Title Promises and Oaths
Author Uozumi
Fandom Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi (Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits)
Character(s)/Pairing(s) Aoi, Byakuya, Ginji, Ōdanna, Shirō; no pairings intended, though Aoi is promised to Ōdanna to settle a debt.
Genre Fantasy/Gen/Pre-series
Rating PG
Word Count 2,254
Disclaimer Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi c. Y¬uuma, Laruha, Fujimi Shobo, Enterbrain, Gonzo.
Summary Shirō racks up his enormous debt to give a reason for Ōdanna and Ginji to find Aoi and rescue her from her fate.
Warning(s) spoilers up through episode 14, blood magic, mentions of child abuse, and a child on the brink of death
Notes Kind of turned a few theories I have into a fic. I'm sure by the end of the anime it'll be an AU. Shirō's characterization I kind of developed by considering what we've seen of him and that people say Aoi is very much like him.
Promises and Oaths
Tsubaki Shirō had as many rivals as he did friends and tonight he treated all lavishly at Tenjin'ya. The most expensive sake, a full course meal for all the guests, and rooms were all part of the party. Money was no object. The party lasted well into the night and the early morning. As the sun rose, guests that could still move headed to their rooms and those that could not move were scattered about sleeping off their hangovers and food comas.
Shirō sat with his back against the wall in a corner. A decorative scarf that was not his covered his face. Ginji approached quietly and pulled the scarf from Shirō's face. "Shirō -san," he said quietly, "we must speak."
"The bill?" Shirō's eyes studied Ginji a moment and then looked past Ginji at Byakuya. He laughed a raspy rumble and then closed his eyes. "I cannot pay it."
"As I suspected from the start," Byakuya stated. "We should have thrown him out before the first bottle opened." Byakuya made a motion for security to take Shirō to the hold where those who could not pay and might disappear stayed.
"Let me speak to Ōdanna-sama," Shirō said, moving away from the hands reaching for him. "I'm sure we can reach an agreement." He rolled out of the corner and headed towards the staff area. Security came for him again and Shirō almost evaded them, but he stepped back onto a discarded saké cup. As he fell backwards, security grabbed him. "Wait! Just let me speak to Ōdanna-sama!" Shirō struggled, but security tightened their grip tighter.
"It is early," Ōdanna spoke from the shadows. "This commotion is not good for our guests."
"Ōdanna-sama," Byakuya said, "he ran up a bill of ¥100 million. He has no means to pay such a bill. If we can put him somewhere secure until a payment plan can be worked out or payment secured –"
"I can pay. I have something I can pay with that's worth more than ¥100 million," Shirō interrupted. He no longer struggled since security was not trying to drag him away. "Please let me speak with you in private."
"I should at least be privy to this information," Byakuya said. "It's relevant to our finances."
"I cannot imagine anything you might possess that could cover this cost," Ōdanna said to Shirō. "You are my friend, but even that cannot spare you from this debt."
"I know, but Aoi…" Shirō's voice trailed and then he continued, "She's my granddaughter. I can give her to you in marriage. I can teach her how to be a wife worthy of you, of Tenjin'ya. She's so young but she already can sense those of the Hidden Realm. It scares her mother." Shirō frowned and took a breath, holding Ōdanna's gaze. "I do not know where she is, but her mother abandoned her. If you take her to an orphanage, I will collect her. I will help her become someone invaluable to you."
There was a long pause. Neither Ōdanna nor Shirō looked away. Then Shirō bowed his head. "Please! Let her be my payment!"
Ōdanna stepped forward. "I should say no," he said. "You could have come to me for help finding your granddaughter. This was unneeded." He touched Shirō's chin, raising it, and then let his fingers slide away. "I will find your granddaughter and take her to someone who knows how these things work in the Apparent Realm. Until then you must stay where our debtors stay in case this payment cannot be made."
"Her name is Aoi," Shirō said. "I wrote down her mother's last address in my journal in my room. Please hurry." He looked at the security personnel on either side of him. He was ready to cooperate.
Ōdanna dismissed security and Shirō. His lips formed a thin line. "Ginji," he said. "Come with me."
