忍痛割愛
Rěntòng gē'ài
Part with what you treasure.
Part reluctantly with what one treasures.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Less than a half hour later, Kageyama found himself walking out of the archway to Willow House in one of his finer black yukata.

The wooden geta on his feet echoed on the alley stones. Beside him, Ao and Sanli were also dressed in borrowed yukata. Sanli's was all black, like his own, while Ao's was a dark navy, patterned with white checks. A thin men's belt was fashioned about her waist instead of the thick obi women traditionally wore, and the girl's hair was drawn back in a tail. She looked like any other boy youth out for a night.

"Oh my Ao, you look simply dashing," said Sanli with a playful nudge. "How many pretty heads will you turn tonight?"

"All of them," said Ao confidently. Kageyama was glad the dark hid his smile.

They made their way along the dark alleyway to another alley, and then along that to a broad thoroughfare, crowded with night revelers and strung with red lanterns.

"You two, stay close to me," Kageyama slipped his hands into his sleeves, eyeing the crowd around them warily. "It will be difficult enough to protect you as is. I am not searching the crowd for you-" But Sanli had already grabbed Ao's hand and dashed off to a nearby stall selling candied fruits.

Sighing, Kageyama followed after them. 

Sights, sounds, and smells threatened to overwhelm his senses. The laughter of the people around them, the many-layered scents of the dishes. The bright lanterns that swayed over head, first red, then after turning onto another street, colored in every color of the rainbow. Their light caused everything beneath them to turn into a fantasy of patterned colors.

Kageyama watched as Sanli dragged Ao to yet another stall and held a paper mask to her face. It was painted with blue carp. Ao laughed and pushed it away, reaching for another mask painted with the red whiskers of a cat. She held it to Sanli's own face, and the prince made a cat like sound.

"Hmph." These two. But Kageyama was glad to see them both laughing. Ao's smile had been rare, and forced at best, since she had returned from the north without Zakhar. And lately Sanli had had the same forlorn look, as though it was he who had lost a lover.

They're both sad idiots, Kageyama thought. But perhaps they are less sad together.

"Sho Sensei! They have a fox one! Come try it!"

*~*~*~*~*~*

The evening passed quickly, filled with food from food stalls, the whirl of the crowd, and much laughter. Toward the end of the evening they stopped in one of the quieter tea houses for wine and to watch the colored lights of the lanterns playing on the water.

Sanli, of course, had too much wine, and Kageyama had to throw the prince's arm over his shoulder and guide him along the now emptying alleys home.

"Walk straight, or you will find your own way back to the house!" Kageyama ordered, after Sanli's knees crossed and the prince almost dipped to the ground again.

"Go back?!" Sanli cried mournfully. "It is lover's night! I cannot go home without a kiss!"

Here the prince pushed away from Kageyama and draped himself over Ao. The girl swayed unsteadily on her too big geta and almost fell.

"Ugh you reek of alcohol," she said, prying Sanli's arms from her neck and pushing him back to Kageyama. "Come near me again and I'll throw you into the canal."

Kageyama threaded Sanli's arm around his shoulders once more and pulled him along. The paper mask painted with blue carp, which Sanli had bought for Ao but had somehow found its way onto his own head, fell around the prince's neck.

"You didn't mind my kiss before!" Sanli cried. "We kissed, at the Midsummer Banquet. There were fireworks, it was ever so romantic. Don't you remember?"

"I don't remember at all."

"Fine. Just take my heart from my chest and stomp on it why don't you. Sho Sensei, Ao is being so cruel... won't you kiss my sadness away?"

The prince turned his head, lips puffed out, trying to lay them to Kageyama's cheek.

Kageyama pushed the prince's puckered lips away. "Get your sweaty face away from mine, or I'll help her throw you into the canal."

Sanli laughed uproariously as they swayed home.

They clattered into the courtyard of Willow house, three sets of geta making an inordinate amount of noise. Kageyama cringed, knowing the neighbors were elderly, and wondering if they would complain.

