Vortex World
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
Kagatsuchi 3/8 Waxing
"You mustn't die, Raidou! Skuld!" Sasami awoke with a scream to a world bright with Kagatsuchi rising, grasping for shadows that did not exist amidst a nightmare that was quick to fade. Her heart raced in her ears, a rapid, flighty thing like a sparrow caught and caaged in her chest, beating against her ribs as it sought to escape. The child was shaking, and the sweat that covered her felt cold and terrible against her damp clothes.
"Hey, hey, you're alright. You're okay. Your friends are fine." A voice, feminine and unfamiliar to her, rose in her ears, and a face, kind and young, entered her field of view. "Raidou and Skuld are fine. We all got out before anything bad happened to us."
Sasami swallowed, staring at the stranger in disbelief. She had pretty eyes. Blue like the sky. Her hair was black like her Auntie-Mother Funaho. "Wh-who are you?"
The woman-no, she looked around Raidou's age-the teen smiled at her with sympathetic eyes. "I'm Kumashiro, Sakuya." She introduced. "You and your friends came through the Amala Terminal hunted by a demon, do you remember?"
Sasami stared at her, then shook her head. Her hair felt strange and self-consciously the child ran a hand through it, finding the pigtails that were so customary for her gone. Instead, she was met with a cascade of long hair, mussed and tangled against her back. "I-I remember an explosion and a-a bad dream. Raidou and Skuld were…" She trailed off, sitting up and wincing as pain struck her. Half of her body felt…raw. Like she'd skinned her knee while playing in the Royal Tree Garden, but the skinned area covered the entire left side of her body.
"Why does everything hurt so much?" There was a whine in her voice, and a part of her-the Princess-hated herself for it; she was Queen Misaki's second child, a Princess of the Jurai Royal Family, and a dignitary to every race she encountered. Whining, her Father liked to remind her, was Not Allowed.
No one had told that to Sakuya Kumashiro.
"You're okay." The teen repeated, and wrapped a comforting arm around the child's shoulders, rubbing her arm gently. Whether she realized it or not, Sasami leaned into it, seeking comfort in whatever form it was presented to her. "You came out of the explosion a lot worse than the others. I did what I could once we escaped the Station, but I guess all the Magatsuhi in the world won't heal the damage done to another human. Skuld and Raidou left in search of some medicine but until they return, you need to take it easy, okay?"
Sasami felt her heart skip a beat. "They left me?" She squeaked and felt the phantoms of her nightmare, black, half-remembered, and terrible, return unbidden.
"Sure did!" A familiar voice rose behind her, and Sasami twisted to face it, finding Skuld's confident smile as she and Raidou made their way over a dune, half-walking, half-sliding down it as they moved towards the two. "And look at that—we came back just in time, too!"
A whimper rose in Sasami's throat, and Sakuya removed her arm from the girl, allowing the princess to rise and stumble towards the two in an unsteady gait. Yet she grew more steady and confident with every step, and by the time she'd reached her companions the child was running, throwing herself at Skuld with such force that it knocked the Norn off her feet. The two went down with twin yelps, one laughing, one crying, as Raidou watched them with a small, quiet smile, Gouto perched on his left shoulder and watching the reunion with luminescent green eyes.
"What, you thought you could get rid of us that easily, Princess?" Skuld moved them both to a sitting position, affectionately wrapping her arms around Sasami as the younger girl embraced her tightly. "Shame on you, you should know better! Raidou's like a cockroach—not even the end of the world can kill him, and no one can destroy the Future without destroying Time and Space Itself." She squeezed the girl gently, and in a softer voice, one meant only for Sasami's ears, whispered, "I'm glad you're okay, Sasami."
Sasami nodded, and the duo picked themselves up, Skuld helping Sasami to rise only for the blue-haired princess to throw herself at Raidou next, who caught her with a start. A look of thinly veiled panic flashed across the teen's face as he looked at Skuld and Sakuya before he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the young girl, patting her back gently.
Sniffing, Sasami looked up at him, her eyes red and irritated. "Don't leave me again!" She exclaimed. "I don't—I can't—" Gripping his uniform, the youth buried her face in the Demon Summoner's outfit, and a muffled cry rose throughout the environment.
Raidou and Skuld shared a look.
It was easy to forget, in a world of violence, that they were but children. A group of survivors who by chance came together beyond the end of the world and were reliant on each other for safety, security, and above all comfort in the wake of absent adults. They were adaptable, yes; their nature as children deemed them so for the sake of survival, yet it did not change that, at their individual heart, each and every one of them was still young; not one of them was old enough to drink, old enough to gamble, old enough even to understand the full ramifications of their actions—and while their own resiliency in the face of oppression had matured them, certain aspects of Childhood still clung to them like the blankets of old, not yet cast aside.
At length, Skuld spoke, "We won't leave you again, Sasami. At least…if we can control it." Sasami looked toward her, and the Norn tried to smile. It was strained. "We needed to find medicine for all of us, and Sakuya agreed to stay behind and watch over you. Otherwise one of us would have stayed back; this area isn't as dangerous as the last place we were in, but there's still a risk if we go out alone."
