Kaya let out a ragged breath, wrenching her eye closed as the warmth of another human being soaked through her dirty rags and filled her with an inexpressible joy. The feeling drove back the ever-present pain, and Kaya sobbed at the relief. It had been… so long. She'd hardly known San for an hour, yet the girl's kindness had broken through a scarred layer of melancholy that had covered everything since Kaya had broken and revealed the location of her people.
Shuddering, Kaya drove back memories of that day, and San's arms tightened around her. Despite the love surrounding her, a small black pit of fear within her told her that Ashitaka wouldn't forgive her for her weakness, and that she would be better off remaining down here, consumed by the darkness. Because of her, everything she knew, all the people who had loved her before, they were all in danger. What good would come from a broken thing like her even leaving this place?
And then she heard the soft voices, clinking and rasping. The chains whispered encouragement to her, and their dull edges rubbed against her scarred wrists. They thought slowly, and the presence of someone being kind to their friend was finally dawning on them. But their thoughts were welcome, reminding her, even a little, of who she had been.
She thanked them silently, and felt their continued resentment at binding her resurface.
"Soon," she whispered. Maybe… No, she had to hope that they could get out of this.
San shifted, and Kaya looked up, to see where she was looking. Her eyes were locked on the pit, and the poor soul that was imprisoned there. The demon let out another roar, and San winced.
"He was here before I was, but not by much," Kaya said, and San looked at her.
"Did he speak back then?"
"I could not understand."
San nodded, face grim. "I have seen a god succumb to the demon power once before. I watched him lose himself until there was nothing left but fear and hate. This god is dead now, or worse than it. We cannot save him."
Kaya nodded, head lowering again. "I feared as much. Maybe they intend to feed us to him. I've seen it before."
Kaya felt San tense, and she thought it was because of what she said, but then she caught the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.
"Princess Mononoke. It is a curious honor to meet you, this time without your regal mask."
Kaya shrunk, clutching at San. She knew that voice well.
"Shogun Nokurashi." San's voice had changed; it was steady, haughty, the sound of confidence. She hid her pain well. "Looks like you failed in your duty."
"What duty might that be, pray tell."
"The Emperor is dead, by my hand. It is your duty to protect the crown, is it not?"
A harsh laugh. "I was the one who advised the old fool against his plot, but he disregarded my judgment, leading to his demise. Unlike him, I won't underestimate you." Further steps, and Kaya felt San's head turning to follow the Shogun's movement. "What are you? Flesh and blood, obviously, but you defeated the kagekata with unerring ease."
"If you're so curious, why don't you open that door and you can find out? Maybe we can talk about it, just like humans do," San said, teeth bared in a smile. "I promise not to bite."
Nokurashi laughed, a powerful sound. "Let a wolf out of its cage? A novel idea, but not a good one. You bleed like a human, that's certain, but from the stories you fight like a whirlwind."
"I am the daughter of the Spirits, who you take such pride in killing."
"I knew I'd seen fury in the eyes of Saisana. I hadn't believed the tales myself, of a vengeful spirit taking the form of a young woman, thinking it to be another of Yamasaki's ghost stories. And then that very same ghost story kills the most important man in the Empire. My, you are a curious being, aren't you."
Kaya drew in a deep breath, struggling against the fear raging in her, and raised her head.
He stood there, huge, imperious, dark eyes narrowed as he studied the person who held Kaya protectively. Shogun Tomorunai Nokurashi ignored Kaya completely, a welcome change from the previous times she'd seen him. Those huge hands, large enough to hold her entire head and strong enough to– No! She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those memories, those fears. She'd once drawn a blade on a demon, she could be that girl again!
"Perhaps we have something to give the other," San said, tone changing in an instant, and Kaya looked to her in surprise. Her eyes were narrowed, but the smile had disappeared. "I know you seek the power of the Spirits. I'd be willing to talk, to tell you those secrets, if you let Kaya go."
"San?" Kaya asked, horror filling her. What was she doing? She looked up at San, eye wide and questioning, but then San tapped Kaya's back with one finger, like a signal. What did she mean?
