Spellbound

*(4/6)

By Sakata Ri Houjun

********************

Later, that same breezy night, Genrou followed Houjun

towards the temple once more.  The older man eased

through the fallen columns as a chill wind blew

through the ruins.  When Genrou caught up to him, he

noticed the shivering.  “Are you cold?”

“I was for a moment, no da.”  He leaned his head

against the younger man’s shoulder.  “I have something

to show you, Genrou.”  He glanced toward the crumbling

hallways ahead and shivered again.  “She’s close,” he

whispered.  “And watching.”

“Isn’t it better to face her now and be done with it?”

“We can’t choose the time.  It’s already set.”  Houjun

gripped Genrou’s hand and tugged him towards an

archway.

Once inside Houjun lifted both hands before his face. 

As he chanted, he twisted one wrist and a red glow

surrounded them.  Genrou watched as the older man

shimmered with a power he couldn’t understand.

“Come, Genrou,” he said.  As he started towards a set

of stairs leading downward, he chose his words

carefully.  “We have little time.  She’ll work hard to

break the spell.  She wants everything.  And wants the

most precious treasure of this temple.”

Houjun stopped in front of a door thick with carving

that resembled ancient writing.  “This room is barred

to her by power greater than mine, the same source

that mine is derived from, na no da.”  He passed a

hand over the wood, and slowly the door crept open.

Houjun stepped inside, and Genrou followed.  Instantly

the room filled with the light of a hundred candles. 

In the center he saw a pedestal in a white circle, and

atop it was a globe, clear as glass.

“A crystal ball?”

Houjun crossed the room, putting the globe between

them.  “Come closer.  Mikuni lusts for me, envies you,

covets this.  For all her power and trickery, she had

never gained what she craves most.  This has always

been protected by a Suzaku shichiseishi and so it

remains hidden from Mikuni.”

Gently, he lifted the globe from its perch.  “Look,

koi.  Do you know what this is?”

Colors shifted, image after image passed in a blur of

life, of past lives, and it pulsed with the power of

fire and pure love.  “It’s the shinzaho created when

Suzaku was summoned.  Formed from the love that the

miko had for one of her protectors and given physical

form by the controller of this world, it not only

holds the power to summon gods and grant wishes, but

also carries the memories of our dear friends and the

life we lived together.

It gave Chichiri the power back then to have his wish

granted, enabled the two of us to communicate all this

time.  If used incorrectly, it will bring misfortune

and disaster.

“And I place it in your hands now.”  Houjun placed the

small sphere in the redhead’s grasp and it began to

pulse with a warm red light, like a living heart.

“But why my hands, Houjun?”

“We were once the guardians of this temple. We once

pledged our hearts to one another in this sacred

place.  My heart and love for you  is in that magical

sphere as well.  Therefore, I am in your hands,

Genrou.”

“And if Mikuni claims this, she’ll claim you as well?”

“Hai, I will be bound to her, a thousand years.  A

spell that cannot be broken.”  Only with death, he

thought.  “But she is not without weaknesses.  She

will not have this, Genrou.  Nor will she bring harm

to you. That is my oath.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night Genrou’s dreams were restful.  There was a

globe of crystal, clear as water, where the past swam

from decade to decade, and century past century. 

There was a love sweet as sake and a need sharp as the

edge of a tessen made of diamond.

On this last night before he would face his fate,

Houjun, seeking comfort, lay sleepless in his lover’s

arms.

He will be safe, he thought, laying a hand over his

heart.  And his own safety depended on that heart.  If

Genrou did not choose to stand with him linked by

love, he was lost.

For years we slept like this and I never before have I

appreciated it like I do now.  My heart stayed true

and strong even when we were parted, only to be reborn

a thousand years later.  And now my love will be a

shield that will protect him from reliving his death

again.  His gift to me back then was his heart, but

now…?  If he brings me his love out of free will, we

will bring Mikuni to her doom.  When the dawn breaks I

hope that our love will find a way and that our lives

can be free of this evil.

Those were the words that echoed in Houjun’s mind as

he realized that when the moon rose again, it would be

settled, one way or another.