128

 

128.  An Untimely Era

 

Dawn.

 

Yet another day began anew.

 

Streams of golden light pierced the black clouds over Kyo, signaling that morning had subdued the dark night.

 

From north to south, from the palace to the city's southern gate, rotten flesh sweltered and steamed under the red sun. The capital which had once been known for its floral elegance and high culture was now a wasted vat of boiling corpses.

 

At the pinnacle of this graveyard, Satoka and Chiaki watched in shock as Hijikata Toshizo bowed to their empress.

 

Eyes emanating with affection, Hijikata's opened his mouth and spoke: "I want to talk with you, in private."

 

Azuka felt goosebumps run up her body. Hijikata's sudden change in demeanor confounded her unlike any foe she'd ever faced, and she wasn't sure how to respond. From a corner of the ceiling, Yamazaki poked his head out, still bleeding down the wall. Clearly aware that something was wrong, Okita pulled his katana off from Chiaki and Satoka's and dashed over to his leader.

 

"Hey, what's wrong?!" he shouted, slapping Hijikata on the back. "What are you doing!"

 

"Empress!" Chiaki cried. "Watch out! That man is dangerous!"

 

"Please, I beg you," Hijikata repeated softly, focused on nothing but Azuka. "I just want to spend some time with you. I want to get to know you."

 

Azuka took a deep breath, thought for a moment, then gave him an answer. "During that time, would you stop this meaningless bloodshed?"

 

Suddenly, a shuriken whizzed between the two.

 

"Yose!" someone called out, everyone in the room turned toward the open roof. Then, in one swift motion, forty bodies swathed in black leapt down from the roof of the castle, joined by another group came storming up the palace steps. Every person was dressed in black, with pale skin and dark eyes peering out from the slits in their uniforms and small blades sheathed on both hips.

 

"We are the Iga clan," a deep voice called out, "and we oppose all those connected with the villain Koga Suzunosuke. You are completely

 

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

 

surrounded," the voices of a black quartet called out to the ruins of the Taisha temple in the eastern forest. "Resistance is futile."

 

But the shadowy figure that stood midst the rubble did not reply. It walked slowly through the ruins, a skinny specter in bloodstained Buddhist robes.

 

The four eyed the creature suspiciously. "We will accept your neglect as consent to your arrest."

 

The strange being looked to be completely oblivious as it almost floated through the wreckage.

 

"Subdue him," one ordered, and the four converged on their target. Before they reached it, however, a violent backdraft of psynergy exploded outwards, ripping through each one of the Iga

 

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

 

clansmen surrounded Saffron, Todo, and Sabine on the western side of the palace moat. "Stop this at once!"

Sabine held the katana shard with her hand, watching her own blood drip to the ground along with Saffron's. Oblivious to the cries of the nin, Sabine had planned to shove the blade much further into his neck, but for some reason her hands wouldn't move. Tears began to fall to the ground as well as the woman grit her teeth and growled in frustration.

 

"Die..." she groaned weakly. "Die, die, die..."

 

"Stop that woman!" one of the nin shouted out and drew near.

 

"Hark! Wait, my men!" Saffron called out between bouts of laughter. "Such ticklish fever I've long missed!"

 

"I don't care what it takes!" Sabine shouted out to the back of Saffron's bright mane. "Mark my words, someday, I'm going to fucking kill you!"

 

Blood trickled out from Saffron's wounds as he stood tall, savoring the pain. "Yes...let rage overtake thy body, little hellion. Merge it with thy bloodlust."

 

"Detain them!" another nin called out. "Grab them and take them all

 

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

 

to the caravan!"

 

Heeding the call, Iga men and women loaded the bodies from the Boneyard onto bamboo stretchers and lifted them up to the surface so that medical attention could later be administered. In time, everyone was lined up next to Harada Sanosuke, who had been de-thawed and restrained. His body was heavily wounded, but he continued to breathe.

 

Caleb breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Sabine gently placed on a stretcher near him.

 

"I'm glad you're okay," Caleb said weakly, as Sabine turned to face him.

 

"I lost," Sabine moaned. "Up until today, I thought what happened in the forest with Tani was just a fluke. That I'd be able to do better–"

 

"Kamo's dead," Caleb blurted out, struggling to keep his face from shivering any further. "He sacrificed himself to protect me. And them," he said, motioning over to the women of the Royal Guard, who each lay sleeping on their own stretchers. "I would have died if it wasn't for them."

