NuraMago: Celadon, chapter 1, part 2/2
[--Shouei.]
With three humans to protect, still exhausted from Kyousai’s spell, and with the knowledge that at least some of the enemy youkai roaming the streets were transformed humans making him reluctant to fight, the trip back to where Shouei had last seen Aotabou and the others took longer than he liked -- and when they arrived, the fight had moved on.
“Damn,” he muttered, looking around for any sign of where his allies had gone.
“I can look around a little, if you stay here,” Celadon offered, glancing sideways at the human girls. They were huddled against a building, hugging each other and trying to keep their torn clothing in place to preserve at least a little modesty. They’d tried hard to keep up without getting in the way or drawing unwanted attention, but anyone could see they desperately needed a rest… and they were more afraid of her than they were of him.
“Thanks,” he said brusquely, nodding towards a narrow service lane with a couple of abandoned cars partially blocking it. “We’ll be down there.”
She bowed slightly and padded off, flickering into the shadows and not reappearing.
Shouei ushered the girls to a sheltered spot and handed them his haori after checking for lurking youkai or other fugitive humans. “Here. Sit down and catch your breath,” he said quietly, sheathing his sword and taking up a position he could see the lane entrance from.
“Th-thank you,” they murmured, huddling together underneath the cloth. It was thin -- and sooty, after the way Celadon had broken him out of the web -- but it was a warm night, and at least it was big enough for them to share.
“…Can you tell me more about what sort of youkai Celadon is?” he continued after a brief struggle with his conscience. It felt underhanded, asking for information behind the back of his at-least-temporary ally, but given her origin as Kyousai’s creation he couldn’t yet bring himself to trust her more than absolutely necessary. “I couldn’t hear everything, and I think at least part of what I heard was lies anyway.”
“She isn’t a youkai at all!” the girl with long black hair burst out, sniffling. The other girls hushed her, and Shouei sighed.
“I know she was your friend, but--”
“No, that’s not it,” the girl went on, quieter now. “Bales aren’t youkai. They aren’t even real!”
“Huh?” Frowning, he crouched down and peered at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s a game,” she said miserably. “A roleplaying game, where you make up a character and roll dice to fight imaginary enemies. We played it together, even got permission to run sessions during our free period at school because all the materials are in English and it counted as practice… It’s all pretend. Some of the creatures in the game are taken from real-world myths and legends, I guess some of those might really exist, but everything about Bales was written for the game.”
“Celadon is -- was -- the character Naoko-chan played,” one of the other girls chimed in. “She-- she liked the idea of playing a character who belonged to an evil race, but wasn’t evil herself; I guess a lot of people do, really. She didn’t play her as a good character either,” she added, looking nervous, “but as… um… I don’t really know how to explain it. She wouldn’t harm people without a really good reason, because it would cause her more problems than it solved, if that makes sense? She tried to get along with people so they wouldn’t want to attack her, even if they found out what she was.”
“Pragmatic?” Shouei suggested, and the girl nodded uncertainly. “So you’d say she’s at least somewhat trustworthy?”
The girls exchanged worried glances. “Um… well, if this Celadon acts the way Nao-chan played her Celadon, she’ll be trustworthy.”
“‘If’?”
The long-haired girl sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “I don’t think he got her right. The painter, I mean, I don’t think he got it right when he made her. Maybe it’s because Bales don’t really exist, so he ended up making a youkai that’s as close as he could get to a Bale? Or as close as he could get to what Nao-chan told him about Bales? She… she’s not behaving quite the way Nao-chan played her. Nao-chan would be acting nicer, trying to make us feel safe, that sort of thing.”
“And she doesn’t look right,” the third girl said quietly, leaning against her friend’s shoulder. “In the game books, Bales are described as being dark-skinned, not light; I always imagined her as looking kind of Indian. The drawing Nao-chan did for her character sheet was just a black-and-white sketch, no colour and not much shading even, so the painter wouldn’t know that.”
Instead, Shouei thought grimly, he was told ‘beautiful’ and shown a picture of someone with long black hair, his imagination defaulted to ‘classical Japanese beauty’, and she turned out pale-skinned. He was told ‘evil’…
She’s a completely unknown quantity, then. She’s answering to the right name, and she’s helped us so far, but for all I know she’s just playing along until there’s a good opportunity to betray us.
One hand lifted to the healing bite mark on his throat and he frowned, turning to watch the street. No. Don’t be stupid. If she was going to do that, what would be the point? If she wanted to stay with the Hundred Tales Clan, she was in the right place for it and we’d be dead by now… or at least the girls would have been made over into youkai, and I’d be on my way to something really unpleasant. If she didn’t want to join them but didn’t care about us one way or the other, she didn’t have to help us escape; she could have left me in that web, translated the book for Kyousai, then walked off ‘to fight the Nura clan’ and just never come back. We’d still be doomed.
