Chapter 14 | The Burning Temple 2


Mio did not want to speak beyond Kiyohime's name. She became adverse to the topic itself and Yayoi was partly to blame. She decided that it had probably not been a good idea to ask Mio if she had hallucinated or dreamed about the meeting. She regretted the question as soon as she heard it aloud, but she had no way of remedying the situation from there. Mio put up her walls and once guarded, Yayoi had no hope of getting through to her.

A knock at the door drew Yayoi's attention behind her.

"Come in," she beckoned.

The shoji screens slid apart revealing the kneeling woman in the gold-colored uniform and black apron seen on the servants of the castle. Yayoi recognized the slender, auburn haired woman because she brought her and Ikki tea last night.

"Good morning, I brought breakfast for Mio-sama," announced the servant, picking up a tray from beside her as she rose to her feet.

"You can set it there," said Yayoi, gesturing to the square table.

The woman placed the wooden tray on the table and turned towards them. She put her hands flat on the tatami in front of her and bowed. "I am Mizono Sena," she introduced. "If you are in need of anything, please call for me. Mahiro-sama asked that I take care of all Mio-sama's needs during her stay."

Yayoi smiled at her. Although, she continued to hate Mahiro for the insult, she didn't think he was a total jerk if he assigned a servant to take care of Mio. "Thank you."

Sena straightened up and met her eyes. "I apologize, Yayoi-hime," she said, eyebrows knitted with a hint of distraught, "had I known you were here, I would have brought your breakfast too. I will bring yours up immediately. Please, excuse me."

She was up on her feet and exiting the room before Yayoi had a chance to thank her a second time.

"So, do you want to eat?" asked Yayoi. She peered over at the tray, the soup and the tea were steaming and the rest of the food looked soft and warm—freshly prepared. "It looks good."

Mio soured, turning on her side. The damp washcloth she had folded across her forehead fell onto the futon. "I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure? You normally have an appetite during these times. You need the energy, right?"

"I'm not hungry," she repeated, "just tired."

"Well," started Yayoi, starting to get up, "then, I should let you be."

"Yayoi," called Mio.

Yayoi paused. "Yes?"

"I'd rather not be alone."

She smiled, sitting back down. "Okay. I'll stay."

Yayoi knew how she wanted to spend the day. She got out of her seat and went into the closet searching for the Fate Sphere. She found herself making quite a bit of noise and sheepishly peered over her shoulder at Mio, who opened her eyes for a brief second to see what she was doing then closed them and tried to drift off once more.

"To your left," murmured Mio drowsily.

Yayoi glanced at the shelf to her left and spotted the large scroll sitting up against the bottom corner. She took it out and tried her best to shut the closet quietly, but the door jammed halfway there. She needed to set her scroll on the ground to force it shut. She tugged it so hard it made a loud sound that made her jolt.

She looked at Mio, but she slept soundly.

Yayoi seated herself and pulled the scroll onto her lap, unfurling it. She stared into the blank surface and slumped forward a bit to concentrate on what she expected to see from the Fate Sphere. She wanted answers for all the questions swimming in her head, but there were certain answers that she was afraid of learning. She wished to help Madara and Mio, but didn't have faith in her ability to access any Mikazuki's pathways to determine whether they were as trustworthy as they seemed to be.

Truth be told, extracting pathways should have been easier for her to do and it had been simpler when she had first been told she would become a Guardian. Mio's grandfather had taught her that the key element to viewing pathways in that way was knowing what she wanted and being fixated on it. The Fate Sphere only needed a drop of her chakra to activate to her will. If she remained focused on what she wanted to learn, the sphere would comply.

Since the incident with Saori, her mind has not been easy to focus which meant she required a medium to read pathways. She wasn't like Ayuka, who had two different mediums to fall back on. She only used blood. She failed at any other medium she attempted. Honestly, she hadn't tried many since she had gotten so used to extracting pathways without one. She never thought there would come a time when she couldn't concentrate enough.

Saori's near death had shaken her so badly she had felt a sudden need to reject her artifact. For one frightening moment, Yayoi had seen how difficult it had been for Takuto to continue stabilizing Saori's condition that she had thought up a thousand possibilities in her mind. In her head, she had seen all of them die. One by one, they had been hunted by faceless shadows because of their artifacts until none remained. The world beyond that was dark.

Yayoi had not stopped fearing the possibility that she could be next. As relieving as it was that she was under the protection of both Madara, Mio, and Keigo, she felt that if someone was determined to acquire the artifacts, they would go through anyone. It didn't matter who they were or how strong they were.

A deep chill seeped into her skin, provoking goose bumps on her flesh, and a terrible feeling set in as another flash of a temple burning appeared in her head, leaving her stunned for a brief second. The heat of the fire she saw in her mind burned at her skin like a heated knife.

She snatched her right arm against her chest, feeling her heart thumping hard against it. She was afraid to look. There wasn't any fire, but her arm continued to throb as if it had been exposed to it.

Yayoi stared down at the Fate Sphere, expecting it to show signs of having been activated. Perhaps, she had done it without realizing…but then, she thought about it. That made no sense either. If someone's pathway involved that strange burning temple, she would have seen it. She wouldn't have felt the fire as if it were scorching the flesh off her arm. The Fate Sphere showed its user the images. Sometimes they appeared in a long string and she would see them as if they were her memories.

The Fate Sphere couldn't make her feel the things that she saw.

Was she imagining things?

The door slid open, startling her. Sena returned with another tray of breakfast for Yayoi accompanied by another servant carrying a hot teapot. They set the food at the table quietly, arranging it across the wooden surface properly.

"Will you be needing anything else?" asked Sena, standing in front of her.

"No, not at the moment, thank you," said Yayoi.

Sena and her accompanying servant bowed respectfully, turning to leave.

"Ah, Sena-san," called Yayoi.

Sena halted at the door, though she moved aside to allow the other servant to step out. "Yes, Yayoi-hime?"

"If you see my brother, can you tell him that I'm here?"

"I will, Yayoi-hime."

"Thank you."

As Sena reached for the door, she addressed her again, "If you need anything, for yourself or for Mio-sama, please call for me."

Yayoi returned her complete attention to the Fate Sphere, but as soon as she did, her mind went back to Ikki. She started to wonder last night if the fact that she broke her promise to him had made him adverse to the idea of being rescued. She believed he lost faith. She assumed he preferred to stay in the environment that he had grown accustomed to because he thought this place was his best chance to survive.

He had been seven when Yayoi had found him crying in one of the kitchen storages. She had stared at him long, acknowledging the purple-black contusions on his face, the swelling of his right eye, the dry blood around his nose, and the fat lower lip. His clothes were in tatters and there was blood on the sleeve he used to wipe his nose clean. There were bruises on every bit of visible skin.

Unconsciously, she touched the Fate Sphere and a tug from the artifact on her chakra startled her into jerking it back. The vision of her bruised brother didn't abandon her mind as she rolled the scroll close, feeling it was acting a bit strange. She left it beside Mio's futon and went to the table to have breakfast.

Keigo showed up after Sena returned to clear the food. She appeared disappointed to see Mio had left her breakfast untouched, expressing it was important to eat. Yayoi assured her that she would make sure she eats lunch.

"How is Mio-san doing?" asked Keigo, removing his swords from his side and setting them down beside him as he sat. "Mao-san mentioned she wasn't feeling well."

"She had a fit."

"Oh. Those are scary."

Yayoi nodded.

"How are you doing?" asked Keigo. "You stayed up with your brother last night, right? I hope everything went okay."

"We talked, but he's reluctant to leave."

"Want me to talk to him?"

She appreciated the suggestion and smiled, but felt a need to remind him of one particular detail. "Keigo, I don't think he will listen to you."

Keigo tilted his head to the side. "Why not?"

"He punched you in the face for walking down the same hallway."

"But he was just angry that one time. He blew up on everyone."

"He doesn't like you."

"Well, he doesn't like anyone. Not really. Only you."

Yayoi sighed. "Nothing gets you down, does it?"

"If it does, you can't help."