The girl dug into her pockets and took a step closer. "…We found some things." She said, and opened her hands. Several medicinal capsules rested in her palms and some brightly colored wrappers containing hard confectioneries that glistened like tiny gems. "Here, this is for you." She passed over two of the capsules and one of the wrapped confectioneries. "Swallow the medicine first, okay? Then you can eat the candy."
"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down?"
The kids jumped, then Sasami and Skuld turned, finding Sakuya approaching. She smiled wanly. "Sorry, I saw it in an old Western movie once."
"You've seen Mary Poppins?" Skuld asked.
"You too, it seems." Sakuya replied, and a small smile slide across her face. "My dad was a foreign movie fan."
"My oldest sister is an absolute movie nerd." Skuld replied, and a small smile of her own peeked through the wariness on her face. She offered the additional medicinal pills and two pieces of candy to her.
"Ah, a fellow movie otaku. Glad to see some things never change." Sakuya remarked, taking the pills but passing on the candy, though she eyed it wistfully. She pocketed them with a quiet thanks, and Skuld divided the remaining hard candies between herself, Sasami, and after some harassment, Raidou once he gave in.
Sasami swallowed the medicine dry, her face scrunching up as if she'd tasted a lemon for the first time and her hands curling into tight fists. Skuld snickered, and Raidou watched on in silent amusement. The child shuddered. "That was nasty." She hissed.
"The candy helps." Skuld said, unwrapping a piece of her own and popping it in her mouth. After a moment's hesitation, Sasami did likewise, and her expression grew into one of delight as a syrupy flavor exploded across her tongue. "It's sweet!" She exclaimed. "What is it?"
"Candy." Skuld replied. "Pretty much pure sugar and some food coloring, but it does the job, doesn't it?"
Sasami nodded with a vigor that wasn't present before, eyes bright with joy at the new discovery. "But…what happened?" She asked, looking around at her older friends in curiosity. "I remember the…the demon-man who came through the terminal, and an explosion, but…" She shook her head. "I don't remember anything after that."
Skuld frowned. "We got through the Amala Terminal and wound up in a place called Miebashi Station." She explained. "But…Nebiros came with us. I was able to get you out of the area and ran into Sakuya, but I was only able to pass you off; you were hurt real bad, Sasami, and I'd left Raidou to hold off Nebiros alone." A shadow fell across her features, and with a grunt Raidou lightly punched her shoulder, scowling at her before jostling her hair. The teen grumbled under her breath, then batted his hand aside, scowling up at the demon summoner before looking back to Sasami. "I had to go help the dolt, of course; he thought he could take on Hell's Inspector General all on his own, and I took some backup with me."
"I took you and ran," Sakuya said. "Sparna, a…demon who I knew, instructed me to take you and get to safety. He seemed to know something of Goetia Nebiros and went with Skuld and Grendel-sorry, another…friend-to assist Raidou and Skuld. We left for a small safe zone that some of the other spirits who I knew were gathering at, and shortly after…" She trailed off and pointed behind Sasami, and the youth turned, almost choking on the hard candy as her gaze fell upon a small, multistory building off in the distance.
Miebashi Station had become overgrown with greenery.
Though the building was smaller compared to some of the collapsed skyscrapers surrounding it, it stood as a monument of life, green with vegetation, against a landscape of golden sand, black asphalt, and gray concrete. Though they were close to a mile from the area, Sasami could still make out branches growing from broken windows, ivy and other crawling plants clinging to the outside surface, and at the base bushes and shrubs and sprouts all rising with fresh life.
"…I ran into a stranger on my way to help Raidou." Skuld mumbled, and Sasami could hear the crunch of the Norn's teeth as she ground up the hard candy. "She was…different. Her clothes were kind of like yours, Juraian, and she wore her hair long like you do now. I thought she was an ancestor of yours-someone who'd come to watch over you. Such things are a lot less common than most people think but…" The girl scowled. "She had a sigil, like me," The girl tapped her forehead, where a small, rounded triangular ring-light and almost invisible to Sasami against her skin, rested at the center of her brow. "And I…had a vision. It was the only forewarning I had to get everyone out. I grabbed Raidou and ran, and before either of us knew it, these weird…spores began appearing around us." The girl shrugged uncomfortably. "We got out unharmed but…"
"Sparna and Grendel were still inside." Sakuya continued. "They…didn't make it." She sighed, and to Sasami it almost sounded relieved. "Skuld and Raidou made it out shortly afterwards, followed by other demons. Many of them didn't make it that far. They'd been…" She paused, squinting at the building. "…Infected?" She asked out loud. "Infested? Plants were—plants were growing out of them."
A heavy silence befell the group, and with it, Sasami felt herself begin to sweat.
"She…kind of looked like you, Sasami." Skuld said, and the child swallowed, almost choking on the sliver of hard sugar still in her mouth. It suddenly felt hard and tasteless. "Do you know who it could have been? I've never seen a spirit—even a goddess of nature—hold such dangerous sway over plants before."
Sasami flinched, and looked at the Norn with large, terrified eyes, meeting the Norn's prodding brown with her own pink eyes.
The air grew quiet and tense.
Then Skuld smiled, breaking eye contact and swinging an arm around the child. "Hey, if it's too much, don't worry about it!" She smiled, and the Princess sagged against the older girl with such relief she feared she might collapse. "Biggest thing is we got out of there in one piece, right? No harm, no foul." The blue-haired child missed the pointed look she sent to Raidou, or how the lad nodded in turn.
