|
|
More points…I am definitely no doctor! Next, I never meant for this fic to be so serious…but I guess that's where fate led me. Yeah, right. And I know the rhyme sucks, don't look at me, I'm no poet. One of the answers is in Japanese and the others are in English…the first rhyme is weird. I tried making a rhyme for the letter d in the riddle, but since I couldn't, I just had to use the riddle in Harry Potter #4. I'm not trying to rip J.K. Rowling off, I just couldn't think of any other rhyme! And it sounds so cool! And--
Yeah, OK, whatever.
And I really, really wanted to make Fuuko serious for once, but then when I type it, it's like OK, what is this, Rosalinda or something? Sigh. It was just not meant to be. And plus, I don't know if sphinxes are nice and all, but I made this a nice sphinx. I like nice.
What the hell am I rambling about?
"Thank god your hair isn't falling off," Yanagi remarked.
"I actually wouldn't mind," Tokiya said, glancing at Yanagi's ogling classmates.
"I would," Yanagi replied. "Domon's been busy this week, I don't know why. I think he's preparing your funeral for you. Flowers, cards, heartfelt sympathy, the works." Her eyes automatically filled with tears.
Tokiya just forced a smile.
"Sorry," Yanagi said, quickly wiping her eyes. "I've been crying so much over the past few months, I'm amazed I still can. It's just that I have a power to heal…and I can't heal you…"
"No, it's OK," Tokiya said, trying to comfort Mifuyu.
Waitaminute, he blinked. That wasn't Mifuyu. That was Yanagi. But just like in the hospital, she seemed more like Mifuyu than Yanagi.
"Hey, did I keep you waiting?" Recca asked, appearing behind Yanagi.
"Hello, Hanabishi-kun," Yanagi's posse said in unison. Then their eyes swiveled back to Tokiya.
Fuuko's greeting came nearly five minutes after. "I bet I kept you waiting," she said,grinning. "Where's Domon?"
"Working as an undercover spy," Recca said, "for the loss of his beloved nemesis, Tokiya Mikagami. Oh, and he just heard about the two of you, and I guess he's thinking you're deranged."
"The--the two of you?" One of Yanagi's faithful followers asked, confused.
"Of course! These two are the hottest things to hit Tokyo!" Yanagi said.
Her posse had been frozen in time. "What's with them?" Recca asked. "Oh, right. In comes Mikagami, super cool, pale, vampire-like bishounen. Like Alucard. Yknow, you'd look a lot like Alucard, if you bleached your hair and made it really wavy. Then in comes Fuuko, Tokiya's ray of sunshine, Yanagi's admirers' unbearable smell…"
"You watch it!" Fuuko snapped, pummeling Recca into the earth.
"Then shall we go?" Yanagi asked brightly.
"Yes," Tokiya said, quickly steering Yanagi away. "Let's."
*
"When my great-grandmother was still living, the sphinx asked simple riddles, very simple, because before they didn't really develop their minds. The riddle he told my grandmother was about a circus fat lady weighing 300 pounds, planning to run away from the circus because men were trying to steal her two 100 pound golden spheres. One time she came across a bridge saying the bridge could only carry a maximum of 400 pounds. How did the woman manage to carry her two golden treasures across the bridge without it cracking?" Anthia asked.
Fuuko was sprawled on Anthia's carpet, half-listening to her teacher and half-listening to her discman. Anthia grumbled and knocked the side of Fuuko's head with her palm. "Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
"Anthia, I've heard this riddle before. She juggled them across," Fuuko said. "I'm really tired right now, do you mind if I go to sleep?"
"Yes, I do," Anthia said. "It's nearing the end of the sixth month. I've got to train you so that you'll have an easier time controlling the sphi--"
Suddenly Fuuko's beeper rang. She fished it out of her bag and read the message. "Well? What is it?" Anthia asked.
