The Fractured Soul

by Nicolette Andrews

  “Are you saying I shouldn’t marry Kaito?” she asked.

  He tipped his hand, letting the petal fall once more. “I am saying that happiness, like these blossoms, can be fleeting. It is better to appreciate it while you have it, rather than worry about when it will be gone.”

  She shook her head as she rolled her eyes. Leave it to Souta to start spewing philosophy. “But the outcome doesn’t change. Even past happiness cannot erase future despair.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder in a grandfatherly gesture, “How can you be certain if you’ve never let yourself be happy?”

  Her mouth dropped open, and he smiled. With a quick pat, he turned and walked away whistling under his breath. For most of her life, she had always been seeking out future happiness. When she was married to the right man, when she had the power she craved, she thought she would be happy. But had she ever stopped to try and be happy with what she had in that moment? She wasn’t sure.

  A crash came from nearby, and Suzume swiveled to see where it had come from.

  Tsuki strode toward her, or was it Akira. It was hard to see them clearly in the dark.

  “You scared the life out me what are you—” She swallowed her words.

  He had stepped out of the shadows and moonlight glinted off the edge of their blade as they looked at her with eyes like dark bottomless pits.

  “What’s wrong with your—” before she could even finish her sentence, he swung his sword at her head.

  8

  Suzume ducked to avoid the sweep of Tsuki’s blade. As she backed away, he stalked closer. This wasn’t Tsuki; it was as if something had possessed him. She reached for her staff and grasped nothing. Tsuki thrust his blade at her, and she dodged by rolling on the ground. She sprung up and clenched her fist as she called for her flame. Tsuki charged her, swinging his blade in a wide arc, forcing her to retreat behind the nearby sakura tree. Sparks lit along her fingertips, but it was nowhere near the blaze she needed to defend herself. The power was there, right beneath the surface. She could feel it broiling inside her, desperate for a release, but try as she might it wouldn’t come to her summons. Tsuki hacked at the trunk of the sakura inches from her face, and she bolted back for the veranda.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Tsuki,” she shouted as he gave chase to her.

  A meager flame filled her palm, flickered, and died. Why was her power failing her now? After months of practice, she could summon it without a problem. Maybe she needed her staff, to better channel her power. If she could just subdue Tsuki, they could figure out what had taken hold of him. Her chamber wasn’t far away, and Tsuki was closing in as he slashed everything in his path to get to her. She threw open her door and stumbled inside. Her staff, where was it. Earlier she had thrown it down on her bed.

  Suzume tossed aside her blanket and upended the futon, but it wasn’t there. Fear lodged in her throat.

  A crash rattled through the room, and she spun as Tsuki burst through the shattered remains of her chamber door.

  On the floor between them was her staff, she must have overlooked it. Tsuki loomed in the doorway, an aberration of himself. His eyes were black and without pupils, and the features a peculiar mix of Akira and Tsuki, her round cheeks, and his angular jawline. Akira’s lips but Tsuki’s brows. It was as if someone had mixed them together. He stalked closer, and she pounced on her staff. But Tsuki was quicker to it and plucked it off the ground holding it above her head.

  “Looking for this?” he taunted, in a grotesque mimicry of Tsuki’s typical teasing. His voice echoed as if two people were talking at once.

  “I don’t know what happened to you, but let’s talk this out,” Suzume held up her hands in surrender as he slowly moved toward her, sword in one hand and her staff in the other.

  A sinister smile crossed his expression; it curled up the corners of his mouth in a bizarre fashion, that was vaguely familiar. The hairs on her neck stood on end; she knew this smile. It was Hisato’s.

  “What have you done to them, Hisato?” Suzume said, as she backed up, he inched closer. There was nowhere for her to go, but the balcony, and beyond that was a long drop into the ocean. Even if she could swim, the fall to the water below might just kill her. One hand behind her back, she tried to summon her flames to no avail. It was as if someone had put a damper upon them, she couldn’t call for it as easily. If only Souta and Hikaru were here, their resonance might be enough.

  “We are not Hisato,” their voices echoed together as if two voices were speaking at once.

  “You’re not Akira or Tsuki, either.”

