Chapter 1: In an awakening dream
written on Sunday, March 19, 2000
".....Yahiko..." She whispered to herself amidst her daydreaming.
"Yume-san!" A familiar voice broke through her deep thoughts.
Yume turned around. What she saw was just like a pretty painting. The pretty painting that made her forget her wonderous dreams. It was the children. There were five of them. She gave each one a glance as they playfully dawdled with themselves onto the soft grass. The sweet fragrance that sputtered out from the grasses was perfect for their fragile health.
"Children, don't you think it's time to go home?" Yume called out.
Of course they wouldn't go home yet. But it came to her very easily to ask that same question everyday. And one of them would be expected to reply pleadingly---
"Nooooooooooooo! Yume-san, let's stay here a little more, puhleez??"
Yume smiled and softly sighed. If they wanted to play some more then that's what they'd get. After all they are only children who want to make the best out of an outing. She only wished that as young as they are, they would already cherish these times for it wouldn't be always there. But for now, she must leave them to enjoy at the strength of their wills. How envious she was of their childplay.
Thinking about the five healthy and beautiful children who were all orphans had made her melancholic. Fortunately, Dr. Fuyume, the clinic manager back at their home was a kind soul who adopted them as his very own.
The youngest was five years old. The doctor, who was in charge of giving the names, called the little girl "Juji" , after a famous Japanese craft doll also named that. Indeed there wasn't any mistake in giving the toddler that name for she was like a living doll. She had medium-thick, brown hair that was shoulder length, eyes that matched her hair and skin that was fair. Not that she had any favourites for the matter, but Juji-chan really was quite an attractive sight. She was sure Dr. Fuyume and his patients would agree.
Kaori was a year older. Kaori didn't have the absolute appearance that would be able to match Juji-chan's but she had the prettiest hair that shone like the sea. Because her hair was truly beautiful, Yume encouraged the idea of keeping it very long and leaving it uncut. The doctor was
reluctant of the suggestion and said it would only "get into her way." But she resolved the case by showing him Kaori with her hair braided in a neat loop. The doctor suddenly thought that he shouldn't bother Kaori and her hair, that wasn't his after all.
The next in line was Takuro who had the same age as Kaori. As a result of their identical ages the tendency for them was to bicker with each other since there wasn't any superiority present between them. The fact that Takuro was a boy and Kaori was a girl only added more reason for them not to be in a unanimous side. Luckily enough, they didn't always quarrel, but once in a while they do find trifled things to argue about. All that was okay, when they fought they always called her to do the "judge" thing, so there was never a fight too violent.
Seven year old Kokkei-kun, however, was the most silent of the pack. Although he was a boy he never really had the "likeness" of being involved in other mischievous fiascoes that, she had to admit, Takuro lead them into. It was mostly him and the plentiful books that the doctor gave him. Kokkei's name meant funny or amusing, but peculiar enough he never was into doing jokes to make them laugh. That was one name she had yet to ask the doctor of.
The oldest was also another boy whom the doctor called "Seichirou." His name wasn't use that much in the house or outside for in the first place it was hard to say all the time, it couldn't be shortened appropriately without changing the name into a totally new one,that reason leading to the boy's idea against just changing his name and the whole family suddenly deciding to pet name him in the basis of his ferocious attitude much to his dismay. They ended up with the pet name "Tora" which verbally meant tiger. Tora-kun the ferocious tora, they would say. Speaking of Seichirou-----
"WHERE'S TORA-KUN!!??" Yume suddenly sprung up from her lazy position, having been alarmed of the prolonged absence of the oldest child. Her mind was puddled with worry as she imagined where Tora was now. The oldest child was, in her knowledge from experience, the most handful to take.
"Yume-san, Torara-sama said he'd be somewheh lookin' fwo adventure." A small voice filled with cutesy answered. Yume smiled at Juji-chan's very helpful reply, the way she said his pet name just melted her worries for a moment.
Yume knelt down towards Juji-chan. "Adventure?"
And now her worries came flooding back. The eight year old child was in these times when he would think that he was up to any challenge or adventure that the world could offer.
