Fanfic by Yomi no Miko
Chapter 16: Kenzo
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Life in Kenzo's band without Liu wasn't the same. Our leadership was ruined by her absence and guys like Suzoni decided that they should command too. So he incited the others to ignore our orders and skip the missions. I thought Kenzo's passivity in face of that situation was too strange. As for myself, Suzoni could have already been killed a long time ago but the leader didn't allow me to deal with this problem. He thought that a fight among us would be too absurd.
As I expected, one day Suzoni challenged Kenzo for the leadership of the band. But to my surprise there was no fight at all. Kenzo handed over the band to Suzoni without opposition. At first I was shocked by his attitude but then I was able to comprehend him. The band without Liu's command made no sense for him as well. I would never accept orders from Suzoni, neither wanted to defy him, so I decided to follow Kenzo and leave the group.
We traveled to a small village in the north of the great forest. I insisted to go to the North of Makai because I could not stand being in the East much longer. The village was really a weird place. It was almost abandoned and its few habitants seemed frightened by something.
An old man hosted us in his house in exchange for some coins. He lived alone although his house was ample. He told us that all his wives and sons had left the place. Since he was too old to start a new life somewhere else he didn't follow them and remained there with a lot of empty rooms.
It didn't take too long for us to discover the reason why everyone was so scared in that village. It was the closest place to the fortress of Hame-Kala, a sect known to practice macabre rituals and deadly experiences with living youkai as well as to sell them as slaves or pets to rich ningen. I thought that was only superstition nonsense, pure silliness of course. However reality wasn't so simple. The Hame-Kala members were ancient youkai who dedicated themselves to magic and power. Their activities consisted of various things, from medicine generation to any sort of obscure business. Their castle was a dark, old and precarious construction, or so they said. All the protection those youkai needed came from the fear they inspired. I remembered that even Kurama had some respect for them. However, we also heard that the fortress hid ancient treasures that no one even dared to take and that was the part of the story that called my attention.
Kenzo, who was much older than me, also knew his own bunch of stories about the Kala. He seemed worried about staying around for so long. It was not a surprise that he was shocked to death when I told him that I intended to attack that castle.
"Are you out of your mind, Yomi! Have you got any idea of what they can do if they catch you?"
"Damn it Kenzo! Can't you see we're broken? We've got to do something or we'll never be able to leave this freak place. Know what? I don't believe in any of those stupid gossips they say. I lived in this forest for over one year and I never saw anything strange regarding to those youkai. Probably they're just anti-social and old, so what?"
"If you don't believe in anything, why do you think there must be hidden treasures down there?"
"I don't think there are. How can I know? But I'm a thief, so I'm gonna check it out."
"Yomi... I know you're a stranger here. I was born and lived my whole life in the East. I know that most of the things they say about the Kala is just travelers' talk but I also know that crazy guys like you, who entered that place, never found their way out."
"We'll see."
"Is there something I can say that will help taking that stupidity out of you mind?"
"No."
"So... I'm going with you."
"Kurama. what's that?"
"That where?"
"Those towers down there."
"A castle. It seems near but it takes a whole day walk to reach it."
"Castle?? Eh! Let's go there! There must be lots of nice things inside. You never told me that there's a castle so near."
"Forget it, Yomi. That place is the fortress of the Kala band. I don't get in there."
"Oh... You're afraid? I knew I'd live to see that day. So, what's that Kala after all?"
"It's a kind of sect. Anyway, father said he'd
kill me if I go there. Better leave it alone, ne?"
"Get up Yomi!! Wanna sleep all day?"
"Hn... Damn Kenzo! You had to wake me up when
I was having a nice dream?"
We chose a full moon night, a very light one. We packed our usual stuff, weapons, bags, robes and went to the castle.
As we reached the fortress walls, I told Kenzo once more that I didn't want him to come with me. I didn't want him to participate of an attack if he was afraid but he insisted on his decision.
Entering that place was very easy. There was no sign of life inside those walls. We invaded the castle slowly and carefully. Our search began with a dark and long gallery. The silence was so remarkable that we just couldn't avoid producing tiny cracking sounds as we stepped that ruined wooden floor.
After some time, we finally reached a closed room, the first and only one that seemed to have valuable objects inside. The heavy door was well locked but we didn't have trouble to break into it. So, we entered that large compartment, full of weird articles. The walls were all formed by irregular shelves, full of bottles, books and spider webs. I was very disappointed to realize that there was no treasure among that things. I looked back, just to see that Kenzo was as frustrated as I was. He was also lost among piles of books, rows of colored bottles, old paper, dust, and insects. However, to my surprise, I heard him call my name.
"Yomi, I guess I found something..."
"What?" I asked almost in disbelief.
"See, it's wine."
"Well, at least we won't get out empty-handed."
We kept the large bottle inside one of our empty bags and left that place. It'd be the most monotonous attack of my life if it was not for a little surprise at the end. We were back to that same gallery which took us to the large room when we saw a weak light trembling in the dark. Then a group of four or five youkai wearing large cloaks passed by us in silence. One of them suddenly looked around but he didn't locate us. I really thought that we'd be in trouble, but weird as it seems, it didn't happen. The group disappeared and Kenzo and I left the castle's ground safely.
After that ridiculous attack, all that was left to us was to celebrate our so called victory by consuming its only gain, that bottle of wine. We drank it all in our last night at the old man's house. We had already decided we'd leave East in the morning after. However that night we got drank till we were totally high. One day and a half later, when we finally woke up, we realized that we had slept together. It was very embarrassing.
If I had never imagined myself in such situation, it might have been much more confusing for Kenzo who, as far as I concern, didn't like guys.
Anyway, we didn't have other choice than doing
as we had planned but although we were too ashamed to discuss the matter,
we knew that something very strange had happened that night.
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Shrine to Yomi-Sama -