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Chapter Five
The Swan's Return
"Where is she?" Takara asked softly, turning in place as the MaSho paced in tight circles. "We must keep her inside."
"She's should be resting," Anubis responded, never taking his eyes off Rajura. "Korin will remain with her through the night. She will not run off unattended through this castle again."
"And of the child she saw? This... Kado?" Takara pressed, eyeing the empty wicker chair in the center of the dais. Anubis turned, and paced his slow, long arc again, passing behind the chair.
"Nothing." Rajura was the one to answer. "We have combed the castle, and we can find nothing. Only Kayura could break the seals on that door. I don't understand how she got inside!"
"You are over-thinking, you one-eyed lout," Naaza rumbled. "The yoroi has a plan. It's probably driving her insane right now."
"It is not." Winter preceded her presence in the room, a chill breeze rolling across the floor. "And I believe I have found someone who knows what may be happening."
Kaori's appearance caused all motion in the room to cease. The enigmatic yuki-onna floated through the room as if she slid on a block of ice. Her hand encompassed the open rice paper door behind her. With black hair hanging loose over her shoulders, the tenchi waited to be acknowledged. Anubis' hands grew white-knuckled as he gripped the wicker chair.
"Enter, and be received, Seiya-sama," he bade her, motioning for the beautiful creature to step within.
One small slipppered foot rose, and came to rest inches above the floor. She stepped and walked, without ever touching the wood, without ever coming in contact with anything around her. Her wings, pale ivory, dipped in scarlet, trailed behind her, folded like a cloak against her back. For the first time, Anubis noticed that she was armed, a beautifully matched daisho lay against her waist. Her lip curled into a sneer as she loaned those gathered a bow.
"What is it that you wish to tell us?" Takara asked, gathering the pacing MaSho up as she swung around the room. They were more intimidating as a group. Besides, having the group together would allow her to bristle and snarl without being seen too easily.
"Lords, you searched for a creature boy named Kado." She spoke with her forehead nearly touching the floor. "The creature is a Ki-rin, the last in all of Japan, and the balancing force."
"Speak plainly, tenchi," Naaza recommended coldly.
"I speak as simply as I can," the tenchi countered, glancing up for only a second. "The Ki-rin has awoken, and he is choosing his champions. This human woman, and her friends have been graced by his power. They are the keys to the mystery."
"What mystery?" Anubis prompted. "Do you mean to say they will turn this tide of war? Or that they will discover what has become of Lady Kayura?"
The tenchi looked up finally, straightening as she did so. "They may do all that you wish them. Give them proper rein, and the horses can accomplish impossible feats."
"I hate riddles," Naaza growled. He hissed softly, but calmed as Takara's hand came to rest on his shoulder. He reached out, brushing his fingers against her hand, as he glared at the beautifully winged woman.
Anubis rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His eyes rested briefly on the yuki-onna as she stood silently. Her colorless eyes, wrapped by dark lashes, turned slowly to the Yami MaSho. She gave no outward sign of affection, yet Anubis' heart raced at her gaze. Forcing himself to look away, he sighed deeply. "We are done here, tenchi." Halfheartedly he waved the winged spirit away.
From the corner of his eye, he saw her bow, until her forehead nearly brushed the floor. "I am at your beck and call, Yami-sama." She backed slowly to the door, and after a final bow, turned sharply on her heel. A single feather drifted to the floor in her wake, brilliantly pale against the dark wood. Kaori bent to retrieve it, after she slid the shoji closed.
"If you believe the spirit of a death dealer," Naaza hissed as Kaori passed him. "Then perhaps the girl should lea-"
"No." Rajura cut him off. "The girl stays. She is meant to be here." He raised his head high, and looked down upon his fellow MaSho. "If you had seen the fearlessness she possessed." Rajura shook his head slightly.
"She saved your life," Takara whispered, furrowing her brow, beneath vibrant red bangs. "Didn't she? You didn't get away from Hideo."
