“Excuse me?”
Kisaki stopped walking and turned to face the ocean, enjoying the sound of the waves lapping off shore. “What is a dad? You call Yoshida-san that. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit, but I do not entirely understand.”
“You’re kidding, right?” After a few moments, however, she said, “You’re not kidding. Wow. I have to say, of all the questions you’ve asked, that’s maybe the strangest.”
“This whole world is strange to me.”
“Ishigachi can take some getting used to for outsiders, but it’s not like this is Mars.”
“I have not been there either.”
Tamiko laughed again, but Kisaki found no rancor in her tone. She seemed to be genuinely amused. “I thought you said that Shi ... whatever his name is was your stepdad.”
“Shitoro. He is my guardian, assigned stewardship over me by my mother. I assumed perhaps Yoshida-san was yours.”
“He is, but he’s still my dad. Hold on. You know what a mother is, right?”
“Of course.”
“But not a father?”
“Father? You mean a lord?”
“No. It’s the same thing as a dad. Just a different name.”
“I believe we have already established that.”
Tamiko sat down in the sand and looked dumbfounded for a moment. She lay down, put her hands behind her head, and looked up at the stars. After a few moments, Kisaki joined her, enjoying the peaceful darkness despite knowing that somewhere up above were people likely quite angry with her.
“Where to begin?” Tamiko said at last. “A father is basically the other half of a mother.”
“Other half?”
“Figuratively. I mean, it takes a mother and a father to create a child.”
“Oh? How?”
“We are not having that talk, not tonight.”
“I’m sorry. Did I offend?”
“No, it’s just a bit of an awkward discussion.” She glanced over at Kisaki. “You’re serious, you never learned how babies get made?”
“My studies covered vast lessons on the multiverse – history, war, beings of power, even magic. There was mention of children, but they were always there. No discussion on how they got there, though.”
“Fair enough. For now, let’s just stick with the basics. Everyone has a mom and a dad, even if they aren’t around physically, like my mom.”
“Aren't around? Where is she?”
Tamiko sighed. “She died when I was a baby. Dad doesn’t talk about it much, but she was sick for a long time.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay. I never met her, so I don’t really know what I was missing. Still, every so often, I’ll go over to a friend’s house and wonder if that’s what it would have been like for me.”
“So you say everyone has a father?”
“As far as I know. Heck, chickens come from eggs and even they have daddy roosters.”
“Are they all like Yoshida-san?”
Tamiko laughed. “No. They’re all different. Heck, not all of them are even men.”
“Mothers can be fathers?” Kisaki asked, more confused than ever.
“Well, there’s always got to be a ... donor. But someone can be raised by a dad who’s also a woman.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Physically, a baby has to be made by a man and a woman. But they can be raised by anyone.”
“Including a guardian?”
“Yes, although it sounds like that Shitoro creep was more a warden than stepdad. No offense, but I think your mom could have chosen someone better to marry.”
“Marry?”
“Y’know, fall in love with. Kiss, all that stuff.”
“Shitoro is loyal to my mother, but they are not married. He is her servant. Though I don’t doubt he would gladly take a spear for her, I have never seen them kiss.”
“Servant? You mean like butler?”
“He serves her, along with many other youkai.”
Tamiko sat up and stared at Kisaki for a few moments in the dark. Finally, she laughed. “You really have some imagination. But I guess maybe you needed it. All I know is if I ever meet this Shitoro loser, I’m going to kick his ass.”
“If he manages to find me, he will...”
“Oh my God, how cute!” Tamiko suddenly shouted, interrupting Kisaki. “Come on, boy. I won’t hurt you.”
Kisaki sat up and stretched, curious as to what had caught her friend’s attention. She turned in the direction Tamiko was now facing and then froze as she caught sight of what was approaching them from the trees.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big cat,” Tamiko said, delight in her voice. “And white, too. Oh my gosh, he’s so precious!”
Kisaki stared wide-eyed as the creature neared them.
It stopped a few feet away and looked at them both, but seemed intent on glaring at her.
“Awww!” Tamiko cried, getting to her feet. “I think he likes you.”
“Quite the contrary. Right at this moment, I am most irate,” Shitoro replied. “As for you, human, you would be well advised against kicking any part of me.”
15
Tamiko screamed and backed up several steps before falling down into the sand again.
“Such bothersome creatures,” Shitoro commented before turning to face Kisaki again. “You are in a great deal of trouble, young mistress.”
Kisaki sighed dejectedly. She’d known this would eventually happen, had been anticipating it ever since she’d stepped foot from her mother’s chambers. Yet, following the last few wonderful days, she’d begun to entertain the fantasy that perhaps she’d be allowed to stay with Tamiko. She now saw what a fool she was to think that.
“Do not ignore me, young lady!”
“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Kisaki replied.
“Don’t take that tone with me. A few days on Earth and the entire concept of respect is lost upon you, I see.”
“I haven’t lost my...”
Hands grabbed Kisaki beneath her shoulders and began dragging her away. When she looked up, she saw it was Tamiko.
