Nu's red eye, set in a pale face, stared at Haru from beneath a wild tangle of white hair; the other one was covered by an eyepatch, resembling the red shell of the Azure Grimoire. However, that shell and part of the patch under it was broken, revealing a swirling mass of red and black where there should have been a pupil, an iris, and a sclera.
"It hurts, Haru," she whispered. Her voice was disturbingly similar to his sister's, to Maru's, and it made Haru's skin crawl. However, as much as Haru tried to pull away from her, he could not move. "But it feels so good. Please, Haru. Give Nu more. Go deeper."
A searing pain spread through his sternum, and when he grunted in pain, she moaned. He finally managed to look away from the sleepy grin on her lips and down at whatever was hurting him so badly, and saw one of her many blue-and-white swords jammed into his chest, as Blood-Scythe was in turn thrust through her abdomen, spilling blood all over her armor.
"More, Haru!" Nu shouted, her childlike voice squealing as if she'd been given a piece of candy. "Let's go together, and you can go deeper! Give me more!"
Haru managed to look away from her again, but over her shoulder this time. Around them was darkness, but behind her, he could see a massive hole in the ground and the bright, hellish glow of something unworldly at its base. Without hesitation, he yanked Blood-Scythe back, then raised his knee a little bit past chest level.
"Go to hell!" he roared, and with a single kick to her wounded stomach, he sent her flying down into the abyss.
Zhuo province, Youzhou district, Xizang
Six and a half months after the prophesied arrival of the Messenger of Heaven
As soon as Haru jerked up out of his sleep, he felt his hand automatically fumbling for Blood-Scythe before he stopped and took a few moments to breathe. The thick curtains of his windows were drawn shut, letting none of the morning light in. This did absolutely nothing to calm him down, and actually made his nervousness even more heightened until he finally remembered where he was and finally remembered that Nu wasn't there, and never would be. Eventually, he managed to slow his racing heart, but he could feel the blood still pounding in his ears and the incessant itch of his instincts to fight against something. Worse yet, if he closed his eyes, he could see Nu's rapturous grin, and a disgusting shudder rocked him from head to toe as he recalled it.
"Shit."
His voice was breathless and low, and though he wanted to deny it, his hands were shaking as he remembered how revolting it had been to see Maru's face, through Nu, twisted so much. It had already been a good number of years since he had last seen Maru, and the uncanny resemblance that Nu had to her was beginning to poison what few memories of her that he had left.
In a dazed stupor, Haru shook his head and slowly dragged himself out of bed. There were things to be done today, and they wouldn't get done if he was lying around in bed hallucinating about the psychotic doppelganger of his little sister that had nearly killed him all those months ago.
When Haru finally made it out to the dining hall, he started moving toward the grand round table reserved for him and his officers. Kan'u, Chouhi, and Houtou were already there, all looking refreshed and happy as they spoke to each other about something, while the other square tables had a small, scattered number of servants and soldiers scattered around, eating their own meals.. Their conversation paused for only a moment when they heard the heavy falls of Haru's red, steel-toed boots, and all three of them turned to him with bright smiles (or shy ones, in Houtou's case).
"Good morning, Lord Haru," Kan'u said. Her cheer faded somewhat as she inspected Haru's face. There were clear bags under his eyes, and his eyebrows were slightly more scrunched together than normal. "Did you sleep poorly? You seem a little out of sorts."
"Nightmares about goddamn paperwork," he replied flatly, pulling out a chair and all but dropping himself into it. "Mountains of it suffocating me to death while you kept dropping more on me, telling me I had to get it all done."
Five months ago, Kan'u would have spluttered and muttered at the bald stupidity of such a statement. However, she'd gotten used to Haru's blunt, uncouth humor, and simply smiled all the wider. "I think your heart's telling you something your mind isn't willing to admit. I don't believe I need to tell you what that is, do I?"
Haru snorted and closed his eyes, leaning back in the chair a little bit. Kan'u took that as a tacit admission of defeat on his part, and resumed eating the rice and fish that had been prepared for breakfast that morning with a satisfied smile on her face. However, this didn't go on for too long before Chouhi spoke up (after, of course, she cleaned her place in about ten minutes flat). "Where's Shuri?"
Haru cast an eye around the table, and grunted in a tone that the others knew to mean "that's a good question". "She wasn't with you, Hinari?"
Houtou shook her head. She and Shoukatsuryou did share a room, and normally woke up at about the same time. "She wasn't there when I woke up, Lord Haru. I haven't the slightest idea where..."
That question answered itself when the doors to the dining hall almost burst open as Shoukatsuryou pushed them apart with deceptive strength and rushed to the table. "Lord Haru! Lord Haru!"
The urgency in her voice tripped Haru's "big brother" behavior, and he was up and out of his chair before she was halfway across the hall. He bent down to her level right as she came up to him, and though she might have thought the expression patronizing at any other time, she was not about to protest it now, from the despondent look on her face and the shimmering in her violet eyes. "What's the matter, Shuri?"
Shoukatsuryou's eyebrows were drawn together in sheer distress. "It's Toutaku! He declared herself as emperor in Luoyang, and overthrew Xie Liu! A messenger came this morning with the news; I'd gotten up early to study and was on my way over here when one of the guards brought him to me..."
Haru's mind set about absorbing and organizing the information with speed that he did not possess months earlier, putting it into place amongst what he already knew of the situation in the Imperial Capital. Emperor Ling had died shortly after Ryuubi, Kan'u, and Chouhi had returned from their trip, and for some time afterward the capital had fallen into disarray as two factions rose to power. One was comprised of Empress He, her brother Jin He and her son, Prince Bian, while the other was led by Prince Bian's half-brother, Xie Liu, and Emperor Ling's mother, Empress Dong, as well as a number of court eunuchs. Bian had been seated for a while, but Liu's men made moves to assassinate Jin He, and succeeded. They had then called on Toutaku of Bingzhou to help defend them from further retaliation from Prince Bian; however, it was clear that Toutaku wasn't willing to be used like that.
"We'd only heard about Bian being seated two weeks ago," Kan'u said, speaking Haru's thoughts before he could. "But for Toutaku to just… seize upon this opportunity..." She frowned darkly. "Lord Haru, we'll have to stay very much alert. Who knows what could happen in Luoyang now?"
Haru nodded, then gently patted the distressed Shoukatsuryou on the head. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the soft blush on her face, but when the requisite images of Maru came back to him, he firmly put them aside and stood up to face the others. "We'll stay alert, but so far as I'm concerned it ain't our problem unless Toutaku gets it in his head that he wants to try and expand."
Kan'u gave him a sharp glare, but Haru did not shrink from it, and in fact pulled out the chair next to him so that Shoukatsuryou could sit down in it before he sat in his own and went back to eating, meeting Kan'u's eyes without turning away. With that single expression, he conveyed the utter finality and weight of his last spoken words, and Kan'u eventually broke eye contact, accepting her leader's judgment. However, she did spare a moment to look at Shoukatsuryou, and the younger girl nodded once, albeit very discreetly.
They would listen very intently for further news, and one way or another, Haru would be persuaded to take action before the new imperial order decided to overreach themselves.