Aish*teru(I Love You)Aki LVI: Shishu -An FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was a hard chapter for me to write. But I have put a great deal of time into it, and I hope you all like it! Please note that this is the end of Kasho VIII.

Read, review, usual stuff.

I don’t own anything FFXI, except the characters that are obviously my own.

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)

Kasho IV- Suriyoru (Closer)

Part V- Secrets (Hiou)

Kasho VI- Hanarebanare (Apart)

Part VII- Longing (Akogare)
---
(Chapter LI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1151677343267156940

(Aki LII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35;mid=1153741144155412598;page=1#1153741144155412598

(Chapter LIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1153826582161798543

(Aki LIV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1153916754204093916

(Chapter LV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=115434548031899119
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Bonus Story: Rainfall Memories

Dedicated to my own Hitomi.

*****
We got to the Tavnazian Cathedral without being spotted by the ever increasing numbers of beastmen troops that were flooding into the city. It was a slow process, the two of us being forced to stick to darting from shadow to shadow as we drew closer and closer to our only hope to get out of here with our lives. Hitomi seemed to be recovering from the large amounts of mana that had been drained out of her earlier that night as her footsteps were starting to keep up with my own, abeit barely.
***
Aki LVI: Shishu
***
Unfortunately when we got the cathedral, Hitomi and I found that the doors had been shut and a huge chain padlock had been slung through the handles, presumably to keep anyone from the outside from violating those hallowed grounds without an extreme show of force. Uselessly, I tugged at the chain to test it's strength a couple of times before drawing my sword once more out of it's scabbard.

Somewhat echoing what I had done with the doorknob at my former place of residence, I then slammed the edge of my blade down hard against the chain only to find that my weapon barely made a dent upon the gleaming metal surface. Frowning slightly, I tried to break the chain once more with brute force and it was only after this second useless display of power that Hitomi lightly touched my wrist with her hand to force it away from trying a third time.

I looked at Hitomi's face and she grinned micheviously and put a finger against my lips.

"Watch...no break chain by force...only gentle touch work..."

She tapped her finger against various places on the main lock’s surface, and then drew a small design in the imaginary center of the places where she had tapped. Instantly small streaks of black smoke started to evaporate from the lock's surface as the design that she drew began to light up, and I realized that whatever spell she had just casted was chewing through the metal. After a moment, the spell had eaten all the way through the padlock, there was a sudden crash as the padlock then unlooped itself from the door and smashed against the ground. Hitomi then lightly pushed against the door and I saw a small smirk on her face as she pushed it open.

"Bio." she said simply as then she strode inside.

I rolled my eyes as I put my sword away and then followed Hitomi into the cathedral. The first thing that I noticed was that the church was completely silent and dark, save for the sounds of a few candles that the Cardinal must have forgotten to snuff out in her haste to leave Tavnazia. The place had the kind of odor to it that most church buildings had, a mixture of old dust collected over the centuries mixed with the staleness of ceremony and incense that constantly hung in the air. Beneath the flying arches and marbled statues depicting various religious figures from Vana'diel's history that were also reliefed into the ceiling, I could make out pew rows perfectly lined up in front of one another, all facing a central pulpit that was slightly elevated above the crowd. Everywhere there was stained glass windows that each depicted a passage from the book of the Goddess, and over the entrance and pulpit themselves were twin giant statues of Promathia and Altana. It was a very elaborate and beautiful place of worship, and I couldn't help but feel a little sad that in all probability the beastmen were going to destroy it completely in a matter of hours.

"Look for anything that might be used as an escape hatch or something." I instructed Hitomi, my voice echoing against the sacred walls as I walked boldly down the main asleway, my eyes sweeping from side to side as I looked for anything that might be a clue on how everyone else got out.

