Kakurenbou- Chapter 01

Kakurenbou ~ World of the Inner Mind ~

Kakurenbou ~World of The inner Mind~

[::NOTES::]

[Kakurenbou {Kah-coo-ren-bow} means "Hide and Go Seek" <as in the children's game> in Japanese]

[Pronounciation Notes:]

[Kikukaze = Key-coo-kah-zay]

[Kaede = Kai-eh-day]

[Ryota = Ree-oh-tah]

[Shingi = Shi-n-gee]

[Shinju = Shi-n-joo]

[Nishau = Knee-shaw]

[Tannin = Tan-in]

[Mare LaLuna = Mar-ray Lah-loo-nah]

[Serica = Se-air-ree-kah]

[Maya = Mai-yah]

[Mayahito = Mai-yah-hee-tow]

[Terchico Herricus = Tear-cheek-o Hair-e-kuss]

[Terchico Inalus = Tear-cheek-o E-nawl-us]

Chapter 1: Near and Far...

Eleven-year-old Kikukaze Kaede stood on the top deck of a luxurious cruise ship, glaring at an otherwise beautiful sunset.

"I hate this." She said to her seven year old brother, Ryota, "Mom and Dad and their dumb business cruises."

Ryota hauled himself up so that he could see over the high-sided railing that lined the whole ship. It was tough for his small hands to grip the mahogany top, but he got himself up into a viewing position, leaning over the railing, feet dangling in the air.

"It always ends up with us in the ship's daycare anyway! It's retarded!" She fumed. Ryota looked at his blue haired sister. Her long wispy hair was pulled up in its usual ponytail.

"That daycare lady wanted me to come out and make you come back in inside because the storm's coming, but I don't wanna go back there; It's no fun at all." He told her, the sleeves of his too large sweater covering up his hands, the loose arms flapping in the building winds. Kaede looked over at him.

"Then don't be a twit, and I'll let you stay out here with me."

"I'm not a twit!" Green-haired Ryota retorted as he slid down onto the ground, and began to drag a small cargo box over to stand on. Kaede ignored him, and just stared out onto the vast, landless ocean.

Once he got the box over, the winds had kicked up so much that he decided to sit on the box, rather than stand up in the pending gale. The solid walls of the railing were a good wind shield in that position.

Kaede plunked her head into her hands and let out an angry sigh. Their parents were busy people, sailing here and there on onboard business conferences. Ever since Ryota had turned five, they began to drag them along. She had enjoyed it the first few times, but after that, all the ships seemed the same- the same staff, same food, same stupid daycare where they made you draw pictures of dinosaurs and watch educational children's shows. Since their parents took at least three cruises a year, that added up to a lot of dinosaur drawing. Kaede had a sharp, intelligent mind. Very imaginative, she needed more stimuli than cartoons that taught you that sharing toys is a good idea. She loved to sing, read comics, play video games- her little brother liked to draw, but that wasn't something he could do for eight hours out of the day.

"Hey, sis..." Ryota began, bringing her out of her reverie. Kaede looked down at him. He was sitting on a box, with his hands on his knees, looking completely baffled. "Did you say something just now?"

"No, why?" She asked him, but he seemed not to hear her. He had that same look on his face someone gets when they're listening to headphones.

'Ryota...' A female voice beckoned his attention. It didn't sound like his mom, and it wasn't his sister. Who was it?

'Ryota, Kaede cannot hear me. You must tell her, and then go to the highest point on the ship.' The voice instructed him. It was odd, but he didn't want to question it. He just felt compelled to follow its instructions.

"Kaede," Ryota said, staring at the wall of the ship, "There's a voice talking to me."

"Sure, go play over there." Kaede said and waved absentmindedly toward another part of the ship as she continued to stare at the water.

"I'm serious." Ryota said in a very flat voice. "It wants us to go to the top deck of the ship, and I wanna find out why." And with that, he hopped off the crate, and began to run at top speed toward the nearest stairwell.

"RYOTA!" Kaede yelled and began to give chase. Up stairs, across decks, the wind fighting her the whole way, she dashed after him, huffing and puffing.

'Damn it, Ryota, when I catch you...' She thought in time to the blood pounding in her ears, 'If he gets in trouble, mom'll kill ME!'

Kaede vaulted up a steep flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. When she reached the top of the Sun Deck, she bent forward, breathing hard and gasping for air in the raging winds.

