Glossary: Uwazouri=Out door sandals, Saiai=Beloved, Aisai=Beloved Wife, Koishii=Dear or Darling, Sofu=Grandfather (affectionate), Kodora=Small Tiger,
A/N: Gomen nasi! Another long chapter. Gomen, it just happened. I got writing and... well, I sort of didn't stop. *_~ Some important explanations at the end of the Chapter... don't peak!
A/N: I still do not have even one picture entered for my KenKao FanArt contest... No artists out there at all?
Haruko: For some reason, the entire fic's format went crazy when I received it. Technology! You think it would've made our life more convenient! But the story, as usual, wasn't altered at all, and still remains as brilliant as ever! Please Review!!!
Chapter Fifteen
Shadows and Spirits of The Past
January 26, 1624
Diary; Alyse de'Angeles
Post-death entry, Senior Estephan de'Angeles
We laid what was left of my beloved sister, Alyse, to rest today in the Earth beneath an old willow tree near the back of the woodland. It was the only place Papa and I could think of that no one would try to exhume her remains and destroy them. We placed no marker for the same reason feeling it would be best that no one save ourselves knew where her body's final destination was.
The tribunal released her remains to us late last evening after what seemed every conceivable exorcism had been performed to prevent her spirit from returning from the dead to wreck havoc and evil upon the heads of those who condemned her to death. I have never seen so
many purportedly stoic and stout of soul men in such fear of their lives as those who remained alive after what happened during my sister's execution yesterday morning. Each of them, including Monsignor Ramone' who was the one to pronounce her sentence and the one who demanded it be carried out. It appears at this time that he will no longer be conducting the Inquisition, and it is not known if he will even be allowed to partake of the Holy Sacrament. There are rumors even now that He, himself, may be the next one to come under investigation because of what occurred during the execution proceedings.
Perhaps what occurred should be recorded for the future, despite the horror and atrocity of the events it may be of great importance to later generations, but it must be known that I take no pleasure in telling this tale. My sister is dead and nothing can be done to bring her back, and her daughter will grow up never knowing what a beautiful and innocent soul her Mother was. For that I have accepted the things Alyse spoke before she died; indeed, I have even embraced them and after Father left her grave side, I did leave a mo-jo buried with her along with the spells and other herbs necessary to protect her resting place from anyone who may even accidentally stumble across it.
She has earned the right to rest in peace, and I will see that she is allowed to do so. And I will raise her child as my own and she will know only the good things about this 'craft' we so studiously and secretly harbor and love. Never again will one of our kind stand on the pier of flames and perish. Never again.
May the Gods forgive me for documenting this terrible event, but it must be kept for the future generations. I believe that now. The day will come when what happened will have a use for good and for right. I pray for those who will have to use what exists here, but I offer this in hopes that it may save the life of an innocent where one such life was so sorely lost here.
It was just passing dawn when the guards brought Alyse out from her cell, dragging her weakened and limp body across the mist coated square while the people who had gathered jeered and shouted foul obscenities at her. Tears were falling down my cheeks before I even realized it, she looked so small and broken, so horribly thin and starved. The apparition they shoved to the ground in front of the Grand Inquisitor looked nothing like my sweet beautiful sister, and all I could do was let my heart cry the anguish my lungs could not.
Her beautiful long black hair was tangled and matted with blood, dirt, and God knows what else, and her once flawless face was covered with bruises, cuts, and filth. The clothes she was wearing were the same ones she had worn the day they took her from the house, and they had become disgusting rags covered with her own excrement, blood from the birth of her baby, and muddy dirt. She was nothing less than abhorrent, and the crowd cruelly vocalized their repulsive opinions as she was vilely placed on display by the two guards who had been assigned to watch her through out her incarceration. They were both laughing and leering like insidious ghouls as they thrust her in front of Monsignor Ramone'. The sight so nauseated me I wanted nothing more than to vomit on all of their heads, but I remained still and watched in silent horror as they continued to humiliate her.
My Father stood beside me throughout and remained completely silent and unmoved. I still do not understand how he was able to do that. He was watching the degradation of his own flesh and blood with absolutely no feeling whatsoever, and I felt a great anger rise within me. It will come between us one day I fear, but for now, my feelings will remain my own until such a time as things need to change. I think I finally understand something about him I had not before. He blames Alyse for this. He blames her for not coming to him sooner when he could have spoken to Senior Margoles, but I fear that would not have changed this matter. Not after I stood in the Judgement Hall and listened to the vile things Lucas preached about my sister. His very actions spoke of the depth of his lie, but the Inquisition was bound to carry out what they had begun. They had gone looking for a witch and found nothing more than a frightened girl, but the Inquisition is never wrong, and when Alyse stood up to Monsignor Ramone' instead of quelling in abject fear, his pride and arrogance sealed her fate. He sentenced her to die for the same reason Lucas tried to accuse her of the witchery, to soothe his wounded ego, and cover up the mistake of his own sins. But Alyse was not yet done with the men of this world.
As she was forced to grovel before them, The Tribunal stood and shouted their judgement of her to the gathering crowd, and as the sentence of 'death by fire' was called out over the throng, great cries of excitement and wild anticipation rose up like a massive wave threatening to drown me in its wake as it crashed down over me. I was weak with my grief as I watched the two men start to drag her away to the large pole buried in the ground, and then, in the twinkling of a moment, everything changed.
That foul bastard, Lucas, burst from the crowd and proceeded to shout at Alyse and spit in her face.
"Damn you, Bruja-whore!" He screamed. "Damn your black soul into everlasting hell!"
And then he slapped her. He slapped her so hard she fell from the hands of the men who held her up, and as she crumpled to the ground, Lucas drove the heavy boot of his foot hard into her belly. I watched in frozen horror as she began retching up a gout of fresh bright blood that spilled out of her mouth and splashed all over his milk colored leather boots. He screamed in anger and was pulling back to kick her again when it happened. One of her dirty pale hands rose and she cried out in a loud, strong voice.
"Do not lay another blow to my body, Lucas Margoles! You have wronged me and mine and for that, it is you who will pay this day... not I."
From where she got the strength is beyond my powers of knowing, but the power of her righteous justice emanated from her and could be felt across the expanse of the entire square. The looks on peoples faces began to change. They changed from sadistic elation to confusion and bewilderment, and then to fear and dread.
Everyone was backing away from her except Lucas. He did not seem to be able to move. Indeed, he seemed to be frozen to spot upon which he stood, and as that knowledge became known to him, his face turned a sickly shade of ashes gray.
"She has me in her spells," He cried out in a terrified voice. "She is trying to steal my very soul... can't you see this... she is trying to claim my soul as her own before she dies... Help ME!
SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!"
His panic was pitiful, and his fear even more so as I watched in awe and wonder as the abused and neglected creature that was my beloved sister struggled, but finally rose to its feet and face him. Her once beautiful earthy brown eyes glowed an iridescent and unholy red, and as they looked upon the vileness that was her once-betrothed, Lucas dissolved into heaving sobs and wet himself.
"Please... please, don't..." He fell to his knees and began to beg her, pleading with her to spare him from her righteous wrath. "Alyse... beloved..." But his pleas fell on deaf ears. She was beyond feeling or caring. They, these men, had murdered all of those emotions within her when they stole her life and her child. She was becoming an avenging angel before my eyes... and she was a terrible thing to behold.
"Let not the name 'Beloved' fall from your unworthy lips thou unholy creature of Earth and Hell. Look upon my face and know me, Lucas Margoles, for my eyes will be the last your ever see." Jerkily she raised both hands in front of her palms up, and then began speaking again in a voice I had never heard. It was a terrible frightening voice. It was the voice of Justice. "For your sins against the innocent you shall suffer the pain you inflicted upon my soul tenfold... and you will know the agonies of the death and degradation you so eagerly wished upon me to cover the stain of your own sin."
"No..." He was whimpering like a baby and reaching for her but she just leaned over and spit on his head.
"I WISH YOU DEAD, LUCAS MARGOLES... I WISH YOU DEAD AND ROTTING WITH WORMS AND MAGGOTS GORGING THEMSELVES UPON YOUR PUTRID FLESH..."
"Noooooo....."
"DIE FATHER OF LIES... DIE BROTHER OF DEMONS... DIE AND PAY FOR YOUR SINS AGAINST THE INNOCENT... DIE, AND MAY YOUR SOUL ROT IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!"
Suddenly a great screaming cry exploded from Lucas and he began writhing and squirming upon the ground at Alyse's feet. Scream upon scream sliced though the stunned air over the square while the crowd watched in horror as a living man was swiftly disintegrated into nothing more than a foul mass of wriggling worms and steaming entrails. He had rotted away one layer of flesh at a time before their disbelieving eyes until now all that remained was the sum of his excrement and the stench of it filling the air.
That is when the screaming and panic spread into the crowd and they began to run trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the 'Bruja' that had cursed a man before their very eyes.
The Tribunal was crying out for the guards to be-head her before she cursed someone else, but one look from the burning coals glowing in her eyes and the both of them burst into flaming torches that suddenly exploded into flying burning body parts that rained blood and ash down upon the terror-stricken audience further fueling their crazed flight. I watched as a wry smile curved her swollen lips and for a moment I thought she was going to kill them all, but then she turned toward the spluttering stunned members of the Tribunal, and once more, the great power of Justice rang out across the misty square turned chaotic killing field and passed sentence on those who had accused her unjustly.
"HEAR ME, OH PIOUS LORDS AND MINIONS , HEAR ME OH YE WHO ARE GUILTY OF THE LIES AND DEVILRY THAT BRING PAIN AND DEATH TO THOSE WHO ARE DEFENSELESS AND CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES... I CONDEMN EACH OF YOU TO A FATE FITTING THE DEEDS YOU HAVE WROUGHT UPON THE INNOCENT VICTIMS WHO HAVE BEEN TORTURED AND FORCED TO THEIR DEATHS. BE YE EACH PUNISHED,I SAY... BE YE PUNISHED BEFORE GOD FOR YOUR LIES AND TREACHERIES!"