  “No.” Their smile faded for a moment. The skin bubbled and twitched as if something was alive and crawling beneath their skin. They grasped their skull and growled. The white was returning to their eyes, and just for a moment, she thought she saw Akira.

  She lurched forward and grasped for the staff. Her fingers barely grazed it before they were yanking it out of her grip. Suzume fell forward onto her knees, and pivoted to face them.

  They shook their head, and the pupiless eyes returned. They tilted their head to Suzume, in a mocking bow, they escaped out the door to the balcony. Suzume chased after them, but it was too late. They jumped over the railing and plunged into the crashing waves below. Grasping the edge of the railing, she scoured the white-capped waves crashing upon the rocks below. Thankfully she didn’t spot their shattered body on those jagged rocks. She held her breath, and in a few heartbeats, their head popped up between swells, her staff clutched in one hand they swam for the shore.

  She had to catch them before they got too far away. As she burst out of her room, she was greeted by Naoki and Kaito

  “Are you hurt.” Kaito rushed over to her, grasping her by the shoulder, he scanned her up and down.

  Even now, when Tsuki and Akira were being controlled by Hisato, his touch made her stomach do backflips. She shook away the thought and removed Kaito’s hand from her shoulder.

  “I’m fine, it’s Tsuki and Akira that are the problem. They’ve been possessed. “

  “Did they try to hurt you, I’ll rip their throats out.” Kaito bared his teeth and scanned the area as if they would materialize before him.

  “It has to be Hisato, there’s no other explanation.” But how had he reached them, they were always in the palace or by her side. Unless that day, when the hybrids had attacked, they’d run into Hisato. If they had, why hadn’t they said anything? They knew he could take control of people...

  “I will capture them,” Naoki said.

  “I’m coming to, it was my staff they took.” She looked to Kaito, jutting out her chin, challenging him to try and stop her. Her flame might have abandoned her, but she wasn’t going to stand by while her friends were in danger. He might think she was a teacup that would easily shatter, but she would prove to him otherwise.

  “We’ll need to move quickly if we want to capture them before they get away,” Kaito said and strode toward the exit.

  Suzume’s mouth fell open. Was Kaito possessed as well?

  “Coming?” he asked with a quirked brow and the ghost of a smile.

  She cleared her throat. “Yes.”

  “Get on my back, we’ll move faster if I carry you,” Kaito squatted down for her to climb on. She hesitated for a moment. It was her impulse to argue with him, but he was right. They would move faster if he carried her, Tsuki and Akira had already gotten a big head start.

  Reaching out a cautious hand, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Hold on tight,” Kaito said.

  And she clung on tighter, her chest pressed against his back. Every inch where their skin touched felt as if it were aflame, and her face flushed. Either Kaito didn’t notice the rapid beat of her heart, or he was kind enough to not point it out. Kaito vaulted upward onto the roof of the nearest building. Noaki followed close behind them as they raced over the tops of the palace. And when they reached the courtyard, Suzume held her breath as he flew over the edge. Suzume yelped and c
lung tighter to Kaito.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall,” he said with a laugh.

  “You better not, I still don’t know how to swim.”

  “I would never let you go.” His voice rumbled through her, and her blush deepened. He couldn’t have meant it like that, could he?

  But Kaito was doing a lot of things that surprised her lately. They sailed over the waves and landed on the beach beyond.

  “We’re going to go even faster now,” Kaito warned her seconds before he dashed along the shore, kicking up sand in his wake.

  Down the coast, Tsuki and Akira had swum to shore and were heading for the forest, which bordered the shoreline. If they made it, they would lose them among the trees.

  “Head them off,” Kaito instructed Noaki.

  Noaki nodded before splitting off from them on a direct trajectory with Tsuki and Akira. Though they had a head start, Noaki’s speed surpassed theirs. Before they could reach the forest, Naoki cut them off, his swords drawn. Tsuki, too drew Suzume’s staff and his own blade as he charged at Noaki.

  Kaito slowed a distance from them, letting Suzume off his back. This was where he would tell her to hide and wait for him and Noaki to handle everything. She clenched her hand into a fist, preparing her retort.

  “You go to the right, I’ll go left, and we’ll pin them between the three of us,” Kaito said to her.