"Takara," Rajura shook his head slightly.
"A woman saved you? A human woman?" Takara suddenly brayed with laughter, her skirts swirling around her ankles. "Oh, rich. The great Gen MaSho, rescued by a woman."
"Takara, enough." The kitsune blinked and looked down. It had been Naaza to speak up this time; Naaza who was rubbing his temples with long fingers. Takara's golden eyes stared in astonishment as he sighed heavily. "I don't care whether or not Rajura was ever saved. The girl has the yoroi now; she's practically one of us. If Rajura would let me finish, perhaps she should learn from us, and help us."
"She's no... Shuten..." Anubis muttered. Kaori slipped her arm within his, and slowly Anubis' world slipped back into sharp, crystalline focus. "But we can use all the warriors we can get."
"Four directions," Ashe continued to talk to herself, using a long stick to trace figures in the sand. "Two stones, north and south… blue and red… yin and yang. A bowl and a stick, east and west… green and brown… yang and yin…"
Seiji bit his lip. He was beginning to regret bringing her into the gardens, now. Her constant mutterings had begun to scare him. His mind refused to settle, refused to slip away into meditation, as he frantically fought to follow the strangely circular pattern of Ashe's logic.
"No, not stones… treasures…" She tapped her drawing stick in the sand repeatedly. "Rocks? Precious jewels…" Ashe paused, drawing a slight gasp as she traced a yin-yang circle in the sand. Staring at it for a long, tense moment, she finally leaned down and erased a portion. Running a line through the fat part of the yang tear, she continued to draw in the white sand, adding little dangling baubles. "Naste's necklace! That's one of Kado's toys! Seiji! I think I figured it out!"
Seiji snapped his eyes shut and pretended to be lost in meditation as Ashe leapt up from her stone. Her bare foot scuffed through the sand, obscuring the cross she had etched there. "What's the center? The shrine? Kado's cave?" Ashe paced a tight circle around her drawings before finally coming to crouch before Seiji. "They're the key, Seiji," she whispered, placing her hands on his knees. "The Shi Tenno. I'm sure of it."
Hitomi paced the grand counsel chamber restlessly. She folded her feather cloak again between her arms and turned once more to begin a new circuit of the room. The two dragons that had accompanied her lounged about, high in the rafters, while the sennin could only watch as the young woman grew more frustrated. She tossed her braid in irritation, flinging the length of pale blue back over her shoulders. Tiny vestigial wings, no larger than a hand, twitched at her shoulder blades.
"My lady," the sennin breathed, reaching out a single transparent hand. "Patience is all that I can advise. The MaSho must be busy, what with the rumors of the shrine being vandalized."
"It was not vandalized," the resonating thought-voice of the elder lung mentioned, as he uncurled his length from one rafter, to disperse his weight to another. "We forget the yoroi know their destinies better than any of us mere mortals do. Perhaps it simply has chosen a new bearer."
"You're a sentimental sot," the second dragon giggled lightly. His voice held the youthful exuberance of one who had not seen war. "How can a set of armor know anything, beyond death and fighting?"
Hitomi shook her head slightly, the wave of blue wiggling down her back. "No, once again, Reito is correct." The elder dragon shook his mane of spikes in pleased silence, while his companion sulked into the shadows. "But you are not wrong, Mai. Even the birds in the East were whispering of the descendant of the Kama clan, come to claim his birthright."
"Her."
Hitomi turned at the sound of Anubis' baritone. She hastily swept low in a bow, backing away a few feet. "Anubis-sama, the sun shines fairly upon you." Anubis nodded slightly, and returned her bow, the rustle of his kimono signaling the Yosei that she could straighten.
"You've returned early," he observed, glancing up to the two dragons. "Why?"
Hitomi blushed, peach rising in her cheeks as she glanced away from the MaSho. "The beasts fleeing from the East carried with them dire tales. Keiji's army has advanced to the Eastern lands, dragging with them the corruption of the Badlands. The dire wolves of the area warned me that even Jikoku, himself, was preparing to wage war against the dark tide."
