Daylight streamed through the stained glass windows inside
the Church; the wooden pews gleamed in the golden rays. The
shadow of the brown-haired boy fell across the wooden floor and
rich red rug as he walked towards the wooden confessional. He
opened the door and stepped inside.
The panel between the two halves of the booth slid back, and
the face of the resident priest could be seen through the wooden
mesh.
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," the boy said, folding
his hands across his lap.
"How long since your last confession, my child?" Father
Xavier Cloud asked.
"I suppose nearly 50 years," the boy replied after a long
pause.
Father Cloud smiled slightly. "Yes, sometimes it seems
that way, doesn't it? But there's no need for such exaggerations.
Now, let's be honest with each other. How long since your last
confession, my son?"
"I apologize, Father," the boy said softly. "It's actually
been closer to 60."
Father Cloud sighed. He decided to forget about it. "All
right, my son. Go on."
"Where should I start?"
"The beginning is always a good place. Don't worry, my
son, nothing is ever as bad as you think. God loves all his
children and forgives them their sins."
The boy was silent at that. "I have these feelings for a
girl, Father, feelings I haven't had in a very long time. I
haven't known her for very long, but I'm already willing to risk
my life for hers. I guess I'm worried that I'll be hurt like I
was the last time I fell in love."
Father Cloud chuckled. "That's hardly what I would call
a sin, my son. Good for you, love is a wonderful thing; it's
truly one of God's greatest gifts."
"But I abandoned her, Father." The boy hung his head. "I
let her be taken away. If something should happen to her-- it
would be my fault."
"I do believe I asked you to stop exaggerating, my son."
He cleared his throat. "If you love this girl then return to her
and tell her your feelings. If it is meant to be then the good
Lord will see to it that it happens."
The boy sighed. "It's more complicated than that, Father.
If I want to save her, I have to face a demon."
"Personal demons are very hard, my son, but we overcome
them if given enough motivation. I think this girl sounds like
the motivation you need."
"Yes, Father, to overcome my own personal demons-- but
she won't be able to help much in the matter of fighting Yasha."
Father Cloud wiped at his sweating brow; he suddenly felt
cold all over. "Are you quite serious, my son?"
"Are you Father Xavier Cloud?" The boy asked suddenly.
"My name is not import--"
"You have a talisman in your possession, don't you? It's
half of a black five-pointed star. It was passed down to you from
your grandfather, who was also a priest of this church. He gave
it to you after he told you the legend of the Star of Darkness."
"How do you know this?" Father Cloud asked, beginning to
fear the reply.
"Because this is how it's been since the times of the first
Father Cloud. It's how we agreed it would be," the boy paused.
"And when your grandfather gave you the star, he told you someday
someone might come to you for your help. You would know him by the
star."
Father Cloud looked up. The other half of the star was
hanging on a chain dangling from the boy's hand. "Dear God, where
did you get that?" he asked, sweating.
"It belongs to me." The boy said. His pale blue eyes met
Cloud's brown ones. "No questions, Father Cloud. They aren't
part of the bargain."
The elder man looked down at his hands. "I-- I was told
about the Star. But I never thought I would have to deal with
him in my time." He paused. "Does this means the legend really
is true?"
"That sounds like a question."
"You're quite serious about battling Yasha?"
"The girl that I want to save, Father, her name is Tenkou
Stone. She disappeared last night from the Ryuujin Temple. Yasha
took her." The boy paused. "If you insist on questions then stop
wasting time and ask the important one."
Father Cloud inhaled and steadied himself. "What do you
want me to do?"
"There you go." The boy smiled. "I need the other half
of the talisman that you have. If I was to come back this
afternoon would you have it ready for me to take?"
"Of course," Father Cloud managed. "It's down in the
vaults."
The boy nodded. "Thank you, Father." He stood to exit
the confessional but paused. "And one other thing, don't tell
anyone what happened in this confessional. I know you have a
habit of talking to Sister Himiko."
"H-how did you know about that?" There was no answer. He
looked back up and saw that the boy was gone.
