A hand brushes away a troublesome lock of dark blue hair, and eyelids open to reveal a pair of bright green eyes peering into the distance. Natasha smiles gently, listening to the melodies apparent only to him.  A sound like that of an orchestra, quiet and hushed; a barely audible, lone instrument playing in a slowly rising crescendo, awaiting the grand entrance of the ensemble.  And simultaneously, the first ray of sunshine lances forth onto the world, sparkling across the white blanket of snow, and a second instrument blasts forth to join the first, with a loud and true tone.
	Smiling, Natasha watches the rising of the sun in the distance, and the dawning of a new day.  Slowly, the first signs of life begin to stir, in both town and caravan.  Leaping deftly out of the tree in which he'd slumbered, Tomite arches his back, stretching his still lethargic muscles, before heading in the direction of the caravan.

	The strings of an instrument being tuned, the hard metallic clang of an anvil at use, a general murmur and bustle grow within the caravan, as the band of Romani prepare for their day.  Having gathered a group of gypsy musicians about himself, Natasha is sharing a few melodies that the songs of this morning had inspired in him, the others agree that they're crowd pleasing material.  Natasha's stopped by a hand upon his shoulder, turning to see the Elder Csihari.
	Bowing his head in deference, the shichiseishi asks, "What's on your mind, Elder?"
	"I'm just letting you know Natasha, that we do plan on leaving tonight.  With the setting of the sun.  So that you may act accordingly."
	"But of course, sir."

	This time, along with his singing and dance, Natasha let his fingers do their own dance.  'In moderation,' he thought, pilfering two coins from a mans coin purse 'This gold is of little use, what we need is foodstuffs to make it to a more populated town, one that we could support us for a few days and restock from that grueling mountain trek to get here.'
	The day continues on, a constant multicolored pageant of revelry.  Looking about, Natasha realizes Katarina seems to have left.  Shrugging it off as merely curious, he decided to wander off himself, through the town, perhaps 'grabbing' a few supplies while he's at it.  Walking along the street, he peruses the goods offered by merchant stalls, trying to locate a suitable mark to play with.  Snippets of a conversation catch his ear.
	"...and he's been missing how many days?"
	"A whole week.  And the new baby of...."
	"You don't say, someone's got to do something about this..."
	Shaking the banter out of his ears, the gypsy continues on his way, not wishing to bother himself with the town gossip about missing locals.  Suddenly, Natasha turns his head from side to side to look around, and he realizes that he's left the market area of the town.  Looking ahead he smirks, "Oh, that's it."  Standing before Tomite, is the local shrine to Genbu.


	Looking towards the shrine, Natasha rubbed at the side of his left upper arm, above his symbol, as if it were a troubling old scar.
	"I knew you'd wind up here."
	"What?" Nat turned, surprised, then recognizing the familiar face of Katarina looking back at him.
	"I guess you just don't have a choice."
	Nat, for once, finds himself speechless.
	Seeing the pain in her friends face, the Loli Tschai reaches out to him with one hand, "No... I, I'm sorry Nat.  I didn't mean it like that I just...  I don't want you to have to go, and... whether you believe it or not, I've been brooding and dwelling on it as much as you have."
	Natasha begins to respond, "Don't worry, I'm just a tad too sensitive about..."
	Cutting him off, Kat tells him, "And I want to go with..."

	The two quickly turn away from their conversation, and turn their attentions to the slightly unruly mob heading in their direction.  Readying blades beneath his cloak, and stealing a quick glance at Loli to see her preparing as well, the two are equally surprised when the large, gruff man shouts at them, telling them to get out of the way.  Relieved to not be the targets of the aggression, they sidle to an edge of the road, and watch as the mob is led towards the caretaker's abode.




	"So we'll check the caretaker's hut and see about the truth of these rumours," the imposing man leading the mob of townspeople barked out.  A chorus of agreement met this command, as the group descended upon the caretaker's residence.
	Standing a distance from the goings on, Natasha arched an eyebrow, remarking to Loli, "I'm glad I'm not involved with this Genbu character."
	Shaking her head, Loli agrees with a chuckle, "Yes, it would truly be such a hassle."
	Eyes blinking, adjusting to the light outside, the caretaker of the shrine takes a look at the throng gathered before his door with a slightly bewildered look on his face.  "Oh my, well... what's the meaning of this, what's going on here, someone tell me..."
	The caretaker is interrupted as he's grabbed and shoved to one side by the leader of the crowd, explaining abruptly, "We'll know soon enough."  The foremost members of the crowd squeeze their way into the hut, ransacking the place in search of 'evidence.'  Soon a cry goes up from in the midst of the crowd, "My little one's pendant!"  The crowds agitation grows, and accusations are shouted "See, it's true... he did steal them away, for slavers... or worse!"  Assorted shouts of recognition of other mementoes soon follow, as the beleaguered caretaker stutters out, "What... What's going on... I didn't... How did those wind up there...  It must have been..."
	Angry words ripple through the throng of agitated townspeople, disdainfull of both the caretaker and the god he serves.  "What good has this shrine ever done for us...  The caretakers 'prayers' and Genbu certainly didn't help with the hard year we've had..."
	Slowly the focus of the collected murmurings shifts to that of a foreign missionary in town, "Maybe he's right to denounce Genbu...  At least he's never stolen away our children."




