by Lynn Francis
And with that she stepped through the torri that was the entrance to the shrine.
Her entire body buzzed with the power that crossing over to this side of the torii. Although the torii was a symbol of the transition from the world of the everyday to the world of the divine, in this case it was a true one. The dilapidated shrine that could be seen through the torii was gone and in it’s place was a shrine that though modest in size was immaculate in upkeep. She felt her body tense as she waited to be assaulted and when nothing happened she assumed Nikushisen was, at the very least, open to the idea of meeting with her.
“Nikushisen-Sama” she cried out. “It is Takiyasha-hime, I have returned for help on my quest!”
A voice behind her answered “I thought by now the Taira would have fallen. I sent you away with the information to do so. How could a woman who could raise an army of Yokai fail against mere mortals?”
Takiyasha-hime slowly turned around and bowed to the wizard that had materialized behind her.
“I would be with my father now if it wasn’t for Kaeru’s devotion” she replied.
“Indeed, what could have made that frog commit to you to the point where he not only liked you but was willing to bring you back with him to Tsuki with him. He saved your life in more ways than one.”
She nodded.
“Hai”she replied but offered nothing more to the discussion. Inside her stomach was in a turmoil. She had learned that the less she shared about herself with this man the safer it was.
“Come inside, Takiyasha-hime. We have much to talk about.”
Inside the shrine the Nikushisen sat and motioned for Takiyasha-hime to do the same.
“What do you want to achieve from this visit Takiyasha-hime?”
“I need to know how to control a Hanyo. A Hanyo that is presently sharing his body with the demon Sutoku.”
Nikushisen’s entire body went tense before it began to shake and laughter spilled out.
“Oh do tell me that this has something to do with that shock wave that ricocheted through the spirit world and had the water Yokai so upset they caused a tsunami.”
She nodded.
Nikushisen’s smile spread across his face and his tongue darted out in a fervor. “Oh princess, tell me everything, for there was such an explosion of evil, such a tipping of the balance, that we all thought doomsday was here! And then” his voice trailed off and made a fist with his hand before opening it again “nothing”.
“You can imagine how anticlimactic the past few months have been, not that I was looking forward to an invasion of oni and otherworldly beasts on this plane. I like it interesting, not overwhelming. And yet, nothing of note happened. Yes, there are a few more beastly crawlers, more spiders than normal, but if anything it is the human world who have all gone mad. The Taira and Minamoto are tearing each other apart and the country in the process.” he fixed his dark eyes on her. “Your clan seems intent on killing everyone princess.”
“My clan appears to have made promises to the water god Ryūjin” she replied, knowing she had to share as much as possible and yet not wanting to appear as desperate as she was for help. He would extract a high price, she didn’t want it to be higher than need be. She tried to repress the shudder at the thought of his snake like tongue that kept darting out in pleasure, as if to taste the air of her apprehension.
Nikushisen’s eyebrows arched. “Go on, and tell me everything. Leave nothing out if you want me to help you. I am not even sure why or how you are here right now. Last time I heard of you you had raised your army Yokai of revenge against your clan and failed. It was believed you had failed. And died. And here you are sitting before me, asking me for help, and with knowledge of the biggest disruption in the spiritual world in a thousand years.”
She closed her eyes, she didn’t want to tell the story of her and Kaeru. So instead she replied.
“My emotions got the better of me with Ōya no Tarō Mitsukuni, it was too soon after my father’s death. I watched my brother fall because I was too busy summoning the Gashadokuro to be able to protect him. It was too much. I was weak.”
Nikushisen looked at her appraisingly. “Is that so. I won’t lie. It’s disappointing to hear that. I thought I had sent a warrior of the ommufaio out into the world. That I hadn’t makes me doubt my own judge of character. ” His voice hardened and his aura cracked threatening. “You know there is no room for doubt in our world. You have seen first hand the consequences of hesitation. The first thing you do is refuse to feel. You follow through.”
The wizard sighed and his body and aura visibly relaxed.
“We all make mistakes. As novices. It as much as my fault believing you to be ready.”
Takiyasha-hime hesitated. Admitting a mistake was not Nikushisen’s style. She felt sure there was something more he was hiding, but when he motioned her to go on she continued.
