Chapter five
"Alone within a storm, and losing hope he clears the leaves beneath the trees. Seven stones, lay on the ground, within the seven thousandth rain was found, and the changes of no consequence will pick up the rains from nowhere. Nowhere..."-Genesis
"Please..." The emperor, down on his hands and knees and pleading for the first time in his life, bowed his head "You can have anything...just don't hurt my daughter!"
The man standing opposite the bowing emperor tore his eyes from the twelve year old girl and grinned maliciously down at the old man, who had fallen from grace and turned into a decrepit sorry creature in a matter of minutes. Amazing what a little 'persuasion' could do. He blew a lock of crimson hair out of the way of emerald eyes that burned into the emperor's.
"The dynasty must fall."
The emperor's pupils shrank as he pulled back and got to his feet. "What..."
His daughter opened her mouth to let out a high pitched scream, struggling to get away and digging her own throat into the knife that was trained so closely to it, the blood almost instantly cascading down the blade onto the man's hand. Her eyes were wide open in a fixed, unseeing gaze and he released her, letting her fall forward into her father's arms.
"Serra?" The emperor choked out, and stared down to a see the smoking burn in the shape of a handprint on his daughter's back. The blood she vomited ran down the sleeve of his robe, and also for the first time in his life he felt like screaming. Genuine gut wrenching, outraged, helpless screaming. Tears leaked out of the inner corners of his eyes as he laid his daughter out on the steps that led up to his throne. He kissed the tip of his finger and put his finger to his daughter's lips, the hand coming away wet with blood.
"Oh Genbu...Serra." He took in a deep shaky breath, but instead of standing there shaking and crying, he stood and turned to face his daughter's killer, a dark shadow crossing his face. His hand tightened around the handle of the sword at his hip, and he unsheathed it.
It took every ounce of strength to keep himself from shaking, but he stood like an immoveable boulder. The red-head just stood there and smirked, one hand set on his hip as the other danced a tiny flame from finger to finger, before a single stream of air blew the flame out. His grin widened when he saw the emperor come at him with his sword raised, and although the seconds that separated the recognition from the impact were minuscule, he managed to side step his sword.
The emperor's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the sharp tip of a sword bite into his stomach, he looked down to see the gleaming metal plunged deep into his gut. His mind barely had time to register the events and he lifted his eyes to see another man that must have come up behind the one that murdered his daughter. His dark blue hair flowed down his shoulders, but several strands were stuck to his cheeks with blood, as if he had spent quite some time slaying, and took a great amount of pleasure in it. This new man grinned, but the emperor noted with some confusion that it didn't seem like he was looking -at- him, but like he was looking -through- him. Was this...was his killer blind?
"The dynasty must fall." He repeated the previous man's words, though his seemed to have a thundering volume in the emperor's mind. He yanked the blade from his gut and the old man fell back onto the steps, into a pool of his daughter's blood. His eyesight was unfocused and gazed upward pointlessly as his very existence teetered unstably in front of his eyes. The two figures of the men loamed in front of him, and one thing he could focus on was the hatred that graced their faces. He couldn't understand -why- his guards had turned on him, or why these men hated him so much, but for the first time he didn't...care.
So many firsts, so many firsts. They say that for those who kept a lock on their insanity and delirium, are subjected to mind numbing confusion in their final moments, everything they kept locked away in their minds over the years is finally set free. The emperor's vision faded out, as did his life, with the voice of a woman whispering in his ear.
"...there were so many choices."
Takiko's heart raced like an anxious rabbit's as Hikitsu tugged her down the palace's back hallway, Hatsui trailing silently not far behind. She wasn't quite sure what was wrong, only that she had been stirred from her peaceful dreams in the pre-dawn hours of the morning and dragged from her bed, screaming echoing through the halls. It was so cold...Takiko saw her breath in short-lived white puffs, but she had no time nor any desire to complain about her discomfort, to make noise now would be unwise.
Once they were outside Takiko finally felt brave enough to speak. "Hikitsu, wh-where are we going??!"
"To the stables...I have to get you out of here."
"Why?!"
"The palace is under siege and I assume it's by the hitogoroshis, if I don't get you out of here they're likely to kill you."
"But...you're a palace guard, isn't your duty to protect the emperor?"
Hikitsu threw a saddle onto the bored looking mare's back and slapped its thigh lightly to get the horse's attention. "I'm also a Genbu seishi, thus my first duty is to protect -you-."
