Disclaimers: See Chapter 1
Additional Note (Please Read): This story is tied in with, The Conqueror & Ri: A Twist of Destiny.
Xena & Gabrielle
A Turn of Fate
By Ahkiken
Chapter 8: Righting Wrongs
Three bodies made their way up the stairs to the first tier, onwards to the Shogun's conference cabin. The monk was at ease, knowing soon the curse of Japa would be ended, but the two females following him weren't content at all as their minds battled with despair for each other.
'I shouldn't have spoken what I'd said to her.' Gabrielle felt annoyed at herself. 'It was wrong of me to throw our wicked past in her face. I've done hurtful acts that she could toss at me, too.'
Watching the raven-haired heroine walk ahead of her, and acquiescing that she had to remedy the pain she'd caused, Gabrielle stretched out her hand to hold onto the tall woman's wrist.
"Xena, I didn't mean-"
"Yes, you did." Xena cut Gabrielle's apology short without turning her head or breaking stride. "You meant every word. We'll leave it at that."
Although the skin Gabrielle held was warm, it began to feel cold to her touch after Xena's interjection. With the relinquishment of her soul mate, Gabrielle's vexation at her own actions grew while they approached their destination.
Kenji opened the door for the women, and when they entered inside, he had shut it, remaining outside in the entryway. The Warrior Princess and the bard saw Harukata, along with the trio of Samurais, sitting at a lengthy, rectangular table, still adorned in their full armor. The Shogun was seated at the end. The two, who wore sunfire and purple armor, sat spaced out on a single side together, whilst the blue armored Samurai was settled adjacent to them, alone.
"Good morning to you, Xena, and your companion. Please take a seat." Harukata greeted.
Xena observed the ironclad warriors in front of her with a purposeful eye, whereupon she'd noticed each of the Samurais' katanas were lain out on the table in arms reach of their owners. She immediately regretted coming to an isolated place without her sword. Cerulean irises glanced at Gabrielle to acknowledge she was entirely unarmed.
'I'd cautioned Gabrielle to stay on guard, and it would be like her to act blasé 'bout carrying her sais. Well, if they try anything, at least I have my breast dagger.' Though irritable; hating the fact she had no choice but to trust Harukata's oath that no harm would come to them, Xena smiled. "Morning to you all."
Therefore, Xena sat in the chair at the opposite end, across from the Shogun, so she could keep a view on everyone, leaving Gabrielle to sit in the last seat beside the blue armored Samurai.
"Morning." Gabrielle vocalized to the few men, before greeting the man next to her. "Good morning, Zicalus."
"To you, too." He returned.
"Thank you again, Warrior Princess, for deciding to assist us and showing up to this gathering. Here we will discuss the issue of Yodoshi in detail and our plan of attack, but first, introductions are in order." The Shogun announced, unclasping his crimson helmet to reveal an older man with long, grey hair that was tied to the back of his head in a ponytail.
The color of Harukata's protective headpiece and hairstyle flashed a memory in Gabrielle's mind. She closed her eyes to shake the images of the elder Xena and Glaphyra away.
Both Xena and Zicalus regarded her, but stayed quiet as Gabrielle composed herself.
"You already know my name is Harukata, Shogun of Shinto in Japa." He professed, setting his helmet on the table.
He gestured for the other concealed Samurai to do the same. The one wearing sunfire yellow armor removed his to show a Japian man in his late thirties with cropped black hair.
"This is Koska, my third-in-command." The Shogun affirmed.
Afterwards, the purple armored Samurai took his off to expose another Japian male with spiky brown hair. His face was badly disfigured by scars. Two of them prominently stood out, running diagonally from either side of his cheeks, meeting below damaged lips on his chin.
"That is Moku, my weapons expert."
'Looks like he met several of them personally.' Xena deduced.
Finally, Zicalus unmasked to unveil a young man who had the appearance of mixed ancestry and medium length of ebony hair cascading around his light-green eyes.
'He's handsome.' Gabrielle cogitated.
