詩織と夢

"Pai is dying."

Kanou, Kouta, and Shin stood outside the hospital room Pai had been checked into for the last week. Shiori was inside, asleep on the couch pushed up to the wall. Ryu was sleeping in the armchair by the sofa his sister lay on, his unruly red-brown hair ruffled at the front of his forehead.

He had come straight from school to the hospital, as he and Shiori had been doing since Shin brought Pai back from the warehouse and everyone quickly realized that her injuries were far worse than what they could realistically deal with at home – proven when she started seizing, and Kanou couldn't stop it.

Kouta entertained the brief thought of waking Shiori so that she could be here to hear what Kanou had to say. He paused, however, when he took note of the beaten-down, grey look to the healer's face.

Kanou was approaching his hundred and ninety-third year, by no means a young man anymore. His once dark hair was now stark white, just a few shades greyer than Pai's own more silver-tinged hair, and he had many wrinkles, though not as many as a human would expect of someone that age. Any normal human would put him in his seventies, rather than well over a century.

But never before had he so looked his age as he did now. He had always had a gentle, kind smile at the ready for anyone and everyone. His patience seemed never-ending. The lines around his eyes didn't speak to wrinkles of age, but rather those of a long time laughing.

Now, as Kouta and Shin took in Kanou's words, he was glad he hadn't woken Shiori for this. She was already close enough to breaking point; she didn't need to be led down the last step to the point where Kouta wasn't sure Shiori would recover from. She had already lost both her parents in the accident that could have taken Ryu's life as well, and Pai once before. Would she have to lose Pai again, this time for good? This time with the knowledge that she would never come back?

The three men stood in the corridor outside of Pai's room, on the third floor of the hospital. Haru, Daichi, and Ryosuke were stationed at different points of the hospital, guarding should anything of supernatural – or even unknown human – origin try to come anywhere near room thirty-seven of Dokokai Hospital.

The Shimo Oni was dealt with thanks to Shin, but they couldn't be sure that one of the Okina Oni wouldn't come knocking to see what was so special about a human girl that a Daitengu would kill an Oni to protect. None of the Oni had yet contacted Kouta for an explanation, but after what happened...

It was better safe than sorry.

Jirou and Yuu already flew back to Mount Kurama to report what happened to the Sojobo, the current clan King of the Tengu, should the Oni go to his father instead. Kouta hoped they wouldn't; it would only prove right what his father had warned him of, when he told his father of his decision to let Pai remain with them.

Around them, nurses in their neat uniforms bustle to and fro, carefully guiding patients to rooms or away from them. Some men and women clad in pristine white doctor's coats had stethoscopes around their necks as they ushed in or out patients to or from their rooms.

The hospital wasn't particulalry loud, but still, Kouta could hear the conversation of every person in the hospital. It was easy enough for him to focus his attention away from it, but it was one of the reasons he told Kaede to remain at Ayashi House.

While most of the Daitengu could control their Abilities enough to turn them on and off at will, Kaede couldn't – not for want of trying. Kaede had done everything he could to dull his superb sense of hearing, but nothing worked. He didn't suffer from splitting headaches from the pressure of hearing almost everything and anything only because he usually stayed up on their little mountain home, away from the loud hustle and bustle of humanity.

Now, with worry over Pai's condition, he wouldn't be able to even try controlling his Ability well. Kouta knew that if he gave Kaede leave to be at the hospital, he'd be suffering for it, and trying to hide it.

Kouta's jaw hardened to a sharpen line as he mulled over what Kanou just said. His eyes flicked over to Shin, who stood totally impassive by his side. Nothing of what he was thinking could be seen on his face. It was like looking at the smooth, angled planes of a marble statue. He could see a fleck of red in the man's otherwise slightly off-blue eyes. His contact lenses were wearing out.

He turned back to Kanou. "Tell me all of it. What's wrong with her?"