Despite his words of confidence, Hikitsu glanced back at the darkened palace as Takiko climbed clumsily up onto the horse. His heart was torn between his loyalty to his priestess and his duties to his country. He had to reason with himself to be sure that he was doing the right thing, while the guilt would always exist for abandoning his emperor in a time of need, if the rest of the palace guards could not hold off those seven hitogoroshi there was nothing he could do alone, not without the right weapon, and if they managed to take Takiko then all really -was- lost, the seishi were useless without their miko. He was prepared to climb onto his horse with an urgent voice broke through his thoughts.
"Daddy! Daddy...HELP!"
He dropped the reigns of the horse and ran out of the barn, his head moving left and right as his eyes searched wildly for the source of that voice. Then out of the bushes his son emerged, running for him with his arms outstretched. Hikitsu stepped forward and opened his arms, catching the boy much like he did the day before when his son ran to him.
"Suru...Suru...thank god you're all right."
"I heard noises, Daddy, the noises woke me up...but I did what you said and I took the secret exit so that they wouldn't catch me. I did good." It would be normal for any child to be shaking in fear, but Suru was beaming in pride. Hikitsu gave a little nervous laugh and nodded slowly.
"Yes...Suru, you did very good."
A flash of movement caught the corner of Hikitsu's eye, and he looked up to see an archer aiming his arrow. He nearly yelped in surprise, trying to roll to pull Suru out of the path of the weapon, but only succeeded in pulling his son -in- its range. The arrow struck his son's side.
Hatsui was on the enemy in a second, grinding his fists into the meek looking man's face as he pleaded with him, telling him it was only his -job-, as if murder was more justifiable when you it was someone else's wish you were carrying out, not your own. Hikitsu, however, was too stunned to react right away, his son fell forward into his arms and his weight sagged against his shoulder, as if he were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
"I'm okay...dad..." Suru whispered weakly, and Hikitsu pulled back to look into his son's bloodshot eyes. A bit of blood mixed drool leaked out of the corner of Suru's mouth, but Hikitsu wiped it away with the cuff of his sleeve. "You have to go protect the priestess now..."
"You'll be all right, Suru..." Hikitsu lied, his eyes trailing down to the arrow which was well lodged into his third and forth rib. To remove the arrow would only further damage to his son, and increase the pain he was going through at that moment. He smiled weakly into his son's eyes and pet his cheek lightly "It'll all be okay..."
"I know daddy, I'm going to get to visit mommy now. I hear her, sometimes at night, she sings me to sleep when I get scared...mommy's been alone for a long time...I have to go see her."
Hikitsu could barely shake his head as he trembled, tears threatening to spill down his cheek. Why was it that he was a quivering mess when his son, his four-year-old son, was only smiling angelically. He refused to believe that his baby was dying; it had only been four years, four -measly- years that he had a chance to experience life, and yet...he acted like he wanted to go. He closed his eyes and drew in a raspy breath, which was cut short when he felt tiny finger trailing across his cheek and wiping away his tears.
"Don't cry daddy, it'll be okay...me and mommy will wait for you but you know what you have to do first."
Hikitsu nodded slowly and clutched his dying child tighter in his arms, and felt Suru's frail arms surround his neck. He opened his mouth to speak yet no words came, no words of comfort, or denial, or pleading...just the sound of his breathing and the chirping of crickets hidden in the knee-high grass. He felt a wetness against his cheek, not his own tears, but...his son's.
"Goodbye daddy...I love you..."
He couldn't even return the statement; he didn't have the time, before his son's body went limp, no longer suspended by the marionette strings of his soul. Hikitsu felt a dry lump lodge in his throat, and he couldn't help it, squeezing his son as if that would somehow make it better, he cried out to Genbu....asking him why he would steal a young child from the world and then have the nerve to demand from him a service, not even giving him time to grieve for his son.
When the words of rage died down, Hatsui stepped forward. "If...you want me to Hikitsu, you know what I can do..."
"No." Hikitsu's words were clipped, more so than he meant to be, as he shook his head "don't...try to bring him back. He said this was what he wanted...and I wouldn't dream of asking any more of him than I already have."
The sun's rays once again spilled over the horizon as it readied itself for its journey across the sky, at the same time that the last shovel of dirt fell into Suru's hastily made grave. Takiko knelt down and set a necklace of daisies on the unmarked slab of stone, turning away and into Hatsui's arms for comfort. Hikitsu kissed the stone lightly and closed his eyes, saying quietly "I promise you I'll join you and your mother when this is all over...when this is over..."
"Where are we going now?" Takiko whispered, peering up through a veil of black hair.
