He did not know how long he'd lain there. Time meant nothing without consciousness. Had he only been stunned by the blast, downed but a few seconds? Or more than that, genuinely knocked out? Ohgami's head throbbed in pain and his body ached all over. The explosion of light had sent him sprawling.
I warned her, he thought bitterly. It was not supposed to happen like this.
Ohgami slowly pushed himself up into a kneeling position. He himself was not the only one to suffer damage. The three prayer gates that had formed the boundary around the enclosed area of the hidden shrine were wrecked. The outermost was merely broken, its crosspiece dangling to partially block the path; the middle had come apart in chunks; and the innermost was simply gone but for the two stumps jutting out of the floor.
The great stone, too, the yorishino of the shrine, was damaged; a zigzag crack ran from ceiling to point, narrow to be sure but with space showing distinctly between the edges. The cavern walls and roof, however, were unmarked; the release of energies had been primarily spiritual and had done their worst to only such physical objects as were themselves infused with spiritual energies.
Beneath the stone, Tsukuyo knelt, cradling her sister against her chest. Hikari's body was limp, her eyes closed, her hair trailing down like a veil, the bright red ribbon she always wore half undone and spilling across her shoulder like a trail of blood.
Worried, the priest pushed himself to his feet and began to approach them. His steps were wavering, pain and dizziness clouding his movements. He had no difficulty passing the broken torii, though. The barriers they supported were as broken as the gates themselves were.
"Himeko," Tsukuyo was saying, her voice scarcely above a whisper but with a terrible urgency in it. "Himeko...Himeko!"
The blonde girl's eyelids fluttered and slowly raised, revealing eerily bright violet irises.
"Did...did it work?" she asked hoarsely.
Tsukuyo reached down with the hand that wasn't supporting her sister and picked up something from the ground: an antique sword, its sheath the same purple as the trim on her robe, and ornamented with gold. Tsuki no miko no tachi. The Lunar Priestess Blade.
They'd done it.
Ohgami didn't understand how it was possible, what had made the ritual work with only a single priestess. There was no sign of the matching red sword--Hikari had not been miraculously restored to priestesshood--but undeniably the seal on Tsukuyo's powers had been broken.
"I'm...glad," Hikari whispered, then let her eyes fall back shut.
"Himeko!" Tsukuyo screamed. "Himeko!"
-X X X-
The eye of Orochi seethed and boiled. The clouds rolled, swirling angrily, and flickers of heat lightning rumbled among them. The dark god was displeased, and his servants did not know why.
It was surprising, this threatening storm, because the Necks believed themselves to be successful. They had scoured Mahoroba for the shrines housing their respective gods, and had located the complete set of eight. None of the encounters, however, had resulted in an unsealing. The eight heads of Orochi remained locked away.
"Okay, so we've found 'em. What now?" Kei drawled.
"We break the seals, claim our power, and destroy the priestesses," Reiko replied.
"How?" he said bluntly.
"I hate to agree with that uncouth boy over there, but that is the key question," remarked Saori.
"And I hate to agree with the whore, but yeah," Kei snapped back.
"What did you call me?"
"That's the way it is, right? Uncouth boys like me don't bother prettying something up to save your ego."
Saori glared at him, making a growling sound deep in her throat, somewhere between a snarl and a hiss. A shadow seemed to gather around her; sharp clicking sounds began to echo. Kei's own Shadow began to form.
Ozawa snapped his fingers, the sound like a thunderclap.
"Enough! We have a mission to accomplish. Your petty differences can wait. The question remains: how do we unseal the full powers of our gods? Does anyone have anything productive to add?"
Reiko stared at the former soldier. She was the leader of the Orochi, not the Seventh Neck. His rebelliousness grated on her, his desire to put his own will ahead of the way of Orochi. And it galled her all the more that he was so often right, that early on it had been her own hesitation that enabled him to become a second leader.
"Abe was supposed to be seeking that way. He hoped to seek the will of Orochi to determine it."
Kei snorted.
"More like hide than seek. The holy-roller salaryman isn't here, in case you haven't noticed."
