Fic: Kazoku (Inception, AU, PG-13)
title: Kazoku
author: ilovetakahana
characters: the team; Fischers pere et fils
warnings: continuation of my cliche'd, self-indulgent vaguely Japanese AU, Maboroshi no naka ni. violence. Unbeta'd.
disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: the Inception cast in a vaguely feudal-era Japan, now with swords and sorcery!
Dedicated to my beta laria_gwyn, who has been waiting for this FOREVER.
Also archived at http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/.
Kazoku [Family]
Wake up. Wake up.
Itoko-hime opened her eyes, rolled out of her low platform bed, slid her hands into the sleeves of her sleeping kimono for the knives that she kept sheathed there.
When she looked up, Imari was standing in the door to her room, hair falling loose down her back, her face pale and grave. "I am glad to know that you are ready for the fight, my princess. But it will take more than knives. Hurry, Atsuhiko is already stringing your bow. Come with me."
Itoko-hime whipped another kimono on over her thin cotton robe and followed the taller woman through the maze of corridors in the heart of the family home. "This has to do with the Morizawa," she said, a statement and not a question.
"Of course." Imari's fingers flickered in her direction, and she felt a tingling along her skin and in the roots of her hair.
"I'm the target?"
"Not necessarily," and both women spared Doroboshi a mere glance over their shoulders as he fell into step, walking rapidly ahead of them.
He was only half-wearing his kimono. The details of the phoenix tattooed on his back seemed to glow in a strange half-light. "But you ARE one of the heads of the family, and I'd be greatly disappointed in them if they attacked the house and missed you entirely."
"Which is, strangely enough, exactly what I had in mind," Imari hissed. "Easier for you to land a killing blow that way, my girl."
Itoko-hime gulped quietly and tried not to notice that the other woman's movements were becoming more and more serpentine. She focused on the burly man instead. "My father?"
But again it was Imari who answered. "Kobayashi is with him, for now. He will join us later. But remember that any man who tries to attack my husband while he is protecting this house, this family, will soon be very sorry indeed."
At the end of the twisting corridors Atsuhiko was waiting on them, holding a dim lantern aloft. "Here," and he motioned to the bow and the three quivers of arrows propped up on the wall next to him. "The soldiers are already mustering, and I have to command them."
"I have one more order for you to execute," Itoko-hime said.
"Name it."
"Find the boy and bring him to me."
"Done." And he blurred and was gone.
"Which is my cue to leave," Doroboshi said, and sketched a bow, before similarly vanishing.
"Is it any wonder," Imari laughed, a short and mirthless laugh, "that people call this court haunted and infested and worse."
"It's good tactics," and Itoko-hime walked out, finally clear of the sprawling house. One smooth motion and she fired a crimson arrowhead into the night sky.
BOOM.
And suddenly they were all lit up in garish light as the arrow exploded into a miniature red sun.
Shouts of alarm from the Morizawa soldiers, crack of bowstrings fired and fired again from the Saito defenders.
Itoko-hime strode fearlessly into the courtyard. With each step she raised her bow, again and again, and the enemy forces dropped before her and the pure fury in her face, fury twisted into a demonic mien by the lurid red light.
She had almost reached the middle of the open space when there was a loud growling hiss and something arose from the shadows some ten feet ahead: a hulking shape of darkness.
The voice that carried across to her was feral: "I will destroy your family."
"No you won't," Itoko-hime said, and nocked another arrow in her bow, aiming for the head of the shadow.
"STOP," Imari cried, and in a loud rustle was suddenly standing in front of Itoko-hime where she had been nowhere in sight only moments before.
"You!" the shadow growled. "I have been waiting a long time to sink my teeth into you, witch. I will eat you and I will purge you of your cursed powers."
Anything that either Itoko-hime or Imari might have said was cut off as three arrows at once slammed into the thing.
Itoko-hime risked a look over her shoulder.
Her father stood before the now-closed doors of the family house, his great bow in his hands and ready for another shot.
Standing in front of him, back to back, Atsuhiko with his sword and Doroboshi with his fists.
And then Kobayashi was striding past her, stopping as he passed his wife and drew his nodachi from its scabbard. "Just. You. Try."
Imari stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She seemed to be growing, rising threateningly behind him, eyes gone cold and strange.
"You cannot threaten me," and Itoko-hime finally recognized the voice, realized that the thing before them was Morizawa, a bulk of a man wrapped in stone and metal. "Not while I hold him."
Doroboshi cursed behind her as the thing's chest opened, and she wished she could do the same.
Imprisoned within the monster was the boy, Hideaki.
"Kill him, and I will die," Morizawa growled. "But who of you would dare?"
"Liar," Itoko-hime hissed, and took a completely black arrow from the quiver on her back.
"No," Imari said firmly. "Let me try our approach first."
Itoko-hime lowered her bow - and dropped to the ground in a crouch.
