Disclaimer: Kohana, Momo, Piaoliang Feng, Shen Yuan, Naraku, An Hua, Ayame and Ruri are my characters. The personalities and looks of the new seishi are mine.
Red Wings of Fate
Chapter 15: Fate's Hand
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
~Conversations between twins~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After a tense dinner, the fourteen seishi went into a large meeting room to discuss Naraku.
"So do you really expect us to believe you have a way to rescues the priestesses?" Tamahome was sitting across the table from Ashitare.
"Believe what you want, Bird boy." Ashitare smirked.
When Tamahome started to stand up, Miboshi glared at them both. "Enough. We don't have time to argue. Every moment counts here." Tamahome sat back down. "That's better. Now as we all know, Naraku has trapped Momo and Kohana's souls in her mirror. I've heard that long ago, Naraku's sister created a counter spell that would undo what her spell had done. Unfortunately, the spell has been lost for a very long time."
"Why can't we just break the mirror?" Tasuki twirled her hair on her finger. "Seems like less work."
"Do you think we could get the mirror away from her? It doesn't seem possible to me. It seems like a part of her." Amiboshi sighed.
"Could we find the spell somewhere? It might be written down somewhere, persevered by some crazy monks or something." Tomo suggested.
"Crazy monks?" Chichiri felt like smacking him.
"What? You're not a monk, why take offense?" Tomo slouched in his seat.
"I was in a past life."
"So? You were also a guy. It's pointless talking about it now." He shot back.
"This coming from the guy who was insane in a past life." Chiriko blew a stand of hair out of her face. "Of course you'd want to call past lives irrelevant."
"Weren't you a little boy?" Tomo glared at her.
"Better a little boy than crazy." Suddenly, the Ryuuseisui went flying between them. Both jumped back and looked at Suboshi who wasn't looking very happy.
"I'd like us to get through this in one piece, but we really don't have to."
Chiriko and Tomo grudgingly sat back down but still glared at each other. Hotohori looked at a map spread out in front of them. "Where was Naraku from? We would probably have a better chance of finding information in the place she actually lived."
Nakago pointed to a part of the map. "Here. Though none of the gods occupied in her time, Seiryuu controls it now. It's a small water locked group of villages almost touching Konan's borders."
"My ship could get us there within probably two or three days. Four tops. It's already close by." Tasuki looked like she was already plotting a course.
"Your ship?" Tomo asked.
"Your spies aren't so hot if you don't know that I'm the captain of the Blue Phoenix and leader of the Lake Fushicho pirates."
"Transportation aside, what in the world could we do with the spell even if we found it? Miboshi said there are no sorcerers powerful enough around anymore." Soi shook his head.
"What type of sorcerer would be needed?" Mitsukake asked.
"Someone with the natural talent strong enough I think. Probably someone from the same land as Naraku." Miboshi answered.
"Descendants of the couple that killed Naraku first?"
Miboshi stared at Mitsukake, unsure of what he was implying. "Well, I suppose…but I don't know how far their lines go. There might not be any more."
"Their lines continued. We're probably the last of 'em though." Shen and Piao walked into the meeting room.
"Who are they?" Nakago looked at Hotohori.
"Piaoliang Feng and Shen Yuan. Piao comes from the woman's side and Shen from the man's."
"Why didn't you mention this before?" Nakago snapped at him.
"To keep things level. You had the idea of the counter spell, we have the way to use it. No sense in giving you more than you give us. Now we're even though." Chiriko answered.
"Hey, you've only been with them for like a day. How'd you figure that out so fast?" Ashitare looked at her.
"Just part of the fun of being Chiriko. Too much brain power." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Too bad you can't siphon it off to the mutt." Tamahome muttered.
Soi snapped his fingers under the table, sending a small lighting bolt to Tamahome's leg. He stood up and yelped in pain. "What the hell was that for?" He yelled at Soi.
"I didn't do anything." He and Ashitare looked at each other and smirked.
"Why I oughta…" Tamahome nearly jumped across the table.
"Tamahome, come on. We don't have time for this." Shen raised his hand, stopping the seishi in mid air. "Hmm, I'm getting better at this."
"Well, I got no doubts about you now." Nuriko laughed at Tamahome.
"This is really undignified…" Tamahome muttered. "Put me down."
"If you're good, maybe later." Piao giggled.
"Well I'll be damned." Miboshi said, slightly awe struck. "There could be hope yet."
"So what's our plan then?" Amiboshi asked.
"Seems like the best idea would be for the sixteen of us to go to Naraku's country by boat and start searching where ever we happen to land." Nakago crossed her arms. "Unless anyone else has a better idea?" She looked around the room.
