The Sealed Box

[Alisha Readman]

Ran walks into the Assembly Room and plops a stack of papers down on the podium. "I wrote this last year in 2008. I know that this is still pretty early, but I have no idea when I'll be able to get on here again, so here goes."

 

THE SHOP OF DREAMS--THE SEALED BOX

 

Dedicated to all mothers, especially my own. Thanks for always supporting me, being willing to read my rough drafts, and for making delicious meals that always cheer me up. Thank you so much!

 

Mothers are taken for granted,

but what would you do

if you couldn't see your mother

for a thousand years or two?

 

Nathan eyed the sign outside the small shop. "Antique Shop of Dreams," the teenager read, then scoffed. Dreams didn't come true. In movies and books, yeah, but not in real life. Still, he reflected, they might have some stuff worth getting. He opened the door as a door chime rang.

"Welcome to the Antique Shop of Dreams!" two girls shouted. They looked like identical twins, with dark gray hair, green eyes, and a string of prayer beads around one wrist. The one girl wore a white kimono decorated with cranes and sakura blossoms, and her hair was in an elaborate hairstyle with pins decorated with wisteria blossoms. The other girl had her hair in a short ponytail, and wore a samurai's kimono, with handguards and two katanas of different lengths in her sash.

Nathan was startled slightly, by them and the mess that dominated the room. Every imaginable antique was cluttered on the floor, on tables, in empty spaces between odd-looking books on bookshelves. He cautiously stepped forward and almost stepped on the tail of a cat, his foot coming down right in front of it. The black cat meowed at him, his golden eyes staring at Nathan.

"Yue!" the samurai girl exclaimed, hurrying forward. She scooped up the cat, it looking comical with his hindquarters and tail dangling down while she held his upper body. "Sorry about Yue. He thinks that since he lives here, he can sleep wherever he wants, even if it's in the way. I'm Satsuki, and that's my sister Nadeshiko."

"I'm Nathan," he said.

"Can we help you find anything?" Nadeshiko asked.

"Oh, no, I'm just browsing." The last thing he wanted was them hanging around. The two girls looked so disappointed that he almost regretted saying that. Instead he cleared his throat and moved over to a small table. He rummaged through a box of small figurines and considered a sword with a Chinese dragon curled around it, then discarded the idea.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" a low voice asked, very close to his ear. Nathan jumped, almost dropping the figurine. He whirled around to see a tall woman with Oriental features and a blue right eye. Her long black hair fell over her left eye and was pulled into a thick braid in back. She wore jeans, a white shirt and a blue and gray flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" she asked in an amused tone, not sounding at all repentant. "Anything I can help you find?"

"Not really," Nathan said. He set the figurine down and his fingers brushed wood. He glanced down to see a wooden box hidden partially by a ceramic statue of a dolphin rising on a wave. He pulled it out and looked it over. It was a plain wooden box, with a piece of paper on the top and sides where a clasp would be. On the paper were several Chinese or Japanese characters.

"What's this?" he asked, turning towards the woman. He was surprised to see her turn pale and he didn't react as she snatched the box away from him.

"What is this doing out here?!" she exclaimed. "Sorry, but this isn't for sale." She stalked over to the counter, set the box on the top and stepped partially through the door. "Where's the stupid keys?"

Nathan glanced around quickly as he stepped over to the counter and grabbed the box. He shoved it under his jacket and hurried out the door, bumping into someone just outside. The red-headed woman stuck a booted foot in to keep the door from closing. She blew a bubble with her gum as she watched Nathan hurry away. She stepped inside, running a hand with black-painted nails through the silver streak in her chin-length hair.

"Hey, Nabiki," the black haired woman said, leaning on the counter. "Nice outfit."

Nabiki wore a gray pleated knee-length skirt, a black belt with a silver buckle and spikes and a white shirt with an elaborate red outline of a butterfly on the front. A short black leather jacket and large wire-hoop earrings completed her outfit.

"You're slipping, Kaname," she remarked as she shut the door. "Letting a thief walk out of here with something?"

Kaname smiled. "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"You invited me for a free meal," Nabiki answered, glaring at her with a sudden suspicion. "You're not backing out, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Kaname grinnned impishly. "Do you know what the thief took?"

"It looked like some sort of box. . . ." her voice died away as she realized what it was. "Are you nuts!? Have you completely flipped your wig!?"

Kaname interrupted her tirade by calling through the doorway, "Hey, guys, hurry down!" To Nabiki she said, "That boy will take care of the portal."

The twins came clattering down the stairs, looking flustered. "Do we look okay?" they chorused anxiously.

"Hmm. Nadeshiko, why don't you take your hair out of the geisha hairstyle and just tie it back with a ribbon?" Kaname suggested. "And Satsuki, why don't you leave your swords and katanas here? I know they complete the outfit, but they might look intimidating."

Nabiki grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "Kaname, why are you doing this?"

"It's time," she answered.

