Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - [Fic] Demon Schooling [Complete]

[z-Skye]

The mornings were the worst. The nights, after the daily hunting was done, were glorious. Skye’d hit whatever bar she found and party until she couldn’t see straight. She didn’t need Kazuo anymore, though sometimes they still went together – and she’d never admit that she had more fun when he was there. She’d made her own connections in the night scene and was considered something of a regular out there.

It was the mornings that killed her. Waking up with a hangover wherever she’d managed to crash was getting tiresome. It usually took a while for her to make all of her limbs move right, while fighting off the worst headache she’d ever had in her life. Usually, that headache was only to be eclipsed by the one she’d have tomorrow.

She dragged her ass back to the temple and ate some breakfast, ignoring the few disapproving stares that she got from the priests. She didn’t care that much; the pitying expressions were harder to tolerate. Breakfast was followed by training, which was the real hell. The first hour was spent struggling against the toxins in her body, trying to keep her performance up while not vomiting all over the training arena.

Lunch was usually when the day started to turn around. She’d convinced her body that she wasn’t going to stop, so it gave up telling her she needed to stop. Skye usually enjoyed the afternoon training; she’d never admit it, but she was starting to enjoy her daily practice. It was calming and relaxing.

As the sun got higher and the day hotter, Keiko arrived back from the temple. She found Skye still practicing, her unhealthy pallor from her ‘morning sickness’ gone. The German girl stopped what she was doing and grabbed a towel, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on her face. “Hey,” she said in greeting. “Is it that time again?”

[SalmonMax]

Keiko gave Skye a smile as she shielded her eyes from the sun and peered across at her. Not for the first time she felt a stab of concern. Skye looked better now than she had in the morning, but she still had dark half-circles under her eyes, and it was pretty clear that she'd been here practicing for most of the day. She'd dropped out of school for this, and while Keiko sort of understood why, she still didn't think it was a good idea. After all, sooner or later the Orochi would be sealed again, and normal life would resume. What would happen to Skye then?

Skye was hurting...and she was hurting herself too. Putting things into words was not one of Keiko's gifts though, and she never knew what to say to this other priestess...a girl she'd once envied, and now couldn't help feeling sorry for.

"If you're ready," she replied to Skye's question. "You look like you've already been practicing a lot though."

[z-Skye]

Skye shrugged. "Nothing else to do, really," she said softly, which was a lie. "I need to get better. I've already seen some improvement, so practice is helping." That was true, actually.

She flipped the towel over her shoulder and began walking toward the building where they took their lessons. Keiko fell into step next to her, and the two priestesses unconsciously adopted identical rhythms as they crossed the temple grounds.

"Hey, Keiko?" This was unusual; Skye rarely initiated conversation with anyone anymore.

"Uh huh?" the other priestess asked, a smile already crossing her cute little face.

"You were raised for this, right? To be a, I mean, the Sun Priestess?"

"No," Keiko said. "I was training to be a temple maiden when I was found to be the Sun Priestess." She paused and tried to read Skye's inscrutable expression. "Why?"

Skye shrugged. "I wondered if being trained for it made it easier," she said. This was the first time she'd ever broached this topic with Keiko.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko was quiet for a second, giving the question honest thought.

"I guess in some ways it might," she admits. "Training teaches you what to expect, and makes you feel like you have more knowledge, though that's not always the case."

"But in other ways, I think it makes things harder. All the time I spent training in the shrine was time I wasn't around other kids, or with my family...I mean, AS a family, you know? It's different when he's training me. I feel like...maybe I know how to fight the demons because of it, but I don't feel like I really belong to the world I'm fighting FOR. I didn't fit in school, no one really likes me, and when it's all over, I'll go back to the temple and just...disappear as far as the rest of the world goes."

"I guess either way, there's a sacrifice...no one person can walk every path, even if they might want to."

[z-Skye]

Skye stopped, her head lowered. After a second, Keiko stopped as well, turning back to her. "Skye?" she said uncertainly.

