Chapter 15
Morning dawned too soon the next day. Sai and her friends were preparing their equipment and supplies. When they were about ready to leave, Akage walked into the house.
"You guys need another person in your group?" He asked. This was met with surprised looks all around.
"You want to come with us?" Kaze asked, incredulously.
"Yeah. I mean, your spell will keep the villagers safe and, as you saw yesterday, even if I stayed, I wouldn't be much help if the village was attacked. I just feel like I would be more help to them if I tried to stop the root of the problem." Akage explained, "Plus Kasai has already told me that he'll stay behind to lead the people."
"Alright, well, you're welcome to come with us. We're going to need all the help we can get, but I warn you, this will be dangerous." Kaze told him.
"I know and I'm willing to accept that." Akage said, his face not showing a hint of doubt in what he was saying.
"Well then, I guess introductions are in order." Kaze said, shaking hands with Akage. They all introduced themselves and explained their individual talents. It turned out that Akage could not only control fire, but could use lightning and summon creature made of fire.
"Do you have your stuff ready to go?" Sai asked him.
"Yeah. I've got a bag sitting outside the door." He responded.
"Good. Then let's get going."
And with that they headed out from the village. Akage had already said his goodbyes. He'd assumed, correctly, that the group would take him in. Sai couldn't believe their luck. In the first populated village that they had visited, they found a powerful ally that was willing to travel with them. The weather that day, however, was terrible. It was pouring down rain. Sai wasn't worried about that though. She was actually really happy. Kaze had offered to walk beside her under his umbrella. That meant he was interested in her and that put her on cloud nine. She had no idea what to say, as usual, so she just walked beside him in silence. That was the way Kaze preferred it too. He just wanted to enjoy her company. They walked like that for a few hours before the rain finally stopped and the sun poked through. It was another hour before they finally decided to take a break. They sat down on a hillside that had already dried in the sun. Kaze and Akage agreed to go out and refill the water containers and left pretty quickly. After they were out of earshot, Nami and Umi turned to Sai.
"So..." They questioned.
"So... What?" Sai asked.
"Oh don't play dumb Sai!" Nami said, frustrated, "We aren't blind! We saw you and Kaze under the umbrella!"
"Oh you did, did you?" She said, blushing and twirling her hair nervously.
"Yes!" Umi yelled at her, "Now tell us what happened. We want to know how our girl is doing."
"Well, I mean, we didn't talk much." Sai admitted, "We just kinda walked together."
"Good." Umi said, "That's probably how Kaze wanted it to be."
"So how'd you feel?" Nami asked.
"What are you talking about? I loved it, of course! I had no idea that Kaze felt that way about me too."
"Are you blind?" Nami said, laughing, "Kaze may not be the best at expressing how he feels all the time, but he's felt that way for awhile."
"Really?" Sai asked. She'd had no idea. All this time that she'd spent so nervous around him when he'd felt the same way about her!
"What about you two?" Sai asked them, "How do feel about Akage?" Nami was the one to blush at that one.
"He's not really my type." She said.
"Oh come on sis!" Umi said, turning on her sister, "You obviously like him. It's written all over your face."
"You can't lie to us." Sai said, smiling at her friend.
"Damn." Nami cursed, "Alright fine, I like him. He's nice and attractive. What's so bad about that?"
"Ha. Nothing!" Sai said, "I just didn't take you for one that was going to settle down anytime soon."
"Who said anything about that?" Nami said, winking.
"That's my sister!" Umi said.
They spent a few more minutes talking before the two guys came back. The two could tell that the girls had been talking about them from the silence that fell over the group when they came back into earshot, but they didn't mention it. It wasn't long before they were on their way again. The weather was significantly better and it turned out to be a beautiful day, so they were able to travel a great distance. They stopped at a village as the sun began to set and looked for accommodations for the night. Sai sniffed out an inn on the eastern side of the village and led the group to it. The group entered the inn and Kaze went to purchase a room for the night for them all.
"Excuse me," he began, getting the man's attention, "do you have any rooms available?"
"Hmm?" He said, not looking up.
"Rooms?" Kaze repeated, a little annoyed. The man looked up and a look of recognition immediately crossed his face.
"It's you!" He yelled surprised, "you're the group trying to bring down the empire!"
"Hey!" Kaze whispered urgently, "Don't say that too loud!"
"Have no fear!" The innkeeper assured, "We are a village that opposes the empire, though we do it quietly enough. I heard about you from a traveler that passed through earlier today. He said you saved a village from being slaughtered by 200 men."
"Yes." Akage spoke up, "That was my village. They fought with such ferocity that I was moved to join them."
"I see." The man said, nodding, "Well, I can't have heroes paying for rooms. You will stay here free for tonight!"
"What? Are you sure about that?" Kaze asked, incredulously.
"Oh absolutely. When you take down the empire, imagine how much business I'll get when I say the saviors of the country stayed in my inn!" The man explained.
