It's quiet, Kaoru thought darkly as she stood on the engawa, scowling out at her freshly-weeded garden as it steamed under the unseasonably hot sun. A garden notable for a distinct absence of Kenshin. Too quiet.
No Kenshin near the laundry, though it was washed and hung to dry. No Kenshin adding a last artistic touch of tiny maple-leaf ears to the rabbit-shaped riceballs left for her breakfast. No Kenshin near the woodpile, shredding out the nerves he pretended he didn't have on unsuspecting logs.
"Hey, ugly!"
Her toes left the floor in a start; Kaoru touched down in a whirl that flourished her bokken at the smirking brat who'd taken advantage of her distraction. "Yahiko-chan...!"
The boy ducked, tried to snag a particularly tempting riceball, shook out a stinging hand after her bokken made sure she got to it first. "Is Kenshin up on the roof again?"
"Like you could tell," Kaoru grumbled through a mouthful of rice and pickled plum, checking that inner sense of Kenshin and trying to get a where from it.
Calm. Quiet. Concealment.
Meaning he'd probably found somewhere out of the way to meditate, and was once again wrestling down nervous tension that had jumped to life the moment Instructor Sejanes hauled the cannon off, and only seemed to increase with each passing day. Where, though, she had no clue. He could be sitting right behind her; he could be halfway across Haven.
He's probably not at Companion's Field, though, Kaoru thought darkly. Megumi would have said something. Whatever Rolan had said to Sano, the scarred Companion had stuck to the Field ever since, avoiding them even when she and Megumi visited to speak to Talia; haunting the Field's far corners, BeSpeaking no one, and in general acting about as friendly as a wild boar with a toothache. If Companions could cry, her beautiful Megumi would have been in tears.
As it was, her beautiful Megumi had come within inches of leaving bite-marks on various Palace grooms.
:They deserved it,: Megumi sulked.
:No they didn't, and you know it,: Kaoru countered. :What is wrong with you? Why isn't Sano here, with us?: And why, whenever she thought too hard about Kenshin and Karal, did she have this feeling of something blurred in her head?
Silence.
Kaoru growled under her breath. That does it. Another day of this, and I'm going to grab Kenshin and drag him into the Field. Megumi's not happy, and Sano's not happy, and I just want to hide until the storm blows over-
No. Not me, she realized. Kenshin.
Kaoru probed at those wisps of feeling, trying to read intent from faint, meditation-calmed shadows. Kenshin's... worried about something coming. Something he can't do anything about. He wants to be somewhere else, but it would be... worse if he was? She frowned. Yamagata. Of course.
I don't get it. Yamagata worked with Katsura. If anybody would know Kenshin's a good person, he would!
Yet Kenshin and Sejanes both seemed to think that wouldn't matter.
'Tousan, how much didn't you tell me? I try, but sometimes I think I don't know my people at all.
"I want to be that good!" Yahiko's face glowed with admiration as he snagged another riceball. "How did Kenshin get that good, anyway? He sure doesn't act like a swordsman!"
"Um..."
"And the way he moves! He must have killed a lot of people."
"Ah..."
"Hey Kaoru, how come Kenshin never talks about what happened before he got to Haven? It's like his past is some deep dark secret or something! I'll bet he was-" Yahiko turned to her with a shadowed, gleeful grin, waggling his fingers suggestively. "An evil bandit!"
Kaoru stifled a groan. "No, he wasn't!"
"So what was he?" Yahiko's playfulness dropped away, leaving only a worried boy looking to his teacher for answers. "I mean, he came through the Jump somehow, right? The way you two act, some of the things Gensai-isha says... it almost sounds like he was with the Ishin Shishi! But that can't be right."
"Why not?" Kaoru pounced. "Tell me."
"Red hair?" Yahiko gave her a sidelong look. "He's got to be neko or kitsune-hanyou; could be yama-inu, but he's not twitchy enough around crowds. And he's strong. Taiyoukai blood, has to be."
Lordly youkai? Kaoru felt her eyes widen. Her father had mentioned that youkai had ranks just as human samurai did, but her threadbare wanderer certainly didn't act like he was born to a high lord's standing! Then again, Kenshin chose to be rurouni, not even ronin. Even if he was born noble, he had to know he was giving it all up. "What difference does that make?"
"Taiyoukai rule the wild lands. All the pieces of domains ningen know better than to go into. They honor the Emperor, and they send in taxes to the court - sometimes pretty weird taxes, I heard the Inu Lord of the Western Lands sent in ebony silk woven from a giant moth's cocoon four years ago - but they don't get involved in ningen wars. Not unless some ningen wants to get stomped flat." Yahiko rolled his eyes, none-too-subtly enjoying knowing something else she didn't. "And everybody knows a lot of the Shishi were mid-level Edo samurai, and they didn't like hanyou very much. Some of the Imperialists were hanyou, sure, but they were pretty much lesser inu or koumori, even a few usagi. Or was Kenshin like me? Somebody who just got caught in the Jump and dragged along?"
"Um..." The creak of the gate distracted them both, and Kaoru looked that way with a frown. That seemed a bit loud for just Healer Gensai.
"You there! Is this the dwelling that has been sheltering the foreign wanderer, Kenshin Himura?" an unfamiliar Guard's voice barked. "Take us to him at once!"
"It's impolite to be asking favors before stating your business, young man," Gensai said indignantly.
"Why, you-"
"Elias, enough!" Chief Tostig scowled darkly as Kaoru dashed into sight. "Herald Kamiya. I'm sorry to disturb the harmony of your household."
Kaoru stopped outside of easy striking range of the chief and his troop, set back on her heels by the formal apology. She traded a glance with Gensai; he looked just as confused and wary as she felt. Oh, this doesn't sound good.
:No, it doesn't,: Megumi agreed, trotting around the garden to her Chosen's side, fixing the five subordinate Guards with a stern eye.
"Is the man known as 'rurouni' here?" Tostig asked, any trace of his usual friendly demeanor hidden under professional calm.
"I don't think so, but I'll have to check," Kaoru said, just as cool. :Yahiko! Stay out of sight.:
Just about to peek around the corner of the shed, the young boy jumped. Busu! Don't do that!
:I mean it! I don't like the feel of this.: Her eyes narrowed. :And don't call me ugly!:
"I'm afraid we must search the house and grounds," Tostig said formally, waving to his men to spread out.
"Without permission?" Kaoru blazed.
Tostig released half a breath; not quite a sigh. "Herald, you know as well as I do that the guidelines on investigating reports of Changechildren are very clear."
"Changechildren?" Gensai crossed his arms, looking like a friendly, immovable piece of granite. "Surely you can't mean Himura. Why, I've Healed the man! If he had any trace of twisted magic about him, I assure you, I would have sensed it."
Tostig tried to step around the scowling Healer, reddened slightly. "With all due respect, Healer Gensai, you are neither a Herald-Mage nor a Collegium Instructor, and until he's officially cleared by one or both of those, I have to act on the information I've been given."
"What information?" Kaoru bit out. :Yahiko! Go find Kenshin now! Tell him to get to Companion's Field, stay there, and wait for me. Go!:
But Kenshin's not-
:They don't know that!: Kaoru kept her face still. :Gods, I know he's patient for a samurai, but I really do not want to test it by letting the Guard arrest him and take his sword-:
Take his sword?! Horror smacked her from her student. Kenshin's a hanyou!
"Hey, kid! Stop!"
Kaoru moved in concert with Megumi, accidentally-on-purpose stepping between the two Guards who had any real chance of stopping Yahiko's dash for the streets. The other three tried to grab for the kid, but they were no match for a Yakuza-trained pickpocket. Yahiko dodged, wriggled, applied a truly nasty kick from Kamiya Kasshin to the side of one Guard's knee, and vanished into the crowds.
