InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ Seeking 8 - The Agreement ( Chapter 12 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho are not mine. I made a few OCs to fill in my gaps.

Summary: After a few weeks of staying as guests of the community, Shippo begins to understand what he's really looking for.

Chapter Rating: T

Arc 2 - Seeking 8 - The Agreement

1506

tapestry

We spent some time in and around the great hall. It was a simple design with long halls and tall rooms, built for general comfort of a magical people —many of whom literally grew fur— that had no real need for mortal shelter. I didn't like hanging out in the snow for weeks on end, but I could. Life was simply more pleasant with a roof overhead and a fire to warm the air.

A few tapestries hung from the roof's support beams over the entrance. They were decorated in strange shapes that looked like they could be letters, circling a stylized dragon. The commander of the khan's forces, Chiran, happened to walk by on one of the days I was staring at the shapes in concentration. Hu was nearby, sipping a warm drink with a look of pleasure. I pointed at it and gave him a questioning glance, hoping he'd get the hint. Hu translated, "Together we keep the balance for peace and prosperity."

Chiran humored me and repeated each of those words in their mysterious language as he indicated which symbols meant what. I was well on my way to becoming a multi-lingual master. Well, I mean, you have to start somewhere.

May as well be the community motto.

normal life

Life in the village around the keep was pretty normal, but we had arrived during the winter. Given its remoteness, I really couldn't understand what the draw was to live in such a place.

It was cold.

And bleak.

And there wasn't nearly enough sunshine.

And it was cold.

A few guards were posted throughout the area to keep an eye on things (probably to make sure strangers like us didn't cause trouble). People cooked meals for friends and family. Various artisans worked on their crafts creating clothing, baskets, fishing tools, and pretty trinkets. Children ran through the well-trodden streets, playing or transporting messages and goods between households and shops.

The youkai living here were of many varieties. While some types were familiar to me, most were completely foreign. (Somewhat surprisingly, there were no other kitsune living here.)

The people living around the keep weren't all youkai, either. I'd been surprised by the humans living freely with youkai in the outer villages, but seeing that same equality around the khan's household seemed to indicate that these people truly valued balance.

I could spot no one that seemed poor or suffering. "This place seems too…" I paused, making room for a few children —one of which appeared to be half-human— that scampered between us. "…just a little too perfect. They must be hiding something, don't you think?"

My companion hummed, "Maybe."

Late winter would normally mean subsisting on foods set aside in storage, but it appeared that some of the residents had skills suited to cultivating off-season produce. An orchard just outside the keep was green and ripe with low-hanging fruit despite the freeze still gripping the land.

A small group of children with baskets dutifully collected any fruits within reach and brought them back to an elder overseeing their efforts.

"Aside from a few oddities here, most of the villages we passed earlier seemed pretty normal. I wonder why they're being bothered by raiders."

"Others want what they do not have. These trees are a good example, they're like a treasure during this time of year."

I guessed that made sense, but I'd never been much for the thieving.

Something didn't seem right, though. If they were just wanting to steal stuff, then why would the bad guys terrorize the little folk and set their fields and homes on fire?

broken

We were given separate guest quarters in an outer home. Hu and I still enjoyed playing, but she also wanted to sample the energies of her playmates —and I wasn't very safe candidate for that— so we didn't spend as many nights together anymore. More than once, I had to turn down her invitations to join in with her selected partner(s).

(I was vaguely interested in what she could possibly have in mind to do with more than one person, but not that curious. Yet.)

She cornered me one morning after I had turned her down again. "You are broken," she stated, crossing her arms.

"What? How am I broken?" (Well, 'how else am I broken' might have been a more accurate question.)

She pointed at a pretty female that carried a basket of colorful cloth some distance away. "Look at that girl, isn't she sweet?"

I shrugged, "Sure. She's cute."

"Aren't you interested in talking to her, getting to know her? Playing?"

"Well, first of all, I don't know the languages here to talk about anything. And second, it's kinda hard to get to know someone well enough to play with them if you can't talk to them!"

"See, this is why you are broken. Surely you know how to make friends. There is no need to talk to play: you can communicate with flowers, with your smiles and your eyes, with the sounds you make, and you use this," she tapped my nose, "to understand their reactions. You forget who you are. You must talk to these people to learn their language. You can't just watch every day and expect to make progress." I nodded at her assessments, but I really didn't know where to start.

"And how about him?" She pointed at a taller male across the courtyard. He looked bear-like, brawny and wide with dark hair and eyes. His massive claws delicately stripped the bark from a narrow trunk before dropping the thin pieces into a large basket at his side.

He glanced up, caught us looking in his direction, and flashed us a crooked, toothy grin. "Yeah, he's …uh… cute." Cute was probably the wrong word, but I doubted the bear-guy would have understood even if he heard us talking.

"Go, make friends, learn something new. Learn the words, learn if these people are worth helping. Find others to play with. And use your damned nose!" Bear-guy waved at me and beckoned, and Hu happily shoved me in his direction.

