Chapter Hundred and Seven

Beloved

"There's a town right at the foot of the mountain," Abihiko said when the two of them came into full view of the area where the Savage Spirit was headed.

The horse wore itself out by the merciless gallop and Nekohiko had long begun feeding it with healing and regenerating spells to help it run. It seemed to work just fine, but Nekohiko still was miffed. The live horse sucked. He would need his powers to battle the Spirit soon, and he was wasting so many of them on healing the poor animal.

That was it! They would buy a real, dummy horse after this. No more animal torture at his hands!

The mountains rose in a jagged line on the Marsh Fire Spirit's path. It had to clamber over them as it tided over the crest and down the forested slopes. Even from afar, the dark, fuming mass of the Spirit essence evoked an image of a coal-black avalanche rolling down the mountains. The cloud of smoke trailed it and spread out, consuming trees and underbrush in the ever-hungry wave of smoldering flames.

"Class Mid-First," Nekohiko judged the vague shape and the aural impact of the Spirit on its surroundings. He squinted through the thick clouds of rising smoke, sweeping the roiling hair out of his face from the fast ride. "Maybe Great-Tenth... or Ninth, instead."

"That one is Mid for sure," Abihiko said from the back.

"You said 'eeeeh, Mid for sure' the last time, and what had it cost us?" Nekohiko screamed in return. "Do you even remember?"

His heart was pounding in his chest along with the horse's hooves. Not so much from the prospect of fighting the giant Spirit as it was because of...

Nostalgia. Their Fifth year in Izumo, Wayfaring across the Towa Lordship, fighting some giant waterfall demons.

Memories so sweet, it almost hurt to recall them.

"Of course I remember. You messed up the spell formation, and I nearly got my teeth knocked out by that Demon." Abihiko dashed Nekohiko closer to himself, wrapping his arm around Nekohiko's torso. The lurch back felt so dominating that Nekohiko balked.

"I messed up???"

The town's outermost houses showed as the horse drummed its way down the road. But it was hard to see the buildings of the town because the entirety of the road swarmed with people in a state of panic and disarray. Screams and urges to flee came from all sides as carts with garb and people with bags and small kids rushed out of the town's reaches and in the direction from which Nekohiko and Abihiko had come.

A few Binders monitored the evacuation, crying out for the people to maintain calm because some local Wayfarers were taking care of the Savage Spirit -- but nobody was paying them attention.

Indeed,some Binding Wayfarers were rushing across the pine forest and the mountain slope toward the Spirit. But they looked flimsy and somehow unprepared, and Nekohiko absolutely understood why the townsfolk didn't trust their expertise much.

Why were there so few, to begin with? Most big towns like these had many more Binders in its guilds and garrison to fend off attacks like these. Especially since this was very close to the Kingdom's border -- where the majority of Savage Spirits would appear due to the warlike troubles between the Nagares, Towas, and Hiras.

Nekohiko scoffed at the state of things in here. He hopped off the horse along with Abihiko. In perfect synergy, even though neither of them had said anything to the other.

But they both knew exactly what needed to be done.

Abihiko threw the reins to the closest evacuation Binder who blinked at him, stupefied. Tearing off the riding gloves from his hands, Abihiko said, "Can you send the signal to those Wayfarers to retreat? They should not be there in such a small group. That Spirit will crush them."

Amidst the hysteria breeding all around, Abihiko's quiet manner was like a blessing to the poor, agitated Binder. The man nodded, fervent. "Ah yes, kind master. We... just wanted to hold off, not to engage directly..."

Nekohiko didn't care about the brief consultation between those two. He caught and lifted to his arms some little girl who had stumbled to the ground and was trampled by others. Now, he was busy searching the crowd for her parents. An old couple sobbed and whimpered beside him too loudly -- so naturally he was drawn to help them as well.

"Everything will be all right," he promised, depositing the girl into the old man's scraggly arms. The little girl was scared, yes, and very helpless, but Nekohiko was still happy to get rid of her because of how clingy and snot-ridden she was.