	Inami sighed heavily in contentment as she sat in the swirling hot water.  The travels of the past few days melted away from her mind as the tension melted out of her muscles. Sinking into the water a bit, she closed her eyes for a few moments, enjoying the last lingering moments of her bath, before she rose out of the water to dry herself and change.
	Thanking the bath owners, she grabbed the travel bag she brought with her and went outside. She was greeted by the sight of a large crowd gathering before the shrine. Alarmed at some of the angry faces she saw floating around in the crowd, she examined the man who seemed to be at the head of the disruption and came to the conclusion that he would probably not lead the crowd to violence. Curious as to what was going on, she found her way near the edge of the crowd, next to a young man in foreign garb, with dark blue hair and bright green eyes. There, far enough from the center of the crowd to be able to slip away easily, yet close enough to hear, she listened to what the man had to say.
	Holding the caretaker inches off the ground, by the scruff of his collar in one hand, and holding a collection of mementoes in the other, the gruff leader of the mob shouts out, "See!  It's true...  The caretaker was responsible for the disapearance of the children!  We might not know exactly what he has done to them, but we have the proof of his guilt right here!"
	Angry shouts punctuate the crowd, as the leader calls out to the throng "Now what are we going to do with him?"
	Inami was startled when she heard the blue-haired man next to her suddenly comment, in a heavily accented voice, "These people worship a giant snake mating with a tortoise...  Well, what can one expect with from a 'divine freak' like that..."  He pauses, adding "Then again, the caretakers not Genbu, he's human, and weak.  Not exactly the right way to judge a religion, no matter how... eccentric the diety." Listening to his words, she gave a short little laugh. "He may be disrespectful, but he's right," she said to herself aloud, "The caretaker is only human, same as the rest of us, and Genbu knows that humans are far from perfect."
	Catching the remark, Tomite glances in Inami's direction with a grin, "Disrespectfull, well, as a foreign traveller here, it is not a duty I would owe to Genbu to defend him against these accusations.  Though it is, perhaps, a little ironic that I should grant him a fairer 'trial' than those devout to him"
	Without warning, Inami's symbol started to glow on her shoulder. Alarmed, she concentrated, making it stop quickly before anyone noticed. "It must be because I'm so close to the shrine," she thought, "I'd better leave before it happens again and someone notices. With some of these people bearing ill-feelings towards Genbu, who knows how they'll react if they knew one of the shichiseishi was here."
	Quietly and quickly, she snuck her way out from the crowd and headed back to the inn.


	Beside Natasha, Loli widens her eyes, noticing something, placing a hand upon his shoulder to get his attention, she stops, mouth slightly open. She thinks to herself, 'No... Selfish though it may be, if you're right, and if she was one like Natasha, then he might leave...'
	Turning to Katarina, Nat asks in their native tongue, "Umm... well, Loli, what is it?"
	"Nothing important..." she replies halfheartedly, "I was just thinking it might be time to return to the camp."
	Nodding, he remarks "Yes, we've dealt with enough ominous foreshadowing for one day, I suppose."


	Walking back towards the encampment, Natasha remarks, "Kat, about what you were going to say."
	The touch of a sad smile on her face, Katarina replies, "Yes... I meant it Natasha.  There's no way..."
	Interrupting her, the young man replies, "I'm sorry... but you can't."  Hanging his head, he feebly adds, "I, well... you have to know that I want you to, but you can't leave the troupe.  Not now at any rate."
	He shrugs, "Whatever is going to happen, it's going to be big.  And dangerous, yes you can handle yourself, but the others won't be safe.  When whatever disaster occurs, how do you think the natives are going to feel about a band of Rom travelling about."
	An embittered chuckle, and Loli remarks, "You're right.  As usual.  And as infuriating as ever.  But if the troupe leaves the countries, or I have the slightest clue as to you needing me..."
	"I know.  Not like there's any way I can keep you from doing what you want in the end.  You and that stubborn streak."
	"If this isn't the pot calling the kettle black."
	"Well, I'm not to be off yet, so back to the festivities I suppose," Natasha remarks, gesturing to the camp directly ahead of them, with a smile.