Her friend’s eyes were as wide as the full moon. Finally, after about ten feet, she stopped and then dropped to her knees in front of Kisaki, continually glancing back over her shoulder to where Shitoro sat looking quite annoyed. “How are you not freaked out by the fact that a cat is talking to us?!”
“I will have you know, human,” Shitoro said with a sniff, “I am a tiger. I hunted prey before your kind had even discovered fire, which I might add was quite by accident.”
“Tiger?” Tamiko cried, turning and facing him. “I hate to break it to you, but tigers are big and ... and now I’m talking with the cat. I don’t know what was in that taco rice, but we are never going there again.”
“Tigers also have claws, which I will be happy to show you if...”
“That’s enough, Shitoro.” Kisaki stood up and brushed herself off. “Even you have to admit, you’re somewhat ... small for a tiger.”
“Small in stature but large in spirit, as your mother would say. That is, if you ever stopped disrespecting her long enough to listen.”
“Shitoro?” Tamiko asked. “This is Shitoro?!”
“Yes,” Kisaki said calmly, not entirely sure why her friend was reacting this way. Certainly Shitoro was a bit on the diminutive side, but nothing that should have alarmed her to that degree.
“I thought you said Shitoro was your stepdad.”
“I said he was my guardian, which he is.”
“Your guardian is a cat?”
“Tiger!” Shitoro snarled.
Tamiko spun toward him again. “I’ve seen tigers in the zoo. They didn’t talk.”
“Of course not,” Shitoro replied. “Regular tigers are dumb animals. Like present company, I might add. I am a tiger demon.”
“Demons aren’t real.”
“How your species managed to survive the last ice age is beyond me.”
“Enough!” Kisaki said, stepping between the two. “Shitoro, can you please assume your regular form?”
“I am in disguise, as per your mother’s orders. Do you know what happens to youkai who disobey one such as she?”
“There’s no one else here. It’s just us.”
“Fine,” Shitoro replied. “If it will cease this human’s prattling, so be it.” His yellow eyes began to glow and, a moment later, so too did the rest of him. There came a flash of light, and then Shitoro adopted the bipedal form he most typically took in the celestial palace. “Better?”
“Not really,” Tamiko replied, dumbfounded. She turned to Kisaki. “Now he’s a two-foot-tall talking cat standing on his hind legs and wearing a kimono.”
“How many times do I have to say it? I am a tiger.”
“Should I get a ball of yarn so we can find out for sure?”
“Yarn? I don’t understand what...”
“How did you find me?” Kisaki asked, tired of their bickering. She was relatively certain that if she tried, she would be able to get up in the morning, go to work, and then come back to find these two still arguing.
“Huh?” both of them asked.
“How did you find me, Shitoro?” Kisaki repeated.
“Find you? I have been searching this accursed island for two days now. You have no idea the indignities I have had to endure. Children throwing rocks at me. Mongrels chasing me. At one point, a fat human female grabbed hold of me while I was unawares and tried to put a collar around my neck.”
“Seen many tigers wearing collars?” Tamiko asked. “Like I said, cat.”
Before Shitoro could start in again with her friend, Kisaki asked, “But how did you even know to look here, on this island?”
“Perhaps if you had paid better attention to your studies, that would be self-evident,” he chided. “You used your mother’s crystal to come here. I don’t know how you knew to do so, but you were a foolish child if you thought she couldn’t trace her own power.”
“My mother’s crystal?”
“In the sending chamber.”
Kisaki remembered what had happened, how she’d been standing in the middle of that room, thinking of Earth, then suddenly found herself on the beach. “The black crystal?”
“Of course. As if you did not know.”
“What’s he talking about?” Tamiko asked.
“I am not entirely certain myself.”
Shitoro walked up to them, ignoring how Tamiko flinched away, then poked a clawed finger at Kisaki. “A likely story. I will warn you, child, that your lies will not get you out of this. Your mother will most likely order you chained to your study desk from here on out.”
“Hey!” Tamiko cried. “She can’t do that. It’s illegal.”
“You would presume to tell the great Lady Midnite what she can and cannot do?”
“Lady Midnite...” Tamiko turned to Kisaki. “Your mom. She’s not like...” She inclined her head toward Shitoro.
“Lady Midnite is like nothing your feeble human mind could comprehend,” Shitoro said. “And be thankful for that. Should you ever find yourself standing before her divine grace, you would do well to cut that tongue from your mouth before letting it flap incessantly.”
“She sent you, didn’t she?” Kisaki asked.
The little demon rounded on her. “Of course she sent me, and I was glad to heed her command. Unlike some, I am both loyal and respectful to my mistress, even willing to break our laws at her command ... at great personal risk to myself, I might add.”
“What laws?” Tamiko asked.
“Such as the one forbidding passage to Earth.”
“There’s a law forbidding passage?” Kisaki asked.
“Yes. There is.”
“How come I never heard you talk of it?”
“Because you were not meant to. You were never meant to venture forth from your chambers, as such there was no need for you to know of such matters.”
