The Wanderer's Road

Disclaimer: 12 Kingdoms is not owned by me. Don't sue me for my socks.

Chapter One:

A lone figure sat on a hilltop shadowed by a single gargantuan tree over looking a brightly lit city-port in the gathering twilight. At first glance it was difficult to tell whether it was a girl or a boy. The clothes were plain, with no embellishment at all, and a mottled assortment of blues, the darkest being the wide sash at the waist and the lightest, the undershirt, that showed underneath the light vest the figure wore.. The hair, though long, was a startling stark white, which in the last rays of the setting sun seemed to have a palest blue undertone to it. Upon taking a closer look, one would see that not only was the figure female, it was also quite young, not even out of her teens.

Wrapping her arms about her up-drawn knees, she released a sigh as she nestled her chin in the valley between her knees. "Kyuuei ... I love this land, this world. So why ... why am I so lonely? I have you guys, and I adore you all, but ... " her soft voice trailed off.

"You are human. We are not. Humans need human contact." the low growl behind her sent soothing vibrations through her lean frame. Often she wondered how she was able to understand the beasts called youma, since it seemed that no one else save the kirin and emperors could do so. That she was a mere kaikyaku made it even more confusing. Even back in Horai, she'd been able to understand the animals to a degree. Somehow, the youma were even easier to understand. She had long since dismissed the subject as unimportant, but every now and then someone in town would give her a strange look for talking to the air, never realizing what it was she spoke with.

The furry beast behind her gave an even bigger twist to things. A Toutetsu. One of the few types of youma never, to her knowledge, tamed by a kirin. For whatever reason, after she had taken the orphaned creature in, he had never left her side. That had been six years ago.

"I suppose I'll have to go into town tomorrow to get my supplies," she said, changing the topic. "You coming with me, Tsuki?" she looked down to address the small red and blue snake coiled around her wrist.

"Someone needs to keep you out of trouble," she returned with a laughing hiss, the frill running the length of her head and neck rising to show off the spines. "And I can't trust the other two lugs to do that. It's too hard for them two to hide in a town."

"Hey! It's not like I go looking for trouble!"

"Trouble usually finds you."

Turning away with a snort, the girl leaned back into her furry companion and put her hands behind her head. "So where do you guys wanna go next? I hear Kei is turning out pretty good with the new Empress on the throne. Maybe Ryuu? Where next?"

"Let's worry about that when the time comes," responded the third of her friends from above. "Tomorrow will come in its own time."

Sighing, she pulled her blanket up about her shoulders and nuzzled into the Totetsu's shoulder. She supposed that Kenichi had a point. The damn bird always had a point. Yawning she snuggled deeper into her furry friend and was soon fast asleep.

With a grumpy sigh and a groan, a young man with long spiky blonde hair observed himself in a mirror. Why oh why had his body chosen to do this to him now, of all times? He had thought he was done with the whole growing thing. When he'd stopped growing so long ago, everyone, even he, had assumed that he was fully matured. Yet in the last six months he had shot up more than a foot. For some reason for the first time in over five hundred years he was growing again. Granted, with the height came an increase in his more visible authority, but he'd rather liked being able to hide among the children. They were a hell of a lot more fun than adults.

Now he wouldn't blend in so well.

'Ah well. Ya win some, ya lose some,' he thought to himself. 'I suppose this is Heaven's way of telling me to pay more attention to my duty. It's just ... inconvenient.'

He would miss playing with the children.

Turning away, from the mirror, he made a mental note to ask the palace tailors to let all his clothing out another inch. The way he was growing, he'd probably need it. Already his sleeves were getting a bit too short for his liking.

Glancing about, he strode off toward the balcony and considered the time. By his reckoning, morning assembly should already be over and if there were anything major they'd have already come and gotten him. So he saw no reason why he couldn't take the lunch hours off and roam about a city for a while. He needed to get used to his now lankier body. It wouldn't do to have him tripping over his own feet in Council.

It helped some that Shouryu was as confused as he was. At least he could get a few laughs out of his Emperor's surprised looks.

Giving himself a last brush down he launched himself out into the air, heading for his normal hiding spot. The ministers always hated it when he took off for the city proper, so he had learned long ago to hide his coming and going.

After landing he looked around for a moment before deciding to head for the docks. He wanted to see what imports had come in on the morning tide. Maybe he could grab lunch there. Striding off in the direction of the docks, the Taiho of En, Rokuto, slid unobtrusively and unnoticed into the crowd.