	Upon returning to the festivities of the Romani camp, both Katarina's and Natasha's moods seem to lighten, worries of the future dissipating for the time being.  Shaking off the last of his gloom, the singer takes his part in the revelry.  This time standing off from the dancing and raising his voice in song, he watches as both Rom and townspeople dance and twirl before him.  A young man, a native, catches Natasha's eye, making an admirable effort to follow the same steps of the gypsy dancers, the young man succeeds primarily in tripping over his own feet.  All the while singing, the seishi Tomite motions to the young man to pause, and demonstrates the steps once, at a slower half pace, before nodding to young man for him to give it a try.  This time successfull, Nat applauds the efforts, and commences to join in the dancing himself song still upon his lips.




	Rei strolled into the town, and looked around. The village was a bit ordinary, except for one thing: the large shrine to Genbu. It had quite a crowd surrounding it, and Rei felt a faint spark of surprise that Genbu had such a large amount of devotees. [Of course,] Rei reflected to himself, [just because -I- never believed in Seiryuu much, doesn't mean that other people don't take religion seriously. Most people do need some higher power to believe in. Gods don't exist, we only create them to give our feeble existence meaning.] 
	Rei pulled the horse along through the crowds by the reigns, and searched for a sign of the inn. 
	"Excuse me," Rei finally tapped someone on the shoulder. The man jumped slightly and turned to stare down at the shorter man. The villager had a slightly spooked expression on his face, as if he expected Rei to be a demon from the dark. 
	"What do you want, stranger?" The villager snarled. [There must be something more dangerous than mere worship going on here,] Rei told himself as he surveyed the man's reaction. 
	"Could you direct me to the nearest inn?" Rei asked simply, wanting to get away as quickly as possible. More people were turning to look his way. 
	"Plan on staying long, stranger?" Was the man's simple answer. Rei looked over the man, and noted that he had a red hair ribbon clutched in his right hand. Most of the other villagers in the crowd had some kind of mementos either in their hands, or being passed to them from inside of the Genbu shrine.
	Rei shook his head, doing his best to remain calm. [Something -very- bad is going on here. These people are looting their -own- shrine!]
	"Just the night. I have business elsewhere." 
	The man continued to eye Rei suspiciously. A woman joined him, and placed a comforting hand on the man's arm.
	"Abiru, calm down. He wasn't responsible for what happened to Aien." The woman managed a weak smile at Rei. "The inn is just a few streets to your right, but you should hurry. They've been locking the doors just before sunset. Safer."
	"I thank you, mistress." Rei quickly set off before the crowd turned ugly - against him. He wondered about the woman's words, they told him that the whole town was essentially under curfew. "Bandits?" He muttered aloud, as he reached the inn. Leading the horse to the stable, Rei paid the stable boy well to take care of the horse.
	He strolled into the inn, and looked around. The place was nearly deserted. There were a few serving girls, the man Rei took to be the innkeeper, and two guests, sitting at the only two tables in the common room. The first guest was another man. He was wearing ratty clothing, and looked ill-used. He was also drunk, and calling for more mead. The second guest was to Rei's surprise, a young woman. [A woman traveling alone. You don't see -that- often. Wonder what she's doing. She's pretty, I suppose she could be the town prostitute. This is the inn, after all.] Rei mentally shrugged. He didn't really care one way or
another.
	Rei turned, and walked to the man sitting behind the counter. "Are you the innkeeper?" Rei asked quietly.
	The man nodded in reply. "2 bits for a meal, 5 bits for a room, 10 for both. Both included dinner and breakfast." Rei raised an eyebrow at the prices, but paid the man 10 bits without haggling. "The stableboy'll bring your bags up to your room for you. Sit down. The food will be ready soon."
	"Just send the food up to my room," Rei told the man as he surveyed the dingy common room again.
	"No. No food allowed in the rooms." Rei rolled his eyes at the man's asinine rules. He took the lesser of two bad choices, and walked to the woman at her table. She was nursing a small glass of water, and had hardly touched her food. 
	"Do you mind if I join you?" Rei asked simply, staring into her solemn blue-grey eyes. The woman looked startled at the request. "There's no other seats in the room," Rei explained. [Well, that tells me she's no courtesan. Maybe a musician?] The woman glanced around to confirm Rei's statement, before nodding. "You can call me Rei," he told her, taking a seat. 
	"Nice to meet you, Rei-san," replied Inami politely with a smile, "You can call me...Jin Lan." She had pondered introducing herself as Inami for a moment, but with the tension in the town, decided to forget it.
	"Nice to meet you. How's the food?" asked Rei, gesturing towards her full plate.
	Inami srunched up her face and picked at her food with her chopsticks.  "I've had worse," she said, "but not much worse." She sighed. "If I weren't so hungry, and if I hadn't already paid for it, I wouldn't eat it."
	At that point, one of the serving girls came over with Rei's food and a glass of water. Smiling at him brightly, she told him, "If you need anything else, just call me over," before walking away.
	Rei took a bite of his food and quickly followed it with a large gulp of his water. "What exactly is this supposed to be?" he asked incredulously.
	Inami giggled at his reaction. "I don't quite know, but does this mean I'll have some company while I try to choke this stuff down?"
	Rei smiled back at the girl. Normally, he didn't really like company, but with food like this - well, you know what they say about misery.  "So, do you know anything about what's going on here?" He finally asked after a few mouthfuls of the unidentifiable food.
	Jin Lan shrugged. "I just arrived here today, and saw the mob at the Genbu shrine. I didn't stick around long." Rei nodded.
	"Perhaps the innkeeper knows something," he murmured thoughtfully. Rei gestured to the serving girl, who returned with a smile. 
	"What do you need?"
	"I was wondering if you could explain why people were looting the shrine to Genbu?" The serving girl's smile dropped as soon as the words left Rei's mouth. Her back straightened, and the girl stopped looking at Rei's eyes.
	"That's none of your business, stranger," she spat out before walking away stiffly.
	Rei shared a glance at Jin Lan. "That was unexpected," she commented with raised brows. Rei nodded in reply. The pair went back to the food silently. Rei was trying to piece together what he knew of the town.  Something to do with children and the shrine having mementos. [It's time that I did some research. This could be a very big problem, especially if this hatred for the Four Gods heads to the other countries.] 
	Rei noticed that Jin Lan was leaning towards to door, listening to something. "I hear music," she commented quietly. 
	"Celebrating the looting of the shrine?" Rei wondered aloud.
	"I don't think so. When I came into town today, I noticed a group of gypsies. That is most likely where the music comes from." Rei nodded.
	"I see." He tried a final bite of his nearly inedible food, before pushing the plate away. "Well, that's about all of that I can stomach," he told Jin Lan. 
	"I know what you mean." Rei stood.
	"Well, if you'll excuse me," he told Jin Lan, "I think I'll retire to my room. It's been a long day." [And the sooner I'm alone, the sooner I can go out and try and find out what happened.] Rei walked off towards the innkeeper, and asked for his room. Rei retreated, barred the door, and climbed out the window. 
	"Now to find out what's -really- going on here."


