Ken watched Omi make breakfast the next morning with a slight frown on his face. What his stone had told him last night was seriously creeping him out. Using captives as prey in a hunt was…horrible, disgusting, revolting, all of those yet none of them really came close to the horror he felt. "We have to stop it! What’s wrong with the Takatori family anyway?"
Omi looked round at him. "Like a lot of samurai clans, the power has gone to their heads, Ken-kun."
"Yes, but other clans don’t hunt their captives like animals!"
"Other clans don’t wipe out whole villages just for fun, either," Aya said from the doorway.
"This must not become personal, Aya-kun."
"I realise that, Omi, don’t worry."
Omi nodded and smiled and turned back to his cooking. Ken rested his chin on his hand, thinking back to his own background. His father had always tried to rule his people wisely and fairly, not kill them for fun. Then he remembered his own disgrace and the fact that the dishonour to his name had killed his father. He glanced up at Aya. "My stone told me that the Takatori were behind my own disgrace. They were the ones looking for recruits and it was because of that…" He broke off, still too upset to talk much about it."
"What happened, Ken?" Aya’s voice was surprisingly gentle and understanding.
"I was training to be a samurai like my father. He sent me to a prominent warlord of the Koga clan for my training and I worked hard. Then…then I met Kase." He fell silent for a moment, deep in his memories. So deep he didn’t even notice when Yohji joined them and stopped to listen.
"Kase and I became friends and…eventually, lovers. He was never quite as good as I with the training, never quite as quick to learn. I never realised how jealous he really was. He hated me so much that he…he talked to some of the others who were also less quick and they arranged for my dishonour. I heard, afterwards, that Koga was so proud of their ‘unmasking’ me that he recommended them to the Takatori."
"Was he one of those that died, this Kase?" Yohji’s voice was chilling enough to make Ken glance up at him. The usually kindly green eyes were full of rage.
Ken gasped until he realised that the rage wasn’t directed at him but at the people who had betrayed him. "No. But two of the others were. Kase is the type who would make himself useful to the Takatori, not be sent off to guard a younger son."
"Then I think we may well come across him," Aya said calmly. His eyes were as cold as ice as he spoke, though, and Ken shuddered.
* * * * * * *
The flashbacks were getting worse and more frequent. Omi knew that the others were beginning to share them so when the one that revealed his real name hit him he trembled. Aya-kun would hate him now, might even seek to kill him.
Ken was the first to reach him where he lay, huddled on the courtyard floor, dropped groceries scattered all around him. "Omi! Oh gods, are you all right?"
"Not really, Ken-kun." He sank into the Earth Vessel’s embrace, too weak with shock to move very far as yet. "Aya-kun, he’s going to hate me."
"Why should he hate you? You weren’t involved in the destruction of his village."
"No, but I’m a Takatori, Ken-kun, one of the clan he hates." A shadow fell across them and Omi looked up into Aya’s cold eyes.
"Takatori," the Fire Vessel growled.
Ken made a sudden movement as if to defend him but Omi stopped him. "Discarded and unwanted. My own father to arrange my kidnapping…I am Tsukiyono Omi, Aya-kun, and I bear that name with more pride than any other." He held Aya’s gaze with his own, willing the Fire Vessel to see the truth of his statement.
"And when we go against your brother? What then?"
"Haven’t I already helped to kill one supposed brother? Why should another be any different?" He sounded so cold, and yet he was a Vessel, having far more in common with Aya than with his blood family. A family who had deliberately left him to die. The flashback indicated that an uncle had rescued him but he didn’t know the man or owe him any allegiance. His home and family were here.
Aya nodded, finally, and turned to walk away. Omi watched him go with sad eyes, wondering if things could ever be the same between them again.
* * * * * * *
"Come on, Aya, give the chibi a break. It’s not his fault." Yohji was so tired of this. Aya needed to realise that as the Water Vessel he was picking up both his anger and Omi’s unhappiness.
Aya glanced up from his complex ikebana. "I wasn’t aware that I was treating him any differently to normal."
He snorted. "Then you’re suffering from delusions! Poor kid’s treading on eggshell’s around you."
