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tammaiyaBecause there's no way the summary of 15-19 is going to fit, even with my hazy recollection of events ("Then stuff happens, and... uh... Chiaki throws chalk at Takaya."), you get my bonus analysis of Takaya/Kagetora's ISSUES from an email I sent after the end of book 13. XD;
~~
It is almost 3 in the morning and I have an exam tomorrow afternoon and haven't finished my summary, yet I'm STILL procrastinating. That's... dedication. To the entirely wrong cause. <<
But I mentioned to someone how Takaya/Kagetora has more issues than a news agent, you could sign up for a 400-year subscription, and then I thought, maybe I should think about those issues!
So, synopsis of issues, split up by issues he didn't have before becoming Takaya and underlying Kagetora issues! As at... near the end of book 13.
Takaya issues:
Kagetora issues:
Part of him wanted Naoe's "ideal ending", to be sunk in the lake inside the tsutsuga mirror together, but he gave the choice to Naoe and he intends to stick to the choice Naoe made to keep going. Even more crazily possessive of Naoe than Naoe is of him, if that's possible. Wants Naoe to want him and to tell him so repeatedly, and considers every aspect of Naoe's life and death and body and soul and existence to belong to him. Went seriously psycho at the idea of Naoe defecting to another clan. Needs Naoe, in the very literal sense that he can't survive without him; when Naoe "died", his first response was to destroy everything around him in an inferno, self included, his second response was to lay down and die, and his final response was to repress and hypnotise himself into believing it was all a bad dream and that Kotarou was Naoe instead because the idea of a world without Naoe literally would snap his sanity like a twig. Weaker than Naoe in that regard; while Naoe tried to commit suicide once, he still lasted 30 years thinking Kagetora was gone for good.
Speaking of, Naoe's plan to sink them both in the mirror becomes a whole lot less creepy in hindsight when you become aware that Takaya kind of WANTED him to. Huh.
So okay, moving on, the ACTUALLY comprehensive summary of book 14, which finishes the Enoshima arc.
~~
Okay, so, "Kaizaki" (ie Naoe) got ordered to deal with Kagetora and at the end of book 13, he ambushed him in a fight, Takaya lost control of his powers (yet again, I probably explained before that the strain of hypnotising himself to believe Kotarou is Naoe and the confusion and damage to his confidence when "Naoe" acts OOC has been causing his powers to run wild with increasing regularity-- YOUR FAULT, NAOE) and Naoe kidnapped him away to the Satomi, who he is pretending to work with. (Underling: I can carry him? Naoe: No, I'm PERFECTLY FINE, thank you.)
Dunno if I mentioned any of that already, but whatev.
So okay, that was the end of book 13. At the beginning of book 14, Yuzuru is sad because Takaya never spends time with him anymore except to check he's not going to get possessed by Oda again any time soon, Ayako is chewing Kotarou out for LOSING KAGETORA OMG and also, being totally emotionless about it, and also, totally FAILING as a Naoe replacement (Kotarou is offended by all these Uesugis expecting him to show ACTUAL EMOTION and insulting his mad Naoe-imitating ninja skillz, dammit) and Chiaki meets up with Irobe, the missing fifth Uesugi.
I am maybe being unfair, but I feel sullenly resentful of both Irobe and Kenshin. Irobe kanshou'd into a baby, but a year ago he killed himself in order to kanshou into an adult on Kenshin's orders and since then he's been moving on Kenshin's orders. They haven't told Kagetora because it would just DISTRACT him, and he doesn't need more to worry about, does he? SO DON'T TELL HIM.
Chiaki: ...................... *does not feel entirely happy about this*
Hakkai is there too, and the reader knows he's hanging out with Naoe but Chiaki doesn't, so while neither Hakkai nor Irobe mention it, it's pretty clear Naoe is also working on Kenshin's direct orders and is acting as their mole in the Satomi.
Now, okay, the actual POINT. I decided to keep actual plot involved since sometimes it's useful to know all that stuff, but the REAL need to know part of this is the second chapter of book 14, wherein Takaya wakes up... handcuffed to a bed in a dark room wearing nothing but a bathrobe.
UM, says Takaya. Anyway, the heir of the Satomi clan comes to attempt to molest him, until "Kaizaki" shows up and sends him packing. Apparently Takaya's power is sealed off by use of pressure points-- and Kaizaki is the one who did the acupuncture on him. Hence the undressed state. (Yeah, like Naoe would let anyone ELSE undress him.)
Blah blah, conversation, blah blah, Kaizaki is being weirdly nice and he's all, no I won't fix your powers or let you out of the cuffs, that would just be stupid of me, and besides, you should take this opportunity to rest. Because you're tired, body and soul. So please, rest.
Essentially what follows:
Takaya: Why are you being so nice to me? Why isn't HE being so nice to me? WOE. *angsts out loud about how Naoe has seen through him, clearly, and isn't interested anymore, and it was just the delusion of love*
Naoe: He never lost interest in you. He thinks about you more than ever. *talks about how "he" had thought that his love was just a delusion too once, but no, because thinking about Kagetora is what makes him stronger.*
Takaya: How the hell do YOU know that? and if he hasn't lost interest, why is he acting like that?
Naoe: He's a fake.
T: ... Naoe's a fake?
N: He's not Naoe.
T: ... Kaizaki?
N: *talks about how no aspect of Takaya could make him lose interest, he wants to know everything about him, blah blah, he just wants to become strong enough that Kagetora can recognise him as an equal so they can obtain their ideal place to be*
T: No, seriously, what the FUCK? who ARE you? O.o;
N: Oh, you know. *covers his eyes and kisses him*
T: Oh my GOD, you KISS LIKE NAOE! and SOUND LIKE NAOE! and, and... but you can't be him, he's by my side? what? WHAT?
T's brain: +++ MELON MELON OUT OF CHEESE ERROR +++
T: *temporarily remembers Naoe's dead* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BREAKDOWN.
N: Takaya-san... It's okay, don't be scared....
*ROLLS* it's kind of sweet, and also, kind of hilarious. I have temporarily forgiven Naoe for being an absentee dick of a boyfriend for two years. XD
~
Remember how Takaya's like, chained to a bed? wearing very little? and bonding with Kaizaki? Yeah, well, um, the next time we see him, he's sort of floating around in his head angsting about how much he loves Naoe, how he can't survive without him, etc, with some contemplation of whether, if there really was a way to open a tunnel to the world of the dead, would he bring Naoe back?
(Er, some explanation required here. Basically the Satomi are all, we will open this tunnel to the underworld and the dead will be able to cross back to this world! mwahahaha! and the Uesugi are like, wtf, that's impossible! while thinking, oh SHIT, what if it's NOT? we'd be FUCKED! because their exorcism powers would be pretty useless otherwise. However, there's the issue of Takaya and Naoe-- obviously they're supposed to do whatever they can to stop this tunnel being opened, but there's some question of whether Takaya would forsake duty and just stand back and let it happen so he could see Naoe again. Kotarou was wondering about that earlier, and "Kaizaki", in their earlier conversation, asked Takaya if he would choose to play Orpheus which made Takaya's head hurt because he doesn't consciously remember that he's lost the person he loves most but people saying that kind of thing to him acts like a trigger.)
So when he comes to, he's naked, NOT chained to the bed, sticky and lethargic, his face and pillow are covered in tears from crying over Naoe, and his memory is a bit hazy. He does remember drinking something.
Me: Naoe... did you... drug Takaya? Uh.
