"Aimi, your dad is looking for you," urged Kiyomi, "He needs help with the noodle cart."
Oh, how Emika had longed to hear once again his deep and rich voice!
"I just met a friend…" Then Aimi lifted up the calico cat into her arms. But of course Kiyomi had seen the cat who hid behind Aimi's legs, shaking like the last winter leaf.
"Isn't this cat the prettiest cat you had ever seen, Kiyomi?" she smiled, and two dimples appeared on her cheeks.
He agreed with a nod, but, this cat looked so stiff and lifeless, with big still eyes latching onto him with a piercing but blank gaze.
"Mmm... he looks grumpy, or perhaps sick."
"Look... It's a she!" she giggled girlishly as she exposed the cat lower tummy.
Emika felt too muddled to keep track of her thoughts. Nothing registered on her face, not even the gathering anger for the humiliation of having her gender displayed.
Only one thought knocked on her skull—run away from him! But she could not move, she could not breathe!
Her agitated heart was beating faster... Thump, thump, thump... with thunderous, booming, roaring beats!
[Can they hear it?]
"And she is very clever too!" continued Aimi cheerfully. "Let me show you a trick!"
Aimi gently put the cat down:
"Little kitty, are you hungry?"
Kiyomi's curious gaze swept across the cat, and she still looked like a stuffed animal.
"Mmm... Aimi, she really looks unwell. Why is she so lethargic? Is she a stray cat?"
He stretched his hand out to pat the feline small face. This action took Emika by surprise, and as soon as she felt his warm touch, a jolt of electricity made her whole body finally wake up from her deathlike state, and she unintentionally swung a paw at his hand, scratching him.
Upset by what she did, she immediately scampered, then hid; not too far, close enough to spy on him from afar.
… …
Emika had followed him from the bustling, colourful and well-lit streets to a narrow black-stoned path wherein the clear gleam of midnight shone down on them and guided their steps.
She had sacrificed so much to cross between worlds. Travelled for so long to search for him. Could this long awaiting hope of redemption be finally so close at hand?
She changed back into her human form. Heart wounded and deserted, she would face him beneath the sky full of stars. There was simply no escape. Whilst deep in despair, she had not yet felt her life drained away by hopelessness, but less resistant to pain were her ever-flowing tears.
Before Kiyomi, along this path, suddenly sped a shadow, then a woman sidled up to him. With a sort of startled shock, he looked to the right, he looked to the left; and observed no other soul, save them, standing in the moonlit alleyway.
Their eyes met, and Emika suddenly felt her resolution wavering, and knew that the longer she stayed silence, the more the fear would increase.
She felt her body going soft. What should she do? How could she lose her nerves like that?
Kiyomi was ill at ease, for there was something in the woman's expression—though he did not understand what it was—that filled him with a vague wariness.
He squeezed out a small smile and a prodding glance, asking quietly, "Young Miss, are you alright?"
He widened his long almond-shaped eyes a little bit more, and looked at her curiously. His sharp and penetrating gaze awaited a response. He noticed how frail her figure was and the pale complexion of a drifting ghost. Nevertheless, she was a striking looking woman with a childlike appeal.
His eyebrows furrowed. "Are you lost?"
Her begonia red lips quivered but still remained silent. Her fingers gripped tightly on the silk of her dress, and he wasn't close enough to spot her knuckles drained of their colour.
Her unwavering gaze unsettled him. For the third time he addressed her: "Young Miss, are you alright?"
Still, there was no response.
His eyes shouted what his polite tone didn't dare to express—a dash of annoyance and a soupçon of impatience.
Emika could no longer cope with the intensity of his gaze, and hastily lowered her eyes. As she averted her head, Kiyomi caught sight of an ornamental hairpin—a moss-in-snow jade hairpin.
The sight of that hairpin shaken him. Underneath the faint moonbeams, could it be that his eyes were playing a trick on him?
Straining his eyes through the dim light, he recognised the exquisite and opulent rare piece of translucent icy white jade with bright green veining. The hairpin had a delicate and intricate one sided dragon's face carving on it with a vibrant red spinel stone for the eye.
He felt a vivid sense of apprehension while he glanced at it. And at once he fancied that he saw his own royal hairpin; but when he closed his eyes for an instant and looked again, the hairpin was gone. Of course he had imagined it, the hairpin had been lost some years ago.
The look of tension on his face was palpable, which sent a shiver through Emika. However, his tension was a brief passing feeling quickly replaced with growing frustration—what is wrong with this woman? Is she mute? Why is she staring at me so rudely? Have we met before?
"Miss, do you know me?"
"I have been three whole days without eating…" she said abruptly.
Following these unexpected words, sad tears trickled down her cheek. She didn't have to wonder any longer, because she had now the sad confirmation that the Mind Seal had erased every bit of the memories of their past together; but without this seal, His Second Highness would have be ablaze with fury, and in all certainty harm her.
Kiyomi was flabbergasted—is she seriously begging for money? Since the first glance, it had not escape his notice how she looked elegant and cultured in appearance donned with the finest silk brocade. Without a doubt, she was a person of rank and breeding.
The stars had now run away. A lonely moon sick and pale with grief was shining down at them. Cold raindrops started to weep on the gloomy cobblestones.
Finally, Kiyomi closed the remaining distance between them. Panic rose in Emika's heart. She stood erect, gaping, suffocating, rising as from a long submersion into the boundless ocean.
She quickly moved away from him, turned around and with steps swift like the wind she hurried away. Free from hesitation Kiyomi strode across the cobbled street and snatched her wrist. As he tried to pull her towards him, she gave a sharp yank and he was taken aback to see her running away as sprightly as a young stag.
She took a few quick turns into the narrow streets. Kiyomi was hot on her heels, hitting the water with a mighty splash. He could easily outrun the young woman, but he worried he might frighten her.
"Miss, please… ! I will not harm you... ! Wait!"
She rounded a corner, and she was directly in his line of sight when he had followed her into this dead-end alley.
Kiyomi stood motionless and agape for a long minute. She had disappeared, as if she had vaporized into thin air. He searched around, his sleeves continuously wiping off the rain in his eyes, but there was nowhere to hide and no way out.
The rain was still pelting down—he hated the summer showers, sometimes they were a prelude to thunderstorms. Eager to run back home, he was stopped in his stride by a sudden quick sharp scratch and quickly turned around to find before him a small ball of wet fur.
Head hung low, soaked to the bone, the shivering cat crawled inside a box to use as a shelter. Curled up, nose tucked under the tail, the poor thing meowed piteously.
Kiyomi gently picked up the cat, "Are you not the pretty kitty who scratched me earlier?" And he cradled her in his arms.
As he quickly ran back home, he promised the cat some grilled fish.
Emika was once more in the warmth of his protective embrace. In the euphoric moments after she breathed in once again his scent—the refreshing and sweet smell of bamboo after rainfall—which brought back memories of his love; Emika remembered her despair, her sin, their past, that night...
That night long ago, as the rainstorms soaked the ground, he should have turned away instead of foolishly waiting for her!
Why did he stubbornly wait for her? Their life was now drenched in the colours of both love and blood.
That ill-fated night, long ago...