"Jikoku?" Anubis blinked, furrowing his brow. "The Guardian's are… awake?"
Hitomi shrugged slightly, wings fluttering like ephemeral jewels. "It was only a rumor, told by one wolf… while the others did not believe him."
Anubis sighed, and scrubbed a hand through his mop of raven-wing hair. "Did you happen to hear anything about a Ki-rin?" The sennin faded from view, perhaps he didn't want to be the center of the questioning, or perhaps he simply desired to rest, away from the prying eyes of the mortals. Hitomi didn't notice the spirit's absence as she shook her head.
"Rumors, Yami-sama," she whispered. "Rumors that can't be trusted when they come from the eyes and hearts of beasts and plants." Hitomi sighed softly, and her shoulder slumped in defeat. "We could not make it through the pass. We would have fallen to the might of the akuma gathered there."
Anubis nodded slowly. A commotion outside the counsel chamber drew his attention for a second. With a slam, the wide doors shot open. Instantly, Anubis' heart lodged in his throat. She was actually dragging Korin. Seiji had both of her arms latched tightly within his, and still the girl managed to plow ahead, some manner of maniac glint in her eyes. At his side, Hitomi gasped.
"It is true!" Her wide black eyes reflected only awe at the lithe blonde woman who finally allowed herself to be halted. "The Oni has awakened."
"What is the meaning of this?" Anubis demanded, taking a step forward. His arm blocked Hitomi from advancing any, so she remained silent and staring.
"I couldn't stop her," Seiji jumped into the silence, before Ashe could formulate words. "She's been talking to herself for hours. And now this…"
Behind him, the young woman sputtered. "Why… I … oh… Seiji!" Her brow furrowed into a dark line, beneath the platinum bangs. With her fists balled at her sides, she stomped a foot and drew a single deep breath. "I know what the connection is! The four things that Kado needs us to find, and the four cardinal directions… and the Shi Tenno! Except I think one of them is dead, and that's why the South is so evil, and if we don't stop this, then… then…"
Anubis lowered his eyes. "It will be as if Arago had never been defeated."
Seiji glanced to the MaSho. "You can't be serious? You believe her?" As Anubis nodded slowly, the Korin bearer tossed his hands into the air. "But… how can she know? It's not like anyone's drawn us a roadmap to the Youjakai!"
"We do have a road map," Ashe answered quietly. "Every tale passed down through the generations has truth wrapped in it. Can't you see that? If all these things are here, as real as you and I, what's to say that the stories aren't real?"
Seiji found no response to Ashe's adamant words. After a moment or two, he shrugged, and held his hands out. "What do you want me to say? You're right, Ashe. None of us know anything. Is that what you want to hear? Do you want me to say that I don't trust this? Well, fine, I don't trust any of it."
Hitomi hugged her feathered cloak to herself; she could feel the wounds caused by words as they flew through the air. Yet, Ashe didn't wince. The girl didn't draw back, or wither from Seiji's angry tirade. The Korin bearer took a long, shuddering breath, and raked his hand through his hair, causing both of his pale violet eyes to be visible for a long tense moment.
Ashe looked not at Seiji, but at the MaSho and the Yosei standing dumbfounded behind him. Finally her pitch dark eyes flickered back to the Trooper. "I want you to trust me, Seiji."
Seiji stared at her. For a moment, she felt as though she'd asked him to kill his firstborn son. After long, silent moments, he squared himself up, towering a head and shoulders above the girl. "I can't," came out of his mouth as he stared down at her. "You… you're one of them now. I can't trust you." The venom in his voice drove right into Ashe's heart. She sputtered as Seiji turned to face to two behind them. "She's yours to deal with now. I can't listen to this anymore."
"Seiji?" Ashe found his name as he pushed past her. The blond didn't look back as he closed the heavy doors behind him, leaving her behind. She stared, numb, at the door, as if trying to fit together what had just occurred. She covered her mouth with her hand, and realized that she was crying.
