by C. J. Anaya
Impressive.
I noticed he remained defensive rather than aggressive. I figured he didn’t want to hurt anyone.
“Guys, stop,” I cried out. “Tie please make them stop. Bishu helped me escape.”
He looked at me incredulously. “You named that thing? Are you crazy? We are the ones helping you escape. I want to know where the rest of these monsters are.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” I said. My attention was averted by a loud warrior cry as Angie ran at my hairy friend, leaped in the air, hooked her leg up around Bishu’s neck and swung her body around, slamming him to the ground.
It was pretty amazing. The sight of tiny Angie taking on the biggest nekomata I’d ever seen made me feel as if I was right in the middle of a UFC match. I had no idea she could move like that, and I was pretty sure the only reason she was able to take him down in the first place was because Bishu was trying not to hurt her. He was simply too strong to allow a teenage girl to pin him to the ground, yet pin him she had, holding a sharp dagger to his throat.
I let out a disbelieving snort. Angie was so frickin’ awesome, even if he had let her do it.
“Will everyone just stop for a moment?” I yelled.
Victor and Ms. Mori halted on their way to assist Angie, giving me a questioning look.
“He must be dealt with before we move on,” Ms. Mori stated.
“You don’t understand,” I said as I moved out of Tie’s protective grip. “This nekomata is my friend. He helped me escape.” I reached Angie and placed a restraining hand on her shoulder just in case she got the urge to ignore me and make quick work of Bishu’s throat.
She peered up at me and shook her head. “You can’t be serious. You just decided to adopt a house pet?”
Bishu let out a chuckle which earned him a glare from my best friend. She pointed her dagger in his face.
“I don’t know how you’ve managed to brainwash my bestie, but there is no way I’m letting you go.”
“I’m certainly happy to hear it,” Bishu stated. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve had the pleasure of a fiery red-head’s company, and such a beautiful one at that.”
Angie gave him a wicked grin.
“If you think flattery is going to work on me, you must know that it’s not very effective coming from a monster with eye teeth the length of my forearm.”
“A gross exaggeration. My fangs are merely as long as the length of your hand.”
I stared at the two of them in bemusement. It was like they were flirting in some weird way. Their banter was surprising. What was even more surprising was the obvious interest glinting within Bishu’s eyes.
Did he have a thing for gingers?
“Enough of this,” Victor barked, eying Angie and her current position atop the god of fortune with annoyance.
“This twisted being must not be allowed to live,” Ms. Mori pressed.
“Chinatsu, I hoped you might have forgiven me by now for arranging your marriage to Fukurokuju,” Bishu stated in a calm voice. “But I understand your wish to dispose of me. Marriage to him must have been pure hell.”
Her head snapped around in surprise.
“Bishamonten?” she said uncertainly.
“What? It can’t be,” Victor cried out.
“I assure you, Victor, though I may look slightly different, I am still the same mentor who taught you how to shoot your first bow.”
“Slightly?” Victor stepped closer, examining Bishu’s prone figure in horror. “How in the world did this happen?”
“Fukurokuju handed him over to Amatsu’s minions after the samurai rebels were decimated,” I said.
“I knew it,” Tie muttered coming up behind me. “I knew Fukurokuju had imprisoned the gods of fortune. How many are left, Bishamonten?”
Bishu glanced lazily at Angie before he responded.
“Three, if they survived. I haven’t been allowed any contact with them since I was imprisoned in the Underworld a thousand years ago. I have no idea if they’ve become just like me or if they still maintain their godliness.”
He continued to explain what had happened to him and how he came to be numbered among the nekomata meant to kidnap me and bring me to Amatsu. I noticed Angie didn’t release him, and didn’t seem aware when his large paw softly grasped her wrist and lowered the knife away from his throat. She was far too engrossed in his story. I thought it was hilarious how at ease she seemed sitting on top of him like that. I mean, even pinned to the floor he was still an intimidating creature.
“Angie, I think you can get off Bishamonten now,” Victor said. Though he masked his irritation well, I could tell her continued presence atop Bishu’s chest seriously pissed him off.
Good.
She blinked in surprise and shifted a little. “Sorry about that. You’re surprisingly comfortable to sit on.”
She stuck her dagger in her boot, but before she could make a move to stand, Bishu grabbed her as he moved to a sitting position while Angie let out a little squeak. Then he swept her into his arms and smoothly rose to his feet. Cradled in Bishu’s massive grasp, she appeared even smaller than usual.
He gave her a gentle smile before saying, “Feel free to sit on me anytime you wish, sweet Angela.”
Angie let out a throaty laugh.
My eyebrows rose with Victor’s. She hated her full name, and this giant panther had just addressed her with it in a way that hinted his interest in her.
This wasn’t just good, this was, as Angie liked to say, delicious.
He set her on her feet, but I noticed he kept his paw at her waist to steady her before finally moving away. Angie came forward and wrapped me in a fierce bear hug.
“How dare you allow yourself to get taken by a bunch of nekomata while I worried if I’d ever see you again. I must have aged a good ten years.”
I hugged her back, a huge smile spreading across my face.
“You make it sound as if I had a choice.”
