ヒカリ の シイド
Hikari no Shiido
T H E S E E D O F L I G H T
Meanwhile, Fujin awoke in his closet, weak from the beating he’d received earlier. As he struggled to his feet, he remembered hearing his mother’s final words, as she’d been dying one year ago, as he listened at the door to her room.
“Kanji… take care of Fujin…,” said Rei weakly.
“Yes, mother.” Kanji replied quietly.
“No matter what happens…,” Rei took a breath, fighting to stay alive. “He’s still your brother… your only family left…”
“Yes, mother,” replied Kanji again.
Then, there was silence.
“Goodbye, mother.” A single tear rolled down Kanji’s emotionless face. He slid open the door, where Fujin sat, crying because of his normally strong mother’s death. Kanji embraced Fujin. “I’ll take care of you. I promise.”
Fujin began to cry silently as he remembered Rei’s final words and Kanji’s emotionless goodbye. Does he only pretend to love me? thought Fujin. Does he only take care of me because mother asked him to? Fujin slid open the closet door, and, upon not seeing Kanji, he began his slow descent downstairs.
* * *
Kogasu was the first to notice Kanji under the balcony, watching them. “Mizu-chan, he’s over there,” Kogasu whispered.
Aisu and Mizu turned to face him.
“Well,” said Kanji, “You’ve come back. Fujin didn’t do what I told him to do properly; I shall have to punish him.”
Aisu clenched her fists. “You monster…!”
Kogasu raised his hand into the air. As he brought it down, he shouted, “Honoo no Kyousha!” A spear of flame shot out at Kanji, striking him squarely in the chest. “Not so strong without Fujin-kun, are ya?” Kogasu taunted.
Mizu then held her hands out, palms up. I can’t let him hurt Fujin any more. “Suupaasonikku no Buumu!” she yelled clapping her hands together and thrusting them outward. A purple-colored air distortion
“No!” From the foot of the stairs, Fujin mustered up all of his strength and ran to Kanji, standing in front of him. He flung out his arm, and a beam of blue light enveloped Mizu’s magic, causing it to disappear. “Don’t hurt him!” yelled Fujin.
“Fujin, get away from him,” commanded Mizu.
“No! I don’t want you to hurt him!”
“Fujin, move,” urged Aisu.
“I can’t let you hurt him!”
Behind him, Kanji sat up. “Fujin, get out of here.”
“No! Oniisama, I want to get a chance to protect you, instead of you helping me all the time!”
Does he want to prove himself to me? thought Kanji.
“Fine!” shouted Kogasu. “I’ll make you move!” He raised his hand into the air. “Honoo no Kyousha!”
Fujin flung out his arm. Nothing happened. He flung out his arm again, and still nothing. He watched in fright as the flame-spear flew toward him.
Kogasu’s magic threw Fujin back against Kanji, who fell to the ground again. He gently pushed the unconscious Fujin off of him, and quickly checked for wounds. He then got up and faced the other Elementals. “I told him that you humans weren’t different. He didn’t listen. I’ll just have to rid him of you.”
“‘You humans’?” repeated Mizu. “What do you mean, ‘you humans?’”
Kanji looked slightly surprised. “I would’ve thought that he’d told you.”
“Tell us what?” asked Aisu.
Kanji rolled his eyes, as if the answer were obvious. “We’re Lightmages. Not humans. We have an innate power of light, even if our true element is something else. Lightmages are fairly similar to humans, but we aren’t the same.”
“What do you mean by that?” demanded Kogasu.
“You humans always have to fight with each other. You fight for the stupidest reasons… someone looks different, sounds different, acts different, worships someone different than you do. You humans-“ Kanji put a nasty emphasis on the word ‘humans’. “-need to fight. You’re constantly blaming each other.”
“That’s discrimination!” shouted Aisu, “You’re no better than us! And, not all humans are bad! A lot of wars are fought in the name of peace, and only bad people kill for fun! What makes Lightmages different?”
“You can’t tell us that Lightmages don’t fight! Every intelligent thing fights!” exclaimed Aisu.
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” sneered Kanji, “Lightmages all look like the… Japanese… race of you humans. The only thing that we fight about is personality, and personality differs too much to truly fight over.”
“But even Japanese people look different! Look at Kotoba-sensei and I! We don’t look alike, do we?” demanded Mizu.
“That doesn’t matter. They’re basically the same,” replied Kanji, holding out his arm. His sword appeared in his hand. Suddenly, he was thrown forward and onto the ground.
Behind him was a man in a gray-hooded cape. The man grabbed Fujin, then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Kanji scrambled to his feel. “Fujin!”
Kogasu looked bewildered. “What just happened?”
“My little brother was just kidnapped, that’s what happened!” snapped Kanji, “And it’s your fault. If you hadn’t come to try and ‘rescue’ Fujin, he’d still be here!”
“We were trying to protect him from your abuse!” protested Mizu.
“You really are a hypocrite!” admonished Aisu, “’Humans blame each other!’ You’re pinning the blame on us!”
Mizu’s words seemed to hit something in Kanji’s brain. “I… I don’t abuse him… I’m helping him…”
“Hitting him doesn’t help anyone,” said Kogasu quietly. “It certainly didn’t help me at all, and definitely not my big brother.”
