Sangria 21
Author: intothewolves
Challenge: Sangria #21 Long is the way And hard, that out of hell leads up to Light
Toppings/Extras: Cherry on Top (Experimental story structure)
Story: Leech Child
Rating: PG (Language)
Wordcount: 1470
Title: The Prince's Departure/The Hero's Arrival
Summary: Ren meets the three most important people on his journey. He grows up, he reflects.
Notes: I. Madara II. Chouko III. Aoi (X. is just Ren, I felt IV. wasn't standout enough.) If you like giving crit I like getting it.
I.
He had been crying for so long that I started to pick up on the inflections in his sobs. I could tell when he was going to stop and start again the way his breath hitched or he sighed. In some sort of sick way it was comforting to listen to the patterns. On the other hand, he was crying like a pup who had his rattle stolen and there was nothing I could do for him until Saburo arrived.
I didn't know what had made him so upset but from the way he was breaking apart I figured it had either been something really horrible or he was just a wuss. I know Saburo was going to assume he was a wuss because he was a tsuchigumo and he and mom and the Council members always said tsuchi were cowards. "The lot of 'em" Saburo would say, and he's spit on the ground or mime spitting if he hadn't been chewing any enmaroot that day.
He broke into another hard sob, which he'd follow up with a soft whine and then that horrible piggish squeal. It hurt my heart (and my head) to hear anyone like that but Saburo was probably right, and he was just a coward.
II.
She leapt out of the pond and held the blade of her sword to my neck with incredible finesse. My breath stopped halfway in my chest and she spoke with the rasp and crackle of an untuned radio.
"What do you want?" Her breathing was like a voice transmission, at the end of each inhale it crackled and paused. I swallowed hard and I could feel the edge of the blade touch my neck gently.
"We're looking to buy a trained kirin. My, uh, friend told me there was a bazaar in the old burrow down here." The sound of water dripping echoed through the caverns. I couldn't hear Madara. It had been at least half an hour since he left, saying he knew the tunnels like I knew the palace halls and that he'd be back soon.
The ningyo woman lowered her sword slowly and held it by her side in a position I knew she could easily strike me from.
"Tuesday." The ending of the word clicked, like it was emphasizing its finality.
"Tomorrow?"
She nodded deftly. Her face was slick with water droplets that reflected the bright yellow from her eyes. Her breathing device was one I recognized, a dangerous experimental model from several years ago that the Akamachi factories had since stopped manufacturing. She had the thin angular physique, small chest and muscular arms of the ningyo girls in the magazines. Her hair was short and the gills on her neck were exposed and tinged red.
"Don't stare. Do you need anything else?" She sheathed the sword with a quick movement. I wasn't a threat anymore.
"When my friend comes back, could you show us the way to the marketplace?"
She nodded again and leaned back against a rock spike jutting out of the ground. Her hair and face-fins settled back into place in a way that a still image could never capture. The light from her eyes dimmed and cast the area around us in a ethereal glow. She was the full-page pinup brought to life, and I loved her.
III.
She gave me a knowing look, her feathers rustling in the lazy breeze. "Kagami sent you?"
I nodded. She stifled a laugh.
"She's so impatient. You're her brother?" She snatched the photograph from my hand. "Oh, this is from years ago."
"Yeah, I'm Ren Akimoto."
I watched her look at the image with a wistful expression. She gently ran her fingers across a featherless patch on her shoulder only partially hidden by the strap of her dress. "It's been too long."
"How do you know Kagami?" I had never seen this woman before in my life, and even though I knew about the rebellion I didn't know that any tengu were involved.
She looked at me with the same knowing look, or, well, an "I know something you don't" look and the corners of her mouth twitched. She didn't smile.
"We were lovers," she said, and she handed the photo back to me. In it, Kagami was smiling, and it looked just a bit different than before.
X.
Looking back at the past month or so, I had gotten some scars, built a bit of muscle and lost some weight. My eyes had darker circles and my lips were chapped and dry from the cold air. I had learned how to sew so I could put horn-holes in the hooded cloak I got from the black market, and the memory of sticking my thumb with that damn needle was still fresh. My hands were calloused but more dexterous from learning tsuchi sign language. The ripped half-photo of Kagami was nestled safely in my empty pill bottle. I had suffered through the addiction. It was still awful, but maybe Chouko was right and I had more willpower than when we first met. I could sleep now, and that made the cravings worth toughing through.
Madara also told me I had changed, that I was "nicer," but I think that's just relative to how much of a jerk I was when I left the palace. I wasn't nice yet, nowhere as nice as him, at least. But I was getting there. The fact that I had changed was what mattered. It was just enough.
III.
"I'm going to kill you." I hefted my club to my side.
