![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsI'm not yet quite where I wanted to be, but I have gotten through over half of what was left, and I'm just going to make the daily post... Only thirteen hundred words left!
Miboshi: still a bastard. Nakago is at this point a control freak who has lost control. It ain't pretty.
Merely seeing that everything is in place. The others don’t seem to know anything about what we’re doing.
You wanted it between you and me, Nakago reminded him. If Miboshi’s demands had to be satisfied, he could do that himself; the best thing for Ashitare and the twins was to keep them out of the way. Have you been in contact with Tomo?
No! Don’t expect me to keep track of him for you!
If Tomo came into the fight unexpectedly, it could be a problem, but Nakago didn’t think that this sordid business was the kind of thing he would involve himself in. Perhaps there was at least some advantage in that; if he kept waiting for a moment to step out in dramatic glory, at this rate it would never come at all. Strange that he was so easy for Nakago to read, and such a frustrating puzzle for Miboshi despite his telepathy...
Not a bad place to wait, here in the pass, Miboshi mused. It won’t be so easy for them to get around us. If they try, every other crossing is so much slower that we could easily head them off at the other side.
Nakago betrayed no reaction. We could also reach Byakko’s Shinzahou before they do.
Come now. You can’t seriously think that Miaka has a chance with the guardians of a Shinzahou.
And whose doing is that? Nakago thought to himself. ---Then we could let the Suzaku no Miko procure them both for us, and attack and seize them afterward.
Since we have a cure for Lady Soi, we don’t need them. We only have to prevent Suzaku from being summoned. This crossing is our best, quickest chance to achieve that, and the sooner we do, the sooner we can return and save her. You should feel that more keenly than anyone.
There was something underneath that last taunting accusation, just a hint of unsteadiness. Miboshi knew that his lever of control wasn’t working as perfectly as he had expected it to.
It would be enough if we took Genbu’s Shinzahou or killed their Miko, he continued. The fools even brought their Emperor with them, but that would only be an extra prize in chaos for Konan, not necessary to our purposes... But you, you’re slipping, Nakago; it isn’t like you. I think you need something special to focus your mind.
Nakago just endured the condescention impassively.
Kill Chichiri.
What?? That shocked him out of his stony silence. A moment after Miboshi had remarked on unnecessary extras, this was absurd. With Suzaku’s Universe of the Four Gods already burned, Chichiri’s life or death didn’t have any bearing on whether Suzaku could be summoned. To tell Nakago to kill her was entirely superfluous. Do you want me to be distracted from the Shinzahou or their Miko?
Leave that to me. This is your assignment.
Why!?
Let’s just say... Because I can.
A burning wall of rage swept through him. His heart pounded and his breath came hard and fast, but he couldn’t see Miboshi. Searching for him would only be more compromising. All he could do was try to reign in the emotion enough to pour it into his mental defenses.
My, my! Don’t take my teasing so seriously! Still, the mirth in Miboshi’s thought was all ridicule and no modesty. Think of it as an opportunity to demonstrate your loyalties. Even if she was your friend in the past, if you would choose the life of a Sei of Suzaku now over a fellow Sei of Seiryuu and your own beloved, then surely you deserve whatever I might tell the Emperor about you; you must at least admit that. He withdrew with a final parting shot; It’s Chichiri or Soi --- just remember that that’s your choice.
The ultimatum was still ringing in his head when something unexpectedly touched his shoulder, and he startled and whipped around, springing to his feet with a crackle of blue energy.
Amiboshi jumped back. “Are... Are you all right?” he asked. “You just looked like... You’ve been so quiet lately, I thought maybe you weren’t feeling well...” His hand hovered indecisively in front of his chest, as if he wanted to reach out again but was afraid to.
“I’m not ill,” Nakago declared flatly. “Are you ‘feeling well’?”
“No, not really,” he admitted in a quiet voice. “I wish we didn’t have to run into them at all, but I guess if we didn’t do anything...” He looked up suddenly. “Is it Miboshi? Is that it?”
Nakago turned away from him and sat down again with a mix of bemusement and disgust. “Whatever else you do, don’t get yourself and your brother involved in his plans,” he said. “When the time comes, only look after yourselves and protect Miaka. Leave the rest to me.”
“You take care of yourself, too,” Amiboshi said. He began to turn away, but paused. “Would a song make you feel any better?”
Nakago gave him a look that unjustly heaped on him all the loathing he felt toward Miboshi’s patronizing attitude, and he nodded sheepishly and returned to the others.
