Recent Posts

[style=width: 400px; font-family: times new roman; text-align: justify]I watched him closely as he moved through the motions of thought; though I could not tell what he was pondering, I could hazard a guess that it had something to do with my proposition. He seemed hesitant, and with good reason. The Namitsuki I had been keeping up with through snippets of gossip from my patients was a powerful enough man — what use did he have with Hiraishin? Did he really want to have his cake and eat it too? He used to be known as The Fastest Man Alive, a title that was admittedly lost throughout the years and within alliance changes. Nevertheless, as such a versed Taijutsu fighter I was sure he was nearly as fast anyway.

Eventually, he closed the distance between us and performed the sacred act of touching foreheads. I sighed in content, but continued to stare into his eyes, searching them for any hint of fear. Nothing. I allowed him to memorize me again, just as I had been doing to him since the fateful encounter I orchestrated a few days prior, waiting for the inevitable.


"If that is what you want, Nami," I conceded. I lifted my thus far limp arms up, curling my fingers around his strong shoulders and squeezing for the pleasure of the touch. Then, I carefully drew him back into me so that our noses were touching again. "I will protect your body while you wander your mind to remember what has been forgotten &mdash" I promise."

I pressed my lips against his for a short kiss, holding eye contact all the while. As I broke the embrace he would begin to feel drowsy, more tired than at any point in his life. So tired, in fact, that he would not be able to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds; the moment they were shut, he would pass out. This meant many things for the situation, but the most pressing was the fact that his body would go entirely limp — I still had my hands clutching his shoulders, even tighter now that there was no resistance. Instead of flipping backward off the tree and falling to injure himself on the hard ground below, I kept him steady, holding him against me.

Not that it mattered to him, for I knew that he was in another world. His mind's eye.

---

In his mind, Namitsuki would awaken in the midst of a forest much like the one that he had been in previous with me. However, the air was much cooler and the ground upon which he lie was damp, as if the rain had only just ceased. Chances are, even with the fogginess of a deep sleep making it hard for him to perceive his surroundings, the fine mist that hovered just above the grass would give away the ultimate location — somewhere, some island, within Mizu no Kuni. Birds were chirping quietly in the canopy over head, as if they had been startled moments ago and only now worked up the courage to begin their song anew.[/style]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: times new roman; text-align: justify]For a moment, I felt his anger like a physical presence; it brought forth a copper taste in the back of my throat, but I could not tell if this was fear or regret. How could it be fear? Even as his expression changed to something akin to when one is stabbed in the back with a blunt knife, I knew Namitsuki would never hurt me. The closest he had come to that was the day he engraved the Hiraishin seal below my naval, an event that was burned into my memory just as it was burned into my flesh. I could have removed it after all these years of medic training, but it was too precious to me and secretly I had hoped he would use it to find me. Now, in defense of his pain and anger, I lifted my hand to press against the place where my clothing covered it.

Suddenly, he was upon me; his arms were around me, warm and familiar and wonderful. For a moment I tensed, knowing that this could easily break my resolve, but ended up sighing loudly and relaxing into the heat of his body. He was still angry, that was evident in the low growl of his voice as he spoke, akin to the way one talked when they were holding back the smoke they had just inhaled. I closed my eyes. "I ... I had no intentions of leaving your life again," I whispered back, almost hoping he would not hear this response. Could we ever live as 'just friends'? It seemed like torture, purgatory upon earth itself. As I grew older, alone, he would eventually find someone else with which to leave his shattered heart — someone who could mend it, a feat even my medical prowess could not accomplish. The idea of seeing him with a new lover left my chest feeling hallow. Where was the girl that didn't ever feel jealous? I suppose I had given her up, too.

He forced my head back to look at him, so I opened my eyes and stared into his. Even if my face could mask the intensity of my emotions, those green orbs could never do so. "I love you too, Namitsuki," I rasped, narrowing my eyes a fraction to hold back the whirlwind of emotions flooding through me. "All I want is for you to be happy. If you are, then I ultimately will be, too." My mantra.

When he pulled away I felt my body shudder with the loss, but recomposed myself before he had even picked his jacket up from the ground. Yes, our son. The real reason for my being here. "Our son. Like I said, I named him after you — Kushinada Namitsuki. As you can expect, given that he's our offspring, he likes to roam. I've had a problem keeping him within a respectable distance since he was twelve. At fourteen, I gave up, but I keep tabs on his location ..." I frowned and decided not to clue him in to how I had done this; instead, I looked up at the sky. "I lost him along the border to Hi no Kuni."[/style]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: times new roman; text-align: justify]The smile was wiped from my face as I watched the tree tremble and then, as expected, fall on top of him with a crash. I felt every muscle in my body squeeze and relax in quick succession with the urge to rush to help him, but somehow I managed to keep my cool facade intact. I realized that if he could bench-press the tree in the first place, it probably wouldn't do as much damage as it might to, say, someone as fragile as myself. I smirked and shifted my weight slightly as he threw the tree off to the side like a toy, lifting my left hand to grasp my hip in the most open, approachable, and unfazed manner as I could muster. Inside, though, my heart was beating rapidly against my rib cage — so hard, I could hear the blood rushing in my ears and the pounding sensation almost hurt.

"I always look good," I teased in return, lifting my gaze from where it had lingered on his bare chest to instead make eye contact. I noted the bandage and stored that in the back of my mind as I tipped my head up, meeting the warmth of his hand more eagerly than I should have. I knew he would notice the pain that flashed through the emerald orbs as I took a step back then, nodding lamely. "I got them not long after ..." after I left you. After I abandoned you. "... I settled down for a while."

I pivoted on my heel and then slunk around him, circling like a vulture would a dying animal. He was in great condition for his age, thankfully; I studied every inch of him with open interest. "You look good too, even after all these years. I'm not surprised. You've always had a penchant for staying at your physical peak." I stopped when I was behind him, my hand inadvertently moving to brush the clothed area of my hip where his tattoo had been engraved into my skin. Those long days alone, I sometimes wondered why he did not use this to come see me, but I knew it was for the same reason I chose not to seek him out — it was not like he had not become a high-profile character in recent times.

Assuming Namitsuki had not turned to face me, I would extend my arms and step forward, wrapping them about his waist with a sigh. Carefully, I touched the tip of my nose against the curve of his spine and then nuzzled, drinking up the feeling of his damp skin and re-memorizing his scent. It was a bold move to make, considering how long we had been apart, but it felt natural to me. I didn't care if I overstepped my boundaries; in any case, this show of affection would not last long enough for him to retaliate in any meaningful way. Instead, I squeezed him into a hug and then released, retreating with a few backpedaling steps.

Should I?

He doesn't need to know.

I don't need his help.

Do I?

"Nami," I purred his name, lifting my hand to flick back locks of lemon that had recently been styled in a more conservative, feminine manner than my usual 'do. "I just came here to tell you that we have a son. I named him after you. But he's gone missing, you see. I was hoping you could help find him."[/style]