And here it is, the last of the previously published stuff! And good news, Chapter 12 is looking like it will be ready on time for next week, barring any computer troubles! This chapter is also the beginning of the second section of the story, Journeys Home, and starts a new series of events. For the next seven chapters each chapter focuses on one Seishi, and I hope you all agree with my interpretations of their personalities. Please remember that when I started writing this, only Genrou Den was out, so there wasn't the background on some of the characters that there is now, and I'm continuing to ignore the Gaiden, since I already had things planned out which were contradicted, think of it as slightly AU, although I do try to keep things canon as much as I can from my jumping off point.
Alright, I'll shut up now and let you get on to the rest of the story!
Chapter 11:
Loneliness
The next day, Nuriko was wandering the halls of the palace, looking much more subdued than his usual flamboyantly happy self. Everywhere servants were busily hanging coloured lamps and bright pennants, even the guards were helping, and each one of them just made him that little bit sadder. He sighed as he passed an open door, so completely lost in his own mournful thoughts that he didn't notice that he had wandered into the Imperial suite.
Houki heard him sigh and looked out her door. "Oh, hello Nuriko. Were you looking for my husband for something?" she called out to him.
Nuriko jumped at this sudden intrusion of his solitude. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize where I was wandering. I wasn't looking for anyone in particular, just walking and thinking. I'll go now." He sighed again and turned around.
As he turned he caught a glimpse of Houki out of the corner of his eye and almost began to cry. Houki saw the brightness of unshed tears in his eyes and was genuinely puzzled.
"Wait!" she recalled him, "Come in here for a minute."
Nuriko turned back and, keeping his gaze averted, went to stand before Houki.
"Why are you so sad?" she asked.
"Because tomorrow would have been Kourin's twentieth birthday..." he explained, "It'll be the first time in eleven years that…" he couldn't hold the tears back any longer, and they began streaming down his face.
"Sit down and tell me something." Houki ordered.
Nuriko sat down on some cushions and looked briefly at the Empress sitting on a stool before her vanity. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Who is Kourin?"
Nuriko took a deep breath and stifled his crying. "Kourin was my younger sister. She and I were almost like twins we looked so much alike. We did everything together, but when I was ten and she was nine, she died, and I couldn't do anything to save her. I couldn't accept her death, so I became Kourin in her place. That's why I was at the palace as a princess of the inner court." Nuriko explained, "You look so much like I imagine she would have, had she lived." He had to look away again while he composed himself. "What are all the decorations for?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Tomorrow is my birthday." Houki explained, "I'll be twenty."
Nuriko just looked at her, too stunned to say anything.
"I'm sorry, that probably didn't make you any happier." Houki apologized.
"What was your family like?" Nuriko asked suddenly, "If you don't think it too rude of me to ask."
"Not at all, I don't mind. I was the only child of rich parents. I always wished I could have had brothers and sisters, but it was a miracle that my Mother conceived even me, since until then it had been thought that she was barren. I had everything I might wish for growing up, but I was very lonely." She sighed.
Nuriko thought for a minute, then he smiled. "As a special early birthday present, I'll be your big brother. If you'll have me, that is." he offered.
Houki smiled. "I would love that!" she said happily.
Nuriko took his leave of her then, still a little saddened, but feeling better about things.
In another hallway later that day, a girl was peeking around a corner. When she saw no guards, she slipped into the hall where the shichiseishi's rooms were. She was a determined young woman, and she had a mission. She was adamant that this time she would find the Suzaku seishi Chiriko. She remembered glimpsing him once or twice over two years ago, and she remembered how much in awe of him she had been, how the sight of him had stirred something fluttering to life in her heart. When her brother told her that Chiriko had died she had cried for months, longer even than she had later cried at her own brother's death. She knew he wouldn't look exactly the same as when she had last seen him, but she was pretty sure she could find him. The first door she came to was closed and there didn't seem to be anyone in the room, but the next door was open just a crack. She peeked in and saw a lamp shining on a writing desk, but no one was in the room. Hearing footsteps down the hall, the girl panicked and slipped into the room and closed the door. She listened fearfully as the footsteps came up to the door of the room she was hiding in and stopped. The door creaked open and the girl cowered behind a swag of bed-curtain, wishing desperately to be anywhere but here.
