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*For those who haven't read the translated parts of Tonan no Tsubasa, people who capture and sell youjuu for a living are called youjuu hunters, corpse hunters(since they're more likely to bring back their dead comrades than youjuu), ryoushishi, and shushi. Ryoushishi is the name that others give them, shushi is what they call themselves. Ryoushishi rank above others that make their living travelling through the Yellow Sea, such as goushi(escorts/bodyguards hired by people going on a shouzan), and are considered the elite. As such, the ryoushishi look down on outsiders who come into their territory.

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Ch5: Corpse Hunter

"What! You… what was your name again?"

"Boku Sou, from Tai."

"Boku Sou, you want to come with us? You've got to be kidding! You do know why youjuu hunters are called corpse hunters, right? I'm not carrying your rotting corpse all through the Yellow Sea until Ankou Day!"

The white haired man didn't look dissuaded in the least, "I enlisted in one of the provincial armies when I came of age, have been fighting ever since, and am competent enough with the sword to hold my own against any youma. Because of the changing times in Tai, I have had to do just that often recently."

The weather worn, hard bitten ryoushishi stared at him warily. "I've heard youma are starting to appear in Tai… But it can't be compared to the Yellow Sea. Taking you with us would be nothing more than a liability."

Gyousou had expected this much resistance, and practiced for it. "I assure you that I am as aware of the dangers of the Yellow Sea as any person who has never travelled there can be, and I certainly don't presume to ask shushi to guard one such as myself. Think of me as an apprentice. With Tai beginning to fall, I am just one who considers obtaining the survival knowledge of the shushi as a matter of grave importance."

The oldest of the shushi harrumphed. "Travelling to the Yellow Sea to learn to survive youma attacks is like jumping into a tidal wave to learn to swim. Either your head is screwed on backwards or you have other motives."

"Indeed. I would not have taken a sabbatical for any one reason, but several have prompted me to do so. Firstly, as I have said, the state of Tai is one that requires skill in youma hunting, particularly for a military man such as myself. Related to that, if the king does fall I would then go on a shouzan and would prefer to be able to rely on my own skills rather than those of a goushi. Also, because I am often called to the battle lines, I require a kijuu that is so well-trained trained I can trust my life to it, and I will do that only with one I've caught with my own hands. And since the beast will be risking its own life for me, it is only fair of me to do the same to capture it. Preferably, I'd like a suugu."

A large shushi laughed, "You drunk? We'd all like a suugu, and then we could retire in peace. They're not easy to catch, y'know?"

One of the younger men, a silent type, frowned suspiciously. "Does the military normally allow its members to take a sabbatical for an indefinite amount of time?"

Gyousou smiled mysteriously. "I'm irreplaceable."

The oldest looked sharply at Gyousou. Gyousou met her gaze unflinchingly and she looked away grudgingly. "If you die, Boku Sou, we're not toting your corpse back."

Gyousou bowed, "Thank you very much."

Aside from Gyousou, there were three ryoushishi in his group: a gruff middle aged woman named Bakutan, a sturdily built man named Sae, and the silent man, Nantou. The oldest shushi had opted to remain behind and train the latest catches, claiming Gyousou would take her place. None of the others had been happy about this. Originally, Gyousou had been commanded by Bakutan, the leader now, to watch Nantou, the rookie, and copy him. However, after a particularly disastrous encounter with a kochou, in which Nantou narrowly avoided losing an arm due to Gyousou's timely intervention, Gyousou seemed to be accepted as a fellow (albeit rookie) shushi as the two old timers sat them both down and dressed their wounds.

"Bad luck to run into a kochou, they're one of the toughest opponents out here. Guess since you're both still breathing, 'long as you keep alert and your wits about you you'll survive," was Bakutan's muttered comfort as she roughly rubbed stinging medicine on Nantou's arm.

Sae's eyes glimmered in mischief. "Oh, I don't know about that. Struggling this much against a kochou, if you two run into a dragon or toutetsu you're finished!"

Nantou flinched almost unperceptively at the latest attack on his wounds, and asked in the serious tone of a diligent student, "What is the best method to avoid a dragon or toutetsu?"

Sae's face was completely deadpan. "Dragons have motion vision, see, so if you don't move they can't see you. This includes breathing. When confronted with a dragon, you take deep breaths in through your nose, and then silently release through your mouth. And you can't blink. If you blink, the dragon will see the movement and you're dead. So if you see a dragon, don't run for cover. Just stand still, even if you're completely exposed, and the dragon will pass you by like you are a tree. I once had one pee on me, thinking I was a tree. As for toutetsu, they are attracted to the colour purple and afraid of orange, as well as very sensitive to sound. So if you paint your whole body orange and run around naked chanting, 'Bungala we-wo, I'm an orange people!' very loudly, the toutetsu will run away."

Wide eyed, Nantou asked, "What if you don't have any orange paint?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense! Toutetsu and dragons are the inventions of some shouzan goers'," Bakutan dropped the last two words off her tongue like they were particularly offensive swearwords, "imagination when they saw the tree branches make scary shadows on their nice cosy tent flaps and heard the scary cry of a youma twenty miles away. In my thirty-five years of hunting, not once have I seen either, and the same of my master, and his master, and his master! And," shooting him a dirty look, "neither has Sae!"

