David disappeared from the square. Kou’s hunting instincts overwhelmed them. In full view of both Manami and Tsubasa, he transformed into a tiger and pounced. Seeing Kou with his mouth wide and fangs bare, Manami bolted. She clawed at her head as the rabbit’s long ears flung around. She only made it two steps before Kou had her. His furry weight pushed her to the ground as he scrambled up her back to get at the rabbit. An instant later, Kou had the crazed rabbit in his jaws. A quick shake quieted it.
Ignoring the others, Kou carried the carcass off a few feet. Rie, Tsubasa, and even Manami stared at him in shock. The instant Kou killed it, the rabbit shrunk to a more normal size. At the same time, Kou seemed to gain a month’s worth of growth all at once. Plopping down, Kou began to gnaw on the remains. Manami tried to slink away but froze at a growl from Kou. When she stopped, he returned his attention to his kill. After a last crunch of bone, Kou primly wiped his chops with a paw and sauntered over to Manami. Along the way, he sent a nod to Rie, indicating she should join them.
“So it seems we have more than a few questions and problems to deal with, and not much time to deal with them,” Kou said.
Rie glared at Manami, who returned the look with a broad smile before turning her attention back on Kou.
“So you are a Jitsugen Samurai, a real one, not one of those crummy imposters that ran things all those years ago. When I saw you I just thought you were a shifter, turns out I got way luckier than I had any reason to hope for,” Manami said, reaching out to touch Kou’s fur. A simultaneous growl from Kou and Rie kept her hand at bay.
“What did you do with the third statue?” Kou asked. David was too confused, too shocked, to take over. While Kou was just as confused about what had happened, he was clear about his distrust of Manami, where David was not. Not to mention David’s clothes were a good three meters away.
“Ah, well about that. I hate to do this. I really am thankful after all. But you see that’s just one question I can’t answer right now. Kisses,” Manami said with a smile and a blown kiss at Kou. Then with a flash that blinded them all, she was gone.
‘She threw something. Quick, look, there she goes,’ David thought, seeing a flash of gray disappear back into the main square.
“It’s no good, she’s already gone,” Tsubasa said, pointing behind him to the square. “I assume you don’t want to make a scene. We have to get back ourselves soon. We haven’t been gone long but the teachers will notice.”
Rie seemed to compose herself, and then looked down to Kou.
“David you better be listening in there… I want an explanation as soon as we are back at the Estate,” Rie said, her yellow eyes staring down at Kou. Turning, she focused on Tsubasa. “I don’t know what you know or think you know but I can’t tell you anything. If you keep quiet until we are back I’m sure my father will answer some of your questions, otherwise Kou will have to make you another statistic.”
“A statistic?” Tsubasa asked, confused.
“Yeah, haven’t you heard? Animal attacks are on the rise.” Rie was so straight-faced that even Kou looked up at her with an incredulous face. “And as for you, stop cowering inside of Kou and change back before someone sees a tiger running around the Shrine.”
Kou transformed as Rie slipped a new pair of contacts in to hide her yellow irises. Tsubasa hummed to himself as he helped block David’s body enough so he could get back into his uniform. The transformation took David and Kou longer than it had taken in months since they were both so preoccupied. He was just in control enough to say, “Don’t Look!” when Rie’s head started to turn in what he was sure was annoyance. He still had orange fur in some awkward places.
When the three of them returned to the square together, Natsuki and Takumi joined them with inquiring glances. Since Rie was unwilling to explain what they had been up to, David spent the whole of the bus ride surrounded by questions and covert stares that he was unable to answer.
Since they arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, David even had to deal with Takumi and Natsuki trying to pry answers from him as he wandered among the various omiyage stalls. It did not take Takumi long to realize Natsuki was more aware of the situation than he was, which prompted him to be all the more emphatic in his questioning. Tsubasa’s friend Kenta seemed curious as well, but David spotted him shrug and walk away, content after a quick chat with Tsubasa. David was so hesitant around Rie that she broke her silence as the plane taxied.