"It's from Recca. He said meet him in the hospital right now--because Tokiya just collapsed. Again!" Fuuko cursed and after giving Anthia a quick hug ran out of the house yelling, "That big idiot!"
Anthia sighed loudly. "If Mikagami ends up staying as her lover he's going to have a very hard time."
*
Fuuko paced around the room, waiting for Anthia to get to the hospital. Tokiya was hooked up on life support equipment, already half dead. Yanagi and Koganei were trying to hide their sobs. Domon was still AWOL.
"Where is she where is she where is she?" Fuuko ranted.
"Where is who?" Recca asked.
"Here I am here I am here I am," Anthia smirked, striding into the room. "OK, Fuuko, first escort your friends outside, turn off the equipment, and pray."
"You guys, can I please ask you to go out first?" Fuuko asked.
"Wait a minute! What are you going to do? And who is she?" Recca demanded. "And you can't turn off the equipment!"
Fuuko was losing patience. "Please get the hell out of here!"
"I'm staying right here!" Recca and Yanagi said stubbornly.
"Never mind, Fuuko, just pretend they're not there."
"Yeah? How am I supposed to do that? Yanagi's going to drown the hospital!"
"Fukko," Anthia said calmly, "stop being such a bitch and pretend they're not there."
Fukko glanced at the figure on the bed. He looked so frail, and so different from the person who'd faced strong enemies and winning. In other words, he looked so pathetic. But then since she was in love with this pathetic person, she certainly wanted to keep him alive.
"Who is that woman?" Yanagi asked in a shrill voice. "Is she a nurse? Is she going to turn off the equipment?"
"The only way I know how is this," Anthia shrugged, pulling out the long twisted crystal stake. And after that Yanagi's voice disappeared. "So let's do it the less bloody way, shall we?"
Fukko sat in one of the visitor's chairs and scooted to the bed. "Can I just warn him?" she asked.
"Whatever suits you."
"I don't have a lot of tact."
"You don't have a lot of time, either."
"OK," Fukko said in a rush, "Tokiya, you're going to die, but I'm going to help you. Good-bye. Nurse, can you please turn off the life support?"
"Geez, you weren't kidding. He barely had time to hear it," Anthia muttered. The nurse slowly turned the dial until the red light beside it died.
The heart monitor reached a high-pitched beep.
Fukko swallowed nervously. "Well, this is it. I'll come out as either the great Fukko or I'll come out empty-handed. Wish me luck."
Fukko placed the ensui carefully over his heart. After just a few seconds, she entered the underworld. And immediately she noticed something wrong.
"All the spirits are running away from me," she said, frowning. "I'm not that scary."
"You'd better think twice before entering," the first gatekeeper said. "There's an evil spirit lurking around. A spirit that had just entered here was rescued by the sphinx, and until the sphinx calls his friends to ward the evil one off, he's holding that spirit guard. Is that why you're here?"
"Yes, and I want him back now!" Fuuko shouted. "Please," she added quickly after seeing the gatekeeper's expression.
"It's not going to be that easy. You'll first have to answer the riddle and manage to go back to the living without losing your soul to this evil one," the keeper said stiffly. "Pass, and I pray that you return."
"Thank you." She rushed through the first gate.
"Oh, god, it's freezing!" she shouted once she entered the second Layer. Thick ice blocks coating the walls and floor, and as soon as she stepped inside frost appeared on her hair and clothes.
"It is I, the demon of ice," a hiss greeted her. "To surpass me, you must crack the ice wall."
"That's it?" Fuuko asked bluntly.
"Ay, I am being possessed by the evil one. I have tried to make it as simple as possible."
But no matter how much Fuuko kicked or punched, the ice wall wouldn't crack. "Then what is going to break this stupid thing?" Fuuko asked, tears of frustration falling from her eyes. They landed on the wall, and a tiny portion of it began to melt where the tears had touched it.
"Yes, you must cry to melt this wall," the ice demon said sadly.
