Chapter Seventy-Two

The Actual Tree

 

 

What had Morokata told him a few hours ago about Abihiko being trapped inside the Palace, unable to escape?

Mmmm?

Sure. Absolutely.

Abihiko's current attire was still too loud for a person who tried to disappear into the crowd. A traveler's long cloak with a roomy hood hid his face and hair, although from high in the inn's second story, Nekohiko could see Abihiko had changed his usual hairstyle into something less recognizable. Under the cloak, his robes fit snugly, but the martial arts skirt was still very obvious.

Was he preparing to fight tonight?

...And... was that a sword scabbard peeking from under his cloak, too? What was he doing with all that? Not like Nekohiko couldn't fight him anymore. He could.

Just... why now?! Nekohiko hadn't planned to battle Abihiko before the wedding! What would be the purpose? He wanted -- and could defeat Abihiko tonight, but not before he had his legal claims finalized during the marital ritual. Why would he defeat Abihiko prior to that?

He would be insane to beat the sole opportunity he had to the peaceful, quick, and smooth legal overtaking of the throne! Yet Abihiko wanted to start a damned brawl with him tonight, apparently?

Nekohiko gave Abihiko and his ridiculous battle-ready outfit a hard glower.

If you want to look inconspicuous, do not wear such pure black, you dummy, Nekohiko scoffed as he observed Abihiko's figure slink past the animated throngs in the street who really wished to see, for some reason, what was King Morokata doing here in this random inn and who was the mysterious young man Morokata was dragging around. The Hisome girls who had hurried here from Morokata's mansion blocked most of the idle spectators from seeing or hearing anything of Morokata's. But the resulting commotion only summoned so much more attention to what was going on.

Perhaps because of this and not because Abihiko in his spying outfit was oh-so-invisible was why Morokata missed Abihiko's presence. And why Abihiko finally managed to circumvent the bustling crowd in the yard and get to the wide-open doors of the Petals in Amber.

But from inside his seashell, Nekohiko could still note the irritated looks Abihiko threw over his shoulder at Kataji.

"Damn it, Kata, what did you do," Abihiko whispered under his nose but didn't really stop to check on Kataji. He headed inside the inn, casting cursory glances left and right.

"Yes, young master?" The innkeeper popped his head from the nearest door. "Welcome to Petals in Amber. How can we help you, please?"

Even before answering, Abihiko's head turned in the direction of the stairs leading up to the rooms. In his gloved hand, Abihiko lifted a small sigil burning with his Imperial brand to his eye level, noting the slightest shifts in the brand's smoldering red hue.

Ah, that was it! The brand signifying the fact that all parts of Nekohiko's wooden log belonged to Abihiko as his private property.

This was how Abihiko was tracking him to here. And anywhere, really, if Abihiko so wished. And though yesterday, Abihiko had chosen not to pursue him but to apologize instead and wait for Nekohiko to come to him -- then tonight, Abihiko apparently had decided to just do it. All consequences thrown to the wind.

Also, was everyone abusing their rights to track him today?

Nekohiko snapped back to his human form, his fists flexing fruitlessly as though wishing to rip the damn Abihiko's brand out from within his wood grain.

"You damn asshole," he groaned, getting to his feet.

He knew he couldn't use magic on Abihiko. If he did, he would instantly expose his true identity to Abihiko. And Nekohiko wasn't ready to disclose it.

Why would he ease up Abihiko's doubts about who he was? Let him not be sure till the very end. Let him drive himself mad with uncertainty.

"Mikawa," Nekohiko called into the window in a harsh whisper. "Mikawa, come get me."

No answer came, so Nekohiko grew worried. Mikawa hadn't bailed on him, had he? The boy had been so uncomfortable with their interactions lately... what if he had just chosen to ignore him from now on?

Don't tell me I'll have to escape Abihiko by jumping over the roofs like a flighty thief, Nekohiko thought desperately.

