Between Heaven And Earth 1/?
fate
The room was white, big and spacious. Light illuminated through the big windows, located near the ceiling and filled the room with a warm glow. The room was rather empty, apart from a sofa, a table and it's chairs and a big silver cage in which 2 white pigeons had found their home.
In the farthest corner sat a young woman, not older than 17 years old. Her eyes dull, flipping through hundreds of documents with the same determined look in her eyes as if she didn't already had flipped through hundreds of thousands of them. She had tight her half long brown hair back into a ponytail, and muttered incoherent words to herself as she pushed aside everything that wasn't eligible for the job.
On the sofa sat another woman, her long brown hair fell as a frame along side her face. Her light eyes traced the document in her hands, but after not finding what she was looking for she threw the document away to a place where a quite big stack was forming now. She massaged the sides of her head for a bit, after which she grabbed another document and started reading it thoroughly, the job had to get done. The sooner the better.
In the middle of a room was the last lady. The oldest of them, a small woman with long reddish brown hair simply stood there. Her job was already done, and now she was waiting for her subordinates. She looked up, and tried to catch glances from the outside world, but knew it had no use. The windows were too high, she was too short. All she saw was the white from the room, and the slightly pink faces of the other girls. Because there was nothing else she had to see. She was locked up in this white prison, serving fate.
When she turned around again her two subordinates were behind her, both of them holding a white piece of paper with 4 names scribbled on it. The older of the two smiles, pushed her glasses back on her nose and patted the oldest of the trio on her back.
"Emura-sama. It's time."
She nodded, looked at the youngest who simply nodded back. It meant it was time indeed.
Soon the world would regain it's balance, but first the Elements had to come together. It had been their goal for years to find these particular Elements, flipping through birth registers, observing documents and using powers that were neither human nor God-like. Emura Kiki hoped everything would settle soon, and that the fusing of Elements would go prosperous. It would mean she could finally be released from this prison and see for herself what was behind these white walls.
Kagamito Rhea, the youngest of the group was the first on to get a hold of one of the pigeons, and gently she adjusted the piece of papers with the 4 names on it on the little creatures paw.
It stared at her with a certain look in its eyes, one that seemed to understand what she was doing. And maybe it did. Rhea didn't knew, but she did know that for a few hours the fate of the world was adjusted on this little fellows paw. She turned towards the oldest of the trio who whispered a name to the creature, and without further notice, it flew away.
In the mean while, Hiro Kasumi struggled with her own pigeon who seemed to be a little bit too enthusiastic for his little flight and moved around while the girl tried to adjust her own piece of paper to his paw. When it was done, also this pigeon got directed to the oldest of 3.
Kiki took a deep breath, it was now or never. Freedom was close, so close she could taste it. And with a raspy voice she whispered,
'Takada Haru'
--
Everyone in the village was in a rush, hurrying to towns square. Everyone except for 17 year old Takada Haru. The news had spread a white pigeon had landed there and truthfully, she couldn't be bothered with it. There were lots of pigeons on that particular square. What could be so special about this one?
Walking in her own pace, going her own path she made her way through the almost abandoned streets of the small town. Everyone was probably at that stupid fest. Watching a bird. Idiots.
She huffed at the stupidity of her fellow villagers and hummed a soft melody which sounds got taken away with the wind. The sun shined pleasantly upon her which enlightened her mood for the slightest bit. Her mood however peeked when she finally arrived at the place she wanted to be.
Smoke cringled out of the small chimney on top of the little cottage in front of her, indicating that he grandmother was most likely still at home. Not effected by the rush of the rest of the village. It was typical like her grandmother and softly she knocked on the rather small door. And a soft sweet voice greeted her from the other side, "Haru, dear. Come in."
With a smile she opened up the door which revealed her grandmother and with that, her only remaining family member. The woman was old, in her eighties, but with a gentle face, a face that told the story of a woman who had been gorgeous in her younger years but just had gotten older with years. Haru loved her with all her heart because even though her age was a disadvantage the older lady had took her in like a daughter after her parents had died.
How many times she had cried in the arms of the hopeless old lady, wailing that life wasn't fair when it took her parents away from her, and the times that the same old lady had comforted her and had cheered her up, she didn't know. But she was her grandmother thankful for it. Because it had made her the person who she was now, still with a slightly dark aura, but a better view on life.
"Good afternoon obaa-chan," Haru smiled as she closed the door behind her. The older woman was about to answer when the someone else knocked on the door. Rough, loud, unfriendly.
The young hesitated, but when she earned a nod from her grandmother she opened the door, allowing her to take a peek to those who stood in front of it.