First thing that he does when he wakes up is remember Naoe's dead, and start crying again. Kaizaki asks him what's wrong. Kaizaki, mind, WAS wearing a business shirt, but NOW is wearing a robe.
Me: NAOE, DID YOU ROOFIE TAKAYA?
The sad thing is this DOESN'T BOTHER ME. I am more bothered by Naoe making himself scarce for two years than I am about the possibility that he drugged and molested Takaya! Like, OH WELL, IT WAS FOR A GOOD CAUSE, I'M SURE TAKAYA WOULD'VE CONSENTED IF HE WASN'T CRAZY. Oy, this series is so bad for what is left of my moral fibre. XDDDDD
It's just bizarrely ambiguous, though, because if not for the detail about Takaya being naked (and sticky) and Naoe's clothes change, I wouldn't think anything beyond the drug to make him sleep so Naoe can try to fix his fucked up psyche a bit had gone on. I'm still wondering if maybe there was just more acupuncture, because that was why Takaya was dressed down to a bathrobe in the first place, but... WHY IS NAOE UNDRESSED? mysteries!
(I do know nothing too major can have happened, because aside from Takaya not feeling inexplicably and suspiciously sore anywhere, Naoe specifically thinks a bit later that he isn't going to sleep with his one true love in a body that doesn't belong to him. No matter how much he wants to.)
So Takaya wails that Naoe is gone, he's nowhere, and Kaizaki is like D: and cradles Takaya's face and is like, no no, it's okay, he's here, he's not dead...
T: You lie! I SAW. ;______;
N: But he didn't disappear. Close your eyes. *picks up Takaya's hand and lays it against his own cheek* See? He's here.
T: Naoe's... here...
N: That's right. *kisses him*
T: *Isn't sure whether this is real or not, because, you know, he's kind of been having issues with reality lately*
Then Naoe takes the opportunity for some rabu-rabu angsting of his own, and is all, "You seemed like you were going to... die. Lose too much and die. Please don't die."
T: I won't die.
N: I need you. Even if I lose to you and get crushed by you, you're my life.
T: Well don't leave again, then. I'm sick of being alone.
Then there's some more Takaya mental processes-- I'll probably translate them sometime, but for now, blah blah, Naoe angst, life without Naoe is meaningless, blah blah, is it better for Naoe to still love him but not exist or still exist but no longer love him? Kaizaki kisses away the tear that rolls down Takaya's cheek, then his nape, his shoulder, his hip, and his chest, while Takaya keeps calling out to Naoe. Naoe is frustrated because not being in his own body really sucks around about now, but he endures. He tells Takaya "I love you, I'm here" which... Takaya may or may not hear. Or may even hear in Naoe's voice rather than Kaizaki's. Then he kisses Takaya on the mouth and feels bad because Takaya will probably resume repressing as soon as Kotarou comes to save him and Naoe can't come back yet and TAKAYA WILL BE SAD. Naoe tells Takaya to wait for him.
AAAAAAAAAAAW. In conclusion, Naoe is (temporarily) forgive and I am drowning in the fluffy bunnies feeling. <3333333
Then when Takaya wakes up again he doesn't remember much except the vague impression of someone leaving kisses on his skin and mouth, he's chained to the bed and wearing a bathrobe again, and he has a headache. Um? Naoe TOTALLY roofied Takaya.
*cough*
We then get Takaya trying to think his way through this and getting very confused. Naoe? No, Kaizaki. He doesn't know what to do with what Kaizaki said about "Naoe" being a fake; he's starting to work his way back to reality, but he's not quite ready for it yet.
But possibly the BEST LINE EVER was this:
"It is almost as though Naoe isn't "Naoe", and Kaizaki IS."
STRANGE, THAT.
Seriously, I laughed like a HYENA. ILU, TAKAYA, NEVER CHANGE.
Kattaiya (5:10:33 PM): I sense the denial is strong with this one!
Kattaiya (5:10:40 PM): *cackles*
Kattaiya (5:11:21 PM): USE THE REPRESSION, TAKAYA! USE THE REPRESSION!
Kaizaki: I am... your Naoe... *heavy breathing*
Takaya: NOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Kattaiya (5:11:47 PM): okay, okay, I swear, I'm going to step AWAY from the stupid Star Wars jokes. really. XD
Anywho, the intrepid police-investigator-into-weird-shit!male version (only he's like the Scully in this scenario, because Reiko is the one who knows the chants and has spiritual abilities and all that, and Sakaki is like I BELIEVE IN NONE OF THIS! I AM SCEPTICAL! I mock you and your curse killings! but anyway they've been following all the weird incidents Takaya has been involved in and Takaya himself) who I should've mentioned before but didn't gets tossed into Takaya's room, having questioned Kaizaki about the Keibu Real Estate Group's involvement in curse killings, various kidnappings, mass hypnosis, etc. Whatever, all you need to know is that the Keibu Group have all been possessed by the Satomi (except for Kaizaki who is supposedly their modern day descendant) and are trying to buy up this island for their gateway to heeeeeeell plan, in pursuit of which they curse killed a politician who was opposed to their "resort plan", mass hypnotised the people of Enoshima to believe there were oni all over the place, and kidnapped Takaya, this chick called Natsuo, and another military commander, Yoshioki of the Miura clan. There is also a more mundane suspicion of bribery which... they didn't actually do. Pfft, whatever, bribery is so AVERAGE.
Kaizaki: Curse killings? I don't know anything about it, no sirree. What a stupid notion, HYPNOSIS. CURSES. We're very busy people, stop wasting our time with such ridiculous talk!
Me: ........................ you lie like a RUG, Naoe.
Sakaki: Pride! Stung! *gives up and goes away*
Satomi minion called Masaki: Let's kidnap him. Just to make sure.
Kaizaki: ... you know, I don't think that's entirely necessary, but fine, do what you like.
So Masaki does, and Sakaki-- WHAT'S WITH THE NAMES IN THIS BOOK, there's also Yoshioki, Yoshiyori, Yoshitaka and Yoshitsugu, and only the middle two are connected! (Yoshitaka is leader of the Satomi, Yoshiyori is his son, Yoshitsuga is the first name of the dude Yoshitaka is possessing.)-- ends up in Takaya's room. He's all, you! because he's been investigating "OUGI TAKAYA" for his involvement in all the major events that occurred in the first 12 books, and badgers Takaya to tell him what's going on. Takaya's like, curse killings. I don't care if you believe me, now shut up.
At which point: KOTAROU TO THE RESCUE. Or... "Naoe". Takaya is like, YAY, NAOE! *HUG*
K: O.o; emotional display... does not compute...
T: (Wait a second, he doesn't smell like Naoe! .... *lets it go*)
Kotarou explains that someone in fact sent the key to their hotel with a note telling them where Takaya was being kept and this other thing Takaya had had in his possession. They're all pretty confused by this. Especially Takaya, since those things had been on his bedside table the night before, which means it has to have been someone who's been in his room. The obvious conclusion is Kaizaki. But why would he betray the Satomi? ONE WONDERS. (Shyeah, like Naoe was ever letting them send Kagetora off to Oda's loving care.)
Also, the handwriting on the note looks SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE NAOE'S.
Anyway, off they go, leaving Sakaki one of Kotarou's daggers to rescue himself with (probably because Takaya found him annoying) and go to meet up with Ayako, who is being helped by the female half of the INTREPID DUO, the much less obnoxious Reiko. They're all, somehow, we must get inside Enoshima (which has been sealed off) and stop this thing from happening!