Limping, Elias glared at her. "Herald or not, you're interfering with a legitimate investigation!"
:I suppose now isn't the time to point out this man, brainless as he may be, is the nephew of the head of the Haven Weaver's Guild?: Megmui noted.
Oops. Kaoru winced. Oh well.
"Actually, she's helping, Elias," Tostig said dryly. "Myojin's her student. She can't find Himura by mind, but she can find the boy." He fixed her with a look. "Isn't that right, Herald Kamiya?"
"I'm just as much an agent of the law as you are, Chief," Kaoru stated. Except when the Queen tells me not to be. "You wouldn't be searching my dojo in force without more cause than just rumors of a Changechild."
"Unfortunately true." Tostig pressed his lips into a grim line. "In brief, Herald Kamiya, the Hishimanji Guren suspect Brydiau is in fact third son of Rethwellan Lord Ysteriad, and did invoke his rights to contact a Rethwellan agent of his family, one Geoffres. Said Geoffres has listened to Brydiau's account of the night's events and informed us of certain similarities between his description and a certain serious incident that occurred in Rethwellan six months ago."
"You mean he thinks he has something on Kenshin he can use to get out of threatening Megumi," Kaoru said heatedly.
Tostig didn't bother to deny it. "I was hoping I could impose on you to apply Truth Spell to both men."
So you can tear the place apart while I'm not here, Kaoru thought darkly. Because people "know" Changechildren might have any kind of dangerous magic. Even magic that could fool a Herald. She hmphed, and nodded. "Take me to them." With any luck we can keep the questioning quiet, then invoke Heraldic Circle authority to lock up everybody until Selenay has her audience with Yamagata-
:Kaoru, you'd better have that rurouni of yours stashed somewhere.: Kerowyn's mind-voice broke in. :Yamagata slipped past the last set of Heralds on circuit - he's in the outer city now.:
What should I do?
An unsuspecting soul had just come up to tend to the garden pots on this Haven roof, swearing at the heat. Meditating in a shady corner, Kenshin kept his eyes almost closed, and his ki quiet. Not here, no one here.
What should I do?
For samurai, it would barely be a question. Yamagata-san was the rightful daimyo of Choshu-in-Valdemar, chosen and confirmed by all his people, not just the surviving samurai. More than that, he was an honorable lord, who had done all he could to destroy the corruption of the Shogunate and build a new, more humane government. Even Yamagata's silence on the matter of hanyou might well be the best choice he and his advisers could find; these Valdemarans lived with guardian spirits among them, even if only the Karsite Firecat had vision clear enough to see a hanyou for what he truly was.
I still don't know what Altra said to Kaoru, at the last. If it was not to me - it must be a matter for Heralds alone. Perhaps the spirits themselves are not certain how to proceed?
That, he could well believe. The guardian spirits of Chi'in had had the most contact with the youkai of Yamato, and that had led to centuries of efforts to conquer their islands; by steel, by coin, and by magic. Because youkai were not the akuma a kirin was bound to destroy, but...
If Katsura believed we could find safe refuge here - then Companions must be more forgiving than the kirin. Even Altra threatened, but he did not attack.
A very calculated threat, that. Carefully given in full view of Megumi and her Herald, as representatives of Valdemar; and given when no noncombatants were present.
So that if he were wrong, and I truly was an akuma - no innocents would be hurt.
They'd been given a chance. They'd been given peace, offered with an open hand; and if the other hand held a silver dagger, well, that was only sane with strangers. What else could Yamagata have done, but show his people were fair, and honorable, and just, and pray Valdemar learned that of them before they realized all of Yamato's heritage?
No, any born to bear two swords would be honored to find a place with Yamagata-san.
But I... was not.
It'd seemed such a little thing, when his master tended to it. "Even a master of Hiten Mitsurugi must pick his battles, and this one is not worth fighting," Hiko Seijuuro had declared, looming over a small, wide-eyed young redhead. "Kenshin, however worthy, would never be allowed to carry two swords unchallenged. So. Himura Kenshin you will be."
So simple. So shattering to his entire world.
Is that all it takes? the eight-year-old hanyou had thought, curled on his futon in Hiko's lonely cabin, those few nights he had energy left to think at all. With the years' distance between them, Kenshin could see that Hiko had been careful not to overstress his still-growing charge, but lessons in writing and history and math had been near as exhausting as being chased over a mountainside by a sword-wielding lunatic. Only a name?
Only a name, to overturn everything the Tokugawa had decreed for almost three centuries; that society was and ever would be split into the five classes; samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant, and river folk. That status and class was fixed by that of one's mother, unless - and only rarely - a lordly father chose to adopt his half-bred offspring into a samurai clan.
Only a name, and Hiko's firm use of it, and the proper, if poor, garb of a samurai child in training. Bokken, gi, and hakama whenever they were in town, red hair pulled back into a topknot to display ears and eyes and all the markings townsfolk whispered were of taiyoukai blood.
Though both he and Hiko doubted that. A simple kitsune was far more likely; an ordinary youkai, who took human form only to indulge a passion for scholarship, steal tasty treats, or go out drinking with merchants, geisha, and jizamurai. Why on earth would a taiyoukai choose to honor a poor farm-wife's plea for a child?
Though I suppose it could have happened. The youkai do as they will. And 'Kaasan was - beautiful.
He didn't think it was just a child's memory, believing that. Not when everyone in his home village had spoken of how much he resembled her.
Not when the village headman had meant to profit from that resemblance in the wake of the epidemic, calling on a greasy trader in human wares to take one still-unfanged hanyou orphan off the village's hands. A slaver who still remembered the real bargain he had missed a decade before, when a grouchy farmer had taken a friendless, homeless, beautiful young woman to wife.
That man is dead. Let it go.
Kami, if only he could. But Katsura had known, somehow; known, and declared it did not matter, the Ishin Shishi fought for all people equally.
Yet people are people, clinging to what is known and familiar. And here amid strangers we cling even tighter, only taking Valdemar's newness into us bit by bit, like slivered aya. Yamagata must hold the respect of his samurai and the lords of this land; and even here, nobles have rights by sheer power that commoners do not. If he knows...
Footsteps left the roof, and Kenshin sighed softly. If he knows, then he knows. For eight years I avoided his agents; for two, I have struggled only to return to my people. A decade can change anyone. Best to wait and see what he will do.
But what should I do?
After the Revolution, he'd known what he had to do. Blood stained his hands, dripped through his dreams; so much pain and guilt he honestly thought he'd die of it. What better fate could an assassin expect?
But he was not samurai, and he would not seek the noble ending of seppuku. It was not Hiko's teaching - and he had violated enough of his shishou's teaching already.
Instead, he'd wandered. Staying quiet, anonymous, helping those few he could. Acting as his master had taught him, as only a humble rurouni, so he might make some small restitution to his victims.
Not just my victims. To all those who died at the Revolution's hands. All those left friendless, fatherless, childless; lost and placeless when daimyo and domains were uprooted. We sought to make a better world... but kami, the price.
So he'd helped, fending off bandits here, finding a lost child there. Tracing a wavering path throughout the Isles; anywhere but the bloodstained streets of Kyoto and the power-ridden heart of Edo. Slowly - surprisingly - wearing away at the guilt weighing down his heart.
I, who have done so much harm... what right have I to sleep without nightmares?