Suddenly beside the Dias Father Capuano and Midwife Setera both fell to the ground screaming out in agony as they writhed and clutched at their vitals. Each began vomiting blood as they convulsed and screamed in pain. Then, in a burst of bloody tissue and liquid, Father Capuano's eyes exploded from his face leaving gapping bloody holes where they had been, and Midwife Setera's belly blew itself open exposing her steaming entrails to the chilled morning air while her shriveled womb was seemingly torn free and thrown into a hysterical Monsignor Ramone's lap. Both, it seemed, died fittingly in regards to their duties to the Inquistor's and their 'trials by evidence.'
Father Capuano lost his eyes for claiming to 'see' and 'know' what he knew to be false, where as Midwife Setera was deprived of that which made her a woman for all of the young mother's she had help send to the flames.
Alyse was exacting justice just as it spoke of in the Holy Bible. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... she punished them for being what they were, and for what they had done to her and so many others before her.
They all died. Lucas, the guards who had tormented and abused her for all those long months, the Priest, the Midwife... everyone who had spoken against her... everyone except Monsignor Ramone. He was left with the dead midwife's bloody womb setting in his lap as a gory reminder of the deed he had done. He had condemned an innocent woman to die in the place of a by far more guilty man... and he had known it. The womb marked him as a murderer of innocents, and as he continued to scream for someone to kill 'the Bruja', Alyse stumbled over next to the Dias and spoke to him. I do not know what she said to Monsignor Ramone, but when she was finished, he slumped white-faced in his great chair of office his crazed eyes staring blankly ahead, and my sister... My beautiful, powerful sister crumpled at his feet. She was dead.
No one dared touch her and she was left where she had fallen until my Father and I were finally called to come and take her away. The only thing that had been done to her had occurred after the last exorcism to release her demon spirit was performed. Her hands had been cut off and burned. The rest of her was left for us to do with whatever we wished. I still do not understand the reasoning for burning her hands. Her power resided in her heart and her soul. Her hands had little to nothing to do with it.
Be that as it may, the Church seemed to believe that this would keep her from 'coming' back to play havoc with the remaining members of the Tribunal. I still see it as a foolish action, but then so is purifying a soul by burning the body.
As I have written this, I have placed within these pages of Alyse's diary the essence of all of the love I felt for her as well as the hope that tragedy such as this will never again strike at the heart of our family. For on the day that despair rises within the blood of de'Angeles, so will the Angel Avenger come to set a right that which has gone wrong.
Signed,
Senior Estephan de'Angeles
For my sister, Senioretta Alyse de'Angeles, and her daughter, Christana. May all things lost be found and brought back into the light. You are missed, nin~a. I pray God holds you tenderly to his heart, for I no longer can.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Uncle Aoshi?" The quiet tentative voice of the youngest Himura floated upon the chilled evening breeze and gently tickled the meditating ninja's ever alert senses. He had chosen a small alcove outside of the Saitou home in which to be by himself and contemplate the happenings of recent days, and it appeared now, he was no longer alone.
"Hai, Kenji-san?" One jade crystal opened a slit and observed the nervous teen as he ventured a step closer.
"May I speak with you?"
"You have questions... about what happened to your Father today, and about 'your'monster, Hai?"
"Yes, I do. Can we speak? Or... or am I interrupting?" So much like his Father, Aoshi thought as he watched the brilliant red hair catching the limelight of the hovering moon as the boy bowed his head in respectful submission. "I can wait until you are in a more... receptive position if you would rather."
"Ne, Kenji-san. Come. Sit. Many things need to be explained, and it appears I am the one who needs to do the explaining." Aoshi waved an elegant hand in front of him and then waited while the younger man seated himself. Once comfortable, Kenji raised his worried face and locked gazes with his powerful Uncle easily feeling the amazing energy that emanated from the man. It always felt like he was being swallowed by the magnificence of a great warm ocean whenever he was around this unique often wise man, and somehow it always made him feel better like he could make sense out of whatever was bothering him.
"Uncle..." He began in a low confusion riddled voice. "What did happen to Otousan today? I have never seen his eyes change to such a color before. What I mean is... I have seen them glow golden when his ki is alive, or when he is particularly angry, or... but this was almost like it was not even my Otousan. His voice was even different sounding." Troubled aqua-green crystals lowered for a moment and then rose to search Aoshi's emotionless face. "Am I wrong? Or did I see what I thought I saw? Otousan was... someone else."
"Hai, you are very observant young one, that you are. What else did you notice about your Father while we were all talking?"
"He... he was so cold... so unemotional. I felt a little frightened by it, but... Okaasan, she was not frightened or concerned at all. She was just looking at me as if it were something I was just
supposed to accept and understand... but I do not understand it at all. Why would she feel that way?"
"She knows your Father better than anyone else, and so perhaps to her, it is something you should just understand and accept as part of who he is."
"But why? I do not understand. What happened to him? His... his ki even felt different... It was so... hot. It burned me when I 'touched' it, and it made me 'burn' too. I-I could feel it." A look
of bewilderment crossed his fine features and Kenji was silent for a moment before he looked back into his Uncle's intent gaze. "I have never felt like 'that' before... that 'hot'."
"It disturbs you?" Aoshi watched his nephew closely trying to pick up the reason the youth was so troubled. "Why does it trouble you so, Kenji-san? You have inherited part of your Father's ki, and in order for you to truly feel it and its natural energies, it will burn."
"It will?" Aqua-green iris's opened wide as the young swordsman tried to understand 'that' statement but found it all just too confusing. "What do you mean 'it will burn'? Will it hurt me?"
"What do you know about your Father's ki, Kenji-san?" Aoshi leaned back and looked intently into his nephews confused face. "What have you learned about your Father's gifts while growing up with him and being around him?"
"I... I don't know what you are asking me, Uncle."
"You know the story about the White Warrior now, Hai?"
"Yes, I know it, but what..." Kenji's face took on the look of one who was getting tired of being fed the same old rhetoric, but Aoshi cut him off before he could finish.
"Your Father is the Spirit of Fire, Kenji-san... also the Spirit of The Tiger. You carry part of his soul and his blood within you. If you touch that part, or if he touches it, it will burn, young one, and if you are your Father's son... it will burn very bright and very HOT." He watched while the fiery haired young man digested that information and found himself surprised at how quickly Kenji seemed to accept it as truth considering his level of confusion.
"I suppose it would make a lot of things make more sense if I better understood just what 'my' Otousan's ki really is, wouldn't it?" Aqua-green crystals fringed with glowing amber turned and stared out into the darkness beyond the alcove Aoshi had chosen to meditate inside of. "Quii and I were looking at and talking to the Battousai and not my Otousan today... weren't we, Uncle Aoshi?" The young man's voice sounded far off and faraway as he finally let himself speak what his heart had refused to accept.
"Hai, Kodora... The Battousai is the fiercest part of your Father's ki and the source of his greatest heat and power. He is the Warrior that lives within your Father's deepest soul." Aoshi reached out a comforting hand and placed it on the young swordsman's shoulder. "For many years the Battousai stood for all of the things that Warriors both pride in themselves and despise. But, in his later years... after he met your Mother, the Battousai changed... his soul changed. He was no longer the cold blooded assassin of the Bakumatsu. He became a crusader of truth and justice, and his sword was given to protect those who could not protect themselves."
"Hai, I have heard this before, Uncle." An exasperated sigh escaped the young man leaving a puff of steam in the cool night air and he was once more looking out into the night. Why did everything always seem to lead back to the Battousai and his neverending quest for peace? And why...
"You have... ?" Aoshi was slightly affronted that someone had beaten him to this explanation. "From whom?"
"Soujiro, Yahiko... even Sofu... they have all tried to tell me how a murderer's soul can change and he can become a better man... a man who values life instead of taking it without thought or conscience."
"And have you believed them?"
"I... I..." Kenji turned to meet Aoshi's clear jade eyes once more and then dropped his eyes as he shook his head. "I do not know... Part of me believes it, and part of me... part of me is just so confused by all of this it is not sure what to think."
"Awwww, confusion... confusion I understand, Kodora." Aoshi patted the shoulder he held and then allowed a small chuckle to rasp free of his throat. "We all dealt with plenty of that in the old days when this whole thing started."
"Started? What exactly do you mean, 'when it started'?" Kenji raised his face and pierced his uncle with an intense glare that slightly surprised the older ninja. "I think there is something I need to know, Hai? Uncle Aoshi?"
"Hai... There is." A deep sigh lifted the lanky ninja's shoulders. "But, tell me... are you prepared to hear what 'that' is, Kodora? Are you prepared to listen and believe what I am going to tell you no matter how strange or insane it sounds?"
Kenji stared at his uncle in trepidation as the meaning of those words sank into his mind. Was he ready to believe that which was not believable? Could he shoulder that burden... "Hai, I am prepared."
"All right. Then listen to me, my young one, and prepare your soul for battle to come, because very soon you will face the trial of your life."
"Hai, hai... I have heard this too, Uncle... will just please tell me what the hell is going on?" Kenji's frustration was to the overflow point and he was on the verge of saying something extremely disrespectful if he did not start getting some answers.
It was quite easy for Aoshi to sense the young mans irritation, and he narrowed his eyes until they were mere slits as he took in the annoyed face of his young nephew. Perhaps it was time to just tell him the truth. After all, had it not been this difficult for all of them when they had to face the fact that Evil could exist side by side with Good within and without the Ethereal plane, and that there were planes of existence that could co-exist at the same time occupying the same space? Yes, he was no better prepared than any of them had been when they faced the trials... and he was no worse either.
"All right, Kodora... The 'monster-creature' you and Quii-san described to your Father and I... we have seen it before."
"I sort of gathered that much for myself..." The teenager smirked at the irritation that flashed across the ninja's usually bland features. "I heard you both call it 'The Bane'. What is a Bane and where did it come from? You must know if you have seen It before."
"Hai, I know something about it... at least about this particular creature." Aoshi took a deep breath and rested his hands on his knees as he prepared to unleash his knowledge into his 'brother's' son's mind. He prayed he did it well. "A Bane, Kodora, is an apparition created by black magic and other evil powers being used to manipulate the body of a human host into a creature of incredible strength, appetite, speed, and ferocity. It is such a strong creature because of the magick, that it is very difficult to kill... unless you know what you are doing."