A few tense moments passed until I heard a squeal emit from Hitomi’s mouth, and then the sound of the heavy thumping of a trapdoor being drawn back and then slammed into the ground echoed through the cathedral. I looked over to where she was over in a corner of the building and saw that she had managed to locate a small fake stone floorpiece, it's handle half hidden beneath an ornate wool rug. Motioning for Hitomi to create a small fireball in her hand like she had done earlier in the Alchemy shop, as soon as I got to her I started to peer down the dark shaft as far as I could and saw that there was a rusty old ladder going down one of the four sides, ending in a short drop to the floor.

Taking the lead, I slid down the rungs and then landed in a half crouch on the floor, wincing slightly as my injured knee absorbed part of the blow. After shutting the trapdoor behind herself and killing her magic spell, Hitomi then simply let herself freefall down the shaft until she landed neatly upon her own feet. Conjuring up yet another light spell once she had gotten herself back up, Hitomi held it in front of her to illuminate the hallway. Beneath the warm glow of her magic spell, I could make out a mold-infested pathway directly ahead. Finding that we did not have any other real choice, Hitomi and myself then set ourselves down that path, both wrinkling our noses at the odor of water which had been sitting in place before leaking through the walls to puddle beneath our feet. It was a dirty place, and one that I personally had no desire to stay in any longer than I had to.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty. The pathway started to tilt upwards, and I guessed out loud that we must finally be finding our way out of there. Hitomi's footsteps were starting to falter once more, and the light her magic flame threw against the walls was starting to fade out.

Not another five minutes passed before all the sudden Hitomi fell forward, her hands limply grasping at my armor in a vain attempt to prop herself up before she collapsed totally upon the ground. Instantly I dropped down beside her, my knees digging against the worn stone flooring as I picked up and then partially cradled her body in my arms. The flame that she was keeping alive with her mana went out at that point, and I could only make out her face by the lines that were burned into my mind’s eye.

"You okay?..." I said, knowing that she was going to lie to me.

"Yes...just tired..." Hitomi said, her voice languishing and clearly sapped of strength as I felt rather than saw her eyelids slowly blink back and forth.

“Just hang on, we’ve got to be almost out.” At that I looped her arms around my shoulders and around my neck, her head lollying against my cheek as her body then meekly tried to find some sort of purchase beneath my hands while I got her into a piggy-back position upon me. My injured knee started to scream in protest to the sudden addition of one-hundred something pounds to it’s already previously heavy load of Elvaan and armor, but I refused to let it control me.

One step.

Two steps.

We started once more, going at a slow path in near darkness around various corners and passageways until a faint, abeit distinct odor floated into the air.

"Smoke..." Hitomi said faintly, half-dazed out of her mind.

"Yeah...it is probably from the burned Marquisate...and it must mean that we are getting close to an exit." I whispered softly in reply to her, as I then tried to use my nose to try to find out where the source of the smell was coming from. The pace of my footsteps picked up slightly as I rucked myself and Hitomi towards where I hoped would be the other survivors of Tavnazia. The pathway began to be lit with a few torches here and there, negating any more possible need for Hitomi to cast any of her magic.

As we rounded another corner...

It was then that I saw a pair of orcs heading back towards us from the opposite direction, away from a small hole that could barely fit a small child.

Quickly assessing the situation with all the training that my time in the Ducal Guard had bestowed upon me, I saw that one of them had an unconscious girl slung over it’s right shoulder, her head flopping against the smelly body armor as the other one stifled a yawn with one of it’s grotesque hands. They were both grunting in that weird orc language and heading towards Hitomi and me, at a speed that I knew would cause them to be upon us in mere seconds.

I tried to turn around to run backwards and find someplace where we could hide, possibly having the element of surprise upon them when they inevitably happened upon us...

But it was too late.

I heard a wet smack as the little girl was tossed aside, her body carelessly bouncing off of the walls as the two orcs then seamlessly drew their battle axes and hastened to close the distance between us. Reacting instantly, I set Hitomi down rather hastily upon her side on the floor, then drew my own weapon and turned to face the monsters.

The one on the left swung his axe as soon as he got within range of me, the blow of which I was neatly able to deflect with my own blade just as I then immediately twisted the tilt of my sword back around to block the second orc’s attempt from the side. To my dismay after I then attempted to make a slice at one of the orc’s midsection in retaliation, I noticed that there were small metal chunks that had broken off from where the axes had hit my weapon.