 

Sabine burst into tears, which caused Caleb to do the same. They both lay there for several moments, overcome with the deep sorrow of loss.

 

Sabine grimaced. "This is like one big, neverending nightmare."

 

"I keep replaying it back in my head, thinking about what I could have done to save him," Caleb sniffed. "But then I think about how we all would have died if Rose hadn't come to save us."

 

"She saved you, huh?" Sabine wiped moisture from her cheeks. "Saffron came to save me. It made me so angry, I stabbed him right there on the spot. He saved my life, yet I still wanted to kill him. It disgusted me, yet at the same time, I couldn't stop. There's no one I hate more than him, yet I'm so weak I had to accept his help."

 

Caleb reached out a hand and clasped his wounded friend's. This time, she didn't shrink away. "What did he do when you stabbed him?"

 

"He just laughed," Sabine scrunched up her face again. "That sick bastard."

 

"Maybe this really is just a nightmare, like you said," Caleb said after a while, staring up at the clear morning sky. "People sacrificed their lives so we could live, and what have we done in return? What good have we sent back into the world? We're still weak, no matter how hard we try. We've lost our weapons, our teachers...where do we go from here?"

 

"We either find a way to wake up," Sabine sniffed, "or we die too."

 

"Think only of living," the husky voice of Rose cut in as she walked over to the two. "That's all we can do."

 

Caleb and Sabine looked up to the woman. She gave them no warm smile, no reassuring hand, but her eyes glistened too.

 

"Thanks for saving us," Caleb said finally, with an awkward glance in a random direction. "I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't showed up."

 

"I wanted to save him, and I thought I could," Rose said. "His aura burned so brightly, and it wasn't until I saw his body that I realized he was on the brink of burning out. He did everything he could do to protect you all...and up to his last breath, he continued to guide you. I knew two people like that, and for a long time I thought they were the only people in the world capable of such kindness. I miss them every single day."

 

"Your parents?" Caleb ventured.

 

"I have no parents," Rose replied. "But perhaps they were something like that. A man named Grayson used them, then took their lives. Much like what he's trying to do with this dimension."

 

"You know what's going on here?" Sabine asked. "What made those swordsmen so powerful?"

 

"I have an idea," Rose said. "Not for revenge, and not even for those whose lives have been sacrificed thus far...but for the living. For the people who struggle to keep going, despite the burdens they've been tasked with."

 

Caleb looked to the side. Next to him slept the unconscious bodies of Yayoi, Ban, Bara, Hanayo, and Kyokuran.

 

"Kaguramaru reporting in!" A nin called out from the side, removing his mask as he approached the stretchers. "More members of the Royal Guard have been secured."

 

Kaguramaru had green-tipped black hair and two lip rings, but otherwise wore the same black tunic as his allies. After his proclamation, the other nin surrounding the caravan stopped what they were doing and listened intently.

 

"Survivors found around the Royal Palace include Ota Hanayo, Arashima Yayoi, Muro Kyokuran, Sakakibara Ban, Caleb Harper, Shinsengumi 10^th Division Captain Harada Sanosuke, Miyako Bara, Sabine Cune, and Shinsengumi 8th Division Captain Todo Heisuke."

 

"Ravi and Azuka..." Caleb's eyes went wide. "He didn't say their names."

 

"They have to be alive," Sabine said, as her lower lip trembled. "There's no way

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

 

you can go with him!" Chiaki screamed out in protest. Satoka stood protectively at her side, as the two of them watched Azuka and Hijikata come to a strange understanding in the center of the command room. "Empress! He's a murderer! You can't trust him!"

 

The 18 nin who had flooded into the command room now surrounded Hijikata, who continued to kneel in front of the empress. Next to him stood Okita, fuming as he watched Azuka reach out and help the warrior to his feet.

 

"Please, hold your weapons and stand down," Azuka commanded to the anxious nin. "This man has expressed an interest in negotiating, and I will not allow this chance at peace to go to waste."

 

"You can't be serious..." Okita watched in shock as Hijikata rose to his feet. He stood only a slight bit taller than the empress, allowing them to stare directly into each other's eyes. "She's the empress! The missing daughter of the late emperor...the only link to the royal family that remains. What reason could we possibly have not to dice her up?!"

 

Murmurs passed through the Iga, but they were soon quieted as Hijikata cleared his throat.

 

"I would like to speak at length with the empress," he announced calmly.