"You mean it is not real?"
"Oh ne, ne, Kenji-san... The Bane is very real... very, very real. But when we met it during our fight with Acuma, it was the destructive manifestation of an actual living person. What it is now is... something altogether different." Aoshi's voice trailed off and now he became the one to stare off into the night shadow with lines of deep concern etching into the planes of his face.
"Different?" Kenji cast a sideways glance of apprehensive dread at his uncle. "What do you mean? How is it different?"
"The person who was the Bane's human host is..." Aoshi paused and drew a breath meeting the narrowing aqua-green orbs that were now staring at him in dire expectation. "She is dead."
"She?" The whisper left Kenji's lips in a hiss of denial. "She... Oh Kami-sama... you cannot possibly mean..."
"Elsbeth de'Angeles..." Aoshi watched as horror and denial began to battle in Kenji's eyes.
"God no...."
"Your brother's Mother, Kenji-san. It was your brother's Mother. She created the Bane out of her own black magick and the dark powers given to her by Acuma. She was host, yet the Bane was also HER. Your Father cut off Elsbeth de'Angeles head 15 years ago while she was in human form, and we believed the Bane died with her... Obviously, it did not... at least, not entirely."
"But, how... How can this be?"
"We are not sure how it is possible, but from what I have been able to glean from your Mother, your Father, and sweet Kuumi... when you and your brother crossed blades and ki's, something happened between you. A great surge of negative power that 'opened' some sort of a door within the eclectic plane and it let the Bane come back through into this world from where ever it had been."
"A door? How could Chri-stan and I open a 'door'?" The thin dark brown brows pulled together in deep thought. "I remember how our ki's clashed together... it was like being hit by the exact same amount of force from myself, but... different. I do not know how to explain it, Uncle Aoshi... It was like fighting myself, but not."
"Your Father explained it very well."
"He did?"
"Hai. Your ki's are incompatible... they are complete opposite energy sources from each other. Like a Ying and a Yang. Light and Dark."
"Good and Evil?" Kenji searched Aoshi's face hoping that that particular comparison would not be true.
"Perhaps, but I personally do not believe your brother is inherently bad or evil. On the contrary, it would seem to me that he is a product of his parents just the same as you are a product of yours."
"Nani?" Now Kenji looked even more confused than he had at any other time during his conversation with the wise ninja.
"You are the sum of the combination of your Father and Mother's ki energies. You carry within you pieces of each of them, and that sum of their gifts to you makes you the individual you are and provides to you the unique power that is yours alone. It is the same for your brother."
"But Chri-stan's Mother was pure evil, Uncle Aoshi. Does that not make him half evil?"
"Ne, Kenji-san. Elsbeth was not evil when she was with your Father... only ambitious and slightly selfish. But I believe she truly loved Himura Kenshin at the time your brother was conceived. The evil was something that happened to her later."
"So, how does 'who' she is affect my brother's ki? I am very confused."
"Your brother is the son of a mighty Samurai and a very powerful witch. The blood flowing in his veins contains the power and magick of two very different types of energy and it has made him very strong. That is why you felt he was 'equal' to you. There is not one among any of us who can stand beside you and the power of your true ki, Kenji-san. Not even your Father."
"I am not that strong, Uncle. I am not..." Kenji was shaking his head in emphatic denial, but once more Aoshi cut him off.
"But you are, Kodora. You were born the 'Beloved'."
"The Beloved?" Innocent eyes grew wide with bewilderment as the name rolled off his own tongue. "What does that mean? The 'Beloved'? No one has ever said that before. No one."
"The power of 'The Hand of Fire' brought your soul into this world, young one... the mark of its passing stands for all to behold within the yard of your very own home."
"The Cherry tree... the marks on the ground... Kami... what does it mean, Uncle?"
"It means, Kodora, that there is naught that can stand before you and not whither beneath the power of your sword. You are the 'Beloved' who is blessed with the power of the White Flame."
"But, I..."
"You have already felt the 'Power', Kodora... inside the 'alley'... when you saved Quii-san from the Bane. Do you remember?"
"I...." Flashes of memory raced through his mind as he recalled his urgency to reach his mate and save her from certain death, Kenji began to remember something that he had done that he never recalled doing before. He had ran up the alley using his God-like speed to carry him, but somehow he knew he was not going to make it in time... he would be too late, and that was when he...
The memory of the blinding white light that had somehow jumped from his chest into his hands... the surge of burning power that had rushed through his body sending him through the air faster than God-like speed could have ever carried him... and the crushing strength in the blow he delivered upon the Bane as he slammed the flat blade of his Katana into its flying body...
Eyes cast the shades of green and golden-blue opened and Aoshi could read the knowledge within their glittering depths, and as the intensity of that gaze settled upon him, the ninja sucked in a breath of astonishment as the pure power of 'The Beloved's' soul reached out and touched him.
"You remember..." His voice was barely a whisper as he met and locked gazes with the powerful warrior in front of him. "And you know... don't you, Kodora? You know..."
"Hai, Uncle..." The Beloved's voice was low, harmonious, almost musical as it wove a pattern of golden light between the two men. "I know."
"What are you prepared to do now that you know and understand, Kodora?" Aoshi could feel himself being inexorably drawn toward the glow of the golden-blue lanterns that watched him so patiently now. "Tell me what you need me to do?"
"Teach me, Uncle..." The first tickling fingers of Kenji's ki began to slip around Aoshi's glacial mind as the young Warrior leaned into the older man's powerful ki. "Teach me how to find my brother. Show me how to 'feel' with my mind... I am the only one who can find him, and you are the only one who can teach me how to glide between the planes of the world to seek him out."
"Hai... I am that. And you are right, young one... only you can find your brother, for he is the other half of your soul. If he dies, so will a part of you that can never be replaced, and it will leave a hole that you will never be able to fill."
"My will to live will die? Hai?" The musical tones of The Beloved whirled around Aoshi's head as he prepared himself to do something he had not done in more than 15 years.
"Hai, Kodora... and you will waste away until you are naught but dust in the wind and ashes upon the ground."
"Then teach me... help me find him. Even now I can hear his voice in my head and feel his pain upon my flesh... I cannot let him die."
"Then open your mind, Kenji-san. Open your mind, and I will show you the way."
"I will." And the glowing lanterns closed as the youth bowed his head and settled himself into a comfortable meditation pose. "I am ready."
"I am coming... wait for me, Kenji-san. Wait for me." The stoic ninja bowed his head and let all though slide free from his mind as he reached out and found the well-worn pathway to his inner soul. Once his feet were firmly upon the shimmering silver string that led to the center of his most powerful gift, Aoshi offered a fervent prayer to Kami-sama to give him the strength to 'teach' a mind that could very well tear his to shreds with a single flex of its enormous energy source, and then he leaned into the core of himself and became the Spirit of The Sea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaoru'san," Quii quietly approached the dark-haired woman where she sat kneeling next to her sister, Kuumi, and when those huge clear blue eyes looked up to acknowledge her, she carefully continued. "I cannot find Kenji. It seems he has disappeared... again." An embarrassed smile touched her bow shaped mouth as the hint of a blush rose to stain her cheeks.
'My, my... but she has changed since bonding with Kenji.' Kaoru looked closely at the young girl noticing how the unmistakable light of her newly blossomed ki was bringing out the natural gold in her topaz eyes. 'Pretty,' She thought. 'And strong... stronger than I was I think...' "I think he may be outside with Aoshi-sama... that is the last place I saw him headed, but that was nearly an hour ago."
"Where was that? Didn't Uncle Aoshi go 'outside'?" The note of alarm in her voice sounded more like the old Quii and it brought quick smiles to both of the other women's faces. That was one thing about that girl, she did not like being cold, or getting cold unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
"Why are you looking for him, Koishii?" Kaoru reached up and tugged the girl down onto the floor beside her. "He is just fine, you know? Neither one of you seem the worse for wear after coming up face to face with... well, with THAT thing. In fact, I think you faired extremely well."
"For a brat."
"Kuumi!" Kaoru turned and laughingly chided the older girl for her ill-placed barb, but one look into the shimmering blue-green eyes of the dark-haired telepath reassured her that it was only a small amount of sisterly teasing.
"What Auntie Kaoru?" Kuumi shrugged delicately and then smiled at her smirking sister. "She is a brat."
"Perhaps, but we need not dwell on the fact, need we?" Kaoru could not help but giggle a little at the pair of sisters. They reminded her of herself and Misao when they were that same age, and, as if on cue, the other woman waltzed breezily into the room her long black braid swinging behind her.
"Hey everybody," She chirped in her ever cheerful voice. "What's going on? A hen party? And you didn't even tell me? Kaoru?" Misao plopped down beside Quii making the circle complete as she glared mock daggers at her best friend. "I thought we made a deal?"
"What deal?" The squeak in Kaoru's voice gave her away. She was very nearly ready to burst into laughter. "I do not recall any deal?"
"Oh, how soon the old forget." Misao's voice was as breezy as her personality, but the insult did not go unnoticed.
"OLD??" Kaoru screeched and pounced on the younger woman like a cat on its lunch. "I'll show you whose 'old'." She snarled and began wrestling with her giggling counterpart as they rolled across the floor in a tangle of red and purple silk.
"What on Earth... Kaoru!" Kenshin's violet eyes were huge as he took in the unladylike display of the two women, and the guffawing teenagers were not being helpful at all as he tried to sound authoritative. "You two stop that this instant!" 'Good Lord,' He thought. 'I sound like I am talking to a couple of children... hmmmmm, well...' A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he turned to cast a look of 'Oh well' at his companion who was having difficulties of her own trying not to give in to the laughter pressing against her diaphragm.
"Himura-san," Tokio leaned over to Kenshin and spoke behind her hand as if she were imparting some great secret. "Should we not find a way to separate them before they actually hurt each other?"
