Blooming Lily
Jaded.
Against the shadows of a cold fire.
A restless thump.
The sound of no one.
Of nothing.
And the lamp spoke bitter words.
In this dark, enclosed space.
One girl huddled to herself, looking away. A mask confining her head. Her thoughts. Her form.
And the other sat cross-legged, looking down; but not opposite. From her peripheral, the first.
They had been like this for several tens of minutes, since the first had returned.
The duty of a leader is to lead. A given statement. But for a moment, there was no leadership within the two.
A porcelain vase succumbing to its chips and cracks.
In a sense, useless.
"Hey."
A mess for subordinates to clean.
"Hey."
A mess of the eyes.
"Hey."
And of the heart.
"Hey."
"What?"
Flickering.
Shadows plastered.
Unmoving.
"Don't... blame yourself."
"Easy for you to say."
Combative.
It wasn't easy. "They took him—he's still out there."
Karyou Ten lifted her mask over her eyes and shifted her body to her left. Through the darkened slit between her body and mask, Kyou Kai could see her comrade's wet eyes glistening with the churning ember of their background fire. "I failed." She hesitated. "I failed," she repeated. She closed the lid and looked back to the side of the tent. Despondently, again, "I failed."
"Then I failed too. We failed."
"How could you have failed? You were here—"
"—I was here. Enjoying my rest."
Karyou Ten retorted, "Because you were in no state to do anything else."
"And you were?" Kyou Kai responded. "Most of the soldiers made it back and he's still out there, somewhere."
Silence.
"Why aren't you mad?"
"I am. I'm furious. I thought I had finally left this all behind me," she wrapped her arms around her legs, "but here they are again. Here they've come to strip me of the most important things and people in the world to me. But I'm a commander of the Hi Shin; and Shin is my friend, isn't he? If we charged into the unknown without a plan, he'd probably get mad. Isn't that funny? That's exactly what he would do—that's his strength; but it's also our weakness, of sorts."
"He's the heart of our army...as a part of the Hi Shin, more than anything, Shin's capture hurts."
"But that's not the emotional stress you feel. We both know that."
"That stress is having failed him."
Kyou Kai stood up, "Like I said, if you keep blaming yourself," she walked over to Karyou Ten's spot, "you'll never grow up," she grabbed the back of Karyou Ten's feathered outfit, "and you'll live only with regrets and dreams," and then she lifted her into the air and onto her feet, "so, instead of crying about it, keep moving. Don't live in a single moment of time." She let go.
Karyou Ten staggered slightly but continued standing, "Is that how you were?"
"How long did I spend chasing 'revenge'?" Karyou Ten lifted her mask once more and made a deep breath. Kyou Kai continued, "How much of my own life did I miss? It's not like I regret it, but I'm sure I was being called an idiot by someone, somewhere. That journey led me here, though, and it was the Hi Shin who gave me a heart that beats. Even if I was to regret the journey for revenge, I can't regret where it has led me."
"You think he's really out there?" Karyou Ten turned to face Kyou Kai once more.
"Had it been any other group on that field with you, the news of his death would have spread like a wildfire. He's bait for me." All that talk, and Kyou Kai appeared sad. Hypocrisy is a condition; but in her internal strife, she fought, she fought, and she fought. "And that means he can be dragged out of their hands."
Karyou Ten reached forward with both of her hands.
"You're strong."
Her fingers shook as her arms rose higher and higher.
"We'll win."
"Yeah," Karyou Ten's arms drifted over Kyou Kai's shoulders and locked around her neck; and though Kyou Kai pulled back slightly as an uncomfortable feeling of intimacy unbeknownst to her since Kyou Shou's death found itself embracing her. Even so, Karyou Ten simply took the extra step forward and buried her face into Kyou Kai's shoulder. "Thanks."
When they completed their hug, So Sui and the other vice leaders barged in and greeted the two. "A message, from our enemy," he held in his hand. He noticed the red around Karyou Ten's eyes despite the dim lighting of the tent, but he made no effort to comment, and she gave him a determined, immovable look. "They're at an old city, one we don't have marked on our current maps."
"Get everyone ready, and—"
"That's not all."
Mahogany
"What's it like?" A blue-colored impression upon a glass window.
"Being unable to change a thing?" This time a green one.
"Do you feel like you're gonna throw up?" And a yellow.
"Are you angry?" And red.
"Maybe ya' don't have any idea what to think." Pink.
His silhouetted figure against white.
So many. "Aren't ya' just pretending to be like 'em?"
Looking down.
He looked up and opened his mouth. He spoke, but the words that came out were unknowable—unhearable. Embedded into a world of light and dark, he found himself as only a shadow. Neither protrusion nor engraving, he didn't even have the luxury of being a stressed surface raised or sunken into the ground. A shape with no form, and no one to speak to. Not even allowed to hear the echo of his own voice, neither the desperation of his scream or hope. He trudged through that light, hounded by color.
"Young Shin," a voice called. A familiar voice. One whom Shin could not stand equal to, not yet; or maybe not ever. But that voice spoke out to him. Even as his place within the world was but a splotch disregarded to its surface, the voice did not look down upon him. "Where is it that you belong?" Even atop his high horse, the voice did not seem to look down on Shin. It spoke with reverberation, power, and respect. "There is no place that we are destined to belong." It looked forward. It told Shin to look forward. "Some of us are born upon higher mountains than others," it was comforting, "and yet they are still mountains, are they not?" He laughed, a nostalgic feeling.
