Necessary Defences
3rd April 2009
Series: The Seer

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Chapter 26

Shizuka watched the Tortoise disappear into the mists, focusing his senses in case it tried to attack him. The creature had, at some points, had enough time to talk and study him, so why would it not have a few moments somewhere to attempt another go?

Concerned for his master Shizuka released the bow and arrow, the weapons dissipating slowly, and reached his senses down the chain, Watanuki.

The chain flared a moment as though flashing reflective light and his master's voice filtered in and out of volume, What happened?

I've discovered the source of the mist, he related slowly, uncertain if his master's link to him might be as shaky as his own reception. Please ask Sorata to let me in. I'm at the crow's nest.

Moments later, the barrier shimmered lightly and a hole opened in the guards. Shizuka made for it, unhesitatingly hopping down through the opening without regard for the sudden drop. He reached and dragged a hand down the mast as he fell, using it to slow his descent, alighting next to Arashi where she waited on the deck below.

He straightened, pushing down his worry and confusion, the nagging feeling that he couldn't do a damn thing about all the little hints he'd been picking up on lately about Watanuki and the young noble's abilities –particularly the latest clue in the Tortoise's reaction to the chain and what it had said about gathering power.

When he turned to Arashi, he could have sighed at the way she blinked in surprise at him a moment before saying quietly, "You're almost… whole in my sight."

Refusing to assume anything, Shizuka paused and raised a questioning brow at her.

"I can see almost all of you." She explained, staring at him, over his features and his attire, wonder in her dark eyes. "I have never seen a Soul so completely before."

But you are a priestess, he murmured, feeling a headache coming on at what this might mean. Surely your Sight should be stronger than even Sorata's?

"My husband's gifts are more attuned to the Second and Between Worlds," Arashi said softly. She paused then admitted, "My own powers are more attuned to… the Underworlds." She sighed, a sad touch to it, "To the dead."

The monk watched her gaze flick briefly toward Watanuki's cabin, another piece of the puzzle falling into place in his head like the resounding fall of a guillotine's blade. I see.

She met his gaze, he own clouded by wary hope and frustrated annoyance.

I should have realised earlier. He shook his head, a bit annoyed he hadn't completely figured it out that time Watanuki had been infected. When Watanuki was infected, you were the one to cleanse him and not the priest. Why you used the blessed sashes.

Her brows lowered at him but she said nothing. She didn't need to.

That is why you are able to pick up on my own abilities. He turned from her and moved toward the cabin door. If it means anything, what you can do does not bother me. At least this way, we know what we can expect of each other.

"I could help you," she called after him.

Shizuka paused, turning his head to his shoulder and looking sidelong back at her, Perhaps, he agreed, Whatever it takes to keep Watanuki safe.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki cried, rounding on him as soon as the monk had passed through the cabin door. He dashed over to the monk just as the door opened to admit Arashi.

Shizuka paused, waiting for his master to get his little fit over with, not wanting to subject the noble to the chill of having a Soul walk through him. He supposed he could explain now but perhaps Jason would want to be part of this and it would be best if he got back into his physical body to literally vocalise his findings.

He turned to look at Jason— and then three things happened one after the other so that a good portion of the Truths that Shizuka understood, the things he had thought to be infallible, were both shattered and made complete sense.

The first was that Jason stared wide-eyed but calmly back at him.

The second was that Jason had a cloak of familiar murky gray over his right arm and shoulder over the area where the monk knew the tattoo covered half the Englishman's back.

And the third was that just as his master approached, Watanuki reached out and touched him.

Dead silence descended for a long minute, Watanuki freezing when the weight of shock from everyone echoed across his senses. Then Sorata, staring at where Watanuki had a hand on Shizuka's arm, quietly spoke up, "That's not supposed to happen."

Watanuki turned to blink at the priest, "Pardon?"

You're not supposed to be able to touch a Soul, Shizuka said quietly, equally astonished.

Arashi moved from behind the monk and into field of sight, staring at the point of contact that every book in any art of Soul-walking declared entirely impossible. "Well, not unless you're a Soul yourself."

"I don't understand," Watanuki murmured, a blush rising to his cheeks and self consciously removing his hand from where he'd gripped the monk.

Sorata rounded on his wife, "You… you know what's going on!" He glanced at Shizuka, who remained impassively staring at Watanuki. "And you do, too!"

