Grasping a Tassel, Fear and Love
"So beautiful and frail, aren't you?" Ichimu gently ran his hand along Soi's face. She backed up from this unexpected move.
"D-did you have something you wanted to speak with me about?" Soi decided to keep her distance now. He had startled her, something she thought she had made hard to do.
"You've been increasing Nakago's Chi since you arrived here, haven't you?" Ichimu grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.
"Y-yes." Why did she suddenly feel like a child being cornered by an adult?
"Don't you think it's wrong to let him use you like that?" Ichimu was slowly coming closer.
Soi wanted to escape. Why was he getting this close? What did he want?
Tomo watched from where he had cracked the door open just barely and felt as if he was going to cry. Why? Why was Soi always his rival? He decided at that moment that he hated her. He hated her with a vengeance. He would do anything to keep her from taking both Nakago and Ichimu. He stalked away, angrily.
"There will come a day when you have to choose. Priest or Seishi. Nakago doesn't intend to let me stay in command of anything. When faced with that choice, who will you choose?" Ichimu pushed her away, glancing at the door. His entire attitude changed. "The damage has been done. I don't want you to ever get that close to me again, do you understand? Your mission is accomplished. You have given a fellow Seishi the spark that he needed to give his greatest preformance. You sicken me."
Soi looked at him in horror, like a puppy that has just been kicked by it's master for the first time. Did she really sicken people? She left in a hurry, not wanting to stay.
Ichimu looked into his mirror. "Two, Nakago, Two. I'll make you my soldier in the end. You can't control me, but I can control you."
*
Keishu kept a safe distance from Nuriko, but he wanted to follow the disguised young man everywhere he could. If it weren't for Nuriko's secret, he knew that he wouldn't be so frustrated with himself. Slowly, the Suzaku Priest gave up and resigned himself to just waiting to leave. He found himself alone with Tamahome eventually.
"You look like a lost puppy." Tamahome remarked. "You shouldn't let yourself get caught up like that. I'm sure he'd have hysterics if he ever found out."
"W-What?" Keishu looked at Tamahome. Did he know, too? Did he know that Nuriko was a man?
"Well, I don't think that the Emperor of Konan would approve of the Priest of Suzaku chasing around one of the women who's spent the last several months, maybe years, trying to earn a place in the emperor's heart so that she could become the Emperess. Here's some sound advice. Stay away from the lady's of the court." Tamahome paused for a moment. "Hey, advice isn't free. Payment?"
Keishu looked at him oddly. Payment? This man wanted money for telling him something like THAT? He searched his pockets, irritated. He found a pen, some lint and then finally a few small coins. He handed them over, hoping it would do.
"What's this?" Tamahome asked, turning one of the coins over and over.
"It's a five yen piece, what else?"
"'Yen'?"
"Wait." Keishu paused. "Are you telling me that money here isn't in yen?"
"It's in gold and silver, just like it's always been. Where have you b-" Tamahome stopped, realizing that Keishu was, after all, from another world. "Well, it's no big deal. I can sell these for atleast thirty silver a piece."
*
All five followers of Seiryu were gathered together for the morning's meal. Ichimu looked at Yui across the table as everyone else silently ate. He smiled generously, but she looked away. Ichimu laughed inside, wondering if he repulsed all women this way. It didn't matter to him anyways. He held only one interest in her: she was his priestess. She belonged to him. It was a powerful feeling, almost god-like, to know that he controlled the lives of these men and women. He wink at Soi and Tomo shot her a venomous glance. Ah, success. His plans were working thus far. For a moment he worried that he was becoming like Nakago, but he shook it off. He grinned broadly at Nakago who looked at him with utter hatred and unshielded disgust. That was a suprise.
Since the moment they had met, Nakago had shielded his every thought and feeling. The brief breaking of his emotional shield was quickly repaired and once again Nakago became calm, cold, emotionless. Ichimu stared at Tomo for a moment, judging him. He took pride in his skills of judgement and his imagination. Within his mind's eye he peeled away the layers of make-up and looked both into Tomo's true face and the deeply buried self hidden within the actor shell.
What he saw was an attractive man of a very young twenty. What he knew lay within was a chaotic mass of emotional problems boiling in self-hate. He took in everything about the young man that he could find and came up with a rough summary of the person. Shy, easily infatuated, probably an abused child and an orphan. Oh, how easily he could use that more than he already was. He looked at Soi.
For some reason, he felt that she was vile, like rotting meat to look at, never-the-less, he judged her. Slow to speak her thoughts on bad situations, childhood trauma, hero worship for Nakago. Ichimu felt sick just thinking about what she did when she could get her hands on Nakago. He didn't even bother judging Nakago, instead he turned his attentions to Yui. He didn't want to judge her, didn't want to know about her, he justed wanted to bask in the idea that she was his. Home she had said? At home he had nothing. He owned nothing. He himself was owned.
He lived with his Aunt, Uncle and elder cousin, and no matter the power he had here, he was weak there. He had no physical power to speak of and this left him in the hands of his cousin. His Aunt was often drunk and his Uncle worked nights and slept through the mornings. He mentally cringed thinking of his cousin. His cousin was not the gentlest nor the most beautiful of men and he liked to take advantage of the situation. How fitting that he was now leading a group comprised of people with troubled lives, hidden secrets. His cousin owned him, but now he owned these four.
He didn't want to abuse them. Perhaps that was the one kind thing about him. He owned them and he was going to be a kind and benevolent master-so long as it suited his purpose. He wouldn't go through with a plan that would scar them for life, though. He loved them in a parent-like fashion-even Soi.
The nauseous feeling faded as Ichimu realized this. No, it wasn't that she disgusted him. The treatment she'd been given disgusted him. "Soi." He said in a tone somehow both sharp and gentle, then he left the room. She followed him out, confused.
If she had been confused before, she was even more so as he pulled her close and hugged her to his chest. He pushed her head onto his shoulder.
"I didn't mean what I said. You're beautiful. You know that." He paused for a moment, "Wo ai ni is the chinese phrase, isn't it?" Ichimu smiled, not the mocking grin of a smile that was his usual, but a sweet and gentle smile of sincerety.
Soi broke into sobs against his shoulder. Why did he have to turn so sweet all of a sudden? She couldn't do it. Nakago had-What if Nakago found out? He had set aside his pride and used Tomo's affections against him once again to gain the information he needed. The fate of the priest was the same as the priestess. He would lose his powers should he bed a woman. Nakago had ordered her to seduce him, but how could she now? He was right. She had to make a choice. Him or Nakago.
