by C. J. Anaya
“A heavenly sight. I take it I died and entered paradise?” he said in a throaty tone.
Angie rolled her eyes. “You are a dork, Bishu. You’re also very much alive.”
He groaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position. “I feel as if I’ve been pummeled repeatedly in the jaw.
I stifled a laugh as Angie bit the inside of her cheek in chagrin.
“It was for your own good. You kept thrashing around,” I said.
Bishu lifted a hand to scratch at his mangy hair, mangy hair that was no longer there. As his eyes registered the feel of his long, dark hair between his human fingers, he froze for a moment and then brought his hand in front of his face. He lifted the other one and flexed his fingers one by one. He patted his chest, looked at his legs, and then touched the high cheek bones and smooth contours of his face.
“I’m me,” he said in wonder. “You…you did it, Healer.”
“Just make sure all of the necessary parts are still there,” Tie said with a sly look on his face.
I punched him in the arm.
“Oh, my word, you are such a guy,” Angie said in disgust. “Hope just performed a miracle and all you can think about are Bishu’s family jewels.”
“I’d rather not have anyone worrying about my family jewels, but I think Tie’s point is valid,” Bishu said. “I might want to have children someday. I’d hate for them to be born with paws and fangs.”
“The god of war having kids, huh? Now I’ve heard everything,” Angie said as she stood. “Just make sure you discuss the possible mutations with your future wife.”
A teasing glint entered Bishu’s eyes.
Oh, no. He wouldn’t…
“But I am discussing it with you, Angela.”
He would.
A speechless Angie is about as uncommon as common sense. I decided to bask in the moment and continue enjoying these events unfold like I would a telenovella.
Coming on the tail end of Victor’s not so subtle play for Angie, I wasn’t surprised when his jaw clenched and his stormy eyes raised to Angie’s in a challenging stare down.
It’s like he was asking her, Who you gonna choose?
Victor had tried to get his head in the game, but Bishu totally cut him off.
Bishu: 2
Victor: 0
Okay, maybe I’d give him half a point for a valiant attempt.
Angie’s eyes bounced from Bishu’s suggestive gaze to Victor’s infuriated one before she turned on her heel and walked away.
My stifled mirth could no longer be contained.
“I never thought I’d see the day when Angie became flustered…by anybody…even a god of fortune,” Tie said, in amusement.
“Bishu, I think we should have a discussion concerning your intentions toward Angie,” Victor said.
Bishu looked to his left and took Victor in. “I would think I just made my intentions very clear. You, on the other hand, have been tip-toeing around your feelings for her, leaving her experiencing nothing but confusion. Since you have made no move to claim her, I feel justified in my pursuit.”
Oh, snap!
Tie rested his head on my shoulder, attempting to muffle his laughter. I wasn’t doing much better. Talk about a wake-up call and a kick in the pants. When Bishu wanted something, apparently he went after it. Couldn’t fault the god for being decisive.
Victor puffed his chest out, his eyes flashing his dismay. “I have every intention of making a move. I just did, in fact, but then you had to ruin everything by waking up.”
“Interrupt, you mean?”
“What?”
“I was already awake and thoroughly enjoying my resting spot in Angela’s lap,” he said. He gave Victor a smirk. “But I wasn’t about to lie there and wait for her to take you up on your offer. Don’t you remember anything I taught you, Victor? He who hesitates…” he drifted off and waited for Victor’s response, but all he got was a grudging nod from him.
Bishu stuck his hand out as a peace offering to Victor who reluctantly shook it, and then he gingerly stood on his feet, thanked me for saving him, and headed toward the temple.
Victor watched him walk away, a fierce determination hardening the lines of his face, morphing indecision into firm resolve.
“He who hesitates?” I asked him.
“Is last,” he replied, “and I do not intend to come in last ever again.” He stood up and followed Bishu toward the temple.
Now just Tie and I remained, seated on the grassy floor with a beheaded nekomata a few yards from us.
Terribly romantic.
“That was quite the show,” Tie said. “Can I tell you how happy I am that Bishu is the one at odds with Victor instead of me?”
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Can I tell you how happy I am that we’re not at odds with each other? I know we still have Amatsu to deal with, but I’m glad you feel like I’m worth fighting for.”
He gingerly reached for me, pulling me snug into his arms and planting soft kisses along my brow, cheek, and jaw-line.
“I said a lot of things to you when you were trapped in that statue. I know you weren’t mentally present for most of that, but I’ll never forget the hours I spent sitting in front of your statue sharing my thoughts and feelings, the events of the day, begging you for your forgiveness, and hoping against hope that somehow, when you were reborn, you would remember us…me.” He buried his face in my neck and breathed in deep. “I wanted so badly for you to remember me.”
“I did remember you.” He pulled back a little, brushing some stray hairs from my cheek. “And I’m not talking about the coma that brought everything back. I had brief memories of us together, of you kissing me, all of those feelings resurfacing in a way that left no doubt in my mind, somehow we knew each other.”
His eyes grew bright with emotion. His lips slowly met mine in a soft, sweet kiss.
