Namida no Megami

PART FOUR: CHIRI



"She dreams a champagne dream, reality escapes her…

I'm somewhere between…

I never really know a killer from a saviour…

Here and now, will we ever be again?

'Cause I have found all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away again…"

-Fuel, "Shimmer"

"The ashes never quite fall into the groove…"

-Jennifer Hayes




"They have escaped, then?" He said softly.

Rekishi bowed his head. "Yes, my Lord."

One slender eyebrow twitched. "…I am… disappointed, Rekishi."

"Forgive me, my Lord. I have failed you."

The Princeling made his customary crossing to the balcony, a sign that he was thinking. This time, his Magus did not dare watch him move, for fear of being noticed and ill appreciated.

"Who am I, Rekishi?"

"…You are… the Princeling, my Lord… The Son of the All-Father!"

"I am a God."

"Yes."

"Rekishi, Rekishi, Rekishi… How can you fail a God?" He wondered, voice condescending. Then and only then did he turn to look at him. "Perhaps… The failure was intentional. …Perhaps… You wished to spare the Lady… and her companion."

"Of course not, my Lord!" Rekishi cried, surging to his feet.

"Ah, I see… I am pleased to hear this, my dear. Now, tell me… What steps have you taken to insure their capture?"

"I have sent the SHE."

The Princeling smiled. "…The SHE… Excellent. I want the Lady alive."

"Yes, my Lord."

"…If she manages to capture them both, I may even give you the boy. After I have finished, of course…"

Rekishi swallowed hard, and thought of the last boy Baiu had 'finished'. "Of course."

The Princeling's tight smile softened. "Yes. …Now come to me, Rekishi, and show me how you worship your Gods..."

Rekishi smiled as well. Some smiles are meant to show pleasure. Some smiles are meant to show pain. And some smiles… Are only meant to show teeth…

The Magus Rekishi had perfect teeth.

~*~

Night had fallen once more.

Momoirio lay on his side, watching Tsumihoraboshi sleep. She looked very different to him when she wasn’t trying to kill something.

She shifted slightly, and her bangs fell away from her face. He started, as the mark became completely visible.

It was a pale green, lines in black, more like a tattoo than a smudgy birthmark. Four ovals connected in a x-patterned symbol. It looked… familiar.

Tsumi shuddered in her sleep, and the mark vanished beneath thick, white-blond hair.

~*~

Her eyes snapped open, and she lurched uncertainly to her feet. Her hand clenched over her sword as her eyes failed to adjust to the gloom.

"Shh…" A woman's voice soothed from her right. Something like a hand glided gently over the skin of her arm, still sensitised where the Priestling's teeth had broken it.

"Who's there?!" She demanded, whirling completely around in the empty, black space. "Where's Momoirio?!"

"…He is fragile… More fragile than you know…"

"Momoirio? What have you done with my property?"

"Silly girl. You do not own the Child… Perhaps, though… In some way, he may learn to own you…"

Tsumi's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I am entrusting the Child to you… He will require assistance in his quest…"

"What quest?!"

"Tsumi!"

"What?!" She cried, bolting awake.

"Are you all right?" Momoirio whispered softly. He was kneeling nearby, hand outstretched as if to shake her.

"Ah." She said, slumping back against the tree trunk.

"Ah." He repeated, returning to his makeshift bedroll. "…Well… Goodnight."

"Ah." She repeated softly, gingerly touching her arm. Her hand came away bloody.

~*~

scrape… scrape… scrape…

The raven-haired woman slid the stone over the sword rhythmically, making it ring out with each stroke. "You can come out now, Kemuri."

He slid out of a nearby tree at her soft-spoken command. "I had wondered when you would acknowledge me."

"You disobeyed me."

"I did."

"Come here."

He came to stand beside her, and she gestured him to his knees. Obediently, he obliged. Reaching down, she gently touched his face. "Oh, Kemuri…" She murmured. "Why won't you learn your place…?"

He frowned. "My place is with you."

Her smile was sad. "That is the old way."

"We are an old people."

"Yes…" She released him. "We ride north at daybreak. There is a Shrine…"

~*~

Smoke rolled over the horizon. The morning air was thick with ash…

"…no…" Momoirio whispered.

The mounts broke the hill, and before them lay the smouldering ruins of the orchard, and beyond it, the still-burning Shrine.

"No!"

"Momoirio!" She cried, wheeling her horse as his pony shot past her, and down the hill.

He cried out as something dark suddenly appeared in his path, frightening the pony enough so that the beast reared back, and threw him.

The woman was on him in an instant, drawing him up beside her, with a knife at his throat.

Tsumihoraboshi heeled her mare and dismounted. She walked forward slowly until only fifty feet remained between them. She stood still, waiting.

"You know who I am." The woman said, sounding faintly surprised.

"SHE."

"Yes… You must forgive me, Lady, but I must ask that you come with me."

"It appears that you have me at a disadvantage." Tsumi replied cautiously.