I glanced at Bishu over Angie’s shoulder and noticed his eyes still rested on her. I caught his attention and gave him a questioning look. He simply shrugged his shoulders and lazily licked his snout.
“What exactly does this nekomata’s presence mean for us?” my father asked. He came up to rest a hand on my shoulder. I sensed his frayed nerves required some contact. This entire situation had merely served to aggravate his overprotective tendencies.
“It means we have an ally,” Victor stated. “One of the best, in my opinion. Bishamonten can help tip the balance of any war in the favor of those who fight evil. It’s most likely why Amatsu wanted him so badly. Under the demon god’s influence, Bishamonten can’t interfere.”
“The problem we now face is his current condition,” Ms. Mori said. She sheathed her sword at her back, and walked toward the god of fortune. He held his paw out to her. She took it without hesitation, studying his form with a look of worry in her eyes. “While I’m relieved to see you alive and well, old friend, your abilities as a kami will not be available to us unless you have been redeemed from the evil form you now inhabit.”
“You mean, he can’t help us win the war as a nekomata?” Kirby asked.
I wrapped an arm around him as he closed in next to me. His emotions were jumbled in a good way. The excitement of these latest events in his life and the fact that he was still alive had given him a healthy appreciation for every moment we had together, and while my kidnapping had frightened him, I sensed his initial fear had been less traumatizing for him than it had for Tie or my father. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why that was, but it seemed as if he’d possessed a deep-seated knowledge of my well-being.
Strange. I’d have to ask him about that when we had a little down time. At the moment I was just grateful that he was still alive. Angie had seen his death happen today, but he’d survived the nekomata’s attempt to crash the plane. I felt like I could relax a little now that the danger had passed. My attention returned to Bishu as he exp
lained his physical limitations.
“A kami’s powers are directly tied to the laws of the Universe and the intelligences within our sphere of existence. When our choices work in direct opposition to those laws and intelligences then our power becomes limited. Those intelligences fail to recognize who and what we are or what our powers and capabilities can accomplish. I didn’t choose this existence, something so contrary to my own nature, but the evils of the Underworld slowly worked to change me, and each time that happened, Amatsu was able to use my powers to strengthen his war against good. This only quickened my decline into what you see before you.”
“Until he is brought back to his full glory as a kami, he cannot help us win this war,” Ms. Mori summed up.
“Not with my god-given powers, no, but I can physically fight alongside you all to protect The Healer and all of those whom she loves,” he said.
I noticed Bishu’s eyes lingered on Angie when he said it. I studied my best friend to see if she had noticed, but her gaze was directed at the ground. She gnawed on her bottom lip while working out some problem in her head.
“It seems like I remember something about you being able to change nekomata back into kami,” she said. “In my second life when I was Akane, we discovered that the emperor gave your blood to his generals to drink, and you were tricked into binding that blood to them, making them immortal.”
“You were once Akane Maki, the great commander of the samurai rebels?” Bishu asked in awe.
I’m not sure what surprised me more, Angie’s embarrassed blush or the fact that Bishu knew so much about Akane. He even knew her surname. I didn’t even know that.
“I don’t really remember much about being Akane. I just remember how to fight like she did.”
Bishu stepped toward her and then stopped himself. “You will have to share with me what you do remember when there is more time.”
“Of course,” Angie said.
They stared at each other for a moment, but hell if I could understand why that look was so emotionally charged. As much as I loved the idea of Angie having someone interested in her to make Victor jealous, I was beginning to wonder if there was actually some weird chemistry that existed between my best friend and this misshapen god of fortune. It didn’t make sense to me. This gigantic beast wasn’t exactly Angie’s usual breed of buffoon, but the intensity in their shared look was intimate enough to make me feel like everyone else present was intruding, myself included.
I had not seen this coming.
Tie cleared his throat, glancing between Bishu and Angie in puzzlement before saying, “So Hope needs to bond her blood to your cells to make you whole again. Is that what I’m hearing?”
“Yes,” Bishu ground out. He took a step back, and when he did, I noticed Angie inhale deeply, blinking her eyes a few times like she’d finally broken free of whatever moment she and Bishu had shared together. “Though there are a few complications to this process.”
“Of course there are,” Tie muttered.
“One, the Healer cannot perform the bonding until we are in Kagami.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Reversing the course of one’s existence requires power. And while she is more powerful than most due to the half immortal blood coursing through her veins, The Healer’s mortal half is little help.” He turned his attention to me. “If you had already ascended this would not be an issue, but you will only receive the power you need if we are in Kagami. Due to the ley lines within its empire and the fact that Kagami is enchanted, you are naturally able to draw on the forces of the extra power that Kagami has to offer, which is why you were capable of achieving those previous bondings in the first place.”
“You said a few complications. What other issues are we facing?” Victor asked.
Bishu leveled his gaze at me and suddenly I knew with startling clarity exactly what he planned to reveal. And I really didn’t want everyone finding out like this. Especially Tie.
“Bishu,” I said in warning.
“Better to have it out now, Healer. Your loved ones, especially your soul mate must know what we now face if he is to help you combat this latest threat to your safety.”