"No...he isn't," Reiko mused. Her eyes swept the group.
"This is absurd," Hirata said. "We talk and talk, we spin our wheels, we do nothing. We accomplish nothing. I prefer to take steps."
"Steps? What steps? We have no idea what we're doing."
"When you have nothing," the artist said with a smile, "then you have nothing to lose."
He leaned back, falling from the torii, and plunged into the mists.
-X X X-
Chikane's hands were white-knuckled, clenched around the sheath of her sword as she sat at Himeko's bedside. Her sister hadn't regained consciousness yet; they'd brought her back to the Ohgami house, but this wasn't something that could be cured by prayer or magic, which was why Himeko was now lying in a bed at Kamiyatate University Hospital.
The sword lay across Chikane's lap. For some reason, no one had tried to take it from her or indeed even commented on it. The priestess vestments were easily explained by the place they'd come from; what more natural than two girls in miko costume at a shrine? The sword was something different, though.
Ordinarily her mind would have been working things through, going over the question for whatever the answers might reveal about herself and the powers she possessed in this life. Ordinarily. Now she had barely given it a second thought.
"Himeko..." she murmured. How long had it been? One hour? Two? All she could think about was the blonde girl who lay fragile and broken on the bed before her. If she...If she dies...
She'd seen Himeko die before, and that always by her own hand. Only one instance was strong enough to fully linger, that from the time before the previous cycle, but it was more than enough. But this was different. Even then, no matter how terrible it was, there had also been hope, the knowledge that when their next lives came, they could find each other again. Solar and Lunar Priestesses, destined to an eternity of meetings and partings.
But if Himeko died now, as an ordinary person, then there was not even that slim hope. If she were to enter the cycle of ordinary lives, ordinary souls, her existence might be drawn far from Chikane in physical space, or even in time, with no guarantee that they would ever be together again.
I'm the one that has done this, she thought bitterly. I put your life at risk for myself, my pride, my fear.
"Himeko..."
"Chi-Chikane?"
Chikane flinched.
"Himeko? Himeko!" she exclaimed as her sister's eyes fluttered open.
"I guess I kinda messed up," she said.
"Messed--?"
"The ritual. I couldn't do my part. It worked, though, so I guess it's okay."
"Forget the ritual; I'm worried about you!" She pressed the call button to summon the doctors.
"I'm...sorry I worried you."
"Himeko! Don't apologize!" That just made it worse, as if a knife was twisting within her.
"But it's my weakness that landed me here, not any fault of yours."
"Only because I insisted on you participating!"
"But if I hadn't urged you to go out and protect people, you wouldn't have needed the power so badly."
A giggle cut the urgency, and Chikane turned to see Marika Ohgami framed in the doorway.
"You two are so cute!"
Chikane glared, but in had no effect on the girl, probably because Himeko was grinning at the same time.
"Seriously, you were probably both at fault, knowing you, so why don't you just go ahead, kiss, and make up?"
Himeko giggled, then winced as the movement apparently made her head hurt.
"Ouch!"
"Geez, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She rolled her head to the side on the pillow and looked up at Chikane while she added, "I like your idea though, Marika." A little smile played on her lips.
"All right," Chikane said, and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. "Get better if you want more."
"Incentive!" Marika chirped.
Before they could say anything else, they were swept out of the room by the arriving medical staff and consigned to the waiting area. It felt strange to be sitting next to Marika. The plain fact was, Chikane was always at a loss with Himeko's best friend precisely because Marika was Himeko's best friend. She couldn't be standoffish or push her away because it would hurt Himeko, and she couldn't fall back on the elegant princess routine because Himeko and Marika's closeness gave the Ohgami girl the perspective of an insider. Yet for Chikane's own sake she didn't particularly like Marika as a companion, something not helped by the recurrent flarings of jealousy. Chikane knew it was petty and small of her, but she was jealous, not in the sense of romantic distrust but that the moments Himeko spent with Marika were time she wasn't speaking with Chikane.
Self-reproach over that feeling, as well as the manners ingrained in her to behave civilly, made her speak up.