But Kotarou has a crisis of conviction, and he is like, KAGETORA-SAMA. If you could bring someone back from the dead... someone VERY DEAR to you... would you?
T: *flips out* WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?
K: *wonders why he said that, since he KNEW Takaya would over-react and his role as a ninja is to only consider advantages and disadvantages to battle, and the dead being able to come back and neutralising their exorcism power would definitely be bad. Plus if Naoe came back, Kotarou would be displaced and it would be much harder to subvert Takaya back to the Houjyou... and yet... Dilemma! Could it be he actually cares about Takaya as a human being? WHAT A HORRIBLE THOUGHT.*
He must be having an allergic reactions to all those icky emotional THINGS. D:
At which point Yagami (he replaced Hakkai as head of the Nokizaru when Hakkai went MIA to go hang out with Naoe) shows up, Ayako and Reiko in tow, to inform them that actually, the tunnel to the underworld is NOT a tunnel to the underworld, it's a tunnel to Fujinomiya where the Oda troops are hanging out.
Which is PROBABLY JUST AS WELL, because they would all feel pretty stupid if they opened a path to the underworld and Naoe was, y'know, NOT THERE. (Not that they'd get that far. In practice they'd let the Satomi open their "cave to the underworld" and just get Oda troops instead. I don't imagine they'd feel very happy about that, either.)
Naoe, meanwhile, is worrying about the fact that Masaki has gone to hunt after Kagetora, because of COURSE Takaya is going to try and stop the Satomi's plans, and of COURSE that's going to make him an enormous target, and how is Naoe supposed to stop that?
The Satomi are intending to make Natsuo (kidnapped chick) a host for the earthly descent of this god called Benzaiten in order to assist the spell to open the tunnel. Ayako and Reiko go rescue her from a bunch of possessed priestesses, exorcise the spirits, replace them with Uesugi "Nokizaru" spirits, and put Reiko in Natsuo's place.This gets them into the sealed off zone, where Kaizaki is hanging around, and Ayako is like, GIKU. PLEASE DO NOT NOTICE OR SAY ANYTHING. *cringe* ..... phew!
You know, it occurs to me that that when she finds out about the Kaizaki thing-- and once she stops being relieved he's not dead-- Haruie is going to be SO PISSED at Naoe. SO. PISSED.
Anyway, back to Kaizaki's POV, Naoe is being a sneaky, cunning little ratbastard and is undermining the Satomi from the inside. He was supposed to be performing this rite to make Natsuo (kidnapped chick) the host for Benzaiten, but instead he foists it off onto Yoshioki-- who was in league with Kagetora against the Satomi, and also allied to the Takeda, but when he got kidnapped Satomi Yoshitaka informed him that a. Kagetora is the child of Ujiyasu of the Houjyou and there's been some word of him going back to resurrect the clan; and b. the Takeda and the Houjyou both have alliances with the Ikkoushuu and thus indirectly each other. Yoshioki HATES the Houjyou, completely destroying them is his reason for not moving on, so he's like, I WILL JOIN WITH YOU AND KILL KAGETORA!-- by telling him that Yoshitaka ordered it as proof of their alliance. Yoshioki, hearing that Kagetora has escaped, is all, D: but I want to go kill Kagetora! and Naoe is like NO. YOU WILL STAY HERE AND DO THE RITE. >O (shyeah, right, like Naoe would let anyone off the leash to just go kill HIS Kagetora.)
Then when he meets up with Yoshitaka, Yoshitaka is all ".... ? why aren't you doing the rite?" and Naoe is like, *halo* I figured my strength was more useful to keep the Uesugi from interfering, so I got Yoshioki to do it instead!
Oh, Naoe, you are so sneaky. <3 It is really going to suck for the Satomi when he pulls the rug out, they trust him so much.
~
Okay, I've FINISHED book 14, and I'm kind of rolling in glee. Basically, since I left off:
* Chiaki and Irobe went to Fujinomiya, where the other half of the path to the underworld spell was being performed by Yoshiyori. They got within the exclusion zone by Chiaki taking out one of the possessed policemen and stealing his uniform (how RPG of him!), then they got to the shrine by distracting the police with "intruders" (Chiaki: I'll deal with here! you go deal with the barrier! They: *run off*) and summoning tengu down on their sorry arses. Tengu break the barrier and fly around divebombing people, Chiaki exorcises Satomi Yoshiyori. But the main spell is still going on at Enoshima, which Takaya and Ayako need to deal with.
* Meanwhile, Yoshioki has started the rite to make the goddess Benzaiten descend into Reiko's body. Ayako is on site pretending to be one of the priestesses. Takaya can use some of his powers-- hypnosis, calling this avatar thing called the Protection Child which is like having a second set of eyes, and the techniques he uses to tell what's going on where Ayako and Reiko are and snatch away control of Benzaiten-- but he still can't do any of the normal battle stuff, like exorcism or shooting energies or defensive barriers, so he and Kotarou are a little removed from the action.
* Yoshioki successfully calls down Benzaiten. Takaya wrests control away. Masaki Tokishige (I think I mentioned him before? Satomi minion who was hunting after him?) finds them and breaks through Kotarou's ninjas. Kotarou summons a spirit tiger to protect Takaya while he's controlling Benzaiten and a spirit lion to help him fight Masaki. (He has little stone things he uses to summon them! Dude, Pokemon SO stole it from the ninjas.)
* All havoc breaks lose! Benzaiten wrecks destruction at the shrine she's at and goes to lay the smackdown where Yoshitaka, the head of the Satomi, is hanging out in the Grotto where the tunnel to Fujinomiya is supposed to be opened. There's a big explosion when they go head to head and the grotto caves in. Ayako, back at the shrine, exorcises Miura Yoshioki and then goes to check out what happened to Reiko. There's no sight of her, but a very wounded Yoshitaka escapes to a boat and she can't stop him. She sends the Nokizaru after him.
* Takaya snaps out of his trance now Benzaiten has left. He hugs the spirit tiger (he did that in book 11 when he was sad and Naoe was a hostage, too. he seems to like the spirit tiger. it is his Naoe substitute or something.) and then looks up and is like, wtf, KOTAROU? Why are YOU here?
K: *understandably shocked to be recognised*
However, sanity doesn't last long; before Kotarou can get a full sentence out, Takaya gets confused as his subconscious reminds him, HEY, DOUCHE, Kotarou is Naoe? REMEMBER? and he rubs his eyes and is all, Oh, sorry Naoe, my eyes were hazy.
Because Kotarou looks SO MUCH like Naoe, it would be easy to confuse the two if you were just a little tired. Uh huh. It's the ponytail; dead giveaway.
* Yoshitaka stumbles onto a beach where "Kaizaki Makoto" is standing. He is all, D: Beloved descendent! Makoto! Where were you! And Kaizaki is all cold and, I'm sorry I have to do this, BUT... and explains that he didn't precisely want to deceive Yoshitaka, and he sympathises all too well with the frustration of being second best and wanting to be on the same level as the powerful people, but he needed to know what the Satomi's plans were, what they were doing for Oda, whether they could actually open a path to the land of the dead. The only thing he wants to know now is where Oda is, but Yoshitaka doesn't know. Kaizaki tells him he has no further use for him, in that case, and exorcises him. Hakkai comes to collect Kaizaki afterwards and asks if he's going to leave this body now. No, "Kaizaki" says, I'm sorry to him, but he has power and it's very useful. (I also bet he just wants to stay in a body Takaya will recognise.) He has a moment of aaaah, this is the sea close to where Kagetora grew up, Sagami is just over theeeere~ nostalgia. Moving on.