"So…" Sakuya announced, "What will you do now?"
Skuld shrugged. "Search for another Amala Terminal, I guess." She said. "It's dangerous for me to be outside during full Kagatsuchi, and Sasami and I are still searching for our siblings."
Sakuya blinked. "Full Kagatsuchi affects you?" At Skuld's nod, she continued, "You mean you aren't…human?"
The Norn shook her head. "Nope, and no desire to be one either." She said. "I'm a Norn-one of the three Sisters of Fate. I'm looking for my sisters Belldandy and Urd."
Sakuya stared at the goddesses in surprise. "You look so…human though."
"I was living amongst humans for the past couple of decades." Skuld shrugged self-consciously. "Part of the pre-requirements to descending is to blend in with the environment. I was given a third-dimensional shell to better interact with the natives on this plane of existence." Under her breath, she added, "Then of course the freaking world had to end…"
Sasami glanced at Sakuya, some of her wariness fading. "Um…Miss Sakuya, are you okay?" The older girl was still staring at Skuld.
"You're a Norn." Sakuya continued. "Are you…you said your sisters' names were…"
Skuld raised a dark eyebrow. "Belldandy and Urd." She repeated.
"Is ah, one of them married?" Sakuya asked.
Skuld froze, then slowly nodded. "Yes." The child said. "Belldandy is married to a human. A man named Keiichi Morisato." She turned to face the high schooler fully. "Do you…know them?"
"No…" Sakuya replied, and Skuld deflated, her face darkening with disappointment. "But I had a friend—she was being employed by someone looking for them. A goddess who was really good at making potions-"
"Urd!" Skuld exclaimed.
Sakuya jumped, then nodded. "Ah, possibly?" She said. "I never learned her name. My friend, Lilly, never spoke it before she was-before she passed away."
"It's gotta be Urd though. It couldn't be anyone else!" Skuld was excited now, and she looked at the teen with a broad smile. "Where is she?"
"In a place called the Assembly of Nihilo." Sakuya revealed. "A friend of mine, Masaki Tenchi, left a little while ago to see if he could find it." She paused, and in a lower voice whispered, "He hasn't come back yet."
Raidou straightened at the name and looked at the girl with an excited smile, yet it went unnoticed as Sasami let and an exclamation of her own. "Masaki?" She cried.
Sakuya looked at the child in surprise, then nodded. "Yes, Masaki, Tenchi. He is-was-a classmate of mine. We…ran into each other after the Vortex World. He'd survived, but…" She hesitated, then asked, "Do you know him?"
"Masaki is my family name." Sasami said excitedly. "Masaki-Jurai, or just Masaki-you said his name was Tenchi?"
Sakuya nodded.
The young girl bit her thumb. "Tenchi was the name of the Juraian Key my brother owned." She murmured. "It can't be a coincidence, can it?" She looked up at Skuld, who met her hopeful gaze with an exuberant expression of her own.
"I think we just found some of our idiot relatives." The Norn said with glee.
And despite herself, Sasami allowed herself to smile back. It was a good smile. A real smile, one filled with childlike hope, pure and innocent, and with a whoop she lept at Skuld. The youth caught her, and the two girls bounced on giddy feet before a pair of high schoolers who watched on in bemusement.
"Guess you know your next destination?" Sakuya asked once the two had calmed.
Skuld nodded enthusiastically. "We just need to find…another…Amala Terminal." Her face fell as she looked back towards the overgrown Miebashi Station. "…We aren't going back in there."
"We aren't?" Sasami looked at her with a puzzled look.
The dark-haired youth shook her head. "I can still feel Nebiros's presence from here." She revealed. "I don't know if he actually survived or not, but I'm not about to find out." She looked back at Sakuya. "Do you know of another Terminal?"
Sakuya nodded. "I know where a couple of them are." She said. "They were shelters for me during Full Kagatsuchi, so I took special note of where all of them were for a worst-case scenario."
"Where's the neaerest one?"
The girl pointed north. "It's in the heart of the city." She said. "There's an intersection where the monorail lines meet and form an 'X', and in the only standing building-DENIMIO INC., you'll find an Amala Terminal in the basement." The teen frowned. "You'll need to be careful though; last time I was there was with Grendel and Sparna as we were searching for supplies, and we ran into a pretty tough daemon that Grendel was able to chase up to the higher floors. He didn't…kill it though. I…don't know if he could. That had been several cycles though, and at this point it will likely have either left the entirely or gone down to the ground floors again. We had been…intruding on its territory at the time. I don't think it'll react well to new visitors."
Skuld wilted. "Of course." She griped. "Out of frying pan and into the fire. As if I should expect anything else." She sighed. "Are there any other ones nearby?"
Sakuya shook her head with pursed lips. "Not any that you can reach before Full Kagatsuchi." She said. "If you left one or two cycles earlier? Easy. But as it stands now, you'll be pushing it getting to the Terminal before Kagatsuchi Blinks."
"Fuck!" Skuld swore, and Sasami and Sakuya both jumped.
The girl grimaced. "Sorry." She grumbled. "I'm just—I'm tired of playing cat and mouse with every demon we meet." The youth sighed. "I just…want to see my sisters again. Is that so much to ask for?"
