Fifth Chapter
A Bump and
Another
BANG!
CRASH!
THUD!
YAOoooOUCH!
"Urgh,
finally, I found it," moaned the hapless fellow as he struggled to
relinquish his head from underneath the mass of books and rubbish that fell on
him. "For a prince," he added under his breath. "You certainly
have lots of problems."
He sat on his
haunches and on top of the rest of the paraphernalia of literature around him.
He began flipping through the pages in earnest.
"Mean vain
spinster," he muttered to himself dejectedly. "Wasting my precious
time. Who does she think she is? That woman has tangled with the wrong man. Grrr…
Look at all this wasted time. I should have finished this by now. Now, if
there's anything prehensile about this darn thing…" flip, flip.
"This is all father's fault. I already told him I'm- Ah! Here it is!"
Cough! Cough! Gag. "Stupid dusty book."
Koenma stood up
groggily. He picked up the scattered objects in his vicinity and stuffed them
the best he could back to their orderly sanctuary. Then he kicked the drawer of
the filling cabinet shut.
"The
humans have even more efficient offices. Why can't they just computerize
everything?"
He picked up
the stuff he gathered from the archive plus his heels and was about to stalk out
off the place. As he arched his head slightly to one side to check if he had
left anything, he noticed the hatch leading to the basement was left open.
"Damned
door," he growled, marching towards it. Or so he was until one of his feet
got caught on the other and sent him tripping. He would have landed on the
floor, his face receiving a perfect slap from the cold waxed cement, but then,
he was barely a few feet from the trap door.
"Aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuaaargh!"
Thud.
Rattle.
Crash.
Blag. Bonk.
Clank. Blag. Bog. Boom.
"Whish
willy shucks…"
IT WAS NEARLY
thirty minutes after the loud commotion, before the prince of Reikai emerged
from the well-kept archives of the spirit realm. He was dusty, disheveled and
totally ill tempered as he strode to his office, glowering at various oni and
ferry girls he happened to pass by. They now knew how wrong it was to ignore the
clangings and bangings from the underground.
Koenma was
furious. Nobody even came to at least peek to see if he was still alive down
there. It was quite easy extracting his mangled body from the pile of
unidentified crap that had engulfed him. The searching of the files he had taken
out from upstairs was the one that took a long time. To make matters worse, the
lights were broken and he had to make do with groping in the dark.
"There
goes my free time," he raged to himself. "I'll never return to that
infernal hole if I can help it. Now, I can start figuring out how in Reikai's
name did that unpopular youkai get his claws on that massive an army."
He finally
reached his office. Its doors were shut.
Good,
he thought. No one's scuttling about. It means they've no work for me yet.
He turned the
knob. Before he could pull the door towards him, they swung at their own accord.
Then came an avalanche of white sheets from a mountain of paper.
Rumble, rumble.
Whoosh, whoosh.
"Oh, shit.
I knew it was to good to be true."
BOTAN BOUNCED
MERRILY down the corridors of the Yoshio mansion. She had changed the clothes
she wore to the picnic since they were filthy but didn't bother to wear her
uniform. Masago let her wear whatever she wants unless they go out or are having
some company in the house. That's why right now she's garbed in a warm
turtleneck and corduroy pants.
Or so she was,
(bouncing around, that is) until she bumped something like a pillar.
Botan was flung
off her feet. She landed on the marble floor with a thud.
"Yaow!"
she whimpered piteously, rubbing her butt. "I didn't notice that before.
Ooops."
Her
"oops" came out almost like a gasp. She was startled, no, shocked,
when she looked up and saw a towering giant in front of her.
"Master
Atsumori?" she stammered. She stood up quickly, dusting her clothes. She
felt smothered by his gaze. She avoided his look but inadvertently caught
glimpse of his ominous peepers. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I mistook you for Sir
Ash. I didn't realize-"
Ieyasu silenced
her with a curt jerk of his hand. She had lowered her head but sensed that she
was being measured and was found wanting. She was puzzled by his next words.
"So you're
his woman," he muttered. "Not bad. I didn't expect much from that
infantile worm."
She frowned,
her face hidden by her loose tresses. What
does he mean, she pondered. Who is he
anyway?
"Your
name?" he continued aloud. This time the question was directed to her.
