Chapter Fourteen
A faint breeze blew around the uneven, hilly landscape as the solitary figure made his way slowly and hesitantly up towards the barrel-trunked elm tree that stood overlooking the city below. The area was deserted, and the landscape empty except for the two identical grave-markers that stood under the protection of the heavy branches, leaves and stray pieces of tree-bark littering the surrounding area. As he drew closer, the man registered the presence of fresh flowers beside each of the graves, and for some reason, this jarred something in his heart as he sank slowly to his knees before the nearest stone.
It was more worn than the other, having spent longer at the mercy of the elements, but the characters that comprised the woman's name were still clearly defined in the rock and he ran the fingers of his right hand across the carving, pain in his heart.
"Kaku Shouka." He whispered the words faintly, and as if someone had heard him, the wind teased and toyed with the leaves that scattered across the ground at his feet. For a moment he sat there, resting his hand against the stone as if by some miracle he could use it to communicate with the long dead spirit, but there was no gentle voice on the wind, and the man knew that he was entirely alone.
The newer, more polished stone of the other grave marker caught his attention and he shuffled his large form across to look at it properly. As he ran his eyes down the inscription, something clenched inside of his heart, and he bit his lip, softly murmuring the name.
"Myou Juan." He breathed, and almost as if he had been stabbed, a rush of memories and sensations washed through him, disjointed, disconnected and disorientating as he clutched his hands to his head, fighting to stave them off. At length he managed it, raising his eyes once more in trepidation to the rock and fingering absently the petals of the blossoms that lay before it. They had not been there more than a day, and although he could not place a name or a face to credit the gentle offering with, he knew somehow in his heart that they had been left by a friend.
By someone who, once, he had considered both like a friend and a brother.
For a moment he sat there, trying to make sense of the conflicting sensations that welled up inside of him. Then, as he gazed at the newer stone a second time, a fresh memory pierced his mind, as in the midst of the fog and confusion, the face of a young man, dressed in showy clothing and with a shock of red hair became vivid in his thoughts. As the impulse became clearer, the man found his thoughts engulfed in bright, angry flames as someone pushed forward, clutching a red vial in his hands as he sought to bring relief to a huddled, cloak-covered figure on the ground.
With a jolt, the man realised that the would-be saviour had been him.
"Mit...su...kake." He said softly, brushing his left hand over the second gravestone as his palm burned and stung in recognition of his words. Glancing down at it, he felt a sense of regret and apprehension, as the jagged red character became once more visible on his palm.
"This hand..." He murmured, holding it up to the light. "This mark..."
He faltered, as a stab of anguish shot through him and for the first time he saw clearly the looming figures that had accosted him earlier near the cloud-cursed town of Choukou. Instead of the face of his beloved Shouka, he found himself visualising the approach of the red-haired man, his attempt to reach out in friendship, and the bright red gleam of light that his own frightened reaction had caused.
Instinctively, Mitsukake understood what the jumbled mess of images meant.
"I hurt someone?" He whispered. "But...this hand...is the hand...of a healer?"
He cast a final glance at the grave, the redheaded man's face still burned into his mind as he struggled to put a name to the features.
"Myou Juan." He reflected, and in that moment knew beyond all doubt that the occupant of the second grave was him. Strangely, this thought brought him neither comfort nor distress. His desperate, muddled mind clung instead to the fleeting memories of earlier that day, picking out and piecing painstakingly together the events that were real in amongst the nightmares that were not.
At length he stood, pulling his sash loose from his clothing and tearing it in two, binding half of it firmly around the hand that bore the odd red mark.
"I must leave this place." He murmured. "Before I bring someone else pain. I must find...something. Someone. I don't know what...but I must...I must leave. I must find...someone I can call...a friend? And I must...I must reverse the damage...I must repair the thing I did to cause harm. I must!"
He clenched his fists as the mark on his left palm burned into his skin once more.
"Tasuki." He whispered, and suddenly he knew that this was the name of the man who had reached out to him in friendship, despite the darkness surrounding him.
"I must...find...Tasuki."
-----------------
"Well, this place has survived pretty well, you know."
Chichiri pushed open the door of the old farmhouse, casting a rueful smile at the waiting Aidou and Anzu as he did so. "And you seem to have made yourselves at home...I suppose this is familiar territory for you, Aidou-san."
"Yes..." Aidou hesitated for a moment, then nodded her head. "Though it was Anzu who caught the fish this time - and there's plenty...so long as you're not sick of eating freshwater fish cooked over a makeshift fire."
"I think I need the strength, after this morning." Chichiri admitted. "Tasuki too, probably. I still haven't figured out what to do about Mitsukake, and it's preying on my mind a little. Thank you for feeding us."
