Chapter Eleven
"So if you remember anything else, Tokimi, it's really important that you tell us about it right away."
Washu sat down in the spacious Tennan solar, casting Suki a warm smile as she accepted a steaming mug of hot green tea. "Thank you, Suki – after all the work we've been doing, this is very welcome."
"Well, I'm still not sure I'm happy about any of this – particularly not Seiryo being involved." Suki bit her lip. "But if Sasami-chan is in danger and if someone really wants to hurt Tokimi, I guess we can't help but play it out. I just don't like all of this secrecy and intrigue. I'd much rather everything on Jurai was calm again."
She handed the last mug to Seiryo, taking her own seat as she cast her brother a troubled glance. "You look pale, Nii-chan. You shouldn't be over-pushing yourself, even now."
"I'm fine, Suki. Just tired." Seiryo dismissed her concern with a flick of his hand. "This is more important. Tokimi, Washu and I both realise you were scared last night and that whatever it was isn't something you want to remember. But if you can tell us anything at all, we need to know. Sasami's life might depend on it. So might Jurai."
Tokimi was silent for a moment, big eyes darting between Washu and Seiryo as she absorbed the seriousness of their expressions. Her lip trembled slightly, and she shook her head, murmuring something faintly under her breath. Washu strained to hear it, and as she leant forward, she caught the final two words, her brow creasing.
"A demon shadow?" She asked, sending Seiryo a non-plussed glance. "Is that what you said, Tokimi? Sasami had a demon's shadow?"
Tokimi looked blank and Washu sighed, repeating her question in Kii. At this Tokimi suddenly became very animated, raising her hands in a frantic gesture and nodding her head. She began speaking in swift, excited Kii phrases, and even to Washu's ears they were hard to make out.
"Tokimi, please…more slowly." She begged. "If you can't tell us in Galactic Tongue, tell us in Kii by all means. But slowly, so I can understand what you mean. Right now I'm confused and I don't know what you want to tell me."
Tokimi frowned, holding a hand out to her sister and carefully Washu took it, squeezing it tightly.
"Noone will hurt you. No demons, nobody." She promised, now lapsing into her native tongue herself as she strove to make her companion understand. "We want to know so we can protect you. And so we can protect Sasami, Tokimi. Tsunami. She's in danger and you know that, don't you? So tell me exactly what you saw. I need to know as much as you can tell me, if I'm going to help make this demon go away."
Tokimi eyed her doubtfully for a moment, and Washu could tell that the girl's native superstitions about demons and evil forces still held good within her. For a moment she seemed to fight with herself, then her eyes hardened as a look of determination crossed her features. She nodded her head slowly.
"The demon was Tsunami's shadow." She said softly, speaking in slow, precise Kii and for a brief instant, Washu almost wondered if her companion was completely lucid, so calm and resolute did she seem. "Behind Tsunami, at the courtroom. There was a demon there. A demon with golden hair. She was looking at Tokimi. When I looked at her, I knew she was evil. And she knew that I knew."
"What did she say?" Seiryo asked anxiously. "I heard her mention Tsunami's name – what did she see at this thing anyway?"
"A demon with golden hair." Washu turned, sending him a solemn look. "It does sound very much like we've hit the nail on the head, Seiryo-sama. We already know that Yugi had fair hair, from Ryoko's description."
"Onee-chan?"
Tokimi tilted her head on one side, her brow creased in concentration as she struggled to bring her thoughts into coherent focus. "The demon was a child. A child like Tsunami. But she was something else, too. She wasn't like Tsunami. She wasn't like Tokimi or Nii-chan or Washu. She was…different."
"In what way, Tokimi-chan?" Washu asked gently. "Can you explain? I'm not sure I understand."
"Tsunami is old but Sasami is young." Tokimi frowned, shaking her head slowly. "The demon is old but the demon is young…I don't understand either. It was wrong. The demon was older. But the demon was young. And there was only the demon. Not Tsunami, or Sasami. Just demon."
"Washu-sama?" Suki asked softly, and Washu sent a befuddled shrug in the young noblewoman's direction.
"Now she's lost me." She admitted. "She said that the demon is old and young, but not Tsunami or Sasami. And that Sasami is young and Tsunami is old…but…no, I don't know how to translate it in any way that makes sense. Even in Kii, it doesn't make any sense."
"Perhaps it does." Seiryo looked thoughtful. "If you're right about Sasami-sama being the Goddess's chosen one, then you're saying Lady Sasami is both Sasami and Tsunami. And Tokimi sees that, doesn't she? She sees Tsunami and Sasami and she understands they're the same person, despite their differences."
