Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Blood of the Gods: Part One- When the Sun Sets ❯ Self Banishment ( Chapter 14 )

Self Banishment

 

 

 

Kannashi ran into the town surrounding the manor, his strides long and smooth so as not to jar the woman clutched to his chest. Eyes watched him from the safety of their huts, mothers pulling overly curious children back into their homes. Kannashi couldn't care less. Let them do what they want. He needed to find someplace to hide. He slid to a wide ally between a couple of old shops a lot like the ones in the Capital. His mind raced. They couldn't go back into the forest, that would be to predictable and he still needed to wait for Moriko. There was fucking way in hell he was going back to that manor so that left only the village. But where in the village? He froze. Someone was running this way. His body tensed, strength building in the event it would be needed to protect Aki. An old man stopped and peered into the ally, aged brown eyes searching the dark, “It is you. You are that man from Capital. The famous thief, correct?” Kannashi shifted, eyeing the man suspiciously, “I am.” The old man nodded, “Please come with me. I will help you.” Kannashi hesitated before moving after the man who had begun running slowly down the street. The man turned into a dark shop, standing in the entryway to hold the reed mat aside. Kannashi bowed his head a little in thanks and moved quickly inside. It was dark and everything was thinly veiled in dirt. It had clearly been abandoned long ago. The old man shuffled busily around the shop, gathering some things in the dark. He abruptly stopped, “Come in here.” He lifted another mat to reveal another door at the very back of the store that led to a room that could only be an old shop keeper's room. Kannashi stepped in and glanced around. There was a reed pallet on the floor in the far corner, an old fire pit in the center of the room and an empty water bucket that sat upturned next to the fire pit. He laid Aki gently on the pallet as the old man tried to start a fire in the old pit. Kannashi blinked when the soft orange of fire filled the room. “She is injured?” “Yes.” He brushed a stray hair out of her face, noticing the claws on his fingers with unfocused interest. The old man approached them with a wet cloth in his hand and a bowl of water, “Can I see?” Kannashi nodded mutely, slowly moving Aki so that she was lying on her stomach. Crimson soaked her back, but she seemed to have stopped bleeding for now. There was a deep gash in the back and a much smaller wound on the back of her head that was just starting to bleed again. Kannashi watched closely as the old man drew the cloth carefully over her back, flakes of dried blood falling to the floor. Aki groaned softly, but didn't wake. Kannashi grimaced when he saw how deep the wound was. The old man answered his unvoiced worry, “She will survive, though this one on her back will scar.” He glanced up at Kannashi, a small frown deepening the wrinkles on his face, “What happened?” “I do not know…” Kannashi looked away for a moment, shame and guilt washing over him, “I was not there.” The old man let the subject drop. He continued to clean the back of the young girl on the pallet before him, casting frequent glances at the thief behind him. This was only up- close look at the man he'd ever had. Bright violet eyes and sandy hair, tanned skin and the strange clothing, even if he was half dressed. The claws attracted most of his attention. He'd never seen anything except an animal with claws. I wonder… He glanced at the girl's hand. Claws. How- He stopped when something near the girl's waist moved. It slithered around one of her legs before ceasing all movement. A snake? He reached over to touch it when a soft growl came from behind him. He went ridged. The man's voice drifted over his ears, “Do not touch that.” He nodded and the growling stopped. “Are you going to run now? Are you?” The old man stopped and looked back, “Why?” Kannashi stared at him like he had two heads. “Should I be scared?” It dawned on Kannashi that the old man hadn't noticed yet. “Look.” He gestured to her head where her darkly furred ears moved to focus on the sound of his voice. Brown eyes widened and a wheezy gasp escaped him, “Are those-?” Kannashi nodded then reached out as if to touch her legs, “Watch.” They waited for a moment after his claws lightly touched her skin. The tail that had secured itself around her leg slowly unwound and gently snaked around Kannashi's forearm. The old man looked back at her face when she sighed contentedly and seemed to slip deeper into unconsciousness. “What is she?” Kannashi searched the voice for any fear or disgust but only found some level of awe and curiosity. He looked at Aki's peaceful face, a small grin on his own face and reached out to gently touch her ears, “She is mine and that is all I need to know.” He moved closer to Aki and just sat next to her, tail still around his arm, his eyes never leaving her face. The old man watched emotions run through the young man's strange violet eyes, his aged mind wondering what the girl's eyes looked like. Were they violet like his? Or were they some other color abnormal to human kind? He looked away with a small smile, continuing with his work. “How do you know me?” The old man kept bandaging Aki's back, “I wondered when you would ask that.” Kannashi waited for him elaborate. “I met you on a trip to the Capital. I was in the bazaar when someone began to yell the most obscene things. I turned around and there you were, running over the shops like you hadn't a care in the world. I watched as you leapt and flew over my head, guards chasing after you as you laughed. It was the most exhilarating thing I have ever seen, even today. Then I watched you disappear like magic.” He glanced at Kannashi, “You inspired me. I'm not exactly sure how, but you did.” Kannashi watched the old man get a jovial look on his face, “I promised myself that if I ever got the chance, I would help you.” Kannashi shifted a little until his curiosity got the better of him, “Why?” “Because it is people like you that make the world better. People like you who can inspire others into being great.” The old man paused for a moment to reach around and tie off the ends of the green cloth he was using as a bandage. “I envy you. You may not know it but you have the whole world under your foot.” They suddenly froze when a loud howl pierced the air. Kannashi ran out of the shop, his voice echoing behind him, “Do not leave! I have to go but I willll be right back!” And he was gone.

