The Trap of Innocence

Part VII


Misao was going to get answers. It was a poor move on Hannya's part not to bring her with him earlier, Aoshi thought, but it was done now and she was likely wandering around searching for those answers. Cursed and sealed, Misao was in great danger wandering about on her own.

If she found the answers she was seeking, she would most definitely go to the old House of Ashataru, a huge, sprawling mansion that had fallen into serious disrepair. In the chaos following the slaughter of the family, Aoshi had seen it prudent to abandon the great house and had used his own family residence.

The House of Ashataru could be seen from the east facing windows of his own mansion. Many a night he had peered outside and seen lights in the old windows of the place, but it was well known that various groups took up residence in the place and no one saw fit to toss them out as the house belonged to no one.

"Shinomori."

Saitou. Aoshi turned to see the lit end of the other man's cigarette burning brightly and a wispy trail of smoke dancing upwards. Saitou's golden eyes seemed to gleam at him.

"There's been no activity. Heard anything about Kamatari or have you just been chasing down that skirt of yours?"

"I'm looking into other things, "Aoshi replied.

Saitou crossed his arms. "What other things?" Saitou Hajime was a good source of information but he was, in Aoshi's opinion, extremely nosy. He was always asking questions and trying to squeeze answers out of people for no reason at all. Perhaps he enjoyed being a center of information. Maybe he was simply very nosy. Aoshi decided to gamble on it.

The House of Saitou and the House of Ashataru had ruled at the same time. It was very likely Saitou would know something. If he would tell Aoshi that something was another matter entirely.

"Do you recall the fall of the Ashataru House?"

Saitou's mouth twitched in displeasure. "I'm not that old, Shinomori. My father ruled the House then."

"There was a survivor, wasn't there? A girl, Chiraki?"

Saitou stared at him a moment, pinching his cigarette between his fingers, assessing. "Yes, there was a girl."

"I'm looking for her. She was too young to survive alone."

Saitou cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you need her?"

Aoshi turned to fully face the other man, intrigued by his tone. Did Saitou know something or was he just curious about it?

"The family crest of the House of Ashataru has reappeared in my territory and I do not like the implications."

Saitou grinned at him suddenly, teeth pointy and menacing. "Fearing an uprising, Shinomori? This about that girl of yours, isn't it?" The smoking man flicked the cigarette away. "I'll take you to Chiraki."

Aoshi narrowed his eyes.

Saitou knew where she was? How did Saitou know about Chiraki and Misao? How much did Saitou know?


"You're completely nuts," Misao frowned, trying again to wrench her arm free. "You're strong, too."

"Oh, I am, aren't I?" Kamatari giggled in her ear. "But I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm actually a boy."

Misao stopped walking and Kamatari stopped beside her. "No kidding, you're a guy?"

Kamatari nodded, smiling broadly.

Misao stared. The black shadowy film covering Kamatari, hiding her, had faded along the way. "You know, you look pretty good in that for a guy. I wish I looked that good in a kimono…" Misao frowned. "You wear it all the time?"

Kamatari threw his arms around Misao. "You're so cute! I'm taking you home with me!"

"Home?" Misao muffled into Kamatari's chest. "Where's that?"

"The old Ashataru mansion, ever been there? Beautiful house… I have tea parties."

Ashataru mansion? Misao let Kamatari pull her along. "What exactly is the Ashataru Mansion?"

"The old ruling house… Oh, you're probably too young to remember. A long time ago, a great man Shishio tried to take over the two houses, Ashataru and Saitou. The House of Saitou is crazy and started slaying people, none of our people made it out alive there. Shishio-sama wanted to take down the 'Great and Noble House of Ashataru', he always hated it. The massacre was beautiful, Shishio-sama was magnificent, only one little girl survived, she disappeared, no one could ever find her. Shishio-sama died soon after though in a seize and a war erupted afterwards and Shinomori became the new ruling house."

"So Ashataru was a ruling house… " Misao repeated in awe. "And you live there?"

