Aftermath and Restoration [Closed RP]

[Agasha Shodai]

A wry smile twitched the corners of Shodai's lips at Mitsouko's joke. "Not so much... Unlike you, dear Mitsouko, sunbeams are rather dull conversationalists - they only focus on where they're going, not where they've been. But how can one appreciate a future if you have no past?"[/b]

"I just another brief encounter with the past that was not my own. Ever since my brush with Meido, these memory-visions have been coming with greater frequency, called up from a sight, a sound, sometimes even a stray scent... But they're disconnected and jumbled up! I mean, just caught the next part of the vision I had when you saved my life back at the Three Sides River; the first time I've caught part of that memory in the two weeks since we entered Scorpion territory."[/b] A soft sigh escaped his lips as he began to walk with her.

When Kakita Mitsouko offered him the silk wrapped gift, the Void Master found it hard to conceal his smile and harder still to make the traditional demurements of the gift. When it was done, he accepted her gift and proceeded to unwrap the silk, revealing the lacquered black box made with loving craftsmanship. The earth and water kami that embodied the wood the box had been carved from whispered excitedly, telling him parts of its history.

Shodai smiled at Mitsouko as he admired the box. "It is a beautiful gift, Mitsouko-san. One I can see has been well treasured and I promise that I will treasure it as you clearly have for some time... This world that we journey towards is new to me as well, Mitsouko, because just as I have opened doors for you, you have opened doors for me; doors to places and feelings that I feared long since sealed for all time. I do not know what we will find when we reach it, but I can promise you that we will face it together, my dear Mitsouko."[/b]

With that, Shodai gingerly rolled up the silk wrapping and opened the box, intending to keep the silk inside, when he realized - to his surprise - that the box was only part of Mitsouko's gift...

[Kakita Mitsouko]

A pebble. Shodai could easily get his mind wandering to the shores of Phoenix Lands, where this sort of stone was pretty common. The water-polished grayish stone wasn't magic or had nothing in its appearance that can give it some distinction from many others pebbles in the coasts of his homeland.
Mitsouko was attentively staring at Shodai's face, paying attention on his reactions:
When I was 5, haha-ue take me to a stroll in a distant shore. It was the first time I saw her in many time. There, we met a man. A big gentle man. He took me by the hand and we walked through the shore; I remember so well of that day... the violence of the waves, foaming and whipping against the rocks.
Then this man; Isawa Mizuhiko, my grandfather, gave me this pebble.
It was the first and last time I saw him, anyway. He was content in meeting me.
Mitsouko gave a deep sigh:
I never forget his hand in mine. He talked with me... about things. Many things. And...You make me feel good as he did that morning.
Please Sho-san. It's a common pebble as many of your land, but it means a lot for me if you do accept it.

[Agasha Shodai]

Agasha Shodai smiled at Kakita Mitsouko. "I am honored to accept this gift from you Mitsouko-san. It..."[/b] The Void Master paused, looking at the box's contents as he heard the voice of the Earth kami contained within the stone. As Agasha looked at the sea stone, lines of eldritch energy from a complex Water spell began to glimmer within his magical sight.

A soft chuckle escaped his lips and he looked back up to his companion, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he gingerly took the stone from the box, setting it into the palm of his hand. "Mitsouko-san, before I completely accept this gift, your grandfather enchanted a message into it... A memory of that day you spent with him on the beach and a message to the woman you would become. It must be something very important; stones don't normally hold Water spells very well, but your grandfather layered the magic into this one to ensure it would last until now."[/b]

Shodai extended his hand with the pebble in it towards her. "If you'll take my hand, I can share my sight with you so that you can see your Grandfather again and hear his message to you."[/b] He told her, feeling a touch of envy; the Void Master would have given anything to get such a message from Ojiisan Agasha.

[Kakita Mitsouko]

Then, Sho-san, my grandfather was indeed the wise man I always believed he was; and somehow he knew one day I would find another wise man to help me hear again his words...
She was caught in surprise, of course, and felt like a grip around her heart, aching in emotion. Mitsouko meant every word she spoke. She touched Shodai's hand with confidence:
Please... show me.

[Agasha Shodai]

Agasha Shodai nodded to the Kakita Family Daimyo, bringing his thumb up to hold her dainty hand in something resembling a sideways gaijin "hand shake" as he whispered the words to link their senses before invoking the spell channeled into the rock. The stone began to warm slightly, like a rock that had been sitting in the sunlight all day, as a complex illusion enveloped the two samurai...

~*~

Kakita Mitsouko and Agasha Shodai found themselves on a rocky beach. There were patches of sand, but not very much; most of the Phoenix Clan's oceanfront property were sheer cliffs of rock that protected them from all but the most fool-hardy of Mantis Clan reavers that came after the people of Isawa and Shiba in the latest round of conflict dating back to the death of Hida Osano-Wo in the early days of the Empire. The illusion was perfect: sight, sound, and even the taste of the salty sea air surrounded them.

