((This chapter is a bit longer than the others, but I didn't want to split it.))


15. There Gloom the Dark, Broad Seas

It was a beautiful late morning. Riku had conjured up an opulent meal–out of thin air, Bankotsu suspected. The man was making a point of seeming harmless, but he wasn't buying it. He had no doubt that the Youkai could snuff them out like candles without batting an eye.

'What's that for?' Renkotsu asked when invited to sit.

'Simple,' Riku said, standing and glancing towards the port. 'Time for a chat. You and Kikyou-sama need answers.'

'And you?'

'I have lived a long time. I may not have been useful, but I remember what I've seen or heard. Some of these things were very strange and confusing. But you? You are an enigma. Quite an outrageous one at that.' He smiled. 'Ah. Our guests are arriving.'

Those were Kikyou and a rather wary looking Kohaku. Riku's women joined, too, and not for the first time Bankotsu wondered what on earth their connection with him was. It was highly unusual for a Daiyoukai to associate with half- and quarter demons, let alone treat them with respect that bordered on reverence. The depth of the bond between him and Towa was tangible, but how that had happened was a mystery.

'While you were out chasing your friend through the port,' Riku said, 'I had a long conversation with Kikyou-sama. I also invited the demon hunter because he might add some knowledge or insight. I, on the other hand, am just here to satisfy my curiosity. My three companions are security, if you will.'

'You don't need security,' Renkotsu said, voicing what Bankotsu had been thinking the entire time.

Riku tilted his head and beamed at him. 'Not if I want to kill everyone, but that wouldn't be my first response. I'd try subduing you before.'

A soft smile formed on Kikyou's face. 'I don't think that will be necessary.' Her eyes moved to Renkotsu. 'The question is, are you willing to share your insights? If not, this is moot.'

The bald man rubbed his hands over his face. Bankotsu was sure he hadn't slept at all that night, even after they had been back on the ship. He knew he hadn't. 'I … will help as much as I can,' he said.

'Thank you. But my first question isn't to you. Or at least not to you alone. I need to know who you are.'

'Ah … don't you know that already?' Jakotsu asked.

'Only who you became, the names you took, and a little about how you died. I need to hear why.'

Bankotsu shrugged. 'There isn't much to say. We were hired to fight, and we did. Instead of getting paid as we should have been, we were taken captive and executed.'

'Rumour says you were able to fight entire armies. How were you captured?'

'We could fight armies because we were smart about it,' Suikotsu answered. 'But we were extremely outnumbered and cornered.'

'And exhausted,' Ginkotsu added. 'They'd hunted us for a long time before they could catch us.'

'And no matter how strong, we were just humans without any fancy jewel shards,' Renkotsu supplied.

'We killed more of them than they of us,' Jakotsu said, his expression grim. 'If they'd left us alone and paid us, some of them could be alive today.'

'Then why?' Kikyou asked. 'Why turn on you?'

'Because hiring us was a guaranteed victory,' Bankotsu said. 'The people that had us killed were the kind that couldn't afford us easily, so they had us removed.'

'And that is all? You didn't change sides if you were bought out of a contract by the opponent in mid-fight?'

'Discussing payment in mid-fight isn't a thing,' Ginkotsu said with a chuckle.

'Oh, fuck that.' Kyoukotsu scowled. 'If we want to know what she has to say, we got to level with her. We always worked for the highest bidder. No matter when someone offered more.'

'Not at first, though,' Bankotsu said. 'When we started … I wouldn't say we ever fought cleanly because we always fought to win. We accepted collateral damage, and given the weapons some of us used, it was almost guaranteed. I don't know when or why we decided we didn't care when a better offer came in, but we did. Our loyalty to each other got tighter, to the point where nothing else mattered. Only what we wanted. And we always wanted more of everything. More riches, more fear, more blood. More death. Until it was ours.'

'Which of you was the driving force behind that change?'

'I was.'

Renkotsu shook his head. 'No, Ooaniki, you can't take all the blame. Mukotsu, Suikotsu, and I were absolutely in favour of that little alteration in our approach. We followed your lead because we wanted it that way. Each of us decided his own fate.'

Kikyou thought about this briefly. 'When you were cornered, you weren't killed in battle. You were taken alive and beheaded.'

Renkotsu made a face. 'It was done in a sick ceremony.' He took a bite of a fruit, his expression lost. 'They murdered us one by one, forced Ooaniki and me to watch. They said it shouldn't matter to us, we had spilled so much blood that a little more shouldn't faze us. They started with Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu because they looked frightening. The rest … they took their time with.'