"Alright, if you're sure about it..." Kaze said, a little uncomfortable at taking the room for free. His father would have taken it in a heartbeat, but he was more like his mother. The innkeeper led the group to their room, which happened to be the nicest room in the inn, making Kaze feel even worse. It wasn't long before their dinner arrived.
"Kaze don't worry about it." Umi said, reassuring her brother.
"Yeah," Nami picked up, "the man said that he wanted to do this."
"I know. I just feel like we're stealing from him." Kaze said.
"Just think of it as receiving a gift."
Sai said, stuffing food into her mouth.
"Now eat your food or I'll eat it for you." Akage said smiling. This made everyone laugh. They continued on like that until their food was almost done. Suddenly the group heard heavy footsteps moving quickly towards their room. A man crashed through the door. He was older and looked ragged. His eyes searched over the room until they came upon Sai. When his gaze met hers, he gasped.
"It's you!" He yelled, "The one! The one that will save us all!"
"What?" Sai asked, getting angry at this man, "Who the hell are you old man and why did you barge in on us?"
"I am no one." He said, his eyes darting nervously around the room, "But you! You can save everyone!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sai asked the crazy old geezer.
"You are the only one that can defeat the emperor!" He yelled. This stunned everyone into silence. The guy had to be crazy.
"What do you mean, 'I'm the only one.'" Sai asked him after a moment.
"You are the only one that can defeat him! But not even you, the great priestess of the two realms, can do it alone! You must have the item!" He yelled.
"You better tell me what item you're talking about and this better be the truth." Sai said, grabbing the man and slamming him into the wall, "Or I'll kill you."
"No need for that." He laughed nervously, "You need the one pure spark of man's heart, the embodiment of love."
"Stop speaking in riddles old man!" Akage yelled from behind Sai.
"Tell us where we can find this thing and what we need to do to get it!" Nami continued.
"I don't know!" The old man yelled, "That's all the light told me!"
"What damn light?!" Sai demanded. At that instant, a blinding light shot from the man, making all of them shield their eyes. When the light dissipated the man was gone. In his place was a strange rune burned into the wall. It looked like the character for love, but it had wavy lines emanating from it that connected to a circle that surrounded the entire thing.
"What the hell just happened?" Umi asked.
"I'm not sure," Sai said, "but I'm pretty sure that this symbol has something to do with it."
"You think that we can trust that old man Sai?" Nami asked.
"Well right now, I don't think that we have much choice. This is the only lead we have on how to beat the empire." Sai responded.
"It's not that much of a lead, though." Akage said, "All got is a riddle that we have no idea how to go about solving."
"He's right." Kaze said, "We have no idea what this 'embodiment of love' is or where to look for it."
"Dammit!" Sai cried in frustration, "What the hell is going on?!"
"Hey," Kaze said, walking over to her and putting his arm around her, "it's gonna be alright. We'll figure this out. What we should take from this is that the empire isn't unbeatable. We can win."
"Thanks Kaze." She said smiling. The group spent a good bit of the rest of the night pondering what the old man said, what the light was, and what the symbol meant. However, after a few hours of not getting anywhere, they agreed that it would be best to get some sleep. They would set out again in the morning.
The sun rose on a calm town, but a restless group of travelers. Neither Sai not any of her companions had gotten much sleep the night before. The events were still too fresh in their minds. Nonetheless, they set out early, more confused than ever.
The group took a break from walking after a few hours of walking, mostly in silence. Once everyone had sat down, Sai got up and started walking towards the nearby woods.
"Sai!" Kaze called out, "Sai! Where are you going?"
"To take out some frustration." Was her irritated reply. Kaze started to get up and follow, but Nami put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head,
"Give her some space." She said.
"You sure?" Kaze asked.
"Yeah." Nami said, chuckling, "I'm sure."
"Dammit!" She screamed at the sky while slashing down a tree with her sword, "Why give me a riddle?! I need answers!" She let loose a Dragon Wave, creating a swath of destruction in front of her. Suddenly the trees rustled and a group of demons emerged into the clearing she had created.
"Why have you destroyed our home?" The front one cried.
"Let's just say I'm having a really bad day." Sai said sarcastically.
"Hmph!" The demon said, "You shall die for your impudence!"
"Just try it." Sai growled, threateningly, "It'll give me a chance to kill something."
The demons growled and charged at her. Sai smiled wickedly.
"It's your life." Sai muttered. She moved faster than the demons could register. They looked all around trying to find her.
"Up here you bastards!" She called from the sky as she fell upon them. The look of fear on their faces pleased Sai, probably more than it should have. Her blades moved before the demons could react. The battle was over in seconds and the pieces of their bodies were scattered everywhere. She sheathed her blades and began walking back to where her friends were.
She exited the woods calmly, not drawing the groups attention until she sat down among them and grabbed some food.
"Sai!" Kaze said, concern thick in his voice, "You're covered in blood! What happened?"
"It's not mine, don't worry." She assured him, "Just a few demons that pushed their luck a little too far."
"Hmm." Kaze said, "So you're sure that you're alright?"
"Yeah," she lied, putting on a fake smile, "We should probably get going soon."
"Alright..." Kaze said, uncertain.