"I know that you have reservations, Reverend Ohgami," Chikane said, "but under the circumstances I think that we have to make the attempt. In light of yesterday's attack, I believe it to be clear that the Orochi are not going to let us pursue our agenda leisurely."
Himeko was always impressed by how effortlessly Chikane could move between formal and informal speech. It was almost second nature to her, the way she could combine the precision of word choice with polite phrasing at will. If Himeko tried that she'd probably end up spraining her tongue.
"Nonetheless, Tsukuyo, the requirements are very clear."
"Are you any closer to finding the Solar Priestess?" she asked him directly.
He clearly did not want to admit the point, but like so many other people faced by Chikane's stare he gave in. That was another thing Himeko envied about her; she herself couldn't work up any kind of forceful personality unless it was over something she cared about a whole lot.
"No," the priest was forced to admit. "We aren't. There's nothing that we've found in any of the shrine's archives thus far that suggest that there's ever been a missing priestess. Destiny is supposed to draw them--you--together."
Chikane's gaze flicked to Himeko.
"It always has," she agreed.
"Thus far, we haven't found a way to accelerate that. Given that it has been two days now, I worry...what if the Orochi have found her first?"
Chikane shook her head.
"No. I know what it feels like when the Solar Priestess dies. It is as if half of my soul has been ripped out of me." She quickly turned to Himeko and added, "I'm not just talking about the emotional pain, but in the spiritual sense, the feeling that death had severed the link connecting us as priestesses."
"I don't think that the Orochi know any more about her than we do," Himeko pointed out. "When that woman attacked me, she was expecting me to be the Solar Priestess. She realized right away that I wasn't, so I guess the Orochi can feel that somehow, but she thought that I was. So they weren't even looking for someone else until yesterday evening."
"That's a good point," Ohgami said. "At least we have a head start in the search."
"But at the same time, it just goes to emphasize my own point," Chikane seized the opportunity. "The Orochi will want to kill the priestesses, but they only know of one: me. It's almost guaranteed, then, that there will be further attacks."
"Except that the reason that they seek to destroy the priestesses is so they can create the very situation that we are currently faced with: not having both priestesses available to fulfill their duties."
"That argument seems circular to me. What I don't see is, where's the harm in trying? We have everything to gain and nothing to lose."
"There is a great deal to lose! A holy ritual gathers the energies of the gods. If not completed properly, that power can be released wildly and could injure or even kill the participants. Will you risk doing the Orochi's work for them?"
"I have to try. If I am going to protect Himeko and myself, then I am going to need the full power of the Lunar Priestess. We cannot afford to play a waiting game when the odds are so badly against us."
Their eyes met, and the sudden tension made Himeko want to flinch away or hide behind something.
"Um..."
"Yesterday it was your own daughter who was at risk, Reverend Ohgami; Marika only survived because Himeko deliberately chose to lead the Orochi away in another direction."
It was Ohgami that flinched rather than Himeko. Himeko knew that Chikane's deft cruelty was as much a mask as the Lunar Priestess's imperious air of command or Miya-sama's princesslike attitude, but it still made her sad that her beloved could say something like that.
"I..."
"I understand that there are risks, but the greatest risk lies in doing nothing. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear just because events are not unfolding to expectation."
He frowned slightly, then at last sighed and nodded.
"Very well. Will you proceed at once?"
"Yes. I'll need a short time to prepare. Do you have the vestments here?"
"Of course. I'll show you."
He took them down the hall to another room, where he opened a chest and took out a finely made broad, flat wooden box which he set on the room's single low table. He lifted the lid, revealing the neatly folded white jacket trimmed with violet and violet hakama pants that were the formal vestments of the Lunar Priestess.
"Will this room be all right for you to change in?" I'm sure that Marika would not mind lending you her bedroom if you need a mirror."
"This will be fine, thank you."
"Very well, then. I'll await you outside." He stepped out into the hall and slid the screen shut.