"But what if they do exist and we run into one?"

"Run. Run and hope that your companions behind you are fat enough that it won't pursue," Bakutan said darkly.

Thankfully, the collective knowledge of the shushi seemed accurate and they didn't have to put Bakutan's advice to the test. Nantou asked Gyousou to give him sword fighting tips, and in return taught him all he knew about the Yellow Sea.

"…once the fruit has dried, you can use it in place of wood to burn, so if you are ever in an area without wood, use this."

Gyousou peered at the plant Nantou was showing him. "You said it was called keihaku?"

"Yes. It grows all over the place here in the Yellow Sea, though not in any of the kingdoms. Since it can thrive basically anywhere, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. Now, since it is still summer, the fruit hasn't grown yet. The fruit begins growing in early spring and is fully ripe in late fall. It's a good idea to dry some out then, and carry it with you for emergencies."

"This would be really useful to the people of Tai," Gyousou muttered.

Sae grinned, "Once your king falls, and you go on that shouzan, and get some little blond pipsqueak to declare you king, go pray to Tentei for it!"

"I think I will."

The others rolled their eyes and shook their heads. Sae widened his eyes dramatically and made a big show of throwing a hand to his forehead, "Oh no, you can't go on a shouzan like that! First, you have to throw all your common sense out the window and start lighting camp fires right, left, and center. Then, you need to cook meat at every meal, the bloodier the better. When a youma comes along, remember the old shouzan law: the louder you scream, the more erratically you run, and the more often you drop your weapons, the safer you are. Then, when you get to Mt. Hou, if the kirin wishes you well until the solstice, try kidnapping it."

Gyousou was shocked. "Does anyone actually do that?!"

Bakutan snorted. "Every time people go on a shouzan the road back in littered with the dozens who thought brute force was an advisable method to have Heaven change its mind about them. At least, it's littered with their corpses; most of those idiots die alone on the way back." Seeing Gyousou's horror, she said briskly, "For once Sae isn't being a complete fool: you have too much sense to waste on a shouzan. If you really must go, don't stick with the main group. There's no better way to lure every youma within a ten mile radius to you than by following those noobs."

Like this, the three shushi made it no secret they thought his plans to take the throne if the king fell were ridiculous. Granted, to them Gyousou was nothing more than a simple provincial soldier who decided to take a vacation in the Yellow Sea and thought he could catch a suugu.

It took some time before he could convince them to try suugu hunting. Luckily, they seemed to have made a good catch of youjuu last time and didn't mind too much the extra bother of setting up the almost sure-fail suugu traps. After the first trip, when Gyousou made sure he understood exactly how they worked and what to do, the two older shushi wanted to do more productive hunting and Gyousou would set off with just Nantou whenever they were in the suugu area.

The night of his sixth attempt was completely normal. However, at about the third watch he felt the string pulling taut, alerting him that a suugu had stepped into his trap. Gyousou nudged the sleeping Nantou, and they both crept out from their hiding place behind a crag full of rank smelling moss – a precaution so that the suugu wouldn't catch their smell and disappear. In their trap were two suugu: one white and one black.

Gyousou and Nantou exchanged briefly in the ryoushishi hand signals that they both knew fluently and snuck down from opposite sides. Gyousou made cautiously for one end of the trap, and Nantou for the other. Watching the suugu carefully, Gyousou could see the black one scarfing down the agate shards, then rubbing its head into them and rolling over. The white suugu was more cautious, looking warily about as it licked at the gem dust. It paused every few moments to sniff the air, clearly suspicious of this convenient treat. When Gyousou was just pulling the lever of the trap his fingers knocked into a pebble, sending it sprawling. The white one's head swiveled towards him and it charged, roaring its displeasure. At the same time the trap sprang shut, effectively trapping the intoxicated black one. The white one was lucid enough to aim for the trap entrance, and Gyousou pounced on it.

Nantou ran forward but could only stand uncertainly to the side as Gyousou wrestled the enormous tiger-beast. In one hand he held a steel entwined rope with a hoop, and with his other the thrashing head of the suugu. Both fought ferociously as two raised in hostile environments used to fighting to the death, but in the end Gyousou hooked the lasso over the suugu's head. The suugu snarled at him, he hit it on the muzzle, and it tried to bite his hand off. Gyousou stared into its multi-coloured eyes without the least indication of fear and it glowered back as he dragged it into the mesh-wire net the black one was entrapped in.

When Bakutan and Sae arrived at their rendezvous and saw the two entrapped suugu their jaws dropped open in a comic fashion. It was nearing the time of the autumn solstice, and the group hurried back to the gate. As they passed the hundreds of shouzan goers from Kou Kingdom Gyousou watched their jaws drop at the sight of the two suugu parading past.

After the old man did the first 'breaking' of the youjuu and Gyousou was instructed in the particulars of suugu training, the white suugu was given over to him, while Nantou kept the black one. The whole group begged him to stay, but he insisted that he needed to return from his sabbatical.

"You've been gone three years, do you really think they've kept your job for you!" Bakutan exclaimed.

Gyousou laughed. "It's not exactly easy to find a new Oushi General of the Left."

Their faces at that moment were would have put shusei comedy masks to shame.