"Please?" he asked again.

Right outside the window, Mikawa's head popped at him from the above. Upside down. "Yes?"

Nekohiko didn't flinch only because he was out of flinches to give after this dramatic evening. But he was still surprised to see Mikawa hanging nearby and not leaving him behind.

He leaned out of the window to see what the rest of Mikawa's body hung off. But of course it was nothing. As expected of the Nagare Lords.

"I always wondered how you people never get dizzy even when hanging with your feet up for hours," Nekohiko whispered.

Mikawa only shrugged. "We just do. Come on, climb over."

"Wait a moment."

Now that Nekohiko was certain he had a trusted "ride" out of here, he wasn't so keen on leaving just yet. Odd as it were, he was intrigued by Abihiko's presence. Abihiko was masquerading as a nobody of importance. How would he get past the innkeeper and into the inn's rooms? The said innkeeper was so loyal to Morokata he would no doubt tattle to Morokata about any sudden visitors here. Abihiko would have to be very quiet and resourceful about this.

Also, those black, dramatic, well-fitted clothes.

Nekohiko really wanted to see it again just to remind himself how ridiculous Abihiko's ideas of a stealth mission were.

He tiptoed out of the room to the stairs, peeking from around the corner to where the innkeeper and a couple of his guarding dummies lamely tried to block Abihiko's way. The innkeeper told him about the privacy of the tenants and that "this esteemed customer" had to wait down in the lobby if he wanted to see someone from the rooms.

But Abihiko hardly paid him attention. Rather than try and smooth-talk or bribe his way through the poor man, Abihiko simply snapped a spell that shoved everyone out of his way.

Nekohiko closed his eyes hard.

Stealth mission? Quick and resourceful way to handle things?

Gods damnit, Abihiko.

His dark clothes and long hems flared on the gusts as Abihiko darted through the lobby and toward the stairs.

Having seen everything he wanted, Nekohiko no longer needed to stay. Abihiko didn't raise his head, solely watching the Imperial seal in his hands and where it told him to go next which meant that the seal would unmistakably lead him to Nekohiko whether Nekohiko hid or tried to trick his way past Abihiko.

Running was the only possibility.  The seal would still show where Nekohiko ran off to, but no way would Abihiko be able to follow Nekohiko closely, especially if Nekohiko's escape relied on Mikawa.

Nekohiko dashed past their room and toward the end of the corridor and the window there. He had already amassed a small pile of his woodchip, shavings, and spare parts in the center of the room before he'd gone off to spy on Abihiko. The Imperial seal would be distracted by all that just long enough for Nekohiko to not alert the seal to his presence so close to Abihiko.

He climbed the corridor window and latched onto the cornice just in time when Abihiko turned the corner, searching for the room. Above the inn's tiled roof, Mikawa hovered, looking preoccupied with something as he watched the courtyard and the street down below where Morokata's and Kataji's small procession was crawling toward Morokata's mansion. The boy was probably listening with the Wind Whispers to what Kataji and Morokata were talking about to one another. Too bad Nekohiko could not lose even a moment more.

"Mikawa," Nekohiko called, reaching out. "I'm ready."

"Mn."

"Just one last thing," Nekohiko added with a wild smile.

Just one small bit of enjoyment he was dying to receive.

...

"Your Majesty?" Nekohiko called at Abihiko as he posed himself most impressively on the window sill. The window was tall enough that he could stand in it in his full-height, and just far enough from the room and Abihiko that the other could hear and see him. But not reach him in time. "Did you come all the way here to see me or Kataji?"

At the end of the corridor, Abihiko drew to a halt.

His head snapped to Nekohiko, and on his paling face, Nekohiko read all the delicious shades of worry, frustration, helplessness, and anger. One after the other, in vivid flickers.

"Neko--" Abihiko started saying, lurching toward him.

"Tsk, too bad we all need to be elsewhere tonight," Nekohiko told him. "You should have warned us you were coming."