"But still, I don't think you should try with Ikki, he's a bit difficult."

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to him about it."

"You really don't have to."

"I want to."

He persisted until she finally agreed to let him speak with Ikki, even though she was convinced it would end badly. He left unfazed and determined, asking her to take care of his swords while he hunted Ikki down. She tried to stop him, assuming her brother was wherever Madara and Mahiro were. He wouldn't find him and would probably give up.

Yayoi exhaled. Keigo wouldn't give up.

"You can tell him if he's being a nuisance."

She turned to Mio as she pushed her blankets off her legs and sat up.

"I couldn't," said Yayoi, "he's being so nice. And you know he might be able to get through to Ikki. They're about the same age, right?"

"Keigo doesn't have any limits. Sometimes you need to point out the boundaries so he won't cross them, no matter how persistent he is with you." Mio yawned into her hand and rubbed her eyes with the other. "I don't want him to get in trouble."

"I'm sorry," she said, looking downcast.

"Don't worry about it too much. It means he likes you."

"If only he weren't so young," huffed Yayoi. "If he is going to look anything like his father—"

"I meant as a person."

She puffed out her cheeks, a little embarrassed that she got ahead of herself. Not that it would be impossible. She was one of the more beautiful women in the world.

"Have you been reading the Fate Sphere?" asked Mio, changing the subject.

"No," she admitted. "I haven't been able to read it properly. I have so many worries. I'm sorry that I can't be more help."

"You are plenty of help," said Mio. "You're helping me now by keeping me company."

That brought a smile to her face, but it was a small one. "I wish I could do more. If I could access one of the Mikazuki shinobi's pathways, I could probably see whether or not we could trust them, but I can't."

"You don't have to worry about doing that," said Mio.

The burning temple flashed through Yayoi's mind and it reminded her of scorching heat on her skin. "Mio, have you ever felt the pathways instead of just seeing them?"

Mio looked up. "In what way?"

"Let's say you view pathway where a person is running, would you feel winded after seeing it?"

"Like experience somebody's pathway?"

"Yes, exactly! Have you ever felt that way?"

"No, I've never have." Mio paused and looked at her seriously. "Are you going through that?"

"No, not at all," she said immediately, the nervous knots in her stomach tightening.

She reassured herself that it was all a part of her imagination. She told herself that it was likely she experienced something similar in her youth and that seeing the burning temple as it was consumed by the violent red-orange flames simply reminded her of the experience.

She asked herself to stop worrying about it all, including that burning temple and to focus on what was important. She wanted to be helpful to Madara and Mio, not just baggage, and she wished to convince her brother to journey with her to the Fire Country, away from the dangers of the Sun Country once they were done.

"Yayoi?"

She looked at Mio. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, "I'm okay."

Mio's eyes narrowed in exaggerated suspicion. "Truly?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Everything is fine. Now, you, you're a different story. You were cold, you had a fit, then your temperature was too high, and then you oversleep. This is all because of that other artifact, isn't it?"

"One can assume," said Mio.

"Don't avoid the question!"

"Let me help you by not divulging the dark details of my condition. You don't need to be worried about one other thing when that one other thing isn't as bad as you think it is."

"Mio, your pathways were upside down. That means death."

"And I am alive." Mio left her futon to stretch her arms high over her head. She still looked drowsy. "Don't worry about me. We have to focus on our objective here, not on my health."

"Your health is important, too."

"Not right now."

Mio went to pick clothes out of her bag and started to dress into them.

Yayoi gave up. "How are you and Madara?"

"Better."

"That's a relief, but you have to do something about Eishirou."

"I can't do much now, but I have something planned for later." Mio finished tying a narrow sash around her waist before reaching down to tug on her trousers. "You should spend as much time with your brother as possible. You have to convince him to come with us after we're done here."

Yayoi wanted nothing more than to make him agree, but he wasn't listening to her. "He's being difficult for me as well."

"You'll get through to him."

The door slid open suddenly and Yayoi leapt to her feet to shield Mio with her body. She wasn't done getting dressed and while Mio clearly didn't care, as she remained unfazed, someone needed to protect her nakedness.

Keigo crossed the threshold, holding a bloody handkerchief to his face. His eyes were watering. "He broke my nose again," he cried. "Why is he so good at it? Why? It's like he purposely hits me at the right angle to break it. Ow! It hurts so bad!"

"Oh, no, I'm so sorry," Yayoi said, moving towards him. She gently took his hand with the handkerchief away from his nose. "Let me have a look."

"I'll fix it for you," announced Mio, stepping in between them.

She took Keigo's nose before either one of them protested and set it back quickly.

Keigo let out a pained cry and Yayoi went to hold him up, feeling the weight of him more when his knees buckled.

"I'm going to look for Madara."

"Madara-san hasn't returned yet," said Keigo. "He went somewhere with Mahiro-san this morning."

Mio frowned.

Yayoi guided Keigo into a seat and used the leftover water in the basin to clean the blood from his face. She titled his head back as she dabbed.

"You shouldn't have gone through the trouble," said Yayoi. She would have to talk to Ikki about his behavior, though she knew he wouldn't want her prying.

Keigo beamed at her. "It's okay, I'll just try him again another time."

"No, you won't." Mio stepped forward. "You've done enough. Leave Ikki to Yayoi and stop interfering. Your job is to protect her."

"But Ikki-san—"

"No excuses," Mio interrupted firmly. Keigo tensed and lowered his eyes like an admonished child. "Your father left you in my care and I will not have you stalking a boy that is going to break your nose every time you approach him. You can't be friends with everyone."

"Sorry, Mio-san."

"I'll be back," announced Mio, heading out the door.

Yayoi nodded. She returned her attention to Keigo as the blood stopped flowing from his nose. "Well, I think it might be the circumstances as well," she said, trying to comfort him. He looked so crestfallen that she couldn't help it. "We don't know what Ikki has gone through or is going through. Besides, he has a long history of being friendless. He doesn't know how to behave with other people. Nobody's ever taught him."

Rather, Yayoi corrected mentally, he learned to be afraid of people given the abuse he endured as a child at the hands of every adult that wanted to turn him into the next Heita. The image of her beaten brother hiding in the kitchen storage came to mind and settled in place. She swore she could almost smell the spices stored alongside him. The pads of her fingers tingled as if they were touching the wooden door that shielded the young boy from view.

She snapped out of the trance, feeling her heart flutter.

"Well, he'll have the rest of his life with us to learn," assured Keigo, grinning.

She finished dabbing away the rest of the blood from his face and patted his leg. "There you are."

"Thank you, Yayoi-san."

Mio returned shortly as promised. She arrived at the door with Yuzuru, who left as soon as she dismissed him. Yuzuru greeted both Yayoi and Keigo before leaving. She took a seat at the table and slumped forward, giving into the lethargy produced by her running fever.

"You shouldn't be moving around too much," said Yayoi, getting up to guide her back to the futon.

Mio shook her head, rejecting the offer. "I need to keep up appearances. This is not too much."

"You should at least continue resting, at least until lunch. You need to eat lunch."

"I'll stay up until lunch," Mio decided. "We should do something while we wait for lunch. I think we should play hanafuda."

Yayoi was not the least bit surprised by the suggestion. "Well then, we should play a couple of rounds."

Mio procured a deck from her bag and started setting up for the game.

Keigo bounced excitedly in his seat. "We should ask Ikki-san to play!"

Excited by the idea, Yayoi agreed. She turned to Mio. "Can I?"

"Go ahead."

Yayoi left her seat and left to look for Ikki. He wasn't hard to find, despite having been busy with errands, because he made certain to remain in the same building as her at all times, staying true to his word to protect her. She caught him speaking to Sena with a tightlipped expression, eyebrows furrowed in distaste. One glance in her direction had him opening his mouth to dismiss the pretty girl.

Sena bowed deeply to Yayoi and vacated the corridor. Ikki watched her go with a strange expression, a saddened one.

"Is she someone you like?" asked Yayoi. She didn't plan to tease him with the information; she only wanted to know more about him.