It’s likely she’s helping us in order to make allies, not out of altruism or kindness… but that works well enough for me.
He was looking in the right direction to see Celadon the moment she melted out of the shadows at the mouth of the laneway, looking over her shoulder. She was clutching some wadded-up cloth to her chest as she hurried towards them, which was revealed as several loose flannel shirts as she arrived and held them out to the girls.
“Here; they’re far too big, but better than nothing,” she said, a little out of breath. Turning to Shouei, she kept her eyes level instead of looking up at him, focussing on his chest rather than trying to meet his eyes. “There’s a fight a few blocks further on. I didn’t get close enough to get a good look, but it sounded like someone was enjoying himself, so--”
He snorted, mood lightening immediately. “So it’s probably Aotabou or someone else from the military faction, not humans fighting back.”
“Yes,” she agreed, answering smile peeking out for a moment. “Also, I think there are some humans hiding in the store I got the shirts from, but I didn’t want to approach them without someone to vouch for me.”
“Good idea.” The girls had struggled into the shirts with admirable speed and were now rolling up sleeves and fastening final buttons; Shouei turned to them and bowed slightly, accepting his haori back. “Would you three be willing to coax them out? They’ll be safer if they come with us.”
“Uh. Um, sure,” the long-haired girl stuttered, glancing at her friends for support. “But… come with us where? Where are we going? And, um--” She blushed nervously. “Who are you, anyway? You saved us, we’re very grateful, but-- sorry--”
He could feel himself blushing, too. “No, I’m the one who should apologise. I didn’t think.” Drawing himself up, he bowed formally, right foot and open hand forwards, left hand holding his sheathed sword at his hip. “I am Shouei, head of the Kantou Oozarukai, subordinate to the Nura clan of youkai chivalry. In accordance with our leader’s will, members of the Nura clan do not attack humans; if you come with me, I promise to do my utmost to escort you to a place of safety, where you will be protected until the current situation is resolved.”
Two of the girls seemed impressed, eyes widening; the quietest one gasped, drawing back. “Wait, Nura? I didn’t realise before, but -- that rumour about Nura, um, Nura Ri-something, bringing doom--”
Damn. Not this idiocy, not now! Shouei’s hand tightened around his sword, but he kept the irritation out of his voice with an effort. “Nura Rikuo-sama is our clan head, yes, but that story is a lie. It was started by our enemies, the Hundred Tales clan, to get humans to attack Rikuo-sama. They’re the ones causing all this mess and killing people!”
The situation hung in the balance for a breathless moment, the girls looking at him with expressions of mingled fear and uncertainty; then Celadon spoke from behind him in a calm voice. “So that painter Kyousai is a member of the Hundred Tales clan?”
“Yes,” Shouei nodded, turning to look back at her.
“Well then,” she shrugged. “I know I don’t want to be on his side, and you’re fighting him, so…” She shrugged again, waving one loose sleeve in a lazy circle like an impromptu pom-pom. “Yay, Nura clan?”
For a moment, all Shouei could do was stare at her, boggled by her sudden flippant tone and attitude; then there was a giggle from behind him, and he looked back at the girls. The long-haired one was hiding a smile behind one hand, and somehow all the tension had gone out of the air.
“You’re right,” the quiet girl said, embarrassed. “Sorry. If your leader is trying to protect humans he doesn’t even know from people who’d do stuff like that, there’s no way he can be as bad as that rumour says.”
“Thank you,” he told her, relieved.
As they moved on, Celadon and Shouei in the lead with the humans tiptoeing through the shadows behind them, he could hear the girls whispering. “That bow he did, it was like something out of a historical drama! Or maybe a play--”
“Like in the Lone Wolf and Cub movies, the one where they met the yakuza?”
“Yes, exactly!”
“Well, it makes sense that youkai would have old-fashioned manners for some things, and he did say the Nura clan are yakuza.”
“…No he didn’t.”
“Yes he did! He said he was ‘subordinate to the Nura clan of youkai chivalry’,” the third girl said, the one that didn’t have long hair and wasn’t the quiet, nervous one. “They’re a ninkyoudantai, a ‘chivalrous organisation’; that’s what some yakuza organisations call themselves. Usually the old-fashioned, honourable ones,” she added thoughtfully, “which fits, I suppose.”
There was a slight pause, then: “Huh. So… youkai have yakuza too?”
“I guess so.”