Spiteful, Nekohiko flashed his creepy smile, then waved his hand. And jumped backward into the street off the sill.

It wasn't that much of a fall, but he didn't need to worry about it. He had Mikawa.

Abihiko, on the other hand, did not know that.

"Neko, do not--!" he screamed, dashing forward and whipping a protective spell over Nekohiko.

Yet in vain. Mikawa caught him in a flash, his turbulent winds sweeping him out of the air and canceling out any of Abihiko's spells that tried to catch onto Nekohiko.

Thanks for coming, Abihiko, Nekohiko thought as all the powers of a hurricane whooshed him and Mikawa away from the inn and out into the skies.

If Abihiko flung some other spells at them from the back, it did not matter. Nekohiko didn't even check on the seashell to hear what Abihiko might be doing at this point.

Because, like Mikawa, Nekohiko was much more concerned about Kataji. The worries settled in deep, making Nekohiko squirm as he clung to Mikawa's shoulders when they whistled in the winds over the Petals in Amber and the street around it.

The ascent into the nightly skies was as fast as a whiplash, yet still somehow gentle on Nekohiko's body. Mikawa naturally canceled out most of the wind gusts around them. Only the light breeze ruffled Nekohiko's hair and clothes as they flew away from the street and toward the neighboring districts. Kataji's and Morokata's figures vanished out of Nekohiko's sight almost immediately even though he kept looking in that direction, concerned.

Nekohiko could only check that Morokata would not harm Kataji through one of his small woodchips stashed in Kataji's clothes. It wasn't much, but at least Nekohiko's nerves were pacified after he peeked in and only saw that a Hisome house doctor was tending to Kataji's ailment.

"He seems so nice and genuine," Mikawa said quietly, as though guessing the direction of Nekohiko's thoughts. "The Hisome King. Yet the Elder Sister warned me so much against him..."

The beautiful evening glow of the city below left Nekohiko and Mikawa in murk as they sliced the air over the buildings, maneuvering out of the way of most decorative Binding spells like butterflies, light wisps, flower petals, and unmelting snow going on in some of the neighborhoods. However much Nekohiko disliked the liveliness and garishness of Nara, he couldn't deny his fascination with the city view from so high above.

"Morokata is a... complicated person," he said eventually. "Please do not make assumptions about him, whether positive or negative ones. Just always treat him neutrally." Nekohiko pointed toward the glimmering hue of green hazing on the city's skyline. "That way. We're going there."

The wispy, luminous cloud decorations of the nearby buildings obscured the view to the Palace, so Mikawa at first didn't understand.

"Ex-cuse me... To where...?" the boy asked.

Nekohiko sighed. Deep inside, he agreed with Mikawa's shock. The Imperial Palace was not the best place for him to go to at the moment. Yet he still wanted to, before the wedding.

He needed to prepare some things there, and Abihiko had mercifully left the place and had even lifted all the protective barriers around it so that Nekohiko could come there anytime.

It would be sinful not to use this opportunity when he could.

Nonetheless, it was still going to be quite bothersome, wouldn't it? Guards, countless dummies ready to repel or imprison anyone who would dare attack the Palace from the outside. Without an invitation, coming there was quite a sure way to end up in the Imperial dungeons or on the head-cutting block.

For most people, at least.

"To see the Tree," Nekohiko said simply. "The Emperor is not home, don't worry."

"But... we won't even be able to come close to the Tree! The whole Palace is protected by spells! Even my Wind Whispers can't cut it close to the actual Tree, let alone myself!"

...good thing I am special, isn't it?

Nekohiko shook his head. "All you need is to drop me off at the park before the Palace. Trust me -- I know what I have to do to get inside without being noticed."