"And this is the Samurai you've met last night, Zicalus, the newest member to join the elite Samurais under my direct command." Harukata disclosed. "Now that's out of the way, we all are aware of you, Xena, but what's the name of your travelling friend?"
"She can introduce herself." Xena replied.
The petite blonde wasn't certain if her lover was predicating that out of courtesy, or spite.
"Her name is Gabrielle." Zicalus answered for her.
"We are grateful to you as well, Gabrielle-San."
"Thank you, Shogun. I'm hoping I can be of use to bring peace to Japa." Gabrielle responded with a tinged smile.
"We all learned each other's names. Let us move on." Xena had a touch of annoyance in her verbalization. "What about that information on Yodoshi?"
"Koska will provide the intel." The Shogun proclaimed.
A deep, gruff voice started speaking, "Yodoshi, Lord of the Darklands, is amassing an army using the souls he has acquired. His numbers surpass the higher thousands. The Daimyo will ensure his Samurais will try to keep Yodoshi's forces from destroying Higuchi."
"Who is this Daimyo?" Xena inquired.
"Morimoto, and he is my second-in-command." Harukata clarified. "I left him in Shinto with a retainer of men while we came to Greece for you. He will protect Higuchi until we arrive."
"He is the first line of defense?" Gabrielle probed.
"Yes, but he merely has five thousand Samurais with him. The remainder must linger in Shinto in case Yodoshi change tactics and attack it, or manage to defeat the Daimyo in Higuchi beforehand, which could happen. The daemon's warriors outnumber his." Harukata averred.
'Sounds like a recipe for disaster.' Gabrielle mused.
Xena crossed her arms beneath her chest. "Doesn't seem like the odds are in our favor at all, Harukata."
"You will address him as Shogun." Koska declared strongly.
Xena stared at the sunfire armored Samurai. Considering everything she had went through not too long ago with Gabrielle, she was ready to release her pent up aggression on anyone, weaponless or not.
Koska glared back, trying not to let her ice, blue spheres intimidate him.
"It is okay, Koska. The Warrior Princess isn't fully aware of our procedures in customs. It's alright for her to break decorum." The Shogun tried to ease the tension. "Xena, you are correct. It would appear we are on the losing end, but you did not hear everything yet."
"Let's hear it. My patience is very thin and I don't want to waste any seconds with idle talk 'bout titles. Before this mission fell upon me, I was engaged..." Xena paused, glimpsing at her soul mate.
Gabrielle's greenish-blue irises connected with Xena's, and for an instant, the bard saw warmth. Then it cooled into dispassion.
"I was engaged to a glorious affair." Xena was esoteric. "Although the possibility of that is falling apart, I can think of numerous places I'd rather be than here."
'What is she implying?' Gabrielle became fearful, her fingers unconsciously began twirling the silver band on her left index digit.
Zicalus noted the velvet-clad Amazon rotating her ring and stored the knowledge for later investigation.
"Understandable, Xena." Harukata acceded.
"Why are you certain Yodoshi will raze Higuchi specifically?" Xena asked him.
"The daemon's cataclysmic activities leads a bloody pathway from Kyushu's ruins, and now he's been linked heavily around Higuchi's territory. Morimoto has five thousand warriors to defend it. I have twenty thousand Samurais in Shinto, and that's not including the eight hundred of the best men on this warship."
"It will take us a couple of months to reach Japa. In that time, if Yodoshi ravages Higuchi, he won't do the same to Shinto without a fight." Koska constituted.
"I'm puzzled by the timeframe." Gabrielle admitted. "You could have travelled in a smaller vessel instead of using an enormous ship. With haste being a grand factor to speed up our endeavor, won't it take us longer to get to Japa because of this ship's size?"
Harukata nodded his head.
Realization dawned on Xena. "You're either planning an attack, or anticipating one using this warship, aren't you?"