Himeko watched Chikane lift the outfit out of its box, gently smoothing out the folds with her palms. The sight brought back a warm rush of nostalgia; while their names and families might change with each reincarnation and even in Mahoroba time relentlessly marched on, changing as the ages passed, this did not. The Lunar Priestess's garb was the same as it had been in the cycle before, and the cycle before that, and even in memories that were mere phantoms, stretching all the way to their very first battle against Yamata no Orochi. It was something as eternal as Chikane herself; seeing her twin holding it made her feel a strange sense of rightness, of destiny met and fulfilled.
"Would you hold this for a minute, Himeko?"
"Sure."
Chikane passed the vestments over, then pulled her T-shirt off, unbuttoned her jeans, and pushed the pants down before stepping out of them. Himeko couldn't help smiling at her. Chikane turned to take the Lunar Priestess's garb and saw Himeko's open appreciation.
"Himeko..."
"What? My Chikane has a perfect body. I'm envious!" And then, because she knew what response it would provoke, she softly added, "Although that does mean that I get to touch it..."
As she expected, a delicate blush stained Chikane's cheeks a faint pink. She was kind of envious of that, too--Chikane was even embarrassed in ladylike fashion, but she also thought it was incredibly cute.
"Himeko, stop that," Chikane said, but without any force to it.
"Why? This is the one thing I can tease you about and get a reaction."
"Who would have thought shy, sweet you could be so shameless?"
"Uh-huh!" Himeko refused to back down. "Because it's you. Why shouldn't I want to show my love?"
"Why not, indeed," Chikane said, and pulled off her sports bra.
Himeko sighed. "You're cruel, Chikane. But I'm still going to watch."
Chikane swiftly donned the undertunic, the longer top jacket, and the pleated, billowing hakama. Since the sash tied in front, she was able to do it up by herself, which still impressed Himeko.
"There!" she said. "Is everything all right?"
"Uh-huh; it's all perfect."
"Good. That just leaves one more thing."
"What's that?"
Chikane went over to the chest where Reverend Ohgami had kept the vestments and took out a second, identical box. From it she took the second set of priestess vestments, identical to her own except for that red replaced the violet.
"Chikane...?"
"It doesn't make much sense to have only one of us properly dressed for the ritual."
Himeko shook her head.
"But it's not right. Only the Solar Priestess should wear that outfit. It's wrong if I do it."
"It's also wrong to perform the ritual of unsealing wearing your ordinary day-to-day clothes. It would show disrespect.
"Perform?" Himeko squeaked. "I wasn't going to perform anything!"
"It takes two people. With only one, it would be out of balance. It's not like summoning Ame no Murakumo, where one priestess only has to shed blood and pray while the other performs the rites and incantations."
"Two priestesses, not just two people!"
"But it does have to be two. It's impossible to do it with just one. It would be like trying to row a rowboat with an oar on only one side. It would be like Reverend Ohgami said, very likely dangerous because the energies being summoned aren't properly directed."
"Then get someone else. Reverend Ohgami could do it."
"He's a man, Himeko; the ritual is designed for two shrine maidens."
"Well..." She fished for an answer for a bit before coming up with one. "What about Professor Ohgami, then? She's the eldest daughter of the Ohgami family and was trained as a priestess of this shrine before she gave it up to become a scientist. And Reverend Ohgami did say that she knew more about the rituals than he ever did!"
"Himeko--"
She clenched her fists in frustration.
"Chikane, I'm not the Solar Priestess or anything any more. I don't have any kind of power or know any magic or holy rituals. It's not going to help you to go on as if I did."
"Himeko..."
Chikane set down the garment box and came over to her twin. She took one of Himeko's hands in her own and gently cradled it, opening the clenched fist to better touch both sides. Chikane took a deep breath, then spoke.