	Inami forced one last bite down, pushed her plate away from her, and drank the rest of her water. Standing up, she thanked the serving girl and went up to her room. There, she gathered her belongings and prepared to leave. For a moment, she pondered staying in town and figuring out what was going on. She felt as if she were somewhat obligated, she was, afterall, a seishi of Genbu. She went over her options in her mind and decided to continue on to Tolan. She felt that if she stayed and if her nature were discovered, harm would come to her at the hands of the angered townspeople. She couldn't bring herself to hurt ordinary people such as them and in the worst case scenario, she might even be killed. A mob mentality was a frightening thing and nothing was out of the capabilities of such a mob.
	Wrapping her outer coat around her, she shut the door and walked out of the inn. As she was about to leave town, she suddenly felt compelled to stay, as if someone was waiting for her somewhere in town. She looked over her shoulder for a moment, curious about the feeling, but shrugged it off and went on her way.


	Rei watched the foreign redhead and the other gypsy closely. There was something strange about those two ... and he vaguely remembered seeing the gypsy, at least, at the shrine when he arrived in town.
	Rei shrugged. In the end, it really wasn't his business, and since he wasn't finding out any information here, he headed towards the shrine. It was empty, with an ominous, heavy feeling about it. It was like a smell - a smell Rei was familiar with. Something was terribly wrong - the Genbu shrine in Kikaku smelled like death; the decay and rotting of a corpse, rank as if it has been sitting in the sun.
	Rei noticed a faint blue light shining into the darkness of the shrine, and was surprised to note that it was his character - karada - flashing. He walked further into the shrine, trying to be on guard for whatever might be there. He reached the altar, and saw a pair of legs sticking out from behind. He walked around the altar, and saw the keeper of the shrine. From the looks of his corpse, he had been dead for several days.
	"Then how the hell was he up and walking around?"