And more story for your time.
Chapter Eleven: Dance
Tasuki stopped Amber's sprint once they were out of the old man's earshot.
"Is he your Grandfather?"
She shook her head. "No, he's Solei's. I'm like an adopted granddaughter."
"Oh. He's a bit…" he tried to come up with an un-insulting way to express his feelings.
"Odd?" Amber supplied.
"Ya…" he trailed off, unable to say anything more. He scratched his head as he spoke. "What didja want ta show me?" She smiled and grabbed his hand, feeling like a little girl pulling her parents towards a cotton candy maker. She made him sit on an old wicker bench over looking a cliff as she sat beside him.
"This." She whispered softly, resting her head on his shoulder. "The sunset. I've traveled everywhere, but this is the most beautiful." Tasuki looked at her, taking in her profile as she stared at the setting sun, reveling in the red-orange light that was oh-so similar to the colour of Tasuki's hair. A small corner of his mind was yelling at him to get the whole talking bit over with and just kiss her already, but he blocked it away, focusing on the sunset to wipe out all thoughts of Amber. The attempt failed miserably as she settled her head more comfortably on his shoulder, snuggling closer.
He decided to finish the conversation properly as she re-gripped his hand. "Nah. You're far prettier than this bit o' light. It don't shine half as bight as ya'll do."
She looked up at him in surprise, her brain trying to digest the words hidden in his thickened southern drawl. "What did you just say?" Inwardly he cursed his soft side.
He turned to face her, the sun glittering in his hair, making it look as though it were made of fire. "Nothin', just that you're lots prettier than the sunset." Amber blushed deeply, refocusing herself on the sunset in front of her.
"What makes you say that?" she asked, stealing a glace at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Truth." He answered simply. Darkness began to fall, and Amber stood, trying to hide her embarrassment at his softly spoken words. She began to walk back to the temple, but Tasuki held her hand fast.
"Leme go." she said, tugging on her hand. Tasuki's grip wasn't letting up, and she felt stupid as she kept pulling against it.
"No." He pulled her close to him and spun her around so her back was flush against his chest. "Last time I let go of you Amiboshi took advantage of your confusion." His voice had a possessive growl to it, and Amber noted two things as he paused. One, he STILL wasn't wearing a shirt; not that she minded, it was just slightly disconcerting; and two, his mouth was very close to the sensitive skin of her neck. Tasuki's voice brought her out of her trance. "I'm not going to make that mistake twice." She started to shift away, but he wrapped his arms around her, preventing her escape.
Suddenly she heard a sound in the bushes. "Tasuki..." She licked her lips as the sound grew closer and was easily identified as someone, or something, moving through the underbrush.
"Yes?" He nuzzled the hollow of her neck, nipping lightly at the flesh with his fangs.
"Do you…" She trailed off as she saw a luminous pair of red eyes in the bushes. The thing growled low, and Tasuki pulled Amber behind him.
"Run." he said, giving her a push. "Flee."
She started to obey, but a wall of chi surrounded her, cutting short her run. "Tasuki…." Her voice held a frantic note.
He grumbled something about annoying evil things disrupting a good mood, then spoke louder, directing his voice to the thing in the bushes. "Who are ya? Show yourself ya coward!" His tessen appeared in one of his outstretched hands and he was grateful for its comfortable weight. A deep chuckle emitted from the dark forest, and a huge demon stepped into the half-light. A ray of moonlight fell upon Amber, and her ears and tail erupted from her as she failed to move out of fear.
The demon's eyes glinted, and he spoke, his voice echoing across the underlying cliffs. "I am the demon god. I have come to claim my daughter."
Solei awoke, the world blurring as she tried to sit up.
A gentle hand stopped her rising and a slightly familiar voice cautioned her. "Careful, you've been out for a few hours. Take it slow." She lay back again and slowly opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light streaming in through an eastern window. A kind face floated before her, and she shifted away in surprise.
"Amiboshi?" She asked softly.
The blond shook his head. "Suboshi."
Realization dawned on her. "Sorry, I thought that…sorry." She apologized softly, her voice trailing off as she looked around the room. It was simple, but had obviously been decorated to a single person's tastes, much as she had adapted her own room back at the temple.
