Under the Moonlight

Right before her eyes, Tenko saw a path before her. She could let Yotsuyu’s words fade off, and drive the conversation to anything else. Or she could use this conversation as a perfect segue to add more information. 

“As the Warrior of Light, you are used to taking risks,” Gosetsu said, as if he were reading Tenko’s mind. “But if you think it’s for the best, then forge on.” 

Gosetsu had given his implicit approval. So Tenko decided to lay all her cards on the table. “You do have family, Yotsuyu! I mentioned before that I’m half-Doman. That’s true, because I’m actually your cousin! We only met for the first time pretty recently, so when you disappeared I got really worried about you!”  This was true to a point. It left out the various times that they had fought to the death in the past, which was definitely not something Tenko wanted to bring up if she could help it.  “You hear that, Tsuyu? You have at least one person of your own flesh and blood here,” Gosetsu added. “So if you feel that you don’t have anywhere to go, you have myself and Tenko here for company. That might not seem like much, but you won’t find two people more stubborn than us.” 

The information shared by the other was really sudden, and unexpected. The last thing you probably would’ve guessed about Tenko is that she was related to you, and yet, even when she seemed to tell the truth, you couldn’t help but get surprised to the point of your eyes opening wide.

The shared information and the realization, however, also made your head to start aching slightly. It made you move a hand to your head for a mere second- it just felt right to you, somehow, that Tenko wasn’t lying.

“You...you are a cousin of mine?...” You made a small pause, before looking at Gosetsu and then back at Tenko. And without any kind of warning, certain visions of the past started top plague your head.

Making you space-out in front of the other two for a moment, the visions that came back to you weren’t all that pleasant, making you swallow and look away from the two. No, it couldn’t be...that you did those things to Tenko before, or attempted to.

Trying to ignore what you just saw, you looked back at the other girl with worried eyes, before you spoke again.

It stung at Kaya, because the shame was nestled in herself, she couldn’t overcome it, and Yotsuyu had caused it. But this girl, Tsuyu, wasn’t the cause of it all, not as she was, so what could Kaya do.

Turning her grabbed Tsuyu’s hand to try and say something, a little aggressively, before pausing and just holding her hand tightly. “Please don’t, you don’t need to be a hero for me okay? We can just, when we get close we’ll get you a hat to keep out of the sun, and I’ll wear mine tilted forward and we’ll.. just get your thing okay?”

She turned back, still holding the other’s hand to walk, guiding her more directly with a gentle pull, shaking slightly despite her grip.

“Its just very complicated okay? More complicated than what words can solve..”

The hand holding in such a way was not expected, so you couldn’t help but tense a little the first time. In fact, listening to her saying all of that almost so desperately made you confused, not because of Kaya’s own problem, but because she suggested you wearing a hat as well.

“But I don’t need a hat myself, don’t I?...why would I need one?...they’re not going to know who I am...” Right?...

You were fine if Kaya really didn’t want to get along with the villagers- forcing such a solution to a problem wasn’t something you were going to do if it made her uncomfortable or nervous, but your own hand ended up wrapping rather tightly around hers as she continued walking.

“Just point and say what you’d want in that, and we will do such.”

“We have no issues breaking someone. Want their legs broken so they’ll kneel to you? You bet. Want secrets revealed? Well, you’ve already seen that first hand. We will do it, and we won’t act out too. Unless you ask, then we won’t touch anyone here, you have our word on that.”

“But we’re curious. What about you? Do you have your own enjoyment in this matter? Your own personal pleasure, in seeing another bound down to you, or broken beyond repair? We’re curious~ It’s not every day you find someone like this. Or is it, you do it for the sake of the empire?”

A bit more of intimidation was always good, specially knowing that this witch had ways of even forcing someone to talk, with magicks that were out of my comprehension currently.

I couldn’t help but chuckle softly when she asked me about my own pleasure in doing all these things- it wasn’t for the sake of the Empire, at all. It was for my own revenge, and it fueled me to continue doing what I could do best.

“Oh, no. I am not here for the Empire. I am here because a man of the Empire offered me power, and power I accepted. But if I am here today, ‘tis because he saw the rage and the thirst I have for revenge in my eyes.” If it would’ve been someone else offering power? I would’ve accepted. “I am pretty neutral on everyone as long as I can achieve my own goals. And that is to make the people of Doma suffer.”

