Chapter 1: Exile
#2 of Chō Kokuyouseki
Ch?
Summary: "A world filled with hatred, yet light still glitters in the distance. A world filled with pain, yet warmth still burns alone. A world devoid of color and life, yet an effervescent blush still flutters just ahead." This is the saying of the little hidden creatures of the enchanted forests.
Chapter 1: Exile
???
Chapter Summary: "We fear what we don't know only because we fear what is unclear or shrouded. But what happens when the path you walk becomes shrouded in uncertainty? "
Warning: Explicit Gore, Cannibalistic behavior, Animal Cruelty, OC death
Last time in Ch?...
_All he had to do was wait for the glass to clink.
Clink, Clink, Clink. And there it was. The prattle began dying down to low curious whispers; no one knew what they were here for exactly. Of course they knew something big had happened and they would be the first to know outside the Land of Kage.
"We're mighty glad that so many nobles were able to make it out here tonight for this very special occasion. Akina and I would like to proudly introduce you all to-..." Sothe waited for the last bit so that the curtains would drop open to reveal him and his tanechigai to the gaping audience. But instead of the rest of the announcement he heard a wet heavy splat as something wet and heavy-like hit the curtain..._
Currently...
What seemed like a new age, a promising future, turned quickly to be a horrid truth and striking reality for not only the newly orphaned Princes, but the entire Land of Kage. What should have been not only a beautiful Salutation Commencement followed by the bright festivities of the summer solstice festival became a dreary dark funeral for the great Lord Hiroki and Lady Akina.
Many attended the funeral out of respect for both the high ranking youkai, though you could see the wayward glances some women shot from underneath their veils and the twitching of elongated and furred ears whenever a murmur was slightly picked up. Everyone thought and wanted to ask the same question; who killed the Lord Kage and his wife? That question was to be answered in but a day or two after the funeral.
There was something even stranger though, not so much to the public but in the sanctity of the castle among the servants; where was Hanayo?
Two days before the funeral....
"I took the liberty of scheduling your parent's funeral in two days. Of course your otousan* will be buried in the family royal grave next to your okaasan's* remains while Lady Akina will be buried on the other side of your otousan," the raspy voice continued to drawl from the decrepit youkai spider monkey as he recited plans from a scroll he held.
Saru* was one of the oldest council members on the board. He'd not only served Lord Kage Hiroki but even served his father before him and his father before him and even assisted a bit in Sothe's upbringing. Dwindling down back to a crippled four nine after centuries of hard dedicated service but only reaching four five due to the serve hunch he walked with the senile youkai sounded and looked to be on or have broken his last leg long ago.
His skin looked thicker then cracked dried leather, nothing but a blackening carcass not even worth the buzzards' time to pick at. His fingers were long and bony, skin barely being managed to be stretched over the thin brittle bones just enough. His hair was stringy and sparse. It was black and greasy with giving away to sun spots on top of his head.
He coughed, hacking up who knows what, maybe a lung or liver before continuing in an adoring sickly syrupy voice, "ahh- your otousan! What a man he was, one of a kind our Kage Hiroki-sama* was indeed. I just wish you truly got to experience the whole chichi-musuko* bonding. I'm sure you would have loved him just as much as we servants did."
"I highly doubt that. Especially with that hanyou Akina under him like a child. Everywhere chichi went, she was would tail after him, and if he had to go off on business and leave her behind, she would fret about him to all the servants around the palace, wondering if he was okay like he was some wretched useless child. He tolerated that and I won't. I won't tolerate her or that abomination she gave birth to." Sothe sneered at the thought of his tanechigai being around.
The old man and squawked at the disrespectful commentary Sothe made about his mother and brother and was intending to tell him, morning Prince or not, just how lucky he was to have been related to either of them. "Kage Sothe-?ji*! Now is that the young kit that Lady Chiyo raised and I watched over? I think not. You shouldn't speak so disrespectful of Lady Akina or Kage Hanayo-?ji!" He hacked up a spitting cough, fleas jumping from his grayish black greasy hair.
"Lady Akina hadn't been all too respected as she grew up. It wasn't until she reached womanhood, divine in her duties and still chaste, that her spiritual powers evolved tremendously into something no hanyou, youkai, or ningen had or ever could for millennia's reach. She was the most powerful miko* of this day and age with the finesse of a pure white swan. Her heritage only made, her, but even more so and your otoosan's offspring that more important. It isn't like you can really get rid of him. He's ?ji too and though no one knows of him just yet they will when we announce his birth after..."