"To Secaar." Hikitsu said finally, with a sigh, casting his eyes to the mountains in the north "Once we get what we need we'll give those fucking bastards exactly what they wished for when they stole my life. Hell"
"Alone within a storm, and losing hope he clears the leaves beneath the trees. Seven stones, lay on the ground, within the seven thousandth rain was found, and the changes of no consequence will pick up the rains from nowhere. Nowhere..."-Genesis
"Please..." The emperor, down on his hands and knees and pleading for the first time in his life, bowed his head "You can have anything...just don't hurt my daughter!"
The man standing opposite the bowing emperor tore his eyes from the twelve year old girl and grinned maliciously down at the old man, who had fallen from grace and turned into a decrepit sorry creature in a matter of minutes. Amazing what a little 'persuasion' could do. He blew a lock of crimson hair out of the way of emerald eyes that burned into the emperor's.
"The dynasty must fall."
The emperor's pupils shrank as he pulled back and got to his feet. "What..."
His daughter opened her mouth to let out a high pitched scream, struggling to get away and digging her own throat into the knife that was trained so closely to it, the blood almost instantly cascading down the blade onto the man's hand. Her eyes were wide open in a fixed, unseeing gaze and he released her, letting her fall forward into her father's arms.
"Serra?" The emperor choked out, and stared down to a see the smoking burn in the shape of a handprint on his daughter's back. The blood she vomited ran down the sleeve of his robe, and also for the first time in his life he felt like screaming. Genuine gut wrenching, outraged, helpless screaming. Tears leaked out of the inner corners of his eyes as he laid his daughter out on the steps that led up to his throne. He kissed the tip of his finger and put his finger to his daughter's lips, the hand coming away wet with blood.
"Oh Genbu...Serra." He took in a deep shaky breath, but instead of standing there shaking and crying, he stood and turned to face his daughter's killer, a dark shadow crossing his face. His hand tightened around the handle of the sword at his hip, and he unsheathed it.
It took every ounce of strength to keep himself from shaking, but he stood like an immoveable boulder. The red-head just stood there and smirked, one hand set on his hip as the other danced a tiny flame from finger to finger, before a single stream of air blew the flame out. His grin widened when he saw the emperor come at him with his sword raised, and although the seconds that separated the recognition from the impact were minuscule, he managed to side step his sword.
The emperor's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the sharp tip of a sword bite into his stomach, he looked down to see the gleaming metal plunged deep into his gut. His mind barely had time to register the events and he lifted his eyes to see another man that must have come up behind the one that murdered his daughter. His dark blue hair flowed down his shoulders, but several strands were stuck to his cheeks with blood, as if he had spent quite some time slaying, and took a great amount of pleasure in it. This new man grinned, but the emperor noted with some confusion that it didn't seem like he was looking -at- him, but like he was looking -through- him. Was this...was his killer blind?
"The dynasty must fall." He repeated the previous man's words, though his seemed to have a thundering volume in the emperor's mind. He yanked the blade from his gut and the old man fell back onto the steps, into a pool of his daughter's blood. His eyesight was unfocused and gazed upward pointlessly as his very existence teetered unstably in front of his eyes. The two figures of the men loamed in front of him, and one thing he could focus on was the hatred that graced their faces. He couldn't understand -why- his guards had turned on him, or why these men hated him so much, but for the first time he didn't...care.
So many firsts, so many firsts. They say that for those who kept a lock on their insanity and delirium, are subjected to mind numbing confusion in their final moments, everything they kept locked away in their minds over the years is finally set free. The emperor's vision faded out, as did his life, with the voice of a woman whispering in his ear.
"...there were so many choices."
Takiko's heart raced like an anxious rabbit's as Hikitsu tugged her down the palace's back hallway, Hatsui trailing silently not far behind. She wasn't quite sure what was wrong, only that she had been stirred from her peaceful dreams in the pre-dawn hours of the morning and dragged from her bed, screaming echoing through the halls. It was so cold...Takiko saw her breath in short-lived white puffs, but she had no time nor any desire to complain about her discomfort, to make noise now would be unwise.
Once they were outside Takiko finally felt brave enough to speak. "Hikitsu, wh-where are we going??!"
"To the stables...I have to get you out of here."
"Why?!"
"The palace is under siege and I assume it's by the hitogoroshis, if I don't get you out of here they're likely to kill you."
"But...you're a palace guard, isn't your duty to protect the emperor?"
Hikitsu threw a saddle onto the bored looking mare's back and slapped its thigh lightly to get the horse's attention. "I'm also a Genbu seishi, thus my first duty is to protect -you-."