The look on Hien’s face indicated that he still didn’t like this, but at this point he no longer had a reason to object. “Very well. Make sure that Yotsuyu does not step a foot outside the Enclave. It would be for the best if no one else knew of her presence here.”  The young lord left the room, with Yuigiri quietly trailing after him. This left Tenko in the room with only Yotsuyu and Gosetsu. 

“It will be a while before the other Scions expect me to join them, so let’s spend this time keeping each other company!” Tenko exclaimed, sitting down on a pillow cross-legged. “I’m sure that both of you have a lot of stories to tell about your journey across Doma!”  “If you are willing to hear an old man ramble, then I could share a few stories,” Gosetsu said. Then he pinned Tenko with a serious expression. “But if myself or Tsuyu do not have all the details, then it would be best to avoid undue stress.” This served to remind Tenko that Gosetsu was a sharp individual, he simply did not show his hand unless necessary. His words were a warning not to push too hard. “Okay, I did want to ask something of Tsuyu. Do you have anywhere to go?”

Truth be told, the moment that Hien and Yugiri left the room, you relaxed a little more, feeling safer with Gosetsu and Tenko than you were with the others in the room as well. Even when there was still something about Tenko that was scratching the back of your mind, there was something that made you feel more at home when she was around.

Looking now at the old man and the Warrior of Light, you tilted your head to the side and relaxed your position slightly.

“‘Tis fine, I think. I just know that Gosetsu took good care of me until we managed to get here, to Kugane first, and then we traveled to get to Doma.” Or what was left of it, more like.

You couldn’t remember a thing before the island, and every time you tried, your head started to hurt instead.

“For you, maybe.”

Letting go of the Remilia, Sakuya draws a knife and turns around to slash at the men. To her shock, she’s caught and disarmed, having the weapon kicked away from her. She turns her head to Remilia as if to warn her but before she can do so she’s punched in the face.

As she’s thrown across onto the floor, Sakuya can hear the two men laughing behind her. This is their revenge for what she had done to them in previous encounters. She tries to pick herself up but gasps in pain as she’s grabbed by her hair and lifted up.

“Remilia!”

BAM!!

Her head is slammed against the floor, afterward being turned over and kicked in the ribs. Sakuya is left helpless on the floor, writhing in pain as these two bodyguards beat her ruthlessly.

A poor attempt to try and get violent when the situation was against her, to her disadvantage. If anything, the failure to rebel against my men and the beating ended up making Remilia horrified, more so than before, and this time, the younger girl can’t help but let out a yell.

“S-Sakuya!! No!-...”

Remilia’s quickly silenced when I get closer in order to cover her mouth- not that people can hear us here but, better safe than sorry.

And as she struggles, I tighten my arms around her, to bring her somewhere else.

“We could have done this the easy way, but seems your friend is quick to resort to violence instead...a pity, really.” Passing Remilia to my bigger brute, I gesture the rest of my men to slow down the beating. “It’s good to teach her a lesson, but don’t break that pretty face of hers too much.”

It’s just after a moment that the men stop, and I step closer to crouch near the helpless woman in order to lift her bloodied face with one of my hands. My touch is surprisingly gentle and careful, but I can’t help to let out a soft chuckle while looking at her.

“Nnnaaa…” Helen considered what Tsukuyomi was saying. Where Helen preferred a quiet and subtle way that hid the reality, Tsukuyomi considered herself with high esteem. To the point of somewhat non-subtly implying Helen herself was a coward for wanting to hide realities.

“There’s where our differences lie, I suppose,” Helen said, deciding not to rise to the insult, though her features did harden somewhat. “Yaouw are confident yaouw can achieve your goals with honeyed words and resplendent majesty. I… am not so lucky. It’s not the way I’ve operated.”

“Leave it fer the record that I believe disguise is the better option. But I am confident I can defend myself if they don’t give us a good welcome, and quite simply, I’m not willing ter go alone. Fine, Tsukuyomi. If yaouw want ter go in there undisguised, I’ll go in there undisguised with yaouw. Just don’t treat me like a servant, and we’ll be alright.” That was what Helen wanted - simply to have the kami treat her not as a worshipper or servant, but someone with her own agency.