Another voice joined: "There are times when a person sees a mountain and decides to themself, 'I will climb that mountain.'" It was just as nostalgic, if only more grating on the ears. "Perhaps it will take years, maybe that person won't ever make it at all; but it is a mountain to be climbed."
"But that's just an analogy, my boy. You do not need to climb mountains to belong, either up here, or over there," the first voice spoke again, twisting his head slightly into another directing. There was nothing over there. It was simply light. What was over there? "A leaf flowing in a current may find itself belonging even more than the god of a mountain, or a god of war."
The second voice began, "the greats are not the greats because they repeated what their predecessors did, nor because they were the same people. The fires of the era are changing, you know this, Kid."
"You may not be able to directly make a difference of ideals, but it is with your power that its embers will ignite larger than you can currently imagine. Young Shin, you mustn't chase ghosts."
"You cannot be the same as us. We rode a different path."
Silhouetted against a star so bright and distant in the sky. It treaded the horizon but refused to break either above or below it. Shin looked forward. He could feel that star's warmth emanating from his side. Though this formless world had no ground to walk upon, he was not deprived of sense. From the corner of his eye, he saw him once more. Not a great legend of old. Not an experienced, superbly revered leader. Once more, not a man among the living.
He was in the water, again. It wasn't cold and murky like before, but it was uncomfortable. And comfortable. The heat of the sun was no longer a pleasantness grounding his sense of self, but a sweltering feeling that stung. The humidity burned his eyes as sweat formed and rolled over eyelid to cheek. Still, the water itself was warm. It had a beautiful blue, even with the long-stretching browns and greens.
But he, from a world beyond Shin's, was standing above him and smiling. He was smiling, but his face was obfuscated by an overwhelming shadow. "Looks like you've been working hard."
Shin glided his hand through the water in front of him, "That all you have to say?"
"Don't get cocky, I've won more sparring matches."
Shin pulled up one of the plants nestled in the waterbed, "A single match or two against me—and I was distracted."
"If you're distracted on the battlefield, you'll die. Isn't that how it goes? Seems fair to me."
Shin closed his hand on the piece of the plant he had taken and watched the water droplets as they returned to the main body from his fifth finger. "'Fair' ain't how I would describe anything out there."
"And? You giving up over it?"
Shin opened his hand again to see the crumpled, torn piece of green. "'Course not. It's just... difficult. Ya'know? Why's it always a reward to rape and pillage? Why's it always about power? Little men always want to sit on big thrones."
"That's just humanity."
Shin dropped the green back into the water, "Humanity or not, everyone's fightin' for somethin'. Everyone's got somethin' to lose. But this..."
"What is it that you're feeling, Shin?"
He closed his eyes, "It ain't anger. Sadness, I guess. How many more people am I gonna fail to protect? It's not just the people from Qin, but what about the rest of the Middle Kingdoms? Kan Ki goes out of his way to do whatever he wants regardless of what anyone thinks. A guy like that is despicable, but he's strong. We wouldn't be where we are without him, I can't deny that; but everything he does makes me twist n' contort in my head. My body wants to oppose him with all its might. It sucks fightin' against a guy like that, but it's worse havin' to call him an ally."
"What's the problem?"
Shin intoned, "Are you sayin' that—"
"Do you feel hopeless against men like that? When you become the greatest general under the heavens, are you going to keep embracing men like that? Don't you have bigger plans?"
Shin looked down to his feet soaking in the water, "How many people are gonna be scarified before then? Who knows if anything is gonna change."
"Then force change. When you have the power, whenever you have the power, you can be the change."
"I'm just a soldier—"
"—the King's Sword, you mean. Stop pitying yourself. Are you going to tell me that this king you're fighting for, who I died for, isn't up to the task. Doesn't he have some grand plan? If you could save everyone in the world, then maybe there'd be some sense of 'fairness'. But that's not the case, and you're powerless in the face of how the heavens created the world. That doesn't mean that a flowing river will forever fall on a single path, though. The grounds might shift, or a farmer might stumble on it and irrigate his crops. Even if you never move a river, there's someone close to you who can. Help him unite China, Shin. If it gets you even a step closer to a fairer world, then undertaking that responsibility is your greatest burden. You'll be the greatest general under the heavens, without a doubt."
Shin looked at Hyou.
"You already know this: you're not bearing the weight of war solely on your shoulders, so don't let it sink you," Hyou offered his hand to Shin, "if you can save at least one person, that's more than saving none, right?"
Shin reached his hand out, "S'pose so. I must seem like a mess."
Hyou grabbed his hand "You're more than looked after," and pulled Shin up.
