Name: 'The Truth about Ami: Revelations', chapter 7. Author: Cony. E-mail: rubi@riemann.mat.puc.cl Rated: PG-13. Stuff at bottom!. * * * * * * * * * * * * * Runing in between dog's hounds and bird's flocks, I move as swiftly as the wind. Never faltering a step, never stopping to check, I move only by instinct . . . as I've done hundreds of times before. The night welcomes me . . . the stars light my path . . . everyone helps me in my quest. I feel as if everyone and everything was helping me, as if what I was doing was absolutly right. And it is. As I get near the south district of Tokyo, where Hiro-chan lives, I only speed up. There . . . the tall building . . . with the red light on top of it . . . I land on it's rooftop, checking for viewers. Yet, no one is to be seen. Again, who would be at 12 o' clock in the night?. The look at my clock makes me surprised. So much time has gone by already?. And I that thought only a couple of hours had passed . . . sighging softly, I shake my head, and clear it from any weird thoughts. I must be totally focused on what I'm about to. I walk up to the edge of the building, and look down. Ten stories down, is Hiro-chan's apartment. And 35 floors below, the ground. I shiver unconsciously. Will I still remember how to do this?. A fall is not on my list for Christmas wishes. Well, here goes nothing. I jump onto the very brink of the corner, and breathe deeply. As the wind rustles my clothes, I calculate where I must land. Just below Hiroshi's balcony, there's a flag pole . . . a very thin one if I may say. Praying to the Lord it will be able to handle my weight, I hold my breath, and jump. My hands inmediatly dart forward, preparing themselves for the hard hit it means to grab onto something on a free fall. Closer . . . closer . . . wind around me . . . air impulsing me . . . gravity pulling me . . . for a split moment, I see I'm not going to make it. I jumped too far away . . . I should've moved . . . oh, Gods, no!. But then, reflexes kick in. Almost unbeknownst to me, my body makes a twist in mid air . . . one the circus people may find hard to do. As I turn and turn like a falling ballerina, I see it again. Shinning, inviting me to hold onto it . . . I stretch my arms as far as they can go, and my fingers call for the metal pole to be inside them . . . CLANG!. With a loud sound, my hands grab onto it, and keep me from falling even more. I gasp, as every bit of air is driven out of my lungs . . . I didn't remember the hit was so sudden and harsh . . . no wonder I never liked doing this!. For some miliseconds, I just stay there, reveling in the feeling of sudden in-gravity. With meters and meters of nothing but empty air below me, I can't help but feel a little dizzy. I've never been afraid of heights, but never have loved them dearly either. When I'm sure me and my stomach have come to an agreement, I tense my grasp on the flag pole. It creaks under my weight, yet resists. Just a little bit more, I think. I start rocking myself, forward and back . . . over and over again, until I can gather enough kinetic energy to do what I want. When I'm on the farthest point I can get from the pole without letting it go, I flip over, and twist again, landing on top of it, my feet holding me straight. The thin pole creaks again, this time, harder than before. Releasing my hold on the antenna-like thing, I end up only been sustained by my feet, which I pray remember how to avoid slipping on a situation like this. . . thank God having clutz attacks isn't my specialty. I look upwards, and localise the point where I will be able to hold myself onto. Found and checked, I prepare to jump. I crouch, applying the littlest energy I can onto me, knowing the pole will break if I press too hard . . . and then, with just a flexion of my legs, I'm propelled into the air, my hands stretched again over me . . . closing my fingers over the cold metal of the handrail, I use the same impulse of the jump to harden my hands and make them twist around, turning me at the same time up and over it. With a soft thud, I land on Hiroshi's balcony. I look down, and brush a little sweat from my forehead. That was one hell of a ride . . . as I look down, I see the waving pole, still trembling by the weight it had to handle. Sighging in relief, I turn around, and prepare to enter his apartment. Suddenly, chill goes up and down my spine. I can't pinpoint why, but my instinct tells me I shouldn't go in . . . why?. Hiro-chan's apartment has always been a place for solace . . . of cozy and good memories of us together . . . why am I so scared then?. Goosebumps makes me shiver, as the darkness greets me when I open the glass sliding door. It slides off noiselessly. In any other situation that would be fine, yet how I long