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Chapter 21b: The Return of A Love

Minako ran out of the palace at top speed. If she passed anyone along the way or if anyone had tried to go after her, she was totally unaware. She didn't want anymore pity. She didn't want reason or comfort. All she wanted was Yahara to come back. Although she knew that was an impossibility... So she had to settle for the next best thing... Solitude.

Minako was unsure as to where she was running, but she trusted her feet would take her to the right location. She wasn't crying, surprisingly enough, but she was hyperventilating and visibly freaked out. She half noticed that she had managed to run into the gardens, and she had a sneaking suspicion as to where she was headed.

Suddenly, she tripped over some root or other unseen object in her path. She cried out slightly and fell onto her hands and knees, pain shooting in to her wrists and all the way up her arms. Minako flinched in pain and bit her lip to keep from cursing. She felt her wrists begin to throb with an agonizing ache that was trivial to some of the injuries she had sustained before, but now it seemed to be magnified a hundred fold.

Minako opened her cornflower blue eyes and looked around. She quickly realized that her instincts had been correct and she had run to the exact same place she always seemed to end up at... The same bench where Yahara proposed to her.

Now Minako did start sobbing again. She folded her arms on top of the seat and put her head down and began weeping again. Painfully silent, choking sobs that she had become so accustomed to in these past few weeks. She looked over to her right and noticed that the roses she had planted next to the bench a few days after Yahara left were now in full bloom, having been aided by all of the magic radiating from the Ginzuishou. That just made her sob even harder and she quickly made herself look away.

'What is wrong with me?' Minako thought, 'That wasn't Yahara... I know that wasn't Yahara... but, why did I see that? The only other possibility is that I'm losing my mind... Even more than before...'

'Goddess, what if he really is dead? What if that was some kind of message sent from his dimension? What if I am as sane as I can possibly get and Yahara... Oh my goddess...'

Minako raised up her head a little but continued to stare at the stone bench and whispered, "Goddess... Yahara... I know you didn't want me to be hurt... I don't know why I wasn't more empathetic then... But I can't take this much longer... I can't take this uncertainty much more... I can't stand it..."

Then Minako turned her eyes to the heavens and rose her voice just a little, "I know you can hear me... And I know you always answer me... Well then, hear me now and grant me one request. Goddess... I beg of you... Send him back to me... Alive and unharmed... I don't care what torture or anguish I have to go through in order to get him back... but please... please just bring him back to me safe and sound... Please..." she waited a moment, half expecting the response to be instantaneous and then felt her heart sink when it wasn't.

Minako shook her head again and put her head back down. She continued sobbing like that for some time... And the whole time, she couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that someone was watching her..

Meanwhile, hidden amongst the shadows, a pair eyes leered at the fair goddess incarnate, a sick, sadistic smile gracing his lips. He laughed slightly under his breath and continued living in his own world, reality meaning nothing to him. He repositioned his sunglasses and whispered, "But soon my fantasy will be your reality..."

Minako thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to go and check to make sure she really wasn't being watched, but decided that it didn't matter if there was someone there or not, "If they want to make their presence known, they can just blast me for all I care... What does it matter anymore...?"

During her lament, Minako had managed to somehow convince herself that Yahara had perished. Be it from the virus or a war injury, she was not sure, but then again, she didn't really care much anymore, "What does it matter...? If he's dead, he's dead... And I'll never see him again... And I'll never get to tell Yahara that... that I--"

"Tell me what, Mina?"

Minako's eyes widened at the familiar voice pulling her out of her reverie. Her breath caught in her throat and she swore that she ceased to breathe. She picked her head up a little and slowly turned around. When she raised her head to stare into the voice's owner's eyes, she felt all the blood flee from her face again and tears spring to her eyes. Her jaw unhinged itself and she felt it was impossible to make any intelligible sound for a few moments. Finally, after what had to have been an eternity for the both of them, she managed to force out his name...

"Yahara...?"

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Pages Updated On: 22-Aug-2008 - 12:34:42
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