With rabbit ears twitching, I let out a soft chuckle while looking at the other so intently. That she agreed to come with me was all I needed, specially when I was still so confident that there shouldn’t be a big reason for those humans in the village to get hostile towards us.

“I mean, humans were the ones that started praising and worshipping the kami, why would they react with violence first? I get this land is filled with dangerous yokai, but with me not being one, I can even offer protection if ‘tis needed.” It was still night, however. The humans were probably sleeping at this hour, so it seemed like a plan to carry out once the sun could come back.

“I don’t know how big my power will be once the moon is gone, though, but seeing that this world is filled with such a great magical power, I am sure I will be able to stay in this form without any difficulty.” With the berries consumed, I let my kiseru to reappear in my hand, if anything so I could tease the other with some of the smoke before laughing once again.

“Then let’s go.. I..” They really shouldn’t wait too long, the foxes are going to come along too, to escort a little. With them nearby, no monsters are going to come near them anyways, they know better than to near Tamamo’s foxes.

When faced with her question, Kaya at least had started to walk, she almost stopped in place but pushed on. Trying to explain it, without explaining it too much. “Awhile ago something bad happened to me..”

“Everyone saw it.. its too shameful to go there myself..” She thought it over too, Tsuyu should probably have a hat on or something to mask her identity, maybe Kaya should go in, but all of this just didn’t feel smart to do.

“They know me.. and I don’t want them to see me as any less than who I am..”

Not really knowing the path to take in order to get to Namai, you simply followed Kaya when this one started to walk, keeping an eye on the foxes from time to time as well if just because they were really cute.

However, any good feeling you could have when looking at the foxes was washed away when the Xaela started to explain a little why she didn’t want to go near the village. ‘Something bad’ was too general to you, what could’ve been shameful enough for her to not go there? The simplicity of your innocent mind couldn’t really make an idea of what it could’ve been.

“Shameful? Was it something embarrassing?...the people of Namai are really kind, why would they really see you as something less when it wasn’t your fault?” Because bad things don’t happen to people because they want, not that you knew.

“Maybe…But we understand…We do…We do…”

Seemed as if Wadanohara was indeed forced into it. Forced to who she is now, but seemed to have no issues with it, that it may be as if what happened to her, has made her agree to what happened to her, as if she saw no wrong with the whole ideal.

“We are fine with it. We are who we are meant to be. There is no wrong in that right? We have no limits any more, we aren’t tied down by the laws of nature. We can act as how we should, how the Red guides us too. We were blessed with the truth, and even if that is viewed as wrong, bad, anything of the sort. Even if they deem it as not our true feelings. But what they don’t know, is that WE WANT IT. THESE ARE OUR TRUE FEELINGS NOW.”

“We like what we are now. We’ll never go back to what we were previously. We’re happy doing what we do, we love playing with ingrates that you want to be played with. We hope that all this won’t be a problem in our relationship here.”

In all honesty her stance was rather disturbing, like if the Red was some kind of cult that brainwashed her mind in a way. I still wasn’t the best person to judge because I sided with the Empire in search of power and revenge.

Yet, I felt like I still had a conscience on my own, rather than being completely blind to the Empire’s will.

“Well, ‘tis good to have inspiration from somewhere, but always try to still have a brain of your own to not enter the vicious cycle of following anything the Red wants without having your own personality, so to say.” On the other hand, this kind of wicked attitude would be enough for me. She didn’t mind playing around with people and that was going to be used to my advantage.

“If I may, Lord Hien,” Yuigiri suddenly spoke up, reminding everyone of her presence. “I have been observing Yotsuyu. Not once has she attempted to lie or mislead. Every word she has spoken is the truth, at least that she knows it.” 

“Then the Viceroy has truly lost her memory?” Hien absorbed this new information. 