Chiriko shook his head. "I could have sworn I left the door open." he said as he picked his tray of food back up and walked into his room. He put the tray down on his desk and turned back around to close the door… and ran smack into the girl trying to escape without being noticed.
"You again! What are you doing here?" Chiriko asked, surprised.
The girl who called herself Tia looked wildly at the door, but Chiriko wouldn't let her go. Holding her firmly by the arm, he closed the door.
"It's alright, I promised I wouldn't report you to the guards, remember?" he reassured her.
"I'm looking for…"
"The Suzaku seishi Chiriko." he finished for her.
"Yes." she said, "You remembered!" She averted her eyes and blushed, "You wouldn't know where he is, would you?" she asked hopefully.
"I was going to tell you the other day, but you ran off before I could say anything. You've found him. I'm Chiriko." he said.
Tia sat down with a thump on his bed. "Forgive me! I should have recognized you right away. After all, my br… that is, His Majesty said you had grown and aged just as you should have if you had never died." she said, unable to look at him.
Chiriko sat down on the bed beside her. "Why were you looking for me?" he asked.
"I always wanted to meet you, but I was only twelve, no one would let me out of the women's quarters. My brother was kind, though, he always used to tell me stories about you. How smart and brave you were…" Tia blushed and turned away.
Chiriko blushed as well. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Me? Oh, I'm nobody important." she insisted, still unable to meet Chiriko's gaze.
"I couldn't find a record of anyone near my age named Tia on any of the palace records, though." Chiriko objected, "Won't you at least tell me your real name?" he asked seriously, catching one of her hands in both of his.
She was silent for a long moment. Finally she spoke. "Everyone calls me Tia, but my name is really Tiamensa." she explained.
"But…" Chiriko was stunned, "There's only one girl named Tiamensa. You can't be…"
Tia started to cry. "I knew it. I knew you'd hate me once I told you. Everyone does except my big brother."
Chiriko took her face in his hands and turned her to look at him. "I'm just surprised, that's all." he said seriously, "No one ever told me Hotohori's little sister was even more beautiful than him." He realized what he had just said and blushed as his hands began to shake. He clasped them together in his lap and now he was the one who couldn't meet her gaze. "I mean…that is…what I meant to say was…" he couldn't think of anything to say and the words trailed off.
'I have to go. If I'm gone for too long they might miss me. I'm not even supposed to leave the inner court." she said, sounding scared.
"I'll make sure you get there without running into any guards." Chiriko offered and stood up.
Tia acknowledged his gesture by standing up as well, and Chiriko escorted her back to the inner court, neither of them saying a word.
The following morning dawned bright and clear, the perfect day to celebrate the birth of an Empress. Elwing was just waking up when her door burst open and a two-year-old ball of energy landed on her bed.
One of the servants came in right behind him. "I'm sorry, Lady Elwing, I couldn't stop him." the servant apologized.
"It's all right." Elwing waved, "I don't mind. Would you please close the door?" she asked.
The servant left and closed the door behind him.
'Good morning, Sunshine.' she said, 'How come you came to see me so early?'
'It's Mommy's birthday!' Boushin grinned.
'Really? Is that why the palace is all decorated? I had no idea!' Elwing teased.
Boushin gave her an exasperated look.
'What are you doing for her?' Elwing asked.
'That's what I wanted to talk to you about.' Boushin said hesitantly, 'I thought maybe I would talk today.'
Elwing grinned and gave him a hug. 'That's the most wonderful present a mother could get!' she told him.
