by Anna Frost
It so happened that Jien’s patrol area included this city, and that was one of the reasons Akakiba had been avoiding it for the past three years.
Jien’s face lit up, and he bounced to his feet. “Hey, Aki! It’s been so long! Why haven’t you dropped by the clan house? Your mother sent me to say that you better haul your ass up there.”
“How did you find me? And what exactly are you doing speaking to my mother?” he asked, not without suspicion. He knew of Jien’s improper interest in women, even for a monk whose order did not hold its members to celibacy.
“Why, I spoke to your mother because I’m an honored guest in your clan house. We heard there’s been an assassination attempt on the clan head. A few of us came down to see if we could help track down the bastard who sent the shinobi.”
“Assassination attempt? When?” As far as he was aware, the last shinobi attack on the Fox clan had occurred so long ago that he’d been a child at the time and therefore hadn’t been involved.
“Days ago. It failed, of course. Those idiots are unlikely to trick the Fox clan anytime soon. I can tell something is going on, Aki. I want in on the fun.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Calling you what, Aki?” Jien laughed and wound an arm around his neck. They were of similar height, but Jien’s wooden clogs made him appear taller. “You’re always so cold to your friends!”
“We’re not friends.” Akakiba gritted his teeth.
“See, exactly what I mean. You should be more like your sister. She’s adorable. Do you know, we sparred together, and she won! She’s fierce!”
“Touch my sister and I’ll kill you.”
Jien blabbered on for a moment before suddenly interrupting himself to stare at Yuki. “Hey, who’s this? And what about that Taro kid I met earlier? You acquired children while you were away?”
“Don’t be stupid.” He contemplated booting Jien out, but Yuki was already politely introducing himself.
“I’m Yuki, Akakiba’s apprentice. Pleased to meet you.”
Jien elbowed Akakiba. “Damn, an apprentice! You took a liking to someone, Aki? I’m shocked! Pleased to meet you, Yuki. I’m Jien. I’ve known your teacher for years, and I never thought he’d want to spend time with anyone. For some reason he turned me down when I invited him to come with me on my wandering patrols. Eh, Aki?”
“For some reason, yes…”
“Now, Aki, you asked how I found you. Well, the news that a member of the Fox clan was involved in a fight over a dragon egg spread fast. Considering the description given, we could tell it was you. Your dear mother asked me to fetch you. Dead or alive, she said, so I hope you don’t plan to fight.”
“I’ll come. Stop talking.” He had little desire to obey the call, but he wouldn’t be rid of Jien until he did. Besides, the news of the attack on his clan was worrying. It wouldn’t hurt to learn more. He spoke again, “Make yourself useful and help me bring this to the merchant house.” He entrusted Jien with a box of coins and took the other under his left arm, leaving his right arm free to draw his sword if need be. “Yuki, keep an eye on Taro. I suggest you visit the public baths while there’s time. You should have ample coins to pay.”
If Yuki was disappointed at being left behind, he didn’t show it. “That’s a good idea. We’ll do that.”
“Farewell, Miss Sakura,” Jien said dramatically. “Your company was a pleasure.”
“Likewise,” Sakura said in a manner that sounded like she could have done without such a “pleasure.”
“I shall visit again!”
“No, you won’t.” Grabbing Jien by his clothes, Akakiba dragged him outside and away.
Taro called out after them. “Have a safe trip, Aki!”
Akakiba pondered murder as he heard Yuki burst out laughing. “I hate you,” he told the monk.
Jien turned wide, sad eyes on him. “You wound me. What did I ever do to you, Aki?”
After stopping to deposit the money at the merchant house, where it would be safe for later retrieval by the peasants, they started on the road winding up the mountain. Like many castles, the clan house was built on top of a mountain to make it as secure as possible. Trying to reach it any way other than by the road would be difficult at best. It could take a slow walker half a day to reach the gate, but, thanks to the horses Jien had borrowed, their progression was much faster.