"Hmmm........" she stood up for a while looking beyond the greened hills. It was best to think first where the child would go running wild. Seichirou wouldn't go towards the hills for it was too far away from them. He was probably somewhere in---
"Mad??" The young Juji-chan innocently tugged her kimono.
"Yume-san would never be mad at young and cute Juji-chan." She quickly noted. Juji having heard a very favored say-say from her "maternal" superior had her face pasted with a reassured smile.
Wherever Seichirou was right now, she hoped he wasn't in danger..that and that he hasn't found a new animal to "adopt". Her eyes skimmed the hills landing at the site of the Japanese berry bushes which were all planted in a vertical direction. She could still recall the taking the children there. Then she remembered finding an open pathway behind the bushes that wasn't really covered or protected. It lead directly to a garden.
Her eyebrows furrowed. Could Seichirou have gone there? Well he shouldn't have. A wealthy owner probably has a compound further inside the garden. The sight of a child playing inside an unattended garden is not actually a view of delight, she thought.
She held Juji-chan's tiny fingers softly. Gathering the other three, she gestured for them to hold onto her as they all walked towards the Japanese berry bushes.
Having reached the plants and viewed the opening she stopped. "Takuro-kun, you stay here and guard your siblings, ok?"
Takuro nods slightly. She knew that when it came to serious things such as keeping the lookout on the youngest children, Takuro had more of an idea than Kokkei-kun on what to do.
She slowly walked in behind the bushes and carefully began to look around the dark place. Her heart sank deep at the sight of the neglected nature. Vines crawled all across the walls cracking them bit by bit. Dead leaves, twigs and weeds all swarmed onto the ground like the pile of leaves that fell during fall. As she stared onto the vast space of nothing but decaying life, she felt the still air strangling her breath. The place looked ransacked. Everything was just decomposing remnants of what it used to be. How could something so awful be behind the sweet-smelling berry bushes that they came to every year?
"YUME-SAN!!"
Yume could feel the sudden impulse to shriek, but the humid air locked her throat dry.Relief came down to her when out of the fogged garden appeared her lost child. He was sweating and was pale as ice.
"Yume-san...."
"Tora-kun!!!" She held her arms open as she caught him inside her comforting embrace.
"Yume-san!...Yume.." The boy cried as he clung tightly against her.
"I..I was so worried about you...what..what are you doing here?" She gently wiped his tears away.
"Yume..there's.." She could feel the child quiver inside her grip. Tears slid down across the boy's flushing cheeks.
"Shhhh...everything will be fine...." She soothed the boy despite the fear that she felt herself.
There was a moment of total silence.
"Everything would have been fine if that child didn't come playing into my garden." A cold and steely voice suddenly bursted into the deathly silence that surrounded them.
Yume almost afraid to look up tightened her arms around Seichirou. She carefully moved back securing a far distance from where the voice came from.
It was wrong for her to assume that whoever owned the garden probably looks twice as horrifying as the place for out of nowhere stepped out a brown-haired man in his late twenties who actually looked normal.
He wore a bluish hakama that was dirtied on the sides and had slightly fallen locks that reached his shoulders, the rest of which have been driven back to the nape of his neck by a black cloth. Yume looked in surprise as her muscles relaxed. She suddenly noticed the long brown ponytail that reached his lower back.
For a few minutes she looked at him as he did the same. The deep red in his eyes flashed potrudingly at them.
This man has much chi in him.She couldn't see any sign of it by the eye, but she could feel his strength with the vibration that shook the soil.
"We are very sorry that we have come intruding into your garden." Yume said. Her lips trembled at the sight of a sakabatou clenched tightly in his fingers. She felt the slow movement of his eyes that bored deeply against the child she was holding.
"You should keep yourselves away from here." He retorted as he lightly tapped his sword onto the ground. He did not sound angry or irritated but his voice never lost the coldness.
She had no intention of watching him disappear into the garden, she held Seichirou by the hand and lead him out of the smogged place.
"..I couldn't make him talk." Dr. Fuyume finally answered. He sat on the pillow tired of the day's work. Yume prepared hot green tea. She sat next to him and poured the contents of the procelain container into his cup.