 

 

---

***

 

 

Behind them, Abihiko had broken into Nekohiko's room looking for those wooden chip parts his Imperial sigil showed. But he must have found nothing there and now stared out the window of the abandoned room, its door pried apart with his spells to let him pass without the key. Hanging off his neck, Nekohiko only saw the window sill and the floor with clothes strewn over the unrolled beds. From behind Abihiko's back came huffs of the poor innkeeper who was too stupefied by this mysterious person's malevolent behavior and could not come up with a ballsy enough statement to make him leave his unfortunate establishment.

All he could do was gape and blubber something to his dummies and servants who had also gathered in the corridor.

"...young master, please leave. This is not appropriate, to break into people's rooms... We will be forced to call for the constable!"

Abihiko swept his gaze over the darkened skies, then climbed over the sill and out the window matter-of-factly. The innkeeper's and servants' mumbling died out behind him, but that, he didn't notice either.

Slowly, he rose up, scanning the sky for something as he held his glowing Imperial seal before him like a compass. Then, without a second look back at the innkeeper and the room Abihiko had just barged in, he sprang off the window. His foot bounced off the eave above, and Abihiko used that to propel himself up and onto the roof. There, he did not stop.

He dashed over the shingles, casting a dark-shadow prop for himself to jump higher and onto the roof of the neighboring building. His footsteps were light and carried him far with each jump he made between the tall roofs of the houses of the Artists' district.

His seal guiding his pursuit, he followed Nekohiko's and Mikawa's flight even though he could not see them. They were too far away, after all. They were too fast and too free in the wind-swept skies, not anchored to the roofs of the buildings.

It would take him quite a while to catch up.

But that still didn't stop Nekohiko from scowling as he resurfaced in his doll form, clutching Mikawa's shoulders from the back. Nekohiko threw a cautious glance backward, but of course Abihiko was nowhere to be found. Though he would be. Soon.

So, what were the time frames for Nekohiko and Mikawa to do their thing in the Palace before Abihiko came too close? Probably not much more than half an hour.

Tsk.

"The gazebo is fine," Nekohiko slipped to Mikawa when the two of them started descending in the shadowy park outside the Palace. They chose to alight a bit far away from the actual Palace walls to not alarm too many guarding spells with Mikawa's presence.

But there were some spell barriers even above the apple tree groves in the park, so Nekohiko had to jump down from a considerable height. As long as Mikawa's Binder's aura did not set the alarms off, Nekohiko thought this would do.

And it did. Like a cat on all fours, Nekohiko landed on top of the filigree-wrought gazebo amidst the trees. And as Abihiko had promised him, none of the guarding alarms reacted to him.

"Thanks. I'll tell you once I'm ready to leave," Nekohiko told Mikawa, tapping a finger to his wooden skull. By this, he meant one of the woodchips he had given Mikawa to communicate through.

"Be careful. Are you sure we can't study the Tree from high in the sky?" Mikawa asked, pained. "I just don't know... this whole idea seems incredibly dangerous to me. Even insane, Nekohiko!"

To that, Nekohiko could only hold up two of his fingers in a reassuring salute. "I'm not that harmless myself, Mikawa. Take care."

He hopped off the gazebo to stalk through the twisted, fragrant trees to where the closest buildings of the Palace complex began.

Mikawa had thought up a good idea about studying the Tree from the above. After all, the top of the Great Emerald Fir in the center of the Palace could be easily observed from any corner of the fortifying walls around. It figured that directly above the Tree, one could see it even better.

But when Nekohiko and Mikawa had tried to get close to it, they ran into the barrier that stretched far and into the sky, prohibiting any proximity to the Tree. Mikawa believed he could find an angle at which the Tree would be visible, but Nekohiko had long abandoned the idea.

If someone wanted the others to see the Tree only from afar but never come close to it, then they would have thought of any loopholes or tricks to cheat the restriction. No. If it could be done, it had to be done the same way as the person who had raised all these barriers accessed the Tree. From down below. From inside the Palace itself.

