okay, i never got a chance to edit this very well so >.< i apologize. also, realize that there's no title for this chapter. it's because i don't know what to put. so if you've got a good idea, let me know. NOTE: it has to be either a quote or a part of a quote from someone in this chapter. and try to keep it somewhat short >.< also, i know that no one was informed about the last chapter because i left for vacation right after i posted it and didn't get a chance to send out the messages, so i'm sorry about that too. wow i'm doing a lot of apologizing XD Well here's your chapter! enjoy!
Akio: Whoa, Keiji…
Akio had emerged from his room to see Keiji, wide eyed and blushing brighter than a red apple as he stormed down the hallway as if he had just seen a ghost.
Akio: What’s up with you?
Keiji: Just don’t go in the bathroom, okay?
Akio: Why don’t you want me to…?
But his question was answered as he heard the bathroom door open. He leaned to the side to see behind his friend, and saw the soaked body of Yume wrapped in a towel as she marched back into the girls’ bedroom. He just looked back at Keiji, gaping like a fish that had just been taken from the water.
Akio: Oh…Keiji…
After hearing the door to the girls’ room slam, he doubled over with laughter, barely taking a pause to breathe in between his hoots.
Akio: K-Keiji! HAH! You…you kiss her, then you see her naked!?
He managed to get through the sentence by skipping a few breaths.
Akio: Are you trying to scar this kid for life!?
Keiji: I didn’t know she was naked! I just heard this beautiful singing coming from the bathroom, so I walked in and saw her taking a bath…
Akio: Mm-hm.
The boy's sarcasm was obvious as he raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms.
Keiji: Honestly! It woke me up! It was so beautiful…
Akio: What was beautiful? The song, or the thought of Yume naked and wet?
Keiji: I would never…!
Akio: Oh, Keiji, Keiji. There is a difference between the two of us. We may both be perverted, but at least I’m not in denial about it.
Keiji: I AM NOT A PERVERT!
Akio: My point exactly.
Keiji: But I…! You see…! UGH!
He leaned up against the wall, banging his head against it continuously.
Akio: Well, to make up for it, I suppose you could always go apologize for what you did.
Keiji sighed, still feeling remorse for his actions.
Keiji: Would it help?
Akio: Wouldn’t hurt.
Keiji nodded, then began to head towards the girls’ room, but was held back by Akio’s arm.
Akio: Might want to wait till she’s dressed, man.
Yume slammed the door to the bedroom and changed back into her dress.
Takara: Shush…
The half-asleep Takara threw a pillow at the door, thinking for some crazy reason that if she attacked it, it would stop making noise when shut.
Amaya: So where’ve you been?
The oldest of the three had already been awake and brushing her hair when Yume had entered.
Yume: I was bathing…
She took a comb from a nearby nightstand and began running it through her dripping wet hair.
Yume: …Until I was so rudely interrupted.
Amaya couldn’t help but snicker.
Amaya: So who walked in on you?
Yume: Who do you think?
Takara: The Easter Bunny…?
The two didn’t want to question whether Takara was talking in her sleep, or if she was giving an actual response to the question asked.
Amaya: Keiji, right?
Yume: Mm.
She nodded.
Amaya: Hmph. Jackass.
Yume: I know, right? Who walks in on someone in the bathroom?
Takara: A pervert, that’s who!
She sat up suddenly and alertly with a jolt of energy that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Takara: Now you know how I feel, constantly feeling as if some creep is always hovering over your shoulder trying to glance down your shirt! It’s enough to drive you mad!
There was a moment of silence as steam seemed to rise from Takara’s head and the other two girls stared at her with raised eyebrows.
Amaya: Anyway…
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and began to walk toward the door.
Amaya: I’m going to find something to eat. Yume…just…stay away from Keiji and maybe he’ll leave you alone.
Takara: What she said.
Takara jumped up from her bed and followed Amaya to the door. Amaya turned the knob and opened the door, but instead of seeing the opposite wall of the hallway, she saw the face of Keiji, his fist raised as if prepared to knock.
Amaya: Well speak of the devil…
She glanced at him with harsh eyes, causing him to gulp uneasily.
Amaya: Do anything else to her, and I swear I’ll come after you in your sleep.
She passed him and made her way into the passage with a glare that made Keiji shiver. Takara scurried behind her and slapped the young man across the face.
Takara: I just did that cuz I know Yume wouldn’t!
With her nose raised in the air, she followed Amaya to the deck.
Takara: Hmph…pervert…
Keiji took one step into the room, but before he could take another, the door nearly slammed in his face, giving him a millisecond to step backward and save his nose from being broken.
Keiji: Yume…
Yume: Go away.
Keiji: Yume, I just want to…
Yume: I said to leave me alone!