Suboshi's voice broke through her thoughts. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Kyoueino Solei." she said, still looking around the large room. Suboshi nodded to her in acknowledgement, and he helped her stand on shaky legs. Once she could stand on her own, he led her over to the closet.
"There should be some kimonos in here that fit you, Solei. I'll be in the next room if you need help." He left swiftly and Solei chuckled at his embarrassment. She opened the door and looked through the kimonos. A lavender one with silver lilies curling around one arm was hidden in the corner, and she pulled it out of the closet, marveling at its beauty. She quickly slipped out of the dress that her uncle had given her and put on the kimono, transferring her white-bladed knife into one of the pockets of the flimsy silver under-dress. She curled her hair up into an elegant twist, stray curls framing her face. She looked out the window and was pleasantly surprised to find white lilies growing beneath it. She plucked one and arranged it in her hair. No sooner had she finished than the door opened. She whirled at the sound of the door opening and smiled when she saw Nakago.
"Come with me." He turned and walked off, and Solei hurried after him. She was soon lost in the maze of hallways.
'And I thought my grandfather's temple was a maze, this place is HUGE!' she thought as she followed Nakago through a door to the adjoining temple of Seiryu. He stopped her as she approached the altar.
"Wait." Solei halted obediently, curious as to the need for the pause. Nakago knelt before the altar and began a prayer. A single moment after the final syllable crossed his lips, the blue dragon appeared.
"Nakago. Have you brought the Goddess Protector and the Daughter of the God?"
"The Goddess Protector stands behind me; the Daughter of the God is…detained." he answered smoothly.
"The Goddess Protector is needed first; the lack of the Daughter of the God is acceptable for now." Seiryu looked at Solei who was trying to decide if she should run like the wind away from the shrine, or just stand there. The later won out of a lack of time to actually make the decision. "Solei?" The god asked, humor gracing his tones.
She smiled lightly. "The one and only, Lord Seiryu." Seiryu beckoned to her and she moved forward as though another being controlled her motions. Solei forced herself to calm down, but she kept hearing Wyvern's voice in her head, telling her that she was his, and he would come for her. Again Seiryu called her forward, and again she had no control over her limbs. She felt like a giant puppet, manipulated by the gods for centuries to complete a single task that still remained unknown.
"Solei, to complete your task you must do one, simple thing."
Her mouth moved without consulting her brain. "What must I do?"
Seiryu almost smiled, the expression on his face containing enough hints of a scheming evil genius for it to be counted as more of a smirk. "The Dance of the Angel of Death."
Solei's inner self was screaming 'NO!' with all its might, but it went unheeded as the puppeteer moved her mouth and prompted her words. "When must I dance this, my lord?"
A new voice issued from behind Solei, and her heart sank as she assigned the proper face to the voice. "As soon as possible, love." Wyvern's voice filled her ears and the puppeteer bobbed her head up and down. "Clear the floor, she needs room." He kissed her hand and smiled evilly as her eyes turned strangely vacant and empty like her voice. He gently removed the lavender outer kimono to reveal a simple, silk dress of the purest silver. Solei slid to the floor into the starting pose, and the sound of three ghostly flutes filled the room as her hand fluttered, beginning the dance that was to wake the being that would single-handedly destroy the world.
Nakago looked through the door to his room and found, much to his surprise, that Solei had found the lilies that grew beneath his window. He stood there a moment, staring at her through the thin wall, before he slid open the door. She spun at the sound and smiled at him, brightening the room with her happiness. He had to admit that she did look beautiful in the lavender kimono, but the thought stayed firmly behind his barriers.
"Come with me." he managed to say, and walked away from her, amazed at how well she seemed to fit with temple life here in Kutou. She asked no questions and did what she was told.
'To an extent.' he reminded himself. He heard her following him and simply kept walking, sure that she was trailing him to the shrine. His mind swam with ideas of what Seiryu needed her and Amber for, but he calmed his mind as he opened the door to the shrine.
"Wait." he said, and walked up to the altar, beginning his prayer to Seiryu. His god appeared before him, and he automatically bowed an inch deeper as the god spoke.
"Nakago. Have you brought the Goddess Protector and the Daughter of the God?"
He knew that Seiryu did not tolerate failure, just as he did not, so he twisted the truth to fit his needs. "The Goddess Protector stands behind me; the Daughter of the God is…detained." he answered.