Brrrr, people.

Nobody touch me, please. 

Both the old people and a few others around them gaped at Nekohiko in bizarre hope and awe. Perhaps his aura of serenity was just that impressive. Or maybe his heroic features and the mark of Imperialness upon his gaze?

Either way, he was pleased to serve them all.

As the true Emperor should.

"We will take care of that giant Spirit in no time," he went on, suddenly inspired. "You can rest assured. As long as I am there, you will all be fine."

Unnecessarily, Abihiko grabbed him by the hand and dragged away. He beelined to the edge of the town where the last buildings receded into the twisted trees, not even bothering to ask what Nekohiko had been announcing so proudly to his royal subjects or what it meant to him.

"I was talking to my people," Nekohiko told him, joyous. "I told them I'll protect them."

Abihiko slowed down, long enough to give Nekohiko a soft smile. His eyes lingered on Nekohiko and his hold on his fingers tightened.

The way he looked at him in this split second before they had to go out and fight the Spirit, was... almost like a hug. Abihiko's eyes crinkled up, tender.

"Let's do our best," he told Nekohiko. "We wouldn't want to disappoint your loyal subjects."

"Mn."

And with that, they were off and into the skies.

The few air-step spells to help them climb up the nearest tree in seconds, then a boost of propelling power to launch themselves higher and across the wide expanse of the woodland below. Nekohiko worked out a floating sphere spell like the one Abihiko had used when battling Kasuga beneath Fuji -- and twinned it for him and Abihiko both.

Yes, even though he knew they were better off fighting together against the Savage Spirit, he still didn't want Abihiko to use too much of his powers.

With the state Abihiko's health was in...

No, do not even think of it. Just fly.

The rush of the billowing hair and clothes in the wind gusts was exhilarating, but even more so the fallback into his and Abihiko's old routines from when they had been Wayfaring. The sight of the enormous shadowy flame growing larger and larger the closer Nekohiko came to it filled him with the agitation of a nearing fight. Heartbeat, hastened breaths, a tremor in his limbs. Yet all of that paled in comparison to the happiness he felt.

He loved Wayfaring most in all the things he had done in his life.

It was his element. He felt at home, in this.

He and Abihiko landed within the thickening dusk of smoke around the Spirit. They stepped on the tops of the tallest pines in its path. One quick glance at its form up close, and they defined the weak spots and the best method of attack.

Abihiko flashed him a look, and Nekohiko nodded.

Then, in a flurry of embers and flapping hems, Abihiko shot up into the air.

The distraction. As always in their past, Abihiko was simply so much better at being obnoxious and distracting to the monsters they fought. The Spirits and Demons just couldn't help but want to get rid of him first -- and Abihiko and Nekohiko had always used it to their advantage.

Sparks, sizzling heat and the halo of fire surrounded Abihiko as he cast taunting attack spells at the Spirit. So aggravating, it was a small wonder that the Spirit immediately noticed him.

With an inhuman roar of foul marsh-tainted breath, the Spirit shifted its attention from the few local Wayfarers who had come here earlier and focused solely on Abihiko's irritating figure.

Several arms of smoke and fire rose from the Spirit's fetid cloud and tried to grab or slice into Abihiko. But he was so much faster. Swerving in the air, soaring and changing direction, bouncing his feet off the Spirit's insubstantial surface as though it was solid.

Nekohiko didn't even have to check on him, so well he knew Abihiko's tactics. He concentrated on his side of their routine, instead.

A shield of clear air around himself, he dove into the darkness that made the Spirit's body. Steady, he zoomed through it to reach the core. Provided that Abihiko did his best to distract it as usual, the Spirit would not even notice Nekohiko shooting through his body like this. After all, Spirits of this sort didn't really have bodies and felt little within themselves.