Ōdanna and Ginji headed to Shirō's room. There was nothing in the room except for the diary and pen. Ginji picked up the diary in case of a trap and opened it. He flipped through the pages to the back. He read the note silently. "Ōdanna-sama," he said.
Ōdanna took the diary. Written in careful script at the top of the page were Aoi's full name, her birthday, birth time, and birthplace. There were several strands of baby hair taped to the page beside her information. Underneath, the message read:
"Ōdanna -sama,
"If I could not tell you, my granddaughter was abandoned by her mother. I cannot find her. I included all that you will need to find her.
"Forever in your debt,
"Tsubaki Shirō"
"The girl could be dead," Ginji said. "Humans cannot survive three days without water."
"If she is dead then the spell will not work," Ōdanna said. He closed the diary. "We must open this room to other guests. We should go somewhere with privacy."
"I know somewhere," Ginji said. "Please follow me." He led Ōdanna through the halls and out of the inn. They arrived at an almost forgotten restaurant that was last used years ago. Ginji looked behind them and around but there was no one near. They entered the building and shut the door firmly behind them.
Ginji went behind the counter and Ōdanna rested the diary on the countertop. Ginji found a small stone bowl. Ōdanna carefully coaxed one of the strands of hair from the tape and placed it in the bowl. Ginji added ginkgo to the bowl and then lit it on fire.
An image rose from the bowl of a dark room illuminated by lightning. A small girl lay in bed, her coughs rattling her entire body. Her hair hung in her face. She slowly put her hands over her eyes, and cried. Her cries became gasps and she barely was able to roll over.
Ōdanna stared at the image in the smoke. He waved a hand through the smoke, letting it dissipate.
"She is almost dead. Shinigami will find her soon," Ginji said.
"None of the Hidden Real shall interfere with death in the Apparent Realm," Ōdanna said slowly. He looked down at the ash in the bowl. "None of the Hidden Realm shall feed those of the Apparent Realm in the Apparent Realm."
"None of the Hidden Realm shall combine their souls," Ginji said, surmising the suggestion.
"You do not need to involve yourself more than you have," Ōdanna said.
"Shirō picked Tenjin'ya because he knew we would help, that we would want to help," Ginji said. "If you go alone, the shinigami will recognize you. If we go together, and use my mask, they will hunt the south for the wrong ayakashi."
They did not have time to debate. Ōdanna nodded. "Very well. We must work quickly. Find our disguise and a food one might feed to an ayakashi to end a fast; I shall find the ingredients for our bond."
"Will you finalize the deal first?" Ginji asked.
"That I can do once we do our part," Ōdanna said. "We cannot wait. The shinigami will find her before morning."
They departed the abandoned restaurant and returned within the hour. The potion to combine ayakashi souls was ancient and forbidden since the second major ayakashi war centuries ago. Ginji brewed the potion to Ōdanna's specifications. It smelled of spice and sweet grass. Ginji poured it into sake bottles that contained two centimeters of sake at the bottom.
"My soul I pledge to thee," Ōdanna said.
"Your soul I care for," Ginji said.
They tapped the tops of their bottles to each other.
"My soul I pledge to thee," Ginji said.
"Your soul I care for," Ōdanna said.
They touched the bottom edges of their sake bottles together. Then they both drank the liquid. It was unctuous and herbal, determined to stick to the throat. Ginji waved his hand to encourage his throat to swallow and his esophagus to guide the mass to his stomach. Ōdanna squeezes his eyes shut and wrinkled his nose. Their sternums began to burn and the inflammation seemed to spread throughout their bodies. They could not cry out. Wind engulfed them and the burn became a light that could blind.
When Ōdanna and Ginji opened their eyes, they saw as one and moved as one. They dressed in the cloak Ginji brought and placed the mask of the south firmly on their face. They picked up the food and carefully headed out into the morning for the Apparent Realm.
Aoi was definitely Shirō's granddaughter. She was so young but strangely calm about ehe situation, even suggesting that they wait until she died before they ate her. Once they fed her, they looked around the apartment. There was no electricity and no food. Ōdanna and Ginji moved to the front door when Aoi grabbed their cloak.
