The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

another day there was swept away. Not only that, but he was not conscious that the "beast" imprinted on his soul, that defined who he was, was being harmed day by day.
    The shoku and the pressing demands of recuperation used up his life force. And there was yet more healing that his body required. After many months and years had passed, his horn might lose the ability to recover, even in the proper environment.
    "What's the matter?" his father asked. "You're not hungry?"
    His father watched as his son's chopsticks stopped moving. Sitting at the table, his son stared at the dinner meal in bewilderment. As if to intervene on his behalf, his mother patted him on the head and said, "Now that you mention it, he never liked meat. I completely forgot. I'm sorry about that."
    "You should stop pampering him," his father said coldly. "Your mother prepared the food that she believes is best for you. There are little children like you starving in Africa, you know. Being a picky eater makes it twice as bad. You need to eat a balanced diet."
    "So much has happened to you. You must be exhausted." His mother put her arms around his shoulders and earnestly tried to bury their differences. "That fatty food is really spicy. It's okay. You can just leave it on the plate."
    "No, it's not," his father said in an even colder voice. "You can't go around treating him like he's special. He's going to have plenty more than food on his plate to deal with. He won't be able to count on people feeling sorry for him. After this, we're going to be hearing all kinds of gossip from all quarters. Better to toughen him up before it's too late."
    "But--" his mother started to say.
    His father ignored her and turned his attention on his son. "You understand?"
    "Y-yes. I'm sorry." He nodded and picked up the chopsticks and soldiered on with the meal.
    Of course, he had no idea that doing so only held back his recovery all the more.

    Sanshi's shoulders jerked in the midst of her slumber. Still half asleep, she lifted her head slightly. Engulfed by the golden darkness, the faint smell of blood trailed past her.
    What is this? she puzzled in a partially-aware corner of her consciousness. This unpleasant trace of the foreign. This something that called forth feelings of unease. Sanshi momentarily lifted her head, trying to look beyond the hard shell, but gave up in frustration.
    I guess it was nothing.
    It may have only been her imagination. She was worrying too much. A big emergency was unlikely to come at them out of nowhere. Or so she tried to convince herself.
    Sanshi understood that, in moment of crisis, Taiki had instinctually brought about a shoku. Fleeing his attacker, he had called down a shoku and made his escape. He passed through the gate, and at the other end of the gate was this alien world. The same alien world Taiki had been swept away to when he was inside the golden fruit.
    When the unexpected threat had presented itself, his subconscious had, in extremis, made the correct decision. Taiki instinctively fled to the world he had once been, to a place populated by people he knew. The mother whose womb he had once borrowed and her husband. And their children. Among what might be called his "substitute" parents and his "substitute" siblings, he was certainly beyond the reach of his assailants. Taiki had selected the place where his safety would be assured.
    Which is why she should expected nothing bad to happen here.
    Taiki's enemies would doubtlessly pursue him. Yet Sanshi knew to the core of her being how difficult finding him would be, having lost him before while he was in his shell. Even divining his location would take time, and if Sanshi could concern herself only about an external attack, then they should be fine.
    She dropped back off to sleep, telling herself that everything was okay. After an indefinite amount of time had passed, she was again awaked by a strange sensation. This happened repeatedly, to the extent that Sanshi was incapable of ignoring these unpleasant attacks on her senses.
    What is going on? she asked herself, raising her head. She roamed about the saffron dusk, trying to ferret out the source of the unpleasantness.
    "It's poison--" came Gouran's voice from somewhere in the darkness.
    Sanshi finally grasped this as well. This was not poison, but he was being served food so contaminated as to resemble poison.
    "Why?" she asked herself. It couldn't be his substitute parents, could it? Taiki chose to come here because