"The Goddess Protector is needed first; the lack of the Daughter of the God is acceptable for now." The god replied. He turned his cerulean gaze to the girl. "Solei?" He asked, amused to find her within Kutou's borders after the first almost apocalypse.
She grinned. "The one and only, Lord Seiryu." The god summoned her forward, and to Nakago's eye the steps were slightly jerky and unbalanced, like an inexpertly run puppet. Again Seiryu beckoned to her, and again she moved forward on halting steps. A small corner of Nakago's mind knew that what was coming wasn't going to be healthy.
"Solei, to complete your task you must do one, simple thing."
She turned her gaze briefly to Nakago before answering, and when she spoke her voice was empty and hollow. "What must I do, my lord?" She asked. Seiryu smirked evilly, and the small corner of Nakago's mind was yelling at him to get Solei out. He locked it away behind his barrier and shut out its cries. His first loyalty was to his god.
"The Dance of the Angel of Death." A chain reaction went off in Nakago's mind, and Nakago looked sharply at his god. The Dance of the Angel of Death brought the creature that was to destroy everything.
"When must I dance this, my lord?" He heard Solei's empty voice ask. Nakago's senses twitched and he knew the man had entered before he spoke.
"As soon as possible, love." The voice wasn't familiar, but Solei's reaction told him that this was the man who had made her cry that night after the fight with the demon.
'Wyvern.' His memory told him. Solei's head bobbed up and down disjointedly and Wyvern spoke again.
"Clear the floor, she needs room." Wyvern reached over and kissed Solei's hand, smiling wickedly as he removed the outer kimono she had been wearing. The flimsy silver dress he revealed clung in all the right places and left very little to the imagination. Nakago stepped back automatically, giving her room as the others had. She sank slowly to the floor, and as he listened three nonexistent flutes began a ghostly melody. He watched her as she began to dance, her hand fluttering like a leaf caught in the surf, and waited for the end to come.
Amber's eyes grew wide. Her view of the demon was distorted because of the wall of chi, but she could still hear everything that was said.
'My father? I'm screwed. REALLY screwed.' She thought as she watched her father move towards Tasuki, a predatory gleam in his eyes.
"Seishi of Fire, MOVE!" The order was blunt and obvious, but Tasuki stood firm. The god grinned. "If you want to doom yourself Seishi stay, by all means stay." Amber chewed her lip as Tasuki growled something incomprehensible. Her father laughed, shaking his head. "Pathetic. However, if it is a battle you wish, then a battle you will get." He snarled at the Suzaku warrior and vicious claws erupted from his hands.
Tasuki brought his tessen up and the battle was to begin when Amber's voice broke their concentration. "OH MY GOD!" she yelled. Tasuki and her father looked at her with very comical, very confused faces. "My father is playing twenty questions with a prospective boyfriend!" Her words echoed slightly.
"What did you say?" The demonic voice dripped with malice.
"Nothing…" She clasped her hands behind her back. 'Where's Solei when you need her?' she asked mentally. 'SOLEI!'
To her surprise she got a groggy answer in return. 'Wait…repeat that please?'
' 'Lei?'
'Tell me later. I'll create a rip, hopefully, and you need to get Nuriko and Tasuki and yourself through it. Clear?'
'Crystal.'
'Good. Ciao.'
Amber refocused on the battle before her. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see that the wall of chi was gone and that Tasuki was being beat into a pulp by her father. She decided to summon Nuriko first, and then BOTH of them could help Tasuki.
'Besides,' she reasoned, 'my voice should give them pause.'
She took a deep breath, and then shouted. "NURIKO!" She caught sight of the familiar purple hair much sooner than she expected, and gestured to him frantically. A glimmering rip appeared in the air beside her, and she beckoned frantically to Nuriko as she tried to haul Tasuki towards the portal while her father prepared his most deadly attack. Nuriko raced up and picked up Tasuki without breaking his stride. Amber, caught up in the frantic pace, jumped after them into the portal, praying that her father did not destroy the temple. The three landed in a heap on the other side, Tasuki and Nuriko underneath a sprawled Amber. Amber stood and helped Nuriko stand Tasuki back on his feet.
"Where to now?"
Nuriko glanced around. "I know this forest. We can get to a nearby hut before sundown."