'Do you think I'll be able to do it?' he asked uncertainly.
'Of course you can.' Elwing reassured him, 'I did. You can make sounds, right?'
Boushin nodded.
'Well then, it shouldn't be a problem. Don't worry if it doesn't come out sounding exactly right at first. She'll love it even if you don't get the words sounding exactly right.' Elwing hugged Boushin again, then started to get up. 'I have to get dressed now.' she told him, 'You should get ready for the party.'
'Okay!' Boushin grinned.
After lunch, there was a small party held by the seishi before the evening's big, impersonal feast.
"Thank you all so much for your kind gifts." Houki said to everyone, "And thank you for accepting me as part of your group." She looked around at everyone and when she caught Nuriko's eye she smiled.
Elwing looked over at Boushin, who hadn't yet given his "present."
'Now?' he asked uncertainly.
'No better time.' she said.
Boushin walked up to his mother and tugged on the skirt of her robe.
"Did you want to be picked up, Darling?" she asked him.
Boushin shook his head. "Hap…py Bith…dy…" he said hesitantly. 'That didn't sound right.' he said to Elwing.
'It sounded just fine.' she reassured him, 'Why don't you try again?'
"Happy Bithday." Boushin said again, more clearly than the last time.
"Oh my dear little one!" Houki said happily as she picked her son up and hugged him.
"He can talk!" Tasuki said, stating the obvious in his surprise.
"Um hm. I jis ne'er… tied befoe." Boushin said hesitantly.
Hotohori grinned proudly. "You speak very well, son." he said.
"It's the best birthday present I could ever ask for." Houki said happily.
Everyone congratulated the young prince and his parents, and the party broke up soon after so that they could all dress for dinner.
When Elwing and Iris got back to their rooms they found formal court gowns laid out and maids waiting to dress them. After an hour or so of poking and prodding, wrapping and pinning, the two young women were deemed ready to go to dinner.
About five minutes after the maids left, Elwing looked up at a knock on her door. "Come in." she called.
Chichiri opened the door and stood admiring her for a second. As she did him.
"I've never seen you wear formal court robes before!" she said, a little stunned. He was wearing robes such as she had seen many of the advisers and ministers wearing, but overtop were his prayerbeads, and she smiled. "I guess some things don't change." she said, reaching out to run her fingers over the beads.
"I feel odd, no da." Chichiri admitted, "I haven't worn anything but my monk's robes in years. The empress asked me to, though, so this is kind of part of my birthday present to her, no da."
Elwing kissed him lightly, careful not to smudge makeup on him. "I think you look just as handsome as always." she reassured him, "Maybe even more so, if that's possible. I don't know about this dress myself, though." she said uncertainly.
"You look wonderful in it. Everyone will think you're a princess, no da."
Elwing blushed. "Maybe," she said reluctantly, "but how am I supposed to walk in it?"
Chichiri just smiled and held out his arm. "I won't let you trip, no da."
Iris stood by her dressing-table, unwilling to sit down for fear of wrinkling her gown. She heard the knock at Elwing's door, and was about to move over closer to the connecting door when a knock came at her own door. She walked carefully over and opened the door to see Tasuki standing there.
"How did they get you into court robes?" she asked in surprise, reaching out and running her hand down his sleeve.
"I figured they'd probably dress you up in some kind of a formal gown or something, and I wanted us to match." Tasuki said a little sheepishly. He stood back and looked Iris up and down. "Damn you look good." he said, "You look like a fuckin' princess!" He reached out and clasped his hands around her upper arms and pulled her toward him. He hugged her and tucked her head under his chin.
"It feels so good to be close to you." Iris sighed as she wrapped her arms around him… then yelped as she banged the nerve plexus in her elbow on something hidden beneath Tasuki's robe. "Ouch!" she laughed, "What the…"
Tasuki looked a little sheepish and flipped the corner of the robe open to reveal his tessen strapped to his thigh. "I never feel right going anywhere without it." he admitted.