Kogasu smiled, sitting on the bank of a river, swinging his feet in the water and humming a happy tune. Behind him, a sixteen-year-old boy ran up. “Kogasu,” panted the boy, Kogasu’s brother, Kiseki. He was dressed almost exactly like Kogasu. “Father’s coming!” Kiseki pulled Kogasu to his feet. “Let’s go!”
The two dashed into the forest, running for their lives. Behind them, their abusive father shouted, “Get back here! I only want to help you!” The way he said it sent shivers down Kiseki’s spine.
Kiseki sped up. As Kogasu tried to keep pace with Kiseki, he tripped. Kiseki stopped to help Kogasu.
Their father caught up with them, a crazy glint in his eyes. “You two have been bad for far too long. I’ll have to teach you a lesson that you’ll never forget!” From his hip, their father pulled out a dagger. He lunged at Kiseki and plunged the dagger deep into Kiseki’s heart. He then pulled the dagger out of Kiseki’s lifeless body and lunged at Kogasu. An arrow flew between Kogasu and his father, striking his father in the chest.
Kogasu looked up to see a bowman in a nearby tree, who had just saved him.
“I don’t abuse him!” shouted Kanji, swinging his sword at Kogasu.
Mizu flung her hand at Kanji, causing a strong gust of wind to blow the sword out of Kanji’s hands. “Don’t deny it. It’s your fault that we came back, because you sent us away. It’s your fault that you abuse him. It’s your fault that he’s gone.”
Kanji sunk to his knees. “No… you’re lying…”
Mizu hesitated. “No… I’m not… but… if you come and help us find him, maybe you can redeem yourself.”
“Kakera-chan!” exclaimed Aisu.
“No way he’s coming with us!” protested Kogasu.
“He’s powerful, and I doubt he’d hurt us if there’s a prospect of getting Fujin back,” answered Mizu.
“I can see what you mean, Kakera-chan, but he’ll kill us the minute he can and take Fujin for himself!” protested Aisu.
“The hag is right, we can’t keep him with us!”
“Stop calling me a hag!”
“Then stop calling me a stupid boy!”
“Well, you are a stupid boy!”
“Ugly old hag!”
“Stupid boy!”
“Ugly old hag!”
“Stupid boy!”
Mizu sighed, frustrated. Even in a grave situation, they argue…
Kanji glared at them and stood up. “I guess I have no choice but to go with you. I won’t hurt you. Let’s go, so-“ He suddenly doubled over in pain.
* * *
Fujin awoke in a dark cavern. “Oniisama was right…” He curled up sadly. “They aren’t my friends…” He didn’t care where he was, he just wanted his big brother.
“I see you’re awake.”
Fujin looked up. Standing over him was a black-hooded man. “It’s about time,” the man said.
“Who are you? Why did you bring me here?” asked Fujin.
“My name is Yami. I want you dead. I hate you.”
“Hate me? I haven’t done anything to you!”
The man pulled his hood down, and Fujin gasped. In front of him stood his big brother. “You’ve bothered me for far too long.”
“Oniisama? Why?” asked Fujin.
“Because I hate you,” answered Yami simply, stomping as hard as he could on Fujin’s chest.
* * *
The pain subsided. “Fujin’s getting hurt,” gasped Kanji.
Kogasu scratched his head, confused, “How do you know?
“I told you that the bracelet binds him to me. I meant it. If he’s in pain, I feel it as much as he does, as if I was a seven-year-old getting hurt by whatever is hurting him. I think I-“ Kanji doubled over in pain again.
Aisu’s face registered concern as she bent down to check Kanji. “Are you alright?”
Kanji nodded, face screwed up in concentration as he tried to fight off the pain. He relaxed as the pain subsided. “I think I know where Fujin is. But, for some odd reason, it’s harder for me to sense him than usual…”
“What do you mean?” asked Mizu.
“Are you stupid, girl?” snapped Kanji. Mizu looked shocked. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that,” apologized Kanji, “Normally, when Fujin is wearing the bracelet, if I concentrate, I can sense where he is. Now, even if I concentrate, I can’t sense him, but when I feel the pain… I can sort of sense where he is. It’s faint, but it’s all we have to go on.”
“Then let’s go!” urged Mizu, taking the satchel out of her backpack.
“Give me the powder,” commanded Kanji, “Unless you’re the one who know where he is.”
Mizu scowled and handed the satchel to Kanji. He pulled out a handful of the blue powder and threw it into the air. The group jumped through the portal.
* * *
“Oniisama… please stop…,” pleaded Fujin weakly. Yami had incredible strength, and didn’t hold back while hitting Fujin. Fujin felt his consciousness slipping away…
Suddenly, he was fully awake again, unable to breathe. He struggled against Yami’s strong grip on his throat. “I’ll kill you, and be rid of you forever!” shouted Yami. He slipped the bracelet off of Fujin’s wrist and squeezed his throat harder.
Fujin’s struggles gradually got weaker. Suddenly, Yami roared in pain and dropped Fujin.
“Let him go!” came a familiar voice.