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"Welcome, heika-sama and our renown Genbu seishi. Do take a seat. I've been expecting you."
An old woman stood there, bent back and all as she bowed slightly (was that truly possible? I had to find out) at the emperor's direction who, in return, bowed deeply and nodded for our small group to follow him into the room. Hikitsu and I both exchanged looks, then silently agreed that heika-sama couldn't possibly be arranging our gravestones for us just yet before following Urumiya and Hatsui into the small, brightly-lit room.
It was much brighter in that room than in the corridor, and at once, I found myself blinking in pain as a flood of light hit my eyes. Squinting, I managed to make out a tiny room built with rather meager means and only containing only little furniture here and there. In the middle of the room was a round wooden table with nine chairs neatly arranged around it, one of which heika-sama took the liberty to sit down on.
Hatsui himself was speaking to the old woman in low tones, his eyes darting back and forth from Takiko and her as the woman nodded, the wrinkles in her forehead growing more pronounced as she frowned, before finally breaking into a smile as Hatsui finished speaking and nodded. "So it's true? The Genbu no miko is here?"
Takiko blinked at the mention of her rank and flushed, bringing a little colour into her previously pale cheeks that had grown white out of fright. "Uh…hai. Heika-sama, who is this…?"
Urumiya smiled brightly, turning to her as he nodded slightly in the old woman's direction. "She's Hatsui's aunt, a clairvoyant. In fact, she was the one who foretold the coming of the Genbu no miko this year, and true enough, here you are. She didn't mention how pretty you'd be though…"
She shuddered, retreating slightly, and I frowned, folding my arms. Must he be that hentai, even when the emperor was in the same room as him? Being royalty must have its finer points, I guess. But him have manners? Genbu, that would be the very day I die.
"Indeed," heika nodded, , standing up and pulling out a chair for the old woman who sat graciously, her white head bobbing as she did. "She is the most talented clairvoyant in all of Hokkan and has foretold many disasters that would have crippled our country if not for her. Sit down, all of you. We have some very important things to discuss."
Each of us took a seat, Iname on my right and Takiko on my left while Urumiya sat in between Takiko and his father. Perhaps it was me, but Iname seemed to be shooting daggers at Takiko, who remained angelically unaware of what the seishi was doing. Why in Genbu's name was Iname acting like this nowadays? It wasn't going to get us anywhere, I could tell you.
"Genbu no miko…" the old woman (I still couldn't believe she was Hatsui's aunt) wheezed, stretching out a bony hand to brush against Takiko's palm, and suddenly stiffened. "I see a tough time for you, yes…happiness shall be yours for only a short time, but your life shall not be long. This is indeed a tragic life."
I frowned, not believing her words. After all, there were always many fakes around, and she could have most probably foretold those 'disasters' by luck as Hokkan always experienced harsh winters and earthquakes. There was nothing strange about that- if she could do it, so could I.
Takiko, on the other hand, seemed to have paled slightly, and I could see that she had pulled her palm away, as if frightened of the woman's prediction. "But I've always had a happy life…otousan is nice to me and so is everyone…"
Poking her slightly in the ribs, I averted my eyes as I spoke. "Listen, head-hitting onna, sometimes predictions, no matter how reliable the clairvoyant is, are inaccurate. There's no need to get all shocked and stuff over one prediction, okay?"
"Chamka…"
"Don't get me wrong," I spoke quickly, seeing the dark look rise onto Iname's face. "I'm not telling you that to comfort you; I just said it because you looked as if you were about to suddenly collapse from fright or something of that sort. I have no such plans to drag you back, trust me."
She glared at me. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
"You're damn heavy and you should know that," I shrugged, sticking my tongue childishly out at her. "If anyone's going to carry you back, I'll make sure it's Urumiya. He seems as if he's got much strength anyway, don't you think, Urumiya?"