They came upon the first stone wall and its large gate while the sun was still high in the sky. A casual observer might have thought the security lax from the way the guards at the door merely waved them through. In truth, everybody in the Fox clan could see auras well enough to recognize their own kind at a glance.
Inside the walls, well-kept paths led to various buildings with slanted roofs upturned at the corners and verandas around the exterior. Luxurious gardens occupied the space between buildings. Farther away, one could see the second stone wall, the one that protected the leadership’s residence. Since the clan house’s outer wall was too long to guard effectively against a determined enemy, the entire clan could retreat to behind the inner wall to defend their home if the need arose.
When they entered the correct building, they were ambushed by a red-haired creature with a high-pitched cry. “Brother!”
Akakiba nearly collapsed under her weight. “Sanae! You’re too old for this.” He put her down and nudged her back so he might study her, noting she had grown taller and fuller in figure. Her face had changed subtly, gaining the sharp features common in their clan, and her wild red hair was better tamed.
Children born with red hair were extremely rare in the clan, and Sanae was the sole living female with the coloring. It was deemed a sign of good luck for both family and child.
“You’re the old one,” Sanae said. “You’re lucky I remember you. It’s been years and years!”
“Only a few.”
“I was twelve the last time I saw you. Do you know how old I am now? My coming-of-age ceremony is near!”
“Already?”
“Everybody does it at the same age, Brother,” Sanae said slowly, as if he were particularly dense. “I’ll be fifteen in a week, hence the ceremony.”
Had it truly been so long?
Turning fifteen and undergoing the coming-of-age ceremony was the greatest source of pride and dread for young members of the clan. The elders did their best to locate a low-level demon fit for an untried hunter, but not everybody came back. Those who did return were presented with a new set of swords just as he’d done for Yuki.
“I wish you luck,” Akakiba told his younger sister, feeling guilty he hadn’t been there to contribute to her training. Instead, he’d been busy training a human.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’m not sure you’ll be fine though…Mother isn’t happy.”
“She’s been angry with me for a long time. It won’t change anytime soon.”
He would never have voiced such a disrespectful thought to anyone, but he suspected that his mother’s anger was rooted in jealousy. He could hunt, but she could not: she had long ago taken a severe wound to the ankle that left her unfit for travel. People said she’d been a good hunter once.
The smell of flowers in bloom was strong within the clan house’s grounds, which must have contained over a hundred trees covered in cherry blossoms ranging in color from white to pink. Their scent brought back memories of playing under the trees with his baby sister while his father—back then still able to turn human—sat trying to write poetry. Key word: trying.
As they entered the building where his parents had their suite, a feeling of dread replaced the pleasant memories. They removed their footwear at the door and moved along the corridor. After leaving his spear in the entrance’s weapon rack, Jien trailed them, keeping quiet for once.
Sanae stopped before a closed door. She knelt on the wooden floor, slid open the door, and announced, “Mother. Father. Akakiba is here.”
He went inside and heard the door close behind him. Thin as they were, these pa
per doors couldn’t stop anyone from overhearing a conversation. He had no doubt that both Sanae and Jien would be listening in.
“Mother. Father,” he said, kneeling.
“It has been three years,” his mother said frostily. She was young for a woman with two adult children, her pinned-up hair dark as night and her face showing few lines. On her right sat a fox on a red cushion.
“It has,” Akakiba agreed. He didn’t try to defend himself. His mother knew why he’d stormed out. He fixed his gaze upon the golden-hued screen behind his parents, upon which a skilled artist had painted mountainous scenery where birds and greenery abounded.
His mother wasn’t done. “Have you come back to your senses? Will you do your duty?”
“My duty is to kill demons, not to lounge about making babies.”
“There are enough hunters for the number of active demons. What we lack are children. That should be your concern.”
“I believe we’ve already had this conversation, Mother.”
“Let the child be, Akahana.”