Kanou sighed. "Pai sustained numerous injuries from the attack. She has two fractured ribs, various cuts and bruises. There are signs showing that the substance injected into her system from the Oni has disabled parts of her nervous system along the spine. It's how the Onihitokuchi incapacitate their prey."

"What does that mean for her?" Kouta asked.

"What with some bruising on her spine, in addition to the Oni's poison..." Kanou trailed off. "It means that there's a chance she could wake up paralysed."

Kouta blinked, stunned. "Paralysed?"

They were all so used to seeing Pai bustle around Ayashi House, always doing something despite being told multiple times not to overexert herself, that the idea of Pai without the use of her legs was almost too much to comprehend.

"Not only that," Kanou added. "But she is suffering from a severe concussion, which could leave her with anterograde amnesia."

"What is that?" Shin asked. His voice was oddly flat and empty, more so than was normal with Shin.

Kanou eyed him with concern before speaking. "If she wakes up, for a while she will be unable to retain new information or remember events that occurred immediately after she received the concussion. You could ask her where she had just come from and she won't be able to tell you because her brain would not retain memory of it. It's fairly common after getting a concussion, and not permanent."

Kouta nodded, understanding. "And the problem...is it the Onihitokuchi's poison? Her legs?"

"Yes and no," Kanou replied, shaking his head. "Her heart – it's failing. Those machines," he nodded at room thirty-seven. "Are doing most of the work in keeping her alive. Her heart currently isn't able to carry out its functions without the aid of those machines. The doctors watching over Pai are unsure if they will be able to resuscitate her if her heart stops. Neither are they sure why this is happening, as there aren't any heart conditions in her family records that I managed to retrieve. The only option left to us is that it is because of the poison from the Onihitokuchi's tail."

Kouta's frown deepened as he listened to Kanou's words. Shim remained impassive. There was a flicker of red in the clear blue as he blinked.

"I thought that the poison is only meant to incapacitate the Oni's prey. They leave their prey in stone coffins to die out naturally, not from their poison." Kouta held back a wince at his own words. He didn't like to be reminded that Pai had been that prey, that humans were just meals for the supernatural, and that despite everything, Shiori was also human.

"That is true," Kanou nodded gravely. "And that is what the poison does to a human. Onihitokuchi have a sadistic streak, preferring to keep their prey alive and inspire fear in them before eating them. It is why the Onihitokuchi kept her in that stone coffin Shin-san saw. The problem here is her anaemic disposition. Her body is weaker than a normal human's. what would knock out any ordinary person for a few hours is potentially enough to kill her."

Silence met his words.

"A cure," Kouta murmured. He ran a hand in frustration through his hair, ruffling it up almost as much as Ryu's was, and looked Kanou in the eye. His own yellow eyes were eerie as he focused all his sleep-deprived attention on the old healer. "If it's the poison from the Onihitokuchi, there must be a way to counter it. An antidote, or – or something."

Kanou shook his head. "If there is, I do not know of it. There is very little documentation, accurate information, on the Oni that I can rely on to find out more. Most is superstitious myth from humans. To be absolutely sure, I would have to speak to one of the Okina Oni."

"They are under no obligations to speak the truth to any Ayakashi." Shin quickly dismissed the idea. "Their loyalties are to their own, and even then it's not a guarantee."

"That is true," Kanou agreed. "And...I am not entirely sure it is just her heart failing, Kouta-kun."

Kouta frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

"The doctors have done a CAT scan, because of her concussion and the cut on the back of her neck that even they can tell seems to be an issue. Even though her body is so weak, and despite the fragile state of her heart, her brain is highly active."

"What does that matter?" he could tell it meant something, Kanou wouldn't bring it up otherwise, but why did it matter? Was that unusual?

"I would need to perform an experiment to know for certain –"

"Tell us what your theory is, Kanou-san," Shin cut in, in a way that would be ruse of not for the mildness of his tone. "You always have a theory."

Kanou sighed, and Kouta knew that Shin was right. Kanou always had a theory.

