EPISODE THREE: ETERNALLY YOURS.

 

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A dry, crackled sound responded to Yue as her soft footfall descended upon the rough surface of the Moon. There were no signs of life in sight. Only the stench of death and destruction haunted the place that used to be the most wondrous in the entire Creation Realm. Where the endless flower fields used to stretch to the distant horizon now was covered with cracks that tore the ground apart. Only the bedrocks were left where the pure and clean Moon Streams once ran to irrigate the Land of Eternal Light. Who would believe it was once Yue’s beautiful sanctuary of old?

Yue stopped in front of the Lunar Shrine, or rather what remained of it. The Torii Archway had been broken, the whole Shrine reduced to heaps of burnt wood and darkened stones. The roof, tiled with gold and silver was now beyond recognition. The Lunar Shrine, home to the two Kannazuki Priestesses, shelter to the one hope of humankind, had been completely destroyed. The wonderful memories the children made in this place and the feelings they shared were forever lost. They loved one another so much, yet the peaceful ending they wished for never came. Reality was cruel, destiny merciless. Yue had thought she could do anything with her powers. She had believed although herself was helpless against fate, she could at least protect them from its grasp. How overly confident she was. How foolish she was.

“Why the sad face, Yue-chan?” Yui’s voice murmured as she hugged Yue from behind.

Not saying a word, Yue invoked her celestial powers. Beneath her feet, a large symbol in the shape of the Moon Crest appeared and started revolving. Around her, silver aura whirled and howled with the voices of a thousand wolves. In her right hand, an orb of light emerged and grew until it was the size of what mortals called a basket ball. Then she lifted her hand and moved it toward her left shoulder, exactly where Yui’s head was. Yue released the orb.

In a thunderous roar, a beam of light shot from Yue’s hand at the same time that Yui’s pressure upon her body vanished. Somewhere very far behind her, the spell slammed upon the dry ground of the Moon and exploded, sending successive heat waves against her back as though they wanted to blast her away. Yet, Yue held her ground even more firmly than an ancient tree did its. For someone of her caliber, this was hardly worthy of notice.

“You know,” Yui said as she stood smiling in front of Yue, “had I reacted a second late, I would have been dead.” The woman made a show of brushing the dusts off of the white, one-piece dress and the long white cloak that hid every inch of her skin below her neck. Well, they both know that there was not a single peck on her clothes. After all, Yui was the famous hygiene maniac who warded herself with so many dust-repelling barriers that the end of the world would come before anything unclean could get within ten feet of her.

“That would remind you what could happen when you touch me,” Yue said coolly. “Next time you do that....” Yue let the unsaid threat whisper in the air of the silent night. Yui was no fool. She should be able to get the message.

“Oh come on,” Yui laughed. “Who has ever heard of someone who gets her head blown off just because she hugs her cute little sister?”

The silver aura wreathing Yue’s body gathered into her hand. Once again, she struck. Only this time, no warnings came. Had she moved her hand to the right just a fraction of an inch, the second beam of light she cast would have blown off an arm of the woman, not safely passing her by without even touching her cloak. Still, Yui appeared unruffled. She didn’t even seem to register the fact that Yue could have crippled her.

“Have I not made it clear enough that you are no sister of mine?” Yue said, her gaze a dagger, her voice ice.

“Yes, I have forgotten that although a silly oath binds us as siblings, you despise me more than anyone ever lives,” Yui chuckled. If anything, the woman only looked happier than ever.

Yue suppressed a flash of rage. “Silly” barely described the viciousness of that oath. Her Father knew better than anyone else Yue did not want to be Yui’s sister – he was well aware of the reason why, too – yet... he never faltered when proclaiming that he was going to adopt Yue into his family and forge between her and Yui a bond stronger than any ties of blood. Sometimes, Yue could not tell whether her Father was grateful toward her or he just wanted to make her life miserable. Probably the latter.... But then, Yue never had a choice. It was either submitting to the man’s will or going back to where she was born and suffered until she drew her last breath.

“If you are aware, leave,” Yue muttered. “I prefer to be by myself.”

“It would be heartless of me to do so, Yue-chan,” the other woman said gently. It seemed that had she not known that Yue would kill her at even a hint of body contact, she would have attempted to pat Yue on the shoulder like any older sister. “You look so unhappy after the audience with Father. How could I let you brood without trying to comfort you?”

“I broke the Law,” Yue said irritably, “I was lucky to get away with only a few firm words from Father.”

“You shouldn’t say that,” Yui smiled softly at her. “They were once your children. It is only logical that you care for their safety. Father should never have made a big deal out of it.”

“Enough,” Yue snapped, turning away. The other woman spoke truth... but that did not mean Yue was going to agree with her. For crying out loud, all she had been doing for the better part of her life was showing Yui that the only thing the woman could get out of Yue was hate.

“Where are you going?”

“A place where you cannot bother me,” she replied scathingly. The woman gave no outward sign that she was offended, but a shadow of sadness stole across her beautiful face.

“Bother you,” Yui said slowly as though tasting the words in her mouth. “I can recall the time when you always seemed happy talking to me, when you always laughed at my jokes. Now, you are at my throat whenever you find an opportunity. What happened to my sweet little Yue-chan?”

“She changed for the better,” Yue said, weaving a Dimensional Portal leading back to the City. “I suggest you do, too.” She stepped into the thing and vanished.

 

***

 

“Changed for the better,” Yui murmured after a sigh. She didn’t believe that, not after what Yue had done to her when they were young and ignorant of the world. Too bad the girl had always been close-mouthed when Yui tried to ask her how she had offended her. If Yue continued to act hostile toward her so, perhaps she would be dead before she could learn the truth.

Oh well, Yui thought in exasperation. Yue’s attitude... upset her no end but she didn’t really have time to worry about the girl now.

Yui raised her hand and faced its palm toward the broken Lunar Shrine. From her fair skin, a small crystal brooch in the shape of the Sun Crest emerged, floating and glowing brilliantly as though a real star under the dark heavens. She didn’t really have to make this to enter, of course, but she had never been comfortable when the Thirteen Seals and the Core Sphere of the Dimensional Prison wrapped themselves around her in attempts of verification just so they could allow her access. Now that she had this little device here, she wouldn’t be bothered anymore.

The invisible Thirteen Seals and their precious Core Sphere began to react upon the emergence of the crystal Sun Crest. In a flash of golden light, they swallowed her and spit her into a small tatami room in a chair of which her little brother Akira sat, his eyes staring at the fake scenery beyond the opened shoji doors. Yui sighed. Akira’s sitting position had changed, which meant he had awakened when she wasn’t here, which was also what she suspected. The sigh deepened.

Yui walked to where Akira sat and hugged him.

“How are you, little brother?” she murmured.

 

***

 

“Target located,” reported one of Yuusaku’s subordinates, “but we have no visual feed. She just entered Ame no Murakumo’s Seal Chamber.”

Yuusaku blinked, puzzled. Why would the woman visit the Seal Chamber anyway? The Sword God was no different from a corpse, except that he was still breathing. What could she possibly want with a man who could not even bat his eyelids? Well, the prisoner was her little brother... but he was also the reason why she had been living a life so tormenting anyone else would have preferred death. Were Yuusaku in the woman’s situation, he would not hesitate in going for Ame no Murakumo’s throat, really. He guessed that meant the woman was planning something with her little brother, then.

“Wait for her to come out,” Yuusaku commanded. “Prepare a whole squad of Messengers this time. You must not let her get away, need I make myself clearer?”

 “Yes, sir. No, sir,” the Messengers in the Headquarters answered in unison.

Yuusaku sighed, however. He seriously doubted that his subordinates could keep tab on the woman for long. She was like a drop of quicksilver, seemingly able to slip out of the cracks of their hands regardless of how tightly they clenched their fists. She made his task all but impossible.

What exactly are you trying to do, woman? Yuusaku thought angrily.

 

***

 

“Uh whoa,” Himeko exclaimed the moment she stepped past the door, and Himemiya Chikane smiled softly to herself. In blessed silence, she watched the little angel feast her eyes upon the grandeur of the room prepared for her in the Himemiya Mansion. Surprise and wonder dawned on the golden-haired girl’s face, basking it in a delighted glow that made her seem more beautiful than ever. After Chikane had settled herself onto the large king-sized bed placed in the middle of the spacious room, worthy of being called a presidential suite in any first-class hotel, she continued her study of her beloved Himeko, who was flitting about just every corner to learn what was what. The girl widened her eyes when she saw the fifty-two-inch Plasma TV hung upon a wall that stood opposite her bed, she gasped when she opened a small door and saw her own private bathroom, and she beamed brightly at the desktop personal computer equipped with a lightning-fast Internet connection. Chikane felt her heart pulse quicken. The girl just looked... so cute.

“Do you like this room,” Chikane inquired, smiling, “or would you prefer another? I highly recommend the one on the East wing, for it has a great view on the back garden.”

“Which is closer to yours, Chikane-chan?” the little angel asked, and Chikane blinked in surprise.

“I would say this one,” she answered slowly. “Why?”

“I was just being lazy,” the golden-haired girl laughed, spots of color blooming faintly on her face. “The closer you are to me, the less I have to walk when I want to see you.” The color deepened, staining her cheeks red. Strangely enough, Chikane was under the impression that it was not the only reason. It was only then did she notice Himeko’s caressing tone when she said when I want to see you. Her heart started to flutter. Now that had a nice sound to it....

“I see,” Chikane said, managing a smile.

“Ne, ne, Chikane-chan,” Himeko tugged at Chikane’s sleeve once she had settled down next to her on the bed.

“What is it?” she turned toward the golden-haired girl, fully aware that not even a hand separated their shoulders. Himeko had forgotten about the incident in the locker room just about an hour ago, it would seem. Chikane’s face heated up. She could not... and probably would not. She still remembered the silkiness of the other girl’s skin, the softness of her body, the fragrant scent of her breath when Chikane hugged her so she could keep her warm. Chikane suppressed the desire to throw her arms around the little angel and hug her again.

“Are you sure I can stay here?” the golden-haired girl said. It looked like she preferred this room to the one on the East wing after all. “Would your parents allow a complete stranger to live in their house?”

“Who is the complete stranger?” Chikane laughed quietly. “You are my friend, and that makes you a member of the Himemiya family, therefore you are guaranteed a warm shelter whenever you need it. I doubt my parents would say otherwise.”

“A member of the family,” Himeko repeated, face redder than ever.

“Yes,” Chikane nodded and patted Himeko on her shoulder, “so make yourself at home, ne.” The girl had not had a decent family ever since her parents passed away. If Chikane could make the little angel one, she would.

The golden-haired girl only looked at Chikane, eyes shining with tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. A moment later, Himeko used her sleeves to dab at her face while murmuring a thank-you. Chikane shifted uncomfortably on the bed. It was truly torturous to watch the little angel crying without attempting to pull her into an embrace and trying to comfort her. Well, perhaps it was the proper thing to do in this kind of situation but Chikane did not dare. Only the Gods would know what she might do once she had Himeko in her arms... again.

“Himeko,” she called while slipping a hand into her pocket. Before they came into this room, Chikane had had the chance to get back to hers briefly and take what she needed. “Hold out your hand.”

The little angel looked at Chikane curiously, yet she complied afterwards and extended her small, pretty hand.

“It is already past but,” Chikane said with a smile, putting a small box gift-wrapped carefully upon the other girl’s palm, “Happy seventeenth birthday.”

The golden-haired girl stared at Chikane, looking as though she was on the verge of tears again.

“I’m sorry, Chikane-chan,” Himeko muttered, holding the present with both of her hands the way she would a fragile egg.

“For what?” Chikane blinked.

“I... had a birthday present for you, too,” the little anger said, her eyes lowered, her voice a wreck of pain and guilt. “But I lost it.”

“Ah,” Chikane said after a second, and then she laughed quietly as her hand moved to ruffle the girl’s head. “That is nothing to worry about, silly Himeko.” The little angel looked up at her, her mouth dropped open in what seemed very close to shock. “What, you think I would be unhappy because you did not give me a present?” Chikane added.

“Uh....”

“It is your kind thoughts I treasure, not the things you give, you know” Chikane said, combing her fingers through Himeko’s tresses of fine golden hair. “I am overjoyed just because of the fact that you want to offer me a present. So thank you, my dearest friend.”

