Chapter 2 - Time
"To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal." - Bendavison Jorge Luis Borges
...
Wine sloshed into the goblet, spilling over the side and onto the map beneath it. Tooru glanced down at the map and realized that it wasn't very different from the one he had in his own tent, a detailed drawing of the surrounding area. The leader of the Ogasawara clan turned his gaze towards the small nervous female child dressed in the royal colors of the Houribe clan household, whose hands visibly shook as she finished pouring the wine and set the decanter down upon the tabletop. In an effort to calm the child he smiled warmly to her to show his gratitude for the refreshment and then added a wink for good measure. The girl's eyes grew large in surprise at his antics, even as her cheek turned a bright shade of pink. Tooru grinned, slightly amused, as she turned and beat a hasty retreat from the tent, just short of an actual all out sprint. Turning he lifted the goblet and raised it in toast towards the brunette woman currently pacing back and forth on the other side of the table from him. "To your health, my Queen," he said with an equally warm smile, his eyes sparkling merrily as if holding some secret, before taking a sip of the sweet burgundy wine.
Miki's head snapped around at his words and she watched him take a sip of the warm wine. The arrow she had been tapping against the palm of her hand, the same arrow that had been given to her by the man that was now her prisoner, stopped in mid-motion the same as her pacing. "That could be poisoned you know," she stated, to which the man seated in the field chair across the table from her merely shrugged and took another sip of the wine. "You don't care?" the female monarch asked in disbelief as she turned to face him directly, crossing her arms beneath her ample steel encased breasts. Unlike her General, her armor fit her to her exact measurements and so reflected the actual size of her bosom.
"Care or not is irrelevant, my Queen," Tooru finally replied. "If you wanted me dead we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," he reasoned to her. "If the wine was poisoned then at best it would cause me pain. We both know we can't die from poison, though I guess…," he said letting out a long drawn out sufferable sigh in the process; "…that it could cause me great pain and agony." Taking a large gulp of the wine, finishing it in the process, he finally set the goblet down on the table once more. "We've both known great pain over the years and most assuredly will again before we pass from this world, so…" Tooru shrugged once more as he had the first time. "I have handed my life over into your hands…it would seem foolish to suddenly decide that was a mistake," he told her. "Besides, I honestly don't believe you would stoop to something so underhanded as poison. No," he said thoughtfully as he raised a hand and ran it across the stubble of a forming beard upon his chin. "You strike me more as the direct sort, all emotions, activity and purpose! If you wanted me dead you'd just run me through and be done with it."
Miki stood there unmoving, and regarded the man who was quickly becoming an enigma to her. It amazed her that he knew her so well. I guess one can learn a lot from watching their enemy across a battlefield. The dark hair and jovial eyes that always sparkled as if knowing some secret joke, the sharp aristocratic features that bespoke generations of proper breeding. He's damn attractive! If only he wasn't a Kyuuketsuki! "I don't understand you," she exclaimed suddenly and started to pace once again. "You seize control of your clan by killing your own father; gather a force large enough that we can't ignore it when you enter our lands, wage war against me and my people, and when you could have won you simply hand it all over to me," Miki exclaimed in frustration, her arms sweeping out in a grand gesture as if to emphasize the enormity of the situation. Crossing the distance to the table in a single stride she slammed the palms of both hands down onto the flat surface as she leaned across it, the force of her hands jarring the decanter and upsetting the goblet which rolled, ignored, off onto the fur covered ground, "Why? Why didn't you kill me," she demanded to know as she peered intently at the man across from her.
"Why? Why indeed," Tooru replied nonchalantly, unruffled by the woman's outburst or her demand to know the reasoning for his actions. This moment had been carefully thought out far in advance, beginning with the death of his father at his own hands. He had personally decapitated the man and removed his heart before burning it and the body. The man had been so full of hatred and anger that Tooru had half expected his father's blood to be black as his heart had died long ago. "Why should I kill you? To what gain would it be to see your death? How would it benefit my people?"