"I know this beach!"[/b] Shodai whispered in surprise as he turned to point to an orange pyramidal shape to the west-southwest. "That's Kyuden Agasha right over there; my home!"[/b]

"So, Mitsou-chan, I hear from your father that you've been having nightmares."[/b] A man's voice said from the opposite side from where Shodai had pointed.

Shodai and Mitsouko turned to the voice as an older man dressed in a simple, yet elegant robe that bore the colors of the Phoenix clan with blue stripes cutting down the sleeves - an indication of which element he had specialized in - from behind a rock. The man was in his mid fifties and was reaching down to hold the hand of a little girl in Crane blue with black, shoulder-length hair, rosy cheeks and green/gold eyes.

"H-Hai, Isawa-jiisama."[/b] The five year old Kakita Mitsouko replied, glumly.

Mitsouko's maternal grandfather, Isawa Mizuhiko, took a seat on a large rock. "Tell me about them, Mitsou-chan."[/b] He said, patting the rock beside him.

The child climbed onto the rock, looking pensively out at the waves. "It's always the same... I see this teenage boy with a green eye and a black eye; he's dressed as like one of those Miya couriers I see when Tousan gets a letter from the Capital. He smiles broadly at me and hugs me, saying how much he's missed me... That he doesn't understand why it took me so long to come back to him... That he's learning things that will let him protect me; that this time we won't lose each other..."[/b]

The girl kicked a small rock - the rock that was now in the hands of her future self - as tears began to well up in her eyes. "And then suddenly I'm somewhere else... I'm older and wearing armor with a daisho at my hip, but something's odd; my armor is the green of the Seppun bushi and the katana I'm wearing isn't Tsukinai, its tsuka has a lime green wrap. I'm standing before a line of Crane samurai that are looking up to me as if I'm in charge of them and we're facing a wall of Lion samurai who have surrounded a castle I don't recognize.

"The sun isn't up yet and I somehow know that's what we're waiting for. While I wait, I reach into my armor and pull a letter out from under my watagami. My hands shake as I open it; I know what it says - I've read it over and over again all night long - but I look at it again as if I hope it will say something new. The calligraphy is blurry because when I first read it, I began to cry despite my training and most of them fell on the letter."[/b]

Isawa Mizuhiko reaches out with one arm to hug his granddaughter. "What does the letter say?"[/b]

"'I regret to inform you that Miya Shokujin was waylaid by bandits while performing his duties and has been killed.'"[/b] The girl replied, tears dribbling down her cheeks, sniffling. "Then, suddenly, the war horns cry out to begin the attack. I don't have time to put the letter away, so I draw my sword, the paper crinkling as I grip my katana and lead my men into battle."

"The fighting goes on for most of the day... I take my pain and rage out on the invading Lion samurai, cutting them down, one after another, until I'm face-to-face with a Rinkoshokan. I challenge him to a duel... At first I seem to be winning, but I'm so tired and I start to make mistakes... And then he feints and I fall for it... And then... And then he KILLS me, Ojiisama!"[/b] Kakita Mitsouko buries her face into her grandfather's side and begins crying loudly.

"There, there, child..."[/b] Mizuhiko says comfortingly. "It is only a dream."[/b]

"But what if it's the future, Ojiisama? I want to be a samurai, like Tousan and Kaasan, but I'm so afraid... I want to carry Tsukinai, to be worthy of the blade of my father's family, when I grow up, but now I'm so afraid that my dream will come true!"[/b] The young Mitsouko's muffled voice said through her grandfather's side.

Isawa Mizuhiko stroked the girl's straight, black hair. "And perhaps someday you will, Mitsou-chan. But that won't be for many years and you will have plenty of time to become a master bladeswoman before then. Just remember, your parents may let you take the path your mother and I walk and let you become a shugenja instead. Would you like that?"[/b]

The young Crane girl looked up at him in wonder. "Really, Ojiisama? I could learn to heal and speak to the kami?"[/b]

"Mitsouko-chan? Father?"[/b] The voice of Isawa Tisuke called out before Mitsouko's grandfather could answer, sounding worried. "Where are you two?"[/b]

Young Mitsouko and Mizuhiko looked at each other like a pair of children caught with their hands in the sweets jar. Isawa Mizuhiko sighed. "Go to your mother, Mitsou-chan. I'll be along in just a moment."[/b] The girl nodded, hopping off the stone and running off.