Her fellow priestess wasn't privy to Skye's thoughts, and if she had been, she would have been both surprised and saddened. Skye was thinking about her first night out with Kazuo. She remembered some of it, and one of the parts she remembered with vivid clarity - and hoped that Kazuo didn't remember - was her rant she screamed at him. She remembered his response to her, too. She'd been thinking about that, when it crept into her mind. She tried not to think about much besides demons - when demon-hunting - and partying - when partying. Still, things had gotten in and Skye had, despite her best efforts, realized some hard truths about herself and others.

Without looking up, Skye said, "No one at school likes... liked me either. They were all afraid of me. Or they hated me. Or they just despised me, like Kazuo and Kaori. I tried so hard to be better than all of them so they'd treat me like one of them. It wasn't going to work. Who cares what they think about you at school?"

She finally looked up at Keiko, something fragile and sad in her blue eyes. "Are you happy with your life? Is this what you want? If you can say yes, then who gives a ficken what anyone else thinks?"

[SalmonMax]

"My father used to tell me that happiness works a little like a bank," Keiko answers after a moment to consider. "You sacrifice some happiness now, and it builds up, so that one day when the duties are done, you will have endless happiness to spend."

She sighs. "I feel...afraid most of the time. When I'm not afraid for what's happening now...which is a lot...I'm afraid for what comes afterwards. But I also feel proud that we've managed to do some good. We're only kids, but we're holding off the greatest of all the demon lords...even if it is hard."

"And I feel hope, that one day Orochi will be gone, and we'll find time to do the things we can't do now, but want to. That all the happy moments we're sacrificing today, will come back to us with interest." She smiles unsteadily. "That's my hope."

"I do care what other people think though. If I didn't care about other people, I'd never have the strength to do this. I'd have let myself die ages ago, I think. Other people is what this is all about."

[z-Skye]

Skye remained silent for a moment. She started walking again, leaving Keiko scrambling to catch up. "I used to care what people thought," Skye confessed. "All the time. Now? I don't. I can't. I do this... I do this to get it done, so that I can have a normal life. I do this to get revenge for my mother and everyone else who has died. I don't have the strength... your strength to care about anything beyond that."

Skye was quiet another moment before she said, "You're a really good person, Keiko. I mean a really good, not just kinda nice." There seemed to be more she could say, but Skye could barely acknowledge the envy she felt toward Keiko, much less articulate it. The fact was that between the two of them, Keiko was the normal one and Skye hated her a little for that. She also admired her for it, admired that she could keep her equilibrium in this craziness and retain a good heart. She wondered if she could find a place of balance like that. She didn't see how and her depressed mind immediately considered where she should go tonight after their nightly fight was done. That was her way of getting through this - music and booze.

"Do you think that we could go over the binding ritual again?" Skye asked, and though her voice was calm, it was clear she felt uneasy about her part in the ritual. "I screwed it up last time, I need to get it down right."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko glanced uneasily at Skye. She was hard and strong, but in the same way diamonds were...when struck crosswise, she tended to shatter rather than bend. Keiko envied her prowess in battle, but she also knew that as a priestess, the most important battle wasn't waged with weapons and muscles.

"It's not because you don't know the ritual that you're having trouble," she said softly. "The ritual by itself is just a performance...it's important because it guides us, and helps us focus our wills. But if there's a problem inside us, if the will is..." she shied away from saying flawed, quickly choosing the less loaded, "...conflicted, then all the rituals in the world won't work."

[z-Skye]

Skye's expression went to surprised, then - surprisingly - hurt, before becoming angry. "There's nothing wrong with my will, Keiko! I want with all my will to destroy, bind and kick all the Head back to Hölle! There's nothing wrong with my desire to do that!" Turning, she darted up the path, her body angry and tense.