Sasami leaned into her, wrapping a supportive arm around her friend's shoulders in empathy. I understand. She thought. I would give anything to see Ayeka or even Mommie, Auntie, and Father again. Even Big Brother, though I only remember the pictures of him.
She sighed.
At least she had Skuld and Raidou. Though they were nowhere near the same age or even mannerism as her relatives,foul-mouthed and violent both Skuld and Raidou were, they had helped fill the void left by her relative's absence. I'm not certain what I'd do without them either. I didn't even realize how much they meant to me until waking up and finding them gone. She shivered.
"What about you, Miss Sakuya?" Sasami leveled her gaze at the teen, distracting herself from her thoughts. "The way you spoke made it sound like you weren't joining us, is that true?"
Sakuya nodded slowly. "It's…true." She revealed. "I…don't think I can go with you guys."
"Why?"
The teen was silent for a minute, blue eyes dark as she observed the overgrown building which had once been her home. "There's…something I need to do." She announced. "Something which only I can do, a Reason I need to pursue…" The teen looked at them with a wane half-smile. "As much as I'd love to travel with you, I can't. I need to seek out my own answers, and, well…I don't think the Assembly of Nihilo—wherever it is—has what I need." The young woman paused. "It…should be safe there, though. A human is supposed to run it, and ensures that no demons prey on other humans. I…think you guys will be okay if you go there. Maybe you'll find who you're looking for."
"It's dangerous to travel alone, you know." Skuld protested, "Especially as a human."
"I'll manage." Sakuya replied. "I have a way to hide and you've done me a huge favor with the amount of medicine you've given me. I owe you for that."
The trio looked at each other, a mixture of emotions gliding across their faces before Skuld returned her gaze to Sakuya. "Do you at least have a weapon?"
"Grendel was my weapon." The teen sighed. "But…I'll make due. Some of the demons who were with me in Miebashi Station made it out. I'll reach out to them and see if they want to travel with me."
"But you just said that you aren't coming with us to the nearest Amala Terminal."
"I'm not."
"But—"
A hand fell on Skuld's shoulder, and she looked up, finding Raidou as the source. The teen shook his head. The Norn bristled, looking ready to argue with him as well before wilting as his expression grew stern. At length, she sighed. "Fine." She groused, and held out a hand. Her war hammer materialized. "If you're going to be stupid, at least be smart about it." She grumbled, and offered it to Sakuya.
"I don't understand." The teen stared at it.
"Take the stupid weapon!" Skuld snapped, and Sakuya flinched. "I'm trying to make sure you don't die, Knucklehead!"
"I-I see." Sakuya stammered and reached for the weapon. "Ah, thank you-"
"Wait—" Sasami began.
Skuld released her grip on the weapon, and Sakuya dropped like a sack of potatoes with an undignified squawk.
Sasami sent a flat look at the Norn. "The hammer weighs at least eighty pounds!"
"It's not that heavy." Skuld protested. "You were swinging it around just fine!"
"It weighs more than me!"
"No it doesn't! You're being dramatic."
"You're a goddess, of course it doesn't weigh anything to you."
The two continued arguing, and Raidou knelt down with a sigh, helping Kumashiro up.
"Yeah, I'm not taking that." She said, eying the war hammer accusingly.
Raidou nodded in understanding, then dug into his cloak, removing one of the gaseous filled kuda tubes. He handed it to her, and the teen accepted it, staring at the vial in curiosity. "What is it?"
The teen hesitate, struggling to explain himself, then shrugged and pointed to Skuld.
"Sorry, I'm actually shit at charades." The girl stared at him with a furrowed brow. "Can you just, you know…tell me?"
Raidou sent her a flat look.
"Okaaayyy…" The teen drawled. "Um…a tube like…sleeping salts? A hazardous gas, maybe? Oh! I got it!" The girl snapped a finger and pointed at him. "Is it a fart?"
If looks could kill, Kumashiro Sakuya would have been six feet under with the glare Raidou cast her way.
Skuld and Sasami paused in their argument.
"Yuck." Sasami said.
"Gross." Said Skuld.
"Well its clear neither of you grew up with brothers." Sakuya sniffed. "Or at least brothers your own age or younger." She clarified as Sasami began to protest. "Boys are nasty."
Raidou shot her a look. You're nasty. It said.
Sakuya either pretended to ignore it didn't recognize the expression.
Sasami was the one to speak up. "That's one of Raidou's demon-vials."
"Kuda." Skuld corrected. "Urd once told me they were common among onmyoji sorcerers."
"Yeah, that." Sasami nodded. "Are you giving Sakuya one of your demons, Raidou?"
Raidou nodded.
Frowning, Sakuya stared down at the object and then back at Raidou. "Are you…sure?"
"Well its either that or a war hammer that weighs more than I do." Sasami said, and raised her hands to shield herself with a yelp when Skuld raised a hand threatingly. The Norn didn't follow through, and smirking, Sasami continued. "Either way, I don't think you're leaving here without something to protect yourself with."
The young woman pursed her lips, then nodded. "I see. I…Thank you." A tight frown on her face, Sakuya pocketed the vial, then rose to her feet. "Well…As much as I wish I could stay longer with you, we're all pressed for time. Kagatsuchi waits for no one, and I don't want to keep you. Be careful of the upper floors of the DENIMIO INC. building. The monster up there was really fierce, and was both physically and magically strong. If you come across it, don't fight; just run, okay?"