Now alone, Isawa Mizuhiko reached down to pick up the stone his granddaughter had kicked, and spoke a complex spell and locked it into the pebble. The elderly man rose and turned to face Shodai and Mitsouko, smiling at them. "Hello, Mitsou-chan... I hope I'm there with you now to recall this message from the pebble or that you have grown into a fine young shugenja and managed to get the message on your own. I pray to the Kami and the Fortunes both that live to see you become the great samurai I know you have it within yourself to become, but if I don't, I want you, first and foremost, to know how PROUD I am to have you as my granddaughter.

"I doubt you'll remember this trip when you get older, but I hope you do... You're too young now to understand why your mother brought you up here without your father, but it's because of the nightmares you've been having. Your mother has let me have a day with you all to myself while she has been looking through the archives of wisdom the Agasha Family brought with them when they left the Dragon Clan, looking for something to stop your nightmares. I hope it works; you are too wonderful to be afflicted with these constant bad dreams..."[/b]

The old man straightened his robes. "But whether you have become a bushi, a shugenja, or a courtier, know that you are loved by me, your mother, and your father. Remember that you carry the strength of each of us with you within yourself and that we will be proud of whatever you become. I hope that you will one day learn the meaning of these dreams and that they will haunt you no longer once you do. I pray that you have a long and happy life, Mitsou-chan, and that one day you will experience the same joy I feel now with your own grandchild. I shall always be with you, Mitsou-chan, in this life and the life beyond."[/b]

"Father? Are you okay? I hear you talking to someone."[/b] Isawa Tisuke's voice says, closer now than it was before.

"Just leaving a message in a bottle for Mitsouko, Tisuke. Care to join in?"[/b] Mizuhiko replied.

A young Isawa Tisuke appeared from behind a rock. She was in her mid-twenties and wore robes similar to the ones she had always worn whenever Shodai had seen her. "Later, Father, I've discovered something very important that we need to talk about... In private."[/b] She said imperiously.

There was something about the younger version of Mitsouko's mother that was oddly familiar... He'd seen that woman somewhere before.

The breath froze in Agasha Shodai's chest as the world around them spun wildly out of control as one of Miya Shokujin's dream/memories began...

~*~

~Otosan Uchi, 6th Day of the Horse, 958~

"Whoa! Be careful!"[/b] Miya Shokujin yelled through the noisy crowd as he pulled Seppun Saimei to one side as mass of Dragon dancers, carrying an massive and elegantly appointed representation of the Fire Dragon raced down the road. The two dozen men within the simulacrum were leading the eight actors that had been chosen to perform the roles of the eight Kami that had landed on Seppun Hill 958 years earlier. Shokujin's quick action had prevented Saimei from being mowed down by the dancers, but Otomo Kaoruko was stuck on the other side.

The Miya looked down at the samurai-ko in his arms. "Are you okay, Saimei-san?"[/b]

"Yes, thanks to your quick reaction, Miya-san. That dragon appeared out of nowhere."[/b] Seppun Saimei said, giving the courier a wan smile.

"Please, call me Sho-san, Saimei-san... We haven't known each other for very long, but we did have a rather memorable meeting."[/b]

Seppun Saimei blushed slightly as she recalled the 'memorable meeting,' where he had accidentally stepped up some stairs into her cleavage and she had unconsciously reacted with a swift knee to the groin. "That's true enough, Mi... Sho-san."[/b]

"Well, well... I leave you two alone for a second and you're in each other's arms."[/b] Otomo Kaoruko said with a giggle as the dragon moved past their section and allowing her to rejoin her companions.

Agasha Shodai, Kakita Mitsouko, Miya Shokujin, and Seppun Saimei turned as one to look up...

Into the face of a twenty-something Isawa Tisuke, dressed in Otomo Kaoruko's clothing and her hair dyed a purplish pink.

Seppun Saimei and Miya Shokujin began to try and sputter out an explanation as the memory ended.

~*~

Agasha Shodai blinked his eyes as he looked over his clasped hand at Kakita Mitsouko. For once, the Void Master was left speechless.

[Kakita Mitsouko]

Mitsouko stared at him, her face pale with the revelation.
These...these visions of the past... Is it common for you?
Mitsouko was unsure about what else to say, while the Otomo sultry woman seemed to bring her weird feelings, recognize her features and more than it, expressions in her own mother figure, didn't show auspicious in any way. She frowned, looking down, speaking low:
That Otomo lady... Kaoruko, right? She was...she is... my mother in this existence, Sho?
Right now, Mitsouko realized many of what they were searching was linked with her own fear of magic, the nightmares of her childhood, and her mother.
Then, waiting for his opinions, and feeling really ill, Mitsouko raised her face and stared directly into Shodai's eyes.
Do you think she knew about it? All the time?

[Agasha Shodai]

Agasha Shodai nodded to Kakita Mitsouko. "The visions started the day you and I met, Mitsouko-san. At first they only came when I had drawn the mystical energies of my magic into myself - and then only when my flesh made contact with your perfect skin. After the battle with Isshin, when you so kindly breathed life into me, they began to come spontaneously whenever I saw or heard something memorable... The sun rising over the mountains... The sight of the younger version of your mother... All these things - and others as well during our journey from the Three Sides River - have triggered the memories of Miya Shokujin's soul."