 

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Moriko gazed up at the heavy clouds that moved slowly over head, obscuring the sky and tinting the world around her a dull grey. Her eyes were drawn to where her children lay, torn bodies buried under the ground at the base of a beautiful oak tree. The earth over their graves still looked freshly dug, but to her, it seemed like an eternity since she saw her children last. That night… It seemed so long ago…

 

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Grass whipped at her ankles as she ran, eyes alight with a fierce rush of maternal anger. The immature growls of her son reached her sensitive ears over the rest of the world and on the air, she could smell it. Hikari's blood. The scent of it permeated the air all around her, filling her already clouded mind. She roared in anger, rage blinding her. The heads of many surrounding guards snapped up, eyes wide and unbelieving when she slid around the manor wall. She was like a wild thing, ears laid back, fanged teeth bared and claws flashing in the wane lights of the night. She crashed into the nearest guard, her claws tearing into him as if he were made of paper. He fell to the ground in a heap of bloody flesh and she stood over him like some predator over her kill, her breath coming out in angry pants. Time slowed for a moment, all of them staring as she continued to growl loudly into the deafening silence. The spell was broken, “Mamma!” “Mother!” Hikari scrambled to her feet as she and Atama ran to their growling mother, clinging and hiding under her as she crouched over them. Guards yelled and ran at her, various spears and swords held high. She snarled wildly, something inside of her just twisting until it snapped. So many eyes, belonging to the so many men that swarmed around her… She wanted to kill them all. She wanted to kill all these people for threatening her family. They all had to die. Flashes of metal, the piercing sounds of screaming, claws swung through the air, blood flew over her… It all blurred, but she didn't care. It was glorious. Screams that belonged to so many voices, growls and roars that just might have been hers; they all danced so intimately together in the night, filling the sky until the moon shook with her rage. The screams suddenly stopped, ending magnificently with the sick thud of a body hitting the ground in the grassy pool of blood at her feet. Marvelous yellow eyes were bright with her victory, tail lashing out behind her like an angry snake. Cuts and bruises blanketed her body, blood, both hers and that of her victims, flowed down the length of her, staining her skin with the sins of death. She reveled in it. The feel of the massacre on the skin, the smell of fresh blood and fear that still swan upon the wind. It was truly beautiful.

Movement. A sharp cry of pain. Then, a light thud. She turned and saw the most terrifying sight. It was horrible. She couldn't describe it. Couldn't wrap her mind around it. There were no words that could wholly describe what she saw. A female archer stood over Atama, bow drawn, the shiny metal tip aimed carefully at her, but her eyes only saw her boy on the ground, an arrow protruding out of his deathly still body as he lay in the grass, eyes open, blank and staring right at her, his fear frozen there forever. Hikari had collapsed next to her brother's body, emerald eyes wide with shock. Time slowed once more. The archer released her arrow, mouth set in a grim line. It flew through the air, whistling softly in her ears. She should have moved, should have noticed the promise of death flying at her, but she didn't. She couldn't look away from the prone body of her son. Her baby boy… He was dead. Her body suddenly jerked back with the force of the arrow biting harshly into her chest. She heard someone cry out somewhere outside of her mind, but she had lost the ability to focus on it. The terrified sound seemed so far away. Pain throbbed in her chest while the soft feel of the bloody grass against her skin contrasted against it. Atama's face still flashed behind her eyes, causing her to be unsure if she was completely conscious or not. The scents of blood, grass and death swirled around her, and where it had been so intoxicatingly beautiful moments before, not only made her drunk with shock. Someone was shaking her and crying, their tears dripping onto her face, but she couldn't see them. She was blind to everything except the image of her son's wide blank with death eyes. Someone was howling, the sound might as well have been the tearing of metal it was so horrible in its agony. She couldn't take it. Another arrow whizzed through the air and the howling stopped. Something slumped onto her, the light weight almost unnoticed. More movement. Someone was yelling, their growls forcing the air into a simmer. The sound of running footsteps in the grass. A vaguely familiar scent wafted into her fog filled head. A loud roar and then the thick smell of fresh blood. Someone walked closer to her. She could almost feel them tremble, their shock dancing over her. A chocking noise, like a sob. Someone began to move her and she was shocked by their gentleness. Another weight was deposited on her stomach. She was suddenly hit with the soothing scent of her children, the smell finally getting through to her hazy mind. But there was something else… Something she was missing… Hidden just under that soothing scent, was the chill of death. She finally lost all consciousness, the world growing completely dark around her until not even the face of her son flashed in her eyes.