“I thought I knew hate when I found out they had cut the head off of my father. I thought I knew despair when I was unable to both summon and protect my brother at the same time. But they were nothing to the feelings of anguish that Kaeru’s self sacrifice created in me. He hated me when we first bonded “
Here Nikushisen eyes lit up. “Of course he did. He’s of the great order of Ryōseidōbutsu, and he was being summoned like a horse. Ridden like a domesticated slave. It was like if your father had been captured and spellbound to lick the emperor clean after his bathroom breaks.“
“He lives for others pain”” Takiyasha-hime thought to herself. Out loud she said “why did you have me summon him?”
“Because he betrayed me once upon a time. Ask your green lover about it.”
Now it was Takiyasha-hime’s turn to flash anger. She realized too late that she was crackling with it.
Nikushisen smiled again. “You will have to tell me all about this at some future point. How you managed to tame such a beast as Kaeru. Right now I am much more concerned about how your quest to destroy the emperor became tangled up with Sutoku.”
Takiyasha-hime nodded. Her story with Kaeru was hers, not to be sullied with his touch. She didn’t want him spoiling it. The way he always did, like an ink blotch that no matter how many washes, the taint remained. Still, part of the story had to be shared.
“As I said, I thought I knew pain, but it was nothing in comparison to what I felt on Tsuki with Kaeru. As you know, we did not start as friends. And when he rescued me I would’ve said he had a begrudging respect for me at best. Not that he would risk his life to save me.”
She looked at the wizard who was eyeing her critically, both interested as well as weighing the truth of her every word. She couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to him. She just wouldn’t give him the details he lusted after.
“If you know Kaeru you know he risked more than his life to take me back to Tsuki with him. He also risked his reputation and his lineage, his place in society”
Here Nikushisen interpreted her again, “And you honestly don’t know why?”
“I have my suspicions. But we have never spoke about it. Instead I let my rage and my grief and my ” here she faltered for words. “…… I let whatever I felt about Kaeru’s rescue of me grow. Make me stronger. I had time. And eventually, I also had access to the archives and magic on Tsuki. I didn’t let the time go to waste. I knew if” and then she stopped and corrected herself, “no. I I knew when. I always knew it would be when. I just never knew how long that would take. “
“140 years is not so long”” Nikushisen said.
“It was 120. I’ve been back 20 years. And I searched to be sure I could be victorious. And I met a Tengu who told me of Sutoku’s rage. How he was exceedingly powerful but only limited in this world. And this was the world he wanted his revenge enacted in.”
Here Nikushisen broke in “It took 20 years for you to come see me? While you searched for revenge? Did you think me unable to help?” his voice was quizzical but his eyes were hard.
Takiyasha-hime decided to tell part of the tru
th. “I didn’t want to come to you as a failure.”
Nikushisen nodded. “And yet here you are now, still by all accounts a failure. Or have you managed to overthrow the emperor and the Taira clan on the way here?”
“Still a failure on that account. But I have what both Sutoku and I need for revenge. I just need help in utilizing it.”
“You still have my attention, but not much longer. What do you want Takiyasha-hime?”
“I need help in allowing Riku access Sutoku without having Sutoku take over””
Nikushisen barked a laugh. “All very well, and I’m sure I could help. It would, however, take years, maybe centuries. “
“I have magic from the gaijin land.”
“China? Beware that. Look what mischief our 9 tailed fox caused and she is from China”.
“Further than China. Humans that live beyond. Beyond the deserts of China and past the vast steppes. Their demons are different. A place full of forests. They are shapeshifters, they are not spirits but of human body. And they control the demon not the other way around.”
She saw Nikushisen posture shift, she now had his full attention, “What do you mean by that exactly?”
“I mean exactly that, they are not controlled by the demon, other than their bloodlust. And there appears to be types of shapeshifters. One turns wolf, savage, but also human. And during the bloodlust time they lose complete control. The other is a blood sucker, and it is unsure if they are true shifters or merely let rumors believe so. From what I read there was no sure sign that they could in fact shift. Just rumors, where the other, the wolves, their very bones and muscles move. Muscles everything.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“I have the scrolls. I just need help with the actual magic.”
“You would turn him into a wolf?”
“No, a blood sucker.”
Chapter 11
Lord Ishikawa wanted to move. He wanted to mobilize his men and with Riku as their leader he would be able to decimate both the Taira and the Minamoto.
Hi fist clenched in anger. “I was so close! How could have things gone so wrong. I found Riku despite my bastard of a brother hiding him in a monastery for over 16 years. I would even say the gods wanted me to find him, divine intervention to find him just as he unleashed his powers and needed someone to guide him. He practically begged me to help him and welcomed Sutoku in.”