"Primary weakness -- solidification," Nekohiko chanted to himself under his nose. Just to keep himself fixed on his goal. The Spirit might not be very dangerous to him from the inside, but sweat still cascaded down Nekohiko's back and face as he sought his way closer to the core.

It was just so damn hot inside this Spirit. Stupid Hira and Hisome-adjacent Spirits. Humid and hot, the worst combination ever!

"Secondary weakness -- low temperatures," Nekohiko ground out, stilling when another wave of heat rushed through the Spirit's smoky body.

He strengthened the air shields around himself but did not add any cooling spells yet. If he did, the Spirit would notice his presence way too fast, and he couldn't afford that. He even counted under his breath, to guide himself through the heat and the stench surrounding him.

Patience, and focus. Nothing else.

These were Nekohiko's strengths in Wayfaring combat. And the primary reason why Abihiko had never been able to compare to Nekohiko in this. And why he had always been outside, distracting the Spirits with his spectacles of fire and rage.

It could not have taken too long for Nekohiko to find what he was looking for. The small cluster of the Spirit's core aura from which all of its smoke and fire and enormous size came. It was the size of a human, a big blob of marsh oil and turf, and it did not at all expect Nekohiko to catch it and trap so treacherously.

But even though the whole ordeal was probably mere minutes, Nekohiko still felt exhausted to no end from the fiery, greasy smoke on the inside of the Spirit.

"Trap, and strike."

One. Two. Three!

Go.

A freezing and collapsing spell shot through the Spirit's core, and suddenly, it was no longer angry at all. Just shocked.

All of its enormous size dissipated right under Nekohiko's eyes as he held the Spirit's core in the grasp of his spells. And the previously oh-so-formidable Savage Spirit became nothing more than a baffled small thing floating before Nekohiko in the chilly air above the smoldering forest.

A googly-eyed, stupid thing.

It gave Nekohiko a menacing look, but Nekohiko smacked it with his Imperial aura, and the Spirit calmed down quickly enough.

All the darkness and choking clouds slowly broke apart, revealing the hazy light of day and the ruined mountain slope where the fight had taken place.

The Spirit, though, was mainly focused on Nekohiko.

"The Emperor," it hummed as though only now realizing. "Oooo."

"You misbehaving brat," Nekohiko told it, shaking his head. "Look at what you've done! Look."

He shouldn't have chided the Savage Spirit like that, but oh well. Spirits of this sort weren't malevolent or Demonic, per se. Only driven insane by the conflict between the Kingdoms and the large swaths of opposing Binders. Their madness could be lifted easily. In many senses, all that such Spirits needed was a pat on the head and a... kind of a hug to tell them that everything was fine, after all.

But Nekohiko was still too riled up.

Myriads of the peaceful forest Spirits underneath and the mountain Spirits were probably all spooked, too. This stupid Savage one must have terrorized so many of them just now. It would take so much time from the local Binders to placate those!

Speaking of which.

The town Wayfarers weren't totally useless, so far. While they hadn't done much during the fight itself, they were very good at extinguishing the forest fires beneath. And the general clean-up after the Marsh Fire Spirit's meltdown. Tired as Nekohiko was, he was not in the mood for clean-up now, so he let the local Binders take it over from him.

Besides, he looked like a person who had just climbed out of an oil marsh, himself. Covered in sticky, extremely flammable black goo, and smelling accordingly. Probably not the best person to take care of the fires on every corner. 

So right after giving the Savage Spirit a few strong words, he had had nothing better to do than... freeze still on top of one of the tallest trees in the forest and look around himself helplessly. 

Because, um... what was he supposed to do now?

He didn't really know.

Go back into the town he'd saved? To on with Abihiko toward Nagare? Looking like this?

"I would come over and help you get back to the town to clean up and rest," Abihiko called him from the back. Nekohiko swung around, nearly toppling off the tree. There Abihiko was, on top of a poplar several feet away, keeping his distance.

Unlike Nekohiko, he looked... fabulous.

As clean and fiery as before or during the fight. And not solely because he looked good in general.

