The Fractured Soul

by Nicolette Andrews

  Suzume was closing in behind her. Just another few feet. This woman couldn’t be trusted if she had Suzume’s staff.

  “I gave you that name, don’t you remember?” she asked as she took a step toward him.

  Kaito pointed his blade at her throat. He wasn’t fool enough to fall for Hisato’s tricks.

  “I’ve never met you before in my life,” Kaito stuttered.

  “Not in this life, but you knew me before. I hoped you would recognize me.”

  “You’re the water of Kazue’s soul,” Kaito said.

  “No. I am Kazue. The day by the waterfall, when you first told me you loved me, do you remember the promise we made?”

  Kaito was struck cold as he took a second look at the woman standing before him. It couldn’t be. It had to be a trick. He’d never told anyone about that day…

  A song rose up on the air, and Kaito turned as Souta and Suzume closed in. The water of Kazue’s soul turned as well, her eyes wide with panic.

  “Save me—” she reached for him, but the song had already taken hold. She pitched forward, and on impulse, he ran forward, catching her before she could fall.

  Her eyes were fluttering closed. “You promised we would find one another again in my next life...”

  Kaito’s heart thumped in his chest, the old promise that he had long ago buried brought back to light. It couldn’t be real. This woman couldn’t be Kazue’s rebirth, it was impossible because Kazue had torn her soul apart. And yet she held a memory no other soul fragment had.

  “We did it,” Souta said as he picked up Suzume’s staff off the ground and handed it to her.

  She took it without a word, her eyes were trained on him. She had heard everything this woman said. He wanted to explain, to assure her it meant nothing. But she pivoted on her foot and marched away before he could get a word out.

  “Take her back to the palace. We’ll keep her locked up until we know if we can trust her or not,” Kaito handed her over to Shin, who had joined them looking for orders.

  Even if Kazue had been reborn, this changed nothing. His heart belonged to Suzume. But why did he feel so guilty?

  17

  The yuki onna fanned out around Rin and Hikaru. The temperature dropped, and her breath came out in clouds of vapor, and a shiver ran up her spine. Hikaru was trembling with the cold. If it got any colder, he might end up a solid block of ice like the tengu prince. Behind her, the Queen of the yuki onna continued her speech, for now, the bulk of the crowd’s attention was on her. If she could just get through this group, they could get away unscathed, but that meant abandoning their mission to rescue the tengu prince.

  “Follow my lead,” Rin whispered to Hikaru.

  He gave her the barest nod of his head.

  “Sisters, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.” Rin held up her hands in surrender, she’d talked her way out of worse predicaments. Maybe she could get out of this one as well.

  The yuki onna in front of her smiled and revealed rows of jagged pointed teeth.

  “There is no misunderstanding. One of our sisters wouldn’t be affected by the cold as you are,” said the yuki onna directly in front of her.

  With each breath Rin took, she exposed herself, none of the yuki onna’s breath clouded in the air.

  Rin forced a laugh and shook her head. “What do you mean?”

  They closed in closer around them, their faces transforming from pale and deadly beauties to pupiless eyes and mouths too full of sharp teeth. Their hands were tipped in long claw-like fingernails that they reached for them with.

  Rin and Hikaru backed away, but the yuki onna who had been previously watching the yuki onna queen had turned toward them, hunger in their gazes.

  “It seems we have a guest, sisters,” the yuki onna queen said.

  Rin took hold of Hikaru’s hand and squeezed and, with her other hand, reached into the sleeve of her kimono, where she had hidden away a leaf.

  “Looks like we came at a bad time. We’ll see ourselves out then.” She tossed the leaf into the air before striking it with her fox fire. It exploded in a blue smoke that filled the air. For anyone but her, it would blind them for several minutes. Just enough time to escape.

  Rin pulled Hikaru through the smoke, weaving their way through the yuki onna, who were scrambling to find her in the dark, while colliding with one another.

