He walked here. Sejanes paused briefly outside the door of the small study, listening for any sound of the mayhem Yamagata had to be one ragged strip of pride away from committing on any Valdemaran in reach. Herald-Captain, I hope to all your odd deities you have his warriors under the politest guard you can manage.
:You're saying this is bad,: Kerowyn remarked dryly. Hints of echo came through with her words; whispers from Talia, swift rerouting of various guard schedules, the voice of Prince Daren as he presided over the Grand Council's temper tantrum. :I should be there.:
Gods, no! Sejanes shuddered. You're the war-leader he first surrendered to, remember? Before even the Lord Marshal. Don't come. Not yet.
:Selenay-:
Sejanes listened to a murmur of speech too low to be heard. Caught the quick strides of the queen and her bodyguards coming his way, and carefully straightened his robes. Grimaced at a stray spot of ink on one cuff. If Himura and I can't keep her safe, no one can.
A blink of surprise. :You think Kenshin would protect her?:
He's the one who made Yamagata walk here.
"Made him walk here?" Voice low, Selenay regarded Sejanes with a thoughtful frown. "Bright Lady, are you serious?"
So Kerowyn had been filling her in. Good. "Oh, yes," the ex-Imperial said dryly. "You don't think Yamagata would humble himself before a gaijin Queen of his own will, do you?"
"Humble himself?"
"Even to greet the Emperor, daimyo ride," Sejanes stated. "At least until they enter the outer gates of the palace itself. The way of the samurai is not just the sword and the bow, but the horse and the bow. For one of Yamagata's station to walk is to admit his honor is in peril. That his service to you may have been flawed, and requires your judgment."
Valdemar's Queen stared into him as if she would read his soul. "I should have tracked down Darkwind's dyheli allies and asked them to take the language - and the culture - the moment the Yamato dropped in on us."
"I doubt you would have found a volunteer," Sejanes shrugged. "They're very private people."
"So. Given that you're the next best thing we have to a chatty Yamato, tell me. Why," Selenay asked dangerously, "would Himura make Yamagata walk to me?"
"Because this isn't just a matter of a minor injury, smoothed over by a lord's proper attendance on the ruler of the land. If what Karal told me is true-" Gods, if it is! "This is life or death for all the hanyou in Valdemar. And Himura knows it. He walked here. He's thrown himself on your mercy, for the sake of the child. And because of who he is, Yamagata had to match him. Choshu itself kneels at your feet, waiting for you to choose life or death." Sejanes' smile turned wry. "Mind, if it's death, I suspect Himura will be through the nearest window with every last one of his people he can salvage."
"I don't like it when my people are mysterious, Instructor."
Not that I'm exactly yours, but... never mind. "Yamagata's already smarting. I'm not going to make your job any harder than it is."
"And informing me would make it harder?" Selenay crossed her arms, staring him down.
"He needs to see truth from you," Sejanes said bluntly. "They all do." He frowned, sensing something... well. Far more subtle than he'd expected, even from Yamato. "And part of your answers are happening now."
Walking behind her through the door, Sejanes honed his Mage-Sight to its finest degree, watching the subtle swirl of green-gold, warm flame-reds, and-
It's not black. It only looks black.
It was warm, as black was never warm; skin on skin, the heat of an enemy's pulse against his fingers.
And it was focussed around Himura, as he held a gentle hand on top of Ayame's nodding head, Yahiko pressing close with wide eyes.
A red beyond red. Blood-magic... and something more.
Power filtered into the drowsing girl, trickling into young channels like raindrops in sand. A gentle, steady flow, that went on... and on...
And stopped.
Ayame yawned, and snuggled deeper into her grandfather's arms. Himura straightened, smiling at Gensai as the Healer held the young hanyou curled against his shoulder. "That should mend it."
"'Jiisan? Is Ayame going to be all right?" Suzume blinked from Kaoru's arms.
"She will, so long as we keep an eye on her. But your sister's going to be sleeping a lot for the next week," Gensai said softly. "Himura, she's three!"
"Magic doesn't flow as thickly here as the Uncleansed Lands," Yamagata said gruffly from the far corner of the study, bending his head in a far less formal nod to Selenay. "She would have needed more time for her youki to grow."
"Even had she been in Yamato, it is not always certain when the claws will arise," Kenshin noted. "But one would advise you plan for her to receive her weapon no later than thirteen. If the claws are late, the fangs may be as well," his face sobered, "and that often means the rage comes early."
"Yoshiko said something like that. I have a fang of hers for each of them; she made certain I'd be prepared, in case-" Gensai looked away.
"'Jiisan's sad about 'Kaasan again?" Suzume whispered.
"Oh, she wouldn't want me to be sad." Ayame tucked in one arm, Gensai hugged her little sister with the other, eyes suspiciously bright. "Not when I have such beautiful granddaughters to look after."
"What happened?" Selenay asked softly.
"Gensai Yoshiko was samurai, and hanyou, and her children were in danger." Kaoru surrendered her chair to the Healer, surreptitiously handing him some of the fluffy paper Yamato used for blowing noses as well. "She picked up a naginata and went to the wall with her husband."
Selenay inclined her head, accepting what wasn't said. "I see." She cleared her throat. "A fang?"
"It is needed to create the sealing weapon," Kenshin stated. "It must be one's own, or blood kin, or adopted kin. None else will work."
"Forgive an outsider for asking stupid questions," Sejanes put in, "But what on earth happens if you have more children than teeth?"
The room froze. Gensai choked on a tearful laugh. Yamagata... looked murderous.
Oh, damn. I'd forgotten the Choshu had onmitsu as well. Yamagata was one of their generals; he'd know all the Imperial diplomats. He knows damn well who I am, and who I answer to. Sejanes weighed his options. Leaving would damage my face, and Tremane's, and so Selenay's. Better to stick it out, and hope he can see past then to now.