He stared straight into her grey eyes. His head throbbed and his vision blurred, and though his muscles tightened, and he squinted, he held eye contact. He was on the floor laying on his side with his hands tied behind his back, and his feet tied together. Though she wore a headband like all of the other Shiyuu assassins he had come across, Shin could tell that beneath hers, a scar stretched from behind her eyebrow and up into her forehead. She kept a stern look and did not react to any of his gazing. She sat with her legs crossed and a sword bridged atop her legs; and her right hand found placement on one of the blade faces. Of all of the assassins, however, she was taller than others. She was unlike the assassins in that regard: most seemed to be keen on honing agility and speed to their advantage, which coincided with their height generally being on the smaller end; and yet, this woman gave the aura of a different kind of warrior. Though she bore the markings and status of a Shiyuu, Shin felt as though he could feel the dirtiness of her fight. He had not fought her at all, and yet the only description that seemed suiting of the fire before him was "dirty."
Dirty not in the sense that she herself was of an ugly color, but that he was certain her fighting style—as he had not seen—was unbefitting of the Shiyuu; or rather, unpure in that regard. On the other hand, she herself had an uncharacteristic for-a-warrior beauty. Though it was obvious that her forehead had tasted the sharp fangs of a sword in the past, she made no attempt to conceal it. Even so, her lips were stained with a fading red of a berry, and she seemed to be careful and attentive to the cleanliness of her white attire and black hair.
"Is there a reason you're doin' all this?"
She kept quiet.
Shin shifted his weight by squirming around on the floor a little bit. "Not a surrender offer... and I'm not dead, so what is it? Am I meant to be bait? But that doesn't answer my question."
She was still quiet and seemed to be assessing how to approach his conversation.
He sighed.
"We have laws, and that child broke them. She must be punished, that is all."
Shin stared. He didn't know what to say. "Are you some kind of an idiot?"
"Which one of us is situated on the floor?"
"You're sittin' on the floor too."
Her brows frowned and she looked to the side of the room they were in, "I will not waste time speaking to incompetent foo—"
"Oi," he interrupted her. "Look at me," he commanded. His eyes were sharp, and she looked. "You're tellin' me that you're doin' all of this for 'punishment'? What the hell does that mean?"
"Do Qin monkeys not have laws? I suppose that would explain much."
"You'd condemn yourself to be killed to chase a runaway?"
Now she scowled, "We condemn her to be killed for desecrating the Shiyuu way. If she'd have just died that day, we wouldn't be here; but that brat had to go around killing, didn't she? Did you forget? She's a threat to the Shiyuu as long as she lives."
"And then you sentence all of these other girls—and even the hired hands and my own people—to death, is that it? One person had enough of your bullshit, so now you've gotta make everyone's lives worse?"
"We will uphold our rules and traditions, the mutterings of a stray mut are invaluable. Even under threat, you mean to say laws are without merit? Typical."
Shin, still on his side, lifted his head back to more clearly look at the woman. "Are your rules more important than your own lives?"
"Rules protect people."
"And for the crime of desecrating your so-called way, you'd send every single one of your friends and comrades to die in the name of upholding those rules? Even your elders must have more common sense than that."
She pushed herself up and placed the blade of her sword right up against this neck, "She killed our elders, our girls, our Shiyuu. Don't talk like you and her are any different. I've heard all about you, Shin of the Hi Shin."
She moved back to her prior spot, but this time kept her sword next to her and leaned her back up against one of the wooden walls. Shin didn't once wince at her aggravated movements. "What's a society that puts value on senseless killin'?"
"It isn't senseless."
"A couple of years ago, some Shiyuu tried to assassinate the King of Qin. You're assassins. You live off of war and turmoil."
"That's right, it's our way of life."
Shin smiled, "But you're not warmongers who love the taste of the battlefield. You're not in it for the killin' or the glory. You're in it for the money, ain't you?"
"Money runs the world, as they say. Who are you to criticize, commander?"
"I don't have the answers; but people should have the opportunity to grow up and live though the hardships. Forcin' children to fight in grueling tournaments for a label, torturin' civilians because they happened to be born on one side of a border, profiteering off of war... the Middle Kingdoms don't have to be like that. Your clan doesn't have to be like that."
She smirked, "Do you think that everyone's going to happily and merrily join together under a single flag, and then everything's just going to be alright? Reality isn't like that. Just look at your king."
"He's not like that. I get that it's hypocritical to say these things and fight for someone try'na take over other lands, but if we can unite people—not as Zhao, or as Wu, or as Qin—maybe we can get a little bit closer. "
"At what cost? How many will you kill before you achieve that, assuming you get anywhere close?"
"I don't know, but if I can save someone, then that's better than saving no one. How many more people would have been massacred if the Hi Shin wasn't around? I ain't letting another Changping happen; whether it's to Qin, or to Zhao."
She stayed quiet for a few seconds. "You talk big, but your honesty is your only enviable characteristic. We have no interest in such matters."
"So, you'd rather continue this cycle of orphaning and killing?"
"That's right. I was an orphan too—"
"Then—"
"—and I'll stay loyal. You don't have the power to do anything. You may have an enviable dream, but that's all it is."
Another person appeared before the doorway. Shin couldn't see them from where he was laying, but the faint sound of footsteps alerted him.
She spoke, "Mistress Yasu, the envoys returned."
"And the locals?"
"Taken care of."
Shin clenched his teeth, "What're you up to?"