'When I catch that kid...' She thought to herself as she struggled to get the chilly ocean air into her burning lungs. She caught a motion out of the corner of her eye, and looked over to see her little brother, pressed flat against one of the place glass windows lining the railing wall of that deck.

"RYOTA!" She screamed over the wind, "There you are, you little-" She ran over, and grabbed him by the back collar of his sweater, ready to throttle him, but he looked back at her with very blank gold eyes, and whispered something she couldn't hear in the roaring winds. Kaede had about a second for confusion to register in her ruby-colored eyes before her little brother grabbed ahold of her, and leaned forward through the plate glass like it wasn't even there, pulling her into a freefall toward the cold ocean below.

"RYOTA!!!!" She screamed, grabbing him by the waist in midair. As they fell, through the storm, there was a noise as clear as a bell, a sound of something rushing up. Suddenly, Ryota slammed into something, and tore him away from her grip. She let out a little yelp as she tumbled backwards. As she came out of her aerial somersault, she saw a flash of beige and grabbed at it. Her fingers found purchase in soft, fluffy fur. She squeezed her eyes shut tight as her butt impacted with whatever she had landed on. From the feel of it, it was alive, and moving very fast, seeming to move within the storm. She opened her eyes and saw that she was riding a winged creature of some sort. It had large, feline ears tipped with reddish-brown, and had striped markings on the length of it's beige body, also in the same red-brown. On either side of its lithe body, two enormous fur covered wings were pumping madly, keeping them aloft, against all the laws of physics. Kaede scanned the sky around her, and saw Ryota, on the back of what appeared to be a giant winged raccoon, hanging on for dear life, his body pressed flat against his mount.

The cat-fox creature began to dive down, and Kaede screamed hysterically as the ocean disappeared, and land began to appear, lush and verdant, beneath them. Still screaming in fear, she closed her eyes tightly, and buried her head into the animal’s fur.

'Please don't let me die, please don't let me die!' Kaede cried in her head, tears in her eyes, 'Don't let this thing eat me!'

"I'm not going to eat you!" A male voice that was not Ryota declared hotly. She opened one eye hesitantly, and looked around.

They were flying low now, skimming over fields with people milling through them, tending to their crops. As the animals flew overhead, the people who noticed them stopped what they were doing and pointed excitedly. The blue morning sky seemed amazingly clear, the air still except for the path the winged creatures were stirring through it. Ryota and his mount were flying in tandem beside them, and Kaede looked over at her little brother, who seemed to be listening to something she couldn't hear. The only other explanation would be that...

"Are you talking to me?!" Kaede yelped incredulously to the cat-fox creature she was riding. It made a noise that sounded like a rumbling guffaw.

"Well, I'm not talking to myself." It replied, turning slightly to look back at her. It had deep green, fox-like eyes and a long fox muzzle.

"Why are you talking!?" She blurted, "Animals can't talk! What's wrong with you?"

"They can talk." Ryota told her, not taking his eyes off the ground, "They can do a lot of things that animals can't do."

"Yours is talking too?" Kaede asked him, looking at the flying raccoon. It looked back at her.

"I'm Shinju," It said to her in a husky female voice, "And that is Shingi you're astride. I've explained many things to Ryota during our ride here." Shinju told her, "Such as the fact that we are not normal "animals" as Maya call them, we are Companions. We are creatures created to aid the Mayahito. We are guides, steeds, allies and friends to your people."

"Our 'people'?" Kaede questioned.

"The Mayahito." Shingi jumped in, "Sericans who can use their mind to do things that other Sericans cannot."

"What's a Serican?" Kaede interrupted.

"Sericans are the people of this world. Mayahito are the people of the land Nishau and Tannin lovingly created, Serica, that possess the ability to bend space and create something from void- nothingness." Shingi explained, "Your brother, his power is not refined like yours is, Kaede. However, yours seems locked away more than controlled. Ryota's ability is like hot water over a fire, overflowing the cooking vessel- that means that if someone who was inclined to, such as Shinju or myself, could tap into and use that power. That's how we were able to cross the gap between Serica and Maya. No one has done that since..." He trailed off.

"It's been since Nishau created Serica." Shinju reminded him, "Over 600 years ago."