"Saru you will respect me. With my chichi's death I am no longer Kage Sothe-?ji but Kage Sothe-sama, you will address me as so. Akina was no haha of mine. She may have been great in power but no amount of power will change the taint in her blood and how unworthy to the kitsune she was. As for my tanechigai Hanayo I think that's a perfect idea..." He shot the man a glare from where he lounged shifting in his spot.
Sothe sat on top of the throne, slacked in posture, so instead of sitting he was rather lounging. He'd been bored with all the old dying council members coming and giving him all these reports of how they set some meeting up, some ceremony up, or something else he fount entirely pointless for him to need to know right at this present moment. They were youkai and lived long enough that he could take weeks, no years to deicide when he wanted a funeral for his father's death to show a bit of respect. The man didn't deserve much going behind kitsune back and marrying and impregnating Akina but he would get a bit so that Kage would not make a fuss when Sothe's Inauguration Ceremony came around.
Now though...now he was rather interested in the thought of getting rid of Hanayo. Not to mention he was rather irritated that he'd been reprimanded about the way he spoke about Akina like some child. He wasn't some boy that needed reminding of who raised him. The inkling thought of his mother, Chiyo, being disappointed at him for such behavior nagged at the back of his conscious but he swatted it away refusing to listen to such a trivial thing. Of course his mother would agree with him.
Saru seemed a bit confused as to what exactly was such a good idea so with a chuckle Sothe decided to enlighten the elder on what was leaving him so elated. "Getting rid of Hanayo was your way of putting it I believe. It sounds like a wonderful plan just how would I go about doing it..."
Sothe stoked down the column of his neck starting as his chin with his index finger as he gazed up at the ceiling. The faint bustle of moving servants and of course Saru's now even more labored breathing and speeding heartbeat were the only tunes as the man-boy pondered for a bit.
"...hmmm well I could always have you draw up some official documents saying: blah, blah, blah... hanyou by the name of Hanayo has been here by exiled from the Land of Kage for treason, blah, blah, blah...he is to be sent to farthest reaches west and never to be seen within Kage or any neighboring lands ever, blah, blah, blah...If traitor ever spotted or being aided Kage Sothe-sama will execute hanyou and any that assist it yadda yadda all that good stuff and anything that will make sure I can do virtually anything I want to him if I find him near here and sees me in the right and him as a traitor."
Saru's old dim black eyes widened in fear as he thought of what Sothe was in plain and simple doing to Hanayo. It could be worse honestly, he could have said to have the boy out right executed but still he was making it impossible even for those far from the touches of Kage to even help the babe without basically calling war against them. No nation wanted war with Kage.
He would have to try and reason with the boy. "But Kage Sothe-sama, how could you do something that's against your otousan's wishes? He wanted you and your tanechigai Kage Hanayo-?ji to be mated and wed to each other. Could you truly go behind his back and break dying wish?"
"Well my chichi never had taken in the option that Hanayo would kill him and his own okaasan so soon out of the womb, of youkai heritage indeed." Sothe snickered at the way Saru's old face scrunched up. He knew how to hit below the belt. He'd been taught that despite what ningens said that just because they were called youkai didn't relieve them of feelings and it physically pained Saru to have anyone say or verbally thing that of their kind. He distantly wondered if the man would have a hear attack from the stress that could be practically seen weighing down the crippled and die. Less nagging he'd have to deal with he thought mentally shrugging.
"B-but My Lord, the young ?ji couldn't have done such an unforgivable sin for he is just newly born, not to mention had been with you at the time the event had taken place." This looked even worse then he thought. Sothe seemed to really be thinking and if this was the case then Hanayo stood no chance. He had to salvage the boy's existence because Hiroki's last order to him was to give his life to protect Hanayo. His eyes darted jittery-like to a spot next to the throne successfully unnoticed by Sothe.
"But others do not know that my dear Saru; who would I tell otherwise anyways? I'll make an announcement of the killer being caught and banished due to his young age away from the lands after the funeral. You will post posters with his name and picture all through out the lands, maybe insert a clause for anyone that speaks of the killer's heritage in, or out side the palace from this day on being killed..."
"I won't do it." Saru's voice trembled and was just barely over a whisper but the young kitsune heard him either way and stopped his monologue.
"What did you say?"
Saru lowered his head so that his old shoulder's popped as he hunched over making himself smaller. His knees clattered sound like old bones rattling. "Kudasai* m-my lord have me not do such horror to your only sibling. Where is the honor in such?"
"Honor? You want to know where my honor is." The loud, echoing bellow of Sothe's laughter filled the throne room with an ominous weight. "Oh my dear Saru, you amuse me so. I can see why chichi kept you around for so long," his words laced with sweet venom dripped as he slid off the throne and began down the steps lazily.
