The Fallen Kingdom, A Mysterious Return: Chapter One
Greetings, this is my second attempt at a Twelve Kingdoms fan fiction. This takes place in the same time period as my first story, The Shadowed Land, The Northern Arrow, however I want to keep those two separate due to story lines. This is my answer to the question posed on many discussions of Hou that I have read about: Why is there no Hou Kirin on Mt. Hou. This is my answer, remember this is a fan fiction and may not reflect everyone's view on what happened. This is just one idea. Happy reading.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twelve Kingdoms just this plot and original creations.
- - -
He could feel it, the pull, a tug at his heart. Kuya shook his head to clear his thoughts, his yellow hair, tied up in a knot at the top of his head, shook slightly at his heads movement. 'Enough daydreaming, time to get back to work,' he thought as he pulled his large sickle up with a tug from the hard earth. It was now planting season in the Twelve Kingdoms and he was very busy helping his family get ready for the planting week. After he pulled his sickle from the ground he quickly made his way back to the village, it was now lunch time and he was hungry. Kuya was part of the small farming community with in the Kingdom of Hou. This area was within the most northern province, it was one of the few remote areas that had been ignored by their tyrannical king last generation. Kuya had thankfully been born after this happened, however the stories his elders told were enough to fill his young mind with hatred. It had now been about 25 years since the last ruler had perished, rumors however had leaked that Mt. Hou was still awaiting the birth of Hou's newest Kirin. With Hourin slain all those years ago by the rebels the kingdom was in a poor standing. Most of the citizens had fled to other kingdoms or become food for the youma that now ran along the shores, sightings of them however were frequent even in the capitol.
"Kuya, there you are, I was getting worried that you had been taken by a youma," the young man heard from ahead of him. Kuya held his breath for a second, she was worried about him. His heart sang with pride, again she singled him out of the others. A women of about early 20's rushed to his side, her aqua hair was pulled back into a simple bun with no frills. She was wearing an outer robe only, it bore many patches and a few new tears. The woman wiped her forehead from the heat, relief danced across her delicate features. Kuya's indigo eyes locked with her green ones, they both flushed and quickly fell into step through the heavy gates. The villagers around them teased the couple, it was clearly evident they would marry some day.
"You worry too much Rei-Nai, you have nothing to fear, I will be fine," Kuya whispered into the woman's' ear tenderly. Rei-Nai clutched Kuya's arm tightly as they finally reached the large dwelling of Kuya's family. "Come eat with me, mother and father will not mind," the man said. Rei-Nai nodded quickly and they entered the house together.
- - -
Gekkei sighed in frustration; today was not shaping up to be a good day. His latest report from Mt. Hou was that there was still no Kirin for their kingdom. Today's meeting for court held not many needs; most of the population of Hou had been evacuated to other kingdoms. The current population remaining in Hou was estimated to be around 10,000, and that number was still dwindling. Gekkei started to pace around the gardens that he was occupying, in the last 20 years he had been the temporary ruler of his kingdom much had weighed heavy on his shoulders.
"My lord, we have a visitor requesting your presence, they are claiming that they have sighted the Kirin," a servant said with a low bow. Gekkei nodded and motioned for the servant to bring in the 'guest'; this was actually not uncommon nowadays. After the death of Hourin a quarter of a century ago many people claimed to have 'found' the Kirin among the population. A ragged man was led into the gardens, he seemed quite edgy.
"You may speak," Gekkei said to the nervous man.
"Yes, yes… I have seen her… she is hiding… hiding in the northern province of Sei. Yes, in the town of Horiku in the province of Sei," the man mumbled out in spirits of nervous chatter. Gekkei was taken aback slightly, this was the 5 report this month about a supposed sighting of the Kirin in this town. Now was the time to react, Gekkei shooed the man from his sight and stood up, he had planning to do.
