Nights_into_dreams
09-01-2005, 12:16 PM
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is Kasho IV of my love story Aishiteru (I Love You) in its entirety. Enjoy!
*****
When you love someone...
Just being close to them is often more than enough...
To make you happy.
***
Interlude III: Closeness (Kinmitsu)
***
"Wake up Hitomi...its time to go."
"Dimitri-chan...go kudasai..." I mumbled slowly to him, as I feebly reached up, to try to take the blanket back from him, that only moments before I was ever-so happily wrapped up in.
Through my blurry eyes, I could tell that Dimitri-chan shook his head as he pulled the blanket just a bit further out of my reach.
"Come on butterfly...we have a chocobo to catch to Selbina, remember?" He said to me, gently as he took my hand, and squeezed it gently before letting it go again.
I blushed.
He just smiled.
I then rubbed my eyes with the back of my right hand a couple of times, working the sleep out from the corners of it as I slowly woke up.
"All right..." I said faintly, as I started to move my tired limbs a bit to sit up in bed.
The room became much more clear, and I could see that the couch on the other side of the room where Dimitri had spent a precious few hours asleep was made back up into something fit for company, not that he was going to have any during the time that we were going to be gone.
We...
Why did that just send a shiver down my spine when I said that?
Dimitri’s smile never wavered at me, but he simply stood up and walked off to the kitchen in order that I might have some privacy while I got up and then got dressed.
I reached over to my bedside, and plucked up that old felt hat of mine that had seen more wear and tear than most things this side of Mordion Goal. I then forced myself out of bed, dragging the hat limply in my left hand as I stumbled my way to the full length mirror in Dimitri-chan’s closet.
Black hair, down to my waist. Glowing green eyes. A waist that wasn’t fat, but definitely not anorexic either. A nose that was a bit too big, and ears that seemed to just stick out.
I looked away in disgust, and tied one-handedly onto my body my Bastokian kimono which was hanging on a wire next to various, long forgotten outfits of Dimitri, back in the days when he was with those Ducal Guardsmen...
The yellow butterflies swooping through the dark blue sky on my kimono echoed his nickname for me, and I suddenly realized where he got that name for me.
"Baka..." I chided him, even if he couldn’t hear me while he was in the other room.
I then pushed the felt hat down onto my head firmly, and strolled into the kitchen where Dimitri was hastily packing up a few food supplies for our journey ahead.
"Almost done Hitomi", he said as he looked paused for a moment from his work to look up at me.
I nodded gently, and then moved to pick up both of our small personal bags that were lying in a heap by the door, feeling the coarseness of the handles rubbing against my two hands as I then waited for him.
After a few more minutes, Dimitri-chan came to me, dressed up in his disguise and carrying a small sack of food and drinks. He nudged the door open for me, and allowed me to go first outside into the chilly Jeuno night.
We climbed down the steps from the residential area, and carefully made our way to the town gates, where I then slept the guardsmen with a simple sleepga spell. The two Mithras crumpled down to the ground noiselessly, and Dimitri-chan and I quietly left town, with only the little prism light above the town gate to see us go.
Once we were safely away from the town, Dimitri-chan touched my arm, and pointed over to a small tree in the distance and then motioned we should go to it. As we got closer, I could see that the chocobo that Gilgamesh had promised was there, tied up eating a small helping of gyshal greens out of a feeding bag tied around its head. When he heard our footfalls approaching, he turned his head with a wary eye, but made no attempt to get away or stop eating. Even so, we both approached slowly and it wasn’t until Dimitri placed his hand upon the chocobo’s reins that either of us bothered to relax.
"Here Hitomi, let me help you up?" Dimitri said, as he cupped his hands and made a foothold out of them for me by the chocobo’s side.
I could only understand part of what he said, but I understood what he was asking from his body’s motions. I nodded my assent, and quickly got into the chocobo’s saddle on its back. Dimitri-chan then passed me the reins to hold as he then tied all the bags down to the various loopholes that dangled off of the saddle. Once that was done, he leapt his way onto the chocobo’s back singlehandedly, and then took the reins back from me.
"Hold onto me Hitomi, so you don’t fall off." he said to me quietly.
I placed my hands on his waist a bit clumsily, and gripped down on him.
"No...like this..." He then took my hands off his waist, and pulled them tightly around him, to where I was embracing him from behind with my face in his back. I felt the warmth from his body, the smell of sweat already forming beneath his armor, the rippling of his muscles pressing against my cheek as he snapped the reins, telling the chocobo to go forward.
I...I don’t care if Love is something that is forbidden or leads only to pain...
I love you Dimitri-chan...
We rode like that for several hours through Rolanberry Fields and Pashdow Marshlands, before finally stopping for a rest break in the Highlands.
The blades of the never freezing windmills overhead made a steady thump-thump-thump sound as they swayed overhead in lazy circles while we sat down against the tower’s white cermet walls. The chocobo was tied up not too far away, close enough to where we could grab it at a moment’s notice, but far enough away that its random noises wouldn’t bother us.
"You rest here, before we arrive at Selbina. We should be safe here for a couple of hours." Dimitri-chan said, moving his body in a way that also conveyed his meaning to me.
I only nodded a couple of times and then sunk down to the dirt, curling myself up into a ball to keep myself warm while I slept. I was still tired from not having gotten much sleep from the night before, and it must have been obvious if he could pick it up.
As I slowly closed my eyes, I felt him sit down next to me and then place what must have been his disguise over my body. I mumbled out a thank you, and then slowly drifted away to the dreamworld...
Dimitri-chan...when you are like this...
Its easy...
Its easy for me...
Its easy for me to pretend that you love me...
-fin Interlude III: Closeness (Kinmitsu)
*****
When you fall in love...
You often don’t realize it until too late.
***
Aki XXVI: Hatsumon
***
The windmills swung low over our heads, as I cradled her sleeping body in my arms. She felt as light as when I carried her out of the Necropolis, barely alive, months ago.
Her breathing was light and shallow, but it was peaceful.
I saw a stray strand of black hair fall into her eyes and onto her nose, making her wrinkle her nose up a tiny bit at its tickle. Her eyes squinched up a bit, and she turned her head a bit to allow it to fall back to the side.
I’ve never noticed it before...but she’s really quite beautiful...
I finally tore my eyes away from her for a bit, just in time to see a line of what appeared to be people in the distance heading toward us, just over the next rolling hill between all the sheep. Over the next half hour, they came closer and I could gradually make out what appeared to be...
Four complete Bastokian divisions, over half of that country’s standing army, heading this way in the early morning dawn.
My jaw dropped as the sea of mostly galkas came closer and closer into view, all dressed brightly in their armor, carrying their weapons of mass destruction underneath one arm while trying to force down a package of stale garlic crackers with their other hand. When they were just a few feet away, I tucked my head down in Hitomi’s slender shoulder to hide my face from recognition as they started to go past us in strict military precession, not bothering to pay us two or our chocobo any attention. Hitomi’s body gave slightly and she shifted her body a bit as I laid my head on her, but she didn’t wake up.
Rolanberries...
After about five hours of them stomping by, the last of the troops were finally past and I dared to make a quick glance to try to figure out where they were going. It was impossible to know for certain, but it seemed like they were going towards where the Bastokian mine shafts were, towards the entrance to the Valkurm Dunes.
That’s really odd...why would they want to go there?
Ehh...its none of my business anyway. I should probably wake Hitomi up though, and get us both to Selbina.
With that thought, I nudged Hitomi’s arm with my right hand, and almost immediately her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me with those deep twin green eyes, and for just...a moment...I felt as if my breath had been stolen away from me.
Just for a moment.
"Come on Hitomi...rise and shine...time to go to Selbina." Rather than have her pull out her dictionary and try to figure out what I said, I simply pointed at her, then myself, and finally at the chocobo.
Hitomi gave me a sleepy smile, and ran a single finger across my cheek, then pulled herself up onto her two feet.
