ヒカリ の シイド
Hikari no Shiido
T H E S E E D O F L I G H T
“What happened to Fujin?!” gasped Aisu, “Who’s that boy?”
“I think that he is Fujin…,” answered Mizu, “But why is he like that?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” the sixteen-year-old Fujin said.
“Then why can I feel your fear?” taunted Yami.
“I’d be a fool if I said that I wasn’t afraid of anything. I may be afraid of other things, but I’m not afraid of you.”
Yami lunged at Fujin. “You insolent little-!”
Fujin flung out his hand and a beam of blue light hit Yami squarely in the chest, throwing him backward.
What’s going on? thought Yami. He’s completely different from the pathetic little boy he was earlier!
Fujin flung out his arm, and another beam of light hit Yami. “How dare you use me?!” Another beam. “How dare you?!” Another beam. Fujin then picked up his sword, preparing to stab Yami.
“No!” Mizu grabbed Fujin’s shoulder, stopping him. “Don’t kill him!”
Fujin jerked away from Mizu. “I can’t let him live! He doesn’t deserve to live!”
“You aren’t a killer!” protested Mizu.
“Kakera-chan, let him,” interjected Aisu, “Yami isn’t… he isn’t a true being. It’s alright if Fujin kills him… in fact, it’s probably best if he does.”
“I still don’t get you,” commented Kogasu.
“Fujin, would you like to tell them what Yami is?” asked Aisu.
“Yeah, sure. He’s dead,” spat Fujin, pulling his sword back.
The now helpless Yami winced as the sword began its deadly descent toward his heart, bracing himself for the pain. The pain never came.
He looks so frightened… like if oniisama was frightened…, thought Fujin. He took a deep breath. No… he isn’t oniisama… get a grip… get rid of him already…
Yami smirked. “Can’t do it, can you?” he taunted, “I look too much like your precious big brother. Killing me… would be like killing him again…”
Fujin’s hand clenched around his sword.
“Aww, the pathetic kid is getting angry!” jeered Yami.
“Y’know, you’re in a bad position to be teasing him,” commented Mizu nonchalantly.
“I said stay out of this,” growled Fujin.
“The little brat wants revenge,” continued Yami.
“Shut up.”
Yami grinned. “Aww, how cute. He wants his big brother back!”
“I said shut up!” yelled Fujin, bringing his sword down, cutting a deep gash in Yami’s face. “Shut up!” Another slash, in Yami’s chest. “Shut up!” Another slash. “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!” Each shout grew louder, and his sword-strikes more violent, until he was mutilating Yami’s lifeless body.
“Fujin!” cried Mizu in horror, “Stop!”
Fujin paid no attention to Aisu, and kept swinging his sword, further mutilating Yami’s body. Mizu reached to grab Fujin’s arm, but Aisu stopped her. “Kakera-chan, as much as I want to stop him, too, maybe we shouldn’t. We don’t know how volatile he is now… he might turn on.”
Mizu nodded. “Fine… but… Fujin, please stop!”
“Maybe it’s best if he takes out his frustration,” commented Kogasu.
“Fujin, stop! He’s dead now!” shouted Aisu.
Fujin’s sword clanged to the ground as several tears rolled down his cheek. “Oniisama…”
Unnoticed by the group, a small dark-colored cloud floated from Yami’s corpse and into Kanji’s. Kanji’s wound healed.
“Oniisama…” Another few tears fell. Fujin wiped his face. “No… I can’t cry… he told me not to…”
Kanji kicked Fujin savagely. Several tears fell from Fujin’s eyes. “Quit crying!” shouted Kanji, “Crying is for weaklings!”
“Sometimes, it’s okay to cry,” said Aisu tenderly, “I’m sure Kanji would agree.”
Suddenly, a pair of green-clad arms wrapped around Fujin, and he could smell a familiar rain-scent. “Oniisama…?” He looked up to see Kanji’s smiling face.
“Don’t be sad,” Kanji said, “I’m fine.”