As if that weren't enough Sanli started to sing the lyrics to some song. "Always out of reaeeeachhh."

"The note you want is out of reach," Kageyama muttered, as he helped Sanli remove his geta and step up onto the wooden floor of the house. He bolted the door and then removed his own shoes and stepped up. The wood was pleasantly cool beneath his feet.

Ao laughed at Kageyama's comment, taking off her own geta. Sanli heard her laughter. "I knew this would happen!" he cried. "Once Zakhar left, I knew you two mu'ren would gang up on me. The poor, stupid human, the butt of every joke."

"You are making a joke of yourself all on your own," Kageyama said. "Drink less next time." He turned to Ao. "Can you do me the favor of making sure all the first floor windows are bolted? I will check the second floor, and put him to bed."

"'Weak human, know your limits!'" Sanli shouted. "'I am a kitsune! Heed me in all things!'" Patiently, Kageyama helped the prince up the narrow staircase to the second floor. Sanli continued to ramble inane phrases in a voice that Kageyama knew sounded nothing like his own.

Reaching their shared sleeping room, Kageyama threw Sanli down on his bedroll, still unmade from that morning. The blue carp mask fell away, rolling across the floor.

"The windows are all shut downstairs," Ao said, appearing in the doorway.

"Good. Watch him and I will check upstairs."

Kageyama checked every window on the second floor. They were all shut and bolted, and the black ink of Sanli's fresh painted seals could be seen even in the darkness.

Finally Kageyama returned to his room to find Ao kneeling on the floor with Sanli crying on her lap.

"Don't go Ao. Don't go," the prince sobbed piteously.

Ao looked up and shrugged apologetically. "I tried to go to my own room and he started to cry."

Kageyama's thumbs found his temples and massaged them. "Remind me not to let him drink next time."

"Why? He is quite cute like this," Ao said, stroking the prince's hair away from his forehead.

"If you think he is cute you can take him to your room and deal with him then," Kageyama said, and then regretted it.

He knew Sanli would never try anything, but still, it was not proper to recommend a woman take a drunken man to her room.

Though she isn't really a woman, is she?

Kageyama sighed and went to the balcony doors to open them. Outside all the boats had found their way home, and all the colorful lanterns had been extinguished.

It had been hot that day, and surprisingly dry, clearing away the clouds. The night's stars were bright. Kageyama found them in both the sky and the canal before unrolling his own bedroll and sitting on it beside Ao and Sanli.

The prince was still sniffling pitifully. "Please Ao. Please don't go."

"I will stay until you fall asleep," Ao said, hand stroking Sanli's hair. Kageyama knew she was deliberately misunderstanding Sanli's request.

Sanli opened his eyes, and saw Kageyama sitting beside them. "Sho Sensei, won't you tell me a story to help me sleep?" the prince asked.

"You are not a boy anymore," Kageyama grunted, but then said. "What story do you want to hear?"

"The one of the greedy dragonfly," Sanli said. His voice, so naive, sounded as it had when Sanli had been a boy.

Kageyama shifted on his bed roll and then began.

"There are stars you can see sometimes in summer in the southern sky. They are called 'the dragonfly's treasure'. One day a dragonfly was flying above a pond when something sparkling caught his eye, deep in the depths of the pond.

"'What is that?' The dragonfly thought to himself, pausing to hover above the spot. But when he got close, the beat of his wings caused the water to move, and he could no longer see through to the bottom.

"So the dragonfly flew away and landed on a nearby leaf. It looked down. Once again, the glimmer in the depths of the pond below him caught his many faceted eyes.

"He dove eagerly, but once again, the second he got too close to the water, the ripples blocked his treasure from sight.

"So the dragonfly alighted on the leaf once more, and was forced to view his treasure from a distance."

Kageyama finished the story, hoping Sanli had been lulled to sleep. But the prince spoke up. "I thought you said the dragonfly dove into the pond and drowned."

Kageyama nodded. "Yes, there is that version to the story. There are many versions."