She didn't really know what Keiko meant, but Skye didn't want to think - couldn't think - that she was the one at fault. It would mean that she was failing, slowly, letting them all down a ritual at a time. The thought that she was the weakest link was enough to start the first hint of a panic attack in her.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko cursed herself and shouted, "Skye, wait! That's not what I meant!"

She hurried up the path after the Lunar Priestess, trying to think of how to put into words what she only barely understood herself.

"I'm sorry! I'm not explaining it right! Please let me try again!"

[z-Skye]

Skye stopped, only her silent and unspoken regard for the other priestess keeping her from ignoring her. She was a little surprised by how much she did like Keiko now, but she wasn't going to say anything about it. Her angry expression had wilted to a more tolerant one by the time she turned to face Keiko. "Alright," she said gruffly, crossing her arms. "Explain it better."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko took a deep breath, organizing her whirling thoughts as best she could. Skye wasn't ready for the whole truth, but maybe if she framed this in terms similar to those she already knew...

"Will...spirit...soul...all these ideas are linked in my philosophy," Keiko said. "They all mean something close to the same thing. I didn't mean to say that your intentions were bad, or lacking." On sudden impulse she pushed her sleeve up to show her slim, girlish arm.

"You see...it's like muscles. I'm not strong. If I hit you, you wouldn't even feel it. All the time that Kaori and even you have spent training your body and growing in strength, I've spent training my spirit."

The priestess let her sleeve drop back down. "You weren't wrong to do it...you have to be strong to fight a demon, and a demon has to be defeated before it can be sealed. But actually sealing a demon isn't something you do with muscles. It's something you do with your spirit." She blurted out in a rush, as if saying it faster would make it hurt less, "Your spirit isn't as strong as your body, Skye. When you try to seal a demon, it's like what would happen if I tried to use your fans. I might know the forms, and I might know what to do, but I wouldn't have the power I'd need to make the blows hurt."

"I think instead of practicing the sealing ceremony more, we need to give your spirit more 'muscle.' Does that make sense? You're not doing anything wrong, Skye. We just need to change the focus of your training."

[z-Skye]

Skye frowned. This was still her fault, but at least this was something she could fix. "Alright," she said, drawing in and releasing a deep breath. "I'm willing to work on my... soul strength. I just have no idea how to do that. So how do we change the focus of my training?"

That's right, just push all the feelings of inferiority into the background and work on fixing it. So what if the stupid moon choose the worst possible person to be the stupid Lunar Priestess? I can fix this. I learned Japanese, I can learn this. Skye hardened herself to her task and prepared to do whatever was necessary.

[SalmonMax]

"We'll go to the basics first," Keiko decided. "Purification and meditation. There's a waterfall we use for that, behind the shrine. Come on."

She led the way around the temple building on a cobbled path that led around to where icy water splashed down from the mountain above on its way to the valley below, collecting briefly in a broad, but shallow pool full of smoothed rocks and flitting koi.

Keiko waved a hand at the waterfall. "You can do this anytime, unless it's cold out. You stand under the waterfall, with the water splashing your head and shoulders. After a few minutes, the cold and the pounding will make your whole body numb. Then do this..."

She put her two palms together in front of her heart with her fingers pointing up, and began to chant, "Num mi da, num mai da," in a singsong voice. Then she smiled and stopped.

"The chant is just to fill your ears, and give your mouth something to do. You have to let the world fade away so you can experience the world inside yourself. Blank your mind, and forget about everything distracting or scaring you."

[z-Skye]

Skye looked from the waterfall to Keiko, wondering if the other girl was pulling her leg. It sounded dubious to her, and a great way to get back at Skye for all the bad things she'd said about her. But an instant later, she knew that Keiko wasn't like that. She was a lot nicer than Skye was.

Taking a deep breath, Skye stepped forward into the water. She winced at the cold that soaked her jeans and shoes but pushed on, stopping under the falling water. She waited, letting the cold and rhythm lull her into numbness.