"Okay Dimitri-chan...we go now." She said simply.
I nodded my assent, helped her up onto the chocobo, and then mounted it myself. I untied the chocobo from where it was secured earlier, and then with a crack of the reins, we were off again.
Hitomi didn’t need me to tell her this time to cling to my waist tightly in order to not fall off.
We traveled up and down several hills, being careful to skirt around the Bastokian army as we headed to the sandy beaches of Valkurm. After about an three more hours’s worth of travel, the grass gradually gave way to sand, and the rolling green hills disappeared into dull waves of sand that seemed to be constantly forming and reforming under Her careful command as the sun started to fade away in another day gone by.
We passed by several packs of lizards, and passed through a tunnel before we finally came to an all-too-familiar stone walkway, broken underneath the feet of all the travelers who pass through here daily on the ferry, and bleached a dull white from existing forever underneath the unforgiving sun. I nudged the chocobo onto it with a simply twist of my reins and started to follow along this new pathway, gradually slowing down as I did so. Eventually, we came to a pair of large wooden gates, that I knew marked the entrance to the seaside town.
There, I hopped off the chicken with a slight grunt, and then carefully lowered Hitomi down to the warm sand. Looking around, I saw a chocobo wrangler moving in towards us from behind one of the ancient gates.
"‘Ello sir," he said with a slight Selbinian twang to his voice as he finally came upon us, "You lookin’ to return your rental chocobo?" He was a tough built character, with slightly wild white hair and a handlebar mustache. His skin was tanned a fair shade of brown, and his fingernails were cracked in several places.
"Yes...and I am also looking for someone. Do you know a person by the name of Isacio?" I asked airily, as the wrangler corraled the chocobo under his control with his bare hands, then fed the chocobo a small bit of gyshal grass which it devoured happily.
"Isacio? The hero of Selbina? Hell yeah I know him! Everyone does here m’ boy!" The old handler threw his head back and laughed heartily, slightly upsetting the chocobo as he did so. Then, once the old man had calmed the bird back down, he started to talk to us again.
"However, he is out in Mhaura tonight on business with the Goldsmithing guild, and you missed the last ferry out for the night about two hours ago." The wrangler jerked a thumb over his shoulder and I could just make out what looked like to be strings of lanterns hung up all over the city. "Why not spend the night and enjoy Summerfest tho? Its really good fun, and I am sure you girlfriend would have a blast too."
I blushed furiously at that.
"She’s not my..." I started to say, before he cut me off with a knowledgeable wink.
"Sir, what happens in Selbina, STAYS in Selbina. No worries...at any rate, if you wanna join in on the fun, just talk to the moogle over there" -he jerked his head in the moogle’s direction- "and get yourselves a couple o' yukatas to wear."
I glanced over at Hitomi, and I could see that her eyes were lighting up, even brighter than the lanterns.
"You want to go?..." I asked softly, my words mixing into the salty sea breeze that was floating in from the port.
Hitomi didn’t say anything, but just nodded with a shy smile.
fin Aki XXVI: Hatsumon[i]
*****
Sometimes...
All it takes is a change in clothes to make someone you are in love with truly notice you.
***
[i]Chapter XVII: Yukata
***
“The moogle’s down at ta docks, juss talk ta him, and you are in.” the wrangler said, as he then mounted my once former ride, and made his way slowly over to the chocobo stables.
I simply nodded a couple of times, the light breeze floating in from the sea causing my black hair to partially obscure my eyes. With that, I then started to head down to the docks where the moogles were all calmly flapping their wings together. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hitomi following me, dragging her feet through the warm sand that got tracked into the city from the beaches surrounding Selbina by tourists and travelers alike.
The town was all dressed up, with paper lanterns hanging everywhere on strings, glowing all sorts of different colors from the melting wax candle inside each of them. Off in the distance, I could hear a a mixture of drums and wood flutes playing a delicate tune that only seemed to add to the atmosphere. The fireflies were out, dancing over and under everything that seemed to move in a carefree way, their lights blending into the stars hanging above.
Even though I had not been to a summerfest since I was a child, I could tell that it was as beautiful as ever...
After a few minutes, we arrived at the docks, where the ferry was just pulling out from port. Looking around, we spotted a moogle that was flapping its wings, floating lazily nearby. As we drew closer to it, the moogle’s face lit up and his mouth split into a wide grin.
"Welcome to Summerfest, kupo!", it said in that sing-song voice moogles have when they are really happy. "Would you like a free yukata, to help celebrate this summertime tradition kupo?!" Without waiting for a response from me, the moogle then reached into the satchel slung over its shoulder, and yanked out a folded blue yukata outfit. Looking a bit at it, I could make out to be a fruit design inked into the soft-looking fabric. Gratefully, I bowed my head, and then took the bundle from the moogle.
The moogle then turned to Hitomi, and I could see that there was a look of confusion spread across her face. The flying being took a good long look at her, after a couple of uneasy moments the moogle erupted into a flurry of words that I couldn’t understand, (judging from how the confused look on her face disappeared) Hitomi must have understood. After a couple minutes, the moogle reached into his pouch once more, and pulled out another yukata, pale purple this time with a design I couldn’t make out, and handed it over to Hitomi.
"Over there is the changing rooms! You can also store your regular clothes there too, kupo!" the moogle said in English and then probably said in that other language (as evidenced from the sudden understanding on Hitomi’s face) as it spun around in three complete quick circles before pointing over at two makeshift tents set up near the fisheries on the far side of the dock, away from the festivities.
Hitomi and I both bowed our heads in wordless thanks, as we went over to the changing stations. Once I got into the men’s one, I stripped completely nude, and shoved my clothes into a convenient iron locker that was stacked up against the left side of the wall. Once that was done, I opened up my yukata, and allowed everything was wrapped up in it to fall down to the sandy floor.
Bending over slowly, I first picked up a pair of white tabi socks, and placed them on my feet first, being careful to slide my big toes into their proper place. Once that was accomplished, I picked up the yukata itself, and wrapped the right side of the outfit around my body and over the left side, trying to make sure the back seam was centered along my spine at the same time. After that, I picked up from the ground and then tried to tie a cotton obi belt around my waist, but failed miserably to make it look decent.
After about fifteen minutes of struggling, I finally gave up and tied it onto my body using a cheater’s knot, that would hold up to all but the closest inspection by other visitors to Selbina who also happened to be enjoying the festivities. With that, I slipped on the tatami-material zori sandals (the last thing that had fallen out of the bundled yukata) onto my feet, and then pulled back the tent flap to wait outside for Hitomi.
After a couple more minutes had passed, I made my way carefully over to the ladies’ tent, and rapped on the tent’s door. "Hitomi, you ok?" I called out to her, slightly worried.
I could hear muffled sounds inside, and then Hitomi’s voice coming out to me. "Hai!" she said in a half-shout, obviously excited, "just doing hair!"
My worries gone, I shuffled from foot to foot for a few more minutes, until I saw Hitomi’s hand reach outside and gracefully lift the tent’s edge up to make her an exit. When she passed through, and I could see her clearly...
My jaw dropped and my breath was stolen away from me.
Hitomi was dressed in that pale purple yukata, but it had a design that matched mine. The yukata’s left side was tied tightly over the right, wrapping her body tightly, and giving her quite a feminine figure that was only partially obscured by her perfectly tied obi belt. Her silky black hair was allowed to drape freely behind her back, and was held in place by a emerald pin that only served to accent her glowing green eyes. When Hitomi saw where I saw, her face split into a wide grin, and she then reached behind her back and pulled out a slender metal piece that she then snapped open into a white fan with some sort of red lettering drawn upon it. She started to wave the paper fan towards her face as she headed over towards my body, which was still paralyzed in place.
"Wow...Hitomi...you look so pretty..." I finally was able to mumble out.
