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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 Four
When I went back into the restaurant, I found the Yamada-san flirting outrageously with Doctor-sama, while Rory-san bussed tables, and Amy-san teased Ito-sama about his 'handsome' features. Grandmother was laughing, happier than I had ever seen her. "There you are Miharu-chan. I was wondering where you snuck off to."
"I was calling Raimei-chan. Kumohira-sensei never came back to his house and I wanted to let him know that his friends had arrived."
"Oh, that was nice of you. Were you able to reach him?"
"No. He's on his way to Tokyo for a conference."
"Don't tell me he's walking again. She shook her head. "That silly boy."
"Would you mind if I stayed over at Thobari's house tonight, just to make sure his guests are taken care of?" I hadn't realized until I asked the question, but I had made a decision about the Doctor's offer. I would go with him. If there was even a small chance that he'd be able to free me from the Fairy then I had to try. It was the only way that I could guarantee that I'd keep my promise to Yoite and my mother.
Grandmother smiled, and patted me on the head. "That's so responsible of you, Miharu-chan. I'm glad to see that you're feeling better."
Funny, I hadn't thought about it, but I really was feeling better. I smiled at her, for once not faking the expression. "I'm glad to be feeling better too."
"Why don't you go pack. Rory-san will help me fill the last of the orders, while Pond-san and Doctor-sama keep the customers busy."
I wondered who she meant when she said Pond-sama, then I noticed her motioning to Amy-san. I was a bit surprised I'd assumed she was Williams-sama like her husband. Perhaps the difference in names was common for foreigners.
It was nighttime by the time we made our way back to Kumohira-sensei's house. We'd stayed at Okonomiyaki Taibanten until after the dinner rush was over.
Amy-san was leaning heavily on Rory-san as we climbed the flights of stairs that lead to the house. I got the feeling that she would have been asleep if Rory-san hadn't been there to prop her up. The Doctor on the other hand still bounced about with some kind of manic energy. One second he was looking out over the staircase railing at the twinkling lights of the village spread out across the village's lower levels. The next he was investigating one of the cherry trees that lined the path.
Finally, Rory-san seemed to have had enough. "Will you calm down, Doctor?"
"But there is so much to see. This place reminds me of Venice."
"Hopefully without the sea-monster alien vampires."
"I turned around to stare at him. "He had to be joking right?
Doctor-sama at least seemed to think he was being serious. "I'm sure it will be fine. We'll be leaving soon"
"That's good. Amy will be glad to get to the Resort."
"Well, we might not be going straight to the Resort."
Rory-san shook his head. "So where will we be going? And you do realize that you're going to be the one who explains this to Amy, right?"
"I'm sure she'll understand." He didn't sound sure.
"Of course she will." The sarcasm was obvious. "So what will we be doing if we're not going to the resort?"
"We need to make a quick pit-stop to take care of our new friend's problem." He motioned towards me.
I turned my attention back to the stairs.
My back itched from the force of Rory-san's gaze. "Yeah, it really seems like he wants our help."
I had to agree with his sarcastic statement.
"So, Mihura, have you decided if you want to come with us so that we can have your parasite taken care of?"
Rory-san had taken Amy-san back into the blue box. And Doctor-sama was taking advantage of his absence to return to his blunt way of speaking. I found it refreshing. I disliked liars and flatterers. Honesty, no matter how brutal, was better. "What will you do to me if I refuse to come with you."
"I hadn't thought about it but I would probably try to use earth technology to get it out of you."
"Why not leave it inside me? It's not like I'm going to use the Hijutsu's power."
He sighed. "I know you don't plan to, but it's not that simple. From what you said this Shira Banshou has a mind of its own. You might not want to use it, but it wants to be used. At some point it will get what it wants. Something this powerful can't be caged indefinitely."
So he agreed with Kato-san. "Could you get it out of me without taking me away?"
Doctor-sama yanked at his bow-tie and shrugged his shoulders. "It might be possible, but it would be dangerous. I'd feel much more comfortable if you came with us in the TARDIS."
"What about my Grandmother? I can't just leave with you without telling her what I am doing." It wasn't actually the truth since I'd successfully managed to disappear for a few weeks when I joined the Kairoshuu. But it made a good excuse for my reluctance to go with him.
"That's the best part. My TARDIS doesn't just travel through space. It travels through time as well!"
"You have a time travel machine?"
"Yep. So do you want to come?"
"I—"
"I promise that I'll do everything in my power to get you home safe and sound." His long face, suddenly fell into a more serious expression. It reminded me of how Kumohira-sensei had looked when he swore to make me the leader of the Nabari world.
"Can I get a few things together first?"
"You don't need to get everything. The TARDIS has everything you could ever need."
I doubted that. "What about Yoite-kitty."
"I'm not sure. The TARDIS isn't really a place for animals. And you'll be back before he even knows you're gone."
"I'm not leaving him."
"He really will be okay on his own for a little while."
I widened my eyes and let my lip quiver. "But what if he gets eaten by an owl. Or he gets lonely while I'm gone. Sensei won't be back for days."
He backed away until his back hit the wall of his blue box. "I really don't think—"
I went in for the kill. Letting tears gather in the corner of my eyes, I said, "Pleeease?"
Doctor-sama folded just like Sensei. "I guess it's all right." Then he seemed to realize that he'd just weakened his position, and hurried to add. "But he better not pee anywhere he's not supposed to. And there will be absolutely no chewing of anything."
I held my hand in a three-finger salute. "Scouts honor."
I headed into the house to grab Yoite-kitty, but before I made it past the porch. Shijima-sama came out of the house, in her feline form, Yoite-kitty hanging from her mouth by the scruff of his neck. Yowling and squealing all the way. Shijima-sma ignored both him and me and walked right to the TARDIS and through the doors.
The Doctor stared after her, his eyes wide.
I expected him to mention the fact that he now had two cats in his box, but he didn't seem to care. Muttering to himself about it figured that this was how cat-humans came into existence.
I decided to ignore his ramblings and slipped into the blue box. The bag I'd packed at Grandmother's house had everything I needed anyway.
The box was much bigger on the inside and I wondered for a minute if Doctor-sama was using an illusionary-justu on it. But when I went over and felt the strange console in the center of the room, it seemed solid.
Despite it's strange glass floors and the console that looked like a rubbish heap that had been glued together, the box felt comforting. Being inside the TARDIS, whatever that meant, felt like sitting next to Yoite and falling asleep with my head against his shoulder. There was a sense of home, peace, and understanding that I had never felt in any building before. Not even Hana-chan and Kumohira-sensei's house.
"So what do you think?"
I jumped. I hadn't heard Doctor-sama come into the box. I'd been too busy inspecting the strange room.
He grinned at me. "So any profound insights to make? Anything to say?"
I wondered what he expected me to say. There seemed to be something in particular he was fishing for. "It's nice I guess, kind of strange."
His face fell. "That's it?"
"It's really orange?" I tried.
"You're supposed to say it's bigger on the inside." He sighed. "Come on. I'll show you to your room. Just make your cats come with you." He pointed over to where Shiratama sat on the room's steps, daintily licking one paw, while pinning Yoite-kitty under the other.
Once we were safely tucked away in my room, Shiratama transformed back into her human form.
"Hello Shijima-sama. Why did you decide to come along?"
"The Owl told me that you'd found a way to get rid of the Shinra Banshou. It seemed worth observing."
"Oh."
"You didn't ask that strange man about stripping the influence of the Hijutsu from Owl-san."
No, I hadn't. "I must have forgotten. I left her sitting on the bed and went to put my clothes away in the large oak wardrobe that took up most of the room's right wall.
"No you didn't ."
I stopped in the middle of tucking Yoite's hat into the wardrobe. I should have known she'd see through my ruse. She was just as evil as I was. In her own way.
"You don't trust this strange man and didn't want him to force Owl-san to accompany him."
"You're old right Shijima-sama?" It wasn't a very subtle way of changing the subject, but I was willing to go with it.
"Over 150 years."
"So have you ever hear the rumors about 'The Doctor'."
"The great guardian from the stars, who could wipe the Nabari world out in a single day? That's just a legend. People didn't even believe it during the Edo period."
I tucked Yoite's hat away and turned to meet Shijima-sama's gaze. I wanted to see her reaction. "Kota-san thinks that Doctor-sama is The Doctor. He said that this box matches the description of the box that Doctor used."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "That's impossible. That was over a thousand years ago." Despite her denials she still looked tense. She jumped off the bed. "I've had enough of talking about this. I'm going to go do some exploring." She shifted back into her cat form and meowed imperiously at me.