Yet he had, finally. Once, in the wake of a child's tears, pulled from the root-cave she'd been trapped in by a rising stream. Again, weeks later, after he'd glared and cajoled a trio of hungry bandits into abandoning their ambush for a chance at honest work, no matter how lowly. And yet again, after spider-youkai had swarmed the abandoned temple he'd shared on the road with a frail elderly samurai on pilgrimage with his young daughter.
That night he remembered, clear as any black envelope. Hungry youkai would not yield to less than lethal force. Training had swamped guilt, fingers snatched steel from the startled samurai, and he'd danced through the predators lost in a kata's endless now.
Until chiburi, and eyes still burning amber met elderly, startled brown.
"I know you."
Kenshin had said nothing. What was there to say? Only offered the blades back with a bow, ready to flee into the dawn.
"There's a sword-smith two han south of here." A soft chink of paper-wrapped coins, set beside the fire to young Miya's subtle gasp. "Give him my name."
"Yuhara-san-"
"Young man, my family meant to donate this and more to the shrine of Inari. I can't think She'd mind a more practical gift to one of her children's children."
"The man you know of," Kenshin said softly, "This one will not be, ever again."
"Then don't." A familiar sadness shadowed Yuhara's gaze. "But you know as well as I do, ningen aren't the only danger on these roads. Allow an old man to sleep nights knowing you haven't been eaten, hmm?"
Well. And what could he do, but accept such a gift?
The nightmares had never gone away. But there were weeks between them, now. Days, sometimes, when he felt only the sunshine, and not the phantom spatter of warm blood.
To walk the Isles with only a sakabatou... did I want to die?
Looking into the embers that night, and many afterward, he had to admit the answer was yes.
To serve Katsura, I broke my oath as a student of Hiten Mitsurugi. I broke myself.
I... do not think I could heal again, if I broke it twice.
So. And so. He could not serve Yamagata. Would not.
But how else can I protect my people? I cannot join Valdemar's Guard; they answer to their Queen, and I can take service under no one. I have no right - and no wish! - to teach the ways of a hitokiri here... though perhaps the small things, the ways to counter blood without drawing it, might be well-taught-
And perhaps I am trying too hard, Kenshin admitted, slowly reclaiming full alertness. There is laundry. A garden. A young Herald, and younger children, to answer questions from; of what Yamato was, and is, and why...
And three of those children he could feel not far from here, ki frightened and angry and afraid, surrounded by a sea of shock and fear and dark, sickening hate. Hate that grew and flowered from a miasma he'd hoped to never sense again.
The taint of oni's blood...
"Monsters!"
Okay. Think. If I were Kenshin, where would I be?
Out of sight of the dojo gates, Yahiko slowed, blending into the crowd as he got his breath back. Haven's Guards weren't that different from the Edo police, and the first rule of both was, look for the obvious suspect. And you couldn't get much more obvious than running.
Besides, no matter how busu panicked, he didn't have to hurry. This wasn't just some gutter townsman the Guard was trying to lay hands on. This was Kenshin.
They'd have better luck trying to manacle the wind! Yahiko grinned and skipped a step, then sobered. But... Kaoru said if they found him, they'd try to take his sword.
Impossible. Insane. Take a hanyou's weapon? Even Edo police knew better than that! They might wrap a hanyou in torinawa until he looked like he'd been attacked by rabid silkworms, and bind the blade to its sheath with holy barriers, but they would not take a sealing sword beyond its owner's reach.
But... she wouldn't say that if it wasn't true!
Which would mean the Guard had a really big hole in what they knew about hanyou. The way Kaoru seemed to have holes in everything she thought she knew about the Isles, from ki sense to face to just how much Choshu and Satsuma didn't have in common, despite both being outside domains.
Maybe he'd better hurry after all.
So where do I look? Yahiko slowed in the eddy of traffic around a noodle-vendor's booth, ducking a waft of steam as he thought. I don't think he went shopping, Kaoru would have said.
"Did you hear?" A book-lender slurped down fish-flavored strands, one foot on the handle of her cart of texts. "Some of the nobles' sons they call Blues have been hunting a rumor of a Changechild all through our quarter. And now the Guard is helping them!"
"Some drunk idiot probably passed out in the middle of a kabuki play. You should have seen the audience stampede, the first time Valdemarans saw an actor properly made up!" The vendor snorted. "Next they'll be saying Change-Beasts escaped their Herald-Mages and are living among us to murder us in our beds."
Both broke out in polite laughter; Yahiko rolled his eyes. Great. A bunch of gaijin nobles who didn't know anything about magic, but knew they could make trouble for the displaced Yamato with little to no consequences. The young samurai cast a sidelong look at the bright-bound volumes, automatically calculating their value.
Quit that! You're not a thief. Not anymore.
Not since Kaoru had smacked him to the floor of a bridge to take one particular purse back, growling all kinds of dire, Herald-type maledictions about law and order and hauling him up in front of court-
And Kenshin had casually set his purse back in Yahiko's hand, wrapping the startled boy's fingers over it.
"Don't get caught next time."
He'd felt the gentle prickle of claws against his palm, looked past two years of dealing with nothing but idiot gaijin, blind ningen, and yakuza, and seen red hair and pale skin for what it truly was. Not a half-gaijin like busu, but a true Yamato ronin, a hanyou-
A ronin who'd acted as his mother had said the best samurai did, with honor and compassion for those he was sworn to protect.
I didn't know there was anybody like that left in Haven. Most of our people went west with the lords to start Maboroshi. I thought - the only people here were too dishonorable to find a place, so they had to stay with gaijin.
And - if there's no honor anyway - you just do what you have to, to get by...
But a quiet smile turned all of that upside down, and Yahiko had burned with shame and fury. He was Edo samurai, son of a father who'd died opposing an immoral revolution and a mother who'd died working to keep her son fed. He wouldn't even be here if Choshu and Satsuma hadn't cast their Jump so wide in Edo!
Just like Kenshin wouldn't be.
Yahiko shivered, remembering that last horrible day in the Isles; the fear, the whispers, the odd boil of storm-clouds from the east where no storm should be. The way ki shivered in the air throughout the city, as if an earthquake were imminent.
If only I'd been a few streets north! Eight hundred and eighty wards in Edo, and I had to be in the one that had Choshu and Satsuma's Edo households...
And the red lightning crackling in the air had pushed everybody back toward the center of growing power, where samurai and artisans and who knew who else were clumping together in Choshu's courtyard. Children, elders, horses, luggage - a lone, street-running waif had no chance of wriggling free from that crush. Not once the alarm gong was struck from the walls, and grim Choshu and Satsuma samurai set arrows to bows and hands to hilts.
One minute there was nothing but screams and panic and flying blood as Ishin Shishi hitokiri faced their own government's soldiers, the next-
Black and deafness and falling and cold, so cold-
And more screams, in languages he couldn't understand, as a dazed eight-year-old picked himself off streets that looked nothing like Edo.
Gaijin clothes. Gaijin faces. Blue and white uniforms that echoed picture-books of the outland "Eastern Empire", yet didn't match those either. Drawn swords, and leveled bows, and so many white horses he thought he'd stumbled into a daimyo's parade.
Tanishi's protection had been the best option a lost, orphaned, and - admit it, scared - kid could think of. The yakuza head had... known already how 'Kaasan had died, he never brought it up. Unlike his thugs.
But that day on the bridge, calm violet had weighed Yahiko. Known him. Respected him, in a way a young samurai had never thought he'd see again.
If he can live here, honorably, within gaijin law... then maybe I can find a way...
He'd never in a million years expected Kaoru to come after him. She was a Herald, after all; wasn't she supposed to stick to handing out judgements on gaijin?
