Authors notes: Me again, I know people are reading this, so can you please put a little review to tell me what you think of the story, I would really appreciate that.
Anyway, mini-rant over with, the next chapter is up.
Chapter 3 - Mind games
The old woman would not allow anyone into the ritual except for Masamune, herself and the unconcious Yukimura. It was only because Saizo vouched for her that Kojuurou allowed this. He sat outside the room with the two ninja and Kirihime, listening to the incoherant chanting from within.
Inside, Masamune was undergoing the mental preparations needed to allow him to enter Yukimura's mind: he had eaten some strange herbs; drunk a special tea; and was now inhaling the worst smelling incense ever, and all the while the old woman chanted. She had given him a long ball of twine, which would go with him, not that he was sure why.
After a while he began to feel drowsy, then his body started going numb. His vision clouded and then he slumped forwards into the darkness. When he came to he found himself lying in a ruined castle. He noticed an open door behind him and he could see the old woman through it, and his own unconcious form.
"That's too wierd, anyway, she said to close the door until I need to leave." he also tied the twine to an empty sconce next to the door.
As he walked through the corridors he could see several doors, many of which looked to have been opened recently and then shut. Then he found a door which had not been opened, and backtracked to the previous door.
Yukimura curled up into a ball as the demon caressed his cheek.
"Poor little Tiger cub, lost and alone, I could keep you company." The room was pitch black, he could not find the door and now this demon was trying to do strange things to him.
"L-leave me alone!" he sobbed.
"But you're so sad and lonely, I couldn't do that."
"What do you want?"
"Go back to Ueda, your bride is waiting for you, she's getting really worried." she was walking around him, running her fingers through his hair. He flinched and tried to pull away, but her grip tightened and she pulled him closer to her.
"NO!" he screamed, pulling away and running into the darkness.
"Hmm, there's no point in running, the darkness is my domain, I'll always find you."
"Keep away!" he stumbled as she appeared in front of him, her eyes glowing with an errie light.
"But it's destiny, nothing you can do to stop it."
He could not move, tendrils made of the darkness held him in place, and she moved closer.
"Just a little kiss, it won't hurt."
"Have you ever considered Yukimura might not want to kiss a demon, I know I wouldn't."
"Who are you?"
"One of the last two people you ever want to see, the other one is his sister, now why don't you fuck off back to hell or wherever it is you come from and leave Yukimura alone."
"Why should I do that?"
"Something tells me a practical demonstration is in order."
Yukimura stared as six lines of light flashed in front of him before collapsing as the tendrils were sliced apart and the demon withdrew shrieking in agony. "Masa. . . mune. . . how?"
"Long story, now lets get out of here before she recovers."
"I don't know where to go."
"Luckily I do, now come on." he helped support Yukimura while following the string back to the door and into the corridor.
"Haru koro no hana no en
Meguru sakazuki kage sashite
Chiyo no matsu ga e wake ideshi
Mukashi no hikari Ima izu ko"
"Where'd the singing come from?"
"Complicated, but it's good, keeps the demon out."
"Good, now the exit is over here."
Yukimura clung onto Masamune, too afraid to let go, and allowed himself to be led to a door he had not seen before. Masamune collected all the string together and opened the door before pulling Yukimura through with him.
Inside the room with the old woman Masamune began to come round.
"Ugh, I don't feel so good."
"Side effect from the tea, it's perfectly normal." The old woman said.
"Where am I? Masamune?"
"You're back in Oshu."
"Ok, does this mean I'm awake?"
"Hai."
CRASH
"YUKI-CHAN!"
"Gyaaa!"
"Sorry Masamune-sama, there was no way we were going to be able to stop her."
Kirihime was hugging her brother tight, having nearly trodden on Masamune as she had gone past.
"I'm just glad her foot was not a couple of inches higher." Masamune said, as he moved out of kicking range.
The old woman sighed, she had expected this reaction.