I opened the door and let her out. Doctor-sama would just have to put up with having a cat wandering his TARDIS.
After she left I curled up on the bed, Yoite-kitty tucked up under my chin. It had been a long day.
A beautiful woman visited me in my dreams. She glowed golden, her long black hair had a blue sheen, and in her eyes there was a pit, deep and dark.
I felt like it could suck my soul away from my body. I don't think I would have minded. There was something gentle and good about her that had never been present in the 'Fairy'. Despite the fact that the fairy had claimed that the Shinra Banshou existed only to grant my desires.
The blue-haired woman whispered to me in a strange lilting language and I felt myself falling further into sleep than I had managed in months. Just before the woman disappeared into the warm darkness of dreamless sleep, I felt something brushing against my mind.
I thought I heard a voice whispering like a breeze. Telling me that everything would be all right. I would find the person I was looking for. But I was too tired to be sure.
Doctor-sama clapped his hands together and bounced about on the balls of his feet, like an excited child. "It took a little searching, but I found the perfect place to get the Multidimensional being pulled out of your life force."
"Where is that?" It was hard to believe that the answer was so simple that Doctor-sama could find it in less than a day. The entire Nabari world had searched for a way to destroy the Hijutsu for years. Dozens of hosts, including my mother, had died. And now this man was saying that he could get rid of it without even hurting me. I was beginning to suspect that he really was Doctor-sama that Kota had said he was.
"It's a healer's planet. The person who runs it specializes in energy based maladies. I don't know if she's ever seen something as serious as your problem, but she should be able to strip it from you easily enough. Since a bunch of energy users sealed the being into your life force. And ones it's out of you it's should be easy enough to send it back into the void where it belongs."
"And then we can go to the resort?" Amy-san asked.
"Of course, once we drop Miharu back at home."
She rolled her eyes. "And then something else will come up. Still, we might as well get this over with." She slung her arm over my shoulders. "So kid, you ready to go have a Multidimensional being of indescribably power pulled out of your body?"
"Why not."
"That was a joke."
"Oh." It hadn't been that funny.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I swear hanging out with you three is like spending time at an old folks home. Everything is gloom and doom."
I stepped out of the TARDIS and into a dark room. The scents of spices and herbs was heavy on the air. It reminded me of Jinji-chan's healing room.
"Who have you brought to me for healing?" A voice hissed.
I looked around, trying to located the person who was talking, but there was just darkness everywhere I looked.
Doctor-sama didn't seem to notice or care. He strode forward until he was standing in front of me. "I brought a boy who had something sealed into his life force."
"An interesting puzzle indeed."
"I thought you'd be interested. The creature inside of him is a Multi-dimensional being. You won't be able to collect it."
"Not even part of it? You know how lonely I get here."
"No, the whole being has to go into the rift or it will just come back through. You don't want this thing to take you as a host. Not if even half of the stories Miharu has told me are true."
There was the soft whisper of cloth against stone and then a figure came out of the darkness. I couldn't see much about them. They were covered from head to toe with a cloak. "Then I suppose you will be taking it away after the procedure is done. Did you bring me something else to keep me company?"
"Maybe." He turned to me. "Did you bring your cat with you? The white one."
"No. She's still inside the TARDIS."
"Can you go get her, we'll wait here."
Why in the world would he want me to get Shi-san? He hadn't wanted her to come on this trip in the first place. Still, she would be happy to get out of the ship. She always wanted to see new things.
I slipped back into the boxy, leaving the door open a crack so that I could hear what was going on in that strange dark room.
"So, you have new companions. What happened to that nice young woman who was traveling with you all those years ago?"
"She decided that she didn't want to keep traveling with me."
"How unfortunate."
"Not really, she's happy now! She got married and is doing what she loves." Even from this far away I could hear the forced cheer in his voice.
"Please give her my blessings for a happy partnership."
"Thank you. But I don't think I'll be seeing her any time soon."
"How unfortunate."
I headed into the TARDIS after that. It didn't sound like I'd learn anything more about what this strange person was going to do to me by eavesdropping.
I ended up bringing both Yoite-kitty and Shijima-sama back with me. Yoite-kitty had meowed so pitifully when I tried to leave him that I hadn't been able to resist scooping him up and cuddling to my chest. Shijima-sama had more dignity than that. She strode proudly beside me, her head and tail held high. Our surroundings were surveyed and dismissed which helped me to relax.
I might not be able to see any of the surrounding area, but Shijima-sama certainly could. And she was more than a match for anything that could come after us.
The cloaked stranger and the Doctor were still talking to each other, though they'd moved their conversation to a dark corner of the room. I could just make out the waving of hands and the hissing sound of their whispered conversation.
Amy-san and Rory-san had apparently found their discussion as boring as I did, Rory had found a mini-flashlight somewhere and they were busy investigating a large set of drawers that covered almost the entire wall. Each of the drawers was only a few inches in size, so there was a lot to investigate.
After tucking Yoite-kitty onto my shoulders I went to join them in their investigation. Shijima-sama headed off to join Doctor-sama's conversation.
Amy-san and Rory-san were whispering over the contents of a drawer.
"What do you think it is?"
"It looks kind of like vanilla beans."
I poked at the 'beans'. The pod opened and tried to snap closed on the tip of my finger. I jumped back and Rory-san slammed the drawer shut.
"Okay. So definitely not vanilla beans." Amy-san said unnecessarily.
A sound that was one part shriek and one part yowl came from the corner where the Doctor had been talking. Yoite-kittty hissed and curled tighter around my neck. Turning to see what was going on, I saw that Shijima-sama had somehow managed to climb the cloaked figure and was now determinedly clinging to their head. Thankfully, still in cat form.
I ran across the room and tried to pry her off, but she wouldn't be moved. She even went so far as to scratch me. I backed away fast. Whatever had set her off, she wasn't going to give up until she'd succeeded in her mission.
Doctor-sama wasn't as easily convinced to back off. He took his strange bronze wand out of his suit pocked and started waving it at Shijima-sama. It made a whining noise. Yoite-kitty started hissing and spitting, but Shijima-sama didn't seem to notice whatever it was that Doctor-sama was trying to do. She just claw-ed at the cloaked figure harder.
When he saw that Doctor-sama wasn't having any luck. Rory-san stepped in and attempted to remove Shijima-sama. He didn't back down even when she twisted her body around to scratch at him with three paws. Her teeth and forth paw still sunk into the cloak.
He finally managed to get a good hold around her stomach and back and pulled. He was able to pry her off, but the cloak came with it. Revealing the mysterious stranger.
Chapter Five
She was a cat. A ginger tabby with a kind round face. Large, movable paws, and a tail that reached down to brush against the floor. Even stranger than that, she was dressed in a strange white and black dress and a matching hat that covered her ears.
That was something I definitely hadn't been expecting. And from the stunned looks on Rory-san and Amy-san's faces I doubted that they had been expecting it either. Shijima-sama took advantage of their shock to wiggle out from Rory-san's grasp. She was transforming before she hit the ground.
Now even The Doctor was staring. So he hadn't known what Shi-san was. I hadn't been sure.
"What is the meaning of this?" Shijima-sama hissed, her golden eyes flashing. Her long white hair swished back and forth like the tail she no longer had. She didn't seem to notice that she was naked.
Rory-san certainly did. He blushed an embarrassed red from his cheeks to his ears and turned so that he was looking in the opposite direction. The other three didn't seem to care anymore than I did.
"Who is this imposter?" She continued pointing her clawed finger at the strangely dressed ginger.
I expected the ginger to hiss in response. Instead she fell to her knees in a deep bow. "My Blessed Lady. I did not realize it was you. I am sorry that I did not show you the proper respect when you first arrived. Had I known I would have announced myself as is proper."
Despite the cat-woman's strange words, her deferential tone seemed to ease Shijima-sama's ire. She relaxed enough to fall out of her fighting stance. "I don't believe you were the one at fault in this situation.” She turned her attention to Doctor-sama. "I see that Miharu-kun was right to distrust you. You are up to something."
"I suspected that you were more than you appeared. The Cat Nuns have pictures of their Goddess and your cat form bore a strong resemblance. But I had no idea that you had evolved to the point where you had a human form." He moved closer to her, bending down so that he could stare into her eyes. He brought his wand towards her. "However did you managed it. This kind of transformation is far beyond anything humans in your time are capable."
She grabbed his wand away. "Enough of that. I demand to know what is going on!"
"I'd love to tell you , but I'm afraid that I can't say until I know how you managed to get stuck in this form."
They were both so pointlessly stubborn. "It was the Shinra Banshou."
