[Day 5, Morning] Tears in the Rain

[Isawa Junpei]

As the Hour of the Sun came to an end, a dull thud could be heard on the aft deck as Junpei slammed into the wooden planks. His cheeks stained with tears, and his side welling up with blood, he let out muffled sobs. He covered his mouth with one hand, delicate fingers trying to hold onto the shameful cries that he wanted to give out. If it were simply the pain of his wound, he could have steeled himself against it, but this suffering was beyond physical discomfort.

He'd finally manged to make it on board the ship, having flown the long way from the watchtower, his mind lamenting too many matters to focus on a single one. The death of the kami, the threats of the guardsmen, the fate of Tomoe, the fate of the ship, hell, the fate of them all. He was paralyzed by it, like the Phoenix and the Scorpion's gift. And so, he just lay on the deck, tears streaming down his face, his cries inaudible over the malevolent wind.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi had been milling about the boat, not really wishing to set foot on the shore, when her clansmate stumbled aboard. Rushing to his side, she brushes away the winds that seem to buffet her, trying to push her about.

"Isawa-sama!" Her soft voice is carried away, leaving only a sound of concern.

Leaning over, she tries to assess his injuries as she helps him to a seated position.

[Isawa Junpei]

The wound at his side made that an extremely painful proposition, though what could be seen by his cut robes and the blood seeping from the wound, the injury was, while of definite note, not life-threatening. Indeed, aside from cutting through the muscle, it had gone no deeper than an inch or so, fortunate for the Isawa's innards. Feeling hands upon him, Junpei's eyes opened, bloodshot from grief. "S-Shiba-san," was all he could manage to say.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Seeing the blood mingle with the rain on the planks of the ship, Nozomi pushes her small hands to a place where they contact his bare skin. Unsure of quite the extent of his wounds, she hurriedly murmurs a prayer to the kami.

Kami of water, hear my prayer... your servant is in need...

[url=http://kobune.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=674&p=14260#p14260]As the many times before when she had used the spell, coolness spreads from her fingers through to his wounds.[/size] ((heal 36 wounds))

Once sure that his injuries were no longer a danger to him, she wraps one arm around his waist. Small shoulders offer surprising strength to him as she further moves to help him into an upright position.

[Isawa Junpei]

The wound closed with perfection, with not even a dull ache behind to remind him of the steel that cut his body. He did not need physical support, however, and standing perfectly well on his own he made an attempt to gain his composure. His mind would not allow that, however, and the cries of the kami and the feel of a thousand deaths came flooding right back into him. Staggering slightly, he fell against a nearby crate, "G-get Isawa-gunso."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi nods, but only leaves after she's sure Junpei is in no further danger. Moving much more quickly than any aboard had ever seen her, she disappears from sight.

/temporarily exiting

[Isawa Junpei]

With the Shiba gone, Junpei more fully slumps onto the crate, holding a hand to his eyes. He could already feel more tears welling up in his eyes, thinking about the spirits that had been consumed in that horrid pit of maliciousness. A stray sob broke his lips and instantly he covered his mouth. He felt he could die with the pain he was still feeling.

[Isawa O-Washi]

The Gunso had been easy to find, just finishing up his breakfast with the others. While O-washi didn't run, he managed to move very quickly nonetheless. Long legs devoured the length of the deck in short order and before long, he knelt beside his kinsman. "Junpei-san...what's happened?"

[Isawa Junpei]

Junpei looked down into O-Washi's eyes, his own streaked with veins of red, cheeks pale with angry crimson streaks, "Cousin...I have done something terrible."

He covered his mouth once more and his eyes shimmered even in the dimming light, "I've brought evil to this place. I-I," he faultered, forcing himself to take in a deep breath. "I was communing at the watchtower after yesterdays efforts with the kaze-kami. I sought out the source of all this misery that plagues these lands and I was given a terrible answer. The thing that leaves none alive, that destroys whole villages, who sweeps the land clean of humanity...it is beyond conception. It's evil is so deep, its power so great..."

He was finding it difficult to articulate the events into words, "It was as though she were here, swallowing the spirits that spoke her name. I did that. I made them utter her accursed name and sent hundreds of them into her open, hungry maw." He turned his eyes toward the watchtower, where the storm continued to grow. "I've killed my brothers, and I can still hear their cries in my mind." Fresh tears mixed with the dried rivulets.

[Isawa O-Washi]

His fellow tensai's face was blank with incomprehension. "But....you....the kami are spirits. The can be caged, banished, weakened...but they cannot be killed. Not by mortals, I don't even think the Fortunes could do such if they were of a mind to." Even as he spoke, O-washi opened his own soul to the elements around him, letting the waves against the ship speak to him. "What makes you think...that..."

The mizu kami, rising in response to the storm that brewed, cried their misery to him, their fear at being summoned to take part in the mad dance above. In slow horror, the larger man looked down upon his kin.