The trio nodded. "Good luck with whatever it is you're searching for, Sakuya." Skuld said. "If you find it, lets meet up at the Assembly of Nihilo, alright?"
And Sakuya smiled. To Sasami, in reflection, it looked sad and forlorn; the smile of a woman who did not believe her own words. "Let's do that." She said. "And if you run into Masaki-kun, could you pass him and his friend a message for me?"
"Sure, what is it?" Skuld asked.
"I've found my Reason for the New World." Sakuya's smile didn't reach her eyes. "I'll see him on the Other Side."
Vortex World
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
Kagatsuchi Half-Full, Waxing
"Are you done yet?"
"I'd have been done fifteen minutes ago if you'd stopped moving. Has anyone ever told you how difficult it is to put hair that's elevated by static into a French braid?"
"Has anyone ever told you your heavy-handed with other people's hair?"
"Both Belldandy and Skuld, all the time, and I threaten to do it for them when they can't be bothered to fix their hair themselves." Urd smirked. "Belldandy's gotten so good at it that even I go to her now.
Ryoko groaned. "Would you hurry up?" She complained. "Seriously, it feels weird and it tickles."
"Get over yourself, Ryoko."
The space pirate moaned, steeling herself as Urd made the final adjustments to the the shawl, smoothing out the creases with a patient hand as beneath her, Ryoko tried and failed to hold still. "Stop touching my ears. It feels weird."
"They need to be covered."
"It tickles though."
"Then consider yourself blessed to have at least one part of your body that is sensitive to touch." Urd sighed, glaring at the woman.
Ryoko eyed her warily, contemplating how much she could get away before the woman pulled a Marller and boxed her ears. "I don't like things touching my ears." She tried again. "It feels…" She sighed, uncertain how to describe it. "Weird."
"Well," Urd began and leaned away from the Demon Lord. "Now you don't have to worry about me making it weird-er." She said, imitating Ryoko's emphasis on the word as she stared at the woman. She leaned back observing her work, eyes laughing as she smiled. "You look like a babushka Ryoko."
Ryoko turned to look back at her, her hair and everything below it wrapped in a shawl dyed with hues of violets and blues. "What's a babushka?"
Urd's smile grew wide, revealing pristine, white teeth. "Cute." She said. "It means you look cute, Ryoko."
The pirate narrowed feline eyes at the goddess, raising a skeptical cyan brow as she tried to see if the Norn was bullshitting her or not.
Urd's expression gave nothing away.
At length she sighed, reaching up and touching the dyed cotton that covered her ears.
Urd smacked it away. "Don't ruin my work."
The pirate grunted. "I really have to wear this?"
"If you want to be protected from Kagatsuchi, yes," Urd replied. "I hope you were paying attention. I may not show you again." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I was," Ryoko growled. "You re-wrapped it so many times I'll have nightmares of it." She grumbled, "And that's not counting whatever torture you did to my hair."
"French braid looks good on you." The Norn smirked. "And you'll need to become an expert at it if you're to travel. Or I could teach Tenchi to do it for you." She purred. "You know…let him get nice and close to you. Let him fondle those poor, sensitive ears you have."
Ryoko's face turned scarlet, and smirking Urd continued. "Would you enjoy that?" She breathed and leaned in close. "Tenchi running his fingers across them? Nibbling on them? Licking them?"
"Why, so you can fantasize about it?" Ryoko snapped, flustered. "The way you come on to me, I'd think you'd want to fuck us both."
Urd looked at her with a start, then broke into laughter. "That's sweet, but Tenchi's way too young for me. I prefer someone with older." She winked at Ryoko, who rolled her eyes, the red slow to fade from her face.
"No wonder you never talk like this when Tenchi's around." The Demon Lord grumbled, her hand raising for a moment and then falling before Urd had a chance to slap it away.
"Not at all." Urd chirped. "If I were to start flirting with you or even Marller in Tenchi's presence, I'm pretty sure the poor kid would faint from blood loss."
Ryoko's brows scrunched together. "What's that mean?"
The Norn smirked. "You'll have to ask him." She said. "Speaking of…" The woman trailed off as a door opened and closed.
Ryoko perked up as she sensed Tenchi's now-familiar aura, and vanished, teleporting into the hallway. "Ten-" The woman stiffened as she caught sight of the teen's face. "What happened?!" She demanded, concern rising in her voice as the youth pushed past her.
Tenchi shook his head, his gaze downcast. "I need to leave this place." He stated, his voice heavy and leaden with palatable guilt as he stormed to their shared guest room. The youth didn't even see Urd standing in the threshold between bar and hallway, and missed the confused glance Loki shot his way as the god opened the door to his own room to peer at him. He opened the guest room door and slammed it behind him, with only the Inugami's heated red glare as it stared down the hallway occupants to end the interaction.
Silence permeated the hallway, then Urd shot a glare at Loki. "What did you do?" She accused.
Loki flinched. "I did nothing! What makes you think this is my fault?"
"You were the last person he spoke with."
"Well, yes, the last person here, but I did nothing!"
Ryoko joined Urd's glare, and beneath both women, Loki wilted. "I gave him a slip of paper to one of the local clubs. He seemed uninterested!"
