Eating dinner that night, Kyourin actually managed to hold a conversation with Enrin. Enrin was quiet and reserved, and would very rarely have a whole conversation, but this time it happened. Kyourin was talking about what she had done in the camp, and Enrin found it fascinating. She had always been escorted, and with her golden mane, everyone had immediately known she was a Kirin, but Kyourin had been able to go anonymously. Enrin had questions about how the people were like, and what she had done, and how people talked, and all kinds of things Enrin had never been exposed to. It was a fun little talk.

As she was leaving the pagoda to play her games with Sekto, she took a glance up the mountain and noticed something that made her heart clench. Without even thinking, she shifted, and sprung up into the air. She flew on up the mountain until she reached the Shashinboku, where she cantered down to a halt. Her glimpse from a distance hadn't been mistaken: there was a tiny ranka on a branch. Kyourin felt a crushing sadness. A Kirin had died.

There, just under the fruit, was a nyokai. She must have been born earlier today. She was a scaly, feathery woman, winged like Kasshi. "Ren?" she asked the nyokai.

The nyokai didn't even look at her. "Renki," she muttered, with the typical nyokai adoration.

For a long moment, Kyourin just stared at the ranka. Then with an internalized sigh, she turned back toward the palace, and flew back to where she had left her clothes. She shifted back and dressed herself again. A little downcast, suddenly bereft of her usual energy, she went to the pagoda where she played her games with Sekto. She slumped into her seat. She had gotten there a little earlier than Sekto, so she just sat there, staring at the surface of the table.

"More morose than usual, I see," came Sekto's voice after a while. Kyourin wasn't sure how long it had been.

"I'm sad," Kyourin admitted.

"I see that." Sounds came from the table; Kyourin recognized them as the ones that preceded kokki. "What's wrong? I thought you had fun in the Villa today."

Kyourin decided to tell the truth. "There's a ranka on the tree."

"Ah." Apparently, Sekto needed no more explanation than that.

"Ren-Ou killed Renki."

Kyourin knew without looking up, from the pause in the setting up of the game, that Sekto was surprised. "Killed?"

"Renki was under shitsudou."

"Yes," Sekto said cautiously.

"Ren-Ou killed Renki."

"Kyourin." She understood what Sekto was asking; she looked up. She thought Sekto was one of the prettier of the nyosen, with shiny black hair, wide eyes, and a cute nose. Right now, Sekto was wearing a serious sort of smile. "It's the way things are, Kyourin. It is the duty of the Kirin to live and die with and for their kingdom. And yes, it is the actions of the king that bring on shitsudou. Such is the Will of Heaven."

"It's not fair," Kyourin said, frowning a little.

To her surprise, Sekto let out a little laugh. She placed a container full of white stones in front of Kyourin. "I suppose it isn't fair to the Kirin. But it's the duty you were made for. One day, barring violence, you will fall under shitsudou. Kyou-Ou will 'kill' you. And when the time comes, you will die with grace. Because that is what Kirin do."

Kyourin could tell that Sekto wasn't entirely pleased with this. She got a distinct impression of sadness, and she knew that, come the day Kyourin died, Sekto would be sad for her. The thought made her feel a little better. "It's still not fair."

"Death never is."

They started playing. Kyourin let a few turns go by before speaking. "Did you know the previous Kyou Taiho?"

Sekto hesitated a second, but only a second. "I wasn't directly involved in his care, but yes."

"What was he like?"

"Quiet. Polite. So the opposite of you."

Kyourin let out a giggle. She stared at the board for a moment before making her move and speaking again. "How old was he when he picked his king?"

"Are you worrying about that already?" asked Sekto with a frown.

"Teiyei says they're raising the flags in Kyou."

Sekto's eyes widened, and her hand froze halfway to the board. After a few seconds, she continued to place the stone. "I don't remember. Late teens, I think. It's pretty rare that the king comes the first shouzan."

Cheered up already, Kyourin started kicking her legs under the table. "Did you know the Kyou Taiho before that?"

"Yes, though I don't remember him very well. It was a while ago, and again, I wasn't directly involved in his care."

"What was he like?"

"The opposite of you again. Like a normal Kirin."

"I'm not normal?"

"Red Kirin are strange. You'll find out why when you're older."

That was a weird thing to say, but Kyourin decided to ignore it. "Do you remember the Kyou Taiho before that?" She thought another moment, then placed a stone.

"No, that was before—" Sekto broke off, staring at the board. For several long moments, she analyzed the positions of the various stones, clearly thinking through her next move. "That is really frustrating."

"What?"

"That move you just made."

"What about it?"

"It was really good. It ruined my entire plan."

"Yay!" she yelled, drawing the word out. "I beat you!"

"Not yet, you didn't."

"No, but I'm calling this a victory anyway."

