Wolf and Keeper

Chapter 38: The Inexcusable Truth

Kanko led Sen, Maru, and Hashi through the streets of the capital. The night was dark, and many of the side streets that they passed through were unlit. Sen could see the eye glow of lesser yokai from the corners and caught sight of a bakeneko watching them with its lashing tails. The side streets were also eerily quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. It was a sif they were forgotten little corners, tucked away from the rest of the world. Kanko seemed to know them like the back of her hand, and Sen wondered how long Seiko and her entourage had lived in the capital before they had gone to Murakami. Had it been anyone else, he might have asked.

They reached the outer residences of the palace. Maru had always imagined the palace to have more guards crawling everywhere, but the lack of security made him wonder if the court was really as poor as what the rumors said it was. If that was the case... Kanko halted before what at first glance seemed to be a solid wall and raised one hand, tapping her index finger to the space before her as the wall shimmered and slipped away. She turned to the three and nodded, "The building directly ahead is where Kohaku is staying. He will know that you're coming, so no need to lurk about. Do not go anywhere else unless you want to be killed. Understood?" She barely even waited for them to nod before she quickly slipped into the shadows of a side street and vanished without a trace.

The three passed through the space in the wall, and after they did, it filled back in as if nothing had happened. Hashi looked around. It had been a long time since he had seen the palace, and it was showing decline unlike any he had ever seen. He followed Sen and Maru into the building, and they made their way down the darkened halls. Once, he recalled, this hall had housed dozens of onmyoji of all ranks, diligently working for different courtiers, princes, princesses, and concubines. All of them desperately wished to reach the heights that Abe no Seimei and Ashiya Doman had achieved before them, but soon that would all change... Seeing the old Mystic Hall so deserted made him realize exactly how much time had passed.

"And what do you think will happen?" Sen, Hashi, and Maru halted in the doorway of the room to see an older man sitting across from the man that they assumed was Kohaku. "I feel like I have little time left, and I would like to know, to an extent, what will happen here after I am gone."

Sen got a good look at the onmyoji for the first time and saw what people meant. He had those fox eyes and a smirk on his face that radiated a certain level of insincerity. Dark hair pulled up under one of the black lacquered court hat and fine clothes did nothing to make him seem more trustworthy in the slightest with the smirk that danced on his lips, but when the man before him asked that question, a hint of gravity seemed to pull it from his face. "Well, Tomohito, I can say one thing. You have two years."

"Ah, so soon then..."

"You sound like you already suspected that," Kohaku chuckled and looked up as he continued speak, his brown-amber eyes glinting when he locked onto Maru and Sen, "and one more thing, though you will be long gone before it happens. Unity. Someone among the barking dogs will unify the land and bring about peace. The creator of such peace is uncertain yet, even to me."

Sensing that Kohaku was looking at someone, Tomohito turned to look at Sen and Maru also. "Ah. You have new patrons. I will take my leave. I am afraid that I cannot pay you until my calligraphy sells..."

Kohaku smiled up at the man, "Consider all of my services to you free in exchange for a place to rest my head."

Tomohito gave a small bow before he stood and passed by Sen and Maru, giving them a small nod of his own as he passed and vanished through the sliding painting. "Who was he?" Maru asked as they entered the room and sat down across from Kohaku.

"Emperor Go-Nara," Kohaku shrugged when Sen and Maru both squeaked out a sound of surprise when he said the name. "What? Is it such a surprise that these are the types of people who come for my services?" He snickered as Sen, Maru, and Hashi all made their way inside and sat down across from him. "I am Heishi no Kohaku, loyal servant to the Imperial Throne," he bowed slightly, still with that smug smirk on his face, "and you are Hashioni, Sen, and Maru. Delighted, as always."