Chapter Three

Touran.

Hyoushin reined in his white steed, glancing around him at the bustling, thriving outskirts of Hokkan's capital city. Despite the cold chill in the air and the faint signs of snow that dusted the ground, the sky overhead was crisp and clear, a faint breeze teasing gently at his long, silver tail of hair as he gazed up at the wheeling birds that circled overhead. Once they had crossed the Kutou-Hokkan border, he had ordered his men to remove their military helmets and external armour, not wanting to be seen as a military presence as they had ridden through the uneven mountain tracks towards the centre of Hokkan's trade, and more than one of the accompanying soldiers had a faintly bluish look about them, shivering and rubbing their arms as they awaited further instruction from their enigmatic commander.

Well. They had made good time in the end.

Hyoushin gauged the position of the sun in the sky, then turned his attention to his entourage.

"The horses will need to rest, and I can see that it will be necessary for some of you to thaw out before you do any productive reconaissance work." He reflected evenly, taking in their pinched, pale faces as he spoke. "We will stable the beasts, and then see what we can find while Touran is busy. We've arrived a good couple of hours before nightfall, which is earlier than I anticipated, and I would like us not to waste the precious hours of daylight while we have them. After dark, it will get cold, after all - and the best thing to break your chill is to have you active and on your feet, rather than atop a horse."

"Get cold?" Hyoushin clearly heard Maichu's voice at this. "Commander, you mean it's going to get colder than this? We're already surrounded by snow - can't we at least put our armour back on? I'm getting frostbite in my fingers!"

"A good soldier is unaffected by the elements, Maichu." Came Hyoushin's unsympathetic reply. "As you should well know, considering the length of time you have been training as a man of arms."

He lifted a hand, gesturing in the direction of a tall, white-stone building on the corner.

"We'll stable there." He said evenly. "And then we'll move on."

As the soldiers abandoned their animals to the care of experienced groomsmen, Hyoushin indicated for them to follow him once more into the centre of the city.

"By the time the moon rises, I want you all back here." He said softly. "We will meet here, beneath this plaque, and I will assign you your rooms for the night. In the meantime, please remember that this isn't a pleasure trip and that we are not here to see the sights of the city...or sample the available facilities. Maichu, that goes for you above all others - please keep it in mind."

"Hyoushin-sama?" Maichu stared, and the Meihi gave him a fleeting, impassive smile.

"You will conduct your enquiries in pairs." Was all he said, however. "There are eight of you, plus myself, and that should be sufficient to get a basic overview of the city. We are seeking any information on the Celestial Warrior Ashitare - anything which gives us indication of his true roots and how, if it is possible, we might find him if he has indeed been reborn into a new form. To locate a new Warrior, we need to try and understand the man who died in the Hokkan snow fighting for the Genbu Shinzahou."

He offered Aoiketsu a pensive look, then,

"You had better stay with Maichu, Aoiketsu, since I have a little more faith in your discretion than I do his." He reflected absently. "You should both take the northern quarter, which I believe is in that direction, following the street directly behind you."

"Yes sir." Aoiketsu bowed his head, even as Maichu let out an indignant snort, and Hyoushin acknowledged it with another faint smile.

"As for the rest of you, you may assemble as you see fit." He added. "I will take the centre of the city myself...you have about two hours, and I trust none of you will be late."

He gestured, and as one man, the soldiers dispersed with the minimum of fuss, each disappearing into the busy crowds of Touran as they headed off on their mission.

Once alone, Hyoushin turned, glancing up at the plaque which adorned the stone wall he had chosen for their meeting place. It was old, and written in the ancient script that the majority of Hokkan had long since abandoned, but to him it was like reading a book, for the characters and lines were the same he had been taught by his father as he had learnt to scribe the Meihi tongue as a small boy. Inwardly grateful for having paid such close attention to his studies as a child, he ran his gaze carefully down the plaque, reflecting absently on the surreal nature of reading fluid - if outdated - Chinese language in the letters of his tribe.