The Shogun raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Why does this broken thing have value to you?"
"She has a name. Use it."
He waved a gauntleted hand. "No longer. She betrayed her country, she deserved nothing more than death."
Kaya fought back the rebounding words, and tried to think about what was going on. San didn't seriously believe that they would let her go, did she?
"Again, what value is this prisoner to you?"
San didn't react, just maintained eye contact. "That is my deal. If you do not take it, I will fight you until my last breath."
"My dear Mononoke, you are operating under a false assumption. Several, in fact." He knelt down, to be at San's eye level, and Kaya forced herself not to hide again. She could face this. She wasn't alone anymore, she could do it.
His dark eyes met San's, and the gap between them felt like a sky before lightning. "Firstly, that I am like Emperor Yamasaki. We shared some goals, but beside that we couldn't be more different. In fact, my only interest in the gods of the forest is to kill them. Secondly, that I am keeping you alive for a strategic reason, or to get information from you. Like I said, you are here because I am curious, that is all. Your associates are being rounded up as we speak, you can expect no help from them, and I require no information about their whereabouts."
Kaya wanted to gasp, to react in fear to the proclamations of the Shogun, but something stopped her. Maybe it was the cool way San was regarding her captor, or maybe it was the doubt in Kaya's own mind. But all her thinking stopped when Nokurashi reached out, causing Kaya to shrink back.
The Shogun grabbed the bars of the cage, and his mouth twisted into something that could have been mistaken for a smile, if it weren't for the malice in his eyes. "I would not dream of breaking a child of the gods." Then, with a heave, he lifted the entire frame off the ground.
Kaya screamed as the floor lurched under them, and San shouted in surprise, but neither of them could stop Nokurashi from continuing to lift the cage, higher and higher, until both girls slid on the smooth metal to come crashing into the bars of the cage, San twisting to try and take the brunt of the impact, her cry morphing into one of pain.
Shogun Nokurashi looked up at them, the solid iron cage held over his head, and regarded San with that same almost-smile. "I merely wondered if a monster like you could feel fear."
San's only answer was to snarl and slam her chained wrists into his fingers with all her strength, hard enough that blood burst from her wounds and was flung onto the Shogun's face.
He gave no reaction apart from one of his eyebrows lifting slowly. "Interesting. Perhaps I'll see it when I feed you to your brother demon."
A soldier called out, and Nokurashi sighed. He set the cage back down, dropping it the last few feet, and San and Kaya clung to each other as they were tossed into the walls with vicious force.
San scowled, holding the smaller girl close. She'd die before admitting fear of a man like that.
"What is it?" The Shogun called.
"The Pri– Emperor Aiko is coming!"
Nokurashi scowled. "Deny him entry!"
"But sir, he's already here!
…
"Shogun!" Aiko cast out his voice in fury, calling down to the large man in the center of the underground chamber. "I have it on good authority that you have the murderer of my father in custody! When were you going to inform me of this?"
Even from this distance, Aiko could make out the Shogun's scowl. Behind him was a human cage with shadowed figures within it, but before he could make out details the Shogun and his soldiers had covered his view.
"Prince Yamasaki, I did not deem such information necessary during this time of unexpected crisis, the perpetrator has associates that are still at large, it is not safe for you to be here."
Aiko grit his teeth, then forced himself back from the brink of rage. Was everyone trying to hide something from him, and now of all times? "Unsafe? My father is dead at the hands of assassins, and nobody saw fit to inform me until hours later!" He gestured at the room around them. "And now, I'm in the depths of a prison beneath my own palace, its existence also previously unknown to me." He stormed down the steps, not bothering about the state of his robes on this greasy, rusting metal. What was this place? Taigo and Rashima strode behind him, their steps eerily quiet on the stone stairs, masked gazes sweeping the room for any signs of assassins. His kazekata bodyguards had been the ones to tell him of the events that had occured, and hadn't argued when he'd demanded to be taken to the where the assassin was being held.