"No," he said with disgust. "Why would you even assume?"

"Sorry," she said, having trouble expressing herself after the obvious blunder, "I only figured because she's very pretty and the way you looked at her—it seemed forlorn."

"Just stay out of it!" Ikki spat. "It's none of your business how I look at a person! It wouldn't be any of your business if I liked someone either! I'm not like you, I don't have to tell the fucking world when I'm in love with some old geezer!"

Yayoi stared at him defiantly with the urge to dissolve into tears immediately. Not only had he taken the knife and stabbed her with it, he had decided to twist and turn it in her entrails. The pain radiated from her with such intensity, she was shaking violently, her hands balled into tight fists.

"I didn't mean to pry," she said tremulously, and for a split second, she saw her brother's face soften, though it hardened just as fast. "In fact, I just wanted to see how your day was going and if—"

"Well, it's going fucking awful, Yayoi!" snapped Ikki. "Go back to your stupid Shugosha already and leave me be! I have more errands to run for Mahiro-sama!"

He turned down the hall, stomping towards the exit.

Yayoi moved in tune with her emotions and pursued him for a few steps. Her heart felt like a damp washcloth as it was wrung free of the excess water. Her excess was the need to reconnect with her brother. She wanted them to go back to how they were before. They were close. They started to grow closer since she had discovered he had not taken her father's affection. He had nothing to do with it. He had been another suffering party. She had spoken to him day after day and had loved him bit by bit. She had developed affection towards him as quickly as she had lost all her anger towards him.

And yet, she had never stopped feeling guilty for having become a priestess of the Northern Sun Temple because she had left him behind to the tutelage of the Mikami and Motou shinobi, who had tortured him every day. He had never been a fast learner. He had never been skilled at anything that was view as useful in the shinobi world. He hadn't been deemed worthy of being prince of the Sun Country and their father had seen fit to depose him of his birthright as well.

They had been close up to that point. They had loved and cherished each other. They had been their only allies in the Sun Country.

She didn't understand.

She wanted to understand so badly. She suffered so much knowing that he was in Ayuka's grip during the Artifact War. She never stopped worrying about him, knowing that he was trapped in the Sun Country with the Mikazuki clan. She wanted him with her. She regretted not fighting harder to get to him.

"What am I doing wrong?" she shouted, the flood of emotions hit her like a wave crashing against a cliff. The tears dripped from her chin, blurring her sight.

Ikki stopped abruptly, whirling around. "You're doing everything fucking wrong! What were you thinking coming back here? I don't want you here!" he shouted, his face reddening. "Even your Shugosha and Madara-sama don't need you here! What do you think you're doing with your mediocre skill and your stupid artifact? You're not Kikumi! You're not Ayuka! You're a good-for-nothing! You should have stayed away! Read the atmosphere, Yayoi! Nobody needs you here!"

A sob escaped her when she felt a hand push her aside gently. She saw Keigo step towards Ikki, who bristled at the very sight of him, and heard the light clink of his armor as it touched with each of his steps.

"What the fuck do you—?

Keigo punched Ikki across the face and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before he fell to the ground. He hoisted him up to eyelevel, though Ikki was much taller than Keigo, the young samurai had her brother with his knees bent.

Yayoi gasped. "Keigo!"

"You know, you're very rude," Keigo started, serious. She had never seen him so serious. "You cannot talk to Yayoi-san that way."

Ikki spat out a bloody piece of his tooth to the ground and grabbed hold of Keigo's wrist. "Let me go, you stupid shrimp!"

"Keigo, please, don't—" Yayoi hiccupped, feeling knees weak. "You don't have to."

"I have to," said Keigo, "because Mio-san asked me to protect you. I'm not going to stand around listening to someone that speaks to you in that manner. I don't care if he's your brother. I wouldn't care if he were your father or your mother. Nobody speaks to Yayoi-san that way. You obviously don't understand what she went through to get here. You don't know anything, Ikki-san. If you can't appreciate all of Yayoi's feelings—how worried and scared she was knowing that you were here alone or even how excited and nervous she was because she was going to see you again—then you don't deserve her feelings."

Ikki shoved against Keigo, releasing himself. He wiped the blood from his lip. "You're not getting away with this!"

He turned swiftly and departed.

"Ikki-san! You forgot your tooth!"

"Fuck off!"

Keigo picked up Ikki's tooth piece and walked to Yayoi's side. "Can you mend broken teeth? Can any medic?"

Yayoi couldn't bring herself to answer his question coherently and cried into her hands. She couldn't even think of the answer. She thought everything would be okay from when they first embraced, but it had gone downhill instead.

She didn't know what to do anymore. Everything he said was true. She wasn't Kikumi, who excelled in kinjutsu, or Ayuka, who was a powerful Guardian. Her skill was mediocre and even she found it hard to understand why she was brought along. Maybe she should have stayed back in the Fire Country with Saori and Nako. She could have been practicing her skills.

"What am I supposed to do?" she sobbed. "How am I supposed to fix this?"

"You have to consider the circumstances," offered Keigo, as she had a few moments ago. "Ikki-san must be under a lot of pressure and he just lashed out at the wrong person."

"But he's right, I'm a nuisance!"

"No, you're not. You're never a nuisance. He's just acting dumb. Younger brothers always act dumb, take it from me, my brother is the worst offender." Keigo smiled, hoping to comfort her with his words. "Now, let's go back."

Yayoi asked him to go on ahead while she tried to stop crying.

She couldn't.

Yayoi joined Mio and Keigo after a half hour and sat down to play hanafuda. She tried to keep her spirits up, engrossing herself in the games, but found it hard. She kept replaying Ikki's words in her mind, each time she heard them back, they sounded crueler, and it gutted her a little more.

She took care of Mio and that kept her busy. When Sena came around with their share of lunch, she made sure that she ate as much as she could stomach.

Madara returned early that afternoon. Mio noticed immediately, which had Yayoi elated to find their connection so powerful when the Shugosha pointed him out in the courtyard with Jouji and Arata at his side. Kuronuma Akira stood with Mahiro; the two were of similar height, though the former possessed a stronger, more toned physique.

Yayoi noticed another two walk up to them. Ikki followed by Sena, who bowed to everyone and appeared a bit more exuberant. She was truly quite striking, but in an odd way. Her features were too beautiful. Her charm was obvious. Any little gesture appeared to be too much of one, like an exaggeration, and yet she managed to appear poised and elegant for a lowly servant. She wasn't one she recognized. In fact, there were many new workers that she didn't recognize, but that was all the result of the castle's destruction and the ongoing war between the Mikazuki and the Ishiki. It would be stupid of her to assume there weren't casualties during the hardships that the Sun Country had gone through.

Mio retreated from the window. Yayoi took it as a cue to shut it and reached for the open panels, bringing them together in the middle and locking them.

"Are you going to rest?" asked Yayoi, watching Mio rummage through the clean linen and robes provided.

"After a bath."

"I want to go too!" stated Keigo, getting out of his seat.

"I can go with you, too, if you'd like," suggested Yayoi.

Mio nodded.

They made a somewhat lengthy visit to the bathhouse. Yayoi had to stop Keigo at the door to the women's bath because he was walking behind them like he was entering the right place. She sent him next door on his own, though he pouted and begged Mio to let him accompany them. Initially, Mio agreed, standing aside to let him pass, but Yayoi intervene and put a stop to their nonsense.

Inside, it became a little awkward. Mio noticed how absent she was by how quiet she had been during the entire time.

"What happened?" Mio persisted.

Yayoi shook her head. If she talked about it, she would burst into tears. It took her half an hour to get it together earlier. She didn't want to go through the waterworks again. "Everything is fine."

"Are you sure?"

No, she wanted to say, but instead, she nodded and smiled. "Yes."

Ultimately, she realized she couldn't say what she wanted. There weren't any words to express the void that Ikki's words helped open in place of her heart. After crying it out, she felt empty.

Despite her silence, Yayoi was aware of Mio's gaze when it fell on her.