"And yet I can understand it more easily than I can read some of the books Kintsusei-sama insisted on making me read when he taught me the characters of Kutou's native tongue." He muttered. "And so much to the good, considering we don't have forever to complete this mission."

He scanned down it, absorbing its contents with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Koku-zan." He murmured. "Interesting. Ashitare perished, according to Kikei's sources, in the snows beyond the mountain range. But Genbu no Shinzahou was up on Koku-zan...sealed by the power of Genbu. That's an interesting contradiction. If Ashitare went to Koku-zan to retrieve the Shinzahou...what slew him? And if he got past Genbu's protection...what might my men have to face to bring home Seiryuu's treasure?"

He frowned, leaning up against the wall as he contemplated.

"I hope that this is a serious assignment, and that it isn't simply a way for Kikei to get me out of his sight for a while." He reflected. "I have little faith in that man or his methods, but I cannot disobey a direct command from my Emperor. Besides, for me to come to the Northern lands is only a matter of logic. With the climate...and to keep the discipline of the men. And yet...I don't like the idea of being so far from Kutou when there is so much uncertainty. That spirit in the flame...I wonder if Seiryuu's magic really is all Kintsusei-sama hopes it will be."

As he turned away from the memorial, he was aware of gazes on him and as he glanced up, his amethyst eyes met the curious dark ones of a little girl, playing by the side of the street. She stared at him for a moment, then she offered him a smile, clasping her ball close to her chest before she hurried off to continue her game. Hyoushin frowned, suppressing the faint flickers of memory that threatened to stir inside of him of another young girl with just as innocent a smile.

"I will keep faith with my Emperor's mission." He decided. "He seeks what I seek, after all. A peace for Kutou like the one the people have here. That a child can see a stranger on the street and not be afeared...that is what I want for Kutou, too. And so we will press on. Whatever the danger...if Seiryuu's Shinzahou is in the possession of a reborn Ashitare, then we must indeed locate it."

As he mingled through the still-busy trading quarters, he heard snippets of conversation as people concluded their business, greeting and sharing news with acquaintances. Pausing to listen, in case he heard anything of use, he was startled to hear the distinct, melodious sound of his native language, lilting and gentle among the harsher sounds of the northern Hokkan accent. Despite himself, he forgot for a moment the reason for his being there, turning to seek out the speaker, and as he did so, he caught sight of a flash of silver hair glinting in the late afternoon sun. His eyes widened, as for the briefest of instants he lost his grip on his composure and just stared, struggling against the memories that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Ojisan?"

A woman's voice startled him back to himself and he turned, gathering his wits as he met her confused gaze with a level one of his own.

"Ojisan, are you lost? You look disorientated." She spoke slowly, as if assuming he could not understand her, and with a jolt, Hyoushin realised that without his Kutou armour he probably looked no different from the silver-haired ghosts he had heard speaking his own tongue mere seconds before. He offered her an impassive smile, shaking his head.

"No, thank you, I believe I am fine." He said softly, speaking in level, even tones. "But perhaps you can assist me in one matter. Friends and I are visiting Touran for a day or two, and we seek rooms for the night. Is there somewhere you might recommend? We wish to make as early a start to the mountains in the morning as we can - but I have heard that Hokkan's nights are cold, and my...companions are not as immune to the cold as I."

The woman stared at him for a moment, flushing slightly in embarrassment as she held up her hands.

"I'm sorry. I mistook you for Meihi." She said awkwardly.

"That's quite all right...you are not incorrect in your assumption." Hyoushin assured her. "But I am not from Hokkan. I did not know that there were still Meihi in the North country - I had understood that these days they populated the Eastern lands - I myself am from the East."

"Kutou?" The woman looked startled. Then she shook her head. "I didn't realise they were still...no. There are Meihi in the mountains, sure enough. Many of them fled from the East back to the snowlands when war broke out. You must've been one of the fortunate ones...bad times, so as I've heard, during the war and before, in the East."

Hyoushin's fingers absently brushed against his cheek, fingering his slave scar for a moment, and a brief, ironic smile touched his lips.

