Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei
Shout-outs:
kagehime: Thank you much! Yes, you're going to meet Hiko.
AnimeAngelRin: For a minute there I though you were being sarcastic and didn't like the chapter!
laustic: The relationship between Hisoka and Nagare is going to undergo several trials and tribulations, so to speak. The bitterness between them…well, you're just gonna have to read to the end to see what becomes of that.
Eternity's Heir: (Glows underneath the lovely praise) Thank you!
Amethyst-eyed Koneko: I figured Tsuzuki would take a less hard-liner stance against Kushinada given his own nature (look at how he treated Maria, which is a similar—though not identical—situation). Kushinada will get the chance to prove herself more toward the end.
Yes, Nagare is everything you said about him. However, I keep wanting to do something more to him—hence this story. Like with Kushinada, you'll have to read ahead to know what's going to happen to both him and Rui, especially in regards as to how they view both their sons.
Someone else coined "Terazuma-lings". "Birdling" came from my own childhood, when I would spread a towel behind my back and say I was a "batling".
Masami-chan: Welcome back! And thank you for all the compliments.
Side Note #1: Arson, torture of small animals, and bed-wetting are the three major signs that a child will grow up to be a serial killer.
Side Note #2: Gensoukai and Meifu obviously have different concepts of time, considering that Tenko is supposed to be thousands of years old but looks like a child. However, if I subscribe to that, Hiko would not look like the five-year-old he is—indeed, he wouldn't even been born yet. So let's just ignore the differing time zones for this fic.
Interesting mathematical note: If the developmental equivalent of one Meifu year is one-thousand Gensoukai years, it would take seven hundred and fifty Gensoukai years to carry a baby to term. Can you imagine Suzaku pregnant for that long? Poor Suzaku! For that matter, poor Touda!
Side Note #3: "The life of the creature is in the blood"—Leviticus, 17:11. This law prohibited the Israelites and anyone living among them to eat blood. I've read that this law had a couple reasons—to promote compassion for animals, and to separate the Israelites from their polytheistic neighbors—but I took a quite literal stance on it here.
Off-Topic Rambling: Did you know there's some kind of linguistics test that tells you if the writer is male or female? I tried it out with a text from "Filial Piety" and the test told me (correctly) that I am female. But then I tried it again with text from my novel, and it told me I was male! I confess: I'm really a hermaphrodite! (Pauses. Realizes some people will take me seriously). No, I am fully biologically female. Though this does raise interesting questions about what exactly defines masculinity and femininity. Personally, I'm inclined to leave it up to the anatomy and screw the gender roles.
Off-Topic Rambling #2: I AM SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY. However, I managed to be productive. I wrote a YnM essay and updated the YnM jukebox (visit my livejournal by clicking on my "Homepage" button to see them—and I would appreciate it A LOT if you guys left comments), and managed to finally write a fic I've been envisioning since May of last year ("A Dream Deferred"; please read and review). I revised the outline for FP, too, which means this story will be longer, better structured, and hopefully more impacting.
Unfortunately this chapter is Set-Up Chapter from Hell (weeps). I hope you manage to enjoy it, anyway.
Conjecture
"There's no way in Hell I'm going to Gensoukai!"
"Really? Not even if it's to find the demon who murdered your husband and tried to kill you?"
Rui's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to trap me, Kasane. I'm not going into that place."
"That "place" is our ancestral home, and where I've been living for twenty-three years," Kasane returned bitterly.
"I am no Shiki, Kasane."
"Your genes would say otherwise."
"And I don't belong in Gensoukai."
"Your husband is going."
"I'm not his keeper. He can do whatever he wants."
"Huh. Was that your line of reasoning when he locked your son up in a basement?"
"I'm sick of telling you, Kasane; I have no children!" Rui screamed, her face inches away from Kasane's. She let out a little yelp as Kasane's hand connected solidly with the back of her head.
"Well, screw you, Rui!" Kasane yelled, stepping backwards. "Maybe I just won't have a sister, then!"
Rui resisted the urge to cackle. "As if you could do that."
"Shut up," Kasane snapped, turning sharply. "Stay here and sulk, then. See if I care."
Rui did not point out that it was obvious Kasane did care, and very much. In any case she did not get the chance, as Kasane was gone in the handful of seconds it took Rui's mind to process the thought.