Hitomi blushed a deep red, and covered her face with her fan for a few moments until the color disappeared.
"Thank you...", she stammered back to me in a shy voice, "Dimitri-chan...you handsome too..."
-fin Chapter XXVII: Yukata
*****
Fighting...
Disagreeing...
And even surprises...
Are all a part of love.
***
-fin Aki XXVIII: Natsumatsuri
***
I blushed slightly at Hitomi’s words myself, and an uncomfortable silence fell in between us both for a couple of minutes until finally, Hitomi spoke up with a tiny bit of hesitation in her voice.
"Explore now Dimitri-chan?" She said as she snapped her fan shut, and gently placed it in her purple obi belt, against the small of her back.
I closed my eyes and bowed my head slightly, a smile starting to stretch all the way across my lips. "Certainly..." I replied, my voice trailing off at the end as I turned around towards the opposite end of the docks.
"Then escort me!" Hitomi commanded of me with a giggle as I then felt her slender, abeit warm, hands suddenly grasp my right arm while her face pressed tightly into my shoulder. My eyes went wide for a moment, and I then unsuccessfully tried to tug myself free from her grasp a couple of times half-heartedly.
"Hitomi..." I said quietly, slightly annoyed with her.
I turned my head, to look over at her, ready to scold her gently and tell her to not be so silly...
But when I saw her green eyes floating up towards me...
I found that I couldn’t.
And for some reason...
I felt as if I couldn’t say or do anything...but instead just try to gaze deeper and deeper into those twin jewels locked safely in her face.
What’s wrong with you Dimitri? Snap out of it!
Almost, almost, with regret, I tore my eyes away from hers.
"If I am gonna escort you Hitomi...lets do it right." I said slowly, giving Hitomi enough time to translate my words as best as she could in her head. After about a minute, Hitomi giggled again, and then broke away from my body.
"Okay, show me." She said, with more than a clear trace of happiness in her voice.
I crooked my right arm, the hand making a limp fist at my waist. "Okay...your put your left hand gently onto my right arm" -I took her left hand gingerly with my own left and placed it on my right arm- "and you just ever so softly clasp around my arm." With that, I then closed her fingers around my arm with my free hand.
Hitomi picked up instantly on what I was trying to show her...
But instantly laid her face against my shoulder, and pulled in closely against me, closely enough that I could smell the rolanberry lotion that she always seemed to be wearing.
"Okay, lets go Dimitri!" she exclaimed as she half-dragged me back to Selbina-proper.
Back at town, we lazily walked around, oohing and aahing in pure enjoyment at all of the decorations that had been put up for this celebration of summer. There were all sorts of games and activities to do, each looking more and more fun that the last. Hitomi’s head never left my shoulder, and she never let us stop at any of the activities to my disappointme-
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!" she exclaimed all the sudden, and then broke into a run away from me. I stood still for a moment, letting my eyes tracing Hitomi’s body until I could see where saw her sit down in front of a booth, and then I calmly made my way towards her slightly dumbfounded.
Why...a goldfish-scooping booth?...
The man running the booth was getting on in years, and with a fleeting realization, I suddenly knew that this was the same man who run the booth back when I was a child. His hair was mostly gone, his skin cracked and wrinkled, but I knew at once that it was him.
"Come be one with your Aquarian brothers...embrace the universe of goldfish-scooping..." the old man said, his voice just as crazy sounding as it did when I was a child. I nodded my head gently trying my best to tune out his words as I knelt down next to where Hitomi was sitting, staring with a childlike fascination at the different colored goldfish all swimming in the wooden water container in front of her.
"Heh...let me have a go at it, okay?" I said, remembering with quiet confidence all of the bubble black-eye and lionhead goldfish that I had managed to catch with nary a problem.
Hitomi nodded once absentmindedly, never taking her eyes off of the fish that she was so enamored with.
I looked over to the sides of the water holder, and found a stack of paper scoops laying there. I picked up one in my right hand and dipped it into the water on its side near one of the ends of the tank. After holding the scoop still for a couple of moments, a tiny goldfish finally swam into the scoop’s bowl, and started to push against the paper. Immediately, I snapped the scoop upwards and out of the water, eliciting a startled cry from Hitomi as she jumped backwards somewhat.
"Dimitri-chan!" she said angrily while pushing her finger into my chest, "I watching goldfish!"
"And I was trying to do what you are supposed to do here, scoop up goldfish with paper scoops, like so." I said trying, to keep from getting angry also.
"Baka!" Hitomi screamed back out at me.
"What in Mordion Goal does THAT mean, Hitomi?!" I shouted back at her. "And for another thing, stop clinging so tightly to me when we walk together! Its not like we are dating or anything, Hitomi!"
Hitomi opened her mouth to reply to me, but before she could say anything, it was then that the bottom of the paper scoop that I had been holding chose to broke.
Hitomi and I both stopped our fighting for a moment, and watched paralyzed the goldfish that had been residing inside of the scoop fell out of the tattered bottom, and landed not-too-gracefully with a plop and a splash back in the tank. The goldfish froze in the water for a moment, until a lionhead ran into it and the goldfish, seeming shocked out of its paralyzation, started to swim on its own again.
"Hey, get away from your betters!"
We both looked up from the tank to see the old man glaring at us with his piercing blue eyes.
"You dare to hurt Altana’s greatest creations?...Then be gone!" he shouted at us as he snatched up all the paper scoops and hugged them closely against his aged chest.
Hitomi and I just turned and stared at each other, and we could obviously see that we were both trying to keep from breaking out into laughter.
"Sure...sure..." I said with a shake of my head as I lead Hitomi by the arm away from the booth, and back into the main way of the festival where we finally broke out into laughter.
"Crazy man..." I wheezed out, as Hitomi nodded her agreement while she was doubled over with tears streaming out of her eyes.
"Hai! Hitomi replied with once her laughter died out finally.
Both of us with smiles upon our faces, we rounded the corner of the Selbinian branch of the clothcrafting guild, and happened upon a small tarutaru dressed up in lavish robes, wearing a plump purple hat that seemed almost too big for her. She stood in the middle of the street alone, watching as all sorts of people passed her with an almost zen-like reverence.
"Hello..." she said in a high-pitched voice (not too much unlike Satmanda’s) her voice as Hitomi and I tried to pass her, "would you care to have your fortune read? Its free, just like everything else during this wonderful festival."
I paused for a moment, in wonder of HOW a tarutaru managed to talk without that silly accent that they always seem to be parading around with.
Unfortunately, the taru took that as a sign of interest in her fortune, and quickly grabbed my free hand to drag both me and Hitomi over underneath a tiny purple and yellow striped umbrella.
"Umm...I really don-" I started to say before Hitomi squeezed my arm to quiet me down.
The tarutaru picked up a small deck of Tarut cards from a small stand off to her side, and started to shuffle them into each other.
"The power of the ‘eye’ for the Tarut cards relies upon the will of Patchoulie...one of the many GM guardians to the Goddess Herself. Patchoulie is the mistress of divination, and with it, will allow us to see what lies in fate for you in the coming months. These cards can predict the future for any child of Altana, and are never wrong..."
With that, the tarutaru abruptly stopped her shuffling, and quickly delt three cards upright onto the ground before us in rapid succession.
"Hmm...the death card is upright...the hermit card is also upright...and the king is upside down..." the diviner mumbled to herself as she studied the cards intently. Finally, after a moment, she looked up at me, and I couldn’t help but notice that her eyes had gone all hazy.
"Soon enough...you will be forced to make a very difficult choice. But you will know the right decision when the time comes..." she soothed out towards me, "and now for the lady..."
The taru picked up the three card that were laying out, and proceeded to shuffle them back into the deck. She then cut the deck in half, and proceeded to mix the cards up all over again. Once that was done, she dealt out three more cards...
Only to exclaim in surprise when they turned out to be all blank on the picture side.
With surprise on her face, the taru then turned over the deck and fanned all the other cards out into sight, which were also blank.
