Author Fangirling: This ends... NEXT WEEK! Looking back, I really like this chapter. :D
The following morning, the Kutou troops were once again ready to give battle. Enacting the plan as they had discussed, Chiriko stood towards the back of armies, giving orders so as to disperse the fighting across a wide area. Tasuki and Chichiri were at the front, but a great distance from each other as the soldiers spread out across the hills. From his vantage point, Boushin could see that Nakago was still a ways back, giving orders rather than advancing personally. It was still too soon.
"Well? Can I move yet or not?" growled Suboshi, standing behind Kaika, Yui, and Miaka. Cooperation was getting on his nerves.
"Not yet. When the army thins down a little more…"
"Why am I taking orders from a child? Right next to the Priestess of Suzaku, no less!"
"Brother, I'm not sure what happened in the past, but if we're not enemies anymore there's no reason to act like it, right?"
He quieted immediately. "…You called me 'Brother'?"
"Well," the other pearled into a smile, surprised it had taken him so long to notice. "No sense in trying to say you're not, right?" His twin remained quiet and didn't respond, and Kaika wanted to laugh at his loss for words. "Once this war is over, it seems it would be difficult for you to return to your former position as general. I was thinking that if you have no place to go…"
"My only purpose in life is to protect Lady Yui."
Yui made it a point to ignore him. "Another two hundred soldiers or so have just been led away. Should Kaika and Suboshi take their positions now?"
With a glance across the hillside to Chiriko's position, Boushin saw a flag bearer giving them the signal. "Yes. We'll take our own positions after the path is cleared."
Yui squeezed Miaka's armored hand. "Are you ready?"
The battle was stretching on before Nakago's eyes, and battalion after battalion stretched as far he could see. Even for a seasoned general such as himself, the spread was beginning to look less and less like anything other than a massive blur. However, that may have been some sign that he shouldn't be back on his horse yet and his body was pleading for a little mercy. Knowing how close he was to attaining or losing his ultimate goals, he paid little attention to the pain.
At first it seemed like his imagination when all the soldiers before him stopped and fell to their knees, but as he felt his ears start to ring, he realized that they were indeed under Kaika's influence. How terribly annoying—it was not as if the same trick could possibly work on him twice. Even in his weakened state, he could still withstand such an anticipated attack.
What he did not expect, however, was Boushin to come riding up between the ailing soldiers, riding with Yui, who had her hands tied and was unresponsive. "Your Highness!" he addressed him. "I've come to make a final offer to you in exchange for Konan's freedom."
"And doing so required disabling all of these soldiers?"
"You might notice that none of the Suzaku warriors are here. This is an exchange between you and me, as heads of our states."
As the flute was still playing and he noticed a talisman tied against Boushin's head—likely placed there by Chichiri to protect him from the sound-Nakago was sure they were planning something. "I see you have my priestess. State your terms."
"That Konan be allowed full sovereignty again, and that its people will live long, flourishing lives free of war and heavy taxation. While I do not wish harm to the priestesses or their world, sacrifices must be made. If they wish to protect their world, they must do so of their own accord."
The opposing emperor was still suspicious, but if this was his chance to take what he came for, he few better options than to take it. "I am pleased to see you've come to understand my previous offers. It's regrettable that it's taken so long and so much damage has come to your country as you vacillated."
"I have not come to listen to your opinion, but to make you this offer. If you will cancel this war campaign and send all of your troops and spies back to Kutou, cease Kutou's occupation, and assure me of your promise to see that no harm comes to this world, I will let you have the Priestess of Seiryuu."
"Agreed."
"I will not trust your word so easily. Come and claim your priestess yourself if would like me to believe you. As a sign of my commitment, I've seen to it that no Suzaku warrior and no Konan soldier will move to stop you." So saying, he let Yui drop to the ground, and then he slowly backed up his horse a few steps.
Laughable! How obvious it was that they wanted him to be an easy target and thought he could be played in such a way, but as no one moved and the flute still played, his only other option was to leave her there. With a look that warned the young emperor not to dare anything, he slowly dismounted and walked towards Yui. She did not react at all, even as he stretched a hand out towards her.
As if on cue, he sensed Suboshi's murderous intentions as he rushed from behind, and even the sound of Kaika's flute could not completely mask the sound of meteor balls rushing toward him. With a swift movement of his outstretched hand he caught the rope in the air and moved out of the way of the meteor balls' path, and though his palm burned from its friction, he threw it back at his attacker, who was unprepared for it to hit him the shoulder. Suboshi clenched his injury and cried out in pain, sinking to one knee.
"Did you expect me to be fooled?" he voiced boomed toward Suboshi, and then he turned back to Yui and Boushin. She was sitting up, alert and staring back with hatred. "I'm afraid my patience for such games has run thin, Lady Yui."
As he extended a hand to grab her, however, a shot of pain ran up his wrist, and even he was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a wolf biting him. "Ashitare?"
"If fighting on behalf of our priestess, even such vile creatures as ourselves are allowed the use of Nyan-Nyan," a voice cackled. The general dashed his head over his shoulder to look for the source of the familiar voice, who was disturbingly closer than he thought he would be. Tomo gave him a painted grin, then reached a hand down into Nakago's breast armor. "Tsk, my dear lord Nakago. Had I have known how obsession would unfurl your nerves, I never would have let Shin fall into your hands. I'll be taking this back now."
"My darling," a set of bare arms wrapped around his shoulders as a cool voice whispered behind his ear. "Please stop. These are your limits, and your body can't take much more. You can still live a long life if you just walk away from all this."