~*~
Darkness: Dreams
Three: Infatuation
by: Chandra Rooney
darkness@cloak-and-dagger.co.uk
~*~
Revised: May 2001
~*~
The Square was busy that afternoon. It probably wasn't
the wisest thing for him to be there; there were many other things
he could be doing in preparation for the battle with Yasha.
However, the meeting had been prearranged nearly six months ago
and he wasn't about to start alienating the few friends he had.
A safe distance from the traffic of cars and people
moving through the Square on their way to their next destination,
a youngish painter had an easel set up. He appeared to be maybe
eighteen or so, with unruly blond hair. He was dressed in casual
clothes, a gray dress-shirt open over a white undershirt and a
pair of light blue slacks. The painter looked up at Yamato.
Yamato ignored the smudge of black paint along the man's cheekbone
and walked over to him.
"Lovely, isn't she?" The painter asked, once Yamato had
made his way to the easel. "The day, I mean. Beautiful weather
we're having."
Yamato nodded. "It's going to get hot this afternoon.
Really hot."
"I should hope so. It is the middle of August." The
brush danced across the canvas. "I met someone yesterday
morning," the painter said, conversationally. "Beautiful girl,
fresh out of high school and here with her father. Apparently, he
studies mythological and legendary creatures from all over the
world. Sounded quite fascinating, or perhaps it was just the way
she told it. I believe her name was Tenkou Stone. Now I've heard
that she's gone missing. It's a shame."
"You don't have to rub it in, Hikaru," Yamato muttered.
"I'm aware of my failure."
"I'm not rubbing anything in, Yamato,"
Hikaru replied. "Aside from this paint smear on my cheek." He
dipped his brush into blue and swirled it with red to create a
violet color, and then he dabbed the color onto the canvas. "In
my defense, I don't think you failed. You'll get Tenkou back. I
hope you've come up with some sort of plan," he remarked, mixing a
flesh-tone.
"I thought I'd try defeating Yasha and saving Tenkou. Just
a thought."
Hikaru looked up and met Yamato's icy silver-blue eyes
with ones a similar color. "Try forming a strategy of how you're
going to do that," he suggested.
"I thought I'd use the star amulet to awaken Tenkou from
the dream coffins and then get her out. That's what Yasha will be
expecting, so she'll be waiting at the gateway to catch us. Then
I'll have to fight her. I can use the way she feels about me to
my advantage."
"Well, aren't you the clever devil." Hikaru clicked his
tongue. "That might work."
"It will work."
"I suppose it will have to." Hikaru wandered back to his
easel and added a final brush-stroke. "There. _Voila_! Come and
see this, Yamato. It came to me in a dream."
Yamato leaned forward to inspect the painting and a cold
feeling grabbed his stomach. In the painting a girl with violet
eyes and black hair sat at the base of the Ryuujin Temple with her
arms around a young man with bluish hair and dark blue eyes. Upon
the young man's forehead was a small black spiral. "Hikaru--" he
broke off.
"What is it?" Hikaru asked, inspecting Yamato's
expression. "I thought you'd be happy to see it." He followed
Yamato's eyes to the spiral. "Oh. Gettin' all bothered about the
mark, are you?"
"I'd appreciate it if you removed it from the picture,"
Yamato replied.
"And I'd appreciate it if you learned to relax," Hikaru
retorted. "Do you even think that anyone around here knows what
that little mark means?"
"I heard rumours," Yamato began. "About You Know Who being
in Japan."
Hikaru made a face. "Glad you told me, I sure as hell don't
want to be anywhere near here if he comes callin'."
"At least you can avoid him," Yamato muttered, darkly.
"You could too." Hikaru began putting the painting supplies
back in a carrying case.
"I've tried. He always manages to find me."
"I know that feeling." Reaching into his pocket, Hikaru
pulled out a small ornate mirror. "You know one of the things I
like about Japan?" he asked, wiping at the mark on his face and
then trying to straighten his hair. "A guy can pull out a mirror
and check his hair without being accused of being gay. It's
cool." He paused, eyeing a woman who stepped past the two of them
openly staring. "Yes, that's right," he called after her in
Japanese, "we're scary white foreigners, and if you come back here
I'll bite you!"