* Yagami, head of the Nokizaru since Hakkai went MIA, comes back to Ayako and is like, er, it seems Yoshitaka's soul was purified? Like, the host's body was released. And there was the traces of an exorcism. Um. And Ayako is like, that... is very strange. Maybe Benzaiten did it? Um.
Me: Yep, she's gonna be pissed with Naoe, that's for sure.
* Some Takeda general back in book 13 Chiaki was trying to exorcise when he ran into Irobe (Yamagata) is still alive. How nice for him! Takeda has kanshou'd and is, you know, still scheming. what a big surprise.
* Reiko wakes up in hospital, unwounded but sore and exhausted. Sakaki is by her bedside, all, now this is another strange case to add to the list of Matsumoto, Sendai, Nikkou and Hiroshima! And you were THERE for this one! Let's take a statement! :D
* Haha, oh my god, favourite bit. Irobe tells Chiaki that he still can't tell Kagetora about him because there's stuff going on that can't be revealed yet but it would just cause them all suffering (I assume he's talking about Naoe, at least in part), which Chiaki is suspicious and angry about. Then he tells Chiaki to be careful about Kotarou, because he's still working for Saburou's birth father Ujiyasu and is trying to subvert Kagetora back to the Houjyou. Chiaki drives back to where Takaya et al are, stressing out over this the whole way. One can only assume he cares about Kagetora a helluva lot more than he'd like to admit. By the time he meets Takaya, he's totally wound up, and when Takaya tries to ask him how he knew what the Satomi's plans were (I didn't say, but Takaya asked Ayako the same and she said "from Chiaki", to which he was like "wtf?" because Chaiki was supposedly off exorcising aforemention Takeda general), he has no answer, because Irobe said not to say anything, and then Takaya's like, er, did something happen?
And Chiaki blows a FUSE, man. He shoves Takaya into a wall (he... really seems to like doing that. I think he needs to take a long hard look at himself, seriously.) and starts yelling at him about how Naoe is DEAD, okay, and Kotarou is NOT Naoe, and he isn't anything LIKE Naoe so where the fuck did you get that from, and all your running away is causing trouble, and you're going to kill YOURSELF if you keep this up, you stupid fucker, be more fucking careful, Kotarou is just trying to subvert you back to the Houjyou, and are you really unable to cope without Naoe, because if you want someone to fuck you that bad I'LL do it.
Me: *SNORFLE* WHAT? AHAHAHA OH MY GOD, CHIAKI, LISTEN TO YOURSELF.
Yagami and Kotarou are all like, wtf are you doing! and try to pull him off (and Kotarou stresses a little at Chiaki's-- very true-- accusations against him) but Takaya is... well, not calm, but he's more upset about Chiaki saying Naoe's dead than any of the other stuff. Which means he MUST be feeling very one-track minded, because if Chiaki had said that last line to old Takaya, Takaya would've punched him a good one. XD
Instead, however:
T: Naoe's not dead!
C: YES HE IS.
T: He said he'd go to my side.
All: .... bwuh?
T: He told me to wait for him.
All: ....................................................
And basically, Chiaki, Yagami and Kotarou just sort of stand around being bewildered, because wtf? Kotarou hadn't said anything like that. Kotarou had been there the WHOLE TIME.
ILU and your subconsious knowledge of Naoe, Takaya. <3
* Epilogue: Yuzuru sits SAD AND ALONE next to an empty seat at a concert he got tickets for he and Takaya to see and that Takaya promised to go with him too. Aaaaw. He keeps seeing things everywhere and getting reminded of Takaya. It makes him feel like Takaya's lover. <-- I KID YOU NOT, ACTUAL LINE. *sporfles* Oh Takaya, you are so busy being tragically in love with Naoe that you kind of fail at being a best friend right now. Poor Yuzuru.
Meanwhile, we swap backstage to where the rock singer Yuzuru has come to see is hanging out... with Hatayama Satoshi, AKA Mori Ranmaru. Ranmaru is all, my lord, a very interesting guest has come to see you today. It's Narita Yuzuru. >D and singer is like, Ah, my GOOD FRIEND Narita. Of course he likes my music!
..................................................................
AHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD. ODA NOBUNAGA: *ROCKSTAR*. I am not sure whether that is hilarious or just profoundly disturbing. Clearly it's both!
Anyway, during the last two years Nobunaga has kanshou'd and built himself a music career, because he is JUST THAT AWESOME. (this seems to be his opinion, at any rate.) Of course he is still scheming. He is Oda. Scheming is what he does.
... And, apparently, being a rockstar.
*SNIGGER*
On a completely unrelated note, because I am made of AWESOME and SPARLY MAGIC WONDER, boyband!X is FINALLY, fucking FINALLY updated. How did that take me 10 months? I will never know. However, because my body is a whole lot less awesome than me, I am slowly dying of insomnia. The other day I had admittedly slept in until early afternoon, but I was still tired, and I went to sleep at around midnight... and woke up at 1.30. Usually I do not wake up once I am asleep. And I was still tired, but could not get BACK to sleep until some time past dawn. Nevertheless, I bravely forced myself to get up at 10.30 and go to the library and work on my annotated bibliography and NOT DRINK ANYTHING WITH CAFFEINE. It was hard. Very hard. And all for nothing, because when I went to sleep at midnight, I WOKE UP AT 1. FOR NO REASON. and couldn't sleep again until like, 8. That was yesterday. I kind of let myself give up and sleep until 2-ish because I felt like I was getting sick, but I was still tired, I was ready to collapse by 11... except I couldn't sleep. At all. So I kept getting in and out of bed without any luck on the sleep front (but I got summaries done and work on my annotated bibliography-- only 2 annotations to go!) and eventually I ended up sleeping, got woken up at 9 by my alarm, turned it off and went back to bed, and didn't wake up until 3 when my blood sugar was way too high and I was late to meet up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ontogenesis. I'm sorry! orz YOU SUCK, BODY, I DON'T EVEN HAVE WORDS.
All I can say is I'm still exhausted and my body better behave tonight, because my sister and her boyfriend arrive in Japan tomorrow and I have to go to Shinjuku in the morning to meet them. >(
~~
It is almost 3 in the morning and I have an exam tomorrow afternoon and haven't finished my summary, yet I'm STILL procrastinating. That's... dedication. To the entirely wrong cause. <<
But I mentioned to someone how Takaya/Kagetora has more issues than a news agent, you could sign up for a 400-year subscription, and then I thought, maybe I should think about those issues!
So, synopsis of issues, split up by issues he didn't have before becoming Takaya and underlying Kagetora issues! As at... near the end of book 13.
Takaya issues:
- Sex: definitely anti one night stands, but judging from book 8, seems anti sex in general. Not a healthy teenage boy; seemingly no sex drive at all until book 13 when he's already 19. (Or book 12? But that was more about losing Naoe than about sex.) Query whether he's even ever jerked off or thought about it, because he seems like he's on the brink of it in that scene in book 13 but the whole overwhelming lust feeling seems new to him.
- Abandonment: serious complex since his mother abandoned him. Basically always waiting for the other shoe to drop with everyone except Yuzuru and Miya. Very cautious about letting Naoe too close in the early novels as a result.