"Are you joking me? If I do that I'll be nothing but a dry corpse! And I'm not a crier. I should have brought Yanagi with me!" Fuuko shouted angrily. "How am I going to cry?"
"Touch the wall, and never break that connection, and you will cry."
Fuuko placed her palms flat on the wall and waited. Soon the ice began to sting her palms, and it crackled. Her hands were growing numb, then pain burst in and pricked her. The tears came faster than she'd expected, and she let them fall and melt the ice. Soon she'd cried enough for a medium-sized hole, enough for her to slide into. "Thanks," she said hastily.
"Do be careful! The third Layer holds my sibling, the fire demon!"
"No prob!"
*
"She's going to bring Tokiya back?" Yanagi squealed.
"Maybe," Anthia shrugged. "If she's lucky."
"So is this why she wasn't upset?" Recca wanted to know.
"Well…if the sphinx had waited, then Fuuko would've gotten him out. But you know…she may be cunning…but she's not very bright…I mean," Anthia said hastily as Yanagi glared at her, "Judging from the school records. But what do school records know anyway, heh heh?"
*
"'Halt! Cease your step and perceive! Thou who looks for treasure shall not find it unless thou has passed the test."
"Can you repeat that? In English?"
The fire demon cleared his throat. "You must pass my test to pass through this gate. It is by my bad fortune that the evil one should possess me, and I pity you--"
"OK, stop right there. What's the test?"
"Walk over a river of fire without uttering a single word, and the pathway to the third shall be open to you," the fire demon said.
"A river of fire? You want me to walk over a river of fire? I'm still alive, you know. And I like being alive."
"But you leave your body behind and use your spirit, do you not? Your spirit should be considerably stronger than your body. Think of nothing but your goal, and the flames will not harm you."
Fuuko stifled a groan and shut her eyes. OK, the thing I want most is to answer the riddle and bring Tokiya back. She took the first step and winced. Answer the riddle and bring him back…answer the riddle and bring him back…concentrate, Fuuko…answer the riddle and bring him back…
Soon each step after that grew cooler until it reached a point when there was a warm tickling sensation under her feet. When she opened her eyes she was across the river of fire.
"Next," the fire demon called
out as she waved her thanks, "you will see my sibling, the
wind demon."
*
"Is she supposed to be this pale?" Yanagi whispered.
"No," Anthia muttered. "What's going on? She should be with the riddle by now. But something tells me she's only approaching the third Layer! There must be some kind of disturbance…"
"I wonder how Tokiya looks as an angel…" Recca said. "Probably hair that's always floating around…a long, angel's gown…probably a halo…Yanagi, stop blushing like that."
Yanagi put a hand to her rosy cheeks. "W-who, me? Blushing? W-well, you make him sound so incredible!"
"Heh, whatever," Recca said sourly.
*
"I sense a lot of my power in you," the wind demon said.
"I'm using the power of the god of wind, I think there's a difference."
"Anyway, pass," the demon said, smirking. "As it's useless for you to do my tasks, because you will just absorb them."
"Wait just one second! I said I want to fight, so what? Do you think I'm scared?"
"Of course not. But the soul you are looking for is nearly in paradise--and all of your efforts will be for nothing."
"Oh, shit." Fuuko sprinted towards the fourth Layer.
There she met the lightning demon, who wanted her to direct a bolt of lightning towards the center of a target without getting too electrocuted. In the fifth Layer, she saw the earth demon, who shook up the Layer and dared her to go across it. In the sixth Layer, she saw the evil one, as the rest of the demons called it. She was ready for it.
*
"When there is a dead body, ma'am, we take it to the morgue!" the doctor said, his eyes flashing.
Anthia was arguing with a doctor outside Tokiya's room. "Listen, mister. Have some patience. This man's lover is…grieving." When hell freezes over, she thought. "If you'll peek through the window here, you can see that she's grieving…heavily. Have a heart! For shame. For shame!" Fuuko is going to kill me.