Miki stood there and stared as his words echoed not only within her mind but also within her heart. How? How can he know my very thoughts? "It's our way," she retorted with disdain as if his words meant nothing to her. "Our people have always fought one another. It is ingrained in us from birth that you and your kind are our enemies as much as mine are yours! Our children are raised with weapon in hand and instructions to sheath it only if it in your kind's flesh! The only good Kyuuketsuki is a dead one is the nursery rhyme the young are put to sleep with each night!" Even in her own ears her voice sounded like it was pleading for some logical reason for the way things currently were.
"But Why," he exclaimed intensely, shooting to his feet and, slamming his hands down on the table to match hers as he leaned forward. "Why is it our way?" Tooru asked leaning in until his face was scant inches from hers. "Why must we always kill or be killed? Can we not change our ways?" he inquired as his eyes searched hers as if seeking an answer to a question that had plagued him for years now.
Standing, his shoulders visibly slumped as he lowered his head and stared unseeing at the goblet lying upon the floor, forgotten by them both. "Is this all we'll ever be, I can't help but wonder," he offered in a subdued tone. "If I had killed you then I would need to prepare for the next battle and your successor would either kill me or I them and so it would continue…just as it has for countless centuries now." Tooru's voice had lost its strength and sounded hollowed, defeated…lost. "Even the homo-sapiens know not to kill each other like we do. A fine example we shall set for them to follow!" he stated indicating the newly risen race, who referred to themselves as humans, that had sprung up while the two elder races had been preoccupied attempting to exterminate each other's existence. Suddenly it was as if the will to fight left him and his shoulders dropped in exhaustion. "It is a vicious legacy we weave and pass on to our children," he said with a rueful smile and in a resigned tone as he dropped back into his chair, the wood creaking alarmingly at the sudden weight of man and the armor he still wore.
"I have no whelps as yet," Miki responded softly as she pulled out the chair on her side and dropped herself into it as well, suddenly feeling exhausted to the bone. Though she had been alive for a long time, she had as yet to find a male she deemed better than her or even her equal. Till such time she remained alone, unmated. Choose your mate wisely, her mother had told her. For you will be his for life, the now departed woman's voice rang within her head. I'll be damned if I'll be beholden to some male, she snarled internally though no flicker of her inner turmoil was betrayed upon her face.
"Count your blessings then," Tooru said with an amused smile as his eyes took on a distant faraway look. "They are both a multitude of blessings as well as a curse which you soon find you can't live without." Sa-chan, he thought to himself as he called up an image of his only child to mind. I don't want this existence for you my child. I want you to know peace and live a long and happy life. To know laughter and friendship but mostly to perhaps one day know love.
"You have a daughter do you not?" inquired the Queen as she regarded the man, her rival, which sat across from her with a loving, doting father's look upon his face. The image was in such contrast to what she had come to expect from the man she had faced across the field of battle. Within her heart she felt jealousy stir for what he had and she had not. Often she had heard others speak of family, love and the closeness they felt. She had none of that being the last of her family. An only child whose parents had passed away in battle like most of the people she knew or held dear. Perhaps now I can see about having a child? Now that this damnable war is over with! Miki shivered within her armor at the thought of being touched by an unworthy male. I'd sooner remain without than suffer that fate, she vowed to herself. The very thought of surrendering her body and will to another seemed a fate worse than death itself.
Tooru nodded, "Sachiko," he confirmed as the corners of his lip arose in a smile just from saying her name. "She is forever a teenager. Willful, strong, arrogant, and stubborn and everything else that goes hand in hand with that age." He chuckled softly at the thought of the girl that was the center of his world. She was ever a source of pride for him and yet she was also the greatest source of worry in his lengthy life.
"She sounds a great deal like you," Miki interjected with a small playful smirk. She had meant it as a compliment yet she wasn't certain she had said it in the proper tone to convey her meaning. Now why would I care if I offend him? He is my prisoner after all!
"Nay," Tooru quickly replied with a grin, taking no offense from her tone. "She did not get my looks!" Turning quickly to the side, his dark hair swaying to follow his movements, he struck a heroic, if humorous pose for a long moment before turning and looking to the Queen who couldn't help but grin at his antics. "Thankfully she is far better looking than I have ever been," he added with a wink. The pride he felt for his daughter evident in every word.