“You’re so kind,” Himeko murmured. Chikane though that she should steer the conversation in a different direction. The little angel did not have any flaws except for the fact that she cried so easily. And when she did, it was as if Chikane’s world had been robbed of the light.

“Open the present, Himeko,” Chikane smiled at her.

The next several minutes were spent in silence as Himeko carefully removed the wrapping around the box. Chikane watched in great amusement. It would seem that the girl could not even force herself to make a scratch on the silver foil, much less tearing it apart. The little angel’s breath caught, however, when she got to the box within and opened it.

“It is so beautiful, Chikane-chan,” she said, staring in astonishment at the ruby ring held between her fingers. “I love it!”

“I am very happy that you do,” Chikane laughed quietly, awfully conscious of the fact that Himeko was putting the thing around the ring finger of her left hand. It was just where Chikane wanted.

“Thank you, Chikane-chan,” the little angel wrapped her arms around Chikane’s neck and gave her a hug that would probably melt any amount of ice. When Himeko withdrew her slender form, Chikane found herself wanting to pull her back into the embrace and kiss her for all she was worth. She never relinquished herself to that desire, of course, no matter how much she wished to.

“Ne, Himeko,” Chikane tapped the girl on her shoulder. “What did you get for me? I am curious.”

Himeko gave a slight start at the question, color once more creeping onto her cheeks.

“It was a...” she swallowed uncomfortably, “sapphire ring.”

Chikane mulled every word of that sentence over and over in her head as honey welled up in her soul. Had Himeko been able to retain her present, they would have been exchanging rings right at this moment. She wondered what that would look like.... An engagement, perhaps?

“Chikane-chan?” Himeko’s voice jerked Chikane back to reality. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Chikane replied. “I was just thinking how much I would like to have that ring.” It was the truth, yet it was also the wrong thing to say to Himeko, who had lost the present she wanted to give. The girl, seemingly extremely crestfallen, stooped on the bed.

“I’d love you to have it, too,” the little angel murmured with a sad voice.

“Do not think too much about it, Himeko,” Chikane said hastily.

“I would go buy you the same thing again,” the golden-haired girl said, appearing oblivious of what Chikane said. “It’s just that they said they discontinued that series already.”

“Himeko, I...” Chikane began in exasperation but she stopped short when the girl turned to her with the most brilliant smile on her lips.

“How about this, Chikane-chan,” Himeko said. “Tell me what you like. I’ll buy it to make it up to you.”

“I said you do not have to, did I not?” Chikane sighed.

“But I want to give you something because it’s the first birthday I ever spent with you,” the little angel insisted. “So, please?”

At first, Chikane still wanted to say No but a glance at the pleading expression on the angel’s face disabused her of the intention. She had seen it before, when they first met, almost in the same situation. She sighed. Chikane doubted she could refuse Himeko anything once she had worn that kind of look. Had the girl asked for a star in the heavens, Chikane would have tried to pluck it. Had she asked for the moon in water, Chikane would have dived in and tried her best to get it for her whether she could get out alive or not.

“Very well,” Chikane agreed.

“Great!” Himeko beamed brightly at her. “What would you like?”

Thoughts whirled in Chikane’s head. What should she say? She could not ask for something expensive, as Himeko’s financial situation would not allow. On the other hand, the other girl would not believed her should Chikane tell her she wanted something cheap. Was there something Chikane would like which Himeko could give without paying a penny? Heat bloomed in her cheeks. There was. And she bet she could get it without ever letting the little angel be aware of her real intention, too.

“I can ask for any present, ne?” Chikane asked.

“Yes,” the little angel said, her smile becoming more and more radiant. “I promised.” She seemed happy that Chikane had acceded to her request.

“Then how about a little kiss, Himeko?” Chikane said and watched shock rippled across the other girl’s face. Then she added, “On the cheek.”

“I shouldn’t...” the golden-haired girl muttered after a moment of silence, then stopped abruptly, cheeks growing redder by the minute.

“Why not?” Chikane smiled. “My parents always give me kisses on my birthdays.”

“Really?” Himeko said.

Chikane nodded.

“Okay,” Himeko muttered as she rose to her feet and stood in front of Chikane, who was still sitting on the bed. Then the girl laid her hands upon the underside of Chikane’s face while her body leaned closer, her fragrant scent suffused the air Chikane breathed. It was... intoxicating.

The peck of lips Himeko bestowed on Chikane’s forehead was rather unexpected and dissatisfying. It was light, it was quick, and it was like a fresh breeze in spring that was already gone when one could feel its touch. The disappointment melted away, though, as Himeko kissed her again on her left cheek. The second kiss was a second longer than the first, allowing Chikane enough time to feel the softness of the moist lips of the little angel. By the time the golden-haired girl drew herself away, Chikane thought that she had been given the best present in the world. Her heart leapt up into her throat when the little angel put her arms around Chikane’s neck and kissed her one last time on the right cheek. For five blessedly long seconds the kiss lasted, making Chikane felt as though her blood was wine. Bliss washed over in waves, threatening to drown her forever. When she could get back to reality, Himeko was already sitting next to her again, face the very picture of the setting sun. A girl kissing another girl was not exactly unheard of... yet it was by no means things one saw out of the ordinary.

Silence stretched as Chikane stared at Himeko, who had taken up a serious study of the carpet. The girl tripled the amount of what Chikane asked for. What would have happened had Chikane wanted a kiss on the lips?

“Himeko, I...” she began, laying her hand on the girl’s shoulder. Then she stopped. I love you, she had meant to say, yet she could not force herself to. She had thought it easy just to make her confession. She had thought perhaps Himeko would take no time to whisper the same words back into her ears. She was not so sure now that she realized the truth could either deepen or shatter their relationship. It was all well if Himeko did what she hoped the girl would... but what if she did not? Chikane would never see the one she loved ever again, for sure. Chikane sighed. Maybe she should wait for another while and try to learn what lay in the angel’s heart before making her own feelings known. “Thank you,” she said. At least Himeko was not going anywhere anytime soon.

“You’re welcome,” the golden-haired girl muttered, still looking at the ground at her feet.

“Well, it is rather late already,” Chikane commented in an effort to break the awkward silence. It was indeed late, for the two hands of the grandfather clock in the room were both pointing at the tenth mark. “You should rest, Himeko. I shall see you tomorrow in the dining hall, at breakfast.” She rose gracefully from the bed, dimly aware of the wobbliness of her knees. The whole situation still felt unreal to her, somehow. On her seventeenth birthday, she learned of the Orochi Followers’ devastating power. The day after, she was told she held even a greater, one enough to save the world. On the very same day, her secret crush moved in with her and gave her three kisses for a birthday present. The Gods seemed to be working her life in mysterious ways. In any event, though, if they could make Himeko her girlfriend someday, she would not mind one bit.

“Goodnight, Chikane-chan,” the little angel said, waving her hand and smiling faintly.

“Goodnight, Himeko.” The door closed behind Chikane’s back.

She treaded on the hallway the floor of which shone in the moonlight weaving through the glass windows, wondering if she would dream of Himeko tonight. She wished she would. But before she laid herself on her bed, though, she had something else to do. The closer you are to me, the less I have to walk when I want to see you, the little angel’s voice whispered in her head. After today, the golden-haired girl did not have to walk at all if she wanted to get to Chikane’s door.

 

***

 

“You mean to tell me that all of them had been taken away?” Oogami Kazuki directed his anger at the three men kneeling before him. “What are you, scarecrows or Protectors of the Swords?” He was born mild-mannered and kind but in this situation, even a rock would be furious at such useless imbeciles. He already had a hunch that whatever the envoys from the Council of Priests wanted with him so late in the evening, it could not be pleasant. Kazuki had never been more accurate in his life.

“We beg for your forgiveness, Oogami-sama,” all three bowed down so low their heads touched the wooden floor.

Kazuki paced the Grand Hall of Shingetsu but his anger refused to subside. All these years he had trusted that the Council would prevent anyone from getting near the Sealed Swords, all these years in which he paid with his own blood just to make sure the one they entrusted in Shingetsu Grand Shrine was secured. Now they told him the rest of the Elemental Blades had been stolen, one after another in one week’s time and asked for forgiveness? Unbelievable!

“You, Saiki, you’re the leader, give me a report!”

“Yes, Oogami-sama,” the man in the middle said. He was heavily built yet he always spoke as if he was out of breath. “Seven days ago, intruders got passed the surveillance of the Mitsumine Shrine in Saitama, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and Mount Koya. From the records, there were neither signs of break-in nor struggle with the local Protectors. They only noticed that the Sealed Swords was gone on the next day when they went for their daily checkups. Before the Councils could dispatch Messengers to warn the others, we received the information that the same incident had happened to Ise Shrine.”

 The Wind Blade from Yasukuni, Water from Mitsumine, Earth from Mount Kouya and Ice from Ise, they were all gone. Kazuki suddenly had an urge to kick something. No signs of break-in or struggle! In other words, the foolish Protectors lost without putting up a scrap of a fight!

“What happened to the Sumeragi Clan in Kyoto?”

“Apparently they were assaulted in the dead of night, Oogami-sama,” Saiki said. “All four of the stolen Elemental Blades appeared in Kyoto and were used to defeat the Onmyouji. They fought valiantly but against the Swords, they stood no chance. The Onmyouji were heavily wounded, some lost their lives. In the end, the Star Blade and the Twilight Blade were taken from the Seals.”

The Sumeragi had been defeated. The most dangerous of the Elemental Blade had been retrieved by the Orochi Followers. It had to be them, no one else would have enough power to infiltrate the Shrines and devastate the Sumeragi like this. They didn’t raise much noise in the Shrines not because they were weak. It was just that they were saving their strength for the final battle with the Onmyouji, strongest of the Protectors of the Swords. The Followers must have known then that there could be no easy way to take the weapons away from the Sumeragi.

“You didn’t mention the Fire Blade. Where is Rekkyou?”

This time, Yuuji, the man to Saiki’s left, replied apprehensively:

“Oogami-sama, one of the Onmyouji was in time to get Rekkyou and run away from Kyoto. But....”

“But what?” Kazuki snapped.

“His body was found this morning, Oogami-sama, without the Sword,” the last man of the trio Messengers, Furin, said as he avoided Kazuki’s gaze. And he seemed relieved that Kazuki did not explode on him. Kazuki wouldn’t, for his anger had already turned murderously ice-cold.

“Oogami-sama, we were under the impression that the Followers struck here too. Are the remaining weapons safe?” Saiki asked, a gleam of hope shining in his eyes.

“They are, all three of them,” Kazuki said curtly. Thanks to the two girls, Raien had no chance to reunite with its brothers in Orochi’s hands. Thanks to the Priestesses’ holy light, Souma’s demonic rage was suppressed, thus denying the Followers the access to the most important treasure in the world.

“Thank the Gods,” the three men murmured.

So, only Raien was left untouched. Sooner or later, they would come to reclaim it for sure. And if all seven Swords were to appear here.... The mere possibility horrified Kazuki. Should that come to pass, the future of mankind wasn’t so bright. There was but one solution to this problem. He had to bring the Priestesses here and have them awaken the Eyes of Heaven as soon as possible. Without those, there was simply no way he could stop the other Followers from reclaiming Raien and destroying the hope of the Human World.

“You three, go back to Headquarters and inform the Council that I need the strongest Protectors gathered here in Mahoroba,” Kazuki issued the order. They might not be of much help but in case something bad happened, he would still have enough manpower to protect the people of the City. “And not a word to the Priestesses should you see them, am I clear?” The girls would be burdened as it was when he told them of his intentions tomorrow, they did not need any more worries. At least, not yet.

“As you command, Oogami-sama,” they spoke in unison.

 

***

 

Sitting on the bed, Girochi Miyako gently stroked the blade of Rekkyou the Fire Blade. It was a beauty, a shiny double-edged sword with the carvings of the ancient runes. Better yet, Rekkyou was stronger than what she expected. With the Sealed Sword in her hand, she had grown more powerful than most humans on Earth. Right after Rekkyou came into her possession, it had astonished her with what it was capable of. One strike brought forth the flame of destruction upon Narita, incinerating everything caught in its clutches. A second completely annihilated the city, turning it into a flattened desert of black sand. It was beautiful how the golden flames rained down from the heavens, how they spread from one part of the city to another, how they burned the men and women to ashes.