"We already know that there is something not quite normal about Pai, in the human sense. She doesn't have Waardenburg Syndrome, which is something humans are born with, not something they contract during their life. If she did, it would explain her hair, but her hair wasn't originally white, so it doesn't explain anything. She does not have any sign of albinism in her genes. Now," he crossed his arms, levelling them with a serious look. "Do you remember what I told you two about the Marie-Antoinette Syndrome?"

Both nodded. Kouta says, "When the hair of the queen was seen suddenly turning white."

"Indeed. It's a theory that doesn't hold much merit in the medical circles in the human world, but if we're to put a name to what she has, it would be that."

"But isn't it just a theory?" Kouta asked.

"Yes, it's supposedly only a theoretical syndrome, but there are documentations of it happening before." Kanou answered. "Just because it is rare does not mean it's impossible. I believe something must have happened to her in the three years she was missing that caused enough of a traumatic experience for her that her hair turned white from the shock of it."

Shin, with a barely perceptible frown, asked, "What does that have to do with what's happening now?"

"The CAT scans show that her mind is working perfectly normally, almost better than normal, even, as opposed to this vegetative state her body is in, for want of a better term. I think that she may be unconsciously forcing her body to stop working."

Kouta stared at Kanou incredulously, and for all his poker face, from the corner of his eye Kouta could see that even Shin looked shocked to speechlessness. For a few seconds, neither spoke, astonished.

"What are you talking about?" Kouta finally said. "Is that even possible for a human to do?"

"A human's mind is more powerful than either Ayakashi, Oni, or humans themselves think." Kanou gently reminded him.

"But enough to actually control the body in such a way?" Kouta was doubtful. He had never heard of such a thing happening before, and he doubted even Ayakashi were capable of such a thing.

How could it be possible? And why? Why would Pai do that to herself?

"I do not know," Kanou answered. He had a scowl on his face, clearly irritated that he didn't know. Nothing infuriated Kanou quite like the lack of knowledge did. "I simply do not know. There are too many unknown factors surrounding Pai for me to be certain, but...that is what I believe to be the case."

"But how does that tie in with the Marie-Antoinette Syndrome?" Kouta pressed.

"It isn't something that happens for no reason, Kouta-kun." Kanou said, lowering his voice as a nurse hurried past them without so much as a glance. "In the folktale of the queen herself, her hair turned stark white after her capture during the French Revolution. The first actual documented case of it is in the Talmud, represented by the story of a Jewish scholar whose hair turned white due to overwork, at seventeen. Other cases have been reported from bomb victims of war, and those suffering from PTSD."

"What are you trying to say?" Shin questioned. One glance at him was enough to tell Kouta that Shin knew exactly where he was going with this.

He sighed. "In order for a person's hair to take such a drastic turn in colour, it means that the individual experienced extreme sorrow and fear, rage, or stress. I have done tests since we found her, and her hair did not turn white from some autoimmune abnormality. It could only have been because of the stress of her own emotions."

It made sense, in an awful way. At the same time, it only served to further his confusion and sense of inferiority in light of his inability to help Pai when she needed it most.

"And if she's remembering it now," Kouta said quietly. "There's a chance her body is failing because – what, she doesn't want to wake up? Why would she want that?"

Kanou smiled thinly. "You speak with rationale. In the world she is in now, there is no such thing. She's in her subconscious. All she knows, all she is likely aware of right now, is what she went through, and she doesn't want to wake to that nightmare again."

"But her life isn't a nightmare." Shin said.

Kouta glanced at him, and frowned when he saw that already half of his pupil was red, the other still blue thanks to the contact lenses. But the contact lenses were dissolving faster than Kouta hoped they would.

He was worried not only for Pai, but Shin as well. Despite his outwardly unassuming appearance at the moment, Kouta wondered just how tight a leash Shin was keeping on himself.