“I wanted it to be you,” I whispered against his mouth. “It was always you.”
His kiss deepened this time. Filling my heart with all of the happiness, love, and peace we both deserved to share with one another. I allowed myself to forget every obstacle before us and fully immersed myself in this moment. I knew it would fortify me against the rough patches ahead.
***
After checking to make sure no one else among their ranks was a nekomata in disguise, the monks went back to their various duties, and we all gathered together in the dining hall to discuss our next move.
The seating arrangement had shifted in a noticeable way. Ms. Mori and Kirby sat next to me and Tie. Kirby made it obvious he wanted his mom from another life seated right next to me. I got the impression that he desired more harmony between the two women he loved most, but I wasn’t so certain he truly understood how impossible that was going to be.
Victor and Bishu left a seat available between them, no doubt hoping Angie would be stupid enough to sit down and willingly submit herself to the tug-of-war likely to ensue. She wisely chose a seat at the end of the table where Daiki sat on one side and Hachiman on the other. She also avoided the two gods’ disappointed stares and engaged Daiki in conversation. My dad had absolutely no idea what was going on, and cluelessly planted himself in between Victor and Bishu, furthering their disappointment.
There were a lot of personal issues needing to be aired out, but I knew that would never happen. The only thing left to address at this point was our plan of action and route to the palace.
Ms. Mori and Victor began arguing the advantages of leaving tonight as opposed to waiting until tomorrow morning. My father thought it better for everyone if we actually had time to pack some provisions and get the sleep we never managed to achieve due to my impromptu kidnapping.
For the record, not a fan of being kidnapped. That was getting old real fast.
“We can settle on a departure time in a few minutes,” Tie said. “What we really need to consider is how we’re going to mask Hope’s presence once we leave the enchantments. Amatsu has a bead on her where
abouts at all times because of that bond. We won’t exactly have the element of surprise when we arrive at the palace.”
Victor let out a grunt of dismay. “I didn’t even think about that. I’m sure they’re expecting us to make a play for the prophecy, but with Hope essentially playing the role of live homing beacon, they’ll know where we are and when we arrive.”
“Tie, explain to me how you were able to mask my daughter’s presence for so long,” my father said.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Angie said.
Tie’s brow wrinkled in thought. “I guess the best way to explain that is to discuss the energy housed within a person’s ki. Everyone operates on a specific frequency.”
“Frequency? You mean, like radio waves?” Kirby asked.
Tie nodded. “Your energy lets off specific patterns of frequency at a specific level that is unique to each individual. It can fluctuate according to your emotional and mental health, but for the most part, the core energy you possess remains the same. Those frequencies bounce off the veil and identify the owner. When I masked Hope’s energy signature, I interrupted the frequency her energy emitted.”
“So, it’s like listening to the radio and then losing the signal when you go through a concrete tunnel or travel through mountains,” Kirby clarified.
“Right. But Amatsu’s bond is at the center of her heart. I can mask what she emits as it comes off her body, but the demon god can’t be blocked from within.”
“Is it possible to place a barrier around the bond itself?” my father asked. “From what I’ve gathered, you’ve managed to prevent the black spot within her heart from spreading by barricading it with energy from your ki. Doesn’t the same principle apply internally when blocking her energy signature?”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Victor said.
“It’s like Kirby’s concrete tunnel.” He was really warming up to the subject now. “You just have to focus it internally. Use more power to form an impenetrable wall around the black spot and disrupt the signal.”
I had no idea how we could create something like that, but Tie nodded like it might be possible.
“It would take a lot of power to disrupt the signal internally. Especially since her core is where it all originates.”
“Then every immortal in the group must offer up some of our energy to overpower the demon’s bond with Hope,” Bishu said. “If we create it together, it might hold for a very long time.”
“I say we try,” Ms. Mori said. She touched my shoulder and gave it a squeeze, shocking the crap outta me in the process. “It may stop the growth of the bond, which buys us all more time.”
My look was speculative, but her smooth features gave nothing away.
From anyone else, that slight physical contact seemed normal, but from Ms. Mori it felt like a monumental gesture on her part.
“Let’s do it and see what happens,” Daiki said.
All of the kami at the table slowly rose to their feet. Tie helped me to a standing position and I allowed him to draw me away from the table where he, Daiki, Hachiman, Victor, Bishu, and Ms. Mori formed a circle around me. Then they each lifted their right hands and rested the tips of their fingers on top of my head.
“We connect with her at the same time,” Tie said. “Once we do so, find me at the center of her heart and slowly add your energy to the barricade I create.”
“Slowly,” Hachiman warned. “This is not a process any of us are familiar with. We can’t overload her system.”
Well, that was less than comforting. Not that I didn’t trust this group, but blocking energy and messing with frequencies didn’t sound like an activity you lightheartedly experimented upon.
“Agreed.” Tie nodded. “Just to be certain we avoid that very thing, let’s connect with her one-by-one.”
Tie went first. His warm golds and amber colors, worked as a balm against my raw nerves. His ki circled around the black dot within the center of my heart and acted as a lighthouse for the others to follow. I didn’t see any colors with the other kami, no surprise there, but I felt their distinct personalities enter my subconscious as the energy from their ki connected and traveled along my veins, straight to my heart.