Doctor-sama turned to stare at me. "I thought you said you'd never used the Multidimensional beings power?"
"I didn't. But one of its past hosts did. He experimented with ways to give animals human hearts. Shijima-sama was one of his experiments." I decided not to mentions Kouichi-kun. Not until I saw how Doctor-sama would handle Shijima-sama's existence.
He turned his attention back from her, grabbing his wand back and using his height to hold it out of her reach. "I suppose that would explain how she came to be with you. How long have you been alive?" He asked.
"150 years."
"Are you immortal?"
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I cannot be killed if that is what you mean. Whatever power resides inside the Shinra Banshou remade me in its image."
"Is she telling the truth?" He asked me.
I nodded. " She looks like the Fairy. Feels like her too."
"Interesting." He started poking at Shijima-sama again.
She bore his examination with more grace than I'd expected. Only scratching him twice before he stopped, finally seeming satisfied with whatever he'd discovered.
"So I think that with Novice Hame's” he nodded towards the ginger cat “ help I should be able to pull the Shinra Banshou out without too much trouble. I should be able to scan Shijima and get a good read on what the Hijutu's power signature looks like. Then it will just be a matter of pulling that power signature out of you and containing it until I can release it into the void."
Well that sounded suspiciously simple. "And it won't hurt me?"
Doctor-sama shifted around uncomfortably. "I can't guarantee that. Having somebody mess with your life force is always uncomfortable. But there shouldn't be any permanent damage."
"And can you do the same thing for Shijima-sama?"
We suddenly had Shijima-sama full attention. She had been wandering around Novice Hame-san's healing chamber while Rory-san wandered behind her trying to get her to put on his spare overshirt. Now she bounded over to stand next to the Doctor. "Could you?"
Doctor-sama's face shifted and he suddenly looked both very old and very kind. It reminded me of how Grandmother looked when I asked a question about my mother's death. It was the look that said I was too young to understand what it was that I was asking. "I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do for you Shijima. The Shinra Banshous power influences you in a very different way than it affects Miharu.
"Miharu has a second life force trapped within his body. You only have one."
"So take it out of me."
"It's not-"
"I don't care if it kills me. I just want to die."
Hame-san gasped, her furry face pulled into a look of horror that I'd only seen on Yoite-kitty's when I threatened him with a bath. If this situation had been different I would have laughed. "Surely you don't mean that My Lady. You are my Goddess. You can't die!"
Shijima-sama hissed in irritation. "I didn't ask to be your God and I've searched for years. Looking for a way to die. I'll do whatever it takes."
"It's not that simple." Doctor-sama interrupted. "I can't take the life-force out of you."
"Why not? Are you too afraid to kill?"
It was Rory-san's turn to gasp. "You can't just say things like that!"
Doctor-sama motioned to Amy-san and she quickly clapped her hand over her husband's mouth. "I'm over 900 years old. I've killed far more people than you have. And I've hated every death but that has never stopped me from doing what I needed to do, so don't talk to me about fear."
900 years! Did that mean he was the same Doctor that had warned the Nabari ancestors to keep its power away from the regular humans?
"You can't be that old."
"I am. And do you know what I've learned over those years? I've learned that death doesn't solve anything."
"Maybe not, but I still want to die. I was never meant to live for this long."
"As I was saying before you started in on my inability to kill, I can't fix you because you only have one life-force. A person's original life force is fused to their body. If I tried to destroy your life force, it would destroy your body too. But you still wouldn't be dead." Doctor-sama's face shifted back into his usual jovial expression, but there was still something dark and old about his eyes."I'm pretty sure you don't want that."
Strangely enough knowing that he was hiding something dark under his manically cheerful facade made me feel better. I knew all about using masks to protect yourself. "If would happen to her if her body was destroyed but she didn't die?"
He shrugged. "It's hard to say, but the last immortal who tried it, came back to life as nothing but a giant head. He had to live in a jar for the rest of his life."
"The face of Boe." Hame-san's tone was reverent.
"You said the rest of his life. So that means that it did work. He was able to die." Shijima-sama hissed.
Doctor-sama stared at her for a second before responding. "He did die, but he spent over one hundred thousand years trapped inside a jar before he did. I don't even know if having his life-force ripped out affected his ability to die. It's possible his life foce just ran out. When people speak about immortality they usually don't consider the fact that time can stretch on forever. Even an immortal's life force isn't likely to last that long."
Shijima-sama didn't seem to have anything to say in response to that.
Hame-san showed us to the back room of her home. It held a large bookcase full of dusty scrolls and another, smaller set of herb drawers. Set above a worktable. Unlike the ingredients in the other drawers I actually recognized some of these. The whole room was filled with their smell. It reminded me strongly of Jiju-chan's workroom in the Fumma village.
She cleared off space on a second worktable, moving scrolls, candles, and various other odds and ends into piles on the floor. Before helping me up onto the table. Yoite-kitty jumped up to cuddle with me. Hame-san started digging around in the bookcase and her drawers, pulling out various scrolls and herbs, only to put them back and grab something else.
"Why did you call Shijima-sama your lady and bow to her?" I couldn't resist asking since I could be sure that nobody would overhear. They had all returned to the TARDIS to look for some sort of containment devise that the Doctor had apparently lost when the TARIS reformed. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"She is my Order's Lady. Our creator."
"Your order?"
She motioned to her dress. "We are an order, a priesthood, that believes in the preservation of life beyond all else. It is the mission our Lady gave us."
"That doesn't really sound like Shijima-sama." She had a soft spot for creating death and mayhem.
Hame-san nodded. "She is not at all as I imagined, but now that The Doctor has explained that she is one like The Face of Boe I understand this difference."
That didn't make a lot of sense.
"You see I served that great man for many over a century. And throughout that time I saw how he grew and changed. As the time of his death grew nearer he became calmer and put more and more value upon the preservation of life. He eventually died to save the people of Earth. It makes sense that the Lady would be similar."
"I'll take your word for it." I didn't know who this face of Boe guy was but I couldn't see Shijima-sama ever mellowing with age.
"You have to understand. Things are different for time travels. Your Shijima will have lived for thousands of years before she meets my people."
"Thousands of years?" She was actually going to live that long?
It was the 52nd century when she created our order. Humans had destroyed and abandoned the world. My people were dying when the Lady found us. She used her own life force to change us and make use able to leave the planet. It is said that she used the last of her life to give my people a chance to continue with her mission of protecting life."
I couldn't imagine it, but then a year before I wouldn't have been able to imagine that the Nabari world existed. Still there was something important about her story. "You said that your Lady died. Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. All of our orders records of that time say the same thing."
So Shijima-sama could die. That was good. "I just have one more question before I let you get back to gathering supplies."
"What is it?"
"Do you know anything about a being like Shijima that could take the form of an owl? He might have died around the same time."
Her eyebrows crinkled together and cocked her a to the side. "I cannot remember ever having heard of another being like my Lady. If they existed they did not appear to my ancestors. Is it important?"
I gave her a big smile." No, it's fine. I was just curious."
"All right." She didn't look like she believed me.
Thankfully, the Doctor bounded into the room before she could question me further. A strange hourglass like contraption was in his hands. I supposed that it was the containment unit he'd been looking for. "So are you ready to get this show on the road?"
"Why not?"
"Alright just lay down on the table and we'll get started. Hame did you find the scroll you needed?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"Then let's get started." He pushed me to lay flat on the table, handing Yoite-kitty off to Hame-san. She traded him for a knife which he used it to prick his finger. He used the blood to start writing on my skin and the world started to fade.
I found myself in the large empty space that the Shinra Banshou inhabited. Lines of script swirled around the floor and floated up to surround my body. Coalescing into the Fairy.
"So you've finally reconsidered using my power?"
"No. I'm here to destroy you."
"Don't be ridiculous. That's impossible."
"I found a way."
"Even if you do find a way to survive my removal, I'll simply find a new host."
"No. You won't. You're going back where you came from. Back into the Void." At the last word the space around us filled with a red pulsing light. I felt queasy, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.
Her eyes widened. It was the first time I'd ever seen her appear as anything but arrogantly sure of her ability. "You can't."
"I can."
Her tone became wheedling. "I could give him back to you." The fairy hissed. "I could make it so that he would never leave you again. All you have to do is wish."
It would be so easy to agree. To wish for Yoite to be returned to my side. But I could still remember how peaceful he had looked in the end when he begged me to leave things as they were. He wouldn't wish to live if the price was losing the memories of the friendship and family he had found. Still, would it really hurt to give in if The Fairy could find a way to keep his memories intact?