"You sure it's a good idea to leave him with us?" Tsubaki asked, Yoshiro sleeping in her arms. Eileen stood behind her.
"Better with you than at the lab," Hisoka said. "I can't take him to Gensoukai with us; it's too dangerous."
"But what if…what if this is a bluff?"
"I doubt it. She'd want revenge on Suzaku and Touda—especially Touda. Just keep Yoshiro in Hong Kong to be safe."
"Okay."
"Touda, I've told you a million times over, you do not give Hiko target practice that involves live beings!" Suzaku struck the back of Touda's head with a stirring spoon. "Do you want our child to grow up to be a serial killer?"
"Darling, you know better than I do that targets are more often than not moving."
"And what's that's supposed to mean?" Suzaku demanded at Touda's smirking face.
"Surely you remember our quite volatile relationship prior to our little escapade into Hell? I was more often than not your moving target."
"Well, we're going to go back to those days if I find out Hiko's been aiming fireballs at birds again. He's getting harder and harder for Tenko to handle. You want us to lose a baby-sitter, Touda?"
"I'll start worrying if he starts wetting the bed. Hey!" He dodged another blow to the head with the spoon. "Domestic violence!"
"Wuss!" Suzaku shot back, annoyance turning into banter.
"Mom! Mom! Mom!"
Suzaku was nearly knocked over as her five-year-old son crashed into her leg.
"What's the matter?" she asked, straightening out the leg that Hiko was attached to.
"Tsuzuki-san is here! And Hisoka-san! And a bunch of people I don't know!"
"Tsuzuki's here?" Suzaku repeated. All traces of fighting with Touda disappeared; she gleefully grabbed her son's hand and raced out the door, Touda following at a more leisurely pace.
"Yeah, but Yoshiro's not," Hiko said with a pout, his feet inadvertently dragging as Suzaku tugged him along.
"I would predict that means something's wrong," Touda muttered, catching up to his wife and child, but Suzaku did not hear him. Tsuzuki was in sight, and soon was trying very hard to stay standing upright under the weight of the phoenix's human form.
"Do you realize you have not been back here for almost a year?" Suzaku scolded, smacking the top of Tsuzuki's head with her fist. "I'm surprised Hiko even remembers what you look like!"
"Sorry," Tsuzuki apologized sheepishly.
"Hi, welcome back," Touda said, having replaced Suzaku as Hiko's hand-holder.
"Hey," Hisoka greeted.
"Who are these people?"
Hisoka sighed loudly. "Welcome to the town of It's A Long Story."
"How important is it?"
"Extremely."
"Why, what's the matter?" Suzaku asked, letting go of Tsuzuki.
"Um, excuse me," Kushinada said, stepping forward from Kira's side.
"Do I know you?" Touda asked.
"Well…the last time you and I met, I was run through your leg."
"What?"
"You're Kushinada?" Suzaku screeched. Kushinada nodded, slowly, miserably. "What's this mean?"
"At the end of the war with Hell, two things happened," Hisoka said. "A handful of demon survivors scattered through Japan, and Amaterasu took Kushinada up to Heaven to erase her memories and then return her to earth. A few days ago, one of those demons met up with her, split her into two beings, and took a crazy vengeful Queen of Hell with him, leaving behind this one right here." He gestured to Kushinada. "Kushinada-youkai and the other demon then went to my…to Kamakura. They killed my…" He gestured to Nagare. "Him. My father."
"You're his father?" Suzaku demanded of Nagare.
"Yes," Nagare said plainly.
"You son of a bitch."
"Nice to meet you, too."
"I look forward to pounding you into the ground later," Suzaku said pleasantly, in an imitation of civility.
"You were saying?" Touda directed at Hisoka.
"Then they go back to murder Rui…my mother." He nearly spat the name out.
"Is that who this is?" Touda asked, pointing to Kasane.
"Touda, you need to socialize more," Suzaku chided. "That's Byakko's girlfriend."
"Actually, I'm Rui's twin," Kasane said.
"You're what?"
"My mother's family is from Gensoukai. They left to escape the wars," Hisoka continued.
"I knew there was something off about you," Touda said.
"You're a Shikigami, then?" Suzaku asked.