Pushing through the crowd surrounding the store she wished to enter Kirei glanced only briefly at the fist fight going on before slipping silently into the building. If the two dock workers wanted to duke it out who was she to interfere?

"Moronic humans," hissed her shoulder companion.

She could only chuckle.

Looking around, she made a note of a few extra things she might like before heading directly to the counter to hand in her usual order, mostly basic foodstuffs. While the man at the counter sorted out the goods she stepped closer to a small shelf that held many different kinds of gloves. Picking through them she brightened when she found a pair of fingerless leather gloves that had a bit of padding about the knuckles; fist-fighters gloves. Smiling she looked up at the elderly man behind the counter. "Excuse me, sir, but how much are these?" she asked holding the black gloves up. Her funds, while not very limited, were still low enough that she had to be careful for the next few weeks.

"Ah, like those, do you? They don't really sell all that well here. Seamen want something a little warmer for their hands. And most of the mercenaries use gauntlets. Ah well. For you, 20."

"Ahh! Good. Then add these to my tab," she said, pulling them on. Flexing her fingers, she smiled at the flexibility. these would be perfect for her sparring sessions with her friends. Well, sparring would not be the most appropriate terms for it. Roughhousing would be better. Still, she treated them like sparring sessions. Learning to defend herself from the likes of her friends had gotten her out of a few very tight spots.

Moving on, she passed by a few shelves lined with farming equipment and looked through the fabric on the next set. She needed to get some new clothes. The ones she had were a little on the worn and ragged side. Granted the fabric was still in good condition, but while she was a wanderer, she wasn't anywhere near a beggar and there was no need for her to look like one. Besides, she prided herself on her clothes, and kept them in as good a condition as she could. She repaired all the small tears herself. Fingering a bolt of deep scarlet she glanced around, idly noting the young man who'd entered the shop. Apparently he knew the proprietor very well, since the two immediately started up a conversation on local imports. She didn't really want to interrupt, but she wanted to finish making her purchases.

"Um ... Excuse me. This fabric ... how much is it per arm-length?" she asked hesitantly.

Looking up at the kerchief covered head of his customer, the gray-haired old man gave an apologetic look to his companion and answered. "The deeper red is 5 per, and the black is 3. Did you want some?"

"Aa. Give me four lengths of the darker and two of the black. I think that will be all for me."

His friend, a young man in muted gray-blue and white, who wore a turban wrapped around his head, although she could see the blonde hair sticking out from underneath it, glanced at her. "You're a kaikyaku, aren't you? I can tell by your accent." He smiled at her, his bright blue eyes twinkling in good humor. "You speak our language very well."

"I had a good teacher. Not a very patient one, but a good one nonetheless," she replied. "I'm Kirei. You are?"

"Uh ... Rokuta. Pleased to meet you. By the way, who's your friend on your shoulder? It's a Sounchu, right?"

Looking startled for a moment, she reached up almost reflexively to stroke the small youma's head. "Hai. This is Tsuki. Don't worry she doesn't bite," she hastily reassured the shopkeeper, who looked like he was about to faint.

"I'm impressed. Sounchu don't like humans much. How long have you had her?" he asked, reaching up to gently stroke her frill. "She's lovely. You take very good care of her, don't you?"

Flushing at the unexpected compliment, Kirei nodded and said, "She's followed me for about a year and a half now. Isn't that about right, Tsuki?" she asked,

"In a word, correct. Like either of us could forget the day we met!" she hissed back.

Laughing out right, she tapped her friend under her chin. "Right you are," she said with a laugh. Noting Rokuta's wide eyes she frowned. "Is something wrong, Rokuta?"

Shaking his head to clear it, he gave the young woman before him a penetrating look. "You really ... hear her, don't you?" he asked suspiciously.

Shrugging she counted out her money and handed the shopkeeper the amount she owed him, patiently ignoring his awed look. "I can understand all my friends. Is that odd?"

"Most people can't hear the youma. Those that can are all sages, immortals. That you can hear them, without the aid of a contract is very ... unique. You said all your friends. I take it you have other youma who follow you?" he asked casually as they walked outside, placing his hands behind his head.

She nodded. "Two. But ... I don't think I should tell you what they are." She gave him a wary glance out of the corner of her eyes.

"Oh? Why not?"