"Takada Haru?"
She didn't answer, just plainly nodded, something that earned her to be jerked out of the small house.
"Haru?!" her grandmother tried to get up but due her age she was too slow to reach her only grandchild and the door got slammed into the poor womans face and being blocked by several men so there was no chance that at her age could be able to open it.
Before the girl knew what happened to her, before she could yell, before she could struggle at the firm grip that was holding her and even before she could scream for her grandmother, rudely someone pushed a bunch of feathers against her skin. She looked down and saw it was the white pigeon. She opened up her mouth to speak, but the arms around her weren't there anymore, neither was her grandmothers cottage.
It seemed like she was transported to another kind of world in which she got nearly blinded by a white light. She looked around, and discovered that she was in a room.
The room was white, big and spacious. Light illuminated through the big windows, located near the ceiling and filled the room with a warm glow. The room was rather empty, apart from a sofa, a table and it's chairs and a big silver cage, it was empty.
There were 3 young woman, not much older than she was. She ran up to them, screaming, crying but mostly panicking. Where was she? Why was she here? When could she get back? What had she done wrong? She wanted to know.
However, her cries seem to die in space, before they could reach the 3 tall standing white dressed woman, whom she seemed unable to touch.
The oldest one clacked her tongue. "This is not the way a Heaven should behave. Get a grip of yourself Takada Haru. You are embarrassing your ancestors."
She looked up, her dark eyes filled with their, all of a sudden feeling just as powerless as when she just had heard that her parents had died. She didn't care about her ancestors, but did tried to get a grip of herself. She wasn't the type to overreact, but something made her feel so helpless, small and desperate.
"A-a, Heaven?" she finally managed to breath out without feeling like the words needed to be yelled out of her, and for the first time her words seemed to reach the 3 figures in front of her.
A girl with long brown her nodded, "you know the myth between Heaven and Earth do you?"
The girl slowly nodded, everyone knew the myth between Heaven and Earth, but wasn't that just a fairy tale? A story made up by older people to explain the bad things that happened in the world, and to blame someone in times things didn't go all that well.
"You are Heaven. You are chosen to pick up the 4 female Elements and bring them to their male counterparts where you will meet Earth." The visible youngest for the group said.
Haru shook her head, "I-I can't. My grandmother. She won't allow me. I can't go away. I need to stay with her."
There was a hidden darkness in the oldest eyes as she eyed the younger girl now kneeling in front of her. This girl was trying to mess with the faint chance she had for freedom? No. Kiki wanted to see the forest, the sky and the grass. She wanted to get dirty because of the mud and wash herself in the river. And she wanted to do it together with Rhea and Kasumi. But before their invisible chains would be cleared, they first had to make sure the Elements properly fused.
Thus she hissed at the kneeling girl, "you have a choice Takada Haru. Either you go, and leave your grandmother behind like the myth tells you to, our we'll pick the only other remaining decadent from the previous Heaven. Your grandmother herself. Do you really want that old lady to make the trip through the mountains, searching for something that could take God knows how long to find?"
The room went quiet, the only sounds that were heard were the silent sobs of a desperate Haru who tried to figure out what to do.
First she had to get herself together. She knew the duties Heaven had. And she also knew that once Heaven left on her journey she never came back again. It was a cruel fate warped in a beautiful package. Because Heavens were known as wise and beautiful woman who restored the balance between worlds together with her fellow elements.
She got a hold of herself and slowly took a stance. "I will go. Leave my grandmother alone." Her words sounded fierce but her eyes told a different story.
Now for the first time Kiki smiled at her. "Thank you Heaven-sama. We'll prepare your trip so you can head out as soon as possible."
And with that the 3 females turn around and started walking away from her.
"W-Wait! W-What about my grandmother? Can I at least bit her goodbye?"
Without stopping, nor turning around an answer was given, "no need to. It would only make it harder for the both of you if you faced her once again. We'll notify her of your duty. She'll understand."
And with that the 3 women left her alone, as Haru fell apart again and started sobbing heavily. Life was cruel. No. Fate was.
--
Dressed in nothing but a white dress she made her way towards the first village. The first Element and the first step in her task to bring balance to the world.
Her dark eyes were dull and lifeless. Her face showed no emotion. Her steps short and fast. A white pigeon led her the way. She picked up a little white paper with 4 names scribbled on it from her pocket. The first name.
Kawashiki Yamega.
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I'll be updating with chapter soon because I intentionally wanted 1 and 2 to be one chapter, but since this one already reached over 2000 words I thought it would be best to update like this. I hope you guys enjoyed it thus far, and will keep following the story!
Comments are always welcomed n_n