“We will talk at the Estate,” she said, just before pouring half a bottle of sleeping pills down his throat. She gave him so much it took five punches to wake him up after they landed at Kansai airport.
DEBRIEFING A SORCERESS
When it began, it was as if I was being called home after a long journey. I was aware but my senses were crude. When it began, it was an agony of rushing input and forgotten pain. I felt again the fires burning, but this time, instead of stripping away my sanity, the flames made me whole…
When the second years made it back to the Nakano train station after the two-hour ride from the Kansai Airport, family, teachers, and fellow students were waiting to meet them. A final ceremony marked the trip’s official end. The second years lined up one last time. Mizuki, of course, spoke for 2B in between the representatives from the other two grades, and after the Vice-Principal and PTA chief. As the students started to break up, Rie ran over to her father to inform him about the trip. Without any outward sign of the surprise that was sure to be rushing through him at her words, he gazed around at the other students and families until he spotted Tsubasa. He headed toward the young boy as soon as Rie finished.
Once David and the twins were in the car with their bags, Masao reved his Mercedes’s engine and started for the Matsumoto Estate.
“Wait until we get home. I’m going to have to hear this from the beginning,” he said, preempting David. They sat in silence, and were soon curving through the forest outside the Matsumoto gate. With Masao driving, the trip was quick, and more thrilling than many of the Greenland rides. Yukiko was waiting for them as they pulled up next to the house. Masao let her sate her initial interest in their trip, but soon asked her to ready some tea while the three students disposed of their bags. Together they met in the main room around a kotatsu, a low table with a heater and blanket to keep them warm in the cold winter weather. “Alright David. You had better start from the top.”
David cleared his throat. He strived to be as clear and concise as the edited Jitsugen Samurai diaries he had read the previous year as he told them about the trip.
“What exactly did she say?” Masao asked, cutting past Rie’s sharp intake of air as he described his first meeting with Manami. She watched David, attempting to extract every detail from his posture and features.
“It’s unusually blurry. She said something like ‘You’re different, and not just because you’re a gaijin. Someone’s after me and you can help,’ and then Rie called for me and she was gone,” David said. Masao nodded for him to continue. As the most difficult part came up, he paused.
‘Do I have to tell them everything?’
‘You know the answer to that. It’s no big deal. I lick things all the time.’
‘You are absolutely no help.’
“Well, she kissed me,” David managed to say. It was a strange mix of emotions for him to deal with, and he was sure the Matsumotos could read all of them on his face. The elation and pride it stirred within him, the fact it had been his first kiss, and that he had enjoyed it. Could they also notice the surprise and guilt, and all the other confusing bits running around in his head?
“There would not have been much you could have done,” Yukiko said, noticing Takumi’s expression as David finished talking about the fight at the ski resort. “Without a weapon you would have had to transform to fight, something that might have given even more away than David’s sudden swordplay. At least we can give Tsubasa an excuse for that without letting him into all our secrets.”
“Actu
ally,” Rie said, hesitating under her father’s cold gaze. “That’s not everything that happened.”
With glares from Masao and shock from Yukiko, Rie told them about the events of earlier that morning at the Shrine. She told them how Tsubasa had pointed David and Manami out to her as they left the main square. She told them what she had heard with perfect recitation, until her own part came into play. Then her voice lowered to a bare whisper.
“I lost control. I have no idea how it happened but somehow I summoned an animal.”
Masao wiped his forehead with a silken cloth as he dealt with the extraordinary news he was hearing from his children. On just one trip, they had succeeded in revealing secrets that had remained hidden for centuries.