I have to finish this soo-

Before I could complete my thought, the first orc tried to attack me from near my head while the other one tried to get me from below, at my knees. Taking a couple steps back, I was able to just barely parry away the next two attacks and then another two strikes, before diving forward and between the two orcs in an attempt to draw the battle away from where I had put Hitomi down at.

The two monsters then turned around to face me, and I took a couple more steps, being careful to not get near where what I assumed was the fresh corpse of that poor hume child was. Holding my left arm out in front of me, I then opened the palm of my hand upwards towards the ceiling. Knowing that the orcs were watching me carefully, obviously afraid that I was about to cast some sort of magic spell at them, I smiled slightly as I then simply motioned them towards me with a sharp recoil of my fingertips back against my palm in what I recognized as a poor homage to a play that had been popular in the Grand Duchy a few years back.

The meaning of my motion wasn't lost on the orcs as they then rushed towards me in unison, axes held out high in front of them. Dropping down upon my good knee at the last second, their axes cleft neatly over my head as I then swung my weapon at the back of the right one’s spine, knowing that my weapon could cut through their armor.

At least, it COULD have...

If it wasn't damaged.

Instead, my weapon instantly shattered upon impact with the iron-backpiece into several pieces of useless metal, leaving the Orc I was trying to kill only momentarily dazed. The two monsters then turned around and brought the brunt of their axes to bear upon my chest piece, brutally bashing my head against the ground as my body was made then forced into a prone position upon my back.

Is this how I am going to die?....

In a tunnel upon my back, by the hands of two beastmen?...

The sweat started to bead up on my forehead, and my eyes twitched in and out of focus as they tried to follow the Orc's right arm muscles as they twisted against each other while he raised his axe way up in the air, about to deliver the finishing blow upon me...

Please forgive me Altana...

Just then, a sudden blast of fire roared down the tunnel just barely above my body and the little girl's corpse, the intense fireball licking the tunnel walls and then totally crisping the two Orcs’ bodies into black charred ash.

Trying to sluggishly blink away the stars and swirls that were threatening to overtake me any moment from my head injury, I then tilted my neck slightly backwards in an attempt to see where in Mordion Goal that flame had come from. Barely out from over the top of my quivering eyelids I could see a feminine figure wobble unsteadly, then completely collapse and stop moving upon the cold floor.

...No...

No way...

Continueing to fighting back waves of nausea with my nose filled with the smells of burning flesh mixed with the scent from Tavnazia outside, I then turned over upon my stomach and sloppily dragged myself by my arms over across the floor to where she was.

What did you do?...

Precious secounds passed before I could reach her well enough to confirm that, yes...

It was indeed Hitomi.

Reaching a trembling hand up into the air, I then gently ran the back of my fingertips down her cheek and watched as her head lolled towards my face. Her lips twitched slightly against her completely porcelain-white cheeks and I saw her try to raise her hand to touch my own, only to fail miserably and flop back down to the stone.

"Dimi..." I saw her lips faintly mouth, her eyes fighting desperately to keep open.

She pushed her magic too far...

"It’s gonna be okay, I’m sure someone will come back this way shortly to find us..."

My hand slide off her cheek and down her arm, to barely lock inbetween her fingers. The darkness in my head was becoming stronger and stronger with every passing second, and I knew that I couldn’t hold on much longer to reality.

A slight whimper started to come out of Hitomi's throat with a great effort, but quickly turned into a sickening gurgle.

Faintly, as my consciousness swirled away from me I realized that there was a very real possibility that she could die from how throughly she drained her mana, just like how we had been warned...

In...

the clinic...

So...

Long...

Ago...

The darkness pulled me into her arms at this point, and I lovingly accepted her sweet embrace.

-fin Aki LVI: Shishu

-fin Kasho VIII: Takatobi (Escape)

Edited, Sep 10th 2006 at 11:32am EDT by Nightsintdreams

I love this storyline!