as thoughts I've long sense wished I could forget tore through her mind. She nodded and wrapped her arms back around my neck. I lifted her easily and sprinted out of the inn which almost immediately collapsed upon itself as if relieved of its burden. “You need to calm him,” I said, pointing to the great white dragon as he thrashed underneath Miroku.
“H-How?”
“He's part of you, just call to him, his name is...”
“Kagutsuchi!” she cried out. The dragon calmed visibly and let out a long crooning wail into the sky. Miroku lifted himself from the now placid beast, reaching out one metallic hand to pet the back of its head and neck. Despite the blazing inferno and the stench of burning death, I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace wash over me at the sight.
“Let's go Mai,” I said, taking off my cloak and wrapping it around the girl before lifting her into my arms.
“Where are we going?” she asked, slipping her arms around my neck.
“To find home...”
–
The nomadic lifestyle hadn't been easy for Mai at first. Unlike me she'd been living in relative comfort before having to take to the road and it really showed during the first few months. Even with her enhanced Hime abilities the harsh travel and sun exposure had simply been too much for her tiny body to handle. She was brave about it though, rarely complaining and always doing her best to make things better when she could. It pained me to have to push her so hard during that time but I knew it was for the best.
I told her everything I could remember about my own childhood, even the nightmare that had occurred when my own powers awakened. It seemed to bring a sense of comfort to her to know that she wasn't alone in her anguish and bring about a true sense of acceptance that it hadn't been her fault. From there I moved into the even more depressing subject of the war. No matter how hard I tried to explain it to her I couldn't get her to understand why things had turned out the way they had. It's not like I understood it any better or anything but it did make me grateful her powers hadn't awoken earlier. Mai was simply too young, too kind, and too innocent... the war would have destroyed her.
Spending so much time with the quickly maturing girl was like paradise to me. Gone was the crushing loneliness, gone was the dwelling on the nightmares of my past, gone was the horrible feeling that a part of me was missing. I couldn't think of a single part of my life that hadn't improved with the addition of Mai into my daily living. The wonderful sense of joy I'd gotten a taste of for that one day at the village was now mine to treasure forever. I finally had someone to share my feelings with, someone to love and to cherish, and finally, after two long years of bonding and searching... someone to share a home with.
–
It wasn't much to look at in the beginning, just a rundown cottage about a mile up a mountain path from a sleepy little town. It was small and filthy, only a sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, and a single bedroom, each filled with an array of furnishings in various states of rotting into piles of mold covered animal droppings. The forest seemed to have done it's best to grow into the place through a few of the broken windows. I took one look at it and instantly fell in love... it was home.
It was the villagers themselves who had informed us about it, the owner had apparently died some years ago and left no family to claim it. Mai had relayed to them, using her overwhelming cuteness that no living human could resist, our sad stories in a way that had the people falling over themselves to get us to take the place. They had even lent us some materials to fix the dilapidated building up a bit and within a few weeks the place was as good as new. We decided to keep to ourselves mostly, even with how kind the villagers were it wasn't worth the risk of getting too close to them and in the end we created a friendly, but distant, relationship with the townsfolk. The relationship between us, however...
While we had been searching we had been as mother and daughter with her looking to me for support and guidance. Upon settling in we became more as sisters. The age roles, however, ended up being reversed and I often found myself being scolded by the smaller girl. She had such a loving and caring personality to begin with but when combined with my somewhat feral nature it was obvious who would come out on top. By the time she was fourteen she had the total run of the place and it would have been obvious to anybody looking in. It was different than I imagined it would be but I can't say I was disappointed, I loved the smaller girl with all my heart... in fact, I may have loved her a little too much.
By the time she was fifteen she was already taller and had a more womanly shape they I could ever hope to have. Living so close with, indeed, sharing a bed with so beautiful a girl it was only a matter of time before my feelings began to change. Her feelings for me, unfortunately... stayed much the same. It was around this time that the dreams returned, taunting me with the intimacy of a relationship so much deeper than the one we had now. I should have known it was foolish of me to try to hide my feelings from her, to hope she hadn't noticed the way I looked at her with more than just adoration in my eyes...
On the day she had chosen to be her sixteenth birthday, as neither of us actually knew, she confronted me. Under that stern gray gaze I broke down and confessed to everything. I told her all about the dreams and the thoughts I had about her. I told her what I was doing all those nights she awoke to find me missing from the bed and locked away in the bathroom. I told her how ashamed I was for falling in love with her and just like so many times before, was completely surprised by her reaction... she kissed me. She kissed me with such burning passion that there could be no denying that she loved me as fiercely as I loved her.