"I won't mind," the seishi grinned, and this time, the fist went down on his head and not mine. Genbu, so the head-hitting onna wasn't biased. She had actually hit someone else for being hentai; it was either she was getting the hang of living in Hokkan and not in her world 'Japan' or she just felt like having some variety. That had to be the discovery of the century!
"HENTAI! And no, don't smirk like that, Chamka, you're next!"
WHACK!
"What did I do?" I glared at her, rubbing the bump on my head while Urumiya was having little winged Takikos floating around the top of his head as he lay on the ground with swirly eyes. Heika-sama himself had leant over the other side of the table to inspect Takiko's work of art and nodded approvingly.
"Well, it seems that I now know how to handle Seiki's little problem with girls," he observed with a slight smile as he spread a few pieces of parchment from somewhere beneath his flowing robes. "If you would please get off the floor, Seiki, I need you to help me explain this to everyone here."
I hid a small smile as the blond haired prince picked himself up from the floor, shooting dirty looks at Takiko who made a face at him. "This is…wait a minute. These aren't the maps of the city…" his voice trailed off as he looked up at his father doubtfully. Heika-sama nodded, and Urumiya seemed to have an internal debate with himself before finally giving a loud exclamation and starting to speak.
"These are the maps of the both the Hokkan patrols around the capital, while this is the way where the Kutou army is heading to," he pointed out. He placed his finger on a spot on the northwest of the map and slowly dragged it towards the black dot that was labeled 'capital' to prove his point, and I nodded. "As you should be able to see from here, the Hokkan patrols should intersect with their army, but so far, there have not been battles among the patrols and the Kutou army. Still, we have sighted the Kutou army once, and have fought them off, but I'm sure they will get reinforcements. Both Hikitsu and Tomite should understand this- they saw the army too."
Both Hikitsu and I nodded simultaneously, and I frowned. What was his point…?
"The problem now is why we haven't managed to spot the Kutou army until they arrived this close to the capital. Usually, we are able to spot any moving objects from the guard towers but our guards have reported not seeing anything. That is strange, for even on the day we battled the army itself, no one said they saw a thing. "
"Have you taken into consideration that there might be some Kutou influence in our army?" Hikitsu suggested, resting his elbow on the table, his chin touching his knuckles. "Kutou is known for their sneaky tactics; I wouldn't be surprised it someone in the army was giving information to them."
Hatsui nodded. "We've checked that out by sending the captain of guard himself to keep watch over the watch tower, but he too reported seeing nothing. That's one thing we don't understand."
"You trust him?" I sniffed, folding my arms. I still hadn't forgiven me over the rough treatment that I had been subjected to earlier in the day. Why would anyone in their right mind trust him? He'd be the last person I would pick to be the leader of the patrols, in fact.
Hatsui raised an eyebrow at me. "He isn't as bad as you think, Tomite. In fact, he's got a clean track record. That's why heika-sama's invited him to talk about this. Ah…I think he should be here," he spoke, hearing a soft knock on the door and opened it to reveal…the captain of the something. "Do come in, captain. We've been expecting you."
"I appreciate the invitation, Hatsui-san," he bowed slightly and knelt on the ground in front of the emperor. "Heika-sama, captain reporting to orders, sir! What may I do for you?"
Heika seemed to sweatdrop as he waved his hand at the armoured man. "That's enough for formalities, captain; come join us here at the table. I take it that you should know Tomite already?" he asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously as the man turned a bright shade of red.
"Hai! I apologize for my earlier actions, Tomite-san," he looked at me seriously, giving me the chills. For some reason, I felt that he didn't believe me no matter what I did. "And this is…" he looked at both Iname and Takiko.
Urumiya grinned, glad to be able to introduce everyone again. "This is the Genbu no miko, captain -no, DON'T salute any more, your hand will stay that way if you do that any more- , Okuda Takiko. Hikitsu," he nodded towards the silver haired seishi who acknowledged his name with a polite nod. "And that is Iname. They're all Genbu seishi."
