Part 2: Blizzard
"#%$," Tasuki muttered to himself as his feet sank into the snow again, "I knew I should’ve brought a coat." He reached for his fan, "Lekka Shien!" The snow melted, leaving a huge muddy puddle, that was waist deep. And Tasuki was right in the middle of it. "#%$!"
He managed to pull himself back onto solid ground…er…snow, and continued his grumbling. After about ten minutes he had used up his entire collection of curses, as well as all his complaints, and his feet were getting numb. He glanced around, "Where am I?" He shrugged, "It doesn’t matter, all I have to do is retrace my path to get back. He glanced down at his tracks in the snow, "It shouldn’t be too hard…"
A snowflake landed on his nose. "Oh great," he muttered, "it’s #$%& snowing." He started to walk back to the cave. Unfortunately the snow was beginning to fall faster now. "I can’t #%$& see anything!" He swore, shielding his eyes from the flying snow with one hand, "Just my luck to be caught in a $^%# snowstorm."
It was getting even harder to see where he was going, and Tasuki was beginning to feel a little desperate. He pulled out his fan, "Lekka Shien!" The wave of fire succeeding in clearing the snow blocking his vision, at least temporarily. Unfortunately it also turned the snow on the ground into a slushy mess that stuck to his legs and refroze. Tasuki hesitated, he didn’t want to try melting it with his fan, he might get burnt. Yet, if he didn’t do anything about the ice freezing on his legs then he might not be able to make it back to the cave.
"#^%$!" He was already losing feeling in his lower legs. He looked around wildly, not only were his legs frozen, the falling snow had covered up his tracks as well. It didn’t look too good for him. "#%^$…" His curse was half-hearted, he felt a twinge of despair. I’m never gonna get back this way! But if I stay out here…I’ll freeze to death…I have to do something!
He could no longer feel his feet, but he pushed on anyway. He needed to find shelter, someplace he could get out of the cold and wait out the storm. It didn’t look good, though. There weren’t any caves nearby, no houses, not even any hollow trees. Tasuki’s knees gave out and he fell into the snow, catching himself with his hands. He snarled futilely, but couldn’t regain his feet.
Oh great, he thought, I’m going to freeze to death in the middle of the Hokkan Empire. What a joke, considering I’m a Suzaku seishi whose ability is to throw fire. He laughed bitterly, reaching for the tessen strapped to his back. He couldn’t even feel it. Suddenly it seemed as if it wasn’t so cold anymore. So tired…I have to rest a moment…
A sound caused him to snap back to awareness. He raised his head and listened carefully. He heard it again, a low snarl, but he couldn’t see anything that might have made it. Suddenly, less then two feet in front of him, a solid form seemed to materialize. It was a wolf, as white as the snow flying around on all sides of him. Its eyes were like molten gold.
Tasuki suddenly felt hopeful, even a wolf couldn’t survive outside in a storm like this. It must have a den or something…I can get out of the snow…
The wolf snarled again and turned around, walking away leisurely. Tasuki was startled, "Hey! Wait!" The animal did not slow down, and Tasuki staggered to his feet and tried to follow, "Hold up!" He had only gone a couple of steps before his numb legs gave out and he pitched, face-first, into the snow. When he raised his head to look for the wolf, the animal was gone. "#$%&!"
"Hoy there!" A voice called out, "Is anyone out there?"
Tasuki glanced up hopefully, "Hai! Hai! Over here!" He raised himself on his hands and knees, "Come on! I’m @$%^ing over here!" Tasuki stopped yelling as a figure loomed above him. "%^#^!" He muttered to himself, "It’s %^&*ing big!" He looked up, and tried to get to his feet, but a wave of dizziness came over him and he collapsed in the snow.
Part 3: Rumiya
The world slowly came back into focus for the Tasuki. He was in a room, lying on a bed, wrapped in warm furs. And someone had swiped his clothes. "#%$^!" He snarled jumping to his feet, only to land on the floor in an undignified heap. The door to the room opened quickly and someone rushed in.
Tasuki knew this must’ve been his rescuer, but at the moment he didn’t care much, "What the $%*& did you do with my clothes?!?" The stranger blinked at Tasuki, seeming a bit daunted by the fiery seishi.
Finally he answered Tasuki’s question. "I just washed them and hung them up to dry," he said, gesturing to a clothesline strung up in one end of the room, "they were muddy, wet and cold. If you’d kept wearing them you would’ve caught pneumonia." He gave Tasuki a rebuking look, "You should be grateful I found you. If I hadn’t you would’ve frozen to death."
Tasuki blinked, considering the stranger’s words. It was true that he probably would not have survived if the stranger had not shown up. "Arigato," Tasuki muttered.