But she had come after him, swearing everyone had to abide by Haven's laws, willing to gamble with her own life to win him out of Tanishi's debt. And then willing to fight her way out with him when the Yakuza didn't hold up their end of the bargain, no matter the odds against them.
Really bad odds. Though from how quick the Guard poured into the courtyard after we all left, she must have been MindCalling for help the minute she knew Tanishi's guys were cheats. I guess busu's not that dumb after all.
Hauled out over Kenshin's shoulder, Yahiko had realized it was worth every bruise Tanishi's thugs laid on him to see the wreck Kenshin had made of the place. Yakuza everywhere. Blasted through walls. Half-embedded in ceilings. Out cold on the floors like grain-drunk doves.
"They weren't going to let me in, so I had them go to sleep for a little while..."
That was what Yahiko wanted to be. A swordsman who was kind, polite, honorable, civil even to his enemies - and feared no one.
Though he still couldn't get why a samurai like Kenshin, even if he had gone rurouni, would rather play hopscotch with little kids than draw his blade. It didn't make sense!
But then, a lot of things about Kenshin didn't make sense. A swordsman who wasn't looking for a lord to take his blade in service. A hanyou here in Haven, where there weren't any others. A Yamato who had been in the Jump, yet didn't seem to know anything about what had happened in Valdemar since!
Wait a minute, Yahiko thought. How did he end up in the Jump? I was stuck in the crowds, but Kenshin couldn't have been caught that way.
Desperate townsfolk just wouldn't get out of the way for a little kid. But they wouldn't have dared box in a hitokiri.
And he is a hitokiri, he has to be. Nobody else could take out Jin-e!
An unaffiliated hitokiri, caught up in one of the renegade clans' Jumps? As if the Ishin Shishi would have let that happen!
But Kaoru and Gensai-isha - they don't think Kenshin's unaffiliated. They think he's Ishin Shishi. And even if busu doesn't know why he can't be, Gensai would.
Which means he is.
Which... didn't make sense, why would an Ishin Shishi rescue a kid who'd told him his family was Shogunate...
An Ishin Shishi hitokiri with red hair, and a cross-shaped scar on his cheek.
No. No way. Kenshin couldn't be-
Katsura's blade. The Demon of Kyoto.
But the Choshu demon had disappeared, everyone knew that. Gone like the youkai legend whispered he was, leaving his bloody katana on the field of Toba Fushimi...
"What you don't know, they can't Truth Spell out of you."
Gensai might seem like a harmless old man, but he wouldn't have said that if it wasn't important. Which meant Kenshin... Kenshin really was...
Yahiko buried his face in his hands, breathing hard. He knew the mage-storms were over, he knew it.
So why did the world feel like it'd been dropped in a cauldron and stirred?
Himura Kenshin. Taiyoukai-hanyou. The finest swordsman Yahiko had ever seen.
Hitokiri Battousai.
But a hanyou, not the youkai legend swore he was. Which meant... he was in just as much danger if his sword were taken as any hanyou.
And so are we. Oh kami - if he kills someone, he'll never forgive himself!
Forget forgiving himself, a more rational part of Yahiko's mind gibbered. If those idiot Guards got lucky, there wouldn't be anything left of Haven...
Stupid, stupid - focus! The young samurai used one of Kaoru's breathing exercises; in, deep, out. Find Kenshin, tell him Companion's Field, and hide behind Megumi.
Yeah, right. If only he could get past the finding Kenshin part-
Yahiko clapped a hand to his forehead. Idiot. I'm an idiot.
Look for Kenshin? Might as well try to track a hawk through the sky.
This is the day Ayame and Suzume play with Aletha Candle-maker's kids! And she just had her third a few weeks ago; I heard Gensai-isha say she's still more tired than she thinks. That's where Kenshin will be.
Yahiko took off, dodging through carts, riders, and pedestrians, keeping an eye out for the Guard. Chief Tostig wasn't an idiot; he might not know Kenshin the way Kaoru did, but he was definitely bright enough to figure out some of the places Kenshin might be.
Bet he hasn't figured out to start checking roofs yet, though, Yahiko thought smugly, craning his neck up to search for a flash of red among flapping laundry or potted greens. Not that he really expected to see Kenshin, unless the hitokiri wanted to be seen...
He dragged his eyes back down just in time to dodge around a young Valdemar swordsman sweating in light blue. The young man didn't seem to see him, which was fine by Yahiko; there was an air around the older boy of someone looking forward to a fight, and not too fussy about who he picked it with. Not good, Yahiko thought. Scanned the crowd, street-savvy eyes picking out more blue-clad teens and young men, mostly clumped a few stoops down from the one he wanted. Really not good. "Aletha-san!"
The blonde matron rocked her youngest in her arms, wiping sweat from her brow, dark circles under the eyes watching Ayame and Suzume spinning tops with Jasenna and Tianne. "Yahiko? No, girls, you can't make the tops fight." Aletha glanced away from the impeding child brawl, sighing tiredly. "What's wrong?"
"It's a long story," Yahiko gasped. Why is everybody sweating? It's hot, yeah - but it's nothing like Edo in summer! His eyes cut sideways as a cobbler's quiet argument with a half-shoed customer turned to yells and shaking fists. A gaggle of goose-girls verbally shoved the shyest of their number away, reducing her to tears. A carter snapped his whip at his horses, drawing blood. The whole street seemed on-edge, roiling with inexplicable anger. It itched at Yahiko, dragging insults to the tip of his tongue. The boy shook it away, but a queer impatience still jangled down his nerves; the broiling threat of a brawl about to break loose. Something's wrong. Something's really wrong. "Maybe we could go inside?" If Kenshin is watching, that'll get his attention-
"It's mine!" Ayame snatched her toy back.
Jasenna shrieked, drawing back a bloodied hand. "Mommee!"
Aletha dropped to one knee at the sight of welling red, eyes widening at the pair of catlike scratches slashed across the back of her older daughter's hand. "What- how-"
Yahiko grabbed Ayame as she burst into tears, unease coiling in his gut as the loose knot of Blues suddenly tightened, looking their way. That odd anger felt tighter now, more focused.
"I'm sorry!" the little girl sobbed. "Didn't mean to!"
"I know," Yahiko said, trying to keep his voice level. It might not be as hot as an Edo summer noon, but the Haven natives were acting like it was - and that meant the flares of temper he'd seen were just the tip of the sword. "I know you didn't." K'so! I thought she was three! Oh, this is not good, not good...
"It just itches!"
"Yeah, I bet." Yahiko rubbed his thumb across the first joints of Ayame's right-hand fingers, trying to ease what had to be a ferocious itch as two small fingernails flaked away. "Come on; let's get you back to your 'Jiisan, he can help."
"Help?" Aletha pulled her children back, sick pallor washing over her face as she stared at Ayame's bloodied claws. "Gods, what is she?"
"Um-"
"She's a Changechild!" Aletha's voice spiraled upward. "Guard! Someone get the Guard!"
"Now just wait a minute," Yahiko protested, as Ayame paled, and Suzume whimpered and hid her face against his leg. "We don't need-"
"There!"
And they were swarmed; grim and grinning young nobles backed up by a shocked, whispering crowd, all centered around one tall, dark-haired Blue whose blade had honest steel under the subtle gold ornamentation.
Honest steel with odd, thin veins of red, that made something in his heart cringe away. This is bad. This is really, really bad...
"A girl?" One of the younger Blues frowned. "But Jiki, I thought we were looking for-"
"What have I told you about hunting, Marcus?" The ringleader smirked. "Where there's young, there's parents."
"Leave her alone!" Yahiko got between them and the girls, not yet drawing his bokken. Kaoru had told him not to get into a fight, not unless he was about to get killed - and none of these guys were going to be that stupid. Right? "She's just a kid!"