The door flew open, slamming the doctor on the floor, and Yanagi came out. "Anthia-san! Fuuko's in trouble! She's so pale, and she's loosing her grip on the ensui!"
"She can't do that, she'll die!"
Anthia shut the door behind her and rushed over to Fuuko.
She was breathing heavily, cursing silently. "Ew, aren't you one ugly fellow," she was saying.
"Huh?" Everyone chorused.
*
The evil demon wasn't ugly at all. In fact, it was a gorgeous body that would've made Domon ditch Fuuko and go over to demon world. Long hair, long eyelashes, perfect lips, and an elegant grace and shrewd mind.
"So what gives you the reason to show off?" Fuuko asked.
"At least I have something to show off," the demon said, sneering. "My name is Kalli…but for you, Master Kalli. You are bound to be my slave."
"Of course I'm not, freak," Fuuko said. "I'm going to defeat you."
"I want the soul that I spotted coming in here," Kalli said, ignoring Fuuko. "He's so handsome, and he would be perfect for…children."
Fuuko started running towards the right. "Of all the enemies I have met (perhaps after Fujimaru) I have never met anyone sicker than you! I mean, children? No one is going to use Tokiya like that!"
She ran up to the front and extended a punch. Kalli blocked it and grabbed Fuuko's fist. "Once I'm done with this," she said, grinning, "you won't have a right hand anymore." She started squeezing Fuuko's fist, crushing the fingers together.
"After I defeat you, I want you to get that soul from that stupid sphinx. Then I can finally transfer some of this power to my children. Sometimes too much power gets a little bit boring!" she threw back her head and laughed.
Fuuko didn't want to use the fuujin just yet. Gritting her teeth, she lifted her right foot and managed to kick Kalli on the shoulder. Letting out a cry of anger, Kalli let go.
Fuuko flexed her fingers. "Look, I am not going to let Tokiya have kids with a sicko like you. A nice guy like him…with a witch like you? You'd have kids like Quasimodo!"
Kalli growled. "Stop it. I call on the power of ice!" Streams of ice vines shot out of her fingers and wrapped around Fuuko's waist, legs, arms, and neck. "Hah! Now if you won't agree to get me my soul, I'll crush you right here."
Behind Kalli, just a few meters away, Fuuko could see the door leading to the seventh layer. She couldn't cry again, and she definitely couldn't rip the vines apart. And if she tried the fuujin, then she would probably just be polishing the dry ice, making it even harder to break.
She did the same thing that she did with Reiran. Twisting her wrist, she sent an ice pick flying towards Kalli's hand. It struck straight through her palm, and the vines immediately shattered. Fuuko dropped to the floor, wincing.
While Kalli was stunned, Fuuko dashed towards the gate of the seventh Layer. She flung open the gate and quickly shut it as bolts of lightning were headed towards her.
"So, you are finally here," a deep voice said.
Fuuko turned around. Instead of the darkness that the seventh Layer was, there was light shining everywhere, and the never ending pits were covered by thick layer of glass. Underneath the glass the ground still kept shifting, forming pits in one place and closing pits in another.
"Fuuko!" a familiar voice cried. Mifuyu was hovering in the air. She walked to the gate and placed her hand on it. When she removed it, there was a green light shining all around. "This should buy us at least thirty minutes," Mifuyu said, satisfied.
"It was a good thing I pulled this soul before she said it," the sphinx said, sighing heavily. It's great lion body was sitting next to Tokiya. Although it didn't really look like Tokiya. He was wearing the same thing that Mifuyu seemed to be wearing, and he was glowing.
"T-that's Tokiya, right?" Fuuko asked doubtfully. "I could swear it was a girl…"
"He'll be unconscious for another 2.47 minutes," the sphinx said.