No one said anything. Though it wasn't the best plan, it was all they had.
Tasuki stood up. "Okay then. Chichiri, send me to my ship will you? I'll get it to dock here," She pointed to a large port town. "From there, I'd give it three days to the port on the island."
"Why don't we just teleport to the island?" Suboshi asked.
"Fifteen people is a lot to transport, even in small groups. And I don't know where I'd be taking us. By boat is the safest." Chichiri stood up.
"We have our plan then. Do we agree to always stay on the same side?" Hotohori offered his hand to Nakago.
Nakago looked at the other Seiryuu seishi. They nodded. "Agreed then." She shook hands with Hotohori. "We'll consider ourselves allies."
"Let's go then. Time's a' wastin'." Chichiri and Tasuki disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The remaining seishi looked at each other. It was definitely going to be interesting working together.
"Ashitare! Ashitare, where are you? Are we playing hide and seek now?"
Ashitare's eyes widened as he heard An Hua's footsteps coming down the hall accompanied by her voice. "Not again…" He moaned.
Nuriko's eyes narrowed. "Why's my sister looking for you?"
"Probably so she can put bows in my fur again." He stared nervously at the door.
"Again?" Chiriko raised an eyebrow.
"What? Super Brain doesn't know something?" Tomo taunted.
"I'm smart, not omnipotent." She spat.
"I don't care what you are, the important question is what do I do to get away from a very energetic little kid."
"Ummmm…run?" Chiriko offered.
"Good enough." Ashitare quickly morphed to canine form and bolted from the room.
"Ashitare! There you are!" A few seconds after Ashitare disappeared An Hua went running past the open door after him.
"I think I should…gotta go, bye!" Nuriko quickly got up from his chair and ran after his sister.
"Well then…that was different…" Hotohori murmured. "And now that there's nothing left to do until Tasuki and Chichiri come back, I suppose we should all get whatever rest we can."
"Is someone gonna let me down or what?" Tamahome growled, still in the air.
"Oh, sorry about that." Shen snapped his fingers and Tamahome fell to the floor.
The other seishi got up and began to leave the room. As Suboshi walked past Soi and Nakago, Soi gestured with his head that Nakago should go talk to him. Her returned look asked if she really had to. He gave her an exasperated 'You better' look and left the room.
Nakago wrinkled her nose, but walked over to Suboshi. "Suboshi?"
He looked up at her nervously. "Yes?"
"I…overreacted last time we saw each…I was wrong, you're not a traitor…" She didn't really look him in the eyes.
"I'm not?" Suboshi was more than a little surprised.
"No…if you want to return to Kutou after this is over, there will be a place for you."
"Th…thank you."
"Thank Soi. He's the one who thought it would be for the best. Just don't mention this to anyone else." She walked past him without another word.
Suboshi was almost speechless.
"Ototo, what's wrong?" Amiboshi put his hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Nakago just told me I could come back to Kutou…"
"Really?"
"Yeah. She said Soi made her do that. What's up between them anyway?"
"Well, Ashitare and Tomo have a bet going right now. Ashitare says they'll be lovers before we rescue the priestesses, Tomo doesn't think till after."
"Soi and Nakago, lovers?"
"He's the only one who she talks to. I saw them sleeping in Nakago's room together a few nights ago."
"Are they lovers then?"
"I don't think so. Not yet anyway." He shrugged.
"What a thought, huh?"
"I'll say."
"It's great to see you again Aniki…I just wish it wasn't because of this…" They walked past Momo and Kohana's room.
"So do I Suboshi…we'll get 'em back though. And maybe even have a lasting peace here…"
"Peace…what a thought…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chiriko sat down amongst the flowers of the extensive gardens. "Suzaku, how am I suppose to function with that Tomo around? He's so infuriating!"
"Is that the best word you can come up with for me? I expected more from the Brain." Tomo laughed behind her.
She sprang to her feet to face him. "Where did you come from?"
"Kutou."
"That's not what I meant, you idiot!" She huffed.
"It's what you said." He smirked.
"Why you…hey wait a minute…" She started to walk towards him.
"What? Too attracted to me to stay away?" Tomo laughed.
"You wish, crazy." She raised her hand as if she was going to slap him, but just passed her hand through his torso. "Illusion. Thought so." The image of Tomo faded away in front of her. "So where are you really?"
"Bravo, Brain. You figured that out pretty fast." He walked out from behind a tree. "It would have taken awhile for everybody else."
"I have a name, jackass."
