by Fuyumi Ono
Shouryuu grimaced and picked up the fan the Royal Han had flung at him. "Listen, you son of a b--"
"The Taiho are trying their best. And yet their best hasn't proven good enough. Who more than anyone has the right to be upset about that? You and I are mere observers here. All this nitpicking won't improve things."
Shouryuu maintained a stony silence.
"In particular, Risetsu is quite frightened of Gouran. She's a much more sensitive creature than that little baboon of yours."
"You mean she's timid. It's unlikely that Taiki is going to lose control of him."
"As a unicorn she is finely attuned to peril. She cannot help that her true nature shrinks from such dangers. Her natural instincts are much stronger than those of the taika kirin. It's not something she has control over, so keep your criticisms to yourself."
The Royal Han glanced at Renrin and Keiki. "You too as well. Don't push yourselves unreasonably. I think it's time we called it a day. When the days go on like this, the body tends to get run down. The Kei Taiho in particular must be taking time out from his busy schedule to be here."
"Indeed," Renrin agreed with a sigh.
When they glanced at Keiki as if for confirmation, he nodded, and with apparent reluctance left the hall.
"He does look quite tired," Shouryuu muttered, watching Keiki leave.
The Royal Han agreed. "It's exhausting, even using the Gogoukanda. Well, I'm off to console my princess and tuck her into bed." With a rustle from the hems of his robes, the Royal Han exited the hall.
Only Shouryuu and Renrin remained. Glancing at Renrin, who showed no signs of departing herself, Shouryuu asked quizzically, "You're not going to bed?"
"No. Before retiring, I wish to dive through one more time. You needn't worry about me."
"As annoying as the man may be, that guy from Han isn't far wrong. You are shouldering a burden greater than all of ours. You need to take good care of yourself. Best you get some rest."
Every time one of them used the Gogoukanda, Renrin had to be there to supervise their goings and comings. The kirin who accompanied her could spell each other off, but her presence was required at all times.
"I haven't yet reached my limits."
"I don't quite believe you."
Renrin laughed thinly. "The fact is, sleeps escapes me whenever I think about Taiki being swept away into that other world. I'm plagued by questions like what in the world happened there, and what we should do next. It's all my mind can dwell on. My head knows that he would have grown up by now, and yet he was so small and such a child. Things like that."
"You've met Taiki previously?"
"Yes. Only twice. The first time was when he returned to Mt. Hou. And that because I lent Sanshi the use of the Gogoukanda. The second time was right before those strange things started happening in Tai. He journeyed to Ren to officially express his thanks for our help at Mt. Hou."
She couldn't forget how he appeared to her at that time. Thinking about the unfortunate events that followed, the times they enjoyed together up to their reluctant parting grew all the more painful. Though it was unlikely that Ren would enjoy another such visit from so distant a kingdom, she never imagined a separation of this magnitude.
"The Royal Ren is quite concerned as well. Taiki and the Royal Tai being so separated is an ill wind that blows no good."
"An ill wind?"
"Taiki appeared to be extremely fond of the Royal Tai. Taiki wished from the bottom of his heart to serve his king and make him proud of him. The Royal Ren says that the same way my absence from the Imperial Palace leaves him at loose ends, he is sure that Taiki could never find a place to call his home without the Royal Tai there in his life. And I think the same could be said about me. But all of that aside, an ill wind is bound to blow whenever a kirin is separated from his liege."
"Ah, yes, that sort of thing--"
"We cannot thrive without a king by our side."
Being apart from the king meant being divided in body and soul. It was said that kirin existed for the good of the kingdom and its people. But that wasn't the whole truth. Or so Renrin had come to believe.
"The king exists on behalf of the kingdom and the people. We exist for the king." Renrin hung her head and buried her face in her hands. "What manner of creatures these kings are--"
A warm hand patted her on the shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Renrin raised her head. "Could I ask you to keep an eye on the map?"