His mother glanced sideways at her husband and bowed her head. “Well then. If you are to be useless to us that way, Akakiba…we have a task for you, approved by the clan head. There has been a troubling number of abductions in the region. None in the city proper, but everywhere in the country. Young girls and young men simply vanish. No bodies were found so demons were not suspected at first, but we cannot see what else it could be. If it were bandits selling youths to brothels, they would have been found by now. We fear it may be a vicious, flesh-eating demon, one of those that leave not a bone behind.”
“I shall look into it.”
Silence reigned until his father spoke telepathically again. “Sanae is almost fifteen.”
“She told me. Is she ready?”
“I believe she is,” Akahana said. “None will oppose it.” Traditionally, the blade master and the youth eligible for the coming-of-age ceremony would spar before the clan so that the adults could evaluate the youth’s abilities. It was the right of adult clan members to demand that a youth be given extra practice time if they found his or her skills lacking.
“It will be her first hunt, then,” Akakiba said.
“Yes. We must choose a second for her.”
He raised an eyebrow. “They finally agreed to it?”
When he’d left, the clan had been divided on the subject. Half had supported the concept of sending a second, an older hunter, with youths going out for their first slaying. The idea had been put forward to end the unnecessary deaths and maiming that sometimes occurred from the first-time hunter taking wounds that he or she could not treat alone. The other half had clung to tradition and claimed that seconds would be tempted to cheat and interfere in the fight.
“Yes,” Akahana said, not without a hint of smugness in her tone. “We won the argument. Our children’s lives are too precious to let them end this early. Interfering in the fight itself is strictly forbidden, but seconds may render any and all required aid once it has ended.”
“Who do you have in mind to accompany Sanae?”
“We were considering asking Jien to accept the honor,” Kiba said.
“I see. A sohei is certainly qualified to give emergency care.” He left it at that. He wasn’t about to bring to their attention the fact that Jien was exactly the kind of person who would ignore the rules and interfere with the hunt. He’d prefer Sanae’s second to be someone like Jien rather than someone who would stick to the rules and let her die.
Akahana looked displeased by his neutral answer. “As her older brother, it should be your task.”
“You wanted me to offer? I can make no promise. I agreed to sell dragon eggs on behalf of a village, and I must return the money immediately. I might not be back in time for the ceremony, though I will do my best.”
“Good. Then it is settled.”
He had a suspicion his mother hadn’t listened to his words. If he didn’t return in time, she would likely reproach him for failing to honor his promise—even though he’d promised no such thing.
The rest of the conversation was similarly painful, and he was happy to point to the lowering sun as a reason to excuse himself from his parents’ company. He found Jien and Sanae waiting outside, the latter wearing an expression too perfectly innocent to be genuine.
Jien, on the other hand, wasn’t even trying to hide his eavesdropping. “I take it you’re still not interested in marriage, Aki?”
“Don’t make me hit you.”
“I’ll try. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
Sanae giggled, and Akakiba gave her an alarmed look. When a young woman started giggling at a man’s stupid jests…
It wouldn’t be bad news for Sanae to be interested in the opposite sex since, as his dear mother said, they needed to produce all the kits they could, but Jien wasn’t a suitable candidate!
Whirling round, he kicked Jien’s legs from under him. By the time the monk hit the floor, there was a sword inches from his face.
Jien peered up at him. “Ow. What was that for?”
“If you ever touch my sister,” he warned with all the threat he could muster, “I will dismember you, piece by piece, and I will leave the remains to feed wild beasts.”
Sanae gripped his sword arm, trying to force it up. “Brother! Put that away!”
“Please, Aki,” Jien said with a snort. “I knew that without you saying it.”
“Good.” His sword slid home. What was it about Jien that rubbed him the wrong way? Everything, possibly.
Lifting himself from the floor, Jien brushed and straightened his clothes. “You make it hard to be your friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“You saved my life. In my opinion, that makes us friends for life.”