A man came down the stairs and into the room, his dark skin in contrast to his white tank top and blue jeans. A lock of his shoulder-length black hair was pure white, and his eyes were a dark golden.

"Yue?" Nabiki asked after a moment's silence.

"Who were you expecting, Henry the XIII?" he asked sarcastically.

"You know where the items are that the customers are wanting, right?" Kaname asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Yue answered. "The Mona Lisa counterfeit for the Inspector is in the Storage Room, the Turtle Egg for the Zookeeper is right here under the counter, the new shipment of Soul Mirrors for the Shinigami is in the portal room waiting to be picked up, and the scrolls of ancient Tibetan and Viking techniques for the Scholar are in the Library Room."

"Three of those orders sound suspicious. Are you dealing in antiques or smuggling rings?" Nabiki demanded.

"Those are simply special orders/requests," Kaname replied glibly.

A small bell hanging in the corner of the room suddenly began ringing. "That's the signal! Let's go!" Kaname shouted, running out the door. Nabiki and the twins hurried after her.

"Have a safe trip," Yue said as the door slammed shut. He glanced at the clock as he yawned. "Inspector won't be here for fifteen minutes. Plenty of time for a nap," he muttered. He cushioned his head with his arms on the countertop and promptly dozed off.

 

Nathan stared around him with incomprehension on his face. He had hurried a few blocks from the store before ducking into an alley and breaking the paper that held the box closed. Inside was a smooth, thin tablet made of light gray stone, with two more symbols engraved into it. He had picked it up, and it abruptly turned white and flashed brightly. When he opened his eyes , the tablet was gone from his hand and. . . .

"And how did I wind up in a forest!?" he shouted. He stood next to a large lake with a mirror-like surface that reflected the forest around it. It seemed to be made of every kind of fruit tree, nut tree and everything in between, including flowers, bushes and shrubbery, and a thick carpet of grass.

"Who's there?" a voice called. A woman stepped out from behind a pear tree and towards Nathan. Her long silver hair was looped around her right arm and still hung almost to her bare feet. Her eyes were dark green and she wore a black kimono. As she got closer, he could see that instead of human ears, she had dog-like silver ears on top of her head and several silver furry tails!

"Who are you?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Nathan," he said, sounding bewildered even to his own ears. "And just who are you?"

"My name is Yuri," she answered, bowing low. "Welcome to my prison. Won't you come to my house?"

"Uh, sure," he said. He followed her along the lake to a large weeping willow who's branches seemed to create a curtain around a space that was big enough for at least three people. They sat there for a few minutes in silence, then Nathan asked, "So what did you mean by prison?"

Yuri smiled, almost sadly, but more like someone resigned to her fate. "I was imprisoned here after my master died. Many wanted to kill me, but the Time-Keeper, the Watchers, and the Recorders convinced the rest of the Council of Yggdrasil to simply imprison me here."

"The Council of who?" Nathan asked.

"The Council of Yggdrasil," Yuri said. "It is made up of many people who keep order. The Watchers are Kage and Hikari. Their job is to keep watch over the worlds, and report when a world is heading toward destruction. The Master of the Shinigami is Tsunada and she controls the reincarnation of souls. She is also in charge of where the seed of Yggdrasil was planted. Byakko, Genbu, Seiryu and Suzaku work under her and are Lords of the Four Directions and Elements. The Guardians are in charge of intervening when a world is heading down the wrong path. There are many Guardians. The Recorders are Suna, Tsukasa and Mikail. Their jobs are to record the histories of the different worlds. The Time-Keeper is Kaname-eientoki, the Master of Time." She paused a minute then asked, "Nathan, do you have a family?"

Nathan scoffed. "No. My mom ran out on me and my dad when I was five. Six years ago, my dad went out and never came back. I've been stealing ever since then to survive." He caught Yuri's sympathetic look and said, "What about you? How did you get here?"

"I am not allowed to say. But I can tell you this much. My master did something very evil, and I, however unknowingly, helped him. And I am here as a result. It's not so bad. I just wish I could see my daughters."

"Your daughters?"

"Yes, twins named Satsuki and Nadeshiko. They are being taken care of by the Time-Keeper."

Something was nagging at the back of Nathan's mind. Two twin girls with the names of Satsuki and Nadeshiko. . .

"Yuri!" someone called from outside the curtain of willow leaves. Yuri stood up and pushed the branches aside to see Kaname and Nabiki.

"Hello, Yuri," Kaname said with a genuine smile. "We brought you some visitors." She and Nabiki stepped aside to show Nadeshiko and Satsuki. They looked slightly different, for their hair had turned silver and they now had dog ears and two tails each.

"Satsuki. . . Nadeshiko. . ." Yuri whispered, stepping forward. The twins rushed into her embrace, tears runnning down all three faces.

Nathan stepped past them and followed Kaname and Nabiki a bit away from the tearful reunion.