"You do that." Sekto thought another moment before placing another stone.

They played a few more moves in silence, Kyourin energetically kicking her feet under the table. She hit the center post a few times, which hurt a little bit, but that was okay. "Where do nyosen come from?"

Again, Kyourin found Sekto frowning at her. "What?"

"I've been wondering. Where do nyosen come from? Is there a tree somewhere?"

For a moment longer, Sekto frowned at her, before returning to the game. "We come from normal riboku like all humans. We pray for Seioubo to choose us to become nyosen."

"So you're just normal humans?"

"Well, we're sennin, of course."

"Of course." She didn't know why it made sense for those who cared for the Kirin to be immortals, but it just felt right to her. "So you prayed to be a nyosen?"

Sekto shrugged. "I assume so. It was so long ago."

"How old are you?"

Again, Sekto shrugged. "I'm not sure. At least three hundred."

"Why are red Kirin strange?"

At that Sekto let out a short laugh. She shook her head to herself as she placed a stone. "You'll find out when you're older."

"That's what everyone always says. Have you known a red Kirin before?"

"Yes, one. Souki."

"The current Souki?"

"No. He died a long time ago. I only met him when he visited once anyway. There aren't any other red Kirin right now."

"I didn't think so."

"You're special." Kyourin got the impression she was teasing.

They played well into the night, as they always did, Kyourin working to keep up a running conversation. That first game was one of the ones where Kyourin barely won, and she felt this time that it was more of an accomplishment than usual. It almost felt like Sekto was actually trying. She lost the rest, of course. What felt like not so long later, it was dark, and time to go to bed. Sekto put her to bed again. Kyourin fell asleep as she always did: amidst a pile created by Kasshi and the more fuzzy of her shirei. As she did, her thoughts were on tomorrow, and what sort of fun and trouble she'd be able to get herself into.

Kyourin got up with even more energy than usual. She was going into the Villa again, to be with all those people! It was so exciting. She had done it once already, but that didn't make her any less excited. She got herself dressed before the nyosen even got to her room, and was in the pagoda ready for breakfast before someone came to fetch her.

At breakfast, Enrin, dressed in her pretty clothes mostly reserved for this occasion, was even more reserved than usual. She didn't say a word, and she never made eye contact. She was like this before every trip to the Villa, so after a few years Kyourin was pretty used to it. It made her a little sad though. Come time, Enrin would be advising her king in the ruling of an entire kingdom, and herself running a province. Could she really do much of a job of it with a temperament such as hers? She was a little worried for the older Kirin, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

She was about to run out to the Villa when the nyosen stopped her. She would be going out the gate properly this time, she was told. So she waited for everyone else to get ready, then walked toward the gate with Enrin and a group of nyosen. As they passed through the gate into the meadow, the nyosen formed a box around Enrin, with Kyourin hanging around toward the back. The people all around the meadow, at least those with an unobstructed view, stopped what they were doing and dropped to the ground. They prostrated themselves, foreheads against the dirt. If Kyourin had to do that all the time she was sure she would make a habit of making silly faces into the ground where the object of her respect couldn't see her. She wondered how many people were doing exactly that.

As their column made toward the villa, a figure rapidly shot out from the crowd, then dropped back to the ground in the path of their group. The nyosen parted around him, and Enrin stopped right in front of him. He spouted off nonsense about how honored he was to see the Taiho, even though he wasn't even looking at her, what an honor it was to be here, blah blah blah. Enrin quickly interrupted him with the ritual no-thanks phrase before stepping around him to continue on. As Kyourin passed the rejected man by, she bent over to give him a couple reassuring pats on the back. The nyosen gave her weird looks for that.

Their column was now entering the Villa. She had already decided she didn't want to be in that stuffy place, so she split off from their group a short distance from the door. With gentle steps she slipped between the rows of prostrate people. Quickly she worked her way around toward the back of the Villa. Here, the people were not on the ground. She tried to lose herself in the crowd as much as possible, hoping people would lose their association between her and Enrin. Hopefully she could go today as well without people realizing she was Kyourin. Judging by how people over here were not looking at her, it was working just fine. She finally realized that, by the colors and style she was wearing, they probably just thought she was a tiny nyosen. Though nyosen all bound her hair, and Kirin always kept theirs free—even simply parting her mane differently than it naturally fell made her uncomfortable—but she didn't expect normal people to know that.

She spent most of the morning simply observing what was going on. People walking back and forth, people chatting, people doing chores around camp, people eating late breakfasts. People lining up to enter the Villa, people with disappointed, some crushed, expressions on their faces as they left. Poor people; she couldn't imagine what it was like to have those hopes dashed. For a little while she went from youjuu to youjuu, giving them cursory examinations and little affectionate pats. A couple owners expressed surprise that they took to her like they did, but she was a Kirin, and pretty much all animals adored Kirin. Something about that touch of the holy in them. Of course, she just said animals liked her, without that explanation.