"Done."
Renrin smiled and returned to the Kokinsai. And for the umpteenth time that day sank down into the ring of light created by the tail of the silver snake.
She emerged in the midst of a stark cityscape adorned by neither green fields nor mountains. It abutted the ocean, though the shore was damned and sealed with concrete. It appeared to her as an entirely unpleasant place.
The city itself was like a huge cavern. The question of why anybody would live here no doubt occurred to her because she was not one of the city's residents. With leaden spirits, she continued her search from where she had left off last time. Her instinctual desire to avoid the reliable guide that was Gouran's aura was only her own cowardice speaking.
Glancing about the vacant, moonlit streets, she chose the course in which she felt the least inclined to proceed.
Gouran was probably awake. His aura was much stronger than earlier, when she'd lost track of him and given up for the time being. Though the nature of the aura was easily comprehended, that was the part that made her quail. Unconsciously she tried to detour from the path ahead. She pressed forward, forced herself against the currents.
Finally, facing the source of her fear and loathing, her endurance reached its limits and she sank to her knees.
Juuko timidly sprang forth. "Taiho. Renrin-sama."
"I'm okay," she smiled. She put down a hand to help right herself.
And there she found it.
A shimmering filament of gold, like a spider's thread. Weak and thin, on the verge of evaporating into the air. But she knew what the fleeting glimmer represented. It was Taiki. Its dusky glow suggested his infirmed state. The odds were greatly against any of them stumbling across its lingering traces.
Renrin raised her eyes. She couldn't see any other shimmering threads on the streets winding between the tall buildings. Only this glowing ember, left behind like a footprint in the sand or a bloodstain on the ground.
"Did you find something?"
The vastness of time and space separated the Taiki she had once met in Ren and this faint, glowing spark.
"There is no doubt. He is here."
So little life remained in this lingering fire that she could not tell when it had been left here. The thread itself was torn and could not be followed any further. It confirmed only what they already knew: that he was somewhere in this city. However, having at long last discovered it was for Renrin a more than sufficient reward for all their hard work.
"Wait for us. We will find you."
She touched it lightly with the tips of her fingers. As if overwhelmed by the presence of her own aura, the light winked out.
Interlude
The darkness was beginning to rust, as if stained by the reddish-brown color of dried blood. Sanshi as well was enveloped by the dirty orange, corroding impurities. At the same time, she felt her impatience and frustration growing
This is my Taiki.
Something was building up inside him like poison. At some point in time, its accumulated mass began devouring his life force. It grew thinner day by day. At this rate he would surely die. All would be lost.
Shall we kill them? came the grating voice from the rusty darkness.
"Stop it. For the time being, these people taking care of Taiki are necessary to him."
"He is their captive."
"They can't be killed while he is their captive."
"But the poison increases."
"I know," said Sanshi, her hands tearing at her chest. He
r pallid skin was covered with numerous wounds from which trickled drops of red.
They would die. They would be slain.
That fate aside, her impatience further constricted her consciousness. By now, Sanshi had come to see every inhabitant of this world as her enemy. Their jailers lived with Taiki in the prison. They surrounded the prison. They watched Taiki, attempting to inflict harm on him at every opportunity.
And whenever they sought revenge, the darkness and corrosion only increased, harming his life force, and contaminating Sanshi. By now, Sanshi could no longer distinguish between what happened there and what was happening here.
All she knew was that their enemies were about. Whoever had tried to assassinate Gyousou and steal the throne, and steal Taiki's life away as well.
That was something she absolutely could not allow.
Looking back on what had happened, everything had arisen from subtle misunderstandings on Sanshi's part as she stumbled over the differences between here and there. Sanshi could not comprehend that the world surrounding Taiki differed from her own in its very foundations.
From every payback delivered in Taiki's defense sprang a new torment, that before long attracted new hostility and contempt. The persecutions intensified, as did her vengeance. The intensity of the retribution invited more persecution. And so the circle grew, feeding back on itself.