"Men are helpless sometimes." Aidou rolled her eyes, but a smile touched her lips as she gestured to the door beyond. "It's a mess in there, but there is the remains of a table, and it will do. And as I said before - we have a roof over our heads, even if it is saturated with spiderwebs."
"Please tell me they're not part of the meal." Tasuki sent his sister a wary look, and Aidou flexed her fingers, causing him to duck back out of her way. "Hey, it was just a damn question!"
"Where's Hotohori-sama?" Anzu asked, glancing around her for any sign of the former Emperor. "Is he not coming inside?"
"It seems he really doesn't need to eat, and he's not at all affected by this morning." Chichiri shook his head. "He elected to stay outside by the water - I think he was just enjoying the view. Even when he was alive, he didn't get a lot of time to just sit still - I decided we'd leave him to it."
He shrugged.
"Besides, I don't think he likes being reminded of the fact he's dead. Even though it's beyond dispute."
"He shouldn't have been so willing to charge that bastard Nakago then, in that case." Tasuki muttered, dropping down at the table with bad grace as he did so. "I still think we should be headin' back to Choukou, not squatting here like we're afraid of a little mist. Hotohori-sama and I have been inside of Choukou before...it's not as scary as all that. Even when Shouka was walking the streets waking the dead and making them zombies, we still handled it. You're being over cautious, Chichiri. What can mist do to you?"
Chichiri pursed his lips, but did not answer. Instead he settled himself down opposite, accepting the fish that Aidou offered him with a warm smile.
"Thank you." He said sincerely. "Miaka used to say that fish was considered brain food in her world. In which case, I need as much of it as I can get at the moment."
"Brain food?" Tasuki blinked, and Aidou sighed.
"Maybe we didn't feed him enough." She said acerbically, jabbing her makeshift chopstick in the direction of her hapless brother. "But there's always time to catch up. Eat, Shun'u. It's only basic, but it's the best we could do. Besides, your girlfriend here helped - so don't stare at it like it fell from the rafters."
Tasuki's eyes went up to the beams above his head, taking in the rotten, uneven wood, and he grimaced.
"I damn well hope it didn't." He retorted. "And Anzu is not my girlfriend. Why do you have to needle me about everything, Oneechan? Yeesh. Moan, nag, moan. That's all you do and I'm sick of it. You hate it so much, go back to Reikaku-zan with Ma and Pa and let me alone."
"So you can get yourself killed? I don't think so." Aidou shook her head.
"What's wrong, Tasuki?" Chichiri cast his fellow Seishi a concerned look. "You aren't eating...that's unlike you."
"I'm not hungry." Tasuki said frankly, pushing the fish aside as he rested his chin in his hands. "I want to go back to Choukou. A guy doesn't walk out on his friend when his friend's in trouble, and I have issues with that. You sit here, if you like - I want to go back."
"It's too far for you to walk." Chichiri shook her head. "At least, it isn't, but it will take you a while."
"Then I should start now." Tasuki made to get up, but Chichiri reached up to grab his arm, pulling him back down.
"Eat first." He instructed. "You'll need your strength before you take on anything in that town, Tasuki. I'm not kidding. Whatever you faced there before...it's better to cover all bases. And Anzu and Aidou did cook the fish for our benefit as well as their own. Ignoring that would be rude, you know?"
"Genrou, are you sure you're all right? You look a little pale." Anzu frowned, her brow creasing as she cast the bandit a glance, and Tasuki started, glaring at her as he nodded his head.
"I'm fine...why does everyone keep asking if I'm all right?" He demanded. "Can't a guy worry about his buddy's state of mind without gettin' the third degree?"
"Then eat your fish and shut up." Aidou said categorically. "You're not six years old, Shun'u. Stop throwing a tantrum and eat. The sooner you do, the sooner you and Chichiri-san can concoct some crazy, do-or-die scheme to save this friend of yours...but Chichiri-san is right. You need to keep your strength up. So eat. We didn't cook this so you could behave like a spoiled brat, you know."
"Besides, right now, we don't know how to help Mitsukake." Chichiri added, casting his friend a searching look as he did so. "So if you go back there, you won't be able to do anything. It's better we talk this over first...and have a definite plan."
Tasuki bristled.
"You're looking at me that weird way again." He snapped. "Stop it, will you?"
"Genrou!" Anzu's eyes became big with surprise. "Why are you shouting at Chichiri? He's right - and besides, you left there as much to protect Aidou-san and I as anything...isn't that important too? Now we've found this place, we should be safe enough here if you want to go back to Choukou. It's not so bad, really...why are you so upset about this?"
Tasuki clenched his fist, bringing it down on the broken table with a thump.
"Because Mitsukake's my friend." He emphasised. "And walking out on a friend is not something I do."