"As you say." He agreed. "I am fortunate indeed."

"I'm sorry if I caused you offence...the Meihi who surround Touran and the mountain area don't speak our language so clearly as you do." The woman clearly seemed to feel she'd made some big faux pas, as she gazed up at him earnestly. "They keep themselves to themselves except when they come to trade at market and buy from the people here. A peaceful, gentle folk - they bother noone - but they don't speak the same way, and well..."

"You have done nothing to apologise to me for." Hyoushin assured her briskly. "And if you can point me in the direction of an inn, I will be in your debt."

"Yes, by all means." The woman blushed again, nodding her head as she gestured towards a brown stone building across the other side of the road. "There, you might find rooms. They do good business during market season, but of late I know they have rooms free. We had a trading fair here until yesterday, and a travelling circus, and the whole city was packed out. But in the aftermath, there should be vacancies. The rates are good, and it's within close range of the most easy mountain path."

"I see." Hyoushin's gaze flickered over it, and he nodded approvingly. "And you say we can reach the mountains themselves with ease from here? Without traversing the whole city?"

"Yes." The woman agreed. "It will mean crossing the Meihi settlements, but I don't suppose you'll mind that too much. Koku-zan is immediately ahead of you - that peak you can see in the distance, rising above the others. I imagine that's where you'll be going - it's where most visitors go, when they visit Touran. The legend of Genbu still draws tourists from far and wide."

"Ah, but it is the legend of Seiryuu that holds my interest." Hyoushin reflected.

"Seiryuu?" The woman looked confused, and Hyoushin nodded.

"One of Seiryuu's Celestial Warriors was originally from Touran." He agreed. "So I have been told. And I believe that he also came here when he died. As a citizen of Kutou, I'm naturally keen to make pilgrimage and find out what I can about such a noble warrior. His name was Ashitare...although I'm sure that means little to Genbu's people."

"Ashitare..." The woman frowned, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know much about Seiryuu's legend, except the names of the stars. I can't help you."

"But you already have." Hyoushin offered her a faint flicker of a smile. "With finding accomodation for my friends and I. I am grateful for your time."

He bowed his head towards her, then withdrew, crossing the square towards the inn as he ran his thoughts over her words.

"Meihi settlements...Meihi country." He reflected. "So some slaves did escape, did they? Some Meihi managed to avoid the massacres and the humiliation?"

He faltered, as his memory flickered into life and he stopped, clenching his fists tightly until his nails dug into his skin as he forced them back into their rightful places.

"I am an emissary of Kutou." He reminded himself. "Nothing more than that. Tomorrow, we will pass through the Meihi lands and scale Koku-zan in search of the place Ashitare lost his life. I cannot imagine Kikei's sources to be correct, if Genbu no Miko's treasure was located atop that mountain. He was killed in the obtaining of the holy relic - so he must have gone to Koku-zan at some point. And so there we will go - and see if we can find any trace of anything useful."

---------

"Wow...we're really in Hokkan, Jin."

Shishi pressed her hands up agains the cold, frosted glass of the window, her breath steaming the surface as she gazed out at the slow, swirling blizzard that had begun to build up outside. "I can't believe people are actually okay with livin' in this cold freeze, though - it's not even the middle of winter, an' yet..."

"It is cold." Jin leant up against the wall of the bedchamber, nodding his head as he sent her a playful grin. "Shishi, you can't stop the night in here, you know. Chichiri-san an' Kashira will have finished askin' the innkeeper questions soon an' they'll want to come sleep. An' you should be with Hikari - after all, you're a girl an' so is she."

"Hikari." Shishi snorted, turning from the window to cast her companion a derisive look. "I'd rather spend the night here with you."

"Better be careful what you say, kid - someone might misunderstand your meaning." Jin's eyes twinkled with amusement and Shishi snorted again, pulling a face at him.

"You know what I mean."