Aya calmly inserted some greenery into his arrangement. "He has no need to do so."
"You cold-hearted bastard! He’s still Omi, not some enemy!" Gods, he couldn’t believe this.
"He’s a Takatori, Yohji. The clan who murdered my village and changed your Asuka into Neu. The clan who employed Ken’s betrayers. Do I need to go on?"
"Listen to yourself, Aya. Both Ken and I have reason to hate the Takatori but we’re not giving Omi the freeze treatment!"
Aya stared at him then, his eyes full of an emotion that he couldn’t quite place. "If I don’t avoid him, or make him avoid me, I’m afraid I might kill him." He placed the finished ikebana on a shelf for collection and walked out of the shop.
Yohji watched him go with a terrifying feeling in his gut. Where did that leave them as Vessels? "Kami-sama!"
* * * * * * *
Two days later they were watching as a cartload of captives were delivered to the estate of Takatori Hirofumi. Aya had refused to involve himself in the group mind and they had ridden here on hired horses. Seemingly, they were right on time.
Aya watched as the terrified people were unloaded from the cart and told to run for their lives, his hands clenched into fists. His stone flared to life.
/Watch carefully and understand why you cannot let your hatred consume you until you destroy the link and thus the world./
/What?/ But the stone had gone dark again and he was left to watch as the people spread out and fled.
Large hunting dogs were released from their kennels and immediately started the chase. Takatori and some like-minded friends mounted horses and went after the dogs. Their first victim was a child, no more than eight, and they watched in orgiastic bliss as the dogs tore the little boy to pieces.
Aya was shaking with a mixture of anger and total disgust as he watched them run down a young woman. This time they called off the dogs, dismounted and took their turns in raping her before slicing open her belly with a katana and letting the dogs finish her off.
An old man was next, further out because of their dalliance with the woman. He was lucky. One of them swept off his head with a katana in passing.
Which left the last of their quarry. A young man who, under other circumstances, would have been beautiful. He had been intelligent enough to cross a stream to cover his scent but somehow they knew which way he’d gone and Aya realised they had to be using magic. When they cornered him he met the same fate as the young woman.
They went back to the house, laughing as they went. The dogs were penned up again and the estate fell silent apart from the occasional burst of drunken laughter from inside the house.
Aya edged backwards, out of site, before standing up. From various locations around him the others appeared. Ken was comforting Omi who was in tears. Aya stared down at the Air Vessel coldly. "Now do you understand why I hate your family?"
Both Ken and Yohji glared at him, but he didn’t care. Omi was Takatori and that was the end of it. He turned away and walked towards the inn where they were staying.
* * * * * * *
Omi made sure that Ken was asleep before crawling out of bed, dressing, picking up his crossbow and creeping out of the inn. He wanted to meet with Takatori Hirofumi and ask him why he did such things before he killed him.
Even in the dark it didn’t take him very long to reach Takatori Hirofumi’s house. He climbed in through one of the windows and came face to face with the man he now knew to be his brother.
"What the hell…? Who the devil are you?" Hirofumi lit a candle and held it up to peer at the intruder. He gave a sudden gasp. "Mamoru?"
Omi shuddered. It was true then. "You…you recognise me?"
"Yes, you’re my youngest brother, Mamoru. But father said you’d been kidnapped and killed."
"Someone rescued me, I think." This was so hard. He wanted a big brother, a family but…but…"Why? Why do you do such dreadful things?"
"You have to understand, Mamoru. What I do here helps our father and political expediency comes at a price."
"No! I don’t want to understand such cruelty!"
"Then you’re an idealistic young fool!"
"I’d rather be that than a killer of innocents."
"Then why are you carrying a weapon? What are you doing here anyway?" Hirofumi’s face hardened and his eyes narrowed. "You’ve come to spy on me! In fact…you’ve come to kill me!"
The room was suddenly full of men and Omi was disarmed and had his hands bound. He was strung up by his bound wrists and his shirt cut off him.
"I’ll teach you to spy on me you little brat…"
A whip came down on his back and he flinched but refused to cry out. What a fool he had been to come here.