A flash of indignation rose in her. They began the attack on the Sumeragi in Kyoto a while ago with the intention of claiming the rest of the Sealed Swords. Unfortunately, a darned Onmyouji escaped with Rekkyou so Miyako was the only one left without a weapon in the entire team. Thanks to the bastard, she was powerless against Raien, against such a wimp like Oogami Souma. Had she had Rekkyou then... she still wouldn’t have been able to do a thing, Miyako realized. Even with Rekkyou, she wasn’t sure that she could win against the other Sealed Sword. After her shameful defeat, Tsubasa-sama had revealed to her that wanting to take down Oogami was truly foolish because Raien would automatically suppressed any being of powers and sealed off the magical weapons on sight. The Voice of Sorrow in the Lightning Blade was what prevented her flame spells from fazing the brat.

But it should be alright now that the Star Blade had returned to its rightful owner, Tsubasa-sama. However powerful Raien might be, it was no match for the Star Blade, especially when Tsubasa-sama wielded it. Her idol was strong, more so than anyone. There could be no chance that Oogami could escape Tsubasa-sama’s wrath. The time would come soon, when they came to take back Raien and finish what their Lord started three thousand years ago.

Suddenly a loud thud reached Miyako. It sounded as if someone just collapsed outside of her room.

“Ane... ki...” a weak voice called to her

It was her little brother’s, Tokiya’s.

Throwing Rekkyou aside, she ran to the door and became horrified when she opened it. The kid was laying there, blood gushing out incessantly from his mouth. His clothes were all torn, revealing his reddened skins underneath. A cold wrecked Miyako’s body. If she did not act fast, he was going to die for sure!

Miyako scooped him into her arms and ran as if hell was on her heels. Girochi Tokiya was the only blood relative she had left in this cruel world, the only one she cared for aside from Tsubasa-sama, and as much as she would her idol. Since the downfall of the Girochi Clan, one of the greatest spiritualists ever walked the earth, in the Second World War, Miyako and Tokiya had been supporting one another just to survive until this day. Without her kid brother, Miyako couldn’t have made it. That was why... that was why she couldn’t, and wouldn’t let anything happen to him, not when she had not breathed her last.

Miyako forced open the door to the Orochi Sixth Head’s room. Hibiki Shizuku, who named herself Nekoko to honor her fanatical love for stray cats, was sitting on her couch reading some magazine.

“The Temple of the Dragons is not a place for you to rampage as you wish, I thought you knew, Second Head,” the woman said without looking up. “And knock before entering, would you?”

“I don’t care,” Miyako almost shouted. “Tokiya is dying! I don’t have time to worry about your damned door!”

“Tokiya? Third Head?” Nekoko put down the magazine and said. “How did he get hurt so badly?”

“I don’t know! Do something. Help him, please!” Nekoko was a priceless ally not because she had strong Orochi powers. Everybody in the team knew full well the cat-fanatic was the weakest of them all. The only reason why the other Heads treated Nekoko with respect – which meant that they never bashed her or made fun of her when she was around – was her skill with healing, the ability to return life to a person nearing death. That was exactly why Miyako brought her little brother to see the woman although Miyako hated her to her guts. If Nekoko could save Tokiya, Miyako could even get down on her knees and beg.

Nekoko stood up and pointed at the couch, “Put him there.”

Just after Miyako did what she was told to, Nekoko put her hand several inches above Tokiya’s forehead. From the woman’s palm, a green light emerged and focused itself on the boy. Suddenly, her brother’s body convulsed in spasms, mouth coughing up blood all over his clothes and the couch. His eyes opened as wide as they could and his arms began to thrash around, almost knocking Nekoko’s hand away.

“What the hell are you doing?” Miyako screamed. She clamped her mouth shut a second later at a fierce glare from the other woman.

“Be quiet, Second Head, or I’ll throw you out of here,” Nekoko said coldly and turned to Tokiya. When she opened her mouth and spoke again, her voice was strangely collected. “Third Head, summon your Sword for me.”

Her brother weakly raised his hand and mumbled, “Lord... of the... Seven... Seas. Come forth, Suikyou....”

Space in front of his palm rippled like the surface of a pond. Out of that surface, the Water Blade emerged, but no longer in one piece. Somewhere in the middle, the sword was snapped into two. Miyako gasped in horror. Nekoko merely widened her eyes in shock as she caught the two pieces in her hand and carefully examined it.

Moving nearer to Nekoko, Miyako took a closer look. And she was even more afraid, if that was possible. It was a very clean cut, very much so that when Nekoko put them together, the sword looked like it had never been broken. Miyako wasn’t too knowledgeable about the nature of the Elemental Blades but what she did know was that breaking them were beyond anyone’s power in this world, including the Orochi’s. Even a Sealed Sword could not damage another one, she had been told. Then what could have?

“No wonder he was in so much pain although there were no mortal wounds on his body,” Nekoko murmured. “This caused it.”

“Speak so I can understand, Nekoko.”

While the woman peered at her curiously as if thinking What are you, stupid?, what she said was different, “When the Blades were given to us, we made a contract with them, did we not?”

“Yes, and?” Miyako said impatiently.

“In order for us to wield their powers, we pledged our souls. In other words, the Swords had already become parts of us. Damaging them means damaging our own souls.”

“Then Tokiya, he is....” Miyako felt a chill slithering down her spines.

“Worry not, he is okay. As long as we can fix the Sword, he would return to normal. Hey, you stand away from me for a bit. Yeah, there is good enough.”

Green light emerged from Nekoko’s body as she let go of the sword fragments. They stayed still in the air, though, where she left them. Placing her left hand on Tokiya’s forehead, the other right above where the fragments joined, she said:

“I am going to borrow Third Head’s powers to heal the Sword.”

From her right hand, shining water poured out and formed a whole sphere trapping the Water Blade in the middle. Then all of a sudden, the water turned into blue light, quickly withdrawn into the sword and vanished. Miyako grasped the sword. It was whole once again and full of power. Looking at her kid brother, Miyako heaved a sigh of relief. Before, his face was white as if there was no blood. Now, a slight pink color began to cover his pale skin. He was no longer in any mortal danger.

“How do you feel, Tokiya?” Miyako gently brushed Tokiya’s hair and asked while kneeling in front of the couch

“Fine, I guess,” he gave a weak smile. “Sorry to have worried you, Aneki.”

“Don’t say that, idiot,” she said with an assuring tone. After all, his life was one of the most important things to her. As long as he was safe, a little worry did not matter to her in the end.

“Third Head, who attacked you?” Nekoko said.

“Oogami Souma.”

Rage bloomed in Miyako’s heart. The bastard, again! Orochi Seventh Head or not, she hated him to his guts. It was his family the Oogami that drove her and her kid brother to the corner. Since the beginning of time, the Girochi and the Oogami Clans had always strived to serve the Immortals of the Heavens. Most of the times, it was the Girochi that paved their way with sweat and blood. But if so, why was the Oogami the only ones picked for guarding the Priestesses of the Lunar Shrine three thousand years ago? Devastated, her ancestors lived in disgrace and pain. Three millennia passed as the Girochi, once the most prominent in the world, slowly walked upon their path of destruction. The spiritualists began to leave the Clan and went to other places, turning her family Shrine into a place ruled by solitude and darkness. In the end, everything was lost in the flame of war and human’s lust for powers.

Miyako and Tokiya had been living on the streets like beggars for most of their lives. They had been looked at with disgust and enmity by most of the bystanders. And it was all Oogami’s fault! The moment Tsubasa-sama found them and recruited them into Orochi’s ranks, she had sworn she would take revenge on the Oogami, no matter what it would take. Now that they had almost killed her brother, they had just piled sins upon sins. One day, she would raze Shingetsu Grand Shrine to the ground with Rekkyou, leaving none with even a corpse!

“Not him,” Nekoko muttered. “True, the external wounds were caused by Raien’s powers but we know that however strong Raien was, it could not break Suikyou.”

“Then what, Nekoko?” Miyako demanded.

“Third Head, what did you do with the Water Blade?” ignoring Miyako, the woman concentrated her piercing gaze on Tokiya. “What did you do?”

“I used the Water Mirror spell to separate myself into two,” Tokiya answered. “One of me went after Oogami, the other....” He shut up, face flushed. And Miyako knew.

“I have to do something about your lecherous nature, Tokiya. You came to see the Priestesses, didn’t you?” Miyako groaned in exasperation. “Didn’t the Lord just order us to leave them alone this morning?”

“Well... I...” he stammered. There was nothing bad about her kid brother except that he liked girls too much for his own sake. One day, it would be the end of him.

“That made sense, now.” Nekoko tapped her lips thoughtfully.

“What did?” Miyako asked.

“When I Healed Suikyou, I sensed the power of the Moon lingering upon the cut.”

“Does that mean the Moon Priestess...?” Miyako couldn’t believe it. She saw the girl the other day and honestly, she looked more like a blue-haired princess than someone powerful enough to snap Suikyou into two.

“Who knows?” Nekoko’s lips curved upward mysteriously. The woman’s smile was one of the things Miyako didn’t like about her. It was mischievous, calculating, and somewhat dangerous, even for an Orochi. “And get out of my room, both of you. I have to change to go to work.”

“Work?” Miyako said with utmost incredulity. “Don’t tell me that flyspeck of a hospital is still of interest to you, Nekoko. Besides, it’s midnight, woman!”

“None of your business, Second Head.” Nekoko tied her long brown hair up with a pink ribbon. “And if you see me there, do address me as Doctor Hibiki, alright?”

“As you wish, Doctor,” Miyako said mockingly as she carried her brother out of the room.

 

***

 

Nekoko smiled again after the Second Head slammed the door shut. She knew nothing, that woman who had more brawl than brain. Miyako had never been aware that Nekoko had found a treasure almost as precious as the Elemental Blades in the hospital she named flyspeck. Now what she had to do was taking it into her hands. Then she would finally have what she wished for. Nekoko laughed and laughed until tears leaked out from her eyes.

 

***

 

“Ojou-sama,” Kisaragi Otoha began. “Do you still wish to go on with this?”

Himemiya Chikane-sama, who stood a few feet away from Otoha in the room, turned toward her with a weighing look on her face. Then she once again focused her attention upon the interior.

“You are right,” the princess murmured. “This room is certainly smaller than mine. I may not be able to transfer all of my belongings.”

“It’s not what I mean,” Otoha said in exasperation.

“It is not?” Puzzlement touched the Himemiya young mistress’s voice.

“Why do you want to move into this room anyway?” Otoha said, managing as much protest as she could into her words without overstepping her authority.

“Because Kurusugawa-san lives next door,” Otoha’s young mistress replied levelly. “She is new here, and knows none but me. I am sure my close company would help her grow used to life in the Mansion faster.”

Otoha tried to not mutter under her breath. Ojou-sama was not telling the whole truth. Try as she might, she would never succeed in fooling someone who had watched her grow up. Otoha would never believe that the cold Himemiya Chikane-sama would treat a friend so warmly when she rarely spoke a word to her servants unless out of great need.

Well, perhaps some would argue that Kurusugawa Himeko was the princess’s best friend but Otoha would not buy any of that, either. If she were just a friend, best friend even, Ojou-sama would not have covered her picture – encased in a crystal frame! – with a piece of silk cloth every single time Otoha went into her room for daily cleanup. Once, when the princess went out and forgot to lock the door like she always did, Otoha had had the chance to gain a glimpse of the mysterious person in the picture. How her jaw had dropped then, finding the face of a pretty girl instead of a boy she thought Chikane-sama had fallen for.

Not just that, even the way the Himemiya princess addressed her friend sounded suspicious. Well, she called the girl Kurusugawa-san, which was of course perfectly normal and appropriate, but Otoha, who had heard her calling people’s names numerous times before, could notice more than just a caress in her young mistress’s voice. In fact, it contained so much affection and sweetness that she would have thought Kurusugawa Himeko was....

Her secret lover, Otoha finished the disturbing thought. The golden-haired girl probably was.

Otoha felt sharp thorns pricking her soul. Ever since she had come to this Mansion at a very young age, she had thought that she was Ojou-sama’s friend, someone with whom the girl shared secrets. She had thought that she stood highest in the Himemiya princess’s heart save her Father and Mother. Now she knew she was sadly delusional. Shockingly enough, perhaps even Himemiya Kyou-sama or Kimika-sama was below Kurusugawa Himeko in the young mistress’s beloved list. That wasn’t fair, really. Otoha had served Chikane-sama for almost forever. She should have been the one instead of that golden-haired milksop.

Otoha gave a start. Now what was she thinking?