With each new addition, an electrical buzz grew within me. The buzz built to a persistent humming sound, similar to the sounds of a hummingbird’s fluttering wings, providing there was actually an entire flock of them. Hot, white light burst forth, encasing my heart in a golden substance that looked like sunlit nectar. The buzzing noise receded into the background and one-by-one, each connection disappeared until Tie was the only one left. The warmth of his ki administered a gentle caress against mine before he too disengaged from the contact.
My eyelids fluttered and then opened. I stared straight into Hachiman’s curious glance and then looked at Victor. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment and then his expression lightened.
“I think it worked,” he said. “I can’t get a read on her ki at all, and I should be able to feel something bouncing off the veil.”
“It worked,” Tie agreed in a grim tone. “But we’re also going to be at a disadvantage now.”
“Why?” I asked.
“By blocking you internally, we’ve also blocked ourselves. If at any point during our journey to the palace, we are separated, I won’t be able to track you. None of us will.”
Nothing could ever be easy. Two steps forward, one step back.
I reached for his hand and he responded by pulling me into his arms.
“Then we better not get separated.”
***
After a few more minutes of debate, we decided that leaving first thing in the morning was for the best. Hachiman’s argument that the demon god would still assume I was within the enchantments due to his inability to sense me bought us a little bit of time.
The organizational skills of the monks at the temple were off the charts. The next morning we had bedding, weapons, and food to last us a few weeks. According to Hachiman, it would only take a few days to travel through the forest and circle round to the west side of the palace. The travel sounded easy enough until Daiki began his lecture on the plants and animals we might encounter.
Soon we were all gathered together at the entrance of our sanctuary, waiting to take that first frightening step out into a world we probably weren’t ready to explore. Each of us carried our own packs of food and bedding, but the majority of our supplies were in an ancient looking cart pulled by a sturdy horse.
“A Yonaguni,” Tie said to me as he helped me with my pack.
“A what?”
“The horse is a Yonaguni. Used mostly in farming. There aren’t very many left in Japan, and I can’t remember the last time I saw one here in Kagami. I had one myself several centuries ago when I owned a small farm. Brings back some good memories.”
I gave him a quizzical look, realizing that I had more to learn about Tie than most girls did about their boyfriends. Several hundred years worth of thoughts, experiences, deeply rooted beliefs, and customs to come to understand. An eternity with Tie might never be enough.
“What was your horse’s name?” I asked.
He handed me a bottle of water with an enigmatic smile. “Hope, of course.”
I shook my head in amusement. “I’m touched.”
“You should be.”
“Okay, listen up everyone,” Daiki said. “There are a few rules we need to go over before we proceed. First, no one is allowed to wander off on their own. Anywhere we go, we must go as a group. There is much safety in numbers. Second, do not eat any plants within the woods. Due to the poison permeating the veil from the underworld, everything within the woods has been affected in some way. I have no way of knowing which plants are toxic to the touch or toxic to the stomach, so avoid them all to the best of your ability. Third, we travel quietly. Something we should do in order to avoid nekomata, but also necessary due to the aggressiveness of the forest predators.” He paused in his oratory to take us in. “Do
es everyone understand the severity of this undertaking?”
We all gave him solemn nods of affirmation.
His worry for the group as a whole made me wonder if the situation we were walking into would be far worse than simply facing Amatsu on our own and being done with it.
Hachiman deftly created a fissure through the enchantment, separating the vibrant beams of golden light and creating a pathway for us to exit through. We filed out of the grounds for the last time, and with great trepidation, began our journey through the forest of Yanbaru toward the Ivory Palace.
For several hours we followed Hachiman single file, stepping where he stepped, falling into a hushed silence punctuated by the group’s intense paranoia. I kept Kirby directly in front of me. Angie’s warning concerning his inevitable death continued to crop up within my mind like a sinister shadow refusing to dissipate. His death and the unraveling of the veil happened the day after tomorrow. The pit in my stomach had become a wide chasm filled with anxiety and dread. Tie stayed right behind me, my father at his heels. Daiki, Hachiman, and Ms. Mori remained ahead of our party while Bishu and Victor flank us with Angie in their midst.
I was pretty sure she didn’t care to be sandwiched between them, but considering the danger we all faced, I was happy to let her dangle there in awkwardness if it meant she had two warrior gods playing the role of beefy bodyguards.
The morning and afternoon passed without a hitch. We took frequent breaks to rest our feet and snack on provisions, but only after Daiki and Hachiman scouted the area to make certain the trees and plant life were subdued. I was way too afraid to ask them what might happen if the trees and plant life were having a bad day.
Evening found us with our sleeping bags arranged in a large circle. A small fire burned in the center. Ms. Mori and I boiled rice while Daiki and Hachiman prepared more ramen. A few vegetables were boiled as well, and soon our simple fare seemed like a feast.
Angie sat down next to me and began stuffing her face with food. It wasn’t lost on me that she’d slipped her sleeping bag next to mine. Not that I was complaining.