"So do I, but I don't see you using it." He smirked again and walked towards her.
"Attracted to me, are you?" She leaned against a tree. "I'm flattered, Tomo, but I'm really not one for illusions." She kicked a fallen branch at him. It flew through his shoulder. Tomo looked at her and laughed again. His illusion faded away again.
"Well well…guess I can't fool you, Chiriko." Finally, the real Tomo dropped out of the tree Chiriko was standing under. "Must be that brain of yours."
"Must be." She looked him over once, then punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" He jumped back and rubbed his arm. "What the hell was that for?!"
"Just making sure you were real." She answered smugly.
"Oh trust me, Chiriko." He leaned in very close to her face. A few strands of his pale blue hair brushed her cheek. "I am the real one."
For a second, she thought she forgot to breath. As quickly as he leaned close to her, he backed up and walked away. She was too confused to be mad. "Dear Suzaku…please let this be a short mission."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Chichiri and Tasuki arrived on the Blue Phoenix, the deck was empty.
"Where's your loyal crew?" Chichiri looked around.
Tasuki looked up at the sky. "Probably having dinner." She opened a door and gestured for Chichiri to follow.
They went below deck where the dinning hall was. Chichiri winced as Tasuki kicked open the door. "Hey boys. Got anymore room?"
Some of the pirates fell off their chairs at the sight of Tasuki.
"Boss!" "Captain!" "Umi!" "You're back!"
Tasuki managed a small smile.
Ryuuchi stood up. "Captain, what's wrong? You don't look so happy."
"I wish I coulda come here for a better reason than the one I got." She and Chichiri approached the table. "We have a big job to do."
"How much are we getting paid?" One of the pirates asked.
"We ain't doin' this for the money. We're doin' it cause we'll all die if we don't."
A silence fell over the group. They all stared at Tasuki in disbelief. Tasuki looked at Chichiri.
"Why don't you go back to the palace? I'll take care of things here and spend the night. I could use a night on the water. Bring the others to the port the day after tomorrow."
"Alright then. See you in a couple days." Chichiri sighed and disappeared.
"Do we really want to know what's going on, Umi?" Ryuuchi looked across the table at her.
"Well, you're gonna hear about it. Remember Naraku?"
"That thing that killed Kanaye?" Another one asked.
"Yeah. Her. She's back and she's stolen the souls of the Suzaku and Seiryuu priestesses."
"No way!" "Not Lady Kohana!" "What is she?"
"Naraku's some ancient evil spirit. She wants to destroy the world or something like that."
"So what can we do to help?"
"We're heading to Naraku's homeland." Tasuki pulled a map out of her coat. "This island here. And we're going to have a lot of extra passengers."
"How many is a lot?"
"The Suzaku Seven, Piaoliang, Shen, the priestesses and…"
"And?"
"The Seiryuu Seven."
"What?!" "The Seiryuu seishi?!" "Why?!" "They're not getting on this boat!"
"Hey! Listen up!" She banged her fist on the table. "We're giving them a ride to the island and that's final! We don't stand a chance against Naraku alone and the Seiryuu seishi are as bad off as we are. We have peace between our countries right now. We're allies against her."
Another silence fell over the group.
"Okay then…we'll do what we can." Ryuuchi nodded. "Even if none of us are really comfortable with it."
"I ain't okay with it either, but there ain't much more we can do." Tasuki sighed helplessly. "We've been backed into a corner." Tasuki sighed and smoothed out her long coat. "I'm sleeping in my room tonight. Make for this port." She pointed to a town. "We'll meet all the seishi there when we dock." She started to leave the room.
No one followed her. Everyone was too stunned to move. They stared at each other. After a few moments, some of the pirates got up to change the ship's course.
Tasuki sat at the bow of the boat, listening to the rhythm of the water. She sighed deeply. "Man, I have been on land way too long."
"What's wrong? Feeling sea sick?" Ryuuchi laughed as he walked up to the seat next to her.
"Har. Har." Tasuki muttered. "I am not feeling sea sick. I've just missed spending the whole day on the water. It's that whole feeling of freedom I miss that you just don't have on land."
He smiled. "We missed you over here. It's pretty boring when you just have the guys on board."
"I keep telling you you should get some more women up here. We can do anything you can."
"Some of the guys still think it's bad luck to bring a woman aboard."
"Yet I'm their captain." She shook her head in disbelief. "Looks like I gotta knock some sense into some of them."
"Couldn't hurt." He chuckled.
Tasuki stood up and grabbed his collar. "Come on, lover boy. It's gettin' late. Time for bed."
