Gen-chan and the Wolf

Part 9: Breaking the Cycle

Tasuki ran one hand through his hair, thinking. It was a strange tale, the story he had just heard, it must be true though. Otherwise how could they be here? The thought led to another question. "So you’re all ghosts or somethin’?"

Arai frowned as both of her brothers looked at her. "All right," she snapped, "I get the point brothers. I’ll continue the story from here." She looked at the Suzaku seishi, "My brothers had fallen in battle, but it didn’t end there…"

* * *

The white-haired young woman carefully picked her way through the blood-stained snow. She sidestepped many dead bodies and avoided living mourners as well, on her way to her destination. Once she’d located the bodies of her brothers she could do nothing but gaze down at them sadly.

Dropping to her knees, she scooped up snow in her hands and let it melt, washing away the blood. She continued this, despite her rapidly numbing hands, until all traces of blood were gone. She didn’t look up, even when the village elder came up behind her.

What are you doing, Arai?" The old man asked gently.

She merely shook her head and carefully arranged her brother’s bodies in a more peaceful manner, straightening their torn uniforms and carefully brushing their hair back. By this time she had gathered a crowd of onlookers.

Finally one of the gathered villagers had the nerve to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder. She gazed up at the wrinkled old woman with impatience in her eyes. She wanted to get back to her task.

"What are you doing child?"

Aria frowned, what she was doing should be perfectly obvious. "I’m preparing my brothers for burial."

There was a low murmur among the onlookers. The old woman reached out a hand. "You should not be doing such a thing."

"Why not?"

"They are cursed!" a voice squealed from within the crowd. The villagers parted to reveal a wizened man holding a wooden staff in his gnarled fingers.

"What do you mean by that old man?" Arai growled impatiently.

"It is a sacred law, that no man should kill one of his own blood. Such a one is damned for all eternity. So says the law of Genbu."

The young woman hesitated, "Is it truly so?" She sank to her hands and knees in the snow and could not be persuaded to move. Finally she had to be carried back to her house.

For many hours she sat on her bed, her thoughts a confused jumble. It was dark out before she was composed enough to speak.

Glancing around, Arai noted that all of the people had finally left her to herself. Standing up, she walked to the door and peered out into the night. Her brothers were out there, in the dark. There was nothing she wanted more than to bring them back to the warmth and the light.

Damned for all eternity? She thought, hopelessness flooding over her. Then she felt a spark of defiance as her own stubborn nature took over. It cannot be.

She dropped to her knees in front of the carved statue of Genbu that her family used as an alter.

"Please Genbu," she whispered, her voice shaking, "with all your power, make it not be so. My brothers need another chance. I’d give anything, Genbu. Onegai…" She remained kneeling before the alter until she fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

Arai looked up at Tasuki mournfully, "You cannot say that Genbu was not generous. He gave them a second chance, and a third, and a great many more. Even I have lost track."

The Suzaku seishi rubbed his eyes, all of a sudden he felt as weary as Arai sounded. There was an invisible force in this place. Tasuki thought it must be the weight of all those years permeating the area. It was very subduing.

Shaking off the depression that was threatening, Tasuki walked back toward the cave’s entrance. He had to get out of this creepy cave before he lost his edge. The ghosts (that was all Tasuki could think of to call them) simply stared after him, dumbfounded.

Tasuki gazed around, unable to really see anything due to the snow. He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head a little to see who it was. "Rumiya."

"Genrou." Rumiya seemed curious and wary as well, "I know our story seems strange…demo…" He hesitated, then frowned, "Genrou...Daijobu?"

"Hai." Tasuki said slowly, "It’s just a lot for me to think about." He looked squarely at Rumiya, "I don’t do that often, ya’ know. Just, ponder something…but that’s about all I can do now. You’ve really been doing this for two hundred years." It wasn’t a question.

"What else can we do? We’ve become so trapped in our cycle of death that everything we do, every attempt we make to end the loop…simply leads back to the start. I’m not sure we can stop now. Maybe…at the beginning we could have…" Rumiya’s voice trailed off.

"%^*# that’s depressing!" Rumiya looked up in surprise, and Tasuki thought for a minute that his outburst had startled the white-haired man. From Rumiya’s expression, however, it was clear that something else had caught his attention.

"Someone’s coming."

"Nani?" Tasuki blinked, "How do you know…" Then he remembered Rumiya’s talent. "Never mind." He wondered briefly if that was how Rumiya had found him on the mountain, but pushed the questions aside, that can wait. "Can you tell who it is?"