"Then I need to bring him back," Fuuko said, "after dealing with that bit--"
"Anyway," Mifuyu said. "Are you going to solve the riddle, Fuuko? Because if you get it wrong, then Tokiya has to come with me. But we'll help you defeat that horrid demon, if you answer correctly or not."
"OK, let's hear it," Fuuko said, sitting on the glass.
The sphinx cleared his throat. "But first, my riddle will be based on your knowledge and your life experiences. There are things maybe Mifuyu might not know, but you do, based on what has happened to you. Let me scan your mind." The sphinx placed a paw on Fuuko's head, and Fuuko felt her mind being read and being analyzed.
"Alright, I have thought of a riddle for you."
Just then, Tokiya started to stir. "Wha--?"
Not a word for lightning, but rather for thunder
Think not of the god, lest you blunder
Next think of voice and verse together
As paradise airs forever and ever
Then what occurs from another's fault
After a time they've engaged in assault
Lastly, what is always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end? (Yeah, I know…)
Put them together and form the phrase
Of a power in the midst of a tempest's haze.
Fuuko stared at the sphinx blankly. "That wasn't an actual riddle, was it?"
` "Fuuko!" Tokiya shouted, looking startled. "What are you doing in heaven?"
"Baka, I'm trying to get you out of it. Not a word for lightning, but rather for thunder…aren't those two the same? Thunder…think not of the god…gods and thunder…well, the only thing I can think of is the raijin."
"Maybe that's it!" Mifuyu said excitedly. "Raijin! It's based on your knowledge, after all." She rushed to help Tokiya.
"But the sphinx said think not of the god…so it's just thunder, right? Rai. Rai?"
The sphinx just smiled.
Fuuko frowned. "Could you repeat the next one?"
After the sphinx had repeated it for her, Mifuyu opened her mouth excitedly, but the sphinx growled. Fuuko thought. "Think of voice and verse together…I don't sing. But then was it when I went to paradise? But I didn't hear anything."
Mifuyu was explaining to Tokiya everything that was happening.
"Right! Duh! A song! Heaven is always singing, right, Mifuyu?"
Mifuyu nodded eagerly. "And the thing is we never get sore throats."
"And the next?" The sphinx repeated the next verse for her.
"What occurs from another's fault? Was it my fault? Well, this is hard, I've had a lot of fights, and a lot of things happened. Maybe it was when I was brought to the hidden dimension…but there was nothing significant there."
The door began to rattle even more impatiently.
Fuuko began to panic. "Wait! It doesn't have to be my fights. It can mean a fight in general, right?" The sphinx smiled. "So what occurs when the other person goofs up? Well, that's a win? Right? A victory." Before she even asked, the sphinx repeated the next two lines for her. "Oh, this one is really hard. The middle of the middle and end of the end? Maybe it's a tesseract… nah, a tesseract doesn't work like that. Let me just try and put the rest together."
Tokiya tried to tap Fuuko on the back and tell her she missed something, but as soon as he touched her clothes they began to burn. "Ow ow ow!" she cried, jumping backwards.
"The soul that I hold cannot make contact with the necromancer unless the riddle has been solved," the sphinx said, shrugging its huge shoulders.
"Tokiya, don't try that again!"
"Well, it's not like I meant to! Sorry then!"
Fuuko tapped her finger against her chin. "Rai and song…but there's no such word as Raisong. Raisingsong…no, wait, raising! Rising! Rising win…well, when a tempest goes out on a haze, he gets a rising win, right? But what about that last verse…"
Suddenly another riddle came to Fuuko's head. How do you spell pickle backwards? P-I-C-K-L-E B-A-C-K…Maybe she didn't need to look at the meaning of the word, but rather at the word itself! What was the middle of the word middle? "A d…" she said, "and the end of the word end is a d! And so is the last thing to mend! Of course! It's an elemental riddle! The answer is rising wind!"
"Correct," the sphinx said.