"Yes." Washu agreed, then her face cleared. "Oh! I think I see what you're getting at. Tokimi saw the demon, and the demon was young, but somehow she was older than she seemed. Tokimi just couldn't explain it, because it wasn't like Sasami and Tsunami. There was one personality, but two ages. Is that what you mean?"
"I think so." Seiryo nodded. His eyes narrowed, and he sent Tokimi a keen glance.
"Tokimi, tell me something." He said gently. "This demon, she was a child, wasn't she? A little girl, with long blond hair. That's right, isn't it? She looked like she was the same age as Lady Sasami."
Slowly Tokimi nodded her head.
"But she's not the same age at all, is she?" Seiryo sighed. "Yugi was sealed in a suspension capsule. She's still a child in body, but an adult in spirit. That's what Tokimi means. Yugi's soul grew up but her body did not. Maybe that's why she's so easily able to dispense with it, or change the way people perceive her. If any of this makes sense, that has to be considered as an explanation."
"More than that." Washu drummed her fingers on her knee. "Tokimi, I want you to think very carefully back to the Juraian court function. When you saw Sasami, was there anyone else with her? Lady Ayeka, or anyone that you knew? Kiyone-san? Suki-sama? Anyone at all?"
Tokimi stared at her sister, then shook her head.
"Only demon with yellow hair." She whispered softly. "With Tsunami."
"Then I think we just explained how Sakuya Kumashiro survived the Sumire massacre." Washu got to her feet, her expression grim. "She didn't."
"Meaning that Sakuya Kumashiro is actually Yugi Kuroda?" Seiryo's eyes widened, and Washu nodded.
"Best guess." She agreed briskly. "You said Sakuya was with Sasami when all of this happened. Sakuya even said Tokimi was staring at her. But Tokimi did not see Sakuya. She saw the demon – she saw Yugi. If Yugi can distort people's perceptions enough to make her invisible, then she can distort people's perceptions enough to take on the form of someone else. Only Tokimi and I are different…our magic is so old that very few spells and facades can fool it adequately. And Yugi is not as old as we are…so she has never encountered Kii sight before. That's my hypothesis, Lord Tennan. That the Sakuya girl was probably killed at the same time as her father – and Yugi simply assumed her identity as a means of getting to Jurai."
"And getting close to Sasami-sama." Seiryo's eyes glittered with angry understanding. "We should have seen that before."
"Maybe, but who would suspect a child?" Washu spread her hands helplessly. "Tokimi is here, and people here fear her. They have their scapegoat, so Sakuya's ruse is safe."
"Sasami has taken Sakuya-san under her wing, since she came to Jurai." Suki looked anxious. "With Mother being so unwell recently, I've been tied here more and more. I haven't really had a chance to meet her. But Sasami has a big heart, and she'd want to help someone she thought had been through such a terrible tragedy."
"Then we need to act and quickly." Washu said gravely. "We need to find Ryoko and especially find Ayeka, before Yugi can use her as a vessel again. Suki, you and Tokimi need to stay here. It might get dangerous and neither one of you can really defend yourselves, if it comes to a confrontation."
Suki's eyes narrowed.
"You forget, Lady Washu, that I am the one with Tennan blood on my hands." She said bitterly. "And I don't want harm to come to Sasami either. She's my friend – she's the first friend I've ever really had. If I can do something, I want to help."
"You can help best by protecting Tokimi, Suki-chan." Seiryo said gently. "She really is helpless, without her Kii magic, and she's already been threatened once. Washu is right – this is where you should stay. I won't have either of you put in the line of fire."
"And what about you?" Suki protested. "You're not even one hundred percent fit yourself, and you'll charge into a face-off with a creature that's murdered innocent people with seemingly no effort at all?"
"I'm going to uphold the oath I took to my Emperor, to protect Jurai's interests." Seiryo said frankly, his hand hovering over the hilt of his sword as he spoke, and Washu sent him a warm smile, nodding her head.
"And I'm going to teach this Yugi girl that messing with my family isn't an option." She said simply. "Suki, nothing will happen to Seiryo. I promise…whatever idiotic heroics he thinks he's going into, I have fairly powerful magic and my reading over the past few weeks has taught me a little bit about stopping demons. Plus, Yugi may have miscalculated Sasami's own strength. Tsunami is her protector…there is no greater force in the universe than that."
"You'll see my brother safe?" Suki looked doubtful, and Seiryo let out an impatient exclamation, embarrassment in his eyes.
"I don't need a minder!" He objected, and Suki sent him a dark look, shaking her head.