"Well, you know that ain't gonna happen, so you might as well get used to the idea." Jin crossed the chamber, resting his hand on her shoulder as he gazed down into her defiant bronzeish eyes. "Shishi, listen. You an' me, we only came on this trip because you were so hot to travel with the Kashira. If you start makin' trouble for them now, he'll never take you on another trip again, do you get that? Is that what you want - to be confined to the mountain till you're old enough to be someone's wife?"

"Wife?" Shishi stared, then shook her head, shuddering at the bare idea. "I'm not going to be anyone's wife, Jin! I'm going to be Kashira one day...you know it as well as I do!"

"Mm." Jin eyed her keenly. "So you keep sayin'. But listen, you idiot. You kickin' up such a fuss ain't goin' to help you get to that point, is it? Swallow it an' go speak to Hikari. She's on her own at the moment, an' it's your job to protect her this evenin', ain't it? After all, for the time bein', she's one of the pack - isn't she? So like it or don't - ain't you gonna do what your father says an' show him you're ready for that kind of responsibility?"

Shishi sighed, chewing on her lip as she registered the truth in her friend's words.

"I s'pose." She said reluctantly. "The thing is, though, that she's such a pathetic idiot of a girl. An' she really is a girl, too, you know. I mean, the kind o' girl who cares about skirts an' lookin' pretty an' things like that. Walkin' through the mountains earlier was a pain, too - she said she could manage, but you wound up half carryin' her the last bit of the way. I jus' don't know what to do with that kind of wimp, is all. I ain't used to bein' around girls like that - an' I don't like it, either."

"But you're a girl too, ain't you?" Jin raised an eyebrow, and Shishi nodded.

"Yes, but I ain't a wimp." She said firmly. "An' that's the material difference."

"Hikari's not as bad as that, you know." Jin shook his head, looking pensive. "Considerin' that she's come from the other world, an' everythin' here is real different to what she's used to. She's been dumped in a place without her family or her friends, Shishi - ain't you even a little bit sorry for her?"

"No." Shishi said bluntly. "Suzaku no Miko did the same thing, but she came an' tried to save Kounan - she didn't just mope an' complain about achin' feet or cold winds!"

Jin chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

"Well, either way, if Kashira finds you in here instead of with Hikari, you'll be for it." He said wisely. "So you better snap to it, Shishi-chan - unless you want to be yelled at for shirkin' your duties."

"I guess so." Shishi sighed heavily, nodding her head in resignation. "All right, I'm going. I'm just fed up with her, that's all. And I can't even get a few hours break, because I have to share a room with the little idiot an' pretend I care what happens to her, too. If she had more of a backbone, maybe it'd be all right - I don't understand why Chichiri an' Kashira are so keen to protect her, anyway. Or you, for that matter. Why do you give a damn, Jin? Even if she is a Shinzahou, she ain't got any kind of magical power that I can see."

Jin snorted.

"Your eyes are bronze, not green, Shishi." He said frankly. "Keep 'em that way."

"What now?" Shishi stared, and Jin rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Kashira is Kashira." He murmured. "But he's blood to you. He ain't blood to Hikari, an' that ain't gonna change. Kashira is Genrou of Reikaku-zan but he's also Tasuki of the Suzaku Shichi Seishi. You jus' gotta accept that this is the God's work, an' that's all. Jus' because he an' Chichiri are payin' the kid a little attention, it doesn't mean anythin' more than that...you ain't got cause to be jealous, you know."

"I ain't jealous!" Shishi's eyes widened, and she shoved his arm away. "Don't be so stupid - why would I be jealous? I've told you - I'm not asking special favours from Kashira over anything - and I don't care what he thinks of Hikari or anything else!"

"Mmm." Jin eyed her for a moment, and Shishi's expression darkened.

"Don't be such an ape." She instructed. "I ain't jealous of any stuck up, spoiled little worm from another world. An' I'm goin' to my room, so get out of my way, huh?"

With that she pushed him aside, stalking out of the small chamber and banging the door behind her as she exhibited her displeasure.

