The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

equivalent ability was necessary. Those qualified included the highest ranks of the mountain wizards, kirin, and their appointed youma.
    However, the Gogou Gate naturally could not be opened in the middle of the day. It was also said that it couldn't be opened in center of the Yellow Sea or above the Sea of Clouds.
    "A meishoku does not rely on the power of the Moon. The kirin's powers alone create a wrinkle in time and space. That alone makes this a very grave matter. Despite occurring on a small scale, it is nonetheless a shoku. If it were to occur in a city, a great deal of damage would be inflicted in its vicinity. The kirin himself would likely not be left unaffected. Consequently, it is rarely done. I have never seen it done myself."
    "Huh."
    "Furthermore, I doubt that Taiki knows how to bring about a meishoku."
    "Could a kirin be in the dark about such things?"
    "In Taiki's case, he is a taika, born in Yamato and raised there until the age of ten. As a result, he does not well comprehend the ways of the kirin."
    Youko tilted her head quizzically to the side.
    "I'm not sure of how to phrase this. Using words to express the nature of the beast within is quite difficult. I haven't ever caused a meishoku, but I believe I have tried. I cannot concretely recall the memory, but I have the feeling of what a meishoku might be like. That is a meishoku, but that is a terrible thing, and I should not proceed except under the most extreme circumstances. That is the essence of the raw sensations I felt."
    "Wow."
    "There are many other things of a similar nature. In our youths, we take on the form of the beast. We learn how to take on human form. We transform into the human and return to the beast. We learn to make the transition, but we cannot remember when or under what set of circumstance we did so. If pressed, I could only say: somehow and at some point in time."
    "I guess it's like when a human child first learns to walk and talk."
    "I think so too. Many kirin powers and abilities come to us when we know ourselves only as beasts. The meishoku is a case in point. I could not tell you when the knowledge came to me. Only that when it did, I recognized it for what it was. I am quite sure I attempted it when I was very young, to see what would happen. It's a feeling like one day realizing that you have legs and running as hard as you can to see what those legs can do. But Taiki is a taika. He lived for ten years in Yamato before coming back, and he had grown up the entire time in human form."
    "He never spent any time as a beast?"
    "No, he did not. A kirin with no memory of himself as a beast would lose many of the powers that he should have as a kirin. When I met him on Mt. Hou, he couldn't transform, and he had not tamed any youma as his shirei. Nor do I believe he knew how to cause a meishoku. I think something happened such that he did it instinctually. Something very bad. Something very terrible happened to his person. As long as he is engulfed in that maelstrom, Taiki cannot return."
    "I see," said Youko. She remained mum for a minute. "Still, don't you think we should save Tai, Keiki?"
    Keiki returned her look, and then averted his eyes. "Please do not ask me questions I have no business answering."

Interlude
    T he impurities were accumulating. The boy was not aware of them in the slightest. To be sure, only the beast imprisoned within was being injured, and not the surrounding "human" shell. And, of course, nobody else had the slightest idea that this was going on. Their attention was drawn instead to something else entirely: the number of strange accidents that seemed to occur wherever he went.
    "This is the second time my son's been injured playing with him," the woman snapped at his mother. "Now he's got a hairline fracture. Keep him away from my kid!"
    His mother watched her march off and heaved a sigh.
    "He fell down all by himself," his brother charged. "He was chasing us around waving a stick and tripped over his own two feet and fell in the ditch."
    "Is that so?" their mother said mostly to herself.
    "He's always pulling stunts like that. Hiding our stuff, pushing us down, waiting for us on the way home and throwing things at us. He deserved what happened to him."
    "Oh, don't say things like that."
    "Why? He's the bully. Serves him right."
    "I said, no more," his mother stated flatly.
    The object of her scolding glared at his brother and mother. "It's his fault. Something happened when he got spirited away.