"Yes." Harukata avowed. "Nobody knows when the daemon will converge on Higuchi, nor anywhere else on the island. He attacks swiftly and effectively. We can simply be assured that Yodoshi will rampage throughout Japa by the incursions he'd already done on minor villages before and after he caused the ruination of Kyushu."
"I presumed he had just begun trying to destroy parts of Japa and was beginning with Higuchi?" Gabrielle grew baffled. "How long has Yodoshi ran amok prior to you all coming for Xena?"
"Two months." Harukata confirmed. "I'd surmised that we could handle the situation without voyaging to a foreign land, searching for a woman we weren't positive existed. I sent a garrison of men to guard Higuchi, but having days pass with no activity from our demonic adversary, I'd withdrew them. On their route back to Shinto, they'd seen activity in a nearby village and engaged the belligerents, but they were crushed. Getting word of what happened, I sent one thousand Samurais to seek out the force that was responsible. An injured, sole survivor came back, telling me it was Yodoshi, and that the Lord of the Darklands spared him to instill fear in Shinto, venting its inhabitants will have a fate worse than Kyshu as well as Higuchi combined. It was then we embarked for Greece."
"Was there any importance to destroying Kyushu?"
"May I answer Gabrielle-San's question, Shogun?" Zicalus offered.
"You can." He assented.
"In Japa, there are three temples called the Tri Sanctuaries that are connected to the sun Kami, Amaterasu. Each of them has a specific significance and are placed in three locations. The first is named Kashiko-dokoro, located in Kyushu. It is there that people go in worship of their ancestors. The second is Korei-den. That is where worshippers go to receive aid from ancestral spirits, and it's in Higuchi. The final third is named Shin-den. Its locale being Shinto, it's where all the people of Japa attend to honor Amaterasu directly."
The bard was captivated by the young man's alluring storytelling and became eager to learn more. "That's the cause of Yodoshi's invasion of Kyushu? To destroy its temple?"
Zicalus inclined his head in agreement. "Despite his evil resolve, we'd assumed he'd inadvertently destroyed Kashiko-dokoro while multiplying his absorption of souls, whereas now we fear that Yodoshi intends to obliterate all of Japa's temples. It's safe to say Higuchi will be next, ending with Shinto, then every area of Japa will fall easily."
Xena observed the interaction of Gabrielle and the blue armored Samurai. She didn't like it one bit and it incensed her.
"How long ago was the Kashiko...dokoro sanctuary destroyed?" The short-haired blonde queried.
It was Koska who chose to respond, "A month after we set out on our voyage here."
"I'm not taking any chances." The Shogun pronounced. "I pray we make it to Higuchi 'fore Yodoshi does, but if we are too tardy, we'll launch a counter-strike from this ship."
"How did Yodoshi come back to life anyway?" Gabrielle was curious. "Xena apprised me that Akemi killed him, prior to dying herself. Is it because their honors weren't reestablished?"
Post asking that question, Gabrielle looked over to her lover and could see Xena was unhappy with her decision to break discretion. The petite woman didn't need to be an oracle to discern that she was making matters worse between them. Disgruntled with herself, she restarted twirling her jade ring.
"Kenji's interaction with Akemi wasn't precisely brief." Harukata decided to evince. "She told him that Yodoshi's heart was so impure, the underworld rejected him. Somehow, he made a pact with an unknown entity to become an atrocious daemon, and a soul drinker. It seems Xena has further insight on how both father and daughter died. I've heard hearsay, nonetheless, to be honest, I rather learn the truth from a person who was an eyewitness."
Every optic turned to Xena, except for Gabrielle's. Hers were downcast at the table because of unintentionally putting the Warrior Princess on the spot.
"Yodoshi was the Shogun of Higuchi. I have no idea what kind of governor he was or if his rule was just and fair. What I do know for certain is, he was an evil man towards his family. He murdered his parents, wife, three of their children, and sold his only living daughter, Akemi, to a warlord in Chin. It was there that I'd discovered her, and brought her back to Japa.