"While it is true that I never experienced them until we met, Mitsouko-san - and this may sound a like a line a youth might use - but if getting these memories are the cost I must pay for the pleasure of your company, then I can honestly say that I am decidedly getting the better part of the deal, my dear friend."[/b] He smiled at Mitsouko, feeling an ache to pull her close - to feel the pleasure he felt when he remembered the feel and taste of her lips on his - that was part Shokujin and part his own desires, but he bit back the temptation. She still had feelings for Toku Sanjuro - wherever he was - and Shodai would respect that; personal wants to the contrary.

The Void Master's cheeks gained the faintest hint of a blush, as he tried to cough his embarrassment away at his foolish words of heart-felt sentiment for the Kenshinzen across from him. "As for your Mother, the similarities of face between her and the Otomo in the dreams would suggest that your mother is Otomo Kaoruko's reincarnation..."[/b] For a brief moment after he said the words he felt a surge of outrage from the depths of his being, but he choked it down. "But it is impossible to say whether she has active memories of her previous life as I seem to get, if they are subdued and only come out at night as it seemed to be for you when you were a child, or somewhere in between. That is a question I intend to ask her when next we meet..."[/b]

Agasha Shodai paused, gesturing with one hand as he did when he was delving in his memory. "Wait just a moment... Meet..?"[/b] His eyes widened in surprise as the pieces began to fall into place. "Your mother IS the key to the past, Mitsouko-san! I first saw your mother - as she looked in that memory your grandfather left you - in passing at Kyuden Isawa when I was 8 and attending the Isawa Shugenja school and learning to hone my skills with the Void. I saw her again in Kyuden Agasha when I was 15 or so, when she was doing that research your grandfather mentioned."

"Those two times seemed incidental encounters, though; I wasn't officially introduced to her until I was 19 when I went to study at Firebird Falls. Then she brought you to the school - though you clearly had no interest at becoming a shugenja at that point - and that was when you and I first met, but you didn't remember your dreams anymore and I was still a youth focused on making a name for myself. And then a few weeks ago, when your mother dropped hints that she was interested in arranging a marriage between you and I... I learned of the attempt on your life though meditation, but when I told Tisuke about it, she didn't react the way a mother normally does when hearing the news that a child has been poisoned; it was if she..."[/b]

A rueful chuckle escaped Shodai's lips in admiration at how Isawa Tisuke had managed to lead him by the nose and make him think it was his own idea. "She knew about the attempt on you before I told her, Mitsouko! She might have known the second it happened and could have cured you then, but she bided her time so that she could get ME to do it at a time when only magic would be capable of saving your life... I think she KNEW these memories would resurface once we met and so she orchestrated things as only a master tactician could so that you and I would seek the meaning behind these dreams and take this journey together... There is something very important that you and I need to learn - from each other, from the records at Kyuden Miya, and likely from your mother herself - that if she had just come right out and told us, we would find it unbelievable and have dismissed it rather than listen to her..."[/b]

A wry smile twisted the corner of the Void Master's lips. "I think it's safe to say I have underestimated Isawa Tisuke's intelligence and cunning and that you may have underestimated just how much your health and happieness mean to her, Mitsouko-san... She was tried to give you peace and happiness as a child by sealing what survived of Seppun Saimei away, but it cost her the love of a child for her mother in order to give it to you. And when you were poisoned, she resisted the urge to run to you and heal you immediately so that she could not only reunite you and I, but try to heal your fears of magic caused accidentally when you were a child! It is a choice that few mothers could have made, Mitsouko-san, but she did it with your best interests at heart..."[/b]

[Kakita Mitsouko]