"We're in another COUNTRY?!" Kaede yelled, "What the hell did you do that for?! My parents are gonna be pissed!"

"We're in a different universe, sis." Ryota told her, "Not another country. We're not even on Earth anymore."

"Heh, 'Earth'." Shingi muttered, "It's been centuries since anyone called Maya that."

"So 'Maya' is what these people call Earth?" Ryota asked. Shingi and Shinju nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna be GROUNDED!" Kaede continued to fume, and pointed at Ryota. "And YOU'RE gonna be grounded for life too!"

"They don't know you are alive." Shinju said quietly.

"They think we're d-dead?" Kaede asked, all the fight drained out of her voice.

"I'm very sorry." Shinju whispered sadly. Ryota began to cry quietly, his head buried in Shinju's coarse fur.

Kaede was still trying to swallow that information when their group landed in a valley-like clearing in a vast expanse of mountains. Wild daffodils and star lilies dotted the grassy knoll, adding a splash of color to the landscape. In the rear mountainside, a huge stonework entrance was carved out of the rock, leading into a gaping, dark cave entrance. Near them, stood a simple cottage house. It wasn't large, but it wasn't small. It had a cheery latticework trellis by the front door up which were climbing large blue morning glory, and white moonflower blooms. The roof was thatched with dried plants, and the whole place had a very homey feel to it. Kaede slid off of Shingi and ran over to Ryota, who was still sitting on Shinju.

"Sis, we're dead!" Ryota sobbed as Kaede helped him off of the raccoon-dog, "We're never gonna see mom and dad again!" Her clung to her, weeping and saying things she couldn't understand through his tears.

At that moment, an elderly lady with long white hair and violet eyes emerged from the cottage and put her one hand up in greeting, preferring to use the other to lean on her carved cane.

"Hail, Mare!" Shingi called in greeting.

"Things don't seem to be going too well." Observed the woman addressed as Mare.

"Things are hard to accept when they are changed suddenly and without your control." Shinju told her as she shook her head sadly.

"I see." Mare commented. "But," she continued, "We should get these children inside, before word gets out."

"Definitely. The last thing we need is for Herricus' minions to pay us a visit right now." Shingi muttered in agreement.

The old woman put her free arm around Kaede, who was holding onto Ryota. "Come on inside," She said, "you can sit down, and maybe have something to eat. You've had an arduous journey."

**********************************

Shingi was sitting erect next to Kaede while Shinju rested under Ryota's dangling feet. Both of their sets of wings had appeared to shrink upon landing, and they were barely noticeable, mixing in with the rest of their fur.

The white-haired woman had introduced herself fully as Mare LaLuna. She explained that she was the gatekeeper to the Mayahito shrine in the mountainside behind the house, and had been for many years. Apparently, people here lived longer that people back on Earth, or "Maya", as it was known here. She seemed to have an ancient, knowledgeable air about her; Even as she dished up some kind of a thick soup with clear broth and white, round dumplings in it, it seemed as if she was working up to tell them a big story. As Mare set the ceramic dish of soup down in front of Kaede, she noticed that there were bean sprouts, chunks of cabbage, and pieces of boiled white meat in it as well. She picked up a large rounded spoon from the table beside her, and took a tiny sip of the broth. Ryota was watching her intently, as if to see if she'd fall over from poisoning or something. It was kind of good, a sweet and salty taste all at once. She tried one of the dumplings, and discovered that it wasn't a dumpling like she'd thought, but a flat, chewy, sweet noodle. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ryota take a taste and decide that it was all right. This was how it would be now, Kaede thought, I have to be the person he looks up to and goes to- I'm gonna be mom for him now.

"I'm going to let you explain things to them now." Shingi told Mare, "You're better at it, and you need to assess them anyway."

"Shingi, it's been hundreds of years since I've assessed anyone, Nishau and Tannin willing. I am not too sure if I will be accurate anymore." Mare said, fixing her violet gaze on the hardwood floor.

"Who are they?" Ryota asked quietly, "You keep talking about 'Kneeshaw' and 'Tan-in' like they're superheroes or somethin'. Are they important?"

Mare sat down in an empty chair, and collected her thoughts for a few seconds before speaking.

