Blech. I don't like this chapter. Sorry ._.
The battle was absolute chaos.
Touke had sent the Chousai with her soldiers, temporarily laying her duties at the feet of the Taishi. About a month after Aku had disappeared, Touke's armies had reached the city of Ouhan, the capital of the prefecture of the same name. They arrived with greater numbers than they had left with, fighters volunteering from prefectures along the way—they had spread rumors of the Taiho's helplessness, which had pulled on a few heartstrings. Now that they were in position, Touke recalled Kokumei. Both officials were returned to their previous positions, and Touke flew out to Ouhan.
It had been a strangely quiet month. There had been no serious difficulties anywhere in the Kingdom, nor were the Rikkan and other highly-ranked officials bickering, something which had never happened before, she was sure. There had been a little bit of a tissy though over the whole Aku having a consort thing. She had managed to convince everyone that it was perfectly acceptable for a Kirin to have a consort—though Touke implied they would be intimate, but would never consummate the relationship, which might have eased some minds. Oh well. If a partial lie would make Aku happy, it's a partial lie she would give.
Mononobe, before Aku had even been found, had asked to put off her start date for her new employment so she could be more involved in getting her back. The moment she had been found, Mononobe had picked up a staff—no blade, just a stick—and rushed off with the army. At first, Touke had been worried Mononobe would be at too much risk to be allowed, so she had asked Mononobe if she actually knew how to defend herself with that thing. She had taken on two of Touke's soldiers at once to demonstrate. It was very flashy, with lots of spinning and twirling, but also rather effective. Touke wondered where she'd learned to do that. When she'd asked, Mononobe had only said she'd been with some traveling entertainers for a while.
Huh.
The second Touke was on the ground, she was being briefed by her generals. Which was when she started getting an impression of the strange state of things. For one thing, when the Forbidden Army had appeared, and the wealth of their numbers became apparent, most of the citizens of the city, in the middle of the night, had up and abandoned the place. Ever since, a steady trickle of rebel soldiers had been deserting their posts and fleeing. Some even volunteered their services to the Forbidden Army. Most gave stories—true or false, Touke wasn't sure—that their governor hadn't told them one word about kidnapping the Taiho, and as soon as they heard about it they couldn't defend him in good conscience. She was sure seeing the strength of the force arrayed against them had been quite the motivator.
Her generals advised staying in place longer, to wait the rebels out, wait for more of them to trickle away. Touke couldn't stand for that. For one thing, a passing army lived indirectly off the land, basically stealing from the farms and villages around them. She didn't want to put pressure on the locals for longer than she had to. For another, she needed her Kirin back. They weren't even sure she was still alive. If Aku died, Touke would follow soon after, and then what would happen to Kyou? The governor could have her killed any minute. There was no reason to delay.
So Touke ordered the attack.
They were basically going for shock and awe. Hit the city with everything they had—infantry, cavalry, air cavalry, siege weapons—all at once. Touke was hoping it would scare the fuck out of them. It seemed to be working. As soon as they were over the wall, more chaos broke out.
Clumps of enemy soldiers would randomly surrender all at once, throwing down their weapons. Hundreds of her men had to be set aside to take them all prisoner. Still other rebels would suddenly turn on their own, spontaneously joining the attacking force. It was an insane battle. In every direction, fighters not otherwise occupied with binding prisoners hesitated, unsure if who they were facing were friend or foe. It was complete chaos.
But eventually they were at the castle gates. And just as Touke was giving the orders necessary to bring the gates down, suddenly they were opening. More nonsense. The rebel defenders got control of the situation quickly, but it was long enough of a delay for Touke and a few dozen swordsmen to slip inside. Supported by air cavalry, it was a simple matter to get the gates open permanently.
Touke knew exactly where to find her adversary. He was in exactly the same room he had been in before. She, one of her generals, and a group of soldiers cut a swath through the rebels, aiming straight for the governor. Once again, covered in blood as before, she found herself facing the governor of Ouhan. She quickly dispatched his bodyguards. As opposed to the previous time they'd met, Fun was now holding a sword, brandishing it with steady hands. Touke found herself smiling a little. At least he had backbone. After a moment's pregnant pause, she said, "Tell me where the Taiho is, and I might let you live."
Fun made a derisive, scoffing noise. "We both know I'm not making it out of here alive."
Touke shrugged. "Okay, you're not. But I can definitely draw it out."
For a few long moments, he weighed his options. Touke waited, seeing the debate rage between his eyes. In the end, hidden fear won out. "She's dead. Her body's in the guest annex."
