A Lost Hope, The Tattered Red, and Green Ribbon: Chapter 4
Authors notes at the bottom.
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"Shitsudou," she whispered harshly, it was a nasty word, a forbidden word. It was something that no person wanted to hear was affecting their kingdom. As hard as it was to believe it did happen. The evil disease could only be caught by the Kirin of the kingdom. There was a rumor amongst all the citizens of Kei that Keiki had recently been bed ridden with it. The whispers amongst the few people that were left in the towns and villages were that the queen had gone too far with the banishment/execution of the women of the kingdom.
"It's only been 6 years how could someone fall that quickly," she whispered to herself. Sina shook her head slowly pushing the parchment away from her. Her hair was now a dull brown color that she dyed regularly so that she would blend in a little better. It was still cropped close to her head, she had taken to wearing her husband's old clothes as she passed herself off as a man. It had been the only way that she had been able to attempt to stay in the rike with the children.
She had laid low mostly keeping to her home and the garden she had been tending. It was becoming more dangerous outside of the villages now, there were youma at the edges of the kingdom now, or so the rumors said. People were fleeing, family separated as they tried to keep themselves alive. But still there were the children, it seemed each week another one was dumped in the rike, she was up to 20 now and it was getting harder to keep them fed.
"It's just going to get worse," She said softly as she rolled the scroll back up and put it on the small pile she kept on her table. She had been working her way through the record hall that was on the backside of the main building of the rike for the last couple months trying to organize the scrolls. It was a daunting task but it kept her from being seen by the guards that still searched for women that not fled already.
"Rakia," she heard a pounding on her door and it startled her. Jumping up from her chair she quickly walked over to the door and opened it slightly. Standing there was one of the local guards, he looked gravely serious.
"Yes," She said her tone even and deep the best she could do to imitate a man's voice. Sina, or Rakia as she went by now, opened the door a little more to let the man come into the small living area of the house.
"The Hakuchi has cried for the second time," he said simply. Raika seemed surprised she had just received word that the Taiho was suffering from Shitsudou. The Hakuchi was a special bird that was born around the same time when a new ruler took the throne, it only spoke 2 times in its life. The first time was when the ruler has completed the ceremony near Mt Ho where the Kirin lived. The second one was when the ruler died.
"You don't have to hide anymore," he said nodding at her clothes. Rakia blinked at the guard and then just laughed. It had been so long since she had done so but it seemed so funny to her. The whole situation the pretending and she had been seen through.
"Why... why didn't you say something to the other guards?" she asked him. The guard shrugged and looked at the children playing in the small patch of grass next to the main building. It was midday and they had already finished their chores so she encouraged them to play with one another.
"Who else would take care of the kids," he said and turned towards the door once more. He left without another glance at her and moved back to pass the message on to the others in the village.
Rakia stood there stunned for a few minutes before she moved through the door and closed it behind her. She didn't really have a direction that she walked in she just wandered through the town slowly. It had been so long since she had been so stunned but this had done so. Even with the order from the queen some of the people in the kingdom silently defied it.
She wandered silently for what seemed like ages until she found herself in a familiar place. The shrine for the Riboku, the eerie looking tree almost glistened in the sun. It was empty now, people were not ready or stable enough to ask Tentei for a child.
Rakia moved to the little fence that encompassed the tree and stood there looking at the place where she had tied her ribbon so long ago. It had been over 16 years now, by her calculations her child would be about 15 or 16 now wherever she was. She slowly reached her hand up to the tree and let her fingers move along the branches.
She was not sure how long she stood there but an unnatural wind seemed to almost surround her. It almost felt like that day, that day the shoku happened and took her ranka from this very Riboku.
Her heart pounding Rakia turned around trying to find the source of the wind. Behind her stood a man, he seemed unearthly as he stood there his pale gold hair seemed to almost whip around him. The wind seemed to dissipate as he stood there staring at Rakia as if he was trying to figure out something.
