A Travel through War | Chapter 3 | Hebi
雪
"Tsurugi Yuuichi," said Kirino as he stood in the doorway of the room of the older Tsurugi brother, his face grave.
Yuuichi turned from the window to the pink-haired guard, taking in his posture. "Yes? Is Kyousuke all right?"
Kirino cleared his throat and fought the urge to look away from those inquiring eyes. "I'm sorry to inform you about this so…late," he said, taking a step into the room.
Yuuichi sat more upright and smiled sadly as he caught Kirino's eyes traveling down to his legs underneath the duvet. It had been six years since the accident, even though Kyousuke didn't see it as an accident. He gripped the duvet more tightly when Kirino's face seemed to fall even more. "What happened?"
Kirino took a deep breath and straightened up. "It's been three days since the battle near Kaiou and…Tsurugi he—he made for a distraction so the army could retreat. He—" Kirino swallowed hardly. "He hasn't returned. We fear…the worst."
Yuuichi stared at him, then out of the window. He heaved a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. When he turned back to Kirino, tears were glistening in his eyes. "Have you found anything of him? Did you see…" Yuuichi trailed off, his voice getting caught in his throat.
Kirino shook his head. "Nothing, and no. There might be a chance he's still alive, but…there were so many of them. We just don't…" Kirino didn't know how to continue so he just said, "I'm sorry."
Yuuichi shook his head as the tears flowed down his cheeks. "I understand. Thank you for telling me. Could you…leave now?"
Kirino nodded even though Yuuichi wasn't looking at him anymore. "I will. Goodbye." And he quickly strode out of the room.
雪
"Tenma," Saryuu drawled. "Why is the human still here?"
The human in question shot him a glare and was about to try for the umpteenth time to get to his feet and strangle the monkey youkai, but Tenma got him to relax back down in the cushions.
"Tsurugi," Tenma emphasized, "is still here, because he's still recovering from his wounds."
"Tch. He's been here for weeks now. How slow do humans heal?" Saryuu said, exasperated. He shot Tsurugi a haughty glare before staring pointedly at the wall somewhere near the left of the human.
Tenma laughed sheepishly until he caught Tsurugi's eye and quickly changed it to a coughing fit. This was not going like Tenma had hoped. Though, when did things ever go that way?
"Can't you guys at least try to get along? Sort of?" Tenma asked, but flinched from the looks he received from both ends.
"Why would I want that?" Saryuu asked, slumping down on the table. "Anyway, Tenma, I'm bored."
"Then go do something," Tenma sighed and scratched his head.
"Hah?"
Tenma shot the monkey a look that very much spelled out: "I am not here for your amusement. If you're bored, you go find something to do, but I am not going to amuse you."
Saryuu sighed and then got to his feet. "Fine, fine. I'll find something to do." He got to his feet, shot one last glare at Tsurugi, and was gone through the door.
"What should I do with him?" Tenma muttered.
"Dispose," Tsurugi said emotionlessly.
"How can you say that!" Tenma swivelled around vehemently.
Tsurugi simply raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what I would do with him. What I should do, but I doubt you'd let me."
"Of course I wouldn't let you do that! Everyone is entitled to live!"
"Really? Even those who tried to kill me?"
"Well, you tried to kill them," Tenma said matter-of-factly.
"I was protecting what was mine," Tsurugi defended, glaring.
"And they were protecting what was theirs." Tenm sat down on the end of Tsurugi's bed (aka Tenma's old bed since Saryuu had refused to give up his), the human scooting as far away as possible from him. "Tsurugi. I know you believe only your cause is the right one, but have you ever considered all the third parties in this war? The youkai that don't want to fight, the humans that don't want to fight, villages pillaging each other because of food shortages, families being ripped apart. All those things are happening right now, because a couple of youkai and a couple of humans refuse to see anything but their own meaningless desires."
Tsurugi glared out of the window, silently mulling over the tengu's words. "I am a knight of Raimon," he then said, surprisingly soft. "I serve the Duke and King of Raimon only. I have been serving Raimon for so long. I have seen my brother being brought home with the most terrible wounds on his legs, disabling his ability to walk. I have seen plenty of my fellow brothers-in-arms getting killed on the battle field. You're telling me now, that basically all that has been for naught?"
"Tsurugi…" Tenma stared at him.