"What in Patchoulie’s name..." she said before throwing the cards away from her in disgust. "Foul being! Get away from here, before you soil my eye!" she then shouted at us both with her face turning the same shade as the ridiculous hat sitting on top of her head that was now threatening to fall off.
Hitomi grabbed my hand and yanked me away quickly, with the tarutaru still shouting at us.
"What happened?" I asked Hitomi, my mind puzzled a tiny bit at how those cards could have mysteriously turned blank without any warning.
"I kno know...I do nothing" Hitomi said quietly, before a smile broke across her face and she pointed over to where a bunch of people had gathered together in front of a stage. "But let us there!" she finished with.
As Hitomi ran in that direction, leaving me behind...somehow I realized, though I knew I couldn’t prove it...
Hitomi had just lied to me.
-fin Aki XXVIII: Natsumatsuri
*****
...To say you love someone...
Is the most difficult thing in the world.
***
Chapter XXIX: Love
***
I chased after Hitomi down to where a large crowd had gathered in front of an lit impromptu stage at in front of the docks. Just as I got there, I assumed that she had disappeared into the mass of people, and I didn’t feel any real reason to try to find her in what I knew would be a futile effort so I just hung in the group’s fringes, just close enough to see the stage, but yet still far enough away that I get too caught up in whatever was gonna happen next.
All of the sudden, the stage went dark and I could barely discern three shadowy figures stepping out from behind a curtain, and then each walking to a different part of the stage.
"Ladies and Gentleman!" a male voice boomed from seemingly out of nowhere, "give it up for our special musical guest tonight..."
It was then that I saw that the hands of the figures on the opposite ends of the stage start to jerk around and move in what I quickly recognized as a third-tier spell formation, but the motions were off just enough that the spell would only fizzle out.
"YOSHIMOTO LUMINE!!!"
The spells went off and fizzled, lighting up the sky in a haze of red and blue sparks that only showed off the slim girl standing shyly in the middle of the stage. She was rather short, her short spiky hair dyed a brilliant blue color and I could see her figure sway gently to some unknown beat playing in her mind as she tightly grasped a microphone in between her hands. She looked down at the ground for a moment before turning her gaze up into the crowd. When she did so, her lips parted, and she let out a small smile that showed off only a few of her pearly teeth before it disappeared.
"There...once were two people who were separated a long ago,
even before the Vana’diel we know today existed, by the sea..."
Yoshimoto spoke quietly, her breathing falling into the microphone a bit heavily as a light instrumental picked up in the background.
"One of them, the guy, could never admit his heart...and when he did, he always messed it up in some way that only widened the gap between him and the one he loved the most. So he put it down on paper, in the hopes that someday, she might read it and understand how he felt. This is his story..."
With that, the music started to pick up, and I noticed that what HAD to be red mages on either opposite of the stage picked up the fizzled magic spellcasting routine also.
Its easy for me to say 'I like you'...
And to talk about love with you
or simple everyday things...
For no reason, I felt a sudden impulse to turn away from the stage and look out towards the ocean...
And out against the full moon, I could see the outline of a girl with long hair sitting away from everyone else, her head buried in her knees as her arms wrapped around her legs.
I just knew...
Slipping away quietly from the rest of the world, I tiptoed my way over to where she was sitting all by herself. As I drew closer, I could hear the choked gasps of a woman trying to hold back tears with all her might but on the verge of failing miserably.
Hitomi...
"Hey butterfly..." I called out softly to her.
She instantly jerked her head around, saw it was me, and then turned away just as quickly.
"Dimitri-chan..." she said quietly.
Not bothering to sneak around anymore, I came up from behind her, and sat down on the dusty ground next to her. "Something wrong Hitomi?..." I asked softly, touching her cheek with the back of my hand.
Off in the distance, the music had grown fainter, but I for some unknown reason, I could still hear it somewhat distinctively.
Yet...its harder for me to say 'I care for you'
To show you my emotions, my tears,
and my smiles...
Hitomi pulled away from my touch with a snap of her head, briefly brushing my face with her hair and forcing me back into a memory of so long ago upon a mountain top...
"No..." she replied with a slight tremble in her voice.
"Okay then..." I said with a trace of hurt in my reply. Even after all this time...I guess I’ll never find out what goes on in her head.
"Well..." she started quietly, slightly turning her head towards me.
Its impossible for me to say 'I love you'
And to talk with you about tomorrow...
And about what could be...
"What is true love, Dimitri-chan?" she finally worked out of her lips.
The question caught me off guard, as it was not what I was expecting from her. I pursed my lips for a second thinking of a reply.
"Well...do you want the truth...or do you want the real answer?" I finally replied with.
I saw a confused look spread across her face.
"...The real answer." she finally answered with, uncertainly clamoring in her thoat.
I wish you would notice me
Every so often wave at me
And once in a while just talk to me...
I stared out over at the ocean, and the full moon that reflected into it. "To me...true love is when someone asks you what is more important...your own life or the life of the one you love...and you say your own life. Then the questioner walks away thinking you are selfish...not knowing that the life of the one you love makes up a lot of your own life."
My fingers traced in the small bits of the sand by Hitomi and I carelessly.
"And to answer the question I know you are thinking of next...I know I’m in love when I can look in a person’s eyes...and the whole world seems to slow down and stop and I find that I am the only one reflected in that person’s eyes...I believe in emotions." I continued quietly.
I grow nervous when you are near
voice quieting, hands shaking...
My soul soaring in the clouds.
I heard Hitomi scoot her body closer over to me, and then lay her head on my shoulder.
"Oh?..." she said, matching my tone.
For some reason...
I felt like opening up to Hitomi.
"Yeah...I am quite the emotional type when it comes to love...I know I have a tendency to react with anger, sadness, passion...before my head takes over. Once, a long time ago...there was a girl that I fell for. Her name was Elayne, and she was quite a sweetheart. Her family was quite nice too, and I loved her adopted father, a man by the name of Gilgamesh. Elayne and I dated for quite a while...but it wasn’t until she cheated on me with another guy that she finally broke up with me...and handed my heart back one full moon."
The wind picked up some making the air drop a few more degrees, and Hitomi clung a bit tighter to me.
Holding you through the night
watching stars go over head
my heart’s fantasy...
"We were just kids then," I continued, "but it still hurt. I closed my heart for a long time...but then...I met someone. She was a mithra, whose voice had the melody of a robin, and looks that could easily rival the Goddess."
Hitomi reached up to my face, and wiped away a tear that I didn’t know was even there. I blushed slightly at her gentle touch, and mouthed a wordless thanks.
"But...I messed up when I told her I loved her. I yelled at her for I thought she didn’t care or give it much thought at all. I realized what a stupid mistake I made and I knew that she had forgiven me so much in the past...but I knew she wouldn’t forgive me this time. So I ran away, and joined the Jeuno Guard, where I was happily employed until I met you, and this whole war and Eruntalon Code mess started."
Witty lines and perfect looks
I wish I had those...
Instead, all I have is a romantic soul...
Hitomi touched my cheek this time, and turned my gaze towards her eyes.
"Dimitri-chan..." she said quietly, her eyes gazing into mine.
"Yes?..." I replied just as quietly, finding that I couldn’t take my own eyes off of hers.
She then, without any reason, leaned in towards me slowly, her lips parting...
If I could say 'I love you'...
I felt my eyes closing, and my heart starting to race...
Then maybe...
Her warm breath washing over my lips as we drew closer and closer...
Together we could be...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!
Slipping into battle mode (even if I WAS unarmed), Hitomi and I both jerked our heads away instantly toward the source of the noise...and we were rewarded with the sight of different colored fireworks lighting up the nighttime sky.
We both chuckled softly for a moment, both embarrassed about what had almost happened...
And then we both turned to watch the fireworks show together.
Together we could be...
Lovers...
