Chapter 6

"Zururi!"

Hyemi ran towards her twin brother, tears already rolling down her face. She leaped towards him, hugging him so tight he squeaked. Her eyes shined as she pulled back, checking his porcelain face for marks. 

"I was so worried! When I went through that kitsune gate, I saw you and that meanie! I'm so glad you woke up, you won't understand how worried I was! You got stabbed by a kunai!"

Zururi laughed, grateful to breathe again after the monster-sized hug. His twin sister, Hyemi, was a WaterKeeper. Similar to him, she had lighter fluffy grey hair, with blue underlights. Her hair was cut to her neck with choppy side-swept bangs.

She breathed a sigh of relief, wiping a stray tear from her eye, "I'm so glad! How many humans did you see when you were there? Man, you're so lucky you managed to get in there! I'm guessing the mission was a success? I'm so proud of you! I knew my little brother could do it!"

"Hey! We're twins, and I'm better! Don't act like you're older!"

Zururi snapped back, ears folding down as Hyemi laughed, amused by her feigned caring. She laughed, her three kitsune tails swishing happily. Her bright blue eyes shone happily as Zururi threw a small ball of light at her. 

"When do you think she's gonna wake up? The human-kitsune girl?"

"She has a name, y'know. She's Kyuu. To be honest, I have no idea. It's some seal over her magic. She's gonna need a whole lot of catching up to do when she wakes up. We'll have to tell her about all the Keeping types, dojos, she needs to learn her FireKeeping, the Kishura are coming - aw man it already hurts my head! I can't imagine how tough it's gonna be for her!"

Hyemi laughed, "Imagine that! Having to catch up on 20 years of knowledge most kitsune know! The little kid Aki probably knows more than her!"

Zururi sighed, "Yeah. Humans are such weird creatures y'know. They look just like us, and yet kitsune have magic flowing through them, and humans are left with nothing but their own petty bodies. Stabbing random yokai and such. A poor existence. It's gonna be even worse if the Kishura Empire decides to take over. That weird wall would fall and they'll have another chunk of land for themselves."

Hyemi pursed her lips, "Let's hope she's a good fighter then. She also better wake up from that coma, it's been like a week. You took two days to wake up. Kishuras going to take over by the time she gets up and running."

"Cut her some slack, I didn't exactly have a seal half-broken that day. I hope those other human friends don't panic too much. Sucks for them, I guess. What do you think they think happened? Dammit, I barely know who I was fighting."

Hyemi flicked an ear and got up, preparing to leave as she dusted her dark grey and dull blue hakama, "Don't overthink it. It was probably someone from the Kishura Army or something. Good thing you checked in that night or Kyuu might not be recovering with us. I need to get going-" she scuffed up Zururi's hair once more, "- and don't die on me! I'll check in on you later! Love ya!"

Zururi shook his head as his twin ran off, scratching the top of his head after Hyemi messed it up again. He didn't know what being raised by humans was like, and he never truly would. Being suddenly yanked into the kitsune world would be a jarring change for anyone. And Kyuu still had the seal to deal with. 

He crossed his legs, sitting on top of this rumpled duvet. He tapped the air, flicking an ear as a ring of light appeared before him. Zururi was a LightKeeper. His magic allowed him to produce light and control it. It also gave him an advantage against LightningKeeping and ShadowKeeping, but really anyone had an advantage over anyone if they used their magic right. 

Zururi was especially good at seals and other priest-y things, different from the usual status quo of LightKeepers making huge swords of light, or using their magic to heal even the most dire of wounds. Honestly, the peace that had lasted a while caused a decline in many fighters. Warriors where revered still, but less kitsune sought a life of training. His goal was to be a good enough mage to compare to an unnamed one from many years ago. Most considered that mage to be a legend, but Zururi thought otherwise.

The ring of light spun idly, the inner ring spinning counterclockwise at a very slow pace. Strange text and lettering surrounded both the inner and outer ring, Zururi hovering his finger in front of it. 

He had caught a glimpse of the seal that had begun to come undone when he tried to break the seal on Kyuu. This current ring of light could be used perhaps to seal away a spirit haunting whatever, or just as a means to attack some vengeful spirit. 

He tapped the scryglass, watching it spin for a short moment, then putting his finger on it once more, holding it there as he attempted to change the symbols around it to the same symbols Kyuu had on the seal.*

It suddenly glowed red as he did, flashing for a second before disappearing. Zururi swore under his breath as he sucked the tip of his finger, slightly upset at the little drop of blood that appeared. 