She had seen this once before and it had given her nightmares for a very long time.
She knew what Imari was about to do.
A bolt of lightning flashed down, crackling into a halo around the woman.
Kobayashi raised his bared blade to the roiling sky, shifted his stance so he was standing more steadily.
"Ready?" Imari shouted, wind whipping at her hair and sleeves.
He nodded, once.
And Imari screamed into the night.
Itoko-hime threw up a hand over her face, afterimage of red light dancing behind her closed eyes.
And the darkness cleared just in time for her to see Kobayashi leaping into the air, his blade a blazing bar of light, down and cleaving straight into the monster's head.
Everything hung silent and unmoving for a heartbeat, for two....
And then Kobayashi was thrown to the ground, hard, and Morizawa was moving toward him with inhuman speed, clearly intent on picking him up again and throwing him again....
Itoko-hime snapped to her feet and started to shoot again, shrieking in anger as the arrows simply glanced off the creature's hide.
"Stop," Imari said again. Suddenly she was at Itoko-hime's side, one hand firm around her wrist, pushing the bow and the nocked arrow down to point toward the ground. "Listen to me. When I give you the signal, shoot the black arrow straight between the creature's eyes. Be ready."
To Doroboshi and Atsuhiko she cried, "Do not leave your places"; she waited for them to acknowledge her.
And then bent to look Itoko-hime in the eyes.
"Remember what you have to do. Shoot as I have taught you."
"I will," Itoko-hime said, and watched as Imari leapt to the top of a tree and shouted, "Come and face me!"
This time the lightning that had been crackling around her hands slowly bled into her skin, into her hair and eyes, so that she seemed to be made of powerful light. She raised her hands to the sky, lightning arcing between her fingers - and then a perfect storm of lightning bolts began to stab down from the sky, down as the creature turned and rushed towards her, down as the storm crashed in on them.
Itoko-hime waited, tense as her bowstring, black arrow out and nocked, her arms straining from the effort.
"NOW!"
And just as the creature bore down on her she closed her eyes, pulled back the last inch on the bow - and fired.
The arrow struck home with a sickening CRACK.
And Imari shouted, "Get the boy!"
But it was Kobayashi who got there first and he thrust his hands into the monster's heart, yanking out the limp form of Hideaki, miraculously separated from his father and breathing shallowly.
As the boy stirred and woke, Itoko-hime held out her arms to him.
One by one the others drifted toward her, toward the boy.
It all came down to family, she thought. And this is my family.
author: ilovetakahana
characters: the team; Fischers pere et fils
warnings: continuation of my cliche'd, self-indulgent vaguely Japanese AU, Maboroshi no naka ni. violence. Unbeta'd.
disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: the Inception cast in a vaguely feudal-era Japan, now with swords and sorcery!
Dedicated to my beta laria_gwyn, who has been waiting for this FOREVER.
Also archived at http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/.
Kazoku [Family]
Wake up. Wake up.
Itoko-hime opened her eyes, rolled out of her low platform bed, slid her hands into the sleeves of her sleeping kimono for the knives that she kept sheathed there.
When she looked up, Imari was standing in the door to her room, hair falling loose down her back, her face pale and grave. "I am glad to know that you are ready for the fight, my princess. But it will take more than knives. Hurry, Atsuhiko is already stringing your bow. Come with me."
Itoko-hime whipped another kimono on over her thin cotton robe and followed the taller woman through the maze of corridors in the heart of the family home. "This has to do with the Morizawa," she said, a statement and not a question.
"Of course." Imari's fingers flickered in her direction, and she felt a tingling along her skin and in the roots of her hair.
"I'm the target?"
"Not necessarily," and both women spared Doroboshi a mere glance over their shoulders as he fell into step, walking rapidly ahead of them.
He was only half-wearing his kimono. The details of the phoenix tattooed on his back seemed to glow in a strange half-light. "But you ARE one of the heads of the family, and I'd be greatly disappointed in them if they attacked the house and missed you entirely."
"Which is, strangely enough, exactly what I had in mind," Imari hissed. "Easier for you to land a killing blow that way, my girl."
Itoko-hime gulped quietly and tried not to notice that the other woman's movements were becoming more and more serpentine. She focused on the burly man instead. "My father?"
But again it was Imari who answered. "Kobayashi is with him, for now. He will join us later. But remember that any man who tries to attack my husband while he is protecting this house, this family, will soon be very sorry indeed."
At the end of the twisting corridors Atsuhiko was waiting on them, holding a dim lantern aloft. "Here," and he motioned to the bow and the three quivers of arrows propped up on the wall next to him. "The soldiers are already mustering, and I have to command them."
"I have one more order for you to execute," Itoko-hime said.
"Name it."
"Find the boy and bring him to me."
"Done." And he blurred and was gone.
"Which is my cue to leave," Doroboshi said, and sketched a bow, before similarly vanishing.