He pointed at me and asked, "Shippo?" with a raised eyebrow. I nodded. We'd only been in town for a few days but everyone seemed to know who we were already. He pointed to himself and grinned, "Berke." I got my hair ruffled at least a dozen times that afternoon, but at least I learned a lot of new words. He was stripping bark to use in a tea that helped with pain.

How convenient, my first friend in the community was the medicine man.

I was invited to have dinner with him and a few of his friends. Based on their gestures and raucous laughter, I'm sure I was teased in at least three languages that evening, but I learned a few —likely inappropriate— new phrases. One of Berke's youkai friends, a smallish fuzzy fellow that didn't say much and no one had bothered to introduce, curled against my side and pillowed his head on my tails to doze off. The fire dwindled down and the humans wandered off to their homes, but Berke and I stayed put to watch the stars in peace, and his arm slid around my shoulder. (Turns out he's a serial cuddler.)

It was nice, and I felt at peace.

One day, I'll write my first volume of sonnets, The Fox, The Bear, and His Otter.

judgment

The community was invited to the great hall whenever the khan had to pass judgment over disagreements or the very rare occasion of a crime. Hu and I attended a few of these and I was pretty impressed at the efficiency of the entire affair.

The same dark-skinned guard that served us tea on that first day was almost always who escorted the petitioner. They'd explain their problem, the khan would consider for a brief moment, and he'd pass down his decree.

The khan seemed to just know when someone was lying or when something was fishy. I mean, I'm pretty sure that with enough experience I'd be able to smell when someone was trying to be deceitful, but this was at great distance with scents muddled up by those dang burning incense sticks they liked to stick next to the doors.

I was pretty impressed with the khan's fairness and knowledge. He seemed to make a pretty good leader. The community really seemed to like him, too. Honestly liked him, not that kind of oppressed fear where people pretend to like and respect the person in charge even though they're secretly —or not so secretly— a bastard.

patrol

Warriors of all types and ages practiced their strange and highly varied techniques in a few designated yards: an empty dirt field, a heavily forested area, a wide section of river that the trainees kept clear of ice.

I requested to accompany a patrol and was granted permission, but only after the patrol's squad leader put me through the paces of one of their training routines to ensure I wouldn't be a liability to the others. They taught me a series of hand signals that patrols used while on the move to convey instructions without speaking. That was kind of convenient, as I wouldn't be able to understand anything they said while we were out.

I packed a few supplies for a week of fast-paced observation, and we were off. I raced with the rest of the squad along treetops, over the fields, to the edge of the massive lake, and through ice-rimmed caverns that were tucked out of sight. I watched as they observed the villages for signs of distress, checked the fields for damage, scented trails for trespass, and spoke at length with a random assortment of humans and youkai along the circular route.

It was exhilarating, and it felt right.

-o-

"You know, we haven't even gotten to see their library yet. What if they just have a bunch of shit books and nothing helpful?"

Our patrol had returned earlier in the day, and as soon as the captain had given the group their orders for the week, they scattered to do whatever and I leapt off to find out what Hu was up to. She lounged under a tree, idly weaving dried plant fibers together.

"Do you truly think that the value of this place will be in their writings?" She flipped her work over and tucked a stray piece under an edge before glancing up at me. "This place is a wealth of living, breathing information, in the people and their cultures, their way of life, the community."

I plopped down beside her and sighed. "Yeah. But ten years? I don't think I'd expected to be away for that long. I'm going to want to visit home again, and I hope that this agreement isn't something I regret."

"Shippo, why did you leave home?"

"I wanted to find my family and learn more about who I am."

She turned her glittering sunshine smile on me. "There are many ways to learn more about yourself. Maybe you'll find your knowledge in a book. But simply living is the way most of us grow. Every person you meet, every sight you see, every life you save? It all makes up who we are, and without it, we are nothing."

ceremony

After we'd lived amongst the people for a few weeks, I felt like I was ready to announce our decision to stay. Chiran made arrangements, and a small group of guards and some residents we'd met crowded into the great hall. The khan sat in his chair on the dais, flanked as usual by the dark-skinned soldier and the weird hooded figure.

The khan allowed me to ask questions (within reason) before our acceptance, so I stepped forward and knelt, looking up at the community's leader with interest.

"Baikal Khan, do you really believe in your motto, in balance and peace?"

When he heard my translated question, a confused smile crept across his face. "Why would we not believe? This is the way."

"But if there is to be balance and peace, why are raiders still hurting the people? Why have they not been stopped, yet?"

The khan's displeasure rippled through the room like an earthquake deep below the surface, barely sensed but with the potential to be highly destructive.

Chiran answered the question. "We have increased the frequency of patrols. There have been no witnesses that can point us in the right direction. Scents have been impossible to track. We have no clues with which to work."