"Me either, you know." Chichiri acknowledged. "I'm no happier about it than you are. I'm fond of Mitsukake too, and I'm worried as well. But rushing in isn't going to solve the problem. We need to find a way to get him away from Choukou. Then, if I can track him down, I might be able to cast a spell. But while he's in that town - I can't. And if you flame him with your tessen, you'll risk hurting him. Just because he's effectively dead, we don't know if he can feel pain in this form. You don't want to harm him further, do you?"
"No." Tasuki admitted. "But I still don't like it. That's all."
Chichiri sighed heavily, shaking his head, but he made no reply, turning his attention back to his fish.
Tasuki gazed down at his own helping, toying idly with it as he ran over his friend's words in his head. Mitsukake's haunted expression flickered at the back of his thoughts and he frowned, stabbing at the meat more brutally than was necessary and reluctantly putting the piece in his mouth.
"We'll go back to Choukou, Tasuki-kun." Chichiri said softly. "I promise we won't abandon him. Just give me some time to work this out, all right? We'll go back...but right now, I need to think."
Tasuki grimaced.
"Whatever." He said flatly. "I guess I'm outnumbered, and without your magic hat, I can't get back there any quicker than you would. So I guess I'm stuck with it, whether I like it or not."
"You must think a lot of this Mitsukake guy, Genrou." Anzu rested her chin in her hands, eying him curiously. "To be so worried about him."
"He's one of my fellow Seishi, and he's my friend. Do I need another reason?" Tasuki looked startled, and Anzu flushed, shaking her head at his sharp tones.
"No, of course not." She responded. "But still, I'm curious to know what he's like. I mean, really. If you want to save him that much, he must be a good person - even if he wasn't himself in the village. And after Hotohori-sama - I'd like to know."
"Mitsukake is a doctor. A healer, in every sense of the word." Chichiri said gravely. "He's a big man - and sometimes people fear him because of that. But he has the gentlest heart of anyone I've ever met. Animals, people, everyone - he would never turn away someone who needed his help, be they friend or enemy. When he passed on, it was to help the war wounded by giving them his strength - even though he was injured himself. He sacrificed his life to save a baby girl, and to heal the soldiers who were being tended in a village near the palace."
He frowned, gathering his composure, and sending him a sidelong glance, Tasuki realised he was remembering the event in question.
"I never saw a man do anything so selfless as that." The monk admitted. "To save soldiers on both sides, because they were people who were hurting...I felt ashamed that we were involved in a war, at that point. That we were doing our best to destroy Kutou as surely as they were us. And...and that Mitsukake helped the soldiers all, regardless of the colours on their uniforms...I guess I realised then what a person he really was, you know? He was...a close friend, and we shared a common heritage, living in this area. But there was something greater about him - an understanding of the value of life that even with all my training, I don't think I've ever quite reached."
"He sounds impossible." Aidou reflected. "There isn't anyone in the known universe who's that good and that self-sacrificing."
"You shut up." Tasuki snapped. "If it wasn't for Mitsukake, I'd be dead now, so you keep your random ramblings to yourself until you know what you're talking about."
"Mitsukake saved you once, Genrou?" Anzu looked startled. Tasuki nodded.
"He did." He agreed, as flickers of unpleasant memory stirred within him. "I wouldn't have made it, without his healin' powers."
Aidou frowned, biting her lip, and Tasuki dropped the rough wooden chopsticks down on the table.
"I'm done already." He said frankly. "Hurry up, Chichiri. I want to go back, so eat and think quicker, okay?"
"All right, already, I'm doing my best." Chichiri reproached. "Yelling at me won't help anything, you know."
"You're not going to waste that?" Aidou demanded.
"I told you. I'm done." Tasuki snapped back at her. "Do I have to repeat everything? Yeesh. Eat it yourself, if you're that hungry. I've lost my appetite."
He got to his feet, brushing Chichiri's arm aside as the monk made an effort to stop him.
"Leave me, will you? I'll wait for you, if it's about Choukou - so long as you don't take too long. But I want some air and some time to think. Even I need to do that sometimes, you know - so you eat and let me alone."
With which parting shot he left the room, swinging the door back behind him as he stepped out into the daylight. Between the trees he could see the faint glint of the river, glittering as it caught the rays of the midday sun, and something in the dancing, skittish light made him suddenly feel giddy. He swallowed hard, dots dancing before his eyes as he fought to get a control on himself.
"Shit, maybe it's a good thing I didn't eat more of Aidou's cooking." He muttered, making his way slowly towards the trees and then pausing, glancing up at the faint wisps of cloud that dotted the sky. "I hope Chichiri ain't gonna take too long thinking about this. Without Mitsukake, I would have...after the incident with Miaka...without him I wouldn't be here. It feels wrong to just damn well abandon him, when I owe him my life."