"Ah... they grow back, Sejanes-san," Kenshin said warily. "Within a week, at least. Though legend says great hanyou such as Inuyasha regained their fangs within a day."
"Your teeth grow back." Selenay gave Sejanes a measuring glance. "And you're not surprised."
"Considering what I'm looking at - no, not really." Sejanes kept his face expressionless, not looking at Yamagata.
With a slow breath, the Choshu lord mastered himself. Glanced at Selenay's bodyguards. Met the queen's gaze. "You trust their discretion."
"Instructor Sejanes tells me you believe your people are in danger," Selenay said levelly. "If the Circle concurs, then this conversation never happened."
"I am... unsure where to start."
"Perhaps a story." Kenshin slipped Yahiko a wink. "After all, one knows someone is behind on their history lessons."
"Oh, man..." Yahiko glanced around the room for any overlooked way out. "Is this one gonna put me to sleep again?"
"One hopes not." Kenshin's smile smoothed into seriousness. "It is said that long and long ago, centuries before the Eastern Empire ever met Chi'in, something tore magic asunder. Perhaps it was your Cataclysm. Perhaps a mage who dared too far, and risked too much. No one knows for sure. What is known is that the Isles, that had been a place of life so rich and wondrous we knew the gods themselves chose to dwell there, were twisted, and tainted, and laid waste. Summer became winter, innocent beasts warped into killers, humans who wandered lost vanished - or returned, to slay and feast on kin as even mad dogs do not. And every night, demons walked the land, sometimes taking human form to enter fortresses by guile, sometimes merely stooping on those unfortunate enough to be without walls, killing and feeding as they would.
"For seven years, it is said, our clans endured. But every season the deaths grew more common; every dawn, hope faded more.
"Yet there was hope. Our leaders of war and spirit had found the demons differed. That they were at war; between the oni, who had bound themselves in flesh and could remain in this world in day or night, and the akuma, the evils that rode the wind, who must hide from Amaterasu's mirror and only took shape in darkness. More, they had found there was a source to both these demons; a hole between this world and the Abyss that might yet be sealed. If there was strength enough. If.
"But alone, we did not have that strength."
Selenay's chin lifted. "So you called on your gods."
"We were not dead yet, Selenay-dono," Kenshin said dryly. "Though as my shishou told the tale, we did ask for advice."
"Advice?" Kaoru said, stunned. "What kind of advice could-" She waved speechless hands.
"The kind that seemed most mad." Kenshin turned to her, violet hidden behind red bangs. "But one miko, Hoshiko-hime, listened. And wept when she heard; for she had been lonely once, and worn from her efforts against demons, and turned too eagerly to the ronin Sashikizu when he shared her watch against the dark. Who held her, and comforted her, and walked beside her every night for months... only to slaughter her clan the one night she let him pass the ward. For he, too, was an akuma.
"But she heard, and dried her tears, and walked into a starless night to make the offer..."
Offer? The whirlwind laughed cruelly, a mass of voices threatening blood and pain and death...
Turned curious, when she did not flee. What do you offer?
"Life," Hoshiko-hime said firmly.
Life?
We take life!
Where we will!
When we will!
Life runs through our claws like rain-
"And flees your grip, like water into black sand!" the miko shouted into the maelstrom of demons. She would not flee, she would not... it was too late to run. "What if you could have more?"
More...?
Lasting life?
The taste of blood... the sweet reek of fear...
"We can give you that," Hoshiko said fiercely. "We can give you what you want. Life. Victory over your enemies. Ties to this world nothing can break!"
...Why?
"Sashikizu!" the miko shouted. "Sashikizu, I know you're in there!"
A human name.
Used by one of us, to snare a human fool.
It matters not-
"Doesn't it?" She sucked in a breath, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You said you loved me, and I know that was a lie... you said you meant no harm, and gods, I know that was a lie..."
Always a lie. One quieter howl in the winds. Always...
"...But I saw your face, the first time you saw moonlight on water."
One clawed wind pulled free from the tornado of demons, swirling around her like a whistling sword.
Hoshiko felt cuts open on her face, stinging with her own tears. "I know where you came from," she ground out. "Dark and cold and hate. That's all you knew when you came here. That's all you were!
"And when the gate closes - and it will close, even if every last human on these Isles dies to seal it - that's where you'll go! Back to nothing! Eternity, with no life. No hope. No light..."
Dimly, she realized the wind had slowed. Claws left her flesh, pricking at clothes and bow and quiver as if the demon had to touch to know she was real. We... cannot change what we are...
"Yes you can." She spread her hands to the starless night, calling on all the powers that had ever looked on her people with favor. All the kami, all the mononoke - any spirit that might hear, and heed. "I'll help you."
Come, she wished. Come if you will. Come, if you have mercy in your hearts.
Help me bring these lost ones home.
The power washed through her, pouring in from all her fellow spirit-workers who'd staked their lives on this one wild gamble. Power soft and warm and dangerous as the spirits each called on. Bat, dog, tiger, fox; wind and thunder, fire and rivers. So many she could not name them all...
And last, before the darkness sucked her dry, the shadowy, grinning spirit of a black wolf.
"Hoshiko."
Cold. Empty. Like a rind scooped out, and left to rot in the ice.
"Hoshiko, no. You can't - leave."
Warmth settled on her skin; a wolf-fur cloak? Who gave cloaks to the dead?
"Hoshiko, you have to stay!" A samurai's command in a young man's voice, as he wrapped furry warmth around her, nestling his nose against her neck to sniff at her throat. "I know you're alive. You have to stay alive. You have to look at me!" Panic, now, breaking through a warrior's control. "You're so still, so still - and it hurts, Hoshiko! Why does it hurt?"