"Please stay," she said.
"I cannot," Ōdanna and Ginji said.
Aoi's eyes filled with fresh tears. She let go of their cloak.
They moved to the front door and opened it. There was a woman nearby with her son unlocking the door to an apartment across the hall. Aoi remained within the apartment, keeping to the shadows.
"Call out to her," they told Aoi.
"Hello!" Aoi said. She headed to the door slowly. "Hello!" She coughed roughly and stumbled into the hallway. "Help me." She paused. "Please."
The woman ushered her son inside the apartment and approached Aoi. "Where is your mother?" she asked.
"I don't know," Aoi said.
The woman invited Aoi into her apartment. Ōdanna and Ginji lingered a moment. When Aoi did not reappear, they slipped back into the shadows. They did not want to spend too much time in the Apparent Realm and cause questions.
The trip back to the Hidden Realm was silent. The instant they might speak all would know of their transgression. Ōdanna and Ginji made their way to the abandoned restaurant and checked for others before entering the building. The saké bottles remained on the counter where they left them. They carefully brewed the potion combining the ingredients in the reverse order Ginji had. They poured it into both bottles before pouring both bottles into a ceramic bowl. They poured four centimeters of sake into the bowl and then they drank it, careful to guzzle the entire mixture. They dared not choke, dared not stop. Once it was gone, their sternum began to burn and the process began again, except as the wind blew and the blinding light returned, Ōdanna and Ginji could feel their muscles tear and their bones shatter. When they opened their eyes, their reformed bodies still felt warm and like pins covered every inch of them, including their organs and their blood. Ōdanna and Ginji looked to each other in their own bodies.
"We shall swear a blood oath," Ōdanna said after his tongue no longer felt numb, "and never speak of this again."
"Yes, Ōdanna-sama," Ginji said. He cleaned the stone bowl they used to find Aoi and then set it in front of Ōdanna.
Ōdanna carefully tore a page from Shirō's diary. In his own blood, he wrote shinjitsu (truth) across it. Once the blood dried, Ginji turned the page ninety degrees and then wrote shinzō (heart). Once his blood dried, both Ōdanna and Ginji lifted the paper into the stone bowl and burnt it. The smoke turned a thick purple color. They left silently and separately through different doors.
Once the feeling of pins left him, Ōdanna summoned Byakuya and Shirō to one of the rooms in Tenjin'ya reserved for business. The paperwork Byakuya drew up to finalize the deal was surprisingly short. Shirō signed without complaint. When Byakuya was satisfied that Tenjin'ya might one day collect on the debt, he left to file the paperwork in his office. Ōdanna waited a long moment and then he said quietly, "Walk with me."
Ōdanna led Shirō through the forest. The moonlight began to disappear behind the leaves and creatures and insects thinned before disappearing completely. Ōdanna stopped and turned to Shirō. There was barely enough light to see. There was no noise around them.
"I checked on your granddaughter and saw that she got help," Ōdanna said. "I will collect on the debt upon your death."
Shirō nodded. "Of course," he said. The moon went behind the clouds. "How will you know?"
Ōdanna pressed something into Shirō's hand. Shirō felt it carefully. It was an hourglass the length of Shirō's smallest finger with a very sharp needle on one end.
"Prick your finger. When all the blood reaches the bottom minutes from now or decades from now, I will know when it is time," Ōdanna said.
Shirō drew in a breath and jabbed his thumb with the needle. It felt like a tick. The needle retracted once it was full. Shirō handed the hourglass back to Ōdanna. "There," he said.
"I promise Aoi will never live as she has again," Ōdanna said. "I will care for her as my bride as a good husband should."
The moon reappeared through the leaves. Shirō nodded. "I want her to be safe, to be happy." He took a deep breath of the air and looked up at what he could see of the sky. "I will miss this place."
Ōdanna let Shirō have his moment. Then he motioned towards the way they came. "I arranged your passage. You will be missed."
Shirō fell in step with Ōdanna. "Maybe," he said. He smiled slightly. There was so much ahead and so much left behind.
The End