It would be worth his being angry with me if it meant I could be with him again.
"That's right, you want him back don't you? Just make one simple wish and everything will be over. You'll never have to be alone again."
I opened my mouth, not sure if I was going to make a wish or scream at her to stop talking. Before I could do anything the area around us changed colors. A soothing blue light filled the vast space.
My mother had come. Her spirit still merged with my memories and the power of the Shinra Banshou. But it was the person at her side who had all of my attention.
"Yoite!"I was running before I even thought about it. Until I hit Yoite's chest and was holding tightly too his long, black coat. This was something I could never have done in the Real World, but it felt so good to have my other half so close. "I've missed you."
He patted my head softly with his gloved hand. "I'm sorry Miharu. I didn't want to leave you alone."
"Would it be wrong of me to wish for you to come back? I could ask the Fairy to keep your memories intact so you wouldn't forget me."
He gave me a sad look. "I'm sorry Miharu, but you can't bring me back."
"But why not?" I was crying now. Not the fake tears I was used to shedding but real tears. They trickled silently down my cheeks and I couldn't seem to stop them.
"I'm happy here. Happier than I ever was when I was alive. Please don't take that away from me."
I clutched at him harder, not wanting to lose him again.
"Remember what you promised me? You said that you would never use the Shinra Banshou. Please, Miharu, I know it's hard but you have to keep that promise."
"But then I'll lose you."
The soft leather of his glove was soft against my cheek as he rubbed my tears away. "We'll be together again. I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to find my way back to your side. But for now you have to let me go. If you give in, the Fairy will steal your life away. She'll make it so that you can never die and we can never be together again."
"I-"
"Promise me that you'll take this chance to be free."
My mother came up behind me and pulled me into a hug. "Promise us."
"I will."
"I could give them both back to you. They wouldn't have to know that you'd broken your promise." The Fairy shrieked. I could hear the desperation in her voice.
I pulled away from Yoite and my mother. Until I could face the Fairy and look her in the eyes. "No."
"But Miharu." She wheedled.
"No!" This time I shouted it. The fairy shrunk in front of my eyes. She no longer had power over me. I had made my decision and I wouldn't be swayed. "I have a wish for you. I wish that you would go away!"
"NO!" She reached for me. Her hands grasping like claws but before she could touch me she started to disintegrate into smoke.
Then the soul-sucking pain started. It felt like I was being ripped apart and stitched back together, badly. I screamed. But I didn't change my mind. I wanted the Shinra Banshou gone.
This pain was worth it if it meant being free of the curse laid upon me by the fairy. It felt good knowing that this pain meant nobody else would ever have to deal with her in their head. Or deal with the way people sought them out to kill them or force them to use the fairies power to grant their wishes.
I'd been lucky, having my friends choose me over the fairy but I knew that wasn't normal. I could still remember the sight of my mother laying on the ground. Her breath coming in pained gasps as she begged Thobari-sensei to save me. I never wanted something like that to happen again. Never wanted anyone else to feel the pain I had.
When the darkness finally welled up to overtake the cavernous space, I welcomed it. And the lack of awareness it brought with it.
When I woke up I was back in my bed aboard the TARDIS Yoite-kitty curled up beneath my chin and Shijima-sama was leaning over me. "The Doctor-san is about to release the Shinra Banshou into the Void. I figured you'd want to watch."
"Thanks." Pulling myself up to sit on the bed. Shocked by how weak I felt. "How long have I been out?"
She plopped down to sit next to me on the bed. "Not too long, About a day and a half"
"You didn't kill the Doctor while I was asleep, did you?"
"No. I behaved. The worst he got was a couple of scratches. Which he completely deserved."
I didn't want to know. "Can you get me some clothes? I don't really want to walk around in just a pair of sleeping pants."
"I suppose." She hopped off of the bed and started digging through the wardrobe. She tossed a pair of black pants, my favorite butterfly hoodie, and Yoite's hat over her shoulder and onto the bed.
I stiffened. In the months since Yoite's death, I had carried his hat with me everywhere but I'd never worn it. I was about to tell Shijima-sama to put it away again, but I stopped at the last second.
I remembered how at peace and happy Yoite had looked. I still missed him, but it didn't hurt so much now that I knew he was happy. It was good to know that I'd made the right decision. I pushed myself up to sit on the edge of the bed and pulled on my clothes. Then I put the hat on and stood up.
I would have fallen back down if Shijima-sama hadn't caught me.
I gave her a grateful smile. "Come on. Let's go. I don't want to miss Doctor-sama throwing the Shinra Banshou into the void."
"Where are Rory-san and Amy-san?" I asked Doctor-sama.
He looked up from where he'd been fooling with a strange lever on the room's central console. "Oh! So you're finally awake. I'm afraid Amy was very impatient to leave for their honeymoon. She did say to tell you goodbye."
I nodded, not really surprised. Amy-san had seemed like the type of person who waited to be patient. "Shijima-sama said that you were ready to send the Hijutsu into the void?"
"Yep. I was just waiting for you to wake up. I figured you'd want to watch."
"Thanks."
"Let me just start her up, then we can get started." He jumped manically around the console. Pulling, pushing, yanking, and twisting various switches, buttons, and levers. He stopped in front of a large gold-rimmed view screen that hung from the ceiling. He seemed pleased when he saw that it was showing the image of a swirling purple and blue vortex. Clapping his hands together, he said, "Let's get this show on the road."
He went over to the doors and opened them up. The swirling vortex we'd seen on the view screen was revealed. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. Something about that strange space was threatening.
"You can come closer. It's not dangerous as long as you're careful." The TARDIS gave an ominous shaking creak. "Well it's not dangerous as long as we don't spend a long time here. The TARDIS doesn't like it much." He patted the door frame. "She doesn't get along well with the time vortex."
Shijima-san joined him at the door, the green, glass containment unit balanced between her hands. There was a shining power, that looked like a miniature red sun, inside of it now. Which I assumed was the Shinra Banshou.
"Do you want to be the one to release it?" Doctor-sama asked me.
I shook my head, backing up until my back hit the edge of the console. I didn't want to be anywhere near the Fairy when she was released. I still didn't trust her to stay contained. "You can go ahead."
He gave me an understanding smile. "All right." Reaching out he took the containment chamber from Shi-sama. Then he unscrewed the top segment. The Shinra Banshou rose up to hover midair. Lines of script fell from the light like rain, landing on the floor and flowing across the surface towards me.
My breath caught. She was coming for me. I kept backing away until my heels were hanging over the edge of the console room's floor. I would have jumped , as I'd seen the Doctor do a few days before, but I was transfixed by the ever increasing lines of script. The floor surrounding me was almost completely black with it. This had all been pointless I was about to get taken as the Hijutsu's host again
A high whine filled the cavernous room, echoing off of the walls and growing louder by the second. The script froze, quivering. Before it rose up off of the floor and flowed back into the glowing ball of the Shinra Banshou.
Doctor-sama gave me a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. I didn't expect it to be quite that fast. I hope it didn't scare you."
I stared at him in disbelief, until Shijima-sama slapped him.
After that it was surprisingly easy to get rid of the Fairy. The Doctor kept using his wand to transmit the sound that kept the Hijustu paralyzed. The he sort of scooped it up with the containment unit and shook it out over into the void. It was obvious that despite the trouble it was having with the Doctor it would rather stay in the containment unit than go back into the void.
Luckily for me, Doctor-sama was more stubborn than even the fairy. He held his screwdriver between his teeth, so that he had both hands free to hold the containment chamber. Then he started banging it vigorously against the doorframe.
Until the Hijustu finally fell out and disappeared into the void. Slamming the door shut he ran back to the console and yanked on a lever. The TARDIS shuddered one last time before the engines ground to a stop with one last quiet whoop. "That wasn't too bad was it?"
Shijima-sama slapped him again.
Epilogue
We landed in Kumohira-sensei 's garden the morning after we had left. Shijima-sama was back in her cat form and ran away the moment the TARDIS doors opened. But I stayed behind for a few minutes to say my goodbyes and thank yous. Soon enough there wasn't anything else to say and I had to leave the TARDIS as well.
It was sad seeing the little blue box disappear, slowly disappearing with the same soft whoop, whoop that I'd heard when it first appeared. But I wasn't too upset. The key hanging around my neck, promised that I would someday see Doctor-sama and his amazing box again. Someday, when I was ready, I'd travel the stars. But for now, it was time to adjust back to living on Earth.
I tucked Yoite-kitty under my arm, pulled Yoite's hat further down on my head, and headed to Grandmother's house with a smile on my face. It was good to be back home.