- Self-reliance: probably due to alcoholic father, time spent roaming around in gangs, etc, he's desperately afraid of being weak, of not being self-sufficient, of needing to rely on anyone else. Connected to the abandonment complex. Terrified by how much he needs Naoe.
Kagetora issues:
- Sex: was raped in his first lifetime at the age of 15. Query whether he ever actually slept with Minako or if it was platonic love.
- Abandonment: Takaya of course has abandonment issues from his current lifetime, but they're much more deeply rooted than that. Since the succession war, he's afraid of the possibility that Kenshin will replace him with Yuzuru/Kagekatsu. Particularly afraid that Naoe will get bored of him and leave. Also has abandonment issues regarding his birth clan, the Houjyou, who basically used him as the pass-the-parcel of diplomatic relations.
- Validation: deep-seated insecurity, needs Naoe to validate his actions.
- Social status: major complex, won't let anyone (except Naoe) know when something's wrong because he doesn't want to be viewed as weak by those under his command. Or by enemies. Probably connected to succession war, again. Keeps people at a distance.
- Pride: Probably considers it one of the last things he has. Clings to it so much it handicaps him. His pride wouldn't let him beg Naoe to stay even if Naoe abandoned him, despite how much that would destroy him.
- Naoe: Naoe is like buying a new car. All these issues, plus plus plus included extras! Kagetora's afraid of sex with Naoe because of rape flashbacks, but also because of the fear that if he gives in Naoe will have no reason to fixate on him any more and will walk away. Would rather Naoe be miserable than leave him, though Naoe's misery causes him pain too (or it bothers him as Takaya, dunno about previously). Also has issues accepting Naoe because he's a social inferior, though query how much of that is an excuse. Insecure to an incredible degree; fears that Naoe only obsesses over him because he admires his power, so is afraid that losing that power will mean losing Naoe. Also uses his domination of Naoe to validate his own strength and bind Naoe to him.
Part of him wanted Naoe's "ideal ending", to be sunk in the lake inside the tsutsuga mirror together, but he gave the choice to Naoe and he intends to stick to the choice Naoe made to keep going. Even more crazily possessive of Naoe than Naoe is of him, if that's possible. Wants Naoe to want him and to tell him so repeatedly, and considers every aspect of Naoe's life and death and body and soul and existence to belong to him. Went seriously psycho at the idea of Naoe defecting to another clan. Needs Naoe, in the very literal sense that he can't survive without him; when Naoe "died", his first response was to destroy everything around him in an inferno, self included, his second response was to lay down and die, and his final response was to repress and hypnotise himself into believing it was all a bad dream and that Kotarou was Naoe instead because the idea of a world without Naoe literally would snap his sanity like a twig. Weaker than Naoe in that regard; while Naoe tried to commit suicide once, he still lasted 30 years thinking Kagetora was gone for good.
Speaking of, Naoe's plan to sink them both in the mirror becomes a whole lot less creepy in hindsight when you become aware that Takaya kind of WANTED him to. Huh.
So okay, moving on, the ACTUALLY comprehensive summary of book 14, which finishes the Enoshima arc.
~~
Okay, so, "Kaizaki" (ie Naoe) got ordered to deal with Kagetora and at the end of book 13, he ambushed him in a fight, Takaya lost control of his powers (yet again, I probably explained before that the strain of hypnotising himself to believe Kotarou is Naoe and the confusion and damage to his confidence when "Naoe" acts OOC has been causing his powers to run wild with increasing regularity-- YOUR FAULT, NAOE) and Naoe kidnapped him away to the Satomi, who he is pretending to work with. (Underling: I can carry him? Naoe: No, I'm PERFECTLY FINE, thank you.)
Dunno if I mentioned any of that already, but whatev.
So okay, that was the end of book 13. At the beginning of book 14, Yuzuru is sad because Takaya never spends time with him anymore except to check he's not going to get possessed by Oda again any time soon, Ayako is chewing Kotarou out for LOSING KAGETORA OMG and also, being totally emotionless about it, and also, totally FAILING as a Naoe replacement (Kotarou is offended by all these Uesugis expecting him to show ACTUAL EMOTION and insulting his mad Naoe-imitating ninja skillz, dammit) and Chiaki meets up with Irobe, the missing fifth Uesugi.
I am maybe being unfair, but I feel sullenly resentful of both Irobe and Kenshin. Irobe kanshou'd into a baby, but a year ago he killed himself in order to kanshou into an adult on Kenshin's orders and since then he's been moving on Kenshin's orders. They haven't told Kagetora because it would just DISTRACT him, and he doesn't need more to worry about, does he? SO DON'T TELL HIM.
Chiaki: ...................... *does not feel entirely happy about this*
Hakkai is there too, and the reader knows he's hanging out with Naoe but Chiaki doesn't, so while neither Hakkai nor Irobe mention it, it's pretty clear Naoe is also working on Kenshin's direct orders and is acting as their mole in the Satomi.
Now, okay, the actual POINT. I decided to keep actual plot involved since sometimes it's useful to know all that stuff, but the REAL need to know part of this is the second chapter of book 14, wherein Takaya wakes up... handcuffed to a bed in a dark room wearing nothing but a bathrobe.
UM, says Takaya. Anyway, the heir of the Satomi clan comes to attempt to molest him, until "Kaizaki" shows up and sends him packing. Apparently Takaya's power is sealed off by use of pressure points-- and Kaizaki is the one who did the acupuncture on him. Hence the undressed state. (Yeah, like Naoe would let anyone ELSE undress him.)
Blah blah, conversation, blah blah, Kaizaki is being weirdly nice and he's all, no I won't fix your powers or let you out of the cuffs, that would just be stupid of me, and besides, you should take this opportunity to rest. Because you're tired, body and soul. So please, rest.
Essentially what follows:
Takaya: Why are you being so nice to me? Why isn't HE being so nice to me? WOE. *angsts out loud about how Naoe has seen through him, clearly, and isn't interested anymore, and it was just the delusion of love*
Naoe: He never lost interest in you. He thinks about you more than ever. *talks about how "he" had thought that his love was just a delusion too once, but no, because thinking about Kagetora is what makes him stronger.*
Takaya: How the hell do YOU know that? and if he hasn't lost interest, why is he acting like that?
Naoe: He's a fake.
T: ... Naoe's a fake?
N: He's not Naoe.
T: ... Kaizaki?
N: *talks about how no aspect of Takaya could make him lose interest, he wants to know everything about him, blah blah, he just wants to become strong enough that Kagetora can recognise him as an equal so they can obtain their ideal place to be*
T: No, seriously, what the FUCK? who ARE you? O.o;
N: Oh, you know. *covers his eyes and kisses him*
T: Oh my GOD, you KISS LIKE NAOE! and SOUND LIKE NAOE! and, and... but you can't be him, he's by my side? what? WHAT?
T's brain: +++ MELON MELON OUT OF CHEESE ERROR +++
T: *temporarily remembers Naoe's dead* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BREAKDOWN.
N: Takaya-san... It's okay, don't be scared....
*ROLLS* it's kind of sweet, and also, kind of hilarious. I have temporarily forgiven Naoe for being an absentee dick of a boyfriend for two years. XD
~
Remember how Takaya's like, chained to a bed? wearing very little? and bonding with Kaizaki? Yeah, well, um, the next time we see him, he's sort of floating around in his head angsting about how much he loves Naoe, how he can't survive without him, etc, with some contemplation of whether, if there really was a way to open a tunnel to the world of the dead, would he bring Naoe back?