Yasu spoke, "We don't live in your world. Direct confrontation is not our forte, but don't you worry," she stood up and leaned towards his face, "these villagers are alive and well, and they'll serve just as much purpose as you will in this fight." She straightened herself out and walked away into one of the other rooms.
Shin attempted to free himself from the rope, but it wasn't much use. While he pulled and pulled, he mostly gave scraped and burned the skin around his wrists. By then, he noticed that there were other ropes connecting his arms to his legs, and up and around his neck. It was a bizarre contraption, but it nonetheless held him. "Shit."
Outside, Yasu and three of her subordinates talked. Shin could barely hear their murmuring as the rest of the house—the rest of wherever he was—stayed in complete silence.
"They'll be here soon," one of the other girls said.
"You made sure to notify them of the details?"
"Of course."
Yasu then asked, "When?"
"Two hours, maybe. The front scouts will notify us, so even if it's earlier, we can be ready before she's here."
"No, no chances. I'll take him over right now," Yasu commanded, "we can't allow for any surprises. If any of the other Hi Shin pass through the gate, do away with the villagers, don't wait for my order."
"Understood."
Yasu walked back into the room and grabbed a piece of rope seemingly not attached to anything, but then started to drag Shin by his chest. His whole body was bound, and he hadn't realized until that moment. What was noticeable in contrast, however, was the strength of the woman. Although she was using a considerable amount of force to drag a man of Shin's size across the floor, she seemed unnerved by his weight, and simply pulled, and pulled, and pulled. When they reached the opening of the shelter they were in, Shin glanced around and realized that they were in an old castle that had fallen out of use. It was mostly broken apart with wood rotting from rain and sunlight. The colors of a once-vibrant city were faded; but in their place, wild foliage reclaimed its place over unkempt stone and created its own hues and patterns atop the remnants of a society abandoned.
"Lift him."
Four others approached and helped Yasu to lift him up and carry him towards his fated destination. They refused to allow him to walk on his own, though he took it as a testament of their acknowledgement of his abilities. After several minutes of their traversal, they came across a main building with a courtyard where a field of white flowers in grew in abundance. Aside from the echoes of shuffling feet, the occasional ring of metal upon metal as hilts and swords made contact with other pieces of metal, and the breathing of those carrying him, the air was completely silent. Even as he took note of all of the buildings around, how far the walls of the castle seemed to be, the position of overwatch units on top of buildings, and so forth, he kept glancing back to the field of flowers.
They took him into the decrepit main house and up a series of steps to its third floor, and then stood him up and strung him from a bar on the ceiling at the face of the house looking towards the courtyard. However, there was no face to speak of. Instead, Shin was exposed to the elements outside, and he could see all from where he was tied up. His feet were not so firmly on the ground, however, as he was made to stand on a thing strip of wood firmly erected from the face of the building; and with his hands tied above him, he could do nothing but ensure that he did not slip and begin to hang solely by his wrists as he could not walk himself backwards either. In the circumstance that he did hang, perhaps the best scenario would be that the wood holding him broke, and he'd be able to catch himself; but in a worse event, he wouldn't, or his position would break something in his hands or arms. Bargaining on what-if scenarios is a last-ditch effort, though not particularly intelligent.
For the time being, all he could do was wait.
Cold Summer Storm
They sprinted. They ran. They trudged through dirt and mud. Fast, as fast as they could.
"We should've pushed to end them while we had the chance," Karyou Ten lamented.
Kyou Kai, on a horse next to her, with some couple hundred Hi Shin following along behind them, retorted, "What's done is done, I'll handle the rest."
"It's a trap, you can't trust their words."
"Of course, but if you ignore their threats, they're certain to act on them. Much less for Shin, much more for the villagers from Ton, we can't act hastily on that decision."
So Sui interrupted, "Then do you have a plan?"
"Win."
He sighed, "Kyou Kai, that's hardly a plan."
She glared at him, "They have Shin and the villagers as hostages and are demanding a duel—the second you attack, they'll die. The second they notice something is amiss, they die."
Karyou Ten made an agreeing remark, "We sacrificed enough civilian lives in Sai, I won't offer anymore," she stopped for a moment as she thought about an idea, "I don't know. We don't know anything about their situation, where the civilians are, where Shin is, what the city looks like. Right now, just trust Kyou Kai. I'll think of something. I'll come up with something, I know I can do it, I just need to be able to see what we're working with first."
There was a fire in her eyes, the fire of a Hi Shin warrior.
The unit entered a forest of trees that they would find the castle in, and Karyou Ten whispered to Kyou Kai, "Is there anyone keeping an eye on us?"
Kyou Kai concentrated on their surroundings and made attempts to locate any advance reconnaissance in the area but found nothing. "I'm not noticing anyone."
Karyou Ten kept quiet and thought to herself. She mulled over what she was thinking until she finally came to a decision. "This is going to be somewhat of a gamble. So Sui, I need you and a few others to follow me."
He chose nine, Karyou Ten took charge of them and So Sui and broke off from the rest of the unit, leaving everyone else in the care of Kyou Kai and the other present lieutenants. This smaller group, however, did not stray far from the main force, instead following off to the side just enough that they were visible and in pairs of two. With the castle in sight, Kyou Kai and the others approached, while Karyou Ten and the others stood back and hid in the brush and trees to silently watch and listen to the happening.