They had arrived at the village just as the sun had begun to drop in the sky and, with a murmur of pleasure, Chichiri had announced that they had made better progress than he had expected, crossing over the border into Hokkan itself. The settlement had proved convenient, and Chichiri had soon made arrangements for them to hire out two small rooms rather than one, as the rates for a place so cold and remote were reasonable enough for it to be well within their budget. After all, as he had told them ruefully, the temperatures outside would soon drop below freezing as night set in, and he had been fairly sure that there was snow in the air.

And, as it had happened, he had been proven right, for as they had eaten a simple, hot evening meal, the first whirl of flakes had begun to patter against the glass, spreading and growing into a blinding dervish as they obscured the surrounding landscape in a white haze. For Shishi, for whom snow was a rare, if impossible novelty in the south, it had been a beautiful, breathtaking sight.

"Comin' to Hokkan is all very well, or it would be, if not for her." She muttered now, shaking her head in frustration. "Jin's stupid if he thinks I'm jealous of the little brat...I'd rather die than be like her, that's all. But shit, I guess he's right. Kashira's Kashira an' I have to do my job too - however much I hate it."

With that she sighed, pushing back the door of the other room roughly and slipping inside. Hikari was sitting up against the headboard of her simple, makeshift pallet bed, wrapped in blankets and as the door opened, she visibly started, glaring at her companion in indignation.

"You could knock. I might've been changing."

"Yeah, like I care what you look like with or without clothin'." Shishi said evenly. "I don't like this any more than you do - you could at least do me a favour an' shut your lip for a few hours, okay? I'd like to get some kip, if it's all the same to you - without your bleatin' whine in my ears."

"I'm not whining. I was just saying..."

"Well, don't just say." Shishi cut across her, sinking down onto her own bed as she loosened the fabric of her jacket, slipping it off and dropping it on the floor beside the bed. "I told you. I'm tired an' I want to sleep without you complainin' all night long. Tomorrow we're travellin' again - early, most probably...and even if you don't care about gettin' any rest inbetween, I do."

Hikari's eyes narrowed and she scowled, hugging her knees tightly to her chest as she watched her companion slip beneath the covers.

"You know, in my world, you wouldn't find a hotel like this one, if you wanted to stay the night." She said, stifling a shiver as she drew the blankets more closely around her body. "You'd be able to have a nice hot shower, then sit down and watch television and it would actually be warm, not half-frozen to the point where you have to wear your outside clothes to sleep in order to avoid getting frostbite. I really don't like the North country - it sucks worse than Kounan does so far."

"Kounan does not suck." Shishi bristled. "I don't know what 'television' is, but it sounds pretty stupid, if all you do is sit and gawp at it. Besides, of course it's cold. It's snowing out, you moron. Or don't you know that snow means cold? Let me guess, you don't have snow in your world, either?"

There was sarcasm in her tones, and Hikari grimaced.

"Of course we do." She muttered. "And I don't like it any more then than I do right now. It's cold, wet and disgusting...and everything since we crossed the border seems to be covered in it. My feet were soaking when I took off those...whatever you want to call them boot things...and I've already got blisters. But what about you, anyway? Don't you even feel the cold? Kounan is a lot warmer - why aren't you shivering?"

"Because I'm a bandit, an' bandits don't shiver." Shishi said evenly. "Sure, it's cold. But yeesh, that's how it is. At least we ain't outside in the blizzard - aren't you a little bit glad about that? Learn to be grateful for what you have, and stop it with the whining already. Your voice is high pitched and irritating when you do that, an' God knows what kind of accent you have but it's really startin' to rub against my nerves. Shut up an' sleep...sooner you do, sooner it'll be mornin' and the sooner we can head on to find this village we're lookin' for."

"Yeah, as if I can sleep when my feet are pretty much blocks of ice." Hikari shivered again.

"Then you should've stayed on Reikaku-zan, if that's how you feel about it."

"I didn't get a lot of a choice." Hikari returned. "Tasuki and Chichiri both said I had to come - I didn't ask to. I didn't ask to come to this world at all, if you come to that. Don't talk about choice, Shishi...this isn't where I want to be right now, believe you me."

