Notes: This fic was written for Yuletide 2010. Many thanks to busaikko and naraht for betaing.
"All right, come along, now, everyone, come along." The tour guide gestured toward the next exhibit, and the class followed behind her, chattering away.
"Now, these paintings were discovered just four years ago, when an old art collection was donated to the museum," the tour guide said. "They are signed by 'Issun the Wandering Artist', a name which has never appeared anywhere else in history. Although these paintings show architecture, clothing, and dress from many later periods of Japanese history, the paper and ink being used have been definitively dated to the 7th century. This is only one of the many mysteries surrounding these paintings."
"This is so boring," Yumi whispered to Eri.
"Shh," Eri whispered back. "She'll hear you."
"I don't care if she does," Yumi whispered back. In front of them, a group of girls burst into wild giggles, prompting their teacher to give them a stern look. "You're probably the only person paying attention at all."
"…especially notable for the fine brush design, believed to have been accomplished with a brush only one sun long." The tour guide had continued talking without any reaction to the unruly group. "You may now view the paintings at your own leisure."
As the tour guide moved on, the students spread through into the exhibition rooms, talking and laughing more freely now that they weren't supposed to be listening to the guide. "Inside voices!" the teacher hissed, but no one paid her much attention.
"Wow, these are really nice!" Eri said, pausing in front of a depiction of an ancient city. The city was built over a lake, with a large bridge separating it into two parts. The nearer section looked mostly normal, with the exception of what looked like a Christian church hovering over it in the sky. However, the further section was dominated by an immense palace, its roof crowned with a massive sculpture in the shape of flames. "Maybe I'll do my report on this one."
"It's okay, I guess," Yumi said, moving on. But despite her studied indifference, she did find many of the paintings beautiful. One showed a white wolf with strange red markings on its fur in the foreground. It was turning as if to meet its foes, serpents whose shadowy heads could be seen in the background. A full moon floated over the scene, giving it an even eerier cast.
Many of the others were just as beautiful. A sleeping warrior, beset by demons and nightmares. A woman in clothes made of green leaves, shown against a massive cherry tree in full bloom. A sea serpent thrashing in the ocean, as the same white wolf watched it from the coast. Each painting was more fantastic than the last, and yet there was a strange sense of realism to them all, as if the artist had been painting from life.
And then Yumi came to one in particular that made her heart race and her breath pound in her lungs. This painting depicted a voluptuous woman, dressed as a Buddhist nun. In her hand, she held a fox mask, and the shadow of a fox with many tails rose behind her. There was nothing that made it noticeably stranger than the other paintings. And yet she could practically feel the air of menace, and hear the fox's sharp pants.
"What are you doing?" Eri said behind her. "It's time to go, you've been staring at that one for ten minutes."
Yumi jumped, then managed to drag her gaze away from the painting. "Sorry. I guess I got kind of caught up."
Eri was looking at the painting herself now, though she didn't seem to feel the same sense of sick fascination. "Wow, that's really nice! You should do your report on this one."
Yumi cleared her throat, then coughed. "Yeah, maybe I will," she said. She avoided looking at the painting again; she was afraid she might get dragged back into it.
"All right, folks, come on, come on. We're going to see the exhibition of Shiraga's paintings next, and then we can go eat lunch," the teacher said.
"Woo, lunch!" someone yelled. Eri and Yumi exchanged a glance, giggled, and followed after the tour guide with the rest of their class.
-o-
That night, after she got home, Eri finished her dinner quickly and went down the steps outside to feed the stray dog. It had been hanging around their apartment complex for a few months, and somehow she had gotten into the habit of feeding it scraps from their dinner table.
She sat on the steps and watched, as she usually did. The stray ate with relish, as always, and then attempted to thank Yumi by putting its face in her lap and slobbering all over her.
"Who's a good girl?" she said, scratching behind its ears. The dog whined in satisfaction. Despite being a stray, its fur was surprisingly clean; not for the first time, Yumi wondered whether it actually had an owner somewhere. If not, it had certainly been doing a good job of evading Animal Control.