My eyes narrowed in contemplation. This was something that needed to be resolved before it got much worse. Perhaps they weren't looking for the right clues.

I agreed to serve, but under one condition of my own. The khan laughed at my declaration, because my agreement to serve had originally been what would grant me access to their archives.

Hu had made me realize that I didn't care so much about books that might be available. What ultimately mattered to me was ensuring that I serve for the right reasons. I told them I'd only agree and remain part of their people so long as I served to protect those weaker than myself, and not for power or glory. I would learn and grow with them during my stay.

The commander agreed with my declaration. "A guard is only as good as the love he has for his people." Without that respect for the cause, my presence would be of no use to them.

"And if someone breaks a vow to the community?" I couldn't figure out how they kept their soldiers from running away after hearing so many stories of mutilated scouts.

The khan smiled that ominous shudder-inducing toothy grin again, and I had to wonder if he was the reason this community had a dragon on their banners. He spread his hands wide and tilted his head to the side, allowing his blue-black hair to spill over a shoulder as his youki spread throughout the room.

Chiran said, "Breaking a vow upsets the balance, and we do what we must to maintain the balance." Maybe the khan really did eat the rule-breakers.

-o-

The ceremony to induct new members of the guard was some interesting ritual combination of body painting and youki transfer. The dark-skinned guard standing next to the khan stepped down from his spot and collected a tray from a female in simple robes that stood nearby.

I had learned just enough of the language to understand his words as he approached Hu. "I am Kiapo, and we welcome you to our home." He carefully outlined some marks on the skin over her breastbone with a dark blue paint. I recognized the symbols from the tapestries that lined the keep's entrance. He finished with Hu's, then he turned to me and dipped his fingertips in the small pot of paint to repeat the pattern.

The vague sensation of his fuzzy magic crept along my skin, tasting my aura and sussing out my intentions. My lips curled in amusement. 'So that's how he does it.' If the khan was using Kiapo to figure people out with just a touch, then it would be a very quick way to decide who told the truth, who really deserved punishment, and who might make a good addition to the team.

I closed my eyes and focused on feeling, allowing my attentions to drift away from what we can see and hear, and fell into those loops and wisps of magic that cling to every living thing. Kiapo's magic looked as fuzzy as it felt, with tiny tendrils of fluff that poofed out to sink into the quiet recesses of my spirit. The more time he took touching me, the more he likely picked up. Could he read minds?

The fingertips efficiently tracing paint along my chest slowed and took on a more intentional pace, as though instead of marking me with the community pattern, he was just caressing the skin. I peeked through my lashes at his expression and caught the slightest hint of a smile on his lips before he placed one last swipe and stepped away from us.

I briefly considered what it might be like to play with that one before the rather imposing khan stepped forward and blocked my view.

The khan spoke the community's phrase and then waited for Hu to do the same. As she did, he pricked his fingertip with a claw, made a tiny cut in the center of her painted pattern and touched his blood to hers. She gasped, staring up into his face for a moment before she knelt with an arm crossed over her chest in a sign of respect.

He turned to me and repeated the same actions. The khan's youki struck like a lightning bolt, zipping through my chest and sucking the air from my lungs. The sensation pulsed outward from me and I could briefly sense each member of the community as they lit up around us in the resulting shockwave of power. I knelt and made the same salute as Hu, wondering if she'd had the same reaction to the ceremony.

The khan laughed and slapped us both on the shoulder before pulling us to our feet. Cheers erupted around the room and one of the guards brought us some celebratory drinks. I was a little less suspicious of this handout and took a sip, peering around the khan at Kiapo. A slow smile spread across his lips once he noticed me looking, but then he turned his attention to another person standing in the hall and I wasn't sure what to think. I was terribly curious about getting another sample of his fuzzy magic, though.

Angara

Upon completion of the ceremony, the hooded figure standing on the dais clapped once in celebration, pushed back the concealing hood to reveal a very young girl with dark blue-black hair. She picked up the end of her long robes to hop off a tall stool hidden beneath her over-sized outfit.

I laughed in surprise. I knew I was a perfect example of appearances being deceiving, but I doubted this girl had been around even half as long as I had. "Angara," she pointed to herself, smiling in welcome as she approached us.

Chiran spoke. Hu was getting annoyed with translating everything for me, but I was getting better at picking up the words. "Angara is Baikal Khan's daughter. She is still learning how to control her abilities. Do not touch her, or there might be an accident."

"Accident? I wonder what kind?" I briefly imagined people bursting into flame or melting into puddles, or maybe being turned inside out to end up in a squishy pile of blood and guts in the middle of the meeting hall.

Hu asked for more information, and the awkward laugh and blush that graced the commander's cheeks told us plenty without him explaining further. Whatever it was, it was likely hilariously bad and I didn't want to experience that firsthand.

The little girl beamed up at me with open curiosity. Chiran cleared his throat before adding on one last sentence, "Angara wishes to practice on you."

'What.'