![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chibifukurouTitle: A Fairy, A Doctor, and A Big Blue Box
Author: chibifukurou
Fandoms: Nabari No Ou/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 16,000
Content Warnings: Mentions of Past Character Death
Spoilers: Spoilers for the End of Nabari No Ou
Authors Notes: A big Thank You to Madame Marigold/Smoking Cougar for coming through for me with an amazingly quick beta after all my other betaes were unable to help.
Summary: Miharu wasn't expecting a blue box to appear in Thobari-sensei's backyard. But the strange people who come out of the box don't seem to be ninjas. And if they are they're even worse ninjas than he is.
He soon discovers that they were forced to land do to interference from a Multi-dimensional being. Which seems like utter nonsense until it's discovered that the being in question is the Shinra Banshou. The being that was sealed inside his life force years before, and has been seeking a way to escape ever since. Unfortunately for the Shinra Banshou, the Doctor knows how to handle Multi-dimensional beings.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Ao3 | Art Master Post
Chapter One
Kumohira-sensei slammed his hands against the cafeteria table. He leaned over until his face stopped a few inches from mine. His unkempt, spiky black hair tickled my nose. I had to force down a sneeze. "You need to get over this Mihura-kun."
"Why?" Nobody seemed to understand what Yoite had meant to me. They expected me to move on with my life, like I didn't even miss him. Only Kouichi-kun and Gau-kun seemed to understand.
"Because your behavior isn't healthy!"
"I was fine before you and Kouichi-kun got involved with my life. I'll be fine again." I just wanted people to stop worrying about me. They're attention hurts me.
"You weren't fine!." He slammed his hand against the table again. Kouichi-kun's lunch tray jumped. His chopsticks and dishes rattled. He looked up from his food to glare at Sensei. He'd been ignoring our conversation up until that point but we seemed to have his attention now. Looking over Sensei's shoulder I saw that all of the students at the surrounding tables were staring at us as well
Sensei of course felt no shame for his overly emotional behavior. "You were apathetic about everything." He continued. "I thought you'd finally gotten past your apathy and now we're right back where we started."
I looked down at the table, unwilling to meet his eyes. "I miss Yoite."
He leaned back on his heels, his body sagged, and he blew out a large sigh. "That's no excuse. Yoite wouldn't want you to become apathetic again. He was as happy as the rest of us when you found a reason for living."
"Yoite was my reason for living."
"Mihura-kun, please, you need to be reasonable."
Reasoning with him wouldn't work, then. Sometimes I hated how much he worried about me. I knew it was only because of how much he cared for my mother, but it was still troublesome. I gathered myself up and let my face shift into a carefree, innocent smile. "I'm fine Kumohira-sensei. You don't need to worry, I just need a little time. You don't want to upset me do you?
"I—I." He stiffened, his face frozen into a horrified grimace. It had been a long time since I used that trick on him but it appeared as affective as ever.
I took advantage of his distraction to grab my school bag and make for the cafeteria's doors. "I'll see you at the house later. Okay Kumohira-sensei?" I called over my shoulder.
Kouichi-kun found me on the school roof, leaning against the wall beside the stairwell's access door. He slid down to sit beside me. The soft autumn wind made his spiky white hair flutter around his face. "You are evil incarnate."
I refused to feel guilty. "He deserves it. He shouldn't try to make me forget about Yoite."
"If you're not nicer, I'll tell Hana-chan." Despite his truly diabolical threat, he held a squeeze-box of milk out to me. Shaking it so that I could hear the lovely sound of milk sloshing.
I grabbed it out of his hands and propped it between my knees with a pleased hum. "Thanks Kouichi-kun."
"You're welcome." He leaned against the wall, watching the sky as I drank my milk, having to bat his hair away from his glasses every time a particularly strong gust roared over the roof's edge.
As I began slurping up the last dredges of my milk, he spoke again. "I know you're not as apathetic as you're pretending to be. I'm older than Kumohira-sensei, and I can wait until you're ready to talk."
I nodded, grateful for his understanding. It was sometimes easy to forget about his immortality. He was good at acting like a typical teenage boy, but at times like this his age was obvious.
"Just try not to be too hard on Sensei, okay? He really does care about you."
"I know."
"As long as you know, I'll do my best to keep him off your back."
"Thank you."
"Sure, just make sure you don't stay up here for too long. You don't want to miss class." He gave me a happy smile, that crinkled his reddish brown eyes up at the corners, before heading back into the school.
I stayed on the roof, staring at the clouds, until the next bell rang. Kumohira-sensei wouldn’t report me as absent no matter how angry he was.
Pushing the rice door open I entered Grandmother's restaurant, the Okonomiyaki Taibanten. The earthy smell of grilled cabbage and fish flakes filled my nose. It was a quiet afternoon in the shop only two patrons and nobody I knew too well. I'd been worried that Kumohira-sensei would be laying in wait. He knew I couldn't ignore him if he came to the restaurant.
"Well if it isn't Miharu-chan. You look nice today sweetie." Yamada-sama said, her wrinkled face crinkling up into a pleased smile. She sat across from Ito-sama. The two of them sipped tea their table suspiciously empty of food. Here to gossip again, no doubt.
"Thank you Yamada-sama." I slipped behind the counter and grabbed my frog apron off the hook. "Good afternoon, Grandmother."
She looked up from where she was mixing together a bowl of Okonomiyaki batter. She waited for a beat before replying, her attention on cracking the eggs one handed."Hello Miharu. Did you have a good day at school?
"It was fine." I lied.
"Your teacher, Kumohira-sensei, called. He said that you were having some problems." Soba gave me a sad smile.
I wished I could explain why I was feeling so apathetic. She'd been so proud when I had found love and become the person she always swore I would become when I grew up. "I'm fine Soba. I promise."
Now I was back where I started. It hurt knowing I couldn't comfort her, but I wasn't ready to come out from behind the shield I'd built around myself. Is this how I'd become so apathetic after Mother died? Had I been in this much pain? If so, I didn't feel as guilty for hiding away.
She handed me a small bowl of the batter. "Alright. Can you serve Yamada-sama and Ito-sama for me?"
"Of course." I kissed her on the cheek, the closest I could come to an apology, before I headed out into the restaurant's main room. Yamada-sama and Ito-sama were leaning across their table so that they could whisper to each other. "How would you like your Okonomiyaki today?" I asked.
They jumped away from each other, allowing me to turn the griddle, that took up the entire center of the table, on without catching their clothes on fire. Ito-sama gave me amused smile. "How about a Miharu special?"
Nodding, I poured a thin layer of batter onto the griddle. When bubbles started rising up through the batter, I added cabbage, this sliced bacon, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Before adding another layer of batter on top. Ito-sama and Yamada-sama continued to discuss who was dating who and which of their various relatives had done something stupid. And I continued to do my best to ignore them.
Kumohira-sensei came in while I was busy flipping the Okonomiyaki. I dropped it back onto the griddle with a splat and used my left hand to throw my spare spatula at his head.
He of course ducked, but at least it made me feel better. I braced myself for another one of his well intentioned rants involving my responsibilities to the Nabari world. I don't know what he thought our conversations would prove. It wasn't like I'd ever wanted to be a ninja. I hadn't asked to inherit the Hijutsu. It might give its bearer unlimited power but it had caused me nothing but trouble.
"What are you doing here Kumohira-sensei?" Grandmother asked. She never seemed to understand that I didn't want to spend a lot of time with Sensei. He was an old family friend and that meant he deserved respect. Even if he did act like an idiot.
Sensei scratched at the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Hana-chan asked me to come get you. She wants you to come over for dinner tonight. Gau-san is coming into town for a visit this weekend."
Well that was a reason to put up with Sensei. "Grandmother?"
She gave me a pleased smile. "Just finish making Ito-sama and Yamada-sama's order then you go."
"Thank you Grandmother. It would be good to see Gau-kun again."
"Miharu-san!" Gua-kun pulled me into a tight hug. His boney elbows dug into my sides.
"It's good to see you again Gau-kun."
Holding me loosely by the shoulders, he gave me a measuring look. "Still not feeling well?"
Not another worrywart. "No."
"Well that's alright." He gave a bright smile. "Just don't let Raimei-chan catch you sulking or she'll hit you again."
"Are you talking about me?!" Raimei-chan called, stomping into the room . Her long, blond pigtails swung with every step, hitting the stack of dishes piled high in her hands.
Gua backed away from her, waving his hand in a placating manner. He looked like a sheepish hedgehog with his wiry black hair sticking up in all directions "No, no, just telling Miharu-san a joke."
"What's the joke?"
"Um, well, it's not something proper to tell a lady." I had to admit I was impressed, I'd never seen someone blush on command before.
Raimei-chan didn't buy it. She marched right up to Gua-kun and socked him on the head. "You were talking about me." She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him towards the dining room. "Just for that you can help me set the table."
Hana-chan came up wrapped her arms around me in a hug. She was so warm. "How have you been Miharu-kun?"
"I've been well, Hana-chan."
"I'm glad." She ran her fingers through my hair. She was the only who could make it lie flat. "It's been hard without Yoite."
I relaxed into her body. The her hand-knit sweater rubbed against me cheek. The smell of wool reminding me sharply of the scent of the sweater Yoite had been knitting when he died. Still, I was pleased that for once I wasn't the only one who was willing to talk about Yoite. "I miss him."
"So do I sweetie, but you can't let that stop you from living.
"Why not?" I couldn't help replying. It was petulant of me, but I felt like being selfish.
"Because you have to live for both of you now."
"I-" I'd never thought of it that way before.
"The table is set. Let's eat!" Raimei-chan yelled.
Hana-chan kissed my forehead. "We better go before they eat everything Gua-kun and I made. Between Raimei-chan and Kouichi-kun, I think they could eat all of the food in the house.
"I have a surprise for everybody!" Gua-kun announced after dinner.
Sensei groaned. "Please tell me you didn't make another cake."
Gua-kun frowned and put his hands on his hips, bending down to get in Sensei's face. It never failed to amaze me how fearless he was despite the fact that he didn't have any ninja abilities. "That's a horrible thing to say, Kumohira-sensei."
"It's the truth." Sensei insisted stubbornly. He turned so that he was looking in the other direction. "You can't bake, I don't care what you say."