Keigo waited for them outside with his dark hair slicked back. He followed them back to Mio and Madara's room where they remained for a short spell. Mio's fever had gone down sufficiently that Yayoi was able to leave the room without the need of giving Madara extra instruction when he arrived.

Yayoi went straight to bed after returning to her room in the tower. Although, Keigo insisted to walk her there, she refused him. He had done enough for her that whole day. She didn't want him to do more.

She had trouble sleeping once the tears started up again and had been lying on the ground full of little emotional pains. She revisited her past in the Sun Country. She looked back on her relationship with Ikki. She asked herself the same questions repeatedly as if the answers would come to her magically. None came.

As she drifted off to sleep, she began to see interwoven branches covered in bright green leaves shielding the sun as she moved. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't her overactive imagination on the precipice of a dream.

It felt real, however, like the fire that consumed the temple. She smelled the dewy morning, felt the graze of raindrops when they fell and landed on her body, she experienced the cool breeze against her skin, and remembered the soft earth beneath her sandaled feet.

She recognized her mother in her mind—youthful with striking features and long jet-black hair that she pulled up into a high ponytail. She halted at the end of the forest road and stared out into the crystalline blue sea that unfurled beyond the country.

Miwa moved towards the white sand beach, taking a small shortcut through the hill when the sound of knocking drew her attention to the tiny boat anchored near the shore by a heavy rock and black rope. Atop the ship, a man with long, white hair and strangely colored eyes sat fiddling with a basket.

"Sone Miwa?"

Yayoi experienced the same jolt her mother's heart did at the sound of her name. The man looked up and Yayoi murmured his name in her head. Kuronuma Shinya.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" asked Miwa, stepping away, poised for attack.

"I am called Shin. I hail from the Iron Country."

Miwa recognized the Iron Country as neutral and relaxed, but that did not mean she was no longer in danger.

"I have encountered a bit of trouble," he told her.

"What sort of trouble?"

"For starters, I ran out of food and water," he said, smiling innocently."Next, I can't seem to enter this country."

Yayoi opened her eyes, staring at the blackness above her as the pathway started to fade. She sensed the pull of the Fate Sphere leave her after the images did.

She sat up, her muscles aching from the stress of having been asleep on the ground without the futon between them. She dragged her hand down her face, eyes closed, and breathed heavily until she calmed her unsteady heart. She was bothered by the slight throbbing of her head and worried it would become a full blown headache.

Outside her room, she heard the exhalation of the walls, sensed the faint presence of the men and women patrolling through the floors beneath and above hers, the rustle of leaves in the night breezes, and the blackbirds' song. She drank in her surroundings, looked at them reminded of how happy it had made her when she saw they were just as she recalled, and missed her modest accommodations in Sachiyo's home, though she had hated them at first believing them to be an insult to someone of her stature. All of her things were there, not here among all the clothes and items that replaced those that were lost in the destruction three years ago.

Every morning and every night was a constant reminder that this was not her home. She hated it more and more as it started to sink in. She hated it.

She hated this place. She hated the nostalgia and the emotion that bubbled in the pit of her stomach.

She dragged herself off the floor and walked heavily to pull the futon out of the trunk where it was kept. She draped it over the tatami in the center of the room and tossed all the pillows that sat beneath it in the chest onto its surface. She didn't bother smoothing it out before getting in. She crawled under the blanket and made herself as comfortable as she could.

The small ache in her head became a headache.

Yayoi tried to sleep for hours, but failed to do so because the throbbing in her head had become so unbearable. She left the room quietly and walked to the nearby staircase to descend to the kitchen. She looked through every open window she passed, hoping to catch sight of the guestrooms or the barracks or even someone familiar because she didn't want to go alone, but the guesthouses were dark, the barracks were quiet, and the people on patrol consisted mostly of Mikazuki and Kuronuma shinobi she did not recognize. Normally, that would not hinder her, but at the thought of asking for help—at the fact that she felt she needed it to walk to the kitchen—reminded her of Ikki's accusation. He said she was a good-for-nothing. He was right. She couldn't even walk around alone at night.

Yayoi intruded on a pair of servants preparing for tomorrow morning in the kitchen. The two women bowed low and were quick to offer their service to appease her.

She thought about it for a minute, staring at the two for what felt like longer, and felt a prickle in her hands as she forced herself to smile. "I wanted something for my headache."

She used to have an attendant, Mika, who had taken care of all her needs, but one morning, she had woken up without her presence because Ayuka had not deemed her worthy of serving a princess. She had demanded to have her back, but Ayuka had been quick to remind her that a priestess of the Sun Temple had no need of servants. "Especially one as devout as you," she had added for effect and it had silenced all of her arguments. Becoming a priestess and remaining in Ayuka's favor had been two things that had allowed her to separate herself from her father. It had been a double-edged sword, however, because it had distanced her from Ikki and she had reason to believe their growing dissociation had been seeded then. It had grown with the sea and land between them.

She had no doubt that if Ayuka had asked her to abandon her brother that she would have. So, she had never bothered to look for Mika. In fact, Mika had become a distant memory in her mind. She had not searched for her. She had not asked about her after that conversation with Ayuka. She had accepted she was gone easily even though Mika had always gone beyond everything to ensure she had been living comfortably. She had never thanked her. Not sincerely.

She couldn't remember what she looked like, but she did recall that she did everything for her. After her, she had been at ease in the Uchiha Village with Sachiyo. Despite there being no servants roaming the corridors carrying out their daily tasks, Yayoi had lived a simpler life there as well.

If she had any ailments, she would go to Kana, who would give her medicine or prepare teas for her only having heard what hurt. She had often found Kana forcing Madara or Izuna to help prepare meals and had listened to her for hours ranting that they should learn to cook more than fish on a fire pit because even Mio could do that. To her, she had said, "When you are at Mio's level of cooking, you have failed life."

She had laughed and had wondered if Mio had been so terrible—a fact she had learned one unfortunate evening after she had managed to turn leftovers into tasteless rice blobs.

Yayoi had never realized she had no idea how to even make tea until that moment. She had no need to think of what it required to prepare the food she ate or the liquids she drank. She had grown up knowing there were cooks in the kitchen and servants that brought everything to her. Even in the Fire Country, she had been babied by everyone.

"I'll prepare it for you straight away, princess," said the wrinkled older woman, steering her tired body towards a shelf covered in jars.

"I can do it," said Yayoi.

"No, princess, it is not a problem—"

"I want to do it," she said, a little more forcefully and saw the woman nod. "Thank you."

She didn't know where to start. She went to stand beside the older woman and exhaled, looking around the clean area. She saw Kana prepare tea plenty of times. Water was involved and there was also tea leaves. She glanced at the cook stove where she spotted the kettle.

Did she fill it with water first or the tea leaves? Did she cook them separately then put them together? She asked herself a hundred of similar questions before she turned to the old woman watching her helplessly. Her headache managed to grow worse.

"Can you teach me?" she asked, defeated.

The old woman smiled. "Of course, princess. Now, first you…"

Yayoi learned that making a cup of tea was not difficult. She sat at one of the counters in the kitchen; its structure was quite exact—down to the last detail—with what she remembered in her memory of finding Ikki hiding from his tormentors. The cupboard sat in the corner and served as storage for rice and flour. She stared at it as she was drinking her tea listening to the women shuffle through the kitchen working to finish and remembered how the sight of her brother in that beaten state had aggravated her. She had coaxed him out and had hoisted him into her arms; his weight had been too much for her to bear so he had kept sliding down her hips.

He had started to cry as soon as she had him in her arms and together, she had marched with him outside, as far out as she had ever been allowed with about twelve of their combined attendants in pursuit, demanding that they return to their rooms. She had ignored them and had managed to get away from them somehow. She and Ikki had spent the entire day in a secluded part of the castle giggling into their hands as the entire staff had run out to search for them.

Ayuka had found them. That had been the first time she had spoken to her.

"You are very much like Miwa-sama."

Yayoi looked up at the old woman as she set down a chopping board. She stepped to her left in front a basin and scrubbed three carrots clean with the water before aligning them on the board.