"Half," Hisoka corrected. "I don't have any powers, though; they got killed off because of Akuko's possession of me."
"Is your mother dead?"
"No," Kasane said bitterly. "Me and Byakko rescued her. Now she's holed up in Meifu, refusing to come here because she's ashamed of being a Shikigami." Byakko made a face, in keeping with his girlfriend's tone.
"And why are you here?"
"Because Kushinada-youkai is coming to Gensoukai," Tsuzuki said, finally able to get a word in.
"She's…she's what?" Suzaku yelped.
"Yoshiro has cognitive abilities—he sees things through his dreams. He saw her planning to come here. He doesn't know exactly where or when, but he knows she's coming."
"I suppose that's only natural," Touda said, feeling a throb in his leg where six years ago Kushinada had been thrown as a last-ditch attempt on Susano's part to stop the onslaught. "Hiko, your parents are dangerous people," he informed his son, who was more occupied with sucking on his fingers than listening to the conversation.
Suzaku plucked her son off the ground immediately, as if expecting Kushinada-youkai and Shizonai to explode out from under his feet.
"We're taking Hiko out of here," she said unequivocally. "There's no way he's going to be here when that bitch attacks us."
"Nice impression you're giving your child," Nagare said.
"I don't think you have any room to talk," Suzaku snapped, her eyes darting to him swiftly before deciding to completely ignore him.
"He'll be safe in Meifu," Tsuzuki said.
"Nn-nn," Touda corrected. "We're Shiki—different from live humans. We don't have that default "dying in Meifu is a double negative" thing."
"He'd be safe there for now, though," Suzaku interrupted.
"There are more demons than just her and Shizonai—the one who split me," Kushinada interjected. "But I don't think she's going to employ them while we're here. I know her—she's my evil half, after all. She wants direct revenge, face-to-face."
"That only works if she knows we're here," Kira said.
"And by the time she does, Gensoukai will be in a state of crisis and the Gates will shut down, just like they did six years ago," Suzaku finished off. "Shit, shit, shit…"
"So in other words, Hiko is staying right here," Touda said.
"That's why I left Yoshiro in Hong Kong," Hisoka said at Tsuzuki.
"Shit, shit," Suzaku spat, pressing her son to her bosom even tighter.
"Now you know why I'm having him practice on moving things."
"Shut up, Touda," Suzaku said, a trace automatically. "All right. We need to go find Seiryuu and let him know that we're going to be attacked. At least this time we have warning."
Kushinada flushed and averted her eyes.
"I need to find Kurikara, too," Hisoka said. In the six years of being Kurikara's employer—he had been warned emphatically not to ever consider himself Kurikara's "master"—he had barely spoken to the Shiki, as part of a mutual undeclared agreement based on the disastrousness of their first meeting right before the battle in Hell.
"I'll go get Seiryuu," Tsuzuki offered.
"Then we'll stay here on watch," Byakko said.
"And find a place to put my son," Suzaku said, refusing to relinquish her hold on the child even as he struggled to free himself.
"Well. Haven't seen you in awhile."
"I thankfully haven't needed your services," Hisoka replied, cautiously sitting down on a wall overlooking Kurikara several feet below. Kurikara preferred to avoid interacting in the city he adored, and staying within the training ground seemed to him the perfect way to watch over and avoid the inhabitants of Kansei.
"So you need them now?"
"Yes. Against a…"
"Demon queen," Kurikara interrupted.
"How did you know?" Hisoka demanded.
"Don't underestimate the power of sound to carry, Hisoka-neko."
Hisoka exhaled loudly. "Is there any need for you to call me that?"
"To see how much you've grown up. Six years ago you would have exploded at the name."
"Yeah, well, when you have a baby, you tend to grow up," Hisoka said. "Most of the time, anyway," he added in a mutter to himself.
"You harbor some bitterness towards your father, I gather," Kurikara said flatly.
"Do you have some kind of weird psychic connection with me?"
"No, but I do have a good memory. Recall our first meeting when I—correctly—guessed that you would not fight for whomever made you give up your original family name? Given the fact that I could overhear your conversation, I'm going to assume that it's your father who destroyed your filial piety?"
"He and mother dearest both," Hisoka said, seeing no reason to lie to Kurikara.
"And what's your damage?"
