Disclaimer (1): This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.
Disclaimer (2): I also do not own anything that has to do with Juuni Kokki, Juuni Kokuki, Record of the Twelve Kingdoms, The Twelve Kingdoms. The only things that will probably be mine to claim are some of the names that will appear in the fic.
Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.
Note 1: Post-DH Disclaimer (2) anime/novel Crossover
Legend: # denotes change of time, while * denotes change of scene/perception/POV/center of attention/small change in time
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CHANGE
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Chapter Twenty-One
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'I am the supreme ruler of Juuni Kokki, yet I am unable to feel even a spark of them...how could this happen?' Tentei thought as he scoured his world for the three remaining pieces of Taiki's power.
He had been actively searching for the pieces after he had been informed by one of his subordinates that Kurai had acquired six pieces.
The pieces of power, transformation, flight, health, and life had been located and acquired. They had all been stored into a crystalized representation of a kirin, of a black kirin to be precise, one which was always present within Kurai's multi-para-dimensional body in which he housed an inumerable number of things, from actual animals to the most pointless of things such as lint.
Three pieces were left, specifically beauty, which was a simpler way of saying eternal life or the practical immortality of the kirin, but in Taiki's case it was his youthful appearance at the time. Health was a state of being, while beauty was something else entirely. Then there was the piece of balance, balance in the sense of the ability to not only harness the darkness, but to also combine the darkness with the light, it was the power to find the neutral ground between both world, and was also in a way responsible for the kirin's ability to summon shoku. Lastly was what they had dubbed as The Sight, which was the ability of a kirin to see, feel, or simply sense the Ouki, which is the aura that surrounds a ruler. The Sight is the inert ability which a kirin possess which enables them to chose the rightful ruler of the kingdom which they are the kirin of.
Normally Tentei would not be blind to the activities of the world which he created and governed, but in recent human years his own sight has not been so far, and his knowledge of the running of the world has been somewhat limited, which led him to the conclusion that he was being undermined somehow.
But after consulting with the powers even higher than himself, not that anyone else aside from the Gods of the Crossworlds knew about their existence, he found out that their hands were tied as it was a conflict between two equally powerful beings, or some other such nonesense. Which in English means that they really didn't give a damn, but had left many different kinds of rules and laws to make people's lives difficult and worth living, dying, and fighting for. In that order some of the time.
'Why can't I sense anything..?' Tentei thought as he continued his frantic search of his world for even a spark, but no matter what he did he turned up with nothing, save for the crystal that Kurai had collected.
He was interrupted from his inner musings by the arrival of yet again another of his surbordinates.
"What do you want now?" Tentei asked irritably.
"T-There's a Toukou Kyonshi here to see you," the lower deity announced, then mumbled, "Please don't banish to some frozen place...please...please...please."
"Stop mumbling and let him in, or I will send you to a Hell that had frozen over," Tentei said, reeling in his irritability due to the coming presence of one who ruled the Crossworlds.
"Tracking down the three remaining pieces hard for you?" Kyonshi said as he entered the room in Heaven that Tentei had holed himself up in.
"Do you really need to ask me that?" Tentei said.
"No, but I love annoying people that are already irritable," Kyonshi answered, then asked a question of his own, "Have you considered the possibility that the only reason you were able to find the other pieces was because they were being actively used?"
"What?" Tentei asked, "I never would have thought of that, but what made you come to such a conclusion."
"Your opponent has been cultivating the world slowly, gathering resources for a world of his own," Kyonshi said, "And yes your opponent is a 'he', I'll confirm that as fact."
"So, the reason why I am unable to locate the three pieces is that they are not being used?" Tentei asked just to make sure he had understood right.
"Precisely," Kyonshi stated, "As for the location of the kirin that is no longer a kirin, well, simply put, he is no longer under your jurisdiction."
"You mean to tell me that one of my kirin is no longer in my world?" Tentei asked.
"Unfortunately," Kyonshi answered as he took a seat opposite from the God of the Twelve Kingdoms.
"Where is he then? Hourai?" Tentei asked.
"You immediately believe him to be in Japan, but not in any other land in the world beyond, why is that?" Kyonshi asked instead of answering Tentei.
"Most of my world's movers and shakers are from Hourai, the northern void and the mountains rarely ever produce such gifted individuals," Tentei said, refering to China, and possibly Mongolia.
"Let us not stagnate the conversation, and return to your question," Kyonshi said, then answered Tentei's original question, "He is in Hourai, though I wouldn't try scrying for him there, They wouldn't appreciate your intrusion."
"Can you do it for me then?" Tentei asked, then said, "I would prefer my world returning to its former calm."
"Return to its former calm? Impossible, especially with Kurai as Hou-o."