Aiko reached the bottom of the stairs, adjusted his robes, and tried to fix an expression of authority on his face. He knew that his eyes were still red from the tears of shock that had struck him by surprise when he had learned of his father's death, but right now he didn't care. He was going to get some answers. "We will discuss that lack of transparency at a later time, but for now, I demand to speak with my father's killer."
The large warrior stepped forward, expression one of stretched patience. "Your majesty, I do not think that wise at this time, the assassin is one to twist words and muddy thoughts, I trust only myself to interact with them–"
"Are you claiming that I'm an imbecile, Shogun? Because that's what it seems you are implying." He halted, looking up at Nokurashi, not showing any of the fear he felt. The Shogun had always been a fearsome figure, and Aiko had never spoken to him like this before. He also tried not to think of the fact that he only had two warriors beside him, and if the Shogun desired, he could replace the Yamasaki bloodline with his own right here and now. He took a breath, then forged onward. "I assure you, despite my indignation at the facts being withheld from me, I am of a sound mind."
"Your majesty, I must insist–"
"Now," Aiko continued, speaking over him, "I order you to step aside so that I may see who has committed this act of violence against my family and left me an orphan in my own house."
Nokurashi raised his eyebrow at the order –a reaction that Aiko had noticed the man was fond of– and regarded the Prince for a moment. Aiko feared the man would refuse, and hurriedly began constructing a response.
The Shogun nodded slowly. "I suppose that is your right. Be warned, the assassin, who was sent with the intention of ending your dynasty, will try to turn your heart with lies, and the other prisoner in this cage is a spy for the enemies conspiring beyond our borders, the cowardly Emishi. Beware your own words as well."
"Thank you for the warning, Shogun Nokurashi. Now, I wish to converse with them alone. Please step away." He forestalled the objection he knew was coming with an upraised hand. "My guards will remain with me, of course."
The Shogun's dark eyes moved past him to Taigo and Rashemi, then huffed. "Do not take much time, the assassin's comrades are still at large, and I am still coordinating the search." He stepped aside, and allowed him and his warriors a few moments to walk away before Aiko finally got a good look at who was in the cage.
And suddenly everything he'd prepared to see was dashed into pieces.
He only just managed to stifle the cry of shock that burst from him at the sight. Two young women in each other's arms, one missing an eye and the other with a shock of bloodstained white hair. The first, the younger girl with dark hair, was obviously in a dramatically bad condition, and Aiko immediately dismissed her as the assassin.
But he knew the other. Or thought he had.
He spoke hesitantly, for fear his voice would break. "Saisana?"
She met his eyes confidently. "Aiko."
"You… you killed my father?"
"I did."
Claws grabbed at his heart, and Aiko felt his legs weaken as the revelation reverberated in his mind. The girl he had eaten dinner with, conversed with, bared his heart to… "Why?" he pleaded.
"He would have killed the world. He almost killed mine." Aiko met her gaze again, and those beautiful blue eyes bored into his soul. "And I do not regret what I've done."
It took all his strength not to fall to his knees, and a part of Aiko recognized that if he succumbed to this numbness the Shogun would believe him unfit to have this conversation and take this opportunity away from him.
"But that is not the reason I came." Her eyes did not leave his, and in them he saw the same woman he had met and laughed with, hardly days ago. Someone firm, sympathetic, and genuine. How this was possible, as she had lied so drastically to him, Aiko did not know. And there was something deep in him, that desperately still wanted to trust this woman he had barely known. I'm such a fool.
"Why, then?" he asked softly.
"To save Kaya," Saisana looked to the younger girl, who met his gaze evenly. Whatever fear she'd shown of him when he'd first seen her was gone now. "Go on," Saisana told Kaya. "We don't have much time."
"I was taken by your father's men two months ago," she said, her voice weak. "They wanted to know the location of my people, so they tortured me until they learned it. I managed to get a message out, and San and her friends have come to save me." She looked back at San. "Well, they're trying to."
"We will." She looked back to Aiko. "She did nothing wrong, and was harmed so viciously by your father's orders. You have to set her free."