It was because of his smile.

It was brilliant, the brightest Nekohiko remembered it. The sight mesmerized him, let alone the scenery around the two of them: the fires, the Binders puttering around to quell the averted disaster, and the last of embers soaring in the air between Nekohiko and Abihiko.

A magical moment.

"But sorry, Neko." Abihiko grinned, apologetic. "You just stink so much."

...a-a-and the magic disappeared.

Yes, Nekohiko stunk. But for Abihiko to say this so bluntly?

"You... cannot be for real," Nekohiko said, feeling intensely betrayed. "You are so obsessed with helping me and carrying me around and protecting me from the tiniest of offenses or misfortunes! I think you actually sacrificed your health and maybe even life to save me! But this... me being covered in some stinky goo -- is too much for you?"

Languid, Abihiko shrugged. "A man's got to have his principles."

"..."

Hm.

A peculiar change in his behavior, wasn't this?

But it was only the beginning.

***

Abihiko might have been angry at him, Nekohiko decided.

All the signs were up. He had followed Nekohiko a few feet apart -- over the saved forest and back into the town they had saved. He had been very watchful and attentive to Nekohiko. When Nekohiko had missed a pine branch he was hopping from and almost tripped, Abihiko had caught him with a small levitating spell.

But he hadn't neared him or acted in any way other than smug assholeness. Which was both sudden to Nekohiko after Abihiko's previous mature, tempered attitude and... kind of appealing.

Abihiko was now much more like he'd been five years ago. Yet what had brought this on? And why?

Nekohiko thought about it all through the time it had taken him to trudge back into the town to receive gushing applause to his and Abihiko's actions during the fight. The smiles and awe in people's eyes as they had regarded him... ah!

It had all been worth it. The fact that most of the people were covering their noses around him hadn't even marred Nekohiko's mood. Neither had their suggestion to give him a warm, steamy bath in the best inn the town could boast.

Why would he refuse that?

A bath sounded great. Especially for free since he was, apparently, such a great hero in their eyes.

A stinky hero, but a hero nonetheless.

So their reluctance to come close to him hadn't bothered him at all. But Abihiko's did.

He and Abihiko had been through far worse circumstances in their days of Wayfaring. Far stinkier, far more goopy-covered and even drenched in slime at times.

But now, Abihiko pretended like it was a deal-breaker?

Suuuure.

He must be angry at Nekohiko for his mishap with Hibiki two days ago. Angry enough to snap Abihiko out of his well-behaved, mature manner and right back into the obnoxious bully he had always been.

Nekohiko soaked in his high-walled stone bathtub in the middle of the inn room and threw befuddled glances at Abihiko nearby. Curious, speechless, utterly fascinated. Because while Nekohiko was busy scrubbing himself in the tepid water, Abihiko sat with his back against the wall, his legs raised to rest on the edge of the bathtub while Abihiko read a book on his lap. Not even a proper book -- a booklet Abihiko had received from the townspeople about the best Bound horses their shops could offer.

As the heroes of the town for today, they could afford more free stuff than just a bathtub and a room for the night. One Bound horse, too, if they so wished.

And Abihiko wished quite a lot. Eager, he leafed through the booklet, grimacing at the specifications and parameters of the different metallic, or stone, or wooden horses. So wrapped up in his picking, he even forgot that his stupid feet were in the true Emperor's very face.

So much irreverence in this position, so much... showing-off!

Nekohiko couldn't help but find it very enticing.

"Rub my back," he said and offered Abihiko a rag with which he'd been scrubbing his front with. For hours, it seemed.

Abihiko withdrew his legs, wincing. "Ew, no. You're still mostly covered in goo. I am not touching you."

...

"Why are you so mean to me today?" Nekohiko did study the smears of black goo coloring his bathtub water filthy. "This is downright... bullying."