Given that he was sneaking along a half-destroyed street, hiding from enemy youkai, protecting humans and planning to rescue more as the opportunity arose, Shouei decided that now was not the time to start snickering helplessly… tempting though it was.
By the time they were halfway to where the fighting had moved to, their little band of rescued humans had grown to nearly twenty, and the original three girls had come up with a short speech of explanation and reassurance. “It’s okay! There are two groups of youkai fighting here, and he’s one of the good ones -- they’re like youkai yakuza, the honourable sort, so they’re protecting humans while they fight the bad guys. He’s from the Nura clan--”
As they moved on, the first humans they’d gathered up had started joining in the explanation… and were also helping squash the inevitable objections. “Nura? But I heard--” “That story’s a lie!”
The objections didn’t tend to last long, in any case; even the stubbornest humans quieted down after the group got too big to sneak effectively and Shouei had to cut down several attacking youkai, assisted by Celadon with a few well-placed fire spells. Practical demonstrations make the best arguments, he thought wryly, flicking blood off his sword before sheathing it. I suppose Ao had the right idea after all… Remembering the rest of Aotabou’s earlier cheerful declaration, he sobered.
“Is something wrong?” Celadon asked quietly, padding up beside him. “Besides the obvious.”
Shouei grimaced. “I was just thinking… I hope none of those youkai just now were transformed humans.” He didn’t continue the thought, looking sideways at her for a moment and then away. I don’t know how she’d react to the idea that we might be able to change the transformed victims back, given that she is one. It’s a lot simpler when you’re talking about the mindless ones.
“Ah.” She fell silent for a moment. “I might be able to handle some of our opponents without harming them -- the ones that arrive alone or in pairs, at least, if not the ones in larger groups.”
“Oh? That would be something, at least.” Approaching a corner, he waved for their human charges to stop and peered carefully around it, then drew back. “And it looks like you’re going to get a chance to try,” he added dryly.
----------
[--Celadon.]
The lone youkai rattling at the security gate protecting a small coffee shop turned and hissed as Celadon approached, then drew back slightly as she didn’t react. It was a big one, with a humanoid torso above a segmented many-legged lower abdomen and large pincer-like claws that it clacked aggressively at her.
“You seem to be working hard,” she said calmly, lifting her eyes to meet its dead-black gaze. “Well done.” ~Trust me. I’m not running away, I’m not attacking, there is only one thing I can be…~
“Eh?” it muttered, bending to peer at her. A mouthful of oversized fangs distorted its voice a bit, but it was still understandable. “Ally? Don’t know you.”
Intelligent enough to speak and be reasoned with, hopefully not intelligent enough to spot holes in my logic, she judged. Calculations of threat and danger, risk and benefit shifted in the back of her mind, and she smiled, smooth expression hiding the ever-present cold fear. “Kyousai painted me,” she said truthfully. Only painted, not created-- “What are you doing?”
“Ah. New ally, yes, yes. Kyousai,” it said, relaxing its posture slightly but developing an expression she could only describe as a pout. “Working for Kyousai. Canvases. Boring,” it said glumly, and went back to rattling the gate.
“Canvases? You’re collecting humans for him to change?”
“Canvases, yes. Boring. Hard,” it muttered, slumping. “Find, dig out, run-run-run-catch, can’t eat, have to carry, kyaa-kyaa ears-ow-loud, is that all go get more. Can’t catch all of them. Others get away.”
“That’s a shame,” she said sympathetically, reaching up to pat one of its several knees. “You know, I don’t think you’re really suited to this job. What would you rather be doing?”
“Fight! Fight youkai,” it said, perking up. “Fun! But canvases needed.”
“Oh, of course. Somebody has to do it, but why you? Why don’t you let my friend and I collect these humans -- canvases, I mean -- while you go fight the Nura clan youkai instead? That would be more fun,” she suggested. ~Much more fun. What a good idea.~
“Lots fun. Good idea,” it muttered, echoing her mental prompting. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” Looking back over her shoulder, she beckoned for Shouei to come out from behind the building, bringing the humans with him. “You see? My friend and I have already collected lots of canvases. We’re good at it, just like I’m sure you’re good at fighting. Doesn’t it make sense for us all to do what we’re good at?”
“Lots, yes. Why they no run-run-run?” it asked, scratching its head with one immense claw. “Always run-run-run, have to run-run-catch, then kyaa-kyaa loud. No kyaa-kyaa either! You very good.”
“It’s a talent,” she said modestly. “Shouldn’t you get going? You don’t want the fighting to be all over before you get there.”
“Yes, yes! Thank you! Bye!” it said happily, and scuttled off, pausing to look back and wave both claws before going out of sight behind a pile of rubble.
