If You Need Her
by Scribe Figaro
SESSION FIVE: GO HOME
She's given everything to you.
Now, take a moment to be sure
Before you give it all to her."
- Barenaked Ladies, "Go Home"
I.
If she had to choose one thing, one thing in all the Universe she could not live without – or, to put it another way, the one thing she would most miss if stricken from Heaven and Earth – it would be the Chinese bellflower. How beautiful in shape and color! How humbling and tragic the curves of its buds! They faced heaven, they faced earth, and always the blossoms appeared like women on the verge of crying.
The girl in pink robes, kneeling quietly in the garden, traced dainty fingers along the cup of the flower.
The night air was warm, and the breeze felt much like her own breath.
He made no attempt to sneak up on her. Had he tried, he would not have succeeded, for this was her place, and all things served her here. The well was built on a holy place, as was the small hut in which she lived, and the pure energy that surrounded it was stronger than any priest or monk could ever make.
She turned at the man who approached her. No, not a man this time. A youkai. She was somewhat surprised, but did not show it.
She guessed him to be an inu-youkai, and an especially powerful one. Rather young, perhaps, but stately, and – she had to admit to herself – rather attractive. His features were sharp, his amber eyes clear, his hair expertly dressed, his clothes and armor clean and well-arrayed.
In another place, perhaps he could have fooled her. This was something she would think of often, but it was no sense dwelling on such an issue, because it was not another place. It was this place, her home on Earth, her sacred resting place, as pure and perfect as her Heavenly Mother's shrine in Ise, though rather secret. Kami made great fanfare at the places they ascend to or descend from Heaven, and in these places are shrines, and priests, and priestesses, and shrine maidens, and all other things. But in the places where tennyo go back and forth, and reside, the places where the heavenly maidens go, there are no torii, and none come to worship.
The comings and goings of the servants of the Gods in Heaven are not the business of Earth.
This particular tennyo served at the pleasure of the Heavenly Mother, Amaterasu no O-Kami, and she took her duty seriously. A demon had come here, come to this beautiful land, her Mother's land, and was destroying it. This was not acceptable. Other demons had come, from China and the lands to the west, but this particular demon was from a place far beyond that, a dirty place. What more, this demon was a corruptor, a possessor of other demons, and was eating away at the demons of Japan, setting them against each other and killing them with alacrity.
Men would not care for the affairs of demons, and would do nothing to stop this creature – at least, not until this demon began to strike at them. This would be in vain, of course, as no human held all the tools to defeat such a thing.
But all things in this land were the business of the Kami, and even demons deserved their assistance, if it meant saving them from a foreign devil.
And so they sent this tennyo, who stood here in this garden, and was charged with several duties. The first was to confront this foreign devil and assess him.
She did this now, staring at the youkai fifty paces from her.
"Asesu," she called.
The creature hesitated. It feared her. It understood she was knowledgeable. It depended on deception, on fooling a stronger demon to kill its host, so that he could possess this new demon. But she understood what it was, and it feared her.
"Bitch," he said.
The tennyo did not smile, though she wanted to.
"You should not have come here, Asesu. You have made some very powerful enemies."
"You can't kill me," it sneered. Though it still feared her, it said this with confidence.
"What makes you think I wish to kill you, Asesu?"
The demon regarded her strangely. In its presence, she could feel its life force, feel it very strongly. She could sense the soul of the inu-youkai, weakened but still struggling. She could tell he had been possessed very recently, perhaps this same day. It would not be able to struggle for long, as she could see the soul becoming trampled by Asesu's will. This youkai, too, would fall to Asesu if she allowed it.
At the same time, she could sense Asesu, sense this dark demon, this creature of smoke and nothingness. She could feel its soul, and though it was terribly dark, there was something in there she recognized. She could tell it was once something very much like her. A servant of a great Kami, a foreign Kami but powerful regardless. She could sense sorrow in it, rejection, a thirst for vengeance.