"Where would the fun in that be, Tokio-san." The wicked gleam in Kenshin's eyes was the last blow to the chestnut-haired woman's composure and she burst into a roll of feminine giggles which brought the gapping faces of both her daughters in her direction.
"Okaa? Are you laughing?" Kuumi watched as her mother desperately tried to hide the smile and swallow the giggles in the face of her daughter's accusation, but it was a futile effort and Tokio finally just gave up and joined the girls on the floor to watch the spectacle.
"I think I'll go get some noodles or something," Kenshin said with a sarcastic smile spreading across his face. "This could last a while."
It felt good to laugh, even if it was over something as foolish as Kaoru's pride and Misao's ill placed sense of humor. It still felt good, and as he limped to the kitchen, Kenshin found himself wishing there would be many more days of laughter yet to come. He paused in front of the cupboard, standing still as he asked himself why he would even think that there would not be happy days yet to share with his family? But he knew the answer even before he let his mind touch it.
"Elsbeth..." A sigh of resignation shifted through him as he put his bowl back on the counter and let himself wonder about the future even as he remembered the past. "Why? Why now? Why here? What is the reasoning for all of this to be?" His voice was a soft fluttering like butterfly wings as he murmured his concerns to himself. "How will we do battle this time with something that does not have a soul? How do you kill something that is made of magick?" Long strands of red hair swung over his shoulder and draped along his arm as he shook his head in dismay. So many questions and so few answers. Everything depended upon Kenji this time... not him. He did not even know if he would be able to help his son in this battle, or if he was even meant too.
"Help him be strong, Kami-sama." Kenshin prayed as he envisioned the beloved face of his youngest son. "Help him be stronger than I ever was... Give him peace, knowledge, and the understanding to use what he knows to see him through. But most of all, give him the strength of spirit to release his ki, and the power of mind to control it. For it will be what saves him... and Chri-stan." A tear slowly traced a thin place of moisture over the cross scar on Kenhin's left cheek as his let his thoughts turn to his other son. "Please God..." He was pleading and he knew it, and as he looked upward at the ceiling willing his words to be heard, a great twisting pain wracked his heart as grief over whelmed him. "Save my innocent son from the Evil that binds him so tight... save them both. There is no more room for my heart to break again, Kami-sama... I will lose my will and my desire to live should either of my son's perish. I fear even the love of my Beloved Aisai would not be able to heal such a wound as that... and the Demon who threatens the lives of my son's knows this as well. Help them, Kami-sama. Give them the strength and the will to help each other break free, and let them come home to this poor man's heart."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It felt like sliding through a lake of ice... so cold, so clear, so pure. Kenji moaned within himself as the shimmering glacial spirit of his uncle, Shinomori Aoshi, descended through the fog of his mind and began molding itself to his thoughts... his feelings... his very soul.
He could see colors of every kind opening up around him like the brilliant feathers of a great bird and his mind marveled at the pure beauty of a power so rich, so incandescent, so full of life and movement. The smooth cool hands of a wintery breeze seemed to lift him up, and he could feel himself floating within his own mind, yet... he was no longer alone. All around him shimmering and flowing like a rainbow of rivers was the essence of the Spirit of The Sea.
'Where are you?' The thoughts of his mind boomed around him like a great voice crashing down from the heavens and he found himself cringing from his own greatness. 'Uncle...'
'I am here, Young Sword.'
The mind that was 'Kenji' turned and turned within the haven of icy color and flowing water searching for the source of the familiar voice that floated like the gentle wash of a spring rain upon his hyper sensitive ears. 'I... where...' Enormous golden-blue gems blinked open and found themselves suspended high in a golden sky of swirling amber and iridescent reds and oranges.
Anxiously they looked down and saw nothing but the endless infinity of shimmering gold, and suddenly he was afraid.
'Uncle Aoshi?' It was a cry of panic. A cry of fear. A call for reassurance.
'I am here beside you.'
'B-but I cannot see you... where are you?' Again the great voice of his own spirit boomed inside of his mind and the untried soul winced. 'I am alone!'
'Ne, Young Sword.' Calm. Cool. The hand reached outward from some unknown place and the golden-blue gems blinked in astonishment. 'Come, take my hand and you will not be alone.'
'But how... where are my hands?' Once more the voice echoed loud and imposing despite its' tone of panic. 'I do not have a body... where is my body?'
'Reach for my hand, Kodora, and you will see.' Aoshi's voice remained its even toned reassurance as he felt the rising fear in the youths spirit. 'Reach...' He said again.
'I-I do not know how.'
'Yes, you do, Kodora... now, REACH for me. Reach with the hands of your mind, and come to me.'
Confusion. Fear. Apprehension.
'REACH KENJI! REACH FOR ME!' The order was loud, fierce, almost angry and Kenji was struck startled by it. He had never heard his Uncle use that tone of voice before... ever, and it urged him forward into an action he had never attempted before.
Himura Kenji reached out toward the glowing hand that lay suspended within the infinity of swirling amber-gold and tried to imagine his hand grasping it. A loud astonished gasp echoed withing the golden mindscape as he watched that hand suddenly materialize before him floating in the same way. Focusing his concentration, Kenji leaned into the 'hand' and reached for his Uncle.
They came together. They closed around each other, and Kenji 'felt' the power of his Uncle's watery ki as it pulled him through the amber nothingness and into the world of the midnight sky. He gazed around him in awe struck wonderment as his astonished eyes soaked in the miracles around him.
Stars... millions upon millions of stars twinkled and glittered both above and below his feet, and Kenji was all but speechless with magnificence. 'Where are we?' He asked, noticing at once that his 'mind voice' was much quieter, much softer, more tolerable.
'The World between World's, Young Sword.' Kenji turned and gazed in deep respect at the tall lithe man who stood next to him. Aoshi was dressed in a long white yukata and uwazouri. Around his neck hung a jewel that glowed an iridescent green, and it seemed to be pulsing with the beat of his heart.
Pointing at the stone, he asked. 'What is that?'
'It is the essence of my spirit, Young Sword. Have you not noticed you have one as well?'
'I do?' The tone of surprise in the younger man's voice brought a smile of genuine mirth to the stoic ninja's thin lips, and a small chuckle rippled from his throat as he watched the youth examining his 'Spirit Essence' which was a pure brilliant white with outer golden edges. It too, pulsed with the beat of its bearers heart. 'Does Otousan have one? And Soujiro and Yahiko... And Sofu and Uncle Saitou?' To the absolute surprise of the red-haired 'spirit', the tall ninja burst into loud rolling laughter.
'Of course, Young Sword. Everyone has a 'Spirit Essence', but only those few of us who know how to reach the 'Plane of Stars' have ever seen them.' Jade eyes danced merrily as they watched the joy of new understanding dawn in the golden-blue orbs, their green outer rims glowing richly in the dark of the starscape.
'Has Otousan ever been here? To the 'Plane of Stars'?'
'No, The Battousai has never had the need to come, only those who must learn to 'search' are brought here, Young Sword. Not all 'Spirits' are meant to be searchers.'
'Am I a 'searcher'?'
'Hai. You must search for the bonding sting.'
'Bonding string?' Once more confusion came to color the musical voice of The Beloved as he struggled to understand what the wise ninja was trying to tell him. 'What is a bonding string?'
'It is that which links two or more souls together and makes them one.'
'I... Is that how I can feel my brother?'
'Hai. It is also what binds you to your Father, and your brother to him as well.'
'All three of us are bound by the same string?' Wide bewildered eyes blinked in stunned understanding as the young man considered the implications of being bound to both his brother AND his Father. 'Does that mean we cannot live without each other? Any of us?'
'Hai. Should you or your brother die, it would destroy your Father, and eventually the surviving brother just as I told you before.' A comforting hand reached out and squeezed the trembling shoulder. 'It is up to you to find the 'bonding string' that links your soul to theirs. That is the only way you will be able to find your brother.'
Kenji looked out across the endless starscape trying to make sense of the strange things his Uncle was trying to teach him. The silence within his mind was comforting for a moment, but far below, faraway he could still hear the sobbing cries of Christian's tortured mind pulling at his soul. 'He is not Evil... He is simply the son of a Witch and it is her magick inside of him that makes him different. Every soul can change if given the chance... If the soul is loved unconditionally and accepted without reservation, it can change its' path and become something more than it was in the beginning.'
'Hai.' Aoshi nodded in agreement with the wise words coming from such a young soul.
'No one has ever loved him, Uncle Aoshi. No one has ever accepted him or wanted him. He has been alone his entire life, and what that has done to him is not his fault.'
'No, Young Sword. It is not.'
'He is part of my soul. I can 'feel' him pulling on me. He calls my name, and begs me to come for him. I do not know if he is even aware of what he is doing because his mind is so chaotic and confused. He just keeps calling me. Somehow, he knows too, doesn't he?'
'So it would seem. The soul is a powerful thing, Young Sword. More powerful than any of us can imagine or conceive, and you and Chri-stan are the off-spring of one of the most powerful souls I have ever encountered in my life. Your Father is the strongest man I have ever known... In spirit, in soul, and in heart. He would walk through the fires of Hell to save you... and your brother.'
"Tell me how to find him, Uncle. Show me..." Kenji's brilliant eyes were full of unshed tears as he looked up into the saddened face of the tall ninja beside him. 'Show me what I must look for and help me. Help me find the way.'
'Hai, Young Sword... we will look together.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Explanation– why is Aoshi calling Kenji 'Young Sword'? If we all refer back to the original chapter 'Born in The Flames' we can recall all of the names that the 'Hand of Fire' gave to The Beloved. And, in case no one has noticed, I have used several of them throughout the story as Kenji discovers things about himself, or we discover things about him. But, be that as it may, His given name is 'The Beloved', but just as Kenshin was known as the 'White Warrior', the 'Elemental Warrior', and 'Mother Earth's Flaming Sword'; so is Kenji known by many names. The least of which not being, 'The Sword of Lightning and Fire'. He is yet to 'become' himself, and since Aoshi just always seems to 'know' everything before anyone else does (How does he do that??), he understands 'who' and 'what' Kenji is, and is giving him the respect he feels the young man has earned by addressing him 'formally' by part of his 'Title'. Whew! I hope that made sense.
