Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Illusions ❯ Between Reason and Motion ( Chapter 19 )

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Tsurugi: Tsubasa no Gedatsu

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 4: Chains

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Tsurugi looked out across the green plains that were lined with grave markers, and flowers. It was a partially cloudy day. He glanced over to a large, cross-shaped tombstone where a mother and young child stood in mourning over the one who had passed. The small boy ran over to the foot of the stone and placed a small flower at the bottom of it.

'Grave yards…some say that they are places of sorrow and mourning…But I don't think so at all. I think that they are peaceful places of rest and a walking ground for those who have passed. It's a place where the dead and the living can co-exist, even if the other isn't aware of their presence,' the angel thought to himself tranquilly. 'We go through life that way, unaware of so many things around us. Some even doubt their existence simply because they do not see them.'

Tsurugi paused as the mother and child walked away from the marker. The sight caught his eyes as a man walked past him, as if he weren't there. 'Sadly, angels also fit into this category- silent shadows that help those with troubles. They take no credit for what they do but they are happy that they are able to help all the same.'

The blonde angel slowly walked along one of the white-rock paths as he calmly glanced around at the numerous tomb stones. He felt a sense of mixed emotions- sorrow, peace and an odd joy filled his being. "Truly, the dead have eyes and they watch us all the time. All we have to do is stop and understand them." He spoke to himself but then paused as the faint sound of crying caught his ears.

"Hm? Someone's crying," he glanced around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the sobbing person. The angel continued to walk along the path until he heard the weeping from across one of the fields. He wandered off of the path and floated through the field. Not daring to touch the holy resting place of the dead. There was an old wooden bench across the land and the more that he neared it, the louder and more distinct that it got. It was that of a young woman, most likely in her mid-teens.

As he neared the bench, he could faintly see what looked like a white-cloud that weakly appeared human in shape. It was a little hard to see, considering the big tree shaded the entire bench and the fog was barely recognizable. In fact, most people would have simply walked by it without notice.

The fog soon made itself visible into the shape of a young girl with thick, wavy blonde hair who wore a simple black dress and black high heels. She sat on the bench, with her head in her hands and wept.

'It's a woman's tears. She's seated on this bench. Perhaps she is in mourning. I'll help her,' Tsurugi thought to himself as he took a seat on the far end of the bench. Angels were supposed to help those in need, even those who are dead. He could see that her form was transparent and the other side of the bench was clearly visible through her form. He stared at her with lazy, peaceful eyes. 'She's a spirit.'

The spirit's gaze met his as he turned to look at her fully. His heavenly stare met large, sad eyes of a deep green. Fear and panic reflected on their surface.

"What's wrong?" Tsurugi asked kindly.

"An angel?" The spirit's voice was trembling. She seemed very frightened of him. "Have you come to take me from this physical plain?" The spirit knew that she had probably been in the upper world for far too long and refused to rest. She had heard many tales of angels who would come to bring wandering souls home and she didn't want to.

"No, well not that I can remember," the angel looked in contemplation for a few moments. Try as he might, he could still not remember anything about himself, nonetheless what his mission on earth was.

"What do you mean by that?" The fragile soul was timid. In a way, she didn't want to know and in a way she did. This angel didn't seem as if he had any intentions like that at all. Perhaps she could trust him.

"I don't remember why I'm here," Tsurugi looked down.

"I'm not going," the blonde female crossed her arms over her chest and attempted to look defiant.

"What?" He was confused at the random statement.

"I don't want to pass on."

"Why not? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm waiting for him," she looked to a large tomb marker that had been decorated with a vast number of fake bouquets. There, a tall slightly muscular man stood. He wore a black T-shirt, light wash jeans that fit tightly and a pair of black tennis shoes. His hair was short and combed to one side in the front. It was dull black in coloration and hardly caught any sunlight. His eyes were slender and had small pupils of dark blue and his skin was a milky white. He stared at the grave marker with sorrowful thought in his eyes.

"It's been a long time, Chiharu. Sorry that I haven't been able to see you in two weeks. Life has been a little rough," he admitted in a low tone.

The two heard his voice carry through the field as they gazed at him from the shade. "He visits you often?" Tsurugi looked to her in question.