Tie moved to me, squeezing his way between my father and Angie and wrapping an arm around me. The feeling was more than wonderful. It was heartbreakingly beautiful, but I wasn’t prepared for how badly this news was going to affect Tie.
“The Healer’s heart has been tainted through no fault of her own. A bond between herself and Amatsu has been forged, and grows more powerful with every second of every day. It will eventually corrupt her powers and prevent her from performing even the most basic of healings. You must purify her ki as much as you possibly can before she attempts to heal me.”
Tie’s grip on my shoulder tightened and all of the color drained from his face. I sensed his despair immediately, but the overwhelming guilt hit me in the gut like a sucker punch. He knew. He knew how the bond had been forged, and there was nothing I could do to take the pain of this realization away from him.
“What are you talking about?” Victor growled. “How can this be? When did the demon god have the opportunity to forge a bond with Hope?”
“He had the perfect opportunity a thousand years ago,” Tie said in a low voice. “And the perfect patsy.” He lifted his chin and stared Victor in the eye when he said, “The bond was forged through The Black Blossom.”
I sat on the concrete near the storage facility as Victor, Tie, and Ms. Mori used the fuel vehicle to gas up our plane. Apparently, the lone plane I noticed when we’d first arrived had in fact belonged to our group. They had simply been waiting to see how many nekomata had kidnapped me, and then hoped to ambush them and save me in the process.
Funny how things work out.
The lights of the runway kept the inky darkness surrounding us at bay. It was probably around five in the morning now, and the lateness…or rather, earliness of the hour made Bishu nervous. He insisted that we leave as quickly as we could. A window of opportunity existed for the nekomata to follow as long as we were grounded.
I completely agreed. The sooner we took off the better. There wasn’t much I could do to help though since I knew nothing about fueling planes or flying them. Fortunately for all of us, immortality presents unlimited amounts of time for pursuing all sorts of hobbies…flying planes included.
I studied Tie as he worked to ready the plane for our departure. He hadn’t been willing to talk to me much after Bishu’s disturbing announcement. His emotions were now firmly shielded behind a wall of ice. At some point I’d expected Victor to verbally attack Tie for screwing up so badly, an I-told-you-so kind of moment for him, but Victor remained considerately silent. I think we all knew that out of everyone in the group, no one was punishing Tie about this horrific turn of events more than Tie himself.
I reluctantly gave him the space he needed and allowed him to push me away for now, but once we were back on that plane, he was going to have to face me…face this…hell, face the concept of us and what we had to do to strengthen our bond and push out the darkness that Bishu claimed was slowly taking up residence within my heart.
Kirby had his head resting on my knee, curled up in a little ball with the cape Bishu had given me wrapped around his boyish frame. A surge of sisterly affection overtook me as I considered how close I’d come to losing this precious brother of mine. I thought about his surprising emotions concerning my kidnapping and decided now was as good a time as any to ask him about it.
“Hey, little bro, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve been reading your emotions without your permission. Not that I have much control over it at the moment.”
He sleepily blinked his eyes and snuggled in closer. “You know I don’t mind that, Hope. Even though I’m a manly man, I’m not embarrassed to let you know how much I care.”
I let out a loud laugh that managed to release a lot of bottled up tension. It felt cleansing and completely necessary. I wiped the corners of m
y eyes, wet from the unexpected mirth.
“You just seemed so calm about things,” I ventured, still unsure what it was I sensed from him. “It’s like you knew that I was alive and well. Like you sensed my mood or possibly the extent of my circumstances and you knew you would find me.”
Kirby sat up in a hurry, eyes eager and bright.
“That’s it, Hope. You just explained it better than I could have. I’ve been trying to figure out why I knew everything was okay with you, but I don’t know. It was just a feeling. A super freaky connection…like I used the force or something to hone in on your ki, only I don’t know how a ki is supposed to feel.” He got quiet suddenly, obviously trying to explain an idea that had been germinating within his thoughts for quite some time. “Whenever you tried to heal me while I was in the hospital, your spirit felt familiar. You felt like family. Like home. I always had these strange thoughts come into my head, like we’ve known each other forever and cared about each other too. That warm, comfortable feeling was something I searched for whenever I closed my eyes and pictured you in my head. It helped to pass the time at the hospital when you couldn’t be there with me.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he still wasn’t satisfied with his explanation. “I guess it just helped to get rid of the loneliness.”
I pulled him into a hug and held him close to my heart.
What Kirby described was the equivalent of a familial bond between spirits. For him to be able to access my ki like that shouldn’t have been possible. Not just because he wasn’t a kami, but because we weren’t blood related. I had no idea what to think of this.
I jumped as Angie plopped down beside me with Bishu following close behind. He’d been her shadow for the last thirty minutes, cracking jokes and asking her questions about her life. Angie had never been shy or hesitant with anyone, but she seemed a little more reserved around Bishu. She definitely enjoyed his company, but her emotions told me it bewildered her. She didn’t understand her fascination with the war god. Bishu’s emotions fluctuated between interest and attraction, but I sensed a little frustration there as well. I think he figured that his attempt at friendship with Angie might go over better if he didn’t look like a scary, giant-sized feline.