"You don't always make the best decisions, and sometimes you act foolishly." She said crisply, seeming so far removed from her usual, shy persona that Washu was both startled and entertained by the girl's change in demeanour. "You're still recovering from the last bad decision you made, and I am not prepared to tell Mother that something awful has befallen her beloved only son. So you take care, and come back in one piece. I won't go through all of this again – no matter what oath you've sworn or to whom."
Much to Washu's amusement, Seiryo looked suitably meek as he took his sister's hands in his.
"I'll be all right." He said softly. "And I've learnt things too, Suki-chan. Don't worry. I'll come back safely. But Washu-sama and I need to go and now. With Tokimi's help, we might have put all the pieces of the puzzle together – and Sasami-sama's life may well rest in our hands."
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"Washu isn't here?"
Sasami bit her lip, glancing around the room full of contraptions, boxes and wires with a troubled look on her young face. "Oh...I did think that she would be. You and she seem to spend a lot of time in here the last few days, and I really wanted to speak to her. Do you know where she's gone, Kiyone? It might be important and I don't want to go hunting if I can help it."
"She went with Seiryo Tennan to speak to Tokimi." Kiyone pushed back her chair, swivelling it so that she faced the young princess. "She'll come back here, though, so you might as well wait with me, Sasami. It's as safe a place as any, I suppose."
"As safe a place?" Sasami echoed her friend's words, pursing her lips as she obediently came to join the detective. She clambered up onto one of the units, swinging her legs absently against the steel boxes underneath as she made herself comfortable. "What do you mean?"
"It's such a long story." Kiyone sighed. "You probably don't even want to know."
Sasami was silent for a moment, glancing thoughtfully down at the floor as she digested this. Then she raised her gaze, meeting Kiyone's blue eyes with troubled crimson ones of her own.
"Something tried to kill me this morning." She said softly. "And the more I tell myself it didn't, the more I know it did. Only I don't know how to explain it, and that's why I came to Washu. Now you say this is a safe place, Kiyone. Do you think someone wants to hurt you too?"
"Sasami..." Kiyone stared at her companion, horror crossing her expression at the Princess's words. "Tried to kill you? But..."
"I fell into the stream that runs across the palace grounds." Sasami nodded, reaching an absent hand up to touch her still-damp locks. "I can swim, Kiyone. I've swum there so many times. But this time it was like something was pulling me down into the water. It wanted my head to go under, and didn't want me to come back up again. Tsunami helped me, and she sent Kamidake to rescue me, because I was too tired to swim to shore. But it...it was strange, Kiyone. And I know I didn't imagine it. I know that...that there was something there."
"You probably didn't imagine it." Kiyone looked grave. "Come take a look at this, then...we would have spoken to you about it sooner or later, I guess, but we've only just worked out that it involves - or rather, revolves around you."
"Around me?" Sasami skipped off the unit, coming to peer over the Detective's shoulder at the file on the screen. As she skimmed through the words, her face paled, and she shook her head slowly.
"More evil." She whispered. "Is that all that I do? Bring evil to Jurai in search of Tsunami?"
"I think this evil came from Jurai and just returned to get her revenge." Kiyone said blackly. "Tokimi saw her last night, Sasami. That's why she got so upset, and why Washu and Seiryo have gone to speak to her. They think she might know something important, and they're probably right."
"Probably." Sasami nodded, sighing heavily as she remembered Tokimi's wild outburst at the court function. "And at the Infirmary - did Tokimi see her there too?"
"I suppose she did. But she's the only one who's been able to see her, so far." Kiyone responded. "Either this Yugi girl has kept out of Washu's way, or by fluke the two haven't encountered one another yet. Still, we're pretty sure this girl is what Tokimi was so frantic about. And this girl is also the reason so many people have died. Her mother was executed for treason...stands to reason the kid would want some sort of revenge."
"So maybe she just wants to kill me because the Emperor then killed her mother." Sasami said pensively. "That might not be so bad, you know. If she just wanted me dead because I was a Princess, not because I was a Goddess."
"Sometimes I wonder about your concept of 'not so bad'." Kiyone said dryly. "I wouldn't be happy either way. In fact, it almost doesn't matter why. The end result is still the same...and for someone whose life was threatened only a few hours ago, you're far too calm for me."
"I suppose I'm not quite sure what I think, yet." Sasami admitted. "I am scared, Kiyone, but I also have faith in Tsunami to help me somehow. She told me to speak to Washu. She said that she'd know, and that somehow she'd be able to explain more easily what was going on."
"Better able than Tsunami?" Kiyone looked startled. "I thought your Goddess knew everything."