Please read and review.
As always, God bless. Kanzen ne Tsuki
A/N: Gomen nasi! Another long chapter. Gomen, it just happened. I got writing and... well, I sort of didn't stop. *_~ Some important explanations at the end of the Chapter... don't peak!
A/N: I still do not have even one picture entered for my KenKao FanArt contest... No artists out there at all?
Haruko: For some reason, the entire fic's format went crazy when I received it. Technology! You think it would've made our life more convenient! But the story, as usual, wasn't altered at all, and still remains as brilliant as ever! Please Review!!!
Chapter Fifteen
Shadows and Spirits of The Past
January 26, 1624
Diary; Alyse de'Angeles
Post-death entry, Senior Estephan de'Angeles
We laid what was left of my beloved sister, Alyse, to rest today in the Earth beneath an old willow tree near the back of the woodland. It was the only place Papa and I could think of that no one would try to exhume her remains and destroy them. We placed no marker for the same reason feeling it would be best that no one save ourselves knew where her body's final destination was.
The tribunal released her remains to us late last evening after what seemed every conceivable exorcism had been performed to prevent her spirit from returning from the dead to wreck havoc and evil upon the heads of those who condemned her to death. I have never seen so
many purportedly stoic and stout of soul men in such fear of their lives as those who remained alive after what happened during my sister's execution yesterday morning. Each of them, including Monsignor Ramone' who was the one to pronounce her sentence and the one who demanded it be carried out. It appears at this time that he will no longer be conducting the Inquisition, and it is not known if he will even be allowed to partake of the Holy Sacrament. There are rumors even now that He, himself, may be the next one to come under investigation because of what occurred during the execution proceedings.
Perhaps what occurred should be recorded for the future, despite the horror and atrocity of the events it may be of great importance to later generations, but it must be known that I take no pleasure in telling this tale. My sister is dead and nothing can be done to bring her back, and her daughter will grow up never knowing what a beautiful and innocent soul her Mother was. For that I have accepted the things Alyse spoke before she died; indeed, I have even embraced them and after Father left her grave side, I did leave a mo-jo buried with her along with the spells and other herbs necessary to protect her resting place from anyone who may even accidentally stumble across it.
She has earned the right to rest in peace, and I will see that she is allowed to do so. And I will raise her child as my own and she will know only the good things about this 'craft' we so studiously and secretly harbor and love. Never again will one of our kind stand on the pier of flames and perish. Never again.
May the Gods forgive me for documenting this terrible event, but it must be kept for the future generations. I believe that now. The day will come when what happened will have a use for good and for right. I pray for those who will have to use what exists here, but I offer this in hopes that it may save the life of an innocent where one such life was so sorely lost here.
It was just passing dawn when the guards brought Alyse out from her cell, dragging her weakened and limp body across the mist coated square while the people who had gathered jeered and shouted foul obscenities at her. Tears were falling down my cheeks before I even realized it, she looked so small and broken, so horribly thin and starved. The apparition they shoved to the ground in front of the Grand Inquisitor looked nothing like my sweet beautiful sister, and all I could do was let my heart cry the anguish my lungs could not.
Her beautiful long black hair was tangled and matted with blood, dirt, and God knows what else, and her once flawless face was covered with bruises, cuts, and filth. The clothes she was wearing were the same ones she had worn the day they took her from the house, and they had become disgusting rags covered with her own excrement, blood from the birth of her baby, and muddy dirt. She was nothing less than abhorrent, and the crowd cruelly vocalized their repulsive opinions as she was vilely placed on display by the two guards who had been assigned to watch her through out her incarceration. They were both laughing and leering like insidious ghouls as they thrust her in front of Monsignor Ramone'. The sight so nauseated me I wanted nothing more than to vomit on all of their heads, but I remained still and watched in silent horror as they continued to humiliate her.
My Father stood beside me throughout and remained completely silent and unmoved. I still do not understand how he was able to do that. He was watching the degradation of his own flesh and blood with absolutely no feeling whatsoever, and I felt a great anger rise within me. It will come between us one day I fear, but for now, my feelings will remain my own until such a time as things need to change. I think I finally understand something about him I had not before. He blames Alyse for this. He blames her for not coming to him sooner when he could have spoken to Senior Margoles, but I fear that would not have changed this matter. Not after I stood in the Judgement Hall and listened to the vile things Lucas preached about my sister. His very actions spoke of the depth of his lie, but the Inquisition was bound to carry out what they had begun. They had gone looking for a witch and found nothing more than a frightened girl, but the Inquisition is never wrong, and when Alyse stood up to Monsignor Ramone' instead of quelling in abject fear, his pride and arrogance sealed her fate. He sentenced her to die for the same reason Lucas tried to accuse her of the witchery, to soothe his wounded ego, and cover up the mistake of his own sins. But Alyse was not yet done with the men of this world.
As she was forced to grovel before them, The Tribunal stood and shouted their judgement of her to the gathering crowd, and as the sentence of 'death by fire' was called out over the throng, great cries of excitement and wild anticipation rose up like a massive wave threatening to drown me in its wake as it crashed down over me. I was weak with my grief as I watched the two men start to drag her away to the large pole buried in the ground, and then, in the twinkling of a moment, everything changed.
That foul bastard, Lucas, burst from the crowd and proceeded to shout at Alyse and spit in her face.
"Damn you, Bruja-whore!" He screamed. "Damn your black soul into everlasting hell!"
And then he slapped her. He slapped her so hard she fell from the hands of the men who held her up, and as she crumpled to the ground, Lucas drove the heavy boot of his foot hard into her belly. I watched in frozen horror as she began retching up a gout of fresh bright blood that spilled out of her mouth and splashed all over his milk colored leather boots. He screamed in anger and was pulling back to kick her again when it happened. One of her dirty pale hands rose and she cried out in a loud, strong voice.
"Do not lay another blow to my body, Lucas Margoles! You have wronged me and mine and for that, it is you who will pay this day... not I."
From where she got the strength is beyond my powers of knowing, but the power of her righteous justice emanated from her and could be felt across the expanse of the entire square. The looks on peoples faces began to change. They changed from sadistic elation to confusion and bewilderment, and then to fear and dread.
Everyone was backing away from her except Lucas. He did not seem to be able to move. Indeed, he seemed to be frozen to spot upon which he stood, and as that knowledge became known to him, his face turned a sickly shade of ashes gray.
"She has me in her spells," He cried out in a terrified voice. "She is trying to steal my very soul... can't you see this... she is trying to claim my soul as her own before she dies... Help ME!
SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!"
His panic was pitiful, and his fear even more so as I watched in awe and wonder as the abused and neglected creature that was my beloved sister struggled, but finally rose to its feet and face him. Her once beautiful earthy brown eyes glowed an iridescent and unholy red, and as they looked upon the vileness that was her once-betrothed, Lucas dissolved into heaving sobs and wet himself.
"Please... please, don't..." He fell to his knees and began to beg her, pleading with her to spare him from her righteous wrath. "Alyse... beloved..." But his pleas fell on deaf ears. She was beyond feeling or caring. They, these men, had murdered all of those emotions within her when they stole her life and her child. She was becoming an avenging angel before my eyes... and she was a terrible thing to behold.
"Let not the name 'Beloved' fall from your unworthy lips thou unholy creature of Earth and Hell. Look upon my face and know me, Lucas Margoles, for my eyes will be the last your ever see." Jerkily she raised both hands in front of her palms up, and then began speaking again in a voice I had never heard. It was a terrible frightening voice. It was the voice of Justice. "For your sins against the innocent you shall suffer the pain you inflicted upon my soul tenfold... and you will know the agonies of the death and degradation you so eagerly wished upon me to cover the stain of your own sin."
"No..." He was whimpering like a baby and reaching for her but she just leaned over and spit on his head.
"I WISH YOU DEAD, LUCAS MARGOLES... I WISH YOU DEAD AND ROTTING WITH WORMS AND MAGGOTS GORGING THEMSELVES UPON YOUR PUTRID FLESH..."
"Noooooo....."
"DIE FATHER OF LIES... DIE BROTHER OF DEMONS... DIE AND PAY FOR YOUR SINS AGAINST THE INNOCENT... DIE, AND MAY YOUR SOUL ROT IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!"
Suddenly a great screaming cry exploded from Lucas and he began writhing and squirming upon the ground at Alyse's feet. Scream upon scream sliced though the stunned air over the square while the crowd watched in horror as a living man was swiftly disintegrated into nothing more than a foul mass of wriggling worms and steaming entrails. He had rotted away one layer of flesh at a time before their disbelieving eyes until now all that remained was the sum of his excrement and the stench of it filling the air.
That is when the screaming and panic spread into the crowd and they began to run trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the 'Bruja' that had cursed a man before their very eyes.
The Tribunal was crying out for the guards to be-head her before she cursed someone else, but one look from the burning coals glowing in her eyes and the both of them burst into flaming torches that suddenly exploded into flying burning body parts that rained blood and ash down upon the terror-stricken audience further fueling their crazed flight. I watched as a wry smile curved her swollen lips and for a moment I thought she was going to kill them all, but then she turned toward the spluttering stunned members of the Tribunal, and once more, the great power of Justice rang out across the misty square turned chaotic killing field and passed sentence on those who had accused her unjustly.
"HEAR ME, OH PIOUS LORDS AND MINIONS , HEAR ME OH YE WHO ARE GUILTY OF THE LIES AND DEVILRY THAT BRING PAIN AND DEATH TO THOSE WHO ARE DEFENSELESS AND CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES... I CONDEMN EACH OF YOU TO A FATE FITTING THE DEEDS YOU HAVE WROUGHT UPON THE INNOCENT VICTIMS WHO HAVE BEEN TORTURED AND FORCED TO THEIR DEATHS. BE YE EACH PUNISHED,I SAY... BE YE PUNISHED BEFORE GOD FOR YOUR LIES AND TREACHERIES!"