Tsurugi was clenching his sheets tightly, his knuckles colouring white. "I fight this war to give my brother a peaceful life without any worries. I want to…return home, but I can't."
"Why can't you?"
"Because I'm chatting here with a youkai," Tsurugi said coldly. "I have betrayed my country."
"Hmm," Tenma hummed. "I don't think you have. You're more or less a prisoner here, aren't you? That's how you feel, right? So then you're being kept here against your will. You're a prisoner of war here. I believe you can return home honourably." Tenma stuck his tongue out at Tsurugi. Then, when he saw the glint in Tsurugi's eyes, he added sternly, "After you've completely healed."
"I'm already doing much better than before, you know. If you would let me I could walk," Tsurugi grumbled.
"Still, you humans are so fragile. I wouldn't want to strain you," Tenma said, sounding almost thoughtful.
Tsurugi shot him a look, then he glanced away awkwardly. "Thanks," he muttered, barely audible.
Tenma blinked in surprise, but smiled nonetheless. He didn't say anything, knowing he would hurt the human's pride by doing so. Instead, he got to his feet and dusted off his pants. Tenma glanced outside and frowned.
"Saryuu has been gone for a while now, hasn't he?" he wondered aloud.
"So?"
Tenma chewed on his lip in worry. "Mostly he gets bored and comes home by now. I wonder if something happened?"
"Maybe he got himself killed?" Tsurugi said humourlessly.
"How can you say that!?" Tenma exclaimed.
"What? It's a possibility," Tsurugi shrugged.
"Oh dear god, Saryuu, what did you do?" Tenma stood frozen, staring out of the window.
Tsurugi lazily followed the tengu's gaze and frowned in confusion. "Who's that?" he asked.
Tenma swallowed hardly. "That—that's Kurama Norihito, a hebi from around here. He—oh god Tsurugi, do you think you can fight?"
"Excuse me?" Tsurugi stared at Tenma.
The tengu, however, had quickly jumped to his feet and scrambled to get Tsurugi's sword from the closet. That's when Saryuu burst through the door, scathed and a mess.
"Tenma, I'm so—"
"Not now, Saryuu," Tenma cut him off, his voice surprisingly curt.
"But Tenma, I didn't mean to—" Saryuu tried again.
"No, Saryuu," Tenma said as he watched how Tsurugi slowly got to his feet. "Are you all right, Tsurugi?"
"I'm fine," the human answered. "I have no idea what's happening, though."
"Heh," Saryuu said, but swallowed and glanced away when Tenma shot him a look.
"There is no time for explanations. Kurama knows I have kept a human here and he dislikes them with all his might. They destroyed what he loved most. Now, Tsurugi, you need to run and get away," Tenma said. He held up the sword for Tsurugi to take, but the latter hesitated.
"Will you be okay?" Tsurugi found himself asking.
Tenma smiled encouragingly. "It's you who he's after."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"It does," Tenma said softly.
Saryuu was glancing from Tenma to Tsurugi before growling, "So human, what if I told you we wouldn't be okay; what would you do?"
"Saryuu!" Tenma exclaimed, but before he could utter another word Tsurugi did a step forward and snatched the sword from Tenma's hands.
Dead earnestly, Tsurugi answered, "I would stay here and repay my debt. Or I would help you escape as well. Whatever floats your boat."
"Hah~ So you humans do have honour," Saryuu said as he leant against the table, eyeing Tsurugi warily.
"What would you do—" Tsurugi unsheathed his sword. "—if I told you I believe most youkai have no honour?"
"Hmm," Saryuu hummed, rolling up his sleeves. "I would show you that I most certainly am not a youkai without a sense of honour and help you with this damn snake. I've been looking forward to that anyway."
Tenma stared before chuckling, which quickly turned into laughter. He got strange looks from the other two men, but he waved them off. "And to think I asked just this morning if you could at least try to get along."
"We're not getting along," both answered. They glared at each other at that, Saryuu going as far as growling.
"Sure you're not," Tenma chortled.
"MATSUKAZE!"
Everyone in the room froze at the new voice. It didn't sound close to the house, though.
"Kurama," Tenma whispered.
"MATSUKAZE, I KNOW WHAT YOU GOT THERE!" Kurama boomed. "GIVE IT HERE OR I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL PAY! AND THAT MONKEY WILL TOO!"