"You are not her," he said with a frown, it was almost so quite that she didn't hear what he said. The man looked almost ill, his skin was pale, tiny specks on his face and hands seemed almost to fade away as she stood there silently watching him. The strange man kept staring at her as it he was trying to will something, trying to understand something.
"Not her?" Rakia said broaching the strange comment that he had just uttered. The man waved his hand at her as if what he said was not going to repeat himself. "Whom are you looking for?" she asked him, something about him nagged her, like she was missing something.
"I know she was here, at one time," he said. Raika wondered if the man was still sick, he was so pale, she stepped closer to him.
"Can I get you something to drink or eat, do you need a place to rest?" she asked him. The man turned to look at the riboku, he frowned at the tree almost as if he was angry with the tree for not having the woman he was looking for here.
"She must be on the other side," he said in a determined voice, "Hankyo," he called and a large youma seemed to appear out to thin air. The man got onto the youma without any further question. The large dog like youma lifted up into the air and the two of the faded into the sky.
Rakia stood there in utter shock from what she had just witnessed, she was not sure whom that man was but she didn't want to dwell on it. Looking at the Riboku for one last moment she turned away to head back to the rike. There was much to prepare for if the ruler was dead. The youma would be back soon and the crops would dry up. Thankfully most of her garden was done growing and she had prepared much of it for the coming winter.
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Youko sighed softly as she looked over the records, it had been 3 days since she had come to the small town of Amesa and she had not gotten much further. She had found the marriage record of her parents. It had been confirmed that they had been the only couple that had a ranka that had gone missing. She had found all the paperwork to back up what Shoukei had researched for her but what she couldn't find was if her mother was dead. It seemed that she had just disappeared into thin air after the proclamation from the previous queen that exiled all the woman.
"Maybe she didn't come back," she mused to herself. She felt a sinking feeling, she knew that this outcome had been possible but she didn't want to believe it. Pushing the scrolls away from her in a frustrated fashion she rose to her feet for a good stretch. She hadn't even bothered to take her sword off today as she had not planned on being here for long.
She was supposed to be getting ready for the ceremony to commemorate her 15 years on the throne. It had not been an easy 15 years, she had to push hard to achieve the relative peace now. Even still there were those that seemed to not want her to be the ruler, just last year there had been a foolish attempt on her life or so she had been told. The would-be assassin didn't make it too far past the gate, most of the guards in the palace now had been hand picked by Kantai. As her head general, she trusted his judgment in matters like this. The bear hanjyuu had proved excellent for his position more times than she could count.
"Your majesty," she heard from behind her in her shadow. She looked down and saw just the top part of Hyouki's head was there. Youko crouched down next to the black leopard-like shirei.
"I already know what you are going to say," she said puffing out a breath in an exasperated way. "You can tell Keiki I will be there tomorrow, I am getting ready to leave in the next hour so please come then." She said. The shirei stayed for a moment and she swore that she heard a knowing laugh from him before he faded back into her shadow.
Youko straightened herself up and she sighed, she would have to come back out to this town soon so that she could talk to some of the locals about her parents if they remembered them. There were not that many people left in the town that were around back then and she wondered if she would ever find out what happened to her mother.
She pushed the door of the record room open and walked out into the sun, she welcomed how it felt on her skin. The warmth seemed to fill her heart as she walked towards the center of the town. She would have liked growing up here she decided. It was quite and the people were cheerful and hard working. This had been one of the few villages that had been able to maintain its population through the turmoil of the last ruler.
"Ahh there you are Youshi," She said a now familiar voice. Youko turned to fine Rakia walking down the street towards her, she was holding a small basket. She lifted it up a bit in an invitation for her to join her for lunch once more. The last couple of days the two women had eaten lunch together under the tree in the cemetery.
"Sure," Youko said and she walked up to the woman so they could go to the cemetery together. "Do you do this every day?" She asked the older woman.
Raika nodded her head slowly, "I have always eaten my lunch there for the last 30 or so years," the older woman mused. She had taken to eating lunch at her husband grave out of utter loneliness. The last couple days though she had really enjoyed Youshi's company when they ate lunch together under the tree.
