>Look to Haridoku. "Incidentally, if you think being Gatekeeper is merely standing guard at the gate, then you're wrong. The gatekeeper also serves as the 'public face', in addition to being the one I measure others against. if they're powerful enough to pass you, then they're worth spending a little time with. I suppose you can consider the role to be a combination guard dog, mascot, tester, and public relations manager. So it's much more than keeping an eye on a gate."
>The hornet youkai flinches at the phrase 'public relations manager', but then shrugs. "If my sister wants me to do it, I'll do it." she says simply. "If I have to learn a thing or two to do it the way she wants, then I will."
>Raise an eyebrow with a slightly bemused expression. "Oh, that? Well, Sabine and Hong were having it out, seriously I might add. I was able to get through by proving my intent to Yuzuriha by calming the two down, and changing their formerly to-the-death duel, into a much more sporting one. Essentially, I stripped them of their reason to use their fangs and claws."
>Pause thoughtfully. "Though I'm surprised, you said that the people in the keep would have sensed it if I'd used even a fraction of my power. Then again, it doesn't take much to knock some sense into two bickering children."
>Laugh a bit. "They both had their reasons for fighting, but their serious battle was ultimately pointless and wasteful. Fighting to the death is so pointless in this day and age, so I used a little 'elbow grease' to remind them of that."
>Nod. "As for how I got along with Yuzuriha, I would say she wasn't that difficult to get along with. Sabine's a bit irritating, but I can understand her. We both love a good fight after all."
>"The words I used were 'a vampire in batttle'." Sei replies in her dull voice. "If none of us sensed you using your powers to diffuse that fight, then you had to have done so without using much, if any, of your true strength, as you suggested."
>"Makes sense." Haridoku grunts.
>"And it is possible that you were handling Sabine and Meiling-san while I was dueling Youmu-san. If so, I might have overlooked a flash of vampiric power. Youmu-san's prowess at danmaku was beyond me."
>Then look back to Sei, "But enough about that. Please, continue."
>"In a moment, please. I apologize for not being clear, but what I meant to ask was, how did you get past Yuzuriha without fighting her?"
>Mystia ventures a guess, "If Reimila put a stop to the other two girls fighting, maybe that made a good impression on Yuzuriha-san?"
>Sei considers that. "It would have, indeed. Especially for a vampire. In our experience, such an act by a vampire would have been unheard of, unless it was part of a ploy. Yuzuriha, seeing that, would have given you the benefit of the doubt."
>"Anyway, yes. Back to the task at hand. Yuzuriha and I were travelers at the time. Wanderers, really. Both of us had found ourselves no longer welcome in Japan, where the both of us were born, so we struck out across the globe. I believe we were on the road for 64 years before we arrived in Lyon, a city in the region of the world called France. At that point, neither one of us really believed we would find a place to settle down, a place where we would be accepted, and could live in peace without fear of our neighbors."
>"Because you were youkai?" Mystia asks.
>Sei shakes her head. "Because we were in love."
>"Why would people hate you because of that?" Haridoku demands.
>"The world of humans at the time was not accepting of two women who were openly in love with each other. The fact that one of us was a sword-wielding warrior, and the other could speak with dogs, was irrelevant compared to the fact that 'our love was wrong'. Even the fact that we weren't human was secondary to that, or so we came to believe." The sour faced samurai's veneer cracks just a hair. "But neither one of us would hide it.
Could hide it. Our love saved each other."
>Your trained ears detect the sound of buzzing wings approaching from the south east. Must be Amitsu, but a lot sooner than you would have thought.