There was an explosion in Touke's chest. Not grief, not exactly. She would feel that later. Right now, all she knew was fury. A red hot, aching fury. Her hands shook with it, until she was sure she would drop her sword. Around her her soldiers were letting out noises of despair, but Touke had something else on her mind.
She darted toward the murderer, and stabbed forward. He moved to parry, but Touke twisted around his guard, sliced the back of his hand. The blade went skittering across the floor. Touke drew a deep gash across his near shoulder, stabbed into his lung. When he reared back, she got an angle on his other side, stabbed that too. Then she swiped at his abdomen. The cut was deep enough. Through the gouge in his stomach, his guts came spilling out. It had always surprised Touke how pale they were. Under his blood, they were sort of a pink, not the deep red she had originally expected. The sad excuse for a man fell to his knees, and, to Touke's black amusement, frantically and futilely tried to shove his organs back into himself. When he glanced up, his eyes fearful and frantic, Touke took another swipe, this time opening up his throat. He fell forward so his hands hit the ground, shuddering, shaking, and choking on his own blood.
Touke waited a long moment, watching him suffer. When she was satisfied, she stepped, turned, and brought her sword down on the back of his neck.
She turned to her general, not even looking at the fresh corpse. "Search every inch of the place."
"Shouldn't we just…" He broke off. He meant shouldn't they just go to the guest annex, where he was sure they would find the Taiho's body.
"Do you honestly believe he had her killed?" Touke was trying to ignore the likelihood herself. "As soon as things are settled down a little, get everyone to search. Don't stop until she's found.."
"What if she fled?"
"I doubt it." Touke was thinking of the blood they had found on her sheets. She figured they were keeping her withstrained with blood. She would be too weak to flee.
She was quickly proven right, when they found her cell. But she wasn't there. She wasn't in the guest annex either.
The Taiho was missing. Again.
When Aku again awoke, she felt she had slightly more strength in her. Not a lot. It had been a couple days—or at least she thought it had been—since they had sprinkled blood on her. They must be busy with something. Either that, or they were starting to give up, which probably meant her life was in danger. She should get up, try to find a way to get out of here. Maybe if she was stronger, her shirei would be too. She muttered, as authoritatively as she could, "Nansou."
No response. Oh well.
There wasn't a lot she could do then. She tried to sit up anyway. With an intense amount of effort that made her feel dizzy and the room swirl around her, she made it up. She blinked, shook her head, looked at the bars. Yep, pretty solid. There was no way she was getting through there in her state. She slumped over, let her head bonk against the wall. She felt the reverberation through the streams of energy that ran through and connected all things.
She wondered if people were coming for her. Of course they were. She's the Taiho. They wouldn't just let her be abducted, not doing anything about it. They would come for her, she was sure. It was just a matter of time. She just had to wait. Maybe they would come before her captors killed her. That would be nice.
She hit her head against the wall again. Again, she felt the reflection of her impact in the streams.
Kyou was doomed. They must have realized by now they wouldn't get what they wanted out of her. There was no telling what they would do to her now. Probably just kill her. And they would kill Kyou with her.
She hit her head against the wall again. And again. And again.
She had to get out of here.
She hit her head against the wall again. And again. And again. Again, again, again, again, aga—
With a feeling of constriction and a slurping noise, she fell over sideways. Ow. She rolled onto her back, opened her eyes. Above her, of course, was a ceiling. But it wasn't the ceiling of her cell. It was smoother, brighter. And in her peripheral vision, she realized she was in a hallway. She turned her head. She was indeed in a hallway, stretching some distance to either side. It took her a long moment to figure out what had happened.
Tonkou. She had done it.
No time to celebrate. She had to hide. She flipped over face-down, tried to push herself up. For a long moment she strained, before deciding it was pointless. She was too weak. With a sigh, she released the tension in her limbs, and slumped against the ground. She took a long moment to gather her breath and her strength. She looked around. In front of her was a short side hallway, and an open sliding door she thought might hold linens. That would be a decent place to hide. Gritting her teeth, she pressed her fingers and toes into the ground, pulled and pushed.
Centimeter by agonizing centimeter, she forced her way to the door. The prickling heat built in her, growing more and more distractingly painful. Her breath turned ragged from such intense effort, yet so little actual motion. But still she pushed on. She was within two meters of the door when her strength failed her, and she slumped again against the ground. That was all she had. There was no energy left in her neglected body. Shit. Her feet were still in the hallway. All someone had to do was walk by through the hall, and they would see her. And she would be returned to her cell, where the blood sickness would, slowly but surely, kill her.