“…Did that youkai just wave bye-bye?” Shouei asked, walking up with his sword resting on his shoulder. Behind him, the humans were staring after the scorpionish creature with expressions of mingled fear and surprise.
“I believe so,” Celadon told him, dropping her gaze to avoid meeting his eyes. I mustn’t scare him. I need him to trust me. Someone has to trust me, or all this will be useless… “I gather it doesn’t like catching humans for Kyousai because they scream and hurt its ears; also, it can only carry a couple at once and gets scolded for not bringing more. I told it that since we’re demonstrably much better at collecting humans than it is, it should leave that job to us and go have fun.”
“And that worked?!”
“Well… it’s technically true. We are better at collecting humans than it is; we’re just not going to deliver them where it thinks we are.”
He snorted softly, hiding a grin, and bent to haul the security gate up one-handed; the bars bent and locking pins snapped as it came up, jamming halfway. The coffee shop looked deserted at first glance, but Celadon could hear stifled gasps and rustles of movement inside.
“Hello?” one of the human girls called. “It’s safe to come out now…”
----------
[--Aotabou.]
Hearing a familiar voice call his name, Aotabou turned and grinned, waving. “Yo, Shouei-kun! How’s it-- eh?!” He blinked at the crowd of humans huddled behind the younger youkai, puzzled. “What’s all this? You starting your own Night Parade of a Hundred Humans or something?”
“Can’t protect ‘em if I leave ‘em behind,” Shouei muttered, looking slightly annoyed. “Never mind that. Do you know where the Third is?”
“You’re turning out just like him, you know,” Aotabou snorted. “Last I heard he was… hang on, his orders were to not go after him, remember?”
“Yeah, but I need to get a warning to him,” Shouei said, leaning closer. “Do you remember what Kurotabou mentioned recently, about the painter who attacked the Third’s friend Torii-san?”
His explanation was fast and hurried, given in a low voice so as not to be overheard, and took barely a minute before Aotabou understood -- not just the basics, but the implications.
“…They’re human?!” he choked out, staring around at the shattered cars and masonry where he’d been fighting. Even with most youkai evaporating shortly after their death, enough remained to make it clear that he’d been very busy.
“A lot of them, yeah. If someone manages to kill that Kyousai bastard, then-- well, I don’t know for sure, but at least some of the transformations ought to be reversible. At least it works with curses, right?” Shouei’s eyes were dark, almost ashamed, and Aotabou wondered how many possibly-transformed youkai he’d killed before finding out their origin. Or since.
“Usually, yeah,” he nodded. “Kill the caster, break the curse; it worked against that Sodemogi jerk… you know, Torii-san was involved that time too? That girl has terrible luck. Anyway, all the more reason to keep the humans safe. Good work.”
Shouei waved that off irritably. “Never mind that! We need to let Rikuo-sama know, and I broke my phone in the fight with Kyousai. Can you call him, or whoever’s bodyguarding him?”
Aotabou flipped his phone out, thick fingers already punching buttons. “One way to find out.”
There was a tense pause as he listened intently, taking a moment to glance around. The humans were clustered nearby, several of them staring open-mouthed at the sight of a large youkai in archaic blue monk’s robes using a streamlined flip phone, and the green-robed woman who’d shown up with Shouei was standing on the other side of the group watching for enemies.
…Huh. Haven’t seen her before. Shouei’s been expanding the Hihi-gumi, maybe she’s one of his new recruits?
< < The number you have dialled is not responding. Please leave a message, or hang up and try-- > >
“It’s not connecting,” Aotabou grunted, pulling the phone away from his ear and dialling again, punching in a code for a conference call this time. “Probably broke his phone, too, damn human technology is too fragile… Oi! Everyone, this is Ao. Is anyone with the Third?”
< < Not me. > >
< < No. > >
< < I think Yuki-onna is? > >
A sharper voice cut across multiple responses; Kuromaru, speaking with the crisp authority he wielded as the leader of the crow-tengu ‘enforcer’ squad made up of him and his siblings. < < Rikuo-sama is guarding Ienaga-san and accompanied by Yuki-onna. We Sanbagarasu were with him, but he despatched us all on different missions. > > He hesitated for a moment, then went on, voice slightly uncertain. < < As I recall… neither he nor Yuki-onna had their schoolbags with them. They may not have their phones. > >
Aotabou swore. “Does anyone know Ienaga-san’s phone number, then?”
A breathless pause, then Kuromaru again, sounding dry. < < Apart from Rikuo-sama and Yuki-onna, you mean? I think not. What is it, Aotabou? > >
“Hang on a sec, all of you. Everyone needs to hear this.” He held the phone out towards Shouei, gesturing for the younger youkai to take it. “I’ve got pretty well everyone but the Third on the line. You tell ‘em.”