"I can too bake. You just don't have the sophisticated palate required to enjoy my cooking."
"If by sophisticated palate you mean that I'd have to have no sense of taste to enjoy your cooking, I have to agree."
"Yoite liked my cooking. "Everybody but Gua-kun and I froze. Gua-kun continued on as if he didn't notice the awkward silence. "And I haven't gotten any complaints from my dorm mates.
Despite everyone else's reactions, Miharu was grateful for how normal Gua-kun acted about Yoite's death. It was good knowing that he and Hana-chan weren't the only one who remembered the good times they'd had with Yoite.
Sensie finally broke through the silence to demand. "Shut up and serve the cake already."
"Fine, I will!" Gua said. "But you're not getting any."
"What! This is my house. You can't just refuse to give me cake in my own house!.
"I thought you said you didn't want any."
"He's right Thobari-sensie you did say that." Kouichi-kun agreed.
"You be quiet. Just serve me a piece of cake already."
"Fine, but don't blame me if you don't like it." Gua cut the cake up and handed a piece to everyone but Sensei. But he gave the biggest piece to me.
I poked at it with a fork. Not in the mood to eat. After he finished his own piece, Gua moved around the talbe to sit down next to me. "Aren't you going to try some."
"I'm not really hungry."
"That's alright. You can have some later. For now, why don't you come and help me get my surprise?"
"Sure." I don't have anything better to do. Leaves the partially eaten cake on the table, I followed Gua-kun out onto the porch. There is a box sitting next to the neatly lined up school loafers. Gua picks it up and held it out to me. "It's for you."
The package rustles and I eyed it suspiciously. Still I couldn't help but be a little bit curious. I pulled the ridiculous pink bow off of the package and pulled the lid off. A tiny black kitten popped its head out and he stared at me with his gray eyes that seemed just a little too big for his face.
"I've been calling him Yoite. I found him in an alleyway behind my school's gym. His okaasan died and I figured he could use some family." Gau said, reaching out to scritch behind the kitten's ears.
Yoite-kitty closed his eyes in bliss and sunk into my arms, purring. "Thank you Gua-kun."
"You're welcome."
"Gua-san where did you hide the cake?" Kumohira-sensei yelled.
Gua-kun smiled at me."I better go in before Kumohira-sensei tears the kitchen apart. Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." I cuddled the kitten tighter against my chest, and carried him over to where Yoite's rocking chair still sat looking out over the garden.
The next afternoon found Yoite-kitty and me back in Yoite's rocking chair. It was a wonderful day for to sit out in the garden. The sun was warm and the wind light. Before I knew it, my eyes were growing heavy from the lullaby of Yoite-kitty's purr.
I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke Gua-kun was leaning over me holding out a slice of cake and a cup of lemon cider. I was surprisingly hungry. Perhaps sleeping for so long without being bothered by nightmares was good for me.
Taking his own plate of cake over to the edge of the porch, Gua-kun sat down. Together we ate our snack and watched the sun set. It was the most at peace I'd felt since Yoite's death.
Chapter Two
I slipped through Hana-chan's gate and into the garden. Yoite-kitty was stalking a butterfly around the roses. I left him to it and headed for the kitchen.
Gua-kun had returned to his school the previous day. He'd only had from after school Saturday to Sunday afternoon before he'd had to take a train back. I missed him already. K-kun did his best but even with his immortality he didn't seem to be able to understand my problems.
A cup of lemon cider calmed me down. My thoughts slowed and I was able to feel something besides pissed. Kumohira-sensei had only been trying to help, I knew that, but I wished he was less pushy.
I didn't need to have him following me around the school ranting about getting over loosing Yoite. And M-chan wasn't helping matters. She kept trying to convince me that a good spar would make me feel better.
I hadn't even been able to hide on the roof, since Sensei had tracked me there. The rarely used boys bathroom on the third floor wasn't nearly as relaxing.
"Miharu-chan is that you?" Hana-chan called.
"Yeah."
She came into the room dressed in a khaki shirt and pants, her long blond hair was twisted into a bun and tucked under a tan sun hat. "Oh good, I was hoping I'd see you before I had to go."
"Where are you going?" Hana-chan couldn't leave me, not now.
"I just got a call from an old friend. He was supposed to take a half-dozen archeological students on a dig down in Egypt, but he got sick. He asked me to take over for him."
"When will you be back?"
"In a week or two. Almost before you know it." She tapped me on the nose with her finger. Trying to cheer me up.
It didn't work. I didn't want to think about having her gone. I wouldn't even be able to visit the house if she wasn't here to keep an eye on Sensei.
"What's got you so upset, sweetie? Your frowning hard enough to curdle your cider." She joked.
I let my face shift into an innocent smile. "Oh, nothing is wrong Hana-chan. I'm happy for you. It's not like your leaving me alone to face Kumohira-sensei's wrath or anything."
"Oh you!" She pulled me into a tight hug. "I promise I'll call every day. And if Thobari-kun bothers you I'll yell at him. Alright?"
"I guess."
She kissed my forehead. "Tell Thobari-kun I'll be back in a few weeks. And make sure to take care of Yoite-kitty while I'm gone, alright."
I nodded, already tired of discussing her leaving. There didn't seem to be any way to keep her from going so I might as well give up.
Kissing my forehead one last time, she gave me a sweet kiss, before leaving the kitchen. I could hear the thump, thump of her rolling suitcase as she left the house and headed down the rough garden path. There was a creek, thump of the gate closing. Then I was alone again.
Yoite-kitty kept me company as I knitted. I'd decided to finish the scarf Yoite had started before his death, he wanted to be able to wear it when the weather turned cold again and it wasn't long enough for that yet.
Whenever I lost my focus and let the skein of yarn slip out from between my legs to fall onto the porch, Yoite-kitty would take advantage. He'd steal the skein, seeming to take particular glee in batting the ball of yarn off of the porch to roll across the garden. The cream colored wool got little bit grayer every time he did this, but I didn't have the heart to yell at him. Not when he was so cute.
He'd stalk the ball of yarn, sinking down into a pouncing position. His tiny butt would stick straight up in the air. His tail waving about like a flag. Then he'd reach out to bat at it with the tips of one paw. The yarn would skitter away and he'd follow. The cycle starting all over again, until either I took the yarn away or he pretended to lose interest. Annoyed with his inability to catch the ball.
He'd just managed to knock the skein off of the rocking chair and across the yard, for what had to be the tenth time, when the wind suddenly picked up. What few ninja instincts I had, were sending off all kinds of alarms. Dropping my knitting, I jumped to my feet. Spinning my empty knitting needle around so that it pointed out, I held it like a kunai. This was definitely a good reason to use a sharpened bamboo needle instead of the plastic ones Hana-chan had recommended I start with.
I waited to see who was stupid enough to use a transport justu to enter the house of the Bantam village leader. Yoite-kitty seemed to share my feelings of wariness, arching his back and hissing.
A soft whooop, whoop seemed to fill the garden, growing louder as the seconds past. Whoever was coming wasn't doing a very good job of being stealthy. Something flickered in the corner of my eye. I turned my head. Trying to catch sight of the mysterious something, but there didn't seem to be anything there. Maybe whoever was transporting in was sneaker then I'd given them credit for.
Yoite-kitty edged towards the small pond that took up the east end of the garden. He hissed. His claws kneading the earth. At least one of them seemed to be able to see their visitor. I followed his example, jumping off the porch and heading towards the pond. I'd only made it a few steps when a door seemed to spring up out of nowhere and three people tumbled out. I blinked a few times trying to clear my vision. It seemed to work, since a blue, wooden box popped into existence.
Well that was new. I'd never heard of a ninjitsu technique that involved a large blue box with a flashing light at the top. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. It could just be an illusion jutsu like Fuuma-sama used.
The three people who'd come out of the box didn't seem to be paying me any attention. It was like they didn’t even know where they were.
"Where are we this time, Doctor?" The red-headed woman asked. She stuck her lower lip out in a pout, her hands on her hips. "You promised that this time we'd have a nice honeymoon. No space fishes, Egyptian gods, or crazed aliens."
The shorter man, dressed in a plaid shirt and a strange multi-pocketed vest was the one who replied. "I'm sure it's not his fault. The TARDIS was acting a little strange. I'm sure once we figure out what is troubling her, we'll be off to the Asgard space resort. Just like he promised. Right Doctor?"
"What?" The second man, the doctor I presumed, had been studying his watch with worrying intensity. Now, he spun around to face his companions. Who were staring at him expectantly. "Oh, right, right. One quick stop and then it's off to the resort for a bit of R&R."
"So where are when then? Or should I say when? And what do we have to fix so that we can get out of here?"
The doctor had gone back to studying his watch. "It stopped." He finally said, sounding more than a bit accusing.
Both of his companions tensed. The man tensed and fell into a defensive position. He spun so that his back was to his friends, and started scanning the area. I would have been insulted by the way he dismissed me as a threat. If I hadn't realized how ridiculous I must look. A teenage boy dressed in a school uniform and fuzzy, pink house slippers, and holding a knitting needle.
Yoite-kitty seemed to take being dismissed as a threat worse than me. He hissed and pounced on the man's booted foot. Trying to prove his valor. The man didn't seem impressed.
The woman seemed more impressed, but her reaction wasn't any better. "Oh look at the cute kitty!" She cried, scooping Yoite up and cuddling him to her chest. He tried to claw her and get away, but didn't have much luck. He was still to tiny to do much damage to a skein of yarn. A person was beyond his abilities.
Now that it was clear there wasn't anyone lurking to attack them, the woman turned her attention back to the doctor. "So, what could make your watch stop?"
"I don't know but it's very strange." He held his wrist up to his ear. And shook it slightly. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if there is a multi-dimensional being in the area, do you?"
It took me a minute to figure out he was talking to me. And another minute to figure out how to reply to that strange of a question. "Not that I know of."
"Hmmm, well there has to be one around here somewhere. This watch is guaranteed to work for 1,000 years unless there is some sort of multi-dimensional interference." He clapped his hands together and smiled a manic smile that would have done Fumma-sama proud. "So if I was a multi-dimensional being trapped on earth. Where would I hide?"
"Well not here. I mean the only ones here are the kid and a kitten." The man replied."