Urd sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "He's a minor, Loki—"
"Oh come off it Urd, you know that's never stopped you or me. The boy looked like he needed to release some stress and this seemed like a good way of doing it."
"While there's a Prince of Hell in town? The fucking Obelisk hasn't even fallen yet and we have daemons in the streets trying to rip each other's throats out!" Urd snarled, gesturing to the back door with a sweep of one hand. "Are you trying to sign his death warrant?"
"Oh, like you were doing anything to stop him from leaving, Dear Cousin?" Loki's voice began to rise, and he stormed up to Urd, and for the first time Ryoko realized that the two were the same height. Urd was already a good foot and a half taller than Ryoko-minus the pirate's wild hair-and was considered tall even amongst other Terran humans at over six feet tall. The relatives glared at each other, both wearing matching snarls on their faces that left little denying their kinship.
Ryoko watched them for a moment. "This wasn't about a fight." She murmured, her words lost beneath the rising voices of the two deities before her. "This wasn't even about a club. Something else happened."
Leaving the two cousins to their argument, Ryoko teleported down the hallway, reappearing in front of the guest bedroom. She knocked—a courtesy—then forwent opening the door and phased through, listening as Urd's and Loki's voices faded behind the solid wood.
She found Tenchi sprawled haphazardly on the bed, his face buried in a pillow as Tsuki-Tsuki rested curled beside him and licking a hand in comfort. His other hand held the CD Walkman he'd gifted Ryoko, the headphones resting atop his ears at such a high volume that the pirate could make out the twang of guitars from where she stood across the room.
The woman observed him, taking in his body language and lack of acknowledgment of her presence before moving to sit on the bed beside him. Tsuki-Tsuki growled in warning, and the pirate regarded the entity, debating on whether or not to smack it before thinking better of it; the spirit was trying to protect its master during a period of vulnerability, much as her youkai once had while she rotted in a cave. Instead, she offered a closed fist to it to smell, imitating Tenchi, and allowing the beast to investigate it. "I'm on your side." She murmured, feeling a cold, wet nose tickle her hand as the beast looked at her with glowing red eyes. "I want to help."
"I BITE." The inugami said, and Ryoko was uncertain if it was a proclamation or a warning. Satisfied, he returned his attention to the demi-fiend.
Sighing, Ryoko rested a hand on the youth's shoulder, feeling Tenchi flinch beneath it. He didn't move beyond that, and in a moment's empathy, the space pirate let him be, instead rubbing his back in comfort. The teen beneath her remained quiet, but she could see the muscles in his hand grow taut as he gripped the pillow tighter. Reminds me of when Tenchi came to me after Achika died. Ryoko thought. How old had he been? Ten? Eight? He was so distressed he couldn't see me, just came and cried so loudly at my cave that even Hiji was concerned. He got frustrated when he couldn't see any of the youkai, and had started screaming, thinking he'd lost us too. He was so overwhelmed he never knew we were right beside him, trying to comfort him through his loss and join in his grief.
Lost in her memories, she missed when a golden eye peeked out from the pillow to look up at her. There she was observed for a small eternity, and in that time became something more; the Guardian, the Holy Demon, the Sentinel of a Divine Mountain, displaced with a world's end and yet still striving to uphold the title granted to her by youkai and Masaki alike.
Ryoko sensed his gaze, and the moment was broken as she cast her own golden eyes-as inhuman as Tenchi's remained human-down upon the boy who was her companion, her charge, her friend.
"Hey."
Tenchi grunted.
Ryoko held her silence, waiting for the demi-fiend to speak. When nothing came, the woman adjusted herself, laying out on the bed beside Tenchi. She could hear the music from the headphones clearly now and found the harmony evoked strange, oneiric memories within her core; sensations she'd never attributed to sound before and yet brought to her mind images of the forest that surrounded her cave; of red sunrises and pink sunsets, wolf howls and crow calls, dancing Kodama and giggling kitsune and the smell of pine and sakura in spring and lightning storms and rain in summer and snow and ice in winter and autumn's menagerie of auburn shades and—
The woman blinked, rousing herself from the wistfulness and wrapping an arm around Tenchi's shoulders. She was surprised when Tenchi did likewise, throwing his own arm over her and drawing her close against him. He rested his forehead against hers, and Ryoko tightened her grip around him in reflex, feeling the youth sigh as the tension seemed to leave his body with her proximity.
There the two lay in silence, observing each other in silence as they rested curled up together. This close, the smaller details that the Demon Lord normally tuned out grew apparent in the quiet of the room, and as Urd's and Loki's voices faded, she allowed herself to become absorbed by them: The scent of Tenchi—not the Demi-fiend or the Human but something deeper, richer, enigmatic and unique to him-the smell of salt water and mountains, steel and pollution, green tea and mochi. The gentle rhythm of his heart, once alien, now a familiar drum that echoed with the softness of his breath against her cheek. The weight of his arm against her back, thrumming with an undercurrent of life and energy and the once-alien Magatsuhi. The heat of his body against hers, the temperature higher than any human's now and made all the more evident by the brands which shown with power. His entire body seemed to hum to an undefinable pulse that differed from his heart, and part of her wondered if it was the magatama that had so changed him which was the source.