"Iie, it’s not someone I know…but…" his voice trailed off, "there is something familiar about them…It is not something good…"

"%&(!" Just what I needed…more trouble. Tasuki rubbed his head and sighed. Is it just me or do us Suzaku shichiseishi seem to attract trouble anywhere we go?

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a giant white bear brushed past him. He knew it was Arai, but it was still startling to have such a big animal appear out of nowhere. Is it just me, or do they all turn into animals? I wonder what Rei turns into…

"What are you standing there like that for?" A voice growled behind him. For the second time in a two minute space of time, Tasuki nearly jumped out of his skin. This time it was Rei who had come up behind him. I wish they wouldn’t do that!

"Trouble!" Rumiya hissed tensely, "I recognize that scent, that aura! Even though it’s been years. Those are Kutou troops!" He reached for his dagger, "What can they want here? These are no hunters…"

Hai…they are…Tasuki thought, not hunters of animals though.. I get the feeling it’s me they’re hunting. How did they know I was here and not with the others? He pulled out his tessen.

"Bastards!" That was from Arai, who had changed form again, "They’re desecrating this place with their very presence."

"We gotta get rid of them!" Rumiya was adamant.

Rei shrugged, "Why?"

"NANI!?!" Rumiya turned. "Oh! I forgot…you worked for them, Rei. I suppose now you’ll just stand back and let them finish what you started." He gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, "You’ll never change!"

"Is that so?" Rei seemed angry, "I would be happy to prove you right, brother. Just come a little closer with that knife."

"Yamete!" Arai’s voice was practically a roar. Tasuki felt like roaring too, it was not the time to be fighting with each other. It was time to fight the Kutou soldiers.

Rumiya snorted angrily, but turned his attention to the oncoming troops. The snow had died down a bit, so Tasuki could see their uniforms and the sharp blades of their swords. Offhandedly he noticed that Rei had not stepped outside of the cave, apparently he couldn’t pass the entrance.

The Suzaku seishi took a fighting pose, holding his tessen tightly. He couldn’t afford to not use the flame now…there was just too much at risk. But for some reason, he didn’t want to reveal himself as a Suzaku shichiseishi. Not now…after the story he’d heard. He wanted to tell them and have the chance to explain why he hadn’t said anything before.

I can tell Rumiya…his secret is just as big…maybe bigger…than mine. I guess we have more in common than I would’ve thought before. We’re not regular people anyway…

Now was not the time, however.

* * *

Rumiya launched himself at the first soldier, brandishing his dagger. The man didn’t even have time to draw in enough breath for a shout before he was cut open from neck to navel. The second soldier parried Rumiya’s first attack with his blade, but succumbed shortly after.

A peaceful person huh? Rumiya had told Tasuki that when they first met. The Suzaku seishi couldn’t see it now though. He looks like a wild animal defending its territory… He snapped back to attention as a blade flashed past his nose.

"%^&*!" He brought his tessen around and hit the soldier who’d attacked him across the head. There was a loud *crunch* then the man fell to the snow. Tasuki didn’t have the time to wonder if the man was dead or not. He was too busy fighting off more soldiers.

* * *

Rei stood in the cave’s entrance, trembling. He knew somehow that it wasn’t him they wanted, that they didn’t care what was in the cave…What he didn’t know was why watching his otouto-san fight the Kutou soldiers hurt so much. I kill him all the time, it doesn’t matter if he dies again. Somehow he couldn’t persuade his heart of something his head already knew. Rumiya-chan…

…brother…

He watched, frozen in place, as one of the Kutou soldiers came up behind Rumiya. The soldier lifted his sword.

…otouto-san!

* * *

Rumiya didn’t have time to defend himself, he hadn’t seen his opponent coming up until it was too late. Genrou was nowhere near and he didn’t know where Arai was. All he knew was that he was going to die. Again! No matter how much it happened he didn’t think he would ever get used to it. He closed his eyes.

He opened them again when he heard a groan.

The soldier slowly keeled over, clutching his belly where a sword protruded. Rumiya looked up into a pair of gray eyes. "Rei…"

His older brother smirked, "What kind of big brother would I be if I let some Kutou flunky push my otouto-san around?"

"How…" Rumiya found himself shaking. He wasn’t dead, not this time. After that realization came another, an even more startling one. "Rei. This isn’t the cave."