Taiki had become a threat to this world, an object of loathing. Sanshi couldn't grasp that. The staining blood that flowed from her vengeance, and the gathering grudges, further blackened Taiki's shadow, and further unleashed Sanshi's--and especially Gouran's--youma natures. And in inverse proportion dampened their reason and sense.
A total breakdown loomed before their eyes.
Part Six
enrin ran into Ransetsu Hall. "I've found him," she called out.
Keiki and Rokuta leapt to their feet. Slumbering in her master's lap, Hanrin perked up her head as well.
"Taiki's aura. And it wasn't left too long ago."
"Where?"
Rokuta ran over with strides as long as his legs could manage. Together they returned to the Kokinsai. Keiki followed after them. Hanrin took off for Seikou Manor like a shot.
At the end of the winding corridor, a wan light spilled from the mouth of the Kokinsai. The tail of the silver snake wrapped around Renrin's arm still illuminated the round circle of light. Taking her hand, Keiki passed through the glow. Coming to the end, it widened into a dark, inorganic cavity.
The sterile cavern that was this room was a perfectly square, box-like structure. Thirty or forty drab, aseptic-looking desks were arranged in rows. A dilapidated air such as that found lingering around old ruins hung over the prison-like room.
Observing all this, Keiki remembered something. "This is a school, perhaps?"
Keiki had observed rooms like this before, when he'd traveled to Yamato to meet Youko.
"A classroom?" suggested Rokuta.
As he always did, Keiki felt discomfited by Rokuta's presence. His golden, gleaming hair marked him clearly as a kirin. But the boy standing there simply did not resemble Enki at all.
"I bet it's Taiki's school," Rokuta muttered, casting his gaze around the place.
Following after Rokuta, Renrin appeared, and the wispy glow in the corners of the room winked out.
"En Taiho, Kei Taiho, it's over there."
Renrin moved quickly between the desks and pointed at a spot on the floor. "Here. The shirei discovered it."
Behind her, the forms of her companions wavered half-transparent in the air, now and then losing their human contours and revealing the beasts within.
Renrin turned to the flickering shadows and pointed at a deep purple spot on the floor. A thread of light glowed there, as if clinging desperately to life, continuing on in dots and dashes.
"This is the aura of a kirin?"
"I believe so. However--" said Keiki. His words seemed to loose their way in the shadows.
"It continues in that direction."
With a slight shiver, Renrin followed along the wall of the classroom. Silhouettes prowled the empty, dark corridor like so many ghosts. On the floor beneath the feet of the prowling shirei were scattered the thin remnants of light, like a trail of breadcrumbs cast down by the lost kirin.
"It ends there, but it's definitely Taiki. Moreover, I believe this trail was laid down in the past few days."
Keiki furrowed his brows and nodded firmly. "You are undoubtedly correct, however--"
Rokuta picked up where Keiki's voice trailed off. "For a kirin, an ominous sign."
"It's contaminated," said the small dog-like creature, appearing at her feet. It lowered its snout to the floor and sniffed the wane glow. "I smell blood. Cause for worry."
"You think so, Juuko?"
"I'm positive. The maledictions of blood and accumulations of poisoning impurities. Something has happened to sicken Taiki. Something quite bad." He turned his muzzle again towards the floor and growled ominously. "This is the aura of his Nyokai. She has the smell of death about her."
That odor was clear to Renrin and Keiki and Rokuta. An ominous, unclean smell that swamped what should be the clear, bright tones of the kirin's aura. Something indeed had happened to Taiki. It was entirely unclear what. But one thing was clear. The stench of combat hung around this place.
"Gouran has taken on the character of a youma. Sanshi's aura is being torn asunder. And something bad is happening in Taiki's environment."
Keiki nodded in blank amazement to Rokuta's observation. The aura of blood and violence. Taiki was caught in that vortex, his nature as a kirin being stripped away. And would not be long maintained.