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.
When I went back into the restaurant, I found the Yamada-san flirting outrageously with Doctor-sama, while Rory-san bussed tables, and Amy-san teased Ito-sama about his 'handsome' features. Grandmother was laughing, happier than I had ever seen her. "There you are Miharu-chan. I was wondering where you snuck off to."
"I was calling Raimei-chan. Kumohira-sensei never came back to his house and I wanted to let him know that his friends had arrived."
"Oh, that was nice of you. Were you able to reach him?"
"No. He's on his way to Tokyo for a conference."
"Don't tell me he's walking again. She shook her head. "That silly boy."
"Would you mind if I stayed over at Thobari's house tonight, just to make sure his guests are taken care of?" I hadn't realized until I asked the question, but I had made a decision about the Doctor's offer. I would go with him. If there was even a small chance that he'd be able to free me from the Fairy then I had to try. It was the only way that I could guarantee that I'd keep my promise to Yoite and my mother.
Grandmother smiled, and patted me on the head. "That's so responsible of you, Miharu-chan. I'm glad to see that you're feeling better."
Funny, I hadn't thought about it, but I really was feeling better. I smiled at her, for once not faking the expression. "I'm glad to be feeling better too."
"Why don't you go pack. Rory-san will help me fill the last of the orders, while Pond-san and Doctor-sama keep the customers busy."
I wondered who she meant when she said Pond-sama, then I noticed her motioning to Amy-san. I was a bit surprised I'd assumed she was Williams-sama like her husband. Perhaps the difference in names was common for foreigners.
It was nighttime by the time we made our way back to Kumohira-sensei's house. We'd stayed at Okonomiyaki Taibanten until after the dinner rush was over.
Amy-san was leaning heavily on Rory-san as we climbed the flights of stairs that lead to the house. I got the feeling that she would have been asleep if Rory-san hadn't been there to prop her up. The Doctor on the other hand still bounced about with some kind of manic energy. One second he was looking out over the staircase railing at the twinkling lights of the village spread out across the village's lower levels. The next he was investigating one of the cherry trees that lined the path.
Finally, Rory-san seemed to have had enough. "Will you calm down, Doctor?"
"But there is so much to see. This place reminds me of Venice."
"Hopefully without the sea-monster alien vampires."
"I turned around to stare at him. "He had to be joking right?
Doctor-sama at least seemed to think he was being serious. "I'm sure it will be fine. We'll be leaving soon"
"That's good. Amy will be glad to get to the Resort."
"Well, we might not be going straight to the Resort."
Rory-san shook his head. "So where will we be going? And you do realize that you're going to be the one who explains this to Amy, right?"
"I'm sure she'll understand." He didn't sound sure.
"Of course she will." The sarcasm was obvious. "So what will we be doing if we're not going to the resort?"
"We need to make a quick pit-stop to take care of our new friend's problem." He motioned towards me.
I turned my attention back to the stairs.
My back itched from the force of Rory-san's gaze. "Yeah, it really seems like he wants our help."
I had to agree with his sarcastic statement.
"So, Mihura, have you decided if you want to come with us so that we can have your parasite taken care of?"
Rory-san had taken Amy-san back into the blue box. And Doctor-sama was taking advantage of his absence to return to his blunt way of speaking. I found it refreshing. I disliked liars and flatterers. Honesty, no matter how brutal, was better. "What will you do to me if I refuse to come with you."
"I hadn't thought about it but I would probably try to use earth technology to get it out of you."
"Why not leave it inside me? It's not like I'm going to use the Hijutsu's power."
He sighed. "I know you don't plan to, but it's not that simple. From what you said this Shira Banshou has a mind of its own. You might not want to use it, but it wants to be used. At some point it will get what it wants. Something this powerful can't be caged indefinitely."
So he agreed with Kato-san. "Could you get it out of me without taking me away?"
Doctor-sama yanked at his bow-tie and shrugged his shoulders. "It might be possible, but it would be dangerous. I'd feel much more comfortable if you came with us in the TARDIS."
"What about my Grandmother? I can't just leave with you without telling her what I am doing." It wasn't actually the truth since I'd successfully managed to disappear for a few weeks when I joined the Kairoshuu. But it made a good excuse for my reluctance to go with him.
"That's the best part. My TARDIS doesn't just travel through space. It travels through time as well!"
"You have a time travel machine?"
"Yep. So do you want to come?"
"I—"
"I promise that I'll do everything in my power to get you home safe and sound." His long face, suddenly fell into a more serious expression. It reminded me of how Kumohira-sensei had looked when he swore to make me the leader of the Nabari world.
"Can I get a few things together first?"
"You don't need to get everything. The TARDIS has everything you could ever need."
I doubted that. "What about Yoite-kitty."
"I'm not sure. The TARDIS isn't really a place for animals. And you'll be back before he even knows you're gone."
"I'm not leaving him."
"He really will be okay on his own for a little while."
I widened my eyes and let my lip quiver. "But what if he gets eaten by an owl. Or he gets lonely while I'm gone. Sensei won't be back for days."
He backed away until his back hit the wall of his blue box. "I really don't think—"
I went in for the kill. Letting tears gather in the corner of my eyes, I said, "Pleeease?"
Doctor-sama folded just like Sensei. "I guess it's all right." Then he seemed to realize that he'd just weakened his position, and hurried to add. "But he better not pee anywhere he's not supposed to. And there will be absolutely no chewing of anything."
I held my hand in a three-finger salute. "Scouts honor."
I headed into the house to grab Yoite-kitty, but before I made it past the porch. Shijima-sama came out of the house, in her feline form, Yoite-kitty hanging from her mouth by the scruff of his neck. Yowling and squealing all the way. Shijima-sma ignored both him and me and walked right to the TARDIS and through the doors.
The Doctor stared after her, his eyes wide.
I expected him to mention the fact that he now had two cats in his box, but he didn't seem to care. Muttering to himself about it figured that this was how cat-humans came into existence.
I decided to ignore his ramblings and slipped into the blue box. The bag I'd packed at Grandmother's house had everything I needed anyway.
The box was much bigger on the inside and I wondered for a minute if Doctor-sama was using an illusionary-justu on it. But when I went over and felt the strange console in the center of the room, it seemed solid.
Despite it's strange glass floors and the console that looked like a rubbish heap that had been glued together, the box felt comforting. Being inside the TARDIS, whatever that meant, felt like sitting next to Yoite and falling asleep with my head against his shoulder. There was a sense of home, peace, and understanding that I had never felt in any building before. Not even Hana-chan and Kumohira-sensei's house.
"So what do you think?"
I jumped. I hadn't heard Doctor-sama come into the box. I'd been too busy inspecting the strange room.
He grinned at me. "So any profound insights to make? Anything to say?"
I wondered what he expected me to say. There seemed to be something in particular he was fishing for. "It's nice I guess, kind of strange."
His face fell. "That's it?"
"It's really orange?" I tried.
"You're supposed to say it's bigger on the inside." He sighed. "Come on. I'll show you to your room. Just make your cats come with you." He pointed over to where Shiratama sat on the room's steps, daintily licking one paw, while pinning Yoite-kitty under the other.
Once we were safely tucked away in my room, Shiratama transformed back into her human form.
"Hello Shijima-sama. Why did you decide to come along?"
"The Owl told me that you'd found a way to get rid of the Shinra Banshou. It seemed worth observing."
"Oh."
"You didn't ask that strange man about stripping the influence of the Hijutsu from Owl-san."
No, I hadn't. "I must have forgotten. I left her sitting on the bed and went to put my clothes away in the large oak wardrobe that took up most of the room's right wall.
"No you didn't ."
I stopped in the middle of tucking Yoite's hat into the wardrobe. I should have known she'd see through my ruse. She was just as evil as I was. In her own way.
"You don't trust this strange man and didn't want him to force Owl-san to accompany him."
"You're old right Shijima-sama?" It wasn't a very subtle way of changing the subject, but I was willing to go with it.
"Over 150 years."
"So have you ever hear the rumors about 'The Doctor'."
"The great guardian from the stars, who could wipe the Nabari world out in a single day? That's just a legend. People didn't even believe it during the Edo period."
I tucked Yoite's hat away and turned to meet Shijima-sama's gaze. I wanted to see her reaction. "Kota-san thinks that Doctor-sama is The Doctor. He said that this box matches the description of the box that Doctor used."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "That's impossible. That was over a thousand years ago." Despite her denials she still looked tense. She jumped off the bed. "I've had enough of talking about this. I'm going to go do some exploring." She shifted back into her cat form and meowed imperiously at me.