Sighing she looked at the sky. "They're a bit ... unusual. I could introduce you ... I just don't want you to get eaten. I don't let them hunt humans, but anything else is fair game. And if they perceive a threat, not even I can hold them back."

Snorting, Rokuta scratched the back of his head. "I'm fairly certain I can handle them."

Giving him a look of worry she finally huffed and said quietly, "Kyuuei is a toutetsu."

Rokuta froze. 'A toutetsu? Impossible. One has never been tamed by a human before. And the only Kirin to have one as a shirei is Taiki.' "How ... how did you manage to tame a toutetsu?"

Laughing sardonically at his shocked expression she turned down an alley. "I wouldn't exactly call him tame. I raised him myself, after the group I was with ran across the nest on a hunt. The place as demolished, and the adult was dead. I wasn't about to leave him there to die. Of course keeping him got me kicked out of the group I was with. I've pretty much been on my own ever since. That was six years ago." Sighing, Kirei shifted the packages in her arms.

"Six years? How old are you?"

"Nineteen. I've been here since I was twelve. Ah well, I've always been the adventurous sort. I was always getting scolded for climbing trees, or digging for bugs, or anything of that sort. I was always getting in trouble with my foster parents for stuff like that. They wanted me to act more 'feminine'. Just because I was a girl. Bah. What a waste of time. Eh ... sorry. I tend to ramble. I like talking about my past, even if I don't want to go back. You know the saying, 'to remember fondly'?" Passing through the city gates she turned up toward the hill where her friends waited. "They're up there. Are you sure you want to meet them?"

"Of course. I just want to know why they follow you. It is quite unusual." He laughed, his face bright with curiosity. This, he was certain, was bound to be good. "Say, wait a minute. Foster parents?"

"Yeah. My real parents died when I was still very young. I was placed in foster care and then I wound up here. It's kind of like an orphanage, only there's normally only two or three other kids in the same house, rather than a dozen or more. My foster parents were pretty good, but it never felt like home to me. I like this place. I can come and go as I please, the food is good, and there's always something to do. Oy! Kyuuei! Kenichi! I'm back!"

"Ah. And you bring unexpected company with you. I don't suppose he's dinner?" Kyuuei's low growl vibrated in the air as he rose from his prone position. He was good at looking like a rug, she'd noticed.

"No you great beast! He wanted to meet you guys," she responded with a laugh as she dropped her parcels to wrap her arms about her friend's neck. With her face buried in Kyuuei's soft, thick, black fur she wasn't able to see the look that passed between him and Rokuta.

Rokuta knew instantly that the toutetsu knew what he was. Which was all to the good for him, as long as the youma didn't say anything to her about it. After all was said and done, he liked being able to wander among the people he was bound to watch over. He enjoyed talking to them, and as often as not, much of that information on what the citizens wanted or needed was passed on to Shouryu. He was sort of the Emperor's ear to the ground, so to speak. He wasn't sure what this kaikyaku girl's reaction to his true status would be, and didn't want to lose the budding friendship. Shaking his head at the beast, he settled himself on a rock, crossing his arms over his chest. "Kyuuei, right? So who's Kenichi?"

Settling herself down by the toutetsu's side, she started going through her purchases. "Mmm. Kenichi is up in the tree. He is a bird, after all. You wanna come down, Ken-chan?"

Looking up at the sound of something hopping from branch to branch, Rokuta blinked hard when the youma finally landed in a patch of sunlight. 'Great. First a toutetsu, now this? She's making us Kirin look bad.' he grumbled to himself. In the sunlight the white feather-scales of the bird were nearly blinding. A foot long, hooked beak clacked at him expressively under calm scarlet eyes. "A retsusui? Damn. I thought they only nested in shallow caves in sheer cliffs overlooking the White Sea."

Nodding as she unwrapped some of the things she'd bought, she rubbed the back of her head with a blush staining her cheeks. "I came across him while sailing the White Sea. He'd been attacked by a Koucho, and had a broken wing. I fixed him up, repairing his wing as best as I could. I knew enough about anatomy to know that even if it healed perfectly, he still may not have been able to fly again. Bird bones are hard to deal with because they are hollow, to keep the body light enough to fly. I was fortunate that it was a clean break, rather than a green-stick or shatter. I kept it immobile and fed him fish I caught. As you can see he healed up very well indeed. He can even still fly, although he can't get very far while carrying prey. The weight would be too much."