"A kitten." The doctor rubbed his hands together and went over to look a Yoite-kitty. Who was still pinned against the woman's chest. Though he seemed less mad now that she's started scratching his ears. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a dimensional rift." He asked.
Yoite-kitty scratched him on his large nose.
"Honestly Doctor. You'd think that you expected the cat to talk to you."
"Well you never know. I once knew a whole order of cat women. The hard part was getter them to stop talking."
That was a strange thing to say, even for a ninja. I couldn't help asking. "Who are you?"
The doctor yanked nervously at his bowtie. "That's a very good question. Do you mind if I ask you one first?"
I wasn't in the mood to be nice. "You just did."
He tugged his bowtie harder. "So I did. Another question then?"
"All right." I could always refuse to answer.
"Where are we? And when."
"You're in Kumohira-sama's garden and it's the end of summer."
The doctor and the woman didn't seem to get my sarcasm. They just stared at me. While the man stifled his chuckles by clapping a hand over his mouth. Finally the doctor seemed to recover. "That wasn't exactly what I meant."
I widened my eyes into my best innocent look. The one that always worked on Kumohira-sensei. "What else could you mean? It's not as though you don't know the date, right?" I asked, fishing for information. The Nabari world used a different calendar so there was no telling if he'd know the actual date.
"Well you see, I'm just horrible with dates. Can't keep them in my head. I'm a bit thick you see." He tapped his forehead with his fingers.
I took that to mean he was an idiot. "So what are you asking?"
The woman, Amy-san, came over to me. Giving me an innocent smile of her own, she fluttered her eyelashes and said. "Well you see we're a bit lost. And we were hoping that a fine young man like yourself could tell us what year it was and maybe what city we are in?"
I fluttered my eyelashes back at her. "No."
She stared back at me slack-jawed. If she had actually thought that her poor attempt at flirtting was going to impress me she obviously didn't have a clue who she was dealing with.
I heard a snort and looking around Amy-san, I saw that the second man had clapped his hand over his mouth again. When he caught me looking, he winked. Pulling his hand away from his mouth he came over to me and slung an arm around Amy-san's shoulders. He held out the other hand to me, open palmed.
I stared at it. After a few seconds he seemed to catch on and tucked it into his pocket. "Look, I'm sure this is really confusing, but I swear we're not here to cause any trouble. If you can tell use when and where we are, we'll be out of your hair before you know it."
I was still suspicious. "Why don't you come in for some cider and we'll discuss who you are and what you are doing in Kumohira-sama's garden." Kumohira-sensei would come home soon and hopefully he'd be able to sort this mess out.
"That sounds like a great idea. Doesn't it Rory." The doctor announced. I jumped, somehow he'd managed to come up beside us without me noticing. He clapped a hand on my shoulder, and another on the man's and guided us towards the porch. "I love a good cup of cider."
"This taste's terrible." Amy-san complained sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes.
It was very disrespectful, but I found myself having to hide a smile. She reminded me a lot of Raimei-chan. Brash, blunt, and used to getting her way. Yoite-kitty seemed to share the feeling, when she'd let go of him to grab a cup cider he'd run for it, climbing up Hana-chan's shelf of archeology books. I could see his little ears just barely sticking out over the edge. But I wasn't going to tell Amy-san that.
The bookshelf was his favorite hiding spot when Raimei-chan came to visit and I didn't want him to find a new hiding spot. I felt better knowing where he was at all times.
The doctor, who still hadn't bothered to announce his family name, hadn't even bothered to try the cider. Instead, he was inspecting everything in site with a strange red-lenses magnifying glass. Muttering to himself the whole time. I was beginning to suspect that being 'thick' was code for being insane.
Of the three of them, the second man seemed to be the only sane one. Though I had yet to even hear him speak more than a sentence or two. So perhaps he was just quieter with his insanity.
He seemed to sense my attention and turned away from watching Amy-san to stare at me. There was something about him that seemed familiar. It was something about his eyes. They reminded me of Kouichi-kun's. Could he be another immortal created by the Shinra Banshou? But that didn't make sense he had brown hair and brown eyes. Nothing like Shijima-sama or Kouichi-kun.
"So you still haven't told us your name?"
"I'm Miharu Rokujou. And you haven't introduced yourselves either."
He smiled sheepishly. Still spookily reminding me of Kouichi-kun. "I suppose we haven't. I'm Rory Williams and this is my wife Amy Pond." He gave her a sappy smile. "And that over there." He motioned with his head towards the other man. "Is the Doctor."
"Doctor Who?"
"Just THE Doctor."
I stared at him in disbelief. Surely he wasn't trying to tell me that the man had no name. He raised his hands in a appeasing gesture. "I know, I know. That doesn't make sense. But Amy's known him since she was a kid and that's all he's ever called himself. Well that and a mad man in a box."
This Rory Williams was definitely as crazy as the other two. "A mad man in a box?" I parroted.
Rory-san looked even more sheepish. Amy-san patted him on the shoulder. "Oh don't mind Rory. The Doctor works fine as a name. In fact I called him the Raggedy Doctor for years and he never seemed to mind."
"Is that true, Raggedy-sama?" I asked.
Doctor-sama froze in the middle of investigating one of Kumohira-sensei's scrolls. Then spun around to stare at me. His red magnifying glass still held in front of his eye. He opened his mouth and I braced for a reprimand for calling him something so informal.
Instead, his eyes grew wide behind the red glass and he bounded over to me. "It's you." He said, voice one part incredulous and one part fascinated.
"What's me?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a strange bronze wand with a glowing green tip out of his suit coats inner pocket and started waving it up and down in front of me. The strange instrument buzzed and warbled and I started to back away. Doctor-sama loped after me. Babbling to himself all the while. Something about impossible and improbable. And the likelihood of my unraveling the very fabric of reality.
He sounded like Sensei when he went off on one of his rants about the stupidity of using the Fairy's power. But that didn't make any sense. Even the leaders of the ninja clans hadn't been able to identify me until the Hijutsu activated. If he could see it when it was dormant, then he was a dangerous ninja indeed. People would kill for that kind of power.
It took a few minutes, but he finally seemed to lose interest in me. Busy turning his wand this way and that and hmmming at it. Finally, he seemed satisfied and stuck it back into his pocket. "Life force energy based fighting techniques. And a Multi-Dimensional life form attached the life force of a school boy. I can definitely see why the TARDIS brought us here."
So he did know about the fairy.
"So, now the question becomes, did you know that there was a Multi-Dimensional being living inside your body?" He looked into my eyes like he was trying to see the fairy lurking there.
"Yes. I know. She speaks to me."
"She's capable of direct contact with you?"
I nodded. "She wants me to make a wish so that she can make it come true."
"Why does she care so much about your wishes?"
That was an odd question to ask. I thought everyone in the Nabari world knew the story. "A long time ago the leaders of every ninja village gathered together to find a way to seal the most powerful ninja technique ever created. It was a scroll of infinite power and whoever possessed it could change the very fabric of the world. So they locked it away inside a sacrificial ninja.
"But their attempts went awry. When they killed the ninja the scroll didn't die with it. It found a new host and lived on, but now it was contained it could only take action when it's host was in danger of dying. Or when they make a wish."
"So that's why it's so hard to find. What wishes have you made with it?" He started patting at his pockets and I thought for a second that he was going to pull his strange wand back out again.
"I haven't made any."
He stared at me. "Not any, not even just for a sandwich or something innocent like that?"
"No, not any. I didn't want this power and I didn't want to use it."
"Not even once? There must have been something you desired."
I thought of Yoite and his wish for me to make it so that he had never existed. I had desired that, at least a little bit. But by the time I'd made peace with the fact that I was going to have to lose him, to grant his wish, he'd changed his mind. "No."
Doctor-sama didn't seem to believe me and I couldn't blame him. I had desired something and if I had been just a little stronger I would have made a wish and let the Fairy's powers out.
Chapter Three
Doctor-sama continued to quiz me until Rory-san finally seemed to lose patience. "So if you don't want this power, why haven't you gotten rid of it?"
Doctor-sama answered for me. "Because it's fused with his life force. If he tries to destroy the creature it will kill him."
"But you can fix him, right Doctor? "Amy-san asked.
"It's not exactly that simple."
I didn't feel like dancing around the subject. They might not be after the Shinra Banshou's power, but that might just be a ruse to steal it from me. "If I try to remove it, I die and the power goes to an unknown ninja."
"I'm guessing that's bad?"
"Bad is an understatement, Rory. It could be an absolute catastrophe. If this sort of power fell into the wrong hands it could spell the end of reality. It changes the world by pulling artifacts, people, what have you through the dimensional walls. Every time it does that, the walls weaken a little bit more. The last time that happened an army of Dalek's and Cybermen flooded the universe."
"Was that a bad thing?"
The Doctor stared at me for a second. "Yes. That is a bad thing." Then he threw his hands up in overly-dramatized annoyance. "Why do I keep hooking up with companions who don't notice when the world is about to end."
"Hey!" Amy-san complained, from where she was trying to lure Yoite-kitty off of the bookshelf.
"It's the truth. You didn't even remember that the Dalek invasion happened when I first met you."
"Like it's my fault that there was a crack in all of time and space inside my bedroom wall?"
Rory-san shook his head at the pair of them. "If he doesn't remember what happened with the Dalek's does that mean there was a crack in his wall too?"
"That's a very good question." Raggedy-san turned back to me. "So, do you have any suspicious cracks in your house?"
"No. Not that I remember."
"And why wouldn't you remember if you had a crack in your wall?"
He just had to pick the one subject I least wanted to discuss. "The previous bearer of the Shinra Banshou made it so that everyone would forget what happened ten years ago. I was so young that I forgot more than most."
"Everyone in the whole world?"
I shook my head and stared down into my empty mug so that he couldn't catch my eye. "No, just the Nabari world."
"The Nabari world? What's that?" Amy- san asked. She'd given up trying to lure Yoite-kitty down. Probably a good idea since he'd was usually content to spend the night on top of the shelf, when Reime-chan slept over.
"The Nabari world is the world of ninjas. Part of the responsibilities of every ninja is to make sure that people outside Nabari never learn of its existence."
The Doctor nodded to himself. "So whatever the last host was trying to make everyone forget, it was something that related to the ninjas themselves. Do you have any idea what that was?"
"Who knows? We all forgot."