  She blinked at him a few times. Had she heard him correctly?

  “You go it?” he confirmed, meeting her gaze. There was no playful smirk or tease in his tone. He was being sincere, he wanted her to fight beside him, as his equal.

  She nodded her head, she was too shocked to form words. Then did that mean when he complimented her in front of the yokai, or declared her as his future wife was he really sincere?

  Swords clanged, and Suzume shook her head. Now was not the time for dissecting her relationship with Kaito. Tsuki and Akira needed her. Face burning, she ran into position.

  “You cannot hope to defeat us. Together our spiritual energy is much greater than yours, guardian,” they said in that uncanny echoing tone.

  Noaki did not bother to respond, instead swung his blades in a shimmering blur, forcing them onto their back foot. They circled one another trading blows one after another, as Suzume and Kaito closed in on either side. Her flame was there just beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed. She only had to grasp it. But as she clenched and unclenched her fist, it would not heed her command. She strained and grunted, only earning a few fizzling sparks.

  Noaki stumbled backward, falling onto the ground, and Tsuki crowed in triumph. It was a sound like the howl of the wolf that rattled her down to her bones. Tsuki swung toward her, leaving Noaki unmoving on the ground. How was it possible? Noaki and Tsuki had sparred countless times, and not once had Tsuki defeated Naoki.

  Tsuki closed in on her, the plan had changed. From behind Tsuki, Kaito nodded. She needed to only distract him long enough for Kaito to sneak up and immobilize him.

  “Don’t come any closer.” Suzume held up her hand, and a few meager embers fell from her palm.

  “Don’t waste your effort, you won’t be able to summon the flame,” they said, a dark miasma spewed from their hands and encircled the staff.

  What was that? Had whatever Hisato done to them, made them stronger?

  “Tsuki, Akira, I know you’re in there, you don’t have to do this,” Suzume said. Kaito was getting closer, just a few seconds more...

  Tsuki threw his head back in laughter. “You pretend to be our friend, but we were merely tools to you. Hisato has freed us, given us the power we crave.”

  “No.” She knew Tsuki and Akira were her friends, they wouldn’t betray her this way.

  Kaito surged forward, his claws extended ready to attack. But as he closed in, Tsuki threw out his arm, and a shimmering black barrier enclosed them. Suzume’s eyes were wide as they closed in on her, but as she turned to run, another blast of energy took her off her feet and threw her across the sand.

  She rolled over, spitting out sand, as Tsuki closed in.

  No. This was Hisato’s trick, she refused to believe otherwise. She just had to call up the song of binding. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but as she tried to summon the words, they tangled inside her, as if an invisible hand was choking her. The power was within her, the staff was nothing but a tool. She didn’t need it to defeat them. She was getting stronger. She just needed to concentrate. She tried to summon up the energy, the flame, but nothing came. Tsuki stalked over to her.

  She crawled backward and away.

  “You’re nothing without the staff, without us. And we will never be your slaves again.”

  She tried to crawl away but collided with an invisible barrier. Tsuki held her staff up, dark miasma was pouring out from it as he brought it down toward her.

  Suzume closed her eyes and threw her arms out, preparing for the strike. But it never came.

  She opened her eyes, and Noaki had hold of the staff. His hair had come undone from his usual top knot and fell in his face. A trickle of blood ran down from a gash on his forehead. The dark mist that covered the staff, burned and blistered his palms.

  “Enough,” he growled.

  Tsuki only smirked. “We’ve made our choice. You cannot stop us now, Hisato has made us too powerful.”

  They pushed against one another, pushing Noaki’s heels into the sand. Then Tsuki tilted his head to the side, as if hearing a silent call. The smile on his face disappeared.

  “Fate has spared you, for today. But we will meet again soon and get our revenge.” He shoved Noaki backward before leaping into the air and rushing for the trees and out of sight. Suzume wanted to chase after them, but before she could get more than a few feet. Kaito caught her wrist and held her back. She spun around to face him.

  “Don’t hold me back, they took my staff.” Her breath was heaving, her head spinning. Tsuki and Akira had chosen Hisato? How? It felt like a bad dream, one that she would wake from any moment.