“It looks well enough to me,” the Himemiya princess said after a while. “There is no need to remodel it. I shall move in here tomorrow.”

“But, Ojou-sama,” Otoha said, her voice taking on somewhat of a beseeching tone. She never had the chance to speak another word, however, for the princess had ridden right over her.

“I will expect all my belongings to be here by tomorrow’s evening, Otoha-san,” Chikane-sama said quietly, yet the finality note in her voice was as loud as thunder. She expected to be obeyed without a single word of protest whenever she did that. “You have my thanks.”

“It shall be as you wish, Ojou-sama,” Otoha said, head deeply inclined. There was nothing else she could do.

It was then that she heard a scream from the next door... in Kurusugawa Himeko’s voice.

Ojou-sama was a wonder to look at the way panic destroyed the unruffled serenity she wore as often as she did clothes, the way her complexion went white as a blank paper sheet, the way she broke toward the door and almost unhinged it on her way out.

Placidly, Otoha followed her young mistress, wishing with all her heart that a burglar had snuck into Kurusugawa’s room somehow and strangled her. She was deeply disappointed when she arrived next door, though, for there she saw Ojou-sama sitting next to Kurusugawa on the bed, the former patting the latter on the shoulder while the latter seemed to have all blood withdrawn from her face. The golden-haired girl was trembling.

“What is the matter, Kurusugawa-sama?” Otoha placed herself at the opening, not letting even the hem of her dress go beyond the doorstep.

“It is quite late already, Otoha-san.” Ojou-sama looked up at her, sapphire eyes glowing brightly in the light of the bed lamp. “I would not bother you anymore. You will need rest for tomorrow.” Otoha swallowed. It was polite, but it was a dismissal nevertheless. Ojou-sama did not want Otoha here. Why?

“Then please excuse me.” Otoha bowed and closed the door. Then she ran all the way back to her room, where spent a good hour screaming into her pillow. It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair!

 

***

 

“Nightmare?” Himemiya Chikane said, her hand combing through the angel’s golden tresses.

“Yeah,” the other girl nodded. “I saw Oogami-kun trying to kill me again.” She shivered as though chilled even when her temples glistened with sweat. “Only this time, he succeeded,” she continued with a breaking voice. “He ran me through with his sword.” Her hand moved to her chest, telling Chikane exactly where Oogami Souma had hurt her in the dream.

“I do not blame you.” Chikane sighed. “It is truly a horrifying experience. But I was glad it was but a dream, Himeko. When you screamed, I was so afraid something had happened to you.”

“Did I wake you?” Himeko said ruefully.

“No, I was next door doing a few things when I heard your voice,” Chikane answered, moving a little closer to the girl on the bed and put her right arm around her while using her left sleeve to dab at Himeko’s temples. Only after that did Himeko stop trembling. She had to be frightened out of her wits to have allowed such intimacy from Chikane without the smallest sign of protest or embarrassment, she thought. Poor girl.

“What are you doing next door?” the golden-haired girl looked up at her, managing a more cheerful tone.

“Well,” Chikane cleared her throat, “I was inspecting it because I planned to move in there tomorrow.”

The body of the little angel tensed, and it seemed for the first time ever she became conscious of Chikane’s hand on her shoulder, Chikane’s arm around her back. The girl shifted a little bit, but she showed no evidence that she wanted Chikane to move away.

“Why?” Himeko muttered quietly.

“Same reason as you,” Chikane laughed. “I figure that since we usually have a great many things to talk about, I might as well be your next-door neighbor for convenience’s sake.”

“Really?” The golden-haired girl grinned.

“Yes.” Chikane smiled. “And I can get here faster to console you if you have a nightmare, too.”

“Thanks,” the little angel murmured in appreciation.

“You should try to sleep again, Himeko.” Chikane withdrew her arm. The way a grimace formed on Himeko’s face and vanished as soon as it surfaced, Chikane thought the angel wanted her arm around her again. She gave herself a mental shake. Wishful thinking, Himemiya Chikane, she thought.

“Goodnight, Chikane-chan,” the girl said, then added, laughing, “Again.”

“Goodnight, Himeko.” Chikane smiled softly, rising from the bed.

When she arrived at the door and looked back, though, her heart sank. The girl still sat there, but her face was all but painted with apprehension under the lamp light. Perhaps Himeko was so afraid that she did not want to go to sleep anymore.

“Himeko?”

“Ah, yes?” The golden-haired girl gave a start upon realizing that Chikane was looking at her. She tried to mask her fear, too, although she did a poor job at it.

“Would it inconvenience you if I stay here until you fall asleep?” Chikane suggested.

“No, not at all!” A brilliant smile blossomed on Himeko’s lips. It almost split the little angel’s face into two once Chikane had settled down next to her again. The girl then lay down on the soft mattress, pulling the thick blanket all the way to her shoulders. She was on her side, facing Chikane, who was leaning her back against the headboard of the bed.

“Chikane-chan?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you like to sing?”

“Interesting question.” Chikane laughed softly. “I do, Himeko, but why?”

“Because whenever I couldn’t sleep, I would put my headphone on and listened to my CD player so...” she trailed off as though unsure of how to proceed.

“So the spoiled Himeko would like me to sing her a lullaby, is that it?” Chikane smiled.

“Yeah,” the little angel nodded, hiding the lower part of her face with the blanket.

“Your wish is my command,” Chikane said, hand stroking the other girl’s head. Then she started to sing.

 

Why is it wrong to love you, why is it wrong to hold you tight?

I look to the heavens, asking for an answer from the all-knowing stars

“Together you are not meant to be,” sparkled the million eyes of the night sky

“Unforgiven one, sweet Sinner of the world, seek not what you will never have.”

 

There is nowhere I can turn to hide my tears

Eventually overflowing my palms along with the moonlight.

Ashamed of myself I am, for I dare not reveal my feelings to one I love.

What is it I want to say when no word comes from my lips that tremble in the dark?

What is it I wish for when I confront you everyday?

 

Just being by your side, just sharing the same moments

Revives the long forgotten smile on my lips.

Just feeling the same pain as you, just hearing your soft laughter

Melts away the agony in my wintry soul.

Dear one I love, I am faithfully yours, eternally yours.

 

I want to forever protect the smile you bestowed upon me the moment we met,

To see you happy throughout the blue eternity,

To shield you from sadness and pain until the end of time.

Even if so I have to do from the depth of the night’s shadow.

Even if I have to stand at the edge of your life, unnoticed by your beautiful eyes.

 

By the time Chikane finished, the other girl had already fallen asleep. Smiling, Chikane bent down and kissed her eyelids, whispering softly, “May nightmares leave you be tonight. May good dreams find their way to your sleep.” It was what her Mother used to do when Chikane was little. And it had worked more often than not. She only wished it would produce the same effect to the love of her life.

 

***

 

When Saotome Makoto looked at the clock on the table near her bed, she found the thing read exactly midnight. So she had been sitting on the bed, doing nothing for at least three hours. She wanted to go to sleep but whenever she tried to close her eyes, they sprang open again. After several attempts, she gave up. Makoto guessed that she was afraid of her dreams, where she would see the crying face of Kurusugawa Himeko, whom she had hurt with her cold words. She didn’t want to say these things to her roommate but.... She sighed. There was no use crying over spilt milk, was there?

One year of friendship, one full year of strong bond now became water under the bridge. Wouldn’t it have been better if Himeko had not been assigned to Makoto’s room in the dorm? Wouldn’t it have been much better if Makoto had told Himeko her feelings before she met the Himemiya princess? It could have changed something. It could have delivered Makoto what she wished for had she not locked up her feelings inside her hearts.

Perhaps.

A knock on the door told Makoto she had visitor.

“I prefer to be alone, please,” she said curtly. Makoto was in no mood for company now.

“It is I,” Hibiki Shizuku’s voice said. The woman was the doctor assigned to Makoto.

“Come in, then,” Makoto answered.

The doctor closed the door after entering and sat down on the chair next to her bed.

“Is there something urgent, doctor, that you have to see me this late?”

“Not really, Saotome-san. Maybe urgent to someone else, but not at all to you.” Hibiki-san smiled. Although it wasn’t the first time Makoto saw the doctor smile, never before had she noticed how maliciously her lips curved.

“I don’t understand.”

The woman ignored Makoto and went on:

“Saotome Makoto, you, was born on August the eighth in Tokyo right when the clock struck eight in the evening. You had always liked sports during your time in junior high school. You won the Gold Medal for sprinting and tracking in the athletic meet of your second year. You like sweets, strawberry cakes and the color red. You hate udon noodles, rain, arrogant boys and the color blue. The thing you love most was, or still is, your first crush, your roommate, a girl by the name of Kurusugawa Himeko.”

“How do you know all that?” Makoto’s voice trembled uncontrollably. The first half was true but it came as no surprise to Makoto. Anyone could have known that had she patiently looked up her records but the second one.... How on Earth did the woman get a hold of Himeko’s name?

“My dear Mako-chan....”

“Don’t call me that,” Makoto snapped. The only one ever allowed to call her by that name was... was....

“Of course. Saotome-san my dear, I know everything about you,” Hibiki Shizuku flashed her vicious smile at Makoto as if to mock her. “Your darkest thoughts, your deepest desires, everything. Because, after all, you are special. I will let you in on a secret but do keep it between us, okay?”

By the time the woman quit yapping, though, the animosity Makoto felt toward her had decreased by half. Hope once more welled in her soul. If what Hibiki Shizuku said was true, there was still a chance Makoto could get what she wanted.

 

***

 

In her school uniform, Kurusugawa Himeko sat down at the dining table. Chikane-chan was already there, smiling, “Good morning to you, Kurusugawa-san.”

“Good morning, Chikane-chan.”

Himeko stole a glance at the Himemiya Ojou-sama. When she woke up this morning, the other girl was already gone. She had wanted to see Chikane-chan when she opened her eyes, though.

“Kurusugawa-sama, your meal is ready,” Otoha-san said. For some reason, her voice was thin and impatient as though in a bad mood. She seemed scary, too. Himeko swallowed nervously and made a mental note to herself. Stay away from Otoha-san whenever she looked like this. She was the Head Maid of the Mansion, putting a foot wrong with her might mean a lot of bad things happening to her room... or her food.

“Thank you, Otoha-san,” Himeko said as carefully and as appreciatively as possible. Still, she failed to improve the Head Maid’s lethal mood. The young woman laid the food tray quite gently in front of Himeko but from the dangerous look in her eyes, she seemed more than ready to slam it upon the tabletop... or bash it at Himeko’s face. She but wondered if she had unknowingly offended the woman somehow. Strangely enough, though, when the Head Maid arrived at Chikane-chan’s place, her expression had already become so soft that she seemed an entirely different person.

Puzzled, Himeko turned to her food tray... and found her stomach lurching. It was a Japanese-style breakfast with cooked rice, lotus soup, and... fried fish with shiitake mushrooms. Cold sweat ran down her back. Himeko wasn’t a picky eater or anything. It was just that she couldn’t stand the smell and the taste of the mushrooms, which earned top place in the list of food she hated. The last time she ate the thing, she had felt sick for at least one full hour. She never touched it again.

“Is something the matter, Kurusugawa-sama?” Otoha-san’s eyes sparkled in a very strange way when they kept flickering between Himeko and the mushroom dish. Were Himeko to describe her, she would say the Head Maid was the picture of a cat who had found out where a milk saucer was. Or maybe a mouse.

“Unn.... nothing,” Himeko smiled nervously. Maybe if she only picked some bite, it wouldn’t be so bad. Putting one bit of shiitake into her mouth, she tried to swallow it immediately. Yet, the horrible taste made her want to spit it out. She didn’t dare to.

In the end, she couldn’t finish the meal, not when her hand was too shaky to hold the chopsticks. She got into the limousine with Chikane-chan, feeling as though she might just fall after every step she made. It should be okay after a while, it should.... Himeko caught sight of the blue-haired princess, who was sitting next to her. The problem with awful mushrooms slipped off her mind. The glorious morning light streaming through the glass windows made the other girl’s shiny hair even shinier, her brilliant face even more brilliant, if it was possible. The princess’s cheeks, gleaming like snow, all but reminded Himeko of what she had done to them less than a dozen hours before. Her face heated up. Last night, Chikane-chan had asked for a peck on the cheek for her birthday present. Himeko had given her three. The skin of the Himemiya Ojou-sama was so smooth it made silk feel rough, so warm it put fire to shame.