The gray-haired man blinked, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him, "It isn’t." He looked down at himself, "This isn’t the cave." He smiled, "I’m finally out of that stupid cave!"

"Celebrate later!" Tasuki’s voice carried over the shouts of the Kutou soldiers, "We’re fighting for our lives you idiot! This is not the time for it!"

* * *

Rei might have replied to that statement with a scathing remark. He might have chosen to reply with his sword. But at that moment he couldn’t reply.

A loud bellow rang in his ears, followed by the thick sound of a sword cleaving into flesh.

There was a loud, liquid roar, and Rei felt something like a chill in his belly. It was a cold feeling. Fear.

* * *

The sound that rang through the snowy battlefield caused the blood in Rumiya’s veins to stop. He knew that sound, knew that voice. Even when it was animal and not human.

"Arai…"

A single upward blow from his dagger, and the Kutou soldier he fought now had six inches of steel in his skull. Rumiya didn’t bother to pull the dagger out afterward, he was too busy trying to reach his sister’s side.

"ARAI!"

"Otouto-san…?"

The bear’s form had already been replaced by that of the young white-haired woman, when Rumiya finally reached her. The soldier who had injured her had no time to fight as both of Arai’s brother converged on him at the same time. He did have time to regret the day he’d been born, however.

Rei continued beating the soldier’s body while Rumiya checked up with his sister. The soldier had managed to catch her across the entire left side with his sword, no mean feat when she was in bear form. The form didn’t matter, it was a serious injury. Pulling off his robe, Rumiya attempted to staunch the flow of blood with little success.

"Oniichan!" he wailed, "Help me out here!"

The gray-haired young man stopped mauling the soldier’s dead body and came over. Seeing the situation he quickly removed his coat and applied pressure.

"Oniichan…Otouto-san…" It wasn’t working, Arai’s face was getting paler, and the snow was rapidly getting bloodier.

Both of Arai’s brothers turned as they heard footsteps behind them. Tasuki had come running after hearing Rumiya’s yell.

"What’s wrong?" Then he noticed that Arai was injured, "%^&$!" He knelt beside her and checked the injury. "^&*%! This looks bad."

"Otouto-san, Oniichan…" Arai’s voice was faint, "I’m not going to able to see the end of this curse brothers. I’ll wish you luck…Sayonara…"

"ARAI!" Rumiya dropped to his hands and knees, "Sister…this can’t happen." A thought hit him and he turned to his brother. "It’s not permanent, ne Rei-chan? She’ll come back right?"

"I don’t know…" Rei’s voice was solemn, "She never died, only we did." A shadow came over his features. "They’ll pay dearly for this." Immediately he turned and went back to fighting with a ferocity that was startling.

Rumiya couldn’t abandon his sister’s body and continued to stand by it, fighting back any soldiers who came too close with his bare fists. Tasuki fought the soldiers too, but he didn’t come too close to Arai, in case Rumiya was too incensed to notice that he wasn’t a Kutou soldier.

He was certainly too upset to notice the Kutou soldier who came up behind him. Tasuki was too far to hit the soldier with his tessen, but he had to do something.

"Lekka Shien!"

A wave of fire engulfed the armor clad man and turned him into a pile of black ash.

Rumiya sensed the Suzaku aura even as he felt the wave of heat behind him. He turned and looked at Tasuki who was holding the tessen.

"Suzaku shichiseishi…"

Tasuki nodded once, "Hai. I am a Suzaku seishi, Tasuki."

For a moment he thought Rumiya was either going to cry or yell. But the white-haired youth did neither. Instead he nodded in acknowledgement of Tasuki’s words.

The Suzaku seishi was immensely relieved, partially because he could now use his fan without having to worry about giving himself away.

"Lekka shien!" It felt good to take ou his anger on the Kutou troops. He hadn’t had much of an opportunity to vent his frustration at the situation he was in, until now.

"Take this you ^#*$!" He suddenly felt a great deal more confident. "Hey Rumiya! We’ll beat the %(? out of these Kutou ^&*%s!" He flashed Rumiya a fanged grin.

The white-haired young man smiled in a rather vicious manner and nodded curtly.

"Hai, that we will Genrou-kun…" He hesitated for a moment, "er…Tasuki-san"

"Genrou!" Tasuki yelled confidently, "No $%^$in’ Kutou soldier can beat Gen-chan"

He thought he heard Rumiya say, "I know." But he wasn’t sure so he didn’t say anything.