After a little more petting, the dog got tired of it and wandered off; this was part of the routine as well. Yumi collected her plate and headed back upstairs.
Inside, the lights were dimmed, and Yumi's mother was standing out on the balcony. "Isn't the moon lovely tonight?" she said.
Yumi stepped out onto the balcony herself. The moon was beautiful, but it reminded her of the wolf fighting the serpents. She shivered.
"Oh, is it too cold?" her mother asked. "Should we go back inside?"
"No, no, it's nothing," Yumi said. But she did feel weary. Soon enough she was back inside and preparing for bed.
-o-
That night she had the first nightmare.
She was running through her high school, searching for something. She knew that a horrible demon was chasing her, and she knew that her only hope lay in the thing she was looking for. But she couldn't find it, and she couldn't get away. Finally, she was chased into a dead end. It was right behind her, she could feel it. She turned around, and…
…and now she was in class. Outwardly everything seemed normal. She sat at her desk, took out her book, answered questions when she had to. But Yumi herself was entirely outside of her own body. Her limbs were being moved by someone else; when she spoke, it was that thing speaking through her. She was completely powerless—no one could see or hear her, and she couldn't affect her body at all. All she could do was watch helplessly.
And now suddenly she was on the school roof, a place where students weren't supposed to be, watching herself talking to Eri. Their voices rose, and then that thing used Yumi's arm to grab Eri, roughly pulling her over to the edge of the roof.
Eri looked past the false Yumi's shoulder, and for a moment it was as if she could see the real Yumi. But just then, the monster pushed her off the edge. Eri fell backward, her mouth open in a perfect round o. Yumi screamed, but her body leaned forward eagerly, watching Eri fall with a cruel smile.
Yumi woke up with a jerk, breathing heavily. Her alarm clock was ringing, and everything looked completely normal.
-o-
After she finished her breakfast, Yumi headed two blocks up the street to walk with Eri to the train station. The two of them had been best friends ever since first grade, and they'd even gotten into the same high school.
"I don't know what's going to happen with this whole situation with North Korea," Eri said as soon as she came out. Most girls might have talked about shopping or boys on the way to school, but Eri had already decided that she would go into politics someday, and she already had decided opinions on everything.
"Mm," Yumi said. Normally she was somewhat interested in politics as well, but today her thoughts were still consumed with the horrible dream she'd had.
"Somebody has to stop that crazy dictator," Eri said. "He's clearly trying to shore things up so he can transition leadership to his son, so I think our best bet is to disrupt that process. The main thing is to do it without getting missiles shot at us, but I have a few ideas about how to do that…"
Eri continued talking about international politics all the way to the train station. But when they got there, she changed the subject.
"Hey, Yumi, are you okay?" she asked. "You're been awfully quiet this morning."
Yumi was trying not to notice how close her friend was standing to the edge of the platform. It would only take one push…
She shook her head to banish the image. "Huh? No, I'm fine. What were you saying about North Korea?"
-o-
"Okay, folks, time to turn in your reports," their teacher said. The class groaned, practically in unison. "I hope you were taking notes like I told you to."
"Did you do yours on the fox woman painting?" Eri whispered.
"Yeah," Yumi replied. "What about you?"
"I ended up doing it on one of the Shiraga paintings," Eri said. "I really liked how intense they were."
"Really?" Yumi whispered back. "I didn't understand those at all." It was easier to talk to Eri now. So much easier, in fact, that Yumi dared a glance at her friend. But as soon as she did, all she could think of was the look of shock on Eri's face as she'd fallen off the roof in the dream. She quickly turned away again.
"No!" Yumi whispered to herself. "It was just a dream. Just a dream. Nothing to be afraid of any more."
"What did you say?" Eri asked.
"Nothing." Yumi sighed and handed her report forward.
-o-
That night she had the same dream again. And the night after that, and the night after that. It wasn't always in the same place. Sometimes she was running and searching for something in a set of labyrinthine tunnels. Then after she was captured, she watched herself sitting in a dark room, lit by candlelight, with scrolls piled around her. Many people came to her for advice, which she gave them—but, again, it was not Yumi herself, but something else speaking through her mouth. And finally, she was in a royal chamber, watching herself slice a queen with her sword. The queen crumpled, but as she did, she looked up, and Yumi saw Eri's face distorted in horror.