  “Find them. Don’t let them escape,” the queen screeched.

  Past the fumbling and howling yuki onna was the door out of the audience hall. The smoke was starting to thin, but it should give them enough time to escape. Once they were out of the palace, she could transform and run far away, from the yuki onna and from even the tengu and the alliance.

  Hikaru must have sensed her indecision because he squeezed her hand. Saying without words that he trusted her decision, whatever it might be. If the yuki onna had allied with Ai, The Dragon’s rule would be threatened. And until there was peace, neither she nor Hikaru could rest. As much as she wanted to make their own safety a priority, she had no choice but to stay and rescue the tengu prince.

  Rin drew another leaf from her sleeve and infused it with fox fire. They would need new disguises. Turning away from the door, she led Hikaru over to the side of the hall, dodging blinded yuki onna as they went. They pressed their backs against the pillars.

  The yuki onna were flowing toward the exit, assuming that they had used the distraction to make their escape. She hoped she was making the right decision.

  “Keep your eyes closed, and whatever you do, don’t move,” Rin whispered in Hikaru’s ear. She placed the leaf against his forehead.

  The smoke had dissipated, and the yuki onna squinted in the gloom. Rin disguised herself, closing her eyes tight. Her fox magic could make them invisible for a short period of time, as long as no one touched them, and they didn’t move, they would appear as if they were part of the pillars.

  Footsteps approached, ice crept over her skin. And Rin held her breath so it wouldn’t give her away once more. She could feel a yuki onna beside her, the icy touch of her spiritual energy raised the gooseflesh on her arm. Just an inch more and she would brush against Rin, and her disguise would be ruined.

  “They must have fled for the forest. Capture them and bring them to me,” the yuki onna queen commanded.

  The cold receded, and footsteps raced out of the audience hall. She held her breath until she was certain they were alone again. The dim sound of shouts faded until there was nothing but the sound of wind whistling over the roof of the audience hall. Rin risked opening her eyes and peered around the pillar.

  The yuki onna had almost all left, but for a pair of guards standing on either side of the tengu prince. Two yuki onna she could handle. There wasn’t much time to waste, before long they would realize they were hiding here right under their noses. For now, their heads were turned away, looking to the exit prepared for someone to storm through. Rin tapped Hikaru on the shoulder and made a silent signal for him to follow her. They stayed behind the pillars, darting from one to the other until they were right beside the guards.

  Rin and Hikaru moved slowly behind them, and with a silent exchange, they each struck the yuki onna knocking them unconscious. The yuki onna crumbled to the ground. Once that was out of the way, they dragged them from the audience hall. At the door to the hall, Rin looked both ways. Across from the audience hall was another room. Voices echoed down the long hall, and she hesitated, her heart in her throat. But instead of coming closer, it was moving away. Once she was certain they wouldn’t come any closer, she placed both the yuki onna in the other room and closed the door.

  She and Hikaru returned to the audience hall, where they barred the door with a barrier Hikaru created. The green light of his spiritual energy sparkled.

  “We don’t have much time,” Hikaru said.

  “We’ll have to get the prince out quickly then.” Rin gave him a smile to reassure him. But the screams of the hunting yuki onna had her rattled. If she cou
ldn’t figure out a way to melt this ice and get the prince out, they would be torn apart.

  The motionless tengu prince suspended in ice loomed over her at the far end of the hall. She paced around the pillar of ice, searching for a weak spot. It was solid ice straight through. It was possible he was dead, could he be brought back after being trapped in ice so long? She might have condemned them both for a doomed mission.

  Rin shook herself. She couldn’t think that way. They’d come this far; she just had to break through the ice. And the best thing for that was fire. She transformed into her kitsune form and backed up a few feet away from the column of ice.

  “Stay back, it’s going to get hot,” Rin said to Hikaru.