"Hey!" Saryuu called out in offence, but he got shushed by an elbow in his ribs.
Tenma mustered all his courage and did a step forward. "Kurama, we can talk about this! He isn't bad!"
"HE ISN'T BA— DO YOU EVEN REALISE WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!? IT'S A HUMAN! POISON OF THE EARTH! IT DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE!" A loud bang was heard from outside paired with some vicious hissing.
Tenma flinched at the words, Tsurugi clenched his sword a little tighter, and Saryuu licked his teeth while anger flared in his eyes.
"MATSUKAZE TENMA. THIS IS MY LAST WARNING OR I WILL MAKE SURE THE HUMAN IS THE LAST THING YOU'LL SEE ALIVE."
"Get on the table," Tenma whispered and ushered the two onto it. He himself climbed on the bed, standing with his back against the wall right next to the window. Loudly, he announced, "I will not 'hand him over'! He has as much entitlement to live as you and I and Saryuu!"
It was eerily quiet then.
Saryuu was shooting wild glances around, seemingly growling at nothing. "He's surrounded us," he said.
Tenma swallowed. "We can do this. It's just snakes."
"Just snakes?" Saryuu hissed, turning to look at Tenma. "Remember the last time you said that?"
"I'm thinking positive here, okay?" Tenma replied.
"Be quiet," Tsurugi ordered. "I hear something."
"Then you're the last one," Saryuu grumbled, but shut up after both Tenma and Tsurugi shot him a look.
That's when the door smashed open and the giant head of a snake appeared in the doorway.
"What the f—" Tsurugi said as braced himself.
"Don't move!" Saryuu hissed.
"He's…grown quite a lot, hasn't he?" Tenma said sheepishly.
That's when a small army of small snaked slithered into the house, biting and snapping at anything within range. Well, that explained why Tenma had told them to stand on the table. The large—maybe enormous was a better word—snake was staring with one eye into the small house, its tongue slipping in and out of its mouth.
"We can escape," Tenma whispered and flattened himself even more against the wall when a snake peeked over the edge of the bed, its beady eyes shining menacingly.
"Oh and how is that?" Saryuu asked. His face was scrunched up in disgust as the snakes circled the room.
"I can fly us away, but…" Tenma trailed off.
"But?" Tsurugi asked.
"We have to get outside first and out of reach of Kurama's snakes."
Saryuu and Tsurugi stared at one another before Saryuu asked, "Just that?"
"Just that?" Tenma repeated, tilting his head in confusion. "What else should I need?"
"No, nothing. I just thought it would be a little harder." Saryuu shrugged.
"Oh well, we still have to get past Atsushi over there," Tenma pointed out.
"Atsushi?" Tsurugi questioned.
"The pet name of Mister Venom over there." Saryuu nodded his head in the direction if the giant snake.
"Right." Tsurugi shook his head in slight exasperation. "So you just need us to clear the path?"
"I suppose?" Tenma frowned.
Tsurugi raised an eyebrow at Saryuu, who smirked in return.
"I'll create a path for you through these little monstrosities. Then show us your swordsmanship, oh great knight of Raimon," Saryuu said and he jumped from the table, making sure to step on a lot of the little snakes.
It was as if Hell broke loose.
The little snakes started hissing all at once and made their way over to Saryuu. The monkey youkai in turn somehow slipped past them all and jumped to the window, breaking through it without thinking much of it. Tenma made a face of exasperation before quickly flapping his way over to Tsurugi as all the snakes followed Saryuu out of the window.
"I hope he'll be okay," Tenma sighed as he watched the monkey jump around and into the canopies of the trees. "He'd better stay somewhere close by."
"He'll be fine," Tsurugi growled. He crouched down and held his sword close to his face, the blade pointed towards the snake—Atsushi—still patrolling in front of the door. "Make sure you plan your own escape well, all right? I'll clear the way."
"R-right!" Tenma said, bracing himself for whatever may come.
That's when Tsurugi leapt forward, off of the table and out in the sun. Atsushi's quick reflexes had its mouth gaping open and moving at top speed towards Tsurugi.
Tenma froze in the doorway when Tsurugi barely managed to roll out of its way and slash the serpent's eye. Furious hissing followed as Tsurugi jumped over the tail and waited for the creature to turn and face him.
"Matsukaze," Kurama hissed.