The first words of Shodai though being very flattering, embarrased the kenshinzen, because she knew Shodai really meant it, and she blushed in response. But listening the rest of his words, while everything unwrap like a bolt of silk before her eyes. Words that made Mitsouko understand things she never had paid much attention. Definitely that was really like her mother. Isawa Tisuke was a person perfectly able to do everything Shodai said. The Water Tensai was very cunning and resourceful; and Mitsouko never remembered of her mother being caught on surprise.
Yes, Sho-san, I must agree with you. Everything my mother does have a purpose. Always. I am sure she can have done much more than we are suspecting, though. She is indeed a key for what we need to know. We can check Myia archives, and should do it as soon as possible, but I believe we will learn much more in Kyuden Isawa.
She tried to hide her emotion, if her mother had made everything like Shodai supposed she was, then… Tisuke loved her. It was a strange thing to know now. Mitsouko hadn’t time to see her mother after becoming Kakita daimyo, but she wasn’t anxious to do it, until now.
This travel is being much more revealing than my year of wandering, dear friend. I think we should talk about what I witnessed… I mean, about Saimei, Shokujin and Kaoruko. There’s something very sad in it, I know. The words I heard from my own little figure, when I was just a child… I always knew my mother submitted me to a ritual that sealed part of my memories. The remembrance of its ritual is so scared that… it made me completely disgusted about it until today. It hurt me much. Well, what the little Mitsu-chan said... somehow the parts we already know are making sense. You said in the night of the day we met in Crysanthemum Bride Manor, you had had a vision about Shokujin seeing Saimei dead. And somehow, you knew there was something blamed by her death. Mitsouko realized she had said "you" and not "Shokujin", but continued: And then, now, the little girl in the beach, me, said to two shugenja that really heard her, she , I eamn, Saimei, died in a battle after receiving a letter... about Shokujin's death, of course. The couple was victim of a ingenious plot to destroy their...pure love. The two last words Mitsouko said in a low voice, saddened and embarrased by having divided a strong relation with Sho-san.This fact, though, has a strange effect over the Kakita daimyo.

[Agasha Shodai]

Agasha Shodai could see and feel Kakita Mitsouko's emotions as she contemplated his words, clearly hoping that she had been wrong about how her mother felt for her all these years. In another time, in another life, the shugenja knew that he would have pulled the samurai-ko into a tender hug and, indeed, Shodai yearned to do just that, but in this time, this life, it wasn't appropriate.

'I should not be having these thoughts, these feelings... Mitsouko is my friend; not my lover, not my betrothed. I may have been Shokujin and she might have been Saimei, but that does not mean that we can just pick up where things were interrupted between us two centuries ago...' The Void Master silently chastized himself.

And yet the desire remained: more powerful than ever and increasingly difficult to deny.

When Mitsouko spoke of plots, Shodai felt another mental *CLICK* as a key unlocked a new memory and Shodai fell into it, pulling Mitsouko along since he had - once again - forgotten to sever the link between his sight and hers.

~*~

~Otosan Uchi, 18th day of the Monkey, 960~

Shokujin looked grimly at a rolled up scroll as he placed the dribbled sealing wax upon it and then pressing his chop upon it to mark it. His chop now bore his name alone - his Family and title had been cut off - and as soon as the seal was set, the former courier dropped his wooden chop into a brazier; he wouldn't be needing it again, after all.

"Thank you for letting me do this, Daimyo-dono."[/b] Shokujin said as he handed the scroll over to the Imperial Herald, the Miya Family Daimyo, bowing as low as an eta would to the man Shokujin had once considered a friend. "I know I have no means of proving that I was in the right to do what I have done, but knowing that my story will be in the Archives - even though no one will ever read it, save my next incarnation when I return - gives me the peace of mind I need to do what must be done."[/b]

"You're sure this is what you want, Jin-kun? Otomo-san is very wroth and has demanded that you be given a wooden knife for your seppuku."[/b]

Shokujin's eyes narrowed momentarily at the insult, but nodded. "Uncle, I KNOW I was in the right for what I did, but if my death and so-called 'atonement' will give you the leverage you need to protect our Family from the political backlash of my actions, so be it. Besides, my sun-and-stars is gone and this life has nothing left to it worth living for - I have lost my Family, my rank, and my future. Trust me, Uncle, the pain of the wooden knife in my belly will be NOTHING compared to the pain I have felt every second of every hour of every day in the three months since Saimei-chan was cut down thanks to that... that... that JAJAUMA'S betrayal."[/b]

The Miya family daimyo nodded as he tucked Shokujin's scroll into his diplomatic pouch. "Very well, Jin-kun. I shall have your scroll placed into the archives as item 4131981."[/b]

Behind them the door slid open and Kakita Rensei, Shokujin's kaishakunin and Seppun Saimei's paternal uncle, entered the chamber. "The hour of Shiba approaches, it is time to prepare him for the ceremony."[/b]

The Miya Daimyo nodded. "So it does, I will let you two discuss what you must."[/b] The man said as he exited the cell door.

