“Oh… I see.”
“I love you, too,” Lilian said suddenly.
“E-eh?” Smoke suddenly poured from Christine’s head. Smoke, not steam. Lilian needed to blink when she realized that. “T-t-t-that—what the hell are you saying?!”
“What do you mean?” Lilian asked as she stared at something strange that was happening on her friend’s head.
Is Christine’s hair twitching?
“Y-you can’t just say something like that?!”
Lilian didn’t get it.
“But you’re my friend,” Lilian pointed out. “It’s only natural to love your friends, right?”
Christine didn’t speak, but that was mostly because she couldn’t speak. She gawked at Lilian, her face going from icy blue to burning red, then changing to stark purple. Smoke billowed from her ears and steam wafted off her hair. Lilian was confused by the spectacle. What the heck was going on?
They walked a little further, eventually locating Kevin, who stood near a tree. The look on his face caused Lilian’s tails to bristle.
“Beloved?”
Kevin raised a hand for silence, which made Lilian snap her mouth shut. There was definitely something wrong. Standing beside her, Christine bit her lip, possibly to keep from yelling out.
Signaling with his hand, Kevin bade them to follow him. He led her and Christine through the forest, keeping his body lowered, as if to hide himself within the bushes. Lilian also finally realized that he’d unholstered his guns, which sent alarm bells blaring through her head.
They came upon a large boulder, which Kevin pressed his back against. Lilian opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but she quickly shut it when a noise caught her attention.
Tick-tick-tick. Tick-tick-tick. Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
What was that unusual sound? Lilian would’ve thought it was footsteps, but there were too many of them, and they were all off time.
That’s when the voices spoke. Two of them.
“Damn it. Where did that bitch get to?”
“Calm yourself. I am sure she’s here somewhere.”
The voices were dark, grating. One of them sounded like the growls of a ravenous beast, while the other possessed an overlapping quality, like multiple people speaking at once.
Yōkai.
The word raced through her mind. Whoever was talking, they weren’t human. That made her tails bristle. These yōkai obviously weren’t a part of Orin’s group.
“Fuck, damn it! We’ve been chasing this woman for days! How could she keep ahead of us for so long?”
“Because she’s resourceful, obviously. It is clear this woman is talented at evading pursuers. I can respect resourcefulness in a person, though her cowardice does rankle me.”
“She’s good at running away, I’ll give her that! Screw capturing this girl alive! When I see her, she is dead!”
Lilian didn’t know what was going on, but she could infer enough from Kevin’s actions. His hold on his guns had tightened, and his face had become stern, fierce. Muscles flexed beneath his suit, rippling, as if he was about to pounce.
“Hold on,” one of them called out.
“What?” the other growled.
Lilian heard the sound of someone sniffing the air.
“We’re not alone anymore.”
Lilian had just enough time to realize they’d been found out and respond accordingly. She grabbed Christine with her tails, then leapt away from the boulder at the same time as Kevin.
They were just in time, too. Because the boulder exploded seconds later, and two figures could be seen through the smoke and debris, which quickly cleared away.
Neither of them were human.
As the dust settled, Kevin stood up and, keeping his guns fully trained on the two yōkai, observed the duo in an attempt to discern their type. One of them was a hulking brute with six multi-faceted eyes, six long, furry appendages sticking out of his back, and two horn-like fangs jutting from his teeth. He was some kind of spider yōkai. The other, who stood calmly in front of the group, possessed floppy ears and a bushy tail. Inu. The same species as his teacher.
“What’s this?” the inu said, yellow orbs studying them from beneath silver bangs. “A human, a fox, and a snow woman. An interesting mix. I wonder what they’re doing out here?”
“Who cares?!” The other one growled. “Let’s just kill them and continue looking for that bitch!”
“Patience,” the inu said calmly. Kevin recognized his sharp gaze. It was a combination of Chris’s bloodlust and Kiara’s warrior calm. “These three may be able to help us. Tell me, human, maiden, and… fox… have you seen a yama uba wandering through here?”
While Lilian bared her fangs at the canine, Kevin’s heart kickstarted. These two were looking for a yama uba? Those were rare in the United States. In fact, they were so rare that there were only a couple hundred in the US—and most of them lived in Neo Seiryuu.
“A yama uba crossed through here?” Kevin asked.
“Hm…” the inu studied him. Kevin bore his gaze calmly. “It seems they do not know anything about our quarry. Let’s leave them be.”
“What about that filthy human?” the spider yōkai growled.
“We have a mission to deal with. Focus on that for now.”
Kevin’s mind raced. If there was a yama uba, then there was a very good chance it was someone he knew. Were there any yama ubas who’d been sent here on a mission? Not that he could remember, but there was a good chance that they’d been sent here after he’d left for California.
I can’t let these two just leave.
Kevin pulled the trigger of his silver gun. Light gathered within the barrel for several seconds before, like flashing thunder, it shot out in a lance of power.
The two yōkai sensed his attack coming, and they dodged accordingly, the inu leaping out of the way, while the spider yōkai shot webs from his mouth and swung into the trees. The bullet, which had taken the form of a lance, blew straight through several trees and continued traveling well beyond Kevin’s line of sight.