to hear a noise . . . a sound . . . a normal sound that will tell me everything's fine. Yet my hopes go sailing down the window, as nothing happens. Not a cricket . . . not even a bird. Nothing. Just silence. As I enter quickly, I notice this isn't just silence. It's emptyness. There's virtually no one inside . . . not even a bacteria. Not even an ant. The place is empty and void . . . why?. This is *certainly* not normal. It's as if something had just . . . brushed away every figment of life existing in here. Why?. Why is this normal looking apartment totally lifeless?. When my eyes get used to the darkness, I understand why. I gasp, and my eyes widen in total shock . . . it's as if small tornado had just passed through here!. Chaos. That's the only way I can define this. Everything's on the floor, no a single painting on the walls. Books, pages, couches, plates . . . everything's just casually thrown in the middle of the room, as if put there on porpouse. The moonlight shines through the window, allowing me to see better. My eyes can clearly make more things out on the floor . . . I turn on the lights, and again, gasp as I see what a mess this place is. My hand slowly slides down the wall, but I don't register it. My eyes are glued to that pile of things, and I can start identifying more stuff. I walk closely, and bend down to grab a pice of paper. I read: ' . . . so, the littlest space left in between every wormhole shall be deduced to be an internal universe, in which life may exist. This theory proves that we were once part of a black hole, as you can see below . . .". And then, an amount of formulas, graphics and calculus . . . it's a piece of Hiro-chan's essay for University!. He showed it to me just some days ago . . . I pick another sheet up, and stare at it blankly . . . it's part of a drawing. I can see . . . someone . . . resting on a couch . . . but the face is missing . . . all I can say is that it's a young person, wearing a dress . . . Hiro-chan's an excellent artist, if you haven't noticed it yet. With just a paper and a pencil, he can draw pictures that would make Van Gogh cringe in fear . . . he's able to capture the escense of the scene, and reproduce it in the paper . . . he has drawn me several times, yet those papers were lost when we left the agency. I carefully fold the piece of paper, and stuff it inside my pocket. I continue walking . . . just some meters away from there, there's something else . . . a frame. A photo frame. I recognize it. I gave it to Hiroshi little after we got together again, with a pictuer of us both in it . . . The strangest thing, is that it's empty. The glass is broken to pieces, yet the photo is nowhere to be seen. I shrug the uneasy feeling that settles upon my heart . . . probably blown away by whomever did this. Yet, as my eyes go upwards, I can see something stuck into the wall. And holding it in its place, a knife. "No . . .", I whisper, as something horrible occurs to me. I ran up to the spot in the wall, and stare closely at the thing. It's . . . it's . . . it's the photo!. The missing picture!. What happened?. The knife is embedded right into Hiroshi's chest . . . and, I'm nowhere to be seen. The part where I appeared, which was just by his side, is cut. It was shredded away!. I just look at it, without moving for a couple of minutes. Who in the name of Mercury can hate Hiroshi so much to do this?. The knife was clearly stuck in there with anger, as I can conclude by how deep the blade is set into the wall. But where am I, again?. Why would someone want to cut me off a picture?. It's so silly!. I blink several times, wondering if this isn't just an illusion. I look around expecting this scene to melt away . . . yet it doesn't. This is real, I tell myself. I enter Hiro-chan's bedroom, still hoping to see something that will tell me what happened. But, that room is in the same state the living room is . . . a total chaos. The sheets are wrinkled and crammed into a ball on one coner of the room, as if thrown there on purpouse. The broken windows, mirror and lamps, tell me the same one who messed with the rest of the apartment was there too. Sadness settles upon my heart . . . what will happen if I never find him?. This is how my lfie will look like, a complete and total disaster. I feel as grief starts taking control, and just sit on the bed. My hands rest on the one sheet that's left . . . a comforting soft warmth under my trembling fingers. Slowly, I begin to feel tired. Very tired. My eyes start closing, and I begin to doze off . . . I never realised I was *this* tired . . . my endurance must be slipping off . . . I try to shake off this sleepness falling down on me, yet I can't. Why is it that the room seems to spin?. I blink several times, yet my