It wasn't the same numbness as the alcohol, though. This wasn't so pleasant. It didn't take away her thoughts or the nearly-constant knot in her gut. It just left her cold.

Obediently, she folded her hands together and began to chant. She tried not to think of something, but thoughts invaded her mind.

Her mother's pretty, gentle face, setting a plate of breakfast before her.

The stink of blood and desecrated bodies, and her mother's dead voice ringing in her ears.

Kazuo smirking at her, infuriating her with a mere quirk of his lips.

Her trapped against the door of the car, his lips gentle in contrast to his hard body.

The heat and horror of the hydra's searing attack.

A soft silver glow began to fill her vision, the presence within scaring her more than the thought of kissing Kazuo.

Skye's chanting faltered and she pushed forward out of the pond. "No," she said, her teeth chattering. "Nien, that will not work." The world within herself was an unsettling and horrible place, and she tried to escape it, not find it.

[SalmonMax]

"It won't be easy," Keiko said from where she knelt by the side of the pool, waiting and watching. "It's just like training muscles. At first it hurts, and it leaves you gasping...but you can't just quit. Come out though, and tell me what happened. I can tell something did. Tell me, and maybe I can help."

[z-Skye]

Skye shook her head silently, but waded out of the water and sat on a rock next to Keiko. She pressed her hands to her hair, sliding them back and forcing the excess water out. As Keiko waited with the patience she'd been trained to display, Skye tried to gather her thoughts.

"I saw... mostly just things from my life," Skye said. "Dreams... memories... just the stuff I always see when I sit too long." Skye didn't seem to be aware how much she'd just admitted to Keiko.

"Like what?" Keiko pressed gently.

"What does it matter?" Skye snapped irritably, drawing up her knees and squeezing her jeans between her hands and her legs, pushing water out of them. Scowling, she pulled off her sneakers and emptied them with a soft splash. "It's all stupid stuff, anyway. Stuff I... don't like. Mom dying and... stuff." A furious blush was crawling up her face, but she hoped Keiko would just think she was getting angry instead of mortified.

"And you said mostly. What was the other thing?" Keiko asked.

Skye paused, thinking about that silver light. But if she admitted that, Keiko might nag her to meditate more, not let her off the hook. It sounded like Keiko was going to be pushing for more, anyway - something that she would take as proof was not what Skye wanted! "Just some light," she told Keiko, remembering that presence within it.

[SalmonMax]

"That's really good, Skye," Keiko said with a warm smile. "For your first time, to get all that is really great. Of course, the hard part is not just -seeing- those things, but to deal with them."

"Imagine your spirit is like a ghost version of yourself. It's been around as long as you have. It doesn't get dusty and dirty like your body, but every time you feel things like anger and fear and...well, you get the idea...it's like a little dust, or a grain of sand that sticks to your spirit. And all that after awhile can block you off from higher realms. Like a shell that blinds you...or weights tied around your arms so you can't move."

"So we have to purify your soul, and strengthen it, so you can stop all that stuff from interfering with you anymore. It's hard, but you'll have help...and not just from me."

[z-Skye]

Yeah, thoughts of Kazuo make my soul dirty. I can buy that, Skye mused to herself. What Keiko was saying made sense, but to accept it meant changing things about herself, things she wasn't comfortable facing, much less altering. Instead, she focused on Keiko's last statement.

"Do you mean Isamu? Because Kaori's too busy being not-Kaori, Kenichi isn't helpful unless you're trying to knock a wall down, Jim's been so withdrawn and Kazuo's never helpful," Skye mused aloud. "I guess you mean your grandfather," Ms. Oblivious continued. "He taught you, so he could teach me."

[Justin OOC]

"Perhaps he could try, Lunar Preistess, but he would not succeed. You are far, far too burdened by the worry in your soul to ever master the training, and that is why you fail. Were it not For Keiko, none of the heads would be sealed."