His mind spun with the implications. This was the source of his father's knowledge of the Emishi, a tortured young girl? Who was Saisana, what had been done to her to make her kill his father with such resolve? What was he to do? What could he do, in the face of Shogun Nokurashi?
He didn't even know how he felt about all of this, how was he supposed to make a decision? Aiko raised a hand and rubbed between his eyes, trying to calm down and clear his thoughts into something usable. What his father had done to this Kaya was wrong, regardless of truth or lie. The entire war against the Emishi might not be as justifiable as he'd been led to believe. But the thing he was the most uncertain about was Saisana and her choices, and despite every intention of taking action, he found words coming to him. "What about you, Saisana? Even if I managed to free Kaya, what would become of you?"
"If my friends do not come, I am at your mercy." Her unflinching gaze left him for a moment. "I know what it is like to interact with the person who killed someone you love. I do not expect your forgiveness, but…" She met his eyes again, and they were hard no longer. "Just know that I never intended to harm you."
Aiko, Heir to the Yamasaki dynasty, found himself speechless. How in the world did this woman, beaten and bleeding, chained inside of an iron cage, make him feel like he was the prisoner? "Saisana, I–"
"My name is San, Aiko."
Their gazes locked, and Aiko saw in her eyes such great resolve that everything he'd been thinking to say simply departed his mind.
Shouts erupted from an upper level.
Aiko's gaze didn't leave San, even as his guards readied their weapons, a greatspear and katana pointed in the direction of the altercation. She didn't look away, and neither did he, so intent were her eyes on his.
"Prince Aiko!" The Shogun called from behind them. "Please evacuate the premises for your own safety!"
Aiko heard the large man begin shouting orders, and the sounds of soldiers swarming up to the higher levels of the room, but the pair paid them no heed.
San lifted her hands from around the wounded girl and raised them to Aiko, surprising him, if possible, even further. "Come with us," she said. "We can show you the truth."
Aiko's breathing was coming faster, trying to keep up with the cacophony in his mind. Come with her? Leave the city? It seemed so preposterous, but coming from this woman, he found himself considering, despite everything. He looked to her hands, held out to him, welcoming, and that sudden inexplicable urge to trust her resurfaced.
He knelt beside her cage and took her hand hesitantly, eyes lingering on the chains on her wrists, dripping with blood.
Her eyes remained locked on his, and in them he saw determination. She spoke quickly, urgently. "You told me, in your garden, about what kind of leader you wanted to be, and I saw the truth in your words. I knew that you love life, and peace, and growing things, and I respected that about you. But do you really believe that the Shogun will let you rule in peace?"
He shook his head, once. She spoke the truth, and it was something he'd always known.
"He has no respect for you," San insisted. "If you come with us, I can explain everything." Her fingers gripped his tighter. "If you won't, then get out of here before you get caught in the crossfire."
"Sir, the assassin is right, it would be wise to retreat." Taigo spoke up, breaking his silence. "A force of unknown strength is approaching with speed."
San regarded the masked man with surprise, but Aiko closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing as cries of pain came from the upper levels following the clash of steel on steel. He didn't have much time to make a decision that could throw off the entire course of his life.
"You're a good man, Aiko," she said softly. "Please don't die here." And then she gently shoved him back, letting go of his hand, then she turned her attention to the fight that was ensuing. Taking a deep breath, San let it out in a shout. "Over here! This way!"
Aiko, still reeling physically and mentally, couldn't help following her gaze.
And then the focus of the conflict became clear. A single figure in a dark blue jinbaori darted between fighters and leapt from the upper level, landing on the stone floor with grace, ignoring the shouts of surprise from the warriors he'd been fighting. The warrior Aiko knew as Kage looked up, blood splotching his face, locking eyes with San in an instant.
And then Aiko saw, in that man he'd previously seen as emotionless, his hardened determination transform over the course of several seconds. Surprise, followed by confusion, and then anger. And then his eyes found the smaller girl beside San, and after the barest moment of shocked horror, that anger twisted into something that Aiko had never seen before.
Abject rage.