Yumi quickly grew to dread sleep. She tried to stay up, reading books until the words swam in front of her eyes, and watching television for as long as she could stand it. But she couldn't stay awake forever, and as soon as she closed her eyes she was caught again in the same nightmare.
It was straining her friendship with Eri too. They still went to school together, but Yumi couldn't suppress a cringe whenever she saw her friend's face. It was getting to the point that she couldn't even look at her without imagining ways to kill her. Eri was her best friend, and Yumi knew she would die before ever hurting her. But she wondered if there was any way to prevent it.
In class, she kept falling asleep and then jerking awake, much to the amusement of her classmates. Even in naps, every time she closed her eyes, she was back in a labyrinth, being chased by a demon she couldn't see. Her schoolwork was starting to suffer.
It took weeks before she could find the words to speak. And she couldn't even confide her troubles to a human.
"I'm so afraid," she whispered to the stray, who was assiduously eating the remains of some delicious pork dumplings. "I'm afraid that one of these days, it'll happen. I'll be outside my own body, and I won't be able to stop myself. I'll push Eri into the path of a train, or throw her out of a window, or stab her, or… I don't even know what. And it won't be me doing it. It'll be this thing wearing my face, this thing that I can't control. It hasn't caught me yet, but it's coming for me. And there's nothing I can do to stop it."
She put her hands over her face, shuddering. Putting her situation into words only made her feel more hopeless. Faintly, she could hear the stray dog barking at her, but she didn't have the strength to respond. She only snapped out of it when the stray climbed up the steps and bit her sharply on the wrist.
"Ow!" Yumi said, rubbing her wrist. The bite hadn't broken the skin, but it still hurt. "What was that for?"
The stray cocked its head to the side. Yumi got the distinct impression that it was trying to tell her something.
"What do you think I should do? Once it finds me, I can't stop it. I'm helpless against it."
The dog jumped off the steps. It ran into the bushes near the house, rummaged for a moment, and then returned with a small red ball that it dropped into Yumi's lap. Yumi laughed and petted the dog.
"You found it, didn't you? Now if only you could find the solution to my problem... wait. What if I found that thing I'm always looking for at the beginning of my dreams? I don't know what it is, but I know I can use it to defeat the monster. Maybe if I could do that, these dreams would stop. Is that what you were trying to tell me?"
The stray wagged its tail, then jumped onto Yumi's lap, licking her face.
Yumi laughed. "Seems like I got it right!" she said, scratching the dog's neck. It panted into her face, notwithstanding the effect its dog breath had on Yumi. "I didn't expect a dog to give me good advice, but I'll take it! Thanks, doggie."
The stray barked once, as if it could understand her, then trotted away. Its fur shone ghostly white under the streetlights. For a moment, Yumi thought she saw red lines swirling in its fur—but she blinked, and the effect was gone. It was just a stray dog, trotting down the street on its own errands.
Yumi watched it go, then got up, dusting her hands off on her skirt. For the first time in weeks, she was looking forward to sleeping.
As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was ready. She was in a labyrinth, of course—the tunnels, this time—but she wouldn't run blindly. I usually go to the right here, she thought. This time, she went left instead. The demon was still following her. She was running and searching just as she had done a hundred times before. But this time, she had hope.
Yumi hadn't been looking for long before she saw a ladder, the first time she had ever seen one in this place. She climbed up and into a room, closing the hatch behind her. It seemed to be a storage room; it was full of scrolls and chests, with a large gong in the corner, but there was a thick layer of dust over everything.
Yumi could tell that what she was looking for wasn't in this room. She dragged one of the chests over the hatch, then made for the door. Even as she left, she could hear the hatch rattling behind her as the demon came up the ladder.