I had sought out her father for my own means, and being reunited with Yodoshi, she committed patricide by killing him. With Akemi's obligation for revenge sated, albeit knowing she had disgraced herself, she'd implored me to restore her honor by beheading her, and placing her ashes in her family's shrine. I succeeded in taking her life..." Xena stopped for a moment to gaze at Gabrielle who still held her eyes down, but would glance upwards slightly.
It reminded Xena of when they were inside the prison of Ming Tien's kingdom. Gabrielle would barely make eye contact with her there, too.
'After she betrayed me to the Emperor.' The dark-haired warrior bitterly remembered. "However, I had failed honoring her. That is the sole reason I am on this vessel now. I'm righting wrongs for a friend in need."
She expounded all of that while staring at Gabrielle, hoping to convey how she truly wanted to fix an error from her past.
"Not just wrongs for the patricide committer." Koska purported in his Japian language.
Xena turned her focus on him before her oblivious soul mate did. "What do you mean by that?"
The Shogun crisply glowered at his third-in-command, coaxing the sunfire armored Samurai to feel chided. Koska didn't expect that a Greek could interpret their dialect.
"We have covered enough for now. We'll eat some breakfast and convene later." Harukata expressed.
"I don't think so." Koska's futile attempt at making a veil statement had provoked Xena's wary.
She already intuited Harukata wasn't telling her everything, and following what she'd found out this morning, it made some things unclear.
"What did your Samurai mean by his words?" Xena scrutinized.
The Shogun looked apprehensive, but yielded. "I want to discourse with the Warrior Princess alone. Tell Kenji to go down to the galley and hold off our departure until he's notified."
Every one of his men stood up to bow, leaving their helmets and katanas as they departed the cabin.
"I humbly insist on your leave also, Gabrielle-San. This is for Xena's ears solely." Harukata lightly enforced.
"No. I stay with Xena." The Amazon was determined.
"I don't want you here for this, Gabrielle." She uttered, causing the cropped blonde into feeling unwelcomed to remain by Xena's side. "Do what Harukata requests."
Stunned, Gabrielle slowly arose from her chair, and with leaden feet, proceeded to exit the room, ruminating, 'She's upset with me. Fine, I can tolerate the anger. Just don't push me away, Xena.'
The door opened and closed, thereafter Xena became earnestly stern, "Cut the shit, Harukata. You have thousands of Samurai warriors yourself to counter Yodoshi's. And don't insult my intelligence by saying Akemi wishes for me to be there in Japa. That isn't grounds enough for a Shogun to abandon his citizens, when clearly you didn't want to once Yodoshi launched an assault. So tell me honestly, why am I really here?"
"Do you remember the night you ventured taking Akemi's ashes to her family's shrine?" He deflected.
"You know I do. I've recently shared that disclosure." Xena was becoming perturbed.
"You recall setting the village of Higuchi in flames?"
Her pupils narrowed in uncertainty. "What are you getting at, Harukata?"
"After you set the village ablaze, a wind nourished it, coercing the fire to grow."
"I'd reckoned that. What does it matter?" Xena was on the verge of yelling.
"Xena, you are the cause of forty thousand deaths in Higuchi." The Shogun divulged.
"I couldn't have." She was troubled by Harukata's illumination. "I torched the town village... I knew there would be many casualties, but nowhere near the estimate you claim."
"When the fire grew from the wind, it'd not only engulfed the village, but almost the entire town." Harukata explained. "Save for its Korei-den temple, Higuchi's landscape was devastated."
'The air currents were powerful that night.' Xena recollected how it blew Akemi's remains away, but she commenced embracing denial. 'Regardless, it couldn't have made the blaze kill all those villagers.'
"Why did you torch the town?" The Shogun quizzed the silent ex-warlord.
"The townsfolk shattered the pottery I had Akemi's ashes in. I was drunk and vengeful at what they'd done."
"That did not constitute the right to burn them." Harukata rebuked her. "The citizens of Higuchi were justifiable for impeding you. Yodoshi wasn't singularly Akemi's father; he was their provincial leader."