----------
[--Shouei.]
Explanation finished -- again -- Shouei winced and held Ao’s phone slightly away from his ear as the angry / excited / worried / horrified responses to the information crackled from the receiver.
< < Quiet! > > Kuromaru’s voice cracked out, overriding all the others. < < If you have nothing constructive to contribute, be silent! > >
Apart from a couple of disgruntled mutters and some background noise -- at least one person seemed to be fighting one-handed with most of their attention on the phone -- everyone obeyed, and the black-haired tengu continued.
< < We must proceed as ordered by Rikuo-sama, > > he said decisively. < < I will set the crows to finding him as well as continuing to search for more Nura clan members who have not received word, but if he is trying not to be found… In any case, we must not kill these transformed youkai unnecessarily, but we also cannot simply stop fighting and we must find the enemy executives. If your lives or the lives of humans are in danger, do not hesitate to strike. > >
“In other words, ‘you’re gonna have to kill ’em anyway; try not to feel bad about it’,” Aotabou muttered sourly, leaning in next to Shouei so he could hear as well.
< < It has also become even more important to protect the humans, > > Kuromaru’s sister Sasami cut in. < < Not only are they innocent targets and dupes, they are potential enemy reinforcements if the Hundred Tales youkai can bring them to this Kyousai Shouei-san encountered. > >
< < Agreed, > > Kuromaru replied. < < If possible, do your best to direct or guide humans out of the areas being attacked… and if anyone encounters this painter, call for reinforcements immediately. He is a priority target. Anything else? > > A brief pause during which no-one spoke, and then Shouei thought he heard a faint sigh. < < Very well. Thank you for your hard work, Shouei-san. > >
Shouei rang off without answering and handed the phone back to Aotabou. “Thanks.”
“Yer welcome.” Ao turned to eye the gathered humans again, counting under his breath. “You did collect a lot. I guess we know what you’re doing next, huh?”
“Yeah. …Damn. Give me the phone back for a second?”
The phone on the other end was picked up almost immediately. < < Ao? What is it now? > >
“Kuromaru, it’s me, Shouei,” he said, looking around again. The immediate area was still clear of enemies, but he could feel youki stirring in all directions. Time to move, definitely. “Sorry to bother you again. I’m on the east edge of Shibuya near the Omotesando train station, I’ve got around thirty humans here--”
“Forty-two by my count,” Aotabou put in over his shoulder, and Shouei elbowed him away irritably.
“--and if anyone knows the shortest way to a safe area, you will,” he finished. “You’re getting reports from the crows, so…”
< < I am, but… Shouei-san, you’re in the centre of the worst hit area, > > Kuromaru said. < < No surprise now that we know Kyousai is in Shibuya, but there is no safe area close to you. > >
Shouei blew out his breath in a sigh, wishing he had a hand free to rub his forehead, and tried to call up a mental map of Nura clan holdings in his head. “Well, I’ve got to get them somewhere. They’re a bunch of walking targets as it is… if we were in Ukiyo-e I could take them to the Bakenekoya or even the main house… are there any subclans nearby with secure houses?”
Kuromaru’s answer was fast; clearly his mental map was better than Shouei’s. < < No. I think your best option is to head north-west to Yoyogi Park, and take them to the Meiji Jingu shrine. It has decent wards, and quite a few of its attendant priests and mikos are spiritually powerful; the local crows state the shrine itself seems clear. I would advise caution passing through the park, though, > > he said dryly.
“No kidding. Thanks.” Hanging up and passing the phone back again, he raised an eyebrow at Aotabou. “Want to come along?”
“Not unless you think you’ll need the help.” Ao scratched his chin, eyeing the crowd of humans again-- no, Shouei realised, he was looking past the humans at Celadon. “She any good as backup?”
“Reasonable, so far,” he said, then closed his mouth on the next words. …Ao doesn’t need to know where she came from, he decided, a little uncomfortable. Yet.
“Then I’ll head south a bit,” the bulky youkai monk said grimly. At Shouei’s puzzled look, he jerked his thumb over one shoulder and elaborated. “Aoyama Gakuin’s about three blocks thataway. Women’s college. If those Hundred Tales jerks are after new blood, it oughtta be crawling with things hunting ‘canvases’.”
Shouei swallowed hard. “…Right. We might come back and give you a hand after we’ve got this lot clear.”
----------
[--Celadon.]
“We’re heading for Meiji Jingu,” Shouei said, striding back towards them as the blue-robed youkai he’d been talking to headed off southwards. “You should be reasonably safe there.”
