Fumei no Musubi
Chapter Eight 
by Ina-chan
First Posted Online: August 7, 2003
History: Sequel to Jyuunishi no Enkei Monogatari

                He could feel his heart hammering frantically inside his chest. Ever since he saw the look on his niece’s face, this inexplicable sense of urgency… panic… refused to leave him. He already had a premonition that something like this would happen before he left for his trip. His premonitions were rarely wrong… but for the first time in his life, he allowed the younger man’s reassurance to dissuade him. 

                “Hurry!” The girl in front of him urged him to run even faster, her flushed face almost matching the color of her worried crimson eyes 

                Ignoring the painful burning in his lungs and his legs, he pushed himself to run faster as the sight of their destination at the end of the long hallway came to view. He slammed the sliding door open with such force that the wood and paper frame ripped from it’s hinges. The sole occupant of the room stood in front of the open window, silhouetted by the orange rays seeping from the setting evening sun. 

                “YU---!!!” He started to call out, but stopped in shock as the vision in the room registered in his mind. 

                The figure slowly turned to face him. The boy’s porcelain face looked even more deathly pale under the rays of dawn. The light gave the boy’s gray hair an almost eerie silver glow. It was almost like the vision of the apparition of the Angel Gabriel from that western painting his nephew was talking about just a few days before. That is… if one was to ignore the puddles of dark liquid smeared and pooling around the boy’s feet. 

                “Kyoko-chan,” He rasped to the girl beside him, “See what’s keeping Tokuro-sensei…” 

                His companion didn’t move of make any indication of even acknowledging his command. He faced the fire-haired girl and saw the expression of horror as he stared at his niece. A look that most likely was reflected in the older man’s face… 

                “KYOKO, GO NOW!” The older man’s voice boomed. The girl jumped, like a startled cat, as she snapped out of her trance. Almost immediately, she bolted out of the room to fetch their family doctor. He quickly turned back to his nephew, trying to hold back the tears that were quickly blurring his eyes. “Yuuta…” 

                “I’m really such a failure, aren’t I, Iwaku-oji?” Yuuta replied in a hushed monotone 

                “Oh god…Yuuta… why?” The older man tried again, fighting against the painful constriction building in his throat 

                “I can’t even commit seppuku properly,” The boy continued as he reached into the folds of his soaked yukata to wrap his stained fingers around the sharp object still imbedded in his flesh. Before the older man could move a muscle, the boy winced and quickly pulled out the tantou from his abdomen and held out the bloody blade to the older man, “Finish it for me? It hurts like hell…” 

                With those words, the boy started to crumple to the floor, his strength draining with the lifeblood gushing out from his body. The older man dashed towards the falling figure, catching the boy in his arms as the short blade clattered noisily on the floor.  

“Yuuta…what have you done…” The man sobbed mournfully as he cradled his nephew tightly in his arms 

“I didn’t… I didn’t do it… Iwaku…oji…” Yuuta whispered almost desperately as he clung to his uncle’s sleeves, “Akiko…san… she’s… lying…” 

“Shhh… It’s alright, I believe you,” The older man whispered back, “Just conserve your strength and try not to talk anymore.” 

“SENSEI! THE DOCTOR’S HERE!” The girl announced her return, as she leaned by the door to catch her breath. The doctor rushed in and knelt by the uncle and nephew’s side. The two older men exchanged silent looks, before the doctor lowered his eyes and shook his head mournfully. 

“What!? No! You can’t give up just like that…” The girl glared at the older men indignantly, “Iwa-ojichan!” 

Souma Iwaku could only bow his head in silent defeat. 

“NO! NO! YUUTA! DON’T YOU DARE!!!” The girl cried out, as she pushed her way towards her cousin. She clutched the boy’s sleeve and shut her eyes to unsuccessfully prevent the dam of indignant tears from gushing through, “ C’MON YOU DAMNED RAT! DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME! YOU COWARD!!! I STILL HAVE TO BEAT YOU!!! AND MY PORTRAIT!!! YOU HAVEN’T EVEN FINISHED IT YET… YOU…you… you promised to finish it after you come back… you promised… ”

 The boy slowly turned his eyes at his hot-tempered cousin, his eyes widening as if seeing her for the first time, “…o…ni…chan…”  

The man holding the dying boy made an involuntary intake of breath at the boy’s words.

