Chapter nine
Petitefeeme: I'M ALIVE ! I probably lost a few months of life due to stress but I'M ALIVE!
Haruki: How much time until she gets back to normal okaa-san?
Haruko: She's in a state of post-exam stress dear. It will take a bit while.
Haruki: Well, until then, read and enjoy!
We progressed rapidly through the Northern territories, not wanting to be caught in the mountains by the approaching winter.
I already had taken out the winter kimonos and was beginning to think about getting out the scarves.
When we stopped in a village, we were always well-received thanks to the Northern lord's seal he gave me. Toga at worst would receive nasty glares but nothing more.
No, all of this wasn't what worried me the most, it was the lingering sensation someone was spying on us when we were camping in the forest.
We had been attacked by a few bandits and demons, but I found the frequency of their apparition increasing the more we neared the temple's mountain.
We were currently walking in the thickest fog I ever saw in my long life.
I was keeping Haruki close to me, not wanting to let her wander.
Toga was walking a bit ahead of us. I barely saw him a few meters from us.
I was still getting this feeling someone was following us and this was beginning to get on my nerves.
I heard something to my right and instinctively grabbed Haruki before plunging to the ground.
Something whizzed above us and I saw briefly an arrow.
I thanked my slightly enhanced hearing due to the fusion between me and Aiko before my hairs changed silver.
I dissipated the fog and immediately wanted to call it back.
We were surrounded by at least ten men with bows in hand and sword hanging down hips.
They fired and I created a bubble of air to repel the arrows.
"We have to get out of here." I said to Haruki before taking her elbow.
My eyes turned blue and I recreated a bit of the fog so that I could lead my daughter to the safety of the rocs.
"Stay here." I told her before peeking over.
By now the fog had dissipated and Toga was fighting the men. I couldn't decipher if they were yokais or humans because they had no distinct markings and I couldn't feel their aura at all, barely their presences.
I took my bow and arrows before firing some.
Out of five, three of them landed where I wanted them to land, which meant the knees, ankles or hand and the two other landed in a shoulder.
I took a few seconds to appreciate my rapidly progressing skills before taking out my naginata because one of the men was coming to me on a horse.
I hoped over the rock, took a few steps away and waited for him.
He galloped to me while screaming like a crazy banshee, his sword raised to strike.
I bent backward twirled to avoid the blade, balancing lightly on my feet like a dance to swing my naginata at the saddle's girth.
The man fell off his horse which disappeared down the road.
I turned my weapons and hit him on his thorax to block his breathing ways.
The man fell unconscious and I turned to scan my surrounding.
Toga had dealt with most of the men present and the few remaining were running away.
I saw something glinting at the corner of my eyes and rummaged a bit with the fallen man's shirt to find a necklace.
I snapped it off and immediately his aura and scented wafted to my nose. His demonic traits also appeared shortly after.
My eyes turned brown and I scanned the air and the earth for any more threat.
What I sensed disturbed me.
It wasn't a human, nor a demonic presence I was sensing. I got a feeling I only got when I was in connection with the earth itself.
Without really thinking, feeling the pull on my soul, I began walking to the aura I was sensing.
I barely felt Haruki and Toga follow me and after a few steps I met with a cat.
In itself the cat was quite common, his fur was entirely black and glossy, and he was just a bit taller than usual cats I saw where I came from.
But the difference was found in its eyes. The colour in itself was quite common too. Yellow, bordering on golden on the edges with black slits in the middle.
It was the depth of those eyes. When you looked in them you knew that they held more wisdom than the oldest sage in the world.
"What's that okaa-san?" asked Haruki, coming beside me and grabbing my sleeves.
I knew she wasn't asking if this was a cat or a dog.
"I don't know dear." I said to her "I think my mother called them 'an old soul'. It's quite appropriate now that I see one in front of me."
The cat mewed before turning around and walking away.
Somehow I knew it was asking me to follow it, so I grabbed Haruki's hand.