It took her a long moment to realize that wasn't sweat on her cheeks.
A gasp came from behind her. Ah, here it was. She would be dragged back to her cell any moment now. "Taiho, how did you get out?" a voice whispered. She knew that voice: Youyou. Would Youyou help her or sound the alarm? bring her back? She wasn't sure. After a moment's wait, Youyou's feet appeared in front of her. Youyou grabbed her wrists, and started dragging her across the ground. Toward the door.
Aku smiled.
"The Forbidden Army is outside." Youyou paused a moment, spreading some of the linens on the floor. She lifted Aku one half at a time onto the makeshift bed. She scrunched up some cloth and laid it under her head. After such exertion, Aku found herself too exhausted to speak, so she merely gave a weak smile of silent thanks. "They'll be inside any moment now." Youyou hesitated a few seconds. "I'm going to go hide in the servant wing. Someone from the army will find you, I'm sure. Will you be okay here?"
Aku could only blink.
"Okay." With nothing more, Youyou slid the door closed.
In darkness, it took only a few seconds for Aku to pass out.
She awoke after what must have been hours, though an instant to her, to an ear-piercing shout. "The Taiho! I found the Taiho!" Oh, no. The governor's men had found her. She let out a long groan. Kyou would surely die at this rate. "Are you in pain, Taiho?" Well, of course she was. The heat and stabbing of blood sickness was running through her in waves, as it had been for weeks, so long she had grown more or less used to it. She barely noticed anymore.
But the voice was filled with enough concern it made Aku curious. She opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurry, but she knew that uniform the soldier kneeling in front of her smelling strongly of blood was wearing. Those were the colors of the Forbidden Army. She wanted to laugh in relief, but she had not quite the energy, so it came out as a long hee sound. For a moment she considered how to answer the question, before simply nodding.
"Someone get the Queen!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Does anyone know where she—"
Then came a voice she knew very well, blurred slightly with distance. "Did you find her? Where is she?" Touke. Aku let out another hee sound. She had never been more pleased to hear that voice in her life. She was saved, Kyou was saved. She felt so relieved she wanted to squirm in place in pleasure, but she hadn't the energy, so she just looked out of the little closet, taking in the blood-stained man.
Then the soldier was gone, and Touke was kneeling in front of her instead. Aku winced—the smell of pain and blood was pouring off of her like rain. Touke let out a long sigh of relief in seeing her, sitting back on her heels. "You really gave me a fright there," she muttered, staring straight into Aku's eyes with such feverish intensity that Aku didn't know what to think. "Never do that again."
Aku managed to croak out, "I didn't exactly want to." She took a breath. "You came for me."
Touke gave her a weird look, her head cocking slightly. "Of course I did. You think I would just let someone take my Saiho? my adorable little Kirin? Of course I came."
With another hee sound, Aku smiled, and said, "I had my doubts."
"Why?" asked Touke, frowning. She actually looked genuinely hurt.
"I yelled at you. Twice."
Touke let out a short laugh, and shook her head, as if disappointed but not altogether surprised. "You think a little shouting match will stop me for doing what's best for you? what's best for Kyou? I think you underestimate me. Or, more to the point, you underestimate your own worth."
"To Kyou or to you?"
Touke smiled. "Both. Now, this place must smell horribly of blood. Let's get you out of here." Touke started reaching for her.
With a wince, Aku somehow found the energy to shake her head emphatically a few times. "No, not you. You smell terrible."
Frowning, Touke said, "I washed. I must have scrubbed the top few layers of skin off."
"Doesn't matter," Aku said, a tinge of sadness on her voice. She hated that Touke kept doing things like this. "You killed in anger. It stains your aura, and I can feel it." She supposed that meant the governor was dead.
Touke let out a long sigh. Then she turned to the nearest soldier and said, "Find the Taiho's consort." The soldier bowed and ran off, shouting for others to search for Chiyono.
"You brought her onto the battlefield?" Aku asked, not sure whether she should be more annoyed or surprised.
"She wasn't part of the actual fighting. I only called her down when it was over, when we started searching for you."
"Oh, okay." Aku still thought that was more of a risk than Chiyono should be put in, but she didn't feel like arguing. Then the importance of the words sunk in. "You made her my consort?"
Touke let out a somewhat pained smile. "Unofficially. And let me tell you, the Rikkan was not happy about it."
Another hee sound. "But you showed them."