"Yes Captain." Ryuuchi smirked and followed her. The other pirates barely noticed when Tasuki and Ryuuchi disappeared into her room. It was a well-known fact that Tasuki and Ryuuchi were lovers. No one cared since pretty much all the pirates had lovers. Some, of course, had more than one but many preferred to just have one they knew they could come to shore and find.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back at the palace, Nuriko impatiently wandered the halls of the palace looking for his sister. 'If Ashitare hurt her, I'll rip his head off…' He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard her squeal. Imagining the worst, he took off towards the scream. He pulled open the door and came in. "An! Are you alright? Did Ashitare hurt…" His lip twitched slightly. "You?"
"Ashi-kun, you look so cute!" An Hua squealed in delight. "Blue really is your color! I knew it would look good!" She turned and saw her brother in the doorway. "Ni-chan, doesn't Ashi-kun look cute?" An Hua moved out of the way and showed her brother what she'd done to Ashitare.
"Not a word of this to anyone, Nuriko. Not a word." Ashitare was sitting on the floor, very unhappy. An Hua had pulled his hair into two pigtails and tied them on the sides of his head with big blue bows. Some how, she'd managed to find lipstick, blush and eye shadow and give him what she thought was a good make up job. His eye twitched slightly. "As if this wasn't embarrassing enough…"
Nuriko almost fell over laughing. "Jeez Ashitare, what happened to you? You look ridiculous!"
His eye twitched even more. He leaned over to An and whispered something to her while Nuriko was laughing.
Her eyes widened. "Really?"
Ashitare nodded. "You bet."
"Will you help?"
"Of course!"
"Yay! More fun!"
Nuriko stopped laughing when he noticed Ashitare and An coming closer to him. "H-hey, what are you doing?"
"Ashi-kun said laughing at something is a guy's way of saying he likes it. So I'm gonna give you the same beauty treatment!" She smiled widely.
"Ashitare, you didn't…" Nuriko looked at him nervously.
"Oh but I did. If I got through this, so do you. She's your sister after all." Ashitare closed the door.
Nuriko winced. "Oh Suzaku…" He trembled in fear of the make up in his sister's hands.
Ten minutes later, there wasn't much difference between Ashitare and Nuriko. Both were sitting on the floor with pigtails and custom An Hua makeup jobs. She giggled and smiled. An hugged them both. "Aww, you look so pretty now! I did a good job, right?"
They stared at each other and nodded. "Yes An. It looks very good."
She smiled again. "Yay! Okay, I'm hungry now. I'm gonna go find a snack." She ran off again, hopefully not to come back for a while.
Nuriko found a washbasin and started to wash the thick makeup off. "You just had to get me involved in this didn't you?"
Ashitare started pulling the pigtails out of his hair. "You laughed first. And she's your sister. You shoulda been the one with her, not me."
"Are you lecturing me on how to care for my sister?" Nuriko glared at him.
"I'm just saying you should spend more time with her, even if you do have duties to take care of." Ashitare got a cloth wet and stared scrubbing. "You came running 'cause you thought I hurt her. Which I might add is very insulting to me." He gave Nuriko an indignant look.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"You really think I'd hurt a little kid like her? I don't like kids, but I wouldn't do anything to hurt 'em." He closed his eyes and started rubbing off the eye shadow.
"Maybe I did misjudge you." Nuriko started to dry off his face. "And if you wipe in the same direction, the make up comes off better."
"Well, I did kill you in a past life." He smirked. "I take it this isn't the first time An Hua's gotten a hold of some dangerous makeup.
"Nope. And I doubt it'll be the last." Nuriko pulled the pigtails out. "Ow…"
"No kidding." Ashitare looked at himself in a mirror. "Shit…it's not coming off very well…"
"I guess it'll just have to wear off then." Nuriko sighed. "She found some pretty heavy makeup this time."
Ashitare's eye twitched. "Excuse me? How am I supposed to explain to people why I have the rather obvious remnants of blush and blue eye shadow on?"
He shrugged. "'An Hua did it' will generally suffice. She's gotten to pretty much everyone else around here."
Ashitare shook his hair out of his face and scoffed. "Remind me never to get on her bad side."
"I don't think An has a bad side. Everyone is her friend. She could probably make Nakago smile."
"I'll believe that when I see it." He smirked.
"It'll probably happen soon enough." Nuriko pushed his hair out of his eyes and left the room.