I opened the door and let her out. Doctor-sama would just have to put up with having a cat wandering his TARDIS.
After she left I curled up on the bed, Yoite-kitty tucked up under my chin. It had been a long day.
A beautiful woman visited me in my dreams. She glowed golden, her long black hair had a blue sheen, and in her eyes there was a pit, deep and dark.
I felt like it could suck my soul away from my body. I don't think I would have minded. There was something gentle and good about her that had never been present in the 'Fairy'. Despite the fact that the fairy had claimed that the Shinra Banshou existed only to grant my desires.
The blue-haired woman whispered to me in a strange lilting language and I felt myself falling further into sleep than I had managed in months. Just before the woman disappeared into the warm darkness of dreamless sleep, I felt something brushing against my mind.
I thought I heard a voice whispering like a breeze. Telling me that everything would be all right. I would find the person I was looking for. But I was too tired to be sure.
Doctor-sama clapped his hands together and bounced about on the balls of his feet, like an excited child. "It took a little searching, but I found the perfect place to get the Multidimensional being pulled out of your life force."
"Where is that?" It was hard to believe that the answer was so simple that Doctor-sama could find it in less than a day. The entire Nabari world had searched for a way to destroy the Hijutsu for years. Dozens of hosts, including my mother, had died. And now this man was saying that he could get rid of it without even hurting me. I was beginning to suspect that he really was Doctor-sama that Kota had said he was.
"It's a healer's planet. The person who runs it specializes in energy based maladies. I don't know if she's ever seen something as serious as your problem, but she should be able to strip it from you easily enough. Since a bunch of energy users sealed the being into your life force. And ones it's out of you it's should be easy enough to send it back into the void where it belongs."
"And then we can go to the resort?" Amy-san asked.
"Of course, once we drop Miharu back at home."
She rolled her eyes. "And then something else will come up. Still, we might as well get this over with." She slung her arm over my shoulders. "So kid, you ready to go have a Multidimensional being of indescribably power pulled out of your body?"
"Why not."
"That was a joke."
"Oh." It hadn't been that funny.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I swear hanging out with you three is like spending time at an old folks home. Everything is gloom and doom."
I stepped out of the TARDIS and into a dark room. The scents of spices and herbs was heavy on the air. It reminded me of Jinji-chan's healing room.
"Who have you brought to me for healing?" A voice hissed.
I looked around, trying to located the person who was talking, but there was just darkness everywhere I looked.
Doctor-sama didn't seem to notice or care. He strode forward until he was standing in front of me. "I brought a boy who had something sealed into his life force."
"An interesting puzzle indeed."
"I thought you'd be interested. The creature inside of him is a Multi-dimensional being. You won't be able to collect it."
"Not even part of it? You know how lonely I get here."
"No, the whole being has to go into the rift or it will just come back through. You don't want this thing to take you as a host. Not if even half of the stories Miharu has told me are true."
There was the soft whisper of cloth against stone and then a figure came out of the darkness. I couldn't see much about them. They were covered from head to toe with a cloak. "Then I suppose you will be taking it away after the procedure is done. Did you bring me something else to keep me company?"
"Maybe." He turned to me. "Did you bring your cat with you? The white one."
"No. She's still inside the TARDIS."
"Can you go get her, we'll wait here."
Why in the world would he want me to get Shi-san? He hadn't wanted her to come on this trip in the first place. Still, she would be happy to get out of the ship. She always wanted to see new things.
I slipped back into the boxy, leaving the door open a crack so that I could hear what was going on in that strange dark room.
"So, you have new companions. What happened to that nice young woman who was traveling with you all those years ago?"
"She decided that she didn't want to keep traveling with me."
"How unfortunate."
"Not really, she's happy now! She got married and is doing what she loves." Even from this far away I could hear the forced cheer in his voice.
"Please give her my blessings for a happy partnership."
"Thank you. But I don't think I'll be seeing her any time soon."
"How unfortunate."
I headed into the TARDIS after that. It didn't sound like I'd learn anything more about what this strange person was going to do to me by eavesdropping.
I ended up bringing both Yoite-kitty and Shijima-sama back with me. Yoite-kitty had meowed so pitifully when I tried to leave him that I hadn't been able to resist scooping him up and cuddling to my chest. Shijima-sama had more dignity than that. She strode proudly beside me, her head and tail held high. Our surroundings were surveyed and dismissed which helped me to relax.
I might not be able to see any of the surrounding area, but Shijima-sama certainly could. And she was more than a match for anything that could come after us.
The cloaked stranger and the Doctor were still talking to each other, though they'd moved their conversation to a dark corner of the room. I could just make out the waving of hands and the hissing sound of their whispered conversation.
Amy-san and Rory-san had apparently found their discussion as boring as I did, Rory had found a mini-flashlight somewhere and they were busy investigating a large set of drawers that covered almost the entire wall. Each of the drawers was only a few inches in size, so there was a lot to investigate.
After tucking Yoite-kitty onto my shoulders I went to join them in their investigation. Shijima-sama headed off to join Doctor-sama's conversation.
Amy-san and Rory-san were whispering over the contents of a drawer.
"What do you think it is?"
"It looks kind of like vanilla beans."
I poked at the 'beans'. The pod opened and tried to snap closed on the tip of my finger. I jumped back and Rory-san slammed the drawer shut.
"Okay. So definitely not vanilla beans." Amy-san said unnecessarily.
A sound that was one part shriek and one part yowl came from the corner where the Doctor had been talking. Yoite-kittty hissed and curled tighter around my neck. Turning to see what was going on, I saw that Shijima-sama had somehow managed to climb the cloaked figure and was now determinedly clinging to their head. Thankfully, still in cat form.
I ran across the room and tried to pry her off, but she wouldn't be moved. She even went so far as to scratch me. I backed away fast. Whatever had set her off, she wasn't going to give up until she'd succeeded in her mission.
Doctor-sama wasn't as easily convinced to back off. He took his strange bronze wand out of his suit pocked and started waving it at Shijima-sama. It made a whining noise. Yoite-kitty started hissing and spitting, but Shijima-sama didn't seem to notice whatever it was that Doctor-sama was trying to do. She just claw-ed at the cloaked figure harder.
When he saw that Doctor-sama wasn't having any luck. Rory-san stepped in and attempted to remove Shijima-sama. He didn't back down even when she twisted her body around to scratch at him with three paws. Her teeth and forth paw still sunk into the cloak.
He finally managed to get a good hold around her stomach and back and pulled. He was able to pry her off, but the cloak came with it. Revealing the mysterious stranger.
She was a cat. A ginger tabby with a kind round face. Large, movable paws, and a tail that reached down to brush against the floor. Even stranger than that, she was dressed in a strange white and black dress and a matching hat that covered her ears.
That was something I definitely hadn't been expecting. And from the stunned looks on Rory-san and Amy-san's faces I doubted that they had been expecting it either. Shijima-sama took advantage of their shock to wiggle out from Rory-san's grasp. She was transforming before she hit the ground.
Now even The Doctor was staring. So he hadn't known what Shi-san was. I hadn't been sure.
"What is the meaning of this?" Shijima-sama hissed, her golden eyes flashing. Her long white hair swished back and forth like the tail she no longer had. She didn't seem to notice that she was naked.
Rory-san certainly did. He blushed an embarrassed red from his cheeks to his ears and turned so that he was looking in the opposite direction. The other three didn't seem to care anymore than I did.
"Who is this imposter?" She continued pointing her clawed finger at the strangely dressed ginger.
I expected the ginger to hiss in response. Instead she fell to her knees in a deep bow. "My Blessed Lady. I did not realize it was you. I am sorry that I did not show you the proper respect when you first arrived. Had I known I would have announced myself as is proper."
Despite the cat-woman's strange words, her deferential tone seemed to ease Shijima-sama's ire. She relaxed enough to fall out of her fighting stance. "I don't believe you were the one at fault in this situation.” She turned her attention to Doctor-sama. "I see that Miharu-kun was right to distrust you. You are up to something."
"I suspected that you were more than you appeared. The Cat Nuns have pictures of their Goddess and your cat form bore a strong resemblance. But I had no idea that you had evolved to the point where you had a human form." He moved closer to her, bending down so that he could stare into her eyes. He brought his wand towards her. "However did you managed it. This kind of transformation is far beyond anything humans in your time are capable."
She grabbed his wand away. "Enough of that. I demand to know what is going on!"
"I'd love to tell you , but I'm afraid that I can't say until I know how you managed to get stuck in this form."
They were both so pointlessly stubborn. "It was the Shinra Banshou."