"But what is forgotten can be remembered. If you know that it was the host that erased the memories than you have to have some idea what they were trying to erase."
I remembered seeing Sensei's memories. Seeing my mother scream over and over again that I didn't have a face. Where was my face? I shuddered. "Some things are better off forgotten."
Doctor-sama nodded. Seeming to accept my reasoning. "Alright then. Let's just say that if at all possible we want to avoid having the dimensional walls break down."
"That won't be a problem. I've made a promise that I'd never use the power and I'll do whatever it takes to keep it." It was the least I could do in memory of my mother and Yoite.
"Good, then hopefully this won't be too hard."
"What won't be too hard?
"We're going to strip the Multi-Dimensional being from your body."
I leapt to my feet and started backing towards the door.
"Doctor." Rory-san snapped.
"What?"
"Perhaps you should explain things a little better. He just said a couple minutes ago that taking the power out of him would kill him."
"Aw, but that's if you're using the means available on earth. It's not as unusual a problem as you might think. We'll just have to take a little trip and we'll have him back good as new. Well good as new except for the fact that he won't have a parasite preying on his life force."
That did sound promising. But a little too good to be true. "I don't want anyone else to have to get this power."
He flapped his hand at me like I was being exceptionally slow. "That won't be a problem. There are proper ways of disposing of this type of creature. We could have her back where she came from and bring you back here before anybody even knew you were gone."
"Oh please." Amy-san said. "You can't guarantee that he'll be back before anyone notices he's gone. You have the worst sense of timing I've ever seen. It took you nineteen years to come back for me."
"I know that Amy. I was just trying to give our young friend a sense of confidence."
"False confidence you mean." Was Amy-san's rejoinder.
"Well maybe a little, but I'm usually much better at keeping track of time then that."
"Sure you are."
He rolled his eyes at her, before giving me a scarily large grin. "So what do you say? Do you want to get your unfortunate co-inhabitant taken care of?"
"Can it wait for a while?" Kumohira-sensei would hopefully be back soon and he'd be able to tell me if this man was really able to do what he claimed he could. And if he didn't know then Fumma-sama should be able to tell me. "I need to make a few calls."
"I suppose that would be okay." Despite his agreement, he was practically shaking with excitement and impatience. Well ,there was one sure fire way I knew to calm down excitable people like Kumohira-sensei and Raime-chan. "Would you like to eat something while you wait?"
"Oooo food. I bet we could find a great sushi place!" Amy-san yelled. She hadn't been the one I was trying to snare the attention of, but from the way Doctor-sama slumped it was obvious that she was the one with the real power in their little trio.
"I don't know about sushi, but I know a great Okyami restaurant."
"Okyami? I've never heard of it before."
"I'm sure you'll like it."
Doctor-sama sighed. "Well I suppose it would hurt to have a little snack before we head out. You never know what kind of food you'll find on an alien planet."
As if the discussion of Earth technology wasn't bad enough, now he was talking about aliens. "I'll take your word for it."
I pushed open the doors to Okonomiyaki Taibanten. "I'm back Grandmother, and I brought friends." I called. The restaurant was busy. Almost every table was full of patrons shouting, yelling, eating, and talking. It made for a pleasant din. Grandmother waved at me from a table at the far end. Motioning for me to start working.
I got the trio situated at a small table at the back of the restaurant, before running behind the counter to grab my apron. I grabbed the phone off of the kitchen wall and ducked out of the back door into the herb garden while no one was looking. I slid the door shut behind me so that it was only cracked enough for the cord to fit through.
"Ramei-chan?"
"Mihura-kun! Is something wrong? You never call me so late at night. And K-kun said you snuck out of class early."
"Everything's fine. I was just wondering if you'd heard form Kumohira-sensei? Hana-chan wanted me to say goodbye to him."
"Goodbye?" She yelled. "Where was she going?"
"Apparently an old friend of hers got sick and needed her to run an expedition to Egypt for him."
"Well that stinks. Give me a second and I'll see if I can find out what's holding Sensei up."
The sound coming through the receiver became muted, but I could still pick up the sound of talking and K-kun's voice. Well it looked like they were finally doing something about the crush Raime-chan had on him. That was good.
I propped the phone between my chin and shoulder, before crouching down to weed the garden. At least that way I'd be able to tell Grandmother that I'd been doing something productive while I avoided working in the restaurant.
After a few minutes of indistinct muttering Raime-chan finally came back to the phone. "Koichi-kun says that Kumohira-sensei told him something about having to go to a teachers conference in Tokyo. So he left this afternoon. He'll probably still be late. I really don't know why he insists on walking everywhere. He's managed to survive every train ride we've dragged him onto.”
So Sensei wouldn't be coming back to give him advice. While he pondered how to get around that problem he replied on automatic. "True, but I get the feeling that his Grandfather really did a number on him when he dragged him onto a plane to Japan."
"No kidding. So is there something else you needed?"
"Yeah. Do you know of Sensei took his cell phone with him?"
"You could try calling him, but I'm guessing not. He's about as likely to carry his cell as you are."
True enough, my inability to keep track of a cell-phone had always been one of Yukimi-kun's favorite rants. "Then do you have Fuuma-sama's number?"
"Yeah, I have it. But why do you want it. You've been avoiding the rest of the Nabari world for months." Her voice became louder as she started to panic. "Is something wrong? You know I can come over right away if you need help. And Kouichi-kun will come with me."
"No, no. It's no problem." I did my best to sound innocent. It was harder over the phone. "I just found something that talks about a method to remove the Hijutsu. I wanted Fumma-sama's opinion that's all."
" A way to get rid of the Shinra Bonshou? That would be great!"
"Yeah, so do you have his number?"
"Sure, just give me a second. I think he's hiding out in the regular world right now. So I've got to find that number."
She put the phone down and I could hear her moving papers about and cursing.
"Did you really find a way to get rid of it?" Kouichi-kun asked. His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"I don't know. It sounds too good to be true. That's why I wanted to talk to Fumma-chan."
"If he thinks it will work. Could you try to use it on me first?"
"I don't know." I understood why he wanted to have me use the supposed technique. But Doctor-sama hadn't said anything about reversing the affects of the other hosts' wishes. "I didn't see anything about changing things the fairy had changed."
"Just promise me you'll ask Fumma-sama about it?"
"I will."
"Thanks Miharu-kun. Can you do me another favor? Don't tell Raimei-chan about this."
"I won't. But didn't she already hear you asking about it?"
"No, she's off in the kitchen trying to figure out where she wrote Fumma-sama's number."
In the background, I could hear Raime-chan yelling. "SUCSESS!!!"
"I'll talk to you later." Kouichi-kun said before putting the phone back down.
"So you say he came out of a blue box?" Fumma-sama asked. I could hear the soft rustling of scrolls in the background.
"Yes."
"Can you give me a little more description?"
"A blue box isn't strange enough for you?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm looking through over a thousand years of Nabari history here. There have been hundreds of techniques that could cause illusions. And that's not even counting transportation and replacement jutsus. I don't know of any that appear as blue boxes. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. If this man is as knowledgeable about the Shinra Banshou as you say he is, he could belong to one of the lost villages. Which means his technique could be one that has fallen completely out of use by the ninjas in the Nabari world."
I tried to think back and remember what the box had looked like. But it was like my mind's eye didn't want to focus on the image. "I don't know. It was big and blue. And there was a sign on the front and a flashing light on top. But every time I try to remember something more than that, the image of it becomes fuzzy."
"So whatever the spell is, it definitely has some unique qualities. I'll start researching the memory-altering jutsus. One moment. Kato-san do you know anything about a story involving a blue box appearing out of thin air."
There was a loud thump. Then Kato-san was practically yelling into the phone. "Is one of the people that came out of the box named the Doctor."
"Yeah." Surely Doctor-sama wasn't that important.
"Can you tell me exactly what he said about the Shinra Banshou."
"Kato-san what's going on?" Fumma-sama asked.
"There are rumors that the ninjas originally got their powers when a group of travelers fell from the sky. There was a man who came with them, named the Doctor. He traveled in a blue box and the travelers knew him as the oncoming storm. He warned the travelers that if their power ever fell into the hands of anyone outside of the ninja clans, he would return to seal their powers away. It's said that his warning is why the Shimizu clan was created."
I tried to imagine Doctor-sama as a dangerous being who could wipe out the entire Nabari world. But it didn't seem to fit. He was crazy, but he didn't really seem dangerous. "Are you sure it's the same guy?"
"I don't know. That was over one thousand years ago. But the people who researched the legend posited that 'Doctor' was a title passed down from father to son. The travelers believed that if they were ever discovered one of the Doctors would come to wipe them out."
"That doesn't sound at all good." Fumma-sama said.
I had to agree with him. "I really can't see this Doctor wiping anyone out. He has humans with him, so I don't know why he would be against the introduction of non-ninjas into the Nabari world.
"Still, I'd prefer not to make him angry until we have a better idea about why he ended up in your Kumohira-sensei's garden. Did he mention anything about why he came?
"He said something about his TARDIS bringing him here because of the Hijutsu."
“Do you know what the TARDIS is?" I think it's the box.
"Then maybe that's where the Doctors power comes from. It would be worth investigating."
"I really wouldn't advise that, sir." Kato-san interrupted. "We don't want to make him angry. He might not be as dangerous as the other Doctor, but that doesn't mean he isn't a match for any of the Ninja clan leaders. He might even be able to defeat you."
"Well we certainly don't want that. I mean what would the Fumma clan do without my beautiful face to inspire them."
I could just imagine the 'heroic' pose Fumma-sama was striking. He was completely useless when he got into one of these mood. "What do you think I should do Kato-san?"
"Did he say what he what he wanted to do with the Shinra Banshou?"
"He said he wanted to remove it and send it back where it came from. Before it weakened the veils between the dimensions enough that they collapsed."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, it doesn't."
Kato-san was quite for a few seconds. "Honestly Miharu-san, I think you have to decide this for yourself. If you truly don't want to have the power of the Hijutsu, this is your best bet to be free of it forever."
"What if he's lying?"
"What do you have to lose if he is?"
"I don't want anybody else to have to deal with this power. It's bad enough when it's me."
"I can understand that, but what you have to realize is that someday you're going to die and the power will get loose. It will find another host and the cycle will begin all over again."