Yamato made a face. "Really, Hikaru," he began.
"What?" the other asked, a genuinely baffled look on his
face. "I've had all my shots."
*
Hikaru convinced Yamato to go to a restaurant for a drink,
and
then Yamato led him back to his hotel and returned to the Church.
Or rather he stood on the steps outside of it. The sun shone,
glinting off the stained glass window over the door. From memory
he knew that the colored shadow would fall across the floor. In
Latin it would read _"Sanctuary For All Within These Walls"_
overtop of the angel, backwards, of course.
He walked up and placed a hand on the wooden door. He'd
come to this Church with his adoptive father every Sunday to hear
the mass. He'd been an _altar boy_ for most of his life. He'd
fended off the strange looks from the locals when he told them
that his family had come to spread the Word of the Light to the
areas of Darkness. He'd just done what he'd been raised to
believe was right.
Still, he could remember the night he'd stayed late to
help the Father Cloud of that generation prepare for the next
day's mass and had to return home in the pitch black of midnight.
It was that night that he'd met Tenshi. She'd appeared to him in
the Town Square. Just appeared right before his eyes with her
shimmering white wings and beautiful, kind smile.
"I've been watching you," she said in her sweet voice.
"You're one of the ones who came from Europe. My name is Tenshi
Jikeino. I watch over everyone in this town and this area."
He'd stared not quite sure what to do. She'd smiled
again and sat down. "Come and sit near me, Mathew Zellar. I've
grown tired of _just_ watching you. Please, come and talk to me.
I know you have a beautiful voice. Will you sing with me?"
The spot where the fountain stood now had been the town's
well back then. The missionaries had dug it when they had first
arrived. Sometime much later the well had dried up and been
filled in. Later still a small fountain had been built on the
spot. He'd forgotten the exact date, but it had probably been
within the last fifty years. He'd also forgotten why they'd
chosen an angel. Honestly, he wished they had picked something
else; the angel reminded him too much of Tenshi.
Yamato shook his head; it seemed like it had been longer
than two days since he had met Professor Stone on the church
steps. Time was funny, the night that he had first met Tenshi
seemed like yesterday, but yesterday's actual events seemed to
belong to another life. He concluded they had when given too much
time to sit and mull over his past.
He sighed, hoping that Father Cloud had found the other
half of the amulet, and entered through the solid, heavy doors.
He'd not noticed it when he'd visited earlier that day, but
despite the passage of centuries the place remained somewhat
unchanged. A blessing or a curse depending on how you looked at
it. Much like his own situation.
Tenshi and he were going to get married in this very
church. His Father Cloud would have performed the ceremony.
Yamato remembered the man being so proud to learn of his
engagement. The priest had been the one to baptize Yamato; he had
been more of a father to Yamato than his own adoptive father.
Of his long and dark life there had been few people that
had blessed him with true light. An even sadder fact was that
all those who did had always ended up dead. Not this time,
though, he was going to save Tenkou Stone.
Voices up ahead drew him from his broodings of the past and
back into the present. He quickly ducked into a confessional, not
wanting to be seen. Here he could safely wait out these other
patrons until it was safe to seek out the priest without
disturbances.
Footsteps passed and then more as someone returned to the
confessional. The door on the other side opened and then closed.
Someone sat down. "Speak your peace, my child, I'm listening,"
Father Cloud said.
Yamato sucked in a breath. "Father? Did you find the
amulet?"
Father Cloud hesitated. "I wasn't certain that you'd come
back. Alan Stone was just here."
"Has he left?"
"Yes, he and Sister Himiko went for a walk together."
Father Cloud rustled about in his robes, and then slid open the
panel separating the two sections. The other half of the star
dangled on a thin chain from his fist. "This is what you're
looking for?"
Yamato reached forward and took it. "Yes, thank you,
Father." He stood and moved to open the door.
"Bring the girl back safely," Father Cloud said. "A happy
ending would be nice."
Yamato smiled faintly. "I'll see what I can do, Father."