Hatsui frowned. "Isn't that obvious, Seiki? Anyway, do sit down, it isn't healthy to stand up too much, I believe. Tell us your observations at the watch tower this morning, captain."
The armoured man frowned slightly, trying to recall his earlier memories. "Well, I was there as Urumiya-san ordered ("Why not call him prince?" I asked, only to get jabbed hard in the ribs by Takiko), and there was nothing in the horizon except normal citizens who were going back and fro from the outskirts to the capital. In fact, it was so peaceful, until I heard news that Urumiya-san and Hatsui-san had returned to the capital. When I went to have a look, I saw the crowd around Tomite-san and well…you know the rest."
Now that was weird. I was sure we had made quite an uproar with all the shouts and clanging that almost deafened me. Even if the noise couldn't be heard from the watch tower, it would be impossible not to see the scuffle, especially when it happened so close to the capital. Uso…the Kutou army didn't know sorcery did they?
"So you see," heika-sama pointed out as he frowned, looking older than usual. "We don't understand how a battle could have happened without any of our guards seeing anything. It certainly is strange…do any of you have any ideas?"
"Could they have someone who knows some sorcery?" I voiced out my thoughts, biting my lip slightly. "The only way that an army can disguise itself without being seen by anyone is through sorcery."
"That can't be right," Iname interjected with a deep frown. "Both Takiko-san and me saw the battle- and I'm sure all four of you must have seen your opponents when you were fighting, Tomite-san. If they were invisible, how could everyone have seen them in the flesh?"
"True," Hatsui admitted as he looked at Urumiya. "The both of us saw them as clear as anyone else- unless you're saying that they're an illusion or something, which I truly doubt, because we suffered a few injuries too, and no illusion can carry that long term effect."
"A dark evil protects the Kutou…" the old woman breathed from her seat, making me jump. I had forgotten that she was there for a moment. "It cannot be destroyed until someone meets it head on…but that person shall die in that encounter. Yet, they will be invincible as our forces won't be able to spot their movement…"
"What do you mean?" Hatsui blinked at his aunt's words. "Is Tomite right about this? Does Kutou really possess someone who has magical powers?"
"A seishi whose time hasn't come…he shall live."
This old woman's words were getting really confusing now. Was she talking about a Genbu seishi or a Seiryuu seishi, and what did she mean by 'that person shall die in the encounter'? Was one of us going to die earlier than planned? Wouldn't that interrupt the summoning of Genbu?
"This is getting crazy," I scratched my head in frustration. "So we're going against an invisible army now? How in Genbu's name are we supposed to win against that?"
"Tomite…do be careful. I see a dark shadow hanging over you…you may be destined to change the entire history of Hokkan, but something shall happen in the process," she suddenly spoke up and I blinked nervously. Genbu, Takiko was right; this woman's predictions could give you the jitters. "You will face many dangers- but the star of luck also shines above you. You shall be protected- to a certain extent."
Hatsui gazed straight at me. "That's not a good prediction, Tomite. You'd better be careful."
-------
It seemed like hours before the discussion was over and we were led through the same dark tunnel with the captain of something-or-nothing at the lead with a bright torch in his hand. The corridors seemed less threatening now with the increase of light, and Takiko didn't cling onto me anymore. Then again, that could be because Iname was beside me and glaring daggers at her."Ne…Chamka," Takiko finally spoke up at last after being quiet for such a long period of time that I thought she had finally cracked. "Do you believe in predictions?"
So she was still thinking about that woman's predictions until now. I couldn't blame her; that old woman certainly creeped me out with how she told me that I had a bad future ahead of me. It was frightening in a weird sort of way- as if you knew when you were going to die or something. "…I don't know. Why?"
"It's just that…in my world, they have people who can tell the future too. Strangely enough their predictions matched what she told me…that my life will end soon. Does that mean I'm going to die here in Hokkan?""No, that means that you'll suffer a certain calamity, I think," I frowned. "I don't understand mine, though; mine does sound more foreboding than yours. At least you don't have mixed futures of something like that."
