Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue of Suzaku's Oracle for a blanket disclaimer.
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Warnings: Rated PG-13 or Fiction T. Violence and language.
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Notes: 7-16-13 Hello again! Welcome back! I noticed I used the term 'shakujo' in chapter three. For those who don't know, this is the staff that Chichiri always carries. For future reference, his hat is called a 'kasa'. This gets confusing because his blue robe is called a 'kesa'. I will do my best to eliminate the confusion by referring to these items as a hat and a robe in the narrative, as well as kasa and kesa. Incidentally, Tasuki's metal fan is called a 'tessen' in OFG. I have seen it referred to as a halisen/harisen many times, but I've opted to go with the term 'tessen'. Again, this was what I most commonly saw when I was first introduced to the FY fan universe. ~Sapphire
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Oracles of the Four Gods
"Suzaku's Oracle"
By: Sapphire
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Part Four ~ Trouble
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Aneko was exhausted by the time the sun pushed up from the eastern horizon. She'd been traveling all night, that tingly, frightening feeling chasing her all the while. She still felt the prickliness at the back of her neck. She didn't like it at all. She continued to push herself onward, but she was so tired.
"I'm so thirsty, too," she thought as she looked all around for any signs of a clear running brook. There was nothing but the dry fields of tall grass that would some day soon be cut into hay. As she entered into the shade of a forest, she could hear the twittering of birds as they danced in the treetops, upset by her presence. As she trudged on, she thought she heard the faint sounds of water trickling somewhere. Looking around, she spied a large rock with a shallow basin that had obviously been chipped out by a human hand. In the center of the shallow basin, water bubbled up from a natural spring and overflowed into a natural trough; a watering place for travelers and their animals. "How clever," she thought as she stooped over the basin, cupping her hands, and scooped the clear, crisp water to her mouth and drank greedily. Refreshed, she stood tall and stretched her sore shoulder muscles.
"I suppose I could rest here for a while," she softly mumbled as she looked around at the tranquil place. She was travel worn and felt disheveled. "I'll just freshen up, and then move on," she muttered under her breath, "I still have that creepy feeling."
She quickly shed her warm coat, then took off her vest and blouse. She shook them out before hanging them on low reaching branches to air out while she returned to the spring and washed up. She found the little comb from her jacket pocket and quickly put her hair into some semblance of order. With her handkerchief dampened at the spring, she brushed off her skirt and straightened it before putting her shirt and vest back on, arranging the garments to make herself presentably neat and tidy.
As she turned to retrieve her coat, she was startled to see a very tall man standing among the trees just beyond the branch where she'd hung her coat. He hadn't been there a moment ago. Aneko watched uncertainly as he took a step toward her. Her skin tingled with an intense sense of danger. Aneko turned to walk away, but was met by a man wearing a dirty swath of fabric wrapped around his shaved head, standing on the road blocking her way. She looked between the two. Cold, hard expressions occupied both their faces. Afraid, Aneko turned back to the woods in search of an escape route, but was faced with two more men. Fear gripped at her, and she knew she was in trouble now.
"Nowhere to go, pretty girlie," one of the men sneered at her. He and the others began to slowly close in on Aneko. With escape unforeseeable, and talking her way out of this not feasible, she stood her ground prepared to defend herself if necessary. She was all alone, she knew. No one was going to jump in and save her. Despite her lack of training in self-defense, she was prepared to fight if it came down to it. The best she could do was use her head, try to hit them where they were most vulnerable, try to make each attack count, and run when she got the chance.
"Stay away from me," she warned with more confidence than she felt.
"Oh yeah?" sneered the man with the head covering. "Whatcha gonna do about it? Scream?" The others laughed maliciously. "There ain't no one gonna hear ya way out here." They were very close now, within reaching distance of Aneko. The one with the turban reached out and grabbed onto her arm with a viselike grip.
"Owww!" Aneko yelped in pain, trying to wrench herself free of him. "Let me go!" Another man grabbed onto her other arm, trapping her between the two of them. The tall one pulled back his arm and backhanded her across the face. She froze, momentarily stunned.
"You be obedient, and you don't get any more of that, do you hear?" he growled. Aneko, glaring angrily at the man who'd just struck her, yanked an arm free and sent a well aimed punch into the stomach of the man with the turban. At the same time she brought her knee up hard to his groin. He doubled over, releasing her. She stood her ground, still having no route of escape, her gaze like daggers aimed at the tall one.
"Don't any of you touch me again!" she hissed, her anger blazing, her knuckles smarting.
"We'll see," sneered the tall one. He pulled back his arm to hit her. She sidestepped out of his way causing him to stumble forward, and his fist smashed into the solid boulder that contained the water basin. "You bitch!" he screamed at her, his face turning red with anger as he clutched his injured hand with the other. "Get her NOW!" he shouted to the other three. They surrounded her, giving her no way to run or dodge, and the stronger of the three lunged at her. The impact sent her reeling, right into the boulder. She could hear a sickening crack as her upper left arm was broken. The pain hit her a second later. She gritted her teeth, knowing that if she gave in to the pain, she would likely lose her life to her attackers.
