Ch8: Kirin

Arriving in a group of four completely separate from any larger group was the surest way of attracting attention among the pilgrims. Seirai swore within ten minutes of their arrival six different groups of people came up and asked him if it was true that the white haired man he arrived with was that General Saku and Gyousou, feeling eyes on the back of his head and seeing people hurriedly turning and starting up conversations when he glanced at them, decided for once Seirai might not be joking. And attention can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

"Hear yeh're General Saku of the Left Guard, yeah?" the man leering over him was big. Even Ganchou, who was an abnormally large, looked dwarfed beside him. "Thought yeh'd be fashionably late, did yeh? Arrive here all decked out in that nice shiny black armour and have everyone go 'wow, it's General Saku!' Can't see what's so great about yeh meself. Bet the real reason yeh went separate from everyone else is 'cuz yeh're didn't want no one to see yeh cry when the big bad youma attacked."

Was this man an idiot? Gyousou itched to whack some sense into him, but fighting was strictly forbidden on Mt. Hou due to the distress bloodshed causes kirin. Satisfying his pride over some idiot's inane insults was definitely not worth getting barred from the mountain over.

The stranger, however, was not finished talking and a crowd was beginning to gather. Gyousou ignored his ravings and continued unpacking, until he heard the metallic whisper of a sword being drawn from its sheath. "… yeh know how many people died back there in the Yellow Sea? Yeh're nothing but a coward, a low class knave who can't be bothered to help anyone but himself and makes stupid publicity stunts like showing up late alone. All those rumours praising 'General Saku of the Tetsui Dispute' are garbage, yeh couldn't win the freaking fight so yeh hid under the title of 'good faith' and bribed the people to open the treasury. Yeh rigged the whole thing, didn't yeh? 'Tetsui Shield', pah!" the man swung his sword sloppily at Gyousou, who had absolutely no problem dodging it.

Sense told him he should not fight on Mt. Hou, as the nyosen did not tolerate any violence. However, sense also told him that just dodging the random swings would get him nowhere. The latter bit of sense had pride and an extremely limited tolerance for disrespect as its allies, and thus won the internal war.

At this point the crowd gathering around was extremely large and noisy. Perhaps this is why Gyousou failed to notice the crowd begin to part at the back, or hear a woman cry out, "Stop! Where do you think you are?"

Dodging yet another swing, he swung his fist with precision developed over a century of fighting. It landed squarely into the man's jaw and sent him flying. Though the stranger twitched on the ground, too jarred from the impact to move, years on the battlelines told Gyousou this man would have nothing but bruises to mark the fight.

Gyousou was fully aware of the consequences awaiting him if someone should report this to the nyosen and was not happy with the block-headed stranger, "How dare you draw your sword in the honourable residence of the Mt. Hou Kou! You should be extending our gratitude to the Kou."

Turning away in disgust, he caught sight of just what he did not want to see: a group of elaborately dressed ladies flanking a well-groomed child, who was clutching a nearby nyosen's skirt and looked extremely frightened at the violence.

Probably the worst first impression I've ever made, he thought wryly. He moved through the parting crowd and kneeled to the (strangely enough) black-haired boy, who clearly wished he was as far away as possible right now.

"I didn't think the Mt. Hou Kou would be here as well." For that's who this child must be, no matter the hair colour, as kirin were the only children ever on Mt. Hou. Gyousou was really very mortified at the ill-timing, and greatly wished to do some serious damage control here. From his bowed position he observed the child's grip on the nyosen's skirt lessened by a hair, and continued, "I'm extremely sorry to have done such disrespectful things here. I must ask the Kou of Mt. Hou to please forgive me."

It wasn't Taiki who replied, however, but the nyosen he was holding onto. "Please refrain from causing any more trouble on Mt. Hou."

"I really am very sorry!" Had he known the kirin was present, he would have used one of the many of the non-violent tactics to still angry peasants he had picked up over the course of his career. As it was, he was extremely grateful the nyosen had not banished him from Mt. Hou.

The nyosen whispered reassurances to Taiki and pushed him forward. The young kirin stood frozen like a rabbit, and Gyousou and he were forced to participate in an extremely awkward exchange of civilities, though Gyousou had years of court experience of his side to hide under.

"…I wish you well until the equinox." The tenseness in Taiki's body was like that of a bowstring, and he shot away with the swiftness of a released arrow, or a rabbit bolting from a fox. The crowds murmuring turn hopeful and Gyousou straightened up with as much dignity as he could manage, which was quite a bit.

As he walked into the camp his subordinates set up while the idiot from earlier had challenged him, Seirai greeted him with, "Well now, that was extremely awkward."

Gyousou grimaced. It had been one of the most, if not the most, awkward conversations of his life. "At least I wasn't expelled."

Being expelled from the mountain was the worst punishment afflicted on travellers. Mt. Hou was the only place in the Yellow Sea hospitable to humans in the slightest, so while expelling travellers did not necessarily mean a flogging or execution, it generally accomplished both since the expelled parties couldn't leave until the next Ankou day when the gates opened. Gyousou was confident he could survive that long in the Yellow Sea with minimum damage, but didn't relish the thought of having to actually do it, particularly when he had not come equipped for it.