Doctor-sama turned to stare at me. "I thought you said you'd never used the Multidimensional beings power?"
"I didn't. But one of its past hosts did. He experimented with ways to give animals human hearts. Shijima-sama was one of his experiments." I decided not to mentions Kouichi-kun. Not until I saw how Doctor-sama would handle Shijima-sama's existence.
He turned his attention back from her, grabbing his wand back and using his height to hold it out of her reach. "I suppose that would explain how she came to be with you. How long have you been alive?" He asked.
"150 years."
"Are you immortal?"
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I cannot be killed if that is what you mean. Whatever power resides inside the Shinra Banshou remade me in its image."
"Is she telling the truth?" He asked me.
I nodded. " She looks like the Fairy. Feels like her too."
"Interesting." He started poking at Shijima-sama again.
She bore his examination with more grace than I'd expected. Only scratching him twice before he stopped, finally seeming satisfied with whatever he'd discovered.
"So I think that with Novice Hame's” he nodded towards the ginger cat “ help I should be able to pull the Shinra Banshou out without too much trouble. I should be able to scan Shijima and get a good read on what the Hijutu's power signature looks like. Then it will just be a matter of pulling that power signature out of you and containing it until I can release it into the void."
Well that sounded suspiciously simple. "And it won't hurt me?"
Doctor-sama shifted around uncomfortably. "I can't guarantee that. Having somebody mess with your life force is always uncomfortable. But there shouldn't be any permanent damage."
"And can you do the same thing for Shijima-sama?"
We suddenly had Shijima-sama full attention. She had been wandering around Novice Hame-san's healing chamber while Rory-san wandered behind her trying to get her to put on his spare overshirt. Now she bounded over to stand next to the Doctor. "Could you?"
Doctor-sama's face shifted and he suddenly looked both very old and very kind. It reminded me of how Grandmother looked when I asked a question about my mother's death. It was the look that said I was too young to understand what it was that I was asking. "I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do for you Shijima. The Shinra Banshous power influences you in a very different way than it affects Miharu.
"Miharu has a second life force trapped within his body. You only have one."
"So take it out of me."
"It's not-"
"I don't care if it kills me. I just want to die."
Hame-san gasped, her furry face pulled into a look of horror that I'd only seen on Yoite-kitty's when I threatened him with a bath. If this situation had been different I would have laughed. "Surely you don't mean that My Lady. You are my Goddess. You can't die!"
Shijima-sama hissed in irritation. "I didn't ask to be your God and I've searched for years. Looking for a way to die. I'll do whatever it takes."
"It's not that simple." Doctor-sama interrupted. "I can't take the life-force out of you."
"Why not? Are you too afraid to kill?"
It was Rory-san's turn to gasp. "You can't just say things like that!"
Doctor-sama motioned to Amy-san and she quickly clapped her hand over her husband's mouth. "I'm over 900 years old. I've killed far more people than you have. And I've hated every death but that has never stopped me from doing what I needed to do, so don't talk to me about fear."
900 years! Did that mean he was the same Doctor that had warned the Nabari ancestors to keep its power away from the regular humans?
"You can't be that old."
"I am. And do you know what I've learned over those years? I've learned that death doesn't solve anything."
"Maybe not, but I still want to die. I was never meant to live for this long."
"As I was saying before you started in on my inability to kill, I can't fix you because you only have one life-force. A person's original life force is fused to their body. If I tried to destroy your life force, it would destroy your body too. But you still wouldn't be dead." Doctor-sama's face shifted back into his usual jovial expression, but there was still something dark and old about his eyes."I'm pretty sure you don't want that."
Strangely enough knowing that he was hiding something dark under his manically cheerful facade made me feel better. I knew all about using masks to protect yourself. "If would happen to her if her body was destroyed but she didn't die?"
He shrugged. "It's hard to say, but the last immortal who tried it, came back to life as nothing but a giant head. He had to live in a jar for the rest of his life."
"The face of Boe." Hame-san's tone was reverent.
"You said the rest of his life. So that means that it did work. He was able to die." Shijima-sama hissed.
Doctor-sama stared at her for a second before responding. "He did die, but he spent over one hundred thousand years trapped inside a jar before he did. I don't even know if having his life-force ripped out affected his ability to die. It's possible his life foce just ran out. When people speak about immortality they usually don't consider the fact that time can stretch on forever. Even an immortal's life force isn't likely to last that long."
Shijima-sama didn't seem to have anything to say in response to that.
Hame-san showed us to the back room of her home. It held a large bookcase full of dusty scrolls and another, smaller set of herb drawers. Set above a worktable. Unlike the ingredients in the other drawers I actually recognized some of these. The whole room was filled with their smell. It reminded me strongly of Jiju-chan's workroom in the Fumma village.
She cleared off space on a second worktable, moving scrolls, candles, and various other odds and ends into piles on the floor. Before helping me up onto the table. Yoite-kitty jumped up to cuddle with me. Hame-san started digging around in the bookcase and her drawers, pulling out various scrolls and herbs, only to put them back and grab something else.
"Why did you call Shijima-sama your lady and bow to her?" I couldn't resist asking since I could be sure that nobody would overhear. They had all returned to the TARDIS to look for some sort of containment devise that the Doctor had apparently lost when the TARIS reformed. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"She is my Order's Lady. Our creator."
"Your order?"
She motioned to her dress. "We are an order, a priesthood, that believes in the preservation of life beyond all else. It is the mission our Lady gave us."
"That doesn't really sound like Shijima-sama." She had a soft spot for creating death and mayhem.
Hame-san nodded. "She is not at all as I imagined, but now that The Doctor has explained that she is one like The Face of Boe I understand this difference."
That didn't make a lot of sense.
"You see I served that great man for many over a century. And throughout that time I saw how he grew and changed. As the time of his death grew nearer he became calmer and put more and more value upon the preservation of life. He eventually died to save the people of Earth. It makes sense that the Lady would be similar."
"I'll take your word for it." I didn't know who this face of Boe guy was but I couldn't see Shijima-sama ever mellowing with age.
"You have to understand. Things are different for time travels. Your Shijima will have lived for thousands of years before she meets my people."
"Thousands of years?" She was actually going to live that long?
It was the 52nd century when she created our order. Humans had destroyed and abandoned the world. My people were dying when the Lady found us. She used her own life force to change us and make use able to leave the planet. It is said that she used the last of her life to give my people a chance to continue with her mission of protecting life."
I couldn't imagine it, but then a year before I wouldn't have been able to imagine that the Nabari world existed. Still there was something important about her story. "You said that your Lady died. Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. All of our orders records of that time say the same thing."
So Shijima-sama could die. That was good. "I just have one more question before I let you get back to gathering supplies."
"What is it?"
"Do you know anything about a being like Shijima that could take the form of an owl? He might have died around the same time."
Her eyebrows crinkled together and cocked her a to the side. "I cannot remember ever having heard of another being like my Lady. If they existed they did not appear to my ancestors. Is it important?"
I gave her a big smile." No, it's fine. I was just curious."
"All right." She didn't look like she believed me.
Thankfully, the Doctor bounded into the room before she could question me further. A strange hourglass like contraption was in his hands. I supposed that it was the containment unit he'd been looking for. "So are you ready to get this show on the road?"
"Why not?"
"Alright just lay down on the table and we'll get started. Hame did you find the scroll you needed?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"Then let's get started." He pushed me to lay flat on the table, handing Yoite-kitty off to Hame-san. She traded him for a knife which he used it to prick his finger. He used the blood to start writing on my skin and the world started to fade.
I found myself in the large empty space that the Shinra Banshou inhabited. Lines of script swirled around the floor and floated up to surround my body. Coalescing into the Fairy.
"So you've finally reconsidered using my power?"
"No. I'm here to destroy you."
"Don't be ridiculous. That's impossible."
"I found a way."
"Even if you do find a way to survive my removal, I'll simply find a new host."
"No. You won't. You're going back where you came from. Back into the Void." At the last word the space around us filled with a red pulsing light. I felt queasy, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.
Her eyes widened. It was the first time I'd ever seen her appear as anything but arrogantly sure of her ability. "You can't."
"I can."
Her tone became wheedling. "I could give him back to you." The fairy hissed. "I could make it so that he would never leave you again. All you have to do is wish."
It would be so easy to agree. To wish for Yoite to be returned to my side. But I could still remember how peaceful he had looked in the end when he begged me to leave things as they were. He wouldn't wish to live if the price was losing the memories of the friendship and family he had found. Still, would it really hurt to give in if The Fairy could find a way to keep his memories intact?