I had suspected, Shizuka admitted, thinking of the bonds he had tied to Watanuki, the ways Watanuki had behaved afterward. He glanced resignedly at Arashi. I believe your wife has had the same concerns as well. Giving Sorata a long, assessing look, he softly asked, Did you never find it strange that your healing abilities never seemed to quite work on Watanuki? Why your wife seemed to have a better gift for helping him than you did?

"I… I hadn't…" Sorata stumbled over the words, shaking his head, "Didn't think much of it. As long as we helped him, I felt we had done enough. Arashi is a Miko, a healer, whether or not her power inclined toward other things, she should still be able to help him."

Maybe so. Shizuka looked back down at his suddenly quiet master. He considered all the things he had discovered and observed. Feeling a little embarrassed he hadn't seen this one truth sooner, he asked, You know what I've done, don't you? He held up his left hand and Watanuki looked away from it, a darker blush coming to his cheeks. Ever since we left the House of Wotangu, you haven't looked anywhere that brings my hands into your line of sight. You've avoided looking at my hands.

Watanuki winced, dipping his head so that his hair shielded his eyes. "I… didn't… I still don't really know what it… what you'd done."

Curious and a little worried, Shizuka asked, What do you see? What does it look like to you?

"It's a golden chain," Watanuki said quietly, wringing his hands together, fingers tellingly rubbing over the smallest finger of his left hand. As he did, Shizuka cold see the chain filter in and out of Sight. The noble angled his head and Shizuka caught the uneasy glance he tossed in Sorata and Arashi's direction.

With a sigh, the monk turned and approached his body, slipping into the wards and refitting himself to it. When he reawakened, he sat up slowly, uncurling stiffly before getting to his feet. He moved to stand near his master, breathing in the sweet scent of the young noble, watching those slender, delicate features huddle subtly in embarrassment.

"And my shoulder?" he asked softly, throat tight.

Watanuki did not answer but his feelings leaked out; worry and guilt and must be kept safe. And Shizuka could have accepted it at that but he didn't want to. But he would not ask his master… his friend… about it now in the presence of these people. With a frustrated little sigh, he turned to look at Jason,

"You didn't look all too surprised that you could see me."

"What?" Sorata exclaimed, turning to Jason.

Jason smiled nervously, rubbing a hand over the back of his head, "Oops. Guess I've been found out."

"Not really," Shizuka muttered, "Sorata already knew something was up with you."

"As to be expected from such a skilled priest," Jason said cheerfully, not wilting the slightest beneath Sorata's fiery glare or Shizuka's piercing stare.

"I thought you didn't know!" the priest ranted. Arashi rolled her eyes and moved to be in a good position to intercede if necessary.

As Sorata glared and Jason smiled calmly back, Shizuka looked back down at Watanuki, pulling his thoughts together. When he spoke, it was on a low tone, tired and concerned, but it silenced all the others, pulled their attention to what he had to say;

"Your powers are bound by your body," the monk murmured.

Watanuki gave him a blank-eyed look and he moved a bit away and picked up a slim little book, weathered and ancient, a journal by one of his ancestors. He'd been reading from it recently and had left it out on one side of Watanuki's desk he'd been using lately. He flipped it open, eyes following a few important lines there before lifting his gaze.

Staring at the flickering candle light on the table, he said thoughtfully, "But the energy overflows –I sensed it the first time I saw you in Spirit form. I thought that alone was cause for concern; I didn't really recall why so I did some research."

Watanuki tensed at those words, shoulders hunching just that tiny bit.

Tapping the book, Shizuka relentlessly continued, "The spirits come to feed from you because you're radiating nearly unlimited Spirit-force. You leak it because your body can't contain it."

Watanuki shivered. Sorata cast him a concerned look and moved to Shizuka, taking the book from the monk and proceeding to read,

"All living things possess a Spirit-force, this we know. It is believed that this is what sustains one's soul in their earthly shell, a mass of will and self-recognition, a personality, a Life –the Soul. We surmise that it is the Soul which creates an energy that empowers it beyond normal human means, a power which can –if produced in enough quantities—be manipulated. Few people possess large quantities of Spirit-force energy but when they do, they most often are identified by others more experienced and are trained to use this power." Sorata glanced at Shizuka there, who inclined his head in indication to continue. "Strong Spirit-force seems to usually be hereditary, creating bloodlines of people who collect power in their clans—"

"Such as the Order of the Shirasagi and even the Doumeki family line," Shizuka admitted.