“Ne, Himeko, Himeko?”

“Uh, yes?” She gave a small start.

“Are you well?” Chikane-chan asked, concern plain in her voice. “You have been acting strange all morning.”

“I’m okay, probably.” Himeko smiled awkwardly.

“No need to hide it.” Chikane-chan returned the smile. “The mushrooms took a toll on you, I know.”

“Eh?” Himeko blinked. “How?”

“Anyone could figure that out when they see your painful expression,” melodious, crystalline laughter answered her. “For a moment there, I thought you just gulped down poison, not food.”

“I’m sorry,” Himeko said apologetically.

“Do not be. One persons food is another’s poison, they always say,” the blue-haired princess quoted, hand knuckling Himeko gently on her cheek. “Rest assured. I will remove anything with shiitake mushroom from the menu when we come home later today.”

“You don’t have to, really!” Himeko protested. “I’m already freeloading in your house. For me to impose on you like that is just wrong.”

“What if I tell you I hate shiitake mushroom, too?” Chikane-chan gave her a quiet smile and said. “What if I tell you that I was only using you to get rid of it, for my own gain? Would you still feel bad, Himeko?”

Himeko only looked at the Himemiya princess, not really knowing how to respond. Firstly, it was because she couldn’t tell whether Chikane-chan was honest in what she just said. Secondly, the warmth in the taller girl’s words was spreading in her heart, reminding her of how deep the feelings for the princess had rooted in her soul. Himeko wondered if it was okay to embrace the other girl, right now, right here. She shook the thought off. That would be very unladylike. Chikane-chan would not appreciate it the way Himeko would.

“Thank you, Chikane-chan,” Himeko managed to force an answer out of her mouth. Yet, the princess said nothing as she only looked at Himeko, her sapphire eyes became alight as the most adorable smile ever graced her charming lips. Himeko’s heart thumped.

Every student in Ototachibana Academy idolized Chikane-chan because of the way she carried herself with impeccable elegance and serenity. Not in their wildest dream could they have imagined that their Miya-sama had a very endearing child-like demeanor that contradicted her cool and collected beauty like this, Himeko bet. She wouldn’t blame them, still. After all, Himeko was the only person who knew that side of hers. Was it wrong to think that Himeko was special to the blue-haired princess, was it a mistake to believe it was the truth? Himeko forcefully pulled her eyes away. Keep watching the Himemiya princess like that and she feared she wouldn’t be to hold herself back any longer.

“Ne, Chikane-chan,” Himeko changed the topic. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Anything you wish,” The Himemiya princess favored her with another dazzling smile.

“Umm, remember the song you sang me last night?” Himeko colored a little. “Where did you learn it from?”

“To be honest with you, I do not know,” the other girl tapped her lips thoughtfully.

“How so?”

“From when I was little, that song has always been in my head although I still have no idea as to how I learned it in the first place. Do you dislike it?”

“No, Chikane-chan. I love it!” Himeko said hastily. And I want to hear it every night, too, if it’s fine with you, a thought popped up in her head. Himeko forced it down, hard.

“But Chikane-chan, does it sound like a... love confession to you?” Himeko continued.

“It does? I never notice, Himeko.” This time, it was the princess who abruptly broke eye-contact. She turned away and kept silent for the rest of the ride. Himeko but wondered why.

In almost no time at all, the car arrived at the campus’ gate, where it stopped and dropped Himeko and the Himemiya Ojou-sama off. They walked up the flights of stairs together. As usually, the girls went nuts when they saw Chikane-chan. They looked up at her with their admiring eyes as they muttered “good day” to the blue-haired princess. They squealed out loud when they received a greeting in return. It was funny. And of course, although the boys only watched her from afar, they could never hide the affections they had for her. They acted as though they paid no heed to her yet their surreptitious glances betrayed their uncaring expression.

Well, the students, male and female, didn’t ignore Himeko like usual for a change. Only that Himeko wished they would again. Their eyes... scared her. If Himeko had to guess, she would say they were brimming with envy and possibly hate. News traveled far, and fast. By now, everyone in school must have been well informed that Himeko now lived with their beloved Miya-sama. All thanks to the extensive network of information the princess’s fan club provided. There were times Himeko couldn’t help but be amazed at how good they were. If the Himemiya Ojou-sama were to change her hairstyle, the whole school would know within the next fifteen minutes, if not less.

“Kurusugawa,” Oogami Souma, standing right at the top of the stairs, said.

“Good morning, Oogami-kun,” Himeko greeted him. The frightened feelings rushed back inside her head. He was an Orochi Follower yet... he was still a friend, wasn’t he?

The silence stretched awkwardly for a while but in the end, Himeko was saved by the ringing bells announcing that classes were about to start. The boy nodded at her and turned to run. Himeko only wondered what he wanted to say to her.

 

***

 

Oogami Souma couldn’t make himself listen to the lectures like he diligently used to. Himeko’s images roamed his mind, making it extremely difficult to even take in the teacher’s words. He was going to be in deep trouble if the teacher decided to call on him but there was just no way for him not to think about her. He had been in love with her for a while now but why was he always stammering when he faced her? If he was not going to do something soon, she would be taken away by Himemiya for sure! Unlike with him, Himeko already had loads of affections for the other girl. It was only a matter of time until she realized what she wanted most. Or so he guessed. He had to be fast or he was going to lose her forever. Dang it! And that didn’t take into account his true nature as an Orochi who almost killed her the other day. He hoped she didn’t mind that. Wishful thinking, he reckoned.

Luckily, the teacher didn’t pay much attention to him so Souma escaped that one unscathed. He guessed he got more leeway being a celebrity around school and all. Taking out his lunchbox, Souma went out of class to find a place so that he could eat without hearing those girls scream “Jin-sama!!” at the top of their lungs. The truth was, he wanted to eat lunches with Himeko. He never could. It wasn’t that he didn’t try. Several times when he had gathered enough courage to go near her class, she was never there. When he asked about it with her classmates in a way that wouldn’t make them suspect anything, he learned that she always disappeared at lunch time. What a problem. It was kind of lame that he, who wielded utmost powers, couldn’t even come close to the one he loved.

Souma walked down the stairs, feeling like he couldn’t be happy for the rest of his life. And he saw Himeko two flights of stair below, which made his heart jump. Much to his disappointment, she had company. Worse luck, he was hoping he could found her alone. He recognized the three girls who were talking to her, though. They were the infamous Fanatic Trio from the Himemiya fan club, one of them was the leader, Takada Izumi. He never liked them for their strange obsession with Himemiya Chikane, much less their cocky attitudes.

They weren’t having a friendly conversation with Himeko, it seemed. More like they were surrounding her, bombarding her with questions. It didn’t take a genius to know what they were asking, of course. They had to be about Himeko living with Himemiya. The school was still buzzing with that. It was definitely not some news the fan club members, much less the head honchos, would welcome.

Not wanting to see Himeko being bullied by the Fanatic Trio anymore, Souma climbed down the stairs just to stop dead a second later when he saw someone approaching. A pretty girl with long blue hair was walking toward Himeko and her questioners, sapphire eyes glowing with a light so cold she could freeze a man’s blood. Himemiya Chikane. It would be a miracle if the Fanatic Trio survived this morning unscathed.

 

***

 

“Would you give way, please?” Kurusugawa Himeko said, clutching the obentou she planned to eat with the blue-haired princess to her bosom. When she first noticed the Trio trailing after her in the hallways, she didn’t think too much about them... until they followed her down the stairs and cornered her. Now, she was very much uneasy looking at the unfriendly light in their eyes. Nakashima Miho in her rectangular eyeglasses, who had her hair bleached green in a miserable attempt to make it look emerald, seemed a cat trapped inside a room with a dog. Sun-haired Kouzuki Rikka, whose face was so plain and body so thin she could have passed for a boy should she ever don a pair of pants and a T-shirt, reminded Himeko of a picture of a murderer once she saw on TV. Yet, Takada Izumi – the reigning President of the powerful Himemiya fan club, the rabid fan girl who dyed her hair blue to show her admiration toward Himeko’s princess – made her subordinates look like innocent babies.

“Not until you answer our questions!” Rikka said heatedly. “So spill!”

“Yeah!” Miho glared at Himeko, fist shaking in front of her face as though she wanted to thump Himeko’s head. “Spill!”

“Speak before we make you howl, Kurusugawa.” Izumi nodded.

“I already answered your question,” Himeko protested, pressing her back against the wall.

“You only said yes when we asked whether you were living with Miya-sama,” Izumi said coldly. “You never said why.”

“That’s because the Dorm was destroyed and....” Himeko said for the hundredth time but the bespectacled Miho cut her off.

“Lies!” the girl hissed. “All other students in the Dorm are living in the City, their expenses paid by the school itself. You should be no exception!”

Himeko almost groaned in exasperation. How was she supposed to tell the Trio that Chikane-chan brought her to the Himemiya Mansion because they had been secret friends for the one year they spent in Ototachibana? Were she to say that, the three of them would explode on her for sure. The worst thing was that she had never been a skilled liar. Any excuse she said would not convince them.

“Tell us now!” Rikka demanded. “How did a lowly commoner like you get to live under the same roof as our honorable Miya-sama?”

“Did you grovel at her feet and beg for her sympathy?” Izumi said, voice bristled with contempt. “Well, did you?”

“For your information, ladies, I asked Kurusugawa-san to come to the Mansion, not the other way around,” Chikane-chan’s voice said coolly. The blue-haired princess was standing behind the Fanatic Trio, her face the same as that which Himeko had seen during the confrontation... well, conversation with Oogami-sensei yesterday. Her eyes were glowing with icy fury, her lips compressed in a straight line, and her voice the sound of an unsheathing sword. Although the three girls were roughly of the same height as the Himemiya Ojou-sama, she managed to tower over them. Not just that, her presence alone chilled the atmosphere and quieted the air. If anything, the princess seemed more intimidating than ever. The Fanatic Trio obviously felt it, for blood withdrew from their faces, leaving behind complexions as white as their Ototachibana shirts.

“Mi... Miya-sama!” Takada Izumi bobbed her head in a deep bow, followed suit by the vice-presidents of the fan club. They seemed ready to curtsy, too. “Good day to you!”

“What were you doing with Kurusugawa-san?” the Himemiya princess said quietly.

“Uh, nothing!” Izumi blinked, fright visible on her face.

“Then why are you still blocking her way?” Chikane-chan’s voice was soft but hidden within it was a current of unspeakable anger. Himeko could even hear it boil. “Do you mean to keep her here until the bells ring?”

“We’re sorry!” The Fanatic Trio literally jumped apart, clearing an opening for Himeko. Hastily, she trotted through it, determined not to run. When she arrived at the princess’s side and looked back, she saw three girls meek as lambs staring at the ground beneath their feet. It was rather hard to believe that those “lambs” would have skinned Himeko had Chikane-chan not arrived in time.

“Would you go there first without me, Kurusugawa-san?” the blue-haired princess turned to Himeko, a gentle smile gracing her lips and softening her beautiful face. “I have a few things to instruct my... fellow students.” A wink told Himeko exactly what the Himemiya Ojou-sama meant by “there”. The Garden of the Roses.

“Yes, Miya-sama.” Himeko nodded and left, somehow feeling sorry for the three girls. Witnessing how the blue-haired princess had pushed back the Shingetsu High Priest with but her sheer presence, Himeko doubted the Trio was going to have much chance stopping the disaster coming down their heads.

 

***

 

Keeping himself out of sight, Oogami Souma quietly listened to the conversation between Himemiya Chikane and the Fanatic Trio. Truth be told, he wanted to run after Himeko so he could ask her to lunch but since the four girls were occupied the stairs, he couldn’t really do that. He cursed them in his head. Why must people keep getting in his way?

“Long have I ignored your actions, as I believed your foolishness only stemmed from your admiration for me,” Himemiya said softly. Had she a sword, she would be baring it at their throat. Or cutting them. “But now you have stepped too far out of line.”

“We meant Kurusugawa no harm, Miya-sama!” Izumi said. Souma was under the impression that the girl would be groveling at Himemiya’s feet should the latter ever give the hint that she wished it. The other two girls, also. They had ever been crazy idiots. “We haven’t done anything to her, really!”

“Fortunate for you that you have not,” the rich girl’s voice was ice. “Or I would have made you howl until graduation.”