Tamiko stepped in front of Kisaki, having seemingly gotten over her shock, and stared down at the tiger youkai. “Well, I hope there's a law against anyone leaving Earth, because she’s not going back.”
“What?”
“You heard me, cat.”
“You won’t find that so funny once I turn you into a mouse.”
Kisaki slapped a hand against her forehead. These two couldn’t seem to help themselves. Even so, she found her heart warmed that Tamiko, a mere human, would stand up to a youkai for her. Despite her first instinct to do as she was told, she began to realize she didn’t want to give up her friend. And if Tamiko was that fierce of a friend, then perhaps she was worth fighting for. “What if I don’t wish to leave?”
“Preposterous!” Shitoro cried. “You truly have been ruined by this savage place. Over sixty years of routine and discipline gone in the space of a few days. The great daimao should have put their edict in place for that reason alone.”
“Sixty years?” Tamiko turned to Kisaki. “So you were telling the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Whoa! You’re like, old enough to be my grandmother.”
Kisaki chuckled, not entirely certain what a grandmother was. “Perhaps...”
“I want to drink from whatever fountain of youth you have up there.”
“Do not be foolish, human,” Shitoro said.
“My name is Tamiko!”
“Oh, so you do not like it when the sandal is upon the other foot? Nevertheless, it is impossible. Your feeble human mind simply couldn’t handle the glorious wonders of the celestial palace. And, even if you could, I dare say some of my less tolerant cousins would be more than happy to enjoy making a meal out of you.”
“I ask again,” Kisaki said, interrupting the bickering, “what if I do not wish to leave?”
“That is out of the question. Besides, why would you even want to stay in this barbaric land? The stench alone is enough to singe my whiskers.”
“You’re going to be smelling like wet cat in about three seconds,” Tamiko warned.
“As I said, barbaric.”
“I haven’t found it to be that way,” Kisaki said. “I’ve actually enjoyed staying here at the resort, working for Yoshida-san.”
“Working?”
“Yes. I have been performing odd jobs and receiving payment for it.”
“You, a daughter of the mighty Midnite, have been serving a human? What have they done to you? Is this Yoshida a wizard? Has he bewitched your mind?”
Kisaki laughed. “Of course not. He’s Tamiko’s ... father.” She looked toward her friend questioningly. Tamiko gave her a small nod of approval, so she turned back, intent on continuing her argument, but then hesitated as a thought suddenly popped into her mind. “Shitoro?”
“Yes, Lady Kisaki? Have you come to your senses yet?”
“May I ask a question?”
“Very well.”
“Are you my father?”
16
“What?!”
“Tamiko thought you were my stepfather, but I told her she was incorrect. However, I then realized that the truth is I do not know.”
“K-know that I love your mother, truly I do,” Shitoro sputtered, “but not like that.”
“Do I have a father?”
“Well ... err ... of course.”
“Who is he?”
“Why would you even think to ask such a...” He paused, then pointed an accusing finger at Tamiko. “You! This is your doing.”
“My doing? How?”
“You put these thoughts into her head.”
“It’s a simple question,” she replied. “A fair one, too, I think.”
“Some questions are not to be asked.”
“So you do not know who my father is?” Kisaki replied, crestfallen.
“I never said that,” Sh
itoro stated. “As the former chief servant to your mother, I was her trusted confidant. I know a great many secrets.”
Kisaki immediately perked up. “So can you take me to him?”
Shitoro seemed to realize the error of what he’d said a moment too late. “Let us speak no more of this.”
Tamiko stepped in and pointed a finger at his nose. “You can’t just shut her down like that. It’s not fair.”
Shitoro rounded on her. “Oh? Is that so? Let me tell you something, child. The multiverse is vast and old, much older than a simple monkey such as yourself could possibly understand. There is a cycle in place, a grand scheme that defines all of creation. It would take years to even begin explaining it to someone like you, but I can give you this one nugget – nowhere is it written that life is fair.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I think you’re being a jerk.”
“What?! You ... p-pea-brained...” Shitoro stammered, seemingly at a loss for words.
Kisaki let them argue while she considered things. Shitoro had revealed more to her in the past few minutes than he had since he’d been assigned as her guardian. She had a father. Who was he? She didn’t know yet. Nor did she know why this information had been kept from her. Was he cruel or kind? Was he another daimao, or a mere servant? Had he abandoned her or did her mother spirit her away? Did he even know she existed?
She didn’t have answers to any of this, had never even thought to ask these questions before today. But now that they were out in the open, she knew she couldn’t rest until they were answered.
But how? Shitoro was obviously here to take her back. Once home again, she doubted her mother would tell her much beyond how badly punished she was. And she could only press the matter so far. Her mother was powerful and though her temper was even most of the time, that could change if Kisaki pushed too hard.
But why all these secrets? Why the isolation? She was fairly certain that the other youkai in the palace, even the lowest of servants, were free to do what she wasn’t, explore as they pleased. So why was it different for her? So many questions, but along with that came realization, too. Now that she had gotten a small taste of freedom, she had no desire to go back to her old life, even at the risk of her mother’s wrath.
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