"Is it any wonder," Imari laughed, a short and mirthless laugh, "that people call this court haunted and infested and worse."
"It's good tactics," and Itoko-hime walked out, finally clear of the sprawling house. One smooth motion and she fired a crimson arrowhead into the night sky.
BOOM.
And suddenly they were all lit up in garish light as the arrow exploded into a miniature red sun.
Shouts of alarm from the Morizawa soldiers, crack of bowstrings fired and fired again from the Saito defenders.
Itoko-hime strode fearlessly into the courtyard. With each step she raised her bow, again and again, and the enemy forces dropped before her and the pure fury in her face, fury twisted into a demonic mien by the lurid red light.
She had almost reached the middle of the open space when there was a loud growling hiss and something arose from the shadows some ten feet ahead: a hulking shape of darkness.
The voice that carried across to her was feral: "I will destroy your family."
"No you won't," Itoko-hime said, and nocked another arrow in her bow, aiming for the head of the shadow.
"STOP," Imari cried, and in a loud rustle was suddenly standing in front of Itoko-hime where she had been nowhere in sight only moments before.
"You!" the shadow growled. "I have been waiting a long time to sink my teeth into you, witch. I will eat you and I will purge you of your cursed powers."
Anything that either Itoko-hime or Imari might have said was cut off as three arrows at once slammed into the thing.
Itoko-hime risked a look over her shoulder.
Her father stood before the now-closed doors of the family house, his great bow in his hands and ready for another shot.
Standing in front of him, back to back, Atsuhiko with his sword and Doroboshi with his fists.
And then Kobayashi was striding past her, stopping as he passed his wife and drew his nodachi from its scabbard. "Just. You. Try."
Imari stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She seemed to be growing, rising threateningly behind him, eyes gone cold and strange.
"You cannot threaten me," and Itoko-hime finally recognized the voice, realized that the thing before them was Morizawa, a bulk of a man wrapped in stone and metal. "Not while I hold him."
Doroboshi cursed behind her as the thing's chest opened, and she wished she could do the same.
Imprisoned within the monster was the boy, Hideaki.
"Kill him, and I will die," Morizawa growled. "But who of you would dare?"
"Liar," Itoko-hime hissed, and took a completely black arrow from the quiver on her back.
"No," Imari said firmly. "Let me try our approach first."
Itoko-hime lowered her bow - and dropped to the ground in a crouch.
She had seen this once before and it had given her nightmares for a very long time.
She knew what Imari was about to do.
A bolt of lightning flashed down, crackling into a halo around the woman.
Kobayashi raised his bared blade to the roiling sky, shifted his stance so he was standing more steadily.
"Ready?" Imari shouted, wind whipping at her hair and sleeves.
He nodded, once.
And Imari screamed into the night.
Itoko-hime threw up a hand over her face, afterimage of red light dancing behind her closed eyes.
And the darkness cleared just in time for her to see Kobayashi leaping into the air, his blade a blazing bar of light, down and cleaving straight into the monster's head.
Everything hung silent and unmoving for a heartbeat, for two....
And then Kobayashi was thrown to the ground, hard, and Morizawa was moving toward him with inhuman speed, clearly intent on picking him up again and throwing him again....
Itoko-hime snapped to her feet and started to shoot again, shrieking in anger as the arrows simply glanced off the creature's hide.
"Stop," Imari said again. Suddenly she was at Itoko-hime's side, one hand firm around her wrist, pushing the bow and the nocked arrow down to point toward the ground. "Listen to me. When I give you the signal, shoot the black arrow straight between the creature's eyes. Be ready."
To Doroboshi and Atsuhiko she cried, "Do not leave your places"; she waited for them to acknowledge her.
And then bent to look Itoko-hime in the eyes.
"Remember what you have to do. Shoot as I have taught you."
"I will," Itoko-hime said, and watched as Imari leapt to the top of a tree and shouted, "Come and face me!"
This time the lightning that had been crackling around her hands slowly bled into her skin, into her hair and eyes, so that she seemed to be made of powerful light. She raised her hands to the sky, lightning arcing between her fingers - and then a perfect storm of lightning bolts began to stab down from the sky, down as the creature turned and rushed towards her, down as the storm crashed in on them.
Itoko-hime waited, tense as her bowstring, black arrow out and nocked, her arms straining from the effort.
"NOW!"
And just as the creature bore down on her she closed her eyes, pulled back the last inch on the bow - and fired.
The arrow struck home with a sickening CRACK.
And Imari shouted, "Get the boy!"
But it was Kobayashi who got there first and he thrust his hands into the monster's heart, yanking out the limp form of Hideaki, miraculously separated from his father and breathing shallowly.
As the boy stirred and woke, Itoko-hime held out her arms to him.
One by one the others drifted toward her, toward the boy.
It all came down to family, she thought. And this is my family.