Kamatari brightened at Misao's tone. "Oh! You'll love it! Let's have tea together!"

He pulled Misao by the hand and the girl failed to notice both her wrists were bare of their beads.


Aoshi followed Saitou up the stairs of the Saitou Estate, to the second and then third floors and down a long hall. Aoshi's mind whirled with possibilities and speculation. Saitou was housing the lost heir of Ashataru? Why? What was the connection between them?

At the end of the hall, Saitou knocked twice and slid the door open.

"Hey," he greeted someone inside. "Brought a visitor."

Aoshi stepped in after him and stopped abruptly at the sight of two women sitting on a futon rolled out on the floor. He recognized Saitou's wife immediately, she had her arm draped over the other woman's shoulder. It was the other woman, that caused Aoshi pause. She looked so much like Misao… there was no doubt in his head at all that Misao was an Ashataru. Her hair was dark and straight, her eyes that same bright color as Misao's.

"Good day, Aoshi," Tokio greeted him. "Are you well?"

"Fine, thank you. I apologize for intruding upon you so rudely today," he spoke, his eyes trained on the other woman. "This is Ashataru Chiraki?"

Tokio's hand tightened on the other woman's shoulder and she looked up to her husband, her kind eyes full of fright. "You're not going to let him hurt her, are you?"

Saitou scoffed and leaned back against the wall. "He's not here to hurt anybody."

"Why is she with you?" Aoshi asked.

Chiraki had her eyes trained on the floor, her thin fingers wrapped around a tiny doll. There was a threaded needle stuck in the head, she appeared to be sewing it. Tokio answered in Saitou's silence. "She's Hajime's cousin. When her family was killed, his father rescued her and brought her here where she's been hidden away."

Saitou stepped up beside Aoshi and then leaned down toward her. "Is your doll finished yet, Chiraki?"

"No." The woman raised her head, her long black locks trailing over her narrow shoulders. She was a beautiful woman, Aoshi thought, if not for the haunted eyes. "There's a strange man in my room."

"That's Shinomori, he came to visit you. You want to talk to him?" Aoshi thought Saitou's voice was strangely loud and he wondered if the other man realized it. Or did the woman have trouble hearing?

"Visit me?"

She sounded child-like. She shifted and Tokio's arm fell from her shoulders. Chiraki stood and Tokio beside her, straightening Chiraki's yukata around her frame tighter. She bowed lowly and did so slowly. "Did you bring me news of my baby?"

They stared at one another a moment. She was bent slightly and Tokio looked worried, afraid she would fall over.

"Misao?" he asked.

The woman's eyes brightened and she smiled. "Misao, yes. Did you find her? She's with the priestesses."

He nodded. "I found her. She's well."

"Is she here?"

"No, she didn't come today. Would you like to see her?"

"Yes. I tried… to go back but I couldn't remember where… I didn't know how to find Hannya… I don't think I told him… Is he okay? My beloved Hannya?"

How had this woman who had been locked up even come to know Hannya? Had they met before? Did Hannya have businesses here and they met? Did they meet when she escaped the house? Did she truly love Hannya? Would it be wise to bring Misao here? Better yet, how had Hannya gotten involved with this woman? Was he not remembering on purpose to hide it? Was he simply lying?

"Hannya is well. Did you leave your family crest with Misao?"

The woman's smile faded and she lowered her head, closing her eyes. "I had to. Misao is Hannya's baby and mine, she's strong, the priestesses will protect her and the crest."

"You know Misao is not a baby anymore?"

Her eyes flicked open and went wide. "Oh. No… She grew up? She won't want the doll I've been making for her." She shook her head sadly. "She doesn't come visit me."

"She doesn't know where you are."

"Oh." She reached out, her hands pale and bony and wrapped them around one of Aoshi's wrists. "Please tell her? No one comes to see me but Tokio. Saitou-sama was so angry…" Her hands fell away from his wrist.

She turned and Tokio wrapped her arms around her.