I see him now, and very clearly. Asesu. A fallen angel. A servant of his Kami, a servant who turned on its master. But his master was a great Kami, and the rebellion was crushed. The insubordinate angels were rounded up. Some were deprived of existence. Some were cast down to Hell. And some were given other punishments. Asesu's punishment was the destruction of his body, leaving him a wandering soul, which can only see through the eyes of men, the creatures he so hated he would take up arms against his Kami to destroy them. But his power was underestimated, for he became a possessor, a controller, and a killer.
The great foreign Kami was foolish to allow such a thing to manifest, and more foolish still to allow such a creature to come here, to The Land Where the Sun Rises, but such a thing shall be forgiven, with the understanding that Asesu is now in the hands of the Heavenly Mother.
And at this moment, the tennyo thought, I am Her hands.
The inu-youkai frowned at her.
"Can you possess other angels, Asesu? Could you possess me, if you tried?"
The inu-youkai grasped the hilt to his blade.
"Of course, you cannot."
The tennyo held her hands out before her, and between them a ball of purifying energy formed. Before the inu-youkai could even draw his blade, the ball struck him in the chest. Glowing energy surrounded him, sparks flew from his fingers and hair, his eyes glowed ghostly yellow, and from them an inky blackness spewed, flowing like oil, forming a ball above his head.
The inu-youkai collapsed, and above him, the black ball roiled and shook, faces forming inside and pressing against its skin, if it could be said to have skin.
The ball shot away, for the barrier around the tennyo's home was surely unbearable when Asesu was without a host. She could sense him escape the barrier, and, very dimly, felt him possess some poor creature thousands of paces away.
She exhaled softly. He was strong. She had hoped the purifying wave would be enough to kill it, but the disappointment was lessened by the fact she was able to save the inu-youkai.
To kill Asesu, she realized, will require more effort than I can muster myself.
The inu-youkai stirred. She remained still, allowing him to get to his feet. He pressed his hands to his face, as if assuring himself his head was still in place, and then looked to her.
It was hard not to blush at his piercing eyes, and though he stared at her for slightly longer than what was polite, she afforded him the opportunity.
"Thank you," he said finally. "That . . . thing possessed me. I could read its mind. If it had followed through with its intent – to kill you with my own hand – I doubt I would have been able to keep my sanity." He shook his head. "I have traveled far, but never have I come across a creature like it."
Startled, she held a hand to her mouth as he bowed deeply to her.
"I am in your debt, my Lady. I beg you, tell me what you desire, in exchange for saving my life, and I shall see it done."
She shook her head. "That is unnecessary. It is my duty to restore balance to my home, and eradicate this foreign devil. I act in the service of the Heavenly Light, and I will take no servant."
He smiled at her, and the smile stirred something within her, something warm and reassuring. The realization came to her that she could trust this youkai.
"If not a servant," he ventured, "then, perhaps a partner?"
His expression remained stately, but there was something coy in it. Did he know what she was?
"A partner?" she said.
I can not defeat Asesu alone.
"A partner," she said again.
Her expression softened.
- - -
Some fifty years passed, and during that time she remained close to home, by the Ametsuchi no Reisen, the Miraculous Spring of Heaven and Earth. The pool was constructed by the servants of the Water God not long after her arrival here, and allowed her to confer with Heaven. A plan was settled during that time, a complicated one, requiring several centuries before its full execution, but tennyo lived very long lives, and this tennyo would see it through.
The inu-youkai she ran into that day, on her first confrontation with Asesu, was known in Heaven, for he was among the most powerful dai-youkai. His uncommon like of humans and unnatural intelligence and kindness made him a very trustworthy accomplice in this plan.
There was only one thing in Heaven or Earth that would appropriately seal away this foreign demon for eternity, and she was long-since dead. Still, she had been a remarkable warrior-priestess, and her spirit remained enshrined in Heaven. To bring her to Earth would require great effort – a life-giving ritual, of extremely rare participants, taking place in the Ametsuchi no Reisen.
The fate-lines were clear, and over those fifty years it was determined that the proper participants would be ready on this day, two centuries hence.