"I know that you aren't the Solar Priestess, although I don't understand it," she began. "That doesn't change the fact that I need you by my side. It's not just as Chikane the girl, either, but as the Lunar Priestess. Without you, there's no way that I can be who people want me to be, need me to be. It's not just that I'm doing it for you, but because you're there." A hitch came into her voice, a hesitancy. "So...please?"
"All right, Chikane," Himeko submitted. She wasn't sure it was a good idea--no, she was all but convinced that it wasn't--but she would do it for Chikane's sake, not just out of love but because her sister asked her for so little, sought very few favors and only then when it was really important to her. Unlike Himeko, she was much more comfortable giving than taking. "I'll do this with you."
"Thank you."
Himeko started undoing her shirt buttons, then paused and grinned slyly. "Admit it, you just want me to put on the miko outfit so you can watch me take my clothes off."
Her teasing was as much a question that the tension between them had eased, and Chikane confirmed it by smiling back.
"Now, Himeko, if that was my goal, I would have just stayed home with you today," she said, and gently tapped the tip of Himeko's nose.
-X X X-
"It doesn't look like much," Kei said doubtfully. To be fair, he was right. The small shrine was set in an out-of-the-way glade, up a winding path about a hundred meters from a road that was a country lane on the outskirts of town anyway. The shrine was weatherbeaten, its paint peeling, even a crack running from a knot in one of the boards. The shimenawa rope tied around the stand was fraying, and the shide streamers descending from it tattered and torn. The priest who took care of the shrine was a man named Yanagii; he was in his late eighties now and simply unable to carry out his duties to their fullest extent, but pride had prevented him from admitting it and ceding his duties to a younger person.
Reiko knew all this, but was in no mood to hear it, at least not from Kei. None of it had anything to do with the point at hand.
"The issue isn't what it looks like, Kei. The question is, what's inside? Is it just a shrine, or is it a seal?"
Kei snorted.
"This old piece of junk? It couldn't seal up a kitten. If you ask me--"
"You have an awful lot to say, don't you?" Reiko snapped. "The Himemiya family endows all kinds of shrines around Mahoroba. That isn't a coincidence, you know. The Himemiya founded this village; we're its heart and soul--and Mahoroba is the place where the world of the gods touches the earth. The connection isn't random. These shrines are supposed to contain evil spirits, after all."
It was almost exhilarating, Reiko thought. The old Reiko would never have been like that--forceful, sharp-tongued. This was the way Tsukuyo would be, wouldn't it, if she was faced with a recalcitrant retainer? For honest mistakes, one would be gracious, but for intentional wrongdoing or arrogant encroachment--ah! She'd seen Tsukuyo boldly, forcefully deliver a setdown that left its object slinking away in shame, but she never had imagined that she herself might be able to do the same.
Then again, she wasn't the wallflower any more. She held a position worthy of a Himemiya at last, the First Neck of Orochi!
"Well," Kei admitted, then grinned as he finished the thought, "if it's evil spirits they're talking about, then we certainly can give them a taste of that!"
Still grinning toothily, he flexed his hands and the air around him seemed to thicken, clouding up into a dark shadow like the swollen body of a kraken. Coiling tentacles of black shadow extended from the shape, pale violet lightning crackling along their length. They snaked towards the shrine, seeming to poke and prod towards it, and as the dark extrusions neared the shrine it began to glow in response. It was a golden aura, but there was something else, a darkness within, pushing at the gold seal from inside. It swelled and throbbed, trying to reach out towards the seeking shadows.
"Oh, yeahhh," Kei said. "Damn, that's it, isn't it? One of the eight gods--the real thing, isn't it, not just some lousy Shadow."
"Is it yours?"
"Can't tell. Damn seal's in the way." He punched his fist into his left palm. "Not for long, though!"
The tentacles lanced down, striking like snakes at the golden veil. It seemed certain the thin aura would be ripped apart by the darkness assaulting it from both sides.
But it wasn't.