"Ah well." And even though he had just implied he couldn't possibly come close to Nekohiko because of his squeamishness, Abihiko leaned forward and put his elbow on the edge of the tub. Separated by a few inches from Nekohiko, he stuck his chin onto his folded arms and gave Nekohiko a smirk. "I was plenty nice to you for a couple of weeks now, but it seems you only understand it when I bully you."

"...thought so," Nekohiko said.

"So there you go," Abihiko enunciated tenderly and winked. "Or did you think you are the only one who is allowed to punish me for misbehaving? Consider this your punishment now, Neko."

Nekohiko narrowed his eyes.

First of all, if you think this is punishment, I have some exciting news for you!

I have been trying to make you go back to your old self for days and finally succeeded, mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You think you are so smart when it is I who has achieved my glorious plan, at last.

And second of all --

"You think you can punish me for talking to Hibiki -- and that it would be in the same league as me punishing you for having literally murdered me?"

Ha.

Try to top this, Little Abi.

Nekohiko couldn't help a smile when it hit him: even after having said or thought this, his body wasn't acting up. The Dark Sisterhood's curse had no more power over his emotions and his resentment at the murder. Yet it still would hurt him if he let it.

At last, he could move on. He could move past it.

And he wasn't the only one, it seemed. Abihiko did still for a brief moment when Nekohiko brought this up. Yet he forced through it all the same, with an idle sigh.

"Shush," he said, and booped Nekohiko's nose with a finger. He lifted it, studying with distaste as though checking whether some stinky goo had rubbed onto it. "I saved you, not murdered you. I might even consider saving you again now. Your water looks disgusting. You must want a change."

"Mmm."

Nekohiko pretended to ponder the offer with displeasure, but only for show.

Because just like the Dark Sisterhood's curse had diminished its power over his emotions, so had his perpetual crankiness over his mood.

He just wasn't... angry or fuming at Abihiko anymore.

All the previous days right after they had married seemed so far away now. Stewing in his frustration and bitterness, constantly poking and biting at Abihiko with snide remarks and the desire to bicker... it was no longer there.

He felt quite calm, as he had always been -- unapologetically himself.

He felt wonderful.

But he didn't want Abihiko to realize it yet, so he feigned grumbling. "Yes, bring me hot water. What else are you good for? Fireworks and distracting spectacle? Didn't even defeat that Spirit. I did. Yet now I am the one who has to sit here in this lukewarm water and scrub myself clean off the goo. The least you can do is help me clean."

Abihiko got to his feet, cracking his limbs as he rolled his shoulders and back. He only paused in the doors before leaving. "And then he waited for his water to come for several hours because the husband he had spurned so much chose to go to a gambling parlor across the street instead. At least people were nicer to him there."

"The water better be here in five minutes!"

This time, Nekohiko didn't have to pretend to grumble.

***

Not only did Abihiko bring several buckets of hot water into the room soon after and ordered the dummy servants to draw out the filthy water already in the tub, but he also helped Nekohiko scrub his back, in the end. It wasn't to say he behaved, though. Because he didn't. Nekohiko had drenched his robes at some point, and Abihiko had needed to undress to not ruin the last of his dry robes. And because the room was chilly while the tub was very, very hot, what else was there for him but to climb into the tub alongside Nekohiko?

It was easier for him to scrub Nekohiko's back there, too. Yet with his random and offensive remarks, he was very irritating all through the bath-time and Nekohiko frequently had an urge to overturn the entire bucket on his head.

Yes -- even without the Dark Sisterhood's curse impacting Nekohiko's mood, Abihiko could grind it to aggravation naturally and in incredibly short amounts of time. Just by being himself.

Nekohiko's wooden back had been scrubbed and even his hair had been brushed by Abihiko with a boxwood comb. Most of the goo cleaned off, and the last hints of the smell. The fragrant oils that the innkeeper had given them ended up working their magic, and Nekohiko was very flower-scented now.

So much, he sneezed a couple of times as he was climbing out of the bathtub.