Nekohiko knew the layout well enough from many books he had read about the history of the place. Plus, the recent Morokata's tour. Oddly, but that also came useful.

Nekohiko ghosted past the hedges around one of the guard posts peppering the park and garden. He stilled only once when he heard the guards inside the post exchange some mundane words with one another.

His footsteps grew lighter while his awareness of his surroundings perked up. He saw exactly where the subtle array lines of movement detection barriers were raised, and which dummy guards masked to be landscape elements in the garden would respond to any of the spell alarms going off. His clothes and their long folds bothered him, so he stripped to his naked wooden carcass and dumped his clothes somewhere in the bushes.

Much more lithe and fast now, he ducked and stepped over the spells until he came to the corner on which the two guards from the different posts met when they carried their vigil around the perimeter. Both wore the fused metal plate armor that fit their bodies snuggly, the emerald color going from midnight-green to ethereal hues of Spirit glow in the many crystalline facets. The helmets had low visors that covered everything but the lower half of their face, Bound to be translucent from the inside but hard and impenetrable from the outside -- thus giving the Imperial bodyguards an almost faceless, intimidating look¹Not sure if I described it distinctly enough (-_-). Anyway, it most resembles the Dragoon helmet from Final Fantasy games, like one here . Only without the dragon-like eyes on it ^^. Its structure will be more important for later, though. .

Each of Nekohiko's five bodyguards who had betrayed him -- had worn these same uniforms. Back then, he didn't mind it that he rarely saw their faces. But now the sight embittered him.

How easy it was to lie and harbor ill will against the person they had been protecting if nobody could see their eyes?

"Post fourteen, change," the guard announced at the corner.

"Post fifteen, change," the other replied.

One of the guards was female, the other -- male. Nekohiko quickly decided which one he needed and crept back to the trees where he was sure the guard would pass on his way back to his guard post.

There, Nekohiko waited, counting the man's steps.

Five, ten, twelve, sixteen...

Should be enough for a small scuffle to not be overheard by the female guard going the other way.

A twig snapped under Nekohiko's foot when he rose to his full height under the tree boughs. But he didn't move.

He wanted to be seen. He wanted to be heard.

The guard started. He whipped around toward Nekohiko, his hands assembling a formation for spell-casting.

But his reflex to fight quickly decreased when he saw Nekohiko's form, scarcely hidden by the tree branches. A simple Bound dummy, and one wearing the Emperor's favorite face model on it.

"Damn it, you scared me, you stupid log," the guard huffed. But he gave Nekohiko a closer look, unsure.

Why would a sex doll dummy stand here in the garden? Naked like server dummies but made so exquisitely, this must be something much, much more important than that?

And why here -- in the garden that was protected from anyone coming inside it uninvited?

Nekohiko stood motionlessly, staring before him as only a mannequin could.

The guard made one of the simplest spells to determine the maker and the owner of the dummy before him and...

"Oh." The clear Hibiki's and Morokata's auras overwhelmed everything else, but the Imperial property brand in Nekohiko was the biggest hit to the poor guard's doubts.

"His Supreme Divine Majesty's doll..." the man whispered, growing frightened. He threw glances left and right and cast a few summoning spells to the nearby dummy servants to aid him. He hurried to Nekohiko. "What are you doing here, silly. We need to take you to the Emperor's quarters!"

The guard was very uncomfortable with having to touch Nekohiko. He crept toward the tree and waved his gloved hand before Nekohiko's face.

Nekohiko stood as still as before.

"Is it broken? What the hell," the guard said, finally placing his hands on the small Nekohiko's back and the other under his wooden knees.

In one gentle motion, he lifted Nekohiko off his feet and carefully, afraid to drop the precious object, carried him out of the trees. The dummies that had come over got growled at by him as he gave them orders to notify his superiors that he needed to abandon his post.