Nodding, Sorata returned to the book, "However, a very rare few are truly powerful. They possess so much of Spirit-force energy that their earthly bodies are not truly able to contain this power," Sorata continued, reading carefully, an odd expression in his eyes. "This power…" The priest paused again here before continuing slowly, "This power which most believe to be the most potent sort of energy to exist simply, for reasons unknown, overflows. The people who possess such vast power are those who perform the greatest of feats while alive, who are so powerful that they could possibly keep renewing their Spirit-force enough that they even begin to heal their own Souls should it be damaged, and eventually are able to heal the Body. A theory is that some of these people are maybe even so able to renew themselves continuously that the Body does not wither in age."

Arashi stilled at the tense expression on Sorata's face when he broke off the reading. She stepped up to him, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and picked up where he had left off, her soft voice giving a kind of reality to the truth they all faced,

"For all living things, in the event of death, it is believed that excess Spirit-force energy is cast asunder into the worlds, into wherever it may go, because the Soul takes only what it needs when it moves on into the Other Worlds. If anything is ever left of a soul or the Spirit-force in the being's place of living, in normal people once they have died it is usually merely a residue of one's passions in life. The Soul itself is gone and has moved on."

Here, Shizuka shifted restlessly, staring across the table at Watanuki, and Arashi herself looked up to flicker a look at the noble before she bent her head again and continued to read,

"But some of those who possessed large quantities of Spirit-force… sometimes carry all of it over into the Afterlife. Of these, death is essentially being set free into their Soul forms. Some remain, for a time, as guiding spirits, lovingly watching over those they have left behind before wisely moving on into the next phase of their existence. However, a very rare few…are an exception." She swallowed and continued, "These exceptions are… more powerful in death than in life. Their Spirit-force continues to grow because they are aware enough of themselves to nurture it. And in death, as in life, this energy can be inclined toward different affinities. To healing, to plants, to animals, and to the many elements… or even to the dead."

Arashi looked up and stared at Watanuki and beside her, Sorata began to read again, "As mentioned, most spirits simply cross over into the After Life to be reborn. But some common spirits remain as like a fading impression of their former selves. If they do not retain their sense of self or are consumed by negative emotions, they become part of the common spirits who are driven nearly entirely by their need to sustain themselves; to feed on that which they no longer have --Life. Or to hate."

Neither Jason not Watanuki moved or spoke, casting each other worried little looks Shizuka did not like.

"But those of the truly powerful, those exceptions I write of, those who bring miracles into the world, who we can already tell are going to remain whole when they die or venture outside of their earthly shells, they are as like becoming a new kind of Life altogether." Sorata's voice trembled as he read the final lines, "It is not known who they were, for all souls reborn were once someone or something else, have come from someplace in existence. But these few retain almost everything of themselves in death. They know who they are and where they came from, they do not lose any part of themselves once they die or Spirit-walk. They are perfect Souls, whole in Spirit, and are not human any longer. It is a theory that… perhaps they never were."

Watanuki bowed his head, hair hiding his eyes, and Jason laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Shizuka could not see his master's expression and for once, he felt glad that he could sense through their bond –a true gladness and not mere appreciation for the connection.

But all he could sense was fear.

Silence settled for along moment before Arashi spoke again, "I realise that most of this is very similar to what is happening to Watanuki. I cannot say I understand it all, however." Jason raised a hopeful face to the monk.

Shizuka nodded and frowned thoughtfully, turning to his master, "You leak so much of your Spirit-force constantly that every kind of spirit is attracted to you… a free meal. I realise just being near you is enough for them to replenish… but why have a meal when there's a banquet?" Shizuka shook his head, "It's a wonder you haven't attracted more dangerous sorts."

Something about the way everyone in the room suddenly tensed made Shizuka sad; there probably had been a lot of the 'more dangerous sorts' before he'd arrived. The ship wards probably held them all at bay. On land, Watanuki's hidden wards must cover him up. The noble said nothing, fingertips picking at his sleeves.

"If you become any more powerful," Shizuka stated, "We are going to have serious problems."

"He has been," Sorata bluntly put in, a slight frown marring his face. "He's been becoming more and more powerful in the past four years."

Four? Shizuka wondered. If Watanuki, currently nineteen, had started sailing four years ago then he'd have been… fifteen. "What's the rate of increase?"