"She holds the minds and hearts of all Juraians that are connected to her by blood." Sasami shook her head. "And through her bond with me, she can reach out to those I've made close friends of mine, also. That's how she saved Washu's life, aboard Tsunami-fune six months ago. But she can't reach beyond that until she is me. I mean, until we're one person. She has her limits. And whoever this Yugi person is, she's not part of the Royal Tree. She's probably not even wholly Juraian - and she's certainly not someone I'm close to."
"I suppose there's only so much Tsunami can do while she's still dead." Kiyone remarked, and Sasami shrugged.
"I don't think of her as dead. Not if she's me." She replied. "But she can't do everything. At least, right at the moment, she can't. I'm her only connection to the real world."
"Well, I've no doubt Washu will be back here soon enough." Kiyone shrugged her shoulders. "Your sister and Ryoko are also on a fact-finding errand - they've gone to find out what your Father remembers about this girl and her mother, so we may even have a complete picture by the time they return. And then we'll be able to find a way to stop this Yugi girl and get things back to the way they should be. I can go back to Headquarters with my name cleared, you'll be safe, and Tokimi will stop shrieking about demons."
"You're not supposed to be doing any work at all, while you're here." Sasami remembered, a reproachful tone in her voice. "Where did that file come from, anyway? Did you go through Uncle's computers or something?"
"No, I brought it here from Headquarters. Actually, from a case I was working on before they were silly enough to discharge me." Kiyone shook her head. "And I'm glad that I did. I don't like questions without answers, Sasami...and this file sure seems full of answers."
"Yes, I imagine that's probably true, Detective Makibi."
At the sound of the voice, both Sasami and Kiyone turned, registering the presence of another in the doorway of the lab. "It must make fascinating reading for one such as yourself. One of you Galaxy Police who are so keen on interfering in business that is not your own."
"Sakuya-chan?" Sasami's eyes opened wide with surprise as she registered the odd expression on her friend's face. "But what are you...why are you...?"
"Sakuya-chan." The girl narrowed her eyes, shaking her head with a snort of contempt. "Sakuya Kumashiro is not on Jurai, Princess Sasami. She never was. She never got here. She was useful to me, so I kept her name alive for as long as I needed. I stole her memories and made good use of them - you were all so easily fooled. But it doesn't matter any more. I'm not playing any more games - not now I've found what I'm looking for."
"Yugi." Kiyone murmured, and Sakuya nodded her head, a malevolent smile touching her lips.
"You have been busy, reading all about me, haven't you." She said, in dangerously low tones. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I have done a lot of reading about you, too. About all of you. About you strange people who seem to believe you can stop me from achieving my final objective."
"Sakuya...is...dead?" Sasami faltered. "But...but..."
"You are as stupid as you seem, Princess Sasami." Sakuya's eyes glowed with an eerie aqua light as before them her outward appearance blurred and changed into that of another. As the light faded, a girl of about thirteen stood before them, long fair hair flickering in an imaginary breeze. There was a childlike innocence to her young face, and yet in the depths of her eyes was the hatred of one much older - one who had had a lot of time to dwell and brood, and with whom reasoning would be next to impossible.
"I am Yugi Kuroda." She said softly. "And the two things I seek most on this miserable planet are conveniently right here in this room."
She raised a hand towards the computer and Kiyone let out a screech, grabbing Sasami and pulling her to the ground as the console exploded into a glittering fountain of shrapnel. Yugi let out a low chuckle, and Sasami felt her friend tense.
"It was you on my ship!" The detective cried out, as more computer screens buckled and exploded around them. "You did wreck Yagami! You did seek to frame me!"
"No...you were never important enough to want to frame, Kiyone Makibi." Yugi sent her a derisive look. "You are just a detective, and not a very high ranking one at that. I kill detectives for fun, or hadn't you realised that? I hate all Galaxy Police and if I hadn't had more pressing matters to attend to, I would have slain a lot more of them, too."
She sighed, her shoulders twitching into a careless shrug as she glowered down on her prey.
"I would have killed you, only you had something that I needed, and I didn't know where I could find it. I searched your Yagami, and I searched your office, but I did not find it in those places. So I had to let you go - and then I had to watch you - to learn if you really knew anything about me, or if you were as foolish as the rest. But you're not foolish, are you? You're smarter than most of those buffoons at Headquarters. You believe in things that even the eye can't see or explain - you're still willing to cling on to your belief in your own memories, even if those around you refuse to listen. For you, that's an unfortunate trait...you were not important enough to kill, until you went to such extremes to find out who I was and why I was acting in this manner."
"So the two things you seek are the file, and Tsunami." Kiyone said quietly. "But you're the fool if you think you can kill Sasami so easily as that. Very powerful people have tried to rid Jurai of their Goddess, Yugi. What makes you think you're going to succeed? She's strong and she can fight back. You underestimate the strength of her magic."