“Wha--?” Kyoko frowned, despite of herself, “This is not the time to tease me, you jerk!” The girl whispered angrily as she reached out to carefully brush the stray strands of hair that fell over her cousin’s slowly dimming eyes 

“… sorry… oni..chan…” The boy whispered almost inaudibly, as he weakly reached out to touch her cheek, “I… failed… you… again… I’m… sorry… o..nii…chan… sor…”

******

                The writer’s eyes shot open as he sat up with a bolt. He scanned his surroundings in confusion, as the dark shadows in the library towered around him. He quickly fumbled over his desk to flick open the desk lamp and basked into the comforting light. He closed his eyes and leaned back, wiping the cold sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand as he tried to calm down his erratic breathing. 

                “It was just a dream,” Shigure said out loud, trying to reassure himself 

                “Shigure-san?” 

                The writer spun around in his seat to face the owner of the worried voice, only to meet the worried eyes of it’s concerned owner standing hesitantly by the library’s doorway, awkwardly carrying a tray of steaming cups of tea. The older man immediately summoned a smile to line to tired lips. 

                “Ah, Tooru-kun! What brings you here at this time? You shouldn’t be staying up so late,” Shigure remarked disapprovingly 

                “Ayame-san and Hatori-san kicked me out of Yuki-kun’s room to get some rest,” Tooru explained sheepishly, “But I couldn’t sleep because the baby…” 

                An alarmed expression immediately lit the older man’s face as his eyes instantly focused on the young woman’s swelling belly. 

                “AH! No, it’s nothing like that!” The woman automatically blurted, seeing the look on her cousin-in-law’s face, “It’s just that the baby decided that he didn’t want to sleep yet either. He’s been kicking non-stop for the past thirty minutes that I thought I’ll take a short walk…” 

                “I see,” Shigure sighed with relief, before giving the woman a mischievous grin, “Seems like he’s already taking after his father…” 

“Well he definitely already knows how to kick, I can tell you that,” Tooru replied with a laugh before making a small motion with the tray in her hands, “Ayame-san also said earlier that you were still here, so I thought you’d like to join me for some tea.” 

                The writer quickly cleared a space on his table as much as he could before he patted the chair beside him, “If a beautiful woman asks me to have tea with her, what kind of man would I be to refuse?” 

                The young woman couldn’t help but make a small laugh as she made her way to the table and set down her tray, “Shigure-san, only you have the ability to act silly at a time like this. Hatori-san is still very upset with you.” 

                “Ha-san, needs to lighten up,” Shigure replied blandly before taking a sip from his yunomi, “For someone who insists that he has already closed that chapter of his life a long time ago, he is doing a good job acting like a jealous boyfriend.”

                 “Anou… I don’t doubt that the reason behind your meetings with Kana-san had anything… suspicious… about… them…” Tooru commented, cautiously gauging her cousin-in-law’s reaction

                 “But…” The writer prodded with a raised eyebrow

                  A worried frown crossed over the young woman’s delicate features, “But… I’ve never seen Shigure-san fight… and hold a grudge… against anyone… specially with Hatori-san.”

                 Shigure simply replied with silence, as he watched the steam rise from his yunomi through lowered eyelids. It had been roughly over a month since Yuki’s discharge. But within that time period, the writer had arranged to meet with his younger cousin’s attending physician during the latter’s hospitalization. Needless to say, the Souma Family doctor was not pleased… he became even much more unhappier when he found out the reason behind those meetings.

