Chapter 48

It was dark already and after leaving from the Lady in the Dark Hood's place, I was walking over the snow-covered land heading for the Inn, when a little boy comes up to me, munching pakoras and licking icecreams one after the other. Frowning, I stopped him and he looked up.

Since it was late night and the boy had plenty of the pakoras in his hands, I assumed the obvious.

"Where did you get those?" I frowned at him.

He looked up innocently, "I didn't steal it."

"I didn't suggest it openly, did I?" I asked him, believing I'd caught him red-handed by his very words.

However, unabashedly, he smiled and licked the ice-cream, leaving me baffled, "Tell me, boy, where have you been?"

"At a girls' gathering, who were kind enough to give these to me," said the boy, "I was asked to deliver some things at the doorstep of the cottage near the Inn and-"

I gaped, "What?" And then I didn't wait for him to continue and rushed to the said place, forgetting all about the cold weather bearing down on me.

I was still a long way away when I heard the noise and music and goodness! The entire Cottage of kushipugly was lit up with laughter and dancing! And was that the chatter of aurshi_fan's monkeys?

I pouted, Partying without me?

I smirked, I'll show you guys!

I sneaked in the darkness around the cottage and entered the Inn through the backdoor, making sure the prying eyes through kushipugly's cottage windows had not seen me.

As soon as I stumbled into the Inn, the snow from my hasty boots dirtying the doorstep, and earning a greeting frown from the InnKeeper for the mess, I smiled at him and asked him if anyone was in.

He shrugged, "Seen none the entire day," and he coolly resumed to wipe his counter.

I nodded triumphantly and headed for the grandfather clock to make for the Cave, not seeing the smile on the InnKeeper's face as soon as I'd turned.

I was barely inside the Cave when all of a sudden……………You guys know what happened! It was you there! Tricking me to think everyone was in the cottage! All I remember: hundred arms around me, suffocating me with your love! And then began the celebration!

(The following is just in tribute to those who commented from Page 90 where the spamming and excitement officially commenced!)

Thanks Shazaad, Shamin, Pristineblue and Farwa for your dear words! Goodness, has Heta been narrating the tale in capsule form?? And arushi_fan supporting her with more points? Peepli asking to be kushipugly's handmaid. Harsh caught peeping by other peepers Saomom and arushi_fan. Kushipugly: not only for Shyam being your "luck charm" but for tagging Shas, Hoopoe and Soul as the "awesome threesome!" Leafs is here too! Surprise! And what in the! Spamming in the Cave to get the Thread to its 100^th page??? Bablio (with her snacks), Kushipugly (with her song), Shas, Hoopoe, Aura (with her excited shower of non-edible pictures) and Leafs (Et tu, Mentor) in the page plan too? Symbolic, Medharees nods! *sigh* Congrats Shas dearest for becoming a Senior Member!! *gasp* Hellgirl's here! Telling all to cuddle up warm before the fireplace! And Sona and STB too!! (You know STB means shakethebiscuit…..). Thanks for the snacks, buddies…..and for the special icecream too, hoopoe! At least in the virtual world I can say yes to icecreams and chocolates, right Aura? *chuckle* Hm, so though Shas officially commenced the celebration spamming, its kushipugly's cottage and she's monitoring the page movement does not cross the limit, eh? Keerthi?? Everyone wants to learn how to post a pic? And kushipugly and Shas are giving free training in the cottage? Music's here? And Sonia too? Oh, khusiarnav's here! *gasp* Saomom's back! And whoa! After hoopoe's question, Leafs rephrased it in read and bold: to halt the preparatory celebrations! Which is why I guess all those who wanted to join in after had to bottle their excitement! But yay! Casker broke the red rule! *smirk* So as I was saying…….*double take* Wait a minute! Did you-are you-did you-*gasp*-you actually brought the thread to-to-to its 100^th page?!!! For the 100^th chapter?

And Goodness! I just remembered: I didn't watch tonight's episode what with my over-excitement! Darn! What ArShi fan am I? But that just comes to prove: nothing's gonna keep me from my Arhasia! Some snaps of the story so far...

Anyway…….. *eh, am I supposed to say an introductory speech or something?*looks around*

Fewer words uttered, the better. Thanking the Divine One who granted me the gift to write, to think and to remain perseverant even when I had very few readers!

Dedicated to all my dear readers, darling Comrades and future readers!! I could never have made it this far without the garlands of your warm words and the encouraging prods of your smiles! This place is too magical to be true. Arhasia, this Inn, this Cave……..And you are all so wonderful that I need to pinch myself to know that these friends are not in my dreams. They are real! Arhasia is real! I am real! *okay, I'm going hyper here* Aura knows, I am someone who never ventured out into the world, preferred to be silent, unknown and introverted……she forced me to join the Forum to do analysis posts on the show in its golden days. And one fine day, I felt the urge to re-write to perfect the story I was beginning to love! I still remember sitting at the back of my class and asking Aura if I should. And look where we've reached! It all began with a timid Prologue and now standing at the doorstop of a bold 100^th chapter! With promises for many more to come!

You might still be in the mood for celebration (I admit, I am!) so I suggest you read the last few chapters to get the feel of the story back again so that you can remember at what state of mind you need to embark on the following much-awaited chapter:

Chapter Hundred: Reparation

Yanking opening the metal door, he stepped into the dark opening. He stood for a while listening to the sounds in the dungeon but it was devoid of any sound that would have ensured him of her presence.

Concerned, he climbed down the stairs hastily and strode through the dark dripping space until he came to stop before the cell room within which he had chained her. He caught sight of her limp form, crouched on the floor, leaning against the bar.