"I won't give in to you," she professed, pulling herself up into a sitting position against the boulder. The tall man, ignoring the pain in his hand, reached down and grabbed hold of both Aneko's arms, shaking her hard. "Ow!" Aneko cried out as he moved her broken arm roughly. Despite how much it hurt, she tried to push him away, and manage to land a hard kick to his knee with her heeled shoe.
"Yeow! Fucking bitch!" He dropped his hold on her broken arm as he went down, his knee no longer able to support his weight. In a rage, he managed to stand on his good leg and loomed over her, intent on beating her senseless. A red glow began to emanate from the woman before him. He gasped in surprise. "What is this? Some kind of magic? Stop it this minute!" He pulled back his hand sharply and let it fly toward her face.
Aneko cringed, knowing this time would be a lot worse than the last, and held up her hand in a feeble attempt to fend him off. She never felt the blow. It never came. Instead there was a brilliant flash of red light, and the man who had tried to hit her was sent flying through the air until he slammed into a large tree. He seemed to hang there in midair against the tree for a moment, then he went limp and crumpled to the ground. Aneko stared in awe, not understanding what had just happened.
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Chichiri felt those emotions that weren't his intensify a few minutes after dawn. There was something very wrong up ahead. What, he wasn't sure, but his heart told him someone was in trouble. He urged his feet to move faster. As the fear grew, and pain replaced the uncertainty, he could sense the beginnings of desperation. Running out of time, he pulled at the strings of his kasa and pulled the conical straw hat from where it hung at his neck. Throwing it to the ground in front of him, he stepped into it, letting his intangible guide lead him.
He emerged in the center of a narrow road, the same narrow dirt road he'd been following the past few days. In a clearing along the wayside he was confronted with a desperate scene. A woman was on the ground, backed against a rock, cradling one arm with her other. Her face displayed the fear she harbored, though she maintained a carefully controlled calm, refusing to give in to panic. She carefully watched four ragged men surrounding her, none of whom looked the least bit friendly.
"I won't give in to you," the woman's declaration sent a deluge of emotion from her. Chichiri was nearly knocked over by the force of it. Catching his balance, he looked up just in time to see her kick one of the men in the knee as he made a move of attack toward her. The man cursed, then moved to strike her while she tried to duck the impending blow. Before Chichiri could intervene, a brilliant red glow formed around the woman, and in an instant the man was blasted clear across the road, crossing only feet in front of Chichiri, and was slammed into a tree. Chichiri spun around to face the woman.
"Who is she?" he asked himself in awe. She seemed confused by what had happened, he noted, her expression bordering between surprise and shock. Suddenly the glow flashed blindingly and a force field formed around her, closing her off from the remaining three attackers. Chichiri's senses were assaulted by a familiar presence. He could feel it in every cell of his body. "Suzaku!" he exclaimed in surprise. His character flashed on his knee, his skin tingling as it did. Without a second thought, he raised his staff, aiming it at the three terrified men left standing. Holding his hands up, he cast a simple spell, freezing them where they stood so they could not escape.
He was not in a charitable mood. These men were slave traders, hunters of human beings, no doubt about that. And they had made this woman their prey. The slave trade had been made illegal in Konan, and still the practice continued. These men needed to be dealt with. He approached them, his mask in hand, glaring at the three with his one good eye.
"You think you can attack women and get away with it? Trading in flesh is illegal, no da." Chichiri released them from his spell, giving them a fair chance in a fight.
"It's a warrior of Suzaku!" one of the men shouted in fear, staring at the glowing character on Chichiri's knee.
"Run!" shouted another and all three turned to flee.
"Not so fast," Chichiri informed them as he put his hands together before him, still holding the shakujo firmly in his grasp. With concentrated skill, he gathered his life force while chanting a spell. Three blasts, each aimed at one of the retreating slavers, erupted from the staff. The men were all knocked flat and senseless in a moment. "Let that be a lesson to you," Chichiri said as he turned away from the wretched men.
The woman inside the red force field stared at him with wide, deep blue eyes. He stared back, noticing the glow of a character on her forehead. 'Oni' it read, 'ogre'. His mouth dropped open in astonishment.
"That's impossible!" he exclaimed. "That's Tamahome's symbol!"
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To be continued…
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End Note: Was that too cliché? I know that gangs involved in the human flesh trade were used a few times in the anime. I guess every culture, imaginary or real, needs it's seedy underside. Since a slave trade has already been established, and I highly doubt the black market for human slaves has disappeared in Konan, I went with it. ~Sapphire
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