                 Needless to say, the writer’s last conversation with the Souma Family doctor, four days past, was…  not pleasant at all. Words that shouldn’t have been said were said… and were conveyed in a manner that shouldn’t have been conveyed.  Had Ayame not been present, their verbal brawl might have even turned into a physical one. And to make a long story short, neither man had spoken a single word to each other since…

                 “Shigure-san, I don’t want to pry… but if there’s anything I could do…”

                 The writer gave the younger woman a reassuring smile and sadly shook his head, “It’s not something that you should worry over, Tooru-kun.”

                 “But…”

                 “TOORU-KUN,” Shigure said firmly, emphasizing his tone with a serious frown and a silencing finger on her lips 

                The woman finally gave up with a sigh of defeat as she slumped back on her seat. 

                “It’ll be alright, Tooru-kun,” The writer stated with a reassuring smile, “Ha-san and I had our share of differences in the past. Just because we had an argument more heated than usual, doesn’t mean that there’s no way to resolve it as we had before… This one will just need a little bit more time to cool down stubborn old heads from both sides.”

                 Tooru nodded, still looking unconvinced, “What was it that you needed to confide with Kana-san that upset Hatori-san so much? If you don’t mind me asking, that is?”

                 Shigure studied the young woman before him, as if silently weighing to tell her or not. But based on the young woman’s expression, though what she stated was in the form of a request… it was nothing but. The dog let out another sigh as he came to a decision. Might as well give her something, rather than worry needlessly over a situation she doesn’t even know, “I was just doing some research on a new book I’m working on. An ancestor of ours from the Meiji Era did some work on the area, and Kana-chan’s grandmother managed to collect some useful relics about that person… as well other related events that followed afterward.”

                 The woman nodded again, chewing on her lip thoughtfully, “But, if that was just the case, why did Hatori get so upset about it?”

                 A sarcastic smirk crept on the writer’s lips at the young woman’s innocent remark, “Ha-san believes that there are places in the shadows that should never see the light of day.”

                 “Eh?”

                 “Well, he does have a point,” Shigure instantly added in a much lighter tone, as his face beamed with a bright smile, “I’ve been studying these birth and death records all day that I even started having nightmares about our dead ancestors.”

                 “EH!?”

                 Seeing the young woman’s befuddled expression, the writer couldn’t help himself,  “Aaah, it was so scary. That nightmare felt so real… It almost felt as if their ghosts were… RIGHT BESIDE YOU!!!”

                 “KYAAAAA!!!” 

                Shigure exploded into a round of hearty laughter, tears streaming down his eyes and doubling over to clutch his aching sides, “Ha-ha…Sorry… sorry… Tooru-kun… It’s a joke! A joke! Ha-ha-ha!” 

                “Mou! Shigure-san… that wasn’t very nice,” Tooru sniffled in mock indignation, still shivering in super-shocked mode

                “Sorry,” The older man apologized again, calming down, “Seeing that look on Tooru-kun’s face, I couldn’t help it.”

                 Despite of herself, the young woman smiled at her cousin’s antics, “Well, dreams that feel real don’t necessarily have to be scary. I started having this dream again…”

                 “Again?” The writer raised an eyebrow curiously

                 Tooru nodded, “When I was little, I used to have this re-occuring dream. I dreamt that I was playing in the middle of a peach orchard, with the peach blossoms in full bloom.  The breeze was nice and cool and it caused the petals to shower down like peach snow! It was very pretty. My mom told me once that sometimes, dreams are glimpses of memories from a past life. I used to believe that.”

                 “What changed your mind?”

                 “Recently, I started having the same dream again. Only this time it was a bit different,” The young woman smiled as she gently placed a hand over her abdomen, “I was in the same orchard only I was watching two beautiful children playing, a boy and his little sister. They both turned to me with the brightest smiles in the world and said ‘ ‘Kaa-chaan, look at me! ‘Kaa-chan, come and play too! ’. And I knew all at once that it can only be a premonitory dream of the future.”

                 “I see…” Shigure rubbed his chin thoughtfully before giving the younger woman a small impish grin, “Of course, for that to come true, that can only mean that Yuki-kun is going to wake-up soon, doesn’t it?”