There were some of the Shiyuu assassins posted atop of the castle wall. There was no gate keeping anyone out of this side of the wall, but instead there were villagers sat with some of the assassins. Those on top did not react, and Kyou Kai turned around and said something to the guards before demounting her horse and proceeding inside. Everyone else lay in wait.
Karyou Ten watched the guards on top closely. There was no change or movement from them. Horseless, the group of eleven circled around the castle towards their right-hand side and proceeded quiet through the forested area. With the others keeping a lookout for any Shiyuu that might be lurking in the trees, the strategist kept her eyes firmly on the wall and its top. There were no guards posted on the sides of the wall. Eventually, closer to one of the corners on the far side of the castle, Karyou Ten noticed a small gap in the wall possibly from a long-past battle that was never fixed up.
She looked at the men beside her, and then to So Sui. He nodded affirmation that there seemed to be none of the Shiyuu posted in the area. As they walked up to inspect the hole, they noticed that it was rather far up from the ground and also quite small. The strategist was not dissuaded; however, seeing the look on her face, So Sui vocalized his worry about what she had in plan at that moment in time.
"If you're thinking of fitting in there alone, then," he was cut off.
"Someone has to help, somehow..."
He pleaded with her, "Then let's keep going around, we may find another hole—or something else they've overlooked!"
She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, "If you can, I need you to do that. And if not... join with the others at the front. It'll take too long going all the way around, who knows if there's a better spot somewhere. Right?"
"How can we leave our—"
"I'm not a child!" She pulled out the blow dart she had taken off of one of the earliest foes that she had encountered with Shin. "I'm not like Kyou Kai, but I can fight too. I need you to have faith in me. Please."
He looked into her eyes. She had the conviction. He knew that. He was no stranger to those eyes. He had seen them many times—in her eyes, in others, and in his own. He closed his own and winced, "Help her up," he gave the others the order; and as he did, she took off the large, fluffy parts of her outfit and kept the bare minimum that was essential.
On top of their shoulders, Karyou Ten reached and reached and reached and reached and reached, she put her hand up on the crack that she could barely and then began to lift herself up as far as she could. Her feet moved up and hovered over the many different bodies below her cautiously waiting for her. And as every muscle in her arms and thighs worked to push and pull her up into the crevice in the castle wall, she grits her teeth, but kept control of her voice and refused to let any amount of expression out from it. It was partially hell, but it was another part an achievement to finally have made it up when she did. As she gasped for air and began to contort herself into the hole, she gave a final nod to So Sui, and the ten of them hurried back into the forest to retrieve the horses and continue. So Sui halted the soldiers from going on ahead and insisted on ensuring that Karyou Ten was able to make it through the tight squeeze; and as soon as he felt his sense of responsibility satisfied, rode off.
Inside the walls, Kyou Kai walked through the central road, accompanied by a Shiyuu on either side just behind her, until she reached the main courtyard area where she could see Shin hanging in a half-awake state.
"Yo, Kyou Kai, I see you fell for the trap," he said sarcastically.
"I would've let you get out of here on your own, but they have some of the villagers from Ton here, and I can't betray them," she half-joked, hoping that at least he would derive some humor from her outrageous lie of leaving him.
"Kyou~ Kai~," Yasu intonated as she revealed herself from behind Shin. "Walk up the stairs, to the base of the house," she commanded.
Kyou Kai did as was asked and walked up from the courtyard to the road leading towards the entryway of the building where Shin was hung from.
"You've caused a lot of problems."
"I'd have caused less if you left me alone."
"That's rich coming from you."
They paused.
Yasu continued, "Just like you, I'll have vengeance for what you did," she dropped down to ground level and unsheathed her sword, with Kyou Kai reciprocating. "I won't let you get away with having taken all of my sister's souls."
"I see," Shin muttered through his breath.
"Don't interfere," Yasu told the two who escorted Kyou Kai. They nodded and stood back.
They watched each other carefully. "So, you're mad at me, but not at the ritual killings?"
"Does it matter who or why?"
"Then you'd have betrayed the Shiyuu? Would you have done the same thing?"
"Of course not, I'll follow our principles unto death," Yasu said, irritated.
"I don't believe you, you're just weak."
Kyou Kai was infuriating Yasu with question after question, "No, I'm strong!"
Yasu's left foot stepped forward as she swung her sword up. Kyou Kai took a step back and went on the defense, but greatly underestimated the size of Yasu's stride and the length of her blade. She blocked but was immediately lifted into the air and thrown backwards by the sheer force that the Shiyuu assassin was able to one-handedly strike with even against the tug of gravity and the weight of her own weapon. As soon as she had landed back on her feet, Kyou Kai was again on the defense as Yasu swiftly strode forwards. It was not a fighting style that was taught by the Shiyuu, nor one that those who championed their mobility and dexterity would ever bother to desire.