Despite all of this, he stood without victory. Not only was he not marching on Kyoto as he had planned but instead he was sitting here waiting for a witch to come and tell him if they even could. Riku was useless, less of a power now than when it was only his Kitsune blood he had access to. And he didn’t even have a timeline from Takiyasha-hime on when to expect her back.
“As soon as possible, but I will be gone as long as it takes” had been her maddeningly elusive answer.
“Am I out of favour?” he wondered and then immediately shoved the thought away. He refused to think about what that would mean.
“The Tengu have stopped coming”” a voice whispered in his head. “You only have Takiyasha-hime as a voice to the Yokai world. And she locked Sutoku away in Riku’s head.”
There was suddenly a rapid knock on the door knocking him out of his thoughts but not his mood. He bellowed for them to come in.
Hebe entered and bowed. “My Lord” he gasped. “It’s Riku, he has collapsed and is convulsing.”
Ishikawa’s heart twisted and his stomach clenched. “What has gone wrong now?” he asked himself but out loud he told Hebe to take him to Riku immediately.
He hurried behind Hebe to where Riku lay in the training yard. His face was ashen grey and blood streamed from his nose as his body jerked up and down.
It took Ishikawa a moment to speak as he soaked in the image before him. “Call for a doctor and a priest” he commanded the nearest samurai.
Suddenly Riku stopped jerking and went completely motionless. His colour however remained ashen and the blood was no longer red but black.
Ishikawa swore and strode over to where Riku lay prone in the dirt. He felt the young man’s neck and felt the faintest of pulses.
“Take him to his rooms and get that priest” he screamed.
Ishikawa felt a chill that was not caused by the weather. He looked around as his inner circle of guard gathered Riku up to move him to this rooms.
His attention was immediately drawn to the trees that flanked the training ground. From this distance he could see nothing, but evil radiated from one of the trees. Placing his hand on his sword handle he strode towards the tree.
“Show yourself, whatever you are” he demanded. He received no response at first and he began to wonder if he was not becoming paranoid when from within the leaves a hooked beak and then a sharp face, part bird and part human emerged.
Ishikawa fought the urge to step back. “What do you want?” he asked the tengu in the tree.
The tengu responded by retreating back into the tree before dropping down, his muscled body so human in so many ways, the powerful wings jutting from his back proclaiming he was anything but.
“I wanted to speak with my Lord. What have you done with him Ishikawa?”
“I have done nothing with him, only exactly as he asked.”
“We have not spoken with him for far too long. And now I see the body he wanted does not have him. Or so I thought. A little prodding and I find my master is locked inside. The great Sutoku locked inside the human child. This is unforgivable Ishikawa. The only reason I am not shredding you to pieces to feast on your intestines as we speak is because I need you to release him. Or give him the body he wanted to begin with. Although if you are unable to do so I will still shred you and feast upon your liver. Only I won’t grant you the dignity of shredding you and then eating you. It will be much slower, eating the liver while it’s still inside is an absolute delicacy”.
Lord Ishikawa knew better than to protest. He refused to answer as there was nothing else to be said.
“Fix this Ishikawa. And fix it fast” the Tengu said before launching back to the sky.
Chapter 12
Inoue stood before the torii of Itsukushima Shrine, she would not be welcome here but neither would she be attacked. Not unless she chose to shed blood first. And that she had no intention of doing.
She stood staring at the red gate, begrudgingly admiring its beauty. She was not a fan of the sea, and standing in the shallow water before this tori made her entire body crawl. She wanted to stay human however, to show how she had no intention of doing anything beyond talking.
As Shini was leaving Haruhisa’s temple he had told her of the massacre at Nara. This would help her in these talks. No matter how much Kiyomori had sacrificed and offered to gain favor so that Antoku could take the throne, the killing of monks at a shrine would have repercussions.
She felt the water ripple around her and a dragon’s head appeared just beyond the torii.
“Fox” the dragon growled. “What are you doing here?”
“Hello Netsuke, daughter of Ryujin, Dragon King of the Sea” Inoue answered. “I have come in peace and to talk. Nothing more. I would ask that you or one of your sisters see me. Or all three fo you if you prefer.”
“They want nothing to do with you fox. And we will not have you sully our island.”
Inoue let the insult slide. She was not here for petty insults. She hoped to stop a war.
“Then talk to me here now, I am here to talk solutions. And if we fail to find one then we can part as proper enemies and not ones that were forced into being so by outside circumstances. Rather we stand here together now knowing that we tried first.”
