by C. J. Anaya
I knew for certain we were on the verge of something miraculous when Tie loosened from my grasp and severed our connection.
He took a step back and breathed in deeply, clearly fighting some very strong emotions and giving himself some distance.
“What was that? What happened?” I asked.
“Your ascension. You almost ascended.” He sounded surprised by this.
I paused for a moment, contemplating that unexpected response.
“I didn’t know my ascension happened through kissing. That seems a little odd.”
Tie rubbed a hand over his face as if to expel the intense emotions we were both operating under. Then he let out a shaky laugh.
“When a kami helps another ascend, they do so by sharing their life force with them. A kami’s life force is essentially a different substance or variation on a mortal’s life force. Our ki is made of golden light due to our immortality. Infusing that with yours must happen through a connection so powerful it trumps mortality and infuses that golden substance within your ki.” He took a deep breath before continuing, obviously still shaken from what we had almost done. “That connection is that of pure and unadulterated love; a conduit between us. It can be a dangerous process and must be monitored by someone familiar with it.”
“That’s why Hachiman has to be there.”
“Yes. Major deities can help mortals ascend on their own, but lesser deities are not quite so powerful.”
“Well, you must be more powerful than you think since a simple kiss became the conduit.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I really need to up my game if that’s the label you’re placing on what I would consider some seriously smooth moves.”
I smacked his chest and gave him a playful smile. “You know what I mean. Obviously, our situation is different.”
“Your spirit definitely is. You already have immortality running through your ki. I didn’t think about it before, but it will take very little of that connection between us, that demonstration of love on our parts, to bring your ki into mine and complete your ascension.”
“Isn’t my ascension the goal? Isn’t that part of the process toward healing the veil? I have to be in full power in order to be in full control.”
“Not without Hachiman’s presence. I won’t risk anything going wrong. He has to be there to not only make sure we both survive your ascension, but to marry us as well.”
“But our souls are bonded. We’re essentially tied to one another anyway. Doesn’t soul mate equal marriage?”
Tie gave me a rueful smile. “The soul mate bond is there to help you recognize the one you’re meant for. Marriage literally seals two souls together, making that conduit between their ki even easier to attain. It is the principle of becoming one with your spouse.”
“I think if it’s possible for me to ascend now then we should make it happen. The sooner we do, the sooner I’ll be able to heal the veil.”
I puckered up my lips in a dramatic gesture and leaned forward. After a few seconds, I squinted my eyes open to look at Tie’s amused smirk.
“This is the part where you kiss me senseless,” I said.
He squeezed my shoulders as his eyes took on a naughty gleam.
“Don’t tempt me. We’re alone in a hotel room, and I’ve waited a thousand years to do far more than kiss you senseless.”
I rolled my eyes at his teasing and placed my hands on my hips.
“I can’t sense the veil, Tie. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”
His face grew serious as understanding dawned.
“I know you’re having a hard time with what you consider a handicap to your powers, and I agree that your ascension would make everything far easier, but I won’t risk hurting you. As a half immortal, you might not face the same dangers as a fully mortal being, but I won’t take that chance. I’d feel better if we consulted with Hachiman first before we go forcing an ascension you’re not ready for.” He nodded. “We have to get to Hachiman.”
“As far as marriage goes, we have to convince my father first. There’s no way he’s signing the parental consent form.”
Tie’s upper lip lifted into a tiny smirk. My stomach did flip flops at the sight of it. “Since you’ll be eighteen in two weeks there won’t be a need for any parental signatures.” His face drew serious once again. “I understand that this is hard on your father, but our situation is much more serious than upholding the idea that getting married at the age of eighteen is too young.”
“But I heartily agree with that idea,” I said in a lofty tone.
“Well, considering you’re over a thousand years old, I think the point is moot.”
“Again, tell that to my father.”
“I’d be glad to.” He drew closer and secured his arms around me. “And since we’ve been summoned to a conference by our self-appointed leader, I know just where to find him.”
“We are so late for that, by the way.”
“Not as late as Angie is probably going to be.”
I chuckled at the truth of his words. Angie and Victor were certainly at odds with one another. If he said, “Meeting in ten,” she generally went passive-aggressive on him and spent an hour in the bathroom.
I tried to dispel the worry and fear needling my emotions by snuggling deeper into Tie’s embrace, reveling in the feel of his arms around me. I never wanted to ever feel that awful sense of loss I experienced trapped in that statue with Tie standing on the other side, always within arms reach, but never accessible to me. Yet there was one issue that had to be faced.
“Do you think I have trouble accessing the veil because I’m only half mortal? What if I ascend and nothing changes? What if I still can’t sense the veil?”
Tie tightened his hold, trying again to reassure me. After all my many failed attempts to connect with the veil in my previous life, I was bound and determined to do it in this one
“The only people who can sense the veil are specialized kami such as Victor and me. Or greater deities and gods of fortune. We don’t really know what the full prophecy says, maybe we’re all wrong in assuming you’ll feel the veil before you ascend.”