-fin Chapter XXIX: Love
-fin Kasho IV: Suriyoru (Closer)
*****
When you love someone...
Just being close to them is often more than enough...
To make you happy.
***
Interlude III: Closeness (Kinmitsu)
***
"Wake up Hitomi...its time to go."
"Dimitri-chan...go kudasai..." I mumbled slowly to him, as I feebly reached up, to try to take the blanket back from him, that only moments before I was ever-so happily wrapped up in.
Through my blurry eyes, I could tell that Dimitri-chan shook his head as he pulled the blanket just a bit further out of my reach.
"Come on butterfly...we have a chocobo to catch to Selbina, remember?" He said to me, gently as he took my hand, and squeezed it gently before letting it go again.
I blushed.
He just smiled.
I then rubbed my eyes with the back of my right hand a couple of times, working the sleep out from the corners of it as I slowly woke up.
"All right..." I said faintly, as I started to move my tired limbs a bit to sit up in bed.
The room became much more clear, and I could see that the couch on the other side of the room where Dimitri had spent a precious few hours asleep was made back up into something fit for company, not that he was going to have any during the time that we were going to be gone.
We...
Why did that just send a shiver down my spine when I said that?
Dimitri’s smile never wavered at me, but he simply stood up and walked off to the kitchen in order that I might have some privacy while I got up and then got dressed.
I reached over to my bedside, and plucked up that old felt hat of mine that had seen more wear and tear than most things this side of Mordion Goal. I then forced myself out of bed, dragging the hat limply in my left hand as I stumbled my way to the full length mirror in Dimitri-chan’s closet.
Black hair, down to my waist. Glowing green eyes. A waist that wasn’t fat, but definitely not anorexic either. A nose that was a bit too big, and ears that seemed to just stick out.
I looked away in disgust, and tied one-handedly onto my body my Bastokian kimono which was hanging on a wire next to various, long forgotten outfits of Dimitri, back in the days when he was with those Ducal Guardsmen...
The yellow butterflies swooping through the dark blue sky on my kimono echoed his nickname for me, and I suddenly realized where he got that name for me.
"Baka..." I chided him, even if he couldn’t hear me while he was in the other room.
I then pushed the felt hat down onto my head firmly, and strolled into the kitchen where Dimitri was hastily packing up a few food supplies for our journey ahead.
"Almost done Hitomi", he said as he looked paused for a moment from his work to look up at me.
I nodded gently, and then moved to pick up both of our small personal bags that were lying in a heap by the door, feeling the coarseness of the handles rubbing against my two hands as I then waited for him.
After a few more minutes, Dimitri-chan came to me, dressed up in his disguise and carrying a small sack of food and drinks. He nudged the door open for me, and allowed me to go first outside into the chilly Jeuno night.
We climbed down the steps from the residential area, and carefully made our way to the town gates, where I then slept the guardsmen with a simple sleepga spell. The two Mithras crumpled down to the ground noiselessly, and Dimitri-chan and I quietly left town, with only the little prism light above the town gate to see us go.
Once we were safely away from the town, Dimitri-chan touched my arm, and pointed over to a small tree in the distance and then motioned we should go to it. As we got closer, I could see that the chocobo that Gilgamesh had promised was there, tied up eating a small helping of gyshal greens out of a feeding bag tied around its head. When he heard our footfalls approaching, he turned his head with a wary eye, but made no attempt to get away or stop eating. Even so, we both approached slowly and it wasn’t until Dimitri placed his hand upon the chocobo’s reins that either of us bothered to relax.
"Here Hitomi, let me help you up?" Dimitri said, as he cupped his hands and made a foothold out of them for me by the chocobo’s side.
I could only understand part of what he said, but I understood what he was asking from his body’s motions. I nodded my assent, and quickly got into the chocobo’s saddle on its back. Dimitri-chan then passed me the reins to hold as he then tied all the bags down to the various loopholes that dangled off of the saddle. Once that was done, he leapt his way onto the chocobo’s back singlehandedly, and then took the reins back from me.
"Hold onto me Hitomi, so you don’t fall off." he said to me quietly.
I placed my hands on his waist a bit clumsily, and gripped down on him.
"No...like this..." He then took my hands off his waist, and pulled them tightly around him, to where I was embracing him from behind with my face in his back. I felt the warmth from his body, the smell of sweat already forming beneath his armor, the rippling of his muscles pressing against my cheek as he snapped the reins, telling the chocobo to go forward.
I...I don’t care if Love is something that is forbidden or leads only to pain...
I love you Dimitri-chan...
We rode like that for several hours through Rolanberry Fields and Pashdow Marshlands, before finally stopping for a rest break in the Highlands.
The blades of the never freezing windmills overhead made a steady thump-thump-thump sound as they swayed overhead in lazy circles while we sat down against the tower’s white cermet walls. The chocobo was tied up not too far away, close enough to where we could grab it at a moment’s notice, but far enough away that its random noises wouldn’t bother us.
"You rest here, before we arrive at Selbina. We should be safe here for a couple of hours." Dimitri-chan said, moving his body in a way that also conveyed his meaning to me.
I only nodded a couple of times and then sunk down to the dirt, curling myself up into a ball to keep myself warm while I slept. I was still tired from not having gotten much sleep from the night before, and it must have been obvious if he could pick it up.
As I slowly closed my eyes, I felt him sit down next to me and then place what must have been his disguise over my body. I mumbled out a thank you, and then slowly drifted away to the dreamworld...
Dimitri-chan...when you are like this...
Its easy...
Its easy for me...
Its easy for me to pretend that you love me...
-fin Interlude III: Closeness (Kinmitsu)
*****
When you fall in love...
You often don’t realize it until too late.
***
Aki XXVI: Hatsumon
***
The windmills swung low over our heads, as I cradled her sleeping body in my arms. She felt as light as when I carried her out of the Necropolis, barely alive, months ago.
Her breathing was light and shallow, but it was peaceful.
I saw a stray strand of black hair fall into her eyes and onto her nose, making her wrinkle her nose up a tiny bit at its tickle. Her eyes squinched up a bit, and she turned her head a bit to allow it to fall back to the side.
I’ve never noticed it before...but she’s really quite beautiful...
I finally tore my eyes away from her for a bit, just in time to see a line of what appeared to be people in the distance heading toward us, just over the next rolling hill between all the sheep. Over the next half hour, they came closer and I could gradually make out what appeared to be...
Four complete Bastokian divisions, over half of that country’s standing army, heading this way in the early morning dawn.
My jaw dropped as the sea of mostly galkas came closer and closer into view, all dressed brightly in their armor, carrying their weapons of mass destruction underneath one arm while trying to force down a package of stale garlic crackers with their other hand. When they were just a few feet away, I tucked my head down in Hitomi’s slender shoulder to hide my face from recognition as they started to go past us in strict military precession, not bothering to pay us two or our chocobo any attention. Hitomi’s body gave slightly and she shifted her body a bit as I laid my head on her, but she didn’t wake up.
Rolanberries...
After about five hours of them stomping by, the last of the troops were finally past and I dared to make a quick glance to try to figure out where they were going. It was impossible to know for certain, but it seemed like they were going towards where the Bastokian mine shafts were, towards the entrance to the Valkurm Dunes.
That’s really odd...why would they want to go there?
Ehh...its none of my business anyway. I should probably wake Hitomi up though, and get us both to Selbina.
With that thought, I nudged Hitomi’s arm with my right hand, and almost immediately her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me with those deep twin green eyes, and for just...a moment...I felt as if my breath had been stolen away from me.
Just for a moment.
"Come on Hitomi...rise and shine...time to go to Selbina." Rather than have her pull out her dictionary and try to figure out what I said, I simply pointed at her, then myself, and finally at the chocobo.
Hitomi gave me a sleepy smile, and ran a single finger across my cheek, then pulled herself up onto her two feet.
"Okay Dimitri-chan...we go now." She said simply.
