Yes, You Would
Mei heard Yukemori's voice from the hall. He was chatting with the maid, light-hearted like there was no tomorrow. After the immediate threat had gone and some time had passed after the tsunami disaster, the people of Kozakura had relaxed just a little. Perhaps it was but a warning? Perhaps they were back in the graces of the Celestial Ones?
Mei slid into the small hole in the earth and pulled the floorboards in their place. Yukemori, let the Dragon Lords bless him, had dug deep enough so that she could keep her back straight. She heard the two enter the room, the laughter of the maid, Yukemori's jokes. They arranged porcelain ware and sushi on the table. Bless our gamble, Zetsubo... and you too, lady Guoy.
After they were gone, Mei took the poison capsule out of the hilt of her ninja-to. She would not have time to draw the weapon, cramped like this as she was, if she was discovered. She felt no fear or regrets. The spirit essence of her blood soared in her veins, and she felt deep peace and purpose. She had no family shrine where to meet her father, but she knew he was somewhere there, probably in Yomi with the blessed ancestors. He had raised Mei gently, too gently for most people's liking, but Mei hoped he could nevertheless be proud of her. Of course I would like to live yet, father... to love properly, to grow old, to have a perfect bonsai garden and a house of my own, perhaps mother children... but to live like a coward is not to live at all.
After not too long she heard shuffling feet and murmured conversations, subdued sizzle of magic as a way of greetings, people arranging themselves around the table. They didn't talk much, and no-one mentioned any everyday topic. Mei could physically feel their anticipation. Then she felt a magnificent presence enter the room, everyone quiet and tense. She heard Giro's voice, it's cultured, slightly amused tone freezing the very marrow of her bones.
- "Beautiful is this day, young ones. I greet you, and wish you will enjoy the offerings of the table."
At this point, Mei knew, the other ones would be bowing on their knees, their foreheads touching the floor. She could hear the rustling of their kimonos as they relaxed and dug into the sushi.
- "Now our plans have reached the phase that we will take action," she heard Giro talking. "Kusatte Iru has moved off the coastline... it is heading for Shou Lung. That explains why the tsunamis and earthquakes have weakened and even ceased, and the fools have relaxed their guard. Sanitobi and his water wu jen think their pathetic efforts are responsible... but no, me and Yosuki have been able to steer the beast with the help of your conduit effort. Good work, children... everything is proceeding smoothly. Now comes the time when we will set everything in motion. A possible disturbance in the events, a gaijin, the Yogenii Wan, will soon board a ship, his quest driving him to the heart of Kozakura. We must see to it that he never arrives. We will complete the ritual, and the Kusatte Iru will completely awaken, rising from the seas and demolishing the coast of Shou Lung in his rage. He will destroy the gaijin and his family... Yosuki's divinations reveal that he is a very powerful warrior, and that his family is very powerful as well. But no man can survive the beast."
- "So what will happen to Kozakura, if Kusatte Iru goes to rampage in Shou Lung?" asked a young female voice.
- "What will happen is that the destruction and carnage brought on the mightiest of empires on the Red Earth, young one," Giro answered in a pleased, soft murmur, "will ignite the tainted darkness and rage held asleep in the First Oni's soul. He will break his shackles and be free, completely destroying our empire. Only the lands and the raw magic will stay afloat, and the world will be created anew."
- "And it will be us, the only mortals left, who will create it to our liking," the young woman said, her voice smiling like a viper.
- "Correct, my dear Itami," Giro replied, "but at that time none of you... us will have to bear the shackles of mortality anymore."
- "And we will be safe in Gaki-do?" a man asked, a tiny flicker of awe and doubt in his voice. Gaki-do was the sphere of the hungry ghosts, the place of individuals who had lived greedily and dishonorably and had been turned into a variety of ghosts consumed by endless hunger for something. That was where Yosuki had built a sanctuary for the ones who were to survive the carnage.
- "Would I take you there if you were not?" Giro asked, his voice all perplexed kindness. Yes, you would, Mei thought, and shivered.
- "I suppose not... it is just that... Sakkaku is right next to it. It would be very... unpleasant if something went wrong when we are in sanctuary from a total demolition," the man persisted. He feared the home sphere of tricksters where mischievous and unpredictable spirit creatures dwelled.
- "Eiji, that sanctuary is created by the most skilled wu jen in the history of our empire... and Yosuki can trick any trickster." Just a tiny hint of displeasure. The other man swallowed, and presumably nodded.
- "The Celestial armies will fight the First Oni... and us," the woman named Itami said. She didn't sound worried, though, rather was stating a fact.
- "That is where my army of shadow samurai comes in," Giro beamed. "The twisted souls of them, tainted with darkness, are yet bound into servitude and loyalty to their master, as they were in their life. That is the beauty of capturing a samurai's soul..."
The weather was very clear, the waves of the ocean crystal. The ship was packed with refugees huddled together, but that didn't make Sarevok feel any worse. His spirits had lifted remarkably when they boarded the ship. For the first time the idea of burying Tamoko in the land of her forefathers became palpable reality. He leaned on the rail and touched Peri's arm, smiling at her.
- "You seem so happy, bro. It is because it feels more real now, right?"
- "Yes. After all the hardships, after all the tortures will I finally greet the land of the one whom my soul will forever be ripped apart from. It was by my own designs, aye... but finally am I able to make something right by her."
Umikaze giggled and gripped her uncle's finger, moving him to tears.
