********* (I Love You) Aki XXXVI: Kenshou-A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Whew, talk about a long chapter! This chapter spanned over seven pages when I typed it up, so be prepared to take a while getting through it. This chapter completes Part V, and also reveals the truth about a certain character...

Read and review!^^

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)

Kasho IV- Suriyoru (Closer)
---
(Aki XXX)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112238583589703268&num=3

(Chapter XXXI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1122559673284936731

(Interlude IV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1122641776503699968

(Aki XXXII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1122987452126376636

(Chapter XXXIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1123084567810865644

(Aki XXXIV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1123248225842026665&num=3

(Chapter XXXV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1123777014698441119&num=1

(Interlude V)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112385587192127108&num=3

(Interlude VI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1124197952956882383&num=2
---
(Bonus Story)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1123501632889873532&num=3

Dedicated to anyone who has a secret that they don’t want the one they love to find out...
***
Aki XXXVI: Kenshou
***
Impossibly, the day melted into a full moon’d night as we stared upon what little of the destruction of the Federation of Windurst we could see from the far off vantage point near the exit from the canyon.

As I then started to draw the wheezing chocobo a bit further into the Sabrutabaruta grasses, I realized that the magic attacks upon Hitomi and myself had all but stopped.

Strange...

It wasn’t until we got to our first hill where we could see all of Sabrutabaruta and the Federation that I realized truly what was happening.

The grasses below were teeming with hundreds upon hundreds, thousands upon thousands of beastmen soldiers advancing upon the tattered city of Windurst in swarms, all bearing arms that obviously had every intention of destruction laid within them.

Oh my Goddess...

I swung the chocobo around in a half-arc to go back into the canyon, Hitomi’s grip tightening on my waist as I did so. As we spun around and started the lengthy charge to safety, the bird suddenly stopped cold.

More beastmen were now swarming out of the canyon towards us, most likely to rejoin their other troops in taking down the city of Windurst.

We were trapped.

"Dimitri-chan..." Hitomi whispered softly in warning into my left ear as I pulled the chocobo around once more, and drove it headlong towards the only structure that I could see that the beastmen were not currently overrunning. I could barely make out its make in the glowing moonlight, and it was only as we drew closer that it became obvious that it was a brick and mortar tower, possibly made centuries ago by the first children of the gods.

It was only when we were a few kilms away from the tower that the chocobo collapsed and died instantly, throwing Hitomi and I down to the ground in opposite directions. My military training kicking in, I tucked into a ball as I fell, and rolled my way back to my feet in a heartbeat. Looking over at Hitomi, I saw her do the exact same thing and I couldn’t help but wonder for an instant who or what trained her into the fighting machine that she currently was.

Looking in the direction that we had come from, I could see that the beastmen herds were storming even faster towards their comrades, their weapons gleaming in the pale moonlight. Not bothering to pick up anything from our bags that were strapped to the dead bird, I grabbed Hitomi’s arm and half-dragged her over the remaining distance towards where the tower was, and then pulled her through the arched stone entrance.

Inside the room was incredibly dark, but I could tell that it was obviously a former war camp outpost. It was stocked full of military equipment and magic weapons all suited to be wielded by a tarutaru, but looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry, its occupants...

Hitomi quickly conjured up a weak fire spell that created a light not noticeable beyond four or five feet away, and which happened to immediately illuminate a few mangled corpses that were laying about on the dusty floor, burnt to a crisp. The floor around them were scorched, as if the beastmen magic that had done this to them was casted with nary a thought or care to if anything else in the room was destroyed.

...We are going to die here.

The realization sickened me to my stomach.

The voice came out of nowhere, and I turned half around expecting a beastmen weapon to be shoved into my ribs at any second.

"Horrible, isn’t it?"

It took a moment before the voice registered in my head.

Aoi.

"Aoi, what are you doing here? I figured you would have gotten the hell out of here the second you realized how much of an unintentional trap Hitomi and I were walking into." I called out towards her, trying to keep my voice low.

Aoi stepped into the glow that Hitomi had shining out of the palm of her hand, and I could see that her hand was resting on the hilt of her blade, ready to draw it in an instant.

"Hardly...my master ordered me and so I must obey...besides...death is the one true way of the bushido. And as such...I do not fear it."

Aoi’s mismatched eyes glowed, and as if reacting to some unseen noise, I saw her turn around and stoll out of the light’s range and back towards the tower’s enterance.

"You know...there are only one thousand Tarutarus and Cardians protecting the city of Windurst tonight. I predict that the beastmen are going to win this battle, and massacre everyone that is left inside the Federation after they do so. The only thing holding the majority of them back from storming the town gates is a magic shield that the Mastermind of the Millennium had casted just seconds before the hordes poured their way through Sabrutabaruta."

Aoi spoke calmly and emotionlessly, as if she was talking about whether an impeding rain might possibly delay the start of a chocobo race. "Excuse me for just a moment, please.," she then said as she stepped outside and instantly drew her sword.

She then swung it through the air and neatly started to tear apart the beastmen that had started to come too close to where we were, her blade becoming coated darker and darker with blood as the moments passed. The sword ducked and rose in a pattern that I did not recognize, but apparently Hitomi did as she suddenly gasped.

"Tachi: Kaiten..." she said in shock.

I turned over towards her with a look of surprise on my face.

"That’s impossible...that technique disappeared long ago, before you or I were born Hitomi..." I replied.

Hitomi only shook her head assertively.

"Tachi: Kaiten." she said once more, more sure this time.

Not wishing to argue the point with her further, I clutched Hitomi quietly and quickly to my chest. As the minutes started to pass and the beastmen’s warcries became louder, I drew Hitomi’s fingers up to my mouth and tremblingly kissed their fingertips one after another.