Shokujin looked up to Saimei's uncle. "Have you found anything new?"[/b]

The kenshinzen shook his head. "I'm afraid not... No one has seen Koimizu Hinata since you avenged my niece and the Otomo have kept me from speaking with anyone whom could provide the testimony to grant a stay of execution."[/b] The Kakita hung his head. "I have failed you as I failed Mei-chan on the battlefield."[/b]

Shokujin reached out to grab the man's shoulder. "No you have NOT, Rensei-san. I never WANTED this to lead to me being left to live my life alone without Saimei in it... What I want is for you to clear my name, to prove that my rank and status was stripped from me dishonorably. I face seppuku not out of guilt or dishonor, I do it to protect the loved ones I leave behind from the treachery that has cost me everything I cared about in this life. All I ask is that you keep searching for the truth even after I am gone."[/b]

Kakita Rensei nodded in acceptance of Shokujin's request. "You made my niece happier than I had seen her since she was a child. The two of you were so RIGHT for each other that it had to have been the will of Benten that you meet. I shall do as you ask, Shokujin; from now until my dying day."[/b]

Shokujin bowed gratefully to the Kakita duelist. "Thank you, Rensei."[/b] The condemned man sighed. "Well; let's get this farce over with... Perhaps Benten will intercede for me before Emma-O's judgement and I shall get to see my sun-and-stars one final time before we are reincarnated and seperated for all time..."[/b] He said as the two of them exited the cell.

~*~

Agasha Shodai took a stuttering gasp as Miya Shokujin's grief and loss ripped through him like a thousand armor-piercing arrows. The Void Master felt a yawning emptiness in his chest that threatened to consume him until he looked up into Mitsouko's green-gold eyes. The samurai-ko's cheeks were still slightly flushed from his earlier compliment of her and her lips were quivering slightly. Agasha Shodai's bi-colored gaze drank in the sight of Kakita Mitsouko like a man crossing the Burning Sand drank water...

She was beauty incarnate and the feelings of love that Shokujin had felt for Saimei and Shodai had begun to feel for Mitsouko - though he tried to keep it buried - burst from their fetters to fill the emptiness until Agasha felt like he would explode.

All of the Void Master's logic, reason, and rules were helpless to stop what happened next; Shodai would never know if it was Shokujin trying to give Saimei one last kiss or his own desire for Mitsouko that drove his next actions...

Before either of them knew it, Agasha Shodai took a step closer to Kakita Mitsouko, his strong arms slipping under hers to pull her into a hug, before he kissed her with a passion that had spat in the face of death itself to survive for over two centuries. The taste and feel of Mitsouko's lips filled his being... Some part of him screamed that this was wrong, but Shodai could not bring himself to pull away...

[Kakita Mitsouko]

The horror filled Mitsouko’s soul while the kenshinzen witnessed the last moments of Myia Shokujin through Sho-san eyes, feeling a piercing physical ache in her heart due the sense of great injustice and loss. For the first time after the magic that sealed her memories, Mitsouko was able to capture Saimei’s feelings inside her own soul. The agony was simply too much to describe; and sharing the emptiness that consumed both souls in that tragedy with Shodai was so excruciating she gave a step back, trying to free herself of all that pain. She was quivering, breathing heavy. Trying to get rid of that unfortunate memory and from that bitter feeling of death and impotence.
But in the next instant, Shodai pulled her close, and pressed his lips against hers, in a passionate kiss.
UHpfm! That was her first reaction, eyes wide open and the instinct of property and too, self preservation alerting her to push him away. But somehow, her heart calmed down within seconds, her body all pressed on him, and she felt a sweet feeling slowly slipping inside her, replacing the bitter taste of death with another easy sensation. Mitsouko felt like she had crossed oceans of time to have this kiss again.
Then, she kissed back.

[Agasha Shodai]

For a timeless instant the barriers between Shodai and Mitsouko were gone and they existed in a world with a population of two. The feel of the kenshinzen's body in his arms and pressed against his bathed the two in a blissful connection that was quite unlike anything either had personally experienced before. The experience was heightened by the rush of Shokujin's memories that flickered through the duo's linked senses like a lightning storm: Shokujin kissing Saimei outdoors, indoors, in the rain, in the snow, with fireworks exploding overhead, while riding on a horse, the first kiss, the last, and on and on and on...

A thousand kisses a thousand different ways from two hundred years ago were re-experienced in the dozen heartbeats that the two living samurai were lost in the passion that was from their last lives as well as what had developed between the two in the past few months, though both had tried to hide it from the other and from themselves.

The emotional rush was so powerful that the Void Master was about to stop, to apologize for losing himself, when the Kakita Family Daimyo's own passion awoke. Shodai could feel the samurai-ko's desire as if it were a palpable force and the part of Miya Shokujin remaining within Agasha Shodai rejoiced as it sensed Seppun Saimei within Kakita Mitsouko. The two samurais' lips remained locked until the need to breathe forced them to break the passion-filled grapple.

When the paired kiss was done, neither Shodai nor the remnants of Shokujin were ready to let Mitsouko or Saimei go, so he cradled her in his arms, their hearts beating in unison. From deep within the Void Master, Miya Shokujin's voice whispered to the samurai-ko; escaping the dead past through Shodai's lips. "To hold you, to feel you, to TASTE you again, beloved... By the Kami, it was worth the pain of the wooden knife to be reunited with you; I have missed you so, my sun-and-stars..."[/b]

[Kakita Mitsouko]

Mitsouko blinked twice when she realized what was happening. Oh by the Kami! Even so, she didn’t push Shodai away.
You can’t…I…We… Who are you?
She felt stupid; and disloyal with her feelings and history,and shocked with her own reaction. For a minute, she was herself but able to understand fully the feelings of Saimei, her long dead past live persona. But now she was just Mitsouko, not a family daimyo or a kenshinzen, just a confused young woman. And still, she knew something new had born in the time spent with Sho-san. But his words… It was not him. It was Shokujin.