I nodded my assent, helped her up onto the chocobo, and then mounted it myself. I untied the chocobo from where it was secured earlier, and then with a crack of the reins, we were off again.
Hitomi didn’t need me to tell her this time to cling to my waist tightly in order to not fall off.
We traveled up and down several hills, being careful to skirt around the Bastokian army as we headed to the sandy beaches of Valkurm. After about an three more hours’s worth of travel, the grass gradually gave way to sand, and the rolling green hills disappeared into dull waves of sand that seemed to be constantly forming and reforming under Her careful command as the sun started to fade away in another day gone by.
We passed by several packs of lizards, and passed through a tunnel before we finally came to an all-too-familiar stone walkway, broken underneath the feet of all the travelers who pass through here daily on the ferry, and bleached a dull white from existing forever underneath the unforgiving sun. I nudged the chocobo onto it with a simply twist of my reins and started to follow along this new pathway, gradually slowing down as I did so. Eventually, we came to a pair of large wooden gates, that I knew marked the entrance to the seaside town.
There, I hopped off the chicken with a slight grunt, and then carefully lowered Hitomi down to the warm sand. Looking around, I saw a chocobo wrangler moving in towards us from behind one of the ancient gates.
"‘Ello sir," he said with a slight Selbinian twang to his voice as he finally came upon us, "You lookin’ to return your rental chocobo?" He was a tough built character, with slightly wild white hair and a handlebar mustache. His skin was tanned a fair shade of brown, and his fingernails were cracked in several places.
"Yes...and I am also looking for someone. Do you know a person by the name of Isacio?" I asked airily, as the wrangler corraled the chocobo under his control with his bare hands, then fed the chocobo a small bit of gyshal grass which it devoured happily.
"Isacio? The hero of Selbina? Hell yeah I know him! Everyone does here m’ boy!" The old handler threw his head back and laughed heartily, slightly upsetting the chocobo as he did so. Then, once the old man had calmed the bird back down, he started to talk to us again.
"However, he is out in Mhaura tonight on business with the Goldsmithing guild, and you missed the last ferry out for the night about two hours ago." The wrangler jerked a thumb over his shoulder and I could just make out what looked like to be strings of lanterns hung up all over the city. "Why not spend the night and enjoy Summerfest tho? Its really good fun, and I am sure you girlfriend would have a blast too."
I blushed furiously at that.
"She’s not my..." I started to say, before he cut me off with a knowledgeable wink.
"Sir, what happens in Selbina, STAYS in Selbina. No worries...at any rate, if you wanna join in on the fun, just talk to the moogle over there" -he jerked his head in the moogle’s direction- "and get yourselves a couple o' yukatas to wear."
I glanced over at Hitomi, and I could see that her eyes were lighting up, even brighter than the lanterns.
"You want to go?..." I asked softly, my words mixing into the salty sea breeze that was floating in from the port.
Hitomi didn’t say anything, but just nodded with a shy smile.
fin Aki XXVI: Hatsumon[i]
*****
Sometimes...
All it takes is a change in clothes to make someone you are in love with truly notice you.
***
[i]Chapter XVII: Yukata
***
“The moogle’s down at ta docks, juss talk ta him, and you are in.” the wrangler said, as he then mounted my once former ride, and made his way slowly over to the chocobo stables.
I simply nodded a couple of times, the light breeze floating in from the sea causing my black hair to partially obscure my eyes. With that, I then started to head down to the docks where the moogles were all calmly flapping their wings together. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hitomi following me, dragging her feet through the warm sand that got tracked into the city from the beaches surrounding Selbina by tourists and travelers alike.
The town was all dressed up, with paper lanterns hanging everywhere on strings, glowing all sorts of different colors from the melting wax candle inside each of them. Off in the distance, I could hear a a mixture of drums and wood flutes playing a delicate tune that only seemed to add to the atmosphere. The fireflies were out, dancing over and under everything that seemed to move in a carefree way, their lights blending into the stars hanging above.
Even though I had not been to a summerfest since I was a child, I could tell that it was as beautiful as ever...
After a few minutes, we arrived at the docks, where the ferry was just pulling out from port. Looking around, we spotted a moogle that was flapping its wings, floating lazily nearby. As we drew closer to it, the moogle’s face lit up and his mouth split into a wide grin.
"Welcome to Summerfest, kupo!", it said in that sing-song voice moogles have when they are really happy. "Would you like a free yukata, to help celebrate this summertime tradition kupo?!" Without waiting for a response from me, the moogle then reached into the satchel slung over its shoulder, and yanked out a folded blue yukata outfit. Looking a bit at it, I could make out to be a fruit design inked into the soft-looking fabric. Gratefully, I bowed my head, and then took the bundle from the moogle.
The moogle then turned to Hitomi, and I could see that there was a look of confusion spread across her face. The flying being took a good long look at her, after a couple of uneasy moments the moogle erupted into a flurry of words that I couldn’t understand, (judging from how the confused look on her face disappeared) Hitomi must have understood. After a couple minutes, the moogle reached into his pouch once more, and pulled out another yukata, pale purple this time with a design I couldn’t make out, and handed it over to Hitomi.
"Over there is the changing rooms! You can also store your regular clothes there too, kupo!" the moogle said in English and then probably said in that other language (as evidenced from the sudden understanding on Hitomi’s face) as it spun around in three complete quick circles before pointing over at two makeshift tents set up near the fisheries on the far side of the dock, away from the festivities.
Hitomi and I both bowed our heads in wordless thanks, as we went over to the changing stations. Once I got into the men’s one, I stripped completely nude, and shoved my clothes into a convenient iron locker that was stacked up against the left side of the wall. Once that was done, I opened up my yukata, and allowed everything was wrapped up in it to fall down to the sandy floor.
Bending over slowly, I first picked up a pair of white tabi socks, and placed them on my feet first, being careful to slide my big toes into their proper place. Once that was accomplished, I picked up the yukata itself, and wrapped the right side of the outfit around my body and over the left side, trying to make sure the back seam was centered along my spine at the same time. After that, I picked up from the ground and then tried to tie a cotton obi belt around my waist, but failed miserably to make it look decent.
After about fifteen minutes of struggling, I finally gave up and tied it onto my body using a cheater’s knot, that would hold up to all but the closest inspection by other visitors to Selbina who also happened to be enjoying the festivities. With that, I slipped on the tatami-material zori sandals (the last thing that had fallen out of the bundled yukata) onto my feet, and then pulled back the tent flap to wait outside for Hitomi.
After a couple more minutes had passed, I made my way carefully over to the ladies’ tent, and rapped on the tent’s door. "Hitomi, you ok?" I called out to her, slightly worried.
I could hear muffled sounds inside, and then Hitomi’s voice coming out to me. "Hai!" she said in a half-shout, obviously excited, "just doing hair!"
My worries gone, I shuffled from foot to foot for a few more minutes, until I saw Hitomi’s hand reach outside and gracefully lift the tent’s edge up to make her an exit. When she passed through, and I could see her clearly...
My jaw dropped and my breath was stolen away from me.
Hitomi was dressed in that pale purple yukata, but it had a design that matched mine. The yukata’s left side was tied tightly over the right, wrapping her body tightly, and giving her quite a feminine figure that was only partially obscured by her perfectly tied obi belt. Her silky black hair was allowed to drape freely behind her back, and was held in place by a emerald pin that only served to accent her glowing green eyes. When Hitomi saw where I saw, her face split into a wide grin, and she then reached behind her back and pulled out a slender metal piece that she then snapped open into a white fan with some sort of red lettering drawn upon it. She started to wave the paper fan towards her face as she headed over towards my body, which was still paralyzed in place.
"Wow...Hitomi...you look so pretty..." I finally was able to mumble out.
Hitomi blushed a deep red, and covered her face with her fan for a few moments until the color disappeared.