Suddenly beside the Dias Father Capuano and Midwife Setera both fell to the ground screaming out in agony as they writhed and clutched at their vitals. Each began vomiting blood as they convulsed and screamed in pain. Then, in a burst of bloody tissue and liquid, Father Capuano's eyes exploded from his face leaving gapping bloody holes where they had been, and Midwife Setera's belly blew itself open exposing her steaming entrails to the chilled morning air while her shriveled womb was seemingly torn free and thrown into a hysterical Monsignor Ramone's lap. Both, it seemed, died fittingly in regards to their duties to the Inquistor's and their 'trials by evidence.'
Father Capuano lost his eyes for claiming to 'see' and 'know' what he knew to be false, where as Midwife Setera was deprived of that which made her a woman for all of the young mother's she had help send to the flames.
Alyse was exacting justice just as it spoke of in the Holy Bible. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... she punished them for being what they were, and for what they had done to her and so many others before her.
They all died. Lucas, the guards who had tormented and abused her for all those long months, the Priest, the Midwife... everyone who had spoken against her... everyone except Monsignor Ramone. He was left with the dead midwife's bloody womb setting in his lap as a gory reminder of the deed he had done. He had condemned an innocent woman to die in the place of a by far more guilty man... and he had known it. The womb marked him as a murderer of innocents, and as he continued to scream for someone to kill 'the Bruja', Alyse stumbled over next to the Dias and spoke to him. I do not know what she said to Monsignor Ramone, but when she was finished, he slumped white-faced in his great chair of office his crazed eyes staring blankly ahead, and my sister... My beautiful, powerful sister crumpled at his feet. She was dead.
No one dared touch her and she was left where she had fallen until my Father and I were finally called to come and take her away. The only thing that had been done to her had occurred after the last exorcism to release her demon spirit was performed. Her hands had been cut off and burned. The rest of her was left for us to do with whatever we wished. I still do not understand the reasoning for burning her hands. Her power resided in her heart and her soul. Her hands had little to nothing to do with it.
Be that as it may, the Church seemed to believe that this would keep her from 'coming' back to play havoc with the remaining members of the Tribunal. I still see it as a foolish action, but then so is purifying a soul by burning the body.
As I have written this, I have placed within these pages of Alyse's diary the essence of all of the love I felt for her as well as the hope that tragedy such as this will never again strike at the heart of our family. For on the day that despair rises within the blood of de'Angeles, so will the Angel Avenger come to set a right that which has gone wrong.
Signed,
Senior Estephan de'Angeles
For my sister, Senioretta Alyse de'Angeles, and her daughter, Christana. May all things lost be found and brought back into the light. You are missed, nin~a. I pray God holds you tenderly to his heart, for I no longer can.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Uncle Aoshi?" The quiet tentative voice of the youngest Himura floated upon the chilled evening breeze and gently tickled the meditating ninja's ever alert senses. He had chosen a small alcove outside of the Saitou home in which to be by himself and contemplate the happenings of recent days, and it appeared now, he was no longer alone.
"Hai, Kenji-san?" One jade crystal opened a slit and observed the nervous teen as he ventured a step closer.
"May I speak with you?"
"You have questions... about what happened to your Father today, and about 'your'monster, Hai?"
"Yes, I do. Can we speak? Or... or am I interrupting?" So much like his Father, Aoshi thought as he watched the brilliant red hair catching the limelight of the hovering moon as the boy bowed his head in respectful submission. "I can wait until you are in a more... receptive position if you would rather."
"Ne, Kenji-san. Come. Sit. Many things need to be explained, and it appears I am the one who needs to do the explaining." Aoshi waved an elegant hand in front of him and then waited while the younger man seated himself. Once comfortable, Kenji raised his worried face and locked gazes with his powerful Uncle easily feeling the amazing energy that emanated from the man. It always felt like he was being swallowed by the magnificence of a great warm ocean whenever he was around this unique often wise man, and somehow it always made him feel better like he could make sense out of whatever was bothering him.
"Uncle..." He began in a low confusion riddled voice. "What did happen to Otousan today? I have never seen his eyes change to such a color before. What I mean is... I have seen them glow golden when his ki is alive, or when he is particularly angry, or... but this was almost like it was not even my Otousan. His voice was even different sounding." Troubled aqua-green crystals lowered for a moment and then rose to search Aoshi's emotionless face. "Am I wrong? Or did I see what I thought I saw? Otousan was... someone else."
"Hai, you are very observant young one, that you are. What else did you notice about your Father while we were all talking?"
"He... he was so cold... so unemotional. I felt a little frightened by it, but... Okaasan, she was not frightened or concerned at all. She was just looking at me as if it were something I was just
supposed to accept and understand... but I do not understand it at all. Why would she feel that way?"
"She knows your Father better than anyone else, and so perhaps to her, it is something you should just understand and accept as part of who he is."
"But why? I do not understand. What happened to him? His... his ki even felt different... It was so... hot. It burned me when I 'touched' it, and it made me 'burn' too. I-I could feel it." A look
of bewilderment crossed his fine features and Kenji was silent for a moment before he looked back into his Uncle's intent gaze. "I have never felt like 'that' before... that 'hot'."
"It disturbs you?" Aoshi watched his nephew closely trying to pick up the reason the youth was so troubled. "Why does it trouble you so, Kenji-san? You have inherited part of your Father's ki, and in order for you to truly feel it and its natural energies, it will burn."
"It will?" Aqua-green iris's opened wide as the young swordsman tried to understand 'that' statement but found it all just too confusing. "What do you mean 'it will burn'? Will it hurt me?"
"What do you know about your Father's ki, Kenji-san?" Aoshi leaned back and looked intently into his nephews confused face. "What have you learned about your Father's gifts while growing up with him and being around him?"
"I... I don't know what you are asking me, Uncle."
"You know the story about the White Warrior now, Hai?"
"Yes, I know it, but what..." Kenji's face took on the look of one who was getting tired of being fed the same old rhetoric, but Aoshi cut him off before he could finish.
"Your Father is the Spirit of Fire, Kenji-san... also the Spirit of The Tiger. You carry part of his soul and his blood within you. If you touch that part, or if he touches it, it will burn, young one, and if you are your Father's son... it will burn very bright and very HOT." He watched while the fiery haired young man digested that information and found himself surprised at how quickly Kenji seemed to accept it as truth considering his level of confusion.
"I suppose it would make a lot of things make more sense if I better understood just what 'my' Otousan's ki really is, wouldn't it?" Aqua-green crystals fringed with glowing amber turned and stared out into the darkness beyond the alcove Aoshi had chosen to meditate inside of. "Quii and I were looking at and talking to the Battousai and not my Otousan today... weren't we, Uncle Aoshi?" The young man's voice sounded far off and faraway as he finally let himself speak what his heart had refused to accept.
"Hai, Kodora... The Battousai is the fiercest part of your Father's ki and the source of his greatest heat and power. He is the Warrior that lives within your Father's deepest soul." Aoshi reached out a comforting hand and placed it on the young swordsman's shoulder. "For many years the Battousai stood for all of the things that Warriors both pride in themselves and despise. But, in his later years... after he met your Mother, the Battousai changed... his soul changed. He was no longer the cold blooded assassin of the Bakumatsu. He became a crusader of truth and justice, and his sword was given to protect those who could not protect themselves."
"Hai, I have heard this before, Uncle." An exasperated sigh escaped the young man leaving a puff of steam in the cool night air and he was once more looking out into the night. Why did everything always seem to lead back to the Battousai and his neverending quest for peace? And why...
"You have... ?" Aoshi was slightly affronted that someone had beaten him to this explanation. "From whom?"
"Soujiro, Yahiko... even Sofu... they have all tried to tell me how a murderer's soul can change and he can become a better man... a man who values life instead of taking it without thought or conscience."
"And have you believed them?"
"I... I..." Kenji turned to meet Aoshi's clear jade eyes once more and then dropped his eyes as he shook his head. "I do not know... Part of me believes it, and part of me... part of me is just so confused by all of this it is not sure what to think."
"Awwww, confusion... confusion I understand, Kodora." Aoshi patted the shoulder he held and then allowed a small chuckle to rasp free of his throat. "We all dealt with plenty of that in the old days when this whole thing started."
"Started? What exactly do you mean, 'when it started'?" Kenji raised his face and pierced his uncle with an intense glare that slightly surprised the older ninja. "I think there is something I need to know, Hai? Uncle Aoshi?"
"Hai... There is." A deep sigh lifted the lanky ninja's shoulders. "But, tell me... are you prepared to hear what 'that' is, Kodora? Are you prepared to listen and believe what I am going to tell you no matter how strange or insane it sounds?"
Kenji stared at his uncle in trepidation as the meaning of those words sank into his mind. Was he ready to believe that which was not believable? Could he shoulder that burden... "Hai, I am prepared."
"All right. Then listen to me, my young one, and prepare your soul for battle to come, because very soon you will face the trial of your life."
"Hai, hai... I have heard this too, Uncle... will just please tell me what the hell is going on?" Kenji's frustration was to the overflow point and he was on the verge of saying something extremely disrespectful if he did not start getting some answers.
It was quite easy for Aoshi to sense the young mans irritation, and he narrowed his eyes until they were mere slits as he took in the annoyed face of his young nephew. Perhaps it was time to just tell him the truth. After all, had it not been this difficult for all of them when they had to face the fact that Evil could exist side by side with Good within and without the Ethereal plane, and that there were planes of existence that could co-exist at the same time occupying the same space? Yes, he was no better prepared than any of them had been when they faced the trials... and he was no worse either.
"All right, Kodora... The 'monster-creature' you and Quii-san described to your Father and I... we have seen it before."
"I sort of gathered that much for myself..." The teenager smirked at the irritation that flashed across the ninja's usually bland features. "I heard you both call it 'The Bane'. What is a Bane and where did it come from? You must know if you have seen It before."
"Hai, I know something about it... at least about this particular creature." Aoshi took a deep breath and rested his hands on his knees as he prepared to unleash his knowledge into his 'brother's' son's mind. He prayed he did it well. "A Bane, Kodora, is an apparition created by black magic and other evil powers being used to manipulate the body of a human host into a creature of incredible strength, appetite, speed, and ferocity. It is such a strong creature because of the magick, that it is very difficult to kill... unless you know what you are doing."