Sanli sighed. "But in all of them the treasure is always out of reach."

The prince gave one final sob, then rolled over, burying his face in Ao's lap.

Not long after, Sanli's noisy, drunken snores announced that he had fallen asleep.

Ao continued to stroke the prince's head. Kageyama glanced over, and seeing the expression on her face in the faint starlight could not resist asking:

"Why are you leaving?"

Ao did not speak for a moment, and when she did, she gave a question instead of an answer.

"Why do YOU not leave, Lord Kageyama? The empire is in turmoil, and your oath to Lu is done. Now would be a perfect time to kill the remaining gods and return to your home."

Kageyama shook his head. "I cannot leave Sanli. And I will not tear the world apart just for my own happiness."

"I would," Ao said. She had said the same thing before, and Kageyama was still not sure if she was joking. "Don't you want your title back, Mountain's General? Your home?"

Kageyama looked to the night sky and thought a moment. "I was born in the north of Wa, to a poor family, where skills with a wood axe or ox-plow was valued more than skill with a weapon."

Kageyama hesitated. He rarely talked of his past, so he was not sure why he was doing it now, in such company. But he continued.

"Still, I had my heart set on the sword, so I learned, taught myself, and eventually became proficient. As my name grew, my skills were called upon again and again, by those in power. I pretended I was fighting for a cause, for a purpose. But really, I was just fighting for myself, for my own name."

Kageyama expected Ao to interrupt, but she sat silently, still stroking Sanli's hair.

"Eventually, the name became all I had. I was called many things, especially behind my back, but the God of Good Fortune in Battle was the title I was given. It was what I became."

"Oh my, Lord Kageyama. A luck god? Who would have thought."

"God of Good Fortune in Battle," he quickly corrected. "Not luck."

Kageyama stopped then, not wanting to speak more. He saw himself, standing in blood spattered armor, on a field of fallen enemies.

Finally he continued, voice hurried. "Anyway, I miss my home, it is true, but I am better off here, nameless and taking care of this foolish thing."

Kageyama nodded to the sleeping prince in Ao's lap. "You seem happy here, with Sanli. And he is happy with you. Why not stay?"

Ao looked away. "It would be better if the prince did not come to care for me too much."

Kageyama frowned. You mean if you do not come to care for the prince too much.

But Kageyama did not say it. They sat quietly in the night, the light of the stars falling through the open doors to frame them all.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kageyama saw fire, and smoke. The ship was burning.

Cursing he ran to the bridge and kept to the railing. "To the deck! Fire! Fire!" he cried out. But no one came, and the flames leapt higher, flickering up the mast, to the sail.

Kageyama turned and dove into the pitch black ocean.

He was swimming down, down, away from the flames. And then suddenly he was running, across a battlefield, men and hoses falling on either side of him, their screams too alike to tell apart. Flames burned here too, eating away at the corpses of the fallen.

Kageyama knew this was a dream. Knew that what he saw now was no true battle, but an amalgamation of all those he had been in before. But still, his every nerve screamed words of self preservation, urging him to get away, to flee, to hide, to save himself-

Above there was a humming buzz. Arrows, a huge cloud, like a swarm of locusts sank toward him. Kageyama threw up an arm to protect himself-

-but no shafts pierced him. He blinked, looked up, and saw a dragonfly the size of the sky humming above him, huge wings blowing out the flames of the battle and sending dust churning up from the ground.

The giant monster tilted its head, many jewel-like eyes peering down at Kageyama.

Well, this is most certainly a dream.

And then it was no longer a dragonfly hovering above him, but a dragon. The scales shone like mirrors, just as the dragonflyies eyes had, reflecting the grey of the clouded sky.

The dragon turned its head and looked at him.

What a terrifying creature,

And then Kageyama woke up.

He groaned, clutching at his head. Perhaps that wine at the tea house had been bad, for him to see such odd dreams. He should not have given Sanli such a hard time.

The sound of movement came to him, from Ao's room, and Kageyama tensed, then relaxed.