"I really don't care much for him anymore," Tentei stated, but then asked, "Can I have him do the searching?"
"After he finds the remaining three pieces, not before, he is after all our only avatar," Kyonshi said.
"I understand, but at the very least, could we have him send those servants of him to Hourai? To search for Taiki I mean," Tentei said.
"Ask him, but should he agree, be sure that you have a sample of the young man's blood," Kyonshi said as he stood from the chair, "It's a miracle how he's managed to survive this long...poisoning his body unintentionally as he has."
"Poisoning his body?" Tentei asked.
"Meat," was all Kyonshi said before taking his leave.
'Meat?' Tentei repeated in his mind wondering what the elder god had meant, but then spoke aloud when he realized the implications of such a thing, "Oh my god!" he then slapped a hand over his mouth hoping that no one heard him.
Unbeknownst to him someone had heard his exclamation of horror, and it wasn't someone that he could simply silence, or even influence. The walls may have ears, but what if the ears had more than simply that.
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A few minutes later, Tentei transported himself into Kurai's study, where he found the man performing some scrying spells of his own, looking as if he was desperately seeking the three final pieces to the key of the kirin's memory.
Tentei first cleared his throat to grab the busy man's attetention.
"What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy?" Kurai asked irritably.
"I already tried that," Tentei told him, "It hasn't worked all that well for me either."
"Oh," Kurai said, so he gave up and offered the god a chair.
"Thank you," the god said as he sat down.
"What are you here for then?" Kurai asked the god.
"Your teacher, Toukou Kyonshi, visited me earlier," Tentei said, "He informed me that Taiki is not in this world, but is in Hourai."
"I'm not going to go look for him, I hear Enki's been doing that," Kurai said.
"I...was not aware of that...in any case, I need you to have your servants look for him there," Tentei said.
"You got any blood?" Kurai asked from behind his desk as he took some stuff out of the drawers of his desk.
"I do," the god said as he placed a vial of it on the desk.
Kurai uncorked the vial and drank the contents, afterwhich he spat out a blood red crystal, and formed it into what looked like an incomplete key, wrote down some runes and other symbols on it and placed it in an envelope which he then sealed.
"I'll have Kikai and Eiko search for the kirin," Kurai said after preparing the tool which would help Kikai in his search.
"What did you do exactly, I seem to find myself unfamiliar with it," Tentei admitted.
"It's to track down the kirin, through the use of his blood, which I have solidified into a crystal," Kurai explained, "I'd tell you how it worked, but I know that you're not all that familiar with my brand of magic."
"You're right, I'm not," Tentei said, "But I'm still interested to know more or less how it'll work."
"Well basically its got a bunch of tracking seals and spells on it that will help in pinpointing the location of the people that more of less match the kirin's DNA," Kurai said, "It wont track down Taiki specifically, but everyone that's related to his DNA, his family to be exact."
"Parents, grandparents, siblings, and the like, I take it?" Tentei asked.
"Precisely, though I doubt he has kids," Kurai guessed.
"What would make you say that?" Tentei asked.
"He's sure to be a bit unbalanced, and there is also the possibility of his Shirei having gone wild, in a sense," Kurai said.
"Wild?" Tentei asked as he'd never encountered what had been happening under his nose the whole time.
"Shirei live off of the life energies and powers of a Kirin," Kurai explained, "But with Taiki things are complicated."
"Ah..I see your teachers have visited you as well," Tentei said.
"No, I made up some conclusions on my own," Kurai said, "Tell me if I'm wrong though."
"Alright," Tentei agreed.
"By being a regular human for some time now, he's probably consumed a lot of meat," Kurai stated.
"Correct assumption," the god remarked.
"Since regular kirin, not counting my animagus form, have an abhorance for death, blood, and the like, the meat that Taiki has been consuming has most likely sent the kirin part of him to a near death state, and in doing so has affected the mentalities of his shirei," Kurai concluded.
"Now that I think about it, that would be an accurate assumption of what might have been happening to him and his shirei," Tentei said as he scratched at his chin, pondering what else Kurai had cooked up.
"I'm pretty sure strange things have been happening around him, Kikai will probably have to find someone that has had some social problems..or whose close associates have disappeared or have had some bad things happen to them," Kurai continued with his hypothesis.
"Yes...so unless his maddened shirei have killed off his parents, then...I understand completely, and will give you full credit should anyone ask," Tentei said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Whatever," Kurai said dismissively, "As soon as you leave me alone, I'll send Kikai on his way."
"How do you propose to do that?" Tentei asked as he got up.
"Kikai can make shoku appear too," Kurai said as he led the god out the window, and onto a branch of the tree the house was made of.