There were other things too: Urd's lingering aura which filled the room. The presence of the inugami lying curled above both their heads. Belial's scent, so fresh that it could be called 'recent', hinting at the Hitoshura's recent trials.
Hiji.
Yet beneath the gentle harmonics of guitars from an old CD Walkman and the warmth and quiet of the teen against her, they faded into the background; a white noise of sensations that intermingled with the demi-fiend before her and creating a medley that lulled her into a comfortable peace.
She felt Tenchi sigh and nuzzle the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent.
They stayed like that for a time, neither moving, neither speaking, the two fading in and out of each other's awareness as the initial tension of the room was replaced with gentle tranquility.
It was as the CD began to loop once more to its first song, now a familiar tune that Ryoko found herself humming, that Tenchi spoke. "We need to leave." His voice was a whisper, soft and quiet as though fearing to break the peace.
"We do." Ryoko allowed herself to return to her senses, made alert by Tenchi's voice. "I've already spoken with Urd about it."
Tenchi bequeathed her a forlorn smile in thanks. "Sorry about earlier."
The Demon Lord nodded but said nothing, feeling the cowl on her head shift uncomfortably.
The two fell silent once more. Above both of them, Tsuki-Tsuki snored softly. The hound had fallen asleep at some point and now lay curled like a mutated snake in the crook of Tenchi's free arm, its head resting atop the teen's hand. "I ran into Belial again." The teen confessed. "He…showed me some things. Said some things that…disturbed me." He released a shuddering sigh. "Had me…fuse some demons in the Cathedral of Shadows. I…" The Hitoshura lapsed into silence. "I'm…not comfortable with him being around you—us."
Ryoko stared at him before giving the young man a sympathetic smile. "Feeling's mutual." She said and felt the deep exhale as Tenchi sighed with relief. "Urd wants to send us out for supplies—give us a chance to escape here while keeping her doors open when we need sanctuary. Wants me to keep an eye out for her sisters."
"We can do that," Tenchi replied, and to Ryoko, it seemed as if a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. "I—can we visit Kumashiro-san too?" He asked. "I—I know this place isn't the best but…it's still safer than the Badlands, and I'd prefer she and her crew set up shop someplace protected from Kagatsuchi's rays like this place. The area around Urd's Well is pretty deserted, and-and I bet Urd could help them establish a place for themselves here." He looked at her with hopeful eyes.
Ryoko nodded her agreement. "Yes, let's do that."
The teen smiled, and Ryoko felt some of her tension-worries brought on by Tenchi's recent behavior and the arrival of Belial-slacken its grip on her as well. She tightened her grip around him in a one-armed embrace, felt him reciprocate, and then released the youth, sitting up on top of the bed and stretching her arms over her head. They'd grown sore from the angle she'd been laying.
Tenchi followed her a moment later, stretching his own arms out in mimicry of her. "But…that means we'll have to wait." He grumbled, and some of his excitement died. "We can't go now with Sparna around, and it'll be like…another day before it goes back down to New Kagatsuchi." The teen sighed. "I…wanted to get out of here as fast as possible."
"So then let's go."
Tenchi looked at Ryoko in confusion.
Ryoko smirked. "We go grocery shopping for Urd, take our time, admire the sites, play tourist-you know, all of that stuff-at a nearby Amala Terminal, then hop over to Kumashiro's once New Kagatsuchi hits."
Tenchi pursed his lips. "But we're halfway to Full Kagatsuchi…" He trailed off as Ryoko's smirk grew into a confident smile.
"Don't worry about that." She said and gestured to the cowl on her head. "Urd's got us covered. This will negate Full Kagatsuchi. I'm taking it for a trial run."
Tenchi stared at it in curiosity. "How is that supposed to protect you?"
Ryoko shrugged. "Magic?"
The teen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Of course. Magic. As if I should expect anything different."
"Hey, if it works, it works," Ryoko said. "I'm not going to complain."
"But does it work?" Tenchi asked.
"We're going to find out," Ryoko revealed. "Minatogawa isn't a good place to test it given its proximity to the Obelisk blocking out Kagatsuchi's rays, and Urd said she hasn't had the chance to trial it with anyone yet." The woman shrugged. "It'll be fine. Urd's also sending me out with some potions that are supposed to cause the same effect if the cowl fails. It should last for a full cycle, so if I feel symptoms and take it right before Full Kagatsuchi, it'll last us until we can either get back here or seek out another Terminal."
"A potion?" Tenchi stared at the pirate, and his lips dipped into a frown. "Didn't…the Lil—Lilly had a potion like that."
Ryoko hesitated, then nodded. "You said she'd been sent out by another demon to search for something…someone."
"Yeah. A human who was traveling with a goddess." Tenchi murmured.
Ryoko fell silent, an image of the short man with the smoker's growl appearing in her mind. "Urd…showed me something. A…picture of her brother-in-law and her two sisters. One of her younger sisters married a human." She pursed her lips and heard the phantom Skuld's words echo in her ears. "She's…more worried about the youngest sister though—she's a kid, Tenchi. Couldn't be much older than Achika was when she first met me. Urd's worried sick about her."
"Do you think Urd sent Lilly out?"
Ryoko shrugged. "You know anyone else who fits the bill?"