"Nishau and Tannin are the creators of our world, of Serica. We are not sure how Serica came to be, except that the goddess Nishau willed it to be so. Nishau and Tannin are the Mother and Father of all life on Serica, even down to Herricus himself, even though he would hate to admit it. All children were blessed with Nishau's ability to change and create things from void. Suddenly, children were being born without those powers. Those children with the ability were rare, and were given the name "Mayahito", or Maya Children. They were revered and could do great things. Soon, the people lacking Nishau's great Gift became jealous, and a revolt was lead to cleanse the whole of Serica. Terchico Inalus, the current ruler of Serica's great great grandfather led and fueled this revolt. Mayahito were persecuted left and right until the last one had wept their blood upon Serica's soil. There is NO living Serican Mayahito, and there hasn't been for 13,000 years."

"So you see, why you two are so special?" Mare asked them, "It's because, you are Mayahito! Your coming here heralds a time of new revolution, and proves that you have the ability to revive the Mayahito line. With time, you'll be able to tap into the great Nishau's legacy yourselves, and smite down that bastard Terchico Herricus."

"He has the land under his tyrannical power. No one is free anymore. Everything reaped, sewn, gathered or born is owned by him." Shinju growled, "It has been this way for over three hundred years."

"By refining your power, you can help us." Shingi stated. Kaede put her spoon down harshly.

"No one asked us to do this!" She raged, "You just took us here without asking! What about our parents, our friends- what about what we want?!"

"Just your being here is Nishau's blessing and will. You could not have come, if you were unwilling or unable to help." Mare explained.

"Well, then I hate Nishau!" Kaede cried, and stood up, scraping her chair back with a loud squeal. Mare was looking at her wide-eyed, like she couldn't believe what had come out of her mouth. "How can someone be a nice and good person, and then keep us here and make us do things we don't want to do?!"

"How do you think Serica feels under Herricus' rule?" Shingi roared, his hackles raised, "Did your wonderful parents raise you to be so selfish?!"

Kaede looked as if she had been slapped across the face. She threw Shingi a dirty look, and bolted out the door.

"Sis, wait!" Ryota stood up, stumbling to get out of the chair, "Sis!" He cried, chasing after her. Shinju leapt to her feet, to pursue them, but Mare put a gnarled hand on her shoulder, staying her.

"Let them go," Mare said, as she gazed out the front door, swinging on its hinges, "They are safe in this valley. I think they need time to adjust. Perhaps Nishau will place her own hands into this and show them how desperately they are needed."

Shinju looked at Mare sympathetically, and retreated to a position next to Shingi, to await their return.

************************************

Kaede slipped and fell on the dewy grass beneath her and began to cry loudly. Her mother was gone, her father was gone- all of her friends from school... her favorite toys...

She held her knees to her chest, and rocked back and forth, sobbing.

'Did your wonderful parents raise you to be so selfish?!' That hurtful phrase kept echoing in her mind, over and over and over. So what if she didn't care what happened to this place? They didn't care what happened to her and Ryota. They were the selfish ones!

In the distance, she could hear Ryota searching for her, calling her name. She craned her head, and spotted him atop a rising hillock.

"Ka-e-de!" Ryota called frantically, "Kaede! Where are you?"

She stood up, and headed toward him. Once he saw her, he ran over, and tackle hugged her, knocking her over.

"Don't leave me like that!" Ryota scolded her with tear-filled eyes, "I was scared! Don't run away and leave me alone ever again!" He yelled.

"Sorry, Ryota." Kaede apologized, wiping her eyes. "I just had to get out of there. WE have to get out of here." She looked at him. "I wanna go home."

Ryota looked down in his hands, and saw a sloppily sewn handkerchief between them, where one wasn't before. He turned it over, bewildered, and offered it to his older sister. She looked at him, quizzically.

"Who's is that?" She asked him.

"I dunno," Ryota replied, "I was just thinking that I wished that I had a napkin to give you for your eyes, and then I had...this."

Kaede took the hankie, and examined it. It was a real, cloth handkerchief, sewn badly together from several smaller pieces. It was still fresh in her mind, the story the old woman had told, about people from Earth being able to create things from nothing- what they called Void.

"Think of something else." Kaede told him, "Think of a can of soda or something!" Ryota closed his eyes, but nothing happened.

"I'm thinking of a soda." Ryota said to her, "But the warm feeling isn't there."

"What warm feeling?"

"When I thought of the tissue, there was a warm feeling." He told her, his eyes still tightly shut. "It's not there now."