Left alone again, Nakago thought to wonder why it was that Ashitare and the twins were being left on the margins of these machinations, why Miboshi hadn’t brought them under his power as well --- but then, what if he had attempted it? What if he had told one of them to kill Chichiri or the Suzaku no Miko? With Amiboshi, clearly it would be no use; his compassionate nature would never accept such a thing. To get a different result from Suboshi would mean turning him against his brother, which was mercifully impossible --- if Amiboshi had died on his mission in Konan, a mission which Nakago now in hindsight saw as an unforgivable blunder on his own part, then surely the younger twin would be clay in Miboshi’s hands, and with such a dangerous power, but Nakago had at least been spared that price for his mistake. It was doubtful that intrigues would fare any better with Ashitare, whose simplicity was far from stupidity, but rather a keen perception and guileless clarity that was capable of ferocity but not corruption. Tomo, of course, had confounded Miboshi entirely, and if Soi were here, she would be the least forgiving of any of them. She had had her fill years before of being someone else’s plaything, and if Miboshi tried to make her into one, Nakago was sure that she would do anything necessary to show him the error of the attempt. If their situations were reversed, if it were his life being held over Soi, he might be dead from a lightning strike already for the sake of his dignity as well as hers, and from where he sat now he would hardly fault her for it.
No, he thought, Miboshi didn’t bring the others under his sway because he couldn’t do it. Only Miaka and I are that weak...
*******
“Yui-chan?” Chichiri asked.
“Yes?” Nuriko was just helping Yui down from the horse as they were stopping for the night.
Chichiri turned another way. “Chiriko-chan?”
“Yes?”
“This is amazing no da! It’s true, I can actually see you no da!” Sure enough, when Nuriko offered an arm to help her down next, she reached to take it without having to be touched to know it was there. Once on her feet, she was all excitement. “And there are trees there, there, and there,” ---she pointed accurately --- “and there are the horses no da!”
At that she bounded demonstratively toward horses inside the paddock that they were dismounting outside of and ran straight into the fence. Nuriko had to grab the back of her shirt to keep her from pitching over it.
“Be careful! Hikitsu still needed an attendant, remember?” Yui told her.
“Sorry no da! Oh, I should have looked for the gaps in the grass --- there they are, but they’re pretty hard to see no da...”
Some of the inn’s stablehands took their horses, with Tasuki’s making a parting attempt to kick him, but the others couldn’t notice them staring at Chichiri.
“You know it works now, you could take that off,” Tamahome suggested.
“Nai no da! I’d need a lot more practice before I could just close my eyes and do it; if I take it off now I’ll have to start all over just when I’m getting the hang of it no da!”
“Well, let’s get you up to the room anyway...” Nuriko took her arm and led her away from the embarrassment that she was so indifferent to.
Miboshi: still a bastard. Nakago is at this point a control freak who has lost control. It ain't pretty.
48704 ★ 50000 (97.41%)
Merely seeing that everything is in place. The others don’t seem to know anything about what we’re doing.
You wanted it between you and me, Nakago reminded him. If Miboshi’s demands had to be satisfied, he could do that himself; the best thing for Ashitare and the twins was to keep them out of the way. Have you been in contact with Tomo?
No! Don’t expect me to keep track of him for you!
If Tomo came into the fight unexpectedly, it could be a problem, but Nakago didn’t think that this sordid business was the kind of thing he would involve himself in. Perhaps there was at least some advantage in that; if he kept waiting for a moment to step out in dramatic glory, at this rate it would never come at all. Strange that he was so easy for Nakago to read, and such a frustrating puzzle for Miboshi despite his telepathy...
Not a bad place to wait, here in the pass, Miboshi mused. It won’t be so easy for them to get around us. If they try, every other crossing is so much slower that we could easily head them off at the other side.
Nakago betrayed no reaction. We could also reach Byakko’s Shinzahou before they do.
Come now. You can’t seriously think that Miaka has a chance with the guardians of a Shinzahou.
And whose doing is that? Nakago thought to himself. ---Then we could let the Suzaku no Miko procure them both for us, and attack and seize them afterward.
Since we have a cure for Lady Soi, we don’t need them. We only have to prevent Suzaku from being summoned. This crossing is our best, quickest chance to achieve that, and the sooner we do, the sooner we can return and save her. You should feel that more keenly than anyone.
There was something underneath that last taunting accusation, just a hint of unsteadiness. Miboshi knew that his lever of control wasn’t working as perfectly as he had expected it to.
It would be enough if we took Genbu’s Shinzahou or killed their Miko, he continued. The fools even brought their Emperor with them, but that would only be an extra prize in chaos for Konan, not necessary to our purposes... But you, you’re slipping, Nakago; it isn’t like you. I think you need something special to focus your mind.
Nakago just endured the condescention impassively.
Kill Chichiri.
What?? That shocked him out of his stony silence. A moment after Miboshi had remarked on unnecessary extras, this was absurd. With Suzaku’s Universe of the Four Gods already burned, Chichiri’s life or death didn’t have any bearing on whether Suzaku could be summoned. To tell Nakago to kill her was entirely superfluous. Do you want me to be distracted from the Shinzahou or their Miko?