It didn't take long for the guard to ascend the back porch steps from the garden and march down the wide, inner wing hallways to Abihiko's quarters. The other guards he met and the myriads of dummies were the only inhabitants of this part of the Palace, most courtiers and councilors far away. Which was wonderful. Fewer witnesses, more time for Nekohiko to pursue his goals in the short time he had left.

"His Majesty's possession," the guard announced to the several Imperial guards standing at the entrance of the ante-chamber. Oddly, but it took a separate statement to make the others hurry up moving. The guard added, "Made by Master Hibiki and King Morokata."

And everyone's movements suddenly quickened.

After checking that he was, indeed, telling the truth, the others saluted and opened the doors for him to enter and bring Nekohiko in.

Nekohiko observed everything around him through his long, thick lashes, only vaguely amused by what he was seeing. The Emperor's name held less power here than Morokata's? Not too surprising, but still...

Pathetic.

The familiar pompous surroundings of the Imperial chambers sailed by as the guard carried Nekohiko through. He tried to be as gentle as possible, afraid of damaging or even dirtying the doll in his arms in all his actions -- when brought Nekohiko to one of the private lounging rooms, when he slowly settled Nekohiko on the couch, when he reached for the sheer silk throw to cover Nekohiko with.

But the moment he did, his touch over Nekohiko lingered.

With a fascinated startle, Nekohiko realized the man was drawing a subtlest spell array on him with a finger. The guard's other hand reached into his sleeve, fishing out a very recognizable pendant in the shape of a misty crystal drop with the Hisome seal on it.

And judging by the pattern the guard was drawing the array in -- this was an imprint and note-taking, so to speak. So that he could relay everything he saw, felt, and all the information he got from Nekohiko's aura readings -- to the crystal pendant in his fingers.

This man was spying on everything that went here -- and passed all that to Morokata?

Just how unfaithful were all the Imperial guards to the damn Emperor that Morokata knew first about everything that went on inside Abihiko's private chambers?

The guard was busy casting his small spell, so he didn't notice Nekohiko's tensed-up pose.

Not that he expected the dummy to suddenly come alive under his hand.

Honestly, Nekohiko hadn't expected himself to do it either. He'd wanted to use this guard to get inside, then only start moving once this poor wretch left.

But the whole spying-to-Morokata angle changed his plans. Very, very drastically.

Before the wedding -- nothing of what Nekohiko did should reach Morokata's ears.

Nothing.

Absentmindedly, the guard was finishing the outlines of a spell array on Nekohiko's chest with his finger when Nekohiko's fist caught it inside. And twisted.

Nekohiko's other hand grabbed at the starting spell the poor man was casting. One flick of Nekohiko's wrist -- and he stole the man's spell from him, sinuously molding it into a small Imperial Fusion spell instead. Not a hard one, either. Just to glue together similar matter.

So fast it happened, the guard snapped to move away only when Nekohiko had already cast his stolen spell. Nekohiko lashed forward, pressing his wooden palm to the guard's opened lower half of the face.

The guard's lips and nostrils. Instantly fused shut under Nekohiko's touch.

"Hnnnmmmmg!"

The guard dashed backward, his hands flying to his face in an attempt to Bind the spell off -- but Nekohiko was swift. His legs bend inward like only a doll's could and wrapped around the man's torso and legs, tripping him, dragging him down. Nekohiko's arms twined around the poor man, dislodging his own ball joints to grab for a better hold and prohibit the man from casting.

"Hhhhhnnmng! Mnrrr!"

The guard howled inside his shut mouth and nose, thrashing in Nekohiko's constricting hold. Nekohiko's heart pounded to a rhythm, lurching him to tangle himself in deeper with the man's flailing limbs as they rolled on the floor, wrestling. His mind flashed to the time he'd been a snake, and Nekohiko coiled his malleable arms and legs around the man as though tying himself into a knot around him.

Never before had Nekohiko been so thankful for being a doll with limitless abilities to twist and dislodge himself.

