The Day of Thunder

[Nozomi]

Nozomi had sent a note. It was obvious and painfully short. In the simplest of words, it made very clear who was speaking and just what state of mind someone was in.

'Old Man,

We need to talk. River. Sundown.

-Phi.

Nozomi did not look any different than she usually did, but she had the countenance of a thunderhead, waiting to let loose a peal of crackling lightning. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she'd cried her tears. Right now, her jaw was set like flint.

[Jiyo Sora]

And along came the grizzled old wolf Shiba had taken in and turned into a guard dog.

He hadn't brought his armor- maybe he should have, with all that was going on- but he did wear both of his swords and used his naginata as a walking staff.

He strode up, his own countenance grim, and then dropped the poleartm to give his old friend a hug- fierce in its intensity, but also brief.

"So."

[Nozomi]

She didn't quite return it in kind. It was the kind of reaction that a young girl used to make, when she was calmly trying to forget the need to bash some fool's head in and protect the tribe. She'd compartmentalized a lot in her day. Despite starting over, the little girl was still in her. That ghost who had never quite left the darkness. Still, her hands eventually came up to half-heartedly return the embrace.

"So," she said woodenly. "I asked him once if he thought that that a realm could be made mortal. Now I want to know, because I want to kill Jigoku."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I fear you might have to take a number for that one..."

He grimaced.

"On the bright side, it sounds like he's fighting it as best he can."

He shook his head.

"Damn fool always taking too much on himself. Whole damn empire full of would-be martyrs, it feels like..."

[Nozomi]

"Oh... I'm aware," she said, her eyes narrowing. "I claim a right on this. I'm going to destroy that thing for taking what it did away from all of us." Even if it wasn't finished, she had every reason to be afraid that this was absolutely what was happening. "And of course he's fighting. The fact that it has to fight to claim him is what makes him worthwhile as a vessel. None of us is worthy of that. We put too much hope into him, and he's too much that, if it cannot claim a god, it claims him."

She breathed in and out. "But it's not finished. It can still be reversed, perhaps..." She didn't sound confident of that. "You realize, though, that this means that certain things have become even more ... troubled, yes?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"If by certain things you mean everything..."

A sigh.

"I've been trying to focus on what's in front of me, do what I can with what I've got where I am. I think about the whole situation too hard, well..."

He stopped.

"I think he planned this, that stupid son of a bitch. It's why he hasn't been guiding us even as indirectly as on the trip South, he's been drawing all of the... that stupid bastard."

[Nozomi]

"No, I'm quite certain he didn't intend to sacrifice himself. But he intended to bring the Thunders together along with enough just in case he was wrong. He was beginning to worry that he might have led us into a trap in his haste." She snarled and shook her head. "I believe he ended up being very right about that. Jigoku, however, almost certainly saw his zeal and the fact that he seemed to be taking on the task of saving us every time, and saw it as a weakness. Something to exploit when we took the kami away from it."

"But as you guessed? He's drawn all the damned attention. He was the most obvious target. He was taking on his shoulders everything, and in turn? Many of us allowed it to happen, not realizing that it made him so tempting that of course, Jigoku might try." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I want to beat the sense out of him so badly right now. I really do."

But, there was something on her mind... something only he and one other knew. "I don't mean to add to all of this, but you do know... there are only four people who know. You, me, one other and him. Unless what you saw has changed? If he does fall, and if we don't stop him, he can undo everything that your vision saw all those years ago." Because if he was the champion of jigoku, his descendents ... might matter. "I... I hate this, but if he leaves us no choice... I..."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I know."

Two words, summing up twenty years of secrecy.

"And I'll do what I have to. If I can. Even if I think... it'd mean more coming from you."

[Nozomi]

"I... hate that it may not be either of our moments, Sora," she scowled. "You're right. This should be mine to bear. He wouldn't forgive me if I let him ..." She clamped her mouth shut. She wouldn't say it. She wouldn't think it. Her eyes hardened and she growled.

"We have to survive this first. Have the others begun assembling and getting ready? If he did one thing right, he at least probably brought the Thunders together, and if one falls... another will take their place."

[Jiyo Sora]

Sora snorted.

"He urged us all to strengthen bonds and not let paranoia take hold. So far as I can tell, we've made some progress on the former and have actually lost ground on the latter. I've done what I can, but much of the camp is so wedded to its fears..."