"I-i meant you n-no disrespect Kage Sothe-sama!" The aged croaky voice raised a few octaves out of its natural range. His gangly long blackish arms wrapped around his fragile head as he cowered.
His natural form was taking shape on instinct. His old legs lengthened along with his arms so they seemed about twice his body size. Black ticks of fur were spotting all over so his skin looked burnt as that too all length along with the addition of the long black tail. In a matter of seconds, like water, the old, decrepit man turned to a spider-monkey about half the size of what the man had been.
"K-kudasai my lord g-gomen nasai; for such a humble servant as I has wronged." Collapsing to the floor Saru began kissing Sothe's feet once the young kitsune was in front of him.
"It's rather late for such formalities and groveling old fool. It's such a shame that we had to lose you too because you were fount out to be a conspirator along with the hanyou. The whole murder mystery makes sense now seeing as the boy was young; he had help and that help was you. We'll have to say that because of the hazard immediate execution was required. Your body wasn't as feeble as it appeared to be."
Wrapping his lithe fingers around the primate's neck, Sothe's skin started bubbling like boiling water. In the blink of an eye it was no longer man and beast but predator and prey. A still rather small, but larger then normal, fennec kitsune growled forebodingly showing off rather sharp canines. Sandy brown fur was sleek compared to the grungy graying black fur of the primate. Fingers no longer trapped Saru's neck but a paw with sharpened claws.
"It really is a shame Saru you had to die this way," Sothe murmured out before with a Cheshire -like grin and a purring growl Sothe's head dived down his muzzle opening and snapping down onto the Saru's neck.
It was the symphony of crunching bones, gushing blood, ripping flesh and meat along with the high pitched agonizing squeals that Hanayo's only defender died to. There had been one last action he'd done before his death; a pleading glance was sent over to the same spot as the fleeting earlier glance.
Only after chewing through most of the muscles, tendons, and bones so that the spinal cord glistened out pearly white, did Sothe stop the cannibalistic act and transform back to his humanoid form. It had sounded like wild savage wolves feasting on dead wounded prey. Blood was smeared across his milky pale cheeks and lips. His hair, which when humanoid looked like bed hair with slight brushing, was tousled even more in tangles plastered soaked to his skull as blood dripping from his flickering tan ears.
"Ah man Kuro* I broke a nail on that stale old meat. You think it'd be something rather simple and respectably clean but I say no matter how aged a kokoro is a kokoro," in a rather childish whine Sothe turned to a man that seemed all but hidden in the shadows beside the throne.
Kuro was a talk prideful and respectable hanyou just like Lady Akina had been. With a mix of the two breeds Black Panther and saber tooth he stood at about seven two, his skin stretching over ripples of muscles so black it was almost a deep shade of purple, he was very popularly sought among the nobles. His hair just a shade of black darker then his skin reflected a prism of colors when shinning in the light rested down at his hips. Only the whites of his eyes and the sharp over hanging canine stood out against him. Being of mixed-breed like Hanayo, though not as much, he bore no other demon like appearances other then his canine.
"Oh well I guess there are some sacrifices to be made in the case of taking out the trash." He walked back towards the throne picking pieces of meat from between his teeth flicking them onto the floor. He plopped back down onto the throne with a heavy sigh propping his chin up as he looked at the mess he'd made before twisting so that his head dangled off one side of the throne near Kuro and his feet off the other. He idly grasped the larger man's hands into his own and traced along the palms of them with his finger.
Kuro showed no signs of acknowledgement or disgust as Sothe voiced his thoughts. "Kuro; you've taken care of me since I was like a young pup. You're probably the only person I can trust. Dispose of my tanechigai gaki Hanayo killing him in the farthest western lands there is. I don't want anyone catching wind of his blood and just how closely we are related."
?
Kuro sped across the lands far from Kage into unknown areas to him. Tucked inside the nook of his right arm in a peaceful slumber was the young Hanayo. It had been only a couple days since he'd started out on his mission to and it was about time to stop and complete it. Sniffing the air he made sure no ningen or youkai were in the area and held the boy in one hand.
He was dressed in a tightly stretched leather animal hide for a top that was then died black. It was sleeveless leaving his arms free to house the curved blade on one arm and the tribal tattoos on the other and covered most of his torso but his chiseled six pack and a span of tattoo that covered his torso too. His pants were rather loose fitting almost like the hakamas of a monk while his feet were bare. Strapped along the wide span of back was a katana given to him when he was just a pup by Sothe's father when he was just a pup.