When he reached out for the towel he realized that he and Abihiko were both naked next to each other. Out in the open for the first time. Before, they had sat in the bathtub, so were mostly covered by the water -- yet now...

Fully undressed, both Nekohiko's unsightly wooden carcass was on display and Abihiko's marble-like body. His previously beautiful skin now ruined by the fine spiderweb of dark capillaries and veins rising up his arms and legs and reaching over his chest.

Nekohiko stared, distraught. 

Before Abihiko could dry himself up with his towel and hide his body away from sight, Nekohiko reached out a hand. His wooden fingers lay soft and tremulous against Abihiko's chest muscles, right where the darkening veins expanded from over his shoulder and all the way toward his heart.

His skin was hot to the touch as it always was. That worried Nekohiko, too, because he remembered that Abihiko's body temperature had been a bit lower in their youth. His Hira method still made his blood hotter than an average person's, but not to this degree.

This was the mark of the Binder's corruption fever. One of the many symptoms of deteriorating health and... life. He would literally burn out of his time before they knew it.

And why?

Because, according to Hibiki, he had drawn some of the corruption from the Spirit Tree into himself?

Nekohiko frowned, stilling against Abihiko's body. Abihiko froze too, albeit the look he gave him was nowhere as thoughtful as Nekohiko's.

"You... did this for me," Nekohiko said, feeling tender. He raised his eyes to Abihiko's. "I cannot believe you took it inside yourself. It must have been so hard..."

Abihiko's eyes turned to slits, then lit up with hidden joy. "--is what I'll tell you one of these nights."

...

Nekohiko blinked, unfazed.

Huh?

What was this? Why did this sound as though Abihiko wasn't taking him seriously? Wait--

Was that a... sexual innuendo?!

The realization was slow to dawn on him.

But when Abihiko wiggled his eyebrows at Nekohiko's hand still touching his pectoral muscles, Nekohiko understood.

"Can you please stop groping me?" Abihiko murmured. "Thanks."

"How... dare you--" Nekohiko growled. The sensation of being wronged had never been stronger. "I was talking seriously, about the corruption from the Spirit Tree. And you make it out to be... ugh!"

Can't we talk about it like mature people?

It is a serious issue!

Yet Nekohiko knew why Abihiko was doing this. Previously, Abihiko had said he wouldn't spill the truth no matter what Nekohiko did. And everything about the Tree and what had happened to it was part of those secrets Abihiko kept. But if before, Abihiko had been patient and calm and polite about protecting the truth from Nekohiko's advances, then now...

Now, he decided to bully Nekohiko with innuendos so that Nekohiko would leave him alone.

Such a wretched, malicious method!

Abihiko bit his lower lip and made a face of mocking lust or something else of the sort, but Nekohiko already turned away. He could hardly keep himself from huffing in frustration.

"We are sleeping in separate rooms tonight," Nekohiko said, and that was the end of the conversation.

The innkeeper and the other townspeople were so generous and grateful to them for helping with the Spirit with the least amount of losses and casualties, that even giving out two rooms instead of one wasn't a big deal for them. Likewise, they did hold up their other promises, and gave Nekohiko and Abihiko a Bound horse for free the very next day.

A good one, the best, according to Abihiko's in-depth research of the Bound vehicle booklet. Flexible clay molded around a bronze carcass, with pockets of air inside to lessen its weight and increase its speed. Its surface was Bound to be grey velvet, very soft to the touch, while the horse-like mane and tail and head were done in a tasteful yet not too-realistic manner.

One wouldn't notice it wasn't an animal horse from afar, but close up -- it didn't creep people out by its life-likeness either. A perfect Bound dummy.

The townspeople even gifted them some packed meals for their last stretch of the journey to the Nagare castle. Such a hospitable, friendly town, this one was.

Yet not entirely.

Unfortunately, the Savage Spirits weren't the only ones miserable and depressed about the state of things in the region. And while most common people were merely thankful for being saved from an eldritch-like rage of a Spirit yesterday, some people held grudges about it, too.