Despite his words of confidence, Hikitsu glanced back at the darkened palace as Takiko climbed clumsily up onto the horse. His heart was torn between his loyalty to his priestess and his duties to his country. He had to reason with himself to be sure that he was doing the right thing, while the guilt would always exist for abandoning his emperor in a time of need, if the rest of the palace guards could not hold off those seven hitogoroshi there was nothing he could do alone, not without the right weapon, and if they managed to take Takiko then all really -was- lost, the seishi were useless without their miko. He was prepared to climb onto his horse with an urgent voice broke through his thoughts.
"Daddy! Daddy...HELP!"
He dropped the reigns of the horse and ran out of the barn, his head moving left and right as his eyes searched wildly for the source of that voice. Then out of the bushes his son emerged, running for him with his arms outstretched. Hikitsu stepped forward and opened his arms, catching the boy much like he did the day before when his son ran to him.
"Suru...Suru...thank god you're all right."
"I heard noises, Daddy, the noises woke me up...but I did what you said and I took the secret exit so that they wouldn't catch me. I did good." It would be normal for any child to be shaking in fear, but Suru was beaming in pride. Hikitsu gave a little nervous laugh and nodded slowly.
"Yes...Suru, you did very good."
A flash of movement caught the corner of Hikitsu's eye, and he looked up to see an archer aiming his arrow. He nearly yelped in surprise, trying to roll to pull Suru out of the path of the weapon, but only succeeded in pulling his son -in- its range. The arrow struck his son's side.
Hatsui was on the enemy in a second, grinding his fists into the meek looking man's face as he pleaded with him, telling him it was only his -job-, as if murder was more justifiable when you it was someone else's wish you were carrying out, not your own. Hikitsu, however, was too stunned to react right away, his son fell forward into his arms and his weight sagged against his shoulder, as if he were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
"I'm okay...dad..." Suru whispered weakly, and Hikitsu pulled back to look into his son's bloodshot eyes. A bit of blood mixed drool leaked out of the corner of Suru's mouth, but Hikitsu wiped it away with the cuff of his sleeve. "You have to go protect the priestess now..."
"You'll be all right, Suru..." Hikitsu lied, his eyes trailing down to the arrow which was well lodged into his third and forth rib. To remove the arrow would only further damage to his son, and increase the pain he was going through at that moment. He smiled weakly into his son's eyes and pet his cheek lightly "It'll all be okay..."
"I know daddy, I'm going to get to visit mommy now. I hear her, sometimes at night, she sings me to sleep when I get scared...mommy's been alone for a long time...I have to go see her."
Hikitsu could barely shake his head as he trembled, tears threatening to spill down his cheek. Why was it that he was a quivering mess when his son, his four-year-old son, was only smiling angelically. He refused to believe that his baby was dying; it had only been four years, four -measly- years that he had a chance to experience life, and yet...he acted like he wanted to go. He closed his eyes and drew in a raspy breath, which was cut short when he felt tiny finger trailing across his cheek and wiping away his tears.
"Don't cry daddy, it'll be okay...me and mommy will wait for you but you know what you have to do first."
Hikitsu nodded slowly and clutched his dying child tighter in his arms, and felt Suru's frail arms surround his neck. He opened his mouth to speak yet no words came, no words of comfort, or denial, or pleading...just the sound of his breathing and the chirping of crickets hidden in the knee-high grass. He felt a wetness against his cheek, not his own tears, but...his son's.
"Goodbye daddy...I love you..."
He couldn't even return the statement; he didn't have the time, before his son's body went limp, no longer suspended by the marionette strings of his soul. Hikitsu felt a dry lump lodge in his throat, and he couldn't help it, squeezing his son as if that would somehow make it better, he cried out to Genbu....asking him why he would steal a young child from the world and then have the nerve to demand from him a service, not even giving him time to grieve for his son.
When the words of rage died down, Hatsui stepped forward. "If...you want me to Hikitsu, you know what I can do..."
"No." Hikitsu's words were clipped, more so than he meant to be, as he shook his head "don't...try to bring him back. He said this was what he wanted...and I wouldn't dream of asking any more of him than I already have."
The sun's rays once again spilled over the horizon as it readied itself for its journey across the sky, at the same time that the last shovel of dirt fell into Suru's hastily made grave. Takiko knelt down and set a necklace of daisies on the unmarked slab of stone, turning away and into Hatsui's arms for comfort. Hikitsu kissed the stone lightly and closed his eyes, saying quietly "I promise you I'll join you and your mother when this is all over...when this is over..."
"Where are we going now?" Takiko whispered, peering up through a veil of black hair.
"To Secaar." Hikitsu said finally, with a sigh, casting his eyes to the mountains in the north "Once we get what we need we'll give those fucking bastards exactly what they wished for when they stole my life. Hell"