 

Okita's jaw dropped. "Did you hit your head or something?!"

 

"Unfortunately, we don't make deals with terrorists," a scratchy voice called out from the crowd of nin.

 

"Zansuke, is that you?" Hijikata ventured. "I thought I'd never see you again, after you stormed out during our last peace conference."

 

"Because you insisted on oppressing us." The current chief of the Iga, an old man with long yellow-white hair and thick white eyebrows removed his mask and stepped forward. "Now hand over the empress, conspirator."

 

"Empress?" Hijikata gazed fondly at Azuka. "Indeed, she is of royal blood, but as far as I know, she has never been officially crowned. Furthermore, the information regarding her bloodline is only known by her comrades and the people in this room. Whether or not the public finds out about this...is up to us."

 

"You would hide the identity of the empress?" Zansuke growled. "To what end?"

 

"Yeah!" Okita shouted. "What the hell's gotten into you?!"

 

Hijikata sighed. "Look. The way I see it, you have two options: let me leave with the empress, or fight me, whereupon I will massacre your men and all the survivors, and then leave with her. She's already agreed to come with me herself. Haven't you, Empress?"

 

"Yes," Azuka replied slowly. "He's promised us no more bloodshed for the time being, and that has always been my first and foremost wish. I plan to travel with him to Neo-Edo and come up with a plan to end this war once and for all. Chiaki, gather up our allies, unite with the Iga clan, and rejoice – we have won our first battle. I will return to you all shortly."

 

"Empress!" Zansuke shouted. "This man and his soldiers have brought nothing but death and destruction to our land for months! You can't possibly trust him!"

 

"Please don't misunderstand," Hijikata interjected. "I bear you nor any of the other people here any ill will. The battle that went on here tonight was not mine – it was lost by other men, and therefore, they are no longer members of my squad. This city was ripped from their grasp fair and square, and I accept that. See? No problems."

 

"He's lying!" Chiaki shouted. "He just wants to isolate her so he can kill her! Don't listen to him!"

 

Hijikata was unfazed. "If I was interested in the art of liars, or politicians, I wouldn't have become half the warrior I am today."

 

"My father's dying words commanded me to not fight the darkness, but to work alongside it," Azuka added. "I believe that this may be what he meant. It may be a longshot, but I'm not afraid. I can protect myself, and I'm willing to try anything that could possibly stop all of this meaningless sacrifice."

 

"No!" Chiaki screamed. "Empress! Wait! He killed your father! He destroyed everything we had!"

 

"She's right!" Zansuke argued. "And even if he stops the war, what will become of him and his men? They must be punished! They must pay for what they've done!"

 

But their cries fell on deaf ears. "Okita, Yamazaki." Hijikata glanced at his subordinates. "We're leaving."

 

The spy rose up from the shadows, still clutching his bloody wounds. In a flash, he leapt up to the cockroach-shaped airship in the sky, along with Hijikata, Okita and Azuka.

 

"No..." Chiaki moaned, shaking her head in disbelief. "No, Empress! They'll kill you!"

 

"He really is withdrawing," Zansuke muttered. "Fall back. We need to focus on securing the city for now."

 

"Heed my words," the Vice-Commander said, as he turned down to face the nin one last time. "I'm not interested in world domination or anything petty like that. Even conquering this city was no more than a challenge for me. I want to crush weakness and revive the true morality of the Yamatoan warrior. You think Koga Suzunosuke is using me? I'm using him, and he'll be dead long before I'm gone. I'm on no one's side but my own, and I intend to do as I wish until my last breath leaves my body. Do not get in my way, and you will live."

 

The Iga and the remnants of the Royal Guard watched in stunned silence as Hijikata disappeared through the bottom opening of the airship, an enigma wrapped in a monstrous hide.

 

And so Kyo was quiet, as the last bits of dark cloud disappeared and a radiant dawn poured over the capital. The nin of Iga spread through every corner, clearing out the festering yokai and gathering up the remnants of the team that had braved the deadly streets. In one day Kyo had been conquered, and in one night it had been reclaimed.

 

But as the Iga caravans drove off from the smoldering ruins, Azuka's allies did not sleep soundly. Once the news of her decision spread, it cast a dark shadow over their feelings of relief and triumph from their hard-earned victory. Their hearts shivered, mourning the loss of their Exalted Light, fearing that the true horror was yet to come.

Next: The Green Manalishi