Iris reached up and pulled his face down to kiss him. Tasuki carefully didn't smudge her makeup as they kissed. "Mmm…" Iris sighed, "It's nice to know I have someone there ready to protect me though."
Tasuki took her hand and draped it over his arm the way Nuriko had coached him. "We should get going." he said.
This was the first large formal banquet the girls had been to since their arrival on this world, and they were both very impressed. Elwing was a little overawed by the sheer number of people and the white noise of half a hundred different conversations, not to mention a fairly wide spectrum of broadcast emotions, so in defense she went into silent mode. Iris, on the other hand, although also a little stunned, adjusted somewhat better to the crowd.
"Are you alright, no da?" Chichiri asked his silent dinner companion about halfway through the meal.
She smiled ruefully back at him. "There are days when I might wish this new power of mine came with an on/off switch." she admitted. All of a sudden her eyes widened, "And apparently this isn't one of them!" she exclaimed.
"What is it, no d… " Chichiri stopped as he too felt the evil ki whose emotions she had sensed. It was similar to what he had felt in the tunnels, but certainly not identical. "Heika!" he cried, but Hotohori and the other seishi were already on the alert as well.
They all wildly scanned the room to find the source of the disturbance.
"Over there!" Iris pointed to the back of the hall where a ripple of fear seemed to be moving through the diners.
"Stay here, no da." Chichiri laid his hand briefly on Elwing's arm, then touched her face before standing up and heading to where the disturbance was.
"I'll be right back." Tasuki grinned fiercely.
Iris caught his face between her hands and looked deeply into his eyes. "Safely, Love." was all she said.
Tasuki nodded and went to join the others, tessen ready.
It soon became apparent that the creature which had caused the disturbance was anything but human. What it most closely resembled was a bulldog… if bulldogs were greenish-gray and scaly, with rats' tails and were also the size of small ponies.
"What the Hell is that thing?" Tasuki shouted.
"How am I supposed to know?" Tamahome asked, a little indignant.
"It seems to be a minor demon, no da." Chichiri said.
"Fine then, I know what to do." Tasuki said, "LEKKA SHIN'EN!" A blaze of fire surrounded the beast, but it emerged unharmed. "What the fuck?" Tasuki exclaimed, dismayed.
Chichiri tried to mutter a spell of binding, but it sloughed that off too.
"It's a demon, you say?" Mitsukake asked Chichiri. When he received a confirming nod from the monk, who was concentrating on at least holding the panicked dinner guests back from the scene of the melee, Mitsukake stood up straighter and held out his left hand. "YOUMA MESSYOU!" he incanted. Warm green energies flowed out and pulled at the essence of the demon, but still it emerged virtually unscathed.
Elwing could see that things weren't going exactly as planned, and all of a sudden something occurred to her. When she had first sensed the demon, it had had a distinct flavouring of loneliness to it, and it had seemed oddly familiar. Now she knew what it was...
"Hotohori!" she cried, both vocally and mentally. When she saw she had caught his attention, she called out to him, "This is YOUR demon! No one can slay it but you!"
Hotohori looked momentarily puzzled, but he drew his Shinken and faced off against the beast, which was now ignoring everyone but him. Hotohori rushed the demon, and it seemed almost to welcome the blade which pierced it. As he stabbed his Shinken deep into the beast's heart, he was bombarded with images from his past.
To everyone watching, it seemed as though the demon dissolved into a mist, which surrounded the young Emperor.
"But Mother, why can't I play with Roushikou and Ougi?" a young Hotohori asked plaintively.
"Saihitei, I've explained all this to you before. Roushikou and Ougi are the sons of concubines; they are not worthy of you. Besides, you don't have the time to waste on playing silly games like they do, you must learn to be a great emperor." His mother chastised him.
Later that night, when he was sure no one was around to hear him, he wept. He was only three, and he didn't understand why everything had to be so hard.