“I want to try it again.” I pulled out of his arms and ignored his muffled groan of protest.
“You’ve been killing yourself for a full week trying to make some kind of contact with it. It’s not something you can force.”
“Since you’re not interested in a make-out session to speed up this process—”
“Hey now. I’m always interested in make-out sessions.”
“Just walk me through the steps again. Help me visualize it. Help me see it in my mind’s eye.”
“I can try to help you understand what it is that I do, but you are supposed to channel the veil’s power through the sword.”
“Well, Victor hasn’t exactly been willing to share his precious weapon with me since I woke up. He tried to help me sense the veil on several occasions, and the sword was definitely involved at one point. I don’t think he likes to remember old times.”
“He’s just being a sore loser,” Tie scoffed.
“He has reason to be. Some of those moments were…” I paused in my reverie before I said something that hurt Tie’s feelings.
His eyes took me in and softened when he noticed my hesitation.
“You thought he was your betrothed, Hope. I know you shared an intense relationship with him in your first life.” He took my hand in his and brought it to his heart. “I’ve made my peace with that.”
The heaviness of the moment made me uncomfortable. I still had feelings for Victor. Not in the same way I did for Tie, obviously, but I cared for him and hated how my gain had become his loss in the end. I vividly recalled how he had championed me against my abusive father. How he had healed Daiki when my father ordered the tender innkeeper’s death, and how he had been so patient when he discovered my involvement as the village healer. He couldn’t understand it, but he had done all he could to protect and lov
e me in his own way. He had come to my town of Eureka fully prepared to do that again, and now nothing in his world made sense.
I didn’t know how to help him. I was still trying to bridge the gap between my two completely different lives, different upbringings, and dissimilar personality traits. I couldn’t even do something as important and as simple as sensing the veil.
“I don’t need the sword until I actually try channeling the veil’s power. I just need to be able to sense it for now.” I placed both my hands in Tie’s and gave him a determined look. “Take me through it again.”
His worried gaze took in my resolve and he let out a troubled sigh.
“I don’t know why I thought you might be less stubborn, aggravating, or determined in this life.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s part of my charm.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re right.” He flashed me a smile filled with its own charm, and squeezed my hands in his. “Close your eyes and take in deep breaths through your nose.”
I did as he directed until my breathing evened out and a relaxed sensation coursed through my body.
“Everything possesses some form of energy, but the veil’s energy is so powerful it actually creates a constant buzz that most people fail to hear because it’s something their sensory perception dubs as white noise. I sense the veil by registering the way a person’s energy bounces or ricochets off it. Your specific level of energy is unique to you, and when it bounces off the veil, certain colors explode within my mind and the veil vibrates in the location you’ve inadvertently made contact with it.”
I nodded, allowing the soothing hum of Tie’s low voice to relax me even further. It reminded me so vividly of all our time spent in combat training. No matter how many centuries had passed, Tie was and always would be one of my most influential teachers.
“Now open your eyes and focus on my energy. Pay attention to the way it bounces off the veil.”
I didn’t need to connect with Tie to recognize the colors his energy produced. I stared at his golden aura and watched in awe as it floated upward and then essentially dissipated into thin air. That was where I generally tended to miss the mark. I never could see or feel how his energy bounced off the veil. It simply disappeared from me altogether regardless of whether I was connected to him or not.
I looked at my feet and bit back an annoying urge to cry.
“I’m supposed to be able to do this, but I can’t sense a damn thing.”
Tie pulled me into his arms and ran his hands up and down the curve of my back.
“I don’t understand why you can’t sense it, Hope, but I swear it isn’t a reflection on you personally. I think you just might be right about needing to ascend. Perhaps your ability to see will improve through the lens of immortality.”
I scrunched up my nose and let out a snort against his chest.
“What?” he said. He pulled back and looked at me. His lips turned up at the corners. “What’s so funny?”
“When I first met you, you talked like a modern-day high school kid, and now you tend to revert back to your Musubi way of speaking whenever things get serious.”
He smirked. “I had a part to play, didn’t I? Resident bad boy and brooding heartthrob, creating high school angst in his wake.”
I tilted my head back and laughed.
“Don’t be surprised if it comes and goes,” he said.
“I fell in love with both versions of you, Tie. I think I can handle it.”
The warmth of his eyes held me in place, his love for me evident in his tender gaze.
“I’ll never tire of that, little Healer.” His endearment for me caused heat to blossom within my chest. “I’ll never ever get sick of hearing you say those words.”
“I love you,” I whispered. “I promise I’ll never ever get sick of saying it.”
“I love you,” he said. “I promise I’ll never stop showing you just how much.”
“If Angie were here, she’d tell us to kiss already.”
“Like we need the encouragement.”