  “You did everything you could, but going after them now would be suicide,” he said, there was a strange look in his gaze, and she thought she knew what it was. It was the feeling of betrayal, they’d lost their friends to Hisato.

  Akira woke with a foul taste in her mouth. Her head pounded as if she’d drank an eons-old sake. Sitting up, she blinked and squinted into the moonlight. Even the dim light made her head throb. Closing her eyes, she massaged her temple. Her hair was wet and coated in sand, as were her clothes. What she could take in through her blurred vision of her surroundings was an unfamiliar beach, a cove surrounded by cliffs on all sides. How had they gotten here? Where was here?

  “Why does everything hurt?” Tsuki asked through their bond.

  She stood up on wobbling legs. “Did you get drunk again? I don’t remember you drinking…” The last she remembered was trying to remove the dissonance in their souls and then...

  “You’re awake then?” said the Water of Kazue’s soul.

  Moonlight played tricks on the eyes, because the water of Kazue’s soul for a moment had looked just like Kazue. But as she blinked a few times, she returned to this young woman, with a smiling face and ancient eyes. She’d ordered them to do something... It was all a fuzzy blur. And they’d come here. Why?

  “Thank you for bringing me the staff.” She held up the staff, ribbons of blue aura ran up and down it. The staff had accepted her as its mistress. It shouldn’t be possible, only Kazue could hold the staff. The only reason Suzume could wield it was because she had Kazue’s heart. Whatever the reason for it, they were bound to serve whoever held the staff. Which meant she was their new mistress.

  Panic spiked through her veins. She refused, Suzume, though lacking in skill, had never hurt them. This fragment had already proved her willingness to get what she wanted by any means necessary. They needed a plan, a way to escape before she forced them to do even more heinous deeds. She imagined Suzume had not given up the staf
f willingly.

  The water of Kazue’s soul smiled again. It was a patronizing sort of smile. As if she saw them as children, or perhaps her pets.

  “You can feel it, can’t you. The darkness, his darkness, it corrupts, changes, unless it is welcomed. I didn’t want to use force on you, I hoped you would come willingly.”

  Hisato’s darkness. That was what it was, it should have been obvious. Her unusual amount of strength, it all made sense now. But now that she knew she could find a way to work around it.

  “Are you hoping to use the staff to lure out Suzume? She won’t come alone, The Dragon and the others will help her,” Akira said.

  “Keep her distracted, and at the last moment, I’ll take control and strike, catch her by surprise,” Tsuki said through their bond. It was one of those times she was glad for his recklessness.

  “I wouldn’t do what you’re plotting together. I can hear your thoughts, and I will be able to anticipate any move you make.”

  A cold chill went down her spine as she looked wide-eyed at the water of Kazue’s soul. Even Kazue didn’t have this sort of power when she was living.

  “You keep thinking of me as the water of Kazue’s soul. I’m not a mere fragment. I am Kazue, I have been reborn.”

  9

  A cold wind blew off the snowy mountain top and sent a chill down Rin’s spine. It had been centuries since Rin stepped foot on the tengu mountain. Not since before the fall of The Dragon, when she’d been nothing more than a mere messenger. Now she arrived as his emissary. After Akira and Tsuki’s betrayal, she’d been hesitant to leave. But The Dragon had insisted that they carried on as usual. He was counting on her and Hikaru, after all. It would have been filled with pride if her first mission had been anywhere but here. Damn Shin, back only a few weeks and already causing problems. If she were fortunate, she could see the Tengu Elder, without the need for any awkward encounters.

  A flurry of snow obscured the path ahead, and Hikaru pulled the collar of his coat closer to his neck. Clouds of vapor escaped as he huffed a breath while trudging through the snow. Being half-human, he felt the cold more keenly than she did. And the trek up the mountain had been more arduous. The tengu she remembered were known for their hospitality, and very soon, they would be by a warm fire, with a hot bowl of soup to fill their empty bellies. In the meantime, they’d have to make do with shared body warmth. Rin wrapped her arm and bushy tail around Hikaru, and he unfurled his hands to put an arm around her waist, bringing her side flush with his. Movement was slower, but she preferred it this way. It seemed so rare that they had moments alone like this.