Nekohiko didn't notice them outright. Only early the next day, right before he and Abihiko were leaving the town with their new Bound horse.

Abihiko dawdled by the souvenir stalls at the edge of the main town street. As always with him, he'd been drawn here by some garish trinkets -- solely because why not? He hadn't been able to spend money on such trash before, but since everything here was free for him and Nekohiko...

He poked his nose into the display with souvenir cards and couldn't emerge from it for several minutes. Nekohiko had to go fetch him out only to find that the postcard Abihiko wanted to take was a drawing...

...of their wedding.

The two of them, holding hands.

"Tch, so sappy of you," Nekohiko sighed, giving the small picture a scowl. The image showed Abihiko in his emerald gown and Nekohiko hidden under the veil, riding out of the main Nara Shrine in their carriage.

A few days ago, Nekohiko had eyed one of these pictures himself in Nara streets. And hadn't been able to keep himself from smiling as he had seen it...

But Abihiko didn't need to know that, did he?

"I had no idea you could be so sentimental," Nekohiko went on just to get back at Abihiko for yesterday.

"Sentimental?"

Abihiko waved at the stall owner to show which picture he was buying, then took one last glance at the image and put it into his sleeve, satisfied. "Nah, I just think I look gorgeous on that picture, that's all. I can't help myself. Too much beauty is sometimes a sin, alas."

Aaargh, so annoying!

"You look like you have just eaten a lemon on that picture," Nekohiko protested. "All through the wedding, you were downright miserable."

"Who cares if it is still supremely sexy."

Nekohiko wanted to parry again, but a sudden twitch of his trained reflexes put his attention elsewhere. He and Abihiko ducked just in time before a huge yam swooshed at the spot where Nekohiko's head had just been.

Stunned, Nekohiko turned around to see a few youths with flyers in their hands and offended expressions on their faces glower at him and Abihiko.

"Go away, you fucking parasites," the tallest of the youths barked at Nekohiko. "How long are you gonna stay here, parading your abuse of the poor folk?"

...

Excuse me...?

Nekohiko blanked out, cold to his core. But Abihiko seemed to know what this was about and already began pulling Nekohiko aside.

"Come on, let's go," he told him quietly.

But Nekohiko didn't understand. Not until his gaze fell to the flyers the youths were holding...

He had seen those before. In Nara. The non-Binder revolution... or something of the sort. About the injustices the non-Binders were facing from the oppressive Binders and the Spirits?

Nekohiko still had no idea how it was related to him or Abihiko.

"The Kingdoms are at war because of you people!" one of the other youths screamed on even after Abihiko dragged Nekohiko away. "Queen Kasuga had nearly killed thousands! And now, because of her, the entire Nagare Kingdom must face charges in the Imperial Trial?"

"The Spirits are becoming Savage because all you stupid Binders are not doing your jobs right! Die, you scum!"

Oh.

That kind of explained why Nekohiko had noticed so few Binders working in this town yesterday.

Binders... weren't very welcome here, huh?

... sheesh. He'd never known the tensions for all the common people had become so great far away from the capital or the Spiritual center like Ise.

His thoughts rushed in disarray and his heart sped up as he and Abihiko fled the rage of the few non-Binder activists. Some passersby from the crowd also began echoing their sentiments, so Nekohiko did not want to stay and see what it would come down to.

Less conflict, the better.

Yet even though they escaped most of the drama, Nekohiko heard the last of the screams long after he and Abihiko had gotten on their Bound horse and spurred out of the main street.

Actually, those screams didn't abandon his mind even after they'd left the town behind.

"Some dumb Binders had terrorized the capital -- and made everything worse by destroying half of a district! Now even the capital is in turmoil! Fuck Binders!"

"Yeah, fuck Binders! All troubles come from them!"

"Equality! No Binders -- no problems!"

...