Once again, the Fanatic Trio started blubbering excuses to defend themselves. Too bad, Himemiya would hear none of it. A frosty glare silenced the foolish girls who had thought that they could bully someone the rich girl treasured without incurring her wrath. This time, it was they who tried to be as close to the wall as possible. Perhaps they feared Himemiya would toss them down the stairs.

“Listen well,” Himemiya said. “You, including those whose names I do not know, shall not even appear in front of Kurusugawa-san unless I give you permission. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Miya-sama!” Nakashima Miho, Kouzuki Rikka, and Takada Izumi nodded again and again so quickly their heads seemed likely to fall off.

“You shall get out of my sight, now,” Once Himemiya Chikane finished saying that, the girls ran down the stairways leading toward the first floor as though hell was on their heels. Thirty seconds or so later, Souma could hear a loud cry echoing way down below. It seemed someone fell. Well, it served them right, in any event. They should learn that the last person on Earth they wanted to mess with was Kurusugawa Himeko. Himemiya went too soft on them in his opinion, however. Had it been he, Souma would have made them wish they never enrolled in Ototachibana Academy.

Sighing quietly, Souma climbed the stairs back to his classroom. He was in no mood for lunch right now. He stopped short after his second step, though, when Himemiya’s voice said coldly from the flight beneath his:

“You as well, Oogami-san. Should I find your existence... a threat to Kurusugawa-san’s well-being, I shall remove you.”

When Souma looked down, no trace of the girl was left. An uneasy feeling rose in his heart. When Himemiya Chikane said “remove”, he didn’t think she meant “from this school” or even “from Mahoroba”. He wondered what made she think that she could do anything to him, though. Well, true, she was the daughter of the person who built this school, and he a student, but in contrast, he was an Orochi Follower and she a Priestess who had not awakened yet. A disturbing thought stirred in his mind. What would happen when she did? Souma really didn’t even want to imagine....

 

***

 

“Did I keep you waiting long?” the blue-haired princess said once she had gone through the opening on the fence that was hidden by the bushes. She still seemed graceful even when she was brushing the leaves off her clothes.

“No, I just got here.” Kurusugawa Himeko smiled at her.

“Very well then.” Chikane-chan settled down next to Himeko, none of the sternness or iciness Himeko had seen before remained on her face. She once again the lovely and childlike princess Himeko knew and loved.

“Um, thanks, Chikane-chan,” Himeko said, “for saving me.”

“No need,” the Himemiya Ojou-sama replied. “It was because of me that they bothered you in the first place. You do not have to worry though. They have learned their lesson well. I doubt they would cause trouble for you in the future.”

“I see.” Himeko smiled. “But Chikane-chan, why were you there? I thought you’d be in the Garden of the Roses waiting for me.”

“I was going there to see you, actually,” Chikane-chan said. “I thought you’d like me to pick you up so we could come here together.”

“I’d love to!” Himeko said excitedly, and then deflated a second later. “But aren’t you afraid they’d find out you and I are friends?”

“Not anymore,” Chikane-chan smiled softly. “I wanted to hide our friendship in the beginning because I feared the students would grow hostile toward you. Now that everybody knows you are living with me, there is no longer any reason to keep it secret.”

“You do understand that this will be like pouring oil into the fire, ne?” Himeko laughed. “They’ll gnash their teeth every time they see me walking with you around in public. I don’t even know what they’d do if they caught me by myself.”

“Then it is simple.” Chikane-chan turned to Himeko, her smile broadened and lit up her face. “Do not let them find you alone. Stay by my side forever. You will be safe.”

Himeko blinked. If anything, that only sounded a love confession. Well, Himeko would have believed that it was one had she not noticed the twinkling in the princess’s sapphire eyes. The other girl was joking.

“Sure,” Himeko said. Chikane-chan might think that Himeko was going along with her joke but... Himeko meant it. She did want to stay by her beloved’s side... forever.

“Then we have a deal, ne,” the Himemiya Ojou-sama laughed softly, her hand patting on Himeko’s shoulder.

After that, they had their lunches in blissful contentment. Whenever Himeko looked at the blue-haired princess, the girl would smile. Whenever Himeko tell her the funny stories she heard from other students, the girl would laugh with the same beautiful voice that had gifted Himeko with a dreamless sleep. If only Himeko could be a little bit wittier so she could invent jokes to make Chikane-chan laugh, so she could hear it over and over again....

The only thing that disturbed their peaceful moments together was the sound of Chikane-chan’s cell phone going off when they were about to leave the Garden of the Roses. It turned out that Oogami-sensei wanted them to go to Shingetsu Grand Shrine after school so they could help him awakening something he named “Ame no Hitomi” –“The Eyes of Heaven” – which the High Priest never cared to explain before he hung up. Well, whatever they were, they still sounded decidedly unpleasant in Himeko’s ears. In fact, the moment the blue-haired princess told her the names, a chill had run down her spine for apparently no reason at all. She had so bad a feeling about this that even though the Himemiya princess accompanied her back to her classroom – which earned Himeko stares as friendly as that of the Fanatic Trio from other people – her heart still felt as heavy as a chunk of rocks. She hoped it was just her.

A few hours later, Himeko learned that it wasn’t.

 

***

 

“Welcome to the Enshrinement Chamber of the Shingetsu Grand Shrine, O Priestesses of the Sun and Moon,” Kazuki intoned, his outstretched arms taking in the vast space confined within the rock walls of the Chamber. Although this place was deep beneath the ground, where no sunlight could penetrate, it was still as bright as day, all thanks to the illumination provided by a large sphere of golden light in the middle of the ice pillar standing at its heart. Surrounding the pillar was six thin columns – also made of light of distinctive colors, red, white, green, blue, black, and purple – each housing a floating, ancient-looking sword. “Behold the Holy Ground where human’s Hope resides. Behold the Instruments of the World’s Salvation.”

Had Kazuki said these things to anyone else, they would have ooh’ed or ahh’ed, and been deeply impressed. The two girls, young and innocent as they were, never gave such reaction. Kurusugawa Himeko, in the long-sleeved white blouse named chihaya and a red sweeping skirt called a hibakama, stared at the six columns of light and the ice pillar with an expression on her face that spoke volumes of terror. Himemiya Chikane, also in a white chihaya and a blue hibakama, on the other hand, calmly looked at the same things with a pointed look in her eyes that spelled utmost hatred. It made sense, in a way, although Kazuki doubted the girls themselves were aware of what they were doing. Of course, the memories were either gone or buried within their consciousness, but the feelings still remained, waiting to surface.

“For three thousand years, we of the Oogami Clan have waited for this day to come,” Kazuki continued. “Generations after generations of Shingetsu’s heirs have wished for your safe arrival upon this sacred ground. For it is here you will find the power to face the darkness and rekindle the flame of hope.”

“I do believe you should stop the flowery talk and get to the point, High Priest,” Himemiya Chikane said coldly, and Kazuki almost smiled in amusement. The girl had not forgotten her dislike for him, of course. “We do have businesses we must attend to at home.” The way her sapphire eyes flickered toward the other girl in the Chamber, Kazuki was under the impression that her “businesses” meant something like spending time alone with the Priestess of the Sun, and no more. He almost sighed. Such was the problem with someone head over heels in love. Her parents surely had not acted any differently. He could still remember the time when Kimika could barely register anything but Kyou’s name whenever Kazuki talked to her.

“Nothing is as important as this, Himemiya-san,” Kazuki declared firmly no matter what he thought. “Nothing is more important than saving the world!”

“Oh, I am sure there is not,” sapphire eyes bored at Kazuki as though wanting to punch holes on his body, sarcasm plain in her words.

“How are we going to save the world, then, sensei?” Kurusugawa Himeko said hurriedly. She seemed... troubled by the hostility the Himemiya daughter directed toward him.

“You will start by reclaiming your weapons of old, Kurusugawa-san,” Kazuki gestured toward the sphere of light. “In there sleep Ame no Hitomi – the Eyes of Heaven, that which will grant you powers beyond belief.”

“What are they?” the golden-haired girl asked curiously.

“Swords,” Kazuki said simply. “The Eyes of Heaven are two Japanese katana, each imbued with the ability to rouse Ame no Murakumo the Sword God from his eternal slumber. For that, they were also named the True Keys of Awakening. When the Dark God fled to Onogoro, the Immortals of Heaven had forged the Eyes so that Yamata no Orochi’s menace could be eliminated. Thanks to the swords, the Kannazuki Priestesses defeated him three thousand years ago. With them, you can do it again.”

“Kannazuki Priestesses,” Himemiya Chikane said quietly. “Why are we called that, anyway?”

“I... don’t know,” Kazuki lied. Well, he could have told them the little bits of information he had gathered about the name but he was very much afraid that his tongue would slip and allowed them to know what they should not.

“For one who always seems to have an answer at hand,” the Himemiya’s daughter laughed softly, “it is but unusual.”

“Why don’t I see them, sensei? The swords, I mean,” Himeko intervened, smiling ruefully toward the blue-haired princess as if offering apologies. The sweet smile the taller girl returned certainly said that none was needed. Kazuki doubted anything Himeko did could tick Chikane off. The reverse should also be true.

“Because they are shielded from mortal’s eyes by protection spells, Kurusugawa-san,” Kazuki answered. “You will know what they look like soon, however, when you help me dissolve all those spells.”

“How?” Himeko asked.

“Remember the sheet of paper I gave each of you, the content of which I asked you to memorize before we came here?” Kazuki continued at a nod from both of the girls. “Those are the incantations needed to break down the Watchers of the Swords, or the Six Shinken Seals we call them.” Kazuki pointed at each of the six columns of light. “Reciting the sacred words while standing at your designated position,” his hand gestured toward the Sun and Moon Crests engraved upon the hard ground, which stood opposite each other across the pillar of ice, “will render the Seals harmless, or this would happen to those who try to take Ame no Hitomi by force.”

Kazuki took up a pebble near his feet and threw it at the gap between two of the Shinken. In an instant shorter than a heartbeat, lightning springing from all six columns of light jabbed at the pebble and turned it to dust. Kurusugawa Himeko swallowed audibly while a shadow of fear stole across Himemiya Chikane’s face.

“Do you understand what you must do, now?” Kazuki asked.

Himemiya Chikane and Kurusugawa Himeko nodded.

“Good, then let us get started,” Kazuki said.

With that, the girls planted themselves firmly upon the Crests, Himeko on the Sun, Chikane on the Moon, and began reciting the incantations.

“In the name of Izanagi and Izanami, great Makers of the World,” Himeko said.

“Father and Mother to all who walk this sacred land,” Chikane said.

“In the name of Amaterasu, Goddess of the Golden Sun,

 She who bestows the warm Light upon the frozen earth.” Himeko said.

“In the name of Tsukiyomi, Goddess of the Silver Moon,

 She who guards the night with her loving heart, her immortal soul.” Chikane said.

“I command you, Watchers of the Eyes of Heaven,

 Six Shinken that protect the most precious treasure Man has ever had,

 Six Seals that defend the peaceful slumber of the True Keys of Awakening,” together they chanted. The ritual was yet to be completed, as there were a few more lines to the incantation... but already all hell broke loose. Sacred lightning once again rose from the Shinken columns and struck the ground near where the Priestesses stood. Hastily the girls leapt from their positions, trying to get away from the Seals as much as they could. Not long after that, the red pillar of light thinned as the sword within it snapped into two in a harsh sound, sending its hilt toward one corner of the room and its sharp blade toward another Shinken Seal. In a thunderous roar, the broken blade rebounded from the thin column of light and rushed toward... Kurusugawa Himeko!

Shocked, the golden-haired girl only stared while the pointed tip of the sword approached her.

“Himeko!” Himemiya Chikane screamed, silver light blazing blindingly behind her back.

 

***

 

“Where are you going, Yue-sama?” Yuusaku asked the moment the shoji door slid open and admitted the silver-haired young woman, fully clothed in her snow-white hagoromo. She was pretty, very much so that many in the Holy City had spent the better part of their time swooning over her. Yet, even if she were a thousand times prettier and didn’t have such a high opinion of herself that she stared other people down her nose, Yuusaku himself would never think of courting her. After all, the woman was tainted. She was disgusting!

“Who are you to call me by my nickname, Chief Messenger?” the woman said coldly, silver eyes aflame. Oh yeah, only a woman would fuss over a name like this. He chuckled.

“Well, well, well, please excuse me,” Yuusaku said, not bothering to add any bit of respect into his tone. “Where are you going then, Tsukiyomi-sama?”