Keiji: I just want to apolo—
Yume: What excuse could you possibly have for walking into the bathroom while I was bathing!?
Keiji: First of all, I didn’t know you were bathing. How was I supposed to know? There was no water running at the time I came in!
Yume: Well…well the door was closed! You can’t just walk in!
Keiji: Well, I wasn’t thinking. I was too busy listening to that song you were singing.
There were a few moments of silence as Yume just stared at the door.
Yume: The…the song?
Keiji: It was wonderful: the song, the words, the sound of your voice…
Yume: Y-you really think so?
Keiji: Absolutely.
After a few reluctant moments, Yume finally turned the lock on the door and opened it, looking up to face those shining blue eyes once again.
Yume: Well?
Keiji: I’m sorry for stumbling into the bathroom while you were bathing.
Yume shrugged.
Yume: I guess I forgive you.
Keiji: Thank you for forgiving me.
Yume: You’re welcome.
Both of the people were speaking so dully and simply. It was the most awkward conversation they’d ever had. Finally Keiji decided to put an end to it and say something somewhat interesting.
Keiji: So...where did you get that song from?
Yume: Um, well, my mother used to write poems to my father to show that she still loved him after she left him. I just took one of them and put it to a tune.
Keiji: Your mother left your father? But I thought that the queen of Hitomi…?
Yume: Died?
Keiji: Um…yeah…
Yume: Well, the original queen of Hitomi did die. But that isn’t my mother. Though, my mum died too, but no one heard about it…
Keiji: WAIT WAIT WAIT! YOUR FATHER HAD AN AFFAIR!?!
Yume: No! Did you even pay attention to the news back then?
Keiji: Well, I probably wasn’t even born when this stuff happened, because apparently neither were you, and I’m only a year older than you are. Plus, I lived on Seidai, a bigger island a hundred miles south of little old Hitomi.
Yume sighed.
Yume: Well, the story was that my father had an arranged marriage with the princess of Kosui, and though they weren’t in love, they accepted the marriage and gave birth to my older brother, Samuru, who would be the person who screamed at us when we were escaping from the palace.
Keiji: Ah…him…
A large bead of sweat ran down his face as he scratched the back of his neck.
Yume: Yes… Well, anyway, one day the three of them were at the beach, and his mother was swimming out too far. She got caught in the riptide, and…she…drowned.
Keiji: Oh, that’s not very good…
Yume: Mm.
She nodded.
Yume: Though my father wasn’t as heartbroken as you’d expect. He never really loved her.
Keiji: I see…
Yume: He was still sad though, just not as sad as Samuru. He was only three at the time and missed his mother like you couldn’t imagine… Well, a few months later, my father was in town with a few guards, trying to find a new weapon. Well, who does he happen to meet, but the most beautiful woman he has ever seen in his life: Nami Hizashi. My father sees her and he’s amazed. She’s beautiful, smart, witty: she was perfect for him, and he knew it. It was love at first sight for the two of them.
Keiji: Aw, how sweet.
Yume blushed, but it faded as he started chuckling, realizing that he was just joking.
Yume: Um…anyway, he learned that she was buying supplies for her ship. She was a sailor who had just docked that morning and was planning to leave that afternoon. Well, after meeting my dad, she decided to stay a day or two. And…well, a day or two turned into a week and eventually, her crew just left without her, because they knew that she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. And just as her crew had suspected, the two of them were married after two months.
Keiji: Wow…that soon?
Yume: Well actually it was sooner than you think, because they started planning the wedding a month and a half before they had it, so…
Keiji: So he proposed after two weeks?
Yume: I told you! It was love at first sight!
Keiji: Heh. None of that stuff ever happens anymore.
Both of them seemed to blush at exactly the same time, the thought of the first time they’d ever seen each other hovering in the back of their minds.
Yume: (He smiled at me when I was on the balcony…)
Keiji: (She smiled back and waved…)
They both snapped out of it as the thought of their kiss gave each of them a jolt.
Yume: Urm…anyway! A year after they were married, I was born. Of course, I was the kingdom’s pride and joy, being the king’s amazingly beautiful little girl. Though of course at the time, no one knew it was because of a diamond in my wrist.
Her voice became flat as she approached the end of the sentence as she stared at Keiji dully. He just smiled uneasily and took a step backward.
Yume: Hmph. Well, for the first five years of my life, the thing that I remember most is how my mother would stand at the edge of the balcony before she tucked me in at night. She’d stare at the sea with teary eyes, like she was having a nostalgic flashback. At the time I didn’t know what she was looking at. As a kid, I just thought she was sad that it was going to rain or something. But now I know what she was doing…
Keiji: What?
Yume: She was homesick. Longing for the sea. Waiting for her old ship to come and take her away. My mother had spent the best years of her life out on that ocean, and now she was trapped in a palace. I look back to it now and see that look in her eyes… She wanted to go back so badly…
Keiji: So what happened next?