"She does not know that," he reminded them gently. "I've been monitoring the flow of her energy whenever there are spikes in her brain activity, and if I am correct with my assumption, Pai is reliving what she's lived through. The bad memories will take precedence over the newer, happier ones. She might not be able to recall any part of her life in the last year that she has been with us."

Kouta closed his eyes and tilted his head back, releasing a harsh breath through gritted teeth as he pressed his fist to the wall by his side, struggling to control the anger he felt over his own sloppiness. He wanted to punch the wall as hard as he could, until it broke around his fist, but he didn't, reigning in control of himself with a tight grip.

He had been training from a young age to protect his people, to be the Heir and eventual King they could look up to and rely on. Now he'd failed one of them. Pai wasn't Tengu, but he still counted her as one of his people that he needed to protect. She lived with them, she talked and laughed with them, shared almost everything with the Tengu she had met. They had accepted her wholeheartedly, and she had been brave enough to accept them in turn, despite growing up fearing all Ayakashi indiscriminately.

And she was dying because he let this happen to her, and Pai wasn't the only one suffering for it.

Not only was there Pai's increasingly bewildering predicament looming over them, but Shin's Mask was missing, too. When Kouta didn't see him sitting in Pai's room, silently, he knew Shin was flying around the edge of Otaru, where the warehouse he found Pai in was, searching for the second Ayakashi he'd seen there. That was the only likely possibility for Shin losing his Mask – the Ayakashi there must have stolen it, somehow, as unlikely as it was.

Kouta could tell that Shin was dangerously close to losing control of his True Ayakashi. He probably had only a few more days before he was unable to control it anymore. Even now, the fact that he hadn't already was incredible – and worrying. Shin wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

It was a miracle, something unheard of, that he had managed to do so for a week already. Most would have lost control a few hours in, maybe a day or two. It spoke to Shin's incredible strength of iron will and resolve that he was been able to leash his true nature for so long. But, if he tried to go on for much longer than this without his Mask, doing so could eventually kill him – if he didn't completely turn before then.

Kouta wouldn't let either of those things happen. Not after everything Shin had already been through, after everything he had already had to give up in his life.

He opened his eyes again and looked through the window into Pai's room, behind Shin. He could see the tumble of Shiori's hair over the armchair of the sofa she slept on, and he knew that Ryu was safe by her side. He could see Ryu's elbow, and a bit of his slanted red-brown head. The morning sunlight from the window streamed in and lighted upon Shiori's troubled, sleeping face. Kouta wished that look wasn't there, that she could at least have some peace of mind while she slept.

His eyes drifted to where Pai lay in the hospital bed that looked too large for her. Kouta had always been aware that Pai was a small girl. She was been teased countless times by Haru and Kaede and some of the others for it (and one time by Shin, that Kouta was still trying to figure out if Shin had done it so casually on purpose to pretend obliviousness that he'd done it, or if he really was that oblivious that he'd done it).

That is why I like being around the kids, he remembered her say once to Haru. I am taller than them.

It was only now that Kouta was hit so strongly with the realization of how small she really was. She barely lifted the covers of the bed as she drew in one jittery breath after another. Her face was pale and grey against the backdrop of her white hair fanning out beneath her on the pillow. Her brows and eyelashes were the only hints of colour on her face, retaining the dark colour her hair lost.

With a jolt, Kouta realized that despite the bleep-bleep of the machine monitoring the beats of her failing heart along with the other two pristinely white machines that were keeping her heart beating, Pai already looked like she was dead. A sickening wave of guilt washed over Kouta as he stared at the dying girl he had come to see as a little sister, the best friend of his soulmate, someone he promised to protect.

He practically sealed her death himself when he allowed her to attend school with Shiori, without thinking to fortify their protections against the supernatural better – all supernatural. What was he thinking? Was he insane to have been so stupid and careless? Pai, despite her somewhat protective aura, was still human. She was still vulnerable to attacks, if not by the Ayakashi, then the Oni. He was supposed to be the Heir – why didn't he think of that?