A smelly hand grabbed his ear and twisted. "Watch your mouth, brat!"
"Who's the brat?" Yahiko fired back, squirming loose. "Did your parents teach you to eat with your hands, or did they dump you with the monkeys on Takeo-yama?"
And this, Yahiko realized minutes later, tied up and swatted by the blue-clad idiot's swarm of friends, is exactly why Kaoru hits you with a bokken...
"You've heard the stories; you know what they've done to our people, even to the Heralds!" Jiki was goading his crew and crowd. "You know what they are..."
"Monsters!"
Which didn't make sense, Yahiko thought dizzily, he'd lived in Haven for two years and never seen these people so unreasoningly angry, so willing to throw away reason and spill blood because of one man's words-
It's him! Yahiko realized. The anger. The hate. It's coming from him!
Jiki smirked as if he could read the thought, swept the crowd with another hungry look. "And we know just what to do with monsters, don't we?"
"You'll untie them now," a calm, quiet voice cut through before the crowd could answer, "and wait for the Guard to be summoned, that you will."
Yahiko drew a breath of pure relief. "Kenshin!"
Bystanders melted back as the small rurouni walked toward them, violet eyes level, gait unhurried as the river. "For that is Haven's law," Kenshin said evenly, "The law all of us live under, who dwell in Valdemar."
"Big words, for such a gentle-looking man." Jiki's hand moved-
He's fast! Yahiko swallowed dryly.
Steel hovered within a thumb-length of Kenshin's nose.
"Draw your sword, gentle man." Jiki's lip curled. "I'd like to see what makes a little one like you confident enough to carry a sword in defense of mage-made monsters."
"This one does not carry a sword," Kenshin said quietly, fringe of bangs nearly hiding his eyes, "merely to flaunt it as a symbol of undeserved power." He lifted his gaze, violet cool and foreboding. "Whatever wrong you believe has been done, these are children. We will wait for the Guard, and the Heralds."
"Children? Changechildren! And he wants us to wait?" Jiki glanced over the crowd, glaring bystanders' momentary indecision back into mob hate. "Wait, for the people who brought in more mages to study the storms they caused, while these twisted creatures were killing our herds and our children? I say we execute them now-"
Shring.
No fear, Yahiko thought numbly, sweat trembling down his hairline. A samurai shows no fear. But he couldn't help it, the noble's foreign sword was trembling inches from his throat where it'd just stopped-
Jiki's nostrils flared as he braced both hands on his sword-hilt, trying to push it forward, then trying to tug it loose. Steel came free like a wheel from thick mud, sending the man staggering back from his prey.
"You will not touch these children with an inch of your tainted blade." Red bangs blew back from Kenshin's face, as if the wind itself split around his drawn sakabatou. "This one is your opponent." Violet shifted, glinting steel-blue. "If you wish to taste death, come forward."
"Perfect." Jiki's lip curled as air released his sword. "Follow the law, do you? Well. A Gifted foreigner, who's used that Gift on a noble of the realm. Whatever we do now... is clearly self-defense."
"So basically," Herald Kamiya's irritated voice was clear all the way out into the hall outside the Guard's interview room, "You have a woman dead by strangulation. A woman Himura barely saw, and never even spoke to before he left the village prior to sunset. A woman who had an ex-lover half the village admitted was jealous of her leaving, and who's since been in at least one near-fatal brawl since."
"Yes." The word sounded stiff.
Ah. Yamagata Aritomo bowed slightly to the Guard standing at attention outside the room, motioning the rest of his party to relax. He reached out with his ki sense enough to feel the playful tickle of a vrondi, and nodded. Truth Spell. "We're here to see Chief Tostig," he said quietly. "We'll wait."
Inside, the questions continued. "Have you ever seen the suspect, Geoffres?"
"No, but-"
"Let me enlighten you," Kamiya Kaoru said wryly. "He's this tall."
"But-" Now the word sounded not so much stiff, as lost.
"If she'd been killed with a sword, that'd be reasonable. If she'd been killed with the claws your witnesses reported, that also might be reasonable. But do you honestly believe a man half her size could have strangled Mistress Ysabelle? Without leaving any trace of himself behind?"
"He could have used magic!"
"Chief Tostig, I can affirm and will attest under Truth Spell, with confirmation from the Mage's Collegium by way of testimony of Instructor Sejanes, that the man in question has no Mage-Gift," Herald Kamiya said formally.
"Noted," Chief Tostig stated.
"But he's a Changechild! It had to be him! Limir swore to it!"
"Limir being Mistress Ysabelle's ex-lover," Chief Tostig said dryly.
"Yes..."
"I believe I've heard enough. Herald, you may dismiss the spell." A pause. "Let the record note that Geoffres of Rethwellan's testimony is found to be true. Let the record further note I find no grounds to prefer charges for Mistress Ysabelle of Rethwellan's wrongful death. Although I advise the use of Truth Spell on another occasion with the accused, to elicit his version of the events surrounding that day. This interview is ended."
Taking that as his cue, the Guard knocked. "Sir! Lord Yamagata to see you."
Lord Yamagata, the Choshu leader thought wryly, as the Guard station exploded into the controlled bustle that was Valdemarans' rough version of proper courtesy. I liked General better. At least when the Shinsengumi were coming for your head, you knew who the enemy was.
"Sir." Tostig managed a creditable bow, as his men escorted the fuming Geoffres out and Herald Kamiya almost snuck out the door. "This is an honor."
"This is a necessity," Yamagata corrected, motioning them both toward the chief's office. "For you as well, Herald Kamiya. I understand your family's sword school has been slandered by the vilest of rumors. I assure you, and I will assure my people, there is no truth to them."
"Rumors?" Tostig asked guardedly, as the Herald hid a grimace and followed, closing the office door behind the three of them.
"I was delayed by matters in Maboroshi, or I would have come sooner." Oh, how he longed for the civility of a properly prepared cup of tea, the graceful words that told everything and admitted nothing.
But no, this was Valdemar now. Best to be blunt, and clear. "It is true that one of my people once killed many, earning the name 'Hitokiri Battousai'," Yamagata said levelly. "But never once did he wield his sword in self-interest, or for the joy of slaughter. All he did, he did for the emperor and the new era. He saved the lives of many of our warriors. Without him, the Revolution would not have succeeded, and all those who sought escape from the Choshu domain would have perished." He met blue eyes squarely. "Whoever committed the murders cast against your name, he was not Hitokiri Battousai."
"I know," Kaoru said softly.
Do you? I would dearly love to know what you are thinking right now, young woman. But no matter how fine Yamagata spread his Mindspeech, Kamiya's mind remained shielded and silent.
Not that he'd expected any different. These Heralds might train only those Gifted who joined their white-wearing numbers, but that training was complete.
Tostig cleared his throat. "As it happens, we've already disproved that. From the horse's mouth, as we say here." He grinned. "Herald Kamiya delivered the culprits to me early one morning, and you can imagine what a bunch of back-alley ruffians thought about being beaten by a girl. All they'd say is-"
Kamiya paled. Yamagata felt her Gift reach out, meaning to BeSpeak the chief.
Ah, no, you don't. Yamagata raised his ki, interposing it between her touch and the Guard's mind, like a gust of wind puffing dandelion seeds away.
"-'The real one got us.'"
For a moment, Yamagata couldn't believe his ears. He'd heard the rumors. He'd hoped. And yet - could it be? "What?"
The door slammed open. "Chief! There's an incident!"
"Calon? Meeting? Knock?" Tostig said pointedly.