Yume: One night she was looking out at the ocean again, this time, her eyes widening as if surprised. I asked her what was wrong, and she just sped from the room. I wanted to follow her, but by the time I was out of bed, she was already down the hallway, down the stairs, and out of the front door. So I looked out my bedroom window and saw her making her way down to the docks. She met with one of the sailors from a nearby ship, and they talked for a while, and then she walked back up to the palace. She came into my room, hugged me tight with tears streaming down her cheeks…
Yume wiped a tear from her own cheek, trying to conceal them before they became too serious.
Yume: And…and she told me that I was the big girl in the house now, and that I needed to be strong for Father and Samuru. “Always remember, you’re a Katori,” she told me. Then she kissed my forehead, told me she loved me, and then left…
Keiji: Oh I see… Is that the end of the story?
Yume: Sadly, no.
She laughed, still crying a little bit.
Yume: For the next three years, she wrote me and my father letters. She would always write me about the sea and how great it was to be free again. She told me all the time how she couldn’t wait to sail back to Hitomi and take me for a trip one time, just the two of us. She always told the best sea stories. And she wrote to my father too: love letters and poems. She never stopped loving him. He was the most wonderful person in the world to her…but…
Keiji: Then why didn’t she want to stay with him?
Yume: Because palace life isn’t what it’s cracked up to be!
Yume jumped up from the bed, her face red with anger, her eyes harsh and still teary. Her breaths were heavy as she struggled to control her fit.
Yume: It’s just… You’re always being watched! You’re always expected to do what you’re told! It was too dangerous to go outside and play, because you would never know who’s outside! It’s not a palace, it’s a prison! I would have done anything to do what my mother did! And…and I guess that now I have…thanks to you…
Her anger slowly subsided, Keiji reaching out to comfort her only to get his arm pushed away.
Yume: I’m…I’m fine…
Keiji: Alright. Is…is there any more?
Yume: A…a little.
She sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath.
Yume: When I was eight years old, my mother wrote me a letter saying that she would be on her way to come pick me up and take me sailing for a month to Gesshoku, just me and her. But before she arrived, we got a different letter in the mail. It was from her first mate. He told us that one night during a storm, the waters got really choppy, and the boat was rocking intensely. My mother fell overboard, and before they could save her, a wave took her down and she drowned.
Keiji: Oh…oh my gosh, Yume… I’m so sorry…
Yume: It’s alright.
She sniffled.
Yume: I just…haven’t thought about this in a while. I didn’t think it would affect me all these years later…but…
She just shook her head. Keiji sat down on the bed next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. He expected her to push it off, but she just looked at him calmly and the tears seemed to fade. But just the sight of her hazel eyes, sparkling with what few tears they had left made a chill run up Keiji's spine.
Yume: Hm…so…
She wiped her cheeks off and regained her composure. Her flashback was finally over.
Yume: So do you really have an interest in music or were you just looking for an excuse to see me naked?
Keiji: Oi… I thought we went through this…
Yume laughed sweetly. Keiji thought it was nice to see her smiling again.
Keiji: Actually my mom used to sing all the time, and your voice reminded me of hers.
Yume: So you stormed into the bathroom because you thought I was your mother?!
Keiji: Ehhh!?!
His entire face turned bright red as he winced at the thought.
Keiji: Ew, bleh, ick, GROSS!
Yume giggled again.
Keiji: No…it was just a memory that brought back the good times, y’know? My mum would sing and my dad would play guitar. I loved it.
Yume: Sounds nice.
Keiji: Yeah…
He sat back, his head making contact with the wall.
Keiji: Those were the good old days…
Yume: So what’s your family like?
Keiji: More like what were they like. They died about two years ago.
Yume: Oh…I’m so sorry…
Keiji: S’alright. I know they’re looking after me from wherever they are.
Yume: That’s a good way to think of it.
Keiji: Mm.
Yume: So what were they like?
Keiji: My dad was the island’s most celebrated lawyer, and my mum was the heiress to the Kyuuten fortune. So, well, put those two together and you’ve got the richest family on all of Seidai.
Yume: So…you were the child of a rich family? But you don’t…
Keiji: Act like it? Neither did they. My dad was like a big kid when he was out of the courtroom, always cutting up and goofing off. He was also a real adventure buff, always wanting to go places and hated being locked up in a mansion all day. My mum was a wonderful woman, caring not only for herself but for others. She donated to charity a lot and was always thought of as the town’s guardian angel.
Yume: Heh, sounds like an odd couple.
Keiji: Yeah, maybe. But they did love each other so much. And they loved me too. Though of course, who wouldn’t?
He smiled goofily, making Yume giggle once again as she blushed.