It hurt, how quickly something happy and sweet had turned so sour right under his nose. The Bound horse beneath them rushed smoothly down the country road amidst the Nagare mountains, yet Nekohiko hardly saw the scenery before him.

Only the faces of the people and the rage drawn on them.

The hatred of everything he represented and everything he failed at.

Ruling his Empire correctly. Righting out all the injustices.

Making his people happy and at peace.

...

"Don't take it personally," Abihiko told him at last, when the silence became unbearable. "This one was very mild, too. There were some ritual murders of Binders in some fiercer non-Binding communities. The Non-Binding rebellion had been brewing in the Empire for a couple of years already."

"Why?"

Nekohiko felt empty, and his tone reflected that.

Deep inside, he knew why. His childhood and youth had shown him just how... unfair and unequal the disposition of powers was in his beloved Empire. Non-Binders could never really compare in usefulness or status to even the shittiest of Binders.

But... just... what would this so-called rebellion achieve? They were non-Binders. They wouldn't manage to win no matter what they did...

All such a "revolution" would do was to hurt them more and end up nowhere.

Nekohiko couldn't even begin to wonder what it meant.

"The Empire hasn't been doing very well lately," Abihiko said, sounding tired. "Even during the Usurper's reign -- the debt, the foreign invaders, the Civil War. Then the need to rebuild after it... You know."

"Yes, all the Kingdoms split away from the Emerald Throne," Nekohiko added grimly. "I have been meaning to ask you what the hell was that about but... I guess I can imagine on my own."

You just suck at being the Emperor.

Because, judging by how you had spent the last five years, searching for my damn scattered body parts across the Empire... no wonder your reigning hadn't been exactly stellar. You had been busy with other concerns.

With me.

Not with the beloved Empire.

Nekohiko half-expected Abihiko to apologize, but Abihiko only shrugged.

"We all have our priorities."

"Yes, but yours are stupid," Nekohiko snapped. "This is my Empire we are talking about! Have some respect for a change."

Nevertheless, he could tell Abihiko wouldn't. Not to the extent Nekohiko did.

But with that -- nobody could really compare, could they?

***

It was the evening of the third day of travel from Ise that the two of them finally found the distant silhouette of Suzumegara high in the cloud-ridden skies. Across the purpling dusk, the Giant Moth Spirit's shape evoked a sense of menace, hovering over the alpine slopes far away. It would take them more hours to reach the valley above which Suzumegara floated, and even more time to manage to fly up to the black-glass castle on top of its back.

But they didn't need to worry about that.

Because the moment they lay their eyes on Suzumegara and started searching for the briefest path to take toward it across the mountainous landscape...

The crisp, sharp winds tided over them like a wave of cool freshness from the highest of clouds.

And then, out of the clear air, before them -- two slender small figures drew against the dusk.

A young boy in the dark Nagare uniform, his short hair and long cloak sweeping with the wind. And a young girl, thin as a stick, but so imposing, so... solemn in her bearing.

Her short hair had grown slightly longer since the last time Nekohiko had seen her. Due to negligence rather than vanity -- even though her military uniform was just as prim and perfect as always.

Her enormous dark eyes pinned to Nekohiko in an instant and never let go.

...

"You're here," she breathed, her voice trembling just a little. "You came."

The lingering silence of the encroaching dusk stirred only a little in the chirping of nightly birds.

...

"Of course," Nekohiko said, taken aback. He hurried to get off the horse, clumsy as his descent was.

Why did Kasuga sound so choked and disbelieving? How could he possibly not have come?

"You came," she repeated, even more shakenly than before.

And then, in a fierce rush, she lunged forward and into Nekohiko's arms like only a scared child would. A scared and lonely child, left to fend for themselves against so many foes -- for much too long to bear.

Queenfisher

Yes, I know this present chapter cluster is very long, but I do want to cut it as close to the Trial as possible before the Flashback comes in for some reveals ^^. There is a lot of plot stuff to cram before it, so strap on! More and more present chapters incoming until one or two days right before the Trial.

^^