Tenko took this time to jump in. “Surely, there’s nothing wrong with keeping her in the Enclave for the time being, right? There will be plenty of people to watch her, and I could stay here if you think it’s necessary!” Tenko wanted to stay close to the Viceroy, especially since Yotsuyu still didn’t remember they were related. Tenko would need to figure out what to do with that info. As Gosetsu patted Yotsuyu, he added, “I could stay as well. These old bones aren’t fit for travel, and I think I want to rest in the Enclave. Would you be willing to take keep me company, Tsuyu?” That reminded Tenko of a question she had in the back of her head. What happened during their travels that formed a bond akin of father and daughter between Gosetsu and Yotsuyu?

You had to listen to their conversation completely lost. It felt strange, although the back of your mind was trying to push some guilt against yourself as they talked, like if part of you knew what was going on.

At least you could be sincere and share whatever was crossing your mind at the moment- whatever you thought was right.

“I can help Gosetsu around, right? I promise I will behave, I have no reason to be mean or problematic to you.” Looking up to Gosetsu, you gave a small smile to the old samurai before the man laughed softly. “So yes, I’m willing to keep him company to help him around with what I can.”

“Sometimes you never find out why a person reacts to you in a certain way,” She tried, feeling uneasy tremors in the other woman’s hand, as well as her own. It was becoming increasingly difficult to simply hide Tsuyu’s past; truthfully, the Warrior of Light wanted to spill everything out right there. But how would the atrocities committed impact a childlike mind? It was like dropping someone in the water without knowing how to swim.

The boat before them bobbed gently in the water.

“Tsuyu, I’ve something I must tell you…” dread in the younger female’s chest built up painfully slow. “It’s about why people are looking at you oddly.”

People didn’t just dislike Tsuyu, they feared her. Kjerstie gently grabbed both of the raven haired beauty’s hands now, a rare seriousness on her face.

“I’m prefacing this carefully as to really make sure you would like to know. I believe should a person realize and accept their mistakes, then they can be redeemed–to be forgiven and change. Though others may still forever dislike you, it’s important you show your change through actions meant for the better.”

However, such transformation would be up to Tsuyu and her alone, that or be consumed by her past altogether.

Maybe you expected to simply get on the boat and go ahead without having an answer to your question, but the moment the other woman stopped in place and moved to pick both of your hands, a primal fear of being scolded plagued your body, making you feel scared.

You knew that Kjerstie wasn’t going to scold you specifically, but for some reason you got that feel and had it difficult to keep eye contact with the other despite looking at her with worry.

“What...is it about them?...” An almost trembling whisper is what left your lips, and as your heartbeats increased, all you could do was furrow your brow slightly when listening to what she had to say.

“Know what?...what mistakes?...what did I do?...I don’t remember...doing anything to them?...did I do something that bad to any of them?” As of now, all you wanted was for people to not hate you, because as far as you remembered, you didn’t do anything wrong, or more importantly, you didn’t want to hurt anyone- you had no reason, not that you knew.

Time was of the essence, and he couldn’t afford to waste anymore, not with their own safety were on the line. Without prior knowledge of this particular creature, he could only hope his intuition would get themselves out of this dangerous situation.

Like this woman just said, its head and wings were most likely its weak points. If they could temporary immobilize the foe, that would be enough to make their escape.

“Alright, this is the plan. If it charged at us, I’ll use my magic to temporary blind it with intense light, and this will be our chance to escape. If this wouldn’t be enough, use guns to shoot at the head or wings.” Leon gave her a brief look before returning his attention to what was in front of them. “I hope this works…” 

As predicated, the winged creature was about dive downwards with the intention of charging at them. Quickly muttering into chant, he was casting the magic, needing a short period of time. “Now!” With that, a piercing light emitted around them. 

A kind of magic to blind the enemy. I at least knew that I should be ready to close my eyes in case it happened to be too bright even for me. Whatever it was, though, I nodded when understanding and simply tightened my grip around the gun I was holding.

I didn’t think it was enough to kill a beast of such size but, perhaps his plan was enough to run away after.

“Alright, three, two, one...” Whispering to myself as if to calculate the casting of his magic, I closed my eyes once he answered with a ‘now’- enough for me before the bright light would dissipate to be able to aim better.

I needed two shots, one that was lost and another that managed to hit the bird on the eye. With the mix of blindness and the pain from the bullet, it probably was about time for us to get out of here.