"So then she takes after her mother?" The queen asked with a smile, finding herself liking the easy conversation about family and what was important. It was far easier on the mind than death totals and the number of injured she was used to. "I think I would like to meet the woman that could deal with you on a regular basis." Suddenly seeing Tooru's eyes cloud up with sorrow upon mention of his wife she felt remorse for bringing up what was clearly a painful subject. "I'm sorry. It was not my intent to cause pain."
The man seated across from her waved one hand in the air between them as if brushing it all aside. "It's not your fault," he told her, trying to reassure the woman who was his enemy.
"When?" Miki found herself asking before she could stop herself.
Tooru smiled though it held no warmth. "Seven years back, just after the start of winter," he told her. "She along with a squad of others were holding a small settlement where we had supplies stashed. One of your platoons showed up having heard there were supplies to be had." For a long moment his eyes took on a distant look before he added, "there were no survivors."
"I…I'm sorry," the Queen told him sincerely. "I recall that winter as being a particularly harsh one with a pitiful harvest the fall just prior to the start of it. Still, I am sorry for your loss."
"Far too often such is the price of war," he said as he looked up and gazed at his fellow monarch across the table from him. "Still, it was not a total loss," he said as he continued. "Losing Sayako made me realize how pointless it all was. I vowed that the same fate would not befall Sachiko if I could help it. I knew then that to end this war and save my daughter, I would have to take whatever steps were necessary. Even should it cost me my own life."
Miki felt a slight pain of jealousy and couldn't help but wonder if it had been right to remain alone all these years. Hearing the King talk about his wife and his daughter as such made her long for the warmth of another and a child of her own. "Come now," she opened with as she forcibly drew her mind away from the line of thought they were traveling down, "you're not that bad looking," she offered in an attempt to return levity to their conversation, "for a Kyuuketsuki," she added with a grin.
Tooru chuckled humorously and was quick to reply. "You are far too kind, my Queen. You're certainly buxom enough," he said as his eyes dropped appreciatively to her armored encased breasts before returning to her face which had a soft glowing pinkness to it, "for an Ookami." The two monarchs regarded each other for a long moment before they both broke out into laughter which neither could seem to stop.
Miki finally managed to regain a measure of control and wiped away the tears of laughter from her cheeks. "Well, that was certainly needed," she said before taking a deep breath to settle herself once more. "So, what shall we do now," she asked. "What am I to do with you and the rest of your kind?"
Tooru grinned mischievously across the table from her. "First we need more wine," he stated as he reached down and liberated his goblet from the fur lined floor. "I'm glad you asked, though, as I happen to have a few thoughts on the matter…"
-oOo-
Sachiko sipped the warm tea from the cup she held in her hands and gazed out the window from the second floor meeting room of the Rose Mansion. This was not the first time she had been in the mansion, though it was the first time as a member of the Yamayurikai. This was her third time attending classes at Lillian's Girl's Academy since its founding. It was partially due to this fact that she didn't need to study at all for tests, as she had taken them all before. It still amazed her just how little the curriculum had changed over the years. Not to say that there weren't changes, just that the same basic topics and material were always covered. Why did he insist that I become the en bouton of Youko Oba-sama? While Mizuno Youko was related to her by some distant blood, she had also known her all her life and had taken to calling her Oba-sama early on. There were few people the raven-haired beauty was close to, Youko being one of them. The remainder was a short list that included only her cousins, Touko-chan and Suguru-kun.
It was painful to become close to people, she discovered early in life. Over the years she had lost count of just how old she was or just how many friends she had watched grow old, wither and die. She had been a part of the group that had helped the Greeks build the Parthenon and the rest of their wonders that now were little more than ruins to be gawked at by tourists and their whining, sniveling children. She was already old beyond counting when she spent years in the desert with the Egyptians building the great stone edifices that would come to be known as the Pyramids.