"Sashikizu?" the woman who had been a miko croaked. Nothing left. No power. No magic.
But I'm alive. I shouldn't be alive...
A wolfish whine, and he licked at her jaw, stroking clawed fingers through her hair. "I felt you going, and I couldn't - I couldn't-" He clutched her, inhumanly strong. "Open your eyes!" A breath. "...Please?"
Hoshiko blinked, trying to focus on the host of wild creatures that had suddenly appeared around her. Some were animals, save for two tails; others, almost human save for hair and eyes and pointed ears, garbed in rich silks and swords and odd, bony armor. A few that seemed to flicker and shift; one patch of red was a fox and a woman and fire itself burning free.
And a creature that had once more taken the shape of a samurai held her close, dark ronin's topknot spilling over her shoulders, wolf-gold eyes wide and wondering and afraid. "Hoshiko, what did you do?"
"Who cares? Kill the ningen!" A lion-like one stalked forward, eyes glowing red. "Drink her blood!"
"No!" Sashikizu stared him down, lips lifting off fangs. "She's mine."
I'm not dead. I'm not dead - and damned if I'm going to be prey! Hoshiko stiffened. "Now, just wait-"
"Mine," the wolf-demon murmured, nuzzling her throat. Rumbling at her, soft happy noises she'd heard watching over wolf dens.
Not feeding noises. Not at all.
I- he wants to-
Wind whistled, and she felt a shock of elsewhere. Then there was a scent of hemlock, and warm fur under her.
And very busy hands, fumbling at her clothing ties. "Sashikizu!"
Claws stopped. "I - want you," he said hesitantly. "Not like before. I want - staying.
Touching. Your den. You smell like you wanted me..."
As the thin light of dawn filtered through the sheltering branches, Hoshiko laid a hand against his cheek, looking over a face familiar and different. Still beautiful, but not that unearthly beauty that had snared her before. This was grace like boulders leaning together, like snow dusting shorn fields.
It's what we thought, she realized. What we hoped for. We tied them to the tribes of nature. To the powers of rock and stone and fire. He's still dark, but he's not a demon anymore.
He's a wolf who wants his mate.
"Come here," she whispered. "Let me show you what it is not to lie."
Fingers and lips met, melting into hungry kisses.
Well, I don't think I've ever seen Selenay turn quite that shade of scarlet, Sejanes thought, hiding a wry grin behind his hand. He was old; he wasn't dead.
"Hoshiko's children were the first wolf-hanyou," Kenshin concluded. "Brave samurai who helped their kin on both sides turn the oni back. With the help of miko and houshi, they reclaimed tainted lands for youkai and ningen alike. It took many centuries, and evil oni still exist to this day, but our Isles no longer warp innocents into evil forms simply because they have wandered where mortals seldom go."
Kaoru's jaw worked, but no sound came out.
Selenay blinked. Swallowed dryly. "Youkai... were demons."
"Hai, Selenay-dono."
"Hanyou... are half-demons."
Kenshin inclined his head. "Half-youkai, hai. By birth, as this one is, or by blood resurfacing from sleep, as Ayame-chan's father most likely held it. For after so many centuries, there are hanyou in the ancestry of most Yamato..." his gaze found Kaoru's, "...and all samurai."
The Herald turned white.
"You know I would not lie, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said softly. "Not to you. Never to you."
Kaoru shook her head, lips bloodless. "I'm a Herald. My mother was from Valdemar."
"You have ki sense," the hitokiri stated. "It is how the akuma first sensed our world. How youkai... and hanyou, and all those with their blood... still sense it." He stepped toward her. "Kaoru-dono-"
"Get away from me!"
She bolted, avoiding his shocked hands, dodging startled guards - who were there to protect Selenay, Sejanes recalled, not chase panicked Heralds down. Though from their glance at Selenay, they were a heartbeat from doing just that.
"Let her go!" Yamagata ordered. Sighed, shoulders slumping. "Let her go. She needs to run."
"So," Sejanes ventured into the stunned silence, "even if you're not hanyou, there are effects."
The Choshu lord shrugged, spread one gloved hand. "Why do you think our people spend such efforts on courtesy, Instructor? We may not suffer the blood-rage, but we still have tempers."
"Demon tempers," Selenay said numbly.
"Youkai tempers," Yamagata stressed. "They can be cruel, and sometimes evil, but they're not demons anymore." He let tense hands rest by his side, regarding her leader to leader. "Yet even if hanyou were demons, which they are not, they have followed the laws of your land, as ningen do; and when they have broken them they have been punished, as ningen are. And you have said the great law of Valdemar is there is no one, true way."
Selenay's lips tightened.
Yamagata followed her gaze. "I can personally vouch for Himura."
"No." The hitokiri's voice was chill. Matter-of-fact. "You cannot."
Captain, I hope you're listening, Sejanes thought, throat gone dry. This conversation just turned very ugly.
:You think Himura might go after Yamagata?:
Gods, I hope not.
If he sensed Kerowyn's forces outside their door, Kenshin did not so much as twitch to mark it. "This one is but a rurouni, imposing on Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Choshu's honor, and Satsuma's, is untouched. And will remain so."
"You can't be serious!" Yamagata's face reddened; he advanced on the small redhead. "Stay, in that shell of a dojo? We've spent ten years looking for you. Your comrades await your return! The rank you have earned-"
"It was to create a world of peace, not to win rank or glory, that we raised our swords and killed," Kenshin said gently. "If we forget that, then we are no revolutionaries after all. And the Shogunate truly has won."
Yamagata glared. "So you'd rob us of your skills. Your power."
"Yamagata-san. This is a land of law, whose rulers are guided away from tyranny by the Companions and their own strength of will. Where justice is of the heavens, by the hands of Heralds who strive their best to protect all those in their charge." Violet was fathomless. "This one has nothing that you need."