Eventually she decided to go to In'ou's camp. On the way, a nyosen came by her, and silently passed her a riceball before wandering off again. It was pretty late in the day. Kyourin said a "Thank you" to her back before devouring the thing. Around the time she finished, she arrived at In'ou's camp. In'ou was there, reading a book. Kyourin walked over, and plopped down to sitting right next to her. "Hi."

"Hey, Aku," she said, sounding a little distracted. After a few moments, she put the book down. "I wasn't sure I'd see you again."

Kyourin shrugged. "I kind of like you."

"Why?" said In'ou after a derisive snort.

"I'm not sure," Kyourin said honestly.

"Mm." With nothing further, In'ou stood up and took a step toward her tent.

"What are you doing?" Kyourin was worried she had somehow offended her, what with her getting up like that all of a sudden.

In'ou waved a pot in the air. "Making tea."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Kyourin said, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. "I just came to talk. Say hi."

"It's time for tea anyway. Be right back." Again, In'ou ran off to get water and kindling. While she was gone, Kyourin just gazed around the camp, taking in her ever-changing surroundings. Before too long, In'ou was back. "I would offer to feed you too, but I see your parents already fed you."

That was true, in a manner of speaking. "How'd you know?" Without saying a word, In'ou reached a hand over, and plucked something off her face. She showed it to her: a grain of rice. "Oh, whoops."

In'ou's hand retracted. For an absurd moment, Kyourin thought the woman was going to eat the rice she had taken from Kyourin's face, but in the end she flicked it away in a random direction. "You may not talk like a child sometimes, but you certainly are one."

"I certainly am. Is Rou in line?"

In'ou nodded. "He shouldn't get his hopes up. He's a good man, but I don't think he's kingly material."

"Don't you want to try too?"

For a moment, In'ou couldn't respond, as she was too busy laughing. "No, no I'm not queenly material either. There's no way I could ever see me ruling a kingdom."

"Kings and queens are taken from all walks of life."

"Kirin would know, I guess."

Kyourin jolted in surprise. What had she done to give herself away? And this was supposed to be a normal, human-human interaction. Whoops. "Did you see me with Enrin?"

In'ou, just getting the fire going, shook her head. "I was busy when the Taiho came in. I knew yesterday. I thought I wouldn't let on that I knew, but yeah."

"What?"

"It was pretty obvious," said In'ou said with a shrug. "Kid wandering out of Koukai without escort, expensive but simple clothes, speaks like an adult, talks to an adult like an equal. On Houzan, to me, that spells Kirin. Even with the hair color, I knew. Are there many red Kirin? or did you dye your hair?"

Kyourin was a little annoyed she had been found out so easily. But oh well. "We're pretty rare. And Kirin manes don't dye. It just doesn't stick."

"Yes, of course it wouldn't." The tea set up, In'ou sat back down next to Kyourin. "We probably shouldn't tell my husband, though. He wouldn't be able to complete a sentence around you."

"You're still treating me like normal."

In'ou turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "If you had wanted me to treat you like a Taiho you wouldn't have tried to hide your identity from me."

"Good point."

"I often have them." For a while they talked, before, during, and after drinking tea. Kyourin felt somewhat more relaxed now that In'ou knew she was a Kirin, even while In'ou continued to call her Aku. Like last time they had had tea, they talked about pretty much whatever, mostly about the people and things they saw around them, since their experiences didn't overlap much. In'ou didn't ask about life on Houzan at all; she supposed she was dropping the whole being a Kirin thing and not mentioning it again.

They had been talking for a while when Rou suddenly showed up. He dropped down on In'ou's other side, and started pouring himself some tea. Kyourin noticed he was downwind this time. "Hello, Aku," he said. His voice was low and depressed-sounding. Kyourin said "hi" back, trying to exude cheerfulness.

"No luck, I see," said In'ou.

"No," the man groaned. "Fucking Kirin. I would have done En good, I know I would have."

"Rou," In'ou drew out warningly.

Kyourin deciphered immediately what she was annoyed at him for. "Is 'fucking' a bad word?"

"Shit," said Rou, as though remembering she was there. "I mean, um, yes."

"That was another bad word, wasn't it?"

"See," In'ou said," this is why we can't have our own children. You would just corrupt them."

"Yes, but I would corrupt them good and proper, like any decent father."

"You want children?" asked Kyourin with her usual excitement.

So they talked about that until In'ou and Rou were good and angry at each other. Kyourin felt a little guilty for that. Eventually Kyourin said her thanks for the tea and started getting up. Before she left, In'ou again gave her a riceball. Kyourin had it vanished before she got very far away. She walked through the meadow, making a winding path toward where the kids had been before. She got a little distracted on the way though.