"You knew my mother?" asked Yayoi. "Have you been working here long? I'm sorry, I don't remember—"

The old woman shook her head, picking up a knife. "I just started working here a year ago."

"Oh, then how did you know my mother?"

She started to chop the carrots into tiny circles. "Well, I used to work in her first home, south of here."

With Jikai.

Yayoi nodded. "I don't remember her. Not well."

"She worked hard. She enjoyed trying new things. She liked to sit in the kitchen." The old woman smiled. "She said she liked the smell. She was a good woman and a loving mother. She loved her children."

"Why did she leave Heita?" asked Yayoi. She envied her older half-brother for his skill and his talent. Her father had always wanted a son like him, not the children he fathered. Her mother never talked about him, not that she remembered, and she never met him, not in person. She couldn't say she truly hated him because she didn't know him. She knew of him, but that was completely different. She learned what people had to say about him.

"Knowing your mother as you do, do you believe she left Heita-sama?" asked the old woman.

"She never spoke about him."

The old woman nodded.

"I asked her about him a lot of times and he never said anything."

"Miwa-sama was a quiet woman. She kept everything inside. The things that bothered her, the things that hurt her, things that were too cruel to put into words she bottled up. She didn't like to burden people, yet she was willing to allow people to burden her." The woman was halfway through the carrots. "If she left him, do you think she did so cruelly and that it never pained her?"

Yayoi doubted that. She was probably in pain because she had been separated from her eldest son and was stuck in a marriage with a beast of a man. She didn't know the real story about her father and uncle and her mother. She was raised with at least seven versions. In some, her father had kidnapped her and forced her to become his wife. In others, she abandoned her first husband and son because she fell in love with Enki.

"Do you know what happened with her? Why she ended up with my father? Why she left my uncle and her son?"

"Nobody knows the details, but I can assure you that she was in love with your father. She loved Jikai-sama, dearly, but Miwa-sama was in love with Enki-sama long before she married."

"What did she see in him?" questioned Yayoi. "My father was a swine. He treated her badly and kept her locked in a room most of her life."

"Your father was not always so hedonistic and cruel."

Yayoi stared into her half empty cup, letting that information sink in.

"Do I resemble her?"

"Yes, you and your brother resemble her. In more ways than just appearance, of course. Your presence here reminded me of hers." The old woman laughed, as if she had said something silly. "I was feeling a little nostalgic. I apologize if I offended you, princess, it was not my intention."

Yayoi lifted her eyes. "No," she said, "but please tell me more about my mother."

She tried to use this old woman's words to replace the last memory she had of her mother, dying at the hands of her father with a collar of flowing blood. She wanted a different memory to spring up when she talked about her mother. She wanted to meet everyone that had known her so that they could tell her all about her.

Yayoi returned to her bedroom and went to sleep thinking about all the stories the old woman had parted with...and slowly, they began to take shape.

Slowly, Yayoi fell into a dream that seemed as though it wasn't one. The forest path and the interlaced branches along with the scent of the sea came from that pathway in which her mother met Mio's grandfather.

Yayoi woke up the following morning feeling the slight weight of the basket of food her mother had brought Shin. She headed to the guest's building after she dressed comfortably for the rest of the day. She assumed Mio would be stubborn about moving around and rather than sit inside the castle and do nothing, Yayoi wanted to accompany her if she could. If that weren't possible, she wanted to seek out the old woman from last night to ask her for her name and to thank her for all the stories she told her. She had been incredibly patient with her, which was more than she could say about others' behavior as of late.

Keigo met her halfway, waving at her from the distance as he called out to her, "Yayoi-san! Yayoi-san!" He jogged to her side and synchronized his pace with hers, seeming delighted to see her. He looked nothing like he had after he had interposed himself between Ikki and her. In fact, he didn't seem capable of such a thing. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"You can say," she admitted. "I did have a bit of a headache."

"That sounds awful, but you're feeling better today, right?"

She nodded.

"Mio-san is as well. She went to talk to Akira-san early this morning, but she already returned to her room."

"What about Madara?"

"He went with Mahiro-san again. They are preparing another scouting mission. Ikki-san is going too." Keigo gauged at her reaction before he continued, "Did you have a chance to talk to Ikki-san after yesterday?"

"No."

"I tried to talk to him, but he ignored me," said Keigo. "I apologized for hitting him too and tried to give him back the piece of his tooth, but he just walked past me like I didn't exist. I'll try again next time I see him."

"You don't have to deal with him. If he is truly sorry about what he said, he will approach you." Yayoi's heart seized because normally when they fought, they would make up immediately. It was always an hour later and they would have gone back to laughing at something silly or trying to prank one of their father's mistresses. Overnight was stretching it. She questioned whether there was a way to fix this or not. "He's not a bad person. He's just difficult."

"I don't think he's a bad person," said Keigo. "I just think he's a very sad one. Sad people can become angry and they can lash out to people that they care about. I think that your brother loves you a lot, but he's just not okay."

Yayoi and Keigo stopped in front of the entrance of the guest building. She put her hand on top of his head and smiled. "Your parents are lucky to have you."

Keigo frowned. "My mom is constantly yelling at me and my dad gets rid of me first chance he gets, I don't think that's lucky at all."

"Your father wouldn't get rid of you so easily if you weren't sticking your nose in people's business," came Mio's voice from inside before she stepped out to join them. "And your mother yells at you because you never listen."

"But that's her fault! She makes me do stuff and then changes her mind!"

"Don't question your mother."

"Why are you on her side?"

Mio looked directly at Yayoi. "How are you this morning?"

"I should be asking you that," she replied.

"I am better than I was yesterday. And you?"

"I'm okay, I swear. There's nothing wrong with me, so you don't have to keep asking."

"I'm a better liar than you are Yayoi, so I'll keep asking until you tell me what's wrong with you. Until then, we have to talk. I've already spoken to Akira and Yuzuru concerning this, but you are both relevant as well."

Yayoi and Keigo nodded.

"Now, I need you to show me to a place where you believe we can speak without being eavesdropped."

Yayoi took them to the most secluded area in the castle that she could think of, which sat behind several buildings and was surrounded by shrubbery and trees that provided them with an appropriate amount of privacy. Mio waited a moment, surveying the place and pacing around its entirety before determining it was safe enough to speak.

"Tell me everything you know about the Mikazuki clan," Mio began. "You were aware who they were before I was told that they were connected to Ayuka."

"Well, I don't know much to be honest," said Yayoi, surprised by the question. She had given all the information she had on the Mikazuki clan to Madara while they were discussing the invasion. "I only knew what Ayuka allowed. I probably would not have known that Gouki and Rikuto were related to her if Rikuto had not introduced himself to me as her son and Gouki as his brother."

"Even if it is the most insignificant detail, even if you think it's useless, or it it's a simple observation, just tell me about them as a whole and of the members you know as individuals. Start wherever you want. Tell me as you remember. Don't worry if you're being confusing or not. I need to know everything that I can."

Yayoi exhaled deeply and began to speak. She talked about Gouki for starters because he was the leader of the clan before his brother succeeded him and because she saw him constantly. She informed Mio of that information, saying that of all the Mikazuki, he visited the Sun Country with more frequency and that he along with a few other of his clansmen were the only shinobi allowed to enter the temple, which had been forbidden for as long as she remembered. One of his more consistent companions was Mahiro. That did not seem to faze Mio the least.

In fact, nothing she said made Mio's expression change. She stared at her, completely engaged in the conversation with an inscrutable look on her face. By the time she started to speak about the more important clan members of the Mikazuki, the atmosphere read a little tense. Mio's jaw was locked and her eyes a little more serious. Keigo listened intently at her side, eyes fixed on the floor.

Once she finished, they were silent for many long minutes.

"Are you doubting the Mikazuki clan?" asked Yayoi.

"No," she said, "I just don't trust Mahiro at the helm."

"What if I try to draw out his pathways?"

"No, I already tried. Mahiro is half Kuronuma like Gouki and Rikuto and he had a good connection with Ayuka, so he knows ways to block readings."