(Er, some explanation required here. Basically the Satomi are all, we will open this tunnel to the underworld and the dead will be able to cross back to this world! mwahahaha! and the Uesugi are like, wtf, that's impossible! while thinking, oh SHIT, what if it's NOT? we'd be FUCKED! because their exorcism powers would be pretty useless otherwise. However, there's the issue of Takaya and Naoe-- obviously they're supposed to do whatever they can to stop this tunnel being opened, but there's some question of whether Takaya would forsake duty and just stand back and let it happen so he could see Naoe again. Kotarou was wondering about that earlier, and "Kaizaki", in their earlier conversation, asked Takaya if he would choose to play Orpheus which made Takaya's head hurt because he doesn't consciously remember that he's lost the person he loves most but people saying that kind of thing to him acts like a trigger.)
So when he comes to, he's naked, NOT chained to the bed, sticky and lethargic, his face and pillow are covered in tears from crying over Naoe, and his memory is a bit hazy. He does remember drinking something.
Me: Naoe... did you... drug Takaya? Uh.
First thing that he does when he wakes up is remember Naoe's dead, and start crying again. Kaizaki asks him what's wrong. Kaizaki, mind, WAS wearing a business shirt, but NOW is wearing a robe.
Me: NAOE, DID YOU ROOFIE TAKAYA?
The sad thing is this DOESN'T BOTHER ME. I am more bothered by Naoe making himself scarce for two years than I am about the possibility that he drugged and molested Takaya! Like, OH WELL, IT WAS FOR A GOOD CAUSE, I'M SURE TAKAYA WOULD'VE CONSENTED IF HE WASN'T CRAZY. Oy, this series is so bad for what is left of my moral fibre. XDDDDD
It's just bizarrely ambiguous, though, because if not for the detail about Takaya being naked (and sticky) and Naoe's clothes change, I wouldn't think anything beyond the drug to make him sleep so Naoe can try to fix his fucked up psyche a bit had gone on. I'm still wondering if maybe there was just more acupuncture, because that was why Takaya was dressed down to a bathrobe in the first place, but... WHY IS NAOE UNDRESSED? mysteries!
(I do know nothing too major can have happened, because aside from Takaya not feeling inexplicably and suspiciously sore anywhere, Naoe specifically thinks a bit later that he isn't going to sleep with his one true love in a body that doesn't belong to him. No matter how much he wants to.)
So Takaya wails that Naoe is gone, he's nowhere, and Kaizaki is like D: and cradles Takaya's face and is like, no no, it's okay, he's here, he's not dead...
T: You lie! I SAW. ;______;
N: But he didn't disappear. Close your eyes. *picks up Takaya's hand and lays it against his own cheek* See? He's here.
T: Naoe's... here...
N: That's right. *kisses him*
T: *Isn't sure whether this is real or not, because, you know, he's kind of been having issues with reality lately*
Then Naoe takes the opportunity for some rabu-rabu angsting of his own, and is all, "You seemed like you were going to... die. Lose too much and die. Please don't die."
T: I won't die.
N: I need you. Even if I lose to you and get crushed by you, you're my life.
T: Well don't leave again, then. I'm sick of being alone.
Then there's some more Takaya mental processes-- I'll probably translate them sometime, but for now, blah blah, Naoe angst, life without Naoe is meaningless, blah blah, is it better for Naoe to still love him but not exist or still exist but no longer love him? Kaizaki kisses away the tear that rolls down Takaya's cheek, then his nape, his shoulder, his hip, and his chest, while Takaya keeps calling out to Naoe. Naoe is frustrated because not being in his own body really sucks around about now, but he endures. He tells Takaya "I love you, I'm here" which... Takaya may or may not hear. Or may even hear in Naoe's voice rather than Kaizaki's. Then he kisses Takaya on the mouth and feels bad because Takaya will probably resume repressing as soon as Kotarou comes to save him and Naoe can't come back yet and TAKAYA WILL BE SAD. Naoe tells Takaya to wait for him.
AAAAAAAAAAAW. In conclusion, Naoe is (temporarily) forgive and I am drowning in the fluffy bunnies feeling. <3333333
Then when Takaya wakes up again he doesn't remember much except the vague impression of someone leaving kisses on his skin and mouth, he's chained to the bed and wearing a bathrobe again, and he has a headache. Um? Naoe TOTALLY roofied Takaya.
*cough*
We then get Takaya trying to think his way through this and getting very confused. Naoe? No, Kaizaki. He doesn't know what to do with what Kaizaki said about "Naoe" being a fake; he's starting to work his way back to reality, but he's not quite ready for it yet.
But possibly the BEST LINE EVER was this:
"It is almost as though Naoe isn't "Naoe", and Kaizaki IS."
STRANGE, THAT.
Seriously, I laughed like a HYENA. ILU, TAKAYA, NEVER CHANGE.
Kattaiya (5:10:33 PM): I sense the denial is strong with this one!
Kattaiya (5:10:40 PM): *cackles*
Kattaiya (5:11:21 PM): USE THE REPRESSION, TAKAYA! USE THE REPRESSION!
Kaizaki: I am... your Naoe... *heavy breathing*
Takaya: NOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Kattaiya (5:11:47 PM): okay, okay, I swear, I'm going to step AWAY from the stupid Star Wars jokes. really. XD
Anywho, the intrepid police-investigator-into-weird-shit!male version (only he's like the Scully in this scenario, because Reiko is the one who knows the chants and has spiritual abilities and all that, and Sakaki is like I BELIEVE IN NONE OF THIS! I AM SCEPTICAL! I mock you and your curse killings! but anyway they've been following all the weird incidents Takaya has been involved in and Takaya himself) who I should've mentioned before but didn't gets tossed into Takaya's room, having questioned Kaizaki about the Keibu Real Estate Group's involvement in curse killings, various kidnappings, mass hypnosis, etc. Whatever, all you need to know is that the Keibu Group have all been possessed by the Satomi (except for Kaizaki who is supposedly their modern day descendant) and are trying to buy up this island for their gateway to heeeeeeell plan, in pursuit of which they curse killed a politician who was opposed to their "resort plan", mass hypnotised the people of Enoshima to believe there were oni all over the place, and kidnapped Takaya, this chick called Natsuo, and another military commander, Yoshioki of the Miura clan. There is also a more mundane suspicion of bribery which... they didn't actually do. Pfft, whatever, bribery is so AVERAGE.
Kaizaki: Curse killings? I don't know anything about it, no sirree. What a stupid notion, HYPNOSIS. CURSES. We're very busy people, stop wasting our time with such ridiculous talk!
Me: ........................ you lie like a RUG, Naoe.
Sakaki: Pride! Stung! *gives up and goes away*
Satomi minion called Masaki: Let's kidnap him. Just to make sure.
Kaizaki: ... you know, I don't think that's entirely necessary, but fine, do what you like.
So Masaki does, and Sakaki-- WHAT'S WITH THE NAMES IN THIS BOOK, there's also Yoshioki, Yoshiyori, Yoshitaka and Yoshitsugu, and only the middle two are connected! (Yoshitaka is leader of the Satomi, Yoshiyori is his son, Yoshitsuga is the first name of the dude Yoshitaka is possessing.)-- ends up in Takaya's room. He's all, you! because he's been investigating "OUGI TAKAYA" for his involvement in all the major events that occurred in the first 12 books, and badgers Takaya to tell him what's going on. Takaya's like, curse killings. I don't care if you believe me, now shut up.