As if aware of his fate pale shades fluttered open to reveal soft, wide, lilac eyes. He cooed at the intimidating man with a smile showing the deepest little pits in his cherubic cheeks. He scented the area much like Kuro his little button noise ruffling at the new world aromas.
"I was told to kill you Kage Hanayo-?ji. It is fate's dealing that you die at such a young age but may the bountiful Goddess Artemis of my people watch over you in the afterlife," the sound of metal sliding out of its sheath was the only other sound as Hanayo seemed oblivious to himself about to be murdered. With an Amazonia prayer whispered Kuro raised his blade only to bring it down with a wet sloshing thud of something small....
To be continued......
A/N: Ha! Cliff hanger. I honestly didn't think this one would rate as high as it did with the reviews. I mean most writers don't get their first review until like almost a year after they've posted it especially if it's their first piece or they're not someone that often publishes a lot. I want to thank all of you who reviewed and read. It made me do the last stretch of this chapter and I'm going to start right away on the third. As promised with each new set of Japanese words I'll list off what they mean. If you want if you put your email address in a review I will let you know of all updates that appear. Until next time; Jaane!
Terms
Otousan: A way to refer to someone else's father
Okaasan: A way to refer to someone else's mother
Saru: Monkey
Kage Hiroki-sama: Shadow Lord Hiroki. Notice when I'm not using it in dialect I still word it the Japanese way. So instead of putting Kage Lord I put Lord Kage.
Chichi/Musuko: Father/Son (Note that otousan is a way to refer to someone else's father while chichi is how one would refer to their own and musuko is referring to one's own son)
Kage Sothe-?ji/Kage Hanayo-?ji: Once again it's a bit different in Japanese dialect then when worded oppose to so. This roughly means Shadow Prince Sothe. Same goes for when Saru talks about Hanayo, its Shadow Prince Hanayo.
Miko: Priestess
Kudasai- Please
Gomen nasai- I'm sorry (formal if I remember correctly)
Kuro-Black
As for my reviewers:
(aff.net)
Zelasii: Don't worry about it I'll have a dictionary of the words I use from now own so you don't have to bother looking. The incest thing won't actually take place until mostly the end. If I get this going like I want it then you will see very little in this Ch? and will have to wait till the next series which you'll find out about later. Glade you like it.
Alpha Infidel: As I stated in the author's note I will from now on make sure that I defined anything that isn't English or well known basic knowledge to anyone and about the spelling and grammar errors probably just my tired eyes and no beta. I will get onto those though after more is posted up.
Anon: Do you really think so? I'm trying for something a bit original but everything now-a-days is being done.
Aniki: Domo Arigato Aniki. So glade you liked.
Wistful-Dreamer: Gomen nasai. It's been a bit harder to go through this school year then I thought it would have been.
Kazue: Dom o Arigato. I feel so special now. Yes it is something like InuYasha in a sense; just no priestess in a short green skirt. Yes I am trying to get more of your demon variety going on here. InuYasha was pretty much centered on a few and then everything else you were unsure of. All these will be after animals if not human and if often not mixed-breed too. The m-preg will actually not happen as soon as you think so you're going to have to wait for that part. And no the uke will not run into the arms of anyone. He's a more resilient uke not so submissive and weak-like. I've actually been having a huge school work load with it being my senior year so that stops me from being able to work on it as much but I'm planning to make time for it.
Sekre: I'm really glade you like it I'll try to keep updating soon. Hanayo typically like InuYasha has three forms. One that he goes around as on normal days which is his hanyou form (often showing some kind of indication to his demon heritage though mostly human attributes), and then there is the youkai form which is something more animalistic and in this sense even more. It was when writing this chapter that I decided to instead of having it still human like appearance all full youkai appearances are in the form of their animal. For this case Hanayo's youkai form is that of the more dominate pure blood of his two parents; his father who is kitsune. In this chapter you find out they take after the fennec fox which is actually the smallest of foxes but grow to substantial sizes. Hanayo natural just a newborn is around the actual size of a fennec fox. He takes this form though only during the waxing gibbous which is the part of the moon cycle that is more then half but less then full as it in going up. The empty sliver that isn't full in on the right hand side of the moon. Then of course there is Hanayo's human nights where he has no extra demon abilities or qualities to help him. He takes this form on the waning gibbous which is right after the full moon and before the half going down and the missing sliver of the moon is on the left side. All these in actual looks were explained towards the end of the prologue so you can put this clearer bit of information with what you have. Here's a link to go see as to what a fennec fox actually looks like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fennec_Fox_@_Africa_Alive,_Lowestoft.jpg
I'll go into more detail of his human form later.