The others watched helplessly as Hotohori collapsed to his knees, weeping, still confined within the dark fog. Elwing probed his mind to try to find out what was wrong, and what she felt there shocked her.
"It's not gone!" she exclaimed, running forward to the seishi, "It's attacking his mind." she said as she came up to Chichiri, "It has changed forms, and it seems to be holding him trapped within memories."
"Memories of what, no da?"
"I don't know, but they certainly aren't happy ones. The trouble is, I have no idea how to get him back, or defeat the demon."
"But I do." Iris cut in, "I only just understood now. The only way we can break him out of this is to share his memories and help him to put them behind him." she explained.
"Oh, so the mist is kinda like a physical manifestation of Jung's 'shadow' then?" Elwing said.
"Um, I guess so, whatever you say oh overeducated one. Maybe you'd like to do something about it?" she pointed out.
"Oh, right." Elwing said shamefacedly, "How do you think we should do this?"
"You will have to form a link between Hotohori and the rest of us, no da." Chichiri said.
Elwing thought for a second. "Alright, this is how we're going to do this." she said, "I'll hold onto Hotohori's shoulders, then all of you touch me and concentrate on seeing through my eyes."
Elwing stood behind Hotohori and placed her hands on his shoulders, then the other seishi and Iris gathered around her and placed their hands on her arms and shoulders. She slipped herself partly into Hotohori's mind, and used the rest of her awareness to project what she saw there.
"Come on, son, it's time for you to go visit your father." Hotohori's mother said as she dragged a reluctant five-year-old behind her.
"Must I, Mother?" young Saihitei complained.
"You will visit him, and you will kneel respectfully and say nothing unless you are questioned." she said firmly.
Saihitei kneeled, head bowed, on a cushion in front of the Emperor for almost half an hour until his father finally deigned to notice him.
"I am told you have been excelling in your lessons with the sword." The emperor said.
"Yes, Heika-sama."
"You are five years old now?"
"Yes, Heika-sama."
"Your tutors tell me you have an understanding of writings, and that you have been learning from religious texts."
"Yes, Heika-sama."
"That must be corrected. I will instruct them that you are to be taught from historical texts. If you are to follow me, you must know how to rule."
"Yes, Heika-sama."
With that, the Emperor went back to reading his reports, leaving his young son to kneel for another ten minutes. Finally he looked up again. "You may go now." he said.
"Yes, Heika-sama." Saihitei bowed low, then backed out the door.
This was a scene which was repeated every three months. Besides that, young Saihitei only saw his father during necessary Imperial ceremonies. He often wished he wasn't the heir, since he had so little freedom.
Things continued like that until he was twelve, when the Emperor's health began to decline. Saihitei, or Hotohori, as he was now wont to refer to himself, was now a beautiful young man, and an expert with the graceful, dancelike movements of a swordsman. He was a studious young man, and everyone expected him to make a very good emperor, but he was also very quiet. He rarely seemed to smile or laugh, and although few people knew, he cried himself to sleep almost every night.
In what little independent thought was left to her, Elwing rebelled. 'It can't all have been bad!' she objected. Reaching out to the others, she called, 'Now! Lend me your strength!'
All their characters blazed and Elwing felt an incredible rush of loving, supportive energy flow through her. She began to search through Hotohori's memories for feelings of happiness. Sensing one, she stretched her mental fingers in and teased it loose to play as the unhappy memories had.
Young Saihitei, only three years old, was playing with his older half-brothers (before his mother had forbidden this) and Ougi deliberately tripped him. He got really mad at this.
"You're mean!" he said, picking up a stick as though it were a sword and dropping instinctively into the closest a three-year-old could get to a fighting stance as, for the first time, "Sei" burned brightly on his neck. Both his brothers seemed stunned, and they ran away, wide-eyed with fear as though Saihitei was a kitten which had suddenly become a tiger before their eyes.