"Kurama-san," Tenma said politely as he stepped into the sun. He bit his lip nervously as he heard the grunts of the human, but refused to look. He had Kurama to deal with now.
"Truly valiant of the human to step forward as he does," Kurama spoke with mild disinterest.
Tenma never knew how to deal with the hebi, but to hear the sudden disinterest caught him off-guard.
"But," Kurama said sharply, "do you believe he would help you again? Humans' honour is a strange thing and shifts in a matter of seconds. Their loyalty also always lies with their own kin, so what makes you think he wouldn't just throw you or Saryuu in front of himself?"
"Because I believe in him," Tenma said, buffing his chest.
Kurama spat at the ground, his expression foul. "You believe in everyone, don't you? You believed in the little monkey youkai banished from the mountain, and you believed in the human girl who so desperately came to seek your help, but what do you get in return? A stab in the back from her kin and a monkey who can't even keep himself out of trouble for an hour."
"Saryuu can keep himself out of trouble!" Tenma yelled, balling his fists.
Kurama simply raised an eyebrow when some screeching was heard further away.
Tenma swallowed hardly. "I believe in him. I believe in Tsurugi. I believe in whoever comes to me for help. I will never blame the girl for what happened. Sure, not all humans appreciate us youkai, but that doesn't necessarily make them evil! If you would think that then, according to your logic, wouldn't that make all of us evil too?"
"Shut up! You don't know how badly they can backstab you! Humans are filth!" Kurama screeched, his calm vanished like snow in the sun.
"That one human did something terrible to you doesn't mean they're all bad!" Tenma yelled back.
"THEY ARE!"
A terrible screeching noise was heard then and both turned to see Tsurugi keeping himself upright with his sword, blood pouring from a wound near his neck. Atsushi, on the other hand, was hissing and spitting, blood pouring out of one eye and lots of gashes marring its silvery skin. Then, the snake collapsed on the ground with a heavy thud.
"Kurama!" Tenma yelled, torn between aiding Tsurugi and keeping an eye on the hebi.
"GET LOST!" Kurama screeched, pointing to the sky.
Tenma did a step towards Tsurugi, but stopped when Kurama stumbled towards the snake. He collapsed next to the head and started stroking it gently, muttering softly.
"Kurama—"
"LEAVE!"
Tenma nodded and ran towards Tsurugi. Just in time too, because the human collapsed just then, Tenma just managing to catch him. Picking him up in his arms with little difficulty, Tenma glanced pitifully at Kurama once more before he jumped up in the sky and hoped that Saryuu would follow.
雪
"Is he all right?" Saryuu asked the moment he joined Tenma and an unconscious Tsurugi.
They were near the edge of the forest, close to the border river that ran between Raimon and the Dukedom of Tengawara. Tenma was carefully cleaning out Tsurugi's wounds with a ripped part of his own clothes, a worried crease in his brow. Saryuu was standing guard, though he was more interested in the state the human was in.
"I don't know," Tenma answered honestly. "I don't know if Atsushi released some of its poison into his veins."
"Isn't there anyway to check?"
"If I knew I would, honestly. But as it is now, I have no knowledge of that or an antidote if needed." Tenma frowned in worry as Tsurugi uttered a pained moan. "I might know someone who does, though."
"You might?" Saryuu questioned, kneeling so he could look Tenma in the eye.
"I'm not sure if he'll help us." Tenma swallowed. "I guess it's his only hope, isn't it?"
"And where does this person live?" Saryuu asked as both he and Tenma got to their feet, the latter carefully picking Tsurugi up in the progress.
"Somewhere in Tengawara," Tenma said, glancing across the river. "I know how to find him, though, so no worries there."
"All right… Will you tell me who this person is?"
"He's a fellow tengu." Tenma spread his wings and jumped up. "His name is Alpha."
雪
'hebi' means snake in Japanes.
Ahahaha, remember when I said I wouldn't take a month to update? Because I didn't. Since it's been about half a year and no one has hit me about it yet. Please hit me next time I do that. Please.
So I'm terribly sorry and I'm a horrible person, but I got a lot of free time on my hands nowadays, so I'll probably update more often! And this time I swear I won't take half a year.
Next up is their quest to Tengawara! Who will they meet there? Will Tsurugi die for real this time? Will Saryuu do something stupid again? Who knows? Not even me!
Laters!