The Senkensha: Part 3

Read Part 2 of the Senkensha:

The Senkensha: Part 2  [E] #1480624 Genres: Fantasy - Mystery - Supernatural by Charamer

Chapter 4: Moonmist

          They took the Senkensha away from us. That boy took her away from us. He wasn’t truly an enemy, but taking away Isleen from us was almost unbearable for my weak heart. I’d raised her for eight long years, teaching her the ways of the humans and the fairies. It was her time to choose, but she had chosen the humans.
          “She will be back,” Glitterfire assured me, smoothing her hand against my wings.
          I gave a slow nod, watching my beauty leave with that boy. “We did our job,” I told myself, as the nymphs and the fairies danced under the moonlight for what seemed like the millionth time. I gave a heavy sigh. “They shall learn soon enough about their destinies.”

Chapter 5: Haru

          How long has she been isolated with the creatures? I asked myself as I watched her, stay close to me while the elevator moved. She clutched to my shirt, frightened, and from her stories I could tell her life before the creatures had probably been very isolated also. She spoke of nothing but her room, when describing her home life. Could it be that she has forgotten, or that she has never known?
          The door opened, and I smoothed down her short hair, comfortingly. “Let’s go, Kanon,” I murmured.
          She gave a nod, her grip not loosening, and I also concluded that she depended on others often to help her through things. I led her through the hallway slowly, as to not wake anyone up. I slid the key card through the slot and I opened the hotel room door. “Go in,” I coaxed, undoing her grip on me. She looked around the room.
          “This is…”
          “A room,” I finished. “In a hotel.”
          She looked blankly at me. “A hotel?”
          I smiled, running my fingers through my hair. “A place where humans and animals stay, when they pay with currency.” She gave a nod of understanding.
          “It doesn’t look like my room. It doesn’t look like my basement.”
          “Rooms look very different from one another,” I assured her, shrugging out of my jacket. I lingered a moment, looking this girl over once again. I had my work cut out for me. Her clothes needed to be replaced, and I had no doubt that she was in need of a bath. “Such a shame to mess up such gorgeous hair,” I muttered, and she cocked her head to the side once again. I sighed. “You must be tired, right, Kanon?”
          “Not much,” she admitted, truthfully. I couldn’t help releasing another grin. Her honesty was interestingly cute.
          “Do you remember how to bathe?” I asked, wondering if that would be a problem. She gave another nod, leading her hand against the dresser. I took her hand, leading her to the bathroom. She watched inquisitively as I opened the tap with hot water, checking the towels and soap for her. “Here. Take a bath for as long as you want, Kanon.”
          “My clothes?” she asked.
          “I’ll get you new clothes,” I said, patting her head. “I’ll wait for you.”
          She gave a brief nod, and I left, closing the door behind her. I sighed, leaning my head against the door. Why didn’t I notice how tired I was? I felt my eyelids getting heavy and I yawned. Jumping to my feet suddenly, I shook my head. What am I doing?! I have to find clothes for Kanon!
          I rummaged through my drawers for something that she could wear. In the end, I found a big sweatshirt and a pair of shorts I hadn’t known I had. I laid it down by the rack in the bathroom, slipping in when she was in the tub, and the curtains were drawn. I jumped on my bed, and waited. And waited… And waited… And waited…

          It was warm, I thought. Very warm. Comforting warmth.
          My eyes flickered open, and my heart skipped a beat. “K-Kanon?” I whispered. She slept. Not only was she sleeping on my bed. She was sleeping on top of me, arms around my neck, head on my chest. In my condition, I couldn’t even put a hand over my pounding heart.
          In some miracle, I managed to slide out of her grasp without waking her up. I gave a sigh, looking at her. Did she just jump on top of me last night? At least it was a relief to see that she put on the clothes without much help.
          Her hair, now frizzy and tangled, lay in a heap, while she slept, her mouth open almost completely wide. The sweatshirt reached her thighs, while the shorts reached a bit below, leaving most of her legs bare. I shook my head. Not the time, I thought, pulling the sheet over her.
          My first step was to take my own bath and change, which I also managed to do without waking Kanon up. I failed to do the same while I was doing my hair. I wasn’t sure if the blow-dryer woke her up, but she surprised me, when she suddenly showed in the mirror, while I brushed my hair. “What are you doing?” she asked.
          “Oh… Brushing my hair.” She gave me another blank look. “To make my hair look better.”
          “Better?” she asked, feeling her head suddenly. She looked at the mirror, longingly, and I watched her carefully. “How is my hair?” she asked. “Is it bad?”
          I flushed, looking at the ground. “No. Not exactly.”
          “Can you make it better?” she questioned. I hesitated and smiled.
          “Of course. Sit down.”