[Agasha Shodai]

Agasha Shodai's lips turned into a slight frown as the voice of Miya Shokujin sighed softly as he disengaged enough to look her in the eye. "You ask the question, but deep inside you already know the answer, Kakita Mitsouko-san, great-grandaughter of my love's sister."[/b]

The spirit of the Miya courier to a deep, stuttering breath in an effort to maintain his composure, releasing her because he could feel the awkwardness of the situation. "Forgive me for trespassing on your special moment; it's just... For a moment, one brief, glorious moment, I could sense Saimei awaken within your soul and I... It has been so long - FAR too long - since I last spoke to my sun-and-stars that I couldn't let the moment pass without seizing the opportunity to let her know that I still love her with all of my being. But I fear that spell your mother in this life, Saimei's closest friend in our last life, has sealed the lion's share of my beloved's soul and she cannot manifest the way I have. I should have known better and not interrupted, but I... I just had to hope that she could awaken enough to hear my words."[/b]

He guided her to a nearby bench and the man of the past began to speak to the woman of the present. "You can't imagine how difficult it's been, Mitsouko-san... I was reborn into this life as Shodai ten years before you returned from the other side into a family where the couple was as blessed by Benten as Saimei and I had been. I slept within Shodai's soul until his learning to tap into the gifts of magic that must have been Emma-O's reward for how I faced my own end - though to get power at the cost of Saimei was not a deal I would have willingly accepted, believe me - woke me from my slumber.

From the time Shodai learned to touch the Void, when he would sleep *I* would use the lessons he learned to search the Empire, hoping to find Saimei's soul, but to no avail for the longest time. I began to despair that I had lost her forever. It didn't help that my little corner within Agasha Shodai's soul was filled with blank spots in my memories of my life - erased by and large from my time in Meido - that I knew I who I was looking for, but I couldn't recall WHY I was looking for her.

Until I came to understand why the Fortune of Death sent me first, that is; something I didn't understand until I found her within your soul, Mitsouko-san, when you were five.

"When I touched Saimei from Kyuden Isawa for the first time, some of the pieces came together... I remembered that Saimei had gone into battle against the Lion without me - I was only a courier and could hold my own in a one-on-one fight, but I would have only been a liability on the battlefield - and that she had died because I wasn't strong enough then to be there to save the woman I loved. Now, I - Shodai, rather - has the power to defend the woman I love from anything short of the Dark Kami himself."[/b]

Miya Shokujin paused. "I remember that Saimei was tricked into thinking I was dead and was killed because of it, but even now I don't remember WHO did it... Yet something deep inside me tells me that I DID know it before I died and that I left that knowledge in the scroll I wrote before I died. When the two of you reach Kyuden Miya, you MUST find that scroll; just as Isawa Tisuke is the key to unlock Saimei's soul and memories, that scroll will unlock the past. I have no doubt that once Saimei and I are completely reunited and our grief abated, we two ghosts of the past will fade into the background and never trouble you or Shodai again."[/b]

A smile crossed his lips. "But before I step back into the background, just to put your mind at ease so you don't feel guilty about that kiss..."[/b] He paused to squeeze Mitsouko's hand. "I wasn't the one who did it; it was all Shodai's fire and passion behind that kiss just now. I only stepped in at the end to speak with MY love.

"Shodai has feelings for you, Mitsouko-san; feelings as deep and as strong as my love for Saimei. He tries to hide his feelings from you - and from himself - because he knows you have feelings for that Toku Sanjuro fellow and doesn't want to 'win' you by default since the other man is missing. If not for the emotional rush he experienced from that memory - the love, the loss that I felt as I was facing my end - he probably wouldn't have crossed that line he drew for himself. *I* happen to think he's being an idiot - an honorable man, but an absolute idiot - for acting the way he is. But now YOU know how he feels about you Mitsouko-san; all that remains is for you to figure out how YOU feel about him - and from that passion in your own kiss, I think you already know the answer to that."[/b]

He squeezed her hand again. "I hope the two of you get to experience everything that was denied Saimei and myself, Mitsouko-san. True love is the most powerful force that a human can touch and the two of you are blessed in that there is a benefit to both your clans to letting you two have a life together. Seize your chances when you can, Mitsouko-san; no one knows better than Saimei or I do how fleeting time can be. You and Shodai have a chance to be truly happy... I hope you get to appreciate it as much as Saimei and I did."[/b] He gave her a wink as he removed his hands from hers.