:What on earth is he getting at, Sejanes?:
Sejanes hid a wince. Nothing to worry about, Captain-
:Heaven's justice... wait, Eldan said something about that, stories about people who supported the Shogunate being left dead on the street with-: A blaze of rage. :By the rock of Gabora and the nine rings of Teylar! You didn't tell me he was a gods-damned assassin!:
Kerowyn, don't!
:Oh, I'm not coming in there.: Calculation chilled her thoughts. :Not unless I have a very good excuse...:
"What do you possibly think you can do, as one sword alone?" Yamagata demanded.
"With one sword, the people within my sight," Himura reached out, laying a hand on a very wide-eyed young Yahiko, "can be protected."
Innocent and threatening at once, Sejanes noted, feeling that calm gaze touch him as well as Yamagata. How does he do that?
"This one is no different than before," Kenshin went on softly. "Where this one's skills are needed, I will be. And they are needed here. In a fledgling dojo, whose assistant master tries to bridge the gap between our peoples," he ruffled dark hair, "and whose student has uncanny skill in ferreting out those of Yamato gone astray from the law."
"Aw, man..." Yahiko reddened.
"In case you hadn't noticed, Himura," Yamagata's smile was cold, disapproval shoving aside any hint of fear, "the assistant master you say needs your services more than Choshu has left your protection."
"She did not leave, Yamagata-san. She ran." Slowly, clawed fists clenched. "She ran from me."
Sejanes took a careful step back. Something was stirring around the hitokiri, like a whisper of steel unsheathed. "Himura-san, right now I'd think she'd run from any samurai."
"Hai," Kenshin growled.
"Oh, for the Storm Lord's sake!" Yamagata burst out. "Why should you care if she runs? She may be ignorant as a damned fool, but she's a Herald; that guardian spirit of hers will trample any samurai who takes up the chase." He gestured at the scarred cheek. "And I know you haven't forgotten what happened the last time you took in a lost cat-"
"You will not speak of Tomoe so."
Chill. Even. Expressionless.
Back up, Sejanes mouthed at Selenay, preparing a purely defensive shield. Back up, now.
"Kaoru-dono is not a lost cat." The gaze that lifted was amber, and deadly as flame. "She is a sensei. An honorable warrior of this land. Brave, and honest, and strong enough in spirit to shatter the Shin no Ippou itself." Claws clenched. Released. Clenched again. "She must not run."
Yamagata's eyes narrowed. "Kamiya is not your concern."
The red head tilted, a fox weighing which way the mouse might jump. "Have you become a houshi, then, Yamagata-san, to bind one of youkai blood from his own free will? I sense no powers of the kami about you."
Sweat damped Yamagata's mustache. "You swore an oath!"
"To Katsura. Who released me. Who is dead and gone beyond any oaths we might think to hold. Who asked of me but one thing before his death: to watch over his people." The very slightest hint of a shrug. "I think he would count her among his people. Aa, I think that he would."
"You will stay!"
"No."
Between one blink and the next, Kenshin was gone.
"He Jumped!" Yahiko grinned. "I didn't know he could do that!"
As every last drop of color drained from Yamagata's face, Sejanes whistled. "And neither did you."
It can't be true. Kaoru curled on herself in one of the small trysting nooks in Companion's Field, lost in misery. Here she could cry, and curse fate, and bite her own sleeves as she sobbed, and no one would try to talk her out of it. People came here to be alone, or almost alone; no one would enter while Megumi stood guard outside. It can't be.
:It... would explain many things.:
:Megumi, no-:
:Why there's always a pressure on our bond,: Megumi went on inexorably. :It's never much. It's never interfered. But there are times I have to consciously reach out to touch you.: The Companion's mind brushed hers, prickling at her ki sense. :Damn. No wonder we thought it was Empathy.:
Kaoru blinked, tears blurring her vision. :What?:
:It "feels" like us, Kaoru. Like the energy-sense of any creature of spirit bound to flesh. But we knew you were human. So - we thought you must be reflecting what you felt from us-: Her attention jerked away. :You! Haven't you hurt her enough?:
Silence.
:Oh gods, don't do that.: Megumi's anger was turning to mortification, and shame. :Not to me, damn it! Never to me!:
"But you too are a warrior against the dark, Megumi-dono. Should one not honor a fellow warrior?"
Curiosity trickled through the gray haze of shock. Kaoru pushed herself to her feet, wobbling out to the entrance.
Kenshin was on one knee before Megumi; the formal bow of a soldier to a greater lord. Quiet. Composed.
And from that slight upward curve of a smile, quite willing to hold that pose until one particular Companion died of embarrassment.
"Cut that out!"
"As you wish, Kaoru-don-urk!"
Ah. Bokken. Swirly-eyed rurouni on the ground.
She felt much better.
"Oro..."
One hand on ponytail, the other on red gi. Drag. "I can't believe you!" Avoid the rocks - the bigger ones, anyway. "Keeping that from Selenay! From all the Heralds! From me!" She let him drop by the nook bench, sitting to glare down at him. "How could you keep that from me..."
Sitting up, Kenshin rubbed his head. "Kaoru-dono?"
Kaoru gulped. Bit her lip. Tried not to burst into tears all over again. "How could he keep that from me?"
A soft sigh. "Kamiya Koshijirou came here in service to Satsuma," Kenshin said quietly. "He would have sensed the Companions' nature, as this one did. He knew thousands of lives might ride on his blade." A whisper of silk. "And it is customary among us not to entrust our young ones with secrets that could cost their lives. By the time he would have told you - you had already been Chosen."
"It's not fair," she whispered. "He was my father. He was a good man. It's not fair that he-"
"Held Hoshiko-hime's mercy in his veins?" Kenshin said softly. "Aa, one might say that is not fair. For how can one ever repay the gods for such a precious gift?"