"I suppose that you heard about what happened?"
Marika nodded.
"Some of it. Aunt Minako called me and said that you'd been doing something priestessy and that Hikari had been hurt doing it, and that she'd been brought here as a precaution. She's going to be okay, right? I mean, she was smiling and talking..."
"She'd just woken up before you came in. The preliminary examination suggested bruising, shock, and a possible concussion. Some of it is from being thrown down to the stone floor, and some from the energies involved in the ritual of unsealing; supernatural forces are hard to measure in conventional medical terms."
"I bet! But she's okay now?"
Chikane sighed.
"I think so. I hope so. But..."
"No buts! She's tough, Hikari is. Soft and cuddly outside, but she's kind of like that sword you've got there. It can flex when under stress, and so won't break, and neither will she," Marika said peppily. "So cheer up! You'll be back together again in no time."
But for how long?
-X X X-
"It's falling apart on us," Akemi said quietly. "Eight spirits held together by despair, hate, and suffering, eight broken people who are filled with misery and malice. We were not meant to work together, people like us."
"We are Orochi," Reiko snapped. "If Abe was here, he would say that chaos is our fundamental nature. That doesn't mean that we can't work together to get what we all want. We've found the Lunar Priestess, we've found the sealed gods, and all that in only a few days. Our victory is as inevitable as the sunset."
"Stirring," Saori said dryly. "But do we have any idea how we're going to bring about this inevitability?"
"Yes. Ozawa, Akemi, I want you to try to find Abe. We need his knowledge, the strength of his communion with Yamata no Orochi. Saori, keep working on the problem of the sealed shrines. At the least, see if we can work out which shrines correspond with which gods. Kei--"
"Yes, ma'am!" he snapped with a mocking salute. "Ready for my orders, ma'am!"
"Go bring back Hirata. If he's thought of something useful, we should all know about it. If he hasn't, then he should be helping the rest of us."
The Second Neck cracked his knuckles.
"Damn, you keep giving me jobs I like and I might forget to get mad that you're ordering me around."
"May I ask what role you have planned for yourself?" Ozawa asked, his challenge more controlled and therefore more serious.
The black sword of Take no Sukunazuchi formed in Reiko's hand.
"As befits the heiress of the Himemiya clan, I am going to pay a social call."
-X X X-
"She's going to be fine," the doctor said. He was smiling warmly, a man genuinely happy to be sharing good news. "Our tests revealed that there had been no concussion. At this point all she needs is rest. Miss Asamiya has a headache, but regular over-the-counter pain medication will be adequate; I see no need for something stronger. I'd like her to stay here overnight for observation, but that's just as a precautionary measure."
"Thank the gods," Chikane said, and meant every word of it.
"Can we talk to her?" Marika asked.
He nodded.
"For a little while. As I said, what she needs now is rest to help recover from the shock. It would be better if you went in one at a time; that would tire her less."
"We'll do that; thank you."
Marika smiled happily as the doctor moved on to his next duty.
"There! Now that ought to put a smile on your face, Tsukuyo." She looked over at Chikane. "Yep."
Chikane was in fact beaming with relief, she was so glad. Himeko would be fine! She'd made a foolish mistake out of her own fears, but it had somehow turned out all right.
"Well, you'd better get in there before either one of you pops from twin withdrawal," Marika continued. "Love before friendship, and all."
Chikane was about to agree when she felt something like an icy current flowing through the back of her neck. It's coming, she thought, but forced herself to remain calm. Telling Marika would be one thing, but the petite girl was nearly as abysmal at concealing her feelings as Himeko. Even if she tried to keep it back Himeko would notice, and Chikane didn't want to worry her, not now, not after she'd just put her beloved at risk.
So she lied.
Smoothly, coolly, with all the shell of Miya-sama serenity she could manage, she said, "No, that's all right, Marika; you can go first."
"Me? But why? You're her--" Marika broke it off since they were in a semi-public area and said, "You're her sister, after all."
Chikane smiled faintly and shook her head.