Weird. It wasn't that he couldn't get the formation right, he was. He could tell he was in fact, the scryglass did react to the formation. And yes, it was a sealing symbol. But one that apparently was backed up by some strong form of magic. 

Strong enough that without more powerful magic, Zururi wouldn't be able to unlock it. He nervously bit his already-bleeding finger, his sharp canines sinking a tiny bit deeper into the small cut. 

Kyuu might have to work this one out on her own. Unless he found a way to break this seal, but considering his power-level now, no hope for him. He had no idea how Kyuu would be able to fully break out the seal either. 

______

* Astrologist Mona Megistus!

She wouldn't have all her powers, her Keeping would be weak. 

Maybe Zururi would have to get stronger for that seal to be broken. 

Frustrated, he collapsed onto his back, staring at the ceiling with his gold eyes. He narrowed his eyes at the ceiling, biting his lip and lifting up a hand in order to form another scryglass. 

Zururi tapped it, before flipping onto his stomach to grab something from a drawer next to his bed. His hand shuffled around it inside for a moment before finally grabbing what he needed. 

He flipped back onto his back, observing the quartz-like petal he held between his fingers. A Honaq Petal. A petal from a flower from a field that once dusted the realm of purity, giving heightened power to any kitsune or magical being that had one in its possession. 

He had found Kyuu with one. A seal so strong the raw power of a petal of Honaq was unable to break through. He felt a little rise of power within his chest as he revelled with the magic-saturated petal. 

The LightKeeper never thought a regular human would find themselves with a Petal of Honaq and only use it as a petty charm. It humoured him a bit. A kitsune would kill for this kind of power, yet humans would much prefer something more useless like a sword or gold. 

Zururi placed the petal in the middle of the glowing yellow-gold-white scryglass, pausing as it connected, making the scryglass glow brightly. He quietly edited the formation of symbols and lines, his right hand picking at his right thumb absentmindedly. 

Yes. Done, yes, he could work with this, he thought as he paused. Later, if Hira let him into Kyuu's room he could see how much magic was hidden under the seal. 

He waved his hand, dispelling the scryglass and catching the Honaq Petal, stuffing it back into the drawer. He exhaled, long and bored. His body still ached from the fight, his shoulder still sore from the kunai that had stabbed into him. 

Zururi still needed to figure out who that was. And who had altered the course of the kitsune gate? It couldn't be the Kishura Empire. They had not attacked but for a single skirmish and why would they bother attacking Kyuu before her powers were fully unlocked?

It had to be someone else…but no other significant group really existed. Sure, the few Oni Villages and the few rogue yokai that dotted the forests kitsune left behind, but they had no reason to attack them. And only the power of a LightningKeeper and a LightKeeper could reroute a kitsune gate. The situation had perplexed him, an enigma wrapped in a riddle that spun around like a scryglass, waiting for him to unravel it.

Zururi squeezed his eyes shut, grabbing some corner of the duvet and flinging it on top of him. He'd … he'd think about it later. Or never. Yeah, he'd rather never think about it. 

Also, how did Hyemi and the rescue group of kitsune find them? They must have also stumbled through a kitsune gate, which also means whatever rerouted the gate in the human land must have affected other portals, intentional or not. Luckily it must have fixed when those two mercenaries had been…destroyed by Kyuu. 

A whole rabbit hole of conspiracy. 

Just…great…

 ****

"Yoen, please, stay in bed, they still need to check up on you-OOF."

As Fukai tried to keep Yoen in the hospital bed, she angrily shoved him away, sending him to the ground as she ripped off any tubes and wires attached to her.

She burst through the door, hardly able to keep her balance. She leaned against the doorway, barely able to speak as a herd of worried nurses rushed over, trying to push her back in the bed.

"Where's Kyuu?!"

Fukai froze, clenching his fists, "Sit down Yoen. I'll talk to you, but you need to settle down first."

Yoen glared at him for a moment, but gave up, letting herself be led back to the bed. The nurses muttered amongst themselves as they hurriedly checked Yoen over, checking her various bandages and such. 

The herd of nurses left the room, putting a tray of food on Yoen's lap. Fukai pulled a chair over, fiddling with a necklace of sutra beads. He looked on edge, as if he had not slept well. 

"So. Explain."

Fukai sighed deeply, leaning back in the chair. 

"After you left, I went back to sleep. Suddenly, there was an alarm sent to all the dorms. Apparently there had been some sort of fire yokai or demon that had lit the forest. They checked where everyone was, most of us were inside or had alibis. You and Kyuu were missing."