Leave that to me. This is your assignment.
Why!?
Let’s just say... Because I can.
A burning wall of rage swept through him. His heart pounded and his breath came hard and fast, but he couldn’t see Miboshi. Searching for him would only be more compromising. All he could do was try to reign in the emotion enough to pour it into his mental defenses.
My, my! Don’t take my teasing so seriously! Still, the mirth in Miboshi’s thought was all ridicule and no modesty. Think of it as an opportunity to demonstrate your loyalties. Even if she was your friend in the past, if you would choose the life of a Sei of Suzaku now over a fellow Sei of Seiryuu and your own beloved, then surely you deserve whatever I might tell the Emperor about you; you must at least admit that. He withdrew with a final parting shot; It’s Chichiri or Soi --- just remember that that’s your choice.
The ultimatum was still ringing in his head when something unexpectedly touched his shoulder, and he startled and whipped around, springing to his feet with a crackle of blue energy.
Amiboshi jumped back. “Are... Are you all right?” he asked. “You just looked like... You’ve been so quiet lately, I thought maybe you weren’t feeling well...” His hand hovered indecisively in front of his chest, as if he wanted to reach out again but was afraid to.
“I’m not ill,” Nakago declared flatly. “Are you ‘feeling well’?”
“No, not really,” he admitted in a quiet voice. “I wish we didn’t have to run into them at all, but I guess if we didn’t do anything...” He looked up suddenly. “Is it Miboshi? Is that it?”
Nakago turned away from him and sat down again with a mix of bemusement and disgust. “Whatever else you do, don’t get yourself and your brother involved in his plans,” he said. “When the time comes, only look after yourselves and protect Miaka. Leave the rest to me.”
“You take care of yourself, too,” Amiboshi said. He began to turn away, but paused. “Would a song make you feel any better?”
Nakago gave him a look that unjustly heaped on him all the loathing he felt toward Miboshi’s patronizing attitude, and he nodded sheepishly and returned to the others.
Left alone again, Nakago thought to wonder why it was that Ashitare and the twins were being left on the margins of these machinations, why Miboshi hadn’t brought them under his power as well --- but then, what if he had attempted it? What if he had told one of them to kill Chichiri or the Suzaku no Miko? With Amiboshi, clearly it would be no use; his compassionate nature would never accept such a thing. To get a different result from Suboshi would mean turning him against his brother, which was mercifully impossible --- if Amiboshi had died on his mission in Konan, a mission which Nakago now in hindsight saw as an unforgivable blunder on his own part, then surely the younger twin would be clay in Miboshi’s hands, and with such a dangerous power, but Nakago had at least been spared that price for his mistake. It was doubtful that intrigues would fare any better with Ashitare, whose simplicity was far from stupidity, but rather a keen perception and guileless clarity that was capable of ferocity but not corruption. Tomo, of course, had confounded Miboshi entirely, and if Soi were here, she would be the least forgiving of any of them. She had had her fill years before of being someone else’s plaything, and if Miboshi tried to make her into one, Nakago was sure that she would do anything necessary to show him the error of the attempt. If their situations were reversed, if it were his life being held over Soi, he might be dead from a lightning strike already for the sake of his dignity as well as hers, and from where he sat now he would hardly fault her for it.
No, he thought, Miboshi didn’t bring the others under his sway because he couldn’t do it. Only Miaka and I are that weak...
*******
“Yui-chan?” Chichiri asked.
“Yes?” Nuriko was just helping Yui down from the horse as they were stopping for the night.
Chichiri turned another way. “Chiriko-chan?”
“Yes?”
“This is amazing no da! It’s true, I can actually see you no da!” Sure enough, when Nuriko offered an arm to help her down next, she reached to take it without having to be touched to know it was there. Once on her feet, she was all excitement. “And there are trees there, there, and there,” ---she pointed accurately --- “and there are the horses no da!”
At that she bounded demonstratively toward horses inside the paddock that they were dismounting outside of and ran straight into the fence. Nuriko had to grab the back of her shirt to keep her from pitching over it.
“Be careful! Hikitsu still needed an attendant, remember?” Yui told her.
“Sorry no da! Oh, I should have looked for the gaps in the grass --- there they are, but they’re pretty hard to see no da...”
Some of the inn’s stablehands took their horses, with Tasuki’s making a parting attempt to kick him, but the others couldn’t notice them staring at Chichiri.
“You know it works now, you could take that off,” Tamahome suggested.
“Nai no da! I’d need a lot more practice before I could just close my eyes and do it; if I take it off now I’ll have to start all over just when I’m getting the hang of it no da!”
“Well, let’s get you up to the room anyway...” Nuriko took her arm and led her away from the embarrassment that she was so indifferent to.