Agasha Shodai's pupils dialated for a brief moment as the remnants of Miya Shokujin's consciousness faded back into the depths of the Void Master's soul. The Phoenix shugenja blinked a few times as he realized that he was now sitting beside the Kakita Daimyo instead of kissing her - if he was aware of the conversation that had just happened he showed no signs of it.

The man's cheeks colored slightly as he looked into Mitsouko's eyes. His bi-color gaze told the samurai-ko that as embarrassed as he was that he'd kissed her without permission, there was a hungry yearning in them that told her that everything Shokujin had told her about Shodai's feelings were the complete truth. "Mitsouko... I... You..."[/b] He sighed and bowed his head. "Gomenasai, Mitsouko-san..."[/b]

[Kakita Mitsouko]

That's why we bushi think you shugenja, are weird people.
She tried to joke with no much success., trying to conceal her embarrasment. Nothing to be sorry, Sho-san. Seems the ghosts within us are trying to communicate with each other... dangerous game, neh?
She found a chipped nail after careful inspection of her right hand, avoiding Shodai's eyes. Do you remember what Shokujin said? He says we need to find a single document in Myia archives to find the truth.

Mitsouko does not feel comfortable to discuss the kiss and everything else that happened within few minutes. She hated to feel so fragile and stupid. So exposed. Also, having Shodai's feelings exposed to her by someone that not really himself was such an awkward situation. She would never make him lose his face revealing she knew it... It was just like eavesdrop his secrets.

[Agasha Shodai]

OOC: Yes, Shodai is supposed to be misinterpreting Mitsouko's response. Understanding women is not exactly his forte. ;D


A wan smile crossed Agasha Shodai's lips, still tingling from the feel of Mitsouko's pressed against him. "The ghosts... Right."[/b] The Void Master said wistfully as he tried to recover his wits.

Agasha Shodai had a gap in his memory from a few moments after Kakita Mitsouko had turned the kiss on him to kiss him in response to his kissing of her - a subtle difference to be sure, but one tangible when experienced - to moments before he'd apologized. The Kakita daimyo looked down at her dainty hands, clearly embarrassed by their brief interlude, causing Shodai to feel slightly worse about the whole thing...

Because deep in his heart of hearts, the Void Master knew that HE was the one who had kissed Mitsouko, not some fragmentary ghost from a previous life.

But to learn that the woman who'd kissed him back had been the ghost of Seppun Saimei, not the beautiful woman that he'd shared and experienced so much with, somehow cheapened the moment...

The emotional pain and heartbreak the memory of Miya Shokujin had contained was more than even Shodai's mental conditioning could bear alone and had needed an outlet... And between crying on Mitsouko's shoulder and shaming himself or kissing her - in the hopes that the closeness that he'd begun feeling from the moment he'd saved Mitsouko's life and had grown by leaps and bound since the Three Sides River fight with the monster that had been Shodai's student's twin brother was mutual - had seemed the better choice in that irrational instant.

'I'm such an idiot...' Agasha thought to himself, silently cursing his impulsive action. 'Mitsouko loves Toku Sanjuro, not me. The kiss then was only to save my life and the feeling growing between us was friendly cameraderie: the bonds of friendship forged in a battle for one's life, maybe a little gratitude at helping her avenge whatever has befallen the Monkey Champion. Nothing more.'

"Do you remember what Shokujin said?" Kakita Mitsouko asked as she looked closely at one finger, noticing the fine paint that she'd had applied for the party the night before had been chipped. "He says we need to find a single document in the Miya Archives to find the truth."

Agasha Shodai's face screwed up in confusion as he mouthed the words "Shokujin said." "I remember the vision/memory where the Imperial Herald from Miya Shokujin's day accepted a scroll from him: archive item 4131981, the man said as I recall... And then I remember the wave of misery and longing that rushed through me as he accepted his fate... And then..."[/b] The shugenja's voice stalled out in embarrassment. "And then I found myself here on this bench with you, Mitsouko-san....

"Are... Do you mean the fragment of Miya Shokujin in my soul managed to manifest itself to talk to you?"[/b] The Void Master asked in astonishment. "Well, a temporary possession WOULD explain why I lost a few minutes of memory there... And it makes sense that the truth would be in the archives: likely that scroll from the dream/vision... He undoubtedly written out the full details of what happened to him, even if he couldn't - or wouldn't - prove it to save his own life. Shokujin's love for Saimei clearly transcended his own self-worth and since she was dead, he didn't want to try to live a life without her..."[/b]

Shodai looked at Mitsouko, wishing she'd look at him, but prepared to accept that she wouldn't. "Did he say anything else, Mitsouko-san? Anything that can help us?"[/b]