Fukai began growing a bit paler, looking even worse, "I managed to remember you went after Kyuu, and Hitashi and Kai told them Kyuu went back to the woods in front of the wall near Kyuden. The fire got put out, and we found you. It's a miracle you survived. You were curled up in a little circle untouched by fire. Kyuu was nowhere to be found. The only thing we have from her was the dagger."

"..."

"W-what?"

Tears bubbled at Yoen's eyes as she choked back a sob. It felt a bit strange. She was crying over Kyuu, the fighter she hadn't known for more than two weeks. She bit her tongue, trying not to cry as the vision of the figure came into her head again. 

Fukai brushed away his own tears, putting an arm around her shoulder. Fukai bit back tears, guilt-ridden from his lack of an ability to cry most of the time. His eyes were wet, and yet he couldn't bring himself to cry. 

Yoen took a deep breath, wiping tears away, "W-what about Kai and Hitashi?" she stammered, calming herself. Yoen stopped crying, calming herself. Whatever pain she had felt, Hitashi and Kai must feel tens of times worse. 

Fukai sighed, "Not too well. Of course we can't confirm her death, but when a forest burns down and we have remnants of some scraps of clothes and her new dagger, there's not much hope. Hitashi is taking it the hardest, he's been out the whole place looking for her. Kai is holed up in his room, but he also went searching."

Fukai paused, fidgeting with the sutra beads once more. 

"There're rumours. A-a-about a funeral. Just rumours, but … there's really no chance…"

Yoen felt sick again, shaking her head. She felt sick, unable to even attempt to choke down the food offered to her. 

"Th-there really is nothing we can do, isn't there Fukai? She's dead, isn't she?"

Fukai grimaced, but Yoen could tell he already knew she was dead. There's no way she would have survived, and all of them knew it. Deep down inside, even Hitashi knew he'd never find even a trace of her as long as he wandered the burnt remnant of the forest, like a ghost. 

Fukai stood up, trying not to tremble in his black hakama. He held his back to her, pausing for just a moment, nervously biting his lip, stuffing the sutra beads back in his pocket. 

"I'm not really sure what will happen next, Yoen. There's going to be a funeral at some point. The Corps lost a valuable member. But … I'll be here if you want. I guess you can also have Kyuu's room for the time being."

He stared somberly at the ground, the area around him and Yoen become nothing but a deep grey. Fukai reached his hand towards the doorknob, somehow unable to move. Yoen's eyes widened just a bit as she realised what was happening. 

As Fukai held his hand stationary on the circular doorknob, his face scrunched up and tears battered the floor as they fell down his face. He choked in a deep breath as he tried to cover his eyes with one hand, crying as silently as he could. 

Yoen staggered towards him in an attempt to comfort him, hiding her own remaining tears as he silently broke down, his dusty blonde hair dull as he crumpled under her touch. He covered his face in his hands as tears racked his body, finally breaking free from the prison of his throat. 

Yoen allowed some of her tears to escape as she let Fukai huddle against him, letting her own tears silently roll down her cheeks. Fukai cried, and for once he truly, really cried. Tears that blurred his vision, snot dripping down his face, tears that made his shoulders rack uncontrollably. 

He sobbed, trying in vain to wipe away the tears with the sleeves of his long-sleeved haori, only succeeding in making it dirty and just agitating his eyes further. He struggled to breathe in between sobs, barely getting enough air to function. 

Yoen sniffed back her tears and snot, gently wiping her eyes as she stroked Fukai's dishevelled hair. She pulled the dirty and snotty haori off of Fukai, leaving him with his loose grey shirt. She threw the haori onto some random chair as she got a cloth, soaking it in water from a bucket. 

After soaking it for a second, she wrung most of the water out, returning to Fukai who lay amidst the blankets. She gently placed the towel onto his eyes, wiping any stray tears away as his tears left with any energy he had. 

She turned off the light charm, watching him for a moment before closing the door. She stood, her gaze dark beside the door, now on the other side. Kyuu. She had to be dead now. And they wouldn't even have a body for the funeral that was bound to happen. 

Yoen begrudgingly forced her body to move as she slowly began walking up the stone stair that led to the floor where Kyuu's room was located. She slowly opened the door, slightly surprised that Kai was already in there. 

Kai had a sad, solemn expression to his face, and even Daichi, who chirped in a confused manner, seemed a bit disheartened. Kai turned to her, eyes flashing with sadness and confusion before remembering who she was. 