"Seiryuu warriors?" gasped Boushin, and Yui looked back to him with a smile, answering that Tetsuya had willed them here.
"Soi," Nakago took a lower tone. "I cannot do that. Not when revenge for everything that's happened in our forsaken homeland—everything the heavens have done to me—is finally attainable."
"Nakago!" she shouted. "It's not!"
Standing, he replied, "I will not be stopped." Like a gust of wind, he forced them all away and advanced toward Yui again, who was taking Boushin's hand to get back on the horse. The clinking sound of his armor with his heavy footsteps chilled them with each step closer he took, and Boushin found himself frozen and staring back. Nakago did not appear to have any humor left. "Your Highness, relinquish my priestess if you wish to see your country saved."
"Then call your armies back now!"
"They can't even move while that infernal flute keeps playing. Konan's fate is in your own hands—Konan's fate, as well as your own."
Nakago merely had to lift a hand, and Boushin's memory filled in the rest of the details. As if he really did see blue lights gathering and ready to strike, he screamed and flinched, causing his horse to startle and knock Yui away. She fell flat a few feet away, her hands still tied and not allowing her to push herself up in time to run away. In an instant, Nakago loomed above her.
As he was about to grab her, however, a young woman's yell shook the air, and one of the Konan soldiers lunged at the Kutou emperor. Miaka had been in disguise the whole time, waiting for the right moment to strike with Hotohori's sword. Nakago was taken by complete surprise, and his forearm that was extended toward Yui was sheered off. This elicited a scream of pain even from someone as numb as himself, and he fell to his knees and held his injury tightly.
Miaka panted heavily, but before she could take a step forward, Yui threw her bound hands over her neck, forcing her close as she ordered in her ear, "Make your wish now, Miaka."
"Now?"
"Now, before he strikes back!"
As if hearing his cue, he looked back at them with wide, harrowing eyes.
"Now, Miaka!"
"I—" the bewildered priestess stammered, "I just want to be with Tamahome!"
"Seiryuu!" bellowed Yui. "Hear my final wish. I want Miaka back in my world with me, where we'll live long lives together with Tetsuya and Keisuke!"
Nakago threw himself in their direction, unsure in his haste whether he was meaning to grab or strangle them.
"Kaijin!"
The Kutou emperor's knees hit the ground where the priestesses had been standing, but his remaining hand was empty.
Suboshi was the first to react. "Lady Yui!" he yelled, a tear already escaping his eye. His sense of loss quickly turned to a sense of anger, which he directed at Nakago. With a growl he started toward him, but with little more than a sharp glare, Suboshi was thrown back by a small shot of Nakago's life force.
"Brother!"
The sounds of the flute finally subsided as Kaika rushed to his aid, and as soon as the soldiers regained the ability to move, they flooded around Nakago, either trying to attack or trying to defend him. Those who couldn't get to Nakago fast enough turned their attention to Boushin, and the commotion summoned the Suzaku warriors to hurry as fast as they could.
As the action swirled around the young boy and it was harder and harder to make sense of the scene, his mind retreated to reassess what had just happened. The time of the priestesses had ended. They had made their final wishes and disappeared, likely back to their own world. The time of the gods had ended. As the fighting was still immediately going on, his world had not yet met its end!
He reached to his childhood toy that had been tied to his waist and carried into battle, and then he hoisted it in the air and shouted it to try to carry his small voice over the noise. "Mayo! Miaka, Yui! Keisuke and Tetsuya! Please, pray for the continuance of our world!"
Of course! You can count on us! Mayo's voice echoed down from the skies. We'll wish for that our entire lives, and then so will our children and grandchildren, on and on, forever! We'll watch over your always!
He felt his throat taunt with gratitude. "Thank you."
An instant later, an arrow pierced the bear, the blow forcing it out of his hand. Startled, he searched for where it landed, only to discover a Kutou soldier pulling it off the arrow and handing it to Nakago. Supported by a couple chieftains, Nakago took it with his left hand.
"No!" gasped Boushin.
"I thank you for opening new rifts between these worlds for me," his voice boomed over the clashing of swords and grunts of men. "I'll consider this a parting gift, and withdraw from Konan now."
"What?"
"If you do not wish for peace, I can allow this to continue."
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" he panicked and shouted. When the Konan soldiers noticed his voice they hesitantly paused, quieting themselves and waiting for some clarification of what was going on.
Nakago could still managed to huff under his breath and smile contently, closing his eyes to collect his thoughts. "I'm not interested in pursuing this war any further."
Boushin felt he was at a standstill, and had no one around to advise him on what to say next. He could win peace for his country at this very moment, but doing so would only spell disaster for another world. "You don't appear to be in any condition for any more campaigns."
"Precisely. If I push any further into your lines now, I am only asking for an early death."
"Is this your surrender?"
"This is my relinquishment, should you agree to my terms."
"State your terms first."
"All territory captured since the start of this campaign will be returned to Konan, and Kutou's occupation as agreed to ten years ago will be nullified. Kutou will no longer claim rights or taxes within Konan borders, provided Konan does not meddle in Kutou affairs. Any attempts to interfere with Kutou's matters will be viewed as hostile and grounds for military response. Please be assured than no matters would be to Konan's detriment."
Boushin grimaced in anger at how much honey Nakago could put on blatantly destructive plans, and he thought about all the ways he could hotly refuse. He could imagine a room full of counselors arguing themselves blue in the face about what to do with such an offer, but he couldn't distinguish exactly what words they would be saying. Though such a delicate decision should be made with more input, he did not have that luxury anymore.
He was alone, with only silenced and anxious soldiers surrounding him, awaiting his next words.