A Fox's Whisper

33: Ҝ卂乙ㄩ卄卂

I stared morosely at the fox charm bracelet in my hand; Inari's way of telling me she was alright. It was also her way of telling me not to come after her, and though the thought crossed my mind, it was only briefly. I would be leaving for Tenshukaku. That was where I had to be.

I got to my feet, pocketing the bracelet. The day was quiet, though the air was thick with something I couldn't quite place. It wasn't until I started out for the city that I realized the atmosphere brimmed with electricity. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and my spine trickle with apprehension.

I looked over my shoulder back into the forest, a lump rising in my throat as I wondered where Inari was. I had to trust that she would be alright, no matter what she found. Worrying would not make the day's pain vanish. Rather it would strip me of any calm I had, and I couldn't afford to lose that.

Taking a deep breath, I looked out in the direction of Inazuma City, at Tenshukaku. At the place I would find Tomo.

Have you ever had that inborn feeling that you are balancing precariously on the edge of some irreversible tribulation? That you know no matter what you do, how hard you try, how much of your soul you pour into preventing it, the outcome will afflict you with misery...tragedy? If you have never felt such a way, then I pray you never do. For as I went to Tenshukaku, a foreboding sort of doom settled in my heart. And I have learned...one who tries to change fate only serves to meet it sooner.

I wish I had known that back then.

With grim determination, I ran as fast as I could, the wind at my heels. I had no time to weigh the what-ifs of my situation. I could not dwell on whether I truly knew if I could stop Tomo. All I was aware of was that I had to try. Because if he died...
If he died, and if I'd done nothing to prevent it, then living with myself would be a grievance unimaginable.

Overhead, blue and purple clouds blotted out the sun. It looked like they'd bruised the sky with their baleful hues. Flashes of lightning silhouetted imaginary shapes above, great and menacing. Gloomy shadows stretched before me, daring me to race them to Tenshukaku. Thunder drummed and growled, matching the thuds of my feet upon the ground.

This storm would prove to be a fierce one, one that I could not outrun no matter how hard I tried.
My promises to Inari rang in my ears as a constant reminder of what I was doing. And as I went, my conviction only emboldened and strengthened me.

No longer did my stomach churn and roil like the ocean. My hand did not shake as I drew my sword. My vision did not spin and twist with dizziness. My focus was absolute--as fixated as the wind upon a single maple leaf drifting to the grass.

Gales of wind tore at me with furious hands in ways that made my eyes water. Branches long since ripped from trees were dragged across the plains and the leaves swirled in the air. From Chinju Forest to the city itself, all was in a state of unrest. All felt the keen power of the Raiden Shogun upon the day where her judgment and decrees would be challenged.

I saw red-tailed foxes bound to their holes and divots in the ground for shelter. The shrieking wails of cranes as they took to the sky were nearly drowned out by the din of the thunder...for they too were not ignorant of the Raiden Shogun's cold emotions taking the form of storms.

I passed through Konda Village, desolate in the wake of the storm. Clothing abandoned on a clothesline snapped in the wind, wooden buckets left outside tipped and rolled. The village seemed aged without any of its inhabitants out and about. The carp streamers upon one of the houses flailed wildly back and forth, bent to the mercy of the storm.

Leaving the village behind, I looked up to find the imposing skyline of the city before me. Over Tenshukaku the storm seemed to condense, the clouds swirling at its peak in a massive spiral, much like a hurricane.
There it would be...the eye of the storm. The source of the tumult.