"You seem to know an awful lot for someone so young," Rokuta remarked casually, holding up his arm in a perch offering. Once the large bird had settled on his arm he looked up at his current companion.

"Aa," she said rather sadly. "Back in Hourai, children are tested every few years to measure their mental growth. The scores garnered from these tests are called I.Q. I think it stands for intelligence quotient or something stupid like that. Even children as young as three are given these tests. The better the score, the more intelligent that person is. Any score above 175, I think, is considered 'genius', that is to say smarter than nearly everyone else. The last one I took my score came back at 153. But I was always reading, so ... I personally don't think it's very accurate. I just like to learn." She sighed. "A lot of the things on the test are logic puzzles and they're very strictly timed. How quickly you can figure something out is as important as figuring it out in the first place."

"So according to this test, you're practically a genius, and learn things faster than everybody else. Interesting. You don't sound too happy about it," the kirin replied, gently scratching the small patch of soft feathers under Kenichi's beak.

Packing everything except the fabric into the pack Kyuuei carried around for her, she took a few minutes to gather her thoughts. "Well ... It's just that everyone back there expected me to do better than I did in school. I've already said I like learning, but ... I hate school. If I wanna know something, I go look it up. I learn it when I want to learn it. My teachers were always getting on my case about not reading what they wanted me to read. Even when I could prove that I knew more about the subject than they did, they'd give me bad marks or extra homework. When I came here, it was different. There were higher schools, but they weren't mandatory. If I wanted to learn something all I had to do was go buy the book, or ask someone who would know. No one was telling me to do this, or go there, or you don't need to know that. Nothing I wanted to know was forbidden me, as long I was willing to work for it. Granted, I got lucky I originally landed here in En, there were already schools set up to help people like me, to teach us the language and other general things that are normally common knowledge. I breezed through that. Now ... I know more or less everything I need to know to get by here. I have something I can do to earn money, I have clothes on my back, usually a roof to sleep under, and a few good friends, who've stuck by me through everything. What more could I want?"

"Not much. You've been very lucky."

Smiling, she lay back against Kyuuei's side. "Yeah, life's been good." She reached up and scratched her friend behind his ears. "Mostly I hire myself out as a caravan guard, or something like that. With Kyuuei at my side, even if we were attacked, they wouldn't last long. Most people are glad to find out after they hire me that they're actually getting four guards for the price of one. I never need to worry about feeding these guys, since I let them hunt, as long as they don't hunt anything domesticated. So far it's worked out really good."

"You've got a good head on your shoulders. Have ... " he trailed off and looked over his shoulder at the tall man striding up the hill. "Geeze. Looks like I have to go."

Cocking her head at the man she hid her smirk and stretched out her legs, crossing her ankles. After watching the odd pair argue for a moment she started laughing. Granted the man was wearing plain clothes in blues and browns, but he wore authority like a well-loved cloak. Waving her hand at them when they looked down at her, she suppressed her chuckles with effort. "If you're expecting me to bow, don't hold your breath," she said with a smirk. "I spent my childhood in a democracy,"she continued with a wink and a raised finger.

They blinked at each other for a few seconds, then the newcomer started laughing and made himself comfortable on the ground before her. At last he asked "What gave it away? And what's a democracy?"

"Mmm. First a democracy is a government comprised entirely of citizen-elected officials. It's probably the most corrupt government possible, but it works, more or less. As for the other question ..." she grinned at him. "A number of things. Mostly him," she said pointing at Rokuta.

"So when did you figure me out?" Rokuta asked with a cute pout.

Chuckling she replied and pointed at his head. "The moment I saw that very blonde hair sticking out of the turban. Your disguise is quite good, but the clothes, while plain, are of too good a quality for the average town kid. And I knew you couldn't't be an apprentice anywhere, since you'd be working with your master if you were. And unless you were a merchant apprentice or a scribe you wouldn't have been down at the docks. But you couldn't't have been that since there weren't any ink stains on your fingers. And you don't do physical work, the skin on your hands is baby soft. So that left someone from the palace, and not a servant either, cause you would have been wearing your master's crest somewhere visible on your clothes. So I knew from the get go you were some kind of nobility, and since the only person I know of at the palace that has blonde hair is the Taiho ... well it wasn't that hard to figure out."

After a few moments of amused silence, Shouryu choked out past his suppressed laughter "Are you spy trained or something like that? Yo're quite observant."