Tenchi shook his head. "I…told her about the Lilim. How we got here. She…never said anything. Didn't even hint at…" He trailed off and looked at Ryoko with a somber expression "Do you think she…didn't care? That-that Lilly was—that we killed someone she knew? Or…did she just…hide it from us?"
Ryoko regarded Tenchi in silence, reflecting on the woman who had opened her home to them. At length, she shook her head. "I…don't think so." She said, taking her time to choose her words. "She's…challenging. But…she's not heartless." The woman pursed her lips, drumming her fingers on one knee. "I think…I think she might have been more affected than either of us realize but…hid it."
"Why?"
"It's who she is." Ryoko replied. "It's part of her—" She stopped herself from saying 'culture'. "She's still learning who we are, just like we are with her." The woman shrugged. "So some things remain secret."
Tenchi looked to the wall, contemplating her words in silence. "You've…come to know her pretty well, haven't you?" He said.
"Not at all." Ryoko shook her head. "…But I think I'm starting to." She hesitated, then added as an afterthought, "We…might even be friends."
The Hitoshura sent a startled look her way before smiling warmly. "That's…that's nice to hear, Ryoko. It's great to see that you're making friends."
A small blush passed across Ryoko's cheeks. "…Yeah." She agreed.
"Although…" The teen smirked "I gotta question Urd's fashion sense."
"What do you mean?"
Tenchi gave her a sidelong glance. "You look like an old granny with that scarf on, you know."
Ryoko blinked. "A gran—is that what a babushka is?"
Tenchi stared at her owlishly, then nodded.
The space pirate gaped at him. "That bitch." Ryoko breathed.
Tenchi snickered and looked away.
"What-Tenchi, stop laughing!" Ryoko exclaimed.
Tenchi laughed in earnest, and the Demon Lord felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. "Oh, I'll give you something to laugh about you damn clown." She growled and tackled the youth, knocking him back onto the bed as Tenchi yelped, her fingers slipping beneath the loose brown haori and to the ticklish spots above his black undershirt. The demi-fiend squirmed, howling with laughter as he tried to escape, and after a time Ryoko released him, smirking down at Tenchi as the teen caught his breath. His face was flush and eyes bright, and for a moment a look that alluded Ryoko overcame him as he looked up at her. The two stared at each other for a small eternity, and then Tenchi abruptly looked away, the blush traveling down his neck and up to his ears as the teen sat up and crossed his legs, haunching forward to prop his elbows on his knees.
"Ryoko…" The teen cleared his throat, the unexplainable expression vanishing beneath a wave of nervousness. "I mean-I…" He stopped himself, took a breath, and released it slowly before trying again. "I…need to show you something—someone."
The pirate leaned back, giving the demi-fiend space. "What do you mean?"
Tenchi stared at her with a pensive frown, then pointed with one hand to the far corner of the room. There was a flash of violet light; a demon summoning, and Ryoko's eyes widened as they came to rest on the Tengu who appeared with the fading glow.
"…Hiji…?" Ryoko breathed, golden eyes wide with shock as she took in the daemon's appearance, roaming up and down the tengu's form before coming to rest on his left hand, where the nails were dull and round like a human's rather than the black talons of his corvid kin. She rose to the bed, stumbled, and almost fell out of it in her haste to approach the being, and to his credit Hiji stayed still and quiet, allowing Ryoko to draw near at her own pace.
The Demon Lord came to stand before the Karasu Tengu, almost afraid to speak, and stared up at the entity for any sign that the creature was the young youkai who had been a constant companion at her side since the Elder Tengu of the Mountains had departed the Masaki Shrine.
Then a voice, soft and gentle, rose from beneath the cloth mask which hid the being's face. "It's me, Ryoko-sama."
Ryoko blinked, startled to find her eyes burning as moisture gathered in the corner of her eyes. A smile wormed its way across her face, and a laugh, soft and broken, escaped her throat. "Haven't I told you not to call me that?" Her voice wavered.
Hiji nodded. "Indeed you have, Ryoko-sama."
"You damn carrion eater." A sob escaped her, and Ryoko threw herself at the youkai, embracing the Karasu Tengu as her vision blurred. "By the stars…It's you. It's really you, Hiji!" The Tengu grunted with pain, and the space pirate released him, holding him at arm's length and ignorant of the tears which flowed so freely down her cheeks. "I thought I'd lost you."
"I thought I had been lost." Hiji admitted.
"How? When?" She stared at Hiji, then drew him back into a tight hug before the youkai could say anything. "I'm so glad you're okay, Hiji."
Hiji held his silence. Then slowly, hesitantly, wrapped his own arms around her in a gentle embrace, the creature's wings drawing around them both and encasing them in an ocean of black feathers.
For a moment, and just for one moment, Hiji turned to Tenchi, and though a cloth prevented their eyes from meeting, a message was passed between them. Tenchi nodded towards Ryoko, and it was his first and last command for the Karasu Tengu. "You're hers."
Hiji nodded once, and the two daemons regarded the lone woman in the room, brought to tears in a moment of overwhelming joy and relief at a reunion that had never been expected to occur within a Vortex World.
Yet such were the powers of the Cathedral of Shadows, where daemons congregate.
Such was the might of a young Hitoshura, to bring into reality what had been banished from existence.
Comments of a Madwoman: Change is inevitable. The Path forward presses us all into the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable, and the dilemas faced are what mold us into our current incarnation.