The Old Man smiled as he sat on a rock nearby. "The Solar Priestess is bound to you in ways neither of you can fathom. She is the one person in all the world you can trust implicitly."

"To truly strengthen yourself, you must let go, you must trust. To that end, I will give you a gentle shove along the path."

He turned to Keiko and nodded. "Hear Me Solar priestess."

“The Lunar Priestess is afraid that she’s responsible for her mother’s death,” the Old Man started blandly, as if he was gossiping about someone, but that someone wasn’t interesting enough to get excited when talking about them. “She’s sure that the demons attacked her building because she lived there, and she’s right, though she forgets that she’s not responsible for the actions of others.”

He folded his hands before him and continued. “She is afraid of failing the rest of you – failing to seal a Head, or that someone will die in battle because of something she did or didn’t do. She is afraid that she’s becoming just as evil and violent as the demons she’s defeating. She sometimes thinks she’s dead already, so that she doesn’t have to feel responsible for all the things she blames herself for. She doesn’t consider that this is survivor’s guilt; the cost of living when others die. And yet, she’s afraid to die. She misses being popular and beloved or be-feared by her school and she feels guilty because she mourns that too. Yet she doesn’t let herself realize that it’s easier to mourn than mourn her lost mother, or her abandoning father.

“She’s drinking and taking drugs and partying with boys to hide her own pain and confusion in empty solutions,” the Old Man said sadly, shaking his head. “Waking up in strange places and being hungover during her morning practice. All the while she envies Kaori for her determination and power, and you, Keiko for your peace. Skye wants badly to be anyone other than herself.

“And like all little girls, she’s very confused about boys, oh, so confused,” the Old Man added. “She thinks this strange new boy is attractive, and she was quite smitten with that demon. Yet the boy that turns her head and makes her heart beat a little faster is none other than the boy with the ugly scars, the boy who makes her mad and makes her feel alive and confuses her because she should never want to be around him. Her dreams of kissing him torment her because she shouldn’t want him to kiss her. She pretends the thought sickens her so that she doesn’t have to deal with the feelings she feels for him. She won’t just kiss him to see if he kisses back and she imagines she’s the first girl to torture herself thus.”

He chuckles. "There, that should just about do it. I'll leave you two lovely ladies to sort it out then." The Old Man vanished in an instant, as Sayoko and the 7th head began to cackle. "She's faced with the end of humanity and she's worried about boys.... God i hate you humans."

Her shadow was laughing riotously, though it was an almost silent laugh. It's a wonder she managed to do any part of the sealing ritual right at all. Poor thing, and to think, Shizuru actually offered you a chance to be happy, You could have take our hands, left us in peace at the end, and this whole affair would be over."

The Seventh head sneered. "I'm going to enjoy watching our brothers destroy you both, even if it means I have no one to talk too anymore you're so pathetic."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko sat in openmouthed shock as the Old Man systematically destroyed everything she'd set out to accomplish in just a few minutes. Her stomach rose into her throat as she turned, wide-eyed with horror, to look at Skye.

Dear Kami...how was she going to smooth THAT over?!

"Skye," she said softly, almost whispered, "He was wrong. He...I don't know why...he was wrong. He shouldn't have done that, and he doesn't understand...what you're going through. Please don't listen to him. Just...pretend it never happened and we can keep going where we left off, okay?"

[z-Skye]

Skye thought she’d been angry before. She thought that she’d felt true fury. She was wrong, because now, this moment, she understood what it was to be nearly insane with anger. And while Skye wasn’t far from the brittle edge of Cliff Mental Imbalance, she’d never actually wanted to kill anyone before. Her face should have been flushed with rage but all the blood rushed from it, leaving her bone-white.

That changed as the Old Man bared her soul to Keiko. Skye had nothing against Keiko; she was the nicest girl Skye knew. But to have everything about her shown to Keiko with no regard for her feelings or whether she wanted Keiko to know hurt the petite teen more than she could say. It could become another secret that the Old Man could share later – that he could hurt her so much when she pretended nothing but disdain for him.

