"It didn't work, how could it be that it didn't work...when a body has no soul...there aren't such things as bloody miracles in heaven."

Nataku pretended not to hear. There was Shien standing off to the left down on the ground with Marshal Tenpou beside him. They seemed deep in conversation, until Shien caught him looking and bowed his head in respectful acknowledgment. The boy briskly nodded and then suddenly raised both his eyebrows in silent astonishment as Tenpou amiably smiled, giving a little wave.

He gaped. What was Tenpou doing, waving at him as if he were just a mere...a...a mere...child? Perhaps it was due to that incident on earth he only heard rumors about. The boy turned to his father who seemed to be furrowing his brow, preoccupied with some inconceivable frustration; looked into the back room now empty. The Marshal probably wasn't himself. Injuries can do that to a person, Nataku concluded.

Something hit his foot, thrown from down below. He picked it up: a delicately made paper crane. Nataku waved back.

*****

"What did you do that for?" Shien asked with disbelief leaking through the well constructed calm of his voice. "It was unnecessary. And disrespectful."

"Children should be receiving toys," Hakkai replied over the cheer of the crowd, "not worship."

Shien's voice frowned, if a voice could frown. "You speak with too much confidence, Tenpou Gensui." the other said flatly, ignoring the light smile that graced Nataku's face as he tinkered with the paper figure. "But then again, I find that far from surprising. What surprises me is that such an acute intellect such as yours needs to be briefed on a matter strictly within your domain."

"I am well aware of the current happenings." The lie came out subtly haughtily and defensive. "But I find it useful to hear it from another person's mouth."

The slow undulation of the drums was suddenly accompanied by the sonorous roar of the great bell whose vibrations sunk down into Hakkai's bones. In rhythm, the soldiers marched and neared. Flutes sounded with the quickness of fluttering birds.

"Or were you expecting to hear something else?" Shien's voice broke through his numbing thoughts.

"Come again?"

"That I am keeping something from you."

"It crossed my mind...though I never would have thought of asking." was the honest response. Either way, Hakkai knew how things were going to end up, secret or no secret. "You have no obligation to speak what you do not wish to say, Shien."

"In heaven, it is one's obligation never to speak what he wishes to say. But keep in mind, Marshal, that from this point until I stop, I am not speaking." And with that, Shien grabbed Hakkai wrist, turned his heel, and then dragged the confused healer into an abandoned alleyway. "I must say, though, that you have been truly dense these past few weeks."

A few snickers from those who saw. "Looks like Tenpou Gensui's found another lover..."

Kenren pretended not to notice.

****

"Your indecision worries me, Marshal."

Shien, as always, had his eyes closed, had his head tilted to the side in question. When he got none, he continued. "Did you not get the note?"

"I get a lot of notes." Hakkai said, leaning against the whitewashed brick wall and trying to fight down that feeling stirring around in his gut. Something about the air. It seemed...just a tad bit putrid.

"Ah, but this was an important one," Shien pursued, then quoted, "They're ready for Kenren Taishou and his men at the mountain path. Surveillance round. Thirty including the general. Orders understood..."

Hakkai's eyes widened. "YOU wrote that? But why?"

"For heaven's sake." the other man quirked the faintest bit of a smile. "And perhaps yours as well. The Taishou..."

/ "There are many here who want Tenpou out of the way, namely one noble by the name of Litouten. You've heard of him? Of course not. You just got here...And he is the reason you are here." Kanzeon had said earlier. "Don't be disheartened by the news, Hakkai. It won't last forever. Just don't do anything too stupid. Tenpou is, after all, a secretly hunted man."/

"He's not my responsibility anymore." Hakkai cut in, ashamed. "You saw."

"I didn't interpret. But to the point...these men that now march the streets, I don't think they are as they seem."

"I don't follow."

Shien rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I have my sources," he continued, without mentioning Homura, "that tell me there exists a type of curse derived from the properties of reflective surfaces that serve as windows between here and Under Heaven. If enough power is utilized, a soul switching can occur. The body is the same, but the mind is not..." Shien paused, then took the time to open his eyes just a crack to be able to look Hakkai straight in the face.