                 “Yes,” Tooru replied with delight, only to freeze upon realizing the look on the older man’s face, her own face turning into three shades of red. She covered her cheeks in total mortification, “AH! Shigure-san! It’s nothing like that at all!”

                 The writer fell into another round of laughter upon seeing her expression. It never ceased to amaze him how the young woman in front of him maintained her child-like nature despite all the things that has happened to her. All at once, he understood exactly why Hatori wanted the dark secrets hidden in their family’s past to remain dead and buried. The Souma Family’s past, was just as dark and cursed as their present. There was just so much a person can take.  Exposing it’s full ugliness would most likely snuff out any light brought to extinguish its shadows.

                 But still…

                 Even if she won’t be able to understand it in its entirety… even if there was nothing to be gained by letting her know small bits and pieces… there was always something delightfully irresistible about sharing a secret about a new found treasure…

                 “Ne, Tooru-kun, do you want to see something amazing?” Shigure asked in his usual playful tone

                 The young woman blinked, “What is it?”

                 Shigure dug a large brown envelope from underneath his clutter, “This is one of the treasures I found in Kana-chan’s family’s storage rooms. Kana-chan’s grandmother was a Jyuunishi otaku, and she actually managed to salvage a sketchbook from the Meiji that can possibly have pictures of the Jyuunishi members at that time.”

                 Tooru’s eye’s widened into bright brown orbs as she took the envelope in excitement, “WAAAAAA! That IS amazing!” 

                “Well, they’re not the originals. When Kana-chan and I found this one, it was very badly damaged. Aside from the age, this is one of the few family treasures that survived a fire in a section of the Main House after an air raid during the war. It was a miracle that it didn’t fall apart when we found it. I got a friend of mine to make photographs and do digital enhancements of the pages. It’s not as great as the original, but at least you can see what it may have looked like a hundred years ago.”

                 Tooru gasped as she leafed through the plastic pages holding the precious historical copies, “Shigure-san, this is amazing! The landscape sketches look more like photographs than sketches… and the portraits! They’re so life-like… Do you know who they are?”

                 “That’s what these birth and death records are for. I’ve managed to identify a couple of people from the sketches that had little notes in them. I think two or three of the portraits are possible Jyuunishi. Ah, that last sketch over there is one of them… Souma Kyoko, I believe…”

                “It looks unfinished,” Tooru commented as she flipped back on the page the older man was referring to. Her forehead crumpled into a thoughtful frown as she studied the delicate face of the glaring defiantly at her, before bursting out laughing, “This girl is definitely the cat zodiac! She looks close enough to be Kyou-kun’s sister! I can easily imagine that wild braid to be a shock of orange hair!”

                Shigure couldn’t help but let out an amused laugh at that, “It would seem that in any generation, the Cat is the one that stands out the most, doesn’t it?”

 “Well, we have to give credit to the person who drew this as well. Whoever it was, had an amazing talent! Did you manage to figure out who it was?” 

Shigure thumbed through one of the open journals scattered beside him, before placing it before Tooru and pointing to the name in the log book, “A young man, by the name of Souma Yuuta… I think.” 

The young woman let out a loud gasp as she saw the record, “He was only sixteen years old when he died! Who was he?” 

 “If my guess is right, Yuuta-kun is the nephew of the family historian, Souma Iwaku. His mother died shortly after he was born, I don’t know what happened to his father… but for reasons I still haven’t figured out, he was apparently living under his uncle’s care. I think he sketched a self-portrait in there somewhere…” 

“Really? Which one is it?” 

“I think… this one” Shigure reached over he flipped the portfolio binder’s pages to the right place.

 A serious-looking young man with a western hairstyle peered from the pages with sad unsmiling eyes.  The young woman made an involuntary intake of breath upon seeing it. She traced the contours of sketch’s lines before speaking, “Yuuta-kun… he was also a Jyuunishi, wasn’t he?” 

The writer watched the young woman with great interest upon hearing that, “What makes you say that, Tooru-kun?”

