WEAVING DESTINY CHAPTER SIX: Flashing Lights and the Sound of a Thousand Birds!
Dark clouds surround the midnight sky, while the forest casts shadows of danger to three teens running for their lives. They headed to an open space, and after awhile, she found herself all alone in the middle of a grassy plain, unsafe but willing to put her life in despair. She could sense urgency of their task as her two companions scurried to a fast paced motion while she waits helplessly in the center.
The sky suddenly glared with anger while thunder roared and lightning, the earth slandered. Then, all of a sudden, in the midst of the rampaging turmoil before them, she heard chirping birds! One, two, three, no – seems like a thousand! She opened her eyes and before her was a silhouette of a young man dashing towards her while flares and flashes of light surround him.
‘Should I die today,’ she said, ‘my heart with you, will always stay.’
Tears started to fall from her left eye, if she departs from the world tonight; he’ll never ever know how he gives her heart light.
“NOOOOO!” Trembling with fear, she screamed as dark clouds spark up with lightning beams. Crashing angrily down from the sky, he must stop from coming to her or he’ll die!
“@#$%!!!" She cried out for him to stop, his name, her mind could not make up. But he did not cease with her pleas, lighting struck him with tremendous current he could have freeze. He tried to fight the nature’s strike, but he ended up losing his might. Unseen forces held her down, helplessly she watched him fall facedown.
“NO! NO!, A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H!” Tears continued to fall from her weary eyes. She screamed in rage that her heart burned with anger. Rage engulfed her that she could feel an intense heat breaking free from her.
“A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H!” She continued to scream. Fear, hatred, rage, and pain unrelentingly consumed her in vain.
“
DAMN IT! I need a dark cloak or something! Cover the wagon and keep the sun out!”
Kakashi hurried inside the wagon as soon as Sakura called out to him in panic. She just saw Ruirein stood up as her eyes opened with the same intense glow as five days ago and now she’s starting to disappear again.
Naruto, and Sai quickly covered the wagon. As per Sakura’s request earlier, it was let down to fill it with the early morning breeze. “Good for healing”, she said.
Sakura stood by for assistance while Skye scampered for a dark blanket and gave it to Kakashi. He quickly wrapped her with it and made sure that not one single ray of sun reaches her.
“Miss! Miss!” Kakashi called out to wake her up after she materialized again. His hands still fastened to the blanket that he used to wrap around her. She shook her gently to consciousness and when she did, her legs shivered in weakness that she started loosing her ground. Kakashi quickly caught her up into his arms for support. He could feel her body against his, trembling with fear and anger.
Panting and out of breath, Ruirein felt a familiar warmth that she drew closer to him and tried to calm down. She looked up to him and searched his eyes. One was crimson red with three dots in it and the other was normal, gentle, and kind. With trembling lips she started to smile and said.
“P-po—“
“Ruirein!” Skye interrupted her. He knew that mocking smile so much and he knew that she was just going to call "porcupine-head" again! There was something different with her today and five days ago though. But he knew those smiles will just utter out foul words.
“Hey! Who are you and get off me, PERVERT!” she exclaimed upon realizing that she was just dreaming and that before her is a stranger holding her in a blanket!
“OI! DON’T YOU DARE THINK OF KAKASHI – SENSEI THAT WAY!”
Naruto came rushing in with raised fists ready to give her a blow but Kakashi met up with him halfway across the wagon’s chamber and held him to a halt.
“HA! YOU ARE SUCH AN UNGREATFUL LADY! KAKASHI-SENSEI SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT YOU GRINDED AND DEAD WITH THAT SCORPION BEAST FIVE DAYS AGOOO!”
“Naruto! Stop it.” Kakashi scolded him in a low, hard voice. His back turned against Ruirein and Skye.
“I-I-m sorry, leave me alone please.” Coming back to her senses, Ruirein bowed down in shame and apologized. The young man’s words hit her like a double bladed sword.
“SORRY? IS THAT ALL THE BEST YOU CAN DO!”
“Naa-ru-to! Stop it already!” Sakura interrupted and stood right up to his face. “Come on, she must have had a really hard time. Please calm down.”
“I’m really sorry for all this, Kakashi – sir.” Skye said embarrassed with Ruirein’s actions.
“Naruto,” he continued with a smile. “I’m sure she never means all of this to happen.
“Well, she’d better not!!” Naruto replied gritting his teeth.
“Ah.” Kakashi sighed in disappointment to Naruto’s actions. “No, Skye-sama. It should be us who should be sorry.”