Her bangs shifted to the right along with her gaze, and she spun to the left as the dart missed her by inches. She threw her own dagger into the shaded arbour behind her, eliciting a sharp yelp. Momoirio made an outcry of his own as the grip on his arm tightened to the point of extreme discomfort.

Tsumihoraboshi stalked over to the arbour, retrieving her knife, and the boy it was currently pinning to the wall. The indigo-headed boy was unharmed, having been pinned in place only by his sleeve. She dragged him out beside her, and held her own knife to his throat.

The black-haired woman's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Kemuri…" She growled.

"I missed." He said sheepishly.

"It appears that I have regained my footing." Tsumi observed.

"Ama---" The assassin silenced himself, as though suddenly realising the situation he had placed them both in by failing to hit his target.

"Trade?" His captor asked, lifting her eyebrows.

After a long moment, a muscle in the woman's face twitched, and she shoved Momoirio away from her. He stumbled, and rolled across the ground. After a moment, he recovered and scrambled to hide behind Tsumihoraboshi. The warrior nodded, and released the indigo-haired boy, who returned to his mistress with a little more grace.

The SHE glared at him in annoyance, and he shrugged a little, still looking sheepish. When she looked back at Tsumi, her expression darkened considerably. It was then that she threw the knife.

Tsumihoraboshi snarled, and moved. She crashed into the woman, blade drawn mid-spring. The SHE barely had time to draw her own blade in defence. Over their locked blades, she stared at her with an expression that might have been fear on another woman's face. Then, she whistled.

A large black mare galloped towards them, frightening Momoirio's pony yet again, and the Anrakushi woman parted blades in time to catch its reigns. Pulling herself onto its bare back, she held an arm out to the indigo-haired boy, and dragged him up in front of her.

"Forgive me, Lady, but you appear to remain disadvantaged… For you see, you know who I am, but I know what you are."

With that cryptic comment, they galloped away. Her voice could be heard faintly, berating the boy for his incompetence…

~*~

"I don't understand! Why did you let them escape?!" Kemuri cried, sliding off the horse.

She ignored him, and set about gathering up their provisions.

"Amadare!"

"You fool! Did you see her at all?! Don't you realise what she IS?!"

~*~

"Father Toshibi!!" Momoirio cried, throwing open the door to the Archives.

"Momoirio!" Tsumi cried, running after him. The hallways were littered with bodies. The Priests had had no warning, and no chance to defend themselves. It had been a massacre. The Archives were still smouldering, and the room had been ravaged.

The Father Superior sat at his desk, slumped over a parchment.

Tsumihoraboshi stopped.

"…Father…?" Momoirio whispered.

"He is dead." She murmured.

Momoirio caught his breath. He was trembling. "…He… He…" Tears spilled from his green eyes, and he whirled, burying his face in Tsumi's tunic.

She stood there uneasily for a moment, and brought a hand up to rest on his shoulder.

After a long moment, Momoirio regained his composure. Turning to the desk once more, he lifted the scrap of parchment from under the dead man's arm. "It's… a letter… to me…"

"Momoirio, as I write this, I am dying. I fear I cannot last until you should arrive. I know that you are returning to me, and that you have done your duty. She tells me this as I am fading. You must now go into the South, to the Haven there… You will find air there… Be cautious, my child… The woman is the--- …He did not finish it."

"He knew that we had the crystals."

"I guess Unmei must have come to him in a vision."

"Does she do that?"

"Sometimes… When the need is great… We must go South. There is another Shrine there, in Souumi. We must take the crystals there."

Tsumi nodded.

"But first," His voice was firm now, "We will bury the dead."

~*~

The first rays of dawn swept over the ruined Shrine, scattering ghosts of smoke amongst the clouds.

She stood on the bluff, staring down at the valley below. Wind tore at the thick braid of white-blond hair. Her hands rested at her side.

The mark on her face was clearly visible.

Momoirio closed the journal, and stuffed it into his satchel. Then, to be certain, he unwrapped the green Hoseki.

They were the same.

"…Well, well…" He murmured. "This changes everything…"

~*~

Tsumihoraboshi glanced back at the boy. He was inspecting the green jewel. Something had changed about the violet-haired boy in the night. She did not know precisely what.

"Momoirio." She said sharply. He looked up. "Put that away." When he complied, she looked back to the ruined Shrine.

"Be cautious, my child. The woman is the---"

"I am entrusting the Child to you… He will require assistance in his quest…"

She absently rubbed her forehead. Flexing her left hand, she let it rest on the hilt of her sword. The last of the ashes spiralled up towards her, stinging her eyes.

Momoirio realised that even awake, Tsumihoraboshi was still quite beautiful. It was a harsh beauty, that of a jagged cliff jutting out before a sea of storms, yet, it was beauty, nonetheless.

From this fire he had gained so much, phoenix feathers of all that he had lost…

"Shall we go?" He called.

"Ah."

They began the downward trek into the valley.

Momoirio kept his grip light on the wrapped jewels.

Tsumihoraboshi kept her left hand resting lightly on her blade…