"I don't know how appropriate it is, but may God bless
you."
"Thank you, Father," Yamato said softly, climbing out of
the booth. "It would be nice if someone did."
*
Yamato walked down the side of the street not really caring
where he was going. It was still only mid-afternoon, and he had
time to kill before the night fell. The sun bore down on him,
scorching his ever-fair skin but never burning. The cool breeze
that had been present for the past few days had moved on today,
leaving only the hot, baking air of August. It was hot,
unseasonably hot.
He continued down the side of the street, avoiding bumping
into people as best he could. Everyone seemed to be moving
unusually fast for the heat, rushing from one air-conditioned shop
to another, or fanning themselves with folded newspapers as they
waited in the meager shade for the bus to come. Yes, moving fast
from one patch of shade to the other, then from the shade to the
store and its artificial spring weather. It was funny, that when
they weren't depending on that falsified zephyr they were
depending on the darkness and shadows to protect them from the
sun. It was the opposite in the winter; the winter saw people
searching for light to fight off the overwhelming night that
lasted longer than the day. Chalk it up to the fickleness of
humanity, always wanting the opposite of what they currently had;
the grass must be greener on the other side of the proverbial
fence and so forth.
Yamato continued on his way and ended up where he always
ended because he was a creature of habit, and it had been proven
that it didn't appear he could break that habit. The stream of
water pouring from the Angel's jug was smaller than usual, the
heat had evaporated most of the water in the fountain, reducing
the reserve of the precious liquid going through the endless cycle
of pouring and then being pumped back up to be poured again.
The heat was even keeping the children away from playing in
the shallow pool of the fountain. The Square was empty; no one in
their right mind would be out in the blazing sun without any shade
to be found. The very glare of the daystar's bright rays glinting
off the cobblestones was blinding, but Yamato took it all in
stride. The heat didn't bother him, only the cold caused him
minor discomfort.
"Ah, there you are," a smooth voice remarked, and a hand
fell across his shoulders.
Yamato turned to find a man with longish black hair,
wearing some garishly bright shirt and only slightly less garish
shorts with sunglasses obscuring his eyes from the assault of the
sun. The smell of coconut clung to the man's skin, and a greasy
residue remained on his fingers when Yamato removed his
acquaintance's arm from his own shoulders. Yamato stiffened, why
did it have to be the last person he wanted to see? He took a
steadying breath, trying to prepare himself for anything.
"Working on your tan, Vincent?" Yamato asked, carefully
watching the other's face.
"It's horribly hot," Vincent replied. "I had hoped to
speak
to you though, Zellar. You're still not considering going after
the young girl are you?"
"How did you hear about that?" Yamato asked, casually.
"I have my sources," Vincent replied. "You're still
considering it, aren't you?"
Yamato shrugged. "You ought to know what a stubborn
creature I am," he replied.
"Yes," Vincent nodded, sagely. "And it causes me great
worry, Zellar. You're-- different from most." Yamato snorted,
eyebrows raising. "I just don't want you to take on more than
you're capable of," Vincent continued.
"Thank you for your concern," Yamato told him, briskly.
"But you must have failed to notice that I'm all grown-up now,
Vincent. I can take care of myself."
"You're not as grown-up as you'd like to think," Vincent
muttered, darkly. "I simply feel you might benefit from leaving
this situation alone. Yasha's trying to force you into action."
"Yes, but it's still my choice whether or not to take that
action." He paused. "I like this Tenkou girl. There's something
about her that I feel drawn to."
"Need I remind you about the last girl you felt drawn to?"
Yamato winced. That had been a low blow, bringing Tenshi
up. He cast a look at Vincent. The man was still wearing a look
of triumph at having regained control over the conversation.
Vincent shrugged and inspected his nails. "But I suppose,
if you feel you don't have a choice..."
"There is _always_ a choice," Yamato told him, quickly. It
was dangerous to leave the ball in Vincent's court. It could come
back and knock you on your ass. "Even if it's a simple as to do
or not to do. It is still a choice."
"Ah, but what about destiny?" Vincent asked, smiling
smugly.