eye lashes refuse to stay up . . . just a little nap . . . what's wrong with taking one?. Hiro-chan can wait till tomorrow . . . WAIT A SEC'!. Hiroshi's in danger, probably his life is on the table, and all I can think of, is sleeping?. I stand up quickly, brushing my eyes. I never thought I could be so weak . . . and why did I think that?. I would never even dream of thinking that . . . then why?. "Gonna have to be the hard way", says a voice. I gasp, and turn around. As soon as I do, all I can see is a heavy shadow falling over me, and that's the best I can do before my scream is cut short inside my throat. The sleepy mood I'm still in, and the sudden heavyness of my limbs prevent from doing anything. I just watch helplessly as everything turns dark, and I'm enveloped by blackness, before loosing consciousness . . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AN: this part is told from Takesono Miyagi's POV. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As we finally arrive where we belong, the first thing I do is call for a cage to appear. Over two meters tall, and seven feet wide, a wide box of bars materialises in front of me. I smile, and look down at the fainted girl in my arms. As her head dangles over my arm, I watch as her chest raises and falls rythmically . . . good. Even in this state of total unconciousness, she's controlling her metabolism . . . very good sign. I enter the cell, and carefully place her down. She groans softly, yet doesn't wake up. I arrange her head so that is won't hurt when she wakes up. For a moment, I'm tempted to kiss her . . . but I hold my horses. She will probably kill me . . . first work, then play. I need to destroy her barriers bfore trying anything. And for what I know, that's one task that will prove being difficult to accomplish. I leave the cell, and with just a thought, lock and secure the door. A faint glow surrounds the lock, and I know she won't be able to break free no matter how hard she tries. Then, I sit on the stairs next to her place of being. With nothing else to do, I look at her. While her eyes are closed, and she isn't moving, I know how beautiful she is. By my last victim's memories, I know she's a total beauty, with a body every guy would die for. And not only that. She's got the intelligence, the courage, the strengh and the heart . . . what else can I ask for?. She's the perfect companion. The one I've been looking for. Strong, brave, smart . . . and someone who has seen enough in life to not to freak out when she sees my true nature. I smile. Wasn't it for this strange powers, I could've had a mate long ago . . . but there's no one that could understand what I do. They would probably tell me I'm a murderer and cold blood killer . . . how can I make them understand they're wrong?. Inside of me there's much more than just my looks. I've got a heart too . . . yet what I'm missing is a soul. And I need to get one, by all the means I can. And the best way to do it, is to trade it for wishes. My powers are strong enough to grant almost every wish you could think of . . . but I can't cure my own illness. I can't create souls . . . so I need to take them from others. But I never do it without first giving that person his most wanted desire. And now, as the soul of the former being Inoue Hiroshi beats inside of me, I again feel a ting of atraction towards this girl . . . their link is far strongest than everything I've ever encountered. Even now that Hiroshi's soul is out of his body, and inside of mine, it still reacts to the presence of this one . . . how was her name again?. Suiseki Reiko . . . hmm, nice name. Fits with her . . . as I look at her more directly, she turns in her sleep, and snuggles deeper into the non-existant companion she dreams she's with . . . Curiosity kicks in, and I let tendrils of magic fly towards her. They softly wrap themselves around her body, letting me into her. I begin probing her mind with my own. While asleep, the human mind is the most weak of them all. I travel within the depth of Reiko's brain, watching as doors and doors of memories appear before me. Pretty interesting mind we've got in here . . . so many contradictory feelings . . . friendship . . . love . . . pain . . . suffering . . . rebellion . . . the deeper I go, the more I find. It's as if I was peeling a fruit . . . the more I take off, the better it is under it. I brush past the memories of old times, knowing them all already. Hiroshi's mind was a very rich one, and provided me with vital information. When I arrive at the newest parts, I begin to pay more attention. There, a blonde girl . . . giggling all along, her hair in a funny hairdo . . . Usagi-chan, it reads beneath the picture. Next to her, a smiling and very misterious looking raven