"Thank you for seeing me today, Ashataru-san," Aoshi spoke and he saw her nod against Tokio's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Shinomori-san. Thank you for coming to visit. Bring Misao, okay?"

He and Saitou stepped into the hall. "She's not completely lucid. She goes in and out. We tried to find the baby, but she couldn't remember where she left it and there are temples everywhere. She was gone from us for months, we had no idea where she'd been wandering."

"Did you speak to Hannya?"

"Said he didn't remember, but I'd bet my ass he was lying. She was away from us for months, Chiraki can't make her own tea let alone live by herself."

Aoshi internally glowered. Lying?

"Was she trained by your family?"

"Yes," Saitou answered.

"Can she cast curses?"

Saitou slanted a glance in his direction. "No. Her abilities are limited."

They arrived at the front door and Aoshi stepped out it.

"If you bring the girl back with you, be prepared to take the woman with you. I've been obligated to her long enough, Tokio deserves a break from this."

Aoshi nodded.


Kamatari spun around in a circle. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Misao glanced around. Ignoring the char marks from a fire and the obvious water damage, the broken furniture and the fact that it had been looted bare, she guessed it was a pretty nice house. She thought back to her days sleeping in the often cold shrine quarters and wondered how life would've been different growing up in the massive compound. This, she told herself was her mothers house, her mysterious mother.

"You live here?" Misao murmured.

"Lots of people live here actually, it's a big place. Most of us are old comrades back from Shishio's days, that makes us ages older than you, you're a baby… some of them are just homeless people who fell in with us."

Kamatari led her down a hall and pulled open a heavy sliding door. Inside people were sprawled around the room, crowded around tables throwing dice and loudly gambling. Kamatari smiled. "The boys need something to do to keep them occupied. Want to play?"

Misao glanced around. She'd never seen so many of her own kind crowded into a room before. She'd never even seen a room so big before.

"Can I look around? This is such a big house…"

Kamatari nodded. "Go ahead."

Her own kind… was she… if her mother was an Ashataru that meant she wasn't half human after all. She was one hundred percent … she reached up to her neck toward her beads and her fingers crackled as they got too close. Peering over the shoulder of a player, one of the men took notice of her.

"Hey, baby want to play? Come on, I got a seat for you right here." He patted his lap and she scowled at him.

"Want your teeth knocked out?" she snapped back at him. She regretted that she had not worn a kimono. She felt exposed in a roomful of gambling, drunken men with her legs bare.

She turned away from the commotion, missing his reply. Walking the length of the room she peered around, but Kamatari was gone. Passing out of the room, she glanced around. The walls were bare, the paintings long gone. The furniture that remained was broken, fragmented. Each room she passed through looked like a war zone. The farther in the house she got, the dirtier and more haunting it became. Passing through a broken doorway she stopped. The room was covered in dark spatters. Who had died here? Enemy or ally? Had it been an old family member of hers? How much of the old blood on the floor and walls of this place still ran in her?

"My mother's house," she whispered. "This is my house… all this… something of mine…"

She stepped out and into a hall on the other side only to meet more destruction. It was everywhere. Hearing a distant giggle, she stopped and looked down the hall to see Kamatari stepping out of a room and on his arm, she gasped.

"Soujiro…" Misao murmured.

"Oh… Do you know each other?" Kamatari asked.

"Misao was very kind to me. She let me stay with her a few days," Soujiro answered, smiling. "She's talented."

Kamatari cocked his head a bit. "I thought she was a bit clumsy, but cute, so let's keep her. Come on, Misao… Want to take over the world with us?"

Kamatari grinned and Misao felt her insides tighten with fear. Was there anyway out of this place if she said no? Was he serious? Was he joking? How to tell?

Feeling, something tickling her feet, she looked down. Around the soles of her shoes shined bright little beads. Her ankle seals had broken. Panicked, she checked her wrists, but they too were gone.


AN: I'm on break! Updates, updates... hopefully.