"Oh. Glad you're alright … Yoen …"

He murmured, turning back to wherever he was staring off into, his voice hoarse. 

Yoen pursed her lips and bit her tongue as new tears bubbled behind her vision, seeing the cheerful Kai being reduced to nothing but a shell of what he was. She leaned on the doorway, unable to look at him. 

"Thanks. Since you're here … see you sometime …?"

She cursed at the awkwardness, but really no one would be able to cope. There weren't any right words for any of them to say. They already knew what the other felt, so it didn't really matter, did it?

Yoen closed the door and walked away.

 ****

"We are gathered today in order to celebrate the life of our dear, Kyuu Jiatsu."

The day of the funeral, in an ironic twist, was also supposed to be Kyuu's birthday. It was October tenth. Two weeks after the temple burning 'incident'.

It was a bit sick, holding her funeral when they should have been celebrating her 26th birthday. The bleak and brisk autumn day somehow made the space around them feel grey. 

Yoen, Hitashi, Kai, Fukai, and many other ranked Hunter's Corps members surrounded the casket lined with flowers. There was a sickly elegance to the serene and peaceful flowers that surrounded the casket with exuberant colours. 

A grey-washed picture of a happy Kyuu was surrounded by a few smaller flowers, along with a semi-gold border. It stared, lifeless at the gathering before it. A god staring emotionless before the crowd of its people. 

Everyone wore some sort of black clothing, Hitashi, Kai, and Fukai all with black suits and ties, sombre faces, and eyebags engraved onto the creases of their faces. Yoen had a black kimono and a small hat covering part of her face, her long black hair in curtain bangs and down her back. 

Yoen watched in a lugubrious silence as a high ranking Hunter's Corps officials walked up to the dark wooden casket, placing a Zhin ranking pin onto the wood. She winced slightly as his fist slammed the pin into it, forcing the metal through the wood, a sign of respect. 

"In her life, and now in her death, Jiatsu was a brave fighter who gave courage and strength to the people of this land, and the fighters beside her. For her exemplary feat in the kanibozu attack at Bubo Village, we award her the Burning Heart medal."

Slam.

The medal was then also embedded into the wood. Yoen glanced over at Fukai, Hitashi and Kai once more, watching their faces for reactions of any kind. They all looked spaced out, as if unable to figure what was happening. 

Burning Heart Medal.

Awarded to those who died in an honorable - or around the time of an honourable - event. For those who sacrificed their life for the Corps, this medal was given out. Another reminder Kyuu really was dead. 

Yoen was ushered out of her thoughts as the official business finished, and people began paying respects to Kyuu. People bowed and murmured prayers and words, watching with eyes of sadness as they never got an answer. 

Yoen took a deep breath, moving her way to the front of Kyuu's casket. She bowed in front of the display of life and death, pressing her palms together in a praying position as she held a sutra-bead necklace. 

Find peace in death you could not in life, my dear friend Kyuu…

Yoen squeezed her eyes shut before straightening up, blinking away any stray tears that threatened her eyes. She made her way to the side as Hitashi came next, hands trembling. 

He bowed down, squeezing his eyes shut as he prayed. 

I'm sorry Kyuu. There were so many more things I should have told you. Now I can only love you in death, instead of life. 

He staggered up as he desperately covered his eyes with the sleeve of his suit, the tears already streaming down his face as he ran-staggered away. A few people looked as he left, murmuring their concern. 

Yoen's brows furrowed and she began making her way back to Fukai and Kai, still and unmoving. Fukai gripped his friend's hand and led him to the front, aware of the concerned crowd and Yoen who began walking towards them. 

Fukai squeezed Kai's hands, both already crying somewhat. 

Pray for her Kai. You can do it, Fukai thought, hoping Kai would have the strength to say something for himself.

Kai took a huge shuddering breath, shoulders racking as he sought to soothe himself. He let go of Fukai's hand, holding the fists in front of his chest, the best he could do in his state.

"Kyuu…!" Kai had to take another breath as more tears made their way down his face, "I–I won't let you down!"

Kai had to choke the last part out, Yoen taking him from Fukai, and leading him back to the dorms, or at least somewhere secluded. Both Kai and Hitashi were now broken messes in the face of her death. 

Fukai, teary-eyed, watched as Hitashi and Kai left, turning back to the burning incense in front of him. He put his hands together, holding a charm within them. He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth. 

Wait for us Kyuu, goddammit.