"Yes sir, but..." The younger Guard swallowed dryly. "It's Lord Jiki's men."
"Here? Now?"
"Lord Jiki?" Kamiya asked, frowning.
"Jiki Plesuron. His family holds land east of Westmark, near the Iftel border," Tostig filled in. "He used to be the third son of the family, but some kind of Change-Beast showed up about two years ago and ate half his family before he killed it. They say Jiki wasn't exactly the kindest young man to start with and that didn't help any. About a month ago his father sent him to Haven to present their arguments against magic, the Mages' Collegium, and foreigners in Valdemar in general."
"But the mages stopped the storms!" Kamiya protested.
Tostig cleared his throat. "Herald, far be it from me to tell your Circle how to work, but I can tell you many of our citizens don't really care how the mage-storms stopped. Valdemar got along for centuries without mages, or Karsite priests, or strangers like the Yamato - no offense, Lord - and now that the storms are over, why should we keep them? I don't buy it for a minute, we in the Guard know the Eastern Empire's still out there, but that's Plesuron's point of view. And it appeals to a lot of people." He turned to Calon. "So what did he do this time?"
"Well, um..." The younger Guard sweated. "They're getting beaten. By just one swordsman."
"What? That's impossible!" Tostig shot out of his chair. "I know that crew he's rallied around him, they're some of the finest swordsmen in the Blues!"
"But it's true!"
"Unbelievable," Tostig growled. "Who is-" He stopped. "Oh no. Don't tell me..."
"Um - well - no one reported a name." Calon swallowed. "He's short, skinny, young-looking... but his sword moves faster than the eye can see..."
Yamagata held his breath, aware of Kaoru's stifled groan.
"...And he has a scar like a cross on his cheek."
Dignity cast aside, Yamagata bolted for his carriage.
Evil, Yamagata realized, pushing through the angry, increasingly confused crowd minutes later, letting the white bulk of Kamiya's Companion break a path for them both. There is evil at work here. A taint I've not felt since... "Himura!"
Small. Red gi and off-white hakama patched and worn, humble as the low, flame-scarlet ponytail of a wandering swordsman. Only one sheath by his side; no trace of the honor blade his heroism had won.
Yet that one blade flickered, fast as the wind, felling three swordsmen in one swing.
Himura's sandals touched the ground. He stood among twenty-odd fallen bodies, cool gaze turning toward the source of the crowd's fury. "One left."
Lip curling back from his teeth, Jiki growled.
Kamiya nudged her Companion forward; Yamagata caught her knee. "No. Wait."
Two pairs of blue eyes glared at him. "If you think-"
"Call a miko, Herald. Or some priest you trust. Now. There's more peril here than you know." Sensing Tostig and his men arriving in their wake, Yamagata yet kept his gaze fixed on the ringleader, ki sense recoiling from the darkness of that tainted blade. "Himura can't let him draw blood." Not if we want to stop this mob without killing every last one of them.
Left-handed, Himura rested the hilt-guard of his sword against the crook of his elbow, ignoring the muttering crowd to watch his foe. "Swear that you will set that blade aside, and see a priest for cleansing of your soul. Then we can end this. And this one will submit to the Guard, for drawing a blade on the streets."
"Silence!" Sweat dripped down Jiki's face, sparking in ki sense with inhuman hate. "I cannot bow to you!"
Gripping his sword, he charged.
"That stance - what's wrong with him?" Kamiya exclaimed. "If he connects like that-!"
He'll break his own arm, Yamagata finished, seeing it as clearly. As if the creature that holds him even cares.
"Lord Jiki, stop!" Tostig yelled. "You're-"
"A dead fool," Yamagata observed numbly. "Your Valdemaran styles lack grace, but they have power. Except..."
Jiki slashed down.
Into empty air.
Even knowing what to expect, Yamagata barely caught the blur of red twenty feet up, the swift curve of hair and body and blade stooping like a steel-eyed falcon.
"...In the face of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."
Steel smashed into Jiki's back. The noble crashed earthward from the blow, blade skittering away across the street bricks.
And suddenly as that, the mob was shattered back into confused, frightened individuals. "What happened?" Kamiya demanded.
"This happened." Yamagata stood near, but not touching, the tainted blade. "Is a priest coming? One who knows how to deal with demons?"
She nodded, hurrying over to untie the children lying in the street on the edge of the swath of unconscious bodies. "I called Karal, he still needs a minute to get out of a meeting-"
"Chief Tostig," Yamagata cut across her words. "This Change-Beast, that attacked the Plesurons two years ago, that he slew with this sword. Do you know what it looked like?"
"Ah..."
"Much like a human, did it not?" Yamagata kept an eye on the blade, holding out a warding hand when curious onlookers stepped too close. "Only its skin was a glossy red, or perhaps black. Its eyes were wide and white and staring, glowing red when it was enraged. Its brows bore horns, long and black-tipped and curving back into a matted, iron-gray mane. It had fangs, and claws, and perhaps a necklace of skulls, and it cursed its killers when it died."
"It was a Yamato Change-Beast?" Tostig gasped.
"It was not a Change-Beast at all." Silent as shadow, Himura stepped through the crowd to guard the blade from the other side. "It was a demon we know as oni, that hungers for the flesh of men. It hates humans, all humans, but most of all the young and the innocent. And that hate gives it power even in death. Especially over steel unblessed by the smith before it is first blooded, as so much of your Valdemar steel is."
"You were used, good people." Yamagata swept the crowd with a cool glare, relaxing minutely as Kamiya herded the boy and young girls back into the safety of Tostig's men. Ki sense felt the faintest brush of untrained youki from the older girl; he knew what had set this riot off. "One of yours who knew no better carried a demon's rage among you, and it meant for you to give it what it craved; the flesh and blood of an innocent child." Knew no better. Hmph. If he's carried that blade two years... they'd better check their records for unsolved deaths, and folk gone missing.
Perhaps it would be wise to hint to Selenay this man should not survive. None of Yamato would ever trust him at their back. With good reason. One who had fallen to corruption once might well seek it out again.
I suppose Himura couldn't just kill him in the street. Pity.
A worn blonde matron swallowed, babe clutched to her breast. "But she's a Changechild..."
"That little girl," Yamagata said clearly, pitching his voice to carry to every corner of the street, "Is a hanyou. It is a Gift among my people. It is a sign she will have great power, as your Heralds and Healers do, to help and protect us all."
Reaching out with his Mindspeech, he sensed the crowd's anger, confusion, bewilderment. Damn; they're not of my people. I don't know how to reach them. What can I say? What can I do?
A tremor of ki, and the young Karsite envoy of Solaris was there, with an older man Yamagata recognized as fairly important in the Valdemaran religious scheme of things, and a catlike form of white and red-pointed fur-
A guardian spirit!
:Demon-taint,: it hissed, ears laid back as it sniffed at the blade. Blue cat-eyes fixed on Himura. :And would you speak for it, rurouni?:
"On the contrary, Hineko-sama." Himura bowed low. "Sessha would be most grateful if you would destroy it. Utterly."
It knows, Yamagata thought, chilled.
:Yes, I do know.: The Firecat's smirk was clear, in words Yamagata knew were meant for him alone. :I know what you are. As does Karal. As does Solaris herself.:
Worse and worse. Selenay respected Solaris, and if she'd learned the truth of samurai from people who had once commanded demons-
:Selenay knows only that hanyou are Gifted, and you have hidden them.: Red-marked whiskers twitched. :Vkandis is stern, but not without compassion. This test is yours to face, and hers. We will not interfere.:
Yamagata made his own bow then, startling his men into following. "Father. Karal-san. Lord Firecat. That sword carries great evil; a taint which has corrupted its bearer in ways he may not even realize. Destroying it would be wise." He glanced at the still out-cold Jiki. "And he had better go straight into your custody." Before one of my men does the smart thing, and cuts his throat... no, Selenay would never forgive that.
