Chapter Nine

Hoshi couldn't help but analyze the woman who walked before her through the castle. Her lieutenant had once told her that observation was the key to survival. She looked fragile in the silks, but having watched her fight with her Big Faun, she was sure that that looks weren't important here. She wondered where 'here' even was as she wobbled on step She glanced around the ancient looking castle, and started to convince herself that this wasn't a figment of her PTSD or depression medication. She ran a hand over the wall and felt the soft grain of the wood beneath her good hand. She ran her fingers along gold trimmed frames and enameled wall ornaments that sat on lacquered stands. It all felt real to the touch, and she began to argue if it was actually was real. Her visions of the war in the gulf were real, even if they were just memories that viciously jumped into the present, but she had never experienced anything of this sort.

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense," she said softly and the woman glanced back at her with dark eyes lined in velvet lashes.

"How is this nonsense," she asked calmly, "our world exists exactly like your own."

Hoshi shook her head softly, realizing the woman had never read the book that she recited the quote from. This was definitely not her world, if 'Alice in Wonderland' quotes where not understood. It made her think though she could be in wonderland for all she knew, this was definitely and odd day so far. She could see spirits crossing through adjacent hallways, and she noticed that their attire looked just as ancient as the woman's who led her along. They were ashen in color with their faces covered with veils, and she wondered if was because they didn't have faces to begin with or if they were just that terrifying underneath them. Hoshi returned her gaze to the woman leading her along and noticed that even the silks she wore were pristine but there were spots on the obi that were worn or burned. Her long raven hair was beautiful but in the twinkling candle light but she could see several missing strands of hair.

Kayura saw the woman looking at her earnestly, and sighed, "do I intrigue you?"

"Yeah, if that's what you want to call it," Hoshi paused, "you've been fighting a lot lately."

Kayura looked at the woman who seemed interested in their decor. The woman was small and delicate looking and at moments when she would stumble, she looked incredibly weak. However, she wondered if the woman was that good at being a fraud, "you've been in more than just war."

"What makes you say that," Hoshi said as she gently touched an ornament of a kirin cast in porcelain with enameled colors. She picked up the dainty thing.

"The way you look at the things that surround you as potential weapons."

"Potential," Hoshi snorted setting the delicate beast down. "I wouldn't know how to use such a precious thing as a weapon."

Kayura watched her hand shake but knew there was a lie in her sweet work, "that's not what your nerves say. Believe me, you can try and kill me, but I thought you agreed to help me?"

"I agreed," Hoshi paused, "but I'm not entirely certain that this is all real."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Hoshi pressed a bandaged finger to her scarred temple, "too many illusions can be constructed by one's own mind."

"Does the pain not make you believe that this is real?"

Hoshi held her rapidly healing hand to herself, "all the more reason for me to believe I'm hallucinating."

"I assure you it isn't," Kayura said walking to her and taking her broken hand into hers. "This force that comes will destroy everything you know and love that is real. Including Hardrock."

Hoshi controlled the urge to blush when she mentioned him. She was so confused about him, it seemed so convenient that he would come into her life right now. His smile was something that she needed to see, and the kiss that he had given her made her feel something she hadn't felt in a long time. Perhaps, it was real, but she certainly hated the reality that was stepping into.

Hoshi pulled back her hand gently, "then please, enlighten me as to how I can help?"

"I can't," Kayura said shaking her head, "you just have to trust me that this is for the sake of both worlds."

Hoshi looked up at the woman in her eyes, they were weary and full of pain. Hoshi knew the pain that filled her eyes reminded her a lot of her own, and decided to throw caution to the wind. She had been through worse, and was sure that she could make it out again if necessary. She was resourceful like that, or had been taught to be. However, she unsure of exactly how resourcefulness worked in such an odd situation.

Kayura turned around and she hesitated for a moment before following them. She decided she had nothing better to do than go along with her for now. After all, where would she run? From her glimpses of the castle thus far, it was entirely to intricate without any way to decipher where she would be going. Then, what would she do after that? She was sure Kento was on his way to get her, or at least she hoped in her heart he was. That kiss had to mean something.