"At least by half each year," Arashi replied. "Proportionate to increase, not to his original level."

The monk stood pondering that for a long moment then nodded and said, "I will continue to research and see what else I yield about Watanuki's powers. In the meantime, I'll begin to make… arrangements." He exchanged a meaningful look with Sorata.

--

"What kind of arrangements?" Watanuki asked quietly when Arashi and Sorata had left.

"Leaking this way, it's only a matter of time before something gives," Shizuka said. "I don't want to wait for an emergency to do something. Sorata had already warned me I might have my hands full that first week I was here. We need to prepare."

"Preparation is key," Jason murmured cheerily in agreement.

"And we do have a lot to prepare for," Shizuka confirmed, for the moment ignoring his apprehensions about the Englishman. "And next time, you had better give me ample warning." He glared at the noble, "Don't think I didn't miss you muttering the day before yesterday."

Watanuki flushed and frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Hn," the monk snorted and repeated his master's words, "Oh, are we here already?" The nobles cheeks turned darker and Jason snickered. "I thought so."

Eyes lowered, cheeks still bright, the noble stiffly asked again, "What kind of arrangements?"

"To keep you safe. With the way you're shedding energy, it's as though you don't even need your body," the monk mused. "Just as the book said. With that much power, I would even say your human body limits you."

Jason mused aloud thoughtfully, "And the quality of energy…"

"Is that of the Soul," Shizuka finished. "Like… the dead." His voice lowered, thoughtful and suspicious, "Yet you're still alive." He turned his thoughts over in his head, "To most spirits you must seem dead. The living don't leak energy since their bodies contain it. You probably seem ripe for the picking. Just the fact that you were able to touch me in Soul form confirms part of it."

"You're half right," Watanuki admitted, rubbing at his eyes, voice rough. "Enough that…" But then his expression hardened and he firmly stated, "And I don't want to talk about it. Don't you know how to mind your own business?" Jason stepped closer, almost right up against the noble's side, a reassuring and supportive presence… it irked Shizuka a little.

Putting the emotion aside, the monk considered that if even half of all he'd read applied to his master, most anything and anyone in the spiritual and between worlds would love to be him right now. With part of his blood and soul in his master, the way the connection leaked a little of Watanuki's energy back to him… it could be as good as being connected to a power source. No wonder he was seeing things clearer than usual, the way things seemed to slip in and out of vivid clarity –more vivid than it had ever been before.

But he realised their connection and the possibilities behind Watanuki's powers meant more changes would be coming.

With a small frown the monk considered, "Perhaps not even your choosing to discuss the matters with me would bring answers, anyway."

Watanuki's shoulder's hunched; he probably didn't know much more than the monk and Shizuka supposed he could probably find out everything the noble knew from researching it himself. And now more than ever, he knew he needed to at least notify someone of this situation. He could handle it for some time longer, he being quite powerful and adept himself, but when the time for accepting help became necessary, it would not do to need to wait for it.

He nodded to the room at large then moved a little into Watanuki's line of sight, catching the noble's eyes. "I will keep you safe."

The noble's cheeks turned pink but a flash of pain flickered in his eyes. "It's your job." And he turned his chin down, hair falling to shade his eyes from view –pain stabbing distantly in Shizuka's chest.

Shizuka tensed, trying to push back the rising hurt he sensed from his master through their bond… and wondered why references or indications to his position as bodyguard and responsibility to his master seemed to keep hurting Watanuki. This wasn't the first time he'd noticed such flashes in his master's eyes or the pulls of pain from their connection.

Turning to Jason, he studied the foggy gray cloak he'd noticed over the Englishman's shoulder and back, wondering what the meaning could be of the familiar script he had seen all those weeks ago—

The cabin door banged open. "Watanuki-san!" Aran called breathlessly, unusually ruffled. "Something's wrong with one of the prisoners!"

TBC.

Author Notes:

Just so you all know, you are going to love the next chapter up to this; it's so worth the wait. This arc is coming to an end and the next chapter is what sets up the coming arc. You guys have been so patient with me going off schedule and I really appreciate it.

IMPORTANT: One more thing you guys need to know is that I will be changing my username tomorrow. This is an important change because (drum roll please!) I'm getting published! It's an online gig doing eBooks, nothing major, but it's still getting published so I've decided to change my username to my official pen name. Don't get confused when you see a new name up here!