haired girl . . . Rei-chan. Mako-chan, Mina-chan, Mamoru-san . . a bit farther, yet still very close to the rest, three other pictures stand. This ones are different. The perception is altered . . . as if Reiko was confused about them . . . they're kinda blurred, and shifting even as I look at them. Setsuna-chan, Michiru-chan, Haruka-chan . . . seems it wasn't too long ago that her liking for them changed in a very drastic manner. What could've affected her relationship with this three girls so badly that even her mind picture is being altered?. I feel her awakening . . . retreating quickly, I let my magic craddle her inside it's embrace once more before completely releasing her, and returning to my own body. And there, I see as she stirs again. She groans softly, and her hand goes up to her forehead, to brush it off some imaginary sweat. But, I can't let her wake up yet. There's plenty of thinking I need to do before letting her wake. So, I slowly stretch my fingers, and whisper: "Hush, little one. Sleep. You're safe now". Again, magical tendrils of energy wove themselves in between my fingers, before lashing forward, and sticking on her head. She seems to stiffen for a moment, and I can feel her resisting this mind invation . . . Hmm, she's as strong as Hiroshi, yet I know how to overpower her. I just let more energy into the tendrils, and soon she's defeated. She slumps down again, her eyes completely closed, and her breathing shallow, as she re-starts her journey through dream world . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Gods, where am I?. What's this?. Under me, I can feel something cold . . . what's this place?. I groan, and try to open my eyes, yet nothing happens. My body refuses to obey me. I feel dizzy . . . very weird . . . as if I had just been injected with morphine or something . . . a wave of nausea hits me, and I must use all my willpower to stop my stomach from doing something very disgusting. My hand raises up to my forehead, and as I touch it, I almost gasp. It's hot!. It's almost boiling!. As I am about to try and stand up, I hear a very, very faint voice, off in the distance: "Hush little one. Sleep. You're safe now". That voice . . . that voice . . . where have I heard it before?. The necks on the back of my hair stiffen, as I feel something approaching me. What is it?. It isn't human . . . or even corporeal . . . I bit my teeth in surprise when something ( actually four something's) stick onto each side of my temples. I struggle to pull them off, but they just remain there, as if glued. For the first instant, nothing happens. I'm beginning to think this was all a dream, when unconsciousness starts falling upon me again. I fight it, by pumping more and more blood into my brain. I even increase my breathing, determined not to let this 'thing' beat me. I seem to be winning . . . almost there . . . suddenly, the things get even more powerful, and it hurts now when I try to fight it back. I groan, as dizzyness and the fainting symptoms begin again. Please, no!. yet, there's nothing I can do. As darkness settles on me again, I suddenly remember: That's the same voice I heard on Hiro-chan's apartment! . . . . . To be continued . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Author notes: Captain's binnacle: through our dangerous journey through the inmensity of space, we have come across some strange and old fashined files. They seem to follow some sort of code and order, though we still don't know what it is. I have asked Spock to decode them, and he has informed they are a story of some sorts. Weird, considering they were written on 1999, the age of Darkness for humanity. The last entry as for now is chapter 7, who ends with an exclamation. What a bad grammar did our ancestors have. I still don't understand the meaning of this, but as we step closer to the planet Earth, maybe some wise informants can get what this means. Perhaps it was only a girl's free time production . . . (somewhere in South, South, very South America a teenaged girl sneezes loudly). Ever since I returned fom my trip to that lovely house, I've been writing this. If you wanna know more about my trip just ask me, and I'll tell you on my next author's notes. Well, getting serious now, the climax is here!. Don't you see?. Reiko finally met Miyagi . . . and now we will know what his intentions are. I will warn you now for the next chapters: they are full of violence (or as much as I can write, I always said I'm not an action writer), so, brace yourself!. Disclaimer: SM doesn't belong to me. Naoko Takeuchi and other companies own her and her friends, and lovers, and parents, and pets, and trademark gestures, and clothes, and henshi pens, and powers, and enemies, and . . . you get the point. Ja ne, Cony.