"Let's go dear." I said before walking behind the cat's trail.
Toga followed and we walked along the rocky trail to a door carved in the mountain's wall.
The door in itself was simple, but the arcade surrounding it had a phrase engraved in it.
'But it's English!' I though, surprised.
The phrase said: Only those with pure heart will be able to enter.
I wanted to translate it to the other, but I didn't want to explain how I knew the foreign language.
I saw at the corner of my eyes Haruki concentrating, trying to decipher the meaning of the phrase.
She was very intelligent but I knew she lacked some vocabulary skills to fully understand.
The black cat sat on a rock near the entrance and looked at us.
I somehow knew more or less what he was asking. I neared the rock/doorway, Haruki by my side and Toga a few feet behind.
The doors opened very slowly, letting out a blinding light.
I was forced to close my eyes, also covering Haruki's sight.
When we opened them, we weren't in front of the rocky doorway anymore.
All structures around us were made in white marble in a style that reminded me of roman architecture with curved archways and colonnades.
A dark wooden door to our right opened and a young girl about Haruki's human age entered.
Her hairs were hidden in a hat, making her young face's features stand out.
She was wearing a pale red long sleeved haori decorated with tiny white flowers and white hakamas.
"Welcome." She said in a soft poised voice that wasn't normal for a little girl like her "My mistress is waiting, follow me please."
We followed her along a white corridor with many large windows.
From where I was I could see a garden.
We entered a more Chinese architectural part and I was wondering how all of this could be held in one mountain when the girl leading us pushed open a screen and gestured for us to enter.
We complied and under what seemed like a mini Chinese styled four poster bed, was sitting a child that seemed barely older than four.
She was dressed like a princess, with layers of silks, the last one being of an apricot colour with aquamarine lotus woven at the base of the fabric and similarly coloured tiny birds flying on the back.
Her hairs were hidden by a complicated, big and probably heavy gold ornament. I saw orange carnelians and corals, blue aquamarines and hemimorphites dangling from the sides.
Her face wasn't painted and when I looked at her eyes, a wave of sympathy hit me.
She was blind.
"Thank you for your gentle feelings." She said to me and perhaps Haruki, I wasn't sure "But I assure you I chose to lose my eyesight and I don't suffer much."
I was surprised by her word and instinctively sat a few feet from her, bringing Haruki down with me.
"I know why you came." Said the little girl, gesturing to another little girl who was standing to her left.
The little girl disappeared and she continued.
"Are you aware that obtaining angel's tears requires a pure sacrifice?"
A sense of dread began to fill me. Was that meaning that someone would have to sacrifice his/her life to obtain those tears?
The only being pure enough I knew here was Haruki.
As I hugged her closer to me, the little girl smiled softly.
"Do not worry mother." She said "Someone already sacrificed herself to let you obtain those tears."
"Who?" I asked, not being able to contain the question.
"Unfortunately someone you know." Apologized the child "Her name was Akemi-san."
'Akemi-sama!' I though, bewildered.
So not only Akio-sama was gone, but also Akemi-sama? She was one of the few dragons that accepted me fully as I was and she did so much for me, teaching me everything.
Haruki began sobbing into my kimono and I became worried for her. Two deaths in barely three months, it could be too much for a sensible little girl like her.
"Why?" I managed to choke out between my tears.
"Before she sacrificed her life." Told us the child gently "She told me that she had lived long enough and that it was time for the new generation to take place."
It was so Akemi-sama like! She was an extremely wise dragon.
At that moment the girl who had disappeared reappeared, holding in her hands a tiny vial full of what looked like liquid diamond.
It was extremely beautiful and in the same time filled me with sadness.
The girl gave the vial to the child who gave it to me.
"The vial is made of diamond." She said "It will not break. I also know why you need those tears, and I advise you, once you have all you need, to head toward the East."
We stayed the night, the children-servants helping me calm Haruki with a decoction that made her sleep all night long.