“If I’d known you’d be pestering me forever, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
“Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”
Sanae was glaring. “Brother, that’s no way to behave with a guest! Jien is an honorable man, and I need no protection from him. I would also say you have no right to pretend to care about my virtue after abandoning me for three years! Honestly! What’s the matter with you?”
It wasn’t his habit to defend himself, but in this case, it seemed important to tell the entire truth. “Jien’s about as honorable as a snake! When we first met he told me he’d been wounded by a demon and beseeched me to carry him over the hill to a village where he might get treatment. I later learned that, in truth, he’d been caught spying on bathing girls. Their guardian had beaten him up and thrown him out of the village so he couldn’t get treatment there!”
“It was an accident,” Jien said. “I got lost, and hearing voices, tried to follow them. That’s how I plunged headfirst into the hot springs. And that old woman was as frightful as any demon I’ve ever seen! Besides, we both know that’s not the real reason you’re angry with me, Aki.”
Sanae seized upon the mysterious comment with the speed of an eager gossiper, shuffling closer. “Oh? What’s the real reason?”
“Ah, if you wish to know…” Jien leaned forward and whispered something to her. He spoke extra quietly, aware of their heightened sense of hearing.
Akakiba’s hand twitched with the need to draw his sword. He couldn’t hear, but he could guess. “Don’t tell her that!”
Too late. Sanae’s eyes widened. “Oh. Really? I see…” Her lips began to curl in a smile, and she lifted a sleeve to hide it. “I forgive you, Brother. Jien, you’re a bad man.” There was laughter in her eyes.
He wondered, once more, if he couldn’t be forgiven one small murder.
“I’ll do my best to be here for your ceremony,” he promised Sanae as they parted at the gate under the eyes of the guards.
He was glad to escape Jien but sad to leave Sanae. He hadn’t realized how much of her life he had missed with his self-enforced exile, and seeing her again made him yearn to make it up to her. Unfortunately, it would hav
e to wait.
Returning to the city took a long time without a horse, but he hardly noticed, lost in the simple pleasure of running on four legs in a forest where every smell and sound was a wonder. It was too early for the cicadas to sing, but the wind made its own music, ruffling leaves and shaking branches.
Somewhere out there, in this peaceful night, there might be a twisted spirit seeking human prey. If it were truly a flesh-eating demon he had to hunt down, did he dare put a tasty human like Yuki in its way?
Chapter Six
Yuki
YUKI STARED AT HIS TEA, attempting to find in his empty head some thoughts worth speaking to Sakura. To say he didn’t have much experience with talking to women was an understatement. They were usually too busy trying to catch his teacher’s eye to notice his existence. Not that he blamed them: there was something striking about Akakiba’s sharp-featured face, permanently broody expression, and long, smooth ponytail. The well-defined muscles and deep scars didn’t hurt Akakiba’s appeal either. He, the scrawny trainee, inevitably seemed dull in comparison so women ignored him. He wished Sakura would ignore him too.
Rescue wasn’t likely; Hiroshi was busy in the shop room, grinding ingredients for his wares and answering Taro’s never-ending questions.
“It must be lonely on the road,” Sakura said, a faint smile on her lips as she watched him squirm. “You must be glad to come to a city, where companionship can be found easily.”
He tried to pretend he didn’t understand her meaning. “Ah, this is the first time I’ve been to a city. We keep to villages normally. They receive us quite well.”
He was saved from her reply by the apparition of a shadow at the back door. “I’m back,” Akakiba said, shedding his sandals and stepping inside.
“Welcome back,” Sakura replied, a hand moving up to pat her hairdo. “Are you hungry? I saved you a bowl of noodles. It’s not much, but please accept it.”
Akakiba ate swiftly, only pausing to say, “Yuki looks redder than usual. Is that your doing, Sakura?”
“I don’t know what you mean. We’ve been conversing about your lifestyle. Yuki was telling me you keep him out of cities and away from women. Are you afraid we’ll eat him?”