“So let me summarize. Tsubasa now knows about ghosts and ōkami and that David can transform into a tiger, and possibly that he can summon a sword. And that you,” he said, turning to Rie, “can summon animals. What is more, you helped an ōkami kill off her enemies and abscond with a statue. That ōkami is as good as reanimated. All the while, you revealed to a third pack that a Jitsugen Samurai exists. Did either of you listen to anything I have said about secrecy over the last year? David cannot survive if evil comes at him in force. Even with all of us helping, if David falls, Japan is defenseless.”
As David and Rie shrunk under Masao’s diatribe, Yukiko leaned in, gracefully refilling Masao’s tea.
“Now look who is not listening. Yes, there may have been better ways to do some things, but it is partly our fault. We could have dealt with Tsubasa earlier. We should have realized that his interest would have been piqued after the warehouse fire. With a mind like his, he was bound to keep searching until he found his answers. Who knows, he might end up being a useful ally for our children.
“As for the rest, we do not know for certain that girl was an ōkami. David reacted no differently than you to his first kiss and none of us knew what would be the side effects of Rie’s possession. It seems Rie retains her connection to the spirit realm as you had hoped. Not only do we have a Jitsugen Samurai and a shape shifter, we now have a majo as well. On top of all that, it looks like our…friends have been trying to watch for Chul Soon as they promised.”
It was obvious that Yukiko’s words only partially mollified Masao. David hid a sigh of relief as everyone’s attention turned to Rie. He wondered again who the cake lady was. Not that her warning had come to anything. It was also the first David had heard of lasting effects from being a yūrei.
“From what we’ve read,” Yukiko began, “when the yūrei summoned an oni it created a bridge between your body and the ancient prison where the monsters were locked away by the Zodiac Kami. Many layers bury that prison. Part of your soul still remembers the path through some of them.
“Unfortunately,” Masao cut in, “we know nothing about majo that have been created in this fashion. The book in which we found the ceremony to release you had nothing about the man after the corrupt kami was cut out. We will have to see if we cannot find more about him.”
“Wait. If you’ve never heard anything about this before, maybe it was just a freak accident or something,” Rie said. A chill swept through David as he remembered the rage on Rie’s face just before the rabbit appeared in the square.
“Majo are well documented throughout Japanese history,” Yukiko said. “Though the popular stories have exaggerated or even made up much about what we now call witches, there are several reliable references in the library. Often they are born with an innate understanding of the paths through the layers. Rare is the person who gains access from dealing with kami. Most uncommon is the majo that forges their own connection.”
“See, I always knew she was a witch,” Takumi said, already moving away from Rie’s high punch.
‘Well that hasn’t changed at least,’ David thought.
That night Kou ran. Aside from the brief fight with the rabbit, it was his first chance to be free in a week. Kou and David reveled in their animalistic abandon, though Kou’s new growth threw off their control. They figured his tail was only a few centimeters longer, but it was enough that their paws did not always go where they intended. It took twice as long as normal for Kou to hunt since he was so clumsy, and it did not help his mood that Ryohei hovered along after them chuckling.
Despite spending nearly the entire night as a tiger, David woke refreshed, his time as Kou rejuvenating him far more than the hotel futons had. Despite his enthusiasm, David’s usual five kilometer run with the twins and Natsuki left him winded after a week without practice.
They worked through their complete basics, leaving off the more advanced training since their muscles were a bit rusty. They went slow, taking longer since they did not have to be at badminton practice until ten. While Takumi was just as energetic as David, both Natsuki and Rie seemed to drag, unable to recuperate as easily as the possessed.
Masao surprised them by allowing the samurai to practice at their own pace. Since Masao never let them off, David was sure his host-father had plans for them after badminton. Natsuki joined them for a long breakfast, and they filled her in on the details from the trip. Walking to school, Natsuki and Rie huddled together chatting seriously while the two boys followed behind. Takumi looked as if he was pondering whether to exact his revenge for the photos, but it seemed he opted for security, and avoided speaking about anything that should not be overheard. Though Yukiko had softened Masao’s anger, he had been adamant that they work harder to maintain secrecy.