Fujin’s eyes widened. He stood up, turned to face Kanji, and threw his arms around him. “Oniisama!” came Fujin’s muffled voice. His image wavered, and suddenly, in Kanji’s arms stood the five-year-old Fujin.
Aisu looked at Kanji suspiciously. “I saw Fujin run you through with a sword… you can’t have lived through that… who are you?”
Fujin looked at Aisu. “Aisu-san! Don’t talk to him that way!”
Kanji shook his head and let go of Fujin. “No. She has every right to be suspicious of me.” He outstretched his arm, palm out, pointing at Aisu. A beam of blue light hit her, knocking he unconscious. He then did the same to Mizu and Kogasu, then wrapped his arms around Fujin again.
“Oniisama…? Why? Why’d you hurt them?” asked Fujin.
“Now we’re alone. They can’t bother us anymore.”
Fujin tried to push away from Kanji. “You aren’t acting like yourself… oniisama, you’re scaring me!”
A look of pure contempt came over Kanji’s face. He pulled his fist back and punched Fujin in the gut, throwing his against the wall. He picked up Fujin’s sword.
Fujin looked down the hall, and saw no one coming. “Oniisama?” he asked, “Mother?” He looked over the balcony, and saw several people with guns entering the house. Looking directly below the balcony, he saw Rei glance up and see him.
“No! Fujin, get back in the room!”
Fujin began down the stairs. “Mother, what’s going on?”
“Fujin, get back in the room!”
One of the men pushed Rei aside.
“Hey!” shouted Fujin. “Don’t touch her!”
The man smiled. “So, they had a second sun… just as master thought. No matter, we’ll kill them all.”
Rei’s eyes widened. “N-no! You won’t touch either of them!” One of the men knocked her unconscious with the butt of his gun. He then dragged her out to another room, then returned, saying, “It’s such a shame that we won’t be able to see her face when she sees her sons dead!”
Two of the men brought in a container marked FLAMMABLE.
“Leave us alone!” shouted Fujin. “We haven’t done anything to you!”
The men set the container under the balcony. The leader smiled chillingly. “Bye,” he said, and fired his gun at Fujin.
The bullet passed by Fujin’s head missing him by barely a millimeter. The bullet whizzed past Fujin and into the container.
“Fujin!” shouted Kanji from the other side of the foyer, barreling into Fujin and throwing his arms around him in an effort to protect him.
The container exploded. Kanji and Fujin were thrown against the wall. Satisfied, the men left, leaving Rei in the other room.
Kanji lay still for several second, then, from underneath him came Fujin’s muffled voice. “Oniisama… it hurts…”
Kanji got up off of Fujin. “Are you alright?”
“It hurts…,” repeated Fujin. A small amount of blood oozed from his head. “I don’t wanna die…”
Kanji hugged Fujin tightly. “You’re not gonna die. I promise.” Suddenly, Fujin burst into a beam of light and disappeared into Kanji’s body.
Rei emerged from the adjacent room. “What was that?!” she demanded, “There was no reason to attack us!”
“Mother,” said Kanji, “I feel… strange…”
“It’s probably just whip- wait… where’s Fujin?” asked Rei suddenly.
“I don’t know… one minute, I was holding him… and the next, he was gone and I felt strange…”
Rei closed her eyes and sighed. She passed her hand over Kanji’s head. “He’s inside of you…”
“I-inside of me? What do you mean, mother?”
“I can feel his spirit inside you.” She crossed over to a nearby cabinet that hadn’t been damaged by the explosion and pulled out a medallion, then slipped it over Kanji’s head. “We need to separate you two before or else you could be bonded forever. There’ll already be some side effects…”
“Side effects? What do you mean, ‘side effects’?”
“I’m not quite sure. I’ve only heard of this happening, I’ve never seen it before. Your magics… they may mix… meaning that you will have some of each other’s powers. It also… it may create a bond between you two. What sort of bond, I do not know… I have only heard of this happening.We need to hurry before any other serious side effects occur. Repeat after me, okay?” Kanji nodded. “Spirit within me…”
“Spirit within me…,” repeated Kanji.