Though her kind, the Kyuuketsuki, were long lived, only those of royal blood were fumetsu or immortal in the western tongue, the same tongue that labeled her a Vampire. Sachiko snorted dryly at the thought of what that word meant to the foolish humans around her. All the myths and stories were wrong of course, a fact her people did little to change. Let them think what they want, she mused to herself. If it makes them fearful of us than we needn't worry about them. She and her people were no different than the humans in outward appearance which allowed them to blend in with society and all but disappear. Holy water, crucifixes, day light, wooden stakes were not their bane…well at least no more so than a normal human. A wooden stake to the heart may kill them just as it would a human. Her kind had remarkable innate regenerative powers which were partially the reason why they lived so long. It was conceivable that a wooden stake to the heart, assuming one removed the stake quickly enough, while fatal for humans, could be survived. Not that she was in a hurry to put that theory to the test. The other ability which set them apart from humans was what had allowed her to be a student on three different occasions at Lillian. Those of the royal blood had the ability to increase or decrease their age, along with their body mass, at will. It was nothing for her to regress to the appearance of a six year old and enter school and stay there till she graduated. As much as she hated the humans she still found herself drawn to them. Sitting in class, surrounded by them she could almost imagine herself being one of them. She desired the one thing she could not have, their shortness of life. Being immortal, however, this was denied her.
Immortality was both an illusion as well as a curse. Only the first born child of a mating between two members of royal blood could claim immortality. The female members of the Royal family were looked upon as little more than breeding machines to perpetuate the immortal side of their race. It was the sworn duty of every male of royal blood to sire a child upon every female of the royal blood. In the way of her people, even her own father would have to visit child upon her at some point.
The time for her to play her part in the continuance of her race was fast approaching as other women of her line had long ago fulfilled their obligations. There had already been suggestions within the council that she begin the process. Never one to be a dutiful daughter she had taken every opportunity to shirk her responsibilities. Often she would travel to faraway places, which amounted to little more than running away. Her status as the daughter of the King afforded her this luxury. When she happened to be home for a visit if her father brought up that topic her response was always the same, 'We're immortal. We have all the time in the world so what is the hurry?' If the issue appeared as if it was going to be pushed she would be gone in the morning without a word to anyone. While she dearly missed her father, the pain of separation was far more acceptable than the alternative.
It angered and sickened her to think of what her future would be for the next several decades, delegated to the status of a baby factory. Only her father's word had spared her from her fate but she knew that sooner or later he would have to give in to the demands of the council members. Her several reincarnations as a Lillian student were her most recent means by which she hoped to avoid her fate. It was hard to press motherhood upon a person who was herself a child. As there was no means by which they could force her body into maturity, it was a convenient means of hiding in plain sight.
Much like immortality, the genetic makeup of the royal family, allowing its off-spring to alter their DNA, and thereby avoiding a depletion of the genetic pool, was also a sufferable curse as she saw it. If not for the blood in her veins she would be free to choose with whom she shared her bed and to whom she spread her legs rather than being answerable to any male of similar pedigree as herself. It was ironic that even being immortal, time seemed to be against her as she could feel her freedom slipping away.
Time for humans moved at a rapid pace, they were here and then gone in what almost amounted to a blinking of an eye for her kind. Time, humans often referred to it as a raging river flowing by so quickly that it carried you away before you knew it. To the sapphire eyed woman staring absently out the window, time crawled past with the agonizing slowness of a glacier. A frozen waterway choked with the remains of shattered dreams, the memory of the bodies of those friends that had gone before her and the multitude of broken promises that could never be fulfilled. No, immortality was not a reward but rather a curse as everything around you changed yet you remained the same, sedentary, frozen and forgotten. How I hate this life, Sachiko thought to herself as she took another sip of her tea.
Author's Note:
The story will, for the most part be told as two pieces, past and present. A great deal of the past figures into the present and so I felt it was important to tell both stories. It may slow the overall unfolding of the story itself however the Muse has assured me this is how it must be.
Yes, you did read that part correctly, Sachiko IS that old. She's lived for so long, without a reason to live for, that she has detached herself from most things and is just going through the motions. We'll have to add a little spice called Fukuzawa Yumi to her life and see what happens.
Kind Regards,
EJ Daniels
All characters within this story, unless otherwise stated are the sole property of Oyuki Konno the original writer of the Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel series.