I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"Just think about it, okay? This might be your only chance to get rid of the Shinra
Banshou forever."
Author: chibifukurou
Fandoms: Nabari No Ou/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 16,000
Content Warnings: Mentions of Past Character Death
Spoilers: Spoilers for the End of Nabari No Ou
Authors Notes: A big Thank You to Madame Marigold/Smoking Cougar for coming through for me with an amazingly quick beta after all my other betaes were unable to help.
Summary: Miharu wasn't expecting a blue box to appear in Thobari-sensei's backyard. But the strange people who come out of the box don't seem to be ninjas. And if they are they're even worse ninjas than he is.
He soon discovers that they were forced to land do to interference from a Multi-dimensional being. Which seems like utter nonsense until it's discovered that the being in question is the Shinra Banshou. The being that was sealed inside his life force years before, and has been seeking a way to escape ever since. Unfortunately for the Shinra Banshou, the Doctor knows how to handle Multi-dimensional beings.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Ao3 | Art Master Post
Kumohira-sensei slammed his hands against the cafeteria table. He leaned over until his face stopped a few inches from mine. His unkempt, spiky black hair tickled my nose. I had to force down a sneeze. "You need to get over this Mihura-kun."
"Why?" Nobody seemed to understand what Yoite had meant to me. They expected me to move on with my life, like I didn't even miss him. Only Kouichi-kun and Gau-kun seemed to understand.
"Because your behavior isn't healthy!"
"I was fine before you and Kouichi-kun got involved with my life. I'll be fine again." I just wanted people to stop worrying about me. They're attention hurts me.
"You weren't fine!." He slammed his hand against the table again. Kouichi-kun's lunch tray jumped. His chopsticks and dishes rattled. He looked up from his food to glare at Sensei. He'd been ignoring our conversation up until that point but we seemed to have his attention now. Looking over Sensei's shoulder I saw that all of the students at the surrounding tables were staring at us as well
Sensei of course felt no shame for his overly emotional behavior. "You were apathetic about everything." He continued. "I thought you'd finally gotten past your apathy and now we're right back where we started."
I looked down at the table, unwilling to meet his eyes. "I miss Yoite."
He leaned back on his heels, his body sagged, and he blew out a large sigh. "That's no excuse. Yoite wouldn't want you to become apathetic again. He was as happy as the rest of us when you found a reason for living."
"Yoite was my reason for living."
"Mihura-kun, please, you need to be reasonable."
Reasoning with him wouldn't work, then. Sometimes I hated how much he worried about me. I knew it was only because of how much he cared for my mother, but it was still troublesome. I gathered myself up and let my face shift into a carefree, innocent smile. "I'm fine Kumohira-sensei. You don't need to worry, I just need a little time. You don't want to upset me do you?
"I—I." He stiffened, his face frozen into a horrified grimace. It had been a long time since I used that trick on him but it appeared as affective as ever.
I took advantage of his distraction to grab my school bag and make for the cafeteria's doors. "I'll see you at the house later. Okay Kumohira-sensei?" I called over my shoulder.
Kouichi-kun found me on the school roof, leaning against the wall beside the stairwell's access door. He slid down to sit beside me. The soft autumn wind made his spiky white hair flutter around his face. "You are evil incarnate."
I refused to feel guilty. "He deserves it. He shouldn't try to make me forget about Yoite."
"If you're not nicer, I'll tell Hana-chan." Despite his truly diabolical threat, he held a squeeze-box of milk out to me. Shaking it so that I could hear the lovely sound of milk sloshing.
I grabbed it out of his hands and propped it between my knees with a pleased hum. "Thanks Kouichi-kun."
"You're welcome." He leaned against the wall, watching the sky as I drank my milk, having to bat his hair away from his glasses every time a particularly strong gust roared over the roof's edge.
As I began slurping up the last dredges of my milk, he spoke again. "I know you're not as apathetic as you're pretending to be. I'm older than Kumohira-sensei, and I can wait until you're ready to talk."
I nodded, grateful for his understanding. It was sometimes easy to forget about his immortality. He was good at acting like a typical teenage boy, but at times like this his age was obvious.
"Just try not to be too hard on Sensei, okay? He really does care about you."
"I know."
"As long as you know, I'll do my best to keep him off your back."
"Thank you."
"Sure, just make sure you don't stay up here for too long. You don't want to miss class." He gave me a happy smile, that crinkled his reddish brown eyes up at the corners, before heading back into the school.
I stayed on the roof, staring at the clouds, until the next bell rang. Kumohira-sensei wouldn’t report me as absent no matter how angry he was.
Pushing the rice door open I entered Grandmother's restaurant, the Okonomiyaki Taibanten. The earthy smell of grilled cabbage and fish flakes filled my nose. It was a quiet afternoon in the shop only two patrons and nobody I knew too well. I'd been worried that Kumohira-sensei would be laying in wait. He knew I couldn't ignore him if he came to the restaurant.
"Well if it isn't Miharu-chan. You look nice today sweetie." Yamada-sama said, her wrinkled face crinkling up into a pleased smile. She sat across from Ito-sama. The two of them sipped tea their table suspiciously empty of food. Here to gossip again, no doubt.
"Thank you Yamada-sama." I slipped behind the counter and grabbed my frog apron off the hook. "Good afternoon, Grandmother."
She looked up from where she was mixing together a bowl of Okonomiyaki batter. She waited for a beat before replying, her attention on cracking the eggs one handed."Hello Miharu. Did you have a good day at school?
"It was fine." I lied.
"Your teacher, Kumohira-sensei, called. He said that you were having some problems." Soba gave me a sad smile.
I wished I could explain why I was feeling so apathetic. She'd been so proud when I had found love and become the person she always swore I would become when I grew up. "I'm fine Soba. I promise."
Now I was back where I started. It hurt knowing I couldn't comfort her, but I wasn't ready to come out from behind the shield I'd built around myself. Is this how I'd become so apathetic after Mother died? Had I been in this much pain? If so, I didn't feel as guilty for hiding away.
She handed me a small bowl of the batter. "Alright. Can you serve Yamada-sama and Ito-sama for me?"
"Of course." I kissed her on the cheek, the closest I could come to an apology, before I headed out into the restaurant's main room. Yamada-sama and Ito-sama were leaning across their table so that they could whisper to each other. "How would you like your Okonomiyaki today?" I asked.
They jumped away from each other, allowing me to turn the griddle, that took up the entire center of the table, on without catching their clothes on fire. Ito-sama gave me amused smile. "How about a Miharu special?"
Nodding, I poured a thin layer of batter onto the griddle. When bubbles started rising up through the batter, I added cabbage, this sliced bacon, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Before adding another layer of batter on top. Ito-sama and Yamada-sama continued to discuss who was dating who and which of their various relatives had done something stupid. And I continued to do my best to ignore them.
Kumohira-sensei came in while I was busy flipping the Okonomiyaki. I dropped it back onto the griddle with a splat and used my left hand to throw my spare spatula at his head.
He of course ducked, but at least it made me feel better. I braced myself for another one of his well intentioned rants involving my responsibilities to the Nabari world. I don't know what he thought our conversations would prove. It wasn't like I'd ever wanted to be a ninja. I hadn't asked to inherit the Hijutsu. It might give its bearer unlimited power but it had caused me nothing but trouble.
"What are you doing here Kumohira-sensei?" Grandmother asked. She never seemed to understand that I didn't want to spend a lot of time with Sensei. He was an old family friend and that meant he deserved respect. Even if he did act like an idiot.
Sensei scratched at the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Hana-chan asked me to come get you. She wants you to come over for dinner tonight. Gau-san is coming into town for a visit this weekend."
Well that was a reason to put up with Sensei. "Grandmother?"
She gave me a pleased smile. "Just finish making Ito-sama and Yamada-sama's order then you go."
"Thank you Grandmother. It would be good to see Gau-kun again."
"Miharu-san!" Gua-kun pulled me into a tight hug. His boney elbows dug into my sides.
"It's good to see you again Gau-kun."
Holding me loosely by the shoulders, he gave me a measuring look. "Still not feeling well?"
Not another worrywart. "No."
"Well that's alright." He gave a bright smile. "Just don't let Raimei-chan catch you sulking or she'll hit you again."
"Are you talking about me?!" Raimei-chan called, stomping into the room . Her long, blond pigtails swung with every step, hitting the stack of dishes piled high in her hands.
Gua backed away from her, waving his hand in a placating manner. He looked like a sheepish hedgehog with his wiry black hair sticking up in all directions "No, no, just telling Miharu-san a joke."
"What's the joke?"
"Um, well, it's not something proper to tell a lady." I had to admit I was impressed, I'd never seen someone blush on command before.
Raimei-chan didn't buy it. She marched right up to Gua-kun and socked him on the head. "You were talking about me." She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him towards the dining room. "Just for that you can help me set the table."
Hana-chan came up wrapped her arms around me in a hug. She was so warm. "How have you been Miharu-kun?"
"I've been well, Hana-chan."
"I'm glad." She ran her fingers through my hair. She was the only who could make it lie flat. "It's been hard without Yoite."
I relaxed into her body. The her hand-knit sweater rubbed against me cheek. The smell of wool reminding me sharply of the scent of the sweater Yoite had been knitting when he died. Still, I was pleased that for once I wasn't the only one who was willing to talk about Yoite. "I miss him."
"So do I sweetie, but you can't let that stop you from living.
"Why not?" I couldn't help replying. It was petulant of me, but I felt like being selfish.
"Because you have to live for both of you now."
"I-" I'd never thought of it that way before.
"The table is set. Let's eat!" Raimei-chan yelled.
Hana-chan kissed my forehead. "We better go before they eat everything Gua-kun and I made. Between Raimei-chan and Kouichi-kun, I think they could eat all of the food in the house.
"I have a surprise for everybody!" Gua-kun announced after dinner.
Sensei groaned. "Please tell me you didn't make another cake."
Gua-kun frowned and put his hands on his hips, bending down to get in Sensei's face. It never failed to amaze me how fearless he was despite the fact that he didn't have any ninja abilities. "That's a horrible thing to say, Kumohira-sensei."
"It's the truth." Sensei insisted stubbornly. He turned so that he was looking in the other direction. "You can't bake, I don't care what you say."
"I can too bake. You just don't have the sophisticated palate required to enjoy my cooking."