"I don't intend to go home tonight. You can see her, then share the good news with your family. I'll go second and take as much time as I'm allowed."
Marika frowned, looking a little dubious.
"Well, okay, I guess. If you're sure that's how you want it..."
"I also want a chance to make myself presentable. I've been crying too much while waiting," Chikane pretended to admit. This time Marika wagged a finger at her.
"There is nothing more irritating than hearing the prettiest girl in town complaining about her appearance," she teased. "You know darned well that you're one of those annoying people who can cry buckets without getting all blotchy and sniffly." She turned, waving, and walked down the hall towards Himeko's room. Chikane waited just until she'd gone inside, then rose from her chair and went the other way to the exit stairs.
-X X X-
Himeko looked up, smiling, when the door opened, but her face fell slightly when she saw that it was Marika.
"Where's Chikane? Is she okay?" Belatedly she realized that it must seem like she was dismissing her friend as irrelevant. "I'm sorry. That must have sounded really awful."
Marika chuckled.
"Nah, it's okay. I haven't been your best friend all these years without getting used to your sister complex, Juliet."
"Juliet?"
"Romeo and? Y'know, the play by Shakespeare?"
"Oh." Himeko blushed, a little embarrassed. She was horrid at foreign literature, but even so she should have caught that reference! "Wait, is that how you see us?"
"Star-crossed lovers? You bet. When the hands of the whole world are against you, the will of the gods themselves seem to conspire against your happiness...It's like something out of a manga. Though I have to say, it's a lot less fun teasing you since it turned out you and Tsukuyo really are reincarnated souls who've loved each other down through the centuries."
Himeko giggled, though it made her head hurt a bit. The doctor had given her some pills for that, but they hadn't started working yet.
"You're...odd, Marika."
"I know," her friend responded cheerily and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "It's all part of my charm."
"I like your new hair."
"Really? Thanks; I had it done this morning." She'd replaced the blue-and-violet braid with green, starting with a deep forest color in the front with bangs puffed up into near-vertical spikes, shading through various hues until the very back, worn long and loose, was a brilliant mint-green. "I guess I felt like I needed a little bit of spring before winter rolls around."
She stopped and her face became serious.
"Hikari, what's going on? Aunt Minako said that Dad took the two of you to do some ritual, which I guess explains why Tsukuyo is dressed up like a miko, but that's all. Now you're in the hospital and she's walking around with a sword. Which, I may add, nobody seems to notice, which is just weird, but...what's going on?"
"Chikane and I performed the ritual to unseal the full powers of the Solar and Lunar Priestess. It worked, which is how she received the Lunar Priestess Blade."
"Wait, but I thought you weren't the Solar Priestess now?"
"I'm not, but I've done the ritual a zillion times before so I knew it by heart. I guess that was enough. But...um, I guess I didn't do a great job holding up my end of things after all."
"You're talking over my head, Hikari."
Himeko giggled.
"That's something I don't hear very often!"
"Enjoy it while it lasts. Now explain. Use small words."
"Well...um...it's like..." She struggled for an analogy, wishing she could just tell Marika to ask Chikane. "Oh! It's like when we moved in to our dorm room?"
"You spent all day having sex?" Marika joked.
"Geez!" Himeko exclaimed, her face flushing. "Why do you always tease me about that?"
"Simple. You have by far the best sex life of any of my friends and I'm jealous as heck of you," she said, smiling brightly.
"Why? You're straight."
"I know, but I'm working on an orgasms-per-day basis, here."
"I am so not having this conversation," Himeko groaned, and Marika had to burst out laughing.
"Geez, you," Himeko added.
"I promise to be good. Go on, tell me how it's like moving day."
"Well...it's like, if there's a heavy box that it took both of us to lift, so I'd hold one end and Chikane the other. That's how the ritual works except it's not a box but the power of Ame no Murakumo. Only because I'm not the Solar Priestess now, I wasn't strong enough to hold up my end, and I dropped the box on my foot. Something like that, anyway."