At which point: KOTAROU TO THE RESCUE. Or... "Naoe". Takaya is like, YAY, NAOE! *HUG*
K: O.o; emotional display... does not compute...
T: (Wait a second, he doesn't smell like Naoe! .... *lets it go*)
Kotarou explains that someone in fact sent the key to their hotel with a note telling them where Takaya was being kept and this other thing Takaya had had in his possession. They're all pretty confused by this. Especially Takaya, since those things had been on his bedside table the night before, which means it has to have been someone who's been in his room. The obvious conclusion is Kaizaki. But why would he betray the Satomi? ONE WONDERS. (Shyeah, like Naoe was ever letting them send Kagetora off to Oda's loving care.)
Also, the handwriting on the note looks SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE NAOE'S.
Anyway, off they go, leaving Sakaki one of Kotarou's daggers to rescue himself with (probably because Takaya found him annoying) and go to meet up with Ayako, who is being helped by the female half of the INTREPID DUO, the much less obnoxious Reiko. They're all, somehow, we must get inside Enoshima (which has been sealed off) and stop this thing from happening!
But Kotarou has a crisis of conviction, and he is like, KAGETORA-SAMA. If you could bring someone back from the dead... someone VERY DEAR to you... would you?
T: *flips out* WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?
K: *wonders why he said that, since he KNEW Takaya would over-react and his role as a ninja is to only consider advantages and disadvantages to battle, and the dead being able to come back and neutralising their exorcism power would definitely be bad. Plus if Naoe came back, Kotarou would be displaced and it would be much harder to subvert Takaya back to the Houjyou... and yet... Dilemma! Could it be he actually cares about Takaya as a human being? WHAT A HORRIBLE THOUGHT.*
He must be having an allergic reactions to all those icky emotional THINGS. D:
At which point Yagami (he replaced Hakkai as head of the Nokizaru when Hakkai went MIA to go hang out with Naoe) shows up, Ayako and Reiko in tow, to inform them that actually, the tunnel to the underworld is NOT a tunnel to the underworld, it's a tunnel to Fujinomiya where the Oda troops are hanging out.
Which is PROBABLY JUST AS WELL, because they would all feel pretty stupid if they opened a path to the underworld and Naoe was, y'know, NOT THERE. (Not that they'd get that far. In practice they'd let the Satomi open their "cave to the underworld" and just get Oda troops instead. I don't imagine they'd feel very happy about that, either.)
Naoe, meanwhile, is worrying about the fact that Masaki has gone to hunt after Kagetora, because of COURSE Takaya is going to try and stop the Satomi's plans, and of COURSE that's going to make him an enormous target, and how is Naoe supposed to stop that?
The Satomi are intending to make Natsuo (kidnapped chick) a host for the earthly descent of this god called Benzaiten in order to assist the spell to open the tunnel. Ayako and Reiko go rescue her from a bunch of possessed priestesses, exorcise the spirits, replace them with Uesugi "Nokizaru" spirits, and put Reiko in Natsuo's place.This gets them into the sealed off zone, where Kaizaki is hanging around, and Ayako is like, GIKU. PLEASE DO NOT NOTICE OR SAY ANYTHING. *cringe* ..... phew!
You know, it occurs to me that that when she finds out about the Kaizaki thing-- and once she stops being relieved he's not dead-- Haruie is going to be SO PISSED at Naoe. SO. PISSED.
Anyway, back to Kaizaki's POV, Naoe is being a sneaky, cunning little ratbastard and is undermining the Satomi from the inside. He was supposed to be performing this rite to make Natsuo (kidnapped chick) the host for Benzaiten, but instead he foists it off onto Yoshioki-- who was in league with Kagetora against the Satomi, and also allied to the Takeda, but when he got kidnapped Satomi Yoshitaka informed him that a. Kagetora is the child of Ujiyasu of the Houjyou and there's been some word of him going back to resurrect the clan; and b. the Takeda and the Houjyou both have alliances with the Ikkoushuu and thus indirectly each other. Yoshioki HATES the Houjyou, completely destroying them is his reason for not moving on, so he's like, I WILL JOIN WITH YOU AND KILL KAGETORA!-- by telling him that Yoshitaka ordered it as proof of their alliance. Yoshioki, hearing that Kagetora has escaped, is all, D: but I want to go kill Kagetora! and Naoe is like NO. YOU WILL STAY HERE AND DO THE RITE. >O (shyeah, right, like Naoe would let anyone off the leash to just go kill HIS Kagetora.)
Then when he meets up with Yoshitaka, Yoshitaka is all ".... ? why aren't you doing the rite?" and Naoe is like, *halo* I figured my strength was more useful to keep the Uesugi from interfering, so I got Yoshioki to do it instead!
Oh, Naoe, you are so sneaky. <3 It is really going to suck for the Satomi when he pulls the rug out, they trust him so much.
~
Okay, I've FINISHED book 14, and I'm kind of rolling in glee. Basically, since I left off:
* Chiaki and Irobe went to Fujinomiya, where the other half of the path to the underworld spell was being performed by Yoshiyori. They got within the exclusion zone by Chiaki taking out one of the possessed policemen and stealing his uniform (how RPG of him!), then they got to the shrine by distracting the police with "intruders" (Chiaki: I'll deal with here! you go deal with the barrier! They: *run off*) and summoning tengu down on their sorry arses. Tengu break the barrier and fly around divebombing people, Chiaki exorcises Satomi Yoshiyori. But the main spell is still going on at Enoshima, which Takaya and Ayako need to deal with.
* Meanwhile, Yoshioki has started the rite to make the goddess Benzaiten descend into Reiko's body. Ayako is on site pretending to be one of the priestesses. Takaya can use some of his powers-- hypnosis, calling this avatar thing called the Protection Child which is like having a second set of eyes, and the techniques he uses to tell what's going on where Ayako and Reiko are and snatch away control of Benzaiten-- but he still can't do any of the normal battle stuff, like exorcism or shooting energies or defensive barriers, so he and Kotarou are a little removed from the action.
* Yoshioki successfully calls down Benzaiten. Takaya wrests control away. Masaki Tokishige (I think I mentioned him before? Satomi minion who was hunting after him?) finds them and breaks through Kotarou's ninjas. Kotarou summons a spirit tiger to protect Takaya while he's controlling Benzaiten and a spirit lion to help him fight Masaki. (He has little stone things he uses to summon them! Dude, Pokemon SO stole it from the ninjas.)
* All havoc breaks lose! Benzaiten wrecks destruction at the shrine she's at and goes to lay the smackdown where Yoshitaka, the head of the Satomi, is hanging out in the Grotto where the tunnel to Fujinomiya is supposed to be opened. There's a big explosion when they go head to head and the grotto caves in. Ayako, back at the shrine, exorcises Miura Yoshioki and then goes to check out what happened to Reiko. There's no sight of her, but a very wounded Yoshitaka escapes to a boat and she can't stop him. She sends the Nokizaru after him.
* Takaya snaps out of his trance now Benzaiten has left. He hugs the spirit tiger (he did that in book 11 when he was sad and Naoe was a hostage, too. he seems to like the spirit tiger. it is his Naoe substitute or something.) and then looks up and is like, wtf, KOTAROU? Why are YOU here?