"What?"

"You weren't aware?"

"That there are Mikazuki that can block readings? No! How could they? How could anyone? Well, I understand how you would and I, but anyone else would be strange!"

"It would, yes, but I believe Ayuka taught the Mikazuki a way to cover their pathways when she learned you were her successor." Mio paused, running a hand through her hair. "I don't know. I honestly have no idea what is impairing me from seeing, but—have you tried?"

Yayoi nodded. "I thought there were too many thoughts in my head, but I can't seem to get my sphere to work here, at least not in the way that I want."

"What do you mean?"

"I keep receiving pathways. I'm not doing anything, but they keep coming to me. This isn't like before. Shin told me that the pathways that came to me were the ones Ayuka was drawing from the Fate Sphere and that it only happened to show that I had the gift. Once I started practicing on how to use it, that stopped. I could draw pathways myself, but it was always intentional, not like this."

"Maybe the Fate Sphere is trying to tell you something."

"But the Fate Sphere is not a sentient being. It cannot tell me anything that it wants."

Mio took her hands firmly into hers and looked her straight in the eyes. "But the artifacts are evolving. You have all said it at some point and they are. They're changing."

Yayoi felt her heart accelerate a bit. "This doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense. It means my eleventh artifact is working." Mio's entire visage brightened at the prospect. "It means I haven't failed yet. We're going to be okay."

"This is completely opposite of what you wanted!" cried Yayoi, understanding less and less. "You said you wanted to destroy them, then why did you make an artifact that would make them stronger?"

"Because that is the key to their destruction."

"That makes it more difficult for us to keep them! If that Iida Mutsumi tells everyone or if the Ishiki clan tell the rest of the world that the Kuronuma legends about special artifacts were real, how do you think they're going to react?"

"That isn't a problem we are facing now," said Mio. "The outcome of this will determine whether there will be another Artifact War or not. And if you open yourself up to the Fate Sphere, it will show you what you need to know."

"But what if it doesn't help!"

"None of that matters. You just have to listen. Focus on yourself. Don't worry about anything else, but you and what you want. If there is anything you need help with, tell me and I will do it for you."

"But I want to help you and Madara somehow—"

"You are helping enough. You don't need to do more."

"But I haven't!" shouted Yayoi. Everyone around her seemed so concerned with protecting her, with doing everything for her that she had grown accustomed to it, but she couldn't keep accepting their treatment. She wanted to help in a real way, and yet, she couldn't. "I can't even read pathways! I can't treat serious, life-threatening injuries like Takuto or Yuzuru or Mao! I can't fight like you or Madara or Akira or Keigo! I can't even defend myself! I'm useless! I'm just here getting in everyone's way! I'm extra baggage that you don't need and I knew that, but I was so stupidly stubborn about coming here! And what was the point? I abandoned Ikki! He hates me! I shouldn't have come here! I shouldn't have—"

Mio drew her into an embrace and Yayoi heard herself sob as she buried her face in her shoulder.

"I want to help! I just wanted to help everyone, but I can't! I can't do anything! I can't do anything right!"

"You can do anything," said Mio, holding her tightly, "anything and everything you want." She drew back to look at her face. "All you need is time to do it all. Never think you are useless because we don't."

Warm tears rolled down her cheeks and slowly dripped from her chin. It didn't stop her from feeling how useless she was. It hurt.

"Shugosha-sama!"

Mio apologized and excused herself, leaving Yayoi alone with Keigo. She tried to suck in all the emotion and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I think you're a fun person," said Keigo awkwardly.

She laughed and sobbed at the same time. "Thank you."

"And I think you did just help Mio-san. You told her everything you knew about the Mikazuki clan." Keigo patted her arm briefly. "I think you do more than you take credit for."

She appreciated those words because they had been spoken with kindness, but she didn't believe them. She couldn't even pretend that she did.

Yayoi approached the remainder of the day with dwindling enthusiasm. There wasn't much to keep her busy, let alone distracted, so she carried all the extra weight on her back—her emotions and insecurities were unbelievably heavy, heavier than she thought they would be.

Keigo followed her everywhere fulfilling his duties, but appeared more restrained. And while that made for several pleasant and much needed silences between them, allowing her the time to think about the wayward pathways that made it into her head. She accepted that she would have to make sense of them and she was curious, but seeing them used to be easier. She never used to worry about having to experience them. She tried to play it off as a part of her overactive imagination, but there were details involved that brought everything into perspective. Emotions she believed she would mimic without noticing, but physically feeling the touch and warmth of a hand or the weight of a basket was too different.

It was the stress, she told herself as one day became two and days turned into weeks. News regarding Mikazuki Rikuto was limited and several scouting teams were going missing, some including Uchiha and Kuronuma shinobi. Madara, Mio, and Mahiro led different squads in varying intervals that brought them back to the castle, exhausted and wounded from the confrontations they faced against the Ishiki on the island. There were more Ishiki shinobi on the island than originally anticipated and while Madara and Mio had brought a sizeable amount of men and women to support them, the numbers including the Mikazuki as well, they were at a disadvantage because the island had returned to its original state—a poisonous, uninhabitable landmass.

The people suffered most because their resources begun to dwindle. With Eishirou's trade route temporarily interrupted, food was scarce. Many abandoned their homes and crowded to the coastal villages where they relied on fishing as their primary source for acquiring food as farming became more and more impossible to do on bad land. The people complained about the shinobi stealing their resources and did so rightfully. The Mikazuki clan kept their own stores of food, but they weren't sharing it with the rest of the islanders because of their war against the Ishiki clan. Only a few people believed they were doing the right thing. Many, however, were against their decisions.

Mio had taken care to appease them after she managed to talk Mahiro into sharing their current stores with the people. Yayoi had overheard other Mikazuki shinobi complain about her actions, expressing that giving up their food was a waste as the people wouldn't survive long. She had admonished the groups and she had been laughed at for doing so each time.

"If you honestly believe that those people have a chance," one Mikazuki kunoichi had told her, "here, in this dying island, you're naïve."

Whether she was naïve for believing everyone deserved a chance to live or not, it did not concern the Mikazuki clan. She didn't voice her opinion further than she had in her earlier confrontation because she didn't want to give them reason to continue to ridicule her.

They were the least of her worries.

Yayoi ventured down a flight of stairs, taking each two at a time to quicken her trip down the castle tower. The pounding in her head had not subsided since the Fate Sphere's latest revelation. The new string of pathways she had experienced were of the same ilk, each one featured another short conversation her mother had shared with Shin accompanied by the feel of having been there as well as a sense of nostalgia every time she recalled the same memories.

They were unremarkable exchanges, unmemorable. Miwa and Shin spoke about everything vaguely without giving any details about their own private lives. The setting never changed. Shin remained seated in that boat outside the Sun Country and Miwa continued returning down the same forest path to give him a new basket of food.

Yayoi reached the final step and geared towards the kitchen.

However, she had experienced a new development that had hindered her everyday life.

"Miwa-san."

She halted, turning. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Shin. The giant Kuronuma stood in the middle of the hallway looking past her as he took a step forward.

Yayoi's back hit the wall and sheshut her eyes tight. She was hallucinating.

Calm down, she told herself. This isn't real.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to peek and found an empty hallway. Relieved by the sight, she sighed and slumped against the wall, feeling exhaustion wash over her.

The Fate Sphere was exhausting her. No matter how far away from it she was, it didn't matter because the artifact sought her out. She understood it less and less. She stopped believing the artifact was trying to show her something. Whatever this was, it was too much. She didn't want it, but she didn't know what to do. She also didn't want to tell Mio because she knew how busy she had been. She would hate to add onto her burdens.

"Yayoi-hime?"

Yayoi startled at the sound of her name, but looked in the direction of the woman that had spoken it.

Sena approached her with a hint of concern. "Is everything okay, Yayoi-hime?"

"Everything is fine," she answered, remedying her poor posture to give the appearance that she was. She felt she could do little to hide her dissipating fright. It wasn't something she could stop, as hallucinations weren't something people were naturally prepared to experience.