"We will care for him," the older priest nodded. "But young man - are you all right?"
"Sessha was trained to face demons," Himura said easily. "Such light contact cannot corrupt this one; that it cannot."
Yamagata bit back a snort of laughter. An oni, corrupt a hanyou? Even if one wanted to be corrupted, oni didn't have nearly the power to taint youki born of youkai blood!
After all, that's how our folk beat them the first time...
"Step back, please, everyone," Karal called out.
Fire burst from steel, and the crowd gasped as one.
The taint vanished in the flames, and Yamagata sighed with relief. "I think you can handle matters from here, Chief." He turned away, bracing himself to face a demon's eyes...
Only they weren't. All hint of amber was gone; only human violet faced him.
Strange. But... this is Valdemar. It makes sense he'd conceal what he truly is. "Himura. At last I've found you. For ten years I've sought you... for two of those, I had no hope you had survived."
The hitokiri smiled quietly. "You've grown a mustache, Yamagata-san."
For a moment, the very tiniest shred of a moment, Yamagata felt tempted to look behind him for a knife.
No. Himura wouldn't do that. Cut a man down in broad daylight, yes; but never set him up for someone else's assassination.
But he was smiling. And the hitokiri who had been in Katsura's service had never smiled.
Just as I never wore a mustache; as I do here, to smooth the worries of Valdemarans who look at samurai and only see alien faces. The world has changed. We have changed. "Now that we're beginning to unsheathe our nails... I must speak with Queen Selenay." Yamagata held out a gloved hand. "I have a carriage waiting."
Himura ignored the hand, head slightly bowed. "My apologies, but... we will walk."
Yamagata frowned. "Don't be a fool, Himura! Think of the child."
"I do think of Ayame-chan, that I do," Himura said evenly. "And Suzume-chan. And all those who may yet be born, or marry, or simply wish to travel among the folk of this land without fear." He glanced over the crowd. "And I think of these people, who should watch, and see, and not fear they have harbored something so horrible we scurry to conceal it from them." Violet was guileless, but unyielding. "We will walk."
You- you- Fury blinded Yamagata. How dare this man, this hero, lower himself to care what outlanders thought? How dare he imply that they needed these townsmen's good will, needed anything beyond land to make their own and good swords in their hands against all who'd take it from them? How dare he even hint that those of the noblest blood ever to grace this earth might deign to unite their families with such- such- kami, who did he think he was?
Hitokiri Battousai, the last bit of his reason supplied.
Fury froze. "Send the carriage off," Yamagata gritted out.
"Sir?" His aide's voice held concealed horror. A lord had status. A lord had face. A lord did not walk to a greater lord like a supplicant, but rode in full, glorious pride.
A lord, Yamagata thought coldly, must remember that legends have power beyond even steel.
It was why he and others had sought Himura all these years, after all. Katsura's blade. Katsura's dragon. The hitokiri whom songs called the greatest of revolutionaries.
The Demon of Kyoto, who left his bloodstained blade standing in the sunset of Toba Fushimi. And vanished, as youkai do, never to be seen again by mortal men.
Gods, the man couldn't have woven a stronger legend if he'd tried!
And it would not take his men long to realize that legend stood among them. That the legend - the hero - would walk to a gaijin queen, and honor her beyond measure, all for the sake of one hanyou child...
Damn you, Himura!
Cold anger running in his veins, Yamagata made an abrupt motion of his hand. Form up.
If they were to walk, they'd do it properly, damn it. With pride. And honor. And their strongest sword in the midst of them, guarding the young girls in case one of these gaijin had more hate than goodwill.
Damn, and damn, and damn...
The walk to the palace seemed an eternity. Yamagata glanced at Kamiya where she walked afoot, her Companion giving the little girls a welcome rest from trying to keep up with adult men. Let his gaze slip aside to the mussed-haired young samurai striding beside Himura, alternately proud and worried as any youngster before his first battle. Raised a brow as an elderly Yamato in Healer Green worked his way into their midst when Himura beckoned; the girls' grandfather, if those tearful squeals were any indication. Kept a fierce glare off his face as more and more white riders joined their procession. Damn Selenay; this was hard enough as it was.
She probably thinks she's honoring us. Gods.
Calm. Control. His people were counting on him.
Yamagata nodded and spoke to the Palace Guard as necessary, letting the bulk of his warriors be peeled off by all-too-friendly smiles and "Of course, you understand, customs."
Of course I understand. Idiots. You'd think they'd just discovered leaders can be assassinated.
Then again, if what they'd learned of Valdemar's history was true, that wasn't far off.
The core of his party remained intact as they entered the Grand Council's chamber, and that was all that mattered. Himself. His aide, Funaka. The small party of Kamiya, her Companion, and the Gensais. And - quite likely - the most deadly weapon ever to enter these walls.
A small, deadly grin tugged at Yamagata's mouth. Part of him noted the nearest Council members shrink back from that grin, and chortled in ruthless satisfaction. The rest of him, reluctantly, assumed the proper calm and decorum for approaching a higher lord, and bowed before Himura could. "Your Majesty."
"Lord Yamagata." And someone must have been schooling the queen, for her bow was perfect to the hair; just a fraction shallower than his, as appropriate to her higher rank as the sternness of her face. Yet even so, blue eyes glimmered with humor as she reclaimed her chair. "I hear you've brought us a... small problem."
From that slight, choked sound a seat away, Prince Daren was stifling a snicker.
Kami, where to start. "Your Majesty, gentle persons-" one of the safest terms he'd run across to speak to a Council that sometimes included gryphons, kyree, and dyheli, "-I would introduce Gensai Ayame, who has manifested the Gift we of Yamato call hanyou."
"It's all right, Ayame-chan," her grandfather said soothingly, coaxing the wide-eyed girl into her own quick bow. "No one here's going to hurt you."
"My Heralds have brought some reports of this Gift," Selenay said smoothly, before the council members could more than start whispering.
Kamiya, no doubt. Well, now I'm certain where her loyalty lies...
"Apparently it's not uncommon among your people, even if we of Haven have never seen it."
"Gods above, I should hope we've never seen it!" the lord from Evendim blustered. "To think that we might have had something as dangerous as Changechildren running about Haven-"
"I believe I am well able to say precisely how dangerous this little one is-" Himura's knuckles cracked, lamplight gleaming off claws no longer hidden, "-and is not."
Pandemonium. Yamagata closed out the shouts, the screams, the sudden, wild accusations. All that mattered was holding his place beside Himura and Funaka in the center of this U of tables, ready to strike if the gaijin lost their minds completely.
"Enough."
Selenay was on her feet, Queen's Own Talia backing her. Her gaze touched each council member in term, sternly commanding reason, sanity, silence. "I take it this," she said into the reluctant quiet, "is why you made this Gift... less than obvious."
"It is, your Majesty," Yamagata said clearly. "Some of your folk encountered ours the first day we Jumped here. The panic that ensued nearly killed several people on both sides." Though rather more on yours. It's a damn fool of a man who comes after even an usagi-hanyou with a pitchfork. Especially a ronin like Miyamoto. A 'cute bunny' he is not. "For all our safety, I ordered the hanyou to conceal themselves."
"And they did?" the Seneschal asked in disbelief. "Just like that?"