"Yes, I did," she said, with a different smile, this one gentle and clean of pain. Then she switched to serious tone again. "Though we can't give her title, you know."
That's true, they couldn't. Heaven had handed the government down to them exactly as it was, with certain guidelines and procedures that had to be followed. This included the positions they could fill. There was a procedure, a title, for the consort of the king or queen, but, of course, not for the saiho. It had never been done before. Adding such titles was the purview of Heaven, and not to be taken on by its subjects. "That's okay," Aku muttered. "I didn't expect much else."
Touke let a short pause pass, the two just looking at each other. Then she said, "We have somewhere for you to stay while you recover. The mansion owned by the former governor, actually." Aku suspected he was only former because Touke had chopped off his head. The thought made her sick. "It's only a short flight by kijuu."
"How long can you do without me?"
With a sigh, Touke said, "Your prime minister, I'm told, has a handle on things in Ten. We can make do without you for another month, but I'd rather not have you away from me much longer than that." At what must have been a weird look from Aku, Touke said, smiling, "You're my anchor, Aku. When all this queen stuff is getting to my head, you bring me back to earth. Or, more accurately, Heaven. You remind me what my job is. I need you around."
Aku didn't know what to say.
Then something that completely baffled her happen. First there was Chiyono's voice, then there were her feet at the end of Aku's vision, then more of her legs as she crouched. Then she was shoving the Queen of Kyou out of the way. There were noises of outrage from the soldiers nearby, but Touke just laughed and allowed herself to be moved. Now Chiyono was sitting in front of her. She was wearing the more casual blue/purple silks Aku had bought for her. The clothes went with her already silky skin and hair very well. She looked into Chiyono's eyes, set in a face stuck in a mixture of terror and relief, and she found herself smiling. "Hey, Chiyono," she said in her weak, quavering voice.
Chiyono let out something between a laugh and a sob. "Hey, stupid."
"Stupid?"
"I was so worried about you, you idiot." Chiyono lifted a hand, probably to playfully shove her, but clearly thought better of it. Her eyes pouring over Aku's injuries, she said, "Oh, Aku, what have they been doing to you?"
Still smiling at Chiyono like an idiot, she said, "Oh, just a little torture."
"This doesn't look like a little."
"Well." She would have shrugged, but she wasn't sure she had the energy for it, and it would just hurt anyway. "It smells like blood. Could you get me out of here?"
"Alright." Chiyono turned to the nearby soldiers. "Could one of you—"
"No, they have blood on them. You have to carry me."
Chiyono slowly turned back to her, giving her an evaluating look. Over her captivity, she had lost a lot of weight, she was sure. She was probably skin and bones by now. But still Chiyono said, "I don't know if I can…"
"Kirin are very light. You can do it."
"Um, alright." Chiyono slid closer, shifted her crouch so she was on her feet bent deeply at the knees. She gently slid one arm under Aku's knees, the other around her chest, just under the shoulders. Aku tried not to wince—the touch and movement brought searing pain, but she didn't want to make Chiyono worry any more than she likely already was. Chiyono prepared herself, tensing, then pulled up. She popped easily to her feet, Aku in her arms. "Woah," she said as she nearly overbalanced.
Aku made her hee sound again. "Told you I was light."
"Disturbingly light."
"All creatures that fly have light skeletons."
"Well," Chiyono said, slightly awkwardly, "I guess." Aku figured Chiyono wasn't quite sure how she felt about Aku being not entirely human. "Anyway, let's get you out of here."
As Chiyono started carrying her off, each step jolting rivulets of pain across Aku's whole, she suddenly thought of something. "Oh, Touke."
Touke suddenly appeared in front of Chiyono, very close. The way death floated around her, much too close. "What is it?"
"There's a woman hiding in the slave wing. Her name is Fu You, azana Youyou."
"Funny name, Fu You."
Aku guessed it was. Taken as a single word, it meant useless. "I would like to have her brought to me where I'm staying. Oh, unless you can send Hokumi out."
A flash of something crossed Touke's face before she shoved it down. Uh-oh. Oh no. "That's your handmaiden, right?"
"Um, yes. Did something…?"
Very hesitantly, clearly afraid of causing Aku even more pain, Touke said, "The same people who took you murdered Meiri and Hokumi."
Aku cried. As Chiyono carried her, as she was brought past bodies bleeding that horrifying scent into the air, she cried. Exposed to the dead, lives lost for her sake, with knowledge of two so close to her heart, she cried harder and deeper than she had in her life.
She was sure she would never stop.