Angry words of rage and bitterness rose up in her throat – and Keiko spoke. Skye turned toward the other girl, anger and hurt and something brittle in her gaze. But when she saw the horror in Keiko’s face, she realized that everything the Old Man had revealed about her – it was all as horrible as she’d feared. The look of dismay on Keiko’s face as she looked at Skye spoke the truth: Skye was a terrible person.

Keiko’s words didn’t even register with Skye; all her perception was narrowed to that look. If Keiko – the sweetest, most gentle person Skye knew – was looking at her like that, she must truly be that bad. “He’s lying,” Skye said with such desperation that her lie was apparent. Panic rose in her like a beast, and Skye turned and ran from Keiko. She took ten steps before she had her fans out, and with the command phase, she took to the air. She ignored Keiko’s cries to come back and shot over the wall surrounding the temple.

Normally, she didn’t fly during daylight, but concerns of propriety were forgotten in her childish panic. A couple of schoolboys walking home past the temple jerked their gaze upward as a massive shadow passed over them. They looked up to see a flying girl, using paper fans. The end result of this sighting would be a broken leg for one boy when they attempted to repeat this feat later.

Skye banked high and quickly gained altitude, getting high enough that people wouldn’t be able to see her easily from the ground. Normally, flying gave her peace; she was alone and quiet, and since her shadow had been claimed by an unwanted tenant, she’d found that leaving it behind on the ground was the only way to escape it. It was her single remaining refuge, but today, it offered no solace. And it was cold up here in the snapping wind with her wet clothing and hair.

Though she tried to stop it, the humiliation from moments ago came back, wringing tears from her eyes. Soon, she was trying to see through a blurry vision and she realized she needed to land or she was going to hit a building. That would end my problems.

Despite that final temptation, she landed on the roof of a tall building, far from prying eyes. Walking to the edge, she sank down to her knees, rested her head on the low ledge around the top of the building and bawled. She heard Sayoko sneering at her, and it only added to her misery. Feeling betrayed and surrounded by enemies, Skye sobbed her heart out under the Japan sun.

[SalmonMax]

"Skye! Wait!"

Keiko jumped to her feet as the other priestness flew away. It was a futile gesture though...of the gifts Amateratsu had seen fit to bestow on her, fast travel wasn't one of them. She couldn't outrun Skye, nor even keep up well enough to see where she alit.

Something caught fire in her heart suddenly, as white and hot as the sun itself...maybe more so. Keiko didn't have a lot of experience with anger. Not REAL anger. Her priestly detachment meant that most insults washed over and around her without touching her...and she took injuries to herself and even her friends in a larger context that allowed sympathy and compassion, but rarely recrimination or accusal.

This was different though. This was betrayal from within. Keiko felt she must be leaving footprints of molten lava, and that insects and plants would shiver to ash in a circle around her. If she dipped in the pool, it would erupt into steam and vanish.

And yet her voice was steady when she said, "Old Man...I know you can hear me. Come here."

[Justin OOC]

"As this is the first time you've directly summoned me, Solar Priestess, here I am." The Old Man appeared sitting on a rock. "The Lunar Priestess is quite a handful isn't she?"

"What do you need, Solar Priestess?"

Elsewhere Two people looked at Skye sitting on their roof, and pondered.

"Skye." It was Shizuru, the Second head of Orochi, and Alexander, the First Head.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko turned to face him, her face bleak as she wrapped her fingers around the amulet of the sun. "Justice," was her reply.

"In Amateratsu's name," she began, her words barely a whisper but rapidly gaining volume, "I banish you from this holy ground. By the will of She Who Shines Over Heaven and Earth, I bar you from my presence."

A red-gold glow began to radiate from Keiko as she gathered her own spiritual powers and channeled them into the exorcism.

"Be you man, spirit, demon or god, I invoke the Judge of Heaven to cast you away and work your mischief on us no more!"