I was beside her bed, looking after her troubled sleep, when a child-servant entered the room and bowed.
"My mistress wants to talk to you. Do not worry, a servant will look after your child in your absence."
I nodded, feeling that I could trust them and followed the girl to the room we were an hour ago.
The little child motioned for me to sit and I complied.
A servant served us tea and the child began to speak while I was drinking:
"I know that to achieve your destiny, you were ripped off your family and everything you knew and thrown into an unfamiliar word."
She took a sip of her drink before continuing:
"I cannot reveal a lot to you, barely that you were bought here to influence time and by extend the future. But I can assure you one thing at least. You will live to see your family again."
"Really?" I asked, the hope and joy literally dripping from my voice.
"Yes." Smiled the child "I hope this will give you enough hope and strength to never give up as your way is filled with a lot of hardship and of course happy moments."
"You gave me back hope." I said, smiling in return "I assure you that this is enough to get me to walk ahead for a long time."
The next day our group took its leave and we walked down slowly the mountain.
At the foot however, I had to stop.
"Something is wrong." I told Toga worriedly before making Haruki hide under some rocks "Do you feel the air?"
Yes, the air around us was heavy and stagnant. No sound was reaching us and I was getting a feeling that made my skin crawl.
Toga had barely the time to take out Tetsaiga to block the attack. I took out my naginata and took my place in front of Haruki.
From what I could see, they were ogre demons, but something was off. Their movement were sluggish and slow, their eyes were glowing a fierce red and they had already a nasty gash on their torso.
Toga slashed one with his sword but to my surprise, the two halves only glowed green before assembling again, and the oni was back up.
'How could that be possible?' I asked to myself, something tingling in the back of my mind.
Unfortunately I couldn't put my finger on it and even with I and Toga's effort, the ogres were always coming back and we were beginning to tire.
"How is it possible?" I asked Toga just in case.
"I don't know." He replied shortly "I just know that their scent is similar to death."
"They're dead?" I whispered, shocked "How is that possible?"
Toga didn't answer and I was alone again with my though.
The tingling was more persistent now. Where had I heard about walking dead?"
I concentrated hard and almost didn't see one demon swing its sword at me.
I gasped and barely dodged before blowing him away, my eyes changing from green to silver.
That's when I remembered. Of course, Sou'unga!
Totosai had briefed me a bit about the sword's power. It was apparently capable of 'resurrecting' dead corpse! And those corpses would be insensible to anything, since they were already dead!
I remembered he also told me how to get rid of Sou'unga's servants. It was by fire or spiritual powers, that was it!
My eyes turned red and I retrieved my bow and arrows.
I fired one arrow at each oni before making them burst into flames.
The demons turned slowly into ashes and I pinched my nose, sensing a headache coming forth.
My eyes turned blue and I tried to relax the blood vein on my temples.
I more or less succeeded and soon Haruki came up with the usual medicine.
We reached the forest at the foot of the mountain and walked a one or two hours before settling for the night in the clearing.
Haruki and I collected a lot of firewood for I knew the night would be cold.
We ate what Toga hunted and I quickly reviewed Haruki's maths before sending the still emotionally shaken girl to bed.
I settled her in my arms before turning to Toga.
"We need to settle somewhere for the winter." I told him "Do you know where we could put up?"
"You can come with me at the Western shiro." He told me after a few seconds of silence.
"Is it okay?" I asked worriedly "Inus aren't fond of dragons. I don't want to put Haruki in front of any threat."
"You'll be with me." He simply said, like this was going to stop everything.
"Well, I trust you." I sighed deeply.
'And I hope I'm not doing an error.' I though in addition before getting out my own cover to sleep.
Haruki: And this was the ninth chapter! Hope you like it.
Haruko: And next time, if she get good grades, the authors gonna post two chapters! So we better cheer her on.
Haruki: Until next chapter!
Haruko: And a word of encouragement to Blue-chan who still have one exam =)