"If by sophisticated palate you mean that I'd have to have no sense of taste to enjoy your cooking, I have to agree."
"Yoite liked my cooking. "Everybody but Gua-kun and I froze. Gua-kun continued on as if he didn't notice the awkward silence. "And I haven't gotten any complaints from my dorm mates.
Despite everyone else's reactions, Miharu was grateful for how normal Gua-kun acted about Yoite's death. It was good knowing that he and Hana-chan weren't the only one who remembered the good times they'd had with Yoite.
Sensie finally broke through the silence to demand. "Shut up and serve the cake already."
"Fine, I will!" Gua said. "But you're not getting any."
"What! This is my house. You can't just refuse to give me cake in my own house!.
"I thought you said you didn't want any."
"He's right Thobari-sensie you did say that." Kouichi-kun agreed.
"You be quiet. Just serve me a piece of cake already."
"Fine, but don't blame me if you don't like it." Gua cut the cake up and handed a piece to everyone but Sensei. But he gave the biggest piece to me.
I poked at it with a fork. Not in the mood to eat. After he finished his own piece, Gua moved around the talbe to sit down next to me. "Aren't you going to try some."
"I'm not really hungry."
"That's alright. You can have some later. For now, why don't you come and help me get my surprise?"
"Sure." I don't have anything better to do. Leaves the partially eaten cake on the table, I followed Gua-kun out onto the porch. There is a box sitting next to the neatly lined up school loafers. Gua picks it up and held it out to me. "It's for you."
The package rustles and I eyed it suspiciously. Still I couldn't help but be a little bit curious. I pulled the ridiculous pink bow off of the package and pulled the lid off. A tiny black kitten popped its head out and he stared at me with his gray eyes that seemed just a little too big for his face.
"I've been calling him Yoite. I found him in an alleyway behind my school's gym. His okaasan died and I figured he could use some family." Gau said, reaching out to scritch behind the kitten's ears.
Yoite-kitty closed his eyes in bliss and sunk into my arms, purring. "Thank you Gua-kun."
"You're welcome."
"Gua-san where did you hide the cake?" Kumohira-sensei yelled.
Gua-kun smiled at me."I better go in before Kumohira-sensei tears the kitchen apart. Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." I cuddled the kitten tighter against my chest, and carried him over to where Yoite's rocking chair still sat looking out over the garden.
The next afternoon found Yoite-kitty and me back in Yoite's rocking chair. It was a wonderful day for to sit out in the garden. The sun was warm and the wind light. Before I knew it, my eyes were growing heavy from the lullaby of Yoite-kitty's purr.
I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke Gua-kun was leaning over me holding out a slice of cake and a cup of lemon cider. I was surprisingly hungry. Perhaps sleeping for so long without being bothered by nightmares was good for me.
Taking his own plate of cake over to the edge of the porch, Gua-kun sat down. Together we ate our snack and watched the sun set. It was the most at peace I'd felt since Yoite's death.
I slipped through Hana-chan's gate and into the garden. Yoite-kitty was stalking a butterfly around the roses. I left him to it and headed for the kitchen.
Gua-kun had returned to his school the previous day. He'd only had from after school Saturday to Sunday afternoon before he'd had to take a train back. I missed him already. K-kun did his best but even with his immortality he didn't seem to be able to understand my problems.
A cup of lemon cider calmed me down. My thoughts slowed and I was able to feel something besides pissed. Kumohira-sensei had only been trying to help, I knew that, but I wished he was less pushy.
I didn't need to have him following me around the school ranting about getting over loosing Yoite. And M-chan wasn't helping matters. She kept trying to convince me that a good spar would make me feel better.
I hadn't even been able to hide on the roof, since Sensei had tracked me there. The rarely used boys bathroom on the third floor wasn't nearly as relaxing.
"Miharu-chan is that you?" Hana-chan called.
"Yeah."
She came into the room dressed in a khaki shirt and pants, her long blond hair was twisted into a bun and tucked under a tan sun hat. "Oh good, I was hoping I'd see you before I had to go."
"Where are you going?" Hana-chan couldn't leave me, not now.
"I just got a call from an old friend. He was supposed to take a half-dozen archeological students on a dig down in Egypt, but he got sick. He asked me to take over for him."
"When will you be back?"
"In a week or two. Almost before you know it." She tapped me on the nose with her finger. Trying to cheer me up.
It didn't work. I didn't want to think about having her gone. I wouldn't even be able to visit the house if she wasn't here to keep an eye on Sensei.
"What's got you so upset, sweetie? Your frowning hard enough to curdle your cider." She joked.
I let my face shift into an innocent smile. "Oh, nothing is wrong Hana-chan. I'm happy for you. It's not like your leaving me alone to face Kumohira-sensei's wrath or anything."
"Oh you!" She pulled me into a tight hug. "I promise I'll call every day. And if Thobari-kun bothers you I'll yell at him. Alright?"
"I guess."
She kissed my forehead. "Tell Thobari-kun I'll be back in a few weeks. And make sure to take care of Yoite-kitty while I'm gone, alright."
I nodded, already tired of discussing her leaving. There didn't seem to be any way to keep her from going so I might as well give up.
Kissing my forehead one last time, she gave me a sweet kiss, before leaving the kitchen. I could hear the thump, thump of her rolling suitcase as she left the house and headed down the rough garden path. There was a creek, thump of the gate closing. Then I was alone again.
Yoite-kitty kept me company as I knitted. I'd decided to finish the scarf Yoite had started before his death, he wanted to be able to wear it when the weather turned cold again and it wasn't long enough for that yet.
Whenever I lost my focus and let the skein of yarn slip out from between my legs to fall onto the porch, Yoite-kitty would take advantage. He'd steal the skein, seeming to take particular glee in batting the ball of yarn off of the porch to roll across the garden. The cream colored wool got little bit grayer every time he did this, but I didn't have the heart to yell at him. Not when he was so cute.
He'd stalk the ball of yarn, sinking down into a pouncing position. His tiny butt would stick straight up in the air. His tail waving about like a flag. Then he'd reach out to bat at it with the tips of one paw. The yarn would skitter away and he'd follow. The cycle starting all over again, until either I took the yarn away or he pretended to lose interest. Annoyed with his inability to catch the ball.
He'd just managed to knock the skein off of the rocking chair and across the yard, for what had to be the tenth time, when the wind suddenly picked up. What few ninja instincts I had, were sending off all kinds of alarms. Dropping my knitting, I jumped to my feet. Spinning my empty knitting needle around so that it pointed out, I held it like a kunai. This was definitely a good reason to use a sharpened bamboo needle instead of the plastic ones Hana-chan had recommended I start with.
I waited to see who was stupid enough to use a transport justu to enter the house of the Bantam village leader. Yoite-kitty seemed to share my feelings of wariness, arching his back and hissing.
A soft whooop, whoop seemed to fill the garden, growing louder as the seconds past. Whoever was coming wasn't doing a very good job of being stealthy. Something flickered in the corner of my eye. I turned my head. Trying to catch sight of the mysterious something, but there didn't seem to be anything there. Maybe whoever was transporting in was sneaker then I'd given them credit for.
Yoite-kitty edged towards the small pond that took up the east end of the garden. He hissed. His claws kneading the earth. At least one of them seemed to be able to see their visitor. I followed his example, jumping off the porch and heading towards the pond. I'd only made it a few steps when a door seemed to spring up out of nowhere and three people tumbled out. I blinked a few times trying to clear my vision. It seemed to work, since a blue, wooden box popped into existence.
Well that was new. I'd never heard of a ninjitsu technique that involved a large blue box with a flashing light at the top. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. It could just be an illusion jutsu like Fuuma-sama used.
The three people who'd come out of the box didn't seem to be paying me any attention. It was like they didn’t even know where they were.
"Where are we this time, Doctor?" The red-headed woman asked. She stuck her lower lip out in a pout, her hands on her hips. "You promised that this time we'd have a nice honeymoon. No space fishes, Egyptian gods, or crazed aliens."
The shorter man, dressed in a plaid shirt and a strange multi-pocketed vest was the one who replied. "I'm sure it's not his fault. The TARDIS was acting a little strange. I'm sure once we figure out what is troubling her, we'll be off to the Asgard space resort. Just like he promised. Right Doctor?"
"What?" The second man, the doctor I presumed, had been studying his watch with worrying intensity. Now, he spun around to face his companions. Who were staring at him expectantly. "Oh, right, right. One quick stop and then it's off to the resort for a bit of R&R."
"So where are when then? Or should I say when? And what do we have to fix so that we can get out of here?"
The doctor had gone back to studying his watch. "It stopped." He finally said, sounding more than a bit accusing.
Both of his companions tensed. The man tensed and fell into a defensive position. He spun so that his back was to his friends, and started scanning the area. I would have been insulted by the way he dismissed me as a threat. If I hadn't realized how ridiculous I must look. A teenage boy dressed in a school uniform and fuzzy, pink house slippers, and holding a knitting needle.
Yoite-kitty seemed to take being dismissed as a threat worse than me. He hissed and pounced on the man's booted foot. Trying to prove his valor. The man didn't seem impressed.
The woman seemed more impressed, but her reaction wasn't any better. "Oh look at the cute kitty!" She cried, scooping Yoite up and cuddling him to her chest. He tried to claw her and get away, but didn't have much luck. He was still to tiny to do much damage to a skein of yarn. A person was beyond his abilities.
Now that it was clear there wasn't anyone lurking to attack them, the woman turned her attention back to the doctor. "So, what could make your watch stop?"
"I don't know but it's very strange." He held his wrist up to his ear. And shook it slightly. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if there is a multi-dimensional being in the area, do you?"
It took me a minute to figure out he was talking to me. And another minute to figure out how to reply to that strange of a question. "Not that I know of."
"Hmmm, well there has to be one around here somewhere. This watch is guaranteed to work for 1,000 years unless there is some sort of multi-dimensional interference." He clapped his hands together and smiled a manic smile that would have done Fumma-sama proud. "So if I was a multi-dimensional being trapped on earth. Where would I hide?"
"Well not here. I mean the only ones here are the kid and a kitten." The man replied."
"A kitten." The doctor rubbed his hands together and went over to look a Yoite-kitty. Who was still pinned against the woman's chest. Though he seemed less mad now that she's started scratching his ears. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a dimensional rift." He asked.