"I’m sure we are gonna be okay..." I quietly mumbled out, feeling fear start to swell in my stomach as I did so.

It was then that I saw three beastmen head after Aoi at once. Aoi was able to neatly parry two of their attacks...but she didn’t see the third one in time as it sliced her head cleanly off of her shoulders, rolling it off into the darkness. Her body stood up for a couple of heartbeats longer, and then slouched down to the ground in a crumpled heap. With her gone, the beastmen started to advance towards the tower’s entrance, intent on wiping out anything that may be lying inside...

Namely us.

The first clawed hand grasped the stone doorway, and immediately I shunted Hitomi away behind a desk, and I stood up to face the invaders.

If I am gonna die...I am going to die protecting the one I love.

I reached around for a weapon, but was only able to find a couple of broken wands to use as weak clubs. Picking one up with each hand, I started to advance across the room to face these monsters and die in the process...

When a piercing howl cut across the death and devastation, reaching into each and every corner of the Sarutabaruta grasses.

All the sudden, the beastmen that were just entering the tower suddenly were yanked off the ground and thrown backwards through the sky by a great purple image that rushed past us, too fast to see.

"Stay here Hitomi," I hissed out between my teeth, eager to get a better look at what saved us. Still clutching my makeshift clubs, I dashed outside and stepped carefully over Aoi’s slain body just in time to see our savior running about, massacring the beastmen troops at every turn. It moved about with great grace and dignity, as if it was merely a shadow brought to life by some child’s secret birthday wish. I watched it mesmerized, until it finally turned back and came towards me once the beastmen forces were utterly destroyed.

When it lumbered close, it was then that I recognized what it was.

I had heard stories about it since I was a child, but never truly took its existence seriously at all until this damn Eruntalon Code quest had started. Its ruffled white mane glowed against its neon-purple body, and it slumped towards me proudly, as if it knew its importance to the safety of Vana’diel.

Fenrir.

Avatar and protector of Vana’diel.

I tightened my fists, and shouted out towards it as it started to pass by me.

"Fenrir! Avatar to the Goddess and protector of Vana’diel!"

Its head turned towards me, and I could feel its warm breath wash over my body as he paused in his footfalls.

"Son of Altana...what is it?" he snorted out at me in a deep gravel voice.

I stuttered a couple of times, before finally working up the courage to speak once more.

"Fenrir, I want to know the secret of the crystals, please, tell me where I can find the Eruntalon Code!" The wind started to pick up, and I feared that my words were lost to the breeze.

The wolf only chuckled, its whole body shaking as it did so. "You searching for the secret of the crystals, one of the Gods’ most treasured possessions? Son of Altana...the secret of the Goddess is hidden away upon the body of the one with the markings of the firey bird of ressurection upon her." He paused for a moment, and came a bit closer to me. "Though you will not be able to read it...only those that can truly sing the Lay of the Immortals have that power." he finished with.

My mind started to bubble forth with unspoken questions.

Markings of the firey bird of ressurection? What in Mordion Goal is he talking about?

I bowed, my whole body trembling as I did so. "Thank you, Fenrir..." I said quietly as I then averted my eyes.

"Son of Altana, look up at me." Fenrir suddenly commanded of me. I looked up, certain that I was about to die from those monstrous jaws.

"Son of Altana...where is she?" he asked of me.

I was caught off guard by this question, and stammed out a weak reply. "Who, avatar to the Goddess?" I said confusingly.

"Her...the daughter of Promathia. The moon reading I did for the peoples of Windurst ten thousand years ago...foretold that I would meet a son of Altana and a daughter of Promathia whose futures were intertwined in such a way that even the Gods could never tear them apart on this very night. And with this meeting...it would signal the rise of the ‘Aberrant One’ who would cause the death of Vana’diel..."

Daughter of Promathia?

I am tied to a beastman?

Who...

"I know no such beastman, Fenrir!" I shouted out at him in defiance.

Fenrir only turned its head towards the tower that I just left. "Daughter of Promathia...who woke up from the dream...come out..." he said quietly, but in a very commanding tone of voice.

Hitomi peeked meekly out of the tower at the avatar’s command, before stepping out with an uncertain gaint to her walk. She stopped in front of Fenrir, her long black hair being whipped up in the wind beneath her large felt hat.

"Guardian of the Moon, and Bringer of Tomorrow!" she shouted out at the wolf, her English perfect. "My master asked me to bid you greetings should we ever be damned to meet!"

No...

Its impossible...

It has to be...

"Hitomi isn’t the daughter of Promathia you seek, Fenrir! She is like me, a daughter to Altana!" I shouted out suddenly, unaware of my own voice until both avatar and black mage turned towards me.

"Does he not know?..." Fenrir asked Hitomi.

Hitomi only shook her head, and I could see tears drops falling away from there, each droplet glowing and glistening with the radiance of the avatar’s purple glow.

"Show him the truth then..." Fenrir then ordered of Hitomi, lowering its head as it did so.

Hitomi only shook her head violently once more.

"No please...I no want lose him..." she pleaded back.

Fenrir only shook its head. "Do it, or I will kill him." he commanded.

Hitomi paused for a moment, before her trembling fingers reached around behind her shirt, and slowly undid the ties that bound it to her body. Once they were untied, she hesitated once before before letting the fabric of her shirt fall down to her waist, exposing her nude upper body to me.

Immediately, my eyes saw it on her left breast.

It was burned into her skin and was ragged in form, but there was no mistaking it for what it was.

A circle, with lines cutting through it, and had a design in the middle.

The ensigna of the beastmen.

-Aki XXXVI: Kenshou

-fin Part V: Secrets (Hiou)

Oh snap! Lol this is my favorite chapter so far! I love it ^^