Both Kohaku and Kikyou leaned forwards at that. 'Bankotsu told me that at some point, when only you and him were alive, there was a bit of a shouting match between him and the executioner,' the Miko said.

'And me,' Renkotsu replied. 'You suspect that we're here because of a curse, then? You're correct. But it wasn't Ooaniki's words that did it. Nor just the executioner's, who was a lord's mouthpiece that wanted to kill us so much that he volunteered. But I remember everything that was said.'

'Then enlighten us, why don't you?' Kohaku answered in a biting tone.

'I will, but not for you.' Renkotsu looked at Bankotsu when he finally told them what he recalled. 'I'm sorry, Ooaniki, I should have spoken before, but if I'm honest … I am frightened. Of what this means for us.

'When they took Jakotsu's life, you … broke. And you didn't break quietly.' He swallowed, looking at his leader for a forgiveness he had been granted already. 'They treated him the worst because they knew it would destroy you. They tortured him. Not for answers but for the hell of it.'

Bankotsu put his food down, his face cold. With one hand he found Jakotsu's and held it, needing to feel the life in it. He didn't care what the others thought of the shift in their relationship, the only thing that mattered was the warm skin under his to anchor him, the gentle fingers entwining with his. 'They called us monsters, but we were never that vindictive,' Bankotsu said. 'How they justified what they put him through is beyond me. He didn't make a sound. Tears and sweat and blood were pouring from him, but he was as quiet as death, wouldn't give them the satisfaction. They wanted him to cry and beg, and it turned them savage that he refused even though I did it, pleaded with them to let him go already. He died from the torture, they only beheaded him after he was dead … I know that because they made me look at his lifeless eyes. I … don't remember anything other than how furious I was, how … well, broken is a good word.'

Renkotsu nodded. 'When you screamed at the executioner, you scared everyone. You were helpless, but your rage frightened all those bloodthirsty assholes. The power in your words was tangible, made the air crackle to anyone sensitive to such notions.'

'And you are?' Kikyou asked.

There was a haunted look in Renkotsu's eyes, and his voice was strained when he continued. He didn't want to talk about this, but there was also resolve in his expression. He would speak. 'I was … trained for it. I don't have a natural affinity, but if it is that much, then yes, I sense it. I knew what was happening. We had … agreed not to switch sides after an agreement again because a few of us–Jakotsu, most of all, Ginkotsu to a point–weren't comfortable with it. So the men that decided to murder us, we hadn't betrayed them despite having a better offer, and I think that made it worse, made it sting more that they turned on us: They had no reason.'

'Bankotsu told me your memory is unmatched. Can we hear what exactly he said?' Kikyou asked.

He nodded solemnly, and when he answered his voice reverberated with the remembered dictate of the oath that had rent that night. 'Is this how you show loyalty? How did we earn that? Now give my sword to our butcher, if he can use it, and then run and hide somewhere. Or better, stay. Let me see your cowardly, disgusting, murderous face.'

Bankotsu stared at him. 'I said that?'

'Screamed, more like,' Renkotsu answered.

'But,' Kikyou stated, 'that isn't enough for magic so powerful it can return people from the grave. Cursing misfortune or even death on someone is easy. But life? That takes a bond, an agreement in the curse. No one man can do that.'

'No. But he began it. Our captors were scared. There was intent in Ooaniki's words. Command, even. With the necessary knowledge, they could be turned into a weapon. The one who had ordered our death to begin with fled, but the executioner shouted back at us to shut up, that we had lost, and that we would never cause harm again. I … responded to him, riding on the present energy.'

'But with the knowledge to back it up,' Kikyou said. 'You are the one who created the curse.'

'Actually, I took care not to. You won't escape your own punishment. We'll await you as Onryou at the threshold to the abyss. A true curse needs a condition and there wasn't one. Or so I thought, until Naraku brought us back as walking corpses.

'Even though my words shouldn't have done anything, the executioner still didn't like them. He yanked me forwards and rammed a knife into my eyes. Enough to blind but not kill me. I don't have Jakotsu's fortitude or indomitable will. I did scream. He shoved me to the ground and I just lay there. I had no strength to fight back. But I heard what he said. Even you can't win when the whole world hates you. You won't find any peace in this life or the next, and if you do, anyone vile enough to help you is as cursed as you are.'