Shishi frowned, pushing back her blankets and padding across the room towards her companion, a dark, irritated look in her bronzeish eyes.

"Listen to me an' listen good, once an' for all because I'm done with this." She said flatly, resting her hands on the other girl's shoulders and giving her a little shake. "I don't care what you do or what you don't want. I don't care why you came here, or who your Ma an' Pa are. Chichiri said you stayed in this world because you wanted to help Meikyo but I don't know if that's true or not - it sure doesn't seem it, right at the moment. You're a worse whinin' baby than she is - she's just a kid of eight years old. Even she doesn't whine about things that can't be helped. You really should be ashamed. I'm ashamed for you, every time I hear you complain."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, you know."

"Well, you're gettin' it as a freebie." Shishi's eyes hardened. "Chichiri, Kashira, Jin - they all seem to think you have somethin' else about you. That because you're Shinzahou, you're goin' to come good an' prove you're more than a wimp who complains about cold feet an' blisters. But if you do, I ain't seein' it. And I'm fed up with it, that's all. If you have Suzaku's magic in you, you should quit fussin' about cold weather an' worryin' about finding it. Suzaku no Miko came here an' did what she had to do - she summoned Suzaku an' made her wishes an' everything was okay - we all know the legends, we all know those stories as well as anyone else. But you're a real disappointment, if you're really the one she trusted Suzaku's power to, you know. An' it makes me mad as hell, especially after hearin' the story of Seiryuu no Miko an' all the shit she caused when she chose her own interests over savin' Kutou. Do you want Kounan to wind up a bloody mess like the Eastern lands? Do you want people here to get killed an' hurt all over again, because you're more interested in the temperature an' some 'television' thing than you are people's lives? Or is it what you said before, huh? Because this ain't your world - because this is just a 'story' to you - you don't give a shit whether any of us live or die? I don't think you care about Meikyo or Eiju or anyone but yourself. Even if you've fooled Chichiri, even if you've fooled Kashira an' Jin - you don't fool me, Sukunami Hikari!"

"Let me go!"

Hikari wrested her body away, anger glittering in her dark eyes as she shoved her hands against the bandit's body. "Let me go, Shishi - I don't care what you think, and I don't want to be here with you either!"

Shishi stumbled back, opening her mouth to retort, but as she did so, she caught sight of her room-mate's body and she stopped dead, eyes opening wide with disbelief and alarm as she registered the odd crimson glow that had engulfed her young companion from head to foot.

"Hikari?" She murmured, reaching out a finger to touch the haze, but before she could brush her hand against the other girl's skin, there was a dazzling flash of red and she found herself pushed backwards, falling against her bed as she stared, not comprehending the scene before her. As the light grew brighter, she covered her eyes against its glare, and when she looked again, she let out a gasp, scrambling to her feet as she darted forwards.

"Hikari?" She exclaimed, as she registered the fact her companion had vanished, and that she was now completely alone in the little bedchamber. "Hikari, damn it, where the hell are you? What did you do? Where did you go...Hikari!"

There was no answer, and despite herself, fear flickered in Shishi's heart as she struggled to work out what she'd seen.

"Red light." She whispered. "Shit...what did she do...where's the stupid idiot gone to now?"

"Shishi, are you all right in there?" A knock at the door startled her out of her daze as she realised she had company, and panic gripped her heart as she contemplated how to explain what she had seen.

"Shishi?" Her father's voice came through the wood again and she steeled herself, stumbling to the door as she unfastened the latch, pulling it back.

"What the hell's all the shoutin'?" Tasuki cast her a confused glance, which became consternation as he registered his daughter's stricken expression. "Shishi...? Dammit, snap out of it! What happened? Where...where's Hikari?"

"Gone." At length Shishi managed to choke out an answer, her legs giving way as she sank to the floor, gazing up at her father helplessly. "Papa...she...she's gone."

"Gone?" Tasuki blinked, and Shishi swallowed hard, nodding her head.

"There was...red light." She whispered. "And then...Hikari...was gone."