“Naruto, they are our clients and we should not act as such towards them.” Sakura whispered firmly and dragged Naruto out of the wagon.
“Please excuse us, Skye-sama.” Kakashi said. ”And I’m really sorry Miss, for offending you with my actions.”
“Huh?” Ruirein looked up to him, surprised to hear him apologize after about everything she thought of his actions. She sighed and looked away from him in embarrassment as she met his gaze. She felt guilty about how she thoughtlessly reacted toward him.
"Hmn, when a woman violently responds after being held by a man in public, it could only mean that she was just embarrassed to show her affection --"
"ARRRGHH! Stop browsing through your books, Sai!" Naruto all pissed off, drove his anger to Sai instead when Sai started to browse through his books in an attempt to asses the situation.
"B-but, haaa..." With his shoulders dropped, Sai helplessly returned his book to his bag and joined the team in leaving the wagon.
When everyone left, Skye stared down at Ruirein bothered with everything that has happened. He never knew the mystery about her origin nor did he bother to check on her past. Ruirein coiled to herself helplessly and is seemingly lost over something. This is the first time Skye ever saw her in a gloomy mood. She always has a really serious, intimidating aura but she was always cheerful. Seeing her like this was something he never knew how to handle.
In a little while, Skye felt something warm in his heart that he has never felt before. No, it all seemed like it has been there all the time but her cheerfulness kept them down. He wanted to hold her close, comfort her and tell her that she has someone she could cry on. Hesitatingly, he slowly dropped on his knees closer to her and took a deep breath.
Ruirein sensing Skye close to him looked up to him with that familiar serious face and intense determination in her teary eyes.
“I-I’m sorry, My Prince.” She said coldly trying not to break her words as she speaks. “I have a duty to attend to.” And she vanished in the light.
He felt her leave when her hooded cloak touched him as she covered it on her. After years of being together like friends that was the first time he addressed him as Prince again.
Ruirein left Skye and stood up in her usual post outside the wagon.
“Ah, glad to see you’re back, Miss Ruirein!” called the wagon driver. He could not see her but he knows how the 8 horses would react whenever she’s around.
“Good morning, Mr. Devlin, Sir.” She replied trying to put a cheer in her tone. But her voice crackled as she continued to think about what could have happened. From what the young man said, that silver haired man should have left her grinded and dead five days ago.
‘Hmn, that was Uzumaki Naruto’ she whisphered softly to herself. ‘The funny yellow haired boy I met at the spring when I patrolled our rendezvous point.’ She said with a smile remembering how they met.
‘Ah,’ She sighed to herself. ‘What just did happen five days ago?’
“OH, S-H-I-T!” she heard herself curse as she tried to recall how she lost her guard after underestimating a summoner and a summoned beast combo.
She remembered tightening her grip to her sais as she prayed for someone to stop the beast from its high speed drilling motion. She had no other choice of escape but to jump above it. However, it was a risk for her as she will eventually fall right back to where the beast would be. She does not have the capabilities to jump higher such that the beast would have already gone past her whilst she falls back. Praying for reinforcement, she decided to thrust her sais on the beast and feed it with solar energy to burn.
With her prayers answered, sure enough just before she landed, the beast came to a halt. But as it did so, flashes of light and the chirping sound of what seemed like a thousand birds shattered her focus. In that brief moment, looking up to where the flashing light and the sound came from, the silhouette of a young man running towards her suddenly appeared before her eyes. She could sense that danger was upon the two of them that she prayed he would come. However, a lightning strike stopped him from coming to her, consuming his energy and leaving him half dead to the ground.
With what seemed to be his last breath, he held out his hands toward her and cried out her name. She cried back with his name, too. But she could not make up what their names are; only something inside her told her that those names were hers and his.
The vision was totally blurry that the images came to her like dark shadows in the light. All she can see are flashes of light and as the sound of a thousand birds faded, so did the young man’s life seem to have ended.
After the vision, she saw herself surrounded by light and then by darkness. What happened after that, she just don’t have the slightest idea. The next thing she knew was that she was being held within an all too familiar hold. It was as if those arms have been protecting her whenever she was in danger that she felt so safe and secured. To her disappointment, he was just a stranger.
She doesn’t have any memory of her origin nor does she knew about her past. But the visions she’ve been having lately seemed all too real. Do they hold something about her? Were those memories of her past hidden deep within the abyss of her mind?
Digging through her mind and finding answers, she was just so glad that she has the capabilities to camouflage herself with light. She can laugh and cry all by herself anytime she wants to. And right now, all she can do was cry out her confusions.
END OF CHAPTER
