The Day of Thunder

Sora still, all these years later, didn't really understand graveyards.The Hikaru had never really needed anything but stories to memorialize their dead, and they'd generally disposed of bodies on an ad hoc basis- stashing them in ravines, burying them inside of caves, sending them floating down rivers, whatever was handy.

A subsistence lifestyle in the Spine of the World wasn't a great place for sentimental material gestures.

But he kind of liked the little "garden" of monuments.

Except for the whispers, of course. Hardly the weirdest or worst thing he'd encountered in his life, but... unpleasant.

Indeed, wind rustled the branches around him without managing to disrupt the fog. It was almost like voices carried over a long distance.

"Oh Kami, Reiko. Reiko!"

"Why did he have to be gone now...."

Sora snarled under his breath.

"A cheap trick."

But there was no denying that whatever it was bothered him. Leaving Kinyoubi with two five year olds as the Empire roiled with chaos...

"But nothing I haven't imagined myself a thousand times."

His oracular eye activated suddenly, and a nausea-inducing level of pain accompanying it. A sudden onset migraine paired with a vision. A five year old girl, bleeding from a head wound. It disappeared after less than a second to take it in, but the pain was slower to fade.

Sora took a deep breath. And tried to center himself, the way he'd managed to do when Togashi had demonstrated the concept all those years ago.

If it's a lie, then fuck it.

It's the truth, you can't do anything about it here as you knew damned well when you hit the road.

But you did the same when Shirayuki and Phi were little

Reiko's in the Palace, with some of the best Isawa healers in the Empire living nearby.

Breathe.

"I deny you."

A certain Reiko is around though, once again looking into things after the festivities, still oblivious to what everything meant that was going on. She wasn't the sort to give up though, and local rumors had (obviously) pointed her to the graveyard at dusk. Being a Seeker, she wasn't so superstitious, but she knew the dangers of unclean places and had come prepared, a bow on her back and a wakizashi at her hip. Not to be threatening, but it didn't feel like there would be many locals out here at sunset regardless...

Sora didn't notice her approach at first, because he was focused inward.

But he hadn't lived this long by being wholly oblivious.

"Careful, whoever you are. This place.... it tried to meddle with your senses."

Looking at Sora as he approached, Ohta's brow furrowed as the man spoke up, "My... senses? How do you figure that, if I could ask? It isn't that I don't believe you, but I am... I am Reiko-san. I was trying to follow up rumors here, but I don't think I've seen or heard anything unusual so far."

He sighed and chuckled.

"I know a great many Reiko-sans. Thinking of one right now, as it happens... which are you?"

...oh.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You just... I mean..."

She cleared her throat, "It was a bit of a startling introduction you gave me. I am Reiko Ohta, child of Reiko Subaru and Shinjo Wakana."

A bow, "You are..." Ohta rose and shook her head, "You didn't answer my question; What made you think my sense were being meddled with?"

"I am Jiyo Sora. And the reason I say your senses might be tampered with has to do with the whispering voices you might here if stick around this place long enough."

"Well... that might be a reason to stay, no? Maybe they have something helpful to say."

The short woman seemed to perk up, putting a hand to one of her ears and listening carefully, "Unless you think they are evil spirits or such. Which actually also might be a reason to stay here; To investigate what they are and what they want. It wouldn't do to leave them to haunt this important occasion."

"Believe me, they're not interested in helping."

He actually chuckled, despite the vision of his youngest daughter lying on the ground with a head wound that refused to leave his mind.

"Then are the interested in interfering with what we are here to do? With how important it is supposed to be, then I would hate to leave something to interfere from within like that..."

Not that Ohta knew how to deal with angry spirits; That was something she would have to report to Reo-sama.

[OOC: I could have SWORN I replied to this, my bad!]

"I'm not sure it's so much spirits as a Realm. But I'm no expert."

"Oh. ...well, if you think I should leave, I will. For now at least. Though, may I ask what brought you here in the first place? Not many people come to a graveyard after the sun goes down, especially if they're not locals."

"Dead things don't scare me, and I find graveyards a novel concept. We didn't have 'em in the Hikaru tribe."

"The Hikaru? No, I suppose not. In the mountains and all... Though that's not something I've studied extensively."

She looked at Sora and tried to think how to phrase her next question.

"...you remember those days well then? My mother was once Hikaru, though she was only a child when the Eclipse happened. I'd love to learn more about things before Shinjo."

He chuckled, glad to have the question to take his mind off of the visions he'd been shown.

"How much did she tell you? It was a tough life. We had our freedom, but that was about all, and while Chosaku was a big, strong chief, he wasn't exactly big on vision. I started going on raids when I was twelve winters. We didn't raid all the time- doing that would have made us weakling dependents, or that's what we told ourselves, but we did it often enough, and this eye of mine meant nobody would have much minded if I got killed on them, so I went on more than my share. Do you have specific questions, or should I ramble?"