* * * * * * *
Ken awoke to a feeling of something not quite right and a colder than usual bed. "Omi?" He sat up and lit a candle. There was no sign of either Omi or his crossbow. "Damn!"
Ken dressed quickly and hurried to the room that Yohji and Aya were sharing. He shook Yohji awake.
"Yohji, Omi’s missing. He’s taken his crossbow."
"What? Oh shit!" Yohji sat up and swung his long legs out of the bed.
"You don’t think he’s left because…" He glanced at Aya. "…he felt he had to, do you?"
Yohji frowned and turned to glare at Aya. "What do you think, asshole? You think you finally managed to drive the poor kid away?"
Aya winced and gazed at the comforter rather than either of them. "I think…he might have gone to see his brother."
"Why would he have gone alone?" Ken demanded.
Yohji sighed. "To prove to this idiot that he’s a Vessel and not a Takatori?" he suggested.
Ken’s eyes narrowed in anger and he shouted at the Fire Vessel. "Oh for fuck’s sake! Get over it, Aya. They left him to die! You really think he loves them for it?"
"I…" Aya began when Yohji suddenly cried out in pain.
"Shit, Yohji! What is it?" Ken was frantic. If Yohji was feeling pain that could only mean one thing, Omi was being hurt.
Yohji gasped for breath. "It’s Omi, of course. We need to help him. And Ken you need to block me from feeling this if I’m to be of any use."
Ken concentrated and used his power to shield Yohji which wasn’t easy to do with his worry about his lover. The Water Vessel breathed a sigh of relief and he realised he’d succeeded. He set the power and came back into his body to find both Aya and Yohji dressed and ready to go. He was a little startled by Aya’s willingness to go with them but he wasn’t going to argue when Omi’s life could be at stake.
* * * * * * *
There was a magician in the house. Aya could feel his power before they even reached the open window from where the sound of leather hitting flesh could be heard. It was a complication but one they would have to deal with for Omi’s sake.
And how he wished they could Join right now. Instead he signalled to Ken to head towards the window and Yohji to find another window further along. He used his own power to melt the lock on the door and ran on silent feet down the hall to the room where the sounds were.
He reached the door in time to hear Takatori Hirofumi demand, "Who sent you to spy on me? Which of our enemies do you work for?"
Then Omi’s voice came, weak but clear. "I despise you. You are not my brother! You couldn’t possibly be." The whip cracked again and slapped against flesh but Aya had heard enough. He forced the Join, absorbing some of Omi’s pain as he did so. /Now!/
He charged in through the door as Ken came through the window and Yohji from a side door. Magician or no magician, those in the room didn’t stand a chance. His katana engaged that of a samurai just as Yohji’s wire sang out and Ken’s bugnuks made meaty contact.
It was a short but vicious little fight but at the end of it, the Vessels were the only men left standing in the room. Aya raised his katana once more and cut Omi down before a single downward sweep sliced though his bonds.
He felt an overwhelming sense of guilt when Omi gazed up at him with pain-filled eyes and murmured, "Aya-kun. But I…I’m…"
"No. You’re Tsukiyono Omi." He knelt in front of the wounded Air Vessel and bowed his head. "Forgive me for ever doubting you."
* * * * * * *
Omi’s back was more bloody than seriously injured and Yohji didn’t take very long to heal it. When he’d finished and Ken had picked Omi up, ready to carry him back to the inn, he glanced around for Omi’s crossbow. That was when he realised that Takatori Hirofumi wasn’t amongst the dead. In fact he wasn’t in the room at all.
"Aya, we have a bit of a problem."
"No we don’t. Look." Aya pointed through the window to the figure quickly mounting a horse.
Yohji nodded his understanding and jumped through the window, sending out his wire as he did so. It caught Takatori Hirofumi and held him. He felt rather than saw Ken fly past him to bury the blades of his bugnuks in the bastard’s chest.
He retrieved his wire and turned to find Aya cradling a sleeping Omi in his arms. Ken must have passed the Air Vessel over when he went after the man who’d hurt his lover.
"So, you gonna stop being a bastard to him now?"
Aya didn’t answer but he raised a tear-stained face before nodding.
~TBC~