As soon as Tasuki thanked him, the young man’s entire attitude changed. "Oh it’s quite all right," He said modestly. He went back into the other room and emerged with a warm brown fur, "Here. Wrap yourself in this and sit by the fireplace." Tasuki wasn’t going to disobey that order, it was just too cold. He sat by the blazing fire and watched the stranger straightening up the area.
He had to be one of the strangest looking people Tasuki had ever seen, with long white hair tied back with a ribbon, and eyes that were gold in the firelight. He was dressed in white, with a white fur cloak draped over his shoulders. Tasuki didn’t think he looked too threatening though, he was rather small and delicate looking. Tasuki decided he didn’t have to worry too much, especially not with his Tessen.
My Tessen! Where is it? He looked around frantically. "Where is it?!?" He screamed at the stranger.
"Huh?"
"My Tessen, you $*#&!" Tasuki snarled, "What did you do with it?!?"
"Oh…" The stranger blinked, "You must mean this." He went over to the wall and picked up the iron tessen. He handed it to Tasuki, who took it, and glared back at the stranger with mistrust. The young man seemed to notice Tasuki’s mistrust and changed the subject, "Well, now that everything’s all settled, I’d better introduce myself. My name is Rumiya." He looked at Tasuki expectantly.
Tasuki still wasn’t sure he could trust Rumiya, even if the guy had saved his life. He didn’t want to tell Rumiya his real name, just in case. "I’m Genrou." He finally said.
Rumiya’s mouth twisted in a wry smile, "Genrou, huh. How ironic." When Tasuki gave him a puzzled look, the young man just smiled and shrugged. A loud bang from the other room caused both of them to turn around quickly. Tasuki gripped his fan so tightly his knuckles were turning white, but Rumiya didn’t seem alarmed. "Don’t worry," He said, "It’s just Arai."
"Arai?" Tasuki watched, puzzled, as Rumiya opened the door in the other room. Then Tasuki yowled as a huge white form lumbered into the room. It was a giant white bear! The bear went straight to Tasuki and sniffed him curiously. Tasuki didn’t move a muscle, not wanting to make it mad. Finally it stopped its sniffing and ambled over to a pile of furs in the corner, where it laid down and fell asleep.
"Don’t worry about Arai, she won’t hurt you." Rumiya glanced at Tasuki and sweat-dropped, "Ano, I think your clothes are dry now."
"Huh?" Tasuki blinked, "$^*#!" He rushed to the clothesline and grabbed his stuff. It was dry all right, and warm from the fire. He pulled his clothes on hurriedly and put the tessen back in its harness. Then he looked around and saw Rumiya sitting on a fur in front of the fire. Seeing nothing better to do he sat down too.
After a couple of minutes, Tasuki’s patience ran out. There was nothing to do here, so he started asking questions. "What the $%&* are you doing with a giant white bear?" He asked rudely.
Rumiya looked at him, "She’s a good friend of mine." He didn’t say anything else.
Tasuki was very curious, but he wasn’t going to admit it. So he asked something else, "Why are you living in these $&$* mountains?"
"They’re my home, praise Genbu." Another one sentence answer.
Tasuki was getting sick of this. "Why the $%^* aren’t you giving me any answers?!"
*silence*
Tasuki came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to get any answers to any personal questions so he tried another tactic, "When I was half frozen in the snow, I saw a wolf. It was all white, and seemed to vanish in the snow like it never existed. It was right before you came…did you see it?"
Rumiya started. He gazed at Tasuki, openmouthed, "You saw a white wolf."
"Yeah. Why?" Tasuki was intrigued by Rumiya’s reaction.
Rumiya sweat-dropped. "It’s supposed to be just a legend. Parents tell their kids about a huge, white ghost wolf that prowls around in the mountains and makes travelers vanish." He looked at Tasuki searchingly, "Are you sure you saw it? It might have been an illusion caused by the swirling snow."
Tasuki was insulted, "I may have been freezing, but my eyes were just fine." He glared at Rumiya, who seemed a bit pale, "It was no illusion, #%& it!"
Standing up quickly, Rumiya turned to Tasuki with a stern expression on his face, "Enough of this talk, Genrou. You should be resting! Otherwise you might get sick. After all, I just pulled you out of the snow a few hours ago."
Tasuki grumbled but curled up in the furs and put his head down. I hadn’t realized I was so tired… He fell asleep in only a few minutes.
Rumiya stood there staring at his new guest curiously, before getting up and leaving the cabin, cautiously closing the door behind him
There’s something different about him…
Maybe. Be cautious, he saw you the last time.
I have to find out why he can see me. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.
Yes, be very careful. He could be one of the people we were warned about.
I’m always careful. I won’t be caught…not this time.
To be continued…
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