“I don’t know who you’re after,” Kevin started, staring at the inu, “but I can almost bet that, whatever your intentions toward her are, they’re not good.” Kevin charged his gun again. “Unless you can give me a good reason to let you go, you’re not going anywhere.”
The inu’s eyes narrowed. “Are you picking a fight with me, boy? ”
Kevin pondered the question only for a moment…
“Yes. Yes, I am,” he said.
… and then he fired off several more rounds.
Lilian ran through the forest, her tail latched around Christine’s wrist, dragging the girl behind her. Christine’s heavy breathing rang in her ear. While her own heartbeat was even, she imagined the yuki-onna’s was going off like the opening theme song for Black Lagoon .
She could hear gunshots in the distance. That was Kevin. He’d decided to take on the inu. She understood his reasons, though a part of her wished he hadn’t decided to fight the dog by himself. While she was confident in his skills, inu were more powerful than the average yōkai. Even a young one like Chris had a good deal of power, and this one looked quite a bit older than that bully had been.
“L-Lilian…” Christine rasped. “W-why are we running? K-Kevin…”
“Kevin can take care of himself,” Lilian replied. “I trust him, and he’s trusting me to do my part.”
Christine didn’t seem to understand, but she didn’t say anything. Lilian imagined she simply didn’t know what to say.
They continued running. Lilian’s ears twitched as more gunshots sounded off in the distance, and the loud crash of trees being felled echoed across the forest. She could hear nothing else. Everything passed by her in a blur. She ran, knowing that the first thing she needed to do was find—
Duck!
Her instincts screaming at her, Lilian dragged Christine to the floor as something whizzed over their heads. The thunk of an object piercing wo
od reverberated in her ears. Lilian looked up to see an arrow sticking out of a tree trunk.
Roll!
Keeping a tight hold of Christine, Lilian rolled across the ground as several more arrows pierced the places where she’d been laying. She then stood to her feet, hauling Christine up with her, and bolted behind the nearest tree.
“Lilian,” Christine started in a harsh whisper, “what the hell is going on?!”
Lilian held a hand to her lips, shushing the girl. Christine understood and stayed quiet, allowing her to extend her senses. As a kitsune, her sense of hearing and smell were quite impressive. While not as good as, say, a dog’s, they were still far better than most yōkai.
Her ears twitched as she listened to the rustling of leaves. The sounds of the forest had all but disappeared. The animals who’d made this place their home must have evacuated when the gunshots went off. It should make finding her opponent easier.
“You’ve got some skill at dodging, little lady,” the voice seemed to bounce off all the trees. “If it wasn’t so fucking annoying, I would be impressed.”
“If that’s all it takes, then you must be easily impressed,” Lilian shot back.
“Sounds like you’ve got some wit. I hate it when my prey has wit.”
Lilian scrunched up her face in concentration, but she couldn’t determine the source of that voice. It seemed to come from everywhere. She strained her ears further, and then Lilian thought she heard something else. It reminded her of a rubber band being drawn taut when someone pulled on it.
“I prefer it when my enemies are on the ground screaming!”
Lilian tried to shove Christine out of the way, but the yuki-onna had already moved, and thus she leapt away from the tree as well. Not a second later, the tree was penetrated by a thick arrow. Now that she was seeing it up close, the arrow looked like it had been made from a thousand glistening strings.
A web?
Realization struck Lilian like a Naru punch to the face. The yōkai she was facing was a tsuchigumo. She had suspected that was the case, but this confirmed it. However, her enemy must have been an old yōkai indeed, if he’d gained the wisdom and power necessary to kill his prey at range.
This wasn’t good. She’d assumed her opponent was nothing but an unintelligent brute—most tsuchigumo were. But it appeared this one, at least, was not lacking in intelligence. He must have been a couple hundred years old. That was how long it took for most tsuchigumo to gain this kind of tactical thinking.
I’ll need to be careful.
“Christine, hurry up and go back to Iris.”
“And leave you to fight on your own? I don’t think so.”
Several more arrows whizzed by their heads. Lilian, her speed enhanced by youki, moved quickly. Christine simply created a wall of ice, the arrows impaling it and even going through it, though none of them reached her.
“This situation is dangerous, Christine! That’s why you need to leave!”
“No.” Christine shook her head. “That’s why I need to stay.”
More arrows rained down from above, forcing the two to react. Lilian leapt backwards, her enhanced jumps carrying her several yards away. Christine created another wall of ice, which blocked the arrows aimed at her.
The spider must have realized that Christine was an easier target, as several dozen more arrows shot from the canopy toward the yuki-onna. Lilian’s eyes widened, and her mind raced to try and find a solution to protect Christine.
Then something unexpected happened.
A large wall of fire suddenly burst from the ground directly in front of the ice wall. The ice melted swiftly, and the arrows that sought to pierce Christine’s skin burst into flames before they could reach her.
Christine had changed, too. Situated on her head, a pair of triangle-shaped cat ears twitched intermittently, as if rejoicing at no longer being confined to her hair. Jutting out from underneath her lolita dress, a long tail that split into two around the halfway point waved back and forth. Her ears and tail were blacker than twilight, much like her hair.