Yamato hesitated. His personal belief in what he should
answer was on the tip of his tongue, but the past had taught him
never to get too cocky with Vincent.
"Well?" Vincent asked, smile turning menacing. "No answer
for me?" He sneered. "A little boy who is unable to even answer
a simple question can't possibly hope to outsmart Yasha."
Yamato took a deep breath. "Destiny needs two things,
opportunity and acceptance. That is, the opportunity for events
to fall in a fashion to create a moment of destiny, and the
acceptance from the 'destined' that it is up to him or her to play
their part in the events."
Vincent scowled. "I thought someone as silly and
sentimental as you, who can speak of being 'drawn' to people,
would believe in destiny."
Yamato clenched his fist, then slowly released it, letting
his breath out in a long exhale. "Are we finished?" he asked,
shortly.
"No, there are matters that we need to discuss, Darkness,"
Vincent said, a dangerous edge to his voice. "One of them being
your increasing disobedience."
"Talk to me after I've dealt with Yasha," Yamato snapped.
"I have an appointment to keep."
"Don't try to run away from me," Vincent told him. "You've
got over an hour until nightfall."
"It's a long walk to the temple," Yamato retorted.
"Goodbye, Vincent. We'll talk when I return."
Vincent watched him go, a barley concealed look of anger on
his face. Across the Square, his menacing whisper still reached
Yamato's ears. "If you return."
*
Yamato walked along the side of the road, heading past the
church on his way to the temple, doing his best not to think about
how much Vincent grated on his nerves. Of course it was just his
luck that he should no sooner warn Hikaru that the old bastard was
in the area than find himself trapped by a surprise visit. He
sighed, this way of thinking was disrespectful of him. He owed so
much to Vincent-- and Vincent never let him forget it. Oh well,
what was it they said? You can choose your friends, but you can't
choose-- A car honked behind him, snapping Yamato out of his
revere.
"I say," the man inside the car called from the driver's
side window. "Zellar? Is everything all right?" Yamato looked up
to see Professor Alan Stone leaning out of the car window.
"Zellar?" Stone repeated. "Ah, it is you. I thought so."
Yamato walked over to the car. "What are you doing,
Professor?"
"I was going to take a drive up to the temple," Stone
replied. "I seemed to have left some of my research material up
there, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to, uh, look around.
For some signs of what happened. You wouldn't be on your way up
there as well, would you?"
Yamato nodded. "I forgot someone there."
The man gave him a funny look. "You mean some_thing_,
don't you?"
He shook his head. "No, sir. I believe I know where
Tenkou is. I'm going to get her back."
Stone stared at him, and then he reached over and unlocked
the passenger-side door. "Why don't you climb in, Zellar? I'll
give you a ride." Yamato walked around and got in the car and
buckled up. "What exactly do you mean, you're going to get my
daughter back?" Stone asked, as he began to drive down the road
again. The sun had begun to sink behind the trees and the hazy
dusk made the air above the road shimmer.
Yamato unclenched his fist and allowed the half of the
star amulet to swing back and forth on the chain he was grasping.
"Do you know what this is, Professor?"
Stone hazarded a look, quickly, as he was trying to keep
his eyes on the road. He nearly lost control of the wheel. "Is
that," he said after he'd steadied the car on the correct side of
the centerline again, "is that half of the Kurayamino Hoshi's
summoning talisman?" Yamato nodded. "But how did you get a hold
of it, Zellar? All my data on that part of the legend states that
the amulet has been lost for over two centuries. Well, at least
my sources that are willing to say that it even existed in the
first place."
"I didn't tell the police this, Professor," Yamato began
softly, carefully choosing what would be the most honest half-
truth. "But I saw him there that night. Dark--the Kurayamino
Hoshi was there the night Tenkou disappeared. I think he was
trying to save her." He looked down at the star.
"Save her? From what?"
"From the superstitious nonsense."
"Excuse me?" Stone blinked. "Are mocking me, Zellar?"