"And you underestimate the strength of her love."
Yugi let out an amused peal of laughter, tilting her head on one side and offering Sasami a predatorial smile. "I already did a little test this morning, to see whether or not Princess Sasami would be easy to kill...and as I thought, Tsunami came to her rescue. But what if the enemy she was fighting wasn't me at all? What if the one who sought to harm Tsunami wasn't Yugi Kuroda...but someone much more dear to Sasami's young, soft, naive little heart?"
Her smile widened, as the door slid back to reveal a second figure, and Sasami let out an exclamation, getting to her feet.
"Ayeka! Ayeka-oneechan, what are you...?"
"No, Sasami, stay back!" Kiyone reached out a desperate hand, grabbing the Princess by the sleeve and pulling her back down onto the ground. "Ayeka is under Yugi's spell - she'll hurt you! She's already gone for Ryoko once of late. Don't let her trick you!"
"I knew you weren't a fool. Again, it counts against you." Yugi's eyes narrowed, and she sent a blast of psychic energy in Kiyone's direction, causing the detective to let out a scream, clutching at her head. "Although I'm grateful for the reminder about that pirate woman Ryoko. She was always trouble and she hasn't changed, thinking she could quiz Sakuya and cast aspersions about her across the court. I'll have to see to her too, when I've done playing with you."
"Kiyone!" Sasami yelled. "What did you do to her? Yugi! Stop this! Stop being horrible to people! I thought you were my friend - I thought we had a good time together. Why do you want to hurt everyone now? What did we ever do to you?"
"Your father counter-signed my mother's death warrant." Yugi's eyes glittered with ice as she dropped her focus from Kiyone, leaving the detective gasping. "Your father took my mother away from me and sent her into the depths of Jurai's sun. And then he took me, and locked me away in a little box, so that I would never come to Jurai again. I hate you all, you Juraians. I hate your family and I hate you most of all. Do you know why that is, Princess Sasami?"
Sasami gaped, struck speechless as she slowly shook her head.
"I hate you most of all because you refused to die all those years ago." Yugi's eyes glowed once more. Almost in slow motion, Ayeka raised her head from where she had stood silent, meeting Sasami's apprehensive gaze with a soulless ruby one of her own. "But we'll soon put that right. Ayeka failed me then. She won't fail me this time. And I know that you won't fight her, Sasami-kami-sama. I know that you love your sister more than anything in the world...and because of that, you won't summon your Goddess because you know that to stop me, you'll have to kill that sister. So it's over, now. You only have your pathetic Detective to protect you, and if I don't drive her mad with her memories before I'm finished toying with you, it won't be long before I do. Then she'll die too, so don't think she'll give you any help. It doesn't take me much effort to revive her worst nightmares and make her relive them again and again. The longer you live, Princess Sasami, the longer she'll suffer."
A mock-sympathetic expression touched her features, and to Sasami her parody of compassion was both empty and grotesque.
"It seems hopleless, doesn't it?" She murmured. "Your poor sister, and your dear, tormented friend. Can you stand it, if I torture one and fight you with the other? Are you strong enough? Or are you just a little girl after all, Tsunami? I wonder. I really do. Are you strong enough to fight back, or will you let your weak and feeble emotions win through?"
She shrugged her shoulders, as her expression became hard.
"It doesn't matter either way." She added coldly. "Because I'm going to finish what was begun, when Mother was still alive."
She turned to the Princess at her side and Ayeka's eyes flickered with a strange red light as white energy flared around her in a shimmering, ethereal aura of magic.
"Ayeka, you know what to do." She said firmly, and despite herself Sasami shrank back, terror and dismay in her crimson eyes as she realised the seriousness of Yugi's threat. "You may have been weak when she was a baby, but you and I both know that you hate this brat and you never wanted her to be born. They might have taught you to forget - they may have made you think you loved her. But we know the truth, don't we? We know that you never wanted a sister. And now we're going to put it right, my little Empress in Waiting. We're going to take Jurai in your name, starting with its Goddess and then working our way through all those who betrayed my family."
She smiled, and the smile chilled Sasami right to the bone.
"And then Jurai will be mine." She whispered, flickering her hand in Sasami's direction. "With my puppet Queen, all will bow before the will of Yugi Kuroda. The time for action is now, Ayeka. Be true to yourself!"
She laughed, as Ayeka began to advance on the terrified Sasami.
"That's right, my friend. That's right." She agreed softly. "We've wished for it for so very long. Now is your chance. Do it!"