Keiji: They’d always put me before themselves. It was really nice to have parents that cared for me so much. But I was a pretty lonely little kid. Not many of the other high-class families had kids around my age, and the few that did had girls. So my parents let some of the servants’ kids come and play with me when I was little. Let’s just say we met when we were five, five, and four, and we haven’t yet separated.
Yume: Akio and Mokoto?
Keiji: That obvious?
Yume: I don't see any other guys on this boat.
Keiji: Heh. Well, my father had this book passed down through the generations. It was full of legends about treasures and mysterious places. He always told me that once I got older, he, me, my mom, and my friends would all go out together and try to find every treasure in that book. And the year we were finally planning to go out and find it all, my parents passed away.
Yume: At…at the same time?
Keiji: My dad died in a mountain climbing accident. My mum died a few months later of a broken heart.
Yume: That’s so sad…
Keiji: Mm. She loved him so much…
He shook his head sadly.
Keiji: Well, since I was their only kid, I inherited their entire fortune. The house, the land, the money: it was all mine. But I didn’t want it. So I sold it all, bought the good old Horizon, and now I’m finishing out what my parents never got to. Me, Mokoto, and Akio are not going home till we’ve looked for every treasure in that book.
Yume: Wow…that’s quite a project… How many have you tried out?
Keiji: Sixteen, well, now seventeen.
Yume: Oh wow… How many treasures have you found?
Keiji: Um…well…none…
He scratched the back of his neck as a bead of sweat dropped from his forehead.
Keiji: But…but I know this one’s going to work! I mean, I knew from the beginning! After all, there’s a family legend that says my great uncle really did make it to the second realm with the help of the three Hitomi women.
Yume: Really!?
Keiji: Yeah…but he never came back…
Yume: Oh…that’s a shame… What was his name?
Keiji: Ronin Taiyou.
Yume: Ronin?
She tilted her head to the side.
Keiji: You’ve heard of him?
Yume: I…I had a dream last night and a man named Ronin was in it. He looked a lot like you, and he was on a boat with three girls with diamonds like ours. They looked like us, too…
Keiji: Maybe you were having a vision of the past, just like Hana said. After all, those diamonds were passed down through the women in your family, it would make sense that they looked like you guys.
Yume: Maybe…that must have been it!
Keiji: Heh, looks like history’s repeating itself.
Yume: Hehe…yeah…
Goosebumps ran up her body as she thought of the kisses shared by Ronin and the girl that shared her appearance.
Keiji: Well, I’m glad we got a chance to talk. I feel like I know you better now.
Yume: Mm-hm.
She smiled, making Keiji automatically smile back.
Keiji: Well, we better leave the room before the others think we’re up to something interesting…
Takara: So what do you think they’re doing in there?
Akio: Hehe, my bet’s that they’re making out.
Mokoto: Nah. Keiji’s too much of a wimp.
Amaya: Yeah, and I don't think Yume would let him even if he wasn't.
Akio: Well you never know! He’s done it before.
Mokoto: Yeah, but he didn’t use tongue.
Amaya: Wow, he actually told you whether or not he did?
Mokoto: No, I could tell by his body language when we asked him. He’s too wimpy anyway.
They were all chatting as Mokoto was at the wheel and Akio held a compass by his side. The two girls were just leaning up against the railing, letting the wind blow through their hair.
Akio: Hey Takara, can you go get us some food?
Takara: You’ve got legs! Go get your own food.
Akio: Hey, we only let you stay because you could do chores and stuff!
Amaya: We’re not your servants!
Mokoto: You’ve got to earn your keep somehow!
Takara: Hmph. You can’t boss us around…
A smile crept across her face.
Takara: But we can boss you around.
Akio: What are you talking about?
She tilted her head to the side and smiled brightly as she commanded:
Takara: How about you go get us some food?
At the sound of her voice, his eyes glazed over and he replied rather dully:
Akio: Right away, miss.
With that, he turned and began to make his way to the cabin, where the kitchen was located.
Takara: Oh yeah. I can get used to these powers.
Mokoto: Oh c’mon. Manipulation is just plain…
Amaya took one look at Mokoto with her sly eyes and he paused in mid-speech to begin another:
Mokoto: I’m a complete moron. I suck at fighting. Amaya is better than me in every way shape and form, and she can also kick my a**.
Amaya: Oh it’s good to be me right now.
Keiji: What’s going on…?
Akio: Okay, I got fruit and bread because I didn’t know… WAIT A MINUTE! YOU GOT INTO MY HEAD!
He dropped everything he had brought out from the kitchen to stare blankly at the girls in front of him.
Amaya: We’re trying out our powers. It’s quite enjoyable.
Mokoto: I still sleep with a teddy bear.
Amaya: Oh yeah. This is fun.