Yamator cleared his throat. "With all due respect,
Professor, you haven't lived in this place your entire life. You
haven't seen the things I've seen. You can read all the books you
like, and visit all the Shrines you want-- but you will never know
what I know. I'm going to ask you to drop me off at the temple
and then drive yourself back to town. Let me handle this. I
can't allow you to put yourself in danger."
"With all due respect, my dear boy," Stone seethed,
turning to face Yamato, "she is _my daughter_. My little girl
disappeared up at that temple, and I'm beginning to think that you
might have had something to do with it. Now you either tell me
what's going on, or I'll turn around right now and drive back to
the police station."
Yamato was about to reply, but changed his mind.
"Professor, the road!"
Stone's gaze whipped back onto the road in time to see the
massive shape in the middle of the lane. He slammed on the breaks
and the car fishtailed, skidding into the ditch. "My word!" Stone
exclaimed, pulling off his seatbelt and throwing open his door.
"That looked like a person! I hope we didn't hit them!"
Yamato yanked off his own seatbelt and dashed outside, but
for another reason. His sixth sense was screaming at him to get
Stone back into the car and as far away from the thing as
possible. He watched as Stone crossed the road to the figure in
the center. Yamato took a deep breath and drew the darkness to
him.
*
The creature in the road appeared to be a young woman.
She had black hair and a slight tan, with violet eyes. She was
dressed in a slightly wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of gray
sweatpants. "Tenkou!" Stone cried as he reached her. "My dear,
are you all right? Where have you been?"
"Oh, Daddy, I was so scared!" the girl cried softly. "It
was so dark and scary and there were these strange creatures
everywhere!"
Stone reached forward and embraced his daughter, tears of
joy accumulating in the corners of his eyes. Vaguely he was aware
that Zellar hadn't come out from the car.
Tenkou's head raised and she looked over his shoulder.
"Who's with you, Daddy?"
"Hmm?" Stone drew back. "Oh, It's Zellar, Tenkou. You
remember Zellar, don't you dear?"
"Really, Daddy?" Tenkou smiled and squealed with delight.
"It's Zellar?" She giggled. "It was so nice of you to bring him
to us, Daddy!" She continued to giggle as her features flowed
like water and her mouth contorted to reveal a set of impressive
fangs. Her hands reformed into sharp talons and her skin took on
a greeny-blue hue. A feline like tail flickered out from her
backside as cat ears sprouted from her head. The t-shirt and
sweat pants melted away into a leather thong and bikini. The
demon hissed at Stone. "Queen Yasha was worried that he wasn't
going to come, and it's so naughty to make Queen Yasha worry!"
Stone stared at the creature before him, at a complete
loss for words. It hissed again and raised its claws menacingly.
"I don't see him, Daddy," it mocked in a sing-song voice. "I hope
you weren't lyyyyy-ing!"
The last rays of the sun sank beneath the treetops as
Stone's wits finally reclaimed him and he dropped the cat-
creature, backing away.
"It's naughty to lie," the creature purred, looking at him
and licking its lips. "I'll have to punish you so you learn not
to lie."
A shadow flashed between Stone and the creature, and it
turned its head to look over at the edge of the road. Stone
followed its gaze. What looked like a young man stood a few feet
from the car and dressed in black. His skin was pale, death white
in
color. His eyes appeared to be a vivid silver color, glowing
softly, and his hair was a pale blue, sweeping around his face and
trailing behind his shoulders. The black star on his forehead
seemed to catch the last of the fading light and reflect it back
for a moment. In the young man's hands appeared to be some
insubstantial bow made of ethereal shadows.
The cat creature back away, hissing. "The Kurayamino
Hoshi--"
"Tell Yasha that I haven't forgotten," the Star said, his
voice full of musical shadows and elemental harmony. "I'm
coming." He raised the bow again. "Now run along and I won't
have to kill you."
The cat creature looked at Stone for a moment then back
at the Star and scampered off into the darkness on the other side
of the road. Stone followed it with his eyes until it was out of
sight and then turned back to where the Star had been standing,
but the creature was gone. "Was that the...?" he wondered and
trailed
off as a soft moan reached his ears. He got up and walked over to
the side of the road and saw Yamato getting up from the bottom of
the ditch.