Kaoru stared, blue eyes round and wild. "Gift?" Demon - my father was part demon and you call it a gift-
"One the best of my father's people treasure above even the finest sword." Kneeling across from her, Kenshin made no move to draw closer. "That gift which was the miko's alone, and no power of gods or demons. The gift of choice."
Choice, Kaoru thought numbly. Demons are evil. They can't be anything else. The akuma knew that. No matter what they wanted, they couldn't change...
"For many centuries, the youkai did not realize it was a gift," Kenshin went on. "They lived, as we lived, and many of them enjoyed human lovers. But outside of Sashikizu's own pack, few of them ever claimed us as kin. Even females might cast their half-breed pups away, to live, or not, as human mercy willed. For hanyou are weaker than youkai, and among youkai as samurai, strength can be everything." He smiled slightly. "But then the Inu-Taisho, the great youkai Lord of the West, took a human hime to wife. And his last act on this earth was to name Izayoi's child... Inuyasha."
He named him? But that would mean- Kaoru leaned forward, intent on the story. "The Inu-Taisho claimed him? As a youkai?"
"History recounts it was not well accepted," Kenshin said wryly. "But he was strong, and brave, and eventually lucky. And his human nature gave him a strength even youkai power could not match; the will to take both humans and youkai into his pack, and with their combined powers destroy an evil neither kind could face alone. So now our peoples acknowledge each other as people." The swordsman looked up. "And just as samurai are willing to acknowledge the hanyou in their heritage, there are youkai, now, who know they have ningen blood. And they are grateful, Kaoru-dono."
Grateful, he says. Like they're just people. Powerful - cruel - magical people. Kaoru shook her head slowly. I- this just- She drew a deep breath. I can't deal with this. Not now. "Nice story. Great distraction." She glared at him. "It's not going to work."
"Oro?"
"Don't 'oro' me! You left Selenay with Yamagata!"
"Er..."
"And you left the Gensais. And Yahiko!"
"Sessha suspects they can take care of themselves for a few hours, that they can," Kenshin muttered. "Sejanes-san was there, Kaoru-dono. As was the Herald-Captain. One doubts any blood will be shed with such formidable wills at work, that I do. And sessha had something important to look after."
"More important than talking to the Queen? I know the Circle - they should be questioning you into next week!" Kaoru tapped her bokken against her hand, considering another swing. "How did you get out here, anyway?"
A red shrug. "Sessha Jumped."
"You said you couldn't do that!"
"One said it was unwise for a warrior in battle. One did not say it was not possible." Violet regarded her soberly. "Especially when one sessha cares about has put herself in danger."
"Danger?" Kaoru almost laughed. This was Companion's Field. Anything that wanted to attack her would have to get past the Palace Guard, and the other Companions, and Megumi-
Like Kenshin just did.
She gulped. "What danger?"
"Not - immediate. More one of habit." He clenched his hands on his hakama, as if will alone kept him from coming closer. "Kaoru-dono. What did your father teach you of... courting? Not only of Yamato, but of samurai?"
"...Eep?" Kaoru managed. It wasn't as if she were ignorant; she was a Herald. No matter how well they were trained, all too many of her peers would die very young. Any time they weren't risking life, limb, and sanity for Queen and Valdemar... well, once she'd come of age at sixteen and gone through the full instruction on self-care, it was understood her life was hers to do with as she pleased.
But I never found anyone who really seemed right...
"If a samurai woman is not interested in a suitor, she snubs him," Kenshin said carefully. "She lets his poems languish without reply, or answers them with ones clearly meant to show her lack of concern for him. She lets his skill, his manners, pass her by as a leaf in the stream. She ignores him. She walks away. Into the rain, often, to show everyone she does not care to have even his scent upon her clothing. If he is... unmannerly, then she might injure him, or even kill him, if there is need." Knuckles whitened. "But she does not run."
Her throat was paper-dry. "Why?"
"Because there is that within us which is of the youkai, Kaoru-dono. Not of the dark, not of the demon," Kenshin added swiftly, as she stiffened, "but of the mononoke Hoshiko called to aid."
"The animal spirits?" Kaoru shook her head. "I don't understand."
Kenshin let out a quiet sigh. "The first hanyou, the first children born of an akuma who chose life as a youkai, were of wolf blood. And since they were first, blessed by the gods and Hoshiko's allies, that pattern has been set within all of us, no matter the kind of youkai we carry. Neko, usagi, kitsune - it matters not. The wolf spirit is a ghost over us all, and it influences our magic to bind us to others. And to bind others to us. We form packs, Kaoru-dono. Those of a samurai clan are bound to each other not only by blood and honor, but by the power within us all..."
Wolf-packs? What's that got to do with anything? She gripped her bokken harder, wanting to deal out another lump-
Wait a minute.
This was Kenshin. Who could take down half a dozen yakuza without blinking. Who dodged Kerowyn as if it were child's play.
Who somehow, weirdly, almost never dodged her.
Which means he... lets me hit him?
According to the Animal Mindspeakers teaching her survival classes, wolves had rurouni, too. Grown males and females who would strike out from their birth pack, looking for a territory to call their own. Who might join another wanderer to start a new pack, or find a pack that had lost members and offer submission to be accepted...
He lets me discipline him. He lives in my "den". He makes sure the oldest member of my "pack", Gensai, remembers to eat when he's busy seeing patients. He - he pup-sits! And he brought me an orphan. Like a rurouni wolf would to the head female- Kaoru stiffened. "Are you saying that if I run, I invite you to chase me?"
Violet dropped. "To chase. And catch, if I can. And if I can..." He blushed.
"Oh." And now she was red, she could feel it burning over her cheeks and up her ears. "I - um..."