"If we don't hurry, all will be lost. Taiki is very ill. And more than Taiki's illness, we must consider the faltering shirei. Though Gouran and Sanshi don't appear to have lost their powers, if things don't change soon, we cannot consign Taiki to this festering whirlpool."
Keiki brushed his fingers against the remnants of light. "His powers of judgment would be affected. If we posit this stupor coming upon him as a result of the shirei falling ill, that would probably constitute the main source of the impurities."
"You're probably right. Any and all provocations ending in bloodshed. The tiger chasing its tail into eternity."
And losing hold of his essential nature, Taiki would lose control of his shirei as well.
"Did we understand that this is how things would turn out?" Renrin implored, turning to face the gloom around her. From here and there the many creeping and crawling shadows answered her with only a cruel silence. Renrin buried her face in her hands.
"We are definitely getting close, and yet--"
"Let's keep looking," said Rokuta. "We should be able to find where this thread breaks off."
He set off into the dark cavern, where no glimmer of light could be seen. Renrin and Keiki followed after him. Vacant classrooms lined one face of the corridor. A staircase like a well shaft sunken into the earth. Within the uninhabited stillness and tightly-coiled blackness, they wandered to and fro, seeking the strands of fading light. Around the building similarly crept the grotesque forms of the shirei, searching for the fading evidence.
"I can't find anything anywhere," a dejected Renrin said.
They had searched the building inside and out. Renrin returned to the classroom where those shimmering filaments had first appeared and sadly studied them. The tracks continued to glitter wanly, casting off the strange scent. They didn't appear to have been laid down today or yesterday, but the lack of any newer traces suggested that Taiki might not be here at all.
"En Taiho, Kei Taiho, what shall we do?"
"We don't know where he's gone." Rokuta let out a deep sigh.
Keiki said stiffly to Rokuta, "This is no time for despair. There is no need for it either. We have ascertained that he was here in the past. This constitutes anything but grounds for surrender. If he was here before, he may appear here again. In any case, we should expand our search eff
orts with this location as the locus."
Renrin nodded. She called out, "Hanshi." With a sound like tape peeling off glass, a black shadow detached itself from the floor and stood up. "You did a good job finding this. I'd like you to stay behind and keep watch."
The shadow raised its head like a cobra and waved its body as if in agreement. Then just as quickly slithered away, rejoining the shadows at her feet.
Chapter 39
The fleeting glow filled the Kokinsai and winked out. Rokuta emerged first, leading the way. He scanned the faces of the assembled group waiting there and bowed.
"It is Taiki. We are certain. But he is ill and his condition is serious."
"How is he ill?" asked Risai, her voice grating as she forced the question from her throat.
"We don't really know. Probably the impurities in his environment. His body is being compromised by exposure to blood. The situation in that respect is quite grave as well. That's probably the reason Taiki's aura is so faint."
"Does that mean he hasn't yet lost his kirin nature?"
"No," said Rokuta, averting his gaze. "Taiki can no longer be called a kirin. The best way to look at it is that he's lost most of his powers. And the poison is gaining on him. The shirei are all but running wild. He can't even control them."
"It's that bad? But Taiki--"
"His aura was interrupted. We couldn't follow it. But he should be there. We're going to find him as quickly as possible and bring him home."
Risai peered at Renrin and Keiki as they stepped out of the ghostly light. Their faces were dark with anguish. Their countenances were clearly telling her that unless Taiki was found and returned quickly, then things would get very grim indeed.
"Isn't there--isn't there anything else we can do?" she cried out.
Renrin hung her head apologetically. "As things stand now, we're simply too short-handed." She lifted her head. "Besides, when we do find him, how should we bring him back?"
"How?"
Renrin nodded and then turned to the rest for help. "If Taiki has lost his kirin nature, wouldn't that mean that he has become a mere human, a Japanese? Is there a way of bringing such a person here?"