"Blessed Mercy of Shiba-kami, Junpei.....they can't be killed, but they can be...changed. Did you..are they..."

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he forced himself to utter the word, anaethma to all true tensai.

"...kansen?"

[Isawa Junpei]

"I didn't mean to, Isawa-gunso!" he blurted out the words as though they were an admission. "I was never told that such travesties could be enacted through simple communion. I'd thought the woman some mortal influence, some great evil to be sure, but nothing like this. She is great and terrible, corruption incarnate."

Junpei had to stop himself or else he might have grown hysterical. Burying his face in his hands, he sobbed again, "They may not be dead, but they are being killed just the same. Oh great Fortunes who watch us from their place in Heaven, I can hear them screaming! I have to help them! Please, Isawa-gunso, how can I help them?!"

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi had trailed behind the huge Isawa, and when the Isawa communed with the water spirits, she not only saw, but also felt their horror, so strongly were they channeling it. A shiver takes her to her very core, and small fingers subconsciously make warding signs against evil.

Kansen?

"Isawa Junpei-sama couldn't do something like that..." Could he? She shakes the thought from her head.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Oh, yes, he could."

The muscle in the large man's jaw set to jumping as he ground his teeth to keep from doing...something...to his junior. His temper, as changeable as that of the sea around them, snapped and he rose to his feet with a roar, dragging the smaller Phoenix with him and slamming him against the wall of the Captain's cabin. "Did you think to ask the local people what this thing was? Did you consult the local priests? Gaijin they may be but one hopes they would at least know what names to give their own damn oni without you having to try forcing the poor kami into Naming the damnable thing, especially after the kami were afraid before, a thing I've never even heard of before this..."

Ire lowered the pitch of O-washi's voice even as it brightened the glitter of blue in his gaze. "Names have power, you should know that...ALL Isawa who have ever heard of the likes of Kyoso or Akuma should know that!"

Joints popped, audibly, in the gunso's knuckles as his fingers clenched, digging painfully into Junpei's shoulders. His voice dropped another few notes as he leaned in so that his face was inches from the other man's, the scent of seawater flowing off him in waves.

"Tell me exactly what happened. All of it."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Instead of hiding or cowering, Nozomi simply stares at the large man in his fury. It was rather impressive, after all... and to someone like the little Shiba, more than a little scary. The most fearsome part of all wasn't his anger, though... it was the implications of his words.

Knowing better than to open her mouth at a time like this, she simply listens, bearing witness.

[Isawa Junpei]

Junpei did not struggle against being manhandled. Part of him wanted to throw his body into the sea to be smashed upon the rocks, and he supposed, this was the next best thing. His voice was weak from his spent emotions, but he managed to answer, "There is nothing more to tell. I asked the spirits, and they answered. That is all it took to unleash this desolation. You can feel the aftermath for yourself."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Bullshit."

It was as much growl as word, accompanied by a hard shake that would set Junpei's teeth to rattle.

"Who was with you? The Captain's orders means there was, at least, a translator and a warrior along, if they were not the same person. Who were they and what happened to them?"

[Isawa Junpei]

It took several seconds for Junpei to realize what was being asked. The minutia of worldly matters seemed so incontrovertibly petty compared to the spiritual holocaust that was occurring in the air. Shaking his head he thought back, "There was a translator. H fled shortly after the winds began to pick up. And then a Mirumoto...ehhh....one of the Mirumoto, I never caught her name. Not Mirumoto Itsuho-san, the other woman. I told her to get to Captain Uminushi in case I should die. The last I saw she was just standing on the ramparts, however. She seemed to have no interest in leaving."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi had heard there was another Dragon on board. Frowning, she struggles to remember the name that she'd heard the woman addressed by, as she'd never spoken to the woman herself. "Mirumoto... T-Tomoe?"

Who the translator might have been, she had no earthly clue.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"So you left her. Left her, surrounded, I presume, by enemies who's lands you just called down dark spirits to."

O-washi's disgust was plain.

"Instead of going for help, what did you do? You fled. That poor woman...who knows what tortures a gaijin guard would do to her."

Junpei was abruptly dropped before O-washi did something truly unfortunate to him. A series of waves, larger and darker, began to slap heavily into the hull.

"You said you wanted to work great magics, Cousin, magics that would shape the world." The word came out like a curse. "Well. I hope you're happy now."

[Isawa Junpei]

"I don't know what I could have done to help her. They were set upon killing me, and no amount of words would have saved me. I could not summon the spirits for fear of opening my soul to corruption, and even if I had, what good would have come from destruction I could have wrought upon the guardsmen? I left, that I might find you, and get word to someone of the true calamity that is about to befall us." Junpei looked up from his collapsed position with pleading eyes. His tone was not one of defense, but of questioning, genuinely longing for guidance in this situation beyond comprehension.