"Every week usually but lately he's been busy with his job," the spirit, now addressed as Chiharu spoke softly.

"He must have really loved you," Tsurugi could tell by the look on the man's face that he missed her. The pain in his heart had to be large and weigh him down like a heavy burden. Dealing with death was never good in the human world. Even if they understood what it meant to die, they still were left in sorrow at the passing of someone else.

"It was much deeper than that," her statement caused the blonde to look to her in acknowledgement. "I am now a part of him." She said as she placed one of her slender, ghost-like hands on her chest in reverie.

"A part of him?" The blonde angel wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement. What did she mean by it?

"When I died, I was cremated. He got the ashes but he didn't want an urn…" She explained.

"Why not?"

"He put me in a bottle with a cork and took me to his house."

"But why did he put your remains in a glass bottle?" It did seem odd for anyone who was mourning the dead to simply place them in a glass bottle as if it were food or a drink.

"Every day, he took a few of my ashes out of the jar and put them into his drink and on his food," Chiharu informed.

"He ate you?" Tsurugi blinked a few times. That was a little out there and very extreme of someone to do to another's ashes. Where did the idea even come from? Was it a result of grief?

"He said that he wanted to become my human urn and carry me with him until his own death."

"Much like Queen Artemis, who loved a man so much that she drank his ashes in her drink," Tsurugi stated.

"There was one thing that he had never done, however," Chiharu informed. The blonde angel asked what that one thing was and she proceeded to tell him that he would never drink her ashes with red wine.

"Red wine…" Tsurugi trailed off and looked perplexed for a few moments. "I try to think of something about it but nothing comes to my mind." The angel knew that there had been something he'd heard before about that specific subject but he always drew a blank on it because of his memory loss.

"They say that if you drink someone's ashes with red wine then you'll forget about them faster…His friend said something to him about it…" Chiharu trailed off as nostalgia filled her senses of what she'd seen that day.

'Aren't you done repenting, Yagyu?' A tall, green-haired man asked the black-clad man who sat on a white leather sofa with his head in his hand. He looked quite miserable and his form was slumped over. The glass bottle sat on a nearby table. It was only a third of the way empty. Beside of it sat a tea glass with the remnants of ashes in the bottom.

He poured a mixture of ashes and lemonade into it and began to drink it. The male paused and looked to his friend with solemn dark eyes. 'I just have a few more days to go,' he replied simply. The black-haired male's voice was low and submissive.

'Hey, why don't you drink the ashes with red wine?' His friend suggested as he stuck a finger in the air.

'Red wine?' Yagyu sat the lemonade on the smooth surface of the table.

'They say that if you drink someone's ashes with red wine, then you'll forget about them faster-' His sentence was cut off by a sharp 'no' in response. The green-haired fiend ran a hand through his short locks in frustration. He hated to see his friend so depressed. He knew that Chiharu and he were close. 'Why not? Don't you want to get over her? It's painful to watch you like this.'

'I don't want to forget about her. I want to keep her with me. This is why I'm drinking her ashes. I want her to always be with me, right until I die. I want to feel her heart beat in unison with mine, our breaths draw in harmony, the co-existence between the living and dead,' he took another drink of his lemonade. 'I want to live with her memory.'

'That's crazy…to love someone that much,' the green-haired man smiled at him. He couldn't help but feel jealous of him. 'Heh, makes me kind of jealous. I wish I had a relationship like that.'

Tsurugi's question brought her back into the present as she heard him ask how she could recall a memory so vividly, especially when it seemed as if she wasn't there. She told him that she had been watching over him for two months.

"Watching over him?" The blonde angel asked.

"I want to be with him…I don't care if I'm dead…I just want to be by his side. I thought since you were an angel that you would try to take me to heaven or hell…"

"The dead walk the physical plain all of the time and some apparitions are hundreds of years old. I think that whenever a soul feels rested, then it can pass. If you still feel that you have something to live for, even after you die then your mission has not been completed here," Tsurugi explained with a smile. He always felt so peaceful when he talked about the afterlife. To him, it was nothing to be afraid of, just a rest from the hectic atmosphere of the living world.