With one hard pull, he opened the cell door and stepping beside her, leaned down towards her. She was breathing but her face was pale with fright and she had definitely fainted.

"Kushi?" he asked, his voice scratched with sleeplessness and worry.

She remained unmoved. His fingers reached towards the clasp around her wrist that chained her to the bar and with a severe tug, he had broken it. The metal clasp fell clanking to the ground and Kushi's hand fell lifelessly onto her lap.

"Kushi?" he called again, and his hands touched her hand.

It was bleeding where the clasp had been held and where she had struggled against the metal to release her hand of its hold. But what worried him was that her hands felt cold. Very cold.

Without a moment's thought, he reached down and lifted her in his arms. Her head lolled backwards and he shifted slightly, letting her head fall upon his shoulder. She felt quite light in his arms and he remembered the first day he had met her, when she had fallen off the side of his rose bush and landed right into his arms. But unlike that day, at the moment, she felt cold and lifeless in his arms.

"No," he whispered, and then he was rushing out of the cell, through the dark emptiness and racing up the stairs towards the door held open into yet another darkness.

On making it outside, he pushed his shoulder and shut the dungeon door forever and then rounded the stairs and climbed it with as long strides as he could manage with her in his arms, her arms hanging limply by her side as he headed for his room.

Of course, there was nowhere else he could take her. He could not barge into a room of all those who were angry with him for what he had done. There was only the option of his own room left. And he had to do something about reviving her back before anyone found out.

A downward thrust from his hip, and he had his door handle opened. He slipped inside and shut the door with his back, holding her steady in his arms.

Then he stood there and contemplated where to lie her down. On the floor? It was too cold. On the bed? Not 'my' bed. In the chair? We need her body straightened out, not seated. And then his calculating gaze fell on the rug near the bed. He walked towards it and laid her along its warm furry length.

"Kushi?" he whispered again, and he lifted her hand and began rubbing it to warm it.

"Kushi?" he asked again, and then looked around his room. Was there something that could heat her up? There was nothing he could find until his eyes fell on the long wall mirror behind him. In the moonlight streaming from the open window, he saw his image in the mirror holding the hand of the lifeless girl he had condemned unjustly.

There was only one source of warmth in this room but he was not sure he should afford her it. He looked down at her face and saw how blue her lips were from the cold and wetness in the dungeon.

No. I must. I have no choice. He bent down and lifted her again and crossed the distance towards his bed. On reaching it, he drew the curtains apart with his shoulder, leaned within and laid her onto the bed.

He crawled in after and then dragged her limp body towards the centre of the bed where it was warmer. He looked down at her from where he knelt on the bed beside her.

"I hate you, Kushi," he muttered, "But I cannot let you die and win this war."

He removed his night robe and his shirt and then lay beside her. He pulled her towards him, and put his arms around her pressing her to his chest. He breathed down her neck and shoulders, letting the warmth of his breath heat her cold veins.

Her gown was wet from being in the dungeon but he could not bring himself to unclothe her. He decided he would have to warm her with the gown on.

He rubbed at her back, heating her spine and he pressed his warm feet against the soles of her feet.

"Heat, you stupid blood vessels!" he grunted into her hair and then he paused.

The scent of her village-flowers were still strong even though she had remained in that repugnant dungeon for more than five hours. Her smell bewitched him and he found himself running his nose along her hair, near her neck, breathing her in.

"Kushi," he moaned against her neck and he felt his mind calm, feeling her heart revive its timely beats against his hard pressed chest.

He lifted his head and looked down at her. Her lips had lost the blue colour but the pink was yet to come. He leaned down and rubbed his cheek on her forehead, warming it and waiting for her face to lose its pale colouring.

He looked down at her again. The moonlight from the open window caressed her face and she seemed to glow despite being unconscious. Sleeping like a heavenly thing. Like one he was not supposed to touch…..

His eyes fell on her lips and he was relieved to see they were slowly turning their natural pink. He could make them rosy faster, but he could never trust his own mouth, and adding to the fact, against her tempting lips. Reluctantly, his gaze moved from her lips and fell on her arm.

Suddenly, he remembered her wrist and he released her and slipped out of the bed to look for some cloth with which he could clean the wound. He returned with a bowl of water from his bathing chamber, and daubed her hand with a strip of the hem of her own gown, "It's a worthless gown any way and I can't tear any of my rich shirts to clean your blood," he muttered to her unconscious face, and after he had cleaned the wound, he tied a dry strip of the gown's hem around her wrist.

Then he disposed of the water in the bowl and the bloodied strip of cloth and then returned to the bed.

She felt a lot warmer but she had not regained her consciousness back so he assumed she was still numb and cold somewhere. He pulled her towards his burning body again and pressed her to his chest.

"Warm up, girl," he grumbled, "I can't let you stay here the whole night."

And sometime in his waiting and warming, he slipped into an eased slumber after a long time in his life, surrounded by the scent of her innocence and with the lullaby of her tender heartbeat against his chest, dousing him into the calm of dreamless sleep.

To return back to the Index, visit:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/3256949/arhi-ff-2-the-beasts-and-the-bleeding-roses

P. S. Big Blow to my Schedule! I have two test papers tomorrow! Aura too (she's in my class, remember?) But I will stay in the Inn for two hours and then I must be on my way!! Hope you understand. And for all the love you are giving me, today I am personally going to intrude in the Book of the Comrades' Chronicles! What say?? Special day, Special treat!

P.P.S. Tiny modification required which I didn't like. The third digit of 100 didn't have space so I had to delete the "a" of the "and" in our Thread Heading. Imperfection splat on the top! The "&" symbol doesn't work, either. *grunt*