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Fushigi Yuugi and all characters are property of Watase Yuu.
WU::SCENE V
Di Su
The Foundation (Tomoboshi)
Unaware that Chiao Tsan has reached the same inn shortly before him, Zan Ton Quai decides to take a room for the night. He finds the door locked, and begins banging to gain entry. Liu Li Hua, who has been busy sizing up the guests, comes running to let him in. Zan Ton Quai has a keen intuition, and immediately suspects something amiss about the innkeeper.
The voiceless spirits did not bother me for the rest of my journey, but I sensed their nearness, hovering just out of my reach, out of my touch, waiting for a chance. I did not give them that chance.
The hills became mountains and I began searching for Soi's chi. The strange chi blocking I had sensed earlier seemed not to be present here, which was strange. Still, no matter how hard and long I searched, I could not locate her. It was if she had simply vanished.
Or she was dead.
No, she couldn't be dead. If she had died, I would have felt it.
The trail became increasingly rocky and I dismounted, leading my horse over the crevices and deceptive flat places in which a wrong foot could lead to a straight drop to jagged cliffs below. It would not be a good way to end my search. Nakago needed me. Soi needed me.
That was a strange thought. Strange also how I had come to know her in the past few days when I had vowed not to speak a word to her on this journey. Destinies colliding, I suppose. At least that is what Nakago would say.
I could not sense her.
I should at least be able to sense some residue, some mark of her passing, for being a seishi, her chi would be unusually strong. Nothing.
She couldn't be dead. I wouldn't let her be.
I walked in what seemed to be circles upon circles, leading my increasingly impatient horse through narrow passes and shifting scenery. It was useless.
At sunset, I stopped, leaning against a rock and holding the reins loosely in my hand. Three days, I had said. It was the third day, and she was not here.
I was tired. I would not be admitting this to myself unless I was truly tired, and it felt like my bones were being ground together in a backbreaking dance of gravity. Some other strange magic, perhaps? Sorcery? At this point, I did not care. I was tired and hungry and frustrated and I could not find her.
A strange rumbling sound drew my attention and I glanced upward, alert, but could see nothing, though the ground vibrated just a little. In these mountains, there were always avalanches or rockslides of some sort, and it would be just my luck to be caught in one. I maneuvered carefully through the pass, noticing the increasing shaking of the ground as I walked on. Drawing a deep breath, I stopped and looked up, just in time to see the mountainsides before me crumble.
I threw myself to the ground, hearing the terrified shriek of my horse above the deafening shower of rock upon rock. Sharp flakes of stone struck my arms and the exposed skin of my neck and face and I choked on rolling clouds of dust. The rocks kept falling, a thundering storm of crushing death raining from the sky.
And then they stopped.
The sudden silence was eerie and I could hear my sharp breaths coming loud and panting in the quiet air. I raised my head from my arms, blinked as the dust settled. I could see a hoof protruding from a pile of stones nearby. My horse was dead.
Do not be afraid.
The voice echoed inside my head, and I stopped moving, kneeling on the hard rock amid the wreckage of what had been mountains, waiting.
Do not be afraid.
"What do you want?" I said quietly, not raising my voice.
What do you want?
"You know what I want," I said, deliberately. "Miboshi."
A quiet laugh reverberating through the canyon.
I see. The voice seemed to pause a moment, considering.
Then enter.
A sudden gust of wind howled through the canyon and I lost my balance, falling backwards to sprawl on the sharp jagged stones behind me. I could feel tiny trickles of blood running down my back, but there was no pain.
Then the dust was gone and in its place was a monstrous black castle built out of the mountains itself, spires and pinnacles rising into the gray sky like the dried fingers of a skeleton. The very nearness of it reeked of something rotting and unholy, and in the air, I could feel death. The voice whispered along my neck and my face, and I shivered.
I was the Seiryuu seishi Tomo, and I was afraid of nothing.
Except this.
Do not be afraid.
The mocking tone of the voice was not lost on me. I drew a deep breath. This was it, wasn't it? What I…what we had come so hard to find. And I would not give it up on a simple streak of fear, because I had to do it for him. Him alone. Nakago.
I tried to imagine blond hair, blue eyes gazing into mine, his voice telling me the specifics of my mission. But I couldn't seem to remember what he had looked like.
Hesitation here is death, the voice hissed. I have extended my welcome. Make your choice!
I closed my eyes and another face drifted into my consciousness-red hair, soft eyes, a warm voice and iron resolve.
Soi.
For a brief instant I felt a strand of familiar chi flare and then vanish. I stiffened, concentrating, but it did not return. Yet…I had felt it. Her chi. Was she there, then, inside? Had this monster who called himself Miboshi captured her?
It was a trap, then.
I didn't have to go. I could back down, retrace my steps to the flatlands of Kutou and report to him that Soi had been lost. And then perhaps I could have my chance with him…It was so simple. All so simple. She meant nothing to me anyway, and he would mark her off as another warrior lost in battle. My choice.
Nakago was her mask. And in a way, I supposed he was mine as well.
Are you afraid?
The wind rose, tracing the sharp scores of wounds on my neck and back. I opened my eyes, pushing myself onto my feet, forcing myself to gaze directly at the dark entrance of the den of fear before me. Trap or no trap, I was entering, and the gates of hell itself would not stop me.
"I am never afraid."
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