Outside, she seemed to be in some sort of ancient city. She didn't have time to take note of it, though; she had to find what she was looking for. She hurried out of the palace and into the town itself. There weren't any people around, only a hideous green mist, and all the trees were withered. Suppressing a shudder, Yumi tried to concentrate. Was it nearby?
It might have been her imagination, but she felt something of a tug to the left. Without another moment of hesitation, she ran in that direction.
The demon had gotten through the hatch, and now it was coming for her. Yumi didn't know how she knew these things, but she did. In an open area, she had nowhere to hide. All she could do was try to reach her destination as quickly as she could.
She lost a sandal crossing a bridge over a dry canal, and tripped and fell flat on her face. She could practically feel the demon's breath on her back; she scrambled to her knees, then turned back and looked.
A massive shadow reared itself before her. It had the head of a fox, one eye dark but the other horribly alight. Instead of one tail, it had nine, all waving at her menacingly. On its back was a massive sword that seemed to reach up to the sky.
Yumi froze in fear. She couldn't move, didn't have time to move. All she could feel was regret; she had been so close. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.
But instead she heard a strange pounding noise. She opened her eyes just in time to see a white animal sailing over her head. It landed between her and the monster, growling fiercely. Yumi goggled. She recognized the animal as the stray she had been feeding, but it looked very different now. There was some sort of shield on its back, and its fur was covered in bright red markings.
After a moment of hesitation, Yumi took the opening the dog had given her. She scrambled to her feet and ran. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of battle, but she didn't look back. There were a pair of open doors in front of her; she dove through them and into some sort of entranceway.
There! On the floor in front of her were the objects she had been searching for in her dreams for months. They appeared to be simple scraps of paper, but as soon as she touched them, she knew they were powerful.
She looked more closely at what she was holding. She'd seen something like these before, in the hands of a pilgrim at a Buddhist temple. Were they prayer slips? Clutching them to her chest, she turned and ran back toward the battle.
Lightning flashed, strong winds blew, and both the fox and the dog moved almost too quickly for Yumi to see. It was like a battle between two gods. But Yumi knew that she had a role to play in this fight. She peeled off a prayer slip and waited for an opportune moment.
As soon as the dog knocked the fox back, Yumi flung the prayer slip with an accuracy she didn't know she had. When it landed on the fox's back, the demon howled in agony. It was such an earsplitting sound that Yumi almost dropped the prayer slips in trying to cover her ears. But in another moment, she regained her composure, and her hands began flinging prayer slips automatically. It felt natural, as if she was doing something she had done many, many times before. The dog helped, luring the fox into positions that would put it close enough to be targeted by a prayer slip, but never close enough to threaten Yumi.
Finally, Yumi threw her last slip, which landed in the center of the fox's forehead. A piercing light emanated from it, and then from all of the prayer slips. In the midst of that holy light, the fox could not maintain itself; it melted away into nothingness. Yumi slumped to the ground, boneless in relief. She had exorcized it.
With the fox's defeat, the city quickly became transformed. The green mist dissipated, leaving clear air, and water flowed into its deep canals. The sun shone brightly, bringing the formerly withered cherry trees into full blossom. The dog was bleeding in a few places, but it looked happy. After a victory howl, it limped over to Yumi.
Yumi hugged the dog, burying her face in its fur. "Thank you," she whispered.
-o-
That morning, Yumi woke up early. The dark cloud of despair that had hovered over her was lifted, and she was in a wonderful mood. She filled her lunchbox, humming happily, and practically skipped down the street to meet Eri. Eri's face lit up when she saw Yumi.
"You're in a good mood today!" Eri said. "I was starting to worry about you."
"Something really good happened last night," Yumi said. When she saw the look on Eri's face, she snorted. "No, no, not something like that. It was a dream, I guess. Or a series of dreams. I'll tell you about it later. Anyway, what's going on with the economy? I haven't been paying much attention to it lately."
"Well, you won't believe what Kan is doing now!" Eri started expounding on what the government was doing, and what she thought the government ought to do, while Yumi listened, throwing in an occasional comment of her own. They were finally back to normal.
She went outside that night to feed the stray, but it wasn't there. In fact, Yumi never saw that dog again.