'Oh.' Kikyou's eyes found Suikotsu's. 'That part denied your souls to leave entirely–after the execution, and after you were brought back as spectres. And it is what bound me to you. Why not Naraku?'

Jakotsu snorted. 'He didn't help us, he helped himself,' he said through a mouthful of rice. The man had nerves of steel, if nothing else. The rest of them were subdued and had stopped eating, but his light refused to go out.

'True,' Kikyou conceded. 'His intent wasn't to do you a favour, so the curse didn't extend to him. But it's still not enough.'

'No,' Renkotsu said. 'I answered him, with what little vigour I had left. Then cursed as we are, we will find you. No matter how often you destroy us, we'll find you. We will find you and kill you for this, in front of your wives and children. Mind you, I still knew it's not enough to create a curse. I just wanted him to get so mad he'd finish me.'

'So you didn't expect to come back?'

Renkotsu snorted. 'No. No-one did. A few onlookers had fled by that point, driven away because every instinct in them rebelled against what we wrought. He laughed at me and answered me one more time. Then dye their flowers with my blood. When night falls at noon. That … was the last thing I heard, but I knew that his response had sealed our deaths into a curse. An unfulfillable one, but a malaise that would linger over our grave and everyone who was present nonetheless. I felt its weight in my core and I died with the savage gratification that he had created something that would come back to find them. I never thought it would affect us, though.'

'And you don't remember any of that, Bankotsu?'

The young man shook his head. 'Only what they did to Jakotsu.' Their hands were still joined, and he felt a light squeeze.

Renkotsu snorted. 'How could you? You were the last to die, but after your initial tirade, someone hit your head with a mace. You were breathing but barely conscious and far gone.'

'You weren't good people,' Riku said quietly, 'but what these men did to you was … disproportionate. Executing you would have been one thing. You deserved that. But it should never have been personal, and it should have been clean.'

Kohaku was staring at Renkotsu. 'You came back with the eclipse, then? Does that mean each one will revive you?'

'Only if they–or we–die by execution and are turned undead in advance,' Kikyou answered. 'Curses are specific like that.'

'All you need in order to get beheaded is karma and tomorrow,' Renkotsu said.

'I think it was a little more that led to your death,' Riku replied, the hint of a smirk on his face.

'Then if we do better now, we can live and die and … be released?' Suikotsu asked, his gaze firmly on Kikyou.

The Miko smiled and inclined her head. 'That would be my conclusion. You are given a true second chance. One of you already squandered his. What the rest of you do, is up to you. You can keep Renkotsu's promise and go after the people who slaughtered you, try to hunt them down and punish them in front of their loved ones. This will probably kill you. The curse and your destinies will be fulfilled, and you will be drawn into hell for all you have done. Or you … let it go, live life to the fullest, and eventually … move on in peace.'

Bankotsu nodded slowly. 'Why didn't you tell us this before, Renkotsu?'

'I … refused to believe it, Ooaniki. I could pretend until we met Kikyou. That she was alive, it meant that everything, every word between you and me and him had taken hold.'

'Well, the thing is,' Riku said, 'I can't sit around for eternity. I can bring you wherever you want me to, but I think it's high time you made up your minds. What fate do you choose from here?'

'No-one gets to decide that,' Bankotsu said, scoffing.

'Oh yes,' Riku replied with a smile, 'they do. That I'm able to have this conversation proves it. You have a choice. Make it count.'


((That curse is pretty much Witcher logic. It is also a rough translation/adaptation of a bit from Vivaldi's opera Farnace. The intent to use this here by far predates even the title. This is the original:

Questa è la fé spergiura

che tu serbi al consorte?

Così guardi a mio figlio

il prezioso onore

d'una libera morte? E quando mai

t'insegnò tal viltà la gloria mia?

Or vanne, e porgi ancora

al romano carnefice la spada,

perché fiero, e crudele

in quel tenero sen tutta l'immerga.

Vanne... anzi resta... Io tolgo agl'occhi miei

l'orror di quel sembiante

codardo, abominevole, funesto,

ma la pena dovuta

non fuggirai. T'attendo

spettro vendicator, larva sdegnata

là degli Elisi in su le nere soglie.

An Onryou is a specific kind of vengeful spirit.

Oh, and way back when I started planning this, I played with Inspirobot for a bit. 'All you need in order to get beheaded is karma and tomorrow,' was one of those, although it said 'crucified'.))