Star Gazing (Tenshu)

[madelyn]

Her first night. Here it was cold chilly to say the least the girl sitting on the stone wall of the balcony looked up at the sky. She wasn't tired, never seemed to be anymore but what was more was that she was used to watching the stars.

It was here on this beautiful night her flute by her side in it's case a plain black case as she gaze up into the night. Her arms wrapped around her abnormally thin body her blonde hair was loose this night the breeze making it float on the air. She was a quiet girl. Seeming even quieter than most as nothing she did made noise at all most here had ignored her so far not really seeing her at all and she didn't mind. She preferred to not have too many people noticing her. Her blue eyes opened and closed as she blinked watching the stars her neck craned to look up.

It was in the stars she felt safe, in the stars she felt home, the only home she had ever really had. Stars didn't hurt her didn't crush her dreams and kill her family. Stars were her only friends and her only family it was here she belonged and here she sat underneath the familiar glow of the small points of light above.

[Fukushuu no Mumei]

(((I noticed you forgot to put that we were on the blacony. No matter, I'll fit it in))).

~There's always a spot where a person can see another person through a star. There are two stars for every person. One that is created when someone is born, and another that dies when the soul is severed from the body. However, mages that work outside the system of stars, like Tenshu, defy the celestial heavens. Tenshu defies the order of the stars, in which case he defies the children of the sun and moon, not to defy the sun and moon essentially. Tenshu puts souls back in bodies, two that don't match don't have their two stars. Without a star of death, no one knows what happens, because everyone has made it past that stage. Without a star of death, once the soul is severed from the body, it must take someone else's star. In which case, someone else must die for the second death of another. Two people must die for Tenshu's two previous deaths. Thousands have died, but but none were found. It still grasps his soul, and until he finds and kills them, he will be a kid with the memories of a grown man trapped in a depraved little boy's body.

On the balcony, no Kyoden. Kyoden was resting, in a manner of speaking. He went searching for a cemetery to see if any of the thousands of souls he posses in his body and armor would call to the graves. He would pay his respects so that he could take better control of the souls in him. If Kyoden's body dies, many stars will fall. If Tenshu's mission is to be completed, he only knows two of the possible outcomes. Stars will be a null and void passage for souls, in which they will no longer be created and destroyed through birth and death, or the bodies will call back to them and rot his body through until Kyoden, in his true form, dies.

As Tenshu walked alone on the balcony, he stopped, and went to the railing. Looking up at the stars, he couldn't help notice that all night, one star appealed to him the most. Could he have forgotten? The star drew out to his soul, as if someone were looking into it through the star. Tenshu didn't notice, but a quiet girl farther down the balcony was looking at the stars as well. She was too quiet, Tenshu could not hear her. He was still glaring into that star. He could not pierce its glow with the mask on. He took it off, but what could have controlled him to do this. In taking the mask off, the star went dim, and he could no longer see them. Everything was dark, as it was a thousand years ago when Tenshu died in a different body. This was the only thing that scared him, and he didn't like it, because it came to soon, or at all. Resuming his duty, putting the mask onto his face, the stars went into their normal light. He knew what taking the mask off would do, it would kill him, eventually something would, for its own reason. Now he could see perfectly through the mask. He glared at the one star again. He heard a voice of the star, he thought. All voices have a familiarized thought, and he put this voice to the girl further down the balcony. He had not heard the voice, but the association seemed right. This must be one of her stars. It must be that when a star and its soul are close, people are attracted to it. Tenshu didn't know, so he assumed until he found out. He thought it unimportant.

How good Tenshu's eyes were, he could not gaze into the soul of the girl down the balcony through her eyes, the easiest portal. Maybe he needed to be closer. It was just that he was curious about the girl, now that his attention had been attracted. He walked down at his normal pace, his arms on top each other in front of him wrapped in the sleeves of his kimono. She was so quiet, she must have heard him approach. He smiled. A real smile, not a fake hal smile that played with peoples' heads. "That's your star..." He rose his hand and pointed directly to the one he was talking about. If he was right, the star would be visible to everyone with its unusual glow. If he was wrong, maybe only he could see it for some reason. That doesn't make sense, so he disregarded the thought. Tenshu had no stars.~

-=}N{=-

[madelyn]

There was a boy.. no a man a MAN on the balcony with her as she sat staring at the stars. Her heart beat fast as she watched his every movement wondering if this masked individual would hurt her as men tended to. But she kept her face turned up to the sky and soon she saw that he was gazing up at the night sky as well. She relaxed only slightly but not much her entire body was tense waiting for the man to hit her, abuse her, beat her. It's what she lived with and through during her life time so why would it be different now?

As long as he didn't move....

Oh God.. he moved....

He's coming over....

He's speaking.....

Oh God... there's his hand! He's raising his hand.

She ducked and winced away from him in fear waiting for the blow to come. She waited he was waiting she knew it, waiting for her to relax or drop her guard and then he would hit her. Why else would he have a mask? Why would he come over to her she was quiet she wasn't bothering anyone. Unless it was her silence that offended. She sighed inwardly and slowly opened one blue eyes and saw he was pointing to the star he was talking about.

She lifted her head her eyes never leaving the man with the white hair next to her. She had seen outfits like that in japanese movies but never on a real person. Swallowing hard she turned her gaze back to the sky but her eyes couldn't help but shoot back to him to see if he would hit her when her guard was dropped. She was used to it. It would hurt, of course, but she would live.

She always did.

To the boy next to her. A bit too close for comfort really but then again the fact he was out here with her was too close for comfort. She nodded to him to let him know she understood what he said but not what he meant. That was her star? She didn't get it. But then again she figured that most wouldn't. Or perhaps she was as stupid as her Uncle had always said she was and this was a simple concept she just didn't understand. Well ignorance was part of her life and getting beaten so she would take both.