  He took guard behind her and watched the door. Rin gathered up her spiritual energy, funneling everything into her fox flame, feeding it higher and hotter than she had ever done before. Then once it had built up, she unleashed it upon the pillar of ice. A blaze of fire poured from her mouth, striking the pillar. Water dripped along it slowly, creating a small divot. It was too slow, she needed more power.

  Rin concentrated more power into her flame, making it hot enough that even the icy walls started to sweat. It forced Hikaru closer to the door, and even warmed her face. Water gushed from the growing hole in the pillar, and ran in a river soaking her feet.

  Shrieks grew closer. The yuki onna must have sensed her fox fire.

  “I’ll go guard the door, you get him out,” Hikaru said, and he jogged over to the door.

  A loud bang slammed against the door.

  Little by little, she was breaking through the pillar. But it still wasn’t enough. The wail of the yuki onna echoed through the audience hall. It felt as if they were all around her. Cold crept over her; the river of melted ice started to freeze her feet in place. The temperature was dropping, they were trying to freeze them inside. She was going too slow, they wouldn’t get him out in time. And even when they did, how would they escape. The animal side of her wanted to flee, to put her own life above a stranger’s.

  “Don’t give up, we’re nearly there,” Hikaru cheered.

  She had exposed the tengu prince’s hand from the ice. And the digits twitched slightly. Rin raised the fire up higher as to not burn the prince in the process of freeing him. She could do this, just a little bit more.

  The audience hall shook, and ice fell from the ceiling. She could hear the yuki onna, they had surrounded the audience hall on all sides. If they didn’t freeze them to death, they would tear apart their own palace to reach them.

  Hikaru fell back closer to her, and encased them and the tengu prince’s prison in a shimmering green barrier. He didn’t need to say it, but his first barrier would be breached soon. This was their last line of defense.

  Rin returned her attention to melting the pillar. But her energy was not limitless. She’d managed to melt most of his abdomen, and the tengu prince’s arms were free. Instead, she moved closer to the pillar, circling around it, trying to melt more and more of the ice. The tengu prince bent and flexed, he was waking up.

  A crack sounded, and Rin resisted the urge to turn and look. She focused all her flagging energy on melting what remained of the pillar. Ice crept over Hikaru’s barrier, covering it in frost and obscuring her view beyond it. But even that could not block out the cries of the yuki onna, both beautiful and terrifying. It was a song that had led countless men to their deaths. Their ice slammed against Hikaru’s barrier, and sweat beaded on his forehead as he concentrated on keeping it up.

  The tip of the tengu prince’s wing was free, and water was rushing from the ice, flooding the barrier, with nowhere else to go it was reaching up to her ankles now.

  Hikaru cried out as his barrier fell. He collapsed onto his knees, and Rin abandoned melting the prince and shot a blast of fire at the swarm of yuki onna that were coming toward them. They recoiled from the fire, long enough for Hikaru to create a wall of earth which cut the audience hall in half. But it had taken too much out of him, and he was pale and shaking as he grabbed onto the edge of her collar to stand. He leaned too heavily on her. Rin too was running low on energy.

  The tengu prince’s prison continued to melt, but by the time she broke him free, she wouldn’t be strong enough to escape. On the other side of the earthen wall, the yuki raged, and dust fell down from the walls. It wouldn’t be long before they were able to break through here as well.

  A loud crack echoed through the chamber, and ice sprayed over Rin and Hikaru. She blocked Hikaru’s body on instinct, and prepared herself for the swarm of yuki onna breaking through Hikaru’s last defense. But the screams continued, still muffled by earth.

  Rin looked over her shoulder and found the tengu prince standing in the remains of the ice pillar his black wings extended outward and dripping. Ice clung to his ebony hair, and his haori and hakama were soaked, but he was alive. They’d done it; they freed him.

  The earthen wall shuddered once more.

  The tengu prince tested his wings, flinging droplets of water onto the walls.

  “I’m alive—” He looked around the room.

  “But you’re not safe yet, we have to get out of here,” Rin said as she searched for an escape.