No cause for alarm, the girl has simply gone to her own room-

Kageyama froze. Ao was asleep beside him on Sanli's bed roll, Sanli's head still cradled in her arms.

On the wall above him, the carved character for dog Sanli had made earlier that day blazed white.

Kageyama stood and drew Kesshomaru from the air with his right hand, and Makotomaru with his other. To freeze, or kill if need be.

Silently, he crept from his room to the hall, and along it towards Ao's room.

The door was open. In the light blazing from the activated guard-dog seal, Kageyama could see a male shape all in black, standing before the chest of drawers containing Ao's things.

How did they get in?

Gripping both his knives, Kageyama slipped forward.

Kesshomaru first. And then when they are trapped, use-

But Kageyama's strategy was interrupted, for at that moment the figure whirled and something silver flew through the air toward the kitsune's face.

Kageyama jerked his head aside as a long, thin acupuncture needle thudded into the wood, centimeters from where his eye had been.

"Nice dodge, kitsune," the figure said.

"YOU!" hissed Kageyama, knives flashing as he darted forward.

"Ah, just a moment. I bring an important message for you from Prince Zhangyu," Zhen said, holding up his hands to show they were empty. His symmetrical face split in a grin.

But Kageyama did not stop. He leapt, both feet leaving the ground, and swung his leg to kick the back of Zhen's leg twice, in key nerves.

The kicks landed true, and the snake fell to his knees with a grunt. Kageyama had Makotomaru at his throat a second later. I will not talk with him while he stands unhindered. "If you have a message for me, why are you skulking around in here?" Kageyama bit out. He grabbed the Dazhe's hair, slick with hair oil, to hold the snake's neck against the blade.

Zhen smiled up at him, face strange in the low glow cast by Sanli's seal. "I was hoping to have a chat with our goddess first."

Kageyama pressed Makotomaru harder to Zhen's throat, till a line of black ran in quick trickles down the dazhe's neck. "Give me the message, and then you will go."

Knife steady, Kageyama watched Zhen reach to his chest and pull out a letter. Kageyama snatched it from his hands.

"How did you get in here?" he asked. "The house is scribed."

"One of the windows downstairs was open."

I asked Ao to check them. What was she doing?

"Show me," growled Kageyama.

Keeping the assassin at knife point, Kageyama followed him down the steps to the window at the end of the hallway. The shutters were fully open, starlight pooling on the sill.

Dammit girl. How did you miss this? Were you as drunk as Sanli?

Kageyama clasped the letter from Zhangyu in his hand. "Tell Prince Zhangyu you have delivered your message. Now get out. And do not enter my house again. You are not welcome here."

Zhen laughed as he nimbly pulled himself to the window sill. Then the snake turned, pale face washed paler in the starlight.

"Just one shadow to another, things are starting to turn in the Central Regions. You might want to change the piece you've chosen to ally yourself with. Seems he's nothing but a pawn."

"Get out," said Kageyama, tilting Makotomaru so the blade flashed.

"Oh, and you should probably sit down when you read that letter. It may be a shock."

"GET OUT."

With a final laugh, Zhen slipped out the window and into the night.

Kageyama slammed the shutter behind him. Fumbling in the now complete dark, he found the bolt and threw it, then made his way back upstairs.

Instead of his own room, where Sanli and Ao were still sleeping, Kageyama went to Ao's to read the letter. The guard dog seal was now extinguished, the trespasser removed, so Kageyama lit the lamp to read by.

What he read, as Zhen had said, shocked him.

He sat down heavily on the floor, resting his back against the wooden chest. The metal handle of the drawers cut into his back, but he liked the feel of the cold metal. It grounded him.

There was a creak, and Kageyama looked up to see Sanli standing in the door.

"Sho Sensei? What's wrong? You look pale." Sanli himself was pale, swaying on his feet as he rubbed at his eyes.

Kageyama took a shaking breath. "Zhangyu has asked me to come to the Central Regions. Ermi is missing."

*~*~*~*~*~*