"Tripped. Sorry. I heard voices," Yamato muttered.
"Who was out there?"
Stone looked at the chain hanging from the boy's neck, a
half of a black star dangling on the daintily forged links. "I
think there's something to the legend about that amulet."
Yamato gave him a blank look and then followed the
elderly man's gaze down to the pendant on his chain. He hastily
grabbed it and tucked it under his shirt.
"Where did you get that?"
Yamato shrugged. "Good luck charm," he muttered. "My
parents found it tucked into the basket with me. When they found
me as a baby," he explained when seeing Stone's confused look.
"I've had it my entire life."
"Has it brought you good luck?" Stone asked, gesturing to
the car, and opening his door. Yamato walked around to the other
side and climbed in. Once inside, Stone turned the key and they
started back down the road.
"I've had my fair share. What was in the road?"
"It's sounds crazy," Stone began, "but it was Tenkou. At
least it looked like her, but as soon as I got close to it, it
changed into some sort of cat creature and then threatened me.
That's when the Star of Darkness appeared and frightened it off."
"It's a bad omen," Yamato murmured quietly. "Demons out
this early is never a good sign. They usually wait till at least
the sun has completely set, no matter how dark the shadows in the
trees are. There's still about an hour left."
"I think seeing the Star is a good omen. It means that
the legends concerning that amulet you have are true. It's drawn
to whoever possesses the amulet."
"Don't call m-- him an 'it'." He narrowed his eyes out
the window as the car turned onto the road that led to the temple.
"It'll be dark soon, we need to start a fire as soon as we get to
the temple. The fire has to burn all night; whatever you do,
don't let it burn out. If you stay by the fire, you should be
fine."
Stone stopped the car, the headlights shining on the
path. The car wouldn't be able to negotiate the narrow trail, so
they would have to walk the rest of the way. "You're certainly
not going to wander off on your own," he told Yamato. "Not after
what I just saw."
"Trust me, I've seen things far worse. That was a Neko-
jin, a very low-level demon. They usually don't do anything but
scare people and cause mischief. They're really too cowardly to
attack anyone that they can't be certain they can defeat." Yamato
opened his door and stepped outside.
Stone slammed his own door shut and followed the young
man down the wheel tracks that lead to the temple. "I've never
heard of a Neko-jin, but I'm quite sure that it was about to
attack me."
Yamato didn't say anything.
*
Yamato finally stepped into the temple grounds with the sun
three quarters of the way beneath the horizon. He could have been
there in half the time, but Stone slowed him down.
The Ryuujin Temple loomed before him like a hungry animal,
its black, gaping maw as foreboding at dusk as it was during the
day. The scattered and left behind elements of the camp dotted
the grounds, creating the illusion that they had never left.
Tenkou's tent was still up, and the ashes of last night's fire
still clung to the rock circle they had built together.
What was wrong with him? Yamato's mouth twisted in
something resembling a look of pain. Why was he so worked up by a
pile of ash in a circle of rocks? Could what he said to Father
Cloud be true? Oh, Hikaru would love this. He looked down at the
blackened marshmallow goo on one of the rocks. He had dropped the
first one. The marshmallow fell on the rock and melted to it.
She had said it wasn't a big deal. She had been so calm about
everything. She had taken everything in stride, even his strange
moods.
"You're thinking about her too, eh?" Stone asked, as he
dropped a bundle of firewood into the stone circle. The man lit a
match and tried to light the wood. "I'm sorry for snapping
earlier, Zellar, but you must understand that I don't like feeling
so helpless. I've prided myself on being an expert in this field,
and then I meet some-- _boy_ who seems to not only know more than
I do, but is better able to deal with it. It's a little
unnerving."
"Most of my knowledge comes from experience," Yamato
replied, serious. "But, if you really consider me to be an
expert, then promise me that you'll leave this place. If you
insist on staying, I can't stop you, but you must stay by the fire
and not let it burn out."
"And what are you going to do?" Stone asked.