Aoi laughed shrilly. "Do it, then." She kept walking along the bridge towards Daijiro, coming from the other end.
I knew no matter how many times I hit her, it'd do nothing. "I'm going to kill you." Saying it made me feel like I could. "I'm gonna kill you." My muscles tensed, like they wanted to try again.
Aoi stopped and turned towards me. "Who told you I was here?"
I gave her my most threatening scowl and furrowed my eyebrows. "Kagami sent me."
II.
Chouko dangling her feet in the lake under the bridge reminded me of the first time I saw her in the burrows, and it made my face flush. She hums a little tune and I think back to what I said and what I did and how I could have done right by her and just maybe how things could have been a bit different between us. Then my mind grounds itself and reminds me that even though I did things wrong, doing them right wouldn't have changed anything.
I remember I approached the pond and had a blade expertly held to my throat. Her breathing didn't belie any weakness, her voice was firm and powerful, and she spelled it all out simply. There was no room for argument. The way she postured, she was ready to strike at any sign of danger. Her muscles and scars painted the trials she had been through on her skin, and her hair cut short said she didn't take shit from anyone.
When she dropped her guard, her eyes dimmed and her breath slowed like a soldier lowering his shield. She smiled then, but I didn't know it. The way her cheeks pulled up and dimples appeared on her face was the same as it was when I made her laugh or told her about Daijiro as a baby.
Chouko's the strongest woman I know, and I love her.
I.
"Ready?," I asked.
Madara nodded. He put a hand to the sheathed dagger at his side. "Let's go."
He started up first, skittering up the bridge towards the circular platform at the center. I recognized the sound of his legs on the stone, pitter-patter. It had become a comforting sound after the first few days. It let me know I wasn't alone.
He slowed his pace to walk by my side. "I wouldn't be able to do this if you weren't here."
"No?" I grinned in the way I used to when I had to reassure him.
Madara looked straight ahead, eight eyes fixed on the platform. He pulled his dagger out of its sheath and rubbed his thumb on the edge carefully to spread the poison.
"They called me a wimp back home, but you rubbed off on me, I guess" He returned my grin with a toothy, fanged one. "Look at me now, huh?"
"I couldn't do this alone either, and you know it," I said.
"Eh, you know without you I'm just a coward." Madara gave a lazy shrug.
I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze as we approached the center of the bridge. "Madara, you're braver than the entire Akamachi police force put together. Don't ever let anyone call you a coward."
Challenge: Sangria #21 Long is the way And hard, that out of hell leads up to Light
Toppings/Extras: Cherry on Top (Experimental story structure)
Story: Leech Child
Rating: PG (Language)
Wordcount: 1470
Title: The Prince's Departure/The Hero's Arrival
Summary: Ren meets the three most important people on his journey. He grows up, he reflects.
Notes: I. Madara II. Chouko III. Aoi (X. is just Ren, I felt IV. wasn't standout enough.) If you like giving crit I like getting it.
I.
He had been crying for so long that I started to pick up on the inflections in his sobs. I could tell when he was going to stop and start again the way his breath hitched or he sighed. In some sort of sick way it was comforting to listen to the patterns. On the other hand, he was crying like a pup who had his rattle stolen and there was nothing I could do for him until Saburo arrived.
I didn't know what had made him so upset but from the way he was breaking apart I figured it had either been something really horrible or he was just a wuss. I know Saburo was going to assume he was a wuss because he was a tsuchigumo and he and mom and the Council members always said tsuchi were cowards. "The lot of 'em" Saburo would say, and he's spit on the ground or mime spitting if he hadn't been chewing any enmaroot that day.
He broke into another hard sob, which he'd follow up with a soft whine and then that horrible piggish squeal. It hurt my heart (and my head) to hear anyone like that but Saburo was probably right, and he was just a coward.
II.
She leapt out of the pond and held the blade of her sword to my neck with incredible finesse. My breath stopped halfway in my chest and she spoke with the rasp and crackle of an untuned radio.
"What do you want?" Her breathing was like a voice transmission, at the end of each inhale it crackled and paused. I swallowed hard and I could feel the edge of the blade touch my neck gently.
"We're looking to buy a trained kirin. My, uh, friend told me there was a bazaar in the old burrow down here." The sound of water dripping echoed through the caverns. I couldn't hear Madara. It had been at least half an hour since he left, saying he knew the tunnels like I knew the palace halls and that he'd be back soon.
The ningyo woman lowered her sword slowly and held it by her side in a position I knew she could easily strike me from.
"Tuesday." The ending of the word clicked, like it was emphasizing its finality.
"Tomorrow?"