Ashitare looked at himself in the mirror and snorted. He shifted back to wolf form. 'I'll walk around like this until that makeup comes off.' He off slinked down the hall hoping to find a nice quiet place to rest.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hotohori sat on Kohana's bed. Her eyes were still closed. She would have looked like she was only sleeping if it weren't for the fact that her skin had taken on a ghostly white color. He took her hands and ran his fingers across hers. "I'm sorry Kohana. I failed to protect you…" He held her cold hands in his. "Wherever you are, we'll help you soon. I'm not completely sure, but we're on the verge of something and I know we'll have it soon."
He continued to talk to Kohana as if she could hear about what happened as soon as Naraku took her soul. He told her about Chiriko and the Seiryuu seishi and their intended course of action.
As he talked, the door to the room began to open. No matter how involved Hotohori was in his one-sided conversation, he was still completely alert and got to his feet to face whoever had come in.
Suboshi nearly fell over when he was surprised by how quick his movements were. "S-sorry. I didn't know anyone besides the priestesses were in here."
Hotohori relaxed. "It's alright…I was just about finished."
Suboshi stood next to Momo. He looked as though he might start to cry.
"Suboshi…we'll get them back…"
"I know…but it makes me mad that I wasn't around to protect her…I never had a lot of time with her. We didn't know each other very long before Nakago sent me here…We told each other we loved each other through Amiboshi's and my link…we talked sparingly after that. I hadn't been allowed to talk to her since that night Nakago called me a traitor. Nakago had both Momo and my brother under heavy surveillance." Suboshi closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I should have been there with her…I should have…"
"No…it would have hurt too much to be there…" Hotohori shook his head.
"What?"
"When Naraku went after Kohana…you probably didn't see…but she was terrified. I tried to help her and I couldn't…the feeling is worse than not being there…I've never felt so helpless before…I failed her…"
Suboshi was quiet for a moment. "We all failed someone that night…but we won't next time, right?"
"Right." Hotohori nodded. He got up and left the room.
Suboshi sighed and sat next to Momo. "Hey Momo…I don't suppose you can hear me…but I am here…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chichiri walked slowly down the hallway, wondering how Tasuki was faring with her crew. As she walked past Piao's room, she heard her and Shen talking.
"Are you as uncomfortable with this as I am?"
"Depends on how uncomfortable you are."
"I didn't sign up for the royal guard to fight ghosts…"
"And I became a maid so I could defeat some evil ancestral aunt of mine." Came the sarcastic response.
"Piao…"
"Sorry. I'm just saying there's no telling what happens when the priestesses come around."
"I suppose. I just hoped it wouldn't involve me quite so directly." Shen sighed. "And the whole magic thing. It's nothing I thought I'd ever be doing."
"We kinda have to get used to the cards Suzaku deals us." Chichiri interjected.
Piao looked up from the bed she was making. "What happened when you found out who you are?"
Chichiri laughed. "One day I woke up and some messenger of Tai Itsukun came and told me I had to start training. I was more than pissed off, but I went. I think I was mad at Tai Itsukun for the first couple years of my training. I got over it though." She smiled. "I'd say it was worth it."
"So you're saying we should get over it and roll with the punches?" Piao asked.
"Roll…with what?" Chichiri and Shen looked at her.
"Never mind. Something Kohana said a lot."
"Well, it's probably the right thing to say anyway." Chichiri shrugged.
"So when is it we have to go to that island?" Shen asked.
"Tasuki told me to bring everyone to the port the day after tomorrow, so I will. Better get ready now."
They nodded and watched Chichiri leave.
"Hey Shen?"
"Yeah?"
"I know you're not happy about this, but are you scared?"
"Me, scared?"
"Yeah. Remember that little thing called fear you used to have as a kid?" She put her hands on her hips.
He smiled. "Yeah, I remember. And yes. I am scared. There's so much depending on us…"
Piao grabbed his hand. "I know. But you said it yourself. It's 'us.' We're together. And with 14 seishi and 2 gods. I think things aren't looking too bad."
Shen smiled and hugged his fiancé. "You're always right. That gets pretty annoying, you know?"
She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yep."
Shen kissed her forehead and let her go. "I'm gonna get some stuff together. You should too."
"I will. Good night, Shen."
"Good night, Piao." He started to leave the room, then he stopped.
"Something wrong?"
Shen turned around and pulled her close for a real kiss. She happily kissed back. His fingers gently brushed her cheek. "Okay…Good night for real this time."
She smiled. "Good night." She sighed happily as he left the room and began to get ready for bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
O.o Tomo and Chiriko? Oh my goodness, what could this overloaded authoress be thinking? What have I created? Well, hopefully something that works. Later people! ^_^.
~*~Shadow Hawk~*~