"Okay, I follow that. But now Tsukuyo's power is unsealed completely, so she can summon Ame no Murakumo and kick the Orochi's butt?"
Himeko shook her head.
"Not quite. It takes both priestesses to summon Ame no Murakumo. One sheds the blood of the other and consecrates the offering to the god, and the one whose blood was shed then prays for the god to come."
"Darn." Then, Marika brightened and added, "Well, maybe at least she'll have an easier time finding the other priestess? Whomever it is, she's probably wondering where that sword came from. And then you can figure out a way to get your job back and everything will be all right."
"I hope so. I honestly don't mind it so much, not being Solar Priestess, but I don't want to be separated from Chikane, not ever again."
"Maybe that's what this is about. If Chikane kills that other Solar Priestess in the ritual to recreate the world, then doesn't it mean that Chikane's soul will be returned to this life? But you'll still be here, and so you can live out your lives happily together."
Himeko smiled at the idea of growing old together with Chikane. It was a happy thought. Ame no Murakumo wasn't really kind, though, or for that matter cruel. The God of Swords seemed to be more concerned with necessity than human feelings--the lives of six billion rather than two. Or maybe it was necessary that Chikane get this kind of happy ending so she could continue in her appointed task?
She wished that Chikane was there, so that they could get it out in the open between them. Himeko would have to talk with her about it when she came in; the blonde firmly resolved that she wasn't going to be put off or distracted.
Marika had done a good job lifting her spirits, but she really did want Chikane with her. Where was she?
-X X X-
The lights in the hospital parking lot were the kind that shone a ghostly blue-white rather than a warm yellow. Cars were scattered only sparsely about; apparently the people of Mahoroba were presently in good health. Himeko would be happy about that, Chikane thought.
"You can come out now," she announced into the stillness. "I can tell that you're here."
"Can you?"
Chikane spun to her left, looking up. The figure stood on top of one of the lampposts but rather than being dramatic the bright light beneath made her seem no more than a silhouette.
"How very interesting, Tsukuyo."
Reiko Himemiya dropped down easily, the thirty-foot descent apparently of no matter to the Orochi.
She's changed, Chikane thought. When they'd fought in the classroom Reiko had been shaky, swept away by emotion and despair. Now she was different, more poised, seemingly confident. The power of the dark god was intoxicating, Chikane knew all too well. Perhaps Reiko had found the will within herself to master that power the way Tsubasa, the previous First Neck, had done.
"You couldn't the first time."
"I hadn't awakened, then."
"I see."
Reiko smiled.
"I finally understand what it was, you know. That drew me to you? I didn't love you or desire you. It truly was akogare, purely admiration. Everything about you was what I wanted to be: beautiful, elegant, brilliant, poised, respected, and above all confident. Secure in myself."
Chikane wanted to laugh. Me? Secure in myself? Reiko had been utterly deluded by her facade, mistaking veneer for substance.
"And in what way," she replied icily, "do you think I could possibly care about the thoughts of an Orochi?"
Reiko flinched.
"Bitch," she hissed out. "Oh, you bitch."
Her Shadow came to her hand, the black sword crackling along its length with violet lightning.
"I worshipped you for years."
"I never asked for that."
"Didn't you, Miya-sama? Isn't that exactly what you craved? Do you have a single friend? Someone other than your sister you'd lift a finger to help because you want to instead of because it was proper?"
"Yamata no Orochi's First Neck lectures me on morality? This from the prime minion of the God of Destruction?"
Reiko's face twisted fiercely.
"Yes, damn it. Because it's people like you who deserve to be brought down. You've earned your annihilation by making the world into what it is." She brought her left hand around to take the sword in a two-handed grip. "I'd come here to just talk with you, to settle the past between us, but not any more. This time I'm going to finish you off. Then the past won't make a difference to anyone."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A/N: Well, here we are, halfway through my outline! Thanks for sticking with it so long, and with any kind of luck things will keep on regularly through to the end. I have to admit, Marika is my favorite character to write; she and Minako can both get away with saying things that Chikane and Himeko are simply too straightlaced (or take too seriously) to mock or snark about.
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