"Rrrrmmmmfnggg!!! Mmmmnnww!"

The nearest table crushed under their combined weight, and trinkets and flower vases shattered on the floor. 

Silently, Nekohiko pressed himself to the guard's last spasming lurches to free himself from the murderous doll. He waited.

He waited for what seemed like an eternity even though he doubted it actually took a lot of time.

But the dying man's throes still depressed him.

Even if he knew this had to be done. For the Empire.

For the peace of all the people and Spirits of this world.

Slowly, Nekohiko extricated himself from around the man. He pried the emerald helmet mask off the guard's head, noting the youthful features on the bulging-eyed and the purpling face with his mouth and nose melted into a mound of flesh.

Just a young man doing his job. Doing it badly, betraying his Emperor to one of the Empire's Kings -- but dutifully nonetheless.

This was just sad, Nekohiko felt, as he held the helmet, still warm with another man's presence, in his hands. Yet he had no time for sadness.

"I will pay you respects when I am Emperor as I would to all who aided my ascent to the Throne," Nekohiko murmured at the man's staring eyes as he tore open the side clasps of his green breastplate.

Careful, now. The body was dead but the man's Spirit did not deserve indignity.

Nekohiko took only his uniform armor off together with the helmet. Rather than steal the man's inner robes and leave him behind in such a lowly manner, Nekohiko hoisted him up in his arms and carried him all the way to the dressing chambers of Abihiko. There, he stashed the man away behind the dressing silk screen and picked up one of Abihiko's own training gowns in green colors.

He was rushing to dress up, so didn't care if the clothes fit together well. Most Binders put on armor with Binding just because they could, but Nekohiko really didn't want to leave too many aura imprints behind. He lost some time on donning all his clothes haphazardly, but after he added the last touches -- the Imperial bodyguard sword on his hip, the scaly gloves, the spiky narrow-faced helmet covering up his eyes and cheeks within the luminous green metal -- none of the other dressing mistakes mattered.

In the shiny bronze mirror in the dressing room, he looked just as ravishing and menacing as all Imperial bodyguards did.

So, good. Most people would not dare to stop him when he walked out of this place after he was done with his research.

That said, a lot to do here first.

He casually prowled through the Emperor's quarters, checking to see how the Spiritway Binding priests had been doing the ritual array for the wedding surrounding the place. Based on what Kotone had told him about it, this was the newer version of the spell that would protect the Emperor and his new bride from the intrusions during their honeymoon. The modern version was more symbolic than an actual restriction.

But what if Nekohiko fixed it just a little bit? Hmmm?

The second point was Abihiko's vault into which Nekohiko peeked in just for one single item he wanted. The small Emerald Fir still stood in its pot on the table in the middle, but Nekohiko had no attention to spare. He only glanced at it with distaste, then dashed to the shelves behind it, his hands reaching to the exact spot he had noticed the desired object the last time.

In one of the boxes Abihiko kept, there lay a dagger. A simple bronze dagger but one with a gruesome history and meaning to Nekohiko.

His own murder weapon. The last birthday gift he had ever given to Abihiko, five years ago.

The thing glinted dully in the shifting lights when Nekohiko took it out. His fingers shook a bit even under the layers of the metal of his glove, but he suppressed his anguish through sheer will. No time for this. No time for any weakness or any memory that gutted him...

Taking the knife out of the vault and burying it safely somewhere deep inside Abihiko's rooms decreased his time before Abihiko's arrival even more. But once he was done, only one last thing remained to do here.

That ugly wooden sculpture of him that Abihiko had made.

Nekohiko hated even thinking about it. But more so he hated the idea of his own body being stashed in one of Abihiko's concubine bedrooms. Yes, even a body as hideous and unusable as this one. And yes -- even though Abihiko didn't seem like he was planning to interact with it in any way other than talk to it.

Still.

Brrrr.