K: *understandably shocked to be recognised*
However, sanity doesn't last long; before Kotarou can get a full sentence out, Takaya gets confused as his subconscious reminds him, HEY, DOUCHE, Kotarou is Naoe? REMEMBER? and he rubs his eyes and is all, Oh, sorry Naoe, my eyes were hazy.
Because Kotarou looks SO MUCH like Naoe, it would be easy to confuse the two if you were just a little tired. Uh huh. It's the ponytail; dead giveaway.
* Yoshitaka stumbles onto a beach where "Kaizaki Makoto" is standing. He is all, D: Beloved descendent! Makoto! Where were you! And Kaizaki is all cold and, I'm sorry I have to do this, BUT... and explains that he didn't precisely want to deceive Yoshitaka, and he sympathises all too well with the frustration of being second best and wanting to be on the same level as the powerful people, but he needed to know what the Satomi's plans were, what they were doing for Oda, whether they could actually open a path to the land of the dead. The only thing he wants to know now is where Oda is, but Yoshitaka doesn't know. Kaizaki tells him he has no further use for him, in that case, and exorcises him. Hakkai comes to collect Kaizaki afterwards and asks if he's going to leave this body now. No, "Kaizaki" says, I'm sorry to him, but he has power and it's very useful. (I also bet he just wants to stay in a body Takaya will recognise.) He has a moment of aaaah, this is the sea close to where Kagetora grew up, Sagami is just over theeeere~ nostalgia. Moving on.
* Yagami, head of the Nokizaru since Hakkai went MIA, comes back to Ayako and is like, er, it seems Yoshitaka's soul was purified? Like, the host's body was released. And there was the traces of an exorcism. Um. And Ayako is like, that... is very strange. Maybe Benzaiten did it? Um.
Me: Yep, she's gonna be pissed with Naoe, that's for sure.
* Some Takeda general back in book 13 Chiaki was trying to exorcise when he ran into Irobe (Yamagata) is still alive. How nice for him! Takeda has kanshou'd and is, you know, still scheming. what a big surprise.
* Reiko wakes up in hospital, unwounded but sore and exhausted. Sakaki is by her bedside, all, now this is another strange case to add to the list of Matsumoto, Sendai, Nikkou and Hiroshima! And you were THERE for this one! Let's take a statement! :D
* Haha, oh my god, favourite bit. Irobe tells Chiaki that he still can't tell Kagetora about him because there's stuff going on that can't be revealed yet but it would just cause them all suffering (I assume he's talking about Naoe, at least in part), which Chiaki is suspicious and angry about. Then he tells Chiaki to be careful about Kotarou, because he's still working for Saburou's birth father Ujiyasu and is trying to subvert Kagetora back to the Houjyou. Chiaki drives back to where Takaya et al are, stressing out over this the whole way. One can only assume he cares about Kagetora a helluva lot more than he'd like to admit. By the time he meets Takaya, he's totally wound up, and when Takaya tries to ask him how he knew what the Satomi's plans were (I didn't say, but Takaya asked Ayako the same and she said "from Chiaki", to which he was like "wtf?" because Chaiki was supposedly off exorcising aforemention Takeda general), he has no answer, because Irobe said not to say anything, and then Takaya's like, er, did something happen?
And Chiaki blows a FUSE, man. He shoves Takaya into a wall (he... really seems to like doing that. I think he needs to take a long hard look at himself, seriously.) and starts yelling at him about how Naoe is DEAD, okay, and Kotarou is NOT Naoe, and he isn't anything LIKE Naoe so where the fuck did you get that from, and all your running away is causing trouble, and you're going to kill YOURSELF if you keep this up, you stupid fucker, be more fucking careful, Kotarou is just trying to subvert you back to the Houjyou, and are you really unable to cope without Naoe, because if you want someone to fuck you that bad I'LL do it.
Me: *SNORFLE* WHAT? AHAHAHA OH MY GOD, CHIAKI, LISTEN TO YOURSELF.
Yagami and Kotarou are all like, wtf are you doing! and try to pull him off (and Kotarou stresses a little at Chiaki's-- very true-- accusations against him) but Takaya is... well, not calm, but he's more upset about Chiaki saying Naoe's dead than any of the other stuff. Which means he MUST be feeling very one-track minded, because if Chiaki had said that last line to old Takaya, Takaya would've punched him a good one. XD
Instead, however:
T: Naoe's not dead!
C: YES HE IS.
T: He said he'd go to my side.
All: .... bwuh?
T: He told me to wait for him.
All: ....................................................
And basically, Chiaki, Yagami and Kotarou just sort of stand around being bewildered, because wtf? Kotarou hadn't said anything like that. Kotarou had been there the WHOLE TIME.
ILU and your subconsious knowledge of Naoe, Takaya. <3
* Epilogue: Yuzuru sits SAD AND ALONE next to an empty seat at a concert he got tickets for he and Takaya to see and that Takaya promised to go with him too. Aaaaw. He keeps seeing things everywhere and getting reminded of Takaya. It makes him feel like Takaya's lover. <-- I KID YOU NOT, ACTUAL LINE. *sporfles* Oh Takaya, you are so busy being tragically in love with Naoe that you kind of fail at being a best friend right now. Poor Yuzuru.
Meanwhile, we swap backstage to where the rock singer Yuzuru has come to see is hanging out... with Hatayama Satoshi, AKA Mori Ranmaru. Ranmaru is all, my lord, a very interesting guest has come to see you today. It's Narita Yuzuru. >D and singer is like, Ah, my GOOD FRIEND Narita. Of course he likes my music!
..................................................................
AHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD. ODA NOBUNAGA: *ROCKSTAR*. I am not sure whether that is hilarious or just profoundly disturbing. Clearly it's both!
Anyway, during the last two years Nobunaga has kanshou'd and built himself a music career, because he is JUST THAT AWESOME. (this seems to be his opinion, at any rate.) Of course he is still scheming. He is Oda. Scheming is what he does.
... And, apparently, being a rockstar.
*SNIGGER*
On a completely unrelated note, because I am made of AWESOME and SPARLY MAGIC WONDER, boyband!X is FINALLY, fucking FINALLY updated. How did that take me 10 months? I will never know. However, because my body is a whole lot less awesome than me, I am slowly dying of insomnia. The other day I had admittedly slept in until early afternoon, but I was still tired, and I went to sleep at around midnight... and woke up at 1.30. Usually I do not wake up once I am asleep. And I was still tired, but could not get BACK to sleep until some time past dawn. Nevertheless, I bravely forced myself to get up at 10.30 and go to the library and work on my annotated bibliography and NOT DRINK ANYTHING WITH CAFFEINE. It was hard. Very hard. And all for nothing, because when I went to sleep at midnight, I WOKE UP AT 1. FOR NO REASON. and couldn't sleep again until like, 8. That was yesterday. I kind of let myself give up and sleep until 2-ish because I felt like I was getting sick, but I was still tired, I was ready to collapse by 11... except I couldn't sleep. At all. So I kept getting in and out of bed without any luck on the sleep front (but I got summaries done and work on my annotated bibliography-- only 2 annotations to go!) and eventually I ended up sleeping, got woken up at 9 by my alarm, turned it off and went back to bed, and didn't wake up until 3 when my blood sugar was way too high and I was late to meet up with
ontogenesis. I'm sorry! orz YOU SUCK, BODY, I DON'T EVEN HAVE WORDS.All I can say is I'm still exhausted and my body better behave tonight, because my sister and her boyfriend arrive in Japan tomorrow and I have to go to Shinjuku in the morning to meet them. >(
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