"Thank you...", she stammered back to me in a shy voice, "Dimitri-chan...you handsome too..."
-fin Chapter XXVII: Yukata
*****
Fighting...
Disagreeing...
And even surprises...
Are all a part of love.
***
-fin Aki XXVIII: Natsumatsuri
***
I blushed slightly at Hitomi’s words myself, and an uncomfortable silence fell in between us both for a couple of minutes until finally, Hitomi spoke up with a tiny bit of hesitation in her voice.
"Explore now Dimitri-chan?" She said as she snapped her fan shut, and gently placed it in her purple obi belt, against the small of her back.
I closed my eyes and bowed my head slightly, a smile starting to stretch all the way across my lips. "Certainly..." I replied, my voice trailing off at the end as I turned around towards the opposite end of the docks.
"Then escort me!" Hitomi commanded of me with a giggle as I then felt her slender, abeit warm, hands suddenly grasp my right arm while her face pressed tightly into my shoulder. My eyes went wide for a moment, and I then unsuccessfully tried to tug myself free from her grasp a couple of times half-heartedly.
"Hitomi..." I said quietly, slightly annoyed with her.
I turned my head, to look over at her, ready to scold her gently and tell her to not be so silly...
But when I saw her green eyes floating up towards me...
I found that I couldn’t.
And for some reason...
I felt as if I couldn’t say or do anything...but instead just try to gaze deeper and deeper into those twin jewels locked safely in her face.
What’s wrong with you Dimitri? Snap out of it!
Almost, almost, with regret, I tore my eyes away from hers.
"If I am gonna escort you Hitomi...lets do it right." I said slowly, giving Hitomi enough time to translate my words as best as she could in her head. After about a minute, Hitomi giggled again, and then broke away from my body.
"Okay, show me." She said, with more than a clear trace of happiness in her voice.
I crooked my right arm, the hand making a limp fist at my waist. "Okay...your put your left hand gently onto my right arm" -I took her left hand gingerly with my own left and placed it on my right arm- "and you just ever so softly clasp around my arm." With that, I then closed her fingers around my arm with my free hand.
Hitomi picked up instantly on what I was trying to show her...
But instantly laid her face against my shoulder, and pulled in closely against me, closely enough that I could smell the rolanberry lotion that she always seemed to be wearing.
"Okay, lets go Dimitri!" she exclaimed as she half-dragged me back to Selbina-proper.
Back at town, we lazily walked around, oohing and aahing in pure enjoyment at all of the decorations that had been put up for this celebration of summer. There were all sorts of games and activities to do, each looking more and more fun that the last. Hitomi’s head never left my shoulder, and she never let us stop at any of the activities to my disappointme-
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!" she exclaimed all the sudden, and then broke into a run away from me. I stood still for a moment, letting my eyes tracing Hitomi’s body until I could see where saw her sit down in front of a booth, and then I calmly made my way towards her slightly dumbfounded.
Why...a goldfish-scooping booth?...
The man running the booth was getting on in years, and with a fleeting realization, I suddenly knew that this was the same man who run the booth back when I was a child. His hair was mostly gone, his skin cracked and wrinkled, but I knew at once that it was him.
"Come be one with your Aquarian brothers...embrace the universe of goldfish-scooping..." the old man said, his voice just as crazy sounding as it did when I was a child. I nodded my head gently trying my best to tune out his words as I knelt down next to where Hitomi was sitting, staring with a childlike fascination at the different colored goldfish all swimming in the wooden water container in front of her.
"Heh...let me have a go at it, okay?" I said, remembering with quiet confidence all of the bubble black-eye and lionhead goldfish that I had managed to catch with nary a problem.
Hitomi nodded once absentmindedly, never taking her eyes off of the fish that she was so enamored with.
I looked over to the sides of the water holder, and found a stack of paper scoops laying there. I picked up one in my right hand and dipped it into the water on its side near one of the ends of the tank. After holding the scoop still for a couple of moments, a tiny goldfish finally swam into the scoop’s bowl, and started to push against the paper. Immediately, I snapped the scoop upwards and out of the water, eliciting a startled cry from Hitomi as she jumped backwards somewhat.
"Dimitri-chan!" she said angrily while pushing her finger into my chest, "I watching goldfish!"
"And I was trying to do what you are supposed to do here, scoop up goldfish with paper scoops, like so." I said trying, to keep from getting angry also.
"Baka!" Hitomi screamed back out at me.
"What in Mordion Goal does THAT mean, Hitomi?!" I shouted back at her. "And for another thing, stop clinging so tightly to me when we walk together! Its not like we are dating or anything, Hitomi!"
Hitomi opened her mouth to reply to me, but before she could say anything, it was then that the bottom of the paper scoop that I had been holding chose to broke.
Hitomi and I both stopped our fighting for a moment, and watched paralyzed the goldfish that had been residing inside of the scoop fell out of the tattered bottom, and landed not-too-gracefully with a plop and a splash back in the tank. The goldfish froze in the water for a moment, until a lionhead ran into it and the goldfish, seeming shocked out of its paralyzation, started to swim on its own again.
"Hey, get away from your betters!"
We both looked up from the tank to see the old man glaring at us with his piercing blue eyes.
"You dare to hurt Altana’s greatest creations?...Then be gone!" he shouted at us as he snatched up all the paper scoops and hugged them closely against his aged chest.
Hitomi and I just turned and stared at each other, and we could obviously see that we were both trying to keep from breaking out into laughter.
"Sure...sure..." I said with a shake of my head as I lead Hitomi by the arm away from the booth, and back into the main way of the festival where we finally broke out into laughter.
"Crazy man..." I wheezed out, as Hitomi nodded her agreement while she was doubled over with tears streaming out of her eyes.
"Hai! Hitomi replied with once her laughter died out finally.
Both of us with smiles upon our faces, we rounded the corner of the Selbinian branch of the clothcrafting guild, and happened upon a small tarutaru dressed up in lavish robes, wearing a plump purple hat that seemed almost too big for her. She stood in the middle of the street alone, watching as all sorts of people passed her with an almost zen-like reverence.
"Hello..." she said in a high-pitched voice (not too much unlike Satmanda’s) her voice as Hitomi and I tried to pass her, "would you care to have your fortune read? Its free, just like everything else during this wonderful festival."
I paused for a moment, in wonder of HOW a tarutaru managed to talk without that silly accent that they always seem to be parading around with.
Unfortunately, the taru took that as a sign of interest in her fortune, and quickly grabbed my free hand to drag both me and Hitomi over underneath a tiny purple and yellow striped umbrella.
"Umm...I really don-" I started to say before Hitomi squeezed my arm to quiet me down.
The tarutaru picked up a small deck of Tarut cards from a small stand off to her side, and started to shuffle them into each other.
"The power of the ‘eye’ for the Tarut cards relies upon the will of Patchoulie...one of the many GM guardians to the Goddess Herself. Patchoulie is the mistress of divination, and with it, will allow us to see what lies in fate for you in the coming months. These cards can predict the future for any child of Altana, and are never wrong..."
With that, the tarutaru abruptly stopped her shuffling, and quickly delt three cards upright onto the ground before us in rapid succession.
"Hmm...the death card is upright...the hermit card is also upright...and the king is upside down..." the diviner mumbled to herself as she studied the cards intently. Finally, after a moment, she looked up at me, and I couldn’t help but notice that her eyes had gone all hazy.
"Soon enough...you will be forced to make a very difficult choice. But you will know the right decision when the time comes..." she soothed out towards me, "and now for the lady..."
The taru picked up the three card that were laying out, and proceeded to shuffle them back into the deck. She then cut the deck in half, and proceeded to mix the cards up all over again. Once that was done, she dealt out three more cards...
Only to exclaim in surprise when they turned out to be all blank on the picture side.
With surprise on her face, the taru then turned over the deck and fanned all the other cards out into sight, which were also blank.