Bruises healed,

they always did.

[Fukushuu no Mumei]

~"It'..." Tenshu's dark, heavy essence flowed out of the area. It was only there when his thoughts were mostly certain, but they were not. What just happened? Why did she duck away? He watched, as she just stood there at the edge of the balcony, protecting herself from, as he guessed, Tenshu. He wasn't suprised with himself, but he lowered his hand, and crossed them behind his back. "I'm sorry." He said, as if to end the conversation. Her puzzled look as she lowered her arms and rose her head meant atleast something to him. Was he supposed to hit her? No, it was his comment that got her. He only figured she knew what he was talking about, seeing as she was staring at her own star.

"I don't know if you can see it, but it seems to be pulsating. That star is yours. At birth, a star is created for that person, and one that already exists is given to that person, also." He paused just to see if she understood so far. "At death, the older of the two stars dies out, and releases the person's soul. I work with, in a sense, soul divining..." This wasn't quite a lie, but soul diving was another way of peering into the souls of others, playing with them, and using them for whatever purpose may be. "I know how souls work and extract information stored deep within them. Information quite familiar to the person." Now he remembered why he apologized. "My name is Tenshu..." he bowed. It's a pleasure, Miss..." He looked into her eyes, the clearest portal to the soul. He wanted to see if she had any memories of her name being said. He would only be able to extract that information if she had spoken it. Didn't she have a name? He couldn't find it. "...as I was saying, stars are the protector and guide of your soul. That star led me this way, towards you."

He took one step away and turned to the edge of the balcony. "May I ask, miss..." he turned his head and looked into her eyes once more. He dug deeper, and deeper trying to find something like a name. He found nothing, until he tried not to look away. He didn't find a memory, but he found fear. He found a fear so great, he couldn't match it with anything, he just suddenly became afraid. His eyes grew bigger and he couldn't shut them. He just couldn't see what was so fearful, just that it was horrifying. In all of his ideas, he thought back to 1,013 years ago, 13 years before first death. A horrible thought that he did not want to go into. It made him calm, though, because it was more of a fearful thought than what he saw in the girl's eyes. He could look away again. He looked back out to the sky. "I'm sorry, there was... something in my eye." He looked back to the girl, "May I ask, is something troubling you?"~

-=}N{=-

[madelyn]

This man, this boy did not hit her. He even appologized for raising his hand. She looked at him in disbelief. He stepped away from her giving her more space and her heart though pounding in her chest like a scared and terrified rabbit she began to calm only slightly as he stepped away from her. A safer distance but she had no doubts in her mind that he could close the distance rather quickly should he want to.

He began to explain the philosophy behind the stars in the sky. She had read this before but was never sure if she truly believed it. Did everyone have their very own star. Did a star really die when someone's soul left the world? She watched his face, or well his mask really she didn't like the mask. Somehow it seemed scary to her as if he was hiding his true self behind it. Unwilling to let the world see who he really was inside. But really she wore her own mask. Her mask was one of silence. No one had heard her voice since the age of five not even herself she did not talk to herself nor did she talk to anyone. She lived in a world where silence was strange but for her it was comforting her last hold on control.

It was hard for people to accept. She had not let her feelings go when her parents died they were still there deep down inside locked in a vault that no one knew the code to. Perhaps one day someone could unlock it but for now she was lost. She was living day to day learning to heal from other wounds but never from the biggest wound of them all.

He finished speaking about the stars and told her his name. Tenshu, if she was correct then it was Japanese. It was a nice name she thought but not one that would be uttered from her lips. But he seemed to be expecting her to say her own name. She nodded, but noticed that he seemed to stare at her as if trying to gleam some information from her. It was as if his very gaze was trying to penetrate into the soul she had long ago locked away.

She reached down into a small pouch that she carried with her mostly every where and took our a very small memo pad with a green cover. Flipping to the first and empty page she clicked the button on the top of her pen and wrote.

Madelyn

She wrote nothing else her fluid script only filling a part of one line on the very top of the page. Even with her paper and writing she was still a very silent girl. He asked her if something was troubling her and she almost smile. Troubling her? What in this world could possibly trouble a silent girl.

Beatings? Murder? Abuse?

[Fukushuu no Mumei]

~Tenshu saw as she wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Hm..." He smiled, a real smile. "Madelyn." He assumed she wouldn't speak, and he didn't want to make anything of it, but it was obvious that anyone who had spent a minute with her could notice. "I looked into your soul... I don't want to pry. I don't want to know what you're afraid of. You're shy. I used to be. It's not something I wanted. I eventually gained respect from people, but it was never how I wanted it." Tenshu could hear the sound of clanking metal off in the distance. He turned his head. "Hm..." Looking back at Madelyn, he leaned down. "I know you won't speak to me, or anyone. Still, you seem afraid of something, and I don't like it when people are afraid of something that can even scare me."

The sound of the clanking metal became louder. Tenshu was sure it was Kyoden walking back to the dorm. "I hear my room-mate, I should go. If you need someone to..." He cut off his sentence, he almost told her that he was someone she could talk to. "...if you ever want to speak, I'll be listening." He wrote on her memo pad a dorm number; 284 B. "You'll know where to find me." Tenshu smiled, and turned around, walking off into the distance. He slowly strided down the stairs of the blacony, catching up with Kyoden. They disappeared into the fog. Tenshu's thoughts were still unclear. A rare occurence today, he was devistated for the first time in 1,000 years.~

-=}N{=-