The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

it.
    Few could afford even to glaze their windows with glass. Instead, the windows were shuttered and paper affixed across the inside of the frame. That would let in some sunlight while shutting out the wind. Cotton was such a precious commodity that the futons were padded with the straw collected in the fall. As for winter clothing, it was practically impossible to get hold of fur or pelts. Charcoal for the brazier wasn't cheap, so the house was cold all the time.
    Kingdoms to the north of Kei were colder, but as Kei was so much poorer it had fewer means to combat the cold. Winter in the northern quarter of Kei was particularly hard.
    Nevertheless, Rangyoku liked the winter. Not only Rangyoku, so did all the children at the orphanage. Normally, from spring until fall, the people decamped to a nearby villages and hamlets, leaving the towns pretty much deserted. Only the orphans and town elders were left behind. During the winter, they all returned and would get together in big groups to spin cotton and weave baskets. That was a lot more fun.
    Rangyoku took the lid off the big pot. "Keikei," she said, "go wake everybody up. It's time for breakfast."

    Rangyoku was slicing steamed mochi into a bowl when suddenly she heard a scream from the courtyard. Taken aback, she looked around as Keikei came running back from the detached wing of the orphanage.
    "Sis!"
    "What's going on?"
    It wasn't Keikei who had screamed. But then there came another cry.
    " Youma! "
    Enho jumped to his feet. Rangyoku put both hands to her mouth and swallowed her own scream.
    "Go out the back and get to the Rishi." Enho gave the gasping Keikei a push. "Run for the cover of the riboku tree and stay there! You understand?"
    "You, too, Gramps."
    "I'll be along soon. Wait for me there."
    Enho nodded his head at Rangyoku, urging her to go on ahead. Rangyoku bowed in turn, grabbed Keikei's hand, pushed open the back door and was about to stumble out when she heard the rustling of feathers and the sound of strong wings flapping.
    She instantly stepped back and slammed the door shut. For a brief moment, she caught a glance of the sweep of its wings and the form of a tiger alighting on the ground. A kyuuki.
    "Rangyoku?" Leaving the kitchen, Enho had turned back in the direction of her cry.
    "In the back--there's a kyuuki in the back yard!"
    Keikei began to wail. A kyuuki was a fierce, man-eating youma. It meant the end of the town. A kyuuki would devour every last person in sight.
    Even now, the kingdom was still in this much chaos.
    The back door reverberated with a crash. Rangyoku jumped back. She grabbed Keikei. Enho put his arms around them and hustled them into the main hall. Splinters came flying as the kyuuki tore through the wooden door with its claws. They bolted the door to the main hall and ran into the courtyard. Somehow they had to get to the Rishi. No youma would attack them beneath the riboku.
    They rushed down the corridor toward the inner gate, down the stone steps, and emerged into the front yard. Behind them the screams of the children continued.
    She wanted to help them but couldn't think of a way how. She knew it was inhuman to abandon them like this. She knew if it were Keikei back there, she would have turned back, even if it meant sacrificing herself.
    I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
    They reached the eaves of the main gate to the orphanage, Keikei suddenly shouted. Without thinking, Rangyoku turned and followed his gaze. Her eyes flew to the roof of the inner gate, to the crouching form of the kyuuki.
    "Get going!" Enho urged them forward. "Run to the Rishi and don't look back!"
    "No," said Keikei, clinging to Enho's coat.
    "The others, they're probably already dead!"
    "Gramps!"
    Rangyoku took Keikei's hand in hers. She'd at least save him. She'd abandon Enho, use herself as a shield, and at least save him. The kyuuki licked its chops, crouched down low. Rangyoku watched it launch itself into the sky and fall on them. Transfixed, she held Keikei's hand.
    A bright splash of red shot past them, grazing the creature's muzzle.
    "What?"
    That shock of red was a mane of red hair. Somebody had rushed past them and up to the youma. The image frozen in her eyes as she turned was that of the flutter of crimson and the brilliant flash of a naked sword cutting an arc in the air.
    A boy, and a not very big one at that. His silhouette and that of the pouncing kyuuki merged together. Rangyoku hugged her brother to her chest.
    The claws and fangs of the