We made love, our inexperienced fingers and lips exploring each others trembling bodies long into the night and even when our bodies could do no more we simply lay in each others arms, whispering sweet words that had gone unspoken for far too long. It was the most beautiful night of my life. I finally had everything I had been searching for. Family, a person I cherished above all others... a lover... my Key. My heart had never felt so full... and so it would stay for many years to come...
–
My eyes snapped open, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I nudged the girl that lay beneath me a few times until her eyes fluttered open. She grinned and started to speak but I clapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes went wide and locked with mine, the question and answer going unspoken as I nodded and crept off the bed. We were both dressed and climbing out the back window in under a minute and before we could even scramble through the line of trees the cottage was pulled into oblivion by a massive silver beam from the sky. Mai reacted quickly and summoned her Element, hurling a massive ball of flame at the unknown assailant in the air.
The woman was only illuminated for a second but that was all it had taken for everything to become clear. She was wearing a type of combat suit I had never seen before, seeming to have energy woven right into the material. That wasn't what had caught my eye though... it was her weapon. I had seen that large artillery cannon so many times before... mounted to the back of a metal wolf. The true answer as to why they had been hunting Hime suddenly became clear... they wanted to make weapons.
“For this...” I said with such cold fury that Mai actually took a step back. Miroku, both sword and Child appeared in front of me, the red veins pulsing across their metal skin bathing the clearing in an eerie glow. I grabbed the sword and leaped onto his back, flying straight up at the woman and screaming with rage. She merely smiled and leveled the weapon at me.
“Sorry, love, I've got the high ground!” The canon fired, forcing me to leap from Miroku's back to avoid being incinerated. The Child managed to stay somewhat on course, clipping the woman hard on the shoulder as he passed, sending her spiraling towards the ground. Mai caught me around the waist and began flying in the opposite direction, Kagutsuchi appearing behind us to lay down a covering wall of flame.
“What are you doing?! I need to kill her! She needs to die!” I shrieked, thrashing in my lover's arms. She simply held me tighter.
“She wasn't alone! We would have been ambushed and I won't risk losing you Mikoto! Not for anything!” I didn't need to see her face to know she was crying. “We still have so much left to live for damn it! Fifteen years with you just isn't enough... especially now that... now that I'm...” I heard the sound of a canon firing and the anguished roar of a Child, then felt the sensation of free fall as Mai's Element disappeared. Kagutsuchi was dead... and with that knowledge came the sad truth that we would follow soon after...
Miroku managed to catch us and bring us lower in a last ditch effort to save us, just managing to decrease our fall enough to avoid being instantly fatal before he too faded away. The impact had been hard but we managed to claw our way towards each other, broken bodies already beginning to deteriorate into a shower of green light. I told her I loved her more than anything and she told me the same. It was strange, I didn't feel very sad, it was like my heart knew something my mind didn't. It wasn't until she told me she was sure we'd be together again in the next life that it clicked. The dreams weren't really dreams at all... they were memories. Our memories of this life and all those before it would be passed on to the next time we were together.
Just before we faded away completely she pulled me close and whispered two words into my ear that surprised me even with all that was happening. She smiled and nodded before pulling me into a final kiss as our bodies disappeared. Who knows, if our next reincarnations were lucky enough to be born in a world that wasn't so ugly... they might just be in for a wonderful surprise...
–
“I'd say that's definitely a successful test run of the Ice Silver Crystal, they didn't stand a chance!” the energy suit clad woman said with a grin, hefting the large cannon onto her shoulder. She frowned down at her companion when no response seemed forthcoming.
“Particle absorption has finished, mission complete.” The woman was wearing a similar combat suit and holding two cylindrical containers.
“What's wrong, you getting jealous of me or something?” The other woman scoffed.
“From where I was standing it looked like the one with the sword would have finished you if the other hadn't intervened. Considering they were off guard to begin with and that without my distraction you'd never have gotten that shot off at the dragon... you'd do well avoid such arrogance. But I suppose it no longer matters, after that redhead with the claws these two were the last, there's no longer anybody left for you to fight that has any talent.”
“What was that you little... hey, what the hell's that?!” the Ice Silver wielder shouted, pointing at one of the containers which had begun to shake violently.
“The sword girl's particles are...” The woman's words were replaced by a shriek as the container burst open in her hands, a spray of green mist dissipating into the air. The two women looked at each other incredulously.
“I never heard of a containment cell breaking... what do you think it means?”
“I... I don't know...”