~Ten~
All That Surrounds You are Secrets and Lies
"Soi." His voice echoed over the deserted flagstone courtyard of what was, or had been, some sort of military base.
"Yes, Lord Nakago?" Aiumi turned her head sharply, the woman appearing from seemingly nowhere.
"You've finished searching the premises for the remaining guards, I presume?"
"Hai, Nakago-sama. Just as you ordered."
"Very good. Please, attend to our…guest." Without another glance toward Aiumi, Nakago swept off conceitedly.
Instantly, the once obliging and respectful young warrior became bitter and resentful, snapping a quick "Come with me," to Aiumi and leading her to a small, sparsely furnished room. She turned to leave quickly.
"Wait…what am I supposed to do here?"
"You're to remain here until Lord Nakago sends for you. Don't leave the room," came the curt reply.
"Screw this. I'm getting out of here." Aiumi muttered, glancing about her surroundings.
A once immobile shadow stirred to life, becoming a boy a bit younger than her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…she's a bitch, but she means well…I think."
"What the hell?" Aiumi SD'ed, edging away.
"Sorry if I scared you. I'm always doing that…" Suboshi's eyes drifted, staring into space with a sorrowful wistfulness.
"Who are you?"
"Suboshi," he replied simply. "You're the Byakko no Miko, aren't you? Nakago was talking about you."
Aiumi kept her mouth shut, deciding to find out more before doing anything that could put herself in danger. "He-he was?"
"Yeah, something about allying with Sailou before Kounan could…I don't really know, he doesn't tell me much. I really should go, I'll see you later."
Aiumi spent most of the day pacing the small room…and most of the next…and…you really don't want to hear about how boring this was. Trust me.
Tasuki stared. His face ashen with shock, mouth hanging slightly open, eyes smoldering with fury, he hardly noticed Chichiri materialize a few feet away. Trying desperately to keep his temper in check, he studied the tracks around the horse's broken body, attempting to make some sense of them.
Those smaller ones with the strange pattern were probably Aiumi's, she'd obviously gotten off the horse and…it looked like she'd walked a few feet and jumped onto another. Unfamiliar tracks rendezvoused with hers; larger, a pair of man's boots. Strange dragging imprints in the dust, almost like the tracks of a snake, circled them…a cape.
"Chichiri. She's alive, and I think I know where she is. C'mon."
You had to admire his courage. It was obvious that Tasuki was under a lot of stress, as they all were, but he still tried to be calm. His eyes betrayed him, burning with an ungodly rage…and a glimmer of something else. The monk couldn't quite place it, but it was certainly familiar.
He wordlessly pulled himself into his kasa, the conical hat flipping, empty, to the ground.
Tasuki absently picked it up, fingering the rough straw, scrutinizing the direction of the receding hoof prints. The shoes were made in an odd style, placeable only with the Kouto blacksmiths.
Aiumi sat, eyes rolled skyward, chin propped up by one fist, fingers drumming the tabletop rhythmically. "Bored…bored bored bored…bored bored bored bored bored…" She sighed.
The door slid back, the sunset streaming in, Nakago's figure merely a silhouette against the glare.
"The Lady Yui would like to speak with you. Follow me."
Aiumi found her nervousness dissolve at the sight of the other girl. Small and skinny, with short dirty-blond hair, wearing one of the now-too-familiar school uniforms. But her face conveyed an intelligence and cruel nobility beyond her years. An ingratiating smile graced her expression as she and Nakago entered.
"Konbanwa, Lady Aiumi. Please, sit down."
"Oh…thank you."
"Nakago, we're in no danger here. You may go." The girl joined her at the table, her smile fading.
"I trust you know why we're here, Lady Aiumi."
"Aiumi, please. Yes, I have a general idea of…why I'm here." She glanced away from the girl's piercing stare, feeling as if she was being interrogated.
"Well, I'll be blunt. Kouto is in need of an alliance with your empire, and, if need be, the use of your military to aid us in this war against Kounan."
Aiumi's fingers twitched nervously, not prepared to make political decisions for a country she wasn't priestess of. "Lady- Yui, Sailou is a peaceful country, we have no wish to take sides in this…"
Yui's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You haven't come to an agreement with the Priestess of Suzaku, have you? You were with her party…"
"No! Not at all…" She sighed. "Yui, can we just please talk like normal teenagers and not government officials? I thought you were Miaka's best friend!"
Her lip curled into a spiteful sneer. "I was. But she was never mine. What kind of friend would leave you…to…to…" Tears glimmered at the corners of her eyes. "She betrayed me! She left me to die, do you hear me? To DIE! Would you call THAT friendship?!?" She was screaming now, hysteric. "I waited for three months…I almost killed myself, Aiumi, and when she finally came…she didn't even want to save me! It was all for her little boyfriend!"