  “I can fly us out of here if you can create an escape for us.” He pointed upward.

  The entire palace was made of ice. If she could concentrate one last blast of fox fire, she might be able to burn a hole in the ceiling large enough for them to fly through. But she suddenly felt very tired, she’d used more energy than she normally would. Hikaru wrapped his arm around her neck. And the feel of his body close to her gave her the strength she needed.

  She tilted her head up toward the roof and let the fire flow from her. Water fell down from the ceiling drenching her fur. Sunlight spilled through as the hole grew wider and wider until it was large enough for the wingspan of the tengu prince. Rin collapsed, panting for breath. Her internal fox fire was nothing more than a tiny ember burning inside her. She had only enough energy to take on her human-like form.

  The tengu prince held out his hands to Rin and Hikaru. “Let’s fly.”

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and Hikaru’s, bringing them close. And with a few beats of his wings, they were lifted into the air and toward the hole in the roof. As they got close, yuki onna swarmed toward it. But the beat of his wings, sent them flying backward and they were able to take to the sky and over the treetops.

  The screams of the yuki onna followed them before eventually fading to nothing. It wasn’t until the landscape changed, the forest thinning did Rin let go of the breath she’d been holding. Wind rushed over her, and the horizon was endless before her as she threw her head back and laughed. They’d done it, they’d really done it.

  18

  The staff came down with a sharp rap on Suzume’s knuckles. She should have seen that coming, she’d left herself wide open for that attack. She hissed and blew on her stinging digits.

  “You need to focus,” Souta scolded.

  It was the third time he had caught her unawares like that. But she couldn’t help it. Her thoughts kept circling. No matter how she tried to distract herself, she kept thinking about the tender way Kaito had looked at the Water of Kazue’s soul. She wanted to convince herself that it was all in her head. But when he had caught her, it had made her chest tight. And what did she mean by “remember the promise they’d made.” Did that woman remember something of Kazue’s life that Suzume didn’t? She’d never wanted Kazue’s memories, but right now, she wished she did.

  “Instead of battering your body, why don’t you tell me what’s been on your mind?”

  Souta gave her a kind, grandfatherly smile. He was nothing like her own grandfather, because she had been born a girl, he’d never wanted anything to do with her. If she hadn’t been born as a princess, perhaps she could have been born to a family with someone like Souta as her grandfather. Though she’d been resistant to opening up to him, his advice that night she thought of running away
had helped a lot. And now that she thought about it, unlike her, he had memories of Kazue’s life. Maybe he knew about this promise.

  “You have Kazue’s memories, do you know anything about a promise between Kaito and Kazue?”

  Souta hesitated and frowned, as if he were measuring his words. “Most of what I retained that was Kazue’s feels like half-remembered dreams. They’re often vague and hit me at random, a scent that evokes an image. A phrase that awakens an emotion.”

  “So, you’re saying you don’t remember a promise?” Why did he love talking in riddles so much?

  He smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Whatever happened to Kazue in the past is nothing but dust on the wind. It matters not, you need only look to the future.”

  She looked down at her hands clenched around the staff. She had it back; the last piece of Kazue’s soul was with them, and yet she still felt empty. There was something else she was missing, a gnawing feeling at the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

  “Why don’t I have any of her memories when the rest of you do?” It wasn’t that she wanted to relive Kaito and Kazue’s past, but it ate at her that this woman had something with Kaito she could never have. Kaito wouldn’t have looked at her that way if it weren’t for the memory of that promise.

  “I cannot be certain, but I believe when Ryuu bound your power as an infant, the divide that kept you from melding with Kazue, also kept her memories from you.”

  Suzume sighed heavily. She supposed that made sense. But it also meant, she might never be able to reach Kazue’s memories. Maybe Souta was right, and she should just let the past stay in the past. The water of Kazue’s soul was locked away, and Kaito had told her that he loved her for who she was, not because she had a piece of Kazue’s soul within her. She had to trust him.