"Oh," Youko said softly as they walked down the well-worn path. She felt a leap in her heart, she could not place it but this woman felt familiar, unlike anyone else that she had met before.
She watched the woman in silence as they reached the large tree that they had frequented. Rakia nodded for Youko to sit as she moved to the grave. Her worn hands tenderly rubbed the top of the stone in an affectionate and familiar manner. She spoke softly to the stone, or the one that was buried under it.
Youko felt her heart start to beat faster, it was almost a rush. Rakia was a sweet caring woman that would help anyone. But this tenderness, this devotion, it seemed almost foreign to her. The older woman crouched down to pick at a few weeds that were trying to take hold.
"Did you know him?" Youko finally ventured, the question was burning in her mind, but she didn't want to rush it.
Rakia seemed startled by her question, she looked at Youko for a long time silent before she ventured and answer. "Yes," she said simply. Then she quickly turned her head, wanting to hide the tears from coming in front of her guest.
It had been so long since she had cried like this, she felt silly even. "He was a great man, selfless even." She said wiping her eyes quickly. Rakia moved over to sit next to Youko under the tree. "He would be cross with me for crying. Used to say that tears were meant for happy times."
Youko felt a smile tug at her lips, it was true to an extent. There were many times 15 years ago at the beginning of her journey that had been true. "I agree," she said simply. "Crying at a situation can make it worse, at least it did for me."
Rakia reached into the basket and pulled out a rough idea of a sandwich. After Youko explained the finer points of them a few days ago she had taken to making some fo their lunches.
"You will be leaving soon for Gyoten?" She asked Youko, she knew that the ceremony would be tomorrow at midday.
"Yes I plan on leaving after this," she said taking her own lunch from the basket. She shifted the sword on her back to lean it against her leg, always it was within arms reach.
"That is still a long trip, you may have to travel at night if you don't start soon," Rakia said a worried undertone to her voice.
Youko was about to answer her but their private time was interrupted by the familiar sound of a sword being pulled from a sheath. She was on her feet before she realized it, there behind them was a small group. About half a dozen men, some of them wore what looked like armor but it didn't bear the crest of Kei it bore the crest of Hou. 'The bandits,' she thought to herself. It made since, they were deserters and thus less likely to receive help from the locals.
"Don't want any trouble," she said shifting the sword to her side it put her hands up as if showing she was unarmed.
"Get out of here while you still can," one of the Kou deserters barked. Youko stood her ground, quickly unfurling the sword from the fabric that it was wrapped in. She unsheathed it quickly and held the sword in her hand, it was an extension of herself. In the last few years, she had taken to getting lessons on how to actually wield it without having to have the Hinman with her all the time. She was still a long way from mastering it but she was getting much better on her own.
"I suggest that you take your own advice," she said cooly, her stance, the look on her face was one that no one should want to mess with. She waited for the stock still until the first one jumped towards her. Stepping to the side she avoided his blade effortlessly. Turning the sword enough she made a quick swing at the bottom of his sword to knock it out of his man stunned at her quick movement stumbled back as she moved to disarm a couple more her movements were almost unearthly.
Rakia watched in stunned silence as the young woman didn't actually harm the men just disarmed them or stunning them with a blow to the head or stomach. It was then she wasn't paying attention that she felt the first pain in her side, then the warmth. Stumbling back she put her hand on her side and looked at it, it was the color of her hair, or the color it used to be. Such a vibrant red, she had always stuck out because of it. The man that had stabbed her from her side quickly ment the blunt end of Youko's blade.
The remaining men stunned at Youko taking down all the men that had origionaly jumped them. Rakia leaned heavily against the tree, her hand shaking as she saw the blood on it. 'How... quaint of all the places for me to die its here next to him.' She thought to herself before she fell unconcious.
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Notes: Please don't kill me, I promise this will be resolved quickly. I am already working on the next chapter and hope to have it out with in a few days.