She waved him off. "I just pay attention. And I have a very good memory. Besides, I know what to look for mostly because I hide a few very interesting physical features myself," she said as she pulled the black kerchief off her head and revealing her white hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail. "As far as I know my hair's always been white," Kirei said with a sigh for looks of shock.

Reaching over, Rokuta ran his fingers through it lightly. "Interesting. Damn, and I thought I had a hard hair color to hide. Mine will at least take dye. Some how, I don't think yours would take a dye color very well, if at all. But, hey, it's kinda pretty, especially with your toasty skin color."

Rubbing her neck and blushing furiously, Kirei shrugged. "I've never really paid much attention to my looks. It always seemed to be a waste of time." she laughed. "After all, who cares if a mercenary looks pretty?"

"A mercenary? Well I suppose with that big fellow behind you, not many things will bother you when you're on the road. Rokuta, you always meet the most interesting people. Speaking of which, how's Kouya these days anyway?"

Hopping off the rock with a grunt, Rokuta nodded as he stared off into the west. "Aa. He seems to be doing alright. I see him now and then when I visit the sages."

Drawing her knees up, Kirei frowned at her new friends. They both looked rather ... sad. "Who is he?" she asked quietly.

"Kouya, or Kenrou Shinkun, is an old friend of mine," said the blonde kirin with a sigh as he took off the turban. "There was a civil war four hundred years ago here in En and somehow we wound up on opposite sides. Everything turned out well in the end, but the person to whom he'd given his loyalty betrayed the absolute trust Kouya had in him. He was ... crushed. Shouryu and I promised that one day he'd be able to return with his Tenken and no one would look twice at him. Ever since he's been waiting in the Yellow Sea for that to happen."

"So he's immortal, is he? Well, I wonder if he realizes he could come back now. Then again," she offered hesitantly "Maybe he doesn't want to come back. Maybe he's happy where he is and doing what he does."

"Maybe." He shrugged and turned to Shouryu. "So what brought you out today, anyway, Shouryu? Tired of the ministers blubbering already?"

"Mmmm, no. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about a country-wide festival to celebrate my five hundred years as emperor. With everything going so well, I thought it'd be a good idea to give the people something to break the monotony. The people would probably love a reason take a few days off."

"Not everyone is a slacker like you."

"You're no better. Who misses morning assembly nearly every day? Lazy, boneheaded kirin!"

"Slimeball!"

"Ancient-brat!"

"Lecherous sleaze!"

"Louse-brain!"

Kirei fought hard to keep herself from laughing outright at the progressively more outrageous insults being traded back and forth between the Emperor and Taiho of En. Reaching up as it came back around for Rokuta's turn she grabbed his ear, yanked him down, and whispered into it. When he blinked and looked at her in confusion she explained what the insult she'd just given him meant. His face turned bright red.

"Male gigolo!" crowed Rokuta, sticking his tongue out at Shouryu.

Shouryu blinked and the other two looked at each other and burst out laughing, falling on each other in their attempt to catch their breath, but every time they looked over at Shouryu, they couldn't help but start laughing again at his obvious confusion.

Finally, when she calmed down enough to speak understandably, she explained it. Only to find herself being tickled mercilessly by a laughing Shouryu, while Rokuta giggled madly in the background moments later.

Off to the side, Kyuuei and Tsuki watched the foolery going on with resignation and joy. Resignation at the thought of their human friend ever behaving maturely and joy at seeing her happy.

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Okay I know I promised I wouldn't write anything new until I finished "Predator and Prey" , But I was watching Twelve Kingdoms and this fic came to mind. This is just a sort of teaser, since once I write more on it the chapters are going to be much longer, covering months at a time. I'm not certain if this will contain any permanent pairings, a side from a very hesitant Enki/oc or Shouryu/oc, I haven't decided yet. In the long run I am leaving pairings open to vote, excluding one, I was thinking of writing a few short little blurbs of a Shoukei/Rakushun. Again I'm not really certain. I've only seen up through episode 45, so I have no idea what happens beyond that. I just thought that there may be something to that pairing. Ah well. Tell me what pairings you'd like to see and I'll do my best to incorporate them. However, I will tell you all not to expect me to update this for months. I am going to try to finish "Predator and Prey" within the next few months, if I can get in contact with my betas for that one. Also, this has not been beta'd, so if there are mistakes, let me know asap, okay? I would really appreciate some support for this fic. READ AND REVIEW!!