Gold light flashed and the shadowy tentacles recoiled, snapping backwards as if they'd touched an electric fence. Kei grunted in pain and cursed under his breath, then spat on the grass.
"So that's the way it's going to be, eh? Gonna make me work for it?" The violet lightning crackling around the shadow projections blazed up, and what looked like single eyes opened in the tips of each tentacle. Electricity lashed down, crashing into the shrine, then rebounded back, striking the ground, blasting the top off one of the surrounding trees, spearing the air. Again Kei unleashed the lightning, a hail of fire that could have blown apart an armored car or a cottage--but not, apparently, the shrine's seal. One of the rebounding bolts almost struck Reiko, but she parried with the black sword of Take no Sukunazuchi.
"Together this time," she snapped, and unleashed a blast of force from the sword into the glowing shrine accompanied by another hail of violet lightning. The force of the reflected assault this time was enough to send the two Orochi sprawling. The dark shadow inside seethed and twisted, as if the destroying god was raging in frustration, but the golden aura was untouched.
Reiko let out a groan, shaking her head. Kei got back to his feet with a roar, summoning up all the power of Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi that was his to command.
"Stop it, Kei!"
"What?" he roared, rounding on her.
"I said stop!" she snapped back. Yes! she thrilled in her heart. It was so exciting, so exhilarating to be wielding this power. Not the sheer power to destroy that was Take no Sukunazuchi, but the power of command over herself, the willpower to act, be bold and decisive. To be, in short, the kind of girl that Tsukuyo Asamiya wouldn't have overlooked for year after year!
"What the hell are you talking about? Damn it, First, this thing--"
"--has shrugged off an attack by both of us together," Reiko finished his sentence in what she was sure was a much more sensible fashion than Kei would have. "This isn't like a wall that you can just beat on with a hammer until it breaks. In case you hadn't noticed, this sealed shrine hits back."
Kei scowled at her, then at the shrine, then back at her. He muttered a few more curses, but then the Shadow of Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi faded. With the active presence of the Orochi gone, the light from the shrine and its imprisoned darkness faded as well.
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do, huh?"
"Firstly, you calm down. In case you haven't realized, we've managed to learn something here--that I was right. This shrine is sealing one of the Orochi gods."
"So? Fat lot of good that does if we can't get to it."
Reiko sighed. Was it possible this oaf was the same age as she was? He had the hatred and the violence that suited an Orochi, but good God, he was sometimes so stupid. Or maybe it was just obstinate pigheadedness, but it added up to the same thing. Even Reiko's weak-spirited former self had never been stupid.
"The point is," she explained slowly and patiently, "that we now know what the problem is. Before we had nothing but guesses, but now we know, and it gives us a chance to plan."
"All right, then, what is this plan?"
"First things first. This is one shrine, but there should be seven more, seven other sealed gods. Once we know what, then we can figure out how. Maybe it has to be the correct god's Neck that breaks it out and this isn't one of ours. Maybe there's some ritual to do it. We can all pool our knowledge--but first, we've got other shrines to investigate."
She extended a hand to Kei. He hesitated, then reached down, took it, and helped her to her feet.
"Thank you."
Perhaps this was what had caused her attraction to Tsukuyo, not the girl's beauty and charm but envy, a yearning to possess the confidence and poise she herself lacked by cleaving to another who had them. Certainly as the First Neck of Orochi she didn't feel the same craving as she had in the past. She had something better.
And once the gods of Orochi were fully unleashed, she would make the world feel it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A/N: The description of how the summon-Ame-no-Murakumo ritual works in the manga world (as opposed to the anime) is based on how it happened: Himeko wishes, and the god shows up, and then Tsubasa reacts: "You used the blood from your first time to..." Thus, I assume that Chikane performed the actual ritual of summoning while Himeko was unconscious, leaving it "open-ended" so all Himeko had to do was pray for assistance at the appropriate time and Ame no Murakumo answered. Japanese Shinto terminology is taken from Wikipedia.
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