"You said experiment," Kouta remarked slowly, looking at Pai's still form. "What kind?"

"I need to know if it is indeed Pai influencing her body to stop functioning, no matter how involuntarily it may be." Kanou answered. Hopefully, the experiment can work both ways and convince her to wake up."

"Yeah?" Kouta turned back to the healer, raising a sceptical brow. "How?"

"It would involve Shiori-hime." Kanou replied. Kouta immediately tensed, and Kanou hastened to add, "It is nothing that would risk the life of the princess, Kouta-kun, do not fret. You know I would never do that."

Kouta's lips tightened into a thin line at himself for letting Pai be the protection for Shiori all this time, for fooling himself into thinking her aura would be enough to protect them both. He shouldn't have backed down when allowing Shiori to go to school. He should have gotten one of the Daitengu to be with Shiori at all times, so that something like this wouldn't happen.

"What kind of experiment is this?" he asked quietly, unable to completely suppress the note of suspicion in his voice.

"A mental one," Kanou smoothly replied, as if he was just waiting for Kouta to ask. "In order to bring Pai back, someone needs to connect with her spirit. Think of it as making a sort of, phone call, directly to her in a way she can answer. It would need to be someone very close to her, someone she shares an active bond. A member of her own family would be ideal, but that is not exactly possible."

No one said anything to that. Everyone at Ayashi House knew of the unusual circumstances of Pai's family having seemingly disappeared from the face of the Earth – including Pai, until her equally as mysterious return.

"The only other available alternative is Shiori-hime." Kanou finished.

There is a moment of silence. Then, Shin said warily, "Experiments always come with risks, Kanou-san. What is the risk with this?"

Kanou hesitated for a moment, a pause that told Shin and Kouta that, despite this being relatively harmless – or so it seemed – the danger that was there was still possibly great enough that Kouta may refuse risking Shiori's life with it.

But if they didn't take the risk...

"If I'm right, and it is her memories doing this to her, and if they prove too strong for Shiori-hime, there is the chance that she will not be able to leave Pai's mind. It is a slim chance, but there nonetheless."

Kouta frowned. "You're saying that Shiori could get stuck in Pai's memories?"

"In her subconscious, to be precise," Kanou corrected. "She would fall into her own comatose state, like the one Pai is in now. She might wake up, but it would be a risky gamble to guess when, if ever. That is the only drawback to this experiment."

"That's if you're right, Kanou san," Shin added, watching Kanou with a look in his eye that made Kouta wonder...exactly who was looking out right now. "This is all just your theory."

Kanou shook his head. "The risk is a ninety to ten percent chance. Be it what it may, it is all we have."

"And there are no other alternatives?" Shin pressed.

"There is, but..."

"What is it?" Kouta asked, immediately latching on to the hope of finding another, safer way to save Pai's life without risking Shiori's.

"The Kitsune."

Hell no. Kouta's heart sank to his stomach.

"We would have to ask their help. Specifically, the help of a ninetails." Kanou continued. "One of their Abilities is the wilful manifestation in the dreams of others. A ninetails could able to enter Pai's subconscious and forcibly bring her out. But there is not telling what kind of damage that could do to Pai's psyche in the long-run, to have such a totally foreign entity in her mind. It could rip her mind apart, or totally erase who she is, her personality, and all we'll be left with is a living husk of her."

Shin made a subtle grunt, his thoughts on the Kitsune clear as day by the derision on his face. "That is not an option." He stated firmly. "If the other Clans catch wind of the fact that we're sheltering a friend of the princess, it will be dangerous for her. They will hunt her to use her against Shiori-hime, and us through her." He looked at Kouta as he said, "We should never owe anything to the Kitsune. We are in debt to them enough as it is; they will come calling for the debt to be paid, and we don't know what they'll want us to give up to repay it."

Kanou nodded in agreement. "All Shin-kun has said is true. That is why I didn't mention it, in addition to the fact that the only ninetails we can find in time is Kagetora-san."