Later that evening, the Imperial Master of Scrolls was sent to him. The master of scrolls was a kindly old man who knew all the legends of Konan-koku inside out. He sat by the young prince's bedside and explained to him what it meant to bear the character of one of the Suzaku no shichiseishi.
After this, Elwing teased forth another happy memory, noting as she did so that the black fog was becoming less.
When he was six years old, Hotohori got another half-sister. He was still young enough then to enter the inner parts of the women's quarters, although only barely, and he wanted to see what this new sister looked like. He'd found that he liked sisters better than brothers, since his one younger sister Obaiya was already much prettier than all his brothers put together, although not, his mother told him, prettier than he.
"May I see her?" he asked the maid in a whisper.
"Of course!" she smiled.
He'd long ago charmed the maids, and they all thought him absolutely darling. The maid reached into the cradle and lifted out a beautiful baby girl only a few days old.
"What's her name?" he asked as he lightly stroked her soft tuft of dark hair.
"Her mother calls her Tiamensa." The nurse shook her head, "It's an odd name, but her mother is from a distant land, and it doesn't matter to Kotei-heika-sama what his daughters' names are."
Saihitei was fascinated with his little half-sister, making a habit of sneaking in to spend time with her, and she in turn idolized him. Even when he grew too old to go into the women's quarters he disguised himself as a girl to continue to visit with her. Those stolen hours with little Tiamensa were one of his only freedoms and joys.
The day after his coronation he sat with her early in the morning, before anyone expected him to be up.
"Oniisama," Tia said hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"What does it mean that you are one of the Suzaku no Shichiseishi and also the Emperor now?"
Hotohori sighed. "I don't know if the two positions will interfere with each other, but I fear it will likely be so. How will I protect the Miko if I cannot travel with her? For what purpose did I perfect my skills as a swordsman if not to protect her wherever she may need to be?" he sighed and bowed his head, and Tia patted his hand.
"It will all work out, you'll see." she said reassuringly.
"I hope you are right."
Little talks like that were the one thing which kept the young Emperor from completely giving up on ever being happy.
Suddenly there was a flare of red light. When everyone could see again, Hotohori was smiling and all the seishi were clapping him on the back and congratulating him, taking what seemed to the guests to be extreme liberties with the person of the Emperor. They were a close-knit group, though, and the thoughts of others didn't matter to them.
Elwing smiled weakly at them all. "So glad to be of service." she said and slumped down toward the floor.
Chichiri caught her and looked pleadingly over at Hotohori. "Heika, if you will excuse me…"
"Of course. Go! Take good care of her, her continued good health is much more important than her attendance at this feast. She just saved my sanity, if not my life."
Chichiri smiled at that, and the two of them disappeared into his kasa as he took her back to her room the quickest way he knew.
The guests were calmed down and the feast continued, but the heart wasn't really in it, and most of the people left earlier than they had expected to. Hotohori and Houki didn't really mind, though.
"What was that thing?" Houki asked when they were finally back in their room and had dismissed the servants.
"It was some kind of demon." Hotohori explained, "Were you frightened by it, love?" he asked, seeing the look on her face.
"I was frightened I might loose you again! I only just got you back! You must promise me you will not part from me." Houki said, looking earnestly into her husband's eyes.
"I promise. This is my birthday present to you; I promise I will take care when I must face demons and other such powerful enemies, and I promise that, no matter what, I will always return to you." Hotohori swore solemnly. He gazed deeply into his wife's beautiful ultramarine eyes, then kissed her and began unpinning her hair, sending its dark purple waves cascading down over her shoulders. He led her to bed, and there kept a promise of a different kind.
"Happy Birthday." he whispered.
Um, yes, as you can see there is a place for a lemon here. Always intended to write it, but I never did…but that's alright, maybe if I get further along and need a mental break I'll write it and post it on my website or something…
In any case…
Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 11, and I'll see you all in a week!
The overworked kitsune