“Return to your true body.”
“Return to your true body.”
The medallion glowed, and suddenly Fujin lay in front of Kanji. Rei started coughing violently.
“Mother?” asked Kanji. “Mother!”
Kanji poised the sword above Fujin’s heart.
Fujin. Fujin. Fujin could hear someone calling him… it was his sister, Yuni. Wake up. Your battle isn’t over yet.
There was a bright flash of light. A section of the cave wall disappeared, revealing a smaller cave. Yuni stepped out of the smaller cave. “Don’t hurt him!”
“You…! How did you…?!” demanded Kanji.
“Fujin freed me,” said Yuni. “And, just to let you know, you’re doing a terrible job of impersonating my big brother.”
Aisu sat up, rubbing her head painfully. “He certainly seems like Kanji to me!”
“You haven’t lived with them,” answered Yuni.
Kanji, now exposed as Yami, scowled. “I’ll deal with you guys later!” he snarled, plunging the sword down toward Fujin.
Suddenly, Yuni darted forward and grabbed Yami’s arm, a fiery glint in her eyes. “I told you not to harm him!” She yanked Yami’s arm back, throwing him across the room. “Wake the others up,” Yuni commanded Aisu.
Aisu nodded. She shook Fujin awake. “Fujin, wake up!”
Aisu helped Fujin to his feet. “Kotoba-san… what’s going on? Why is oneechan fighting oniisama?”
“I don’t think that it’s Kanji… I think Yami possessed him somehow,” answered Aisu. “Help me wake up Kakera-chan and Kogasu-kun.”
“Get out of my brother, you fiend!” shouted Yuni, throwing Yami across the room again. “Now!”
Aisu laughed nervously, shaking Mizu awake. “Fujin, was she always like this?”
Fujin smiled wistfully. “She hasn’t changed.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mizu.
“Get out of him!” shouted Yuni, throwing Yami at the wall. Yuni stomped past the group, commenting sweetly to Fujin, “Oh, Fujin, I’m glad you’re alright.”
“Oneechan… I think you’re going a bit overboard…,” said Fujin. Then, to Mzu, “That’s what I meant.”
Yuni dropped Yami’s slightly limp wrist. “Well, how do we get him out of Kanji without killing Kanji?” Fujin didn’t answer. “Fujin, what’s wrong?”
“He isn’t alive…”
“What do you mean?” asked Yuni.
“I… I… I killed him… Yami forced me to…,” sniffled Fujin.
“Well, we’ll find a way to get him back,” said Yuni firmly, “Well,” she then began cheerfully, “If Kanji’s dead, then I can beat the crap out of Yami. Let me know if you need me!”
Aisu and the others stared at Yuni, speechless. Fujin laughed sadly. Yuni continued throwing Yami around for a while, then asked, “Hey, Fujin… you want to finish him off? Throwing him around doesn’t seem to be helping.”
Fujin nodded, tears dripping down his cheeks. His image wavered, and he turned into his sixteen-year-old self. Oniisama… I’m sorry for hurting you… He picked up the sword from the ground, and it reverted back into the necklace, then turned into a flute.
Yami jerked up, suddenly awake. He saw Fujin lift the flute to his lips. “No!” Yami shouted, lunging at Fujin. Fujin began playing a menacing tune, and Yami froze in placed, paralyzed. Fujin played a different tune, and Kanji’s body fell to the ground. A small black cloud floated into the air, pulled itself into a small pinpoint, then expanded into a black swirling vortex. “I’ll take you down with me!” came Yami’s voice.
Mizu’s eyes widened. Thank you, science! “It’s like a black hole!” she shouted, “It’s pulling us in! Grab on to something!”
Mizu’s warning was too late. Fujin was being rapidly pulled toward the vortex. “Oneechan, help me!” cried Fujin.
Yuni reached out for Fujin. “Grab my hand!”
Fujin reached for her hand. Suddenly, he lost his balance and was sucked into the vortex, along with Mizu, Aisu, and Kogasu. Yuni jumped into the vortex, ready for anything.