Shin stiffened at the mention of the man's name. Both Kouta and Kanou noticed, but neither commented on it.

"All the others keep their whereabouts and even who they are and the status of their being ninetails a secret." Kanou said. "Only Kagetora-san would know which of his people are ninetails."

He didn't need to mention that the Kitsune themselves hadn't realized Kagetora, the most elusive of them all, was a ninetails Kitsune, until nine years ago when he became their King. The fact was enough to drive Kanou's point home.

Either they risked Shiori's life to save Pai, or they risked both girls' life in the long run and went to the Kitsune for help.

Kouta cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair again. "We can't let them know. They'll see it as a weakness and try to strike at us."

"There is, too, the possibility that all this was caused by the Kitsune." Kanou quietly noted. "Remember when Pai reported to Daichi-kun about the Yamajijii? It kept asking her if she was Kagetora-san's mistress. Keep in mind that the warehouse the Oni took Pai to is owned by a shipping company controlled by the Kitsune even if it has been defunct for months now. It seems too much of a coincidence to me to dismiss."

"Unless we have definite proof," Kouta said warningly. "Let's not speculate until we find out more. We can't spark a conflict between the Tengu and Kitsune again."

Kanou nodded, then sighed heavily. "Kouta-kun, if we leave it to fate, Pai will die. That is a fact now, not a dreaded idea we can push to the back of our minds. Even now, Pai does not have much time. Dr. Yoshimura has told me that if there is no improvement in her condition with the next few days, she will need to go on more intensive life support. After that..."

Shin spoke into the ensuing silence. "She'll die. That's what you're saying."

Kanou nodded regretfully. He looked at Kouta, his leader, and felt an immense sadness for him.

Kanou was old, and he had lived through two reigns of the Sojobo; first in the latter years Kouta's grandfather's time, and now Kouta's father. Kanou hoped to live long enough to see Kouta crowned Sojobo when the time was right, but he knew that being the Sojobo would not be easy.

Being the Sojobo meant taking on the responsibility of ruling and protecting the Tengu here in Hokkaido and on Mount Kurama in Kyoto, and he would need to rule with an effective, guiding hand over all the Tengu in Japan, no matter where they were. Such a heavy burden came with decisions like this; choosing one over the other, and having to live with the consequences of his choice.

He had watched as his Sojobo had had to make countless impossible decisions that would later end up being the right or the wrong ones that they would regret, or lying somewhere in between, and have to keeping moving on.

That was what a leader did. They made what they thought were right calls, and if they were right, their people would prosper. But if they were not, the Sojobo would have to admit their mistake and try to move on, to amend what what wrong, but always with lingering regret. He knew, from historical records, that more than a few Sojobo had succumbed to earthly wiles from the strain of such pressure; driven to alcohol, sex, and drugs to cope in ways that eventually led to their ruin.

Kanou knew Kouta was strong. Just like his father, he was a strong man. He wouldn't buckle where those weaker than he had. It was why Kurama was Sojobo, and Kouta the Heir. Now, this was Kouta's first true test.

If he made the right call, Pai and Shiori would live. If he didn't Pai would die, and Shiori could follow her into Yomi-no-Kuni, for if she got stuck and couldn't find a way out of Pai's subconscious when she died, Shiori's soul would be left lost, without a tether, and eventually wither away into the land of the dead.

If Shiori died, all their people would suffer. Kouta would be the one to suffer the most, the one who would have to live with the consequences of his decision, the one to have to continue living without the woman he loved by his side.

Kanou held a hand to his heart and bowed deeply before straightening and looking Kouta in the eye. "I am sorry, my dear boy. I wish that you didn't have to bear this burden, but I am afraid you must. Whatever you decide, Pai's life is in your hands."

With those final, ominous words, Kanou gave another small bow. He turned on his heel and left Kouta to make the decision of whether or not he was willing to risk Shiori losing who she was to save her best friend.