Chapter 6: Isleen

          Haru was gentle with my hair. He was patient me when I asked him of the white bubbles that was coming from my hair when he pours strange syrup on it. He explained everything as he did it in a strangely soothing voice, “I’m washing your hair with shampoo, Kanon. It’ll make your hair shiny and it’ll make it untangle.”
          He took a towel and ruffled my hair in it. The he brought out the machine he called a blow-dryer. I made faces as it blew my hair. Haru clarified, “This will make your hair less wet. We have to dry it, so it will look better, and it doesn’t bother you.”
          Then he took the brush and combed it through my hair. I have to say it was the most pleasing part of it all. He spoke to me while he brushed my hair. He told me about how I looked to him. He asked me if I could see myself in the mirror, and I answered no to that. He told me about the shine of my hair and the blankness of my eyes. The pale of my skin and the slender limbs that moved in a refined style.
          He smiled when he was done, running his fingers through my hair quite easily. “All done.”
          “How does my hair look now?” I asked timidly and he smiled widely in response.
          “Quite stunning, if I do say so myself,” he responded. He blinked, looking at the tub again. “Take your bath, Kanon. When you’re done, change back into your clothes. Even if you don’t see me back, stay in this room.”
          “You’re leaving?”
          “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.” I frowned, looking at him roll up his sleeves. “Don’t get angry. I promise I won’t leave you again today.” After another minutes of his encouragement, I finally agreed to it. “I’ll be right back,” he called, closing the door behind him. “And remember to use your bathing cap!”
          I picked up the bathing cap and placed it on my head as I stripped out of the clothes. Turning on the tap, I watched the water, steaming run. There was something oddly soothing about the warm water. I sunk into, it letting my body be warmed by it. According to him, I liked to soak in it for quite a while. I suppose it took me to better times when I was in it.
          I lathered my body in soap, scrubbing my skin to my best ability. It was good to be clean. The fairies had said so and so had Haru. It felt good to be clean, and I missed the soft smell of soap.

          After spreading the oil, which Haru called lotion, all over my body, and clothing myself, I jumped onto the bed, waiting patiently for Haru’s return. It was so silent, and I begged to hear his voice again.
          When the knob on the door started to shake, I braced myself. Haru walked in and I jumped my feet, hugging him tight. “You’re back!”
          “Y-Yeah. Could you let go? You’re kind of suffocating me,” he said, and I released him. It was then I noticed the bags in his hands. “What are those?”
          His face went red. “Clothes. For you, Kanon… I thought that you might want your own clothes instead of wearing mine.” I smiled, excitedly, rummaging through the clothes. There were all sorts of clothes in there and he listed them for me. Shirts. Skirts. Jeans. Pants. Sneakers and sandals. He had hair accessories that he said were difficult to put on. But his face flushed every time, I asked him about what he called underwear. “Okay,” he said. “Try out some clothes, and I’ll see how they look on you. Remember,” he called, pushing me towards the bathroom with the clothes. “Underwear and then the other clothes!”

          In the end, Haru helped me with the underwear called a bra. He was very reluctant, and he later explained that usually boys weren’t accustomed to seeing or helping girls with wearing it. I didn’t need further help, and he explained how to wear the bra, so I was fine. I tried out clothes after clothes, and each outfit, Haru approved of in a similar fashion. Flushing red and then giving an approving nod, avoiding my eyes.
          When I chose the outfit that I liked best, he sat down on the bed, and I sat before him, as he started to talk again. He spoke a lot about places that I had yet to see. He spoke about water that was so large that planes were needed to cross. Water that was so wide the only way to get to the other side was to take a floating vessel by the name of a boat. He told me about places were loose rocks, as tiny as grass of dirt, piled up in mountains and where animals called camels and plants called cactuses lived. He spoke of places that living things could not live due to cold weather. The snow. The ice. The sleet. The winds.
          I told him about the visitors. How handsomely evil the incubuses were. How beautiful the mermaids were. How wonderfully the undine sang and the graceful flight of the Pegasus. The terrifying faces of the griffins. The swift gallop of a centaur. Each story and creature I mention had him more and more interested. Each moment, he got more interested in my stories, the more interested I got in him.
          Despite our constant conversation, we knew nothing of what we were. We knew about ourselves. He knew of my history and I knew of his world. We had no idea why could communicate with the things we do. We had no idea why we could communicate with each other.