"But this one knows you are of Valdemar, and not always familiar with our ways," Kenshin said carefully. "So sessha will risk being - rude. And ask, as one knows gaijin sometimes ask each other. Are this one's attentions... unwelcome?"
Kaoru froze. What do I do? What do I say?
"Please." Steel-blue met her gaze, shot through with amber. "I know... your scent. Your ki. But I do not know what you will."
"I..." Her throat dried. Kaoru swallowed. "I want..."
Wire-taut, he waited.
"I want you to trust me," she whispered. "Let me in your mind."
Kenshin paled. Clenched fingers on fabric. "Hai." Shivered. "It... will not be pleasant..."
"I don't care."
"You will." Eyes closed, he slowed his breathing, dropping into trance.
Kaoru felt his shields go down; a controlled fall, defined as castle defenses, leaving one and only one way in for a friendly touch. Followed their fall in, reaching deeper than she ever had to transfer memory and words. Treading carefully; beneath the control, there were pieces of his mind still raw and bleeding, though an emerald weave that tasted of Gensai now soothed the worst of it...
Felt a familiar echo, and started. :You're a Mindspeaker!:
No, Kaoru-dono. One - had some small measure of that Gift, once. But one was wounded deeply, and one is no longer...
I won't be, I can't be, she was and she hid and it hurts so much-
Kaoru gripped the edge of the bench, hair rising on the back of her neck. That was... just a whisper, under Kenshin's thoughts. But the power in it, the... fury... :Who are you?:
Ah, koishii, can't you guess? A glint of amber eyes, shining in the moonlight. You've seen me before.
:Battousai...:
That is... not who this one is...
And yet it is always who I am. I can act the rurouni, be the rurouni-
But Jin-e was right. One's nature... is hitokiri. Always. One didn't want you to know-
-I was afraid. And fear makes the youkai within-
-Dangerous, Kaoru-dono. Even to those one... cares for...
...And you said the past didn't matter, you wanted me to stay... kami, you are so beautiful...
Hands on her sleeves, stroking in warmth. A soft breath on her neck, tickling her earlobe. Kaoru swallowed. :Who are you?:
One is... Himura Kenshin.
And Himura Battousai. A flicker of rage. Would you do as your fear bids you? Sever that of me which is youkai from that which is ningen? It has been done to hanyou before - I will kill before I allow anyone to do it to me-!
-No. One would flee. One does not wish to kill, ever again.
But I will. Believe it, little swordswoman. Your kenjutsu can be practiced by any ningen. The Hiten must have youki to back it. Let your Herald-Mages try to bind it from me, and I will make the rain bleed...
...But one does not wish to harm, Kaoru-dono. This one's heart is truly the sword; yet it does not need to kill.
I would rather... touch. And hold. And keep.
One can scent that you might wish to be touched... there...
The pad of one thumb touched the inside of her wrist, drew a tingling line along the side of her own thumb, dipping back down to trace circles in her palm.
And there.
The fingers of his other hand traced just behind her ear, smoothing down the curve of her jaw. Teasing at the edge of her lips until her breath hitched.
And - perhaps - there...
Fangs gently, so gently, teasing at the skin of her throat. Barely denting skin, before lips and tongue soothed their touch away.
Lips and fangs that withdrew, breath as ragged as her own. "Do you... wish me to leave? One... still could..."
"Nnrghh..." Blindly, she reached out and grabbed. Hair. Hair's good. "Don't you... dare go... anywhere..."
:Aha!: A silvery chime of hooves outside. :There you- oh. Er. Oops...:
"Sanosuke..."
Kaoru felt that growl, shivering through her collarbone. Blinked. Drew in a shaky breath. What- what am I doing...
Clawed fingers released her.
"K-Kenshin...?"
"You are not sure." Red bangs shadowed his gaze, hid his face as he turned away. "One would never... force any who were not sure." He held his breath. Let it out slowly, stepping back to catch the breeze from the entrance.
So he doesn't catch my scent...
Sunlight glinted off claws as Kenshin flexed his fingers. Slowly - deliberately - cracked his knuckles. "Sanosuke?"
:Um-: Embarrassment colored the Companion's mind-voice. :I can see this is a really bad time, and I-:
"One would suggest you run."
"This is... this is just..." Eldan walked back and forth along the torn-up turf of Sanosuke's mad dash, shaking his head as he tried to pick out the faint traces of one particular hitokiri hot on the fleeing Companion's trail. "I think the gardeners are in shock."
:I think the gardeners aren't the only ones,: Sayvel put in privately.
:Nope,: Kerowyn thought wryly. She rose from her haunches, convinced she'd gotten all she was going to out of following this particular trail. "Explains where the Yamato get legends of flying youkai."
"Kero- how can you-" Eldan waved his hands. "He chased down a Companion!"
"I seem to recall you did a lot more than run down and thwack one particular noble over the head when he interrupted some of our time off," Kerowyn chuckled. "Gods, poor Kaoru. Did you see her when we handed Yahiko over? If she were any redder I'd swear she'd been dunked in the Vale's hot spring and left to boil."
"Nothing is as fast as a Companion!"
"You haven't been mixed up with enough Pelagir mage-constructs, partner of mine," Kero said plainly. "Companions aren't the only creatures out there that can feed their speed and endurance with magic."
Eldan gave her a hard look. "Nothing human is that fast."
"Trail says he didn't try matching Sanosuke speed for speed directly. He used the territory, cut corners where something horse-sized had to take a little longer route. Those straight parts where he didn't - Eldan, Himura himself admitted he. Isn't. Human." Kerowyn shrugged. "Elspeth says Hawkbrother mages like Firesong use magic to build their strength and stamina from the time they can walk, and we know samurai start sword-training just about that young. Extend that to hitokiri and mix in the youkai heritage - yes, Himura damn well can be that fast." She gave her partner a look askance. "What's really wrong?"