"I was a totally different person back then. I didn't give a damn about those people." Xena truthfully confided.
"If you were capable of such ruthless acts in Higuchi, I can imagine how you treated others callously. You alluded that you've changed, and I want to believe you... Now tell me, is Gabrielle-San anything like you were?" The Shogun questioned.
Xena's tone became ominous, "Say what you will of me, Harukata. Everything I have done immoral in this world can be laid at my feet, but don't you dare put Gabrielle in the same category as me. She is the complete opposite in any way you can fathom when it comes to being virtuous."
The Shogun noted there was adoration in Xena's tonality whilst she described her friend, with a touch of something else. "So hanging around villians isn't in her nature?"
Xena's hands gripped the table, her brain set on violence.
The old Shogun raised a ceding hand. "I believe you. Gabrielle-San does possess an aspect of light and goodness."
Cooling her contentious attitude, Xena rejoined, "Preceding us digressing and jumping all over the place anent to Gabrielle's uniqueness, let's get back on track. I've killed a lot of innocent people while I was a warlord, and spent years trying to atone for the terrible deeds I'd participated in. This news of Higuchi saddens and enlighten me to no longer aid you for Akemi's sake, but for the people that perished because of me, too. I will help for the Greater Good."
"In order to save Japa, what are you willing to do, Warrior Princess?"
"Whatever needs to be done. This is part of my atonement, and hopefully the forty thousand lives I had taken can find peace whilst resting." Xena asserted.
"The forty thousand souls aren't at rest during this juncture. They are being utilized."
'Used?' The raven-haired woman became perplexed. "I don't follow. How are the souls being..."
Xena's query ceased as a possible resolution struck her.
'The souls created Yodoshi, or provided an outlet for his undead resurrection. But how? Akemi informed Kenji that a mysterious entity struck a deal with him, transforming the former mortal into a consumer of souls. He must've devoured the spirits of those villagers I'd unintentionally murdered in Higuchi. The souls...' Xena comprehended. "The souls are in Yodoshi!"
"Yes." The Shogun concurred. "Yodoshi can twist and use every soul he consumes for his own whims."
"Almost twenty-six thousand warriors against his forty thousand." She reflected.
"It's not forty thousand anymore, Xena. That's what Yodoshi started with. It is one hundred thousand now." Harukata corrected.
The Warrior Princess' ratiocinations had succumbed to distress.
'What have I condemned Gabrielle to? There's no way we can secure a victory. Even if we do miraculously win, there will be great losses.' Sapphire eyes locked onto older dark ones. "I have many skills Harukata, but not a copious amount to defeat a hundred thousand fiends."
"A battle for Japa's salvation will occur, notwithstanding, our main focus is the Lord of the Darklands. With him annihilated, all the souls he absorbed will find their rightful place in the afterlife. There they will await their cycle for reincarnation." Harukata claimed. "I'm blessed by Amaterasu to slay any type of soul I choose to. Once I encounter Yodoshi, I'll kill him, and send the daemon back to the nether realm where he belong, which I am ordained to do."
"By sheer numbers, Yodoshi will be well protected. How will we be able to get remotely close to him?" Xena prompted.
The time had come for the Shogun to expose the main purpose of why she was summoned. "Akemi need you in the spirit world with her. When you enter there, you and she can contain Yodoshi so I can deliver the fatal blow."
"How do I get to the spirit world?" Harukata's visage was pensive, making Xena dread the unanswered inquiry, thus causing her to repeat loudly, "How do I get there?"
"It's a singular method, Xena." The solution made her pupils widen in fright. "You must die."
{X&G}
Gabrielle leaned on the wooden, double doors of a room around the corner from the conference cabin while in deep consternation. 'Why did I have to argue with Xena when I should've listened to her? Oh, why did I have to open my big mouth and tell the Samurais what she had entrusted in me?'
The trim blonde started to bang the back of her head against the door.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid. She's going to call it off, I know it. I can feel it in my gut that she is going to break off our wedding.' Shutting her eyesight and continuously rocking her skull on the door, Gabrielle chanted, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Hey." A vocal broke Gabrielle out of her chagrin.