 

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Moriko sighed. She knew now that it had been Kannashi who'd saved her. He'd killed the archer and taken her back to where he'd left her sister. He'd let an unknown man tend to her wounds and he'd watched over the both of them. He's told her that it was the morning after that horrid night when she'd finally risen from her sleep. Moriko touched the green cloth bandages that still wrapped her chest. The arrow hadn't gone deep, but it would still take some time to heal. There were some other small bandages on her forearm and both her legs where she had apparently acquired some nasty gashes obviously caused by fighting those manor guards. Everything else would heal fine on its own. She remembered waking and feeling very disoriented. Kannashi had hidden them in an old abandoned shop on the far east side of the town. Aki still slept on the pallet on the other side of the room, her breathing deep in her unconsciousness. The old man had come walking in with a bowl of something in his hands. Kannashi walked in after him, but she never saw him. Her eyes had trained on the unfamiliar old man and when he'd turned to move closer to her sleeping sister, Katsura roared out in her mind, the sound deafening in its viciousness. She'd jumped up, despite the burning in her wounded body, and slid to a stop in front of Aki, fangs bared angrily with a growl of warning rising from her throat. Kannashi had run up to her, disarming her with his presence and introducing her healer. Moriko bowed in both thanks and apology, noticing that it was merely water in the bowl. She stepped down and allowed the old man to change Aki's bandages while Kannashi watched, obviously still a little suspicious of the one helping them. Something wasn't right. Someone was missing. She gasped as it all came rushing back to her. The fight at the manor. The smell of blood. Atama's death. Those wide, glassy emerald eyes that stared blankly after her. That arrow mocking her from its place in his back. And how her daughter had tried to wake after that woman had shot her with that arrow. Had that been Hikari's wailing? Yes… What happened after that? When did Kannashi get there? Did he kill that woman? Where is Hikari? Did he leave them both there to bring her here? No. He wouldn't do that. But if he didn't, then where are they? Katsura growled and she stopped. All those half- finished thoughts came screeching to a halt and quickly dissipated like the morning mist. Moriko sniffed the air. The stench of death… She whirled on Kannashi, her eyes wide with panic, “Why can't I smell Hikari?! Where is she?!” He flinched at the panic in her voice, “Moriko…” She grabbed him, claws sinking roughly into the soft flesh of his shoulders, her eyes welling with tears of panic, “WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER KANNASHI?!” He just wrapped his arms around her, holding her up as she began to cry. His baritone voice was soft in her ears, “She was killed-” He choked and buried his nose in her hair for some kind of comfort; unsure of weather it was to comfort her or himself. “That woman killed her after she wounded you. I got there in time to see her do it. Hikari died before I could get back. Atama was already gone. I couldn't-” He choked again. “I'm sorry Moriko.” She cried brokenly into his chest, arms clinging to him, her soft wails impossibly loud in the quiet room. Tears leaked from his eyes to drip into her dark hair, “I couldn't protect them. When you really needed my help… I wasn't there. I was too late. If I had been there…” His eyes clenched shut and he held her tighter, “Forgive me! Please… forgive me.” She pushed slowly away from him, yellow eyes dull and stormy with her agony. He gazed at her, waiting for her to reject him. To chase him away. But she just stared, breathing harshly. It was like she was losing the will to breathe. But, suddenly, her breath evened out and she looked up at him with those fogged yellow eyes of hers, “You… the lover of my sister… and the protector of my children… Kannashi… It is not your fault. Not your burden and shame to bear. It is mine.” She offered him a weak and watery smile, “But for all that it may be worth to one so great as you… I forgive you… my brother.” She turned and walked out, following the scent of death that swam so potently on the air. Kannashi stood dumb- founded. She had called him brother. She had accepted him as her sister's lover. She had accepted him as family. As if she may never get the chance to do so again. Where was she going? What did she plan on doing that she may not return from? Blue eyes went wide with terror. Oh god! She's no going to- He hadn't even finished the thought before he was running out after her, “Moriko!” He found her staring down at the bodies of her children that lay on the grass just outside the old shop, her sword once again at her side, a broken grin on her face, and tears coursing smoothly down her face. “Take good care of my sister. She loves you.” She reached down and lifted Atama and Hikari into her arms, “Tell her I love her and that I would never forget her.” He moved to stop her, but her eyes stopped him. Such broken sadness. So much misery and agony housing itself inside of one being… It shouldn't be possible. “Stay. Stay and be here for her when she wakes.” Moriko turned and began to walk away. His body remained still, obeying her command for him to stay. She turned back to smile at him once more, “Until we meet again my dear brother. I pray it is not at a cross of blades.” She turned back and vanished into the forest while Kannashi stared after her, tears still dripping from his face as if he were a lost child left in the wilderness.