The Suffering Kingdom in the North, the Melodies of a Lost Kirin's Sorrow
Chapter Two
"Hey, are you awake?" Red eyes opened as the guard shook the white haired man awake. The king of Tai, called Lord Gyousou, had been taken prisoner and starved by a few of the court ministers who had wanted to stay in control of the Tai Kingdom. As a Sennin, he couldn't die, but ten years without food was hard, even for a hardened former general like Gyousou.
"What do you want? I haven't been visited ever since you came to tell me about the birth of Kouki. What reason could you have to visit me now? Did you miss me or something?" Gyousou asked. The man stared at him for a second before smirking.
"I see that you can still be rude and sarcastic when you want to." He said. Gyousou glared at him intensely.
"What do you want?" He asked again. The man backed up nervously and looked away nervously. Gyousou smirked.
'I guess I can still intimidate the mere guards with my glare' he thought to himself. 'I wonder if Kouri's okay.' The guard kicked him sharply.
"What are you smiling at?" He yelled. "I came to tell you about what's happening in Kei. It seems that the current queen is very well liked by her people, and her kirin is very loyal to her. I wonder where your kirin is. He's not very loyal if he won't even try to rescue his king now, is he?" Gyousou glared at the man, and then for the first time in ten years, he could feel Taiki's presence.
'Don't come, Kouri, save yourself.' He thought sadly.
MEANWHILE, IN KEI:
Youko surveyed her ministers as they kneeled in their spots before the throne. Each one of them was loyal to her, and she could trust every one of them. Next to her throne, the Kei Taiho, Keiki, stood stoically, his face blank. Her eyes once again strayed towards the Kei Taiho, who nodded to her and spoke up.
"I believe it is about time for the morning conference to end now. Her Majesty and I will be in the office if we are needed." Youko stood up and walked out, with Keiki following her.
"Why is today such a boring day?" she asked. "There's not much to do now that we've taken care of the problems in most of the provinces. I guess I'd better start working on how I'll make this kingdom better." She said. Keiki came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Youko leaned back into the arms of her husband, and sighed softly.
"I know, it's just hard to get used to." She said. "I've been working so hard to get the kingdom in shape, and now that the kingdom is peaceful, it feels so slow around here."
"I know how you feel. I feel quite similarly." He said softly. "I know."
Later that night, Keiki was sitting at his desk, going through the paperwork that would then go to Youko, separating it into a pile for him to sign and a pile for Youko. A golden light appeared on his forehead, and he passed out.
IN HORAI:
"Kei Taiho!" Taiki ran up to the man. He smiled and greeted the young Kirin. Taiki smiled at him.
"Your Majesty!" Taiki ran up to Gyousou and bowed before him. "Can I go see Lady Risai?"
"Lady Risai!" Taiki ran up to the general and smiled. "Lord Gyousou, I mean His Majesty, gave me permission to spend the day with you!"
"En Taiho!" "Sanshi!" "Youka!" One by one, the faces of those he cared about appeared before Kaname, and then he remembered.
Taiki squinted as he opened his eyes. The image in front of him came into focus as he saw his mother staring at him, horrified, while his father held her and his brother looked disgusted.
"What happened?" He asked.
" You… You monster!" Taiki stepped back in surprise and looked on in horror.
"What?" He asked, confused.
"Get out of my house!" His mother screamed as she picked up a mirror and threw it at him.
"Gouran!" He called desperately. The large toutetsu appeared in front of Taiki and broke the mirror effortlessly. A large shard landed near Taiki. He picked it up and looked into it. His hair had grown long down his back, and had turned into the pitch black that it had been on Mount Hou and in Tai.
"Leave!" she screamed. "You're not my child!" Taiki looked sadly at her and turned around. As he made to leave, an overwhelming feeling came over him.
'The Ouki! I can feel it!" He ran out the door and transformed, running at top speed until he reached a large open field.
"I need a Shoku, but how do I make one?" Keiki had told him once, he had said to concentrate on opening a portal and focus the energy into his horn. Taiki attempted to call forth a Shoku, but it wasn't working. Many hours passed as he stood in the field, but nothing worked. The hours passed, and night turned into day, until Taiki collapsed, after a straight thirteen hours of trying.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry." He whispered before descending into the darkness of sleep.
CHAPTER TWO, END.
PREVIEW
The Kei and En Taihos were always close to Taiki. As Taiki despairs, the kirin of all the other kingdoms are plunged into a deep sleep. Taiki is found by Sugimoto, who recognizes what he is. While Keiki continues to sleep, Taiki and Sugimoto speak of the hardships that Taiki has been experiencing. Twelve Kingdoms Collection chapter one, The Suffering Kingdom in the North, the Melodies of a Lost Kirin's Sorrow, chapter one.