Her eyes popped open to espy light-green irises that belonged to Zicalus.
"What are you doing?" He queried. "If you really want to let out frustration , instead of abusing your pretty head, you could go inside the armory behind you. It serves as our training room, too."
The bard was slightly embarrassed that she was caught unaware in her predicament.
"Having so many warriors on board, should've figured you guys had a training room on this huge warship. I'll keep that in mind when I get frustrated again." Gabrielle chuckled to hide her anxiety.
Zicalus detected her dismay. "What's wrong, Gabrielle-San?"
"This mission to Japa has me in dire straits, but I'll be fine." She lied a tinge, straightening her body up off the sealed threshold. "I pray Morimoto can hold Yodoshi at bay if we reach Japa late."
"Don't worry so much about that. The Daimyo is well suited to protect Higuchi." Zicalus presented a smile of confidence. "Besides, we have you and the Warrior Princess in addition to our ranks. I have belief that Japa will be saved by Xena-Sama's presence alone, 'cause I got to admit, even without her armor or weapons, she can still intimidate."
"Yea, she can." Returning a grin of her own, she took in Zicalus' facial features.
He looked to be in her age range. The dark hair that dangled from the sides of both his eyes gave him a feminine flair. No doubt he was very attractive.
"Thank you for easing my conscience." Gabrielle bestowed her gratitude. "I do not want to delay you from your responsibilities or anything."
"Well, breakfast is being dished out, and to be honest, I don't have a taste for raw fish wrapped in seaweed."
Gabrielle laughed. "It won't bother me none. I can get severe sea sickness and have to apply a pressure point to oppose it. So I won't be able to taste a thing since the aftereffects numbs my tongue."
"That's a shame. I didn't want to eat my nut bread by myself and wanted to share it with you on the deck." Zicalus proffered.
The bard's stomach rumbled. "Nut bread, you say?"
"I'd purchased a few loaves from a shop whilst docked here in Scione." Zicalus avouched. "My mother made it for me in my youth and I fell in love with it."
"I enjoy nut bread as well." Gabrielle's face beamed. "I might take you up on the offer. Perhaps I can get in a couple of bites preceding we begin sailing. I'm going to tell Xena so she'll know where I'll be."
"Okay." Zicalus smiled. "I will wait here for you."
Eagerly awaiting snacking on her favored dessert, the Amazon briskly traipsed to the cabin that Harukata and her soul mate were in, but held off knocking as she heard Xena's exclamation, "This is a trick!"
Concerned, Gabrielle overruled rushing in, and opted to secretly listen to the private conversation.
"It's true. Personally, I think it is your duty to do this, nevertheless, the choice is yours. I will not threaten, nor compel you. You've shown how adamantly you care for Gabrielle-San, and I completely understand your unwillingness to risk her life to the dangers of war. If you choose, you and she can leave the-"
"No!" Xena bellowed, interrupting the Shogun's sentence. "Gabrielle is important to me... She's... She always will be, but this situation is bigger than her and too extreme to ignore."
The subsequent silence had given rise to harrowing thoughts, and Gabrielle deliberated on storming in to impel Xena to give a full explication.
Any action from Gabrielle had vanished once Harukata prodded, "You'll do it?"
"Yes..." Xena conceded. "When the time comes, and Akemi calls to me, I will go with her."
Hurt and confused, Gabrielle blindly retreated from the closed doorway.
'Go with her? Akemi's more of an importance than me?' She cerebrated, whispering to herself while tears emanating from her aqua eyes, "I've lost Xena..."
Spinning on her boots, Gabrielle ran, bypassing Zicalus who was left disconserted.
"Gabrielle-San?" He shouted for her to no avail, viewing the cropped blonde as she maneuvered passed the ship's occupants. "Where are you going... What about the nut bread?"
The bard kept running, disappearing down the stairs of the first tier.
To Be Continued...