He lifted soft hands to my face and pulled me in for another one of his slow, sizzling kisses. I’d classified Tie’s kisses into a few different categories, but the tender kisses he gave to show me how much he cared always brought me to the very edge of what I could handle emotionally. To have him in my life again, holding me and loving me like I had ached for him to for so long in that statue made these kisses all the more meaningful. Tears fell at the very thought of that awful barrier.
Tie’s lips left mine to softly kiss the wet trails of tears along my cheeks.
“Why do you do this every time I handle you with care?” He pulled away to look at me with concern. “I never know what’s wrong or how to fix it.”
“I wanted this. I wanted you for so long. I held my arms out to you for centuries and never made any contact. These types of kisses were what I wanted to give you every time you sat in front of my statue begging me to forgive you. The fact that you give them to me now makes me feel so lucky to finally have that barrier gone.”
His hand curled at the nape of my neck, guiding my lips to his again. He deepened the kiss just a little, but his soft lips paired with the heat of his love for me produced such a tender moment of affection between us, I couldn’t help but allow more tears to escape again.
“I’ll kiss you like this for the rest of eternity to make up for all of the time we missed,” he whispered.
“We definitely have a lot to make up for.”
He rested his forehead on mine and let out a morose sigh.
“I know,” I said. “We need to get to that stupid conference before Victor comes barreling in here demanding to know what we’re up to.”
“He’s been annoyingly efficient lately.”
“Hasn’t he always been that way?”
Tie thought about it for a moment and allowed a big grin to spread across his lips. “Have I mentioned how happy I am that you finally have all your memories back?”
“Only a million times a day. Angie is getting sick of the ‘Remember When’ conversations we keep having.”
“That’s because she wants us to actually recreate them. What are we, Netflix?”
I laughed, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door. Just before I dragged him out into the hall he tugged on my hand, his demeanor turning from playful to somber.
“What?”
“You’re sure you don’t feel any side effects from the black blossom? No pain or dizziness or anything like that?” he asked as he reached up and ran his fingers through my hair. “I know we’re finally together, but I keep worrying that somehow I’ve managed to screw it all up anyway.”
“No. I’m perfectly fine.” I gave him my most reassuring smile even as a quick flash of stone floors with spiked furnishings distracted me for a moment. The brief memory flitted away before I could recall when I had ever visited such a cold and forlorn location. I shook myself and focused again on Tie. “More importantly, I’m here with you and nothing is ever going to keep me from you again.”
“Amen to that,” he fervently whispered.
We all sat at a circular table at Jerry’s Diner awaiting the arrival of Angie, while Tie did his very best to not laugh at the way her tardiness grated on Victor’s nerves. As of right now, we were lying low in a partly rundown area of Portland, Oregon, sharing a few rooms in an even less promising Motel 6, and figuring out our next move. The goal at this point was to get to Kagami before any more nekomata found us.
“I already ordered for everyone before you all finally decided to grace me with your presence,” Victor said in a tight voice.
“Of course you did.” Tie shook his head and then looked down at me, giving me a smile. He took in Victor’s gruff manner with easy aplomb. “I’m assuming you ordered the bare necessities.”
“Toast and eggs.”
“What? No pancakes?” Angie said in outrage. She took the seat between Victor and Kirby, while Ms. Mori glared at her.
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“You’ve kept us all waiting for quite some time,” she said. She scooted her chair forward on the other side of Victor and leaned in to make eye contact with Angie. “Do you not understand how urgent it is that we keep moving?”
Angie sighed, “Then why are we sitting?”
Victor pinched the bridge of his nose in tired defeat. “Let’s try to get through a discussion without the usual arguments, okay?”
We remained silent as the waitress delivered several plates of charred toast and runny eggs. I couldn’t for the life of me understand how these kami could be so cheap. They were thousands of years old.
Didn’t they have a savings account?
Tie must have read my mind—either that or he was just as unimpressed with our spread as I was—because he caught our server’s attention.
“I’m sorry, but can we get five more plates of pancakes and an order of your gourmet donuts please?”
“Sure thing, sweetie,” she said, giving him a flirtatious smile.
“You just can’t help but charm every female within a thirty foot radius, can you?” I asked.
He turned a sweet smile on me and his eyes softened a little.
“What other female could possibly matter now?”
Kirby let out some gagging noises and elbowed Tie in the ribs.
“I’ll never be able to choke down my food,” he teased.
I gave him an affectionate smile, grateful his mother was too busy filming a movie in the UK to care about his miraculous recovery. Surprise, surprise….and super convenient for us. I had no intention of ever letting that woman take Kirby anywhere. And Heaven bless his sweet temperament—he was just jazzed to be here sans cancer.
I looked up and caught Victor’s grimace as he took Tie and me in. I almost gave him a frown, but then I noticed the aching pain in his eyes, and decided to cut him some slack. I belonged to someone else, and he was handling it about as well as any guy possibly could.
“There are a few things that need to be discussed, but foremost on the list is this false connection between you and Tie,” Victor said. His firm resolve to thoroughly talk this issue to death was obvious in the set of his jaw and his unblinking stare.