Though still on the defense, Kyou Kai opted to try a different approach, and instead of blocking or parrying the large sword that came barreling towards her, this time in a downwards swing, she used her speed to dodge the metal beast. While Yasu had strength and speed, the latter was still not on the same level as Kyou Kai's; however, by swinging around in a full circular movement, Yasu attacked again without having to delay herself a moment's worth of momentum. The secondary barrage was far more apparent, and allowed Kyou Kai to have leeway as she backed off and waited to see what Yasu would do next. Yasu stopped as she noticed Kyou Kai already outside of her range and took a step back to reorganize herself. Kyou Kai wanted to push for an attack during this sequence of events but felt hesitant due to the lack of information regarding what tricks Yasu had up her sleeve. Karyou Ten had told her about having done something to Shin to knock him out; and while she didn't expect Yasu to do such a tactic here as she seemed far more invested in fighting and beating Kyou Kai, that said little about what else the assassin was capable of. The two had now swapped positions from when they had started: Kyou Kai was closer to the entrance of the house than Yasu was, and though she considered making a break to unhook Shin, the two observers would make that difficult as their purpose was, likely, to intervene in such a circumstance; or more pressingly, act as messengers to execute the captives. At this point, she knew of those on the wall, but there was no telling if there were any others within the city.
Kyou Kai shuffled her feet and positioned herself at the entrance to the first floor of the building. Yasu charged in and attempted to pierce Kyou Kai, but Kyou Kai parried and was able to throw Yasu's sword off to the side due to a weak grip and lack of hilt. Though she moved to cut her down, Yasu instead continued her charge at Kyou Kai, grabbed her, and threw her into the house. As she jumped up the three steps that led to the doorway where Kyou Kai had fallen in, she unsheathed another sword—Shin's. The entrance was darkened out and Yasu could barely see inside, but as she pierced the veil of the frame, Kyou Kai was waiting and threw a free block of wood she had found on the ground in Yasu's general direction which she blocked using the face of the sword. In the split-second that her attention was taken away by the piece of wood, Kyou Kai used an old, fragile table off to the left side of Yasu—that to the average person would have simply collapsed beneath their weight—to jump up and try to catch Yasu away from building momentum in a swing; but instead, Yasu moved aside and let Kyou Kai's sword scrape her nose as she grabbed Kyou Kai's attire and again threw her opposite of her in the room.
Noticing an opening that led up, Kyou Kai scrambled and jumped herself to the second floor and regained composure with Yasu in pursuit. Kyou Kai lunged forward and was deflected and then kicked through a wooden wall where a paper window would have sat and onto the second floor's ceramic tile roofing. The Hi Shin commander realized by then that Yasu had no intention of making their duel a swift, merciful death, and instead wished to showcase her power over the other as a form of bragging, or for some sadistic pleasure, or whatever emotion that spurred her on. In spite of that, Kyou Kai thanked Yasu for having the gall to act with such arrogance, as her toying made the chances of winning all the more likely. Still, she grasped her abdomen as the pain of Yasu's kick could be felt throughout her stomach and her breaths hurt.
Yasu walked through the hole she had created using Kyou Kai's body and carefully took steps onto the ceramic tiling, making sure not to slip as the recent cold weather had frosted over some of them and made them slippery. Kyou Kai, on the other hand, attempted to charge through Yasu, but did take the same precaution and found herself falling forwards. With little time to spare and Yasu's blade already traversing from the ground unto the heavens, Kyou Kai stuck her free hand out and pushed herself up and forwards, flipping barely above Yasu, but still not far away enough to escape her grasp. Yasu took one of Kyou Kai's legs and spun her around; and though she kicked Yasu's face with her heel, seemingly breaking her nose in the process, Yasu pulled her forward, let go of the sword in her right hand, grabbed Kyou Kai with both free hands, and then threw her down onto the tiles. In that moment, Kyou Kai lost hold of her sword and it fell off the roof.
As Yasu prepared herself to finish what she had let her emotions get in the way of doing, she heard the sound of rustling above in the third story where Shin was being kept. Karyou Ten had snuck in during their fight and was attempting to free him from where he had been imprisoned; and while she wondered why neither of the observers had alerted her about another person, she found the two of them laying still on the ground.
The rope holding Shin's legs had already been cut through and he was positioning himself backwards in anticipation of Karyou Ten cutting through the one holding his arms up. The rope finally broke free and Shin started to fall forward anyway, but Karyou Ten reached and tried her best to stabilize him from plunging all the way frontwards; and then the two staggered backwards onto their butts.
Yasu ran back into the second floor and found her way up to the third floor where a panicked Karyou Ten backed away; and as Yasu attempted to kill her, Shin interrupted by plunging his foot through one of the floorboards that Yasu was standing on. She avoided tripping through it, but instead directed her attention to Shin. Weakened by his captivity, she took the chance of piercing his chest where he stood; but she instead found herself flying as Shin allowed for the sword to graze his stomach so that he could get close to her and throw her just as she had done Kyou Kai, though he added a swing to her face just as he tossed her back onto the second floor's tiling. He stumbled as he briefly lost his composure, "Run," he told Karyou Ten.