"How did we miss him, Kero?" Eldan's fists clenched. "He's a killer - he's an assassin - and we let him in the same room with Selenay!"
"Was an assassin," Kerowyn said soberly. "And a damn good one, apparently. Which is how, Eldan. I've dealt with people in that line of work. And I've heard of more. One of whom - and no, I won't tell you who - retired and joined Tale'sedrin when Tarma and Kethry opened it up. The good ones aren't bloodthirsty. They aren't flashy. They're quiet, lethal, trained professionals. Who go out, do their job, come home, take care of their families, and do their best to blend in with everybody else." She grinned wryly. "Only with that giveaway hair, Himura can't exactly blend in. So he does the next best thing and looks like a bumbling idiot you wouldn't trust with a butter knife. Wonder why he doesn't just dye it?"
:Probably because it won't stay,: Sayvel put in. :If Kenshin uses energy the way we do - and from what Sanosuke told me after his ears stopped ringing, he does - any dye would wear right out.:
"Hmm. Wonder if Thalkarsh has that problem? Or had," Kero reflected. "We'll have to send word south and find out if she's still alive. And if she ever left that temple."
"Who?" Eldan frowned.
"Demon, according to my grandmothers." Kerowyn grinned wryly. "Got stuck in human form by a very powerful priest-mage, back when they were running around as mercenaries."
She hadn't thought Eldan's eyes could get any wider. "You mean... you know that story of Himura's..."
"Might well be fact? At least as much as the stories you have about Vanyel and Lavan Firestorm?" Kerowyn finished. "Damn straight. It's been done."
"Oh... gods." Her partner cradled his head in his hands.
"According to Grandma Kethry, the priest slapped it with a geas to be stuck in their temple until it changed its ways. Something about wards not holding on a creature that wasn't evil," Kerowyn shrugged her shoulders, thinking. "I wonder how that worked out?"
"Oh gods."
"Eldan, Love, if you want to be worried, worry less about a maybe-demon kingdoms away and more about the fact that we haven't heard word one from the palace Guards about sighting Kenshin," Kerowyn pointed out. "If we can't keep one of the best from getting out when we know he's leaving, we'd damn well better look at our precautions to keep people from getting in."
"Not that any of our precautions were meant to keep out our own Gifted-" Eldan stopped. Tried not to glance away.
But she'd known him too long. "That's it, isn't it?" Kerowyn said softly. "That's why he gets under your skin." She nodded to herself, adding up years of observations, starting with a much younger Eldan who'd been stunned to realize another Mindspeaker was not a fellow Herald, but a mercenary. "If Himura was a Herald, you wouldn't mind. You might have to look at Vanyel Ashkevron and Lavan Firestorm to find Heralds who come close to Battousai in pure numbers, but gods know we've all got blood enough on our hands. Still, it's blood we shed for Selenay, and Valdemar, and that means it doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!" His knuckles whitened. "We don't go around assassinating people just because we think they're supporting the wrong side!"
"Oh? And just what did we send Elspeth to do?" Kerowyn waved his grimace off. "Still, you're right. The Ishin Shishi may have said they fought to restore the emperor, but everything Yamagata's people have told us says they took the Shogunate out and put their own government in. So unlike Elspeth, Himura wasn't working for his rightful ruler. He wasn't even working as a hired sword, like Jin-e did. Which I suppose is a pity. If he were a mercenary, selling his Gifts like his sword - well, you wouldn't like it, but you'd understand it. White Winds mage, sell-sword, pretty lady for hire for the night; we all have to eat, and if it means selling part of ourselves, that's what we do."
"I never said you were like that," Eldan said quietly.
"You didn't. I did. And I was." Kerowyn smiled darkly. "But Himura was even lower than that, hmm? He didn't kill for royalty, or money. He killed for an idea. For the hope that Katsura wasn't lying, and that the revolution would bring a chance for all his people to live in peace." She shrugged. "Sounds like a certain Baron Valdemar I've heard of."
Eldan shook his head. "Valdemar wasn't an assassin."
"Likely not. But someone who worked for him had to be," Kerowyn said coldly. "You've talked with Sejanes. And Tremane. And their men. The Empire hasn't changed much in fourteen centuries. The Emperor would have had agents all through Valdemar's court and lands, just as he does in every Baron's domain. Someone had to track them down. Someone had to eliminate them. And do it fast. And clean. And quietly. Or your revered ancestors wouldn't have lived long enough to bolt west." She softened her tone. "Eldan, like it or not, someone had to be loyal enough to Valdemar to kill for him. Loyal as we are, now, to Selenay."
"We're not-"
"We are. That's why Himura frightens you." She chafed her arms, looking out over Companion's Field. "It's like looking into a dark mirror. What we might be, if all we had was our Gifts and our loyalties... is what hitokiri are."
"Only he walked away." Eldan looked... lost. "How could he walk away?"
:Caryo says Selenay's trying to get that out of Yamagata right now,: Sayvel passed along. :Want to help?:
"-It's not safe for him to be outside a clan!"
Selenay squelched the urge to knead away her headache. Gods, if she could only join that small corner of her conference room the Gensai family had taken over, after Karal and Quenten had been quietly let past by the Guards to join Sejanes. She could hear Altra purring all the way over here; the Firecat had given Ayame a careful sniffing, then settled down, perfectly happy to be petted and scratched by two curious little girls while their grandfather discussed hanyou with the two mages, Karal, and Seneschal's Herald Kyril. Oh, how she'd love to be over there with them...