“Meiji Jingu? That’s miles away!” one young man whined, pulling his knees up to his chest in a stubborn pose as the other resting humans started to get up around him.
“Less than one, actually,” an elderly woman in a torn department store uniform informed him tartly, straightening her skirt. “Not even a kilometre and a half.”
“Isn’t there anywhere closer? Can’t we just hide in one of the buildings?” he insisted, pouting. “I don’t know why you dragged us out of them in the first place, I had a good spot--”
“We were in a building,” the first-rescued long-haired girl interrupted, fists clenched. “We had good hiding places, too. And the youkai who’re doing all this ripped holes in the walls and caught us anyway. Everyone else there got turned into--” her eyes slid towards Celadon, then away “--things. Shouei-san and, and Celadon saved us, so if they say we’re walking to Meiji Jingu backwards and barefoot I for one am doing it!”
“Forwards and with shoes on will work fine,” Shouei said gently, patting her shoulder. “Celadon, can you take rear guard again?”
“Certainly,” she murmured, lowering her gaze. The familiar round of what-if questions started up again in the back of her mind. What if something attacks from there? From that alley? From above? Out of a drain? What spells would be best to cast? Quickest? Which useful spells can I cast in advance and hold without straining? How much energy do I have left to cast with? What if-- what if--
She pushed the scrabbling fears back, keeping them to a low mutter, ignorable unless they had something important to say. He trusts me to watch his back, she thought, watching Shouei through her lashes. To watch the humans’ backs. That’s good… I think. At the very least it’s a start. I need this, I need allies, I need a place…
The human who’d objected was still sitting in place, pouting, but scrambled to his feet as she stepped past him to follow the group, slippers whispering over the cracked roadway. “Hey! Hey, you can’t leave me!”
“Keep up, then,” Celadon told him, and walked on.
“This is stupid!”
“Sitting in the road waiting for something to show up and eat you does seem rather foolish, yes--”
“You know that’s not what I meant!” Hurried footsteps pattered up behind her, and she slid smoothly out of the way as he reached for her arm. “Hey, c’mon!”
“I need my hands free to cast spells when we’re attacked again,” she told him, taking another pointed step sideways. “Don’t touch me.”
“Uh-- well-- I can help!” he declared, puffing out his chest.
“No you can’t.”
“Aw, don’t be like that, sure I can!” Looking around, he spotted a broken signpost and darted over to grab it, grunting with effort as it came up with a small chunk of concrete on the end. Brandishing it like a club, he grinned at her, practically preening. Behind him, dust shifted and settled.
Pausing for a moment, Celadon looked him up and down, then turned away. “No.”
“No, what?”
“No, you’re not pretty enough for that to impress me.” Just a little closer…
Choking noises and giggles from the group ahead of them proved that they weren’t out of earshot, and the young fool practically deflated. “Oh, come on!”
Celadon took one more step forwards, fingers shaping symbols inside her sleeves, then spun back and flicked her hands out towards the human idiot. “Spasm!”
“Wha--”
A wide ribbon of asphalt-coloured flesh flailed into the air behind him, screeching through a fang-filled mouth as the camouflaged worm-youkai that had been sneaking up behind him convulsed. She shaped a fireball with nothing but a flick of thought and sent it straight into the gaping mouth, blasting the flat head into shreds and ribbons of burnt flesh, but there were more shapes rising out of hiding. Yells and the sound of a sword chopping through flesh let her know that the front of the group was being attacked as well. No help from Shouei-san, then, she told herself coldly. No matter.
The idiot was scrambling towards her, hands outstretched, and she had to sidestep him again. “Stay out of my way,” she hissed, hands lifting to cast again. “Shield!”
He tripped and fell, grabbing the back of her robes, pulling tight and yanking her off balance, and she nearly lost her concentration on the spell. “Help me you gotta help me please save me they’re gonna kill me--!”
Which would at least get you out from underfoot! “Let go!”
One quick backwards stamp loosened his grip as he yelped in pain, and she yanked free. There were running footsteps from behind, and a voice yelling about idiots -- Good, someone else can deal with him from here -- as she stepped toward the new pair of enemies.
About to form another fireball, she hesitated as something rose up from the jabbering fears at the back of her mind.
--trust is one thing but sometimes you need to be feared--
…I need Shouei-san to trust me, she thought coldly, one hand flicking the nearly-invisible shimmer of force conjured up by her shielding spell into the path of a blow. The humans, though… they just need to do as we say. That idiot won’t, because he might be afraid of the Hundred Tales youkai but he isn’t afraid of us.
Another flick of the hand, another blocked strike.
Yet.