[Nozomi]

"It's amazing that I, of all people, am probably handling my fears better than most. My stomach is killing me right now, and I should eat something to settle it but I can't. I'd be worried about losing it right after," she admitted. "They can't allow their fears to overtake them. Not at this point. At least they're not at their damned throats. It seems most of the ones he brought can handle themselves and recognize a larger threat."

Even if that threat might now be the very man who brought them here.

"I've been talking about doing something, and I think I will do it tomorrow. It feels futile this late, but they need training in stilling their minds. Desperately."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I think the most difficult will be the ones who need it the most- they think they're being dispassionate. But with troubled sleep, the weight of the future resting on our shoulders? None of us is dispassionate."

[Nozomi]

"I think the most difficult will be the ones who need it the most- they think they're being dispassionate. But with troubled sleep, the weight of the future resting on our shoulders? None of us is dispassionate."

"I am definitely willing to admit that I am not thinking straight right now. That admission is, like you said, very important." She was fighting between wanting to save her husband and kill him. Yeah, she was not in a great place. "That little exercise with the wicker men was cute, but not really that effective. They have to admit to themselves what they are. I doubt many of them aren't afraid."

...

"Well, Matsu probably isn't. One thing for that girl is that she's afraid of nothing, even when she should be terrified."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well, Matsu probably isn't. One thing for that girl is that she's afraid of nothing, even when she should be terrified."

"Refuge in rage is hardly the mindset called for here."

[Nozomi]

"Well, Matsu probably isn't. One thing for that girl is that she's afraid of nothing, even when she should be terrified."

"Refuge in rage is hardly the mindset called for here."

"That will always be her weakness. She is pure, unbridled wrath, where her father was a cold mountain's avalanche," she admitted. "But if there are to be nine, there will be differences. She has to be able to temper that." She swallowed hard as she considered.

"Someone is going to have to figure out who is going, or it will forcibly figure itself out. Do you think Ukyou can?" The old crow had to be the most qualified.

[Jiyo Sora]

"That will always be her weakness. She is pure, unbridled wrath, where her father was a cold mountain's avalanche," she admitted. "But if there are to be nine, there will be differences. She has to be able to temper that." She swallowed hard as she considered.

"Someone is going to have to figure out who is going, or it will forcibly figure itself out. Do you think Ukyou can?" The old crow had to be the most qualified.

"I think he'd tell us some cryptic dogshit about how it's not his place. For all his ability, Shinsei is human. I think it has to be a human."

[Nozomi]

"I think he'd tell us some cryptic dogshit about how it's not his place. For all his ability, Shinsei is human. I think it has to be a human."

"He might... and if he does, then it's reality and fate that are dogshit," she said, shaking her head. "My sight isn't nearly what the Teacher's was. I never mastered that golden eyed trick he learned long ago and used to find you and the others. I'm barely able to tell anything with it, and sometimes nothing at all."

[Jiyo Sora]

"He might... and if he does, then it's reality and fate that are dogshit," she said, shaking her head. "My sight isn't nearly what the Teacher's was. I never mastered that golden eyed trick he learned long ago and used to find you and the others. I'm barely able to tell anything with it, and sometimes nothing at all."

Sora actually laughed.

"Hey, I've been saying Destiny's crap for years now. But you know what isn't? Your judgment. Don't worry about your sight, if it comes to it..."

He tapped the cheekbone under his eye.

"I could always tell you what I see, and then you make your choice accordingly."

[Nozomi]

Sora actually laughed.

"Hey, I've been saying Destiny's crap for years now. But you know what isn't? Your judgment. Don't worry about your sight, if it comes to it..."

He tapped the cheekbone under his eye.

"I could always tell you what I see, and then you make your choice accordingly."

"You know, if it's two of us using our own ways to gauge? It might be more than enough," she could admit with a thin, mirthless laugh. "Knowing that I have you backing me up will make me at the least less nervous about it all. Figuring out who will have to go into the depths of a heal of our own minds? It's not exactly what I signed up for. I came to be one of the ones beating back dream monsters after all."

"Then again, nobody's doing what we expected now are we?"

[Jiyo Sora]

""Then again, nobody's doing what we expected now are we?"

"A plan's just a series of things that don't happen, old friend. You oughtta know that by now. Shit, you think I planned on going into Jigoku? Or starting a library system? Or learning to read?""