"Wait! Slow down…"
"I loved him, Aiumi, and she took him from me…she's a selfish little brat who doesn't even care about her best friend- her ONLY friend- in the world!"
"Yui…"
"Look at me! She did this to me! Do you think I wanted to be the Priestess of Seiryuu? No!"
"Yui!" Aiumi stood, forcing the smaller girl to stare up at her. "Sit. Now."
Yui sat.
"I have absolutely nothing against you, or Miaka, but I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear, either. Miaka is totally incapable of betraying anybody. She's too immature, too trusting, and too susceptible to selfless devotion. She's always going to consider you her best friend, no matter what you do to her. She's utterly clueless as to other people's feeling toward her.
Furthermore, she's never had a boyfriend before Tamahome, of course she's going to cling to him! Yui, you can do a hell of a lot better than him. Suboshi's absolutely devoted to you, for one. And Tetsuya, too…" Aiumi stopped, blushing, knowing she'd said too much.
"Tetsuya…Kajiwara?"
Aiumi nodded sheepishly. "Forget I said anything, okay? He'll kill me if he finds out…"
"Oh my gosh…I- I never- he's so cute! Are you sure?"
Aiumi grinned evilly. "Absolutely. And I've always been partial to Keisuke myself…"
"Well, sure, but…"
As the younger girl continued to chatter, Aiumi marveled at her quick change of personality. Poor girl, they've forced her to grow up too fast…she's just a kid at heart…
"Uh, Yui, it's getting kind of late…maybe we should go."
"Oh…certainly. We'll talk more in the morning. Nakago!"
"Yes, Lady Yui?" The blond shogun appeared as if from nowhere.
"Show Lady Aiumi back to her room, please."
"Certainly."
They walked silently down the corridors, Aiumi smiling slightly to herself.
"Lady Aiumi, would you care to walk on a little further? The sunsets in this part of the world are most exquisitely beautiful."
"All right, Nakago."
A verandah faced the westward plain in front of them, allowing a beautiful view of the last flickers of sunlight, dancing red, orange, and pink on the horizon. She tore her eyes away from the view, watching Nakago's cold impassive stare.
His cold blue gaze shifted to her own eyes, a slight smirking smile forming on his lips. His voice however, was quiet and calm, if the familiar icy monotone. "Lady Aiumi, I'm afraid I haven't been strictly truthful to you…the truth is, I find you distinctly…enticing…"
He leaned forward, placing a delicate kiss on her startled lips.
Something shattered within her mind, something that had been preventing her from seeing the horrid truth about this place…these people. It was like being slapped awake from a happy dream, fingernails on a chalkboard interrupting the most beautiful song in the world. She pushed away from him desperately, resisting the urge to run for her life.
"Nakago, stop. It's not right."
He silently stepped toward an iron door in the complex, guiding her into the half-light within. He stopped a foot from the far wall, pulling her lightly around to face him. "Your answer is still no, then?"
She nodded almost imperceptibly, bewildered.
"Then I'm afraid you've said no to the wrong person." The last word was spat with pure venom, his iron grip forcing her wrists against the stone wall, shackles clicking shut around them and her ankles.
"How does it feel to be helpless, Lady Aiumi?" He smirked, tilting her chin upward with mock tenderness. "You'll get used to it, I'm sure." His kiss was fierce, relentless, totally and blatantly heartless.
She wrenched away frantically. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Get away from me!" she screamed as loud as she possibly could, clinging to her last hope that someone would hear.
Tasuki turned suspiciously, faintly hearing a voice from the abandoned fort. The kasa twitched in his hand, and Chichiri popped out, equally distrustful.
She flattened against the wall, desperately trying to free one of her hands. "Stop it! Somebody help me, please!" Frightened tears streamed unchecked down her face.
"Aiumi?" Tasuki's voice echoed over the empty grounds. "Where are ya? You okay?"
"Tasuki! Help me, I'm over he-" Her throat suddenly constricted, cutting off all sound, leaving her gasping for breath. Nakago, symbol burning violently, continued to cut off her voice. He gestured toward the door, the heavy wood beginning to close, creaking on its hinges.
She powerlessly watched her only escape disappear. She turned away, not able to bear watching it bang shut.
But the bang never came, only a jangling crunching clank as the doors slammed shut on something- something long and thin, topped with a gilded ornament that jingled metallically.
"Don't just stand there, no da!" Chichiri jogged forward, his long slender fingers prying the doors open. He ducked a blast of blue chi, and Tasuki jumped another. He deftly parried Nakago's whiplashes as the younger man ran to Aiumi.
"Gods…what did he do to you?" He quickly unlocked the manacles, pulling her away protectively.
"Nothing…I'm all right. Tasuki, it was horrible, I was so scared…"
"It's alright, Aiumi…everything's going to be okay…" I hope…
The whip's iron sting missed him by inches, snaking around his staff, pulling back…and striking again.