Chiharu looked at him as if deep in thought at his comment. "Then, it's all right if I stay by his side?" She asked. Indeed, this was no ordinary angel.

"I don't see why not, if I loved someone that much, I'd definitely want to be with them as long as possible," the angel explained.

A faint smile could be seen on what appeared to be the apparition's face. "That makes me happy," she was relieved that he wasn't going to try and drag her to the divine realm. Chiharu was happy that she could stay on the mortal plane, if even for just a moment longer.

Then, the fated question came. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you die?" She dreaded that question every time someone asked it to her. Recalling her last moments in a physical body was always so hard.

Her gaze was crestfallen as she stared at the gently shifting blades of grass below her. "I was murdered…" The statement forced its way out of her mouth in a low and crackled tone.

"How unfortunate…" Tsurugi looked as if he'd felt a little guilty that he had asked her such a question.

"I remember it all too well…" Chiharu spoke as nostalgia flooded her senses.

She stood in front of a mirror, dressed in a black, silk bra and matching panties as she held a simple black dress up to her chest. The blonde girl looked a little self-conscious. Today was a special day and she didn't want to wear the wrong thing. She wanted to look perfect for their date.

"I like this one but…" Large blue eyes looked to her bed where a light pink sun dress laid. "I like that one too." After she looked indecisive for a few moments, she sighed to herself. "I can't decide…I wonder which one Yagyu would like." She then glanced at her wrist to check the time. "I have fifteen minutes before Yagyu gets here. I can't wait until tonight! Dinner and dancing will be so much fun!"

The faint sound of an engine could be heard outside of her window as a black Mustang pulled up. A man dressed in casual clothes in a tan jacket and red baseball cap got out of the car and walked up to her front door. He checked to see if the door had been locked. When he noticed that it opened easily, he stalked off down the hallway, in search of anyone who happened to be in the house.

'The police are on to me. I've got to get a different car. That way they won't suspect me for a while,' he thought as he neared the bottom of a flight of stairs. He could hear the faint sound of what sounded like a young girl's humming. 'I bet she has the keys…I couldn't find them downstairs.'

Chiharu placed a large pearl necklace around her neck as the man slowly and silently opened the door just enough to catch sight of her. He heard the girl say 'perfect' as she spun around in her black dress as if she were modeling it. Upon her turn, she noticed the black Mustang outside of her window and stopped to gaze at it.

"Huh?" She leaned on the window seal. "Whose car is that? I've never seen it before." The sentence barely escaped her mouth when everything zoomed by in a blur. The man rushed to her bed stealthily and grabbed the sheet as he quickly maneuvered around her. She could then feel something tighten around her throat and cut off her air supply. Frantic for air, she clutched at the sheet but her efforts were not rewarded as it mercilessly stripped her of a vital life source. Chiharu continued to struggle with the man as she fought for her life. Her hands gripped the sheet and the one behind it as the white piece of fabric was jerked tightly once more as he continued to choke her to death.

As the seconds to death approached, she felt more and more frantic as her arms and legs moved through the air with uncertainty. Chiharu thrashed around as much as possible before her body went limp and her struggling ceased. Even after her body had been robbed of all consciousness and life, the man continued to pull the sheet tightly to make sure that she was dead. Her lifeless body jolted a few times before he released it from his cruel grip.

The man then dug through her purse and pulled out her car keys. He also took her wallet and credit card he remarked that she wouldn't have any need for them now. He fled the house and stole her car, leaving the black Mustang in front of her house.

"So you never got to be with him? How tragic…" Tsurugi sympathized.

"I'm still waiting for him to come and pick me up so we can go to the gates of heaven together on one final outing," Chiharu's voice seemed distant.

"I hope that you can find peace."

"I will wait for him until the end of time. That man just wanted my car," the sorrow returned to her features at the recollection of such an event, "and my life was the price. If I had known that all he wanted was my car then I would have let him take it and I never would have said anything…If only…If only I could see him one more time. This pain is eternal and will not decay." The apparition was in agony from her grief and Tsurugi couldn't help but feel bad for her. As an angel, he felt her pain. It was as if someone had stabbed him in the chest.