Taiki's parting had been the normal statement a kirin used to gently let a person know they sensed no ouki radiating from them, so Gyousou fully expected to not see him again. That's why, a few days later, he was surprised by the voices he heard when returning to his tent.

Gyousou paused, and looked at the auburn haired woman and black haired child who both were currently admiring Keito. The woman called out to his tent, "Forgive me for inquiring, but is the master of this suugu available?"

Gyousou collected himself quickly, "If you're asking about Keito, he is my mount."

The woman sprung into a defence stance with reflexes clearly honed by years of battle experience and he noted approvingly its solidity. Taiki remembered him from their previous encounter (not that it was easy to forget), and the woman straighten her posture and started to introduce herself until Gyousou cut her off.

"You are Risai-dono of the Jou Provinicial Army, are you not?"

"Why do you…?"

"General, your name is known far and wide. There are few that do not know of you." Gyousou had heard a description from the people he had just been talking to of the General Ryuu Risai of Jou, and had remembered it because her presence in the Jou army was one that his contacts in Jou assured him was most helpful in maintaining order in the chaos of the last ten years. With one less thing to worry about in the kingdom, it would be strange for him not to know.

"Just as I thought!" Taiki, who had been watching the exchange, blurted out. When Risai and Gyousou both stared at him he turned red and muttered, "Ah… Excuse me."

Taiki shifted slightly and clearly wished the topic to change, but Gyousou was not about to let that happen: in all the years he had known Tairin she had never once ventured join a conversation, or even to comment unless first prompted, and seemed to have no opinions of her own. "As you thought?"

Taiki explanation came like a flood, as children's often do. "It's like this… I had previously said to Risai-dono that she was a very exceptional general. It seems as if I'm not the only one who thinks so…"

Taiki looked extraordinarily uncomfortable as if what he said was very foolish, and Risai's face could have fried an egg. She began to shift inwardly as if to become small and unnoticeable, which was so very incongruous with her wholly military demeanor that Gyousou had to try hard not to laugh. As if Risai was a candle that melted the ice between them, Taiki lost some of his timidity towards Gyousou. Gyousou was thinking how lucky he was that Risai was there to repair their first meeting and remembered what had started this whole conversation in the first place. Both Taiki and Risai looked glad at the change of topic, as well as the opportunity to see a suugu.

Taiki especially seemed very enthusiastic about youjuu, and seeing Keito appeared to make him slightly less skittish, though he still jumped a few times in the conversation. After he promised to take Risai out hunting for suugu, something he intended to do anyways and welcomed the extra company for, she and Taiki departed. Seirai, who arrived near the end of the conversation, waited until they were out of sight and then whacked Gyousou lightly in the arm.

"Lay off the scary face, the Kou's still just a kid."

Gyousou rubbed his arm and frowned. "I'm a general. My face just looks like this."

"Risai is also a general," he pointed out, "and she doesn't make him flinch."

"It's not like I want to frighten him!"

Yet every time he saw Taiki he appeared to do something that set the ten-year-old on edge. Strangely, despite his apparent fear of Gyousou, Taiki came to visit every day until eventually he seemed to have conquered the bulk of his Gyousou-phobia, as Seirai jokingly called it. After that, for the majority of the time Taiki was quite relaxed and, Gyousou discovered with a great deal of surprise, quite chatty.

Gyousou learned that in Hourai Taiki had lived with a family consisting of a grandmother, parents, and younger brother named Suguru. Taiki told him about 'streetlights' and 'airplanes' and 'telephones' and 'photographs' – all the things he had never believed about Hourai. Taiki explained the basics of 'pregnancy' to Gyousou and in return wanted to be told all about yaboku and riboku, as the idea of ranka was as strange to him and the idea of 'pregnancy' was to Gyousou. Taiki was also very curious about what generals did, what Tai was like, and a million other things.

Gyousou began to look forward to the time each day when Keito would sit upright and turn regally towards the road, where a moment later the running figure of Taiki would appear, out of breath and grinning happily. Taiki would then stop to pet Keito for a few minutes, which normally Keito didn't allow anyone but Gyousou do, before running over calling for him. Sometimes Risai came with him, since he always visited her before visiting Gyousou. On one such day they finalized the plans for their suugu hunting expedition, and both of them invited Taiki, who looked delighted then immediately downcast, saying the nyosen would probably say it was too dangerous. However, the night before a nyosen arrived from Houro Palace saying Taiki was permitted to join them.

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*Just thought I'd add that when Taiki explains about pregnancy to Gyousou he is only ten, and is extremely innocent even considering that since he doesn't have any friends to corrupt him and his grandmother is very strict, so probably no questionable TV shows. He was probably in about grade 5, but in this story at least his class hadn't reached that unit yet when he was returned to Mt. Hou. So Taiki really doesn't know much beyond that a woman's stomach gets bigger for nine months until she gives birth, and all he's been told about conception is that babies appear when a man and a woman truly love each other. In the twelve kingdoms that means Tentei hears the parents' prayer and places a ranka on the riboku, so neither Taiki nor Gyousou realize the method is different in Hourai.

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