"Wow! I can't believe I got that right! Woo-hoo!" She ran over to Tokiya and threw her arms around him. I can't believe I actually solved that in less than ten minutes! "Now if you still want to come home, you can. But now that you've seen Mifuyu…do you want to stay here instead?"
"Are you kidding? Now that I've seen Mifuyu happy, there's no need to be here unless it's really my time. Come on, let's go back--"
"NOT SO FAST!" the door blasted open, and both Fuuko and Tokiya were knocked off their feet. Kalli burst in, her face furious. "You cannot leave!" she shouted. "You cannot leave unless you give me the soul that I want!"
"She means you," Fuuko said, pointing at Tokiya.
"Both of you! The sphinx and I will block Kalli's path. Now run through the layers, don't stop, don't look back, OK?" Mifuyu shouted. She smiled at Tokiya. "Be happy, all right?"
"She means you," Fuuko said again. Tokiya frowned at her.
With a growl, the sphinx pounced on Kalli and Mifuyu began to block her view. Fuuko clutched Tokiya's hand as they ran through the Layers. The demons had all disappeared.
It was when they reached third Layer when they heard a loud final shriek. Then after that came a rumbling noise. A huge ball of wind was coming towards them, and soon it knocked them off their feet and sent them flying through the rest of the gates. The second, the first, and then finally, they left the underworld behind them.
*
"Whoa!" Anthia gasped as Fuuko suddenly reeled backwards, slamming into a wall. Tokiya had also jerked upright, gasping heavily. Yanagi quickly burst into happy tears. "Oh, Tokiya!"
"Ow…" Fuuko muttered, rubbing her head. Then her vision cleared. "Anthia! I solved the riddle! It wasn't hard, it was actually pretty corny…" (and we know why.)
"'Fuuko, check this out." Anthia had pulled out was looked like a book where the covers were carved completely out of sapphire. The pages were pure gold, and the ink was made with ground rubies that had been crushed into a powder and liquefied with oil. Recca whistled. On the top of the list it said "the Great Shino Necromancers."
They waited. And waited. "What?" Fuuko asked. Just then a blinding light came onto an empty golden page, and words began to fill it. When the light disappeared, there was a perfect sketch of Fuuko, her riddle, how she solved it. The title of the page simply said, "the Great Fuuko Kirisawa."
"Yay! I'm your almighty leader!" Fuuko said, dancing around happily. "Bow down to me!"
"You sound like that Kalli demon," Tokiya said, smiling.
"Are you kidding? The slut wanted to reproduce with you, so you should be lucky that I saved your ass," Fuuko smirked.
As Recca cleared things up with the doctor, and Fuuko kept trying to get people to bow down to her, Tokiya stared at her fondly. Mifuyu was right. He was going to give up being cold-hearted and icy, and maybe turn out to be a little bit more like the girl who'd gone through so much trouble to keep him alive.
*
"All traces of your leukemia gone!" Fuu ko said, grinning. "The university's in chaos. Now the girls are more in love with you than ever."
"Well, that's too bad for the ladies," Tokiya said, shrugging. "What do you think happened to the sphinx?"
"Probably went to hibernate for another century, then come back and wait for another shino apprentice to solve his riddle. Anyway, who cares about him? You haven't kissed me since you left the hospital!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Tokiya said. "But I'll make it up to you. I'll treat you to a day in the amusement park, and challenge you to a contest. If you win, I'll go on a date with you and give you a kiss. And if you lose…heck, I'll go on a date with you and kiss you anyway."
"It's a deal. But on one condition…"
"And that is--?"
"If you see Recca or Yanagi or Domon, you have to pretend you don't see them. Remember, this is our afternoon, and I don't want the rest of them spoiling it."
He kissed the tip of her nose. "Deal."
I have no idea how I ended up with you, Fuuko Kirisawa, he thought as Fuuko slipped her fingers between his. But now that I've seen the real you, and you've seen the real me, I think heaven can wait.