- - -
"Tell me again why we are going to this middle of no where town?" one solder whispered. A small convoy of 10 soldiers and an official from the royal palace had to 'deal' with an issue that had come up in this town. Only the official knew what the mission was really about, the soldiers were merely along for the ride to protect the official from the youma. With in the hour the village was insight, amazingly there were small patches of green among the land.
"We will land just outside the village and commence our search, I want all the women brought to the front gates," the official said loudly as they began their decent towards the small village of Horiku. The convoy quickly descended into the nearly deserted town, the residents that were there were all in the fields. There were a total of about 15 people here, most of them were men.
"Welcome to Horiku," an older man said as the convoy landed, he had seen them from the village and came to greet them. "How may we help you?" he said in a calm manner. The official from the palace stepped forward, flanked by the 10 guards.
"I am here on the beseeching of His Majesty to conduct an investigation; I request the presence of all the villagers at once," the official said sternly. The village elder blinked at the official in confusion but quickly complied with his request after he saw the soldiers give him nasty looks. With in 5 minutes the 25 villagers were huddled together near the front gates, 15 of them were men of different ages, 6 of them were children of the same parents, 2 were older women and the final two were younger women. Kuya felt uneasy with the soldiers leering at the two younger women, one of the more bold ones even gave inappropriate calls to them. The official hushed the soldiers and asked the two younger women to step forward. He fired strange questions at them, 'Had they been born in Hou?', 'Had they been adopted?' ect.
"What are all these nonsense questions for?" he demanded. The official turned to face the livid man, his face was flush with frustration.
"I am doing my duty as instructed by His Majesty, if you have a problem with that then we will try you as a traitor of the Kingdom of Hou," The official burst out in anger. Kuya instantly cooled his nerves and gave a slight bow.
"Please forgive my rudeness, I am forgot my place," he murmured. The official clicked his tongue in thought; an idea quickly came into his mind.
"You have shone such distain perhaps you are hiding something, there have been reports of a special guest within this village. You by chance are not hiding this special guest are you?" he questioned. Kuya was taken aback, a special guest, what did the man mean.
"I cannot fathom what you are taking about; everyone that is within 10 miles of this village is here," he all but yelled at the man, anger was bubbling up inside of him but he didn't act on this anger, it is better to defend oneself then start a fight. The official snuffed at his 'excuse' and motioned to the soldiers behind him.
"Restrain him, he is lying," he said. Two guards quickly each grabbed one of Kuya's arms and forced them behind his back. "You will be charged with treason and your sentence carried out hear and now," the official announced to the stunned villagers.
"He is telling the truth, please don't hurt him," Rei-Nai screeched at the official, she grabbed the mans arm in a near death grip. Her delicate face was pale, her green eyes pleading with the official. Kuya struggled against the guards holding him back, panic started to set in as he watched Rei-Nai get on her knees to beg for his life.
"Very well, I will have His Majesty look into this matter personally, Madam you will accompany us to help fill in the gaps of this story," the official ordered, he was pleased as punch, he had found her with little effort, Gekkei would be pleased.
"You will not hurt him?" Rei-Nai said hesitantly.
"I promise you that he will not be harmed until His Majesty gives an order," the official soothed. "Release him." Kuya glared at the soldiers and rushed to Rei-Nai, the young woman cried in joy and nearly jumped into his arms. The couple spent a few blissful minutes before they were ushered apart by coughs from the official. "We must set out before it gets dark."
"Alright," Rei-Nai whispered softly. Kuya didn't let go of the younger woman as they were lead to a Kijyuu that they would ride to the palace, its reins were secured to one of the soldiers Kijyuu to prevent them from taking off on their own. With one motion the convoy lifted into the air, no one in the village protested, they were all still on shock.
- - -
Rei-Nai shivered from her fear as she was led into a separate room from the men, it had been quite a shock when they arrived at the royal palace. She had noticed that she had been treated very formally by the official when they had lifted her from the Kijyuu. Kuya had protested to them toughing her but had been quickly silenced with a quick smack to his face from the official.