"Botan,
sir," she answered timidly.
He nodded.
"Ah." He became deep in thought. After a while, he noticed the girl
still standing there motionless. "You may go, you may go," he said,
dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
She bowed and
was about to leave.
"Ah,
yes," he called after her. "You may address me as Lord Ieyasu."
And he was
gone.
Botan breathe a
sigh of relief. "Creepy fellow," she said. With a shrug, she went off
on her way. She gathered her long hair and tied it into its customary ponytail
on her way.
Soon, Botan
arrived at her destination. She knocked on the door and called out, "Miss
Masago?"
She carefully
poked her head inside the door.
"Miss
Masago?" Botan repeated. "Are you alright?"
Sob. Sniffle.
Sigh.
"Oh."
Botan stepped
into the room, shutting the door close behind her gently. She looked around the
neat, lavishly designed room and saw who she was searching for. Masago was
sitting on the floor, her head nestled on her bare white arms folded on the
window seat.
"What's
wrong?" Botan approached her mistress.
Masago lifted
her head momentarily. "Come here," she ordered. Then, her head resumed
its previous position.
Botan did as
she was told. She sat beside Masago's head in the window seat and gazed out into
the pretty picture of autumn outside.
"Ah,"
she said presently. "You're missing it."
With what
seemed to be much effort, Masago lifted her head from its position and
transferred it to Botan's lap.
"I can
barely move," she murmured. "Tell me."
Botan stroked
the black mass of shiny glossy silk that is the hair of her mistress and began.
"I see a sinking globe," she said. "It's slowly disappearing down
the horizon. I noticed that its vibrant yellow flame is somewhat dulled. It's
because of the water, I guess. The fire of life is being extinguished by the
ice-cold waters of the sea. But fear not. Tomorrow, it shall rise again, like a
phoenix from the ashes. Re-lit. Re-flamed. Reborn…
"You had
no idea I can be poetic, huh? Now you do. The sun's really gone now. But don’t
worry. There's always tomorrow. Tomorrow you'll see it again."
Silence resumed
as her voice drifted and disappeared into twilight. They remained in their
position, motionless like sentinels, waiting as the young night deepened. Soon,
darkness engulfed the forlorn room.
Masago was
afraid. No, the darkness was not menacing. Still, she shuddered at it, tried to
elude it, tried to escape from it. She loathed the darkness. It reminded her of
herself. Same emptiness, same coldness, same isolation.
Botan felt the
other girl clutch her thigh so tightly. It hurt. Surely, the flesh will bruise
later. She gasped both from pain and surprised. Nonetheless, she didn't pry her
hold loose. She gently took her mistress's hand and squeezed it in hers.
"What's
the matter?" Botan asked. A puzzled worried edge can be sensed from her
voice. "Is all these caused by the date? Koenma-sama didn't hurt you now,
did he?"
Botan felt her
mistress shake her head. "No," she said. "I didn't even see
him."
"He
ditched you again? Well, he hasn't changed a bit then. He always loses himself
in that mountain of paperwork. Still, this is the 25th time, right?
He may have forgotten on purpose. I'm afraid he doesn't like you at all. He's
such a stupid to-"
"Oh, he
came," interrupted Masago. "It was I who didn't show up. Now,
everyone's in trouble. How can I save the face of my family?"
"Who's in
trouble? Nobody. Koenma-sama's probably glad you didn't come. I'm sorry, Miss
Masago, but he's prejudiced against you. He h-hates you…"
Botan's voice
gradually lowered as she finished the sentence.
"Don't
worry about it," said Masago. "I'm used to that. Being hated by
jealous people, that is. And I'm even more familiar with prejudice. Everybody
has that against me. Even you."
"Mistress?"
"I was
born in this world of glittering jewels and fine clothes. I have everything a
person can ever want. But what about those things man truly needs? People in
this time… their views are distorted. But I do this for my family. I do this
for them."
Botan frowned a
bit. She didn't quite totally comprehend Masago but she continued to pat the
latter.
"It's
ok," she soothed the crying girl.
Really,"
Masago whispered. "Things would be different if I had a…"
Before
finishing, she shook her head, seemingly rejecting the tears. She looked up to
Botan.
"Tell me
about Koenma-sama."