"What in Patchoulie’s name..." she said before throwing the cards away from her in disgust. "Foul being! Get away from here, before you soil my eye!" she then shouted at us both with her face turning the same shade as the ridiculous hat sitting on top of her head that was now threatening to fall off.
Hitomi grabbed my hand and yanked me away quickly, with the tarutaru still shouting at us.
"What happened?" I asked Hitomi, my mind puzzled a tiny bit at how those cards could have mysteriously turned blank without any warning.
"I kno know...I do nothing" Hitomi said quietly, before a smile broke across her face and she pointed over to where a bunch of people had gathered together in front of a stage. "But let us there!" she finished with.
As Hitomi ran in that direction, leaving me behind...somehow I realized, though I knew I couldn’t prove it...
Hitomi had just lied to me.
-fin Aki XXVIII: Natsumatsuri
*****
...To say you love someone...
Is the most difficult thing in the world.
***
Chapter XXIX: Love
***
I chased after Hitomi down to where a large crowd had gathered in front of an lit impromptu stage at in front of the docks. Just as I got there, I assumed that she had disappeared into the mass of people, and I didn’t feel any real reason to try to find her in what I knew would be a futile effort so I just hung in the group’s fringes, just close enough to see the stage, but yet still far enough away that I get too caught up in whatever was gonna happen next.
All of the sudden, the stage went dark and I could barely discern three shadowy figures stepping out from behind a curtain, and then each walking to a different part of the stage.
"Ladies and Gentleman!" a male voice boomed from seemingly out of nowhere, "give it up for our special musical guest tonight..."
It was then that I saw that the hands of the figures on the opposite ends of the stage start to jerk around and move in what I quickly recognized as a third-tier spell formation, but the motions were off just enough that the spell would only fizzle out.
"YOSHIMOTO LUMINE!!!"
The spells went off and fizzled, lighting up the sky in a haze of red and blue sparks that only showed off the slim girl standing shyly in the middle of the stage. She was rather short, her short spiky hair dyed a brilliant blue color and I could see her figure sway gently to some unknown beat playing in her mind as she tightly grasped a microphone in between her hands. She looked down at the ground for a moment before turning her gaze up into the crowd. When she did so, her lips parted, and she let out a small smile that showed off only a few of her pearly teeth before it disappeared.
"There...once were two people who were separated a long ago,
even before the Vana’diel we know today existed, by the sea..."
Yoshimoto spoke quietly, her breathing falling into the microphone a bit heavily as a light instrumental picked up in the background.
"One of them, the guy, could never admit his heart...and when he did, he always messed it up in some way that only widened the gap between him and the one he loved the most. So he put it down on paper, in the hopes that someday, she might read it and understand how he felt. This is his story..."
With that, the music started to pick up, and I noticed that what HAD to be red mages on either opposite of the stage picked up the fizzled magic spellcasting routine also.
Its easy for me to say 'I like you'...
And to talk about love with you
or simple everyday things...
For no reason, I felt a sudden impulse to turn away from the stage and look out towards the ocean...
And out against the full moon, I could see the outline of a girl with long hair sitting away from everyone else, her head buried in her knees as her arms wrapped around her legs.
I just knew...
Slipping away quietly from the rest of the world, I tiptoed my way over to where she was sitting all by herself. As I drew closer, I could hear the choked gasps of a woman trying to hold back tears with all her might but on the verge of failing miserably.
Hitomi...
"Hey butterfly..." I called out softly to her.
She instantly jerked her head around, saw it was me, and then turned away just as quickly.
"Dimitri-chan..." she said quietly.
Not bothering to sneak around anymore, I came up from behind her, and sat down on the dusty ground next to her. "Something wrong Hitomi?..." I asked softly, touching her cheek with the back of my hand.
Off in the distance, the music had grown fainter, but I for some unknown reason, I could still hear it somewhat distinctively.
Yet...its harder for me to say 'I care for you'
To show you my emotions, my tears,
and my smiles...
Hitomi pulled away from my touch with a snap of her head, briefly brushing my face with her hair and forcing me back into a memory of so long ago upon a mountain top...
"No..." she replied with a slight tremble in her voice.
"Okay then..." I said with a trace of hurt in my reply. Even after all this time...I guess I’ll never find out what goes on in her head.
"Well..." she started quietly, slightly turning her head towards me.
Its impossible for me to say 'I love you'
And to talk with you about tomorrow...
And about what could be...
"What is true love, Dimitri-chan?" she finally worked out of her lips.
The question caught me off guard, as it was not what I was expecting from her. I pursed my lips for a second thinking of a reply.
"Well...do you want the truth...or do you want the real answer?" I finally replied with.
I saw a confused look spread across her face.
"...The real answer." she finally answered with, uncertainly clamoring in her thoat.
I wish you would notice me
Every so often wave at me
And once in a while just talk to me...
I stared out over at the ocean, and the full moon that reflected into it. "To me...true love is when someone asks you what is more important...your own life or the life of the one you love...and you say your own life. Then the questioner walks away thinking you are selfish...not knowing that the life of the one you love makes up a lot of your own life."
My fingers traced in the small bits of the sand by Hitomi and I carelessly.
"And to answer the question I know you are thinking of next...I know I’m in love when I can look in a person’s eyes...and the whole world seems to slow down and stop and I find that I am the only one reflected in that person’s eyes...I believe in emotions." I continued quietly.
I grow nervous when you are near
voice quieting, hands shaking...
My soul soaring in the clouds.
I heard Hitomi scoot her body closer over to me, and then lay her head on my shoulder.
"Oh?..." she said, matching my tone.
For some reason...
I felt like opening up to Hitomi.
"Yeah...I am quite the emotional type when it comes to love...I know I have a tendency to react with anger, sadness, passion...before my head takes over. Once, a long time ago...there was a girl that I fell for. Her name was Elayne, and she was quite a sweetheart. Her family was quite nice too, and I loved her adopted father, a man by the name of Gilgamesh. Elayne and I dated for quite a while...but it wasn’t until she cheated on me with another guy that she finally broke up with me...and handed my heart back one full moon."
The wind picked up some making the air drop a few more degrees, and Hitomi clung a bit tighter to me.
Holding you through the night
watching stars go over head
my heart’s fantasy...
"We were just kids then," I continued, "but it still hurt. I closed my heart for a long time...but then...I met someone. She was a mithra, whose voice had the melody of a robin, and looks that could easily rival the Goddess."
Hitomi reached up to my face, and wiped away a tear that I didn’t know was even there. I blushed slightly at her gentle touch, and mouthed a wordless thanks.
"But...I messed up when I told her I loved her. I yelled at her for I thought she didn’t care or give it much thought at all. I realized what a stupid mistake I made and I knew that she had forgiven me so much in the past...but I knew she wouldn’t forgive me this time. So I ran away, and joined the Jeuno Guard, where I was happily employed until I met you, and this whole war and Eruntalon Code mess started."
Witty lines and perfect looks
I wish I had those...
Instead, all I have is a romantic soul...
Hitomi touched my cheek this time, and turned my gaze towards her eyes.
"Dimitri-chan..." she said quietly, her eyes gazing into mine.
"Yes?..." I replied just as quietly, finding that I couldn’t take my own eyes off of hers.
She then, without any reason, leaned in towards me slowly, her lips parting...
If I could say 'I love you'...
I felt my eyes closing, and my heart starting to race...
Then maybe...
Her warm breath washing over my lips as we drew closer and closer...
Together we could be...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!
Slipping into battle mode (even if I WAS unarmed), Hitomi and I both jerked our heads away instantly toward the source of the noise...and we were rewarded with the sight of different colored fireworks lighting up the nighttime sky.
We both chuckled softly for a moment, both embarrassed about what had almost happened...
And then we both turned to watch the fireworks show together.
Together we could be...
Lovers...
-fin Chapter XXIX: Love
-fin Kasho IV: Suriyoru (Closer)