"But-"
"Don't worry, my dear miko," Urumiya suddenly appeared at her side and she let out a scream of surprise, then covered her mouth with both her hands. "My, my, did I scare you? I am sorry; I simply don't know how to handle my charm."
Rolling my eyes, I gazed at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes. "By the way, Urumiya, what happened to you earlier? Why did Iname suddenly scream for no apparent reason? Don't tell me…you were trying to be a hentai to her too?" I guessed, and he glared at me.
"I'm not that much of a flirter if that's what you mean, Tomite," he gave an exaggerated sigh as he grinned. "I simply did a little body switch with Iname over here- I'm sorry if I damaged any nerves, Iname-san. It's part of my powers; I can change bodies with anyone, which makes living much easier. Unfortunately, I can only do this for a certain amount of time; if I exceed in that amount, my real body could die, and so will my spirit in another person's body. It's dangerous, you see, but it's somewhat fun too. Do you want to try?"
"That's interesting, but no thanks," I told him with a slight shudder, imagining myself in his body. That had to be a scary thing to do, to enter someone else's body and take control while the other person's spirit goes into your body. For all you knew, that person could cause permanent damage to his real body and that could cripple him for life. "What about your flying?"
"Oh, that's just part of a little thing that I learnt from a travelling…master," he grinned. "I changed bodies with him for a while and learnt a few handy skills, among them flying. It comes in rather useful for long distance travelling, but I don't usually take passengers- it slows me down. I can make an exception for Takiko, though," he brightened up.
"You wish," Takiko muttered under her breath. "If you even touch me one time, I'll hit you so hard that you won't know you own father from Chamka here."
If that was possible, I'd like to see that very much indeed.
Author's notes:
Ah…foreseeing stuff! No, I didn't go to a fortune teller before I wrote this chapter…it sort of popped into my head and stuff of that sort. Nothing to do with experiences, I have never gone to one before. Perhaps someone could recommend a good one? ^_^
Ah…chapter 25!! Finally, the story has an actual storyline. If I stretched it anymore, I think everyone will fall asleep and wake up at the last chapter, just like in school. Can't make it too boring, you see.
So, now you know what happened to Iname in the previous chapter ne?? Did you see that coming, or did you guess it was something else? If you knew what was coming, well…you're good! It's either that or I gave way too many hints in the previous chapter. Make up your own mind. :p
Ah…no cliffhanger this chapter. If you people were wondering what the predictions actually mean, well, for all means, continue reading my fic! Fine, fine, I'll give you a teeny-weeny, tiny-
Tomite: It's not that small.
Fine, I know. Well the hint is this: it has something to do with one of the Seiryuu seishi. Which one? Heh…that's your problem of you don't want to read this fic any more; you'll miss the really interesting parts! Of course, sometimes, the chapters involve boring explanations like this one here…dark rooms and all. I can't do anything about it; I don't control my creativity, I just write.
Random but true statement: Exams are not good! Too much to do! .
Don't forget to review, people! Remember, I check my reviews, so it's no use trying to lie and say (for those who know me…like Sagara, for instance) you have! I read my reviews too, people…so be gentle. Remember: give constructive criticism, not flames! Flames are bad…
Touki Yume, you've got me on your favourites list? *blush blush* You guys (here's not forgetting you too, Kang Xiu!!) rock!! *grins* By the way, you're reviewer number 1!! Keep going and you may soon beat Kang Xiu... :pFlying Heart, don't worry about not being able to review all the time! Of course, that doesn't mean you sholdn't review...but you're cool too, okay?
kang Xiu, you've most probably got your name written all over my reviews page... ^^;;. Not that that's a bad thing, of course. About building a shrine...hmm...I've got to gather more stuff first. And don't be so mean to Urumiya...he's just got an attitude problem. XD
Okay then, until next time, ja ne~!