"Physical abuse from mother. Emotional abuse from the both of them. Criminal neglect. Oh, and they're essentially the ones who actually took my life."
"Heavy baggage."
"You think?" Hisoka said shortly. "Have I won your pardon regarding my, as you put it, "self-centeredness"?"
"No."
"I expected as much," Hisoka muttered, pushing himself off the wall and landing solidly on his feet. "It doesn't matter, anyway. I don't really care. I just needed to let you know that we're going to be battling with demons sometime soon, probably today, but I guess you already knew that."
"I suppose your father is going to fight them as well?" Kurikara asked.
"She killed him. He wants revenge." Hisoka caught sight of Kurikara's face. "It's not for anything so noble as some sort of sudden fatherly affection."
"I doubt that ever went away."
"Um, did you miss what I just told you?" Hisoka asked, blinking incredulously.
"All parents bear some sort of attachment to their children," Kurikara said matter-of-factly.
"And you know this by, what, firsthand experience?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Don't make the mistake of thinking that yours is the first father to kill his son." Seeing Hisoka move to question, Kurikara hastily continued. "That's what happens in war. You kill people, including family. Doesn't mean your attachment to them magically goes away."
"That's just it. It's attachment, not love."
Kurikara shrugged and turned away. "Isn't love just an attachment?"
"That's not the kind of love I want from a parent."
Kurikara snorted. "You're hard to please, aren't you?"
"I don't think my standards are that high, but whatever. I don't want to debate that right now. I just wanted to tell you what's probably gonna happen within the day or maybe tomorrow, if we're lucky."
"We won't be."
"Yeah, I know."
"This place is almost…dumpy."
"I'll be sure to tell Kurikara you said that," Suzaku informed Nagare with a snarl. The Shiki's pride in the city was of almost astronomical proportions. It delighted Suzaku to imagine what Kurikara would inflict on anyone who dared insult it.
"If by "almost dumpy" you mean old, full of history, and still not fully recovered from a devastating war, then yes, it is," Kasane grumbled.
"I can see why Rui wouldn't want to come back."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Nagare! You are the most pretentious asshole I've ever met."
"I applaud you," Suzaku said gravely, clapping her hands lightly.
"I'm only recording what I'm observing," Nagare said. "In your case, you're lucky if this place isn't fully recovered, considering the damage it's probably going to take from Kushinada."
"We're going to try and lure her away from the city when we meet her," Suzaku said, regarding Nagare venomously.
"And while we're on that topic, are you expecting to take on Kushinada with just that sword?" Touda asked from beside his wife, pointing to the aforementioned katana sitting in Nagare's sheath-belt.
"I take it you think that's not good enough?"
"Smart man, you are."
"It doesn't do well to underestimate people," Nagare said plainly.
"It doesn't do well to overestimate them, either."
Nagare shrugged. "We are up against only two of them."
"You shouldn't think little of Shizonai," Kushinada said nervously. "Only the most powerful demons survived the severed connection to Susano. And he's drank my blood."
"Wait, what?" Suzaku asked, eyeing the woman suspiciously.
"When…when Shizonai found me again, he bit my hand and drank some of my blood. And…you know what was written…"The life of the creature is in the blood"…you see, Susano gave me the ability to literally cut things in half—become a sword—and when Shizonai took my blood he took that power. He can't transform into a sword, but he was able to cut my soul in half: me, and the evil queen of Hell that's coming after us now."
"So what can you do in regards to her?"
"I know her personality. We both have the ability to transform. Beyond that…I don't know."
"Honestly, I'm not expecting this battle to be it," Kira interrupted. "It might be better for us to try and gauge what kind of strength they have right form the outset. Of course, I'm not averse to getting my hands bloody, if need be," she added, smiling.
"You're awful violent for a priest," Touda said
"An exorcist," Kira corrected, "and one who hasn't been on active duty for six years. I'm a little bored, okay?"
"You're a little frightening."
"I know," Kira said, somewhat proudly.
A sudden inhalation courtesy of Kushinada caught all their attention. She had slapped her hands around herself as shivers went down her arms, biting down hard on her lower lip. Her eyes were stricken.
"Well. I think we figured out how else you're connected with your evil genius," Kira said, standing up. "My money's on ten minutes."
"I'll take that bet," Touda responded. "Make it five."