Decision made, she started shaping another spell as she let the attackers drive her slowly backwards. One had birdlike claws for hands and feet; the other looked nearly human, only dead-black eyes and a long forked tongue flickering to spoil the disguise, and was using a katana.
“I have a question,” she said calmly, angling her shield to slide another blow away from her body. “Are either of you new?”
Bird-claws looked puzzled and the swordsman frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Kyousai’s made a lot of new youkai tonight,” she shrugged, forming the last symbol inside her sleeve. The finished spell tingled in her fingertips, humming with energy, waiting to be released. “I just wondered if either of you were among that number. You might not know for sure, of course… do you remember what you did last week? Can you remember last week?”
The bird-clawed one was looking positively confused now, drawing its claws in to its chest and blinking. “Last… week?” it chirped, clicking hard beaklike lips together. “I…”
The swordsman sneered, bulling forwards and hacking at her shield. “I, new? I was born from one of Sanmoto-sama’s original tales, three hundred and fifty years ago! I have served the Hundred Tales clan from the very beginning! I’ll carve the flesh from your bones for this insult!”
“Oh, good,” Celadon said, taking one last step backwards. A quick sideways glance told her that the idiot was right behind her, along with a couple of the other humans who were trying to drag him away; well within earshot. “You,” she purred, fixing the bird-youkai with her gaze. “Sleep.”
The spell nearly failed, complicated by the two spells she was already holding, but the recently created youkai didn’t have a strong enough will to fight it off and crumpled to the ground, breath whistling through its beak in quiet snores. The swordsman hissed, gaze flicking to his defeated ally for a second.
“Nura bitch,” he spat, lifting his sword for another strike. “I won’t succumb to that level of spell!”
“I don’t expect you to,” she told him frankly, shaking her right sleeve back to free her hand.
Celadon lunged forwards as the sword fell, flicking the shield up and sideways to swat the sword away; it crumbled under the blow, but held long enough that the blade skimmed past her shoulder and barely brushed her sleeve. Her right hand flattened on the swordsman’s chest, fingers spread, and his eyes widened in fear as she spoke the triggering word.
“Evisceration.”
His ribs ruptured outwards with a wet cracking sound, and she stepped back, fingers closing around the pulsing knot of flesh in her hand. The swordsman staggered, dropping his blade, and reached for her, mouth stretching wide in a horrified grimace… then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed. A puddle of blood quickly formed around his body, trickling into cracks in the road surface and dribbling away.
A faint movement further down the street could have been another youkai scuttling into hiding, but nothing else stepped forward to challenge her. Shouei had taken care of his fight, too; when she turned back to look, he was standing several feet away, bloodied sword in hand, watching her with a mildly impressed expression.
The idiot was sprawled on his back at her feet, looking up at her with a strange, almost delighted look on his face. “You saved my life,” he breathed, starting to grin again. “I knew you didn’t mean it!”
“Are you fucking insane?!” one of the men who’d dragged him to that spot hissed, tearing his gaze away from the heart in Celadon’s hand to stare at him.
The boy’s grin faltered as Celadon just looked silently at him for several long seconds; then she slowly uncurled her fingers from around the cooling heart and let it fall to the ground with a splat, flexing her hand. A trickle ran down her wrist towards her sleeve, and she raised her arm to her mouth, licking it off.
“Ew,” somebody whispered.
“Don’t misunderstand me,” she said almost gently, flexing her fingers again. They were inhumanly long, with extra joints and a sixth finger that she knew made her hands seem creepy and spiderlike to humans even when they weren’t dyed red with fresh blood. “Shouei-san wants to save everyone here, and I owe a debt to someone who would want all of you to live. Apart from that, I don’t particularly care if you, personally, die. More to the point…” Pausing, she licked the blood off her thumb, never taking her eyes off him. “…if it comes to a situation where saving you will endanger the rest of the group, I will let you die without a second thought; and if you ever again get in my way during a fight, I’ll kill you myself.” She let her smile widen, beginning to show sharp teeth that were only a fraction away from being fangs. “Keep up with the group and stay out of my way, and you won’t have to worry about me. Is that clear?”
The idiot gulped like a fish, staring at her wide-eyed, and the man who’d questioned his sanity grabbed his shoulder. “It’s clear,” he said, hauling the boy up and starting to drag him back to the rest of the group. “Really clear. We’ll make sure he’s got it straight.”
“Uh, yeah,” the other man nodded, grabbing the boy’s other arm. “He won’t bother you again. Promise!”
“I would appreciate that,” she said sincerely, and turned away to watch their back trail for movement.
Shouei walked up to stand near her, wiping his sword. “Did you mean that?” he asked quietly.