Near the Police Station, Natsuki finished her conversation with Rie and motioned to David. “Your sister is mad you didn’t email her last night,” she said, brandishing a print out. “She got your card though, I think. You’ll have to translate the rest for me.”
David sighed but knew the news of the gifts he had gotten for his sister should mollify her.
‘I don’t know why you insisted on getting her a zodiac charm. You humans have gotten us all mixed up. For all you know her sign is a rabbit…mmm rabbit.’
At school, the first and third years bombarded David and his classmates with questions about the trip. There were plenty of normal experiences for them to talk about, so they were able to satisfy most questioners before Tsukasa-sensei, their coach, started practice. The second years on the badminton team also presented their senpai, the third years, with key-chains they had bought while in Nagasaki.
Once practice started, David threw himself into badminton drills. The repetitive motions and the quick speed the shuttles flew at him helped to limit his expanded awareness, and although the fact she might be an ōkami bothered him, he was unable to force the memory of Manami from his mind. Still, Kou delighted in pulling a bit of his attention to Rie, who caught his gaze from a few courts away. He smiled as the team’s rotation brought them closer together. When she drew opposite to him, Rie hammered him with all her strength and skill, forcing him to reply in kind.
His muscles sore and energized, David followed the twins and Natsuki from the locker rooms. Tsubasa was waiting for them outside the gym. The lanky boy smiled and waved. In his hand, he held the same cloth shopping bag Kenta had held on his way to the ōkami lair the previous year. Whatever was within had sharp lines that made the bag bulge in odd places.
“So nice of your dad to invite me over today,” Tsubasa said as they approached. He had discarded his badminton clothes for his school uniform, in which he somehow looked more like a computer technician than usual.
“Of course, why don’t you walk with us,” Takumi said. Although caught by surprise, it was not the first time Masao had neglected to tell his children his plans. Together the five students walked through Nakano town back to the Estate. To their surprise and gratitude, Tsubasa avoided talking about the school trip, and instead filled them in on the technology news he had missed that week. His classmate’s calm exterior impressed David. Waiting to find out how much he had seen felt as if Kou was trying to claw out of David’s skin. Takumi had assaulted his parents with questions when t
hey revealed the truth behind the bedtime stories of the Jitsugen Samurai, yet the shorter boy seemed to be taking everything in stride.
The longer David thought about it the less surprised he was. In class, Tsubasa would calmly pursue his answers, revealing knowledge only when thought out. In badminton, what Tsubasa lacked in power and speed, he made up for by being crafty and clever.
When they arrived at the Matsumoto Estate, Takumi showed them to the main room, and then left with Rie to find their parents. David and Natsuki sat with Tsubasa while they waited. Beside him, Natsuki adopted the calm and graceful manner she reserved for adults and more recently, around Takumi.
‘I wonder how much he knows. Hell, I wonder what Masao-shihan is going to tell him,’ he thought as he waited. ‘Tsubasa just has this empty curiosity about him.’
‘The better question: Is he going to leave here,’ came Kou’s prompt response. ‘Masao is serious about secrecy. Tsubasa could be a huge liability.’
‘Yukiko-san hinted he might be useful. It would be nice to have a few more friends. I mean we have friends at school, but just like with Jess, without knowing someone’s full story, it is hard to stay connected.’
Tsubasa just stared around the room, unaware of the internal conversation across the table. As time passed, David watched Tsubasa’s calm exterior start to crack. His training and Kou’s tiger awareness allowed David to spot the tightening muscles in his neck, the ridged posture, and his darting eyes. His slight movement away from Natsuki showed that, above everything else, her unusual manner unnerved him the most. Noticing the move, Natsuki gave Tsubasa a killer, knowing smile. It wound him up so much that he jumped as Yukiko entered with a tray laden with tea.
Revenge of the Akuma Clan Page 9