"Thata way ho!" Amber started off in a random direction, but Nuriko managed to grab the back of her shirt and spin her around.
"THAT way."
"I knew that. I swear."
Solei was dancing. She had no idea of where she was, or why she was dancing. All that existed was the dance. She felt eyes upon her, but they were indistinct, and she could not discern any details, only the dance existed. Suddenly something yelled in her mind and she became aware of the floor that was nearing. She landed as the dance ordered, but cut a step as she danced, changing it and ruining the awakening. Kamai caught the end of something being yelled into her mind and focused on it, recognizing the voice as Amber's.
She only acknowledged the emphasis behind the shout before she spoke mentally to her friend, letting the dance take care of itself, steps imprinted into her muscles. 'Wait…repeat that please?'
Amber's voice came back quickly. ' 'Lei?'
Kamai nodded to herself and almost tripped as she refocused on the conversation, but caught it before her audience noticed. She slipped into Amber's mind and looked at the world through her eyes. She saw Tasuki being beat up by the Demon God.
'Amber's father." Her mind told her.
'Tell me later. I'll create a rip, hopefully, and you need to get Nuriko and Tasuki and yourself through it. Clear?' she responded after a moment, trying to analyze the situation.
'Crystal.' Amber said.
'Good. Ciao.' Solei closed the contact and through the dance created a portal into a realm, hoping it like mad that it was to Konan. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and let the dagger she had concealed beneath her dress fly. She heard a male grunt, and spun in the direction of it, hoping that her knife had flown to the right target.
Nakago watched her dance intently, hoping that something would go wrong. His gaze was rewarded with a simple little two-step as she came out of the landing of her leap instead of a waltz. He kept his pleasure from showing and he knew, as she continued to dance, that the summoning would fail. Suddenly, she whirled and threw a white-bladed knife at her small audience. Nakago slipped out of its path, allowing it to head straight and true. Wyvern grunted as it entered his cranium and he slid to the floor dead. Solei turned to face them and relief lit her face as she realized she had hit Wyvern. Seiryu wasn't as happy. His aura spread and became furious.
Solei, feeling the power radiating from the god could only manage one word. "Shit."
The god had more to say. "KAMAI! DARK ANGEL, DO YOU DENY YOUR BIRTHRIGHT?"
Kamai was quick to answer, her body shifting to fit the names Seiryu had given her. "I do not deny it, Seiryu. No, I embrace my birthright. I simply choose not to use it as a weapon of total annihilation."
"WHY, THEN, HAVE YOU ALWAYS STOPPED THE DANCE BEFORE YOU COME TO TRUE POWER?"
Kamai's voice was ashamed when she answered. "Not every time." she whispered. Even Seiryu looked surprised.
"NOT EVERY TIME? OF WHICH TIME DO YOU SPEAK, POTECTOR?" Seiryu's words were like thunder in her ears and she focused on the floor.
"Hian." Nakago had to strain to hear her voice and recognized the word. The conversation in the godly realm came to his mind and he recalled Kamai saying that she had been confined to a certain world so she did not recreate the apocalypse that had occurred on Hian.
Seiryu laughed. "THEN WHY? YOU REMEMBER THE POWER, ACCEPT IT."
She shook her head. "No."
"THEN IT IS MY DUTY TO PUNISH YOU, SOLEI." As he said 'Solei' she shifted back to human, and collapsed on all fours before Seiryu, the pain from her wings retracting to much to bear. The god turned his attention to Nakago. "DO YOU HAVE YOUR WHIP?" Nakago nodded. "THEN DRAW IT. I MUST PUNISH HER THROUGH YOU. THE GODS DO NOT ALLOW ME TO DO SO MYSELF." Nakago drew his whip and allowed Seiryu into his mind. His eyes met Solei's just before the god took control and was struck by the emotion they conveyed: pain, sorrow, failure, and betrayal. Then Seiryu took over, and Nakago was only dimly aware of the girl in front of him as Seiryu cocked his wrist and flicked the whip. Time and time again the whip struck her back, but not once did the slender figure on the floor cry out. Finally the god stopped and drifted out of Nakago, returning to the realm of the gods. Solei tried to stand, but darkness claimed her and she hit the floor, only remembering the look on Nakago's face as he'd whipped her. Pure hatred.
Please review!
MS