Hesitantly, a hand came to rest upon her arm. Ashe rubbed her face with the back of her arm, as she turned to see the petite Yosei staring up at her. The swan maiden's eyes were dark buttons upon her pale skin, but they held a liquid understanding. Ashe allowed herself to be comforted by those dark orbs.
"If the Guardian's are truly awake, and connected as Ashe-san fears," Anubis broke the silence heartlessly, dragging both women back to the real task. "Then perhaps we should seek the Guardian's ourselves, perhaps find these 'toys' the fabled Ki-rin spoke of."
"One of them is already found," Ashe answered, her voice thick with unshed tears. "The Inochi no Madatama. Naste still wears it."
"And the others?" Hitomi asked softly. "What do we know of them?"
"Another jewel. A bowl, and a stick." Ashe shrugged. "North, east and west."
"The Jewel of Life would have been South," Anubis muttered. "So you believe the Southern Guardian has… fallen?"
"Komoku." Ashe nodded slightly. "The four were to guard the corners of Japan from invasions, right? Then they should have stopped Keiji from running rampant like he has, shouldn't they?"
"Only if they consider the akuma an invasion," Anubis corrected. "Hitomi, Reito, Mai, I want to know exactly what you saw when you traveled East. Ashe-san, do not let Korin's words wound you. There is a reason for everything, that much I am certain. Please, for now, return to your room, meditate on what you've learned. Perhaps the Ki-rin will reappear, and offer us further guidance."
Ashe bowed slightly, and left. She didn't want to go back to her room, but for now, she knew that was the safest place for her. As the door clicked shut behind her, Anubis allowed himself a moment to deflate. High in the rafters, Reito trumpeted, shaking his massive bearded head.
"It is a shame that one so young must learn the cruelty of life," he mentioned to those around him.
"Seiji, where's Ashe?" Shuu was the first to speak up when the Korin warrior returned solo to the common rooms they shared. "What happened?"
With a shrug, he knocked Shuu's hand from his shoulder. "She talks like them; she acts like them. So I left her, with them." He stated, pushing past Touma. Shuu skidded to a halt, and exchanged a bewildered look with the blue-haired warrior.
"Did he just say he left Ashe with the MaSho?" Shuu queried.
"I think he did," Touma answered, as the shoji wall separating the common room from the private ones slid closed. "And I don't think he wants to talk about it." Touma turned Shuu from the area with a well placed hand, and guided him back to the center of the common room. Shin looked up from the tea he was making as the two others sat down.
"Does he think she's become the enemy?" Shin asked. He dipped the ladle gently into the large pot, and withdrew a small portion of the mixture. It had been so long since he had the chance to do something so delightfully traditional, he was determined to take his time. "Just because the Oni yoroi has chosen her?"
"Actually, guys," Ryo interrupted from the window. "I think it's more of the buddy-buddy way she's got with the MaSho."
"But Ashe is like that with everyone," Shuu reminded them. "Remember how she got tangled up with us? And remember how somebody didn't want her to sit with us at lunch?"
"Rollerblades shouldn't be used indoors," Touma sighed. "And I still stick by it."
"That's not the point," Ryo interrupted. "I think I know where Seiji's coming from. Ashe doesn't know what the MaSho did. Regardless of Arago, I don't think I can forgive them for all the pain they caused us." He came down from the window to join the three others at the tea table. "Shuu, you once told me that you wanted to protect Ashe from the truth of the yoroi."
Shuu mumbled something into his teacup, unwilling to meet Ryo's intense gaze.
"Well, we lost that chance now. She's one of us, a bearer of yoroi. She'll know the truth, in all it's ugly glory. Something tells me that we'd better get used to the idea." Ryo patted Kongo's shoulder, and glanced up sharply as a movement caught his attention. The shoji wall slid fully closed as he watched, but Ashe's pale face, and black eyes, still lingered as an afterimage in Ryo's mind.