"Are you sure? You're looking pale." Sena took a step forward, peering at her with curious eyes. "I can go back and find some form of medication or—"

"No, no, please," insisted Yayoi, waving her hands in front of her, "You don't need to do this. I'm just a little tired."

"Perhaps you caught Mio-sama's cold," she suggested.

Yayoi laughed and raised her shoulders in response. "I might have."

Sena giggled. "I don't know about you, but I find it so interesting to see that someone like Mio-sama can also catch a cold. You see, she's a kunoichi and they appear quite different from my perspective. You know, I'm completely normal and they're—especially the Kuronuma clan, I heard from the others that they're the Mikazuki's mother clan and they're much stronger."

Hearing her rambling made Yayoi chuckle, it gave her a moment in which she wasn't thinking about the hallucinations or the Fate Sphere. She forgot about it and the weight her shoulders lifted. "I understand. I completely understand."

"It's silly, I know," said Sena, appearing embarrassed by her earlier admittance.

"It really isn't," Yayoi replied. "You just started working here, right? With the Mikazuki clan?"

Sena nodded. "Yes, I came with the last batch from one of the evacuated towns. It was little more than one week before your party arrived to the castle."

"Is there a reason why new staff has been coming to the castle?"

"Ah, you see, the castle was attacked prior to that and a lot of people were killed," answered Sena. "It's a little morbid, but we were brought to replace them for Ikki-sama's sake."

"Ikki's?"

"Ikki-sama is the next leader of this country."

"What?"

Sena blinked. "Were you not aware?"

Yayoi's stomach dropped. "No, I didn't. It's just—well, I was under a different impression—" She stopped herself a second time, thinking up how to rephrase her muddled thoughts. "Can you tell me about it? Everything you know."

"I only know as much as everyone else, but Rikuto-sama took Ikki-sama on as a ward, at least until he learned the necessary skills to run the country," replied Sena. "That's what they told everyone. Word is that the Motou clan is going to form a permanent alliance with the Mikazuki clan."

"Marriage? Who with?"

"Ikki-sama and a Mikazuki girl. The staff has been speculating that it might be Mahiro-sama's sister."

"What?"

"Everyone figured that it should have happened, given both Ikki-sama and the girl are both of age, but his servants say that he's reluctant." Sena laughed. "Of course, this is all speculation. It sounds a little rude of us all to be eavesdropping on these affairs, but I admit, it does give us something to keep the edge off."

Yayoi nodded. "It's understandable. Don't worry about it. Thank you for the"—She heard the sound of heavy footfalls before she followed the vision of her mother running down the hall, the smell of tangerines and sea mingled in the air prominently, until she vanished behind her—"information."

"I think I found a way for you to enter this country, Shin-san!"

Sena's face appeared in front of hers, surprising her.

"Is something wrong, Yayoi-hime?"

"I just thought I heard something," she said, sheepishly. "It was nothing."

"It could have been upstairs."

"Yes, perhaps it was." Yayoi remembered what she was doing downstairs and quickly refocused her attention. She took a step to the side, alerting Sena that she was going to walk around her to get to the other side. "I should get going."

Sena moved out of the way quickly, bowing nervously. "I'm so sorry I kept you."

"Don't worry, I enjoyed our talk." She raised her hand as she started to leave and smiled, hoping to run into her again in a similar manner. "Goodbye, Sena."

Yayoi walked straight into the kitchen where the elderly servant awaited her arrival with great enthusiasm. She welcomed her and dusted a part of the counter where a stool waited for her. Yayoi occupied it and let her mind drift as she listened to the lady speak about what type of food she would be preparing that evening. Whenever Yayoi heard something of interest, she sprang onto the opportunity to learn how to make the dish or the appetizer or the snack. The kitchen staff let her practice while they prepared for that day's lunch and later for dinner. She ate with them comfortably, listening to stories about their homes—before the island began to revert to its original state.

The Kuronuma shinobi that Mio left to serve as her protector was an incredibly good and unbelievably fast sensor that trailed her from the shadows. The man was not much older than she and admitted that he did not want to receive the same treatment that Keigo had from her brother, so he did well in keeping his distance. She tried to tell him that Ikki wouldn't hinder his duties in the same way he did with Keigo (as he had not bothered to speak to her since he had called her useless and her self-esteem had taken a terrible blow), but he had been gone before any clarifications could have been made.

Yayoi had complained to Mio about him, saying, "I don't think he listens to me. He's literally just there one moment and gone the next—sometimes midsentence!"

"Don't be rude, Yayoi-sama," Akira had interjected. "He's never not listening."

Mio had nodded in agreement. "You'll hurt his feelings that way."

Yayoi had since assumed that her new guard was present at all times and watched what she said. She missed Keigo as of late, but he went with Mio, telling Yayoi that he hoped to impress the Shugosha enough to become one of her Guardians. She didn't understand why he wanted to be a Guardian so badly. The occupation alone meant there was a target on your back and a grave with your name on it. Nothing good came out of being a Guardian unless Mio was close to destroying the artifacts, which she wasn't. They were all still in danger.

That's why they were on the Sun Country, apart from rescuing Ikki, who did not want to be rescued when she proposed it and won't want to later when they are finished. Proving the Mikazuki clan's innocence came second to ridding the threat against their Guardians.

As Yayoi kneaded flour into dough for a dessert she was practicing, she stared beyond the storage cabinet and saw the ocean from the view atop a hill. Shin's tiny boat sat anchored to a heavy stone. His appearance was a little more rugged given the lengthy amount of time he had been there unable to step into the country given Ayuka's protection. Miwa sat on the white sand cross-legged, staring off distantly into the sparkling water.

"What kind of place is your home, Shin-san?" asked Miwa.

Yayoi felt her curiosity as her own, as well as her desire to learn more about this man called Shin. Her thoughts came to her as a light stream of questions that she considered asking on the way to the beach.

"A cold one."

"Cold?"

"It's always snowing."

"Have you ever heard the story about the ice mountain and the witch?" asked Miwa. "It sounds like an odd question to bring up, but your always snowing home reminded me of it."

Shin smiled, sinking down into a seat atop his tiny vessel. "The ice mountain and the witch? That sounds like quite the story. Can you tell it to me?"

"Well, I don't know it that well," said Miwa, "but I'll give it a try." She cleared her throat for effect, trying to remember the story as her grandmother told it to her back when she was a child."They say a long time ago before the birth of the states there was a mountain made of ice. Everyone said that the mountain was dangerous and that if anyone went near it, the witch that lived at its peak would freeze them to death. So, one day, a traveling priest came upon the mountain having heard of it from across the sea and set upon the task to rid it of the witch—"

"Wait a minute—"

"No! We're—"

"Wait—"

"Don't interrupt me, I'm telling the story," she chastised.

"But this is supposed to be a story about an ice mountain and a witch, why is there suddenly a traveling priest?" queried Shin. Yayoi filled with mirth, aware that he only questioned Miwa's story to tease her. "And why does he see fit to get rid of the people's problem? Why him? Why not anyone else?"

"Well it wasn't like nobody else tried. They did, but every time they went to the ice mountain the witch turned them into ice statues."

"But why not this priest? What makes him different?"

"He didn't believe she was a witch," answered Miwa, certain of her reply. "Or at least I think that he didn't. There was all this evidence that proved the witch froze people to death, but he didn't believe any of it. I think it was his belief that allowed him to step into the witch's domain and meet her. Ah, but I'm supposed to tell you the story, not my opinion of it." She sighed, a little frustrated. "See what happens when you interrupt?"

Shin raised his hands in surrender. "I apologize, Miwa-san, it will not happen again. Start where you left off with the traveling priest deciding he would eliminate the witch."