"..what happened to him there must have worried him so much that he doesn't want to talk about it." She suggested, helping herself to some of the tea.
"But what happened anyway?" The doctor asked.
"We lost sight of Tora-kun and found him in the garden behind the berry bushes."
The doctor's eyes lighted up in interest. "Garden?"
"..it wasn't even a garden, anymore..it was left unattended and all the plants inside had rotted into piles of ..junk."
The thought made her disgusted at the color of her tea. She was doubting the tea that she made herself.
"Don't worry about Tora-kun so much....he'll tell about it once he already feels doing that...." the doctor looks at her, "..drink that now before anything else goes over your mind."
"..yeah....I'd better."
The doctor was about to go say goodnight to the children upstairs when Yume had popped a question.
"Uh, I really want to ask you something that has been bothering me for a while." She quickly placed the tray back on the table and sat down again.
"What is it?" He did the same, sensing that this was very important.
"Every night I've been having dreams, strange dreams of people whome I've never met and places I've never lived in."
"..and?" the doctor added not seeing her point.Her voice lowered down to a quiet state.
"...and I see them when I sleep and also when I am awake..."
"daydreaming?"
"But ..I really don't remember anything about these things." Her voice lowered down to a quiet state.
"....you..seem to be taking it too seriously.."
"..Doctor Fuyume...could this be..a.." she placed her hands together and hesitated.
"...your key to your past?" the doctor knew what she wanted to say.
"yes.....that was what I was thinking....this..must have a connection with my past life."
"Yume-san." the doctor called her, by her name this time.
"Yes?" She slowly looked up, biting her lips.
"Did you know I named you after my own mother?"
An uneasy feeling reached her at the doctor's sudden change of topic.
"..really..." She looked down again and noticed that she had spilled part of the tea she was carrying ealier on the tray.
"My father was often nicknamed 'Fu' and my mother's maiden name was 'Yume'..which resulted into mine.."
"Fuyume..Dr. Fuyume." she replied.
"I would never deny you of anything from your past. If I knew where you came from I would send you back to that place." His voice was very resolute. And it astounded her to hear him say that.
"......Dr. Fuyume.."
"I know how it feels to have lost loved ones...and there are probably some people who are searching for you, who are weary and tired of going from town to town asking with your real name, crying because of hopelessness..but still determined to find you." She felt good that the doctor had understood the very feeling she had.
"..do you really think so?"
"I would always like to think of you as my daughter whom I have orphaned myself. I may not really have any legal connection with you nor do I hold any information about your real identity, but I have always wanted to raise you to become a responsible person....from the day I took you in.." His words struck her inside.
"...I would be forever grateful.." She replied with a glad voice.
The doctor moved towards her and held her hand.
"Yume-san, you should never lose that small hope of being able to find your way back home. Hold your heart high, and the one who has been looking for you will have found you by then." He held it tightly and moved it towards her heart. She smiled seeing how right the doctor was.
"But ..but I just can't seem to wait any longer..it's not that I am not happy with my life with you..with the children..with..this clinic and your patients...there is this part of me still left unfilled.....and that is .."
"your past." he finished. Slowly he let go of her hand and looked at her with genuine gladness.
"..and when those people who know you like the palm of their hand finally find you,I will regretfully let you go and you will see that I have been right."
"..regretfully?" she murmured not understanding what he meant.
"Yes, regretfully..for a dear person such as yourself is a hard blessing to just give away...with regret." he laughed as he explained to her.
"...now...I want you to think about what I've just told you..and I want you to be clear in what you really feel."
"....I guess..that I.."
The doctor sensed her loss for words and her need for time alone to think.
"Anyway, it's already becoming late, go to sleep. I'm not going be here in the clinic the whole day tomorrow, I don't have to tell you what to do with the children, because I know you know what you're supposed to do." He stood up, taking his coat as he walked towards the staircase.
"Yes..because you've raised me right." her voiced cracked out.
"Yes..because I've raised you right....you're learning." Dr. Fuyume replied. He walked up the steps laughing to himself.
I chapter index I chapter 2 I email me I