"I'm going to go into the temple." Yamato looked back at
the ancient stone building. "And hopefully, by morning I'll be
back-- with Tenkou."
"I was inside that temple, Zellar, it's large, but not
large enough for Tenkou to get lost in. It's also not large
enough to take all night to search through." The elderly man
stopped. "Plus, the search would go faster with two people
looking."
"How about we do it in shifts?" Yamato suggested, finally.
"I'll go in first, and when I come out you can come in, but _only_
when I come out. It's absolutely crucial that someone is here
maintaining the fire. The Neko-jin won't come near flames."
Stone considered this and after his last encounter with
the Neko-jin wasn't in any rush to have another, despite what
Yamato said about them. "All right," he agreed. "I'll watch the
fire while you're in there, and then you can come out when you get
tired and I'll go in. Is that a deal?"
Yamato nodded solemnly. "It's a deal, Professor."
The man smiled weakly. "I do believe I asked you to call
me 'Alan', Zellar."
*
Ten minutes later Yamato stood inside the entrance of the
temple, a flashlight in hand. Stone had insisted that he take the
cumbersome device, and Yamato considered that it might be good for
disarming anything that was crawling around inside.
For now he set it down on the ground and pulled out the
other half of the star amulet from his pocket. Reaching up, he
took off the chain from around his neck. He held the two halves
separately in his hands looking at them. Someone-- maybe it had
been Hikaru-- had told him once that by joining together the two
halves he could increase his power, but he wasn't sure what
exactly would happen when he did. It appeared that now was as
good a time to find out. He fitted the two halves of the star
amulet together.
A brilliant light surrounded him as the two halves fused
together to form a complete star. The light sank into his skin,
and it became into the white color of his Star form, but it seemed
to shimmer softly like starlight. His hair became a slightly
darker blue color, more sky blue than the faded cerulean it
usually was. The star appeared on his forehead, but it
seemed to stand out less against his skin. Two black lines
appeared along his cheekbones as if someone had drawn a paintbrush
across the side of his face. His black shirt and pants became
more like those of a school uniform, slightly militant and not as
shapeless as they had been before. The whip around his waist also
became a silver color, matching the new trim on his shirt and
pants. Instead of a cape, he now had an indigo colored cloak.
Darkness placed the amulet's single chain around his
neck and proceeded forward into the temple down the passageway
that he and Tenkou had explored. He went past the wall painting
of the Ryuujin and into the final chamber. The room was pitch
black, but his eyes could easily discern the half-crumbled altar
and his nose detected the smell of centuries of spilt blood. Many
people had died in this room, sacrifices to the Ryuujin, blood-
gifts to appease it in hope that it would spare those making the
sacrifices.
Yasha was the Ryuujin. Maybe he'd always known, on some
level, that she was. No doubt she would appear in a frightening
form and demand the blood sacrifices. Or the humans would give
them to her hoping to appease her. It didn't matter, it wasn't
the blood she had been after. It was the souls of those bleeding.
Then for some reason the humans stopped worshipping her and
offering sacrifices, so she had to take those that dared to come
near this place.
Something stirred in the darkness and he focused on it.
Another guard demon, a humanoid bat creature like the one that had
taunted him two nights ago. "Who comes to Queen Yasha's temple?"
it asked in the same kind of grating voice. "Identify yourself!"
"I am Darkness," the Star replied softly. "I have an
appointment with your Queen tonight. I trust she is expecting
me."
The demon turned to face him. "Yes, the 'Kurayamino
Hoshi'." It snorted. "I've heard tales told of your kind. You
don't look as I'd expected."
Darkness ignored him. "You will take me to Tenkou Stone.
I refuse to see Yasha before I'm assured that she is safe."
"Queen Yasha thought you might feel that way," the guard
replied. "Follow me, Star, and don't try anything. Queen Yasha
wishes to see you-- but she wasn't specific on how many pieces she
wanted you left in."
*
11:22 pm 07/03/2000
9:09 pm 21/03/2000
6:44 pm 20/05/2000
10.08pm 11/04/2001
11.14pm 25/5/2001
10.52pm 25/7/2001
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