She heard some shouting coming from a crowd just next to her. Curious what they were shouting at, she turned in that direction, and started wriggling her way toward the center of the crowd. In the middle there was an open space, and in the open space were two men. With swords drawn. Fighting

She didn't even think. If she had been thinking, she would have used her shirei. She ran forward, shouting at the men words even she couldn't understand. She thought she would interpose herself between the men, stop them from fighting, stop this violent nonsense. She felt her shirei moving to help or protect her. Just when she was about to reach them, it was too late. One man broke the other's guard, and his sword sliced through the other's neck. Blood sprayed into the air.

Kirin always had an aversion to blood, though to what degree varied from Kirin to Kirin. Kyourin had seen animal blood twice, so she knew she was particularly sensitive, but she had never seen human blood. She immediately wished she had run away instead of closer. Her entire reality closed in on the sight of it, those little dots of bright red dancing through the air. She was filled with an emotion so powerful it wiped away thought completely. Time stopped, and the rest of the world vanished. All there was was the blood and her total, absolute terror, for all eternity.

An infinite second later, she was face down on the ground. She knew she should be in some sort of pain from falling, but she couldn't feel a thing. She wanted to get up and leave, with her eyes firmly closed, but she couldn't move. She was still horrified; that might have been what held her in place, or it could have been the sudden absence of strength in any of her muscles. There was nothing she could do but lay there and shakily breathe. At least she hadn't fallen on her horn.

"Hey, kid, you alright?" came over the noise of the crowd. Someone grabbed her shoulders and roughly flipped her over. A new sensation slowly seeped into her skin from her shoulders. It was a sort of heat, a prickling hotness that gradually pierced into her. "You okay, kid?" Then happened the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her short life.

Something touched her face. It was the man's hand, checking her for something for some reason, but she didn't know that. It was wet. Kyourin knew immediately, with dread certainty, what it was. If that feeling before had been as needles, this feeling was of knives, a searing heat that stabbed deep into her head and neck. The heat spread through every inch of her in serrated waves, tearing apart her flesh and leaving nothing but heat, dizziness, and nausea. She thought she might throw up. Again, time bent, so it felt like she spent hours in pain and terror when it should have just been seconds, her own mind prolonging her torment.

"Get your bloody hands off the Taiho!" This voice lead a whole new chorus of shouting, but the blood was working deeper into her system. It was the last coherent thing she heard. All sound was reduced to a buzzing, all smell to blood, all emotion to horror, all sensation to heat and pain.

The last thing she knew was the shifting feeling of being lifted from the ground and cradled in someone's arms. A moment later she completely lost consciousness.


She awoke to someone stroking her face. At first, she was worried it was that man with his bloodied hands again, and she jolted away. The motion brought a sweeping sensation across her entire body, like the pins and needles one got when a body part fell asleep but a hundred times worse. She groaned against it, willing for it to stop. She heard Kasshi's soothing voice, and she realized it was Kasshi's hands on her. That's okay then.

The prickly sensation didn't go away, but it did die down enough that she could mostly ignore it. She was left feeling weak, so weak her muscles trembled against themselves, almost as though she were shivering. She didn't think she would have the strength to open her eyes. She still felt hot, the sharp fire living in her, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. And she thought she might throw up again.

"Are you awake, Kyourin?"

That was Sekto's voice. Kyourin tried to nod, but her neck muscles didn't work. Instead she just made a grunting noise.

Soon there was a hand of a different texture, cooler and smoother, on her face, one she knew must be Sekto's. "Your fever went down." The hand lifted away, too early for Kyourin's taste. "I don't remember you getting blood sickness before, so you probably don't know well how this works. We don't know that well either, really. You will stay here, in this room, until you're fully recovered. When you're strong enough, food and water will be brought to you. I will play whatever game you want with you as long as you like. But you will not leave until you're fully recovered. This isn't a punishment. We just want you to be safe. Blood sickness can be very dangerous. Understand?"

Kyourin made another grunting noise. She hoped Sekto would take that as a 'yes'.

"Next time there's a fight, you run in the opposite direction as fast as you can. Fly if you have to. Don't run right into it like an idiot."

She gathered up as much strength as she could, forcing her mouth to open. "Kasshi," she managed. Her voice was weak and wavery, even to her own ears. "Sekto."

"Yes, Taiho."

"I was..." She broke off, trying to keep her strength up. Her eyes started watering again under her lids. "...so scared."

"I know, Kyourin. I know."

Kyourin spent the next long while crying, held tightly on one said by Kasshi, and the other by Sekto, a ball of pain, heat, and exhaustion floating on a bed of reassuring words and gentle touches. They stayed exactly like this until she again passed out.


By the way, the swearing shouldn't be taken as a direct translation of what they're actually saying. Think of it as the cultural equivalent.