"Oh, Nathan, I don't think you've met Nabiki yet," the Time-Keeper said. "Guardian Nabiki, this is Nathan, the one who opened the portal."

"Hi," he said. "Don't you think this is cruel? 'Cause they're not gonna want to say goodbye."

"Kaname," Nabiki started with the air of someone who has argued their point many times before.

"This is the only chance we have before 3015," Kaname interrupted.

"I know that. I have nothing against Yuri. I just don't want to get in trouble with the rest of the Council."

"You won't," she replied, starting back toward the others. Once she got there, she proceeded to announce, "Okay, listen up. Yuri, you are hereby released from this prison, if you're willing to go."

"What?" Yuri said. The twins echoed her.

"We have a short window of time here that's not coming around for another 1007 years after midnight tonight. That'll be 15 years after your 2000-year sentence is over. Thanks to Nathan, the portal is opened and you can leave. You still have 992 years left on your sentence, but I figure you can work for me at my shop and pay it off that way. And after 992 years, you and the twins will be free to do what you want. So what'll it be?"

"Mom, will you come? It's lots of fun at the shop. . ." Nadeshiko started.

Satsuki finished, ". . .and we'll be together. Please say yes!"

Yuri put an arm around each of her daughters, looked at Kaname through her tears, and nodded, smiling. "Yes."

A loud cheer went up from everyone. Kaname dug into her pocket with the sounds of much clinking and finally pulled out a pair of scissors. "They were stuck behind the coffeemaker," she said, then held the scissors out to Yuri. "You might want to trim your hair a bit though."

"What are these?" Yuri asked. After a moment of silence, they realized that after being sealed up for 2008 years, there was probably a lot of things that Yuri didn't know about!

"You're gonna have to teach her a lot," Nathan laughed. Nabiki was laughing too hard to do anything but nod.

"These are scissors," Satsuki said. Nadeshiko added, "You can use them to cut things."

"How much of your hair would you like me to cut off?" Kaname asked, a grin still on her face.

"I'd kind of like to about the middle of my back," Yuri said, blushing.

"Give 'em here," Nabiki said, holding out her hand. "Knowing you, she'd wind up with a crew cut."

As she started cutting, Nathan noticed that the cut pieces of hair, as they fell, were consumed in blue flames that lasted for a few seconds then vanished. "How is her hair doing that?" he asked Kaname.

"Yuri and the twins are nine-tailed fox spirits," she answered. "It does that for some weird reason."

"By the way, sorry if I sound rude, but why did Nabiki have to come? I know she's a Guardian. . ."

"I see Yuri was telling you about the Council," Kaname said. "I had to have another Council member present to release Yuri. The Watchers and the Recorders rarely ever leave their places, and the Shinigami were all busy. The Guardians were all busy except for her."

"We're ready to go!" the twins sang.

"Okay, then!" Kaname said. "Nathan, would you mind jumping in the lake?"

"What?!"

"The lake is the portal. You were the one who opened the portal first by touching the the tablet. Therefore, you have to open the portal again by jumping into the lake."

"Just get going already," Nabiki said. "Or else I'll shove you in."

"You're awful crabby," Satsuki said.

"I'm hungry," the Guardian corrected.

 

They came out into the alley again. Nathan was faintly surprised to find that he wasn't even a bit wet. The twins and Yuri's hair had turned to dark gray, and their dog-ears and tails had vanished. It was late afternoon into early evening, and everyone's stomachs were growling loudly.

"Let's stop by the shop first and pick up Yue," Kaname said. "You three need to change clothes, and for a while, Yuri can borrow some of my clothes. I think I have a dress or two in the back of my closet, if you don't like jeans."

Yuri looked bewildered and didn't seem to know what to reply. Kaname added, "And then we can go to the Chinese buffet and celebrate."

"YAY!!" the twins cheered. They set off for the shop, the twins in front trying to explain, with Nabiki's help, to Yuri about the things they passed, and in between these explanations, what exactly a buffet restaurant is.

"You're awful quiet, Nathan," Kaname said.

"Well," he confessed, "before I came by your shop, I honestly didn't think that dreams ever came true. But being together seemed to be Yuri and Satsuki and Nadeshiko's dream, and it came true." He looked up at the sky. "I've. . . .always wanted to be an archaelogist. But I've always thought that no one would hire me, with my background."

"I've got a archaelogist friend who lives just outside of Chinatown," Kaname remarked. "She's been looking for an assistant. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a card, and handed it to Nathan.

"'Inez Johnson, archaelogist, ruin explorer and authority on artifacts'," Nathan read.

"She's really grouchy, especially in the mornings, but she's a genius when it comes to archaelogy. If you're willing to work hard, your dream isn't so far out of reach. You'll join us for supper, right?"

"Yeah." Then he realized something. "Hey, did you plan this for today?"

"No. But it makes a good Mother's Day present, doesn't it?"

 

END

 

Ran smiles. "Happy Mother's Day." Then she leaves the room.

Edited April 23, 2009 by Ran Yoko