Tsukiyomi, Goddess of the Sacred Moon, foster daughter to the Lord of Heaven Himself, peered at Yuusaku imperiously. “None of your business,” the woman said. “Now, give way.”

“I beg to differ,” Yuusaku laughed. “It is my business to learn wherever you are going.”

“You overestimate yourself, Yuusaku,” Tsukiyomi regarded him with her silver eyes again, only this time they seemed more prickly than any needle and sharper than any knife. Yuusaku snickered. So he went from Chief Messenger to plain Yuusaku, didn’t he? “Are you not aware of what penalty you will earn once you stand in the way of a High Immortal?”

“Oh, I am,” Yuusaku answered softly. “Trial in the Sanctum Core and possible exile to the Human World.” There were very few High Immortals in Izumo, most of them related by blood to the Lord while the rest occupied powerful positions in the Celestial Assembly, all of them protected by Law and the authority of the Lord. Not that it meant anything to Yuusaku, of course. He might be but a plain Immortal but even the High Ones knew as well as he that he held the power to drag them to the Sanctum Core for an inquisition, which of course they wouldn’t find pleasant in the least bit.

“If you do not wish to see that happened to you, get out of my way,” Tsukiyomi commanded.

“No,” Yuusaku said firmly, a wave of pleasure washing over him as shock seized the silver-haired woman. Well, not that he could blame her for such a reaction. After all, she was the all powerful Goddess of the Moon, favorite daughter to the Lord, who probably had never seen someone resist her order in her entire life.

“You must not want to live,” Tsukiyomi said icily, hand erected a few inches from Yuusaku’s chest. Technically, she wasn’t supposed to do that. Even a High Immortal could be executed on account of murder and no laws would say it wrong. Yuusaku wondered if she was confident that her beloved Father would let her crime slide away unnoticed.

Probably.

“By the authority of the Lord,” Yuusaku said, taking a small rectangular plate inscribed with the Crests of the Sun and Moon from his pocket and holding it in front of the woman’s nose. “I demand Tsukiyomi, Goddess of the Moon, to reveal her destination and her purpose for leaving Izumo.” The Lord was wise, for he had correctly foreseen the resistance of his beloved daughter. Else, he would never have given Yuusaku this.

Tsukiyomi only stared at the plate in disbelief for a few seconds, no more. After that, determination lit up her face.

“Give way, now!” the woman said firmly.

“Oh, what’s this?” Yuusaku laughed. “You mean to disobey your father? You mean to go against the holder of the Regent Seal?”

“That Seal cannot speak,” Tsukiyomi said. “If father wishes to give me orders, He will do so directly.” She paused, and he sensed power surge in her. “I will say it one last time, Messenger. Leave, or else.” Silver aura enveloped her hand. Yuusaku couldn’t believe this. The woman meant to pave her way out of Izumo with his corpse!

“Else what?” Yuusaku snapped his finger.

Two magic circles appeared at his signal, one above her head and one beneath her shoes. The woman didn’t have any time to react as thin threads of white light rushed out from the circles and bound her arms and legs. Thunder roared, and lightning flashed from the woman as she cried out in surprise. In less than the time one needed to drink a cup of tea, she collapsed onto her knees. Without the threads to offer her support, she would have been sprawling on the floor by now.

“How... is this... possible?” Tsukiyomi’s eyes widened as much as they could, incredulity flooded her voice. “You Sealed... my power?”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Yuusaku laughed softly. “How could I, a simple God, be able to suppress a High Immortal of your caliber?” It was the truth. Tsukiyomi was among the most powerful deities in Heaven. Only Amaterasu the Goddess of the Sun matched the woman in strength and only her little brother Ame no Murakumo and her Father the Lord surpassed her, everybody knew that. “Well, you know what, Tsukiyomi,” Yuusaku’s laughter grew louder and more satisfied, “I am only the one who cast the Sealing Spell, the strength for it comes from twenty of my most powerful Messengers stationed within the Heavenly Palace.”

“It is... father’s wish, is it not?” Tsukiyomi muttered breathlessly. “A pawn like you... would never have the nerve... to detain me... without order.”

“Indeed,” Yuusaku nodded. “Don’t you agree that a father knows his daughter best? The Lord figured that you might just come to Onogoro and help your adopted daughters again despite his warnings. And he is right. I must say, though, Tsukiyomi, I am taking great pleasure and honor in this mission.”

“Despicable lapdog,” Tsukiyomi said.

“You have the guts to brand me with the word ‘despicable’, woman?” Yuusaku snarled, his hand seizing her silver hair and jerked them upward, dragging along her head. The woman never let out any painful cry, though, which irritated Yuusaku no end. “Look at yourself and what kind of dirty things you have done in the past!”

Tsukiyomi glared at him. Still, unasked question shone in her eyes. Then she got it. The woman had to be aware that since Yuusaku was the right-hand-man of the Lord of Heaven, there was always the possibility that the Lord had told him about her secrets. Horror crept across her face.

Yuusaku meant to say more to further the devastation he wrought upon the woman, but somehow his mouth couldn’t even form the words. He knew why. There was someone standing behind his back, exerting so powerful a pressure upon him that he felt suffocated. Letting go of the woman’s hair, he turned around slowly, and gasped when his eyes fell upon the most beautiful Immortal in the Three Worlds. Amaterasu the Goddess of the Sun, her golden hair falling in glittering waves all the way to her feet, peered at him frostily.

“Yui?” Tsukiyomi said, surprise plain in her voice.

“You...” Yuusaku managed. “How did you get in here?” For Heaven’s sake, there were a ton of Messengers around this area, and none sent words that the damned woman was coming? What the hell could they be doing out there? Sleeping?!

“Since when have your underlings been able to track me?” Amaterasu said, her chilly voice very much at odds with the flame of anger burning in her golden eyes. She was known across Heaven for a carefree and childish Goddess but right now... she was the picture of someone ready for cold-blooded murder.

“By au... authority of the Lo... Lord,” Yuusaku stammered, raising the Regent Seal in front of the golden-haired woman, “I demand that... yo... you leave...u.... us right now!”

“What authority?” Amaterasu said, voice growing colder. In a burst of light, the Regent Seal in Yuusaku’s hand shattered into pieces. The frightening thing was that before the fragments reached the wooden floor, they crumbled into dust. Yuusaku’s mouth dropped open.

“Well?” Amaterasu continued as though nothing had happened. “Do you have anything that proves father’s authority? If you do, show me.”

“You....” Yuusaku didn’t know how to finish it.

“You have always thought you had more power than you actually did,” Amaterasu said, stepping forward. “But now you have gone too far, insect of an Immortal.”

Golden flames burst out from every of Yuusaku’s particles, and he started to howl.

 

***

 

Within the bindings of the threads of light that Sealed her power, Yue stared speechlessly at a Yuusaku screaming and thrashing upon the wooden floor. His body was wreathed in flames but no matter how hard he tried to roll around to extinguish them, they continued to burn fiercely. He was in no danger, for Yui, the nickname the Goddess of the Sun made herself, only tortured his mind, not his flesh. Of course, the man’s clothes were unharmed. Could not say Yue pitied him, though.

“Did he hurt you, Yue-chan?” Yui stood in front of her, face painted with concern. At a wave of her hand, all the threads snapped and dissolved into thin air. Howls rose from every direction. The Messengers must not feel very well right at this moment, having their powers thoroughly broken so.

“No,” Yue muttered curtly, mind still numbing from the unexpected turn of events. Who could have thought that Yui, whom Yue treated harshly every time they met, was the one who came to her rescue?

Sighing, Yue tried to rise to her feet and failed. Had not it been for Yui, who extended her arms to help Yue stay steady, she would have been lying on the ground. But of course... the Seal’s effect was still lingering upon her. She doubted it was going to fade for another hour or so.

 “I’ve heard everything, Yue-chan,” Yui said. “You wished to go to Chikane and Himeko, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Yue nodded reluctantly.

“In your current condition, you can’t, really.” Yui sighed. “But if it’s okay, I’ll take you wherever you want me to.”

Yue stared at the woman in disbelief. Normally, she would decline it no matter what... but now... she could not afford to. From a while ago, way before Yuusaku stopped her from leaving the room, her heart was beating madly, a sign that disaster was going to befall her sweet children the Priestesses. She could not leave them to fend for themselves against the Orochi, not when their powers were still inactivated so.

“Then please,” Yue said pleadingly, “take me to them.”

“As you wish, Yue-chan,” Yui said, a smile lighting up her already dazzling face. Then she took Yue into her arms and opened a Dimensional Portal to the Human World.

 

***

 

Alone in the Enshrinement Chamber of Shingetsu, Oogami Kazuki held the two pieces of the broken Shinken in his hands and stared at them in the bright light of the golden sphere. Now that was a close call. Had Himemiya Chikane not appeared next to Kurusugawa Himeko in time and pushed her out of the way, the latter would have been dead. Although the blade still made a deep gash on Chikane’s right arm as a result, it was still a small price to pay. After all, had the Priestess of the Sun been killed, the hope of the world would have come along with her to the grave.

He chuckled. At least they made some progress, although not in the department that he would like them to. Himemiya Chikane had finally been able to wield a little bit of her transcending powers, which was demonstrated by the way she traversed the space between herself and Himeko to appear by the latter’s side in the nick of time. It was very good news, of course. Now, the girl only had to reclaim the rest of her Priestess power and carry out the mission dictated by the Project.

 Kazuki’s eyes fell upon the broken sword in his hands again. Progress aside, this incident was... very disturbing. When the sword first struck another Shinken column and rebounded the way it came, he could have sworn that Himemiya Chikane was standing beyond the same column. Had the thing not been there, the Priestess of the Moon would have become the blade’s target, not Kurusugawa Himeko. Was it just happenstance that Kyou and Kimika’s daughter stood in the way of the sword? Or was it the Shinken’s will to remove her?

Kazuki hoped not.

 

***

 

The cool breezes from the sea gently brushed Himemiya Chikane’s hair as she watched Himeko, who sat next to her on the beach, in silence. Waves of seawater washed upon the golden sand, making pleasant sounds that could heal one fatigued by the neck-breaking pace of the world. The sun was sinking toward the horizon but anyone who sat on this beach would think that perhaps the blood-red orb was submerging beneath the water surface. Chikane had always liked this place so once in a while, she would tell her chauffer to take her here after school and sat quietly upon the bed of golden sand and relaxed. Yet, it seemed the soothing effect of this beautiful scenery did not change the mood of the little angel, who was hugging her knees, face so sad Chikane thought the girl would break into tears any moment.

“You are being too harsh on yourself, Himeko,” Chikane said gently. “This is not your fault.”

“It is!” the golden-haired girl insisted. “Because of me, you were hurt.”

“Hurt?” Chikane asked innocently, a small smile curving her lips. “Where?”

“Eh?” The little angel stared at Chikane, mouth working soundlessly. Then she clamped it shut, looking extremely flustered. The girl knew that whatever injuries caused by the Shinken blade had already been healed by the High Priest. It was spectacular, really, seeing that only a wave of the man’s hand above the wound made it close and vanish. But of course, Chikane was not going to tell him that, was she?

“Technically, I am not hurt, so you should not worry about it,” Chikane said, still smiling.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you almost lost your life protecting mine,” Himeko said, burying her head in her arms, her voice strained, her shoulder shook.

“You said that as if it was a bad thing.” Chikane laughed quietly.

“It is a bad thing!” the little angel gave Chikane a shocked look.

“No, it is not,” Chikane shook her head in amusement. “Even if I had died in your stead, I still would have considered it fair trade.”

“But I...” the golden-haired girl started, and went silent when Chikane hushed her by putting a finger gently against her lips.

“What kind of friend am I if I see you in danger and not risk all I have to save you?” Chikane smiled quietly, her finger left Himeko’s lips to arrive at her left cheek, upon which Chikane placed her hand in a gentle caress. The other girl blushed hotly. “I would never forgive myself for abandoning any friend, let alone you, Himeko.”

“Me?” the little angel asked. “Why me?” the girl leaned toward Chikane, amethyst eyes shining with wonder. Chikane inhaled deeply. The face of the little angel and hers were only a hand apart, which all but make the bundle of emotions she had been suppressing burst free from the deepest corners of her heart. Gazing at the other girl’s magnificent face, watching her pretty lips slightly opened as though wanting to be kissed, Chikane felt her heart racing so quickly it could beat any horse. Somehow, she did not think those three simple words were so hard to say anymore.