"Well, what kind of soda were you thinking of? I would have gotten orange soda." She laughed.

"Orange soda...?" Ryota repeated in a questioning voice. Suddenly, there was a small gathering of light in his outstretched palm, and there was a plain aluminum can in his hand!

"Ryota! You made a soda!" Kaede cried happily, "Quick, let's drink it before it disappears!" She grabbed the can, popped the top with a burst of carbonation, and took a sip of the citrusy sugar liquid.

"It's orange!" She declared, and looked at the plain can amazingly. It had no branding; it was just a generic orange soda.

"I wasn't thinking of a flavor before." Ryota said, and made another can appear, then another. "Now we have grape, and strawberry!" He announced excitedly. "I had to think of a flavor!"

"But hankies don't have a flavor. How did you make that?" Kaede asked him.

"I...I saw it in my head. It doesn't look exactly like what I saw, but it's close enough." Ryota held up the handkerchief. "The sewing marks are bad, but from far away, you can't tell."

"I wanna make something too!" Kaede exclaimed, and held out her hand, palm up. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and pursed her lips.

"Daisy!" She cried out. However, she didn't get a daisy in her hand, but the whole hill around them glowed faintly, and tons of white daisies began popping madly from the grass.

"How cool was that?!" Ryota yelped, and looked around at the newly created daisy field.

"That was awesome!" Kaede cried out, "Look what I DID!" She began harvesting some nearby blooms, and started stringing them together, into a daisy chain.

Ryota laid back on the grass and flowers and stared into the blue, blue sky. There didn't seem to be a single cloud in that sky. That was too bad, because he loved to watch clouds...

Suddenly, he felt the warm feeling, and clouds began to trail by, the really fluffy kind that make good pictures. Delighted, he began to look for animals and images within their misty depths while Kaede finished up her daisy chain wreath. She placed it on her head, and thought for a moment.

"Ryota... if we can make anything we want, we can make a way back home." She said. He tore his gaze away from the sky and fixed it on his sister.

"That means we're not stuck here. We can go home whenever we want."

"Well, now that we can do this..." Kaede trailed off.

"...you don't wanna go home yet." Ryota finished for her. "If it's not so important anymore, because we can do it whenever we want, why don't we hang out here for a little while longer?"

"And when we do come back, mom and dad will be so shocked and happy!" Kaede smiled, "And they won't make us go on so many cruises, 'cause they'll be so happy that we're not dead!"

"So we're staying a little longer?" Ryota asked hopefully.

"Right." Kaede said, standing up and dusting the grass off her denim shorts, "So, let's go check out that cave over there." She pointed to the gaping maw of the ornately carved mountainside.

"Over there?!" Exclaimed Ryota, fear creeping slightly into his voice, "It looks scary."

"We'll only go a little way in. Don't be a baby. I just wanna look at the designs." Kaede told him chidingly.

"Ok, but I don't wanna go in! We'll just look." Ryota told her as he stood up.

The two children ran to the cave entrance. The rock around the hole was carved directly into the mountainside, the rock and the design merging and twisting into a statue of a short, wavy haired woman with a symbol on the back of her left hand. It looked like a star, with some triangles through it, surrounded by a circle. It was an odd design, and upon closer examination, Kaede and Ryota both could have sworn that it was glowing slightly, but they decided that it must be a trick of the light.

A trick of the light, that was until they walked right under the statue over the archway, and the same symbol on the back of it's hand was repeated on the ground below them, glowing strongly and warmly where plain shale had been a few seconds ago.

"What the heck?" Ryota yelped, and backed into Kaede.

"It wants us inside." Kaede told him.

"Last time I listened to a voice, we ended up here!" Ryota reminded her, tugging on the back of her baggy shirt in a futile effort to keep her from going in. She just continued walking, with no comment into the darkness of the cave. Ryota let go, and watched as she was enveloped by the inky blackness.

"Kaede?" Ryota asked, after standing outside for a minute. There was no answer.

"Kaede, I don't wanna be out here alone!" He called in after her. There was still no answer, just a slight echo. He took a deep breath and braced himself mentally against his fear of the dark.

"Kaede, I'm coming in too!" He yelled to her as he dashed into the dark cavern. The second he disappeared inside, the symbol on the ground faded, and plain shale was seen once more.

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