A/N: The character Chiko Maiya was created especially for my dear bud Belldandy. Her site is at http://belldandy.envy.nu.index.html/ Please visit it, as it is as cool as cool gets, the music's good, and the webmistress is a good friend of mine. (P.S., also visit my new site "The Thorough Report", a collection of informative shrines of my absolute favorite characters! It's at http://siona4.tripod.com/ttr)
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A buzzing filled the air like a herd of lawnmowers, completely interrupting Atarashii's nap. She opened her eyes and found herself eye to freakish eye with a large housefly. The young Guardian flicked it away and looked out the window. Sunlight poured through the open drapes to fall down on her bed
.
Atarashii took in a deep breath and released it, relishing the smell of the morn. She could hear the other boarders awaking in their own rooms and heading downstairs to get their first shots at the hot tubs. Atarashii liked the sound. She had to be surrounded by sound at all times to be content. She had never liked the quiet of Kaioshin-Kai; it was just too creepy for her.
Kaioshin-Kai...Minami...were they okay? Kaede had said that Mei was rounding up the Guardian incarnates so that the prophecy would never come true. Had he gotten to them and...and...
She shook her head, long hair flying every which way. It was a waste of time to think such horrible and dark thoughts. What she needed to do was act now before the evil god had a chance to do such a thing. She stood from her bed and had just started to make for the door when Kaede seemed to pop up out of the very floor. "Come with me. You need a bath!"
Atarashii did as told. She made sure to cover her face; Mei's spies could be anywhere at any given time, waiting to strike. It was absurd to walk out in the open, flashing her true identity.
"You should be better cared for before you leave, Atarashii," said Kaede. "I'm afraid to say it, but you don’t smell to well, and your hair is simply horrible."
Atarashii put a hand to her head and frowned. Her thick golden locks, usually so well groomed at home, was not only tangled but filthy from her chasing of Ken. When she looked at her hand, she could see the dandruff quite clearly. "You're not going to cut it off, are you?"
"That lustrous hair? Heavens help us, no! I'll only help it get ready for the road ahead of you, dear."
Kaede picked up two small bowls covered with wood lids and motioned for Atarashii to follow her down into an opening shrouded in darkness. As she walked through it, Atarashii could see that it was made completely of stone with the occasional light hanging overhead. It twisted round and round like a screw down into the earth. After a good fifteen minutes, they emerged in a huge chamber as large as Minami's palace. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere, bringing back memories of the Carlsbad Caverns for Atarashii. The air was cool and moist.
In the very center was a huge pool. Atarashii wondered at just how deep it was, for the deeper it got the blacker it became. A dozen or so bubbling pits of water, the saunas, big enough to fit ten people circled it. The sound of slowly dripping water bounced of the walls and gave the cavern an eerie feel.
"You can bathe here," Kaede said.
Atarashii waited for the old woman to go, but when she realized that she wasn't, she sighed and undressed. She braced herself for a shock of coldness from the pool and stepped gingerly into the water. "It's warm!" she cried delightfully. She looked over at the hot tubs and wondered just how hot they were.
Kaede waited for the echoes of Atarashii's shout to stop bouncing off the walls before saying, "Now do you see why our inn is so famous, hm?"
Atarashii had never dreamed that a hot bath could ever feel so good. Not even the godly baths she had at Kaioshin-Kai compared to this! She swam across the pool, no longer caring if Kaede was there or not. The water really was as deep as she had thought and nearly twenty feet wide, so it put a good deal of her unused muscles to work. The echoes of her swimming was creepy and yet, very comforting.
"Oh, this is wonderful," she sighed, wishing that Minami was here to share it with her. "I wish—what are you doing?"
"These herbs are good for your skin and your soul," said Kaede as she threw another handful of dried leaves and flower petals into the pool. "Stir them."
Atarashii did so. The tingle was unpleasant at first but when it faded a little it was very nice. The crisp, spicy smell was added to the air for a pleasant experience all together.
Kaede washed her hair with a dark green, homemade shampoo. It smells of home, Atarashii thought contentedly. Like Judaiko's cooking...Minami's library...and Higashi's gardens... Kaede sang in a very old dialect that Atarashii couldn't recognize as she scrubbed. When she finally finished, she said simply, "Rinse."
It took quite a few dives into the deep water for her to get all the shampoo out. Once it was gone, Kaede patted the smooth stone next to her. "Here, come sit with me."
Atarashii took the towel Kaede handed her and was amazed at just how smooth it was, finer than any silk she had ever felt, but it was obviously hand-woven. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're really a witch," she commented. After drying herself, she wrapped the towel around herself and sat next to Kaede, who had taken out an ornate ivory comb and begun to brush out Atarashii's hair.
It took nearly two hours, some horrible-smelling concoction, and a good deal of patience on both their parts until all the knots and rat's nests had come out. Atarashii became increasingly agitated, fidgeting and saying, "Can't we hurry? I have to go!"
"Yes, yes, you do," said Kaede diligently, wrestling with a particularly stubborn tangle. "But if you go in such a state, you'll lack endurance. It's best you leave once you are rested, clean, and well prepared. Turn your head."
Atarashii sighed irritably but did as she was told, seeking patience in her heart. She wanted to leave so badly it hurt. But despite this, she was able to relax and listen to Kaede's words of wisdom.
The old onmyôji told her of her work as a seer and how she had come from one of the greatest shaman lines on the Kaio planet. She spoke of how the present split off into hundreds and hundreds of different outcomes, each one more radical than another. As Atarashii listened quietly, she felt a new understanding for the people she would have called frauds a decade back. Sometimes, instead of speaking normally, Kaede would whisper in a dark, hushed voice. And other times she again sang the strange song she had earlier. When asked, Kaede said it was actually a Toku-jin song, spoken in their fluid language, and Kaede was the only one who remembered it.
When she was done brushing, she twisted Atarashii's hair into a thick long braid. "This will stop your hair from getting loose and becoming so tangled again. And my special herbs will prevent any further dandruff for a small period of time. Now, come, Chiko and Ken are waiting."
Atarashii put on her clothes, which suddenly felt very dirty, and followed Kaede back upstairs.