(OOC - No idea if it'll -work-, but she's trying to use her Exorcism attribute on the sucker. )

[z-Skye]

Skye froze. She'd heard that voice before. "Verdammt," she sighed to herself, then rubbed her eyes and ignited her forcefield. As she stood, she had her fans out and held defensively before her. It wasn't just Shizuru, though; Alexander stood there, looking like a lighter version of his beautiful brother. On another day, she might have been angry or shouting at them. She would have been terrified that they were going to attack her. Today... today, she just was already to worn out to feel more than a shiver of fear.

"What?" she said, her voice more tired than she'd meant it to be. "What do you Schwul blutschänderisch schwanzlutschers want?" Fortunately, she was never too tired to curse like a tiny sailor.

A detached part of her was surprised that they knew her name. She'd never thought she counted for that much.

Click to reveal..

verdammt - damnit

Schwul blutschänderisch schwanzlutschers - gay incestuous cock suckers

[Justin OOC]

He laughed, as the seal circled him, then shattered completely. "Do you really think invoking my daughter's power is enough to banish me?"

"Exorcism 101, Solar Priestess, you cannot banish something from a realm that is its home. Perhaps you'd care to explain this little incident then."

---------------------

"Such language from a holy shrine maiden." Alexander smiled. "I knew I was right to spare you."

"Why have you come to our home Skye? You are aware it can be taken as a formal challenge to all of us are you not?" Shizuru looked around. "And to do so alone is foolish in the extreme."

"It isn't what we want, what do you want Skye?" Alexander's voice was amazingly calm. He knew he was in no danger at all.

[SalmonMax]

The amulet dropped from Keiko's nerveless fingers and swung from its chain a few times before coming to rest on the chest of her kimono.

Izanagi.

"Why do you want to destroy the world?" she asked. "Why are you trying to destroy us? Are you tired of what you helped make? Have we failed so completely?"

[Justin OOC]

"I never said anything about destroying the world. I rather like it, and that's why all of you exist. I figured that much is obvious."

"If I wanted to destroy you, Solar Priestess, I would have done so, could do so any time I wish." He sighed.

"You haven't failed, there's still time. You've sealed half the heads, so even if Orochi is summoned, it won't be at full power. That's very good, but still beyond what you all can handle, so you must become stronger."

Skye will never get stronger if she cannot come to terms with her own heart. She hides it away, fearing everything within. She hides it from you, the closest thing to family she has left, that is why I vocalized it for her, so that you could know, so that burden would be lifted."

"She didn't like my methods much. Nor did you it seems."

"We don't have time for half-measures Solar Priestess. Even adding Isamu to the team though helpful, may not be enough to give you the edge in power. I cannot directly fight Orochi. I need all of you to do it, and you don't have alot of time left to get it done."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko nearly choked. "Don't like? Don't...LIKE?!"

"You may have KILLED her! Don't you SEE that? What you did just now, you...it was like rape! You raped her spirit right in front of me! And you call that 'your methods?' You think being pressed for time justifies that?" She waved a hand in the direction Skye had flown away in. "Well how much longer will it take now? How much MORE time has this cost us! Assuming, that is, that I'll EVER be able to coax her back here now!"

She turned away, her anger melting back into worry and feelings of helplessness. "For all I know she's suicidal now. Or worse!" Like a rubber band snapping back, she whirled on the Old Man again as she whipsawed back into rage. "And it's your fault! My idea was WORKING! She was responding! Then YOU showed up and..."

Finally the fuel gave out, and she folded her arms over her stomach, suddenly feeling very sick.

"Please go away, and don't come back," she said. "You mean well, but you don't understand human beings."

[Justin OOC]

"I know you better than most Keiko." The use of her name was unheard of. He seldom used names. "I will take you to her, then, it is the least I can do. I will leave everything to you."

He smiled. "You are so like her."

[SalmonMax]

"No!"