Yoite-kitty scratched him on his large nose.
"Honestly Doctor. You'd think that you expected the cat to talk to you."
"Well you never know. I once knew a whole order of cat women. The hard part was getter them to stop talking."
That was a strange thing to say, even for a ninja. I couldn't help asking. "Who are you?"
The doctor yanked nervously at his bowtie. "That's a very good question. Do you mind if I ask you one first?"
I wasn't in the mood to be nice. "You just did."
He tugged his bowtie harder. "So I did. Another question then?"
"All right." I could always refuse to answer.
"Where are we? And when."
"You're in Kumohira-sama's garden and it's the end of summer."
The doctor and the woman didn't seem to get my sarcasm. They just stared at me. While the man stifled his chuckles by clapping a hand over his mouth. Finally the doctor seemed to recover. "That wasn't exactly what I meant."
I widened my eyes into my best innocent look. The one that always worked on Kumohira-sensei. "What else could you mean? It's not as though you don't know the date, right?" I asked, fishing for information. The Nabari world used a different calendar so there was no telling if he'd know the actual date.
"Well you see, I'm just horrible with dates. Can't keep them in my head. I'm a bit thick you see." He tapped his forehead with his fingers.
I took that to mean he was an idiot. "So what are you asking?"
The woman, Amy-san, came over to me. Giving me an innocent smile of her own, she fluttered her eyelashes and said. "Well you see we're a bit lost. And we were hoping that a fine young man like yourself could tell us what year it was and maybe what city we are in?"
I fluttered my eyelashes back at her. "No."
She stared back at me slack-jawed. If she had actually thought that her poor attempt at flirtting was going to impress me she obviously didn't have a clue who she was dealing with.
I heard a snort and looking around Amy-san, I saw that the second man had clapped his hand over his mouth again. When he caught me looking, he winked. Pulling his hand away from his mouth he came over to me and slung an arm around Amy-san's shoulders. He held out the other hand to me, open palmed.
I stared at it. After a few seconds he seemed to catch on and tucked it into his pocket. "Look, I'm sure this is really confusing, but I swear we're not here to cause any trouble. If you can tell use when and where we are, we'll be out of your hair before you know it."
I was still suspicious. "Why don't you come in for some cider and we'll discuss who you are and what you are doing in Kumohira-sama's garden." Kumohira-sensei would come home soon and hopefully he'd be able to sort this mess out.
"That sounds like a great idea. Doesn't it Rory." The doctor announced. I jumped, somehow he'd managed to come up beside us without me noticing. He clapped a hand on my shoulder, and another on the man's and guided us towards the porch. "I love a good cup of cider."
"This taste's terrible." Amy-san complained sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes.
It was very disrespectful, but I found myself having to hide a smile. She reminded me a lot of Raimei-chan. Brash, blunt, and used to getting her way. Yoite-kitty seemed to share the feeling, when she'd let go of him to grab a cup cider he'd run for it, climbing up Hana-chan's shelf of archeology books. I could see his little ears just barely sticking out over the edge. But I wasn't going to tell Amy-san that.
The bookshelf was his favorite hiding spot when Raimei-chan came to visit and I didn't want him to find a new hiding spot. I felt better knowing where he was at all times.
The doctor, who still hadn't bothered to announce his family name, hadn't even bothered to try the cider. Instead, he was inspecting everything in site with a strange red-lenses magnifying glass. Muttering to himself the whole time. I was beginning to suspect that being 'thick' was code for being insane.
Of the three of them, the second man seemed to be the only sane one. Though I had yet to even hear him speak more than a sentence or two. So perhaps he was just quieter with his insanity.
He seemed to sense my attention and turned away from watching Amy-san to stare at me. There was something about him that seemed familiar. It was something about his eyes. They reminded me of Kouichi-kun's. Could he be another immortal created by the Shinra Banshou? But that didn't make sense he had brown hair and brown eyes. Nothing like Shijima-sama or Kouichi-kun.
"So you still haven't told us your name?"
"I'm Miharu Rokujou. And you haven't introduced yourselves either."
He smiled sheepishly. Still spookily reminding me of Kouichi-kun. "I suppose we haven't. I'm Rory Williams and this is my wife Amy Pond." He gave her a sappy smile. "And that over there." He motioned with his head towards the other man. "Is the Doctor."
"Doctor Who?"
"Just THE Doctor."
I stared at him in disbelief. Surely he wasn't trying to tell me that the man had no name. He raised his hands in a appeasing gesture. "I know, I know. That doesn't make sense. But Amy's known him since she was a kid and that's all he's ever called himself. Well that and a mad man in a box."
This Rory Williams was definitely as crazy as the other two. "A mad man in a box?" I parroted.
Rory-san looked even more sheepish. Amy-san patted him on the shoulder. "Oh don't mind Rory. The Doctor works fine as a name. In fact I called him the Raggedy Doctor for years and he never seemed to mind."
"Is that true, Raggedy-sama?" I asked.
Doctor-sama froze in the middle of investigating one of Kumohira-sensei's scrolls. Then spun around to stare at me. His red magnifying glass still held in front of his eye. He opened his mouth and I braced for a reprimand for calling him something so informal.
Instead, his eyes grew wide behind the red glass and he bounded over to me. "It's you." He said, voice one part incredulous and one part fascinated.
"What's me?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a strange bronze wand with a glowing green tip out of his suit coats inner pocket and started waving it up and down in front of me. The strange instrument buzzed and warbled and I started to back away. Doctor-sama loped after me. Babbling to himself all the while. Something about impossible and improbable. And the likelihood of my unraveling the very fabric of reality.
He sounded like Sensei when he went off on one of his rants about the stupidity of using the Fairy's power. But that didn't make any sense. Even the leaders of the ninja clans hadn't been able to identify me until the Hijutsu activated. If he could see it when it was dormant, then he was a dangerous ninja indeed. People would kill for that kind of power.
It took a few minutes, but he finally seemed to lose interest in me. Busy turning his wand this way and that and hmmming at it. Finally, he seemed satisfied and stuck it back into his pocket. "Life force energy based fighting techniques. And a Multi-Dimensional life form attached the life force of a school boy. I can definitely see why the TARDIS brought us here."
So he did know about the fairy.
"So, now the question becomes, did you know that there was a Multi-Dimensional being living inside your body?" He looked into my eyes like he was trying to see the fairy lurking there.
"Yes. I know. She speaks to me."
"She's capable of direct contact with you?"
I nodded. "She wants me to make a wish so that she can make it come true."
"Why does she care so much about your wishes?"
That was an odd question to ask. I thought everyone in the Nabari world knew the story. "A long time ago the leaders of every ninja village gathered together to find a way to seal the most powerful ninja technique ever created. It was a scroll of infinite power and whoever possessed it could change the very fabric of the world. So they locked it away inside a sacrificial ninja.
"But their attempts went awry. When they killed the ninja the scroll didn't die with it. It found a new host and lived on, but now it was contained it could only take action when it's host was in danger of dying. Or when they make a wish."
"So that's why it's so hard to find. What wishes have you made with it?" He started patting at his pockets and I thought for a second that he was going to pull his strange wand back out again.
"I haven't made any."
He stared at me. "Not any, not even just for a sandwich or something innocent like that?"
"No, not any. I didn't want this power and I didn't want to use it."
"Not even once? There must have been something you desired."
I thought of Yoite and his wish for me to make it so that he had never existed. I had desired that, at least a little bit. But by the time I'd made peace with the fact that I was going to have to lose him, to grant his wish, he'd changed his mind. "No."
Doctor-sama didn't seem to believe me and I couldn't blame him. I had desired something and if I had been just a little stronger I would have made a wish and let the Fairy's powers out.
Doctor-sama continued to quiz me until Rory-san finally seemed to lose patience. "So if you don't want this power, why haven't you gotten rid of it?"
Doctor-sama answered for me. "Because it's fused with his life force. If he tries to destroy the creature it will kill him."
"But you can fix him, right Doctor? "Amy-san asked.
"It's not exactly that simple."
I didn't feel like dancing around the subject. They might not be after the Shinra Banshou's power, but that might just be a ruse to steal it from me. "If I try to remove it, I die and the power goes to an unknown ninja."
"I'm guessing that's bad?"
"Bad is an understatement, Rory. It could be an absolute catastrophe. If this sort of power fell into the wrong hands it could spell the end of reality. It changes the world by pulling artifacts, people, what have you through the dimensional walls. Every time it does that, the walls weaken a little bit more. The last time that happened an army of Dalek's and Cybermen flooded the universe."
"Was that a bad thing?"
The Doctor stared at me for a second. "Yes. That is a bad thing." Then he threw his hands up in overly-dramatized annoyance. "Why do I keep hooking up with companions who don't notice when the world is about to end."
"Hey!" Amy-san complained, from where she was trying to lure Yoite-kitty off of the bookshelf.
"It's the truth. You didn't even remember that the Dalek invasion happened when I first met you."
"Like it's my fault that there was a crack in all of time and space inside my bedroom wall?"
Rory-san shook his head at the pair of them. "If he doesn't remember what happened with the Dalek's does that mean there was a crack in his wall too?"
"That's a very good question." Raggedy-san turned back to me. "So, do you have any suspicious cracks in your house?"
"No. Not that I remember."
"And why wouldn't you remember if you had a crack in your wall?"
He just had to pick the one subject I least wanted to discuss. "The previous bearer of the Shinra Banshou made it so that everyone would forget what happened ten years ago. I was so young that I forgot more than most."
"Everyone in the whole world?"
I shook my head and stared down into my empty mug so that he couldn't catch my eye. "No, just the Nabari world."
"The Nabari world? What's that?" Amy- san asked. She'd given up trying to lure Yoite-kitty down. Probably a good idea since he'd was usually content to spend the night on top of the shelf, when Reime-chan slept over.
"The Nabari world is the world of ninjas. Part of the responsibilities of every ninja is to make sure that people outside Nabari never learn of its existence."
The Doctor nodded to himself. "So whatever the last host was trying to make everyone forget, it was something that related to the ninjas themselves. Do you have any idea what that was?"
"Who knows? We all forgot."
"But what is forgotten can be remembered. If you know that it was the host that erased the memories than you have to have some idea what they were trying to erase."