"You mean it is not real?"
"Oh ne, ne, Kenji-san... The Bane is very real... very, very real. But when we met it during our fight with Acuma, it was the destructive manifestation of an actual living person. What it is now is... something altogether different." Aoshi's voice trailed off and now he became the one to stare off into the night shadow with lines of deep concern etching into the planes of his face.
"Different?" Kenji cast a sideways glance of apprehensive dread at his uncle. "What do you mean? How is it different?"
"The person who was the Bane's human host is..." Aoshi paused and drew a breath meeting the narrowing aqua-green orbs that were now staring at him in dire expectation. "She is dead."
"She?" The whisper left Kenji's lips in a hiss of denial. "She... Oh Kami-sama... you cannot possibly mean..."
"Elsbeth de'Angeles..." Aoshi watched as horror and denial began to battle in Kenji's eyes.
"God no...."
"Your brother's Mother, Kenji-san. It was your brother's Mother. She created the Bane out of her own black magick and the dark powers given to her by Acuma. She was host, yet the Bane was also HER. Your Father cut off Elsbeth de'Angeles head 15 years ago while she was in human form, and we believed the Bane died with her... Obviously, it did not... at least, not entirely."
"But, how... How can this be?"
"We are not sure how it is possible, but from what I have been able to glean from your Mother, your Father, and sweet Kuumi... when you and your brother crossed blades and ki's, something happened between you. A great surge of negative power that 'opened' some sort of a door within the eclectic plane and it let the Bane come back through into this world from where ever it had been."
"A door? How could Chri-stan and I open a 'door'?" The thin dark brown brows pulled together in deep thought. "I remember how our ki's clashed together... it was like being hit by the exact same amount of force from myself, but... different. I do not know how to explain it, Uncle Aoshi... It was like fighting myself, but not."
"Your Father explained it very well."
"He did?"
"Hai. Your ki's are incompatible... they are complete opposite energy sources from each other. Like a Ying and a Yang. Light and Dark."
"Good and Evil?" Kenji searched Aoshi's face hoping that that particular comparison would not be true.
"Perhaps, but I personally do not believe your brother is inherently bad or evil. On the contrary, it would seem to me that he is a product of his parents just the same as you are a product of yours."
"Nani?" Now Kenji looked even more confused than he had at any other time during his conversation with the wise ninja.
"You are the sum of the combination of your Father and Mother's ki energies. You carry within you pieces of each of them, and that sum of their gifts to you makes you the individual you are and provides to you the unique power that is yours alone. It is the same for your brother."
"But Chri-stan's Mother was pure evil, Uncle Aoshi. Does that not make him half evil?"
"Ne, Kenji-san. Elsbeth was not evil when she was with your Father... only ambitious and slightly selfish. But I believe she truly loved Himura Kenshin at the time your brother was conceived. The evil was something that happened to her later."
"So, how does 'who' she is affect my brother's ki? I am very confused."
"Your brother is the son of a mighty Samurai and a very powerful witch. The blood flowing in his veins contains the power and magick of two very different types of energy and it has made him very strong. That is why you felt he was 'equal' to you. There is not one among any of us who can stand beside you and the power of your true ki, Kenji-san. Not even your Father."
"I am not that strong, Uncle. I am not..." Kenji was shaking his head in emphatic denial, but once more Aoshi cut him off.
"But you are, Kodora. You were born the 'Beloved'."
"The Beloved?" Innocent eyes grew wide with bewilderment as the name rolled off his own tongue. "What does that mean? The 'Beloved'? No one has ever said that before. No one."
"The power of 'The Hand of Fire' brought your soul into this world, young one... the mark of its passing stands for all to behold within the yard of your very own home."
"The Cherry tree... the marks on the ground... Kami... what does it mean, Uncle?"
"It means, Kodora, that there is naught that can stand before you and not whither beneath the power of your sword. You are the 'Beloved' who is blessed with the power of the White Flame."
"But, I..."
"You have already felt the 'Power', Kodora... inside the 'alley'... when you saved Quii-san from the Bane. Do you remember?"
"I...." Flashes of memory raced through his mind as he recalled his urgency to reach his mate and save her from certain death, Kenji began to remember something that he had done that he never recalled doing before. He had ran up the alley using his God-like speed to carry him, but somehow he knew he was not going to make it in time... he would be too late, and that was when he...
The memory of the blinding white light that had somehow jumped from his chest into his hands... the surge of burning power that had rushed through his body sending him through the air faster than God-like speed could have ever carried him... and the crushing strength in the blow he delivered upon the Bane as he slammed the flat blade of his Katana into its flying body...
Eyes cast the shades of green and golden-blue opened and Aoshi could read the knowledge within their glittering depths, and as the intensity of that gaze settled upon him, the ninja sucked in a breath of astonishment as the pure power of 'The Beloved's' soul reached out and touched him.
"You remember..." His voice was barely a whisper as he met and locked gazes with the powerful warrior in front of him. "And you know... don't you, Kodora? You know..."
"Hai, Uncle..." The Beloved's voice was low, harmonious, almost musical as it wove a pattern of golden light between the two men. "I know."
"What are you prepared to do now that you know and understand, Kodora?" Aoshi could feel himself being inexorably drawn toward the glow of the golden-blue lanterns that watched him so patiently now. "Tell me what you need me to do?"
"Teach me, Uncle..." The first tickling fingers of Kenji's ki began to slip around Aoshi's glacial mind as the young Warrior leaned into the older man's powerful ki. "Teach me how to find my brother. Show me how to 'feel' with my mind... I am the only one who can find him, and you are the only one who can teach me how to glide between the planes of the world to seek him out."
"Hai... I am that. And you are right, young one... only you can find your brother, for he is the other half of your soul. If he dies, so will a part of you that can never be replaced, and it will leave a hole that you will never be able to fill."
"My will to live will die? Hai?" The musical tones of The Beloved whirled around Aoshi's head as he prepared himself to do something he had not done in more than 15 years.
"Hai, Kodora... and you will waste away until you are naught but dust in the wind and ashes upon the ground."
"Then teach me... help me find him. Even now I can hear his voice in my head and feel his pain upon my flesh... I cannot let him die."
"Then open your mind, Kenji-san. Open your mind, and I will show you the way."
"I will." And the glowing lanterns closed as the youth bowed his head and settled himself into a comfortable meditation pose. "I am ready."
"I am coming... wait for me, Kenji-san. Wait for me." The stoic ninja bowed his head and let all though slide free from his mind as he reached out and found the well-worn pathway to his inner soul. Once his feet were firmly upon the shimmering silver string that led to the center of his most powerful gift, Aoshi offered a fervent prayer to Kami-sama to give him the strength to 'teach' a mind that could very well tear his to shreds with a single flex of its enormous energy source, and then he leaned into the core of himself and became the Spirit of The Sea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kaoru'san," Quii quietly approached the dark-haired woman where she sat kneeling next to her sister, Kuumi, and when those huge clear blue eyes looked up to acknowledge her, she carefully continued. "I cannot find Kenji. It seems he has disappeared... again." An embarrassed smile touched her bow shaped mouth as the hint of a blush rose to stain her cheeks.
'My, my... but she has changed since bonding with Kenji.' Kaoru looked closely at the young girl noticing how the unmistakable light of her newly blossomed ki was bringing out the natural gold in her topaz eyes. 'Pretty,' She thought. 'And strong... stronger than I was I think...' "I think he may be outside with Aoshi-sama... that is the last place I saw him headed, but that was nearly an hour ago."
"Where was that? Didn't Uncle Aoshi go 'outside'?" The note of alarm in her voice sounded more like the old Quii and it brought quick smiles to both of the other women's faces. That was one thing about that girl, she did not like being cold, or getting cold unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
"Why are you looking for him, Koishii?" Kaoru reached up and tugged the girl down onto the floor beside her. "He is just fine, you know? Neither one of you seem the worse for wear after coming up face to face with... well, with THAT thing. In fact, I think you faired extremely well."
"For a brat."
"Kuumi!" Kaoru turned and laughingly chided the older girl for her ill-placed barb, but one look into the shimmering blue-green eyes of the dark-haired telepath reassured her that it was only a small amount of sisterly teasing.
"What Auntie Kaoru?" Kuumi shrugged delicately and then smiled at her smirking sister. "She is a brat."
"Perhaps, but we need not dwell on the fact, need we?" Kaoru could not help but giggle a little at the pair of sisters. They reminded her of herself and Misao when they were that same age, and, as if on cue, the other woman waltzed breezily into the room her long black braid swinging behind her.
"Hey everybody," She chirped in her ever cheerful voice. "What's going on? A hen party? And you didn't even tell me? Kaoru?" Misao plopped down beside Quii making the circle complete as she glared mock daggers at her best friend. "I thought we made a deal?"
"What deal?" The squeak in Kaoru's voice gave her away. She was very nearly ready to burst into laughter. "I do not recall any deal?"
"Oh, how soon the old forget." Misao's voice was as breezy as her personality, but the insult did not go unnoticed.
"OLD??" Kaoru screeched and pounced on the younger woman like a cat on its lunch. "I'll show you whose 'old'." She snarled and began wrestling with her giggling counterpart as they rolled across the floor in a tangle of red and purple silk.
"What on Earth... Kaoru!" Kenshin's violet eyes were huge as he took in the unladylike display of the two women, and the guffawing teenagers were not being helpful at all as he tried to sound authoritative. "You two stop that this instant!" 'Good Lord,' He thought. 'I sound like I am talking to a couple of children... hmmmmm, well...' A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he turned to cast a look of 'Oh well' at his companion who was having difficulties of her own trying not to give in to the laughter pressing against her diaphragm.
"Himura-san," Tokio leaned over to Kenshin and spoke behind her hand as if she were imparting some great secret. "Should we not find a way to separate them before they actually hurt each other?"
"Where would the fun in that be, Tokio-san." The wicked gleam in Kenshin's eyes was the last blow to the chestnut-haired woman's composure and she burst into a roll of feminine giggles which brought the gapping faces of both her daughters in her direction.