"Would it put your soul a little at rest to know that the man who killed you was caught and put into jail?" Tsurugi inquired. It had come to him in a vision a few moments ago and it was real as if he'd actually been there. It had nothing to do with his memories returning to him; for this was something that he'd always had and was something of a natural power of his. The man dying, getting shot and things of that nature were all things that were predicted but try as he might, he could not stop any of it. He could not alter fate. "He was actually executed early this year."

"How far did it go? How many people had to die before he was caught?" The dismayed apparition asked

"Unfortunately six," Tsurugi looked down.

"If you don't remember who you are, than how can you remember that?" She asked. If he'd lost his memory recently then how could he have possibly recalled anything from earlier on that year? It either seemed a little odd or he was just crazy.

"It came to me in a vision. I'm beginning to remember who I am slowly, I just know that I am an angel and I fell from heaven. I want to try and get back so I can question the divine powers as to who I truly am. My wings are broken now but as soon as they heal in a couple of days, I'll finally be going home." This was something that both saddened and caused him joy. He would miss his time on earth but he wanted to find out who he was. He needed to report back to his sources.

"I wish you luck and I'm glad that you listened to me. Maybe, when Yagyu finally accompanies me, we can meet at the gates of heaven and have a nice reunion," Chiharu smiled happily.

"I look forward to it."

"Well," the blonde arose, "he's leaving so I'm going to walk him out of the graveyard, good-bye!" The ghost ran off towards the darkly-clad man and waved behind her towards the large shade tree and the lonely angel that stood beneath it, hidden in the shadows.

"Goodbye…Chiharu…" Tsurugi's voice whispered as it was lost to the winds.

He watched as the girl caught up with her love and slowly walked with him as they exited the graveyard. She looked up at the stoic, dark-haired man with large, expressive eyes that held nothing but happiness within their hazy depths. Unaware of her presence at the moment, Yagyu only looked straight ahead.

'I don't care if we're a world apart…as long as I can be with you it makes me smile and I actually feel at peace,' Chiharu smiled as she lightly took his hand.

At that moment in time, Yagyu could feel his hand get cold and tingle. He stopped and glanced at his hand, examining it with dim blue eyes. 'What's this? Why is it so warm? It almost feels like Chiharu is here with me,' he knew that aura all too well. He had always felt a sense of lively happiness when she was around. It brought joy to his otherwise frosty heart. He looked to the sky with a crestfallen glance to the heavens.

"Oh Chiharu, I love you so much…I can't wait to be with you again," he said softly. 'And now that we're one, I can be guided to your soul in the afterlife. We'll never be apart…my soul mate…'

With those last thoughts, he walked through the black, cast-iron gates of the graveyard. Chiharu stopped and leaned against the gate. Pink lips smiled at him in loving adoration. When he turned back to take one final look at the graveyard, he thought that he saw her looking at him from the gates, wearing that familiar simple black dress but when he blinked, she was gone. His eyes widened and a small gasp managed to escape his mouth and he uttered her name as he heard a whisper in her voice fill his senses.

"Don't worry, Yagyu. I'll always protect you; even now I'm with you so never forget me. I'll wait for you until we can both enter heaven…together." It was weak and he couldn't tell if it was only in his mind or someone was actually speaking to him but he didn't care. It was all he needed to know that even now, as he lead a normal every-day life in her absence that she was there, watching over him.

He stood there for a moment as he tried to think on the cryptic message that he had just received. Yagyu's blue eyes were cast to the ground and he looked a bit sorrowful before his lips curved into a small smile. He looked back to the gate, where he had seen the image of his dead girlfriend.

"I'll let you protect me. I'll never forget you and I'll definitely wait until the day I die for you. I want nothing more than to walk through the golden gate, holding your hand," he promised. Yagyu didn't know if she could hear his words but hoped that she did. "I long to spend eternity with you so, wait for me…as long as it takes, my dear Chiharu…"

Tsurugi smiled at the man as his form grew smaller and smaller. "I wish both of you the best. May God bless your souls. I'll be praying for your success in everlasting love," he commented as the gentle winds toyed with his long, blonde locks. 'As much bad as there is in the world, I'm glad to know that there is also good. It gives me hope for the future to be bright for all of humanity.'

To Be Continued…