Miwa nodded. "Okay, so, the traveling priest set upon the task to rid the ice mountain of the witch." She paused to reorganize her thoughts."So, at the foot of the ice mountain, the priest found the warriors that had come before him and knew that the sight was expected to daunt him, but the priest was brave. He was braver than most people and one look at that only fueled his desire to help the people in the surrounding towns." The story was starting to sound a little muddled in her head. "So, uh, the priest went up the mountain. There was an ice trail that wrapped around it. The further up he went the fewer statues he found and when he came upon a landslide of ice rocks that sparkled, he finally turned around."

Shin's eyes sparkled with interest. Yayoi sensed he loved all variations of the story and listening to them being told. Hearing the tale brought the image of a woman to his mind—a short, dark haired woman with wide, black eyes that held a striking resemblance to Mio. Her lips weren't as full and curved slightly at the ends naturally, her jawline was a prominent line, and she had a tiny beauty mark above the left side of her upper lip.

"The ice witch was following him the entire time!" said Miwa loudly. "People before him had never seen the witch. They said that they were turned to ice before they had a chance to have a look at her. People claimed she was the daughter of vengeful gods and that she came to end the world in ice."

"So, what happened to the priest? After he looked at her."

"He was never seen again." Miwa slouched, a tad unhappy with her storytelling abilities. "Now that I think about it, my grandmother used to tell me the story to scare me. The story only reminded me of your home because my grandmother said that it always snowed on that mountain."

"Do you think he was frozen with the others?"

"I never gave it much thought."

Shin smiled. "I know a different version of the story."

"You said you never heard of it," complained Miwa.

"I like to listen to people speak. Forgive me for lying."

"Well, you can repay me by giving me your version of the story."

"The witch was the eldest daughter of an innkeeper," said Shin. "Her name was Kiyohime. She was an ordinary girl, not a witch, that lived as good a life as she was able in her time. Before the destruction of her village, a traveling priest arrived at her parents' inn, seeking rest after a long pilgrimage. Kiyohime fell in love with him during his stay, but he refused her in favor of another woman—a woman waiting for him. Heartbroken, she accepted the proposal of the first man to court her. He was a wealthy, but problematic man. He controlled every aspect of her life and made her miserable."

"Is that all?" asked Miwa after a long pause. "Simply for having had her heart broken she goes with the first man to propose to her? And then he makes her miserable? Is that it? She lived a horrible life because the man she loved rejected her?"

"It wasn't the rejection alone," answered Shin. "Anchin loved Kiyohime. Unmistakably. And Kiyohime knew. She didn't understand that he could not love her. Not in that world or in that time. Not in the future. Not ever."

"But why?"

"It doesn't matter how right one's love is, if it cannot exist in the world, it won't."

Miwa's thoughts wandered to two men whom Yayoi immediately recognized as her uncle and her father, though much younger than she recalled. "Do you have anyone?"

Shin nodded, filled with excitement. "Her name is Chiho."

"Do you think you are right for one another?"

"I knew from the first time I saw her." Shin smiled.

That amused Miwa. "What about her? Did she love you from the first time?"

"No, but we're different," he answered. "What I knew, she did not. What she knew, I soon learned. But that's a long story. So, what about you? Do you have anyone?"

She looked down to her hands. "I am going to be married soon."

"You don't look happy."

"It's not that I'm unhappy," she said, fumbling for words. Yayoi felt her own heart flutter like her mother's did when she thought about Enki and it surprised her. "I just—there's just—"

"Someone else?"

Miwa's face reddened. "It's not like that."

"Yayoi-sama?"

She could still taste the bitterness on her tongue as she looked at the older woman and realized immediately that she had kneaded the dough to pieces. "Oh, no," she said, gathering the pieces to start the process again. "Now I have to start over."

"You appear distracted, princess," the old woman pointed out. "Are you certain there isn't something else you want to do?"

Yayoi shook her head.

"Well then, how about some assistance?" asked the old woman.

She smiled, allowing the shorter woman to step in beside her and reach into the dough after wiping her hands clean on her apron. She watched her, though the rush of her heart kept her from remaining focused long.

As one pathway ended, another began—one that made it impossible for Yayoi to stay inside the warm kitchen long because she felt the unbearable heat of fire on her skin. She walked out faster than she could make up excuses for her actions, leaving the kitchen staff bewildered.

She took the back door out to a shaded, narrow path. She followed it, struggling to hold herself up by leaning into the stone wall behind the tower. Its surface was cold to the touch and a relief to the fire that radiated from her skin. She let out a low groan and her knees buckled. She dropped down, expecting to smash her kneecaps on the hard ground, but an arm wrapped around her waist, hoisting her up.

Yayoi gasped, the sudden hold was like a hot iron bar across her skin, but she couldn't pull away. If she did, she felt she would fall into the fire of the pathways. She couldn't even form the words to say she was in pain. She writhed, her breathing quickening. She repeatedly told herself that the pathways weren't happening and that it didn't make sense that she was experiencing them.

"Yayoi-sama?" called a familiar voice at her ear. "What's wrong?"

"M-Mio," she choked out, tears forming in her eyes as the pain reached a new level of unbearable.

As quickly as the heat of the fire seemed to sear her skin, Yayoi blacked out.

Shapes materialized in the darkness from the glowing paths that crisscrossed behind her closed eyes. Shin and Miwa walked through the narrow forest path together under the shade of branches, the stream of sunlight peeking through gave the surrounding trees an otherworldly glow. Although, her mother looked a bit more mature, Shin remained the same—eternally youthful.

"Have you ever heard of Hag, the old witch from the Water Country?" asked Shin.

"She is Jikai-san's advisor," answered Miwa. "He is very fortunate to have her. She's a kind woman, very wise, but I worry about her, she appears to be growing ill."

"From where I come from, they say that two people cannot exist with the same power."

"Why is that?"

"It creates an unnecessary unbalance in nature," he replied. "We take these things seriously among my clansmen. When we fear the scales are about to tip over, I step in to fix it."

Miwa stopped underneath a long bar of light that hit her rosy skin in the right angle to make her look all the more beautiful in Yayoi's eyes. "Is that why you came all this way? Even though Ayuka-sama's barrier kept you of the country for so long?"

"I have nothing but time," admitted Shin, stopping a few feet across her. "I have more time than you could possibly imagine."

"I doubt your wife will appreciate your absence."

He chuckled. "She is my wife because she can appreciate the silence and the peace that is having me away for so long."

"I am jealous of her fortitude."

"As am I."

"So, are you finally going to tell me why you're here?"

"Hag is a woman whose power can only belong to a single individual. When another appears, she weakens. The laws dictate that she must train her successor accordingly and depart the world in peace." Shin looked up. "However, Hag is a woman that cannot let go what she believes belongs to her alone. That power is her god given right. She lived for it. She survived for it. She killed for it."

Miwa's heart beat rapidly. "What does it all mean?"

Shin surprised her when his eyes fell to Miwa's stomach. She felt a need to hide and cover herself. "She will be like me," he told her. "She will see with a clarity that will attract Hag's power to her."

She covered her belly. "What?"

"The child in your womb is her successor."

Like having been drenched by a bucket of ice water, Miwa's skin prickled at the thought of another child because of what it meant. It frightened her. "Child?"

Shin only smiled.

Yayoi opened her eyes, slowly regaining focus. A warm hand pressed against the side of her face, guiding her eyes up to Mio's face. She welled up with tears, though she was happy to see her.

"I'm scared," she told her. "I'm so scared, Mio."

Mio inclined her head in acknowledgment. "We all are at some point."

She closed her eyes. Her lower lip trembled.

"Everything will be alright, Yayoi," assured Mio, "I promise."

And for the first time in so long, Yayoi didn't believe it would be.


xl: The foreshadow be strong in this one.

I apologize ahead of time because I'll be delayed for quite some time. I haven't found a good balance with school yet and I go 3 days a week instead of 2, so that's throwing me off. I'm going to prioritize this story over the others (except in the editing department. I need to finish editing through Empress because I want to post the new versions and cry), so everything else will be slowed. Now, I'm going to sleep because I have to read 300 pages of an awful book before class on Monday!

Many thanks to Misora Asuka and HushedFable for your reviews in the previous chapter.

Preview will be posted next week...or later.

Thank you for reading!