"Okaa? Are you laughing?" Kuumi watched as her mother desperately tried to hide the smile and swallow the giggles in the face of her daughter's accusation, but it was a futile effort and Tokio finally just gave up and joined the girls on the floor to watch the spectacle.
"I think I'll go get some noodles or something," Kenshin said with a sarcastic smile spreading across his face. "This could last a while."
It felt good to laugh, even if it was over something as foolish as Kaoru's pride and Misao's ill placed sense of humor. It still felt good, and as he limped to the kitchen, Kenshin found himself wishing there would be many more days of laughter yet to come. He paused in front of the cupboard, standing still as he asked himself why he would even think that there would not be happy days yet to share with his family? But he knew the answer even before he let his mind touch it.
"Elsbeth..." A sigh of resignation shifted through him as he put his bowl back on the counter and let himself wonder about the future even as he remembered the past. "Why? Why now? Why here? What is the reasoning for all of this to be?" His voice was a soft fluttering like butterfly wings as he murmured his concerns to himself. "How will we do battle this time with something that does not have a soul? How do you kill something that is made of magick?" Long strands of red hair swung over his shoulder and draped along his arm as he shook his head in dismay. So many questions and so few answers. Everything depended upon Kenji this time... not him. He did not even know if he would be able to help his son in this battle, or if he was even meant too.
"Help him be strong, Kami-sama." Kenshin prayed as he envisioned the beloved face of his youngest son. "Help him be stronger than I ever was... Give him peace, knowledge, and the understanding to use what he knows to see him through. But most of all, give him the strength of spirit to release his ki, and the power of mind to control it. For it will be what saves him... and Chri-stan." A tear slowly traced a thin place of moisture over the cross scar on Kenhin's left cheek as his let his thoughts turn to his other son. "Please God..." He was pleading and he knew it, and as he looked upward at the ceiling willing his words to be heard, a great twisting pain wracked his heart as grief over whelmed him. "Save my innocent son from the Evil that binds him so tight... save them both. There is no more room for my heart to break again, Kami-sama... I will lose my will and my desire to live should either of my son's perish. I fear even the love of my Beloved Aisai would not be able to heal such a wound as that... and the Demon who threatens the lives of my son's knows this as well. Help them, Kami-sama. Give them the strength and the will to help each other break free, and let them come home to this poor man's heart."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It felt like sliding through a lake of ice... so cold, so clear, so pure. Kenji moaned within himself as the shimmering glacial spirit of his uncle, Shinomori Aoshi, descended through the fog of his mind and began molding itself to his thoughts... his feelings... his very soul.
He could see colors of every kind opening up around him like the brilliant feathers of a great bird and his mind marveled at the pure beauty of a power so rich, so incandescent, so full of life and movement. The smooth cool hands of a wintery breeze seemed to lift him up, and he could feel himself floating within his own mind, yet... he was no longer alone. All around him shimmering and flowing like a rainbow of rivers was the essence of the Spirit of The Sea.
'Where are you?' The thoughts of his mind boomed around him like a great voice crashing down from the heavens and he found himself cringing from his own greatness. 'Uncle...'
'I am here, Young Sword.'
The mind that was 'Kenji' turned and turned within the haven of icy color and flowing water searching for the source of the familiar voice that floated like the gentle wash of a spring rain upon his hyper sensitive ears. 'I... where...' Enormous golden-blue gems blinked open and found themselves suspended high in a golden sky of swirling amber and iridescent reds and oranges.
Anxiously they looked down and saw nothing but the endless infinity of shimmering gold, and suddenly he was afraid.
'Uncle Aoshi?' It was a cry of panic. A cry of fear. A call for reassurance.
'I am here beside you.'
'B-but I cannot see you... where are you?' Again the great voice of his own spirit boomed inside of his mind and the untried soul winced. 'I am alone!'
'Ne, Young Sword.' Calm. Cool. The hand reached outward from some unknown place and the golden-blue gems blinked in astonishment. 'Come, take my hand and you will not be alone.'
'But how... where are my hands?' Once more the voice echoed loud and imposing despite its' tone of panic. 'I do not have a body... where is my body?'
'Reach for my hand, Kodora, and you will see.' Aoshi's voice remained its even toned reassurance as he felt the rising fear in the youths spirit. 'Reach...' He said again.
'I-I do not know how.'
'Yes, you do, Kodora... now, REACH for me. Reach with the hands of your mind, and come to me.'
Confusion. Fear. Apprehension.
'REACH KENJI! REACH FOR ME!' The order was loud, fierce, almost angry and Kenji was struck startled by it. He had never heard his Uncle use that tone of voice before... ever, and it urged him forward into an action he had never attempted before.
Himura Kenji reached out toward the glowing hand that lay suspended within the infinity of swirling amber-gold and tried to imagine his hand grasping it. A loud astonished gasp echoed withing the golden mindscape as he watched that hand suddenly materialize before him floating in the same way. Focusing his concentration, Kenji leaned into the 'hand' and reached for his Uncle.
They came together. They closed around each other, and Kenji 'felt' the power of his Uncle's watery ki as it pulled him through the amber nothingness and into the world of the midnight sky. He gazed around him in awe struck wonderment as his astonished eyes soaked in the miracles around him.
Stars... millions upon millions of stars twinkled and glittered both above and below his feet, and Kenji was all but speechless with magnificence. 'Where are we?' He asked, noticing at once that his 'mind voice' was much quieter, much softer, more tolerable.
'The World between World's, Young Sword.' Kenji turned and gazed in deep respect at the tall lithe man who stood next to him. Aoshi was dressed in a long white yukata and uwazouri. Around his neck hung a jewel that glowed an iridescent green, and it seemed to be pulsing with the beat of his heart.
Pointing at the stone, he asked. 'What is that?'
'It is the essence of my spirit, Young Sword. Have you not noticed you have one as well?'
'I do?' The tone of surprise in the younger man's voice brought a smile of genuine mirth to the stoic ninja's thin lips, and a small chuckle rippled from his throat as he watched the youth examining his 'Spirit Essence' which was a pure brilliant white with outer golden edges. It too, pulsed with the beat of its bearers heart. 'Does Otousan have one? And Soujiro and Yahiko... And Sofu and Uncle Saitou?' To the absolute surprise of the red-haired 'spirit', the tall ninja burst into loud rolling laughter.
'Of course, Young Sword. Everyone has a 'Spirit Essence', but only those few of us who know how to reach the 'Plane of Stars' have ever seen them.' Jade eyes danced merrily as they watched the joy of new understanding dawn in the golden-blue orbs, their green outer rims glowing richly in the dark of the starscape.
'Has Otousan ever been here? To the 'Plane of Stars'?'
'No, The Battousai has never had the need to come, only those who must learn to 'search' are brought here, Young Sword. Not all 'Spirits' are meant to be searchers.'
'Am I a 'searcher'?'
'Hai. You must search for the bonding sting.'
'Bonding string?' Once more confusion came to color the musical voice of The Beloved as he struggled to understand what the wise ninja was trying to tell him. 'What is a bonding string?'
'It is that which links two or more souls together and makes them one.'
'I... Is that how I can feel my brother?'
'Hai. It is also what binds you to your Father, and your brother to him as well.'
'All three of us are bound by the same string?' Wide bewildered eyes blinked in stunned understanding as the young man considered the implications of being bound to both his brother AND his Father. 'Does that mean we cannot live without each other? Any of us?'
'Hai. Should you or your brother die, it would destroy your Father, and eventually the surviving brother just as I told you before.' A comforting hand reached out and squeezed the trembling shoulder. 'It is up to you to find the 'bonding string' that links your soul to theirs. That is the only way you will be able to find your brother.'
Kenji looked out across the endless starscape trying to make sense of the strange things his Uncle was trying to teach him. The silence within his mind was comforting for a moment, but far below, faraway he could still hear the sobbing cries of Christian's tortured mind pulling at his soul. 'He is not Evil... He is simply the son of a Witch and it is her magick inside of him that makes him different. Every soul can change if given the chance... If the soul is loved unconditionally and accepted without reservation, it can change its' path and become something more than it was in the beginning.'
'Hai.' Aoshi nodded in agreement with the wise words coming from such a young soul.
'No one has ever loved him, Uncle Aoshi. No one has ever accepted him or wanted him. He has been alone his entire life, and what that has done to him is not his fault.'
'No, Young Sword. It is not.'
'He is part of my soul. I can 'feel' him pulling on me. He calls my name, and begs me to come for him. I do not know if he is even aware of what he is doing because his mind is so chaotic and confused. He just keeps calling me. Somehow, he knows too, doesn't he?'
'So it would seem. The soul is a powerful thing, Young Sword. More powerful than any of us can imagine or conceive, and you and Chri-stan are the off-spring of one of the most powerful souls I have ever encountered in my life. Your Father is the strongest man I have ever known... In spirit, in soul, and in heart. He would walk through the fires of Hell to save you... and your brother.'
"Tell me how to find him, Uncle. Show me..." Kenji's brilliant eyes were full of unshed tears as he looked up into the saddened face of the tall ninja beside him. 'Show me what I must look for and help me. Help me find the way.'
'Hai, Young Sword... we will look together.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Explanation– why is Aoshi calling Kenji 'Young Sword'? If we all refer back to the original chapter 'Born in The Flames' we can recall all of the names that the 'Hand of Fire' gave to The Beloved. And, in case no one has noticed, I have used several of them throughout the story as Kenji discovers things about himself, or we discover things about him. But, be that as it may, His given name is 'The Beloved', but just as Kenshin was known as the 'White Warrior', the 'Elemental Warrior', and 'Mother Earth's Flaming Sword'; so is Kenji known by many names. The least of which not being, 'The Sword of Lightning and Fire'. He is yet to 'become' himself, and since Aoshi just always seems to 'know' everything before anyone else does (How does he do that??), he understands 'who' and 'what' Kenji is, and is giving him the respect he feels the young man has earned by addressing him 'formally' by part of his 'Title'. Whew! I hope that made sense.
Please read and review.
As always, God bless. Kanzen ne Tsuki