"Show some respect," the man had yelled at her lover. At that point she had been separated from Kuya despite their protests. She had been spirited away into a lavish bath area and pampered like she was a noble woman. After her bath was finished and she was dressed in a fine set of silk robes she had been told to wait in a common room of sorts that over looked the Unkai, the sea of the sky as she liked to call it.
"Why am I here, this doesn't make any sense," she whispered to herself. She missed Kuya and wondered what was happening to him. She tensed when she heard to doors open and the official stepped silently into the room.
"Please forgive for my taking so long, I had… other matters to attend to," the official hesitated for a moment before he bowed low to Rei-Nai.
"Where is Kuya, is he alright?" she asked suddenly. The official frowned in distain, that man was proving more trouble than he was worth.
"Yes My Lady he is just fine, we are questioning him right now," the official murmured. Rei-Nai grasped her hands together in front of her chest.
"He hasn't done anything, please bring him back to me," she gasped desperately. The official shook his head.
"I am unable to do that My Lady he has been charged with a serious crime," he said.
"What crime has he done to warrant bringing him to the royal palace in such a fashion?" the young woman asked. Tears filled her emerald eyes at the unbelievable situation she found herself in.
"Its ok My Lady, you don't need to pretend any longer, you are safe now," the older man soothed. "We are aware of your true form and we praise Tentei for blessing us with your presence finally," the official lowered his head all the way to the floor. Rei-Nai backed up slowly taking one soft step after another towards the still open doors.
"True form, what do you mean by that, I am not pretending anything," she whispered quickly, the rest of her words were lost in scared mumbles. The official lifted his head slightly to gaze upon the woman he was sure was the new Hou Kirin.
"Your true form, your Kirin form My Lady, what other form would I be referring to. There would be no other reason for you to be in that village then you were being held against your will," he said matter of factly. Rei-Nai took a double take, Kirin, they thought she was the Kirin, that was absurd. It was not possible; the Kirin was born on Mt. Hou not in the Kingdom of Hou. She stopped for a moment, it dawned on her that she could not really say where she was born, she could not remember anything until she was about 5 years old.
"I… I have to go… I need to think…," she whispered desperately as she ducked out of the room, she ran down the hallways at an alarming speed, she needed to get away.
- - -
Kuya groaned at the door after he had been locked in a small room. Frustration bubbled in his body, this situation was basically bullshit. He had been hauled into this room and questioned about Rei-Nai for a good hour. When he had finished answering their questions the official whom had 'arrested' him left him alone. Kuya punched the wall in frustration, this was the first time he had not been near Rei-Nai since he can remember, both of them had been found when they were five years old wandering starving and with amnesia, the village of Horiku had taken the children in with no questions asked.
"Kuya…" the call resonated down the halls, a desperate plea. The frustrated man quickly put his ear to the door, he barely heard light quick steps coming down the hallway.
"In here, I am in here!" he pounded on the door loudly to grab the attention of the voice. The footsteps picked up pace and then stopped suddenly at the door that Kuya was locked behind.
"Kuya," the voice pleaded. The young man's heart skipped a few beats in relief as he registered the voice of his lover.
"Yes Rei-Nai it is me, I am in here," he said as tenderly as he could. He heard a loud thump and a gasp from outside the door. 'She must be trying to get the beam off the door,' he thought as he waited patently. After a few moments the door finally opened to reveal a flushed but relieved Rei-Nai. Upon seeing her lover the woman cried out in joy and put her arms around his neck. The couple relished for a moment in their reunion before Kuya pushed Rei-Nai at arms length.
"Did they hurt you?" he asked seriously. Rei-Nai shook her head, her aqua hair in its elaborate knots was starting to come loose, falling around her thin shoulders becomingly.
"No, they actually treated me with great respect, it scared me. For some reason that official that brought us here seems to think that I am the Kirin. I think he is insane, I just want to go home," she whispered to him.
"So do I," he whispered back, the only problem he saw was how to do it.
- - -
End Chapter One
Author Rambles: Well there is the start on my attempt of a Hou fanfiction. Hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you for reading