She nodded deftly. Her face was slick with water droplets that reflected the bright yellow from her eyes. Her breathing device was one I recognized, a dangerous experimental model from several years ago that the Akamachi factories had since stopped manufacturing. She had the thin angular physique, small chest and muscular arms of the ningyo girls in the magazines. Her hair was short and the gills on her neck were exposed and tinged red.
"Don't stare. Do you need anything else?" She sheathed the sword with a quick movement. I wasn't a threat anymore.
"When my friend comes back, could you show us the way to the marketplace?"
She nodded again and leaned back against a rock spike jutting out of the ground. Her hair and face-fins settled back into place in a way that a still image could never capture. The light from her eyes dimmed and cast the area around us in a ethereal glow. She was the full-page pinup brought to life, and I loved her.
III.
She gave me a knowing look, her feathers rustling in the lazy breeze. "Kagami sent you?"
I nodded. She stifled a laugh.
"She's so impatient. You're her brother?" She snatched the photograph from my hand. "Oh, this is from years ago."
"Yeah, I'm Ren Akimoto."
I watched her look at the image with a wistful expression. She gently ran her fingers across a featherless patch on her shoulder only partially hidden by the strap of her dress. "It's been too long."
"How do you know Kagami?" I had never seen this woman before in my life, and even though I knew about the rebellion I didn't know that any tengu were involved.
She looked at me with the same knowing look, or, well, an "I know something you don't" look and the corners of her mouth twitched. She didn't smile.
"We were lovers," she said, and she handed the photo back to me. In it, Kagami was smiling, and it looked just a bit different than before.
X.
Looking back at the past month or so, I had gotten some scars, built a bit of muscle and lost some weight. My eyes had darker circles and my lips were chapped and dry from the cold air. I had learned how to sew so I could put horn-holes in the hooded cloak I got from the black market, and the memory of sticking my thumb with that damn needle was still fresh. My hands were calloused but more dexterous from learning tsuchi sign language. The ripped half-photo of Kagami was nestled safely in my empty pill bottle. I had suffered through the addiction. It was still awful, but maybe Chouko was right and I had more willpower than when we first met. I could sleep now, and that made the cravings worth toughing through.
Madara also told me I had changed, that I was "nicer," but I think that's just relative to how much of a jerk I was when I left the palace. I wasn't nice yet, nowhere as nice as him, at least. But I was getting there. The fact that I had changed was what mattered. It was just enough.
III.
"I'm going to kill you." I hefted my club to my side.
Aoi laughed shrilly. "Do it, then." She kept walking along the bridge towards Daijiro, coming from the other end.
I knew no matter how many times I hit her, it'd do nothing. "I'm going to kill you." Saying it made me feel like I could. "I'm gonna kill you." My muscles tensed, like they wanted to try again.
Aoi stopped and turned towards me. "Who told you I was here?"
I gave her my most threatening scowl and furrowed my eyebrows. "Kagami sent me."
II.
Chouko dangling her feet in the lake under the bridge reminded me of the first time I saw her in the burrows, and it made my face flush. She hums a little tune and I think back to what I said and what I did and how I could have done right by her and just maybe how things could have been a bit different between us. Then my mind grounds itself and reminds me that even though I did things wrong, doing them right wouldn't have changed anything.
I remember I approached the pond and had a blade expertly held to my throat. Her breathing didn't belie any weakness, her voice was firm and powerful, and she spelled it all out simply. There was no room for argument. The way she postured, she was ready to strike at any sign of danger. Her muscles and scars painted the trials she had been through on her skin, and her hair cut short said she didn't take shit from anyone.
When she dropped her guard, her eyes dimmed and her breath slowed like a soldier lowering his shield. She smiled then, but I didn't know it. The way her cheeks pulled up and dimples appeared on her face was the same as it was when I made her laugh or told her about Daijiro as a baby.
Chouko's the strongest woman I know, and I love her.
I.
"Ready?," I asked.
Madara nodded. He put a hand to the sheathed dagger at his side. "Let's go."
He started up first, skittering up the bridge towards the circular platform at the center. I recognized the sound of his legs on the stone, pitter-patter. It had become a comforting sound after the first few days. It let me know I wasn't alone.
He slowed his pace to walk by my side. "I wouldn't be able to do this if you weren't here."
"No?" I grinned in the way I used to when I had to reassure him.
Madara looked straight ahead, eight eyes fixed on the platform. He pulled his dagger out of its sheath and rubbed his thumb on the edge carefully to spread the poison.
"They called me a wimp back home, but you rubbed off on me, I guess" He returned my grin with a toothy, fanged one. "Look at me now, huh?"
"I couldn't do this alone either, and you know it," I said.
"Eh, you know without you I'm just a coward." Madara gave a lazy shrug.
I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze as we approached the center of the bridge. "Madara, you're braver than the entire Akamachi police force put together. Don't ever let anyone call you a coward."