But no, she was the Queen. She had to be responsible. No matter how much she might want to shake one particular samurai until his teeth rattled. "Lord Yamagata, shouting at me is not going to get Himura to change his mind." Selenay kept her expression serious, with just a light touch of concern. She'd already gotten Yamagata to agree to have copies of the Yamato law-books - the complete ones, this time, with all their laws on onmitsu, hitokiri, and hanyou - transported to Haven for Crown review. Now she could tend to the finer details. Such as making sure one particular Herald who'd done her best to defuse this situation didn't wind up with her heart broken by a certain pig-headed Choshu lord. "And not safe for whom? Himura's already been a wanderer ten years-"
"That should never have happened!" Yamagata half-closed his eyes, composing himself. "Your Majesty, forgive a tired soldier. I've been... concerned for him... since he disappeared off the battlefield at Toba Fushimi."
"He seems more than capable of taking care of himself," Selenay observed. Leaving aside the whole matter of wandering being a lingering death for a samurai. Kerowyn said Himura was more than intelligent enough to know what he was doing. Which meant he had to have a very good reason for trying to commit slow suicide. :Caryo, remind me later to check that the Healer's Collegium got all the details on that out of Gensai. These samurai are our people, now. There's no reason for any more of them to die if we can help it.:
:Rolan's on it,: Caryo noted. :But you might want to know - he's releasing Sanosuke from Companion's Field.:
Which meant Himura had more than likely made it out past all the Guards. Damn. :Why? We know what Himura is. Thirteen-year-old odd coincidence or not, Sano can't Choose him.:
Caryo was silent.
Yamagata wasn't. "Which is precisely why he can't be left rurouni!" the Choshu lord declared. "I know the ways of hitokiri aren't popular among your people, but... satsujin-ken is the magic we've always known. The Way that trains young samurai no other sword-masters can handle. That channels Gifts too perilous for even a sealing sword. That can vanquish creatures simple steel can never destroy!"
Creatures like the oni Yamagata claimed had cursed Lord Jiki's sword. She'd already sent word to Heralds in the area to search for any more remnants of the beast. Carefully, on the advice of Sun-Priest Karal and Valdemar's Lord Patriarch, Father Ricard. Father Ricard hadn't so much as waited for the mob to disperse before he'd co-opted her Fetching Heralds to send the searchers his own armaments, including blessed salt and paper talismans made up by Haven's own aghast houshi and miko. More than one of whom had volunteered on the spot to travel to Jiki's domain immediately.
Oni, it seemed, were enough reason to ignore any innate dislike of gaijin.
And if that doesn't worry me, nothing will, Selenay thought wryly.
"I admit... we concealed certain details," Yamagata said stiffly. "But so far as I knew, all the adult hitokiri were dead. There are some children, but none old enough for genpuku. Which is likely the only reason they survived; their training wasn't complete enough to try to stabilize the Jump. Our onmitsu have taken them under their wing for now, but - that may not be sufficient for some of the young ones who need the sword. Himura may be the last hitokiri we have. He is the only one who knows that sword-style. The only one. We cannot allow it to die out simply because he's too worried about retaliation to accept a clan's honor!"
"Retaliation?" Selenay said neutrally. "From your own people?" Kerowyn had put together quite a story. Let's see how much of it he admits to.
Yamagata drew back a step, watching her carefully. "He is... Battousai."
"Katsura's blade," Selenay said levelly. "Katsura's assassin."
If Yamagata winced, she couldn't distinguish it from his glare. "Don't tell me you don't have your own, your Majesty."
Now she wanted to wince. Thank the gods Elspeth did resign as Heir. She understands killing, and being sent to kill, but... I'm not sure she would ever accept being responsible for ordering the kind of the things I've had Alberich and Kerowyn - and even Skif - do.
With luck, Elspeth's younger brother Kris would. He'd have to. "The Heralds protect Valdemar. And I understand from Heralds Kaoru Kamiya and Kerowyn that Himura Kenshin has affirmed he only intends to use his skills to protect your people." Selenay paused. "I'm sure you understand that I hope your people are also my people."
Tell me, Yamagata. Do you mean to stay? Is Valdemar a home for you? Or is our refuge just a place to wait and bide your time, before you start another war?
Tell me the truth. Just this once.
Yamagata looked away. "I understand Himura's going to have to give testimony as to his whereabouts at the time of a murder in Rethwellan."
"Yes," Selenay said cautiously; the Guards had given the Heralds the broad details of the case as soon as they realized the man in question was about to come before the Council. "I believe Herald Kamiya will take it tonight." It's going to be hard enough telling our people about hanyou without starting a panic. The last thing we need is a murder investigation hanging over the main example's head. If he's innocent.
"Hmm." Yamagata flicked a glance at her. "It should be interesting to hear what your Prince Consort's people have to say tomorrow."
You mean, it will be interesting to see what we say - and do - when the Rethwellans insist Himura's guilty, Selenay realized. Of course.
Himura was your best assassin. Your best skirmisher. Your best survivor. You used him then to protect your people; you're using him now. If he thinks it's too dangerous to stay, he'll leave. And from what we know about him, he'll likely leave enough chaos in his wake that you can pull everyone back to Maboroshi and wall us out forever.
But if he stays...
I may finally win your people's loyalty.
Not Yamagata's, of course. Even more than Satsuma's Lord Shimazu, the Choshu lord was and ever would be loyal only to Yamato. But his people, the children even now being born and growing up in Valdemar... those she might win. Eventually.
"Yes," Queen Selenay nodded. "It should be... very interesting."
-Hime - "Princess".
Sashikizu - Stab (a wound).
Mononoke - "fur persons", evil spirits, sometimes animal spirits. Also mono-no-ke, mono.
Akuma - devil, evil spirit, demon.
Aa - informal yes (masculine).
Koishii - "beloved".
Satsujin-ken - "murderous sword technique".
Genpuku - coming of age for samurai, around 14-16.