It would be worth his being angry with me if it meant I could be with him again.
"That's right, you want him back don't you? Just make one simple wish and everything will be over. You'll never have to be alone again."
I opened my mouth, not sure if I was going to make a wish or scream at her to stop talking. Before I could do anything the area around us changed colors. A soothing blue light filled the vast space.
My mother had come. Her spirit still merged with my memories and the power of the Shinra Banshou. But it was the person at her side who had all of my attention.
"Yoite!"I was running before I even thought about it. Until I hit Yoite's chest and was holding tightly too his long, black coat. This was something I could never have done in the Real World, but it felt so good to have my other half so close. "I've missed you."
He patted my head softly with his gloved hand. "I'm sorry Miharu. I didn't want to leave you alone."
"Would it be wrong of me to wish for you to come back? I could ask the Fairy to keep your memories intact so you wouldn't forget me."
He gave me a sad look. "I'm sorry Miharu, but you can't bring me back."
"But why not?" I was crying now. Not the fake tears I was used to shedding but real tears. They trickled silently down my cheeks and I couldn't seem to stop them.
"I'm happy here. Happier than I ever was when I was alive. Please don't take that away from me."
I clutched at him harder, not wanting to lose him again.
"Remember what you promised me? You said that you would never use the Shinra Banshou. Please, Miharu, I know it's hard but you have to keep that promise."
"But then I'll lose you."
The soft leather of his glove was soft against my cheek as he rubbed my tears away. "We'll be together again. I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to find my way back to your side. But for now you have to let me go. If you give in, the Fairy will steal your life away. She'll make it so that you can never die and we can never be together again."
"I-"
"Promise me that you'll take this chance to be free."
My mother came up behind me and pulled me into a hug. "Promise us."
"I will."
"I could give them both back to you. They wouldn't have to know that you'd broken your promise." The Fairy shrieked. I could hear the desperation in her voice.
I pulled away from Yoite and my mother. Until I could face the Fairy and look her in the eyes. "No."
"But Miharu." She wheedled.
"No!" This time I shouted it. The fairy shrunk in front of my eyes. She no longer had power over me. I had made my decision and I wouldn't be swayed. "I have a wish for you. I wish that you would go away!"
"NO!" She reached for me. Her hands grasping like claws but before she could touch me she started to disintegrate into smoke.
Then the soul-sucking pain started. It felt like I was being ripped apart and stitched back together, badly. I screamed. But I didn't change my mind. I wanted the Shinra Banshou gone.
This pain was worth it if it meant being free of the curse laid upon me by the fairy. It felt good knowing that this pain meant nobody else would ever have to deal with her in their head. Or deal with the way people sought them out to kill them or force them to use the fairies power to grant their wishes.
I'd been lucky, having my friends choose me over the fairy but I knew that wasn't normal. I could still remember the sight of my mother laying on the ground. Her breath coming in pained gasps as she begged Thobari-sensei to save me. I never wanted something like that to happen again. Never wanted anyone else to feel the pain I had.
When the darkness finally welled up to overtake the cavernous space, I welcomed it. And the lack of awareness it brought with it.
When I woke up I was back in my bed aboard the TARDIS Yoite-kitty curled up beneath my chin and Shijima-sama was leaning over me. "The Doctor-san is about to release the Shinra Banshou into the Void. I figured you'd want to watch."
"Thanks." Pulling myself up to sit on the bed. Shocked by how weak I felt. "How long have I been out?"
She plopped down to sit next to me on the bed. "Not too long, About a day and a half"
"You didn't kill the Doctor while I was asleep, did you?"
"No. I behaved. The worst he got was a couple of scratches. Which he completely deserved."
I didn't want to know. "Can you get me some clothes? I don't really want to walk around in just a pair of sleeping pants."
"I suppose." She hopped off of the bed and started digging through the wardrobe. She tossed a pair of black pants, my favorite butterfly hoodie, and Yoite's hat over her shoulder and onto the bed.
I stiffened. In the months since Yoite's death, I had carried his hat with me everywhere but I'd never worn it. I was about to tell Shijima-sama to put it away again, but I stopped at the last second.
I remembered how at peace and happy Yoite had looked. I still missed him, but it didn't hurt so much now that I knew he was happy. It was good to know that I'd made the right decision. I pushed myself up to sit on the edge of the bed and pulled on my clothes. Then I put the hat on and stood up.
I would have fallen back down if Shijima-sama hadn't caught me.
I gave her a grateful smile. "Come on. Let's go. I don't want to miss Doctor-sama throwing the Shinra Banshou into the void."
"Where are Rory-san and Amy-san?" I asked Doctor-sama.
He looked up from where he'd been fooling with a strange lever on the room's central console. "Oh! So you're finally awake. I'm afraid Amy was very impatient to leave for their honeymoon. She did say to tell you goodbye."
I nodded, not really surprised. Amy-san had seemed like the type of person who waited to be patient. "Shijima-sama said that you were ready to send the Hijutsu into the void?"
"Yep. I was just waiting for you to wake up. I figured you'd want to watch."
"Thanks."
"Let me just start her up, then we can get started." He jumped manically around the console. Pulling, pushing, yanking, and twisting various switches, buttons, and levers. He stopped in front of a large gold-rimmed view screen that hung from the ceiling. He seemed pleased when he saw that it was showing the image of a swirling purple and blue vortex. Clapping his hands together, he said, "Let's get this show on the road."
He went over to the doors and opened them up. The swirling vortex we'd seen on the view screen was revealed. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. Something about that strange space was threatening.
"You can come closer. It's not dangerous as long as you're careful." The TARDIS gave an ominous shaking creak. "Well it's not dangerous as long as we don't spend a long time here. The TARDIS doesn't like it much." He patted the door frame. "She doesn't get along well with the time vortex."
Shijima-san joined him at the door, the green, glass containment unit balanced between her hands. There was a shining power, that looked like a miniature red sun, inside of it now. Which I assumed was the Shinra Banshou.
"Do you want to be the one to release it?" Doctor-sama asked me.
I shook my head, backing up until my back hit the edge of the console. I didn't want to be anywhere near the Fairy when she was released. I still didn't trust her to stay contained. "You can go ahead."
He gave me an understanding smile. "All right." Reaching out he took the containment chamber from Shi-sama. Then he unscrewed the top segment. The Shinra Banshou rose up to hover midair. Lines of script fell from the light like rain, landing on the floor and flowing across the surface towards me.
My breath caught. She was coming for me. I kept backing away until my heels were hanging over the edge of the console room's floor. I would have jumped , as I'd seen the Doctor do a few days before, but I was transfixed by the ever increasing lines of script. The floor surrounding me was almost completely black with it. This had all been pointless I was about to get taken as the Hijutsu's host again
A high whine filled the cavernous room, echoing off of the walls and growing louder by the second. The script froze, quivering. Before it rose up off of the floor and flowed back into the glowing ball of the Shinra Banshou.
Doctor-sama gave me a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. I didn't expect it to be quite that fast. I hope it didn't scare you."
I stared at him in disbelief, until Shijima-sama slapped him.
After that it was surprisingly easy to get rid of the Fairy. The Doctor kept using his wand to transmit the sound that kept the Hijustu paralyzed. The he sort of scooped it up with the containment unit and shook it out over into the void. It was obvious that despite the trouble it was having with the Doctor it would rather stay in the containment unit than go back into the void.
Luckily for me, Doctor-sama was more stubborn than even the fairy. He held his screwdriver between his teeth, so that he had both hands free to hold the containment chamber. Then he started banging it vigorously against the doorframe.
Until the Hijustu finally fell out and disappeared into the void. Slamming the door shut he ran back to the console and yanked on a lever. The TARDIS shuddered one last time before the engines ground to a stop with one last quiet whoop. "That wasn't too bad was it?"
Shijima-sama slapped him again.
We landed in Kumohira-sensei 's garden the morning after we had left. Shijima-sama was back in her cat form and ran away the moment the TARDIS doors opened. But I stayed behind for a few minutes to say my goodbyes and thank yous. Soon enough there wasn't anything else to say and I had to leave the TARDIS as well.
It was sad seeing the little blue box disappear, slowly disappearing with the same soft whoop, whoop that I'd heard when it first appeared. But I wasn't too upset. The key hanging around my neck, promised that I would someday see Doctor-sama and his amazing box again. Someday, when I was ready, I'd travel the stars. But for now, it was time to adjust back to living on Earth.
I tucked Yoite-kitty under my arm, pulled Yoite's hat further down on my head, and headed to Grandmother's house with a smile on my face. It was good to be back home.