He swallowed again, his throat feeling unnaturally dry, and he sighed, rubbing his temples as he felt a dull throbbing ache beginning in the depths of his skull.
"This whole thing is beyond me." He reasoned out loud. "Mitsukake was like a zombie. I mean, he is a zombie - he's living dead, so I guess that's a given. But even so...even so..."
"Genrou?"
Anzu's voice came from behind him and he turned, cursing as he met her concerned gaze with a defiant one of his own.
"What?" He demanded. "Didn't you hear me already? I said I wanted to be alone."
"I know." Anzu hesitated for a moment, then she seemed to make up her mind, taking a step or two towards him. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay...and to say sorry, if I said something that offended you, that's all."
"If you feel that way, then listen to me and go away, huh?" Tasuki said tiredly. "Please, Anzu. Just go already, huh? This isn't something you can understand. It's a Seishi thing - it's way out of your league."
"I...I guess so." Anzu faltered, falling silent, but she made no move to leave, and Tasuki groaned.
"Fine. Then I'm going to go. Damn women." He muttered, trying to ignore the sudden, random tightness in his chest as he made to move away from the little clearing of land. As he took a step or two towards the river, however, something sharp and stabbing lurched up inside of him, gripping itself tightly around his heart as, for the briefest of instants, he felt certain it would stifle its lifebeat completely. Anzu forgotten, he let out a gasp, his hands going to his chest as he stumbled to his knees. Somewhere, seeming very far away all of a sudden, he heard someone yelling his name, and then commotion from the delapidated property behind him. A suffocating sensation of heat and pain washed over him in waves, as the world blurred and swam in a strange red light and he struggled to draw breath into his lungs, feeling sick and dizzy as his surroundings swayed and twisted. He muttered a curse as the pain stabbed through him again, screwing up his eyes as he sought to bring his body under some kind of control.
"Dammit." He whispered hoarsely. "What the hell...?"
"Genrou!" Now the voice was closer, and Tasuki drew deep, painful breaths into his lungs as he put his strength into warding away the sudden attack. Panic welled inside of him as he struggled for air, but he fought valiently against it, forcing oxygen into his body as he managed, at last, to regain scant threads of his composure.
"Chichiri! Hotohori-sama! Genrou's hurt!"
The voice pierced through his aching head, and for a moment he felt as if something surged and rippled within him.
"Tasuki? Tasuki, what's wrong?"
That was Chichiri and Tasuki struggled to focus on his friend's voice as a second wave of panic rushed through his body. He closed his eyes, swallowing against the bitter bile that rose in his throat, and as he did so, he felt something reach out to him, as if trying to help him in his fight against the sudden onslaught. His nerves ragged and set on edge, he raised his gaze, meeting Chichiri's troubled look with unreadable bronze eyes, and he knew that the sensation had come from his friend, as if the other man had intuitively cast some kind of spell to bring him relief. He heard the monk utter a curse, and absently he realised that, in different circumstances, the idea of Chichiri swearing would have brought him any amount of amusement. At that moment, however, he felt dead to everything, and even the flicker of genuine concern in the sorcerer's gaze could not elicit anything more from him than basic, dulled recognition.
The pain returned at that moment, and he grimaced, spreading his fingers over his ribcage as if he could somehow pull the cause of the sensation out of his body with his bare hands. The world swam and twisted again, and he heard Chichiri shout something at someone else nearby - although his friend's words were blurred and confused in his brain.
As he closed his eyes against the surging pulses that wracked through his body, he had another fleeting image of Mitsukake's expression, before they had left Choukou. Then, in the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind, another memory flared into life, becoming brighter and more vivid with every passing second. He tried to force it back, but it forged through his weakened defences relentlessly, and for a moment, the face of a young woman in tears confronted him.
Even in his dizzy, disorientated state, Tasuki knew all too well to whom the face belonged, and what memory had reared its ugly head against him, even in his time of weakness.
The face of Yuuki Miaka.
Suzaku no Miko.
Random Babble:
In Sanbou Den, Mitsukake and Shouka were buried beneath an elm tree overlooking the northern town of Souen. In Kanji, I guess it's less easy to get confused, however in roman lettering Souen and Souun are a lot alike, and I don't want people to get muddled. (Souun being the western mountain town sandwiched between Reikaku-zan and Kaou-zan.) Hence, I've left out the name of the northern town and kept the burial as being in the Choukou vicinity (which it is, since Mitsukake lived not far from Choukou when all of the Shouka stuff happened). Sanbou Den also mentions that Mitsukake's childhood friend Gou Kyuushin and his wife Suisen often visit the two graves to leave flowers - proving that the two lovers truly haven't been forgotten :)