The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

was building up inside him like poison. At some point in time, its accumulated mass began devouring his life force. It grew thinner day by day. At this rate he would surely die. All would be lost.
    Shall we kill them? came the grating voice from the rusty darkness.
    "Stop it. For the time being, these people taking care of Taiki are necessary to him."
    "He is their captive."
    "They can't be killed while he is their captive."
    "But the poison increases."
    "I know," said Sanshi, her hands tearing at her chest. Her pallid skin was covered with numerous wounds from which trickled drops of red.
    They would die. They would be slain.
    That fate aside, her impatience further constricted her consciousness. By now, Sanshi had come to see every inhabitant of this world as her enemy. Their jailers lived with Taiki in the prison. They surrounded the prison. They watched Taiki, attempting to inflict harm on him at every opportunity.
    And whenever they sought revenge, the darkness and corrosion only increased, harming his life force, and contaminating Sanshi. By now, Sanshi could no longer distinguish between what happened there and what was happening here.
    All she knew was that their enemies were about. Whoever had tried to assassinate Gyousou and steal the throne, and steal Taiki's life away as well.
    That was something she absolutely could not allow.

    Looking back on what had happened, everything had arisen from subtle misunderstandings on Sanshi's part as she stumbled over the differences between here and there. Sanshi could not comprehend that the world surrounding Taiki differed from her own in its very foundations.
    From every payback delivered in Taiki's defense sprang a new torment, that before long attracted new hostility and contempt. The persecutions intensified, as did her vengeance. The intensity of the retribution invited more persecution. And so the circle grew, feeding back on itself.
    Taiki had become a threat to this world, an object of loathing. Sanshi couldn't grasp that. The staining blood that flowed from her vengeance, and the gathering grudges, further blackened Taiki's shadow, and further unleashed Sanshi's--and especially Gouran's--youma natures. And in inverse proportion dampened their reason and sense.
    A total breakdown loomed before their eyes.

Part Six
    enrin ran into Ransetsu Hall. "I've found him," she called out.
    Keiki and Rokuta leapt to their feet. Slumbering in her master's lap, Hanrin perked up her head as well.
    "Taiki's aura. And it wasn't left too long ago."
    "Where?"
    Rokuta ran over with strides as long as his legs could manage. Together they returned to the Kokinsai. Keiki followed after them. Hanrin took off for Seikou Manor like a shot.
    At the end of the winding corridor, a wan light spilled from the mouth of the Kokinsai. The tail of the silver snake wrapped around Renrin's arm still illuminated the round circle of light. Taking her hand, Keiki passed through the glow. Coming to the end, it widened into a dark, inorganic cavity.
    The sterile cavern that was this room was a perfectly square, box-like structure. Thirty or forty drab, aseptic-looking desks were arranged in rows. A dilapidated air such as that found lingering around old ruins hung over the prison-like room.
    Observing all this, Keiki remembered something. "This is a school, perhaps?"
    Keiki had observed rooms like this before, when he'd traveled to Yamato to meet Youko.
    "A classroom?" suggested Rokuta.
    As he always did, Keiki felt discomfited by Rokuta's presence. His golden, gleaming hair marked him clearly as a kirin. But the boy standing there simply did not resemble Enki at all.
    "I bet it's Taiki's school," Rokuta muttered, casting his gaze around the place.
    Following after Rokuta, Renrin appeared, and the wispy glow in the corners of the room winked out.
    "En Taiho, Kei Taiho, it's over there."
    Renrin moved quickly between the desks and pointed at a spot on the floor. "Here. The shirei discovered it."
    Behind her, the forms of her companions wavered half-transparent in the air, now and then losing their human contours and revealing the beasts within.
    Renrin turned to the flickering shadows and pointed at a deep purple spot on the floor. A thread of light glowed there, as if clinging desperately to life, continuing on in dots and dashes.
    "This is the aura of a kirin?"
    "I believe so. However--" said Keiki. His words seemed to loose their way in the shadows.
    "It continues in that direction."
    With a slight