Nekohiko suppressed a shudder as he broke into the concubine's bedroom and peered at the vile wooden sculpture under the bedcovers. In a single rush, he tore the blankets off and revealed the pitiful state of the mutilated body on the sheets. Damn, Abihiko, he thought, turning his head sideways to even try to understand how this abomination was supposed to resemble himself.

Either Nekohiko was really that ugly in Abihiko's eyes or Abihiko's sculpting skill was just... next level of terrible.

Nekohiko had taken one of Abihiko's red hair ribbons out of the dressing rooms earlier and now used it to tie the wooden sculpture's wrists with it. Once the sculpture's tied arms formed a circle, Nekohiko looped it over his head and shoulders and rose to his feet as though lifting a child on his back.

As if you can get even the smallest piece of me this easily, Nekohiko gloated with vengeance as he carried the droopy sculpture out of the room and through the chambers. Dream more, Abihiko.

I'll take everything you own.

Everything. Just you wait.

He was done here, at last. The only other thing he needed was kept outside of Abihiko's rooms, so he directed his steps there.

To see the Great Spirit Emerald Tree in the inner gardens.

Nekohiko marched on through the empty rooms, his footsteps so lonely over the emerald floor. He stepped down the porch leading into the shadowy inner garden that Abihiko sometimes had breakfasts in, then pattered down the tender, lush grass to where this small patch of paradise ended in a tall wall. Behind this wall, the next sections of the Palace began, leading to the hidden courtyard with the Emerald Fir Tree.

Nekohiko could feel his family's grand Spirit even from here. So very close to him, even though he couldn't see it yet behind all the layered defensive barriers around it.

He leaned his helmeted forehead on the mossy, damp wall stone and flickered his consciousness back to Abihiko for a split moment. Just to check if Abihiko was still not too close and Nekohiko had plenty of time to explore.

The din of the nightly city came to him from afar as Abihiko rushed down a gravel path under some poplar trees. So still not in the Palace grounds?

Great.

Nekohiko's eyes fluttered open.

He relied strictly on his martial arts prowess to spring, dash, grab the stone edges, lift himself up some more, clawing the hard metallic knuckles of his gloves into the stone to gain a good hold. Even for a dummy doll with years of neglected training, he wasn't too bad and only slipped and almost fell once.

The wooden sculpture on his back didn't help, but he adjusted to its added weight pretty fast. Soon, he dragged himself up on the wall, then swept over it.

Then landed deftly on the grass on the other side, immediately jumping up to run.

So close, he was so close to seeing the Tree he was certain his log had come from! Only the last metal fence blocked his way and a thick wall of protective spells he phased through as the Emperor's own possession.

All the barrier spells around the Tree bore the same exact hue of the Binder's aura of the one who had cast them. Abihiko.

Nekohiko hadn't even doubted, by this point.

...

The Tree.

Nekohiko stared before him, past the illusions and the very elaborate glamor of an Emerald Fir tree. The glamor showed an illusory tree that still stood, safe and tall, at the center of the garden.

But behind this glamor -- there was no Tree!

No Tree! The Spirit Tree of the Emerald Palace had been obviously felled -- only the tall, jagged stump stood in its place and...

Nekohiko's relief at finding out the truth he had always suspected was cut short.

Because beneath all those wards and glamors over the broken Tree, he saw something else.

Something that made his wooden skin crawl with a horrid, otherworldly terror.

The stench of Binding corruption...

The dark, vile aura thick like a cloud of toxic, sickening air. So powerful it was, oozing out of the area where the Tree stood that even his dummy body couldn't help getting queasy just at the smallest whiff.

And all of it came out of the Tree stump -- coal-black, leaking with the corrupted Spiritual energy that was only barely held off by the protective barriers around.

...

It just hit Nekohiko now.

That Abihiko must have cast all these defensive spells and had closed all the doors around this Tree not to keep everyone out.

But solely to keep whatever darkness swerved inside that Tree -- in.