Keiko looked back at him furiously. "Don't do anything! Skye...has her own choices to make right now. If she sees me, she'll just run away again. She left here...she has to come back of her own will. If I go drag her back, we'll never get through to her. She won't really be here."

She took a deep breath.

"There's a chance she'll never come back, of course. And if that happens, you'll get to watch the world end...knowing that it's because of your mistakes. But we can't change that now. We just have to have faith that Skye has the courage to come back. Anything we do now besides wait will just close her off forever."

[Justin OOC]

"That's not entirely true." He looked at her. There was an underlying menace to his voice she'd never heard before.

"You blame me still? This was a choice Skye made. Very well, I'll continue to watch, Everything."

He vanished leaving her alone.

[SalmonMax]

"Of course I blame you!" Keiko shouted at the sky. "She made this choice because of what you did! Can't you even once just admit responsibility?!"

Her last shot fired, Keiko collapsed back onto her knees by the waterfall pool and broke down into sobs.

"I don't care," she whispered into her hands. "I believe in you, Skye."

[Justin OOC]

A ray of sunlight hit Keiko just right, as a cloud moved away from the sun, and she could feel an almost soothing warmth coming from the light, and from her amulet.

[SalmonMax]

For a moment Keiko paused as a thought flickered across her mind. The effrontry of it was breathtaking, and she shied away from it almost by instinct. But then again...hadn't she just called on Izanagi? And then bawled him out like an errant schoolboy? How was this any worse than that?

I didn't know who he was...and even if I had, he's not -mine-. She is.

It was a hollow excuse though. Keiko needed help, and there might be only one entity in the cosmos who would be able to give it. She had no choice.

"Amateratsu-Omikami," Keiko whispered. "I've always tried to be true, though I know I sometimes fail. This is one of those times. I don't know what to do. Should I go find Skye? Or does she need to be alone right now? How can I best help her heal? Please kami-sama...for all the times you've guided and helped me, I need you again..."

[z-Skye]

Skye was emotionally exhausted, but the demons' words gave her a wakening jolt of shock. Instinctively, she fell back on the face-saving habits ingrained by Japanese public schools. "My apologies," she said, willing to eat crow if it would prevent the Heads from turning their casual skirmishes into all-out war. She dropped her fans to her side, though they remained open and ready. "I didn't know that it was your home when I came here. It was an honest mistake."

This sucked. She didn't want to apologize; she wanted to kick Oni ass. Her fans quivered and throbbed in her hands, as if objecting to her lowering them. Or maybe they were daring her to attack the First and Second Head. Skye knew she couldn't take them now. She just wanted to get out of here alive now.

[Justin OOC]

A soft female voice answered her, full of grace and radiance. "Keiko, my priestess." She felt a wave of pride, then serenity wash over her. "I knew one day you would figure it out, that you would call my name. I am so proud of you, Keiko."

In her Mind she saw Her, Amaterasu, the most beautiful of the Kami, and she was smiling at her. "Go to her Keiko. She needs you more than ever. You can only help her so much, she has to want to heal herself. Right now she just needs someone who won't judge her, who'll stand beside her no matter what. If you wish it, I will show you the way."

----------------------

ALexander nodded. "I believe you, Which is why my weapons aren't out. If you like Skye, I can at the very least extend you some modicum of hospitality. Shizuru and I would very much like to talk to you, if you can spare a moment."

He raised a hand. "I hereby swear that no harm shall come to you until you return to the shrine, provided you agree to the same terms." From previous interactions she knew a demon's word was a contract, one they would not break, now could she trust it?

[SalmonMax]

"We've always been that," Keiko said...but realized that she wasn't saying it to the person who needed to hear it most. Quickly Keiko got to her feet and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Please show me how to get to her."

[Justin OOC]

Keiko was back in her own body and a beam of light struck one of the distant sky scrapers perfectly. "She is there, Keiko, speaking with the Enemy. You must hurry."