I remembered seeing Sensei's memories. Seeing my mother scream over and over again that I didn't have a face. Where was my face? I shuddered. "Some things are better off forgotten."
Doctor-sama nodded. Seeming to accept my reasoning. "Alright then. Let's just say that if at all possible we want to avoid having the dimensional walls break down."
"That won't be a problem. I've made a promise that I'd never use the power and I'll do whatever it takes to keep it." It was the least I could do in memory of my mother and Yoite.
"Good, then hopefully this won't be too hard."
"What won't be too hard?
"We're going to strip the Multi-Dimensional being from your body."
I leapt to my feet and started backing towards the door.
"Doctor." Rory-san snapped.
"What?"
"Perhaps you should explain things a little better. He just said a couple minutes ago that taking the power out of him would kill him."
"Aw, but that's if you're using the means available on earth. It's not as unusual a problem as you might think. We'll just have to take a little trip and we'll have him back good as new. Well good as new except for the fact that he won't have a parasite preying on his life force."
That did sound promising. But a little too good to be true. "I don't want anyone else to have to get this power."
He flapped his hand at me like I was being exceptionally slow. "That won't be a problem. There are proper ways of disposing of this type of creature. We could have her back where she came from and bring you back here before anybody even knew you were gone."
"Oh please." Amy-san said. "You can't guarantee that he'll be back before anyone notices he's gone. You have the worst sense of timing I've ever seen. It took you nineteen years to come back for me."
"I know that Amy. I was just trying to give our young friend a sense of confidence."
"False confidence you mean." Was Amy-san's rejoinder.
"Well maybe a little, but I'm usually much better at keeping track of time then that."
"Sure you are."
He rolled his eyes at her, before giving me a scarily large grin. "So what do you say? Do you want to get your unfortunate co-inhabitant taken care of?"
"Can it wait for a while?" Kumohira-sensei would hopefully be back soon and he'd be able to tell me if this man was really able to do what he claimed he could. And if he didn't know then Fumma-sama should be able to tell me. "I need to make a few calls."
"I suppose that would be okay." Despite his agreement, he was practically shaking with excitement and impatience. Well ,there was one sure fire way I knew to calm down excitable people like Kumohira-sensei and Raime-chan. "Would you like to eat something while you wait?"
"Oooo food. I bet we could find a great sushi place!" Amy-san yelled. She hadn't been the one I was trying to snare the attention of, but from the way Doctor-sama slumped it was obvious that she was the one with the real power in their little trio.
"I don't know about sushi, but I know a great Okyami restaurant."
"Okyami? I've never heard of it before."
"I'm sure you'll like it."
Doctor-sama sighed. "Well I suppose it would hurt to have a little snack before we head out. You never know what kind of food you'll find on an alien planet."
As if the discussion of Earth technology wasn't bad enough, now he was talking about aliens. "I'll take your word for it."
I pushed open the doors to Okonomiyaki Taibanten. "I'm back Grandmother, and I brought friends." I called. The restaurant was busy. Almost every table was full of patrons shouting, yelling, eating, and talking. It made for a pleasant din. Grandmother waved at me from a table at the far end. Motioning for me to start working.
I got the trio situated at a small table at the back of the restaurant, before running behind the counter to grab my apron. I grabbed the phone off of the kitchen wall and ducked out of the back door into the herb garden while no one was looking. I slid the door shut behind me so that it was only cracked enough for the cord to fit through.
"Ramei-chan?"
"Mihura-kun! Is something wrong? You never call me so late at night. And K-kun said you snuck out of class early."
"Everything's fine. I was just wondering if you'd heard form Kumohira-sensei? Hana-chan wanted me to say goodbye to him."
"Goodbye?" She yelled. "Where was she going?"
"Apparently an old friend of hers got sick and needed her to run an expedition to Egypt for him."
"Well that stinks. Give me a second and I'll see if I can find out what's holding Sensei up."
The sound coming through the receiver became muted, but I could still pick up the sound of talking and K-kun's voice. Well it looked like they were finally doing something about the crush Raime-chan had on him. That was good.
I propped the phone between my chin and shoulder, before crouching down to weed the garden. At least that way I'd be able to tell Grandmother that I'd been doing something productive while I avoided working in the restaurant.
After a few minutes of indistinct muttering Raime-chan finally came back to the phone. "Koichi-kun says that Kumohira-sensei told him something about having to go to a teachers conference in Tokyo. So he left this afternoon. He'll probably still be late. I really don't know why he insists on walking everywhere. He's managed to survive every train ride we've dragged him onto.”
So Sensei wouldn't be coming back to give him advice. While he pondered how to get around that problem he replied on automatic. "True, but I get the feeling that his Grandfather really did a number on him when he dragged him onto a plane to Japan."
"No kidding. So is there something else you needed?"
"Yeah. Do you know of Sensei took his cell phone with him?"
"You could try calling him, but I'm guessing not. He's about as likely to carry his cell as you are."
True enough, my inability to keep track of a cell-phone had always been one of Yukimi-kun's favorite rants. "Then do you have Fuuma-sama's number?"
"Yeah, I have it. But why do you want it. You've been avoiding the rest of the Nabari world for months." Her voice became louder as she started to panic. "Is something wrong? You know I can come over right away if you need help. And Kouichi-kun will come with me."
"No, no. It's no problem." I did my best to sound innocent. It was harder over the phone. "I just found something that talks about a method to remove the Hijutsu. I wanted Fumma-sama's opinion that's all."
" A way to get rid of the Shinra Bonshou? That would be great!"
"Yeah, so do you have his number?"
"Sure, just give me a second. I think he's hiding out in the regular world right now. So I've got to find that number."
She put the phone down and I could hear her moving papers about and cursing.
"Did you really find a way to get rid of it?" Kouichi-kun asked. His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"I don't know. It sounds too good to be true. That's why I wanted to talk to Fumma-chan."
"If he thinks it will work. Could you try to use it on me first?"
"I don't know." I understood why he wanted to have me use the supposed technique. But Doctor-sama hadn't said anything about reversing the affects of the other hosts' wishes. "I didn't see anything about changing things the fairy had changed."
"Just promise me you'll ask Fumma-sama about it?"
"I will."
"Thanks Miharu-kun. Can you do me another favor? Don't tell Raimei-chan about this."
"I won't. But didn't she already hear you asking about it?"
"No, she's off in the kitchen trying to figure out where she wrote Fumma-sama's number."
In the background, I could hear Raime-chan yelling. "SUCSESS!!!"
"I'll talk to you later." Kouichi-kun said before putting the phone back down.
"So you say he came out of a blue box?" Fumma-sama asked. I could hear the soft rustling of scrolls in the background.
"Yes."
"Can you give me a little more description?"
"A blue box isn't strange enough for you?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm looking through over a thousand years of Nabari history here. There have been hundreds of techniques that could cause illusions. And that's not even counting transportation and replacement jutsus. I don't know of any that appear as blue boxes. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. If this man is as knowledgeable about the Shinra Banshou as you say he is, he could belong to one of the lost villages. Which means his technique could be one that has fallen completely out of use by the ninjas in the Nabari world."
I tried to think back and remember what the box had looked like. But it was like my mind's eye didn't want to focus on the image. "I don't know. It was big and blue. And there was a sign on the front and a flashing light on top. But every time I try to remember something more than that, the image of it becomes fuzzy."
"So whatever the spell is, it definitely has some unique qualities. I'll start researching the memory-altering jutsus. One moment. Kato-san do you know anything about a story involving a blue box appearing out of thin air."
There was a loud thump. Then Kato-san was practically yelling into the phone. "Is one of the people that came out of the box named the Doctor."
"Yeah." Surely Doctor-sama wasn't that important.
"Can you tell me exactly what he said about the Shinra Banshou."
"Kato-san what's going on?" Fumma-sama asked.
"There are rumors that the ninjas originally got their powers when a group of travelers fell from the sky. There was a man who came with them, named the Doctor. He traveled in a blue box and the travelers knew him as the oncoming storm. He warned the travelers that if their power ever fell into the hands of anyone outside of the ninja clans, he would return to seal their powers away. It's said that his warning is why the Shimizu clan was created."
I tried to imagine Doctor-sama as a dangerous being who could wipe out the entire Nabari world. But it didn't seem to fit. He was crazy, but he didn't really seem dangerous. "Are you sure it's the same guy?"
"I don't know. That was over one thousand years ago. But the people who researched the legend posited that 'Doctor' was a title passed down from father to son. The travelers believed that if they were ever discovered one of the Doctors would come to wipe them out."
"That doesn't sound at all good." Fumma-sama said.
I had to agree with him. "I really can't see this Doctor wiping anyone out. He has humans with him, so I don't know why he would be against the introduction of non-ninjas into the Nabari world.
"Still, I'd prefer not to make him angry until we have a better idea about why he ended up in your Kumohira-sensei's garden. Did he mention anything about why he came?
"He said something about his TARDIS bringing him here because of the Hijutsu."
“Do you know what the TARDIS is?" I think it's the box.
"Then maybe that's where the Doctors power comes from. It would be worth investigating."
"I really wouldn't advise that, sir." Kato-san interrupted. "We don't want to make him angry. He might not be as dangerous as the other Doctor, but that doesn't mean he isn't a match for any of the Ninja clan leaders. He might even be able to defeat you."
"Well we certainly don't want that. I mean what would the Fumma clan do without my beautiful face to inspire them."
I could just imagine the 'heroic' pose Fumma-sama was striking. He was completely useless when he got into one of these mood. "What do you think I should do Kato-san?"
"Did he say what he what he wanted to do with the Shinra Banshou?"
"He said he wanted to remove it and send it back where it came from. Before it weakened the veils between the dimensions enough that they collapsed."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, it doesn't."
Kato-san was quite for a few seconds. "Honestly Miharu-san, I think you have to decide this for yourself. If you truly don't want to have the power of the Hijutsu, this is your best bet to be free of it forever."
"What if he's lying?"
"What do you have to lose if he is?"
"I don't want anybody else to have to deal with this power. It's bad enough when it's me."
"I can understand that, but what you have to realize is that someday you're going to die and the power will get loose. It will find another host and the cycle will begin all over again."
I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"Just think about it, okay? This might be your only chance to get rid of the Shinra
Banshou forever."