She listened and descended down the building, and in the meantime, Shin jumped down with his sword in hand to the second floor where Kyou Kai had begun trying to beat Yasu with a loose tile. His legs were screaming, but he fought through the pain and approached Yasu. Noticing his weakness, Yasu dove through his slash to an uncomfortable low which made Shin wince as his legs felt like giving out, and then body slammed him making him lose his sword, before using the same technique from before to grab Shin and throw him off of the building entirely. As his body hit the stone slabs below him, his lungs gave way, and the air was knocked out of him. Yasu picked up Shin's sword and intended to jump onto him with it, but Kyou Kai's intervention sabotaged Yasu's intentions. The smaller girl had taken another tile and slammed it onto the temple of Yasu's head which resulted in it breaking apart; but she was unable to remain unscathed as Yasu's counter grazed her arm. The brief blindness caused by the ceramic particles entering Yasu's eyes gave Kyou Kai enough time, however, to unintentionally tackle the both of them off of the second floor.
Both landed with more elegance than Shin, though neither enjoyed the fall enough to feel comfortable with moving for several seconds. As Yasu stood, Shin was doing his best to stand up, and Kyou Kai had already found her Rokyu Sui and was cautiously approaching Yasu. Without a second thought, Yasu turned around and darted down the stairs and into the flower fielded courtyard in an attempt to escape and alert the others of the happenings. Kyou Kai pursued as quickly as she could but at this point was barely outrunning Yasu; and even so, as she approached near, Yasu turned around and through something into Kyou Kai's face. Though it had the effect of binding her momentarily, it was enough for Yasu to disarm Kyou Kai. Kyou Kai tried to punch Yasu in the face, but recoiled as the latter instead stepped on her foot with great force and punched her in the jaw. Kyou Kai, refusing to lose her standing, shifted her body threw a punch with her right fist into Yasu's stomach. But even as she did, Yasu simply replied throwing her own fist up Kyou Kai's jaw and removing her foot, again sending Kyou Kai slightly into the air and onto the ground. Yasu picked up Kyou Kai's sword, who was gasping for breath getting up, and started to swing it at Kyou Kai who dodged as best as she could but was cut on one of her thighs and her left hand.
With no time to spare, Shin appeared before the two of them and engaged Yasu in a sword fight. While they locked swords, Shin pushed his into hers and lifted both of their swords up so that he could grab her by the collar; but she instead found her way out by twisting the sword and herself around and digging her elbow into his chest. A limp Kyou Kai with a split lip tried to hug Yasu to hold her in place, but Yasu responds by pulling her off and dislocating her elbow while Shin tried to use the time Kyou Kai made to pierce her; but he found no opening to do so when Yasu grabs Kyou Kai by the hair and pulls her between them to use as a human shield. Yasu threw Kyou Kai towards Shin, and as he avoided clashing with Kyou Kai, he moved his sword with such force, like Yasu had, he disarmed her again, and she again threw something in his face to blind him and do the same to him. Though the swords had each found themselves swapping bodies over and over and over again through the course of the battle between the two belligerents, they found themselves in their final homes for the match.
On one side, Kyou Kai picked up Shin's sword and relocated her shoulder. Though it hurt and she wanted to scream, she was unable to produce any sound that sounded like one. Opposite of her, with Yasu between them, Shin picked up Rokyu Sui and looked down on the assassin before him. Though seemingly without a sword, she again reached into her attire to pull out a small dagger to use.
Using her open hand, Kyou Kai wiped a bit of the blood that had found its way like a river molding its path down her chin.
The three of them looked back and forth at each other in anticipation.
Behind them, the world was different. It mattered not where they were, nor who they were. It was a fight for life. For lives.
In a field of flowers, those that bloomed; and where weeds overgrew. Where the summer heat and the humid mist irritated the skin. Where there no borders, only the lands here and there, and the mountains around, and the land between. The white-capped hills that climbed into the heavens mixed with the greenery of its inhabitants. And high on above, just below the blue, but in the sky between was the roaring cloud of grey and its flashes of purple-blue. The faint echo of a dragon's calls rang about with every flicker within the cloud; and yet, in spite of the deep reverberation that each of those thunders made, it was still and quiet.
"Is this really what you want?" Shin asked.
"I ask that you surrender," Kyou Kai said.
Yasu laughed. "I didn't know the Hi Shin were such softies. Makes sense how you're so weak, now."
Neither reacted.
"Surrender... and then? I'll have failed my clan, myself, and my sisters. If nothing else, you understand, don't you?"
Kyou Kai may have agreed before, but she insisted, "You'll fail and have lost your life."
"And would that have stopped you?"
"I've grown. Maybe you should too."
"I—"
"Think about the sisters who are still alive and here for you and the clan. What happens to them once you're gone?" Kyou Kai persisted in negotiating a surrender, "You want to feel guilty, or angry, but who can protect them once you're out of the picture here? They're a danger to the captives they have, there's no way we can just ask them to surrender. Isn't that what you feel guilty about, your sisters? Will you really abandon them?" It wasn't much of a negotiation, but simple cause and effect threats.
"Do you think they feel different from me? All of the chaos you've brought to the Shiyuu, and you believe that my selfishness is an individual characteristic?" True enough, Shin remembered the comments made by the previous Shiyuu they had cut down in arriving to this circumstance. "You're ignorant as always." Yasu prepared herself and kept her dagger in a reverse grip.