They would perform the ritual beautifully, the Gods knew, but that was not enough. The Ametsuchi no Reisen would not let any man or woman into its depths, even for a purpose as noble as this. For the man and woman to enter the deepest part of the Pool, the part between worlds, there must be something on the other side, calling them. A part of one of their souls must already be between worlds, in limbo.
To be allowed into the Ametsuchi no Reisen, one of them had to die.
It was decided that it was best to wait until Asesu attacked them directly. The man would fight them, and his soul would be broken in two. In a last, desperate effort, his spiritual strength would send away That Which Remembers to the spirit world, to be captured and stored in the Ametsuchi no Reisen, while That Which Is will pass on naturally when his body dies.
Here was a convenience for the Gods: the inu-youkai which volunteered to help her half a century ago held plans to forge a life-giving sword, a Tenseiga, which would return the man's life and return to it That Which Is, sending him on a journey to recover his That Which Remembers. He will, of course, reunite with the woman, and they will both go to a priestess they know well for advice. The tennyo would make sure to place herself in a position where the priestess would have trust in her, so that the priestess would know where to direct the man and woman at that time.
A further convenience: at the time the man dies, he will be in the company of both his son and his former servant. His other son will not be far from them, and he will be carrying the Tenseiga at that time.
All that remained for the tennyo to do – at least, in this century – was to confer with the inu-youkai, to convince him to instruct the servant not to interfere with these events, and to ensure the Tenseiga – a sword strong enough to have its own mind and will – to recognize the man, the houshi that will be known as Miroku, and revive him at the proper time.
With this in mind, the tennyo finished her packing and left her home for the first time in fifty years, walking at a brisk pace toward the Western Lands where the inu-youkai reign.
- - -
The young woman wondered if the other servants of priestesses had such strange and confusing orders.
She didn't complain, for the Miko-dono had been most kind to her. She had nothing, nothing at all except the memories of a dead husband. She could not farm her husband's lands by herself, and rather than accept a marriage of convenience, she fled her home.
When she came to the Miko-dono's hut, she was destitute. But the woman showed her unparalleled kindness, taking her in, allowing her a bath, a decent meal, and the Miko-dono's own clothes. The Miko-dono asked for nothing, instead giving her the choice: continue on her journey, or stay here and live as a servant.
She needn't more than a moment to decide.
Still, it was strange, the things she was told to do. A year ago, she traveled to Musashi's Domain, to seek an old miko named Kaede. She accomplished this, and conversed with the woman as instructed, and made sure to tell Kaede about the Ametsuchi no Reisen, and its power – specificially, that it could restore the shattered soul of a man, so long as he was of great spiritual power, and that the woman with him was willing to suffer a great trial along with him. She made sure that Kaede understood the gravity of this information, that it should not be shared, and never be acted upon unless in the most dire of circumstances.
The girl did not understand much about the Ametsuchi no Reisen, except that her mistress prayed there very often, more so than she expected even a Miko to speak to the Gods. Its power was mystifying to her, but she understood one thing: it could not bring her husband back. Knowing that, she took very little interest in the Miraculous Spring of Heaven and Earth.
This last request was stranger still. She was asked to recover a man, a Buddhist priest, and follow him, making sure he traveled the right direction, and reunited with his group. She did so, meeting him in the village where he died and was revived, and discreetly following him to a village several days northeast. She was by no means a shinobi, but Miko-dono had taught her a few techniques on tracking, and the fact few men expected a woman to be doing something clever or sneaky was to her advantage. She had expected the houshi to notice her, and she kept a close eye on his tracks in case he attempted to double-back, but his abilities as a fighter had clearly suffered from his time in limbo.
She rested against the side of a noodle shop when he saw the houshi confront his friends – the miko and the inu-hanyou – and decided that was proof enough that the houshi would be safe.
She grew tired of walking, and took solace in the fact that this would be the last leg of her journey. She would return to Miko-dono, and report her efforts, and hopefully, sleep for days.
Her stomach growled, and the girl cursed herself for forgetting dinner.
Author's Note: Session Five is the last part of the story, and consists of five chapters.
That means that there are four chapters left in the story, which have been written, are being proofread, and will be posted over the course of two weeks.
In accordance with the prophecy. :o)