-That evening-
Kirihime was still clinging to her brother, which annoyed Masamune because he wanted to be alone with Yukimura. Kojuurou and Sasuke were sorting a couple of things out with the old woman, and Saizo was making some herbal tea, to help people relax; though Masamune suspected he was using sedative.
Masamune's suspicions were confirmed when Kirihime passed out after one sip.
"How much did you put in there?" Masamune looked at his cup warily.
"Only in Hime-sama's cup, when she's in this mood, it's the only way to get her to sleep."
"I thought she was getting better at dealing with stress." Yukimura said.
"She is, unless you're involved Yukimura-sama."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Masamune said as Saizo carried Kirihime to her room.
Now they were alone, Yukimura snuggled close to Masamune, who ran his fingers through his hair, gently teasing his cat ears.
"What happened to you?" Masamune asked.
"I was returning to Kai, when the road was covered in mist, and somehow I found an abandonned shrine. Only it wasn't so abandonned, Mastunaga had set up an ambush for me."
"I'm assuming your sister took that rather badly."
"Yeah, she set off the gunpowder he'd stored in the old buildings, nearly got him as well, but he escaped. So we camped further down the hill and I woke up inside my own mind, weird as that sounds."
"Hey, I ened up in your head as well, it's not that weird."
"Though how long before my brother gets sent to find me?"
"A couple of weeks as most, but that gives us time to plan."
"I know, but I'm so tired, but the old woman says I shouldn't sleep, just in case."
"Danna?"
"Sasuke?"
"Wear this, it'll stop that demon from getting into your head, and you should be able to sleep now."
"Thank you Sasuke."
It was fairly obvious that the pair wanted to be alone, so Sasuke left the room, worn out from the exertions of the previous few days.
The atmosphere was tense that night, there was no moon and clouds covered most of the stars, keeping the guards on edge. There was a sporadic wind which made sleep difficult and the animals seemed louder than normal.
The next morning people were tired and stiff, except for Kirihime, who had slept rather well thanks to Saizo's sedative.
"So what are we going to do about this?" Yukimura asked, "I can't hide forever."
"We can either seal her away, or destroy her." Saizo said quietly.
"I'm leaning to the more permenant option myself." Masamune said.
"But how do you kill a demon like that?" Sasuke said.
"Each type of demon has a fatal weakness, the main problem is finding her weakness."
"I was able to get a good read of the archive records relating to her," Sasuke said, "they mentioned that she had problems with a particular flower, only it's very hard to find."
"What kind of flower?" Yukimura asked
"A type of orchid that grows on Shikoku, but it's very rare, and it's the flower itself she has problems with, not the scent."
"Maybe getting it into any wounds we cause." Kirihime suggested.
"That's generally the idea, or getting her to eat it."
"Either way, it looks like a trip down south, should we go by land or sea?" Masamune said.
"You have a boat?" Kirihime said.
"A ship, I was going to send it round the world, but I guess a test run wouldn't hurt."
"If we go by land, there is a chance we will be intercepted by family members, but by sea, that has risks of its own." Saizo said. "And it's soon going to be typhoon season."
"I guess we have no choice but to go by land." Masamune sighed, "I just hope we can get over to Shikoku, I'd rather not get stranded in a port I'm not familiar with."
"How big a group will go?" Kirihime asked.
"Well since we're going over land, I was thinking of making this into one big party." Masamune grinned.
"We'd stand out too much." Sasuke said.
"No, the Date Army would stand out, the fact you lot are hiding in amongst them might go unnoticed, whereas if it's a small group people are easy to identify. Plus it throws people off, I did promise a to visit a couple of people down south, so it's not like I need an excuse."
"I can see it ending so badly, but if something does happen, we would have an army to help out." Sasuke sighed.
"Anyone got any objections. . .no, ok, Kojuurou, tell the men to prepare for a trip down south, we leave in two days."
"Hai, Masamune-sama."