Lilian looked at her, the yuki-onna’s determined gaze making her realize that this wasn’t the same girl she’d known before. This Christine was stronger, much surer of herself. She’d changed, matured.
“Nyi didn’t come all the way to the middle of nyowhere without a reason,” Christine said, destroying several more arrows with her fire. “I came here to get stronger so I could help nyou and Kevin. I’m nyot leaving.”
Lilian would’ve stared at Christine for a lot longer, but several more arrows forced her to move. And, much like her body moved quicker than a human’s, her thoughts also moved at light speed. She came to a decision.
“Celestial Art: Light Spheres!”
Two light spheres fired off from the tips of her tails. They disappeared into the trees, where the arrows had come from. There was no scream of pain, and bark showered the ground, letting her know that her opponent had moved.
More arrows blotted out what little light entered the forest. Christine raised her hands, and fire spewed from her palms, forming a circular barrier above her and Lilian. It protected them from the arrows, which burned to cinders before they could reach them. While her friend protected them, Lilian sent more light-based attacks at the area the arrows had come from. She didn’t hit anything, but she hadn’t expected to either. This opponent was clearly far cleverer than normal.
“Tsk! What the hell is this?! I thought you were a yuki-onna!”
“That’s nyour mistake then,” Christine said, her cold voice contrasting with the fire erupting around her palms.
“I’m kinda confused, too,” Lilian admitted. “Aren’t yuki-onna supposed to have only ice powers?”
“I’m half-bakeneko.”
Ah.
That made sense. It made a lot of sense, like why a yuki-onna had been living in Arizona, and why she hated the cold so much. Bakeneko prefered warm places. That side of her must have given Christine certain quirks.
“Christine?” Lilian captured the lolita girl’s attention. “Think you can help me beat this spider guy?”
Christine didn’t even need a second to think about it. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Mou… I’m bored.”
Iris lay on the tiny bed in their little hostel. With Lilian and Kevin gone, there wasn’t much for her to do. She’d already masturbated several times, but that had gotten boring after a while. Ever since she’d had a taste of actual sex, self-pleasure just didn’t do it for her anymore.
“Ha… and even Christine went with those two, so I can’t screw with her.”
The ceiling above her was plain, white, and old. Iris stared at a long, thin crack in it, following it with her eyes until it disappeared into a wall.
“Maybe I should have gone with the others, after all.”
She sighed.
“Mou… I’m so bored.”
They shot from behind numerous leaves—arrows. Over a dozen arrows soared through the air toward them.
A pillar of fire rose from the earth like a column of blazing destruction. The arrows hit the pillar. Most of them disintegrated the moment they touched it, but a few nearly got through.
“Celestial Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”
Half a dozen orbs of light appeared. Humming with energy, they shot off, zooming toward the spot the arrows had come from. They hit nothing, however, as the person who’d fired at them had already moved.
“This guy…” Christine gritted her teeth. “He’s so annoying.”
“Are you doing okay, Christine?”
“I’m fine… just fine.”
Christine was certainly not fine. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and bags hung underneath them. Likewise, her posture was stooped, and her breathing was heavy, as if she’d been running nonstop for several days.
She must not be used to using her fire powers.
It wasn’t surprising. While Christine had said that she’d been training to get st
ronger, there was a difference between learning how to wield one’s powers in a controlled environment, and using those same powers in a life and death battle. It was very likely that Christine was nearing her limit.
She’s probably almost out of youki.
Which meant that Lilian would need to find this guy and finish him quickly. Unfortunately, their foe was proving to be a tricky one indeed. Thus far he’d stayed hidden within the forest canopy, firing long-range projectiles at them. He was also an expert at hiding, and Lilian hadn’t been able to locate him. Every time she thought she had him, he disappeared.
“I’m really beginning to get sick of that fire of yours, cunt.”
Christine twitched at the insult. “Oh yeah? Well, I’m beginning to get sick of nyour arrows, asshole!”
“You’ve got a mouth on you. I’ll make sure my next shot goes right through that pretty little mouth of yours.”
Lilian strained her ears to determine where this yōkai’s voice was coming from, but it proved to be impossible. This tsuchigumo was like a ventriloquist. His voice was everywhere, bouncing around, making it impossible to locate him. All she had to go on were the arrows he shot, and that didn’t seem to be working.
There has to be something I can do!
The soft hiss of projectiles flying through the air made Lilian twitch. A roar erupted as fire rushed up to protect them, creating a large wall of brilliant orange. Most of the arrows disintegrated under the fire’s heat, the strands unable to withstand the intense flame. One managed to get through, however.
Christine’s eyes widened as an arrow burst from the fire and flew straight at her face. Lilian reached out before it impaled her friend’s mouth and grabbed it, hissing when the arrow tip sliced into her palm.
“Lilian!” Christine squeaked as she saw the blood dripping from Lilian’s hand. “A-are you okay?”
“Yes,” Lilian hissed at the end as pain stung her palm. “I’m fine.”
She studied the bloody arrow a little more closely. While it was hard to judge, she was positive that this arrow was denser than the others.
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