Kyou Kai breathed deeply, and then launched herself first. Albeit injured, she paid little attention to the pain as her lungs burned and muscles churned. She brought her sword down from her right side and down the left. While Yasu dodged, she ducked in anticipation of a counter with the dagger as her body moved closer to Yasu's; and when the latter did counter, she made two steps backwards as Kyou Kai attempted to kick her legs in. Kyou Kai used her legs to push herself up from her now-crouched position and lifted the sword up to stab Yasu diagonally; and while it managed to graze and tear through the side of Yasu's Shiyuu outfit, was unable to fully pierce her. Instead, as the sword grazed her abdomen, Yasu had swapped which knife her hand was in and ran it down Kyou Kai's left arm and all the way to her shoulder. She was unable to tell how deeply the knife cut through, but with the injury on her hand she could presume her left side bar her leg was out of order.
As the knife moved past Kyou Kai's shoulder blade and she no longer felt any contact with Kyou Kai's body, Yasu plunged the knife towards Kyou Kai's back, but was forced to abandon the dive when she felt Shin's overwhelming bloodlust erupt from behind her and jumped to the side in order to dodge his own strike into her body. As she did so, the dagger cut through Kyou Kai's hair tail. Shin missed and stumbled forwards but kept his body moving forward in spite of that and then took another swing at her. The smaller size of Rokyu Sui made it difficult for him to determine his reach as he had never used it much before, though he was adapting to its length and weight as quickly as he could. With another slash from his right to his left, his body twisted, and the point of the sword hit the ground. Yasu put the knife back into her right hand and approached, assuming that Shin would try to use his position to slash opposite of his current position, which he did. Though she easily moved out of its way, she was unexpectedly greeted by the fact that it was a feint leading to a punch into her stomach, which knocked her back and down. The overwhelming exhaustion was making it difficult for any of them to think concisely about their actions and movements.
Shin was unable to strike quickly again whilst regaining his composure, and as he did try to move to finish the fight, Yasu propped up with the dagger in a proper front grip and pushed it through Shin's stomach. She let go and intended to back off before he could do the same to her. She looked around and noticed Kyou Kai had dropped the sword she was using next to her and that she sat silently on her knees shivering and with the flowers around her painted in blood. She made the decision, there, to again try to take Kyou Kai's sword; and so, she lunged out. But Kyou Kai, with her right arm, swiftly clawed at one of Yasu's legs moving past her. With every inch of pressure, she was able to apply around Yasu's calf, she pressed as hard as she could to keep the other woman from moving. Yasu tripped and fell into the dirt. She pushed her hands into the ground to break her fall, but the velocity at which she had just lunged and arms that wished to give out at any second led to her head smacking the earth anyway.
"Shin!" Kyou Kai yelled.
Yasu used her other foot to kick off Kyou Kai's hand. With one hand, Kyou Kai sank her fingers into the dirt and pulled herself up to grab Yasu by the collar as she likewise got up. Yasu hit her in the head, but this only caused Kyou Kai to hold on harder; and Shin slashed at her while in Kyou Kai's hold, but his movements had been slowed and was unable to land a proper hit. Kyou Kai fell to her knees again but continued holding on with the one hand she had. Yasu's legs did not give in, and she kept herself standing. Shin left the dagger in his abdomen to prevent significantly more bleeding from occurring, though the double-edge of the matter was that they were so close together that it allowed Yasu to reach for it and pull it out herself.
Shin grabbed her hand and didn't let her plunge the knife back in, but she grabbed his other hand with Rokyu Sui and did the same. With Kyou Kai's bodyweight doing its best to drag her down and the two in confrontation at a complete stalemate, there was nothing to be done but struggle in waning breaths.
And yet, Yasu's condition was faring better than the other two, and she slowly—ever so slowly—pushed to overpower them.
No warning was given. Nor any sound. Distracted from the world around them, they did not notice.
She crept up.
Her presence unnoticed.
And Karyou Ten grabbed Shin's sword. She bore its weight. She bore its meaning. Its power. Then struck Yasu through. She could not move out of the way, nor move someone in her way.
Karyou Ten winced at the feeling. She winced at the sound. She winced at the thought. But she kept her eyes open. She did not close them. If she were to close them, then it would be disrespectful. Disrespectful to those who bore the sins of killing on the field. In this field. She had to witness it, she thought. To see the pain that she had caused, and to see her efforts stand. She did not fly, like an arrow, in vain.
Yet her eyes watered. In the face of villainy, or evil, or whomever or whatever, her eyes watered. It was not a matter of killing to live, nor a matter of good vs evil, or one of right or wrong—killing itself, she thought, was always a tragedy. In such a way, it chipped a part of her soul even as she saved Shin and Kyou Kai from potential death.
But she did not regret the action she undertook. As tragic as it was, she avoided a more certain tragedy.
Karyou Ten let pulled the sword out. Her hands shook. Yasu let go of the dagger, and the other two let go and moved away from her. She fell onto her back, looking straight into the blue sky. It was not a warm summer blue, but a dull, monotone grey.
"I underestimated the little one," she said between slow breaths. Yasu turned her head to stare at Karyou Ten. A haunting image. She looked up to the sky.
Where a river flowed downward as deep a red color as the tiles that lay upon the ceilings of Kanyou's great raised pavilions.
Where the color of snow was momentarily stained with the color's deep-setting roots and a habitation of soil.
Lay upon it and sleep. But do not close your eyes.