“Because you are special,” Chikane answered softly, leaning in as well. The distance between their lips grew shorter and shorter. “Because I....”

“Sorry to interrupt, Priestesses,” a woman’s voice from overhead said in amusement. “I need your attention.”

Bounding to their feet, Chikane and Himeko watched in terror as they looked up and saw a sun-haired woman in a green dress suspending amidst the air. She would have been called pretty had it not been for the vicious and predatory smile on her lips... or the sword whose blade seemed to be made out of fog in her hand.

“Orochi,” Chikane said frostily, standing in front of Himeko. They just had to choose the worst time to show up, did they not? To think that Chikane had finally worked up the courage to confess.... To think that she might not be able to do that again for a long time.... Rage bloomed in her heart.

“Yes, I am the Orochi Sixth Head,” the woman landed softly like a falling leaf upon the sandy beach, her slightly inclined toward Chikane. It seemed at least one of those monsters know civility. “My name is Hibiki Shizuku, glad to make your acquaintance.”

“I would introduce myself as well,” Chikane said, her voice growing colder. “But I doubt it is necessary.”

“I would prefer you not to, anyway.” Hibiki Shizuku’s gaze settled on Chikane’s face, then it slipped to that of her little angel. Himeko’s grip on Chikane’s arm tightened. The girl was scared.

“You have come to kill us, I suppose.” Chikane put her hand upon that of the little angel, trying to sooth her. Still, the girl trembled.

“Not exactly, Priestesses.” Shizuku shook her head. “I am here for but a little experiment.”

“What experiment?” Chikane demanded.

“First, let me introduce you to my partner” the woman laughed softly, pointing at her weapon, “This is Arashigumo the Wind Blade. To give you an idea what it is capable of, allow me to demonstrate.” The woman erected the blurry sword in front of her and said quietly, “Ethereal binds.”

Himeko’s touch on Chikane’s body vanished as the girl was pulled upward into the air. Twenty feet or so above the ground she stood, hands and feet struggling in vain against something invisible. Face painted with horror, Chikane’s sweetheart screamed, “Chikane-chan!”

“You monster!” Chikane rounded on the Orochi woman. “What are you doing to Himeko?”

“Well, you see,” Hibiki Shizuku smiled viciously. “I cannot do my little experiment with your friend clinging to you so, now can I?”

“You....”

“Without further ado,” the woman pointed her sword at Chikane, eyes flashing with malice. “Crush her, Arashigumo!”

The air solidified around Chikane, making feel as though she was a grape in the winepress. With all the air driven out of her lungs, Chikane was under the impression that even if she somehow survived the immense pressure – unlikely as it was – she would still be suffocated to death. She did not want to die. Not when she still had a promise to keep and a dearest person to protect. Not when she had yet to learn how it would feel to have her love returned by the one she cherished.

Something inexplicable happened.

As if Chikane’s arms have their own will, they rose upward and sliced through the inhuman pressure so that her palms now faced a surprised Hibiki Shizuku. Silver light poured from her fingertips as if water from a fountain. A heartbeat later, Chikane found herself standing within the protection of a large sphere made out of silver aura, upon the wall of which the winds beat in fury. The pressure had vanished.

Chikane looked at the thing in wonder. So this was what she could do?

“Yes, a Priestess no doubt,” Shizuku nodded thoughtfully. “You can even create a Barrier that can keep out Arashigumo’s winds.” Her lips curved upward again, baring her teeth. “But you know what, Barriers are as dangerous as they are useful. For this can happen when they break.” She made a stabbing motion at Chikane’s Barrier with her sword. The howling of the winds intensified... and the protective layer shattered into pieces.

Chikane fell to the ground, blood spilled out from the cracks in the skin of her hands, which had opened as soon as the Barrier broke. Her head swayed terribly, her stomach hurt as though hundreds of knives were trying to tear it apart. She coughed, and blood spilled out in nozzles from her mouth.

“Chikane-chan!” Himeko screamed from above her.

“Apparently you are not aware that a Barrier is empowered by your own life force, Priestess,” the Orochi woman said pleasantly. “Breaking one means breaking both.”

“Why, thank you for the explanation,” Chikane said coldly while trying to get back on her feet. She succeeded, but not without falling back down a couple of times.

“It is incomprehensible, really,” Hibiki Shizuku taps her lips in puzzlement. “I cannot see how a weakling like you could defeat the Third Head.”

“What Third Head?” Chikane demanded, placing a hand on her stomach. It still hurt, and she felt like throwing up.

“No use playing innocent, girl,” Shizuku tsk’ed irritably. “We all know it was you who almost crippled Girochi Tokiya. He is still bed-ridden, thanks to you, by the way.”

“I do not know any man by that name,” Chikane said dryly. “And certainly I do not know who hurt him. Although I would say that knowing you monsters, it is probably well deserved. What a pity he did not die.”

“A tongue sharp enough to flay fish, yours that is.” The Orochi Follower laughed. “Too bad I do not have the time to bandy words with you now, so you would excuse me.” Hibiki Shizuku raised her Arashigumo overhead and slashed at Chikane. It was all she could do to watch the foggy blade of the sword descending upon her head. First Oogami Souma, now Hibiki Shizuku. It seemed the Immortals of Heaven had decided that they wanted to see Chikane die by an Orochi’s sword.

Golden light flared at the same time Shizuku’s sword struck flesh and blood spilled onto the ground. Chikane widened her eyes in shock. It was not her body Arashigumo slashed at. It was Himeko’s. The girl was standing in front of her, arms wrapping around Chikane in a protective embrace, her breaths heavy, her eyes hazy, her grip weak. Trembling, Chikane’s hand touched the little angel’s back. When she lifted it up again, her palm was already stained with blood. Horror rose in her soul, clenching her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Stupid Himeko...” Chikane sobbed. “Why did you do this?”

“You said... it was fair trade to die in my stead... Chikane-chan,” the angel murmured weakly, sagging against her. Slowly, but carefully, they sank to their knees upon the sandy beach, with Chikane holding the golden-haired girl in her arms. “I just want you to know... that it is... the same with me. Because... you are... special to me... too.” Himeko raised a hand as though she wanted to touch Chikane’s cheek. Half way up, the hand dropped to the girl’s side, her eyes drew shut, and her head fell limply against Chikane’s chest.

“No! Himeko!” Chikane screamed, feeling pain tearing at her heart. “No!”

 

***

 

Nekoko scratched the side of her face uneasily while watching the Priestess of the Moon cry her heart out at the unconscious Priestess of the Sun in her arms. The girl was overreacting. A glance told Nekoko that the golden-haired girl only passed out from the gash Arashigumo’s edge had inflicted on her back. She had not died yet. Well, she probably would after a while due to serious blood loss but.... Nekoko’s fingers seized a handful of her hair in frustration. This is bad, really bad, she thought worriedly.

The worst thing about this situation was that Nekoko had absolutely no idea as to what she should do next. Yesterday morning, when the first light of dawn rose above the sea of clouds, the Lord Orochi had summoned all Seven Heads to the Audience Chamber and gave them the order that the Priestesses were not to be harmed unless stated otherwise later.

And Nekoko just had to go against it shortly afterwards. Well, she did not mean to, really, as she only wished to learn how the Priestess of the Moon snapped Suikyou the Water Blade into two, something even the other Heads were incapable of. What she had originally planned to do was pushing Himemiya Chikane to the brink between life and death, at which humans usually unleashed their full power in the hope of survival. The only thing that unraveled her scheme completely was her foolish underestimate of the Priestess of the Sun. Nekoko never thought that such a milksop could break free from the bindings of Arashigumo the Wind Blade and took in the attack in Himemiya’s stead.

And if she died.... Nekoko shivered. No master liked to see servants disobeying his orders. Should worse come to worse, probably the Lord would not let her keep her whole hide after this. Well, she guessed she could exert Arashigumo’s Healing power upon the wounded girl and undo the injuries but... but... who had ever heard of a villain rescuing her mortal enemy? Were she to do that, the Priestesses would grow suspicious as hell for sure. She could not even imagine what was going to happen after that. She had the feeling she wanted to tear her hair out....

Thunder roared above her head.

Cold sweat rolled down Nekoko’s back as she looked up. High in the sky, Oogami Souma the Seventh Head was standing, eyes glaring daggers down at Nekoko, knuckles going white around his Raien the Sealed Sword. As purple lightning flared from the thing, Arashigumo in Nekoko’s hand trembled, its power dwindling along with her own. The Voice of Sorrow was taking effect. She must leave here, fast!

Channeling the rest of her diminished power into Arashigumo, Nekoko opened a communication channel from here into the Audience Chamber of the Orochi Lord. In her current state, she did not have enough strength to weave a Dimensional Portal to aid her escape so... she must ask for its help. From above, Oogami Souma rushed toward her.

“Awaken from the depth of the twilight,” Nekoko chanted hurriedly, “Lord of the Shadows, Tasogare!”

A column of darkness rushed upward from beneath her feet. Still, Oogami was too fast. The boy’s sword still managed to make a gash upon her right arm before the column completely engulfed her and transported her away. You shall pay for this, Seventh Head, she thought angrily. He would!

 

***

 

Carried in the Goddess of the Sun’s arms, who was floating high in the darkening sky, Yue looked down at what was happening upon the sandy beach while tears threatened to well up in her eyes. Down there, the Orochi boy was taking a limp Himeko away from little Chikane’s arms, seemingly by force. Even after Oogami Souma had opened a Dimensional Portal leading back to the Shingetsu Grand Shrine, where skilled healers lived, and vanished into it, the blue-haired girl never got back on her feet. She just stayed there, crying silently while the rising tide brushed against her feet.

“Bring me down there, please, Yui,” Yue pleaded the golden-haired woman.

“Are you sure, Yue-chan?” the Goddess of the Sun hesitated. “We are forbidden from making direct contact with them. Besides, she no longer remembers being your daughter.”

“I do not care,” Yue sobbed, burying her face in the woman’s chest, hands fastening on her lapels. “Just bring me to her.” She only wished the Seal Yuusaku had cast on her was not so strong. She only wished she did not have to beg Yui for a favor. This was not supposed to happen at all.

“Very well, then,” Yui nodded, a sigh escaping her lips.

The Goddess of the Sun started her descent. A second later, she halted dead in her track. Looking around, Yue found her heart rising in her throat upon realizing that the two of them were now surrounded by a group of at least a hundred Immortals, each and every single one of them in shining armors and armed with either lances or swords. About half of them wore red cloaks, the rest blue.

There was no mistake. They were from the First and Second Imperial Battalions, strongest of all the Gods. Worse, the two men who led them were Heaven’s High Commanders, Yue and Yui’s younger siblings. Kagutsuchi the God of Fire, his long hair burning like any living flame, stood in front of the red-cloaked men while Susanou the God of Storms, short black hair framing a face so handsome he would make any other man look a pebble next to a precious stone, in front of the blue-cloaked. Both of them were not looking at Yue, guilt evident in their downcast eyes.

“Yui-nee-san, Yue-nee-san,” Susanou said quietly after a while, “we have come here, under Father’s command, to take you back to the Palace.”

“Please go with us in peace, Yui-nee, Yue-nee,” Kagutsuchi said, dry-washing in hands in anxiety. The surrounding men eyed Yui and Yue with a great deal of interest, and to a lesser extent, unease. They were soldiers, and they knew battles, so they were fully aware of the fact that should a fight broke out, a good number would end up dead before Yui and Yue could be defeated. But that would never happen now would it? The Lord of Heaven knew that Yui and Yue would never harm their brothers.... He already knew they would return without protest.

“What is it you wish for, Yue-chan?” Yui whispered in her ears. The soldiers of the Battalions shifted, seemingly more than ready to attack. Yue did not have a doubt that they would as soon as Yui lifted a finger.

“Let us come back, as Father has decreed, then.” Yue sighed.

“Very well,” Yui nodded, and the men heaved in unison sighs of relief. It seemed they were much more uneasy than they had let their faces show.

Quietly, Susanou and Kagutsuchi opened a Dimensional Portal back to the heart of Heaven, Izumo. After glancing toward a stunned Chikane down at the beach one last time, Yue closed her eyes, feeling tears streaming down her cheeks. Crying silently in Yui’s warm and gentle embrace, she was only dimly aware that not even once had her brothers offered to take her away from Yui while they knew more than anyone how hostile Yue always acted toward the Goddess of the Sun.