 “I don’t know… it’s just a feeling. He has the same air around him like Hatori-san… but… his eyes…” Tooru frowned and shook her head, before raising her head to meet the writer’s gaze, “His eyes… looked exactly like his, when I first ‘met’ him…”

 “When you first met who?” Shigure echoed, feeling a bit bewildered 

“Yuki-kun.” 

The writer suddenly found that he didn’t have an answer to that. 

“Shigure-san… what happened to him?” 

“Well… Story has it, Yuuta-kun was also quite bright… even though he was only sixteen, he was accepted in a university in Germany to study medicine and was to apprentice under a close family friend. But two days before he was due to leave, he committed seppuku.” 

“EH?” Tooru echoed, eyes widening even more, if that was even possible, “What could he have done to dishonor the family for him to take his life like that?”

 “Mind you, I don’t know the whole story, but prior to his acceptance to the medical school, he was a private tutor to the Family Head’s children. The Master’s daughter accused him of forcing himself on her.”

 The young woman stared at the writer in disbelief, “Did he really do it?”

 /“I didn’t… I didn’t do it… Iwaku…oji… Akiko-san… she’s lying…”/

Shigure blinked as the soft whisper from his dream lisped loudly against his ear.  He placed on hand over his right temple and shook his head, as if to clear it.

“Shigure-san?” Tooru called out in concern, noting the writer’s odd reaction to her question

“Sorry, Tooru-kun…” The writer replied, sheepishly, “I think all this non-stop research is finally getting to me. It’ll probably be good for the both of us to call it a night and head off to get some sleep.”

“Ah, of course,” Tooru replied as closed the portfolio and scrambled to put the books around her

“Just leave them where they are,” Shigure instructed, “They’ll be in the same state tomorrow anyway.”

“I suppose…” The young woman laughed as she idly looked down on the log book she held in her hands. She scanned the page quickly before turning back to the writer with a curious look, “Shigure-san, the year that Yuuta-san died… was there some kind of horrible illness that affected the Souma Family?”

“Eh?” It was Shigure’s turn to look confused at his younger companion’s comment, “What made you say that?”

“Well, it just seems strange…” Tooru replied as she looked back on the page, “After Yuuta-san died… it would seem that eleven more Souma Family members died after him, within the span of a year....”

Shigure stared at the young woman in front of him blankly as soon as her words registered in his head. Suddenly, it felt as if the world was suddenly devoid of sound. His eyes focused in bewilderment at Tooru, seeing her lips continue to move silently. He stood up to call to her, but the room started to tilt dangerously.  Despite his efforts to anchor himself on the table, the room continued to dance and sway around him.

For the first time since this whole ordeal happened, an inexplicable bolt of fear shot right through his entire being. He could feel his heart hammering frantically inside his chest. This inexplicable sense of urgency… panic… refused to leave him.

The last thing he saw was the horrified look on Tooru’s face as the lights in the room started to dim and fade into darkness…

End of Chapter Eight
Return to Chapter Seven  
Continued on Chapter Nine 

 AUTHOR’S SQUAWK:

                 The recent events in the FURUBA manga kinda creeped me out when I realized that what was happening with Rin in the original story, was what I originally planned to do to Shigure in this fanfic as he delved deeper into the mystery of uncovering the Souma Family’s dark past. I don’t want to be accused of plagerism, so I’m modifying the story a bit… ^_^.

                 Mind you, I also found it very interesting that I personally think Shigure is the most detestable (yet fascinating) character in FURUBA canon… but for some strange reason, the character I dislike the most seem to be smelling like a rose in this… seemingly monster-epic-of-a-damn-fic this fic is turning out to be!

                 Well… some cultural notes… if you haven’t figured it out by now, “seppuku” is also what is commonly known to be as “hara kiri” or  “honorable suicide”. And yes, I’m very sorry to introduce another side-storyline in the fic before fully explaining the Kazuma’s grandfather storyline… but there is a reason for this. I’m just hoping that you guys will stay interested enough to stick around to figure out what it is. ^_^.

 Anywayz,,, thanks for continuing to read! ^_^.

Ja!
Ina-chan