He didn't duck quite in time, he could feel the slash along the left side of his face, feel the blood beginning to trickle out from under his mask. He flung the useless mask aside, the stream of dark red liquid tracing down from just above his left temple.
Tasuki was instantly at his side, a volley of fire erupting from the iron fan he carried, twisting around to envelop the shogun with a precision he'd never known it to have.
A furious eruption of blue chi blasted away the flames, but Tasuki's anger was channeling into a concentration, a focusing on controlling the tessen's flames to obey his every mental command. Dozens of softball-sized fireballs individually attacked Nakago, some deflected or absorbed by his protective barrier, others seeming to pelt the mercenary, only to turn to blue foxfire, homing missiles aimed right back at the bandit.
Tasuki was caught in a dangerous cycle, blocking his own shots which only regenerated, losing one or two against the stone walls, fighting and dodging the projectiles which swarmed him like flies.
One, and only one, connected.
Instead of just a surface burn, Nakago's destructive energy ripped through his every nerve, consuming his life force in waves of torturing pain.
Every surge sent him into deeper depths of agony, falling to his knees, still clutching desperately at his tessen. He refused to cry out, to betray his weakness and fear. Completely at Nakago's mercy, or rather Nakago's lack of it, one last escape was possible.
"Chichiri…get…help…" With one last shuddering sigh, Tasuki lost consciousness.
Silence fell. Chichiri's hat spun benignly on the ground, near where Tasuki's crumpled form lay. She gently pulled him back against the wall, hands shaking with frenzied wrath. She detached the tessen from his fingers, testing its surprising weight, the weathered grip fitting comfortably in her palm.
He murmured slightly, as if in distress over being separated from it. His eyes fluttered back open, their amber depths holding a childlike innocence, unclouded by any emotion.
"You need rest…don't worry about me…"
"Can't…help it…love you…" Unconsciousness overtook him again.
She stared in disbelief. He had to be delirious; he couldn't possibly realize what he was saying. A mirthless chuckle rang behind her.
"How very…sentimental." Nakago's whip snapped taut in his hands. "I never wanted to hurt you, Priestess of Byakko, but you give me no choice…"
She straightened, still clutching Tasuki's tessen, her eyes flashing angrily. "I'm not the Byakko no Miko."
"What?" he snapped.
"I'm not…the Byakko…no Miko!" her voice was an inhuman snarl, rising to a near scream.
Too many things happened at once. Her life force manifested, flickering white with flares of red, her eyes glowing amber for the merest second. Nakago's whip slashed out, striking a severe blow across her upper arm, slicing diagonally through her shirt, down her arm and side. Blood flowed freely from the wound, but she never flinched, moving eerily towards him.
His whip strikes came faster and faster, tearing cloth to ribbons, leaving angry slashes oozing blood. Nothing seemed to hurt her. She was backing him into a corner, ever so slowly.
"Stop, Aiumi! There's nothing you can do, no da." Chichiri was back, with Mitsukake in tow. She looked at him, unrecognizing, eyes glazed.
Tomo.
Chuin glanced up, smiling slightly, his face unhidden by the heavy stage makeup he always wore, his thick dark hair falling loose to his waist.
His long fingers tightened around the small clamshell.
The ribbed metal pressed lightly against his throat. She smiled, seeing the fear in his eyes beneath his unruffled expression.
"Lekka…shinen." The words were whispered, but the call for the raging flames went not unheeded. In her amateur hands, the blaze went unchecked, consuming Nakago's figure.
She frowned. He still stood there, smirking, unharmed in the least.
"Don't. It's an illusion, no da." He waved his staff, and the fake Nakago dispelled, leaving only empty air.
The tessen fell with a metallic clink, and Aiumi beside it, bleeding freely from uncountable gashes. Mitsukake instinctively moved toward her, but someone else got there first.
Tasuki cradled her in his arms, heedless of the blood smearing his hands, his clothes.
"If…I have to die…I'm glad…your face could be…the last thing…I see…Tasuki…" She smiled serenely, her eyes sliding closed.
"She's not breathing." Mitsukake's bass voice rang hollowly in the empty room. "But her pulse is fine." The symbol of Sadness glowing on his palm, he directed his healing energies toward the girl. With a shaky sigh, she recommenced breathing, pulled out of danger by the healer's powers.
"You had better get both of them to Mt. Taikyoku, Chichiri."
"Yes…I think both of you can go through my kasa, no da…" The monk helped Tasuki to his feet, the bandit still holding Aiumi.
He glanced up at his friends one last time before pulling the magical hat down over himself, his magnificent eyes holding a world of thanks, not only for himself, but for the small form without a voice of her own at the moment.
Chichiri suddenly realized what that look in his friend's eyes was as Tasuki glanced down at Aiumi before disappearing into the hat's magic portal.
And I'll leave you to guess what it was.
End of Chapter Ten