“…Yes and no,” she answered after a pause, glancing sideways at him. Tell him the truth, she decided. They’re all out of hearing range again if we keep our voices down. I can’t ask for trust without giving it myself, and I need it. “I wouldn’t mourn if the fool died, but I’m not planning to kill him myself even if he does do something stupid again.”
He nodded slightly, examining the blade for nicks. “I see. You’re not making any friends among the humans like that, though.”
“Good.”
His silence invited an explanation, and she sighed, feeling very tired. I hope we don’t have to fight much more. Shouei-san is tired too, he’s hiding it well but it shows a little. “He’s the sort of person who feels no respect for anyone he doesn’t fear. If I hadn’t scared him, he would have gone right back to lagging behind, whining, and trying to flirt with me as soon as he got over the shock of nearly being eaten. Now that he’s afraid of me, he’ll behave, and we won’t have to deal with all the extra trouble he would have stirred up.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Shouei sheathed his blade and looked back towards the humans, scanning past them for threats. “I’m a youkai, Celadon; I understand all about respect through fear, but I also understand that when you’re after allies, you need the sort of Fear that manifests as admiration. You’re scaring all of them.”
He’d put an odd emphasis on ‘Fear’ the second time he’d said it, almost like he meant something different, and Celadon frowned slightly. “That’s all right. I don’t want them as allies.”
“…Not even Naoko’s friends?”
Hidden in her sleeve, her left hand clenched into a fist. She took a moment to lick another finger clean, concentrating on keeping her voice steady when she finally spoke. “Especially not them.”
“Why not?”
“N-- that girl,” she couldn’t speak the name, couldn’t, “wanted them to be safe. Wanted them to be able to go back to their lives. If they’re afraid of me, they’ll be able to accept that I’m not… her. They’ll be able to mourn, and go on. If they’re not afraid of me, if they… like me… they won’t accept that she’s gone. I can’t bring her back for them,” she said, flicking another glance sideways at him as he made a soft, uncomfortable noise in the back of his throat. “She didn’t want them to be pulled into all of this, and if they like me -- if they try to stay near me because they think of me as her in some way -- they’ll never get out of it.”
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[--Shouei.]
If things go as I hope, we will be able to bring Naoko back for her friends, he thought, wincing inwardly, but only by losing you. Killing you. Or-- does it count as dying when she made you up in the first place? Are you just a dream she’s having, that she’ll wake up from if Kyousai dies?
“Before my father died,” Shouei said quietly, “I was planning to stay out of ‘all of this’ myself. After he was killed, though, I came back to youkai society… and I left my human friends behind, for the same reason you’re trying to keep her friends clear. So.” He cleared his throat, scanning the area for new threats yet again, using it as an excuse to not look directly at her. “I’m not going to argue with your methods, I guess.
“He taste any good?” he went on abruptly, jerking his chin towards the swordsman’s evaporating corpse. Oh, excellent change of subject there, idiot! Why not talk about the weather next time, that’ll be even more awkward--
“Fair,” Celadon said, smiling faintly as she shook her sleeve back into place over her cleaned hand. “You were much better.”
“I’m not sure whether I should consider that a compliment or a warning.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t need blood again for nearly a month, and I don’t drink from allies without permission. This time was… um…”
“I think Kyousai counts as extenuating circumstances,” Shouei said dryly, turning to go. “Besides, we weren’t allies at that point.”
“…Are we… now?”
Startled by her suddenly uncertain, timid voice, he looked back over his shoulder and met her eyes, staring at him in-- hope, perhaps? Longing? She looked away almost immediately, turning her face down and to one side, but the desperate need in her expression for that one brief moment before she wiped it away shook him. Her, too; the jewels in her hair chimed together quietly, shivering.
I can’t do it. Even if the transformation can be reversed, even to get Naoko back safe for her friends, I can’t--
“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” he bit out, voice rough. “Even though I taste good, I don’t need to worry because you don’t drink from allies without permission. You’re already treating me as an ally… and I owe you my life. There’d have to be something wrong with me for me to ignore that. So… yeah.” He shrugged one shoulder, smiling wryly. “We’re allies.”
“Thank you,” Celadon whispered, and bowed to him, deep enough that her braid slid forward over her shoulder to lie in the dust and he could see the back of her neck. She held that pose, perfectly still, and he pretended not to notice the wet spots appearing on the ground beneath her hidden face as he turned away.
“Oi, we’re not taking another break!” he called, striding towards the bewildered humans. “You can sit down once we make it to Meiji Jingu!”
He could hear quiet footsteps at his back as Celadon followed, backing him up, and it felt right.
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