"Lord Palinor, I was the leader of the Revolutionary Army, and this was a situation of military nature," Yamagata said pointedly. "Yes. They did." He let his face soften into a weary smile, looking over at Ayame. "But one cannot expect a child to control her Gift, at first. Especially given the circumstances."
"Circumstances?" resounded incredulously across the tables.
"Sun-Priest Karal and Father Nathan concur that Lord Jiki was possessed," Talia stated. "They intend to report to Father Ricard and this Council in full once they know the true extent of his state."
"Possessed-"
"Demons-?"
"Call the Herald-Mages!"
"How could demons be in Valdemar-?"
Selenay let them gabble a minute, then stilled them with another look. "Himura Kenshin, called rurouni," she said formally. "As you seem to have first-hand knowledge of the subject, perhaps you can inform us all what the hanyou Gift truly is."
"And just how you managed to hide those claws in a sparring match," Captain Kerowyn groused, stepping out of the shadows behind Selenay's chair.
Yamagata hid a start. Kami, she's good. Ordinarily he'd have felt the ex-mercenary's ki the moment he entered the chamber. But with all this confusion, he'd missed her.
From Himura's stillness, he hadn't.
"People see what they expect to see, Herald-Captain," the hitokiri answered simply. "Especially if one has the skill to blur one's ki. As I do."
"In the middle of a fight?" Kerowyn gave him a skeptical glance.
"Of course in the middle of a fight!" the young samurai by Himura burst out, glaring right back. "Che'! What good's a Gift if you have to stop fighting to use it?"
"Yahiko-kun," Himura murmured.
"Oh, come on!" Yahiko exclaimed in their own tongue. "Why do you let her talk to you that way? She's-"
"An honorable warrior, in service to the ruler of this land, where the emperor rules not," Kenshin answered in the same manner. "It is not important."
"Not important?! Maybe if you were just some rurouni, it wouldn't be important. But you're-" Yahiko reddened.
Himura stilled. "Were you... surprised?"
"Kinda." Mussed hair ducked. "But I guess... it makes more sense now why you're as good as you are." Brown eyes stared up, full of pain. "You can't do this, Kenshin! Not to them! You just can't!"
"What on earth is the boy saying?" Lady Donrevy's elderly grumble rang across the Council tables.
"It would appear to be a matter of honor, my lady," Talia noted. "Patience."
Genteel of her, Yamagata thought darkly. He wasn't sure where she'd learned it - likely that Imperial mage with his language-spells - but he knew Talia and Selenay both had a fair understanding of their native tongue.
"When his people's lives are in peril, even a prince's honor must kneel." Himura smiled at the boy, eyes distant with sorrow. "How much more mine, the poor, tattered honor of a masterless sword?"
"But you're not-!"
"Yahiko." Red hair shook slightly. "Go to your sensei."
With a strangled sob, the boy flung himself at Kamiya.
Yamagata blessed his foresight in putting on gloves. They kept his nails from drawing blood as his fists clenched.
Talia blinked, hiding a wince. Her ki rippled with pain.
And I hope you choke on it, Yamagata thought grimly, careful to keep the thought behind his shields. Feel our pain, Empath. Feel the shame you force us to. The dishonor. To speak of that which we do not speak of, save among kin and tested battle-allies. To force a samurai to explain himself to merchants and artisans-!
Himura stood alone now, drawing all the dishonor on himself. "In a fight, yes, Herald-Captain," he said politely in Valdemaran. "That is the Gift hanyou carry. While our other Gifts vary as your Heralds and Healers do, our use of them differs. The paths of energy through us are deeper set, more in tune with reflex. With instinct. We can blur minds in the heat of a battle. Or Fetch. Or Fire-Start - though that Gift is as rare among us as it is among you."
"Sounds damn useful." Kerowyn's eyes narrowed. "What's the catch?"
"Catch?" Kamiya started.
"Magic has a price," the captain said levelly. "Anything that strong has to have a hell of one."
Yamagata's eyes narrowed slightly at the man. Don't you dare-!
Himura's gaze let it slide off, subtle as water. "It does." He glanced at Ayame. "When the little one is the age you call thirteen, or fourteen, she will be given a blade. Perhaps a sword, if those skills are hers; perhaps a knife, or even an iron fan. And she will carry that weapon, or one like it, until the end of her days." Moving without hurry, he drew his saya from his obi, holding the sheathed blade out level, one black bar in front of red silk. "As this blade remains with me, always. Even were I bound and imprisoned, even were I kneeling on the execution grounds, no sane citizen of Yamato would take it from me."
"On the face of it, that would seem not to make sense," Selenay said neutrally. Her gaze flicked to the captain, who suddenly looked as if she'd been hit on the head with an iron club. "I take it there is a reason."
Himura shoved the saya back under his obi. "It is... the closest I can come in your tongue is sealing weapon. The smith's craft ties it to the hanyou who carries it, using the soul of steel to steady the Gift if pain or anger should drive one beyond reason." He scanned the room, mild gaze passing over every council member in turn. "For if anger seizes us, if life is threatened, our Gifts respond."
"Huh! So do Heralds!" A grim older lord from near the Holderkin lands scowled at them. "And they don't flaunt swords in the streets!"
I've had enough of coddling these fools. "Lavan Firestorm," Yamagata said bluntly.
Ah, that had even the idiots' attention.
"I could name more names, but your own history is clear," the Choshu lord went on. "There have been and continue to be Heralds whose Gifts can rage beyond their most desperate efforts to control them. Heralds who must have aid; either from the Circle, or from their own Companions." He let out a slow breath. "But our Isles, precious as they are to us, have never had Companions. So we have relied on our what skills are ours; the shaping of steel, such that it may channel away even the blood-rage. And that steel must remain with the hanyou - yet the first thing your Guards do on arresting a man is disarm him." Yamagata eyed the older lord. "Did you think I was only protecting my people?" Gods, if Valdemar allowed duels I'd have your head!
Talia's ki shifted with her body; a subtle nudge of her queen's foot, if he was any judge. "You've given us much meat for discussion, Lord Yamagata," Selenay said formally. "Perhaps you and Herald Kamiya could go into more detail with the Heraldic Circle and the Mages' Collegium. It's unfair to force some of your most Gifted people to remain in Maboroshi." She pursed her lips, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "Especially since our agents report that the Eastern Empire may yet rise again from the chaos left by the mage-storms."
Yamagata bowed. "I would be honored." I would rather walk barefoot over live coals. But as they say, when eating poison, don't forget to lick the plate.
A/N: Sejanes referring to Kenshin's nickname of "Choshu no kitsune" instead of the correct "kitsune no Choshu" was supposed to be a subtle clue that the guy is not an expert on everything. One of my betas pointed out that may have been too subtle. Sorry!
Engawa - roofed porch.
Neko - cat.
Kitsune - fox.
Yama-inu - "Mountain Dog", another name for wolf.
Taiyoukai - "great youkai".
Inu - dog.
Koumori - bat.
Usagi - rabbit. (Waves Usagi Yojimbo banner. Hail the long-eared ronin!)
Jizamurai - "country samurai"; more common in the Warring States era than the Tokugawa, they occupied a shifty middle ground, somewhere between low-rank samurai and farmers well-off enough to get some sword training.
Aya - a kind of freshwater trout.
'Kaasan - mother.
Chiburi - a move to shake the blood from the blade. There are several, but Kenshin usually uses a wrist-flick.
Torinawa - arresting ropes.
Takeo-yama - Mt. Takeo, outside Edo, was famous for its colony of macaque monkeys.
Che'! - "Darn it! Damn!"
Nou aru taka ha tsume wo kakusu - The act of not revealing one's talent. Literally, "Talented hawks hide their nails." Short: Tsume wo kakusu.